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LXX.

election; and whatever might be their provincial CHAP. jealousies, it cannot fairly be presumed that they would have sacrificed their right and interest to a foreign candidate, who would never restore them to their native country. In the various, and often inconsistent narratives *, the shades of popular violence are more darkly or faintly coloured; but the licentiousness of the seditious Romans was inflamed by a sense of their privileges, and the danger of a second emigration. The conclave was intimidated by the shouts, and encompassed by the arms, of thirty thousand rebels; the bells of the Capitol and St Peter's rang an alarm: "Death, or an Italian "Pope!" was the universal cry; the same threat was repeated by the twelve bannerets or chiefs of the quarters, in the form of charitable advice; some preparations were made for burning the obstinate cardinals; and had they chosen a Transalpine subject, it is probable that they would never have departed alive from the Vatican. The same constraint imposed the necessity of dissembling in the eyes of Rome and of the world; the pride and cruelty of Urban presented a more inevitable danger; and they soon discovered the features of the tyrant, who could walk in his garden and recite his breviary, while he heard from an adjacent chamber six cardinals groaning on the rack. His inflexible VOL. XII. B b

zeal,

*In the first book of the Histoire du Concile de Pise, M. l'Enfant has abridged and compared the original narratives of the adherents of Urban and Clement, of the Italians and Germans, the French and Spaniards. The latter appear to be the most active and loquacious, and every fact and word in the original Lives of Gregory XI. and Clement VII. are sup ported in the notes of their editor Baluze.

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LXX.

CHAP. zeal, which loudly censured their luxury and vice, would have attached them to the stations and duties of their parishes at Rome; and had he not fatally delayed a new promotion, the French cardinals would have been reduced to an helpless minority in the sacred college. For these reasons, and in the hope of repassing the Alps, they rashly violated the peace and unity of the church; and the merits of their double choice are yet agitated in the Catholic schools. The vanity, rather than the interest, of the nation, determined the court and the clergy of France. The states of Savoy, Sicily, Cyprus, Arragon, Castille, Navarre, and Scotland, were inclined by their example and authority to the obedience of Clement the Seventh, and, after his decease, of Benedict the Thirteenth. Rome and the principal states of Italy, Germany, Portugal, England †, the Low Countries, and the kingdoms of the North, adhered to the prior election of Urban the Sixth,

who

The ordinal numbers of the Popes seem to decide the question against Clement VII. and Benedict XIII. who are boldly stigmatised as anti-popes by the Italians, while the French are content with authorities and reasons to plead the cause of doubt and toleration, (Baluz. in Præfat.). It is singular, or rather it is not singular, that saints, visions, and miracles, should be common to both parties.

Baluze strenuously labours (Not. p. 1271-1280.) to justify the pure and pious motives of Charles V. King of France; he refused to hear the arguments of Urban; but were not the Urbanists equally deaf to the reasons of Clement, &c.?

An epistle, or declamation, in the name of Edward III. (Baluz. Vit. Pap. Avenion. tom. i. p. 553.) displays the zeal of the English nation against the Clementines. Nor was their zeal confined to words; the Bishop of Norwich led a crusade of 60,000 bigots beyond sea, (Hume's History, vol. iii. p. 57,

who was succeeded by Boniface the Ninth, Inno- CHAP. cent the Seventh, and Gregory the Twelfth.

LXX.

schism of

the West, A. D.

13781418.

ties of

From the banks of the Tyber and the Rhône, Great the hostile pontiffs encountered each other with the pen and the sword; the civil and ecclesiastical order of society was disturbed; and the Romans had their full share of the mischiefs, of which they may be arraigned as the primary authors *. They had vainly flattered themselves with the hope of restoring the seat of the ecclesiastical monarchy, and of relieving their poverty with the tributes and offerings of the nations; but the separation of France Calami and Spain diverted the stream of lucrative devotion; Rome. nor could the loss be compensated by the two jubilees which were crowded into the space of ten years. By the avocations of the schism, by foreign arms, and popular tumults, Urban the Sixth and his three successors were often compelled to interrupt their residence in the Vatican. The Colonna and Ursini still exercised their deadly feuds; the bannerets of Rome asserted and abused the privileges of a republic; the vicars of Christ, who had levied a military force, chastised their rebellion with the gibbet, the sword, and the dagger; and in a friendly conference, eleven deputies of the people were perfidiously murdered, and cast into the street. Since the invasion of Robert the Norman, the Romans had pursued their domestic quarrels withBb 2

out

*Besides the general historians, the Diaries of Delphinus Gentilis, Peter Antonius, and Stephen Infessura, in the great collection of Muratori, represent the state and misfortunes of Rome.

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CHAP. out the dangerous interposition of a stranger. Bat in the disorders of the schism, an aspiring neighbour, Ladislaus King of Naples, alternately supported and betrayed the Pope and the people; by the former he was declared gonfalonier, or general of the church, while the latter submitted to his choice the nomination of their magistrates. Besieging Rome by land and water, he thrice entered the gates as a barbarian conqueror; profaned the altars, violated the virgins, pillaged the merchants, performed his devotions at St Peter's, and left a garrison in the castle of St Angelo. His arms were sometimes unfortunate, and to a delay of three days he was indebted for his life and crown; but Ladislaus triumphed in his turn, and it was only his premature death that could save the metropolis and the ecclesiastical state from the ambitious conqueror, who had assumed the title, or at least the powers, of King of Rome *.

Negocia
tions for

peace and
union,
A. D.

1392-
1407.

I have not undertaken the ecclesiastical history of the schism; but Rome, the object of these last chapters, is deeply interested in the disputed succession of her sovereigns. The first counsels for the peace and union of Christendom arose from the university of Paris, from the faculty of the Sorbonne, whose doctors were esteemed, at least in the Gallican church, as the most consummate

masters

*It is supposed by Giannone, (tom. iii. p. 292.), that he styled himself Rex Romæ, a title unknown to the world since the expulsion of Tarquin. But a nearer inspection has. justified the reading of Rex Rama, of Rama, an obscure kingdom annexed to the crown of Hungary.

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masters of theological science. Prudently waving CHAP. all invidious inquiry into the origin and merits of the dispute, they proposed, as an healing measure, that the two pretenders of Rome and Avignon should abdicate at the same time, after qualifying the cardinals of the adverse factions to join in a legitimate election; and that the nations should substract their obedience, if either of the competitors preferred his own interest to that of the public. At each vacancy, these physicians of the church deprecated the mischiefs of an hasty choice; but the policy of the conclave, and the ambition of its members, were deaf to reason and entreaties; and whatsoever promises were made, the Pope could never be bound by the oaths of the cardinal. During fifteen years, the pacific designs of the university were eluded by the arts of the rival pontiffs, the scruples or passions of their adherents, and the vicissitudes of French factions, that ruled the insanity of Charles the Sixth. At length a vigorous resolution was embraced; and a solemn embassy, of the titular patriarch of Alexandria, two archbishops,

Bb 3

*The leading and decisive part which France assumed in the schism, is stated by Peter du Puis, in a separate history, extracted from authentic records, and inserted in the 7th volume of the last and best edition of his friend Thnanus, (p. xi. p. 110-184.).

+ Of this measure, John Gerson, a stout doctor, was the author or the champion. The proceedings of the university of Paris and the Gallican church were often prompted by his advice, and are copiously displayed in his theological writings, of which Le Clerc (Bibliotheque Choisie, tom. x. p. 178.) has given a valuable extract. John Gerson acted an important part in the councils of Pisa and Constance.

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