Jacob Burckhardt - The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy

For details, see Arch. Stor. Append. tom. v.

Here once for all we refer our readers to Ranke’s Popes , vol. i., and to Sugenheim, Geschichte der Entstehung und Ausbildung des Kirchenstaates . The still later works of Gregorovius and Reumont have also been made use of, and when they offer new facts or views, are quoted. See also Geschichte der römischen Papstthums , W. Wattenbach, Berlin, 1876.

For the impression made by the blessing of Eugenius IV. in Florence, see Vespasiano Fiorent , p. 18. See also the passage quoted in Reumont, Lorenzo , i. 171. For the impressive offices of Nicholas V., see Infessura (Eccard, ii. col. 1883 sqq.) and J. Manetti, Vita Nicolai V. (Murat. iii. ii. col. 923). For the homage given to Pius II., see Diario Ferrarese (Murat. xxiv. col. 205), and Pii II. Commentarii , passim , esp. iv. 201, 204, and xi. 562. For Florence, see Delizie degli Eruditi , xx. 368. Even professional murderers respect the person of the Pope.

The great offices in church were treated as matters of much importance by the pomp-loving Paul II. (Platina, l. c. 321) and by Sixtus IV., who, in spite of the gout, conducted mass at Easter in a sitting posture. ( Jac. Volaterran. Diarium , Murat. xxiii. col. 131.) It is curious to notice how the people distinguished between the magical efficacy of the blessing and the unworthiness of the man who gave it; when he was unable to give the benediction on Ascension Day, 1481, the populace murmured and cursed him. ( Ibid. col. 133.)

Macchiavelli, Scritti Minori , p. 142, in the well-known essay on the catastrophe of Sinigaglia. It is true that the French and Spanish soldiers were still more zealous than the Italians. Comp. in Paul. Jov. Vita Leonis X. (l. ii.) the scene before the battle of Ravenna, in which the Legate, weeping for joy, was surrounded by the Spanish troops, and besought for absolution. See further ( ibid. ) the statements respecting the French in Milan.

In the case of the heretics of Poli, in the Campagna, who held the doctrine that a genuine Pope must show the poverty of Christ as the mark of his calling, we have simply a kind of Waldensian doctrine. Their imprisonment under Paul II. is related by Infessura (Eccard, ii. col. 1893), Platina, p. 317, &c.

As an illustration of this feeling see the poem addressed to the Pope, quoted in Gregorovius, vii. 136.

Dialogus de Conjuratione Stephani de Porcariis , by his contemporary Petrus Godes de Vicenza, quoted and used by Gregorovius, viii. 130. L. B. Alberti, De Porcaria Conjuratione , in Murat. xxv. col. 309. Porcari was desirous ‘omnem pontificiam turbam funditus exstinguere.’ The author concludes: ‘Video sane, quo stent loco res Italiæ; intelligo qui sint, quibus hic perturbata esse omnia conducat....’ He names them ‘Extrinsecus impulsores,’ and is of opinion that Porcari will find successors in his misdeeds. The dreams of Porcari certainly bore some resemblance to those of Cola Rienzi. He also referred to himself the poem ‘Spirto Gentil,’ addressed by Petrarch to Rienzi.

‘Ut Papa tantum vicarius Christi sit et non etiam Cæsaris.... Tunc Papa et dicetur et erit pater sanctus, pater omnium, pater ecclesiæ,’ &c. Valla’s work was written rather earlier, and was aimed at Eugenius IV. See Vahlen, Lor. Valla (Berlin, 1870), pp. 25 sqq., esp. 32. Nicholas V., on the other hand, is praised by Valla, Gregorovius, vii. 136.

Pii II. Comment. iv. pp. 208 sqq. Voigt, Enea Silvio , iii. pp. 151 sqq.

Platina, Vita Pauli II.

Battista Mantovano, De Calamitatibus Temporum , l. iii. The Arabian sells incense, the Tyrian purple, the Indian ivory: ‘Venalia nobis templa, sacerdotes, altaria sacra, coronæ, ignes, thura, preces, cælum est venale Deusque.’ Opera , ed. Paris, 1507, fol. 302 b . Then follows an exhortation to Pope Sixtus, whose previous efforts are praised, to put an end to these evils.

See e.g. the Annales Placentini , in Murat. xx. col. 943.

Corio, Storia di Milano , fol. 416-420. Pietro had already helped at the election of Sixtus. See Infessura, in Eccard, Scriptores , ii. col. 1895. It is curious that in 1469 it had been prophesied that deliverance would come from Savona (home of Sixtus, elected in 1471) within three years. See the letter and date in Baluz. Miscell. iii. p. 181. According to Macchiavelli, Storie Fiorent. l. vii. the Venetians poisoned the cardinal. Certainly they were not without motives to do so.

Honorius II. wished, after the death of William I. (1127), to annex Apulia, as a feof reverted to St. Peter.

Fabroni, Laurentius Mag. Adnot. 130. An informer, Vespucci, sends word of both, ‘Hanno in ogni elezione a mettere a sacco questa corte, e sono i maggior ribaldi del mondo.’

Corio, fol. 450. Details, partly from unpublished documents, of these acts of bribery in Gregorovius, vii. 310 sqq.

A most characteristic letter of exhortation by Lorenzo in Fabroni, Laurentius Magn. Adnot. 217, and extracts in Ranke, Popes , i. p. 45, and in Reumont, Lorenzo , ii. pp. 482 sqq.

And perhaps of certain Neapolitan feofs, for the sake of which Innocent called in the Angevins afresh against the immovable Ferrante. The conduct of the Pope in this affair and his participation in the second conspiracy of the barons, were equally foolish and dishonest. For his method of treating with foreign powers, see above p. 127, note 2.

Comp. in particular Infessura, in Eccard. Scriptores , ii. passim .

According to the Dispacci di Antonio Giustiniani , i. p. 60, and iii. p. 309, Seb. Pinzon was a native of Cremona.

Recently by Gregorovius, Lucrezia Borgia , 2 Bände 3 Aufl., Stuttgart, 1875.

Except the Bentivoglio at Bologna, and the House of Este at Ferrara. The latter was compelled to form a family relationship, Lucrezia marrying Prince Alfonso.

According to Corio (fol. 479) Charles had thoughts of a Council, of deposing the Pope, and even of carrying him away to France, this upon his return from Naples. According to Benedictus, Carolus VIII. (in Eccard, Scriptores , ii. col. 1584), Charles, while in Naples, when Pope and cardinals refused to recognise his new crown, had certainly entertained the thought ‘de Italiæ imperio deque pontificis statu mutando,’ but soon after made up his mind to be satisfied with the personal humiliation of Alexander. The Pope, nevertheless, escaped him. Particulars in Pilorgerie, Campagne et Bulletins de la Grande Armée d’Italie , 1494, 1495 (Paris, 1866, 8vo.), where the degree of Alexander’s danger at different moments is discussed (pp. 111, 117, &c.). In a letter, there printed, of the Archbishop of St. Malo to Queen Anne, it is expressly stated: ‘Si nostre roy eust voulu obtemperer à la plupart des Messeigneurs les Cardinaulx, ilz eussent fait ung autre pappe en intention de refformer l’église ainsi qu’ilz disaient. Le roy désire bien la reformacion, mais il ne veult point entreprandre de sa depposicion.’