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CHAPTER II.
THE HOLY SEE AND THE EASTERN QUESTION—A CRUSADING
FLEET BUILT IN ROME— ITSFIRST SUCCESSES — ATTITUDE OF THE WESTERN POWERS TOWARDS
THE DANGER WITH WHICH THE TURKS THREATENED EUROPE.
The dangers to the Church and to civilization which
troubled the latter days of Nicholas V had assumed yet more alarming
proportions at the accession of Calixtus III. Torn by conflicting interests and
internecine feuds, the West was ill-fitted to withstand the united and
fanatical advance of Islam. The disastrous consequences of the fall of
Constantinople had at once been felt, not only in the stagnation of trade with
the East, but in the threatened hindrance by the Turks of free navigation in
the Mediterranean. Servia and Hungary, Greece, the Christian Islands,
especially Rhodes, and the Empire of the Comneni at
Trebizond, were in imminent danger, and the colonies in the Black Sea were
almost lost. Mahomet II was himself unremitting in his efforts to extend his
dominion.
Nevertheless, the leading Princes and States of
Europe, with scarcely an exception, displayed the most deplorable indifference
to the welfare of Christendom. So grievous were their dissensions, and such the
decay of zeal and heroism, that not one could rise above individual interests
and animosities to gather round the banner of the Cross. The Holy See alone
truly apprehended the importance of the situation, and while all others were
swayed by selfish considerations, again showed itself to be the most universal
and most conservative power on earth.
With her traditional wisdom, Rome appreciated the
magnitude of the danger which menaced the Western world and its civilization.
She also perceived that this victory of the infidel, like the loss in former
days of the Holy Sepulchre, might be a means of reviving the zeal and loyalty
of the faithful, and thus lead to further progress in the work of restoration
already begun. The greater the spirit of dissension in the political and
ecclesiastical sphere the more did it behove the Holy See to devote itself to the
common interest.
Calixtus III was the man of all others to give a new
and powerful impulse to the crusade. His duty and his inclination were in this
matter identical. From the beginning to the end of his Pontificate, in public
and in private, in his letters to Christian princes and prelates, and in his
solemn Bulls addressed to all Christian people, he declared that he looked upon
the defence of Christendom as the main object of his life. The crusade against
the hereditary foe of the Christian name was the point upon which all his
powers and efforts were concentrated.
The new Pope resolved to inaugurate his reign by a
solemn vow which bound him to sacrifice everything — the treasures of the
Church and, if necessary, his own life — in order to repel Islam and recover
Constantinople. The words of this vow, copies of which were circulated in
almost all countries to the joy and edification of the good, have been handed
down to us. They are as follows: "I, Pope Calixtus III, promise and
vow to the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to the Ever-Virgin Mother
of God, to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the heavenly host, that
I will do everything in my power, even, if need be, with the sacrifice of my
life, aided by the counsel of my worthy brethren, to reconquer Constantinople,
which in punishment for the sin of man has been taken and ruined by Mahomet II,
the son of the devil and the enemy of our Crucified Redeemer. Further, I vow to
deliver the Christians languishing in slavery, to exalt the true Faith and to
extirpate the diabolical sect of the reprobate and faithless Mahomet in the
East. For there the light of Faith is almost completely extinguished. If I
forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue cleave
to my jaws, if I do not remember thee. If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of
my joy, God and His holy Gospel help me. — Amen."
With the resolute tenacity of a Spaniard, the aged
Calixtus laboured unremittingly to accomplish his vow.
Seven centuries of warfare with the Moors had left an
indelible impress on the Spanish national character. The crusades form an
episode in the history of other nations, but the very existence of the Spanish
race was a perpetual crusade; and one consequence of this state of things was
the development of a high-souled enthusiasm, which led each individual to look
on himself as one of a chosen race, and especially called to be a champion of
Christendom. That spirit of religious chivalry — which in other European
countries had long since given place to more material views, or else
degenerated into lawless feuds — still flourished in Spain. Like thousands of
his fellow-countrymen, Calixtus III had from his earliest days imbibed
sentiments of deadly hatred for the mortal enemy of the Christian name, and
after his elevation to the highest dignity in Christendom he deemed it his
first duty to combat that foe. The repeated declarations in his writings that,
next to the attainment of everlasting life, he desired nothing so ardently as
the accomplishment of his vow regarding the deliverance of Constantinople, were
no mere figure of speech. He wished to make the most ample reparation for the
shortcomings of his un-warlike predecessors, and as we read his fervent words we
feel that years had done nothing to quell his ardent Spanish temperament. The
union of Western Christendom against the power of Islam, the succour of
imperilled Hungary, and the construction and equipment of a Papal fleet were
the objects to be accomplished within the shortest possible space of time. With
an energy which seemed to defy the advance of age, the Pope at once began to
deal with the matter in all its aspects.
The history of the Papal power was materially affected
by the action of Calixtus. The Papacy under Eugenius IV had been engrossed by
Italian politics and contests with the Councils, and under Nicholas V it had
been absorbed in literary and artistic interests. Now under Calixtus III it
seemed to be roused to remorse by the fall of Constantinople, and, as in the
days of Urban II to realize the magnitude of the Eastern problem, whose
solution might be the means of endowing it with fresh vigour.
The warlike zeal and indomitable resolution displayed
by Calixtus III, notwithstanding his age and infirmities, is justly
characterized by ecclesiastical annalists as marvellous.
"The Pope", writes Gabriel of Verona, "speaks and thinks of
nothing but the crusade". For whole hours he used to converse with the
Minorites on the subject, which seemed to him to surpass all others in importance.
"Other affairs", says the historian, "he despatches with a word,
but he treats and speaks of the crusade continually."
On the 15th May, 1455, Calixtus published a solemn
Bull, by which all the graces and indulgences granted by Nicholas V on the 30th
September 1454, to those who should take part in the crusade, were confirmed,
and all other indulgences published since the Council of Constance repealed.
New regulations were made concerning the tithes to be devoted to the war, and
the 1st March of the following year was appointed as the day for the departure
of the expedition against the common foe of Christendom.
In order to restore unity among the Christian princes,
and to incite them to hostilities against the Turks, the Pope determined to
send special legates to the principal countries of Christendom. The Cardinal
Archbishop of Gran, Dionysius Széchy, was appointed to Hungary; the
indefatigable Cardinal Carvajal to Germany, Hungary, and Poland; Cardinal
Nicholas of Cusa to England and Germany; and Cardinal Alain to
France. On the 8th September Calixtus III personally conferred the cross on
Cardinals Alain and Carvajal, and on the Archbishop Urrea of
Tarragona, who was to hasten with a naval force to the relief of the
hard-pressed Christian islands in the Aegean and Ionian waters. This solemn
ceremony was performed at St. Peter's. This was indeed fitting, as the place
hallowed by the remains of him whom our Lord had made the rock and foundation
of His Church. It was the scene of all the most important actions of the Popes,
and as such it was also to witness a deed whose effects were destined to
embrace the whole of Christendom. The Pope, as we learn from the Bishop of
Pavia, manifested the greatest devotion on this occasion, and shed many tears.
Calixtus III, he adds, is most eager to combat the Turks; anyone, who places
obstacles in his way, is guilty of a great sin. As early as September 17th
Alain entered on his office as legate, and a week later Carvajal left the
Eternal City on his way to the North. Nicholas of Cusa apparently did
not undertake the journey to England, for the negotiations with the Duke of
Tyrol prove that he spent the whole of the year 1455 in his diocese of Brixen.
The deplorable issue of the Diet summoned in the time
of Nicholas V to deal with the Turkish question determined Calixtus III to
renounce the idea of any assembly of the kind, and to endeavour to deal
directly with the individual potentates. He accordingly sent to the lesser
European Princes and States, bishops, prelates, or monks who were to treat with
the chief persons of the country regarding tithes, to call upon the people to
contribute, to take part in the expedition, and to pray earnestly for the success
of the Christian arms. He granted at the same time ample indulgences to those
who should thus assist in the holy work. Anyone who has had the opportunity of
looking through the thirty-eight thick volumes in the Secret Archives of the
Vatican which contain the acts of Calixtus III's short Pontificate must be
amazed at the immense energy manifested by the aged and sickly Pontiff.
Special envoys were despatched, not merely to the
larger Italian States, such as Naples, Florence, and Venice, but also to the
smaller Republics and cities, and to the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and
Corsica. In the Regesta of Calixtus III we,
moreover, find records of the appointment of preachers of the crusade and of
tithe collectors for the several provinces of Spain and Germany, for Portugal,
Poland, Dalmatia, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and an ambassador was sent even
to Ireland and to the distant shores of Scotland.
Most of these envoys were chosen from among the Observantine Friars,
who, as mendicants and as brethren of St. John Capistran, enjoyed the
confidence of the people to a remarkable degree. The names of San Jacopo della Marca, of Roberto da Lecce, and of Antonio
de Montefalcone, on whom the cardinals in conclave had for a moment fixed
their attention, are worthy of special mention. But other Orders were also
called upon by the Pope to assist in the work he had at heart. Heinrich Kalteisen, a Dominican from the Rhenish province, who had
already given proof of his zeal at the Council of Basle, and whom Nicholas V
had appointed Archbishop of Drontheim, laboured
in Germany, preaching in Vienna, Ratisbon, Augsburg, Eichstadt, Nuremberg,
and finally in his own Rhenish home, and had the honour of receiving a Brief of
special commendation from the Pope.
Another instance of the extent to which the Pope
claimed the assistance of the religious orders in the matter of the crusade
against the infidels is to be found in the command addressed on the 4th May,
1456, to the General and Provincials of the Augustinians, whereby he required
them, under pain of excommunication, to immediately detain all the preachers of
the Order, to give up all other undertakings, and to devote themselves entirely
to preaching the crusade.
The chronicler of Viterbo enables us to form a clear
idea of the manner in which it was published. "On the 8th September",
he says, "a Franciscan monk began preaching the crusade in the chief
square near the fountain. First of all he caused drums and fifes to be sounded,
and then a silver gilt cross with a figure of the Redeemer to be set up;
afterwards he brought forth the Pope's Bull and thoroughly explained it."
Calixtus III guarded against the abuses which had
frequently occurred on former occasions by the most exact directions respecting
the collection and keeping of the tithes to be levied on all ecclesiastics for
the Turkish War. In the march of Ancona, for example, it was decreed that,
subject to the advice of the Bishop, one or two collectors and treasurers
should be appointed for each city, and should keep duplicate accounts of the
names of the contributors and the sums paid. The Papal envoys were empowered to
inflict the severest ecclesiastical penalties on the refractory, and, if
necessary, to invoke the secular arm. They were, moreover, carefully to examine
the preachers and to insist upon their explaining the contents and the import
of the Bull of the crusade. A chest with four locks was to be placed in the
sacristy of the cathedral to receive the alms; one of the keys of this chest
was to be kept by the Bishop, the second by the Papal Commissioner, the third
by the two collectors, and the fourth by two notable citizens to be chosen by
the congregation. A notary was to write down the names of the contributors and
the amount paid, so that everyone might be sure that the funds were devoted
exclusively to the object of the crusade.
Nevertheless, as nothing human is perfect, serious
abuses occurred. Some of the collectors retained the funds entrusted to them;
false collectors arose, as they had done in the time of Nicholas V, and cheated
the people out of their money. Calixtus III, when informed of these
malpractices, lost no time in proceeding against the offenders, yet it was
impossible for him entirely to avert the discredit brought upon the whole
enterprise in many cases by their misconduct.
Not content, however, with causing collections to be
made in every country for the expenses of the Holy War, the Pope, like a true
Spaniard, determined to devote all the pecuniary and military resources at his
disposal to the same object.
He accordingly did not hesitate to alienate jewels
from the Papal treasure and even Church property in order to provide the means
required for warlike preparations. The long list of gold and silver plate
bought by the art loving King Alfonso of Naples from the Pope in the year 1456
is still extant, and mentions gilt amphorae and cups, a silver wine cooler, a
table service for confectionery, and also a tabernacle with figures of the
Saviour and of St. Thomas, chalices and instruments of the pax. It is easy to
understand that such a Pontiff lost little time in dismissing the needy men of
letters and most of the artists and craftsmen who had been constantly employed
by his predecessor. Those whom he still retained in his service were required
to labour in the cause of the crusade. The painters and embroiderers had to
devote their skill exclusively to the fabrication of banners, and the sculptors
to that of stone cannon-balls.
We can hardly wonder that the records of this
Pontificate do not speak of any new buildings of importance. In Rome, however,
the erection of fortifications was not altogether discontinued, and the works
commenced by Nicholas V at the Ponte Molle, the Castle of St. Angelo, and
on the walls of the city were continued. A medal of this period represents the
Eternal City surrounded with great fortifications. But the ramparts of the
Vatican seem to have been left as they were, and the Tribune of St. Peter's to
have remained a ruin rising scarcely twenty feet above the ground. In vain did
the Poet Giuseppe Brippi conjure the Pope
to continue the building of St. Peter's. He merely placed a new organ in the
church, restored the windows, and repaired the circular chapel of St Andrew.
The architects who always found a welcome from
Calixtus III were military engineers and ship-builders, and he willingly
expended the treasure of the Church in remunerating their labours. Although the
great projects of his predecessor remained in abeyance, the Pope caused some
works to be undertaken in those churches of the Eternal City for which he felt
some special attraction. He was not in reality indifferent to the state of the
public buildings, but the war against the infidel absorbed his attention almost
to the exclusion of every other subject.
A Bull is still extant in which severe penalties are
pronounced against the robbers who were in the habit of removing stones and
ornaments from the churches of Rome.
Calixtus III, however, took no interest in an
antiquarian discovery made in July, 1458. In preparing the grave of a
Penitentiary in the Church of St. Petronilla, adjoining St. Peter's, a great
marble sarcophagus was brought to light, which contained a large coffin and one
for a child, both made of cypress wood and lined with silver. These coffins
were so heavy that six men could with difficulty carry them. The bodies, which
had been wrapped in rich, gold-embroidered, silken fabrics, crumbled away when
exposed to the air. As no inscription was found, many conjectures were made;
some believed the remains to be those of the Emperor Constantine or of his son.
Calixtus III had the coffins removed, and the gold of the embroidery, worth
about a thousand ducats, was, by his desire, sent to the Mint to be made
available for the Turkish war. Contemporary writers mention the circumstance
without a word of disapproval; a century later the destruction of such a
treasure would have elicited expressions of indignant protest.
It was the intention of the Pope to attack the Turks
at once, both by land and sea, and by this combined assault he expected to
recover possession of Constantinople. He mainly relied for the land forces on
Duke Philip of Burgundy, who ruled the richest and most important countries of
Western Europe. He had received the Cross from the hands of a Papal envoy, and
accordingly had been favoured, as in the time of Nicholas V, with the grant of
a plenary indulgence for his companions in arms, a tax on all reserved
benefices, a tithe of the ecclesiastical revenues in his territory, and other
privileges. Moreover, in order that he might devote himself without distraction
to the crusade, the Pope, in July, 1455, confirmed the peace which had been
concluded between Burgundy and France.
As no dependence could be placed on Venice, King
Alfonso of Naples seemed pointed out as the leader of the attack by sea. His
sway extended over Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and
the Balearic Isles; in fact, with the exception of Corsica which belonged to
the Genoese, he commanded all the western portion of the Mediterranean, and
could have done more than any other Western Prince to stay the advance of the
Turks. Accordingly the Pope spared no effort to induce him to take part in the
expedition, and the intimate relations, which had subsisted between them, gave
good grounds for expecting his hearty co-operation. The monarch was lavish of
fair promises and begged the Pope to allow him to be invested with the Cross.
Calixtus III gladly consented, and the ceremony was performed with great
solemnity on All Saints' Day, 1455. Many of his nobles and barons also took the
Cross on this occasion, and the hopes of the Pontiff rose high, soon however to
be blighted by the troubles which Jacopo Piccinino excited in Central Italy.
Deprived of his livelihood by the peace of Lodi in
1455, this Condottiere had threatened Bologna and the Romagna. The Duke of
Milan, however, by sending an army of four thousand men into the field, had
made it evident that insurrection in these quarters would not be tolerated, and
Piccinino crossed the Appenines and
directed his course towards Siena. This Republic had in the last war been
hostile to Florence and Venice, and had also offended King Alfonso of Naples.
These circumstances emboldened Piccinino to advance against the Sienese, who at
once appealed to all the powers who had joined the league, and more especially
to the Pope, imploring assistance. Calixtus granted their request all the more
willingly because the renewal of hostilities in Central Italy would necessarily
have hindered his preparations for the crusade. In June, 1456, he informed the
Venetian ambassadors that he would offer the same resistance to Piccinino as to
the Turks, and would make an example of him, deeming the maintenance of peace
in Italy to be a matter equal in importance to the defence of the Christian
faith, and, indeed, inseparable from it. In order to protect Siena, he
despatched the Papal forces which were in readiness to make war upon the
Turks. Napoleone Orsini, Stefano Colonna, and Deifobo and Ascanio, sons of Count Everso of Anguillara, accompanied these troops,
and their commander was the Sicilian, Giovanni Ventimiglia. Venice and Florence
also declared against Piccinino, and Francesco Sforza desired his generals,
Roberto di Sanseverino and Corrado Folliano,
to start in his pursuit King Alfonso alone remained passive, from which it was
soon surmised that there was a secret understanding between him and the
Condottiere.
The troops of the Duke of Milan joined those of the
Pope near the Lake of Thrasymene. Piccinino
boldly advanced and made an unexpected attack, which at first promised to be
successful, but Roberto di Sanseverino soon rallied his forces and
repulsed the enemy, who then fell back upon Castiglione della Pescaja. This fortress
was situated between a marshy lake and the sea, and was almost impregnable. It
belonged to King Alfonso, who caused his fleet to convey provisions to
Piccinino. In con- sequence of this assistance afforded to the Condottiere by
the King, and of the incapacity and indecision of Giovanni Ventimiglia the war
was protracted to a disastrous length. This was exactly what the King of Naples
desired, for it gave him time to place fresh obstacles in the way of the
projected campaign against the Turks, and involved Calixtus III and his allies
in great expense. Yet the Pope seems to have hoped that the influence of their
ancient friendship would have enabled him to persuade Alfonso to second his efforts
for the defence of Christendom. The King's pretensions on behalf of Piccinino
were, however, little calculated to encourage such hopes. He required that the
Italian league, into which he had entered, should consent to support a common
army, and that Piccinino should be its general, and be always in readiness to
resist the Turks. The Italian powers were called upon to promise a yearly
payment of a hundred thousand florins to the army, and quarters for the
soldiers. Francesco Sforza and Calixtus III indignantly rejected the proposal
that Italy should be made tributary to one whom they justly regarded as a brigand. The
attempt made by Piccinino to burn the papal crusading fleet at Civita Vecchia may
enable us to estimate his fitness for the command of the army destined to make
war upon the Turks.
Unspeakable mischief was done to the Sienese by the
petty warfare which Piccinino waged against them, and their hardships were
increased when, in the October of 1455, he took possession of their port
of Orbitello, and from its plunder derived means
to maintain himself for a season. In despair they determined on sending an
ambassador to the Court of King Alfonso, the source of all their troubles. But
no agreement was arrived at, and early in April, 1456, a fresh embassy,
consisting of Galgano Borghese, Leonardo Benvoglienti,
and Aeneas Sylvius, proceeded to Naples. Just at this time an open breach
between Alfonso and the Pope seemed imminent. The King had been informed that
Calixtus had on Maundy Thursday pronounced a sentence of excommunication
against Piccinino, his partisans and protectors, and, enraged by these tidings,
Alfonso had declared that he would have all the Pope's relations banished from
his dominions. He also sent subsidies to Piccinino's adherents. He
was satisfied, however, when it was pointed out to him that those who took arms
against the Church had been excommunicated by previous Popes since the days of
Martin V, and that the action of Calixtus in this matter was nothing new.
This cause of discord having been set at rest
negotiations were resumed, and on the 31st May were at last concluded. The
following were the conditions of peace: Piccinino was to give up the places he
had conquered, to evacuate Tuscany and retire into the domains of his patron
Alfonso; the States of the League were to pay fifty thousand florins for the
maintenance of his army, Alfonso undertaking to furnish a fifth part of this
sum. The arrangement of details was confided to the Pope, who desired that twenty
thousand florins should be paid out of the apostolic treasury; and Siena was to
contribute a like amount. The admonitory briefs of Calixtus III, preserved in
its State Archives, bear witness to the dilatory discharge of this obligation
by the exhausted city. Piccinino did not leave Orbitello until
constrained to do so by King Alfonso in September, 1456, fifteen months after
his disgraceful inroad into the territory of the unfortunate Sienese, who now
sent Bishop Alessio de' Cesari of Chiusi as their ambassador
to Rome to thank the Pope for the great services which he had rendered them
during the continuance of the war.
Another circumstance which occurred in the first year
of his Pontificate caused the Pope even greater distress than that occasioned
by this war in Central Italy. In September, 1455, he had entrusted to
Archbishop Pietro Urrea of Tarragona, Antonio Olzina, and Antonio de Frescobaldis the
command of the vessels destined for the relief of the Christian islands in the
Aegean Sea, which were at this time harassed by the Turkish fleet. The
traitors, however, instead of employing the vessels which had been procured
with money collected for the crusade in operations against the Turks, combined
with King Alfonso's fleet, commanded by Villamarina,
attacked the Genoese, devastated their coast, and waged war with the ships of
other Christian powers. As soon as the first faint rumour of these events
reached the ears of the Pope he at once despatched letters of urgent
remonstrance to King Alfonso. "If only a few Christian galleys had shown
themselves in the neighbourhood of Ragusa", wrote the justly incensed
Pontiff to his ambassadors at Naples, "the Hungarians would have taken
fresh courage. As it is they hear nothing of our fleet, and break forth into
bitter complaints. Oh, traitors! your ships might have discomfited the Turks,
raised up the Christians of the East, and delivered Hungary from the danger
which threatens her. Instead of this, you have shamefully betrayed us with the
help of our own money. The vengeance of God and of the Holy See will surely
overtake you! Alfonso, King of Aragon, help Pope Calixtus! If you refuse, you
will incur the wrath of heaven!". The Pope then issued orders
removing Urrea and his accomplices from their posts, and entrusted
the execution of the sentence to Cardinal Scarampo, who was nominated
Admiral of the Fleet.
These disastrous occurrences, however, could not damp
the courage of the Pope, on the contrary, difficulties only increased his zeal
for the holy cause. The construction and equipment of a fleet in Rome was the
object of his efforts, and it is the special glory of this Pope that he
successfully carried into execution a project which had hitherto been scoffed
at as hopelessly chimerical. The astonished Romans, who were soon to behold the
baptism of a Turkish prince (March, I456), suddenly witnessed the development
of an unwonted activity on the banks of the Tiber : docks were constructed
at Ripa Grande, and a wall for the mooring
of the galleys erected at Sto. Spirito. In order
to hasten as much as possible the completion of the naval preparations, the
Pope caused carpenters and seamen to be brought from Spoleto and other places.
Cardinal Lodovico Scarampo was appointed
Captain-General and Admiral of the Fleet. This warlike and wealthy prince of
the Church, whose character had much in common with that of Vitelleschi, had already given proof of his military
capacity in the time of Eugenius IV. Of all the Cardinals, he was perhaps the
one best fitted for the conduct of this arduous enterprise, but he would have
preferred remaining in Rome, where he occupied a most influential position at
Court. This very circumstance, however, made the jealous members of the Borgia
family anxious for his removal, and the Cardinal was finally compelled to
depart.
Scarampo’s appointment as Legate and Admiral of the Papal Fleet took place on
the 17th December, 1455, and was the occasion of magnificent festivities in
Rome. A further decree then extended his authority as Legate over Sicily,
Dalmatia, Macedonia, the whole of Greece, the Islands of the Aegean Sea, Crete,
Rhodes, Cyprus, and the Asiatic Provinces, and declared that all places which
he should conquer from the enemy were to be subject to his rule.
The arrangements for the construction of the ships of
war were henceforth chiefly in Scarampo's hands;
but a commission which had been formed by Nicholas V and consisted of Cardinals
Bessarion, d'Estouteville, Capranica,
Orsini, and Barbo, shared his labours. The Pope's anxiety was increased by
the frequent arrival of evil tidings from the East, and he unceasingly strove
to push forward the works, and, in addition to the general tithe, required from
the Cardinals a special contribution towards the cost of the fleet.
A Register marked with a red cross is preserved in the
Roman State Archives, and furnishes us with an account of the arrangements
concerning the sums expended on the construction of the fleet in 1455-1456. The
insight afforded us into the warlike preparations so zealously carried on by
the Pope is most valuable. The administrative labours were directed by the
Surveyor-General, Ambrogio Spannochi, under
the control of Cardinal Scarampo. From this Register we learn that the
work was begun in the autumn of 1455, and carried on during the whole of the
following winter. The cost of the iron, pitch, and timber required for ship
building is accurately entered, as well as the amount spent in the purchase of
stone and leaden cannon-balls, cross-bows, arrows, morions, coats of mail,
lances, swords, pick-axes, chains, ropes, and anchors. We are made acquainted
with the smallest details of the equipment of the expedition, including even
the flags and banners, the tents, and the ship-biscuits. The very bill for five
reams of paper, (sent from Rome to Ostia), for the future correspondence of the
Papal fleet is before us.
The eager Pontiff desired that the expedition should
start on the 1st April, 1456, but the month of May had drawn to its close
before the preparations were so far advanced as to render its departure
possible. On the Feast of St. Petronilla (May 31) the Pope himself affixed the
cross to the shoulder of the Cardinal Legate, who at once proceeded to Ostia
with the ships which had been built in Rome. Three weeks more passed before
they stood out to sea, for in an Italian Archive there are letters written by Scarampo on
the 13th and 20th June, and dated from the mouth of the Tiber. According to the
commonly received account, the forces under the Legate's command consisted of
sixteen galleys; a recent historian, however, asserts that the fleet numbered
twenty-seven sail, was manned by a thousand seamen, and conveyed five thousand
soldiers with three hundred pieces of cannon.
The troops were gathered partly from Rome, Civita-Vecchia,
Ancona, and Perugia, and partly from Fermo and Bologna. Among them were the
Counts of Anguillara and other leaders of the mercenary bands which
had been engaged against Piccinino. Velasco Farigna,
a Portuguese, was appointed by the Pope vice-admiral. Judicial functions were
confided to Alfonso de Calatambio, of Aragon. By
the month of August the cost of the fleet had amounted to one hundred and fifty
thousand ducats.
The object of the expedition was twofold — firstly, to
protect the harassed Christian populations of the islands in the Aegean Sea
from the Turks; and, secondly, to divide the armed forces of the infidels by
means of a sea attack. For the latter purpose the fleet was evidently
inadequate, and accordingly the Pope's first care was to provide
reinforcements. Scarampo, furnished with ample powers, directed his course
at once to Naples, in order to take possession of fifteen galleys which had
been promised the year before by King Alfonso. But the faithless monarch now
made difficulties of every kind. As long as he could extort money from the
churches and clergy of his realm he had been lavish of promises, but the money
had been spent in the payment of his debts, squandered in splendid feasts, or
employed in the prosecution of the war against the unfortunate Genoese. The
departure of Scarampo was thus delayed so long that the Pope became
extremely impatient. He sent a special messenger to Naples, requiring the legate
to put to sea immediately, even if the King's galleys were not in readiness.
Letters from Cardinal Carvajal had reached Rome with tidings that the Turks
might be expected to attack Hungary unless their forces were shortly weakened
by the operations of the fleetf Calixtus
III shortly afterwards desired his ambassador to "constrain" the
legate to depart, saying that in Sicily he would find money and the ships which
had been commanded by the Archbishop of Tarragona. The Pope also wrote himself
imploring him to start without delay, and finally laid him under an obedience
to do so. In one of the Papal Briefs he thus addresses him: "Gird yourself
with the sword, beloved son; leave Naples and fulfil your promise. Then will
God be with you, and neither money nor anything else that is necessary will be
wanting”.
Scarampo entered on the expedition with great and
manifest reluctance, and endeavoured as much as possible to defer its
departure. The Pope was greatly incensed, and bitterly complained of the
Cardinal, who only quitted Naples with a few of the King's galleys on the 6th
of August. The persistent entreaties of the Pope, who had in an autograph
letter urgently implored Alfonso to furnish the promised galleys, were at least
effectual in bringing about a change in the mind of the King.
Almost as soon as the Pope heard
that Scarampo had quitted Sicily he urged him to proceed to the Greek
waters. His anxiety for immediate action was due to the continuance of
disquieting reports from Hungary regarding Turkish preparations. He hoped that
the appearance of his naval forces in the Aegean Sea would ultimately divert
the attention of the Turks from that Kingdom, and meanwhile diminish their
power of attacking it. Accordingly his first care was for the fleet. New ships
for its reinforcement were built in Rome. Odoardo Gaetani, Count
of Fondi, presented Calixtus with a vessel
which, in company with one of these, was to proceed to the relief of Rhodes
early in the year 1457. The command of these two ships was entrusted to two
Knights of St. John.
The ardent desires of the Pope were at last fulfilled;
the flag of St. Peter appeared in the Greek waters, and the Christian islands
were in some degree defended against the advances of the Turks.
The Papal force under Scarampo first touched
at Rhodes to supply the distressed Knights with money, weapons, and corn, and
then proceeded to Chios and Lesbos. In vain did the Cardinal endeavour to
incite the inhabitants of these two islands to refuse payment of the tribute
imposed by the infidel. Dread of Turkish vengeance deterred them from joining
the Christian cause. He was more successful in Lemnos, whence, as well as in
Samothrace and Thasos, he expelled the Turkish garrison and left Papal troops
in their place. He then established his head-quarters at Rhodes, where a large
arsenal was at his disposal.
The hopes and expectations of Calixtus III were, no
doubt, out of proportion with the strength of the fleet at his command. Yet he
also clearly perceived that no decisive success was possible without the
co-operation of some of the most powerful of the western princes. But the
danger which threatened to annihilate all the great results of centuries of
Christianity elicited from these princes nothing but fair words. In vain did
the aged Pontiff raise his voice in favour of the Holy War; his fiery eloquence
produced little or no effect.
It became more and more evident that the age of
crusades was past, and that the ideas which for centuries had ruled the minds
of men had now lost their power. Internal dissensions had destroyed the
sentiment of the solidarity of Christendom and its interests as opposed to the
infidel. The great cause of Eastern Christianity touched no chord in the heart
of Europe.
Fruitless deliberations took place in Germany, where a
portion of the clergy sought to veil their selfish dislike to the levy of
tithes for the crusade under a show of zeal for the liberties of the German
Church. The peace-loving Emperor Frederick III was by no means the man to rouse
the empire to united and vigorous effort. Indeed its distracted condition would
have made it an easy prey to any invader who once gained a footing in the
realm. He would have found only isolated forces to resist him, each one of
which could have been separately overcome.
The conduct of France was utterly unworthy of a
Christian power. Repeatedly and in eloquent terms did the Pope appeal to the
French King, particularly at the time of the departure of the fleet, but the
weak and helpless Charles VII was indifferent to the exhortations by which he
was reminded of his predecessors, and especially of St. Louis. He excused his
failure to comply with the Papal demands on the ground of the uncertain state
of his relations with England, and of the necessity of being on his guard against
that State. In the first instance he had forbidden the passage of troops
through France, the promulgation of the Bull of the Crusade, and the collection
of the tithes for the war. These proceedings called forth just and serious
complaints from the Pope, who used every effort to bring about peace with
England, and so remove the King's pretext. His attempts were unsuccessful in
this matter, as were also those which he made to reconcile Charles VII with his
son. The Pope was much distressed by the manner in which Cardinal Alain
neglected his duties as legate in France. There are a number of unpublished
letters on this subject. In the first of these, which was written in September,
1456, Calixtus expresses his surprise at the conduct of the French King, who,
notwithstanding the goodwill recently manifested towards him by the Pontiff,
would not permit the collection of the tithes for the crusade or even the
publication of the Bull concerning it. This unfriendly conduct at such a time
was, Calixtus declared, most painful to him. In conclusion, Alain is urgently
exhorted to show himself zealous in the fulfilment of the duties entrusted to
him, so as to falsify the sneering remarks which were current in regard to the
failure of his mission to France. In October of the same year the Pope again
felt it necessary to write to him in a similar strain. "The Christian who
does not now render assistance in following up the victory God has
granted", he says, alluding to the battle at Belgrade, “proves himself
unworthy of divine favours". To this exhortation was added a command to
urge upon the King the repeal of the Pragmatic Sanction. The Knights of St.
John at Rhodes were at this time endeavouring to secure a very large portion of
the French tithes. In a long letter to Charles VII the Pope objected to this
arrangement, inasmuch as a great deal had already been done for Rhodes, and the
support of the fleet was now the first consideration.
In February, 1457, Alain was again urged in the
strongest manner to forward the money for the crusade. That which had been
collected in Italy was far from sufficient for the support and reinforcement of
the fleet, and he was to take measures for the collection of the tribute, not
merely in France, but also in England. "Woe, woe to those, whoever they
may be", exclaimed the Pope, "who hinder the cause of the
crusade!". At the end of March, 1457, Calixtus had not yet received a
penny towards the war from the wide dominions of France. While he deplored this
strange fact, he expressly blamed Alain for writing so little regarding the
crusade. In the same brief he regrets the sluggishness of the Catholic princes;
and in hopes of stirring up the French King to greater zeal, he this year sent
him the Golden Rose. Afterwards when an agreement had been entered into between
Charles VII and the Pope for the construction of a fleet of thirty sail from
the proceeds of the tithe, fresh difficulties arose. The King expressly
prohibited the export of the money collected for the crusade, and even detained
the ships which he had engaged to send, and employed them, not against the
Turks, but partly against the English and partly against Naples. This amounted
to actual treason against the Christian cause.
Under these circumstances it can hardly be deemed
surprising that a considerable proportion of the French clergy assumed an
attitude of absolute opposition to the Papal demands.
As early as the year 1456 the University of Paris had
ventured to appeal from the Pope to a council in regard to the tithe for the
war imposed by Calixtus. The University of Toulouse and several ecclesiastical
corporations in different dioceses of the kingdom joined in this appeal. Alain
lost courage, and failed to act with the energy required. The appellants then
presented a very violent memorial to the King, strongly urging him to resist
the "presumption of the Pope in levying a tax on the Gallican Church
without her consent”, and to do this all the more zealously in view of the
audacity with which the Pope had opposed the newest fundamental law of the
French State, the Pragmatic Sanction of 1438. In August, 1457, the King
answered by a declaration that "the levy of the tithe prescribed by the
Pope was to take place, but that the rights of the French were in no way to be
impaired".
In June, 1457, the University of Paris had even sent a
special envoy to Rome to protest before the Pope and cardinals against the
collection of the tithes, and at the same time to present eighteen anti-Papal
articles and demand a general council. The reply of Calixtus was by no means
wanting in decision. Alain was reproved for his negligence, and commanded to
compel the University of Paris to withdraw the appeal, which was declared
invalid on the score of "rashness and impiety", while the appellants
were visited with ecclesiastical penalties.
Notwithstanding all the grand promises made by the
Duke of Burgundy, he did no more than Charles VII to assist in the Holy War.
None of the money collected in his dominions appears to have been transmitted
to Rome, for, in the Register of Briefs of Calixtus III, we find one addressed
to Philip regarding the large sums obtained in Burgundy for the crusade. The
Pope here begs that, if not the whole, at least a portion of the amount may be
sent to him. In December, 1457, when alarming accounts of the immense warlike
preparations of the Turks reached Rome, the Pope wrote a fresh letter of
remonstrance to the Duke, but it proved equally fruitless.
King Christian of Denmark and Norway, and King Alfonso
of Portugal, had also been lavish in promises of assistance against the Turks.
But on the 2nd June, 1455, we find the former of these two monarchs providing
himself with money by abstracting from the sacristy of the cathedral at
Roskilde the pious offerings which had been collected for the expenses of the
war and for the relief of the King of Cyprus!
The solemn promises made by the King of Portugal in
the autumn of 1456 both by letters and by his envoys to Rome had filled the
Cardinals, the whole Court, and the Pope himself with the brightest hopes, and
Calixtus had felt no hesitation in leaving in his hands the tithe collected in
his dominions in the years 1456 and 14574 King Alfonso certainly kept
possession of the money, but was as far as his Neapolitan namesake from taking
part in the crusade. Calixtus did not spare his exhortations, and continued to
hope against hope for the ultimate fulfilment of the royal promise. A letter
addressed to Cardinal Carvajal on the 23rd May, 1457, shows that he at that
time expected the immediate appearance of vessels of war from Portugal and from
Genoa. The nuncio to Portugal received repeated instructions to do everything
in his power to hasten the King's arrival, but all was in vain. Towards the end
of the year 1457 the Pope's patience was at length exhausted. He commanded his
nuncio to return to Rome, bringing all the money for the crusade with him
unless Alfonso should set sail in the following April. When the month of April
was near its close, and the Portuguese fleet had not started, Calixtus was
constrained to carry his threat into execution. By this means he at least saved
the money collected in Portugal, which was greatly needed for the reinforcement
of the fleet.
Forsaken in this manner by all the European powers,
the Pope could look for assistance to the Italian states alone. Here, however,
he found the same indifference, the same treachery, in regard to the Christian
cause. None of the Italian statesmen of the day could rise to the idea of a
crusade. Their views were directed exclusively to their own immediate
interests.
We have already spoken of the great difficulty which
the faithless King Alfonso of Naples had, like "the most Christian
Monarch", placed in the way of the crusade. Next to Alfonso, Duke
Francesco Sforza of Milan was the most powerful of Italian potentates. The
Pope's constant requests for the favourable reception of his envoys and for
material help against the Turks were met by the fairest promises. In reality,
however, the great general had no intention of heeding the Papal behests, nor
of placing himself in the cause of the crusade at the head of an army against
the Turks. The strengthening of his own rule in Lombardy was his constant and
principal care, and all other interests were secondary to this object.
The Republic of Venice, which was beyond all other
States bound to take a decisive part in this struggle, turned a deaf ear to all
the Pope's exhortations. The Signoria would not on any account compromise its
commercial interests, and accordingly kept up constant and amicable relations
with the Sultan.
Florence also used every effort to avoid any open
espousal of the Christian cause. The envoy who in the autumn of 1445 went to
Porto Pisano to meet the Cardinal Legate Alain on his way to France, was
strictly admonished on no account to make any definite promise in regard to
co-operation in the Turkish war. Love for the "cursed flower”, as Dante
called the Florentine golden florin, outweighed all else. A few of the smaller
powers, like Mantua, supported Calixtus, but the words of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini,
"The Pope calls for help and no one listens to him; he threatens, and no
one is afraid”, may be taken as of a most universal application.
The courage of Calixtus III, in presence of such
overwhelming difficulties, was marvellous. He continued to adjure the Christian
princes and potentates to make peace among themselves, and take arms against
the enemies of God. He still sent a number of ambassadors, chiefly selected
from the Minorite friars, to collect money and troops for the holy war from
every country in Europe. He himself gave the example of sacrifice by turning
the treasures and jewels collected by Nicholas V into money, and finally giving
up the silver plate used at his table. Brother Gabriel of Verona informed his
friend, St. John Capistran, that one day when gilt salt-cellars and other
valuable articles were placed on his table, the Pope exclaimed: "Away,
away with these things! take them for the Turks! Earthenware will do quite as
well for me!". In one of his briefs Calixtus expresses his willingness to
have only a linen mitre for the sake of the defence of the Holy Gospel and of
the true faith.
No danger or difficulty had power to subdue the fiery
enthusiasm of the aged man. "Only cowards", he used to say,
"fear danger; the palm of glory grows nowhere but on the
battle-field". The epithet of "high-souled old man" has been
well bestowed on Calixtus III by Palmieri, but the reproach uttered by Petrarch
in the days of Urban V was still applicable to the European potentates.
Ye lords of Christendom I eternal shame
For ever will pursue each royal name,
And tell your wolfish rage for kindred blood,
While Paynim hounds profane the seat of God!
CHAPTER III.
THE VICTORY OF THE CRUSADERS AT BELGRADE— THROUGH THE
INDOLENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN POWERS IT IS NOT TURNED TO ACCOUNT — ANTI-PAPAL
FEELING IN GERMANY— RELATIONS OF CALIXTUS III WITH NAPLES.
The failure of the efforts made by the Holy See to
unite all the nations of Europe in a defensive alliance against the ceaseless
encroachments of Islam strengthened Mahomet II's determination to adopt
aggressive measures and attack Hunyadi, whom he justly considered as, after
Skanderbeg, the only enemy able to meet him on equal terms. Hungary was the
power most dreaded by the Sultan, and accordingly his chief aim was to cripple
or to annihilate it. In order to give a firmer basis to the political and military
operations undertaken for this pur- pose he had
even in the year 1454 begun to extend his dominion in Servia. Hunyadi was not
in a position to prevent this, and in July, 1455, the important and strongly
fortified city of Novoberdo, with all the
treasures, which had in the course of years been amassed within its walls, fell
into the hands of the infidels.
In the following year Mahomet resolved to deal Hungary
a decisive blow. He had no reason to apprehend hostile attacks by sea from the
west, for the Republic of Genoa was helpless and Venice was friendly, while the
little Papal fleet, unsupported by any Christian naval power, was not likely to
give him much trouble.
During the winter of 1455-1456 the Turks were actively
engaged in getting ready for war. Troops were assembled from all parts of the
kingdom, and an immense number of men worked day and night in a cannon-foundry,
which was established at Kruschewatz on the
Morava. Extensive preparations were made for the provisioning of the army which
was to besiege Belgrade. War materials of all descriptions were carried to the
spot. Weapons, especially bows and arrows, and a great part of the provisions,
were procured in the adjacent province of Bosnia and stored up in magazines.
Mills for grinding corn and a number of bakeries were constructed. With a care
and foresight almost unknown in the West, everything was provided that could be
needed for a protracted siege, or serve, in the event of success, to render
Belgrade available as the Sultan's headquarters for future operations against
Hungary and more northern lands.
In June, 1456, the ruler of the infidels led an army
of more than a hundred and fifty thousand men with three hundred
cannons towards the Danube, on his way to Belgrade, the bulwark of Vienna. His
progress was absolutely unopposed, and by the beginning of July the city, which
was the key to Hungary, was completely invested by land. A terrible fire was
opened and kept up night and day. The thunder of the artillery was heard
at Szegedin, more than twenty-four Hungarian miles distant. Mahomet, after
his victory at Constantinople, looked on the siege of Belgrade as mere child's
play, and is said to have boasted that he would in a fortnight subdue the
fortress which his father had vainly besieged for half a year, and within three
months' later would sup in Buda. The besieged had completely lost heart, when
unexpected succour arrived in the persons of John Hunyadi and St.
John Capistran. These two great men were powerfully supported by the Papal
legate Cardinal Juan Carvajal, a fellow-countryman of the Pope's, and one of
the noblest characters of the age. In November, 1455, he had arrived at
Wiener-Neustadt, whence he proceeded to Vienna and to Buda. "He
brought", writes the biographer of Aeneas Sylvius, "nothing with him
but a plenary indulgence for all who should take up arms against the Turks, and
promises, which had proved often delusive. But he brought himself, and his own
inspiriting example". "Such a legate truly corresponds to the
greatness of our need", said the King of Hungary when he thanked the Pope
for sending this distinguished man, who spent the next six years on the banks
of the Danube, sharing all the sufferings and privations of the crusaders, and
ready to close by a martyr's death a life of complete devotion to the service
of God and His Church.
The summons issued on the 14th January, 1456, to the
Hungarian Diet to meet at Buda, and the arrival of King Ladislas himself in
Hungary towards the end of the month, were alike due in great measure to
Carvajal’s energy. When the Diet opened in February he did his utmost to
encourage the Hungarians, by holding out the prospect of assistance from the
Papal fleet, and from the King of Naples and the Duke of Burgundy, who were
both engaged in warlike preparations. On behalf of the Pope he granted a
plenary indulgence to every soldier who should take the field. The States
levied a contribution of a golden florin on every farmhouse, made arrangements
to provide shelter and food for the crusaders, who were expected to arrive in
great numbers from other countries, and begged the Pope soon to send the
promised fleet to the Hellespont. At the same time they declared that in
consequence of the bad harvest of the previous year the
expedition could not set out until August. They bad barely time to
draw up their reports before messengers from the Lower Danube arrived bringing
the alarming news of the advance of the Sultan with an immense army, and the
imminent danger which threatened Belgrade, the bulwark of Hungary. At this critical
moment the eyes of the nation naturally turned to King Ladislas, who, with his
Privy Counsellor, the Count of Cilli, was still at Buda. But the King,
having absented himself from his capital on pretext of a hunting party, made
his escape to Vienna. His flight was a signal to the cowardly barons, who had
taken no measures for the defence of their country, and they also at once left
Buda and concealed themselves.
In this terrible extremity, Hungary was saved from the
advancing tide of Islam by the three great men whom we have mentioned, each of
whom bore the name of John. Hunyadi raised a force of seven thousand men at his
own cost; Carvajal, who, at the earnest desire of its Governor, remained in
Buda, laboured unremittingly to procure means of transport, provisions, and
assistance; while St John Capistran collected the Crusaders who had
been won to the cause by his own burning words and those of the missioners, Giovanni da Tagliacozzo, Niccolò da Fara,
and Ambroise of Languedoc.
As the Hungarian nobles, like those of Germany,
remained, with few exceptions, inactive, the crusading army assembled by the
Saint and Carvajal constituted the only aid afforded to the heroic Hunyadi. The
force was made up for the most part of poor citizens and peasants, monks,
hermits and students, armed with axes, pikes, flails, pitch-forks, and such
other weapons as they could collect. Some greedy adventurers were certainly to
be found among the motley crew, but the majority of the crusaders were determined
to fight and die for their faith. They wore a red cross on the left breast, and
their banners bore on one side a cross and on the other the figure of Sts. Anthony, Francis, Louis, or Bernardine. A number of
German foot soldiers and three hundred Polish warriors gave some support to the
untrained and ill-armed masses; the generalship of
Hunyadi, seconded by the zeal of St John Capistran, did the rest.
Belgrade is situated on a rocky hill, in the corner of
the promontory formed by the union of the Save with the Danube. At the summit
of this steep hill stands the castle, which, at the time we are speaking of,
was strongly fortified. The declivity along the banks of the river was occupied
by the lower town, which was then surrounded by walls and also on the land side
defended by a double wall and moat. Mahomet II had not only shut in the
fortress completely on the land side, but also sent a flotilla to cut off
communication by the Danube and the Save. To make a breach in this iron circle
was the first object of Hunyadi and St. John Capistran. The former, with
the assistance of the legate, collected about two hundred boats at Salankemen, laden with munitions of war and provisions. He
embarked his followers and the crusaders who joined them, and on the 14th of
July, taking advantage of the current, bore down upon the Turkish ships, which
were chained together. After five hours’ fighting, during which the waters of
the Danube ran red with blood, the Christians succeeded in breaking through the
Turkish line, and gained a complete victory. While the combat was going on, St.
John Capistran stood on the shore and encouraged the Christian
warriors by holding up the crucifix, which the Pope had sent him by
Cardinal Carvajal, and calling out the Holy Name of Jesus!
The moral effects of this great victory were most
important, for it broke the charm of supposed invincibility which had grown up
around the Crescent. Moreover, it afforded breathing-time to the besieged, who
had been under fire for a fortnight in the burning heat of summer. The Danube
too was free, and the fortress was replenished with corn, wine, and troops.
Hunyadi was prudent enough not to lose time in the pursuit of the Turkish
vessels, but seizing on the favourable moment, at once occupied the fortress
which had been so hardly won. St. John Capistran accompanied him, and
with his heart-stirring eloquence stimulated the courage of the besieged for
the decisive day which was approaching.
Mahomet, infuriated by defeat, determined to avenge
the disgrace of the 14th July by the complete destruction of the place. Night
and day the city was subjected to an unceasing fire, and meanwhile he gathered
together the flower of his army for a general assault which was to deal the
final blow. In the evening of the 21st July, the seventh day after the
engagement on the Danube, at the head of his janissaries, he gave the signal
for attack. The battle lasted throughout the whole of that night and the following
day. From a tower in the fortress, Hunyadi and the Saint watched its
vicissitudes, the former giving orders for the despatch of succour where it was
required, and for the relief of the wearied and wounded. If he saw his forces
anywhere giving way he flew to the spot, reanimating the courage of his men by
fighting among them as a common soldier. St. John Capistran from the
tower held up the crucifix which the Pope had blessed, and poured forth
unceasing supplication to the Almighty for aid. The besieged fought like lions,
all the Turkish assaults were repelled, and those who had taken up their
position in the trenches were dislodged by means of bundles of brushwood soaked
in oil, pitch, and sulphur, and set on fire.
Various accounts are given of the final crisis of the
battle. The following is probably the true one. The crusaders, whose enthusiasm
had by this time reached its climax, ventured in opposition to Hunyadi's
commands, and without any order from St. John Capistran, on a strong
sortie against a portion of the fortified camp of the Turks. The voice of the
Saint, who not only called out from the walls, but hastened down amongst them,
was powerless to restrain their ardour. Suddenly the Turkish cavalry charged the
rash Christian warriors, who, eager for plunder, were pressing forward into the
encampment of a pasha, and drove them, exhausted as they were, into a narrow
place. At this critical moment Hunyadi came to the rescue, making a fresh sally
from the city, spiking some of the enemy's artillery and turning some against
the Turks themselves. The Sultan, wounded by an arrow and mad with rage, was
compelled as night came on to give the signal for retreat. The whole of the
Turkish camp with all the arms and a portion of the artillery fell into the
hands of the Christians. And thus, to use the words of Nicholas Cusa, on
the day of St. Mary Magdalen the Cross of Christ triumphed over its enemy.
Belgrade, Hungary, and, in some sense, Christendom and European civilization
were saved; their deliverance was due in great measure to the fiery eloquence
of the indefatigable St. John Capistran, who, in conjunction with Hunyadi,
had been the soul of this terrible battle, and who had the chief share in its
happy result. Calixtus III and his legate, the noble Cardinal Carvajal, must
also be mentioned as having contributed to this memorable victory.
"Whatever was achieved against the Turks", says a Protestant
historian, "was entirely the Pope's doings, and the great deliverance
wrought at Belgrade is to be ascribed most properly to him".
It would be hard to describe the agitation of the Pope
when the first tidings of the advance of the Turks towards Belgrade reached
Rome. The report of the Milanese ambassador, Jacopo Calcaterra, who had a long
conversation with Calixtus III on the 27th July, 1456, gives a vivid picture of
the distress of the aged Pontiff, who, in his noble efforts for the defence of
Christendom, found himself abandoned by all the Western Princes. While groaning
under the heavy burden laid upon him, the brave man was ready to sacrifice
himself for the common cause. “I acknowledge and firmly believe, O Almighty
God" he said, in the course of this memorable interview, "that it is
Thy will that I alone should wear myself out and die for the general good. So
be it! I am ready, even if I must myself go into bondage and alienate all the
possessions of the Church". And, alluding to the plague which was at this
time raging in Rome, he added, "Nothing will induce me to leave Rome, not
even if, like so many others, lam to fall a victim to the plague. Mahomet, the
enemy of our faith, compels me to remain. He does not relax his efforts,
although thousands in his immense army have been carried off". The
ambassador was greatly touched by the Pope's words, and on the day following
the audience wrote thus to his master: "No man on earth can have so hard
and stony a heart as not to be moved with the greatest compassion for His
Holiness".
A month before this, Calixtus, bereft of all human
aid, had solemnly sought Divine assistance. On the Feast of St. Peter and St.
Paul (29th June), 1456, he addressed a Bull to all the Patriarchs, Archbishops,
Bishops, and Abbots of Christendom, exhorting them by prayers, fasting and
penance to "return to the Lord, that He may again return to us", and
also to direct their attention to the reformation of the flocks committed to
their charge. The following special directions were added: "On the first
Sunday of each month processions were to be made in every diocese in order to
pray that the threatened Turkish invasion might be averted; the Missa contra Paganos was
to be said, and a suitable discourse delivered to the assembled people.
Moreover, every priest, without exception, was required to use the following
prayer in every Mass he said: "Almighty, everlasting God, to whom all
power belongs, and in whose hand are the rights of all nations, protect Thy
Christian people and crush by Thy power the pagans who trust in their
fierceness". Indulgences were attached to the performance of these
devotions, and to enable the people to share in these prayers and indulgences
it was further enacted that in every church, between noon and vespers, one or
more bells should be rung as for the angelus, and three "Our
Fathers", and “Hail Marys" recited. Indulgences were granted for
these prayers. The Pope considered the splendid victory on the Danube primarily
due to these supplications.
The Christian world breathed more freely after hearing
of the triumph of Hunyadi and St John Capistran. If the fear of Turkish
invasion had been extreme, the joy of Christendom at the happy tidings of
unlooked-for victory knew no bounds. Every heart that beat true to the good
cause received the news as a favour from God. "We can hardly find a
chronicler, however distant from the scene of action, or however obscure, who
fails to mention this wonderful victory of the poor crusaders". Even in
Venice, though she had done her best to remain neutral, the victory was the
occasion of the greatest rejoicings. Splendid festivities took place in the
cities of the States of the Church, which learned the good news from special
messengers sent by the Pope. Processions, in which the Madonna of St. Luke, the
heads of St. Petronius and St. Dominic, the hand of St. Cecilia, and other
precious relics were borne, were made in Bologna for three days.
No one throughout all Christendom was more delighted
than the Pope at the defeat of the infidels. In one of his Briefs he speaks of
the victory at Belgrade as the happiest event of his life. The Emperor and
other potentates informed the Pope of it by special messengers. In Rome, by his
desire, the ringing of all the church bells, processions of thanksgiving and
bonfires announced the good news.
The Milanese ambassador, Jacopo Calcaterra, writing on
the 24th August, 1456, gives a detailed and highly interesting description of
the impression made on the aged Pope by the tidings of the relief of Belgrade.
In an audience lasting three hours and a half Calixtus poured forth his
feelings with the utmost expansiveness and freedom. "The Pope",
writes the ambassador, "was so full of the great victory that he
constantly reverted to it. He praised Hunyadi to the skies, calling him the
greatest man that the world had seen for three hundred years. But with equal
energy did he lament the torpor of the Hungarians who had not supported Hunyadi
and the crusaders". Moreover, Calixtus ascribed the victory to the grace
of God more than to human courage. "God", he said, "has granted
this victory especially to bring shame and confusion on those who opposed my
efforts for the crusade, who said that no one could understand what I wanted,
and that in pursuit of my vain dreams the treasures of the Church, which other
Popes had amassed, were being thrown to the winds". "His
Holiness", here observes Jacopo Calcaterra, "plainly told me that it
was King Alfonso of Naples who had thus reproached him". Even more
strongly did the Pope express himself regarding Scarampo; and it is
evident that this Cardinal's influence at the Papal Court was entirely gone,
and that the Borgias had succeeded in prejudicing the mind of the Pope against
him. This estrangement was no doubt also caused by the delay of Scarampo in
leading the Papal fleet against the Turks.
The victory at Belgrade had, as the letter of the
Milanese ambassador shows us, raised the Pope's spirits wonderfully. Calixtus
fully expected that the Christian Princes would look with very different eyes
on the crusade, and would be more willing to make sacrifices for the common
cause of Christendom now that his predictions, a thousand times repeated in the
course of the past year, had been accomplished by the defeat and destruction of
the Turks.
There can be no doubt that in the first joyful
enthusiasm elicited by the success of the Christian arms he cherished far too
brilliant anticipations regarding the consequences of the victory. The accounts
which reached him from Hungary were well calculated to strengthen these hopes.
In the joy of their triumph, Hunyadi and St. John Capistran were so
persuaded of the approaching annihilation of the Sultan's power that they did
not hesitate to represent it to the Pope as an accomplished fact, only now
requiring from him the support of an insignificant force to secure its fruits.
“Most Holy Father”, wrote St. John Capistran, a few days after the relief
of Belgrade, "the right time has come. The day of the salvation of
Christendom has dawned! Now is the moment when the long cherished desire of
your Holiness will be fulfilled, not only by the recovery of the Greek empire
and Europe, but also by the conquest of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Almighty
God will surely help us if only your Holiness persevere in your pious purposes.
But one thing do your legates ask from your piety and zeal for the faith,
namely, that you will send some ten or twelve thousand well-armed horsemen from
Italy. If these remain with us for at least six months, together with the
crusaders, who are devoted to you as obedient sons, and the noble princes,
prelates, and barons of the kingdom of Hungary, we hope to acquire enough of
the goods of the infidels to cover all expenses for three years and richly to
reward the whole army. For at this moment we can do more with ten thousand men
for the spread of the Christian faith and the destruction of these heathens
than could be accomplished in other times by thirty thousand". Hunyadi
wrote in a similar strain: "Be it known to your Holiness, that at the
present time the Emperor of the Turks is so completely crushed that if the
Christians, as is proposed, would only rise against him they might very easily,
with the help of God, become masters of the whole Turkish kingdom".
No wonder that the lively imagination of the Spanish
Pope rose to gigantic schemes on the reception of such letters. The victory
granted by God must now be followed up, and immediately after the tidings
arrived he urged his legates and the Christian princes to proceed with united
forces against the Turks. In the following March a great expedition was to set
forth. Constantinople was to be reconquered, and Europe set free, the Holy Land
and all Asia to be purged of infidels, the whole race of unbelievers extirpated.
In almost all the Briefs of the period these exaggerated schemes appear again
and again, showing what complete possession the subject had taken of the Pope's
mind.
These hopes were no doubt illusory; and yet it was a
misfortune for Europe that the heroes who had given them birth, and had
fostered them in the mind of the Pope, closed their earthly career soon after
the glorious day at Belgrade.
A fearful pestilence, generated most probably by the
heat of the burning sun brooding on the heaps of unburied corpses, broke out
and carried off the brave Hunyadi on the 11th August. "When he felt his
last hour draw near” said Aeneas Sylvius, "he would not permit them to
bring the body of the Lord to his sick bed. Dying as he was, he had himself
carried into the Church, and there, after having received the Holy Sacrament,
breathed forth his soul beneath the hands of the clergy". On the 23rd
October the aged St. John Capistran followed his companion in arms.
By the death of these two great men the operations
against the Turks were deprived of their most powerful promoters. The hope that
the unexpected victory at Belgrade would give a fresh impulse to the Holy War
melted away through the indifference of the Western Powers, which manifested
itself in a disgraceful manner at the very time when its fruits might have been
secured. Again was the Pope the only one who took the interests of Christendom
seriously and honestly to heart. He wrote in strong terms to the Emperor, the
Kings of France and of Naples, to the more powerful German princes, and to the
several States of Italy, entreating them to give God thanks for the victory,
and to turn it to account; but his words were all in vain. Because the danger
was for the moment averted, and this victory had been gained by the Hungarians
and the undisciplined Crusaders, the Christian potentates seemed to think
themselves justified in leaving all further defensive operations entirely to
them. All through the upper ranks of society, which ought to have given an
impulse to the rest, slothfulness, selfishness, and petty interests again
outweighed all better feelings, and deadened all energy for good.
Almost all the other powers followed the example of
Venice. In vain did the eloquent Carvajal unite his prayers and exhortations
with those of the Pope; all that could be said as to the necessity of following
up the victory fell on deaf ears. The ambassador of the King of Hungary about
this time failed to obtain any answer from Venice, "for, on account of the
plague, no deliberations could take place"; and when he again, on his way
from Rome, visited the city he received an evasive answer.
The tepidity of the Western Powers, although unable to
deter Calixtus from his efforts against the Turks, caused him for a time to
seek for aid in other quarters. In December, 1456, he made an appeal to the
Christian King of Ethiopia; in the following year he applied to the Christians
in Syria, Georgia, and Persia, and finally to Usunhassan,
Prince of the Turcomans, the only one of the Eastern princes whose power
could compare with that of the Sultan.
As a lasting memorial of the victory at Belgrade, and
in thanksgiving for the unlooked-for success of the Christian arms, the Pope in
the following year decreed that henceforth the Feast of the Transfiguration of
our Lord should be solemnly observed throughout Christendom. A number of briefs
attest the importance attached by Calixtus to the due observance of this
decree, by which he hoped to revive the enthusiasm for the holy war. As far as
the princes were concerned, however, these expectations were vain.
A pleasing contrast to the indifference is furnished
by the zeal with which the lower orders received the Papal exhortations
regarding the crusade. In many places the excitement and ardour manifested were
most remarkable. A contemporary tells of peasants abandoning ploughs and of
bridegrooms leaving their brides in order "to fight for the Catholic Faith
for the love of God". Supernatural signs induced others to join the
expedition. Throughout Upper Germany especially fresh hosts of crusaders assembled
after the relief of Belgrade. These bands were incomparably superior in
discipline to those that had flocked together before that decisive victory.
Another contemporary description of the departure of the Nuremberg crusaders
for Hungary says, "Anno 1456, when our Holy Father, Pope Calixtus III,
sent a Danish legate and Bishop named Heinricus Kaldeysen to preach the crusade against the Turks, and
to confer the cross, in September (more correctly August), many people came to
the church here to take the cross, and set forth against the Turks. And as they
were without a leader, and needed one to maintain order and authority for the
glory of God and the honour of the city, the Council gave them for their help
and comfort Heinrich Slosser, of Berne, who was the captain of the Swiss,
and Otto Herdegen, who knew the Hungarian language, with eight horses and
a red and white pennon (the colours of Nuremberg). These captains appointed
chiefs over tens and over hundreds, and the chiefs and their men respectively
took an oath of mutual fealty. This oath is written in the little book which is
kept in the Court, and the men are inscribed by name in the same register.
About fourteen baggage waggons were also borrowed from the city to take their
armour to Ratisbon. They bought three great ships for two hundred and twenty
Rhenish florins, in which from one thousand three hundred to one thousand four
hundred well-armed men were to be embarked, six hundred carrying muskets, and
the rest spears, cross-bows, and battle-axes. And they went forth in goodly
array on the Friday after St. Bartholomew's day (27th August), shriven, and
fortified with the Blessed Sacrament. They marched under the banner of the Holy
Cross, whereon were also painted St. Sebaldus, St. Lawrence, and the Holy
Lance, and under the flag of Nuremberg, which the chief leader, Heinrich Slosser,
bore, as the Council had commanded through Niclas Muffel,
Paulus Grunther, and Erhart Schurstab, who admonished him in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost to keep faith with the city, and to be a true
leader of the people. By the Council they were provided with pots, kettles,
pans, plates, spoons, and other vessels for cooking, two tents, a cask of
powder and priming, lead, arrows, five bushels of oatmeal fried in dripping in
little barrels, and six bushels of millet and peas, and fifty hand-guns. Item,
in Hungary they were immediately to receive four hundred pounds’ weight of
copper coins for the general benefit, and in Vienna the house of Baumgartner
gave two hundred pounds of the same, also to be spent for the general good. All
this was done by the Council. Item, on the day when they departed hence each
one of them was touched with the holy lance and with the holy cross at the
hospital in the church of the Holy Ghost.
The German crusaders were joined, the chronicle of
Spire informs us, by crusaders from England, France, and other countries, among
whom were "priests and monks, and they were mostly poor working people”.
Cardinal Carvajal welcomed them all with real joy, and in every way that he
could, showed them the greatest goodwill.
The army of King Ladislas was now increased to
forty-four thousand men, and, accompanied by Count Ulrich of Cilli, he
landed with his force at Belgrade on the 8th November, 1456. The King and the
Count were received with all due respect, but as soon as they and their
servants had entered the fortress the gates were shut behind them, and
admittance was refused to the armed Germans and Bohemians. On the following
morning Cilli was invited to take part in the Council of the
Hungarian nobles. When he appeared Ladislas Hunyadi upbraided him in violent
terms with his ambition and his hatred of the Corvinus family. Ulrich, overmastered
with rage, drew his sword and wounded Hunyadi and three Hungarian nobles, but
finally himself fell beneath the blows of his enemies. When this became known
in the army of the King and among the crusaders, "everyone put on his
armour, and the leaders went forth with their men intending to storm the
castle". Young King Ladislas, however, dissembling his grief and
indignation, sent word to the soldiers "that they were to take no notice
of this matter, which did not concern the crusaders, and were to take off their
armour". Soon afterwards the crusading army, which was as in a sack
between fortress and town in double danger from Turks and Hungarians, was
permitted by mutual agreement between the King and Cardinal Carvajal to go home
again. “And so ended the expedition against the Turks on account of the perfidy
of the Hungarians, of which we complain to God”.
At the very time when the people of Germany were thus
loyally supporting the crusaders their prelates were occupied in evading any
real participation in the common cause by again coming forward with complaints
against the Holy See. Now, as on former occasions, reform was the pretext, and
pressure the means used to accomplish their end, which was to evade their
obligations. As leader of the opposition, the aged Elector Dietrich, Count
of Erbach, filled the place of Jakob of Treves, who had died in the end of
May, 1456. The Elector's Chancellor, Doctor Martin Mayr, accompanied him and
concentrated all his diplomatic and intriguing skill on the cause in hand.
In June, 1455, at a Provincial Synod at Aschaffenburg,
the Archbishop of Mainz had caused a whole list of complaints against
the Court of Rome to be drawn up. These complaints, which referred chiefly to
violations of the Concordat, were contained in an instruction for the embassy
to be sent to Rome, and are important as being the foundation of many similar
documents of a subsequent date. After the close of this Synod, Dietrich and the
Archbishops of Cologne and Treves entered into an understanding for the
summoning of a great German national Council. The object of this Council was to
confirm the decrees of Basle and to take precautions against the burdens laid
upon Germany, which strangely permits its eyes to be again torn out after
having them restored by those salutary decrees.
The anti-papal sentiments of the Elector of Mainz,
the ally of the Count Palatine Frederick, were manifested in a most decided
manner at a Synod which he held at Frankfort-on-Main in February and March,
1456. It was here determined that the Archbishop and his suffragans should
unite in resisting the volition of the Constance and Basle decrees by
the Court of Rome and the oppression of the German nation by tithes and
indulgences.
On the Feast of St. Peter ad vincula (1st August),
1456, the representatives of the five Electors, together with the Bishops of
Salzburg and Bremen, again met at Frankfort-on-Main; the Elector of Treves held
back, as he had not yet been confirmed by Rome. The fact that the Cathedral
Chapters of Mainz, Treves, Cologne, and Bremen sent messengers to this
assembly gave it a great importance. All were unanimous in refusing the tithe
which Cardinal Carvajal was about to demand from the clergy for the crusade. In
order to furnish a plausible excuse for this refusal the old disputes which the
Concordat had set at rest were again revived. The war against the Turks was
used by the Pope, they declared, as a pretext to fleece Germany. This was the
object of the tithe, and the reason why the Indulgence granted to the defenders
of Cyprus by Pope Nicholas had been withdrawn and declared invalid. They were
resolved to appeal against the tithes; they would send the dealers in
Indulgences back over the Alps with empty purses; they would not give
money to support the spendthrift Catalan nephews at the Papal Court. The
assembly then proceeded to draw up a report. This began with the usual
complaints of the burdens imposed on the German nation; the tithes claimed by
Rome for the Turkish war closing the list. A series of resolutions were passed
for the redress of these grievances and the relief of the German Church. An
appeal against the exactions of the Roman officials was drawn up and
recommended. A league was formed, of which the members exchanged promises of
mutual support in case anyone of them were threatened with excommunication,
outlawry, war, or ecclesiastical or judicial proceedings, and also bound
themselves not to enter into any "negotiation or understanding"
without the consent of all. "This", says a recent historian,
"was an attempt at a German Pragmatic Sanction, which the ambassadors in
the old fashion were to bring after them". Practically but little result
was to be apprehended from all this bluster. The assembly was to meet again at
Nuremberg to consider whether it might not be better simply to accept the
decrees of Constance and Basle. In reality their resolutions were nothing but a
compilation of these with some slight modifications, which essentially altered
nothing. The Frankfort assembly also resolved to apply to the Emperor and see
if he would not make common cause with the Princes in endeavouring to find a
remedy for the grievances of the nation, either by concluding a Pragmatic
Sanction with the Holy See or by some other means. Moreover, they strongly
urged him to come into the Empire, and to take upon himself the charge of it.
Could he really suppose that the infidels were to be vanquished by letters and
messengers? The document closes with a threat that if the Emperor should fail
to appear at the Diet to be held in Nuremberg at the end of November, "we,
with the help of God, will meet there to take counsel and to determine on all
that it behoves us to do as Electors of the Holy Roman Empire and all that may
be necessary for the furtherance of the Christian expedition”.
The Emperor met these demands with a blunt refusal,
and the Pope in a brief to his nuncio expressed his just displeasure. He
strongly condemned the appeal of the Elector of Mainz, but did not excuse
the dilatory Emperor. “O, hearts of stone which are not moved by this!”
exclaims Calixtus, after speaking of the victory won at Belgrade, “without King
and without Emperor. Our fleet with the legate has sailed for Constantinople,
and the Emperor sleeps. Arise, O Lord, and support our holy enterprise”.
At the Diet held at Nuremberg in the end of the year
1456, anti-Imperial feeling for a moment effaced the opposition to the Pope.
There is no doubt that the revolutionary party contemplated setting the Emperor
aside by the election of a King of the Romans; the candidate they had in view
was the young and powerful Frederick I of the Palatinate, but as the
anti-Imperial party was still too weak for action, it was merely determined
that another Diet should meet at Frankfort-on-Main on Reminiscere Sunday (13th March); counsel was
there to be taken as to the manner "in which the Pope was to be entreated
regarding the Holy Roman Empire and the German nation". No energetic
measures against the Emperor were adopted at this Diet (March, 1457), which
assembled in spite of his formal prohibition. The attitude of the anti-Papal
party seemed more threatening. Its grievances were fully set forth in an
intemperate letter addressed by Doctor Martin Mayr to Aeneas Sylvius
Piccolomini, who had meanwhile been promoted to the purple. The Pope, says this
letter, does not observe the decrees of the Councils of Constance and Basle, he
does not consider himself bound by the treaties which his predecessors have
entered into; he appears to despise the German nation and to extort all he can
from it. The election of prelates is frequently postponed without cause; and
benefices and dignities of all kinds are reserved for the cardinals and Papal
secretaries. Cardinal Piccolomini himself has been granted a general
reservation in an unusual and unheard-of form on three German provinces.
Expectancies without number are conferred, annates and other taxes collected
harshly and no delay granted; and it is also known that more has been exacted
than the sums due. Bishoprics have been bestowed, not on the most worthy, but
on the highest bidder. For the sake of amassing money, new indulgences have
daily been published and war-tithes imposed without consulting the German
prelates. Lawsuits, which ought to have been dealt with and decided at home,
have been hastily transferred to the Apostolic Tribunal. The Germans have been
treated as if they were rich and stupid barbarians, and drained of their money
by a thousand cunning devices. And therefore this nation, once so glorious,
which, with her courage and her blood had won the Holy Roman Empire, and was
the mistress and queen of the world, is now needy, tributary, and a servant.
For many years she has lain in the dust, bemoaning her poverty and her sad
fate. But now her nobles have awakened as from sleep; now they have resolved to
shake off the yoke and to win back their ancient freedom.
The real weight to be attached to this document was
soon made manifest, for hardly three weeks had passed away before the same
Doctor Martin Mayr made private overtures to Cardinal Piccolomini for a treaty
to be concluded between his master, the Archbishop of Mainz and the
Pope. This proposal elicited the humiliating reply that it was not for subjects
to make alliances with their lords, and that an Archbishop of Mainz should
be content with the position which his predecessors had occupied and not seek
to rise above it.
All this anti-Papal agitation was well known, and
caused grave solicitude in Rome. The apprehension that Germany might follow the
footsteps of the French, who adhered to the Pragmatic Sanction, caused much
anxiety, and the chief object of the Pope was to prevent the Emperor from being
drawn into the party of the Roman princes. The Brief which Calixtus
addressed to Frederick III was drawn up by Cardinal Piccolomini. In this
document the Pope denies the charge of disregarding the Concordats and of
neglecting to appoint bishops. In regard to reservations and other exercises of
patronage, if, in the multiplicity of affairs, anything has been amiss, this,
he says, has been through inadvertence. Although the authority of the Holy See
is absolutely independent and cannot be limited by the bonds of a contract,
yet, in token of his ardent desire for peace and his goodwill towards the
Emperor, he will allow the Concordat to continue, and will never, as long as he
is at the helm, permit its violation. If, however, the nation has other
complaints regarding the proceedings of his Court, and amendment is deemed
necessary (for even he may fail and err as a man, especially in matters of
fact), it does not become bishops or others to follow the example of those who,
to the injury of ecclesiastical government, the destruction of the mystical
Body of Christ and the ruin of their own souls, maintain principles which would
authorize them to despise the commands of the Apostolic See and direct the
affairs of the Church after their own will. He who ventures to act thus cannot
call God his father, inasmuch as he does not acknowledge the Church for his
mother. No one may oppose himself to the Roman Church; should anyone think
himself wronged he must bring his grievances before her. The Pope dwells in
forcible terms on the unreasonableness of the complaints regarding the money
collected in Germany for the Turkish war, inasmuch as the great expenses which
he incurred on behalf of Christendom in general, by the equipment of a fleet in
the East, by supporting Skanderbeg in Albania, by paying so many ambassadors in
all parts of the world, and by assisting multitudes who needed help in Greece
and Asia, were evident to all. "We venture", Calixtus says, "to
glory in the Lord, for while the Christian princes have almost all been sunk in
slothfulness, He, through His own servants, who alone carry on the holy work,
has broken the proud ranks of the Turks in Hungary, and discomfited the great
and mighty army which had threatened to ravage not only Hungary, but also the
whole of Germany, France, and Italy, and to overthrow the kingdom of
Christ".
Copies of this Brief were sent from Rome to various
persons, amongst whom were the King of Hungary and Cardinal Nicholas
of Cusa; and, at the same time, Cardinal Carvajal and the Minorite, San
Jacopo della Marca were exhorted to resist
the anti-Papal agitation in Germany. A very severe letter was addressed by the
Pope to the Archbishop of Mainz, the chief promoter of the movement.
Calixtus declared that he could not believe so prudent a prelate to be capable
of undertaking anything against the Papal authority, by which he would incur
ecclesiastical and civil penalties and be guilty of the sin of heresy. As
Elector, the Archbishop was, beyond all others, bound to maintain and extend
that authority; if devils in human form taught otherwise, he ought not to give
ear to them. To the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves he wrote in a similar
strain, and also sent despatches to several States of the Empire, to Berne and
other cities, exculpating himself from the charges made against him. As
Carvajal had more than enough to do in Hungary, it was determined that another
legate should be nominated for Germany, and Lorenzo Roverella,
a distinguished theologian and diplomatist, was selected. Cardinal Piccolomini
gave him detailed instructions as to the manner in which he was to proceed
against the anti-Roman party in Germany.
The Cardinal himself personally took part in all these
measures, and wrote a number of letters, among which those to Martin Mayr have
attained a certain celebrity. This is the case more especially in regard to one
of them, subsequently known as "Some account of the state of Germany”, a
title which, in strictness, is applicable only to a small portion of it. In it
he defends the action of the Holy See, and appeals to the prosperity of the
country as a refutation of Mayr's complaints of Roman extortion. This graphic
picture of German life in the middle of the fifteenth century is still read
with pleasure by patriotic Germans. "The apology of Aeneas Sylvius”, to
use the words of a French historian, "perhaps too closely resembles that
of the ancient Roman who replied to a charge of malversation of public money by
proposing that his accusers should go to the Capitol and thank the gods for the
victories which he had won. It must be confessed that there is much truth in
the plea of the Pope's champion, and history will not fail to praise the zeal
with which the common Father of Christians laboured to stem the further
progress of the Turks and wrest their victims from them.
At the beginning of the year 1458 alarming reports of
the excited state of Germany again reached Rome; no decided step, however, was
taken, and ultimately the opposition died a natural death.
The conduct of Alfonso, the powerful King of Naples,
was calculated to cause the Pope even greater anxiety than that occasioned by
German discontent. From the very beginning of the Pontificate of Calixtus III
the personal relations between him and this monarch, which had formerly been
most friendly, had totally changed.
The King who could boast of having in great measure
brought about the elevation of Calixtus III, expected his old friend to show
his gratitude by acceding to all his requests. The first of these was certainly
not a modest one, for he asked the Pope to hand over to him the March of Ancona
and other territories of the Church. Calixtus, however, was not prepared to
sacrifice his duty to his affection for his former patron, and refused the
investiture. Further misunderstandings arose when the King proposed for several
bishoprics in his dominions persons whose youth and ignorance rendered it
impossible for the Pope to accede to his request. It must have been with
reference to these differences that the Pope exclaimed: "Let the King of
Aragon rule his own Kingdom, and leave to Us the administration of the supreme
Apostolate". The tension between Calixtus III and the King was
considerably intensified by the arrogance of Alfonso, who went so far as to
insult the Pope personally. This we learn from a letter shown by a Papal
Secretary to the Milanese ambassador, in July, 1455, in which Alfonso, calling
upon the Pope to proceed against the infidels, says that : he appears to be
asleep!" The document is full of other unbecoming expressions.
Calixtus greatly disliked the alliance between Alfonso
and the Duke of Milan, which the former announced to him on the 4th October,
1455. Francesco Sforza betrothed his daughter, Hippolyta, to Don Alfonso,
grandson of the Neapolitan monarch, and son of Ferrante of Calabria, while the
daughter of Ferrante was actually married in 1456 to Sforza Maria, a son of the
Duke of Milan. Venice, Florence, and Siena shared the apprehensions which these
unions between the most powerful among the Italian princes awakened in the mind
of the Pope.
The disgraceful conduct of King Alfonso on the
occasion of Piccinino's war with Siena must have still more
embittered the relations between him and Calixtus. A fresh outbreak of
hostilities in Italy was the greatest possible obstacle to the crusade on which
his heart was set, nevertheless the monarch, who had solemnly promised to take
part in this, persisted in fomenting the war in the Sienese territory.
These matters being at length settled, the question of
the crusade again became prominent. The success of the war against the infidels
depended in great measure on the King of Naples, who had large naval and
military forces at his disposal, and whose example might be expected to have
great influence in winning the co-operation of other states. Alfonso formally
made the most magnificent promises, but he really had no intention of
performing his vow of joining the crusade. Instead of proceeding against the enemies
of Christendom, and without a declaration of war, he commenced hostilities
against Genoa, which had always been the object of his hatred, and employed the
fleet equipped by the Archbishop of Tarragona for the Holy War in devastating
the territory of his enemies. At the same time he never ceased to oppress Sigismondo Malatesta,
the Lord of Rimini. This policy, which not only stirred up fresh troubles in
the Romagna, but also revived the designs of Anjou, and became the occasion of
repeated interference on the part of the French, naturally had a most
disastrous effect on the Pope's endeavours to unite Christendom against the
Turks. All his exhortations and attempts to re-establish peace were in vain,
and Alfonso's aggression finally compelled the Genoese to turn to France for
assistance.
Under these circumstances it is not surprising that
the relations between Calixtus and Alfonso became more and more embittered. The
King was convinced that the Pope was determined to thwart him in every way. In
the summer of 1457 there was much excitement about a presentation to a
bishopric. The Pope having refused to accede to the King's desire, the
Neapolitan ambassador appealed to a future council, and thus incurred
excommunication. If we may trust the report of an ambassador then in Rome, the
dispute became so violent that Calixtus concluded a Brief addressed to Alfonso
with the words: "His Majesty should be aware that the Pope can depose
kings", and Alfonso rejoined, "Let his Holiness know that the
King, if he wishes, can find a way to depose the Pope".
The almost regal reception therefore accorded to the
beautiful Lucrezia di Algano, who was generally
supposed, though he denied it, to be King Alfonso's mistress, when she came to
Rome with a great suite in October, 1457, can only have been due to political
considerations. Whether any improvement in the state of feeling between Alfonso
and Calixtus ensued it is impossible to say. If, as an ambassador has asserted,
Lucrezia asked the Pope for a dispensation to become Alfonso's second wife, it
is evident that the contrary must have been the case, as the Pope neither could
nor would have granted such a request.
In March, 1458, we learn that the Pope's nephews, more
especially Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, made efforts to bring about a
reconciliation between him and Alfonso, and there was some talk of sending the
Cardinal to Naples. It was expected that the great affection of the Pope for
his relations would have ensured the success of these endeavours, but the King
repelled all pacific overtures. In June, 1458, Calixtus wrote of the Neapolitan
monarch: "Since Alfonso has come into possession of Naples the Church has
had no peace; he has been a constant torment to Pope Martin, Eugenius, and
myself. Therefore, when he dies, I will do my utmost to deliver my successor
from such oondage by preventing the
succession of Don Ferrante, the King's illegitimate son". The feudal law
of Lombardy was on the Pope's side and of this he was no doubt aware.
According to it legitimization does not of itself
carry the right of succession to a fief, and no special provision had been made
to secure this for Ferrante.
CHAPTER IV.
SKANDERBEG, "THE SOLDIER OF CHRIST"— THE
POPE'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE CHRISTIANS IN THE EAST— COMPLETE FAILURE OF THE PAPAL
EFFORTS FOR A CRUSADE —THE RISE AND DOWNFALL OF THE BORGIA — THE LAST DAYS OF
CALIXTUS III.— THE DEATH OF CARDINAL CAPRANICA.
AFTER the death of the great Hunyadi, the Turks had
but one adversary, able to cope with them, left on the western battlefields,
and this was George Kastriota, Prince of
Albania, generally known by the name of Skanderbeg. The history of this hero,
on whom Calixtus III bestowed the name, "Soldier of Christ", has been
rescued by recent investigations from the romantic fictions which had obscured
it
It is now an established fact that Kastriota was not, as had been supposed, a scion of an
ancient Albanian family, but was of Slavonian origin. Original documents have
also refuted the story that he distinguished himself when a hostage among the
Turks, gained favour with the Sultan, and, after the battle of Kunovica, escaped and returned home to incite his
countrymen to take arms against the infidel. The truth is that Skanderbeg’s
youth was passed in his native mountains, and his warfare with the Turks began
with the victory gained over them in the Dibra in 1444. This victory
filled western Christendom with joyful hopes, inaugurated the independence of
Albania, which Skanderbeg maintained for more than twenty years, and ushered in
the heroic age of its brave people. He was himself the hero of heroes.
Contemporary testimony is unanimous in representing him as one of the noblest
figures of the age. While yet a boy, his handsome features and commanding
gestures presaged a glorious future. A companion in arms tells us that he used
to turn up his sleeves in battle, that he might better wield the sword or the
club. His warlike spirit was such that a battle from time to time seemed to be
a necessity for him. He was at once a soldier and a general. His physical
strength was almost inexhaustible, and in their rapidity his military movements
resembled those of Caesar.
All the efforts of the infidels failed to vanquish
this mighty foe, and after a while they attempted by cunning to accomplish that
for which their power had proved unequal. They succeeded in inducing some
Albanian chiefs, who found the rule of the energetic Skanderbeg too burdensome,
to revolt, and among these were the Princes Nicholas and Paul Ducagnini. A bloody civil war then broke out, and there was
reason to believe that the Signoria of Venice were no strangers to these
disturbances. The hatred of the Venetians to Skanderbeg was due to his
connection with King Alfonso of Naples. Pope Nicholas, who in every way
supported him, at length brought about a peace. The Turks now stirred up Moses
Golem Comnenus against him. In 1455, Isabeg,
one of the most experienced of the Turkish leaders, attempted a fresh attack on
Albania. In order to make sure of the support of the King of Naples, Skanderbeg
did homage to him as heir of the House of Anjou for his capital of Kroja, and Alfonso sent a thousand foot soldiers and five
hundred musketeers to assist him. In the end of June, 1455, when with fourteen
thousand men he attempted an attack on Berat, he was beaten by the
superior Turkish forces, but his mountain home, with its raging rivers and
torrents, easily placed him beyond the reach of his enemies. At the approach of
winter the Turks retired and left the traitor Moses Golem in possession,
promising him that if he brought them Skanderbeg's head he should receive a hundred
thousand ducats, and be put in possession of Albania without having to pay
tribute.
For some time after the defeat at Berat Skanderbeg's
fate was a matter of uncertainty in Western Europe, but in the spring of 1456
he reappeared upon the scene. In April he wrote to Cardinal Capranica,
whose zeal for the cause of the crusades was well known, describing the warlike
preparations of the Turks, and begging for his good offices with the Pope. An
envoy from the Albanian hero reached Milan in June, and in October he again
sent another messenger to Francesco Sforza and to Calixtus III. The Pope received
his envoy with the greatest cordiality, but unfortunately was not able to
assist the Albanians with ships or troops. He, however, encouraged and
sanctioned their enterprise and afforded pecuniary help to the best of his
power.
On the 5th April Skanderbeg made his triumphal entry
into his capital, Kroja, laden with rich spoils,
after having a few days previously defeated the traitor Moses and his Turks in
the Lower Dibra. Moses returned home a despised and vanquished man. Full
of repentance for his treachery he fled to Albania and begged forgiveness from
Skanderbeg. The hero pardoned him and generously restored his confiscated
possessions; it was henceforth Moses' aim to atone for his treachery by loyal
service against the common foe.
A sorrow far deeper than that which the apostasy of
Moses can have caused him fell upon Skanderbeg in the defection of his
nephew Hamsa, who, beguiled by Mahomet II, proved false to his blood, his
country, and his faith. In 1457 he joined the Turkish General Isabeg with a considerable force, and advanced against
his uncle, who had scarcely ten thousand men at his command. The latter,
therefore, determined to avoid an engagement with an enemy so superior in
number, and to entice him into the interior of the devastated country. The
crops which were nearly ripe were hastily gathered into the fortresses, where
most of the country people with their goods also took refuge. As soon as the
enemy began his march through the upper Dibra Skanderbeg with his
troops retired towards Alessio. The Turks occupied a great part of the country,
and extended their lines as far as this place, which belonged to the Venetians.
Venice complained bitterly of the violation of her neutral territory, but did
not support the oppressed Albanians. Now, as before, the Signoria, in their
desire to prevent any foreign interference in Albania, viewed with displeasure
the assistance rendered by Alfonso of Naples to Skanderbeg, who in his
necessity had also written to the Pope, entreating aid. The state of the Papal
Treasury was unfortunately at this time far from prosperous. The maintenance of
the crusading fleet was a great and constant expense, claims were made from all
sides on the Supreme Head of Christendom, and meanwhile the war tithe came in
very sparingly. The Pope did all that was in his power by transmitting a sum of
money to Skanderbeg, and promising, as soon as possible, to send a
well-equipped galley, which was to be followed by other ships. The most
splendid and most bloody of Skanderbeg's victories was that which he gained in
the Tomorniza in July, 1457. Isabeg’s army
was surprised, and those who did not escape were cut to pieces. Thirty thousand
Turks are said to have perished. Fifteen hundred prisoners, four-and-twenty
horse-tails, and the whole camp of the enemy, with all its treasures, were
taken by the conqueror. Hamsa, the traitor, was among the captives.
Skanderbeg magnanimously spared his life, but sent him to Naples to be kept in
safe custody by the King.
Albania was now delivered from the Turkish invasion,
as Hungary had been by the victory of Belgrade in the previous year. The only
powers who had afforded Skanderbeg any real assistance at this critical period
were King Alfonso and the Pope. On the 17th September, 1457, the latter wrote
to him in the following terms: "Beloved son! continue to defend the
Catholic Faith; God, for whom you fight, will not abandon His cause. He will, I
am confident, grant success against the Turks and the other unbelievers to you
and the rest of the Christians with great glory and honour."
The Pope had previously, on the 10th September,
determined that a third part of the tithes from Dalmatia should be placed at
the disposal of the brave Albanian chief. He also commanded his legate to come
to Skanderbeg’s assistance with at least a part of the fleet then in the Aegean
Sea. A special nuncio, Juan Navar, was sent to Dalmatia and Macedonia to
collect the tithes; he was to oblige the people of Ragusa to fulfil their
promises. Navar does not, however, appear to have been very
successful, for in December, 1457, the Pope threatened them with
excommunication.
After his victory Skanderbeg had informed the Western
Princes that he was not in a position to bring the war to a happy conclusion
without further assistance. The time had come, he said, for them to awaken from
their lethargy, to lay aside their dissensions, and to unite with him in
exerting all their powers to obtain the liberation of the Christian world and
to secure the future. But this appeal was as ineffectual as those which the
Pope had previously made. Naples alone sent some troops to Albania. Calixtus
III energetically expressed his satisfaction at the victory, and, on the 23rd
December, 1457, appointed Skanderbeg his Captain-General for the Turkish war.
He also repeatedly sent him pecuniary aid. Skanderbeg appointed as his
lieutenant the despot of Roumania, Leonardo III,
Tocco, ex-Prince of Arta, whose name was expected to rouse Southern Epirus to a
general insurrection against the Turks. Unfortunately, Venice now came forward
with various pretensions, the result of which was a new civil war, which was
not terminated until February, 1458.
In his zeal for the defence of Europe against Turkish
aggression, and for the protection of the Oriental Christians, Calixtus III
never forgot the more distant outposts of Christendom in those regions. He
interested himself more especially in the Genoese possessions in the Black Sea,
which had already engaged the attention of Nicholas V. On the second day after
his coronation he issued a Brief urgently exhorting the inhabitants of the
Genoese territory on the mainland, and some few specified provinces in the
neighbourhood, to support the Bank of St. George with money and gifts, so that
Caffa might not fall into the hands of the unbelievers. In order to give the
more weight to this appeal, new and ample indulgences were granted to those who
should in any way support this establishment in its opposition to the Turks. On
the 22nd November, in the same year, Calixtus, who had in the meantime
personally afforded considerable assistance to the Bank, expressly declared
that the Bull issued in favour of Caffa was not to be considered as suspended
by that of the crusade of the 15th May.
These favours occasioned great satisfaction in Genoa,
and honest collectors were sent without delay to the territories indicated by
the Pope. Calixtus continued to manifest his goodwill to the undertaking. On
the 3rd March, 1456, the directors of the Bank of St. George wrote to Caffa in
the following terms: "The Pope shows himself in every way so well disposed
towards the Genoese colonies that their welfare appears to be even nearer to
his heart than it is to ours". The reason of this was that Calixtus's motives
were nobler than those of the directors of the Bank; they only cared for the
preservation of their colonies on account of the income they derived from them,
while the Pope undertook their protection from zeal for the maintenance of the
Catholic faith and the defence of Christian civilization against the inroads of
Islam.
The Pope's correspondence with Genoa, which has
recently been brought to light, enables us to appreciate his marvellous energy
in his care for the Eastern colonies at the very time when Hungary and the
fleet were so urgently claiming his attention. On the 10th March, 1456, he
extended to the dioceses of Albenga, Savona, and
Ventimiglia the Bull by which Lodisio Fieschi and Giovanni Gatti had been
appointed collectors of the ecclesiastical tithes in the Genoese territory.
Other Briefs called upon the Bishops of Tortona, Luni,
Alba, Acqui, and Asti to assist the collectors in every possible manner,
and to give a good example to their subjects by their zeal for the common cause
of Christendom. Others, again, confirmed the plenary powers given to these
commissioners, and commanded them severely to punish those who, under the cloak
of piety, deceived the simple people by falsely representing themselves as
collectors. The Pope strictly charged Valerio Calderina, Bishop of Savona,
and Administrator of the Diocese of Genoa, not to damp the zeal of the people
by the suggestion of doubts and scruples. He also addressed a special Brief to
Paolo Campofregoso, Archbishop Elect of Genoa,
urging him to set a good example by the complete and speedy payment of the
tithes of his benefice. In his indefatigable zeal he also exhorted the Duke of
Milan and the Marquess of Montferrat, the neighbours of Genoa, to support
Caffa. We cannot give a full account of all the favours which the Genoese
received from Calixtus III, but we can undoubtedly assert that he did
everything in his power on their behalf.
With regard to the fleet, the Pope was sedulous in
providing it with reinforcements, and in encouraging the legate and exhorting
him to keep his forces together in readiness for any emergency.
A splendid victory gained at Mitylene over
the Turks in August, 1457, when no fewer than five-and-twenty of their ships
were taken by the Papal fleet, gave much consolation to Calixtus. He
commemorated the happy event by causing a medal to be struck with the
inscription: "I have been chosen for the destruction of the enemies of the
Faith".
This fresh success encouraged the Pope to do
everything in his power for the support and assistance
of Scarampo and his forces. As time went on, he continued to urge on
the Cardinal Legate the necessity of keeping the fleet together, and remaining
with it during the winter, so that the expedition might be carried on with
renewed vigour in the following year. Further reinforcements were sent for this
purpose early in 1458, and, in announcing their arrival to the Cardinal Legate,
Calixtus III solemnly assured him that he would never give up the fleet, and
would support it as long as he lived. He bid Scarampo not lose
courage, and expressed his confident hope that God would grant victory, and
would bring great things to pass by its means. The energy of the Pope never
flagged until he was struck down by mortal sickness; and alas! it was not
granted to him to witness another victory for the cause so near his heart.
Save for these successes, won by the arms
of Scarampo and Skanderbeg, the year 1457 was fraught with
disappointments to Calixtus. The King of Portugal, like the rulers of France
and of Burgundy, constantly buoyed up his mind with vain hopes and empty
expectations. No one in Italy made any exertion for the defence of Christendom.
Venice remained, as before, deaf and cold to all Apostolic appeals; her traders
cared only for their selfish interests, and accordingly maintained peace with
the Sultan, who invited the Doge in March, 1457, to the marriage of his son.
The Duke of Milan endeavoured to obtain investiture
from the Emperor by holding out hopes that he would send troops for the war.
These tedious negotiations came to nothing, although the Pope took the Duke's
part, and all expectations of succour from this quarter vanished. Like the
great victory on the Danube in 1456, the successes of Skanderbeg
and Scarampo in 1457 were attended by no adequate results. All who
wished to remain in peace, and attend without interruption to their own private
interests, easily persuaded themselves that the power of the Turks was
sufficiently subdued. Time was thus given to the enemy to recover from defeat,
and to prepare for further aggressions, and an opportunity which never returned
was lost by the short-sighted and egotistical policy of the European Powers.
The strength of Hungary was crippled; discord
prevailed among her magnates and at the Court; Frederick II, was at variance
with the young King Ladislas regarding the inheritance of the Count of Cilli.
The Pope most earnestly adjured these two princes to lay aside this petty
private matter for the sake of Christendom in general and of their own
dominions. "How", he asks, "can the French, the Spaniards, and
the English think of sending armies against the Turks when you, who are near at
hand, and whose interests are at stake, seem to take no heed of the danger
which threatens you from the infidels?". In the beginning of November,
1457, an agreement was at last arrived at between Frederick III and Ladislas,
but on the 23rd of the same month Ladislas died, and in consequence of his
death affairs in the East took a new and unexpected turn. Matthias Hunyadi
Corvinus, who was very young, ascended the Hungarian throne, and the Utraquist Governor,
George Podiebrad, was elected King of Bohemia (2nd March, 1458).
In the election of George no regard was paid to the
hereditary pretensions of Saxony, Poland, and the House of Hapsburg; the
adjoining countries were not consulted, and the proceedings were altogether of
an exceptional kind. Accordingly the new King was not without opponents, who
had legitimate grounds for calling his election in question. Under these
circumstances the congratulations of an eminent and generally esteemed Prince
of the Church were peculiarly welcome. Cardinal Carvajal wrote from Buda on the
20th March to express his good wishes, and at the same time took the
opportunity of urging upon the new Monarch the cause of ecclesiastical unity,
and of the defence of Christendom against the Turks.
Even before his elevation the crafty Podiebrad had
been working to gain the favour of Rome. The Pope, who had already expressed
his desire for the reconciliation of the Bohemians, was all the more easily won
because he was assured, not only of Podiebrad’s Catholic
sentiments but also of his intention of taking part in the war against the
Turks. The Premonstratentian Canon,
Lukas Hladek, and Heinrich Roraw, the
Procurator of the Bohemian Hospice in Rome, exerted themselves in his cause,
and were so successful that the confiding Pontiff declared his determination in
every way to defend the honour of the Bohemian King. Calixtus had letters of
safe-conduct issued for the Bohemian ambassadors, and his confessor, Cosimo
di Monserrato, shewed Lukas Hladek presents
destined for King George. The Pope's anticipations were raised still higher
when he received tidings of what King George and his consort had, before their
coronation, done and bound themselves by oath to do.
According to the decision of the States the coronation
of George was to take place according to the ancient Catholic rite. Prague was
at this time without an Archbishop; the Archbishop of Olmütz had not
yet been enthroned, and the Archbishop of Breslau was hostile to the King.
Consequently King Mathias and the Cardinal Legate Carvajal were requested to
send a Hungarian Bishop to perform the ceremony. The Bishops
of Raab and Waitzen declared
themselves willing to undertake the office. Carvajal would not allow them to
start until they had promised to insist upon George's abjuration of the Hussite
heresy previously to his coronation. The King, who well understood his
obligations to the Utraquists, began by refusing
to do this; the Bishops, however, stood firm, and at length he agreed to abjure
his errors and take a Catholic coronation oath, providing only tnat the matter was kept secret. Fresh difficulties
arose when the Bishops required that the abjuration of heresy should be
inserted with the other points in the formal record of his oath. George could
not be induced to consent, and the Bishops contented themselves with his verbal
abjuration. In the coronation oath taken on the 6th May, 1458, in presence of
only eight witnesses, who were bound to secrecy, George swore fidelity and
obedience to the Roman Catholic Church, her head, Pope Calixtus III, and his
lawful successors, and promised to preserve his subjects from all errors,
divisions and heretical doctrines, and especially from everything opposed to
the Catholic Church and the true Faith, and to bring them back to obedience,
and to perfect external and internal unity and union with the Roman Church in
worship and ceremonials. Every difference of every kind was to be given up, and
notably the administration of the Sacrament of the Altar in both kinds, and
other things contained in the compacts which had never been confirmed by Rome.
These solemn promises on the part of the King led
Calixtus III to cherish confident hopes that in time the majority of the Utraquists would follow the example of their monarch
and return to the Catholic Church. Soon after his coronation George further
encouraged these anticipations by accrediting Doctor Fantino de Valle as his
Procurator in Rome, sending the Pope a copy of his oath, and adding ample
promises regarding an expedition against the Turks to be undertaken when he had
arranged the affairs of his kingdom. According to Cardinal Jacopo Ammannati Piccolomini, the aged Pontiff now resolved
on addressing a Brief to King George with the superscription: "To my
beloved son George, King of Bohemia", after the formula generally employed
in the case of Catholic Princes. This Brief, however, has not come to light,
and neither the King nor the Court ever alluded to it.
The coronation of King George by two Catholic prelates
according to the rite of the Roman Church, together with the friendly relations
established between him and the Pope, produced an immense impression, and the
tide of feeling became much more favourable to the new monarch. He had now a
fair hope of inducing the neighbouring States to acknowledge him, and of
depriving the efforts of the Duke of Saxony and the Hapsburgs of any prospect
of success.
To the end of his life Calixtus III continued heartily
devoted to the cause of the crusade. In order to estimate the immense
difficulties in his way, we must bear in mind that he had to encounter the
obstinate opposition of almost all the European princes and of a great portion
of the clergy. This opposition was displayed not only in France and Germany,
but also in Italy and Spain, and the Papal registers contain a series of
condemnatory briefs bearing on the subject. The Pope laments this sad state of things
in language which shews how deeply it affected him. "The harvest is great
but the labourers are few", he writes, in December, 1456, to Cardinal
Alain. The sense of his isolation became at times so overwhelming that the
burden of his office seemed almost intolerable.
In Italy the restless spirit of Piccinino and the
crafty policy of Alfonso of Naples caused him constant and serious anxiety. On
account of these troubles, and also with the view of making yet another effort
to avert the danger of Turkish aggression, Calixtus, in the autumn of 1457,
conceived the idea of holding a congress in Rome. His invitation was addressed
to all the princes of Christendom; and it was his last attempt. In order to
facilitate the deliberations, the envoys were summoned for different dates.
Naples, Milan, Genoa, Florence, and Venice were to send their deputies to Rome
by December, 1457; France, Burgundy, and Savoy by the end of the following
January, and the other European princes, with the Emperor, by the end of
February. The Pope placed great hopes on this congress, but the appointed
periods passed by without the arrival of any of those invited. Otto de Carretto wrote
on the 4th February, 1458, to the Duke of Milan, "No one of the envoys
convened to discuss the Turkish business has yet arrived". In February
several at last appeared, so that the deliberations could be commenced in
March. They continued into the month of June, but there is no record of any
result.
The excessive nepotism of Calixtus III is the only
blot on his otherwise blameless character. The lavish prodigality with which he
enriched his unworthy relations can only be, in some measure, caused as an
effort to secure in them a counterpoise to the influence of the untrustworthy
and often dangerous barons.
The relations of the Spanish Pope were very numerous,
and some of them had come to Rome while he was still a cardinal. They belonged
chiefly to the three allied Valencian families of Borgia, Mila, and Lanzol. Caterina Borgia, one of the Pope's sisters, was
married to Juan Mila, Baron of Mazalanes, and
was mother of young Luis Juan; another sister, Isabella, was the wife of Jofre Lanzol, a nobleman possessed of property at Xativa, and had two sons, Pedro Luis and Rodrigo. Calixtus
gave both these nephews his family name by adoption.
The promotion of his relations was in itself
objectionable, and was rendered still more so by the vicious character of some
among them. A recent historian draws a striking comparison between the family
of Borgia and that of Claudius in ancient Rome; the Borgias were in general
distinguished by physical strength and beauty; they were sensual and haughty in
disposition, and had for their armorial bearings a bull. Calixtus III was the
founder of their fortunes, but derived little satisfaction from them. Could he
have foreseen the evil which his nephews would do to Italy and to the Church,
he would certainly, instead of elevating them, have banished them to the
deepest dungeons of Spain.
Amongst the Pope's nephews, Rodrigo Lanzol, or, as the Italians called him, Lenzuoli, has attained the saddest celebrity. The
remarkable abilities of this man, who was born at Xativa,
near Valencia, in 1430 or 1431, have been acknowledged even by his bitterest
adversaries. Guicciardini says that "in him were combined rare prudence
and vigilance, mature reflection, marvellous power of persuasion, skill and
capacity for the conduct of the most difficult affairs".
Even while yet a Cardinal, Calixtus III had a
partiality for his gifted nephew; and, after his elevation to the Papal Throne,
he loaded him with dignities and favours of all kinds. As early as the 10th
May, 1455, Rodrigo was Notary of the Apostolic See; on the 3rd June he was made
Dean of the Church of Our Lady at Xativa, and
other benefices in Valencia were conferred on him, and in the same month he was
sent by the Pope to Bologna to study jurisprudence. He accompanied Luis Juan
Mila, Bishop of Segorbe, who was nominated
Governor of Bologna on the 13th June, 1455. On the 29th June the two cousins
reached their destination, where they were honourably received. Luis Juan,
however, had to be on his guard with the Bolognese in the exercise of his new
dignity : and his abilities do not appear to have been considerable.
Nevertheless, Calixtus III determined to raise him, as
well as the young Rodrigo, to the purple. In November, 1455, the Archbishop of
Pisa, Filippo de' Medici, was made aware of this intention, and it was expected
that it would be carried out in the following month. Some obstacle, however,
must have arisen, for it was not till the 20th of February, 1456, that the
Pope's nephews were secretly created Cardinals.
The records of this creation are preserved, and it
appears that it took place in a Secret Consistory, in the presence and with the
consent of all the Cardinals then in Rome. Contrary to the usual custom, the
Church of San. Niccolo in Carcere was
on the same day assigned to Rodrigo as his title, and it was decreed that in
the event of the Pope's death before his publication,
the other Cardinals were at once, under pain of excommunication,
to regard his creation as published, and to admit him to take part in the
Conclave for the election of a new Pope.
The new Cardinals had not as yet done; anything to
merit the dignity conferred on them, they were both very young — Rodrigo only
five-and-twenty — their elevation was in itself an unjustifiable action, and
the evil was aggravated by the fact that Rodrigo was an immoral and vicious
man.
Such is the judgment of a German Cardinal of the
nineteenth century, and though it may seem severe, it is perfectly just Rodrigo
was handsome, of an ardent temperament, and extremely attractive to women. In
the time of Pius II the historian, Gasparo di Verona, sketched his
portrait in the following terms: "He is handsome, of a pleasant and
cheerful countenance, with a sweet and persuasive manner. With a single glance
he can fascinate women, and attract them to himself more strongly than a magnet
draws iron". No unfavourable testimony regarding the conduct of Rodrigo
during the lifetime of Calixtus III has come to light; but the same cannot be
said as to his subsequent course.
Repeated efforts have nevertheless been made in recent
days to rehabilitate the moral character of this man. In the face of such a
perversion of the truth, it is the duty of the historian to show that the
evidence against Rodrigo is so strong as to render it impossible to restore his
reputation. We shall have to speak at a future period of his scandalous
relations with a Roman lady, Vannozza de' Catanei, which form part of this evidence.
The first light thrown upon Rodrigo's immorality
occurs in an admonitory letter of the year 1460, in which Pius II reproaches
the Cardinal, who probably was not at the time a priest, with his unbecoming
behaviour at an entertainment given at Siena, in the garden of Giovanni
de Bichis. "Our displeasure," says
Pius II, "is unspeakable, for such conduct disgraces the ecclesiastical
state and office. It will be said to us that we have been made rich and great,
not in order that we should lead blameless lives, but to give us the means of
self-indulgence. This is the reason why princes and powers despise us and the
laity daily deride us. They reproach us with our own conduct when we would
blame that of others. Contempt falls even upon the Vicar of Christ, because he
seems to tolerate such things. You, beloved son! govern the Bishopric of
Valencia, the first in Spain; you are also Chancellor of the Church, and —
which makes your conduct more reprehensible — you sit with the Pope among the
Cardinals, the Counsellors of the Holy See. We leave it to your own judgment
whether it is becoming to your dignity to pay court to ladies, to send fruit
and wine to the one you love, and all day long to think of nothing but
pleasure. We are blamed on your account; the memory of your blessed uncle,
Calixtus, is blamed; many consider that he did wrong in heaping so many honours
on you. You cannot plead your youth, for you are not now so young as to be
unaware of the duties which your dignity imposes on you. A Cardinal must be
blameless and an example of moral life before the eyes of all men. What right
have we to be angry if temporal princes call us by names that are little
honourable, if they grudge us our possessions and constrain us to submit to
their commands? Truly we inflict these wounds upon ourselves and invite these
evils when by our own deeds we daily lessen the authority of the Church. Our
chastisement for these things is shame in this world, and the ways of sin in
the next. We trust in your prudence to remember your dignity, and not suffer
yourself to be called a gallant by women and youths. For should such things
occur again we shall be constrained to show that we do not consent to them, and
our censure will not fail to bring confusion on you. We have constantly loved
you, and we held you worthy of our protection as a grave and discreet person.
Let your conduct be such that we may retain this opinion to which nothing can
more conduce than the adoption of a regular life. Your years favour the hope
that you will amend, and permit us to exhort you in a fatherly manner. Petriolo, the 11th June, 1460".
Cardinal Rodrigo hastened to write a letter of apology
to the Pope and endeavoured to place the affair in a more favourable light. The
reply of Pius II was grave and dignified. The conduct of Rodrigo, he maintains,
is inexcusable, although, perhaps, there may have been some exaggeration in the
account of it. In any case the Cardinal must for the future keep aloof from all
such things and be more careful of his reputation. If he will do this and live
discreetly the Papal favour will not be withdrawn from him.
The hopes of Pius II were not realized. Cardinal
Rodrigo would not change his mode of life. In the year 1464 Pius II, with his
mortal sickness upon him, undertook his celebrated expedition to Ancona to
place himself at the head of the crusaders. Rodrigo accompanied him, but even
at so serious a time this "essentially low-minded man" could not
bring himself to give up his evil pleasures.
It cannot surprise us to find that among the better
disposed Cardinals great opposition was made to the promotion of such a man.
This was probably manifested even in the Secret Consistory of the 20th
February, 1456. If the Cardinals then gave him their votes, it was in the hope
that the old Pontiff would die before Rodrigo's publication.
This hope, however, was soon disappointed. In
September, 1456, when all the Cardinals had left Rome on account of the
insupportable heat and of a pestilential sickness, Calixtus III actually
proceeded to the publication (17th September). A month later the Pope's nephews
made their solemn entry into Rome; on the 17th November the red hat was
conferred upon them, and on the 26th the ceremony of opening their mouths took
place.
Together with his nephews the Pope had raised to the
purple the Portuguese Infante, James, a young man noted for his modesty and
purity of life. This Cardinal, who was in every way a contrast to Rodrigo
Borgia, unhappily died on the 27th August, 1459, on his journey to Florence as
legate. His monument, by Antonio Rossellino, is
in the Church of San Miniato al Monte. The
beautiful form of the young Cardinal, wearing on his countenance an expression
of profound peace, rests on a bed of state standing in a niche raised on a
lofty architectural pedestal. Two nude figures hold the ends of the pall.
Above, on either side, two angels kneel on brackets fastened to the wall,
holding a crown and a palm. In the vault over the niche is a medallion in
relief of the Blessed Virgin, borne by two angels in the air.
On the 17th December, 1456, Calixtus III made another
promotion of Cardinals, and on this occasion also the Sacred College offered
opposition. "Never", wrote one of those nominated, "had
Cardinals more difficulty in entering the Sacred College. The hinges (cardtnes) had become so rusty that they would not turn. The
Pope had to use battering-rams and all kinds of engines to burst open the
door". Calixtus was again unsuccessful with some of the candidates; for
instance, he had to give up the Bishop of Novara, on whose behalf the Duke of
Milan had repeatedly interested himself. Of the six actually nominated, Aeneas
Sylvius Piccolomini was undoubtedly the most worthy and distinguished. The
others were Juan de Mella, Bishop of Zamora, a
man noted for his stately manners and his knowledge of canon law;
Jacopo Tebaldo, Bishop of Montefeltre; Rinaldo de' Piscicelli,
Archbishop of Naples; Giovanni da Castiglione, Bishop of Pavia; and lastly,
Richard Ollivier de Longueil, Bishop of Coutances, who,
like d'Estouteville, belonged to a distinguished
family in Normandy. Charles VII had zealously exerted himself for the promotion
of the last named prelate; and Calixtus hoped, as it proved, in vain, that by
conferring on him the purple he would win the French monarch to the cause of
the crusade.
As time went on fresh favours were constantly heaped
upon the Borgias. Young Cardinal Rodrigo was appointed legate in the March of
Ancona in December, 1456, and went there on the 19th January in the following
year. Cardinal Luis was made legate of Bologna, and both were richly endowed
with benefices.
The most important and lucrative office of the Papal
Court was that of Vice-Chancellor; one of the ambassadors speaks of it as the
highest dignity after that of the Pope. Since the death of Cardinal Condulmaro (30th October, 1453) no one had been
appointed to fill this high position, and it was but natural that those
Cardinals who held no great office at the Court should aspire to it. We are
expressly informed that such was the case in regard to d'Estouteville.
Since the year 1455 he had been labouring to obtain it, but in 1457 it was
bestowed on Rodrigo, who was also made Commander-in-Chief of the Papal troops
in Italy in December of the same year. Don Pedro Luis, his brother, a layman,
and a year younger than himself, was loaded with offices and honours in a
manner equally scandalous. In the spring of 1456 he was appointed
Captain-General of the Church and Commander of St Angelo, and, in the autumn of
the same year, Governor of Terni, Narni, Todi,
Rieti, Orvieto, Spoleto, Foligno, Nocera, Assisi, Amelia, Cività Castellana, and Nepi;
soon afterwards the patrimony of St Peter in Tuscany was added to these.
Such a career was unheard of. Cardinal Capranica,
who, as Grand Penitentiary under Nicholas V, had enjoyed the esteem of all
classes, made a courageous protest, and his opposition could not be overcome
either by prayers or threats. His noble conduct drew upon him the hatred of the
Borgias, who vainly sought to have him sent as legate to a distance from Rome.
Finally they went so far as to try to put him in prison, but this the Pope
would not permit.
The Borgias kept up the closest intimacy with the
Colonna family — in the summer of 1457 was even said that Don Pedro
Borgia was to marry a Colonna — and accordingly their relations with the Orsini
were unfriendly. In 1457, when the Pope sent Don Pedro against the Orsini to
recover from them some fortresses which he considered to be the property of the
Church, open war broke out. Cardinal Orsini now left Rome (July,
1457); Scarampo, Carvajal, and Nicholas of Cusa were absent; and
as d'Estouteville, Barbo, and Piccolomini
held to the Borgias, they had the preponderance in the Sacred College. It is,
moreover, not improbable that most of the Cardinals had assented to the
appointment of Don Pedro Luis as Prefect of the City, which took place on the
death of the City Prefect, Gian Antonio Orsini, on the 19th August, 1457. On
the evening of the same day the Conservators and the principal citizens of Rome
came to the Papal Palace to thank Calixtus for the selection he had made. The
Pope took the opportunity of assuring them that Don Pedro was, in feeling and
manners, an Italian, and that it was his desire to live and die a Roman
citizen. One of the Conservators went so far as to observe that he hoped soon
to see the new City Prefect King of Rome; all united in requesting the Pope to
make over to Don Pedro the fortresses which had always constituted the
Prefect's fief. Don Pedro himself, in receiving the deputations which came to
congratulate him, expressed his intention of becoming an Italian and his wish
to live in Italy.
These empty speeches were made because everyone knew
how dearly the Pope loved his nephews. In reality there was no love lost
between the new Prefect and the Italians. The manners of almost all the Pope's
nephews were over-bearing and insolent towards the Romans, who retaliated by
bitterly hating the foreigners. Their resentment was aggravated when the good
fortune of the Borgias attracted a host of relations and other Spaniards to
Rome, who brawled in the streets and overran the provinces.
Adventurers of all kinds gathered round the wild and
handsome Don Pedro Luis; the general name of "Catalans" was given to
all these strangers, among whom were Neapolitans as well as Spaniards, and,
similarly, all the Pope's nephews were called "Borgia", whatever
might be their patronymic; Calixtus, indeed, conferred on most of them the
honour of bearing his family name.
From the very beginning of his pontificate the Pope
showed a marked preference for his numerous fellow-countrymen equally with his
nearer and more distant relations. Only a few days after his election we find
evidence of this. The feeling against the Catalans was already so strong that
many Germans and Frenchmen voluntarily resigned their positions at the Papal
Court. The posts thus vacated were filled by Spaniards, who soon formed the
largest portion of the Pope's circle; they were also to be found in the Papal
Chapel and among the artists attached to the court. No large orders, however,
were given to these latter, for, where he could, Calixtus economized for the
sake of the Turkish war.
The power of the Borgias and Catalans became almost
intolerable after the important fortress of St. Angelo had been given up to
them. This was done on the 15th March, 1456, at a late hour in the evening and
after the Pope had threatened the Castellan with the severest penalties. Great
excitement prevailed in the city, and it was thought that nothing short of the
summoning of a general council could avail to restore tranquillity.
As the military and police were in the hands of the
Catalans they had unlimited power, and administered justice as they chose.
“Every day” says a chronicler, "there were assassinations and encounters
in the streets; nothing but Catalans could be seen". The aged and sickly
Pope had, we are expressly informed, no idea of what was going on. His
attention was constantly engrossed by the war against the Turks; and he thought
that he might safely leave the affairs of Rome to the care of his beloved nephews.
The confusion in Rome was yet further increased by
repeated visitations of pestilential epidemics. In the beginning of June, 1458,
the plague raged so violently that everyone who could do so sought safety in
flight. Most of the Cardinals left the city, amongst them the Portuguese
Cardinal, the Infant James, Giovanni da Castiglione, Filippo Calandrini, and Piccolomini. The last-named betook himself
to the Baths of Viterbo, to continue his former life of peaceful leisure. The
aged Pontiff, however, remained in Rome, and his attention was fully occupied
by the illness of his bitterest opponent, Alfonso of Naples, which terminated
fatally on the 27th June.
On the same day the King's illegitimate son, Don
Ferrante, to whom he had bequeathed Naples, rode with royal pomp through the
city, while the people cried "Long live King Ferdinand!". But this
was not sufficient to overcome the opposition to his accession which arose on
all sides. The aged René of Anjou-Provence, who bore the title of King of
Naples, and his son John, who styled himself Duke of Calabria, accepted the
proposals of the former and recent antagonists of the Aragonese,
all the more readily because Calixtus III, the lord paramount, was also hostile
to that party.
Almost as soon as the Pope had heard what must to him have
been the welcome tidings of Alfonso's death, he sent to the Neapolitan
ambassador's house to have him arrested and taken to St. Angelo. But the
ambassador, who had been warned of the Pope's intentions, and had received
early intelligence of the death of his King, had fled. The property, which he
left behind him, was seized. On the following day Calixtus held a Consistory,
in which he conferred on Cardinal Rodrigo the Bishopric of Valencia, with its
revenue of eighteen thousand ducats, and on his Datary the Bishopric of Gerona.
The same morning Cardinal Luis Juan and other relations of the Pope received
various benefices, the right of appointment to which, in common with the
above-named Bishoprics, had been in dispute between Calixtus and Alfonso. After
dinner the Pope had an interview with Cardinals d'Estouteville and
Alain, lasting nearly till evening, in which he declared his determination of
making every effort to recover Naples for the Church from Don Ferrante, who had
no right to it. The Pope added, were this to take place, and it were proved to
belong to King René, he would give it to him, otherwise he would grant it as a
fief to whomsoever he deemed fit. It was surmised that he intended to bestow it
on Don Pedro. The ambassador, from whom we learn this, says that the Pope
looked on Don Pedro as a second Caesar, and the reports of others are to the
same effect. Many contemporaries even assert that after the conquest of
Constantinople Don Pedro was to have been made its Emperor or King of Cyprus. There
is more intrinsic probability, however, in the statement concerning Naples, and
it is certain that although Ferrante made every possible effort to bring about
a reconciliation, the Pope resolutely refused to acknowledge his right of
succession. On the 14th July a Bull was published in Rome, by which Calixtus
claimed the kingdom of Sicily on this side of the Faro as a lapsed fief. At the
same time its subjects were forbidden to swear fealty to any one of the
pretenders to the Crown; such as had taken an oath were loosed from their
obligations, and the claimants were invited to come to Rome to establish their
rights. Provision was immediately made for the publication of this document
throughout the kingdom of Naples, and it was moreover reported that the Pope
had required from Don Ferrante, under pain of the most severe punishments, the
payment of the sixty thousand ducats which Alfonso had bequeathed for the
crusade.
Great excitement was caused in both Naples and Rome by
this action on the part of the Pope. On the publication of the Bull the price
of corn at once rose in Rome. One of the Conservators, moreover, is reported to
have expressed himself to the effect that in the event of the Pope making war
upon Naples, the Romans would be compelled to choose the lesser evil. The
threat did not deter Calixtus from his purpose, and, in order to give greater
effect to his Bull, he commanded Don Pedro to levy troops for a hostile
demonstration against Naples.
Contemporary despatches from ambassadors show how
strong was the Pope's feeling against Don Ferrante. Calixtus had been greatly
incensed by his letter announcing to the Pope and the Cardinals the death of
his father, in which he already styled himself King. In a conversation with the
Milanese ambassador, he called Ferrante a little bastard, whose father was
unknown. "This boy who is nothing", he said, "calls himself King
without our permission. Naples belongs to the Church, it is the possession of
St. Peter. Alfonso would not assume this title until he had the consent of the
Holy See, in this following our counsel. You," continued the Pope,
"being from Lombardy, where fiefs are more common than elsewhere, know
that, admitting him to be the legitimate successor of Alfonso, he must have our
confirmation before he can be called King. Moreover, Ferrante wrongfully holds
possession of Terracina, Benevento, and other places which belong to the
Church. Many have therefore thought that we should have proceeded against him
with more severity, and altogether denied his right of succession. This we have
not wished to do, but for the defence of the rights of the Church we have
issued this just and holy Bull, which will stand not only on earth but also in
heaven. In it we have reserved his rights as well as those of the other
claimants, for everyone shall have his due. If your Duke, whom we greatly love,
leaves us a free hand, we shall conquer and exalt him as we have always wished
to do; the Duke must attach no importance to a child who is nothing, and whom
no one regards; we have been told that Ferrante, when he heard the words of our
Bull, burst into tears; his subjects do not wish to be excommunicated, and have
accordingly determined to send ambassadors to us; they will be obedient to the
Church. If Don Ferrante will give up his usurped title and humbly place himself
in our hands, we will treat him as one of our own nephews".
Ferrante was by no means disposed to do anything of
the kind. He summoned a Parliament at Capua, and called on his barons for
assistance against the unjust pretensions of the Pope. It was determined that
ambassadors should be sent to Rome to appeal against the Bull of July 12th.
The messengers who brought the Bull into the kingdom were, by order of
Ferrante, seized and soundly beaten. It was a great advantage to him that the
most powerful of Italian princes, Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan, declared
himself against the Pope and acknowledged Ferrante as King. Cosmo de Medici
united with Sforza in supporting him against Papal menaces and French
pretensions.
Under these circumstances it would have been hard to
foretell the complications to which the Neapolitan question might have given
rise had not the death of Calixtus III. completely altered the aspect of
affairs.
The Pope had been seriously ill in the spring, but had
recovered and risen up again with characteristic energy. From the beginning of
July, however, there had been a general failure of strength, and about the
middle of the month his condition had become so much worse that all the
business of government had to be suspended. On the 21st a violent and most
painful attack of gout supervened, and as he was also suffering from fever,
which may have been due to agitation regarding the Neapolitan question, the physicians
gave but little hopes of his recovery.
On the 30th July a report of the Pope's death was
current in Rome, and immediately the hatred of the Romans against the
"Catalans" broke forth; the foreigners were ill-treated in the public
streets by the populace, and a young Catalan was slain. The state of things was
so alarming that the Florentine merchants and the wealthy prelates and
courtiers removed their possessions to places of safety.
Meanwhile the Pope had again rallied a little; on the
1st and 2nd of August he was decidedly better, but on the 3rd a burning fever
took away all hope of amendment. Even now the marvellous energy of the aged man
made it hard for him to believe that he was so near his end. When the
plain-spoken Cardinal Antonio de la Cerda told him that, as the physicians had
given him up, it was now time to think of his soul and to prepare to die as
beseems a Pope, Calixtus replied that it was not yet certain that he was to die
this time. On the 1st August, however, he made up his mind to receive the
Sacraments, and on the 4th he was anointed.
The affairs of government occupied his attention while
he lay on his death-bed; on the 26th of July he held a Consistory, and on the
31st he gave proof of the undying strength of his affection for his relations
by an act of great importance.
On the death of King Alfonso, Terracina and Benevento
had reverted to the Church, and on the above-named day the Pope granted the
Vicariate of these two cities to his beloved Don Pedro. If we may rely on the
report of the Milanese ambassador, the Cardinals consented from fear, lest
opposition on their part might have involved imprisonment in St. Angelo. On the
1st August, Calixtus conferred the Archbishopric of Naples on Cardinal Tebaldi,
the brother of his physician. At the same time it was understood that he
intended to nominate no less than five new Cardinals, of whom two were to be
"Catalans" and two Romans. A violent opposition arose on the part of
the Sacred College, and Cardinals d'Estouteville,
Orsini, Barbo, and de Mella met that
evening in Cardinal Alain's Palace to take counsel. "It appears",
writes one of the ambassadors, "that they have determined not to go to the
Pope's Palace, and above all not to cross the Tiber until St. Angelo is given
over to the Sacred College. Moreover, they have resolved not to consent to the
nomination of new Cardinals".
The excitement was not confined to the great Princes
of the Church. The tidings of the mortal sickness of the Pope had deeply moved
not only Rome, but also the Pontifical States, and the general confusion was
aggravated by the arrival (August 2nd) of Don Ferrante's ambassadors, who
affixed to the doors of St. Peter's an appeal to the new Pope or to a Council,
and declared that if the Cardinals would not listen to them they would seek the
alliance of the Romans.
With a view of maintaining order, the Sacred College
had, before the end of July, appointed a Commission consisting of four of its
members — Cardinals Bessarion, d'Estouteville,
Alain, and Barbo. The Commission met daily, and one of its first acts was
the occupation of the Capitol by a force of two hundred men under the
Archbishop of Ragusa. The Cardinals further made every effort to come to an
understanding with Don Pedro Borgia. This was accomplished more easily than had
been expected. Don Pedro, on whom his brother Rodrigo exercised a restraining
influence, had sense enough to perceive that his longer residence in Rome would
be attended with danger; he therefore gave up to the College of Cardinals all
the fortresses, including St. Angelo, and in return received in coin the sum of
two-and-twenty thousand ducats which Calixtus III had left him by will. His
troops were at once required to take an oath of fealty to the Sacred College in
the person of the Vice-Camerlengo; the dying Pope being left in ignorance of
these transactions. The Cardinals had already taken into their keeping the
treasury of the Church, which at the time contained a hundred and twenty
thousand ducats.
The excessive bitterness of the Orsini family against
Don Pedro can easily be accounted for. It was an open secret that they would
spare no efforts to bring about his downfall, and his way had been barred by
land and by sea. Moreover, the violence of the popular fury against the
"Catalans" had now in many places increased. In Rome the hated
foreigners were cut to pieces whenever they fell into the hands of their
enemies. Under these circumstances Don Pedro felt that he was not safe, and he
knew that his danger was all the greater because most of his troops were
Italians, and he had not treated them very well; by the end of July it was
thought that he would flee to Spoleto, and there await the election of a new
Pope.
Don Pedro's flight actually took place early in the
morning of the 6th of August. He was assisted by Cardinal Pietro Barbo,
who was a friend of the Borgias, and was anxious to prevent bloodshed. In order
to avoid the snares of the Orsini, Don Pedro proceeded with the greatest
circumspection. He mounted his horse at three in the morning, accompanied by
his brother Rodrigo in disguise, and by Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who brought
with him three hundred horse and two hundred foot. They first passed through
the Porta del Castello di St. Angelo, and turned towards Ponte Molle. They
then came back through the Porta del Popolo into the city, and
hurried on, choosing the least inhabited streets to the Porta di San Paolo. At
this gate the two Cardinals parted from him, after commanding the soldiers to
escort him to Ostia. But Don Pedro was already detested to such a degree that,
although the order was given in the name of the Sacred College, nearly all the
soldiers refused to accompany him any further. "Not one even of the
grooms", says an ambassador, "would remain with him". Fresh
difficulties met the forsaken fugitive at Ostia, where he had ordered a galley
with money and other valuables to await him. In vain did he look for this
vessel, which had disappeared long before his arrival, and he was accordingly
compelled to escape in a boat to Cività Vecchia.
Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia showed more courage. He had
retired to Tivoli in June on account of the unhealthy state of Rome, but
returned during the night, between the 25th and 26th July, on hearing of the
dangerous illness of the Pope. In the general confusion his servants forsook
him, so that his splendid palace was left to be plundered by the populace.
Rodrigo's return to the city, after his brother's flight, was a brave action.
The chronicler of Viterbo says that the Cardinal went to St. Peter's to pray
for the forsaken and dying Pope.
For fully a fortnight the aged Pontiff hung between
life and death, until at last, on the evening of the 6th of August, the Feast
of the Transfiguration, which he himself had instituted, God released him from
his sufferings.
Except for his nepotism, Calixtus III deserves high
praise, more especially for the energy, constancy and purpose which he
displayed in dealing with the burning question of the day — the protection of
Western civilization from the Turkish power. In this matter he gave a grand
example to Christendom, and it is to be observed that in the midst of the
military and political interest which claimed so large a share of his time and
attention, he did not neglect the internal affairs of the Church, and vigorously
opposed heresies.
The tidings of the Pope's death caused the greatest
excitement in Rome. The Orsini and the other enemies of already taken flight,
and those who still remained in the city sought to conceal themselves in
out-of-the-way places, for the populace were attacking the houses of all the
Spaniards and of any Romans who belonged to the Borgia party.
Cardinal Barbo was included in the hatred borne to the family of the
late Pope, and the assistance which he had afforded to Don Pedro in his flight
was not forgiven.
The bitter feeling against the evil doings of the
Spanish strangers led to bloodshed in many parts of the States of the Church.
Disturbances had occurred in Viterbo as early as August 1st. The Castellan
of Castelnuovo was slain by Stefano Colonna, and a like fate befell
the Catalan Castellan of Nepi. At Cività Castellana, Fabriano, Ascoli, and other
places, the people rose with the cry, "Long live the Church!". The
Orsini, with the consent of the College of Cardinals, invested San Gregorio,
which Don Pedro had formerly wrested from them. Jacopo Piccinino again appeared
to see what he could fish out of the troubled waters. Almost as soon as he
heard of the Pope's dangerous illness he concluded a truce with Malatesta, and
returned to the States of the Church. On the 15th August he appeared before
Assisi, and the Catalan Castellan gave it up to him for a sum of money.
Piccinino also occupied Gualdo, Nocera, Bevagna, and other places, and pitched his camp at Foligno.
It was believed that there was an understanding between him and the King of
Naples, who thus sought to extort a recognition of his own claims, to frighten
the Cardinals, and to prevent the election of a French Pope.
Even in the last week of July negotiations regarding
the Papal election had begun among the Cardinals, and the Italian Cabinets had
also been busy. The questions connected with the succession to the chair of St.
Peter were, indeed, of a most important character. Was the new Pope to be an
Italian, a Spaniard, or a Frenchman, a friend of the Orsini or of the Colonna
party? Would he favour the French or the Aragonese dynasty
in Naples? Would he attack the Turks? Would he be a man of peace or a man of
war?
It would appear that the Italian Cardinals, mindful of
the previous Conclave which had resulted in the election of a foreigner, on
this occasion at once proposed one of their own number, against whom no party
could raise any serious objection. This was Cardinal Capranica, in favour
of whose election, as an ambassador expressly declares, Italian and non-Italian
Cardinals, Orsini and Colonna, were unanimous.
The powerful Duke of Milan used his influence on
behalf of Capranica. Writing on August 2nd to his ambassadors in Rome he
says, "We wish you on this occasion to use all your zeal and all your
skill, and leave nothing undone, of course, with due care for what is becoming,
for the fulfilment of our desires. We exclude every other". On the
following day Simonetta, the Duke's confidant, repeated the command, and
pointed out that Capranica was not only the most worthy member of the
Sacred College, but also the individual best fitted to carry out ecclesiastical
reforms. The King of Naples also was induced to favour his election.
The explanation of this marvellous unanimity is to be
found in the moral purity and the rare qualities of this great man.
Domenico Capranica was born in the Jubilee
year of 1400, in the little town near Palestrina, which bore his name. Although
of modest fortune, his family was intimate with that of the Colonna. Domenico,
who from his earliest youth showed a great love of learning, went at fifteen
years of age to the University of Padua to study civil and canon law. Here
Nicholas of Cusa was his fellow-disciple, and together they sat at
the feet of Cesarini. The relations between Capranica and his
master were of the happiest and most friendly description, and became yet more
intimate when they were both on the same day raised to the
purple. Capranica pursued his legal studies in Bologna with
extraordinary zeal. Sleep, of which he allowed himself but a scanty measure,
often surprised him over his books. His attention to jurisprudence did not lead
him to neglect polite literature, and even at this early period a brilliant
future was predicted for the gifted youth, who outstripped all his companions,
and was the favourite of his teachers. His modesty was such that he used to
blush when an older person addressed a question to him. Never, during his
student life, did he take part in any public merry-makings or banquets, and we
cannot be surprised to learn that he received the doctor's cap when only
one-and-twenty. Martin V was at this time living in Mantua, and was a friend of
the Capranica family; Domenico accordingly at a very early age became
a clerk of the Apostolic Chamber. In his new position he diligently continued
his studies; St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Cassian, and Seneca are said to have
been his favourite authors.
The more Pope Martin V saw of the young official, the
more persuaded did he become of his remarkable learning and of his rare
virtues. In consequence he raised him to the purple when only three and thirty,
but deferred the publication of his promotion to a later period for fear of the
jealousy which it might arouse.
After Capranica had admirably accomplished
several difficult missions entrusted to him by the Pope, and had also
distinguished himself as leader of the Papal troops, Martin V made him Governor
of Perugia, where his justice, moderation, and disinterestedness won the
affection of the people, and led them to look upon him as a father.
Martin V's last creation of Cardinals took place in
the beginning of November, 1430, and on this occasion Ram,
Prospero Colonna, Cesarini and Capranica were
published. His friends received the tidings of his elevation with the greatest
joy, and many of the Cardinals, including Albergati and the
great Cesarini, congratulated him in the most cordial terms. “I pray the
Giver of all good things”, wrote the latter, "daily to increase in you the
virtues by which you have merited the purple. May God grant to us both that as
we have received this dignity upon earth at the same time we may also together
be partakers of the glory of heaven”.
Capranica purposed soon after his publication to
go to Rome in order to express his gratitude to the Pope, and to receive his
hat and ring. The unsettled state of Perugia, however, caused him to defer his
journey, and in the interval Martin V died. After the death of his patron our
Cardinal at once repaired thither with the view of taking part in the coming
election. Anxious to avoid hurting the feelings of any member of the Sacred
College, he halted at San Lorenzo fuori le mura,
and sent three messengers to ask that he might be admitted to the Conclave.
Meanwhile his enemies had been actively at work; his connection with the
Colonna family and the circumstance that he had filled a position in
the treasury were brought up in an invidious manner. No one, however, ventured
to take any open measures against him. After a long delay he was informed that
the existing state of affairs in Perugia made it seem most desirable that he
should return there. Capranica perfectly Understood the design of his
enemies, but not wishing to occasion any confusion in the Conclave he acceded
to the desire of the Cardinals. Before his departure he caused ah act to be
drawn up in which he complained of their delay, and declared that he would for
the sake of peace yield to their wishes, but that he maintained his rights;
against any attack on his position as Cardinal he appealed to the Council.
The election of Eugenius IV immediately took
place. Capranica hastened to send messengers to congratulate the new
Pope on his elevation, and respectfully to ask permission to appear with the
red hat. But his enemies had already succeeded in completely prejudicing the
mind of Eugenius against him. The Orsini, who bitterly hated the Colonna and
their adherents, had been particularly active. They had caused Capranica's palace
in Rome to be plundered, and his precious library had been dispersed. Soon
after these tidings had reached him he heard that officers were on their way
from Rome to arrest him. He therefore fled to the Convent of San Silvestro, on
the Soracte, and waited there in hopes that the
Pope would in time be better advised. These hopes were vain, as also were the
efforts made by a few of the Cardinals on his behalf. A commission appointed by
Eugenius gave judgment against him, and the dignity of Cardinal was denied him.
Under these
circumstances Capranica determined to seek protection from the
Council then sitting at Basle. He appealed to this assembly, and set out to
present himself before it. In Siena he took into his service Aeneas Sylvius
Piccolomini and Pietro da Noceto, who was
afterwards the confidant of Nicholas V. After a difficult and dangerous journey
they arrived at Basle in the spring of 1432. In the meantime Eugenius, further
irritated by calumnious reports, had deprived him of the posts which he held,
and had even confiscated his patrimony. The Cardinal was thus reduced to such
poverty that he was compelled to dismiss his retainers, and amongst them
Piccolomini and Noceto.
The Council, whose general
esteem Capranica soon gained, pronounced in his favour. With
admirable moderation, however, while claiming the purple as his right, he
distinguished between persons and offices. During the whole of his sojourn at
Basle he was never betrayed by his controversy with the Pope into any
anti-Roman step, nor did he ever suffer a harsh word against Eugenius or the
Court of Rome to pass his lips. When an opportunity offered of coming to an
understanding with the Pope he gladly embraced it. When at last a satisfactory
arrangement had been arrived at, he went to Florence and was cordially received
by Eugenius (1435). His relations with the Pope soon assumed an intimate
character, which was only for a short time disturbed by his courageous protest
against the admission of Vitelleschi to the
Sacred College. Important and honourable missions were entrusted to him, and he
took part in the zealous Pontiffs monastic reforms, as well as in the
negotiations for Union with the Greeks. He, together with Cesarini,
induced the Pope to make Bessarion a Cardinal. The reconciliation of Germany
with the Church, which was the last joy of Eugenius IV on earth, was a
congenial task to his gentle and kindly nature, and his zeal and discretion
largely contributed to it. The place which the Cardinal held in the estimation
of the Romans is evident from the fact that on the death of Eugenius it was
generally expected that he would be the next wearer of the tiara, although he
was at the time only forty-seven years of age. The reasons which prevented his
election on this occasion are unknown.
Capranica, or the Cardinal of Fermo, as he was styled
from his Archiepiscopal See, was valued by the new Pope even more highly than
he had been by Eugenius. He accompanied Nicholas V on his various journeys, and
in the year 1449 was appointed by him to the important office of Grand
Penitentiary, the duties of which he discharged in the most admirable manner.
Various difficult legations were, as we have already said, confided to him, and
while fulfilling these he also gave proof of his genuine devotion to the Church
by promoting the cause of reform wherever it was possible to do so.
In the Conclave after the death of Nicholas V there
seemed again a likelihood that Capranica would be chosen. During the
Pontificate of Nicholas V he had already been actively interested in the
Turkish question, and under Calixtus III he redoubled his efforts for the
protection of Christendom. The plague, which raged in Rome in the year 1456,
drove almost all the Cardinals away, but he remained with the Pope. He
fearlessly traversed the infected streets, strewn with the unburied corpses of
its victims, as he went to confer with Nicholas on the affairs of the Church.
He displayed equal courage of another sort in personally and freely
remonstrating with Calixtus when favours were heaped upon his unworthy
relations. As we have already related, he steadfastly refused to acquiesce in
Don Pedro's appointment as Duke of Spoleto. The enmity which he thus incurred
induced him to withdraw more and more from public life, and he employed his
time of retirement in pious exercises, as if foreseeing his approaching end.
In the last days of July, 1458, just at the time when
negotiations regarding his election as Pope were going
on, Capranica was attacked by a slight indisposition, which soon grew
into a mortal sickness. His first care was to receive the Holy Sacraments, and
to seek pardon from the Cardinals for any offence he might have given them.
Years before he had composed a little book, which we
may really call a golden volume, on “the art of dying”, and all his thoughts
were now directed entirely to eternity. He consoled the friends who stood
mourning around his bed by reminding them that the death of those only is to be
lamented who have never thought of dying until they saw that they could live no
longer.
The ideal of what a Cardinal should be is certainly a
very high one. Capranica may be said to have realized it. All his
contemporaries are unanimous in testifying that this great man united learning
and piety in an uncommon degree. His life was that of a Saint. His nightly
repose was limited to four hours. Immediately on rising he recited the Hours,
he then said or heard Mass, generally first going to Confession. Before
granting audiences he devoted several hours to the study of the Fathers, among
whom he had a special love for St. Jerome and St. Augustine. No women were
allowed to enter his apartments, neither religious women nor his nearest
relations — not even his sister and sister-in-law were excepted from this rule.
The Cardinal of Fermo had built himself a palace
suitable to his dignity in the vicinity of Santa Maria in Aquiro in Rome, but luxury found no place within its
walls. His manner of life was remarkable for its simplicity; his dinner
consisted of one dish. He hated court ceremonies, and in intercourse with
others he was simple, short, and precise. His ecclesiastical household was
composed exclusively of men of worth; various nationalities found place in it.
To those around him he was rather a careful father than a master. If he
perceived a fault in one of his retainers he at once endeavoured to correct it.
He could be vehement and severe in dealing with the vicious and idle, and was
unsparing in his reproofs to prelates who forsook their churches and busied themselves
at court. Capranica was sterner towards himself than towards others.
It is told of him that never, even in joke, did he permit himself to utter a
falsehood. He repeatedly asked his friends frankly to point out his faults to
him. When his dead body was unclothed it was found that even in his last
illness he had worn an instrument of penance. His liberality was so unbounded
that he was often in pecuniary difficulties. He frequently disposed of silver
vessels and gave the proceeds, in secret, to the poor, who were required to
promise that they would never let anyone know of his bounty. He bequeathed all
his property to ecclesiastical uses. “The Church” he would say, "gave it
to me; I give it back, for I was not its master but its steward. I should, indeed,
have reaped but little profit from the nights spent in studying ecclesiastical
decisions if I were to leave the goods of the Church, which belong to the poor,
to my own relations".
In Rome and in the States of the
Church, Capranica zealously strove to settle the numerous feuds which
existed. If anyone would not be reconciled he used to take him into his room,
and having bound him to secrecy, fall on his knees and implore him to make
peace with his enemy.
He was a great lover of learning; his own attainments,
especially in theology and in canon law, were considerable, and he counted
among his friends both ecclesiastical and humanistic scholars. His valuable
library was open to all students. He was also the founder of the first of the
numerous colleges in Rome. In this institution, which still exists and bears
his name, thirty-one poor scholars were to be received, of whom sixteen were to
study theology and the liberal arts, and the remainder canon law. As his means
were not sufficient to enable him to erect a building for this college, he
received the students into his own palace. The constitutions, which he drew up
himself, are in their way a model. Capranica was also an author. We
have already spoken of his "Art of dying"; he also collected the Acts
of the Council of Basle, wrote a work on the Turkish war, dedicated to Calixtus
III, and for his nephews a set of Rules of Life, in which his beautiful
character is reflected.
When in the second week of August the physicians
declared Capranica to be out of danger, the joy with which the
announcement was received by all friends of learning and all well-disposed
persons may be imagined. But a violent attack of fever came on in the night
between the the 13th and 14th, and by the afternoon of the latter day
he was dead. A short time before he breathed his last he received the Holy
Sacraments with such recollection and piety that he seemed to those who stood
by like an angel from Paradise. The last words which the dying man addressed to
his friends were to beg the alms of their prayers, and to exhort them to
continue to labour indefatigably for the welfare of the Church which he had
loved so ardently in life.
"Two hours before his death," writes Otto
de Carretto, the Duke of Milan's ambassador, "the Cardinal gave me
his hand and said, 'God be with you; it grieves me to the heart that I have not
been able before my departure to show to your lord and yourself the gratitude
you deserve from me; but God will repay you'. I," continues the
ambassador, "had no power to answer him. And so, my illustrious Duke, the
wisest, the most perfect, the most learned and the holiest prelate whom the
Church in our days has possessed is gone from us. His whole life was devoted to
the exaltation of the Roman Church. He was the pillar of Italian peace and a
mirror of piety and all sanctity. We all confidently expected soon to be able
to honour him as Pope, for parties in general were agreed regarding his
elevation. And now we must sorrowfully assist at his obsequies. Such is the
world! So is every hope disappointed!" With these words, written an hour
after Capranica's death, the ambassador closes the despatch from
whose faded lines the warm heart of the writer still speaks to our souls.
The remains of the great man found a fitting
resting-place near the grave of St. Catherine of Siena in Santa Maria sopra
Minerva. He was lamented by all. "Nothing but mourning and sighing is
heard” wrote the ambassador of the Marquess Lodovico de Gonzaga on the 19th
August, in reference to this calamity.
The Romans had, indeed, good cause for grief. Of all
the cardinals of the Renaissance Age none but Albergati, Cesarini,
and Carvajal can compare with Capranica. His sudden death was, in the
existing state of affairs, the heaviest imaginable loss to the Church.
Two days later the Conclave began, and from it issued,
as Pope, a cardinal distinguished alike as a statesman and an author, who had
once been secretary to the Cardinal of Fermo.
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