The failure of the efforts made by the Holy See to unite all the nations of Europe in a defensive alliance against the ceaseless encroachments of Islam strengthened Mahomet II's determination to adopt aggressive measures and attack Hunyadi, whom he justly considered as, after Skanderbeg, the only enemy able to meet him on equal terms. Hungary was the power most dreaded by the Sultan, and accordingly his chief aim was to cripple or to annihilate it. In order to give a firmer basis to the political and military operations undertaken for this purpose he had even in the year 1454 begun to extend his dominion in Servia. Hunyadi was not in a position to prevent this, and in July, 1455, the important and strongly fortified city of Novoberdo, with all the treasures, which had in the course of years been amassed within its walls, fell into the hands of the infidels.*

In the following year Mahomet resolved to deal Hungary a decisive blow. He had no reason to apprehend hostile attacks by sea from the west, for the Republic of Genoa was helpless, and Venice was friendly, while the little Papal fleet, unsupported by any Christian naval power, was not likely to give him much trouble.

During the winter of 1455-1456 the Turks were actively engaged in getting ready for war. Troops were assembled from all parts of the kingdom, and an immense number of men worked day and night in a cannon-foundry, which was established at Kruschewatz on the Morava. Extensive preparations were made for the provisioning of the army which was to besiege Belgrade. War materials of all descriptions were carried to the spot. Weapons, especially bows and arrows, and a great part of the provisions, were procured in the adjacent province of Bosnia and stored up in magazines. Mills for grinding corn and a number of bakeries were constructed. With a care and foresight almost unknown in the West, everything was provided that could be needed for a protracted siege, or serve, in the event of success, to render Belgrade available as the Sultan's headquarters for future operations against Hungary and more northern lands.

In June, 1456, the ruler of the infidels led an army of more than a hundred and fifty thousand men with three hundred cannons towards the Danube, on his way to Belgrade, the bulwark of Vienna. His progress was absolutely unopposed, and by the beginning of July the city, which was the key to Hungary, was completely invested by land. A terrible fire was opened and kept up night and day. The thunder of the artillery was heard at Szegedin, more than twenty-four Hungarian miles distant. Mahomet, after his victory at Constantinople, looked on the siege of Belgrade as mere child's play, and is said to have boasted that he would in a fortnight subdue the fortress which his father had vainly besieged for half a year, and within three months' later would sup in Buda. The besieged had completely lost heart, when unexpected succour arrived in the persons of John Hunyadi and St. John Capistran. These two great men were powerfully supported by the Papal legate Cardinal Juan Carvajal, a fellow-countryman of the Pope's, and one of the noblest characters of the age. In November, 1455, he had arrived at Wiener-Neustadt, whence he proceeded to Vienna and to Buda. "He brought," writes the biographer of Aeneas Sylvius, "nothing with him but a plenary indulgence for all who should take up arms against the Turks, and promises, which had proved often delusive. But he brought himself, and his own inspiriting example". "Such a legate truly corresponds to the greatness of our need," said the King of Hungary when he thanked the Pope for sending this distinguished man, who spent the next six years on the banks of the Danube, sharing all the sufferings and privations of the crusaders, and ready to close by a martyr's death a life of complete devotion to the service of God and His Church

The summons issued on the 14th January, 1456, to the Hungarian Diet to meet at Buda, and the arrival of King Ladislas himself in Hungary towards the end of the month, were alike due in great measure to Carvajal's energy. When the Diet opened in February he did his utmost to encourage the Hungarians, by holding out the prospect of assistance from the Papal fleet, and from the King of Naples and the Duke of Burgundy, who were both engaged in warlike preparations. On behalf of the Pope he granted a plenary indulgence to every soldier who should take the field. The States levied a contribution of a golden florin on every farmhouse, made arrangements to provide shelter and food for the crusaders, who were expected to arrive in great numbers from other countries, and begged the Pope soon to send the promised fleet to the Hellespont. At the same time they declared that in consequence of the bad harvest of the previous year the expedition could not set out until August. They had barely time to draw up their reports before messengers from the Lower Danube arrived bringing the alarming news of the advance of the Sultan with an immense army, and the imminent danger which threatened Belgrade, the bulwark of Hungary. At this critical moment the eyes of the nation naturally turned to King Ladislas, who, with his Privy Counsellor, the Count of Cilli, was still at Buda. But the King, having absented himself from his capital on pretext of a hunting party, made his escape to Vienna. His flight was a signal to the cowardly barons, who had taken no measures for the defence of their country, and they also at once left Buda and concealed themselves.

In this terrible extremity, Hungary was saved from the advancing tide of Islam by the three great men whom we have mentioned, each of whom bore the name of John. Hunyadi raised a force of seven thousand men at his own cost; Carvajal, who, at the earnest desire of its Governor, remained in Buda, laboured unremittingly to procure means of transport, provisions, and assistance; while St. John Capistran collected the Crusaders who had been won to the cause by his own burning words and those of the missioners, Giovanni da Tagliacozzo, Niccolo da Fara, and Ambroise of Languedoc.

As the Hungarian nobles, like those of Germany, remained, with few exceptions, inactive, the crusading army assembled by the Saint and Carvajal constituted the only aid afforded to the heroic Hunyadi. The force was made up for the most part of poor citizens and peasants, monks, hermits and students, armed with axes, pikes, flails, pitch­forks, and such other weapons as they could collect. Some greedy adventurers were certainly to be found among the motley crew, but the majority of the crusaders were determined to fight and die for their faith. They wore a red cross on the left breast, and their banners bore on one side a cross and on the other the figure of Sts. Anthony, Francis, Louis, or Bernardine. A number of German foot soldiers and three hundred Polish warriors gave some sup­port to the untrained and ill-armed masses; the generalship of Hunyadi, seconded by the zeal of St. John Capistran, did the rest.

Belgrade is situated on a rocky hill, in the corner of the promontory formed by the union of the Save with the Danube. At the summit of this steep hill stands the castle, which, at the time we are speaking of, was strongly fortilied. The declivity along the banks of the river was occupied by the lower town, which was then surrounded by walls and also on the land side defended by a double wall and moat. Mahomet II had not only shut in the fortress completely on the land side, but also sent a flotilla to cut off communication by the Danube and the Save. To make; a breach in this iron circle was the first object of Hunyadi and St. John Capistran. The former, with the assistance of the legate, collected about two hundred boats at Salankemen, laden with munitions of war and provisions. He embarked his followers and the crusaders who joined them, and on the 14th of July, taking advantage of the current, bore down upon the Turkish ships, which were chained together. After five hours' fighting, during which the waters of the Danube ran red with blood, the Christians succeeded in breaking through the Turkish line, and gained a complete victory. While the combat was going on, St. John Capistran stood on the shore and encouraged the Christian warriors by holding up the crucifix, which the Pope had sent him by Cardinal Carvajal, and calling out the Holy Name of Jesus!

The moral effects of this great victory were most important, for it broke the charm of supposed invincibility which had grown up around the Crescent. Moreover, it afforded breathing-time to the besieged, who had been under fire for a fortnight in the burning heat of summer. The Danube too was free, and the fortress was replenished with corn, wine, and troops. Hunyadi was prudent enough not to lose time in the pursuit of the Turkish vessels, but seizing on the favourable moment, at once occupied the fortress which had been so hardly won. St. John Capistran accompanied him, and with his heart-stirring eloquence stimulated the courage of the besieged for the decisive day which was approaching.

Mahomet, infuriated by defeat, determined to avenge the disgrace of the 14th July by the complete destruction of the place. Night and day the city was subjected to an unceasing fire, and meanwhile he gathered together the flower of his army for a general assault which was to deal the final blow. In the evening of the 21st July, the seventh day after the engagement on the Danube, at the head of his janissaries, he gave the signal for attack. The battle lasted throughout the whole of that night and the following day. From a tower in the fortress, Hunyadi and the Saint watched its vicissitudes, the former giving orders for the despatch of succour where it was required, and for the relief of the wearied and wounded. If he saw his forces anywhere giving way he flew to the spot, reanimating the courage of his men by fighting among them as a common soldier. St. John Capistran from the tower held up the crucifix which the Pope had blessed, and poured forth unceasing supplication to the Almighty for aid. The besieged fought like lions, all the Turkish assaults were repelled, and those who had taken up their position in the trenches were dislodged by means of bundles of brushwood soaked in oil, pitch, and sulphur, and set on fire.

Various accounts are given of the final crisis of the battle. The following is probably the true one. The crusaders, whose enthusiasm had by this time reached its climax, ventured in opposition to Hunyadi's commands, and without any order from St. John Capistran, on a strong sortie against a portion of the fortified camp of the Turks. The voice of the Saint, who not only called out from the walls, but hastened down amongst them, was powerless to restrain their ardour. Suddenly the Turkish cavalry charged the rash Christian warriors, who, eager for plunder, were pressing forward into the encampment of a pasha, and drove them, exhausted as they were, into a narrow place. At this critical moment Hunyadi came to the rescue, making a fresh sally from the city, spiking some of the enemy's artillery and turning some against the Turks themselves. The Sultan, wounded by an arrow and mad with rage, was compelled as night came on to give the signal for retreat. The whole of the Turkish camp with all the arms and a portion of the artillery fell into the hands of the Christians. And thus, to use the words of Nicholas Cusa, on the day of St. Mary Magdalen the Cross of Christ triumphed over its enemy. Belgrade, Hungary, and, in some sense, Christendom and European civilization were saved; their deliverance was due in great measure to the fiery eloquence of the indefatigable St. John Capistran, who, in conjunction with Hunyadi, had been the soul of this terrible battle, and who had the chief share in its happy result. Calixtus III and his legate, the noble Cardinal Carvajal, must also be mentioned as having contributed to this memorable victory. "Whatever was achieved against the Turks," says a Protestant historian, "was entirely the Pope's doings, and the great deliverance wrought at Belgrade is to be ascribed most properly to him."

It would be hard to describe the agitation of the Pope when the first tidings of the advance of the Turks towards Belgrade reached Rome. The report of the Milanese ambassador, Jacopo Calcaterra, who had a long conversation with Calixtus III on the 27th July, 1456, gives a vivid picture of the distress of the aged Pontiff, who, in his noble efforts for the defence of Christendom, found himself abandoned by all the Western Princes. While groaning under the heavy burden laid upon him, the brave man was ready to sacrifice himself for the common cause. "I acknowledge and firmly believe, O Almighty God," he said, in the course of this memorable interview, "that it is Thy will that I alone should wear myself out and die for the general good. So be it! I am ready, even if I must myself go into bondage and alienate all the possessions of the Church." And, alluding to the plague which was at this time raging in Rome, he added, "Nothing will induce me to leave Rome, not even if, like so many others, I am to fall a victim to the plague. Mahomet, the enemy of our faith, compels me to remain. He does not relax his efforts, although thousands in his immense army have been carried off." The ambassador was greatly touched by the Pope's words, and on the day following the audience wrote thus to his master: "No man on earth can have so hard and stony a heart as not to be moved with the greatest compassion for His Holiness."

A month before this, Calixtus, bereft of all human aid, had solemnly sought Divine assistance. On the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul (29th June), 1456, he addressed a Bull to all the Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots of Christendom, exhorting them by prayers, fasting and penance to "return to the Lord, that He may again return to us," and also to direct their attention to the reformation of the flocks committed to their charge. The following special directions were added: "On the first Sunday of each month processions were to be made in every diocese in order to pray that the threatened Turkish invasion might be averted; the Missa contra Paganos was to be said, and a suitable discourse delivered to the assembled people. Moreover, every priest, without exception, was required to use the following prayer in every Mass he said : "Almighty, ever­lasting God, to whom all power belongs, and in whose hand are the rights of all nations, protect Thy Christian people and crush by Thy power the pagans who trust in their fierceness." Indulgences were attached to the performance of these devotions, and to enable the people to share in these prayers and indulgences it was further enacted that in every church, between noon and vespers, one or more bells should be rung as for the angelus, and three "Our Fathers," and "Hail Marys" recited. Indulgences were granted for these prayers. The Pope considered the splendid victory on the Danube primarily due to these supplications.

The Christian world breathed more freely after hearing of the triumph of Hunyadi and St. John Capistran. If the fear of Turkish invasion had been extreme, the joy of Christendom at the happy tidings of unlooked-for victory knew no bounds. Every heart that beat true to the good cause received the news as a favour from God. "We can hardly find a chronicler, however distant from the scene of action, or however obscure, who fails to mention this wonderful victory of the poor crusaders." Even in Venice, though she had done her best to remain neutral, the victory was the occasion of the greatest rejoicings. Splendid festivities took place in the cities of the States of the Church, which learned the good news from special messengers sent by the Pope. Processions, in which the Madonna of St. Luke, the heads of St. Petronius and St. Dominic, the hand of St. Cecilia, and other precious relics were borne, were made in Bologna for three days

No one throughout all Christendom was more delighted than the Pope at the defeat of the infidels. In one of his Briefs he speaks of the victory at Belgrade as the happiest event of his life. The Emperor and other potentates informed the Pope of it by special messengers. In Rome, by his desire, the ringing of all the church bells, processions of thanksgiving and bonfires announced the good news.

The Milanese ambassador, Jacopo Calcaterra, writing on the 24th August, 1456, gives a detailed and highly interesting description of the impression made on the aged Pope by the tidings of the relief of Belgrade. In an audience lasting three hours and a half Calixtus poured forth his feelings with the utmost expansiveness and freedom. "The Pope," writes the ambassador, "was so full of the great victory that he constantly reverted to it. He praised Hunyadi to the skies, calling him the greatest man that the world had seen tor three hundred years. But with equal energy did he lament the torpor of the Hungarians who had not supported Hunyadi and the crusaders". Moreover, Calixtus ascribed the victory to the grace of God more than to human courage. "God," he said, "has granted this victory especially to bring shame and confusion on those who opposed my efforts for the crusade, who said that no one could understand what I wanted, and that in pursuit of my vain dreams the treasures of the Church, which other Popes had amassed, were being thrown to the winds". "His Holiness," here observes. Jacopo Calcaterra, "plainly told me that it was King Alfonso of Naples who had thus reproached him." Even more strongly did the Pope express himself regarding Scarampo; and it is evident that this Cardinal's influence at the Papal Court was entirely gone, and that the Borgias had succeeded in prejudicing the mind of the Pope against him. This estrangement was no doubt also caused by the delay of Scarampo in leading the Papal fleet against the Turks.

The victory at Belgrade had, as the letter of the Milanese ambassador shows us, raised the Pope's spirits wonderfully. Calixtus fully expected that the Christian Princes, would look with very different eyes on the crusade, and would be more willing to make sacrifices for the common cause of Christendom now that his predictions, a thousand times repeated in the course of the past year, had been, accomplished by the defeat and destruction of the Turks.

There can be no doubt that in the first joyful enthusiasm elicited by the success of the Christian arms he cherished far too brilliant anticipations regarding the consequences, of the victory. The accounts which reached him from Hungary were well calculated to strengthen these hopes. In the joy of their triumph, Hunyadi and St. John Capistran were so persuaded of the.approaching annihilation of the Sultan's power that they did not hesitate to represent it to the Pope as an accomplished fact, only now requiring from him the support of an insignificant force to secure its fruits. "Most Holy Father," wrote St. John Capistran, a few days after the relief of Belgrade, "the right time has come. The day of the salvation of Christendom has dawned! Now is the moment when the long cherished desire of your Holiness will be fulfilled, not only by the recovery of the Greek empire and Europe, but also by the conquest of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Almighty God will surely help us if only your Holiness persevere in your pious purposes. But one thing do your legates ask from your piety and zeal for the faith, namely, that you will send some ten or twelve thousand well-armed horsemen from Italy. If these remain with us for at least six months, together with the crusaders, who are devoted to you as obedient sons, and the noble princes, prelates, and barons of the kingdom of Hungary, we hope to acquire enough of the goods of the infidels to cover all expenses for three years and richly to reward the whole army. For at this moment we can do more with ten thousand men for the spread of the Christian faith and the destruction of these heathens than could be accomplished in other times by thirty thousand". Hunyadi wrote in a similar strain : "Be it known to your Holiness, that at the present time the Emperor of the Turks is so completely crushed that if the Christians, as is proposed, would only rise against him they might very easily, with the help of God, become masters of the whole Turkish kingdom."

No wonder that the lively imagination of the Spanish Pope rose to gigantic schemes on the reception of such letters. The victory granted by God must now be followed up, and immediately after the tidings arrived he urged his legates and the Christian princes to proceed with united forces against the Turks. In the following March a great expedition was to set forth. Constantinople was to be reconquered, and Europe set free, the Holy Land and all Asia to be purged of infidels, the whole race of unbelievers extirpated. In almost all the Briefs of the period these exaggerated schemes appear again and again, showing what complete possession the subject had taken of the Pope's mind.

These hopes were no doubt illusory; and yet it was a misfortune for Europe that the heroes who had given them birth, and had fostered them in the mind of the Pope, closed their earthly career soon after the glorious day at Belgrade.

A fearful pestilence, generated most probably by the heat of the burning sun brooding on the heaps of unburied corpses, broke out and carried off the brave Hunyadi on the 11th August. "When he felt his last hour draw near," said Aeneas Sylvius, "he would not permit them to bring the body of the Lord to his sick bed. Dying as he was, he had himself carried into the Church, and there, after having received the Holy Sacrament, breathed forth his soul beneath the hands of the clergy." On the 23rd October the aged St. John Capistran followed his companion in arms.

By the death of these two great men the operations against the Turks were deprived of their most powerful promoters. The hope that the unexpected victory at Belgrade would give a fresh impulse to the Holy War melted away through the indifference of the Western Powers, which manifested itself in a disgraceful manner at the very time when its fruits might have been secured. Again was the Pope the only one who took the interests of Christendom seriously and honestly to heart. He wrote in strong terms to the Emperor, the Kings of France and of Naples, to the more powerful German princes, and to the several States of Italy, entreating them to give God thanks for the victory, and to turn it to account; but his words were all in vain. Because the danger was fur the moment averted, and this victory had been gained by the Hungarians and the undisciplined Crusaders, the Christian potentates seemed to think themselves justified in leaving all further defensive operations entirely to them. All through the upper ranks of society, which ought to have given an impulse to the rest, slothfulness, selfishness, and petty interests again outweighed all better feelings, and deadened all energy for good.

Almost all the other powers followed the example of Venice. In vain did the eloquent Carvajal unite his prayers and exhortations with those of the Pope; all that could be said as to the necessity of following up the victory fell on deaf ears. The ambassador of the King of Hungary about this time failed to obtain any answer from Venice, "for, on account of the plague, no deliberations could take place"; and when he again, on his way from Rome, visited the city he received an evasive answer.

The tepidity of the Western Powers, although unable to deter Calixtus from his efforts against the Turks, caused him for a time to seek for aid in other quarters. In December, 1456, he made an appeal to the Christian King of Ethiopia; in the following year he applied to the Christians in Syria, Georgia, and Persia, and finally to Usunhassan, Prince of the Turcomans, the only one of the Eastern princes whose power could compare with that of the Sultan.

As a lasting memorial of the victory at Belgrade, and in thanksgiving for the unlooked-for success of the Christian arms, the Pope in the following year decreed that henceforth the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord should be solemnly observed throughout Christendom. A number of briefs attest the importance attached by Calixtus to the due observance of this decree, by which he hoped to revive the enthusiasm for the holy war. As far as the princes were concerned, however, these expectations were vain.

A pleasing contrast to the indifference is furnished by the zeal with which the lower orders received the Papal exhortations regarding the crusade. In many places the excitement and ardour manifested were most remarkable. A contemporary tells of peasants abandoning ploughs and of bridegrooms leaving their brides in order "to light for the Catholic Faith for the love of God". Supernatural signs induced others to join the expedition. Throughout Upper Germany especially fresh hosts of crusaders assembled after the relief of Belgrade. These bands were incomparably superior in discipline to those that had flocked together before that decisive victory. Another contemporary description of the departure of the Nuremberg crusaders for Hungary says, "Anno 1456, when our Holy Father, Pope Calixtus III, sent a Danish legate and Bishop named Heinricus. Kaldeysen to preach the crusade against the Turks, and to confer the cross, in September (more correctly August), many people came to the church here to take the cross, and set forth against the Turks. And as they were without a leader, and needed one to maintain order and authority for the glory of God and the honor of the city, the Council gave them for their help and comfort Heinrich Slosser, of Berne, who was the captain of the Swiss, and Otto Herdegen, who knew the Hungarian language, with eight horses and a red and white pennon (the colours of Nuremberg). These captains appointed chiefs over tens and over hundreds, and the chiefs and their men respectively took an oath of mutual fealty. This oath is written in the little book which is kept in the Court, and the men are inscribed by name in the same register. About fourteen baggage waggons were also borrowed from the city to take their armour to Ratisbon. They bought three great ships for two hundred and twenty Rhenish florins, in which from one thousand three hundred to one thousand four hundred well- armed men were to be embarked, six hundred carrying muskets, and the rest spears, cross-bows, and battle-axes. And they went forth in goodly array on the Friday after St. Bartholomew's day (27th August), shriven, and fortified with the Blessed Sacrament. They marched under the banner of the Holy Cross, whereon were also painted St. Sebaldus, St. Lawrence, and the Holy Lance, and under the flag of Nuremberg, which the chief leader, Heinrich Slosser, bore, as the Council had commanded through Niclas Muffel, Paulus Grunther, and Erhart Schürstab, who admonished him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to keep faith with the city, and to be a true leader of the people. By the Council they were provided with pots, kettles, pans, plates, spoons, and other vessels for cooking, two tents, a cask of powder and priming, lead, arrows, five bushels of oatmeal fried in dripping in little barrels, and six bushels of millet and peas, and fifty hand­guns. Item, in Hungary they were immediately to receive four hundred pounds' weight of copper coins for the general benefit, and in Vienna the house of Baumgartner gave two hundred pounds of the same, also to be spent for the general good. All this was done by the Council. Item, 011 the day when they departed hence each one of them was touched with the holy lance and with the holy cross at the hospital in the church of the Holy Ghost."

The German crusaders were joined, the chronicle of Spire informs us, by crusaders from England, France, and other countries, among whom were "priests and monks, and they were mostly poor working people". Cardinal Carvajal welcomed them all with real joy, and in every way that he could, showed them the greatest goodwill.

The army of King Ladislas was now increased to forty-four thousand men, and, accompanied by Count Ulrich of Cilli, he landed with his force at Belgrade on the 8th November, 1456. The King and the Count were received with all due respect, but as soon as they and their servants had entered the fortress the gates were shut behind them, and admittance was refused to the armed Germans and Bohemians. On the following morning Cilli was invited to take part in the Council of the Hungarian nobles. When he appeared Ladislas Hunyadi upbraided him in violent terms with his ambition and his hatred of the Corvinus family. Ulrich, overmastered with rage, drew his sword and wounded Hunyadi and three Hungarian nobles, but finally himself fell beneath the blows of his enemies. When this became known in the army of the King and among the crusaders, "everyone put on his armour, and the leaders went forth with their men intending to storm the castle." Young King Ladislas, however, dissembling his grief and indignation, sent word to the soldiers "that they were to take no notice of this matter, which did not concern the crusaders, and were to take off their armour." Soon afterwards the crusading army, which was "as in a sack" between fortress and town in double danger from Turks and Hungarians, was permitted by mutual agreement between the King and Cardinal Carvajal to "go home again". "And so ended the expedition against the Turks on account of the perfidy of the Hungarians, of which we complain to God."

At the very time when the people of Germany were thus loyally supporting the crusaders their prelates were occupied in evading any real participation in the common cause by again coming forward with "complaints" against the Holy See. Now, as on former occasions, reform was the pretext, and pressure the means used to accomplish their end, which was to evade their obligations. As leader of the opposition, the aged Elector Dietrich, Count of Erbach, filled the place of Jakob of Treves, who had died in the end of May, 1456. The Elector's Chancellor, Doctor Martin Mavr, accompanied him and concentrated all his diplomatic and intriguing skill on the cause in hand.

In June, 1455, at a Provincial Synod at Aschaffenburg, the Archbishop of Mayence had caused a whole list of complaints against the Court of Rome to be drawn up.

These complaints, which referred chiefly to violations of the Concordat, were contained in an instruction for the embassy to be sent to Rome, and are important as being the foundation of many similar documents of a subsequent date. After the close of this Synod, Dietrich and the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves entered into an understanding for the summoning of a great German national Council. The object of this Council was to confirm the decrees of Basle and to take precautions against the burdens laid upon Germany, which strangely permits its eyes to be again torn out after having them restored by those salutary decrees.

The anti-papal sentiments of the Elector of Mayence, the ally of the Count Palatine Frederick, were manifested in a most decided manner at a Synod which he held at Frank­fort-on-Main in February and March, 1456. It was here determined that the Archbishop and his suffragans should unite in resisting the violition of the Constance and Basle decrees by the Court of Rome and the oppression of the German nation by tithes and indulgences.

On the Feast of St. Peter ad vincula (1st August), 1456, the representatives of the five Electors, together with the Bishops of Salzburg and Bremen, again met at Frankfort-on-Main; the Elector of Treves held back, as he had not yet been confirmed by Rome. The fact that the Cathedral Chapters of Mayence, Treves, Cologne, and Bremen sent messengers to this assembly gave it a great importance. All were unanimous in refusing the tithe which Cardinal Carvajal was about to demand from the clergy for the crusade. In order to furnish a plausible excuse for this refusal the old disputes which the Concordat had set at rest were again revived. The war against the Turks was used by the Pope, they declared, as a pretext to fleece Germany. This was the object of the tithe, and the reason why the Indulgence granted to the defenders of Cyprus by Pope Nicholas had been witdrawn and declared invalid. They were resolved to appeal against the tithes; they would send the dealers in Indulgences back over the Alps with empty purses; they would not give money to support the spendthrift Catalan nephews at the Papal Court. The assembly then proceeded to draw up a report. This began with the usual complaints of the burdens imposed on the German nation; the tithes claimed by Rome for the Turkish war closing the list. A series of resolutions were passed for the redress of these grievances and the relief of the German Church. An appeal against the exactions of the Roman officials was drawn up and recommended. A league was formed, of which the members exchanged promises of mutual support in case anyone of them were threatened with excommunication, outlawry, war, or ecclesiastical or judicial proceedings, and also bound themselves not to enter into any "negotiation or understanding" without the consent of all. "This," says a recent historian, "was an attempt at a German Pragmatic Sanction, which the ambassadors in the old fashion were to "bring after them." Practically but little result was to be apprehended from all this bluster. The assembly was to meet again at Nuremberg to consider whether it might not be better simply to accept the decrees of Constance and Basle. In reality their resolutions were nothing but a compilation of these with some slight modifications, which essentially altered nothing." The Frankfort assembly also resolved to apply to the Emperor and see if he would not make common cause with the Princes in endeavouring to find a remedy for the grievances of the nation, either by concluding a Pragmatic Sanction with the Holy See or by some other means. Moreover, they strongly urged him to come into the Empire, and to take upon himself the charge of it. Could he really suppose that the infidels were to be vanquished by letters and messengers? The document closes with a threat that if the Emperor should fail to appear at the Diet to be held in Nuremberg at the end of November, "we, with the help of God, will meet there to take counsel and to determine on all that it behoves us to do as Electors of the Holy Roman Empire and all that may be necessary for the furtherance of the Christian expedition."

The Emperor met these demands with a blunt refusal, and the Pope in a brief to his nuncio expressed his just displeasure. He strongly condemned the appeal of the Elector of Mayence, but did not excuse the dilatory Emperor. "O, hearts of stone which are not moved by this!" exclaims Calixtus, after speaking of the victory won at Belgrade, "without King and without Emperor. Our fleet with the legate has sailed for Constantinople, and the Emperor sleeps. Arise, O Lord, and support our holy enterprise."

At the Diet held at Nuremberg in the end of the year 1456, anti-Imperial feeling for a moment effaced the opposition to the Pope. There is no doubt that the revolutionary party contemplated setting the Emperor aside by the election of a King of the Romans; the candidate they had in view was the young and powerful Frederick I of the Palatinate, but as the anti-Imperial party was still too weak for action, it was merely determined that another Diet should meet at Frankfort-on-Main on Reminiscere Sunday (13th March); counsel was there to be taken as to the manner ''in which the Pope was to be entreated regarding the Holy Roman Empire and the German nation."

No energetic measures against the Emperor were adopted at this Diet (March, 1457), which assembled in spite of his formal prohibition. The attitude of the anti-Papal party seemed more threatening. Its grievances were fully set forth in an intemperate letter addressed by Doctor Martin Mayr to Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, who had meanwhile been promoted to the purple. The Pope, says this letter, does not observe the decrees of the Councils of Constance and Basle, he does not consider himself bound by the treaties which his predecessors have entered into; he appears to despise the German nation and to extort all he can from it. The election of prelates is frequently postponed without cause; and benefices and dignities of all kinds are reserved for the cardinals and Papal secretaries. Cardinal Piccolomini himself has been granted a general reservation in an unusual and unheard-of form on three German provinces. Expectancies without number are conferred, annates and other taxes collected harshly and no delay granted; and it is also known that more has been exacted than the sums due. Bishoprics have been bestowed, not on the most worthy, but on the highest bidder. For the sake of amassing money, new indulgences have daily been published and war-tithes imposed without consulting the German prelates. Lawsuits, which ought to have been dealt with and decided at home, have been hastily transferred to the Apostolic Tribunal. "The Germans have been treated as if they were rich and stupid barbarians, and drained of their money by a thousand cunning devices. And therefore this nation, once so glorious, which, with her courage and her blood had won the Holy Roman Empire, and was the mistress and queen of the world, is now needy, tributary, and a servant. For many years she has lain in the dust, bemoaning her poverty and her sad fate. But now her nobles have awakened as from sleep; now they have resolved to shake off the yoke and to win back their ancient freedom".

The real weight to be attached to this document was soon made manifest, for hardly three weeks had passed away before the same Doctor Martin Mayr made private overtures to Cardinal Piccolomini for a treaty to be concluded between his master, the Archbishop of Mayence and the Pope. This proposal elicited the humiliating reply that it was not for subjects to make alliances with their lords, and that an Archbishop of Mayence should be content with the position which his predecessors had occupied and not seek to rise above it.

All this anti-Papal agitation was well known, and caused grave solicitude in Rome. The apprehension that Germany might follow the footsteps of the French, who adhered to the Pragmatic Sanction, caused much anxiety, and the chief object of the Pope was to prevent the Emperor from being drawn into the party of the anti-Roman princes. The Brief which Calixtus addressed to Frederick III was drawn up by Cardinal Piccolomini. In this document the Pope denies the charge of disregarding the Concordats and of neglecting to appoint bishops. In regard to reservations and other exercises of patronage, if, in the multiplicity of affairs, anything has been amiss, this, he says, has been through inadvertence. Although the authority of the Holy See is absolutely independent and cannot be limited by the bonds of a contract, yet, in token of his ardent desire for peace and his goodwill towards the Emperor, he will allow the Concordat to continue, and will never, as long as he is at the helm, permit its violation. If, however, the nation has other complaints regarding the proceedings of his Court, and amendment is deemed necessary (for even he may fail and err as a man, especially in matters of fact), it does not become bishops or others to follow the example of those who, to the injury of ecclesiastical government, the destruction of the mystical Body of Christ and the ruin of their own souls, maintain principles which would authorize them to despise the commands of the Apostolic See and direct the affairs of the Church after their own will. He who ventures to act thus cannot call God his father, inasmuch as he does not acknowledge the Church for his mother. No one may oppose himself to the Roman Church; should anyone think himself wronged he must bring his grievances before her. The Pope dwells in forcible terms on the unreasonableness of the complaints regarding the money collected in Germany for the Turkish war, inasmuch as the great expenses which he incurred on behalf of Christendom in general, by the equipment of a fleet in the East, by supporting Skanderbeg in Albania, by paying so many ambassadors in all parts of the world, and by assisting multitudes who needed help in Greece and Asia, were evident to all. "We venture," Calixtus says, "to glory in the Lord, for while the Christian princes have almost all been sunk in slothfulness, He, through His own servants, who alone carry on the holy work, has broken the proud ranks of the Turks in Hungary, and discomfited the great and mighty army which had threatened to ravage not only Hungary, but also, the whole of Germany, France, and Italy, and to overthrow the kingdom of Christ."

Copies of this Brief were sent from Rome to various, persons, amongst whom were the King of Hungary and Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa; and, at the same time, Cardinal Carvajal and the Minorite, San Jacopo della Marca were exhorted to resist the anti-Papal agitation in Germany. A very severe letter was addressed by the Pope to the Archbishop of Mayence, the chief promoter of the movement. Calixtus declared that he could not believe so prudent a prelate to be capable of undertaking anything against the Papal authority, by which he would incur ecclesiastical and civil penalties and be guilty of the sin of heresy. As. Elector, the Archbishop was, beyond all others, bound ta maintain and extend that authority; if devils in human form taught otherwise, he ought not to give ear to them. To the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves he wrote in a similar strain, and also sent despatches to several States of the Empire, to Berne and other cities, exculpating himself from the charges made against him. As Carvajal had more than enough to do in Hungary, it was determined that another legate should be nominated for Germany, and Lorenzo Roverella, a distinguished theologian and diplomatist, was selected. Cardinal Piccolomini gave him detailed instructions as to the manner in which he was to proceed against the anti-Roman party in Germany.

The Cardinal himself personally took part in all these measures, and wrote a number of letters, among which those to Martin Mayr have attained a certain celebrity. This is the case more especially in regard to one of them, subsequently known as "Some account of the state of Germany", a title which, in strictness, is applicable only to a small portion of it. In it he defends the action of the Holy See, and appeals to the prosperity of the country as a refutation of Mayr's complaints of Roman extortion. This graphic picture of German life in the middle of the fifteenth century is still read with pleasure by patriotic Germans.

"The apology of Aeneas Sylvius," to use the words of a French historian, "perhaps too closely resembles that of the ancient Roman who replied to a charge of malversation of public money by proposing that his accusers should go to the Capitol and thank the gods for the victories which he had won. It must be confessed that there is much truth in the plea of the Pope's champion, and history will not fail to praise the zeal with which the common Father of Christians laboured to stem the further progress of the Turks and wrest their victims from them"

At the beginning of the year 1458 alarming reports of the excited state of Germany again reached Rome; no decided step, however, was taken, and ultimately the opposition died a natural death.

The conduct of Alfonso, the powerful King of Naples, was calculated to cause the Pope even greater anxiety than that occasioned by German discontent. From the very beginning of the Pontificate of Calixtus III the personal relations between him and this monarch, which had formerly been most friendly, had totally changed.

The King who could boast of having in great measure brought about the elevation of Calixtus III, expected his old friend to show his gratitude by acceding to all his requests. The first of these was certainly not a modest one, for he asked the Pope to hand over to him the March of Ancona and other territories of the Church. Calixtus, however, was not prepared to sacrifice his duty to his affection for his former patron, and refused the investiture. Further misunderstandings arose when the King proposed for several bishoprics in his dominions persons whose youth and ignorance rendered it impossible for the Pope to accede to his request. It must have been with reference to these differences that the Pope exclaimed: "Let the King of Aragon rule his own Kingdom, and leave to Us the administration of the supreme Apostolate." The tension between Calixtus III and the King was considerably intensified by the arrogance of Alfonso, who went so far as to insult the Pope personally. This we learn from a letter shown by a Papal Secretary to the Milanese ambassador, in July, 1455, in which Alfonso, calling upon the Pope to proceed against the infidels, says that "he appears to be asleep!" The document is full of other unbecoming expressions.

Calixtus greatly disliked the alliance between Alfonso and the Duke of Milan, which the former announced to him on the 4th October, 1455. Francesco Sforza betrothed his daughter, Hippolyta, to Don Alfonso, grandson of the Neapolitan monarch, and son of Ferrante of Calabria, while the daughter of Ferrante was actually married in 1456 to Sforza Maria, a son of the Duke of Milan. Venice, Florence, and Siena shared the apprehensions which these unions between the most powerful among the Italian princes awakened in the mind of the Pope.

The disgraceful conduct of King Alfonso on the occasion of Piccinino's war with Siena must have still more embittered the relations between him and Calixtus. A fresh outbreak of hostilities in Italy was the greatest possible obstacle to the crusade on which his heart was set, nevertheless the monarch, who had solemnly promised to take part in this, persisted in fomenting the war in the Sienese territory

These matters being at length settled, the question of the crusade again became prominent. The success of the war against the infidels depended in great measure on the King of Naples, who had large naval and military forces at his disposal, and whose example might be expected to have great influence in winning the co-operation of other states. Alfonso formally made the most magnificent promises, but he really had no intention of performing his vow of joining the crusade. Instead of proceeding against the enemies of Christendom, and without a declaration of war, he commenced hostilities against Genoa, which had always been the object of his hatred, and employed the fleet equipped by the Archbishop of Tarragona for the Holy War in devastating the territory of his enemies. At the same time he never ceased to oppress Sigismondo Malatesta, the Lord of Rimini. This policy, which not only stirred up fresh troubles in the Romagna, but also revived the designs of Anjou, and became the occasion of repeated interference on the part of the French, naturally had a most disastrous effect on the Pope's endeavours to unite Christendom against the Turks. All his exhortations and attempts to reestablish peace were in vain! and Alfonso's aggression finally compelled the Genoese to turn to France for assistance.

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the relations between Calixtus and Alfonso became more and more embittered. The King was convinced that the Pope was determined to thwart him in every way. In the summer of 1457 there was much excitement about a presentation to a bishopric. The Pope having refused to accede to the King's desire, the Neapolitan ambassador appealed to a future council, and thus incurred excommunication. If we may trust the report of an ambassador then in Rome, the dispute became so violent that Calixtus concluded a Brief addressed to Alfonso with the words: "His Majesty should be aware that the Pope can depose kings," and Alfonso rejoined, "Let his Holiness know that the King, if he wishes, can find a way to depose the Pope."

The almost regal reception therefore accorded to the beautiful Lucrezia di Algano, who was generally supposed, though he denied it, to be King Alfonso's mistress, when she came to Rome with a great suite in October, 1457, can only have been due to political considerations. Whether any improvement in the state of feeling between Alfonso and Calixtus ensued it is impossible to say. If, as an ambassador has asserted, Lucrezia asked the Pope for a dispensation to become Alfonso's second wife, it is evident that the contrary must have been the case, as the Pope neither coulcl nor would have granted such a request.

In March, 1458, we learn that the Pope's nephews, more especially Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, made efforts to bring about a reconciliation between him and Alfonso, and there was some talk of sending the Cardinal to Naples. It was expected that the great affection of the Pope for his relations would have ensured the success of these endeavors, but the King repelled all pacific overtures. In June, 1458, Calixtus wrote of the Neapolitan monarch: "Since Alfonso has come into possession of Naples the Church has had no peace; he has been a constant torment to Pope Martin, Eugenius, and myself. Therefore, when he dies, I will do my utmost to deliver my successor from such bondage by preventing the succession of Don Ferrante, the King's illegitimate son." The feudal law of Lombardy was on the Pope's side and of this he was no doubt aware. According to it legitimization does not of itself carry the right of succession to a fief, and no special provision had been made to secure this for Ferrante.

CHAPTER IV.

SKANDERBEG, "THE SOLDIER OF CHRIST"— THE POPE'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE CHRISTIANS IN THE EAST—COMPLETE FAILURE OF THE PAPAL EFFORTS FOR A CRUSADE —THE RISE AND DOWNFALL OF THE BORGIA —THE LAST DAYS OF CALIXTUS III.—THE DEATH OF CARDINAL CAPRANICA.