BOOK V POPE PIUS II, A.D.1458-1464

CHAPTER III.

THE CONTEST FOR THE NEAPOLITAN THRONE.

While Pius II was seeking to unite the Christian Princes against Islam, the dispute in Italy between the houses of Anjou and Aragon had broken out into open war. King Charles VII. of France espoused the Angevine party, and made over to King Rene for the expedition against Ferrante of Naples, the twenty-four galleys which Cardinal Alain had collected for the Turkish war. In the beginning of October 1459, René’s son, Duke John of Calabria, appeared before Naples with these ships. His hope that an insurrection would break out against the King, who was absent in Calabria, was disappointed. Accordingly he sailed back and landed at the mouth of the Volturno. This was the signal for a general rising against Ferrante under the leadership of the ancient Angevine party and the most powerful of the feudal lords, and the cause of the house of Aragon seemed lost.

Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, strenuously opposed the pretensions of the Angevines. Clearly perceiving that the success of the French in Italy, and their establishment in Naples, must destroy the political independence of the Peninsula, he induced the Pope to take Ferrante’s part. Florence and Venice professed neutrality; on the other hand, the Condottiere, Jacopo Piccinino, managed to elude the Papal Legate and Federigo of Urbino, and march southwards along the coast to assist the insurgents.

Military operations began in the spring of 1460. The Milanese forces were commanded by Alessandro, Francesco’s brother, and the Papal troops by Simonetto. When the Duke of Calabria approached the city of Nola, Ferrante, with the army of the Pope, advanced to meet him. On the 7th July the Neapolitan king having rashly attacked the enemy, who was encamped in the little town of Sarno, a few miles from the capital, was completely defeated. His troops were for the most part taken prisoners, and he himself escaped with but twenty horsemen to Naples. Almost all the chiefs, and most of the cities of the Campagna, with the exception of Naples, joined the Angevine party.

Had the enemies of Ferrante been more united among themselves, and more energetic, the consequences of the victory at Sarno might have been far more serious than they were. As it was, the King, who was powerfully supported by Milan, found time to recover his strength.

At the end of July a sharp encounter also took place in the north. On the 22nd of the month, at San Fabiano, not far from Ascoli, Piccinino attacked the army commanded by Alessandro Sforza and Federigo of Urbino, and a sharp engagement ensued. Neither side could claim the victory, but eventually Alessandro and Federigo were obliged to retreat.

Pius II, who had been at the baths of Macerata and Petriolo to seek relief from his old enemy the gout, was at Siena when he received the evil tidings. As early as May, King René had sent an unsuccessful embassy to induce the Pope, by threats of insurrection in Avignon and an appeal to a Council, to abandon the cause of Ferrante. But the unfortunate issue of the battles at Sarno and San Fabiano so alarmed Pius II that he began to waver. He seems even to have thought of “yielding to the pressure of the French and forsaking Ferrante”. The representations of the Duke of Milan, who “had the most urgent interest in this war”, and the concessions of Ferrante, held the Pope in this critical moment to his agreement. Ferrante not only made over the little city of Castiglione della Pescaja, in Tuscany, and the island of Giglio to the Pope’s nephew, Andrea, but also renounced his claim to Terracina. After the battle of Sarno, a party adverse to the French interest had there arisen which besought the protection of the Church. Pius II upon this sent his nephew Antonio, who occupied this important city, which was the key of the Campagna. The King of Naples and Francesco Sforza were both equally dissatisfied with this proceeding, but they were compelled to submit if they wished to retain the alliance of Pius II. The Pope won the goodwill of the inhabitants by confirming their municipal constitution and other privileges, and acceding to their request that the Jews might be allowed to settle in their city, and enjoy its freedom and rights.

Meanwhile the strife in Naples was reacting most injuriously on Rome. As long as Nicholas of Cusa, who had been appointed Papal Vicar-General, remained in the city, all was quiet, a fact acknowledged with commenda­tion in many of the Pope’s Briefs. Soon after his departure, however, we hear of riots and outrages, and the citizens anxiously desired the return of the Pope. In a Brief of February 1st, 1460, Pius again alludes to dis­turbances in Rome, and charges the Senators of the city to repress these “daily recurring scandals”. Contemporary chroniclers inform us that two bands of lawless youths had formed themselves in Rome, who were perpetually at war with each other, and had ended by establishing a veritable reign of terror. Rape, plunder, and murder were the order of the day. The municipal authorities did little or nothing to restore order, hoping that the continuance of this state of anarchy would induce Pius II to return. On the 30th March the Pope expressed to the Conservators his surprise that they could suffer these excesses to be perpetrated by the youth of the City; and informed them that if they expected by such means to force him to come back they were greatly mistaken. He might be moved by submission and obedience, but never by turbulence. The situation soon became so critical, that the Governor withdrew from the Vatican, and asked for military assistance, which Pius II at once granted.

In the month of May the troubles increased. It now appeared that the party of revolt in the city had warm supporters in the Savelli, the Colonna, and the Anguillara. “For these Barons again lifted their heads when the Neapolitan war broke out; they espoused the cause of Anjou, and entered into an alliance with Piccinino and Malatesta”. Jacopo Savelli afforded a secure asylum to the Roman banditti in Palombara, at the foot of Monte Gennara. On the 16th May a young Roman, surnamed, on account of his amorous propensities, the Innamorato, carried away a maiden who was about to be married; he was arrested for this offence, and delivered to the Senate. His friends at Palombara at once hastened to rescue him. The band was headed by Tiburzio and Valeriano di Maso, two brothers, who belonged to a family of conspirators. Their father, brother-in-law to Stefano Porcaro, had, together with his elder brother, been executed as principal accomplices in Porcaro’s plot. Tiburzio and Valeriano wished “to avenge these martyrs of liberty, to cast off the yoke of the priests, to restore the ancient Republic”. They fortified themselves in the Pantheon, laid the sur­rounding quarter under contribution, and never rested until they had procured the liberation of the Innamorato. As time went on, things got worse in the city, where the absence of the Pope, and his participation in the Neapolitan contest, caused great dissatisfaction. A new band was formed, and under the leadership of a certain Bonanno Specchio, committed all sorts of crimes. A tower near San Lorenzo in Lucina served as a hiding-place for these rebels, who when driven hence by the Pope’s nephew, Antonio, fortified themselves in the Capranica Palace. Here they spent their days in revelry, and at night sallied forth to plunder. Tiburzio was their king.

On hearing of these disorders, Pius II seriously thought of returning to Rome. The city continued unquiet, even after Tiburzio, at the request of some of the nobles, had gone back to Palombara. Unarmed citizens were maltreated in the open streets, women and maidens outraged, and a convent situated near the city completely sacked. The Pope now saw that his presence was the only remedy, and he resolved to put an end to these disturbances.

The beginning of September brought terrible tidings. Piccinino had burst into the Sabina, plundering and murdering as he went, and threatened, with the help of the Ghibelline Barons, to attack Rome, Cardinal Colonna had great difficulty in keeping Tivoli quiet, where the Ghibelline party supported Piccinino, whose troops, harboured by Jacopo Savelli in Palombara, from thence ravaged the surrounding country. “Confusion and terror reigned in Rome. From the walls and heights of the city, burning castles and villages were to be seen, and it was expected that the enemy would soon enter its gates. The party of revolt within was in communication with the Condottiere. Everso of Anguillara had resumed his raids, and Malatesta openly espoused the cause of Anjou”.

Meanwhile the Roman police arrested a certain Luca da Tozio, whose confessions “revealed the abyss of danger in all its depths to the Pope”. In the castle of St. Angelo, without being subjected to torture, he declared that Piccinino had been invited into the Roman territory by the Prince of Tarento, Everso of Anguillara, Jacopo Savelli and the Colonna, and that Tiburzio and his band were to open the gates of Rome to the Condottiere, after which the city was to be plundered, and the Pope’s nephew slain.

Ill though he was, the Pope, on receiving these tidings, resolved to start as soon as possible. After having prepared the way for peace between the contending parties in Orvieto, he set out and reached Viterbo on the 30th September. The Roman Envoys here awaited him and begged him to pardon the excesses of the Roman youths. “What city”, the Pope is said to have replied, “is freer than Rome? You pay no taxes, you bear no burdens, you occupy the most honourable posts, you sell your wine and corn at the price you choose, and your houses bring you in rich rents. And, moreover, who is your ruler? Is he a Count, Marquess, Duke, King or Emperor? No! one greater than all these, the Roman Pontiff, the successor of St, Peter, the Vicar of Christ. He it is who brings you glory and prosperity and attracts the wealth of the whole world to your gates”.

On the 4th October, Pius II started for Rome escorted by five hundred horsemen, sent at his urgent request by the Duke of Milan. On the 6th, to the great joy of the inhabitants, he entered the city. He at once summoned the Conservators and chief citizens, and, in a discourse lasting two hours, put before them the necessity of resisting John of Calabria, Piccinino, and the other authors of agitation.

The presence of the Pope produced a momentary calm, but the situation continued very perilous. In the middle of October a report was current to the effect that Piccinino was planning a last and decisive attack on Rome, and had secured the assistance of the Neapolitan Insurgents. In the same month Tiburzio destroyed himself by an act of foolhardiness. Bonanno Specchio, venturing into the city on the 29th October, fell into the hands of the police. Tiburzio immediately hastened from Palombara with fifteen companions, and called upon the Roman populace to rise. “It is too late”, was the reply. The agitators were as little prepared for this want of sympathy, as for the energetic opposition offered by the friends of order and the Papal soldiers. They sought safety in flight; a certain number succeeded in escaping, but Tiburzio was captured, together with five of his associates. On the scaffold he acknowledged that he had intended, with the help of the Ghibelline Barons and of Piccinino, to overthrow the Government of the Pope, and to plunder the rich merchants and Cardinals. Soothsayers had persuaded him that the power of the priests was to be overthrown that year; he did not ask for mercy, only for a speedy death. His companions expressed similar sentiments. The Pope forbade them to be tortured; but on the last day of October, Tiburzio, Bonanno Specchio, and six others, were hanged in the Capitol. “If in Porcaro the democratic movement had already degenerated to the level of Catiline, in Tiburzio and Valeriano, the heroes of 1460, it had sunk to that of mere brigandage”.

The position of Pius II, threatened as he was by Piccinino, was so precarious that he offered on fair conditions to make peace with Jacopo Savelli. Early in December a reconciliation with this “most audacious opponent” of the temporal power of the Pope seemed actually effected; but Piccinino again advanced with his troops, whereupon Savelli broke off the negotiations.

The misunderstandings between Alessandro Sforza and Federigo of Urbino, and the irritation of the former at the occupation of Terracina by the Pope, account for the fact that they did not pursue Piccinino “when he attacked the territory of the Church”. In the end, however, by their efforts he was induced to retire to the Abruzzi for the winter.

The French suffered a serious disaster in the spring of 1461. A revolution broke out in Genoa in the month of March; the French garrison was compelled to retire into the fortress, and was there besieged. Milan supported the revolutionists. King Rene, who himself came to the rescue, was completely defeated, and finally the fortress was taken.

This was a terrible blow to the Angevine party in the Kingdom of Naples. No decisive battle took place during the summer of 1461. Skanderbeg appeared in August, with between two and three thousand Albanians to support Ferrante in Apulia, but his undisciplined hordes only added to the general con fusion.

The Pope meanwhile was labouring earnestly for the restoration of peace in his own immediate neighbourhood. Rome was full of fear and excitement; the Palaces of the Cardinals were fortified and occupied by armed men. In March, 1461, eleven other members of Tiburzio’s band, who had ventured from Palombara to Rome, were executed. In May it was given out that the Pope intended to make a supreme effort to rid himself of Jacopo Savelli, who, in his own immediate neighbourhood, was constantly threatening him. Great apprehensions were entertained that this attempt might prove a failure, but Federigo of Urbino fully justified his reputation for generalship. By the beginning of July the whole of the Sabina was subdued; Savelli, shut up in Palombara, was compelled to capitulate. On the 10th he threw himself at the feet of the Pope, who received him graciously, and in consideration of his connection with the Colonna, granted peace on moderate terms.

Rome, however, still continued restless. If an ox was stolen, as Pius II told the Milanese Envoys, the people were all in commotion. At the end of July a plot to blow up the castle of St. Angelo was discovered. At the beginning of the following month, bearing arms within the City was severely punished. A fresh outbreak of disturbance occurred when the Pope, who had been ill ever since the spring, left Rome on the 21st July for Tivoli, to escape from the heat. The authorities had great difficulty in restoring order. The Envoy from Mantua relating these occurrences, expresses his fear that the Sicilian Vespers would be repeated in Rome. The citizens were utterly ungovernable. Mildness and severity were alike unavailing.

During his summer sojourn at Tivoli the Pope was not inactive. Considering the defenceless state of this City, which commanded the passes, he ordered a citadel to be built, and he also reformed its Franciscan Convent. Besides this he found time for scientific studies; he was then working at his description of Asia. He also frequently-sought refreshment for mind and body by making excursions in the beautiful neighbourhood.

The peace of the States of the Church was at this time disturbed not only by the Neapolitan war, but also by the hostile attitude of Sigismondo Malatesta. The despot of Rimini is not only the most horrible figure in the history of the early Renaissance, but “one of the most detestable rulers of any age. Bold, skilful, and frequently successful, he united the characteristics of the fox and the wolf, which Machiavelli holds to be necessary for the establishment of a tyranny”. He was withal a patron of learning and art, and himself a poet, philosopher, and scholar. But all this humanistic culture did not hinder Sigismondo from sinking to the lowest depths of moral depravity. There was no crime which this reckless heathen “had not committed, or at least was not deemed capable of committing. From jealousy or passion he murdered or put away two wives, and outside his own family circle his insatiable sensuality and cruelty drove him to commit the most horrible crimes”. His quarrel with Pius II dated from the peace to which the Pope had constrained him at Mantua. Sigismondo took advantage of the invasion of the States of the Church by Piccinino to resume possession of the territory which he had then surrendered. In November, 1460, Pius II had invoked the assistance of the Duke of Milan against him, and had also commenced legal proceedings.

On the 25th December he was excommunicated as a notorious criminal, and declared to have forfeited his dominions.

Heathen as he was, he merely mocked at the sentence, and jestingly asked whether excommunicated persons could still taste good wine and relish the pleasures of the table. The Pagan Humanism found a congenial soil in his depraved and defiant nature. He had already shown his contempt for the ceremonies of the Church. It is said that on one occasion, as he was returning from a banquet, he caused the holy water stoup of a church to be filled with ink. The unchristian temper of his mind was also exhibited in the extraordinary edifice to which his contemporaries gave the name of the “Temple of Malatesta”.

All historians of art agree in saying that the Church of San Francesco, when rebuilt according to the plan of Leon Battista Alberti in the newly-revived Classical style, had far more resemblance to a heathen temple than to a Christian church. The only difference, as a witty observer puts it, is that it was destined, not for the worship of Juno, Venus, or Minerva, but for that of Sigismondo’s mistress (afterwards his wife), the beautiful Isotta.

The profane character of the “Temple of Malatesta” was strikingly manifested in the interior, which was adorned with royal magnificence. “In all the marble tablets lavishly spread over the walls, scarcely a single Christian symbol, or figure from any saintly legend, is to be seen”. Of the numerous inscriptions but one has a doubtful reference to religion. The cross, the Christian symbol of victory, seems to be purposely avoided in the decoration. On the other hand “heathen allusions abound, and Isotta and Sigismondo appear as the presiding genii of the edifice, the divinities to be honoured in the temple”. On the balustrades, friezes, arches, vaults, everywhere the interlaced letters I (sotta) and Sigismondo), together with the arms and emblems of Malatesta, are introduced. Some of the inscriptions deify the builder as the Jupiter or the Apollo of Rimini. Diana, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, even Venus arising from the sea, together with almost all the other personages of the heathen Olympus, are portrayed in the Chapel of St. Jerome! The sarcophagus of Sigismondo, and the splendid monument of Isotta, which rests on two elephants, the armorial supporters of the Malatesta, are equally devoid of any Christian symbol. Isotta’s monument, erected in her lifetime, has an inscription in which the title of Diva is bestowed upon her! Many of the sculptures are illustrations of a love-poem addressed by Sigismondo to Isotta.

Certainly such an edifice as this fully merited the con­demnation of Pius II, who says in his Memoirs that San Francesco at Rimini appeared to be a temple for heathen rather than for Christian worship.

The sympathies of the Duke of Milan were not altogether with the Pope’s expedition against Malatesta, for he would rather have seen all forces directed to the Neapolitan war. Pius II, however, was not to be deterred, and sent 5000 men, under the command of Bartolomeo Vitelleschi, Archbishop of Corneto, against the tyrant. The two armies met at Nidastore in the Marches, on the 2nd July, 1461. Sigismondo fought like a “furious bear”, and completely routed the Papal troops.

The Venetians rejoiced at the issue of this conflict, and took the opportunity of accepting from Sigismondo a mortgage on Monte Marciano. The Pope remonstrated, but without effect, for it was the policy of the Signoria “gradually to acquire territory on the coast”. Piccinino and the Prince of Tarento aided Sigismondo by sending him 16,000 ducats.

The defeat at Nidastore greatly alarmed the Pope, but did not dishearten him. He commanded the Legate of the Marches to collect more troops, and took Napoleone Orsini into his service. In August, 1461, he even seemed not indisposed to grant a truce to his enemy.

The position of Pius II was at this time most precarious. His finances were exhausted, his troops hardly sufficed to resist Sigismondo. The Duke of Milan fell seriously ill, and the French party at his Court used every effort to break the alliance with Naples. The Pope now began to say that “it was impossible for him longer to endure the complaints and grievances daily brought forward by the King of France, by most of the Prelates, and almost all the Court; he had exposed the Church to much danger on Ferrante's account, whose enemies were increasing in number like the heads of the Hydra; it would therefore be much better to be neutral and await the issue of the struggle, to take care of the States of the Church, and spend the money on the war with the Turks”. But Francesco Sforza stood firm, and the marriage of the Pope's nephew Antonio to Maria, the natural daughter of Ferrante, which took place late in the autumn, was a fresh tie binding him more closely to the house of Aragon. Antonio, who already bore the title of Duke of Sessa, was now made Chief Justice of the Kingdom and Duke of Amalfi.

In the following March (1462) a brilliant Embassy from Louis XI, the new King of France, arrived in Rome, and made fresh efforts to win over the Pope to the side of Anjou. After a short period of indecision, however, Pius II determined to adhere to his alliance with Ferrante.

The summer of the same year witnessed the close of the struggle which had so terribly devastated the Neapolitan kingdom. On the 18th August, 1462, Ferrante and Alessandro Sforza gained a decisive victory at Troja over Piccinino and John of Calabria. Its immediate result was that the Prince of Tarento made his peace with Ferrante. And this was the turning-point of the war.

As might have been anticipated, events now succeeded each other somewhat rapidly. In the autumn of the following year (1463), Piccinino entered the service of the victor for high pay. Aquila, “which had ever since 1460 displayed the banner of Anjou”, capitulated; at last Marzano, Duke of Sessa and Prince of Rossano, also yielded. The unfortunate Duke of Calabria fled in September, 1463, to Ischia. In the middle of October the Pope was able to recall his troops from Naples. On the death of the Prince of Tarento in the following month, Ferrante appropriated his treasure and his fiefs. There was no further hope for the house of Anjou, and in the spring of 1464, Duke John returned to Provence.

It has been already stated that Antonio Piccolomini had been invested by Ferrante with the Duchies of Sessa and Amalfi, in recognition of the assistance rendered by Pius II in the war with Anjou. The ambition of the Pope’s nephew was not, however, satisfied, and, with the help of his powerful patron, he succeeded in 1463 in also becoming Count of Celano. His too great attachment to his relations is an often recurring blot on the Pontificate of Pius II. Laudomia, his sister, who had married Nanni Todeschini, had, besides Antonio, three other sons, named Andrea, Giacomo, and Francesco. Small fiefs were granted by the Pope to Andrea and Giacomo, and Francesco was in March, 1460, raised to the purple. Niccolo Forteguerri, a maternal kinsman of Pius II, was also promoted to the same dignity. “A crowd” of Sienese relations was introduced into the Prefectures of the States of the Church.

This favour was extended to the Sienese in general. The Pope clung with enthusiastic affection to the home of his youth, to the undulating hills, the orchards and vineyards which he has so gracefully described. He loved to dwell in the rural solitude of Corsignano, or in Siena, the city of castellated towers, which still retains many memorials of his frequent visits. The principal scenes of his eventful life are depicted in its Cathedral Library in the great historical frescoes of Pinturicchio.

Those who surrounded the Pope were “almost all Sienese, and of these Sienese the majority were Piccolomini”. His Maggiordomo was Alessandro de Miraballi-Piccolomini, also Prefect of Frascati from the year 1460. His special confidants were Jacopo Ammanati, created Cardinal in 1460, and Gregorio Lolli, the son of his aunt, Bartolomea;  “but at any rate Pius II did not enrich his nephews at the expense of the States of the Church, and he observed the same discretion even after Malatesta had been subdued”.

At the very time when the fate of the house of Anjou was decided at Troja, fortune also turned against Sigismondo. In the spring of 1462, Pius II had plainly manifested his intention of inflicting exemplary punishment on the tyrant. In two different parts of Rome his effigy, a speaking likeness from the hand of Paolo Romano, was burned, an inscription in these words being affixed to it: “This is Sigismondo Malatesta, king of traitors, enemy of God and man, condemned to the fire by the decision of the Sacred College”.  Sigismondo not only sought to avenge himself with his pen for these words, which expressed the general opinion, but also determined to defend himself with the sword to the last drop of his blood, for, as he wrote to the Duke of Milan, a brave death ennobles a whole life.

On the 12th August, 1462, after suffering a severe defeat at Sinigaglia from Federigo of Urbino, he fled to Apulia. He intended to seek assistance from John of Calabria and the Prince of Tarento, but their power had been broken at Troja, and Sigismondo found but the fragments of the Angevine army. “He returned to Rimini even more disheartened than he had started”. His last hope was in Venice. The Republic had formerly given secret support to his family, and now by letters and Ambassadors importuned the Pope to grant favourable terms to the rebel, to whom, at the same time, pecuniary assistance was privately afforded. Meanwhile, Federigo, rejecting the attempts made by Malatesta to shake his allegiance to his master, vigorously followed up his victory; while none of Malatesta’s subjects raised a hand to defend the tyrant they abhorred. Diplomatic intervention in favour of Sigismondo led to nothing. Pius II was evidently determined to crush the tyrant.

In the following year, 1463, as soon as the season was sufficiently advanced, Federigo again took the field against the rebel, whose condition became more and more hopeless. His younger brother, Domenico, despairing of any change of fortune, sold Cervia for 4000 ducats to Venice, which had recently taken forcible possession of Ravenna.

From the month of June the conflict was carried on chiefly round Fano, a strong place to which Federigo laid siege by land, while Cardinal Forteguerri strove to cut off all access to it by sea. Early in August the Papal fleet gained a victory over that of Malatesta; “but two Venetian galleys appeared, released Malatesta’s ships and chased the Armada of the Pope back to Ancona”. Venice continued to succour the beleaguered city, but it was finally taken by the Papal troops on the 25th September. Sinigaglia next surrendered. The Papal force then advanced to Rimini, where Sigismondo, “completely broken in spirit, awaited his fate”.

To the intercession of Venice, supported by Florence and Milan, the tyrant owed the pardon granted to him by the Pope. Its conditions, however, were so hard that his power was thoroughly shattered; Venice had to raise the siege of Trieste, of which Pius II had once been Bishop. Sigismondo, who was required to abjure his “heresy”, retained possession of the city of Rimini, with a territory of five miles in circumference, while his brother occupied one of similar extent around Cesena. Both undertook to pay an annual tribute to the Apostolic See, and in the event of their death without legitimate heirs their lands were to revert to the Church.

Thus did the most powerful of all the despots of Italy, the man who “for twenty years had been the terror of Princes and Popes”, fall before the unwarlike Pius II. “He could now look down with satisfaction from Monte Cavo, the highest of the Alban Hills, which commands the plain from Terracina to Capo Argentaro, on the broad States of the Church—a country which, if it contained nothing but Alma Roma, contains that which suffices to make its rulers the equals of Emperors”.

CHAPTER IV. OPPOSITION TO PAPAL AUTHORITY