vacancy of the holy see might involve Christendom in controversy and war. The claim of the cardinals and inferior clergy, of the nobles and people, were vague and litigious; the freedom of choice was overruled by the tumults of a city that no longer owned or obeyed a superior. On the decease of a pope, two factions proceeded, in the different churches, to a double election: the number and weight of votes, the priority of time, the merit of the candidates, might balance each other: the most respectable of the clergy were divided and the distant princes who bowed before the spiritual throne, could not distinguish the spurious, from the legitimate, idol. The emperors were often the authors of the schism, from the political motive of opposing a friendly to a hostile pontiff; and each of the competitors was reduced to suffer the insults of his enemies, who were not awed by conscience; and to purchase the support of his adherents, who were instigated by avarice or ambition. A peaceful and perpetual succession was ascertained by Alexander the Third,(68) who finally abolished the tumultuary votes of the clergy and people, and defined the right of election in the sole college of cardinals.(69) The three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons were assimilated to each other by this important privilege: the parochial clergy of Rome obtained the first rank in the hierarchy; they were indifferently chosen among the nations of Christendom; and the possession of the richest benefices, of the most important bishoprics, was not incompatible with their title and office. The senators of the Catholic church, the coadjutors and legates of the supreme pontiff, were robed in purple, the symbol of martyrdom or royalty; they claimed a proud equality with kings; and their dignity was enhanced by the smallness of their number, which, till the reign of Leo the Tenth, seldom exceeded twenty, or twenty-five persons. By this wise regulation, all doubt and scandal were removed, and the root of schism was so effectually destroyed, that in a period of six hundred years a double choice has only once divided the unity of the sacred college. But as the concurrence of two-thirds of the votes had been made necessary, the election was often delayed by the private interest and passions of the cardinals; and while they prolonged their independent reign, the Christian world was left destitute of a head. A vacancy of almost three years had preceded the elevation of Gregory the Tenth, who resolved to prevent the future abuse; and his bull, after some opposition, has been consecrated in the code of the canon law. (70) Nine days are allowed for the obsequies of the deceased pope, and the arrival of the absent cardinals; on the tenth they are imprisoned, each with one domestic, in a common apartment or conclave, without a separation of walls or curtains; a small window is reserved for the introduction of necessaries; but the door is locked on both sides, and guarded by the magistrates of the city, to seclude them from all correspondence with the world. If the election be not consummated in three days, the luxury of their table is contracted to a single dish at dinner and supper; and after the eighth day, they are reduced to a scanty allowance of bread, water, and wine. During the vacancy of the holy see, the cardinals are prohibited from touching the revenues, or assuming, unless in some rare emergency, the government of the church; all agreements and promises among the electors are formally annulled, and their integrity is fortified by their solemn oath and the prayers of the Catholics. Some articles of inconvenient and superfluous rigour have been gradually relaxed, but the principle of confinement is vigorous and entire; they are still urged by the personal motives of health and freedom to accelerate the moment

(68) See Mosheim, Institut. Hist. Ecclesiast. p. 401. 403. Alexander himself had nearly been the victim of a contested election; and the doubtful merits of Innocent had only preponderated by the weight of genius and learning which St. Bernard cast into the scale (see his life and writings).

(69) The origin, titles, importance, dress, precedency, &c. of the Roman cardinals, are very ably discussed by Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 1262--1287); but their purple is now much faded. The sacred college was raised to the definite number of seventy-two, to represent, under his vicar, the disciples of Christ.

(70) See the bull of Gregory X. approbante sacro concilio, in the Serte of the Canon Law (1. i. tit. 6, c. 3,) a supplement to the Decretals, which Boniface VIII. promulgated at Rome in 1298, and addressed to all the universities of Europe.

of their deliverance; and the improvement of ballot or secret votes has wrapped the struggles of the conclave(71) in the silky veil of charity and politeness.(72) By these institutions, the Romans were excluded from the election of their prince and bishop; and in the field of wild and precarious liberty, they seemed insensible of the loss of this inestimable privilege. The emperor Lewis of Bavaria revived the example of the great Otho. After some negotiation with the magistrates, the Roman people were assembled(73) in the square before St. Peter's; the pope of Avignon, John the Twenty-second, was deposed; the choice of his successor was ratified by their consent and applause. They freely voted for a new law, that their bishop should never be absent more than three months in the year, and two days' journey from the city; and that if he neglected to return on the third summons, the public servant should be degraded and dismissed. (74) But Lewis forgot his own debility and the prejudices of the times; beyond the precincts of a German camp, his useless phantom was rejected; the Romans despised their own workmanship; the antipope implored the mercy of his lawful sovereign;(75) and the exclusive right of the cardinals was more firmly established by this unseasonable attack.

Had the election been always held in the Vatican, the rights of the senate and people would not have been violated with impunity. But the Romans forgot, and were forgotten, in the absence of the successors of Gregory the Seventh, who did not keep as a divine precept their ordinary residence in the city and diocess. The care of that diocess was less important than the government of the universal church; nor could the popes delight in a city in which their authority was always opposed, and their person was often endangered. From the persecution of the emperors, and the wars of Italy, they escaped beyond the Alps into the hospitable bosom of France; from the tumults of Rome they prudently withdrew to live and die in the more tranquil stations of Anagni, Perugia, Viterbo, and the adjacent cities. When the flock was offended or impoverished by the absence of the shepherd, they were recalled by a stern admonition, that St. Peter had fixed his chair, not in an obscure village, but in the capital of the world; by a ferocious menace that the Romans would march in arms to destroy the place and people that should dare to afford them a retreat. They returned with timorous obedience; and were saluted with the account of a heavy debt, of all the losses which their desertion had occasioned, the hire of lodgings, the sale of provisions, and the various expenses of servants and strangers who attended the court.(76) After a short interval of peace, and perhaps of authority, they were again banished by new tumults, and again summoned by the imperious or respect (71) The genius of cardinal de Retz had a right to paint a conclave (of 1655) in which he was a spectator and an actor (Memoires, tom. iv. p. 15-57); but I am at a loss to appreciate the knowledge or authority of an anonymous Italian, whose history (Conclavi de Pontifici Romani, 4to. 1667) has been continued since the reign of Alexander VII. The accidental form of the work furnishes a lesson, though not an antidote, to ambition. From a labyrinth of intrigues, we emerge to the adoration of the successful candidate: but the next page opens with his funeral.

(72) The expressions of cardinal de Retz are positive and picturesque: On y vecut toujours ensemble avec la même respect, et la même civilité que l'on observe dans le cabinet des rois, avec la même politesse qu'on avoit dans le cour de Henri III. avec la même familiarité que l'on voit dans les colleges: avec la même modestie, qui se remarque dans les noviciats; et avec la même charité, du moins en apparence, qui pourroit etre entre des freres parfaitement unis.

(73) Rechiesti per bando (says John Villani) senatori di Roma, e 52 del popolo, et capitani de' 25 e consoli (consoli?) et 13 buone huomini, uno per rione. Our knowledge is too imperfect to pronounce, how much of this constitution was temporary, and how much ordinary and permanent. Yet it is faintly illustrated by the ancient statutes of Rome.

(74) Villani (1. x. c. 68-71, in Muratori, Script. tom. xiii. p. 641-645,) relates this law, and the whole transaction, with much less abhorrence than the prudent Muratori. Any one conversant with the darker ages, must have observed how much the sense (I mean the nonsense) of superstition is fluctuating and inconsistent.

(75) In the first volume of the Popes of Avignon, see the second original Life of John XXII. p. 149– 145, the confession of the antipope, p. 145-152, and the laborious notes of Baluze, p. 714, 715.

(76) Romani autem non valentes nec volentes ultra suam celare cupiditatem gravissimam contra papam movere cœperunt questionem, exigentes ab eo urgentissime omnia quæ subierant per ejus absentiam damna et jacturas, videlicet in hospitis locandis, in mercimoniia, in usuris, in reditibus, in provisionibus, et in aliis modis innumerabilibus. Quod cum audisset papa, præcordialiter ingemuit et se comperiens muscipulatum, &c. Matt. Paris, p. 757. For the ordinary history of the popes, their life and death, their residence and absence, it is enough to refer to the ecclesiastical annalists Spondanus and Fleury.

ful invitation of the senate. In these occasional retreats, the exiles and fugitives of the Vatican were seldom long, or far, distant, from the metropolis; but in the beginning of the fourteenth century the apostolic throne was transported, as it might seem for ever, from the Tiber to the Rhone; and the cause of the transmigration may be deduced from the furious contest between Boniface the Eighth and the king of France.(77) The spiritual arms of excommunication and interdict were repulsed by the union of the three estates, and the privileges of the Gallican church; but the pope was not against the carnal weapons which Philip the Fair had courage to employ. As the pope resided at Anagni, without the suspicion of danger, his palace and person were assaulted by three hundred horse, who had been secretly levied by William of Nogaret, a French minister, and Sciarra Colonna, of a noble but hostile family of Rome. The cardinals fled; the inhabitants of Anagni were seduced from their allegiance and gratitude; but the dauntless Boniface, unarmed and alone, seated himself in his chair, and awaited, like the conscript fathers of old, the swords of the Gauls. Nogaret, a foreign adversary, was content to execute the orders of his master; by the domestic enmity of Colonna, he was insulted with words and blows; and during a confinement of three days, his life was threatened by the hardships which they inflicted on the obstinacy which they provoked. Their strange delay gave time and courage to the adherents of the church, who rescued him from sacrilegious violence; but his imperious soul was wounded in a vital part; and Boniface expired at Rome in a frenzy of rage and revenge. His memory is stained with the glaring vices of avarice and pride; nor has the courage of a martyr promoted this ecclesiastical champion to the honours of a saint; a magnanimous sinner (says the chronicles of the times), who entered like a fox, reigned like a lion, and died like a dog. He was succeeded by Benedict the Eleventh, the mildest of mankind. Yet he excommunicated the impious emissaries of Philip, and devoted the city and people of Anagni by a tremendous curse, whose effects are still visible to the eyes of superstition.(78)

[A. D. 1309.] After his decease, the tedious and equal suspense of the conclave was fixed by the dexterity of the French faction. A specious offer was made and accepted, that in the term of forty days, they would elect one of the three candidates who should be named by their opponents. The archbishop of Bourdeaux, a furious enemy of his king and country, was the first on the list; but his ambition was known; and his conscience obeyed the calls of fortune and the commands of a benefactor, who had been informed by a swift messenger that the choice of a pope was now in his hands. The terms were regulated in a private interview; and with such speed and secrecy was the business transacted, that the unanimous conclave applauded the elevation of Clement the Fifth. (79) The cardinals of both parties were soon astonished by a summons to attend him beyond the Alps; from whence, as they soon discovered, they must never hope to return. He was engaged, by promise and affection, to prefer residence in France; and after dragging his court through Poitou and Gascogny, and devouring, by his expense, the cities and convents on the road, he finally reposed at Avignon, (80) which flourished above seventy years(81) the seat of the Roman pontiff and the metropolis of

(77) Besides the general historians of the church of Italy and of France, we possess a valable treatise composed by a learned friend of Thuanus, which his last and best editors have published in the appendix (Histoire particuliere du Grand Differend entre Boniface VIII. et Philippe le Bel, par Pierre du puis, tom. vii. P. xi. p. 61-82).

(78) It is difficult to know whether Labat (tom. iv. p. 53-57,) be in jest or in earnest, when he supposes that Anagni still feels the weight of this curse, and that the cornfields, or vineyards, or olive-trees, are annually blasted by nature, the obsequious handmaid of the popes.

(79) See in the Chronicle of Giovanni Villani (1. viii. c. 63, 64. 80. in Muratori, tom. xiii.) the imprisonment of Boniface VIII. and the election of Clement V., the last of which, like most anecdotes, is embarrassed with some difficulties.

(80) The original lives of the eight popes of Avignon, Clement V., John XXII., Benedict XII., Clement VI., Innocent VI., Urban V., Gregory XI., and Clement VII., are published by Stephen Baluze (Vitæ Paparum Avenionensium; Paris, 1693, 2 vols. quarto) with copious and elaborate notes, and a second volume of acts and documents. With the true zeal of an editor and a patriot, he devoutly justifies or excuses the character of his countrymen.

(81) The exile of Avignon is compared by the Italians with Babylon, and the Babylonish captivity.

Christendom. By land, by sea, by the Rhone, the position of Avignon was on all sides accessible: the southern provinces of France do not yield to Italy itself; new palaces arose for the accommodation of the pope and cardinals; and the arts of luxury were soon attracted by the treasures of the church. They were already possessed of the adjacent territory, the Venaissin county,(82) a populous and fertile spot; and the sovereignty of Avignon was afterward purchased from the youth and distress of Jane, the first queen of Naples and the countess of Provence, for the inadequate price of fourscore thousand florins. (83) Under the shadow of the French monarchy, amidst an obedient people, the popes enjoyed an honourable and tranquil state, to which they had long been strangers: but Italy deplored their absence; and Rome, in solitude and poverty, might repent of the ungovernable freedom which had driven from the Vatican the successor of St. Peter. Her repentance was tardy and fruitless; after the death of the old members, the sacred college was filled with French cardinals,(84) who beheld Rome and Italy with abhorrence and contempt, and perpetuated a series of national, and even provincial, popes, attached by the most indissoluble ties to their native country.

[A. D. 1300.] The progress of industry had produced and enriched the Italian republics: the era of their liberty is the most flourishing period of population and agriculture, of manufactures and commerce; and their mechanic labours were gradually refined into the arts of elegance and genius. But the position of Rome was less favourable, the territory less fruitful; the character of the inhabitants was debased by indolence and elated by pride; and they fondly conceived that the tribute of subjects must for ever nourish the metropolis of the church and empire. This prejudice was encouraged in some degree by the resort of pilgrims to the shrines of the apostles; and the last legacy of the popes, the institution of the HOLY YEAR, (85) was not less beneficial to the people than to the clergy. Since the loss of Palestine, the gift of plenary indulgences, which had been applied to the crusades, remained without an object; and the most valuable treasure of the church was sequestered above eight years from public circulation. A new channel was opened by the diligence of Boniface the Eighth, who reconciled the vices of ambition and avarice; and the pope had sufficient learning to recollect and revive the secular games, which were celebrated in Rome at the conclusion of every century. To sound without danger the depth of popular credulity, a sermon was seasonably pronounced, a report was artfully scattered, some aged witnesses were produced; and on the first of January of the year thirteen hundred, the church of St. Peter was crowded with the faithful, who demanded the customary indulgence of the holy time. The pontiff, who watched and irritated their devout impatience, was soon persuaded by ancient testimony of the justice of their claim: and he proclaimed a plenary abso

Such furious metaphors, more suitable to the ardour of Petrarch, than to the judgment of Muratori, are gravely refuted in Baluze's preface. The Abbé de Sade is distracted between the love of Petrarch and of his country. Yet he modestly pleads that many of the local inconveniences of Avignon are now removed; and many of the vices against which the poet declaims, had been imported with the Roman court by the strangers of Italy (tom. i. p. 23-28).

(82) The comtat Venaissin was ceded to the popes in 1273 by Philip III. king of France, after he had inherited the dominions of the count of Thoulouse. Forty years before, the heresy of count Raymond had given them a pretence of seizure, and they derived some obscure claim from the eleventh century to some lands citra rhodanum (Valesii Notitia Galliarum, p. 459. 610. Longuerue, Description de la France, tom. i. p. 376-381).

(83) If a possession of four centuries were not itself a title, such objections might annul the bargain; but the purchase-money must be refunded, for indeed it was paid. Čivitatem Avenionem emit.... per ejusmodi venditionem pecunia redundantes, &c. (2da Vita Clement VI. in Baluz. tom. i. p. 272. Muratori, Script. tom. iii. P. ii. p. 565). The only temptation for Jane and her second husband was ready money, and without it they could not have returned to the throne of Naples.

(84) Clement V. immediately promoted ten cardinals, nine French and one English. (Vita iv. p. 63, et Baluz. p. 625, &c.) In 1331, the pope refused two candidates recommended by the king of France, quod xx Cardinales, de quibus xvii de regno Franciæ originem traxisse noscuntur in memorato collegio existant (Thomassin, Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 1281).

(85) Our primitive account is from cardinal James Caietan, (Maxima Bibliot. Patrum, tom. xxv.) and I am at a loss to determine whether the nephew of Boniface VIII. be a fool or a knave; the uncle is a much clearer character.

lution to all Catholics who, in the course of that year, and at every similar period, should respectfully visit the apostolic churches of St. Peter and St. Paul. The welcome sound was propagated through Christendom; and at first from the nearest provinces of Italy, and at length from the remote kingdoms of Hungary and Britain, the highways were thronged with a swarm of pilgrims who sought to expiate their sins in a journey, however costly or laborious, which was exempt from the perils of military service. All exceptions of rank or sex, of age or infirmity, were forgotten in the common transport; and in the streets and churches many persons were trampled to death by the eagerness of devotion. The calculation of their numbers could not be easy nor accurate; and they have probably been magnified by a dexterous clergy, well apprized of the contagion of example: yet we are assured by a judicious historian, who assisted at the ceremony, that Rome was never replenished with less than two hundred thousand strangers; and another spectator has fixed at two millions the total concourse of the year. A trifling oblation from each individual would accumulate a royal treasure; and two priests stood night and day, with rakes in their hands, to collect without counting, the heaps of gold and silver that were poured on the altar of St. Paul.(86) It was fortunately a season of peace and plenty; and if forage was scarce, if inns and lodges were extravagantly dear, an inexhaustible supply of bread and wine, of meat and fish, was provided by the policy of Boniface and the venal hospitality of the Romans. From a city without trade or industry, all casual riches will speedily evaporate; but the avarice and envy of the next generation solicited Clement the Sixth(87) to anticipate the distant period of the century. The gracious pontiff complied with their wishes; afforded Rome this poor consolation for his loss; and justified the change by the name and practice of the Mosaic Jubilee.(88) His summons was obeyed; and the number, zeal, and liberality of the pilgrims did not yield to the primitive festival. But they encountered the triple scourge of war, pestilence, and famine: many wives and virgins were violated in the castles of Italy; and many strangers were pillaged or murdered by the savage Romans, no longer moderated by the presence of their bishop.(89) To the impatience of the popes we may ascribe the successive reduction to fifty, thirty-three, and twenty-five years; although the second of these terms is commensurate with the life of Christ. The profusion of indulgences, the revolt of the Protestants, and the decline of superstition, have much diminished the value of the jubilee: yet even the nineteenth and last festival was a year of pleasure and profit to the Romans; and a philosophic smile will not disturb the triumph of the priest or the happiness of the people.(90)

In the beginning of the eleventh century, Italy was exposed to the feudal tyranny, alike oppressive to the sovereign and the people. The rights of human nature were vindicated by her numerous republics, who soon extended their liberty and dominion from the city to the adjacent country. The sword of the nobles was broken; their slaves were enfranchised; their castles were demolished; they assumed the habits of society and obedience; their ambition was confined to municipal honours, and in the proudest aristocracy of Venice or Genoa, each patrician was subject to the laws.(91) But the feeble and

(86) See John Villani (1. viii. c. 36), in the twelfth, and the Chronicon Astense, in the eleventh volume (p. 191, 192,) of Muratori's Collection. Papa innumerabilem pecuniam ab eisdem accepit, nam duo clerici, cum rastris, &c.

(87) The two bulls of Boniface VIII. and Clement VI. are inserted in the Corpus Juris Canonici (Extravagant. Commun. 1. v. tit. ix. c. 1, 2),

(88) The Sabbatic years and jubilees of the Mosaic law (Car. Sigon. de Republicâ Hebræorum, Opp. tom. iv. l. iii. c. 14, 15, p. 151, 152), the suspension of all care and labour, the periodical release of lands, debt, servitude, &c. may seem a noble idea, but the execution would be impracticable in a profane repub. lic; and I should be glad to learn that this ruinous festival was observed by the Jewish people.

(89) See the Chronicle of Matteo Villani (l. i. c. 56), in the fourteenth volume of Muratori, and the Memoires sur la Vie de Petrarque, tom. iii. p. 75-89.

(90) The subject is exhausted by M. Ghais, a French minister at the Hague, in his Lettres Historiques et Dogmatiques, sur les Jubiles et les Indulgences; la Haye, 1751, 3 vols. 12mo.; an elaborate and pleasing work, had not the author preferred the character of a polemic to that of a philosopher.

(91) Muratori (Dissert. xlvii.) alleges the Annals of Florence, Padua, Genoa, &c., the analogy of the