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and the boon was accepted. For the space of seven infamous years, those arms, which might have chastised the foreign aggressor, were fiercely directed against the kings of Bohemia; and it is no alleviation of the pontiff's guilt, that those reiterated efforts were finally defeated. While he pursued the principles of Innocent III., his conduct was even less pardonable, because he pursued them under circumstances of greater danger to Christendom, and in an age in which the increase of knowledge left less excuse for crime.

If it was the object of this pontiff to make his internal government as detestable as his external policy, he took an effectual measure to accomplish it. We have observed with what ardour the taste for polite learning was cultivated in Italy at this time, and what great encouragement it had received from two recent pontiffs. In furtherance of those objects a literary society was formed at Rome during the reign of Paul II. But Paul affected to discover in that institution a dangerous conspiracy against the safety of the Pope and the peace of the Church. The stupid jealousy, which suggested that suspicion, was supported by the cruelty usually inherent in narrow and passionate minds; and, as if the blood of the Bohemians flowed in too scanty profusion, the Pope commenced the work of inquisition at Rome. Several innocent individuals, of great literary * and moral reputation, suffered on the rack; one in particular, Agostino Campino, died under the torture. Paul persevered in his persecution, but he did not succeed in eliciting any confession, or discovering any shadow of heresy or conspiracy, in excuse for so much barbarity; nor did it produce any other result, than to create one additional motive for execrating his name. He died in 1471, in possession of treasures which he had hoarded through the mere love of gold; and in the very year preceding his death, he increased an ecclesiastical abuse (in the belief, no doubt, that he should personally reap the fruits of his change†), by reducing once more the intervals between the celebrations of the Jubilee, from thirty-three to twenty-five years.

Sixtus IV. (a Franciscan Monk) commenced an unusually long pontificate, of thirteen years, by professing the policy and affecting Sixtus IV. the designs of Pius II. He called for the enforcement of the decrees of Mantua; he promised indulgences to all who should march against the Turk in person, or find efficient substitutes, or contribute to the expense of the expedition; he sent letters and legates to all the Courts of Europe. All disregarded his solicitations, some through apathy, others, perhaps, through suspiciousness; others through the nearer occupation of civil dissension. The Pope was easily diverted from an object on which he may have never been sincerely bent. His boiling zeal presently evaporated; his clamours were silenced by the first repulse; and he appeared to resign his daring projects, and subside into the ordinary channel of papal misgovernment, without a sigh or a struggle. In the year 1478, during some disturbances between the Medici and the Pazzi at Florence, the Archbishop of Pisa suffered an His dispute with ignominious death at the hands of the former. There Florence. is little doubt, that he had promoted a sanguinary túmult-nevertheless, this was an outrage upon the

* A long account of this affair is given by Platina (himself a sufferer) in his Life of Paul II. That Pope's hatred for learning was so great, that he held the terms studious and heretical to be synonymous, and carefully impressed upon his subjects the advantages of ignorance. The historian died in the year 1481.

Thus the year 1475 became a year of jubilee.

prerogative of the hierarchy, which, in an earlier age, would have been visited with signal vengeance, and which even Sixtus IV. was not prepared to overlook. He placed the offending city under an interdict, excommunicated Lorenzo de' Medici *, and published a declaration of war. The Florentines, even the ecclesiastics, defended the cause of their compatriot; they treated with scorn the pontifical menaces; they continued to celebrate the divine offices in defiance of the interdict; they assembled a Synod of the Bishops of Tuscany, in order to appeal with greater solemnity to a General Council. At the same time they retorted all the blame of the original offence upon the Pope himself, and called upon France and Milan to aid them against his oppression.

Soon afterwards Louis XI. held an Assembly at Orleans, principally for the purpose of restoring the Pragmatic Sanction, which he had previously and hastily annulled. But an embassy, subsequently sent to Rome, was likewise charged to exhort the Pontiff to make peace with Florence, and to assemble, without any delay, a General Council. These solicitations were seconded by certain menaces, to which Louis could have given efficacy, had he so chosen. But he had either no serious intention of enforcing his demands, or he allowed it to melt away before the temporizing policy of the Vatican †. In the mean time the Pope persevered in measures of hostility, and the blood of the Archbishop cried so loudly for vengeance, that all external dangers were forgotten, and the hosts of Mahomet II. approached unheard to the gates of Italy. The same Pontiff who had so lately preached the blessings of union to the Christian Courts, even while the danger was more remote, persisted in hostility against a Christian State, when it was already impending over his head. At length he relented; but it was not till the city of Otranto had been stormed by the Infidel that the conditions of peace were dictated †, and the Florentine ambassadors admitted to receive their absolutions at the entrance of St. Peter's; and even then they appear to have been subjected to more than the customary circumstances of humiliation. The Pope was presently relieved from immediate apprehension by the death of Mahomet, and he then had leisure to return to what had been, indeed, the favourite object of his pontificate, the aggrandizement of his nephews.

The nepotism of no former Pontiff had been indulged with so scandalous a sacrifice of the interests of the Church as that of

Sixtus IV. One of his nephews, Leonardo della Rovera, His Nepotism. he married to a natural daughter of Ferdinand of Naples; and on this occasion he abandoned to that monarch some estates and fiefs, which his predecessors had spared no toil to acquire and retain. Another, named Julian, the same who was afterwards Julius II., was enriched with several ecclesiastical benefices. For a third, named Jerome Riario, the principality of Imola was purchased

The Bull is given at length by Roscoe, Life of Lorenzo de' Medici. Appendix, No. XXVI.

The advice tendered to the Pope on this occasion by the Cardinal of Pavia, the most accomplished politician in his Court, affords an excellent illustration of the great principle of ecclesiastical statesmanship-not to remove the grounds of complaint; but to gain time, to preserve the abuse, to defer the hour of danger, rather than avert it altogether by timely concession.

This scene is described at length by Machiavel, Stor. Fiorent., lib. viii. The particulars of the dispute are detailed by Paul Jovius, in his First Book of his Life of Leo X. This connexion of Pope Sixtus with the history of Florence has procured for him a peculiar, and not very enviable, celebrity. Di grossi conti (says Muratori, Annal. v. 9) avrà avuto questo Pontefice nel tribunale di Dio.'

from the resources of the Apostolical Treasury. But it was on Pietro Riario, the youngest, that the profusion of his fondness was principally lavished. Without talents, without virtues, from a simple Franciscan Monk, Pietro was immediately elevated to the dignity of Cardinal. He was made titular Patriarch of Constantinople; he was raised to the Archiepiscopal See of Florence; he received, besides, two other Archbishoprics, and a multitude of inferior benefices. In the mean time his splendid prodigality, the pride of his attendants, his equipage, and his sumptuousness, kept pace with the abundance of his resources, and he expended on the pomp of a single ceremony, or the festivities of a single night, sums which exceeded the revenues of kings.

The same Pope, as if to atone for the laxity of one extreme of the ecclesiastical establishment by the austerity of the other, The Minimes. gave his confirmation to a new religious body, called the Minimes the least among the servants of Christ. They were founded by one Francisco of Paula; and to the usual monastic obligations they added a fourth vow, of perpetual fast and abstinence from all nourishment, except herbs and roots. The popular appetite for such extravagance was not yet wholly satiated; and though the Minimes never acquired the celebrity which would certainly have attended them in the thirteenth age, there were still not wanting devotees to swell their numbers, and recompense their vain enthusiasm by reverence and by gold.

When we shall come to examine the spiritual condition of the Roman Catholic Church during this period, and the character of the papal edicts which were more particularly directed to that object, we shall find that no one descended more deeply into superstition than Sixtus IV. At present we shall only mention the singular venality introduced into his government by the creation of certain new offices, which he publicly sold, and which he created for the purpose of selling. This was a new scandal in the history of the Vatican; and when the same Pontiff raised to the dignity of Cardinal a youth, named Jacopo di Parma, his own valet, he may seem to have offered the last insult to his Court and his Church. The deeper outrage, which was now continually cast upon the religion of Christ, has almost ceased to be matter of mention with us, because the name of Christ was now seldom appealed to, unless in support of some monstrous ecclesiastical pretension; and the rulers of the Apostolical Church had for some time learned to dispense, both in their morals and their administration, even with the semblance of holiness, even with a decorous affectation of religious motives.

Character of Sixtus.

Sixtus IV. was not deficient, as a political character, in quickness and sagacity, and even grandeur of conception. But his character (as Sismondi has well observed) corrupted his talents, and stained his noblest projects with falsehood and perfidy. As he could discern no distinction between virtue and crime, he employed the basest means to attain the best ends, and dishonoured his own designs by the instruments with which he chose to accomplish them. His private life has not escaped the suspicion of the foulest enormities-it cannot, at least, pretend to the praise of piety or innocence. His learning, the exertions which he made, and the funds which he appropriated to enrich the Library of the Vatican from every quarter; his architectural labours, and the noble buildings with which he adorned his capital;

*The Ponte Sesto was his great work. His literary monuments were of a less durable construction; for, indeed, the subjects which he chose were not always the most favourable

these are the only monuments by which he is honourably known to posterity. His capacity was considerable, and it was enlarged and enlightened by his literary accomplishments. But if these were unable to infuse into his soul any disinterested virtue, or generous principles of action, they failed to accomplish the only purpose, for which they are really valuable, and they left the possessor the more dangerous and the more detestable, from the authority which they added to his talents, and the aid which they lent him to abuse them.

Election of In

nocent VIII.

Sixtus IV. died in 1484, and the election of his successor was attended by some circumstances more scandalous than any which had yet polluted the recesses of the Conclave. Julian della Rovera, Cardinal of St. Peter ad Vincula, had undertaken the negotiations requisite, and the price of every vote was already arranged, when the College proceeded to invoke the Holy Spirit. The terms are expressly specified by a contemporary writer; they were faithfully observed by the successful candidate ; and they might be ascertained from the various castles and benefices, which he immediately bestowed on his supporters. John Baptist Cybo, a native of Genoa, was the individual thus elevated to the throne of the Church, and he assumed the name of Innocent.

Notwithstanding the recent perfidy of Paul II., defended by the constitution of Innocent VI.†, and countenanced by the example of so many Pontiffs, the members of the Conclave once more attempted to bind the future Pope by a similar engagement. It were tedious to repeat the stipu lations which were accepted in the name of God, on his holy altar, and which were even then intended for immediate violation. Their object was ever the same-to increase the power of the Cardinals at the expense of that of the Pope-and it was ever frustrated by the most deliberate perjury. On the day of his installation, Innocent VIII. confirmed and repeated his oath, and bound himself, on pain of anathema, neither to receive nor give absolution from it-for the Pontiff possessed exclusively the power of self-absolution. Howbeit, he no sooner felt his strength, and the independence of his despotism, than he cancelled the treaty, and annulled both his oaths.

If Sixtus IV. had wasted the resources of the Church upon his profligate nephews, Innocent introduced a still more revolting race of dependants, in the persons of his illegitimate offspring. Seven children, the fruits of various amours, were publicly recognized by the Vicar of Christ, and became, for the most part, pensioners on the ecclesiastical Treasury. This was yet a new scandal for the Apostolical Church! Again, if Sixtus IV. was bold and unprincipled, Innocent was, at least, destitute of any positive virtue; and the extreme weakness which distinguished him was, in his circumstances, little less pernicious than wickedness. With power so vast and arbitrary, in a Court so utterly depraved, the personal excesses of a vigorous character might even have been less hurtful to the Church, than the unrestrained licence of so many masters. Fewer crimes would, perhaps, have been perpetrated, had the Pontiff resolved to be the only criminal. But with all his weakness, Innocent

to their perpetuity. One treatise he composed on The Blood of Jesus Christ; another on Indulgences accorded to Souls in Purgatory; another on the Conception of the Holy Virgin, &c. &c. Such, however, were the controversies of the day.

The letter of Guidantonio Vespucci to Lorenzo de' Medici on this subject, is given entire by Roscoe, Append. 44, and without suspicion of its truth.

Published in 1353. See Chapter XXII. p. 489.

was animated by a spirit of avarice, which attracted observation even in that age of the popedom. And he performed at least one memorable exploit, as it were, in the design to surpass his predecessor by a still bolder insult on the sacred College; he placed among its members a boy, thirteen years old, the brother-in-law of his own bastard *. But the Court of Rome did not resent the indignity—it was sunk even below the sense of its own infamy.

The Pontiff sounded, like most of his predecessors, the trumpet of a general crusade against the Infidel; in his addresses to the European ambassadors, he set forth, in eloquent expressions, the blessings of concord, and the calamities of international warfare; and he preached with the usual inefficacy. Some Italian States did, indeed, exhibit a slight disposition to support him, owing to the greater proximity of the danger, and Innocent persisted, to the end of his reign, in pressing his first solicitations. But the only effects proceeding from them were those which flowed into the Apostolical Treasury, and which the Pope consumed, partly in his own personal expenses, partly in family hostilities against the King of Naples. He died in 1492.

Alexander II.

In the downward progress of pontifical impurity, from Paul II. we descend to Sixtus IV.; from Sixtus to Innocent VIII.; from Innocent to Alexander VI: and here, at length, we are arrested by the limits, the utmost limits, which have been assigned to papal and to human depravity. The ecclesiastical records of fifteen centuries, through which our long journey is now nearly ended, contain no name so loathsome, no crimes so foul as his; and while the voice of every impartial writer is loud in his execration, he is, in one respect, singularly consigned to infamy, since not one among the zealous annalists of the Roman Church has breathed a whisper in his praise. Thus, those who have pursued him with the most unqualified vituperations are thought to have described him most faithfully; and the mention of his character has excited a sort of rivalry in the expression of indignation and hatred.

The College assembled for this election amidst the tumults of the Roman people, who were venting their curses against the avarice of the deceased Pontiff; and it was not till the Conclave had been garrisoned by soldiers, and fortified by cannon, that the Cardinals ventured to proceed to their deliberations. It was presently discovered that the candidates, who had any prospect of success, were two † only. One of them was Roderic Borgia, who was nephew of Calixtus III.; the other was Julian della Rovera, nephew of Sixtus IV. Nepotism now formed so conspicuous a feature in the pontifical policy, that we shall not be surprised to see the popedom disputed by the nephews of Popes. Roderic was far advanced in years; he abounded in wealth, accumulated in the service of the Church; he was, at the same time, in the enjoyment of three archbishoprics in Spain, besides numerous other benefices in other quarters of Europe. All these would be vacated by his elevation, and, falling into his patronage, would be bestowed, of course, according to the measure of private services. Borgia was, moreover, a man of some abilities, of great address

*This boy was John, the son of Lorenzo de' Medici, the same who became Leo X. It should be observed, that Innocent, on making the creation, stipulated that the boy should not take his seat in Consistory till he was sixteen. Some state the age of creation at fifteen, that of admission at eighteen. See Raynaldus, ann. 1489.

+ Ascagna Sforza, who appeared at first to possess some claims, very soon resigned them in favour of Borgia.

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