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gains; but when the simple and honest sale of benefices proved insufficient for his demands, he had recourse, besides, to direct acts of fraud and robbery. In the distribution of graces and expectatives, the poorest candidates were invariably placed at the bottom of the list; but this was not sufficient-even the promises, that had been made them, were frequently cancelled in favour of some wealthier competitor, to whose more recent patent an earlier date was affixed, with a clause of preference. The fluctuating health and approaching decease of an opulent incumbent were watched with impatient anxiety, and appointed couriers hurried to Rome with the welcome intelligence. Immediately the benefice was in the market; and it not uncommonly happened, that the same was sold as vacant to several rivals, even under the same date. The ravages of a frightful pestilence only contributed to fill the pontifical coffers: and a benefice was sometimes sold in the course of a few weeks to several successive candidates, of whom none survived to take possession. At length, in the year 1401, the pontiff proceeded so far, as to cancel by a single act nearly all the graces, dispensations and expectatives which he had previously granted, and to declare them wholly void-that he might enter afresh and without any restraints upon the task, which seemed almost to be terminated, and reap from the same exhausted soil a second harvest of shame and iniquity. By such methods* Boniface enriched himself, and impoverished his clergy; and however we may abominate his rapacity, we have little cause to feel any compassion for the sufferers; who were possibly influenced by the same passion, and who were certainly involved in the same simoniacal scandal with himself.

The superstition of the laity was also taxed to the utmost point of endurance; the excessive abuse of the Jubilee has been mentioned as the favourite resource of Boniface, and the circumstances of the time combined to sharpen his appetite for that feast. The year 1400 was that destined, according to the original institution of Boniface VIII., for the celebration of the secular solemnity; and it appears that, though the innovations of later popes had met with very general reverence, there were still several rigid devotees who, holding them in inferior estimation, looked forward with pious impatience to the approach of the legitimate festival. Neither was this impression confined to the nations in the obedience of the Roman competitor; the followers of Benedict acknowledged by their respect for the apostolical city the authority of the See, though they rejected the usurper who occupied it; and the French especially pressed in great multitudes to obtain the plenary indulgence at Rome. Charles published an ordonnance to restrain the emigration of his subjects; he saw with sorrow, not perhaps their slavish superstition, but the exportation of their wealth to a foreign and even hostile treasury. Still in many, the religious zeal overpowered the sense of civil duty, and these proceeded on their pilgrimage. But several were intercepted and pillaged on their road by partisans at enmity with the Pope; and those, who escaped

Spondanus excuses the rapacity of Boniface by his necessities, and brings some authority for the assertion, that he died poor.

The system of Annates, or the payment of a year's first fruits to the Apostolical Chamber, was brought to perfection by Boniface IX. It did not, however, originate with him; Clement V. having learnt that some bishops in England exacted such claims from their diocesan clergy, felt justified in transferring the right to the See of Rome. This took place in 1306; thirteen years afterwards, John XXII., when he reserved for three years the first fruits of all vacant benefices, excepted the bishoprics and abbeys. Boniface IX. extended the usurpation to the prelacies, and made it perpetual. Fleury, 1. xcix. s. xxvii. Spondanus, ann. 1339, s. ii.

Innocent VII. succeeds

this danger, "were exposed, on the termination of their journey, to the pestilence which was laying waste the holy city. Some perished miserably; and others, whose resources were exhausted through their devotion and their sufferings, when they applied for aid to the apostolical coffers, were dismissed with a cold and contemptuous refusal. Four years afterwards Boniface died; his cardinals immediately entered into conclave, and elected a successor, nearly under the same conditions which had been accepted and violated by Benedict. He assumed the name of Innocent VII.; but the two years of his imbecile government produced no other change, than the secession of Genoa and Pisa to the obedience of his rival. Both parties expressed equal desire for the extinction of the schism; both were equally insincere; and the attention of the courts of Christendom and the feelings of the pious friends of the Church, were insulted by the verbose correspondence and recriminations of two aged hypocrites. Innocent died in 1406; and the Roman cardinals then seriously deliberated on the expediency of deferring the new election, until some measures could be taken in concert with the college at Avignon.

Boniface.

Election of Angelo Corrario, or Gregory XII.

But their fears of an interested populace contended with their wisdom and their virtue; they likewise dreaded the risks, which the temporal sovereignty of the See must incur during the interregnum-their indecision terminated in a half-measure. They bound themselves by oath, that whichsoever of them should be chosen, should hold himself in perpetual readiness to resign, in case the concord of the Church and the union of the two Colleges should require it; and that he should immediately make public, that such was the condition of his election. This act having been assented to with great solemnity, they threw their eyes upon a prelate, whose advanced age, whose holy reputation *, whose habitual integrity, whose ardent love of the Church and regard for its best interests, placed him beyond all suspicion, almost beyond the possibility, of perfidy. Angelo Corrario, a Venetian, the titular patriarch of Constantinople, was the character which they sought. Seventy years of immaculate piety, by which he was endeared to the whole Church, were a pledge for the extinction of any selfish passions, which at any time might have lurked in his bosom; and the austerity of his devotion, which emulated the holiness of the antient pontiffs, guaranteed the strict observance of his engagement. Accordingly, on the instant of his election, he eagerly ratified his covenant †, and proclaimed his intention to restore union to the

* They sought not (says Aretinus) for a man of business or address, but for one of honour and integrity; and at length they unanimously fixed their choice upon Angelo Corrario, "virum prisca severitate et sanctimonia reverendum."

The short account of Leonardus Aretinus, the attendant and faithful adherent of Angelo, should be cited. "Is conclavi egressus promissionem, votum, et juramentum, quæ privatus fecerat, tunc in potestate constitutus iterato novavit. Atque ita loquebatur de Unione primo illo tempore, ut, si cætera deessent, pedibus et baculo se iturum ad eam conficiendam asseveraret. Statiinque adversario scripsit benigne illum ad pacem invitans et abdicationem mutuam offerens. Adversarius autem tantisdem ferme syllabis ad eum rescripsit; eadem invitatio fuit, eademque cohortatio .. Locus deinde necessarius visus est in quo et Pontifices ipsi et collegia convenirent. Ad hoc Savona pari consensu recepta est. ... Prosperè huc usque et plane ex sententia. Deinde paulatim res labascere cœpit et cuncta indies deteriora fieri. Voluntas autem illa Pontificis recta nequaquam satis habere firmitatis reperta est ad pontificatum deponendum; cujus rei culpam multi in

Church by any risk or sacrifice. Should it be necessary to perform the journey on foot with his staff in his hand, or to encounter the sea in the most wretched bark, he vowed that he would still present himself at the place of conference. His declarations were received with joy and confidence, and it was thought that the flock of Christ had at length obtained a faithful shepherd.

After his restoration to liberty, the policy of Benedict had entirely changed all his original desire for the extinction of the schism appeared to be revived; he had made overtures to that effect both to Boniface and Innocent; and when the new Pope (Gregory XII.) addressed him on the subject, he renewed his usual protestations. But they were no longer able to deceive either the court or the doctors of Paris: it was found that, however profuse in general professions, he invariably evaded the cession, whenever it was strongly recommended to him; and he was not the better loved for the frequent exactions of tenths and annates, to which his necessities even more than his avarice obliged him.

At length it was arranged, at a meeting of certain deputies of both parties, that the long-promised conference should be brought about; and the place selected for the purpose was Savona. Some hopes were entertained from this project, and it was pressed with earnestness both at' Rome and Avignon. The time was fixed for the Michaelmas of 1407; and when it arrived, Benedict was found at the appointed city, full of his customary declarations. But where was Angelo Corrario, the sworn advocate of concord, the model of antient holiness? Every solicitation, to observe the direct obligation of his oath, had been urged upon him in vain. To the most overpowering arguments he opposed the most contemptible pretexts. He was secretly determined to evade the conference; and he did finally absent himself. Then followed another interchange of accusations and protestations, which had no other effect than to persuade men, that an understanding secretly subsisted between the two Pretenders, and that they had conspired to cajole the world and retain their offices by their common perjury *.

We shall not pursue the tedious details of their elaborate duplicity; nor is it important to notice the multifarious correspondence which perplexed the dispute, nor even closely to trace the circumstances, which led to its conclusion †. It is enough to mention the leading facts. In the first place, in contempt of one important clause of the oath taken in

propinquos ejus referebant, &c. . . Erat in altero Pontifice non melior sane mens, sed occulebat callidius malam voluntatem, et quia noster fugiebat, ipse obviam ire videbatur. ... Sed cum de congressu eorum per internuntios ageretur, noster tanquam terrestre animal ad littus accedere, ille tanquam aquaticum a mari discedere recusabat.. Cum per hunc modum desideria Christianorum qui pacem unitatemque optabant in longum ducerentur, non tulerunt Cardinales nostri, sed deserto Pontifice Pisas abiere," &c. Leonard Aretin. in Rer. Italicar. Historia. 66 Ego (the historian presently continues) Pontificem secutus sum potius familiaritatis gratia, quam quod ejus causam probarem. Quanquam fuit in Gregorio permagna vitæ morumque honestas et prisca quædam, ut ita dixerim, bonitas, scripturarum quoque scientia et indagatio subtilis et recta"... Denique in cunctis fermè rebus mihi satisfaciebat, præterquam in Unionis negotio... Id. loc. cit. Gibbon has referred to this passage in his 70th Chapter.

*Spondanus, ann. 1408, s. v.

The celebrated embassy sent from France both to Rome and Avignon, just before the Council of Pisa, is described by Gibbon, chap. lxx.

"That both parties shall promise to make no new cardinals during the treaty of union." Gregory probably considered this part of the obligation as conditional. And, as it is not likely that Benedict should have made any such promise, he might feel that the engagement was not binding upon himself...... Had he been more scrupulous, when

conclave, Gregory created four new cardinals; on which the others, in just indignation, deserted his court and retired to Pisa, where they fixed their residence. Presently afterwards (in 1408) the King of France took measures to seize the person of Benedict; but that accomplished politician, having constantly retained a small fleet in his service on the plea of personal security, set sail on the rumour of this danger, and, after a short cruise on the coast of Italy, found a safer refuge at Perpignan in Spain,-for the Spaniards continued to adhere to their countryman through all his vicissitudes, and through all his perfidy. At Perpignan he assembled his bishops, and held his councils, and awaited the termination of the tempest. But his cardinals remained in France; and now perceiving that they were abandoned by their master, they turned their attention more zealously than before to the extinction of the schism. To that end, they negociated in perfect sincerity with the rival college at Pisa; and the consequence was an immediate coalition. By this event, the first substantial ground towards the closing of the schism was gained. It was now clearly ascertained, that the voluntary cession of the pretenders, under any conceivable circumstances, was hopeless. The latest proof of that truth was the strongest; since Angelo di Corrario, the most unblemished of mankind, had chosen to stain his grey hairs with deliberate perjury, rather than resign the possession-the very short possession—of a disturbed and disputed dignity. No resource henceforward remained, except compulsion; and the union of the colleges afforded the only prospect of that result. Some difficulties were still to be overcome, but the convocation of a General Council promised to remove them. Accordingly the Council was summoned to assemble at Pisa in the March of 1409.

The Cardinals convoke the Council of Pisa,

The Council of Pisa met under circumstances wholly different from any other similar assembly. In the division of churchmen it represented the unity of the Church. Disregarding the opposite pretensions to individual legitimacy, it asserted the undivided authority of the See; and thus, since there might be many antipopes, but not possibly more than one pope, the object to which its proceedings necessarily tended, was to reject the two actual claimants, and substitute one true and catholic pontiff. It was summoned by the cardinals, twenty-four of whom were present, and it was attended by a great number of prelates*, as well as by the generals of the Mendicant orders, and the deputies of several universities. Ambassadors from the courts of Germany, France, England, and others, were likewise present; though the object of the first was rather to question the legitimacy, than to sanction the deliberations, of the council. The scruples of these envoys gave rise to an important discussion, which was occasionally renewed afterwards; and which, as far as the principles of the disputants were concerned, divided the High Papist party from the moderate Catholics. It was argued on the one side, from the language of the canons and the unvarying practice of the Church, that a general Council could not legally assemble, unless by the authority and express summons of the Pope, whereas the meeting at

the obligation was direct and unequivocal, we might have given him the benefit of this supposition.

Besides the three patriarchs, 180 archbishops and bishops, and about 300 abbots, were present in person or by representatives, and 282 doctors in theology.-Spondanus, ann. 1409, s. ii.

Pisa had received the sanction of no pontiff. On the other hand, it was maintained, that no pope did then in fact exist; that both pretenders, by their long-continued perfidy and contumacy, had involved themselves in the guilt of schism and heresy,*; and that, under such circumstances, if the necessities of the Church demanded it, the cardinals had full power to call a council t. Recollecting, as we do, the false foundation on which the claims of the pope really rested, we can scarcely pretend to doubt on which side the reason lay. But among the controversialists of that time, the spuriousness of the Decretals was still unknown, and almost unsuspected; and pretensions directly derived from them were acknowledged with respectful acquiescence.

The Council then proceeded to fulfil its object. The first step was, to summon the pretenders to appear in person or by deputy, and on their non-appearance, to pronounce them contumacious. The next, to trace the proofs of their insincerity and collusion, and to expose their perjury. The next, to command the Christian world to

withdraw its obedience from the one and from and elect Alexander V. the other. Then followed the sentence of con

demnation; and here we may pause to remark, that the prelate, who pronounced it, was the titular Patriarch of Alexandria, supported on either hand by those of Antioch and Jerusalem. The two schismatics, after a long enumeration of their crimes, were cut off from the Church; and the Holy See was declared vacant. Then the cardinals, after binding themselves by oath to continue the Council after the election, for the general purposes of church reform, entered into conclave. They remained six days in deliberation; and their choice fell upon the Cardinal of Milan, Peter of Candia, who took the name of Alexander V.

Peter, native of Candia, a Venetian subject, had risen from so low an origin, that he professed to retain no recollection of his parentage—a circumstance (he boasted) which gave him a great advantage over his predecessors, since it exempted him from all temptation to nepotism . One day, as he was begging alms, while yet extremely young, an Italian monk took compassion on him, and introduced him into his convent. From Candia, as he gave great promise of intellectual attainment, he was carried into Italy; and thence, for the gradual completion of his studies, to the universities, first of Oxford, and afterwards of Paris. There he acquired great theological reputation, and retained along with it a mild, liberal, and convivial disposition. He was already advanced in age when raised to the pontificate....After a few more sessions, in which a commission was appointed for the investigation of ecclesiastical abuses, and some unimportant regulations enacted, the Council was adjourned for an interval of three years, till the April of 1412.

The authority of the Council of Pisa was recognised by all the national churches of Europe, excepting Arragon, Castille, Bavaria, and Scotland; and Rome itself, by placing Alexander in the list of its genuine bishops, has offered it the same acknowledgment. Its proceedings were conducted without any reproach of irregularity or dissension, and it dis

*This last assertion does not appear, at first sight, so obvious-but the word heresy was now used in a much more comprehensive sense, than in the early church :-perseverance in schism was at this time sufficient to constitute heresy.

That there were cases, in which they possessed that right, does not appear to have been disputed-that, for instance, of the insanity of a pope.

It was the boast of his friends, that, from being a rich archbishop, he had become a poor cardinal; and that the popedom had reduced him to beggary.

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