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.

 

After the death of the great Hunyadi, the Turks had but one adversary, able to cope with them, left on the western battlefields, and this was George Kastriota, Prince of Albania, generally known by the name of Skanderbeg. The history of this hero, on whom Calixtus III bestowed the name, "Soldier of Christ," has been rescued by recent investigations from the romantic fictions which had obscured it.

It is now an established fact that Kastriota was not, as had been supposed, a scion of an ancient Albanian family, but was of Slavonian origin. Original documents have also refuted the story that he distinguished himself when a hostage among the Turks, gained favor with the Sultan, and, after the battle of Kunovica, escaped and returned home to incite his countrymen to take arms against the infidel. The truth is that Skanderbeg's youth was passed in his native mountains, and his warfare with the Turks began with the victory gained over them in the Dibra in 1444. This victory filled western Christendom with joyful hopes, inaugurated the independence of Albania, which Skanderbeg maintained for more than twenty years, and ushered in the heroic age of its brave people. He was himself the hero of heroes. Contemporary testimony is unanimous in representing him as one of the noblest figures of the age. While yet a boy, his handsome features and commanding gestures presaged a glorious future. A companion in arms tells us that he used to turn up his sleeves in battle, that he might better wield the sword or the club. His warlike spirit was such that a battle from time to time seemed to be a necessity for him. He was at once a soldier and a general. His physical strength was almost inexhaustible, and in their rapidity his military movements resembled those of Caesar.

All the efforts of the infidels failed to vanquish this mighty foe, and after a while they attempted by cunning to accomplish that for which their power had proved unequal. They succeeded in inducing some Albanian chiefs, who found the rule of the energetic Skanderbeg too burdensome, to revolt, and among these were the Princes Nicholas and Paul Ducagnini. A bloody civil war then broke out, and there was reason to believe that the Signoria of Venice were no strangers to these disturbances. The hatred of the Venetians to Skanderbeg was due to his connection with King Alfonso of Naples. Pope Nicholas, who in every way supported him, at length brought about a peace. The Turks now stirred up Moses Golem Komnenos against him. In 1455, Isabeg, one of the most experienced of the Turkish leaders, attempted a fresh attack on Albania. In order to make sure of the support of the King of Naples, Skanderbeg did homage to him as heir of the House of Anjou for his capital of Kroja, and Alfonso sent a thousand foot soldiers and five hundred musketeers to assist him. In the end of June, 1455, when with fourteen thousand men he attempted an attack on Berat, he was beaten by the superior Turkish forces, but his mountain home, with its raging rivers and torrents, easily placed him beyond the reach of his enemies. At the approach of winter the Turks retired and left the traitor Moses Golem in possession, promising him that if he brought them Skanderbeg's head he should receive a hundred thousand ducats, and be put in possession of Albania without having to pay tribute.

For some time after the defeat at Berat Skanderbeg's fate was a matter of uncertainty in Western Europe, but in the spring of 1456 he reappeared upon the scene. In April he wrote to Cardinal Capranica, whose zeal for the cause of the crusades was well known, describing the warlike preparations of the Turks, and begging for his good offices with the Pope. An envoy from the Albanian hero reached Milan in June, and in October he again sent another messenger to Francesco Sforza and to Calixtus III. The Pope received his envoy with the greatest cordiality, but unfortunately was not able to assist the Albanians with ships or troops. He, however, encouraged and sanctioned their enterprise and afforded pecuniary help to the best of his power.

On the 5th April Skanderbeg made his triumphal entry into his capital, Kroja, laden with rich spoils, after having a few days previously defeated the traitor Moses and his Turks in the Lower Dibra. Moses returned home a despised and vanquished man. Full of repentance for his treachery he fled to Albania and begged forgiveness from Skanderbeg. The hero pardoned him and generously restored his confiscated possessions; it was henceforth Moses' aim to atone for his treachery by loyal service against the common foe.

A sorrow far deeper than that which the apostasy of Moses can have caused him fell upon Skanderbeg in the defection of his nephew Hamsa, who, beguiled by Mahomet II, proved false to his blood, his country, and his faith. In 1457 he joined the Turkish General Isabeg with a considerable force, and advanced against his uncle, who had scarcely ten thousand men at his command. The latter, therefore, determined to avoid an engagement with an enemy so superior in number, and to entice him into the interior of the devastated country. The crops which were nearly ripe were hastily gathered into the fortresses, where most of the country people with their goods also took refuge. As soon as the enemy began his march through the upper Dibra Skanderbeg with his troops retired towards Alessio. The Turks occupied a great part of the country, and extended their lines as far as this place, which belonged to the Venetians. Venice complained bitterly of the violation of her neutral territory, but did not support the oppressed Albanians. Now, as before, the Signoria, in their desire to prevent any foreign interference in Albania, viewed with displeasure the assistance rendered by Alfonso of Naples to Skanderbeg, who in his necessity had also written to the Pope, entreating aid. The state of the Papal Treasury was unfortunately at this time far from prosperous. The maintenance of the crusading fleet was a great and constant expense, claims were made from all sides on the Supreme Head of Christendom, and meanwhile the war tithe came in very sparingly. The Pope did all that was in his power by transmitting a sum of money to Skanderbeg, and promising, as soon as possible, to send a well-equipped galley, which was to be followed by other ships.

The most splendid and most bloody of Skanderbeg's victories was that which he gained in the Tomorniza in July, 1457. Isabeg's army was surprised, and those who did not escape were cut to pieces. Thirty thousand Turks are said to have perished. Fifteen hundred prisoners, four-and-twenty horse-tails, and the whole camp of the enemy, with all its treasures, were taken by the conqueror. Hamsa, the traitor, was among the captives. Skanderbeg magnanimously spared his life, but sent him to Naples to be kept in safe custody by the King.

Albania was now delivered from the Turkish invasion, as Hungary had been by the victory of Belgrade in the previous year. The only powers who had afforded Skanderbeg any real assistance at this critical period were King Alfonso and the Pope. On the 17th September, 1457, latter wrote to him in the following terms : "Beloved son! continue to defend the Catholic Faith; God, for whom you fight, will not abandon His cause. He will, I am confident, grant success against the Turks and the other unbelievers to you and the rest of the Christians with great glory and honour."

The Pope had previously, on the 10th September, determined that a third part of the tithes from Dalmatia should be placed at the disposal of the brave Albanian chief. He also commanded his legate to come to Skanderbeg's assistance with at least a part of the fleet then in the Aegean Sea. A special nuncio, Juan Navar, was sent to Dalmatia and Macedonia to collect the tithes; he was to oblige the people of Ragusa to fulfil their promises. Navar does not, however, appear to have been very successful, for in December, 1457, the Pope threatened them with excommunication.

After his victory Skanderbeg had informed the Western Princes that he was not in a position to bring the war to a happy conclusion without further assistance. The. time had come, he said, for them to awaken from their lethargy, to lay aside their dissensions, and to unite with him in exeiting all their powers to obtain the liberation of the Christian world and to secure the future. But this appeal was as ineffectual as those which the Pope had previously made. Naples alone sent some troops to Albania. Calixtus III energetically expressed his satisfaction at the victory, and, on the 23rd December, 1457, appointed Skanderbeg his Captain-General for the Turkish war. He also repeatedly sent him pecuniary aid. Skanderbeg appointed as his lieutenant the despot of Roumania, Leonardo III, Tocco, ex-Prince of Arta, whose name was expected to rouse Southern Epirus to a general insurrection against the Turks. Unfortunately, Venice now came forward with various pretensions, the result of which was a new civil war, which was not terminated until February,   1458.

In his zeal for the defence of Europe against Turkish aggression, and for the protection of the Oriental Christians, Calixtus III never forgot the more distant outposts of Christendom in those regions. He interested himself more especially in the Genoese possessions in the Black Sea, which had already engaged the attention of Nicholas V. On the second day after his coronation he issued a Brief urgently exhorting the inhabitants of the Genoese territory on the mainland, and some few specified provinces in the neighborhood, to support the Bank of St. George with money and gifts, so that Caffa might not fall into the hands of the unbelievers. In order to give the more weight to this appeal, new and ample indulgences were granted to those who should in any way support this establishment in its opposition to the Turks. On the 22nd November, in the same year, Calixtus, who had in the meantime personally afforded considerable assistance to the Bank, expressly declared that the Bull issued in favour of Caffa was not to be considered as suspended by that of the crusade of the 15th May.

These favours occasioned great satisfaction in Genoa, and honest collectors were sent without delay to the territories indicated by the Pope. Calixtus continued to manifest his goodwill to the undertaking. On the 3rd March, 1456, the directors of the Bank of St. George wrote to Caffa in the following terms : "The Pope shows himself in every way so well disposed towards the Genoese colonies that their welfare appears to be even nearer to his heart than it is to ours." The reason of this was that Calixtus's motives were nobler than those of the directors of the Bank; they only cared for the preservation of their colonies on account of the income they derived from them, while the Pope undertook their protection from zeal for the maintenance of the Catholic faith and the defence of Christian civilization against the inroads of Islam.

The Pope's correspondence with Genoa, which has recently been brought to light, enables us to appreciate his marvellous energy in his care for the Eastern colonies at the very time when Hungary and the fleet were so urgently claiming his attention. On the 10th March, 1456, he extended to the dioceses of Albenga, Savona, and Ventimiglia the Bull by which Lodisio Fieschi and Giovanni Gatti had been appointed collectors of the ecclesiastical tithes in the Genoese territory. Other Briefs called upon the Bishops of Tortona, Luni, Alba, Acqui, and Asti to assist the collectors in every possible manner, and to give a good example to their subjects by their zeal for the common cause of Christendom. Others, again, confirmed the plenary powers given to these commissioners, and commanded them severely to punish those who, under the cloak of piety, deceived the simple people by falsely representing themselves as collectors. The Pope strictly charged Valerio Calderina, Bishop of Savona, and Administrator of the Diocese of Genoa, not to damp the zeal of the people by the suggestion of doubts and scruples. He also addressed a special Brief to Paolo Campofregoso, Archbishop Elect of Genoa, urging him to set a good example by the complete and speedy payment of the tithes of his benefice. In his indefatigable zeal he also exhorted the Duke of Milan and the Marquess of Montferrat, the neighbors of Genoa, to support Caffa. We cannot give a full account of all the favors which the Genoese received from Calixtus III, but we can undoubtedly assert that he did everything in his power on their behalf.

With regard to the fleet, the Pope was sedulous in providing it with reinforcementsand in encouraging the legate and exhorting him to keep his forces together in readiness for any emergency.

A splendid victory gained at Mitylene over the Turks in August, 1457, when no fewer than five-and-twenty of their ships were taken by the Papal fleet, gave much consolation to Calixtus. He commemorated the happy event by causing a medal to be struck with the inscription : "I have been chosen for the destruction of the enemies of the Faith".

This fresh success encouraged the Pope to do everything in his power for the support and assistance of Scarampo and his forces. As time went on, he continued to urge on the Cardinal Legate the necessity of keeping the fleet together, and remaining with it during the winter, so that the expedition might be carried on with renewed vigour in the following year. Further reinforcements were sent for this purpose early in 1458, and, in announcing their arrival to the Cardinal Legate, Calixtus III solemnly assured him that he would never give up the fleet, and would support it as long as he lived. He bid Scarampo not lose courage and expressed his confident hope that God would grant victory, and would bring great things to pass by its means. The energy of the Pope never flagged until he was struck down by mortal sickness and alas! it was not granted to him to witness another victory for the cause so near his heart.

Save for these successes, won by the arms of Scarampo and Skanderbeg, the year 1457 was fraught with disappointments to Calixtus. The King of Portugal, like the rulers of France and of Burgundy, constantly buoyed up his mind with vain hopes and empty expectations. No one in Italy made any exertion for the defence of Christendom. Venice remained, as before, deaf and cold to all Apostolic appeals; her traders cared only for their selfish interests, and accordingly maintained peace with the Sultan, who invited the Doge in March, 1457, to the marriage of his son.

The Duke of Milan endeavoured to obtain investiture from the Emperor by holding out hopes that he would send troops for the war. These tedious negotiations came to nothing, although the Pope took the Duke's part, and all expectations of succour from this quarter vanished. Like the great victory on the Danube in 1456, the successes of Skanderbeg and Scarampo in 1457 were attended by no adequate results. All who wished to remain in peace, and attend without interruption to their own private interests, easily persuaded themselves that the power of the Turks was sufficiently subdued. Time was thus given to the enemy to recover from defeat, and to prepare for further aggressions, and an opportunity which never returned was lost by the short-sighted and egotistical policy of the European Powers.

The strength of Hungary was crippled; discord prevailed among her magnates and at the Court; Frederick III. was at variance with the young King Ladislas regarding the inheritance of the Count of Cilli. The Pope most earnestly adjured these two princes to lay aside this petty private matter for the sake of Christendom in general and of their own dominions. "How," he asks, "can the French, the Spaniards, and the English think of sending armies against the Turks when you, who are near at hand, and whose interests are at stake, seem to take no heed of the danger which threatens you from the infidels? In the beginning of November, 1457, an agreement was at last arrived at between Frederick III and Ladislas, but on the 23rd of the same month Ladislas died, and in consequence of his death affairs in the East took a new and unexpected turn. Matthias Hunyadi Corvinus, who was very young, ascended the Hungarian throne, and the Utraquist Governor, George Podiebrad, was elected King of Bohemia (2nd March, 1458).

In the election of George no regard was paid to the hereditary pretensions of Saxony, Poland, and the House of Hapsburg; the adjoining countries were not consulted, and the proceedings were altogether of an exceptional kind. Accordingly the new King was not without opponents, who had legitimate grounds for calling his election in question. Under these circumstances the congratulations of an eminent and generally esteemed Prince of the Church were peculiarly welcome. Cardinal Carvajal wrote from Buda on the 20th March to express his good wishes, and at the same time took the opportunity of urging upon the new Monarch the cause of ecclesiastical unity, and of the defence of Christendom against the Turks.

Even before his elevation the crafty Podiebrad had been working to gain the favour of Rome. The Pope, who had already expressed his desire for the reconciliation of the Bohemians, was all the more easily won because he was assured, not only of Podiebrad's Catholic sentiments but also of his intention of taking part in the war against the Turks. The Premonstratentian Canon, Lukas Hladek, and Heinrich Roraw, the Procurator of the Bohemian Hospice in Rome, exerted themselves in his cause, and were so successful that the confiding Pontiff declared his determination in every way to defend the honour of the Bohemian King. Calixtus had letters of safe-conduct issued for the Bohemian ambassadors, and his confessor, Cosimo di Monserrato, shewed Lukas Hladek presents destined for King George. The Pope's anticipations were raised still higher when he received tidings of what King George and his consort had, before their coronation, done and bound themselves by oath to do.

According to the decision of the States the coronation of George was to take place according to the ancient Catholic rite. Prague was at this time without an Archbishop; the Archbishop of Olmutz had not yet been enthroned, and the Archbishop of Breslau was hostile to the King. Consequently King Mathias and the Cardinal Legate Carvajal were requested to send a Hungarian Bishop to perform the ceremony. The Bishops of Raab and Waitzen declared themselves willing to undertake the office. Carvajal would not allow them to start until they had promised to insist upon George's abjuration of the Hussite heresy previously to his coronation. The King, who well understood his obligations to the Utraquists, began by refusing to do this; the Bishops, however, stood firm, and at length he agreed to abjure his errors and take a Catholic coronation oath, providing only that the matter was kept secret. Fresh difficulties arose when the Bishops required that the abjuration of heresy should be inserted with the other points in the formal record of his oath. George could not be induced to consent, and the Bishops contented themselves with his verbal abjuration. In the coronation oath taken on the 6th May, 1458, in presence of only eight witnesses, who were bound to secrecy,t George swore "fidelity and obedience to the Roman Catholic Church, her head, Pope Calixtus III, and his lawful successors", and promised "to preserve his subjects from all errors, divisions and heretical doctrines, and especially from everything opposed to the Catholic Church and the true Faith, and to bring them back to obedience, and to perfect external and internal unity and union with the Roman Church in worship and ceremonials". Every difference of every kind was to be given up, and notably the administration of the Sacrament of the Altar in both kinds, and other things contained in the compacts which had never been confirmed by Rome.

These solemn promises on the part of the King led Calixtus III to cherish confident hopes that in time the majority of the Utraquists would follow the example of their monarch and return to the Catholic Church. Soon after his coronation George further encouraged these anticipations by accrediting Doctor Fantino de Valle as his Procurator in Rome, sending the Pope a copy of his oath, and adding ample promises regarding an expedition against the Turks to be undertaken when he had arranged the affairs of his kingdom. According to Cardinal Jacopo Ammannati Piccolomini, the aged Pontiff now resolved on addressing a Brief to King George with the superscription : "To my beloved son George, King of Bohemia" after the formula generally employed in the case of Catholic Princes. This Brief, however, has not come to light, and neither the King nor the Court ever alluded to it.

The coronation of King George by two Catholic prelates according to the rite of the Roman Church, together with the friendly relations established between him and the Pope, produced an immense impression, and the tide of feeling became much more favourable to the new monarch. He had now a fair hope of inducing the neighbouring States to acknowledge him, and of depriving the efforts of the Duke of Saxony and the Hapsburgs of any prospect of success.

To the end of his life Calixtus III continued heartily devoted to the cause of the crusade. In order to estimate the immense difficulties in his way, we must bear in mind that he had to encounter the obstinate opposition of almost all the European princes and of a great portion of the clergy. This opposition was displayed not only in France and Germany, but also in Italy and Spain, and the Papal registers contain a series of condemnatory briefs bearing on the subject. The Pope laments this sad state of things in language which shews how deeply it affected him. "The harvest is great but the labourers are few", he writes, in December, 1456, to Cardinal Alain. The sense of his isolation became at times so overwhelming that the burden of his office seemed almost intolerable.

In Italy the restless spirit of Piccinino and the crafty policy of Alfonso of Naples caused him constant and serious anxiety. On account of these troubles, and also with the view of making yet another effort to avert the danger of Turkish aggression, Calixtus, in the autumn of 1457, conceived the idea of holding a congress in Rome. His invitation was addressed to all the princes of Christendom; and it was his last attempt. In order to facilitate the deliberations, the envoys were summoned for different dates. Naples, Milan, Genoa, Florence, and Venice were to send their deputies to Rome by December, 1457; France, Burgundy, and Savoy by the end of the following January, and the other European princes, with the Emperor, by the end of February. The Pope placed great hopes on this congress, but the appointed periods passed by without the arrival of any of those invited. Otto de Carretto wrote on the 4th February, 1458, to the Duke of Milan, "No one of the envoys convened to discuss the Turkish business has yet arrived". In February several at last appeared, so that the deliberations could be commenced in March. They continued into the month of June, but there is no record of any result.

The excessive nepotism of Calixtus III is the only blot on his otherwise blameless character. The lavish prodigality with which he enriched his unworthy relations can only be, in some measure, excused as an effort to secure in them a counterpoise to the influence of the untrustworthy and often dangerous barons.

The relations of the Spanish Pope were very numerous, and some of them had come to Rome while he was still a cardinal. They belonged chiefly to the three allied Valencian families of Borgia, Mila, and Lanzol. Caterina Borgia, one of the Pope's sisters, was married to Juan Mila, Baron of Mazalanes, and was mother of young Luis Juan; another sister, Isabella, was the wife of Jofre Lanzol, a nobleman possessed of property at Xativa, and had two sons, Pedro Luis and Rodrigo. Calixtus gave both these nephews his family name by adoption.

The promotion of his relations was in itself objectionable, and was rendered still more so by the vicious character of some among them. A recent historian draws a striking comparison between the family of Borgia and that of Claudius in ancient Rome; the Borgias were in general distinguished by physical strength and beauty; they were sensual and haughty in disposition, and had for their armorial bearings a bull. Calixtus III was the founder of their fortunes, but derived little satisfaction from them. Could he have foreseen the evil which his nephews would do to Italy and to the Church, he would certainly, instead of elevating them, have banished them to the deepest dungeons of Spain.

Amongst the Pope's nephews, Rodrigo Lanzol, or, as the Italians called him, Lenzuoli, has attained the saddest celebrity. The remarkable abilities of this man, who was born at Xativa, near Valencia, in 1430 or 1431, have been acknowledged even by his bitterest adversaries. Guicciar- dini says that "in him were combined rare prudence and vigilance, mature reflection, marvellous power of persuasion, skill and capacity for the conduct of the most difficult affairs."

Even while yet a Cardinal, Calixtus III had a partiality for his gifted nephe ; and, after his elevation to the Papal Throne, he loaded him with dignities and favours of all kinds. As early as the 10th May, 1455, Rodrigo was Notary of the Apostolic See; on the 3rd June he was made Dean of the Church of Our Lady at Xativa, and other benefices in Valencia were conferred on him, and in the same month he was sent by the Pope to Bologna to study jurisprudence. He accompanied Luis Juan Mila, Bishop of Segorbe, who was nominated Governor of Bologna on the 13th June, 1455. On the 29th June the two cousins reached their destination, where they were honourably received. Luis Juan, however, had to be on his guard with the Bolognese in the exercise of his new dignity : and his abilities do not appear to have been considerable. Nevertheless, Calixtus III determined to raise him, as well as the young Rodrigo, to the purple. In November, 1455, the Archbishop of Pisa, Filippo de' Medici, was made aware of this intention, and it was expected that it would be carried out in the following month. Some obstacle, however, must have arisen, for it was not till the 20th of February, 1456, that the Pope's nephews were secretly created Cardinals.

The records of this creation are preserved, and it appears that it took place in a Secret Consistory, in the presence and with the consent of all the Cardinals then in Rome. Contrary to the usual custom, the Church of San Niccolo in Carcere was on the same day assigned to Rodrigo as his title, and it was decreed that in the event of the Pope's death before his publication, the other Cardinals were at once, under pain of excommunication, to regard his creation as published, and to admit him to take part in the Conclave for the election of a new Pope.

The new Cardinals had not as yet done anything to merit the dignity conferred on them, they were both very young—Rodrigo only five-and-twenty—their elevation was in itself an unjustifiable action, and the evil was aggravated by the fact that Rodrigo was an immoral and vicious man.

Such is the judgment of a German Cardinal of the nineteenth century, and though it may seem severe, it is perfectly just. Rodrigo was handsome, of an ardent temperament, and extremely attractive to women. In the time of Pius II the historian, Gasparo di Verona, sketched his portrait in the following terms : "He is handsome, of a pleasant and cheerful countenance, with a sweet and persuasive manner. With a single glance he can fascinate women, and attract them to himself more strongly than a magnet draws iron." No unfavorable testimony regarding the conduct of Rodrigo during the lifetime of Calixtus III has come to light; but the same cannot be said as to his subsequent course.

Repeated efforts have nevertheless been made in recent days to rehabilitate the moral character of this man. In the face of such a perversion of the truth, it is the duty of the historian to show that the evidence against Rodrigo is so strong as to render it impossible to restore his reputation. We shall have to speak at a future period of his scandalous relations with a Roman lady, Vannozza de' Catanei, which form part of this evidence.

The first light thrown upon Rodrigo's immorality occurs in an admonitory letter of the year 1460, in which Pius II reproaches the Cardinal, who probably was not at the time a priest, with his unbecoming behaviour at an entertainment given at Siena, in the garden of Giovanni de Bichis. "Our displeasure," says Pius II, "is unspeakable, for such conduct disgraces the ecclesiastical state and office. It will be said to us that we have been made rich and great, not in order that we should lead blameless lives, but to give us the means of self-indulgence. This is the reason why princes and powers despise us and the laity daily deride us. They reproach us with our own conduct when we would blame that of others. Contempt falls even upon the Vicar of Christ, because he seems to tolerate such things. You, beloved son! govern the Bishopric of Valencia, the first in Spain; you are also Chancellor of the Church, and —which makes your conduct more reprehensible—you sit with the Pope among the Cardinals, the Counsellors of the Holy See. We leave it to your own judgment whether it is becoming to your dignity to pay court to ladies, to send fruit and wine to the one you love, and all day long to think of nothing but pleasure. We are blamed on your account; the memory of your blessed uncle, Calixtus, is blamed; many consider that he did wrong in heaping so many honours on you. You cannot plead your youth, for you are not now so young as to be unaware of the duties which your dignity imposes on you. A Cardinal must be blameless and an example of moral life before the eyes of all men. What right have we to be angry if temporal princes call us by names that are little honourable, if they grudge us our possessions and constrain us to submit to their commands? Truly we inflict these wounds upon ourselves and invite these evils when by our own deeds we daily lessen the authority of the Church. Our chastisement for these things is shame in this world, and the ways of sin in the next. We trust in your prudence to remember your dignity, and not suffer yourself to be called a gallant by women and youths. For should such things occur again we shall be constrained to show that we do not consent to them, and our censure will not fail to bring confusion on you. We have constantly loved you, and we held you worthy of our protection as a grave and discreet person. Let your conduct be such that we may retain this opinion to which nothing can more conduce than the adoption of a regular life. Your years favour the hope that you will amend, and permit us to exhort you in a fatherly manner. Petriolo, the nth June, 1460."

Cardinal Rodrigo hastened to write a letter of apology to the Pope and endeavoured to place the affair in a more favourable light. The reply of Pius II was grave and dignified. The conduct of Rodrigo, he maintains, is inexcusable, although, perhaps, there may have been some exaggeration in the account of it. In any case the Cardinal must for the future keep aloof from all such things and be more careful of his reputation. If he will do this and live discreetly the Papal favour will not be withdrawn from him.

The hopes of Pius II were not realized. Cardinal Rodrigo would not change his mode of life. In the year 1464 Pius II, with his mortal sickness upon him, undertook his celebrated expedition to Ancona to place himself at the head of the crusaders. Rodrigo accompanied him, but even at so serious a time this "essentially low-minded man" could not bring himself to give up his evil pleasu res.

It cannot surprise us to find that among the better disposed Cardinals great opposition was made to the promotion of such a man. This was probably manifested even in the Secret Consistory of the 20th February, 1456. If the Cardinals then gave him their votes, it was in the hope that the old Pontiff would die before Kodrigo's publication. This hope, however, was soon disappointed. In September, 1456, when all the Cardinals had left Rome on account of the insupportable heat and of a pestilential sickness, Calixtus III actually proceeded to the publication (17th September). A month later the Pope's nephews made their solemn entry into Rome; on the 17th November the red hat was conferred upon them, and on the 26th the ceremony of opening their mouths took place.

Together with his nephews the Pope had raised to the purple the Portuguese Infant, James, a young man noted for his modesty and purity of life. This Cardinal, who was in every way a contrast to Rodrigo Borgia, unhappily died on the 27th August, 1459, on his journey to Florence as legate. His monument, by Antonio Rossellino, is in the Church of San Miniato al Monte. The beautiful form of the young Cardinal, wearing on his countenance an expression of profound peace, rests on a bed of state standing in a niche raised on a lofty architectural pedestal. Two nude figures hold the ends of the pall. Above, on either side, two angels kneel on brackets fastened to the wall, holding a crown and a palm. In the vault over the niche is a medallion in relief of the Blessed Virgin, borne by two angels in the air.

On the 17th December, 1456, Calixtus III made another promotion of Cardinals, and on this occasion also the Sacred College offered opposition. "Never", wrote one of those nominated, "had Cardinals more difficulty in entering the Sacred College. The hinges (cardines) had become so rusty that they would not turn. The Pope had to use battering-rams and all kinds of engines to burst open the door". Calixtus was again unsuccessful with some of the candidates; for instance, he had to give up the Bishop of Novara, on whose behalf the Duke of Milan had repeatedly interested himsel. Of the six actually nominated, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini was undoubtedly the most worthy and distinguished. The others were Juan de Mella, Bishop of Zamora, a man noted for his stately manners and his knowledge of canon law; Jacopo Tebaldo, Bishop of Montefeltre; Rinaldo de' Piscicelli, Archbishop of Naples; Giovanni da Castiglione, Bishop of Pavia; and lastly, Richard Ollivier de Longueil, Bishop of Coutances, who, like d'Estouteville, belonged to a distinguished family in Normandy. Charles VII had zealously exerted himself for the promotion of the last named prelate; and Calixtus hoped, as it proved, in vain, that by conferring on him the purple he would win the French monarch to the cause of the crusade

As time went on fresh favours were constantly heaped upon the Borgias. Young Cardinal Rodrigo was appointed legate in the March of Ancona in December, 1456, and went there on the 19th January in the following year. Cardinal Luis was made legate of Bologna, and both were richly endowed with benefices.

The most important and lucrative office of the Papal Court was that of Vice-Chancellor; one of the ambassadors speaks of it as the highest dignity after that of the Pope. Since the death of Cardinal Condulmaro (30th October, 1453) no one been appointed to fill this high position, and it was but natural that those Cardinals who held no great office at the Court should aspire to it. We are expressly informed that such was the case in regard to d'Estouteville. Since the year 1455 he had been labouring to obtain it, but in 1457 was bestowed on Rodrigo, who was also made Commander-in-Chief of the Papal troops in Italy in December of the same year. Don Pedro Luis, his brother, a layman, and a year younger than himself, was loaded with offices and honours in a manner equally scandalous. In the spring of 1456 he was appointed Captain-General of the Church and Commander of St. Angelo, and, in the autumn of the same year, Governor of Terni, Narni, Todi, Rieti, Orvieto, Spoleto, Foligno, Nocera, Assisi, Amelia, Civita Castellana, and Nepi; soon afterwards the patrimony of St. Peter in Tuscany was added to these.

Such a career was unheard of Cardinal Capranica, who, as Grand Penitentiary under Nicholas V, had enjoyed the esteem of all classes, made a courageous protest, and his opposition could not be overcome either by prayers or threats. His noble conduct drew upon him the hatred of the Borgias, who vainly sought to have him sent as legate to a distance from Rome. Finally they went so far as to try to put him in prison, but this the Pope would not permit.

The Borgias kept up the closest intimacy with the Colonna family—in the summer of 1457 it was even said that Don Pedro Borgia was to marry a Colonnaf—and accordingly their relations with the Orsini were unfriendly. In 1457, when the Pope sent Don Pedro against the Orsini to recover from them some fortresses which he considered to be the property of the Church, open war broke out. Cardinal Orsini now left Rome (July, 1457). Scarampo, Carvajal, and Nicholas of Cusa were absent; and as d'Estouteville, Barbo, and Piccolomini held to the Borgias, they had the preponderance in the Sacred College. It is, moreover, not improbable that most of the Cardinals had assented to the appointment of Don Pedro Luis as Prefect of the City, which took place on the death of the City Prefect, Gian Antonio Orsini, on the 19th August, 1457. On the evening of the same day the Conservators and the principal citizens of Rome came to the Papal Palace to thank Calixtus for the selection he had made. The Pope took the opportunity of assuring them that Don Pedro was, in feeling and manners, an Italian, and that it was his desire to live and die a Roman citizen. One of the Conservators went so far as to observe that he hoped soon to see the new City Prefect King of Rome; all united in requesting the Pope to make over to Don Pedro the fortresses which had always constituted the Prefect's fief. Don Pedro himself, in receiving the deputations which came to congratulate him, expressed his intention of becoming an Italian and his wish to live in Italy.

These empty speeches were made because everyone knew how dearly the Pope loved his nephews.t In reality there was no love lost between the new Prefect and the Italians. The manners of almost all the Pope's nephews were over-bearing and insolent towards the Romans, who retaliated by bitterly hating the foreigners. Their resentment was aggravated when the good fortune of the Borgias attracted a host of relations and other Spaniards to Rome, who brawled in the streets and overran the provinces. Adventurers of all kinds gathered round the wild and handsome Don Pedro Luis; the general name of "Catalans" was given to all these strangers, among whom were Neapolitans as well as Spaniards, and, similarly, all the Pope's nephews were called "Borgia", wdiatever might be their patronymic; Calixtus, indeed, conferred on most of them the honour of bearing his family name.

From the very beginning of his pontificate the Pope showed a marked preference for his numerous fellow-countrymen equally with his nearer and more distant relations. Only a few days after his election we find evidence of this. The feeling against the "Catalans" was already so strong that many Germans and Frenchmen voluntarily resigned their positions at the Papal Court. The posts thus vacated were filled by Spaniards, who soon formed the largest portion of the Pope's circle; they were also to be found in the Papal Chapel and among the artists attached to the court. No large orders, however, were given to these latter, for, where he could, Calixtus economized for the sake of the Turkish war.

The power of the Borgias and Catalans became almost intolerable after the important fortress of St. Angelo had been given up to them. This was done on the 15th March, 1456, at a late hour in the evening and after the Pope had threatened the Castellan with the severest penalties. Great excitement prevailed in the city, and it was thought that nothing short of the summoning of a general council could avail to restore tranquillity.

As the military and police were in the hands of the Catalans they had unlimited power, and administered justice as they chose. "Every day," says a chronicler, "there were assassinations and encounters in the streets; nothing but Catalans could be seen". The aged and sickly Pope had, we are expressly informed, no idea of what wras going on. His attention was constantly engrossed by the war against the Turk ; and he thought that he might safely leave the affairs of Rome to the care of his beloved nephews.

The confusion in Rome was yet further increased by repeated visitations of pestilential epidemics. In the beginning of June, 1458, the plague raged so violently that everyone who could do so sought safety in flight. Most of the Cardinals left the city, amongst them the Portuguese Cardinal, the Infant James, Giovanni da Castiglione, Filippo Calandrini, and Piccolomini. The last-named betook himself to the Baths of Viterbo, to continue his former life of peaceful leisure. The aged Pontiff, however, remained in Rome, and his attention was fully occupied by the illness of his bitterest opponent, Alfonso of Naples, which terminated fatally on the 27th June.

On the same clay the King's illegitimate son, Don Ferrante, to whom he had bequeathed Naples, rode with royal pomp through the city,while the people cried "Long live King Ferdinand!". But this was not sufficient to overcome the opposition to his accession which arose on all sides. The aged René of Anjou-Provence, who bore the title of King of Naples, and his son John, who styled himself Duke of Calabria, accepted the proposals of the former and recent antagonists of the Aragonese, all the more readily because Calixtus III, the lord paramount, was also hostile to that party.

Almost as soon as the Pope had heard what must to him have been the welcome tidings of Alfonso's death, he sent to the Neapolitan ambassador's house to have him arrested and taken to St. Angelo. But the ambassador, who had been warned of the Pope's intentions, and had received early intelligence of the death of his King, had fled. The property, which he left behind him, was seized. On the following day Calixtus held a Consistory, in which he conferred on Cardinal Rodrigo the Bishopric of Valencia, with its revenue of eighteen thousand ducats, and on his Datary the Bishopric of Gerona. The same morning Cardinal Luis Juan and other relations of the Pope received various benefices, the right of appointment to which, in common with the above-named Bishoprics, had been in dispute between Calixtus and Alfonso. After dinner the Pope had an interview with Cardinals d'Estouteville and Alain, lasting nearly till evening, in which he declared his determination of making every effort to recover Naples for the Church from Don Ferrante, who had no right to it. The Pope added, were this to take place, and it were proved to belong to King René, he would give it to him, otherwise he would grant it as a fief to whomsoever he deemed fit. It was surmised that he intended to bestow it on Don Pedro. The ambassador, from whom we learn this, says that the Pope looked on Don Pedro as a second Caesar, and the reports of others are to the same effect. Many contemporaries even assert that after the conquest of Constantinople Don Pedro was to have been made its Emperor or King of Cyprus. There is more intrinsic probability, however, in the statement concerning Naples, and it is certain that although Ferrante made every possible effort to bring about a reconciliation, the Pope resolutely refused to acknowledge his right of succession.

On the 14th July a Bull was published in Rome, by which Calixtus claimed the kingdom of Sicily on this side of the Faro as a lapsed fief. At the same time its subjects were forbidden to swear fealty to any one of the pretenders to the Crown; such as had taken an oath were loosed from their obligations, and the claimants were invited to come to Rome to establish their rights. Provision was immediately made for the publication of this document throughout the kingdom of Naples, and it was moreover reported that the Pope had required from Don Ferrante, under pain of the most severe punishments, the payment of the sixty thousand ducats which Alfonso had bequeathed for the crusade.

Great excitement was caused in both Naples and Rome by this action on the part of the Pope. On the publication of the Bull the price of corn at once rose in Rome. One of the Conservators, moreover, is reported to have expressed himself to the effect that in the event of the Pope making war upon Naples, the Romans would be compelled to choose the lesser evil. The threat did not deter Calixtus from his purpose, and, in order to give greater effect to his Bull, he commanded Don Pedro to levy troops for a hostile demonstration against Naples.

Contemporary despatches from ambassadors show how strong was the Pope's feeling against Don Ferrante. Calixtus had been greatly incensed by his letter announcing to the Pope and the Cardinals the death of his father, in which he already styled himself King. In a conversation with the Milanese ambassador, he called Ferrante a little bastard, whose father was unknown. "This boy who is nothing", he said, "calls himself King without our permission. Naples belongs to the Church, it is the possession of St. Peter. Alfonso would not assume this title until he had the consent of the Holy See, in this following our counsel. You," continued the Pope, "being from Lombardy, where fiefs are more common than elsewhere, know that, admitting him to be the legitimate successor of Alfonso, he must have our confirmation before he can be called King. Moreover, Ferrante wrongfully holds possession of Terracina, Benevento, and other places which belong to the Church.

Many have therefore thought that we should have proceeded against him with more severity, and altogether denied his right of succession. This we have not wished to do, but for the defence of the rights of the Church we have issued this just and holy Bull, which will stand not only on earth but also in heaven. In it we have reserved his rights as well as those of the other claimants, for everyone shall have his due. "If your Duke, whom we greatly love, leaves us a free hand, we shall conquer and exalt him as we have always wished to do; the Duke must attach no importance to a child who is nothing, and whom no one regards; we have been told that Ferrante, when he heard the words of our Bull, burst into tears; his subjects do hot wish to be excommunicated, and have accordingly determined to send ambassadors to us; they will be obedient to the Church. If Don Ferrante will give up his usurped title and humbly place himself in our hands, we will treat him as one of our own nephews."

Ferrante was by no means disposed to do anything of the kind. He summoned a Parliament at Capua, and called on his barons for assistance against the unjust pretensions of the Pope. It was determined that ambassadors should be sent to Rome to appeal against the Bull of July 12th. The messengers who brought the Bull into the kingdom were, by order of Ferrante, seized and soundly beaten. It was a great advantage to him that the most powerful of Italian princes, Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan, declared himself against the Pope and acknowledged Ferrante as King. Cosmo de' Medici united with Sforza in supporting him against Papal menaces and French pretensions.

Under these circumstances it would have been hard to foretell the complications to which the Neapolitan question might have given rise had not the death of Calixtus III completely altered the aspect of affairs.

The Pope had been seriously ill in the spring, but had recovered and risen up again with characteristic energy. From the beginning of July, however, there had been a general failure of strength, and about the middle of the month his condition had become so much worse that all the business of government had to be suspended. On the 21st a violent and most painful attack of gout supervened, and as he was also suffering from fever, which may have been due to agitation regarding the Neapolitan question, the physicians gave but little hopes of his recovery.

On the 30th July a report of the Pope's death was current in Rome, and immediately the hatred of the Romans against the "Catalans" broke forth; the foreigners were ill-treated in the public streets by the populace, and a young Catalan was slain. The state of things was so alarming that the Florentine merchants and the wealthy prelates and courtiers removed their possessions to places of safety.

Meanwhile the Pope had again rallied a little; on the 1st and 2nd of August he was decidedly better, but on the 3rd a burning fever took away all hope of amendment. Even now the marvellous energy of the aged man made it hard for him to believe that he was so near his end. When the plain-spoken Cardinal Antonio de la Cerda told him that, as the physicians had given him up, it was now time to think of his soul and to prepare to die as beseems a Pope, Calixtus replied that it was not yet certain that he was to die this time. On the ist August, however, he made up his mind to receive the Sacraments, and on the 4th he was anointed.

The affairs of government occupied his attention while he lay on his death-bed; on the 26th of July he held a Consistory, and on the 31st he gave proof of the undying strength of his affection for his relations by an act of great importance.

On the death of King Alfonso, Terracina and Benevento had reverted to the Church, and on the above-named day the Pope granted the Vicariate of these two cities to his. beloved Don Pedro. If we may rely on the report of the Milanese ambassador, the Cardinals consented from fear, lest opposition on their part might have involved imprisonment in St. Angelo. On the 1st August, Calixtus conferred the Archbishopric of Naples on Cardinal Tebaldi, the brother of his physician. At the same time it was understood that he intended to nominate no less than five new Cardinals, of whom two were to be "Catalans" and two Romans. A violent opposition arose on the part of the Sacred College, and Cardinals d'Estouteville, Orsini, Barbo, and de Mella met that evening in Cardinal Alain's Palace to take counsel. "It appears," writes one of the ambassadors, "that they have determined not to go to the Pope's Palace, and above all not to cross the Tiber until St. Angelo is given over to the Sacred College. Moreover, they have resolved not to consent to the nomination of new Cardinals."

The excitement was not confined to the great Princes of the Church. The tidings of the mortal sickness of the Pope had deeply moved not only Rome, but also the Pontifical States, and the general confusion was aggravated by the arrival (August 2nd) of Don Ferrante's ambassadors, who affixed to the doors of St. Peter's an appeal to the new Pope or to a Council, and declared that if the Cardinals would not listen to them they would seek the alliance of the Romans.

With a view of maintaining order, the Sacred College had, before the end of July, appointed a Commission consisting of four of its members—Cardinals Bessarion, d'Estouteville, Alain, and Barbo. The Commission met daily, and one of its first acts was the occupation of the Capitol by a force of two hundred men under the Archbishop of Ragusa. The Cardinals further made every effort to come to an understanding with Don Pedro Borgia. This was accomplished more easily than had been expected. Don Pedro, on whom his brother Rodrigo exercised a restraining influence, had sense enough to perceive that his longer residence in Rome would be attended with danger; he therefore gave up to the College of Cardinals all the fortresses, including St. Angelo, and in return received in coin the sum of two-and-twenty thousand ducats which Calixtus III had left him by will. His troops were at once required to take an oath of fealty to the Sacred College in the person of the Vice-Camerlengo; the dying Pope being left in ignorance of these transactions. The Cardinals had already taken into their keeping the treasury of the Church, which at the time contained a hundred and twenty thousand ducats.

The excessive bitterness of the Orsini family against Don Pedro can easily be accounted for. It was an open secret that they would spare no efforts to bring about his downfall, and his way had been barred by land and by sea. Moreover, the violence of the popular fury against the "Catalans" had now in many places increased. In Rome the hated foreigners were cut to pieces whenever they fell into the hands of their enemies. Under these circumstances Don Pedro felt that he was not safe, and he knew that his danger was all the greater because most of his troops were Italians, and he had not treated them very well; by the end of July it was thought that he would flee to Spoleto, and there await the election of a new Pope.

Don Pedro's flight actually took place early in the morning of the 6th of August. He was assisted by Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who was a friend of the Borgias, and was anxious to prevent bloodshed. In order to avoid the snares of the Orsini, Don Pedro proceeded with the greatest circumspection. He mounted his horse at three in the morning, accompanied by his brother Rodrigo in disguise, and by Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who brought with him three hundred horse and two hundred foot. They first passed through the Porta del Castello di St. Angelo, and turned towards Ponte Molle. They then came back through the Porta del Popolo into the city, and hurried on, choosing the least inhabited streets to the Porta di San Paolo. At this gate the two Cardinals parted from him, after commanding the soldiers to escort him to Ostia. But Don Pedro was already detested to such a degree that, although the order was given in the name of the Sacred College, nearly all the soldiers refused to accompany him any further. "Not one even of the grooms", says an ambassador, "would remain with him". Fresh difficulties met the forsaken fugitive at Ostia, where he had ordered a galley with money and other valuables to await him. In vain did he look for this vessel, which had disappeared long before his arrival, and he was accordingly compelled to escape in a boat to Civita Vecchia.

Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia showed more courage. He had retired to Tivoli in June on account of the unhealthy state of Rome, but returned during the night, between the 25th and 26th July, on hearing of the dangerous illness of the Pope. In the general confusion his servants forsook him, so that his splendid palace was left to be plundered by the populace. Rodrigo's return to the city, after his brother's flight, was a brave action. The chronicler of Viterbo says that the Cardinal went to St. Peter's to pray for the forsaken and dying Pope.

For fully a fortnight the aged Pontiff hung between life and death, until at last, on the evening of the 6th of August, the Feast of the Transfiguration, which he himself had instituted, God released him from his sufferings.

Except for his nepotism, Calixtus III deserves high praise, more especially for the energy, constancy and purpose which he displayed in dealing with the burning question of the day—the protection of Western civilization from the Turkish power. In this matter he gave a grand example to Christendom, and it is to be observed that in the midst of the military and political interest which claimed so large a share of his time and attention, he did not neglect the internal affairs of the Church, and vigorously opposed heresies.

The tidings of the Pope's death caused the greatest excitement in Rome. The Orsini and the other enemies of the Borgia family rejoiced. Most of the "Catalans" had already taken flight, and those who still remained in the city sought to conceal themselves in out-of-the-way places, for the populace were attacking the houses of all the Spaniards and of any Romans who belonged to the Borgia party. Cardinal Barbo was included in the hatred borne to the family of the late Pope, and the assistance which he had afforded to Don Pedro in his flight was not forgiven.

The bitter feeling against the eA ii doings of the Spanish strangers led to bloodshed in many parts of the States of the Church. Disturbances had occurred in Viterbo as early as August 1st. The Castellan of Castelnuovo was slain by Stefano Colonna, and a like fate befell the Catalan Castellan of Nepi. At Civita Castellana, Fabriano, Ascoli, and other places, the people rose with the cry, "Long live the Church!". The Orsini, with the consent of the College of Cardinals, invested San Gregorio, which Don Pedro had formerly wrested from them. Jacopo Piccinino again appeared to see what he could fish out of the troubled waters. Almost as soon as he heard of the Pope's dangerous illness he concluded a truce with Malatesta, and returned to the States of the Church. On the 15th August he appeared before Assisi, and the Catalan Castellan gave it up to him for a sum of money. Piccinino also occupied Gualdo, Nocera, Bevagna, and other places, and pitched his camp at Foligno. It was believed that there was an understanding between him and the King of Naples, who thus sought to extort a recognition of his own claims, to frighten the Cardinals, and to prevent the election of a French Pope.

Even in the last week of July negotiations regarding the Papal election had begun among the Cardinals, and the Italian Cabinets had also been busy. The questions connected with the tuccession to the chair of St. Peter were, indeed, of a most important character. Was the new Pope to be an Italian, a Spaniard, or a Frenchman, a friend of the Orsini or of the Colonna party? Would he favour the French or the Aragonese dynasty in Naples? Would he attack the Turks? Would he be a man of peace or a man of war?

It would appear that the Italian Cardinals, mindful of the previous Conclave which had resulted in the election of a foreigner, on this occasion at once proposed one of their own number, against whom no party could raise any serious objection. This was Cardinal Capranica, in favour of whose election, as an ambassador expressly declares, Italian and non-Italian Cardinals, Orsini and Colonna, were unanimous.

The powerful Duke of Milan used his influence on behalf of Capranica. Writing on August 2nd to his ambassadors in Rome he says, "We wish you on this occasion to use all your zeal and all your skill, and leave nothing undone, of course, with due care for what is becoming, for the fulfilment of our desires. We exclude every other." On the following day Simonetta, the Duke's confidant, repeated the command, and pointed out that Capranica was not only the most worthy member of the Sacred College, but also the individual best fitted to carry out ecclesiastical reforms. The King of Naples also was induced to favour his election.

The explanation of this marvellous unanimity is to be tound in the moral purity and the rare qualities of this great man.

Domenico Capranica was born in the Jubilee year of 1400, in the little town near Palestrina, which bore his name. Although of modest fortune, his family was intimate with that of the Colonna. Domenico, who from his earliest youth showed a great love of learning, went at fifteen years of age to the University of Padua to study civil and canon law. Here Nicholas of Cusa was his fellow-disciple, and together they sat at the feet of Cesarini. The relations between Capranica and his master were of the happiest and most friendly description, and became yet more intimate when they were both on the same day raised to the purple. Capranica pursued his legal studies in Bologna with extraordinary zeal. Sleep, of which he allowed himself but a scanty measure, often surprised him over his books. His attention to jurisprudence did not lead him to neglect polite literature, and even at this early period a brilliant future was predicted for the gifted youth, who outstripped all his companions, and was the favourite of his teachers. His modesty was such that he used to blush when an older person addressed a question to him. Never, during his student life, did he take part in any public merry-makings or banquets, and we cannot be surprised to learn that he received the doctor's cap when only one-and-twenty. Martin V was at this time living in Mantua, and was a friend of the Capranica family; Domenico accordingly at a very early age became a clerk of the Apostolic Chamber. In his new position he diligently continued his studies; St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Cassian, and Seneca are said to have been his favourite authors.

The more Pope Martin V saw of the young official, the more persuaded did he become of his remarkable learning and of his rare virtues. In consequence he raised him to the purple when only three and thirty, but deferred the publication of his promotion to a later period for fear of the jealousy which it might arouse.

After Capranica had admirably accomplished several difficult missions entrusted to him by the Pope, and had also distinguished himself as leader of the Papal troops,. Martin V made him Governor of Perugia, where his justice, moderation, and disinterestedness won the affection of the people, and led them to look upon him as a father.

Martin V's last creation of Cardinals took place in the beginning of November, 1430, and om this occasion Ram, Prospero Colonna, Cesarini and Capranica were published. His friends received the tidings of his elevation with the greatest joy, and many of the Cardinals, including Albergati and the great Cesarini, congratulated him in the most cordial terms. "I pray the Giver of all good things", wrote the latter, "daily to increase in you the virtues by which you have merited the purple. May God grant to us both that as we have received this dignity upon earth at the same time we may also together be partakers of the glory of heaven."

Capranica purposed soon after his publication to go to Rome in order to express his gratitude to the Pope, and to receive his hat and ring. The unsettled state of Perugia, however, caused him to defer his journey, and in the interval Martin V died. After the death of his patron our Cardinal at once repaired thither with the view of taking part in the coming election. Anxious to avoid hurting the feelings of any member of the Sacred College, he halted at San Lorenzo fuori le mura, and sent three messengers to ask that he might be admitted to the Conclave. Meanwhile his enemies had been actively at work; his connection with the Colonna family and the circumstance that he had filled a position in the treasury were brought up in an invidious manner. No one, however, ventured to take any open measures against him. After a long delay he was informed that the existing state of affairs in Perugia made it seem most desirable that he should return there. Capranica perfectly understood the design of his enemies, but not wishing to occasion any confusion in the Conclave he acceded to the desire of the Cardinals. Before his departure he caused an act to be drawn up in which he complained of their delay, and declared that he would for the sake of peace yield to their wishes, but that he maintained his rights; against any attack on his position as Cardinal he appealed to the Council.

The election of Eugenius IV immediately took place. Capranica hastened to send messengers to congratulate the new Pope on his elevation, and respectfully to ask permission to appear with the red hat. But his enemies had already succeeded in completely prejudicing the mind of Eugenius against him. The Orsini, who bitterly hated the Colonna and their adherents, had been particularly active. They had caused Capranica's palace in Rome to be plundered, and his precious library had been dispersed. Soon after these tidings had reached him he heard that officers were on their way from Rome to arrest him. He therefore fled to the Convent of San Silvestro, on the Soracte, and waited there in hopes that the Pope would in time be better advised. These hopes were vain, as also were the efforts made by a few of the Cardinals on his, behalf. A commission appointed by Eugenius gave judgment against him, and the dignity of Cardinal was denied him.

Under these circumstances Capranica determined to seek protection from the Council then sitting at Basle. He appealed to this assembly, and set out to present himself before it. In Siena he took into his service Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini and Pietro da Noceto, who was afterwards the confidant of Nicholas V. After a difficult and dangerous journey they arrived at Basle in the spring of 1432. In the meantime Eugenius, further irritated by calumnious reports, had deprived him of the posts which he held, and had even confiscated his patrimony. The Cardinal was thus reduced to such poverty that he was compelled to dismiss his retainers, and amongst them Piccolomini and Noceto.

The Council, whose general esteem Capranica soon gained, pronounced in his favour. With admirable moderation, however, while claiming the purple as his right, he distinguished between persons and offices. During the whole of his sojourn at Basle he was never betrayed by his controversy with the Pope into any anti-Roman step, nor did he ever suffer a harsh word against Eugenius or the Court of Rome to pass his lips. When an opportunity offered of coming to an understanding with the Pope he gladly embraced it. When at last a satisfactory arrangement had been arrived at, he went to Florence and was cordially received by Eugenius (1435). His relations with the Pope soon assumed an intimate character, which was only for a short time disturbed by his courageous protest against the admission of Vitelleschi to the Sacred College. Important and honorable missions were entrusted to him, and he took part in the zealous Pontiff's monastic reforms, as well as in the negotiations for Union with the Greeks. He, together with Cesarini, induced the Pope to make Bessarion a Cardinal. The reconciliation of Germany with the Church, which was the last joy of Eugenius IV on earth, was a congenial task to his gentle and kindly nature, and his zeal and discretion largely contributed to it. The place which the Cardinal held in the estimation of the Romans is evident from the fact that on the death of Eugenius it was generally expected that he would be the next wearer of the tiara, although he was at the time only forty-seven years of age. The reasons which prevented his election on this occasion are unknown.

Capranica, or the Cardinal of Fermo, as he was styled from his Archiepiscopal See, was valued by the new Pope even more highly than he had been by Eugenius. He accompanied Nicholas V on his various journeys, and in the year 1449 was appointed by him to the important office of Grand Penitentiary, the duties of which he discharged in the most admirable manner. Various difficult legations were, as we have already said, confided to him, and whde fulfilling these he also gave proof of his genuine devotion to the Church by promoting the cause of reform wherever it was possible to do so.

In the Conclave after the death of Nicholas V there seemed again a likelihood that Capranica would be chosen. During the Pontificate of Nicholas V he had already been actively interested in the Turkish question, and under Calixtus III he redoubled his efforts for the protection of Christendom. The plague, which raged in Rome in the year 1456, drove almost all the Cardinals away, but he remained with the Pope. He fearlessly traversed the infected streets, strewn with the unburied corpses of its victims, as he went to confer with Nicholas on the affairs of the Church. He displayed equal courage of another sort in personally and freely remonstrating with Calixtus when favours were heaped upon his unworthy relations. As we have already related, he steadfastly refused to acquiesce in Don Pedro's appointment as Duke of Spoleto.f The enmity which he thus incurred induced him to withdraw more and more from public life, and he employed his time of retirement in pious exercises, as if foreseeing his approaching end.

In the last days of July, 1458, just at the time when negotiations regarding his election as Pope were going on, Capranica was attacked by a slight indisposition, which soon grew into a mortal sickness. His first care was to receive the Holy Sacraments, and to seek pardon from the Cardinals for any offence he might have given them. Years before he had composed a little book, which we may really call a golden volume, on "the art of dying", and all his thoughts were now directed entirely to eternity. He consoled the friends who stood mourning around his bed by reminding them that the death of those only is to be lamented who have never thought of dying until they saw that they could live no longer.

The ideal of what a Cardinal should be is certainly a very high one. Capranica may be said to have realized it. All his contemporaries are unanimous in testifying that this great man united learning and piety in an uncommon degree. His life was that of a Saint. His nightly repose was limited to four hours. Immediately on rising he recited the Hours, he then said or heard Mass, generally first going to Confession. Before granting audiences he devoted several hours to the study of the Fathers, among whom he had a special love for St. Jerome and St. Augustine. No women were allowed to enter his apartments, neither religious women nor his nearest relations—not even his sister and sister-in-law were excepted from this rule.

The Cardinal of Fermo had built himself a palace suitable to his dignity in the vicinity of Santa Maria in Aquiro in Rome, but luxury found noplace within its walls. His manner of life was remarkable for its simplicity; his dinner consisted of one dish. He hated court ceremonies, and in intercourse with others he was simple, short, and precise. His ecclesiastical household was composed exclusively of men of worth; various nationalities found place in it. To those around him he was rather a careful father than a master. If he perceived a fault in one of his retainers he at once endeavoured to correct it. He could be vehement and severe in dealing with the vicious and idle, and was unsparing in his reproofs to prelates who forsook their churches and busied themselves at court. Capranica was sterner towards himself than towards others. It is told of him that never, even in joke, did he permit himself to utter a falsehood. He repeatedly asked his friends frankly to point out his faults to him. When his dead body was unclothed it was found that even in his last illness he had worn an instrument of penance. His liberality was so unbounded that he was often in pecuniary difficulties. He frequently disposed of silver vessels and gave the proceeds, in secret, to the poor, who were required to promise that they would never let anyone know of his bounty.He bequeathed all his property to ecclesiastical uses. "The Church," he would say, "gave it to me; I give it back, for I was not its master but its steward. I should, indeed, have reaped but little profit from the nights spent in studying ecclesiastical decisions if I were to leave the goods of the Church, which belong to the poor, to my own relations."

In Rome and in the States of the Church, Capranica zealously strove to settle the numerous feuds which existed. If anyone would not be reconciled he used to take him into his room, and having bound him to secrecy, fall on his knees and implore him to make peace with his enemy.

He was a great lover of learning; his own attainments, especially in theology and in canon law, were considerable, and he counted among his friends both ecclesiastical and humanistic scholars. His valuable library was open to all students. He was also the founder of the first of the numerous colleges in Rome. In this institution, which still exists and bears his name, thirty-one poor scholars were to be received, of whom sixteen were to study theology and the liberal arts, and the remainder canon law. As his means were not sufficient to enable him to erect a building for this college, he received the students into his own palace. The constitutions, which he drew up himself, are in their way a model. Capranica was also an author. We have already spoken of his "Art of dying;" he also collected the Acts of the Council of Basle, wrote a work on the Turkish war, dedicated to Calixtus III, and for his nephews a set of Rules of Life, in which his beautiful character is reflected.

When in the second week of August the physicians declared Capranica to be out of danger, the joy with which the announcement was received by all friends of learning and all well-disposed persons may be imagined. But a violent attack of fever came on in the night between the the 13th and 14th, and by the afternoon of the latter day he was dead. A short time before he breathed his last he received the Holy Sacraments with such recollection and piety that he seemed to those who stood by like an angel from Paradise. The last words which the dying man addressed to his friends were to beg the alms of their prayers, and to exhort them to continue to labour indefatigably for the welfare of the Church which he had loved so ardently in life.

"Two hours before his death," writes Otto de Carretto, the Duke of Milan's ambassador, "the Cardinal gave me his hand and said, 'God be with you; it grieves me to the heart that I have not been able before my departure to show to your lord and yourself the gratitude you deserve from me; but God will repay you'. I", continues the ambassador, "had no power to answer him. And so, my illustrious Duke, the wisest, the most perfect, the most learned and the holiest prelate whom the Church in our days has possessed is gone from us. His whole life was devoted to the exaltation of the Roman Church. He was the pillar of Italian peace and a mirror of piety and all sanctity. We all confidently expected soon to be able to honour him as Pope, for parties in general were agreed regarding his elevation. And now we must sorrowfully assist at his obsequies. Such is the world! So is every hope disappointed!" With these words, written an hour after Capraniea's death, the ambassador closes the despatch from whose faded lines the warm heart of the writer still speaks to our souls.

The remains of the great man found a lifting resting-place near the grave of St. Catherine of Siena in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He was lamented by all. "Nothing but mourning and sighing is heard," wrote the ambassador of the Marquess Lodovico de Gonzaga on the igth August, in reference to this calamity.

The Romans had, indeed, good cause for grief. Of all the cardinals of the Renaissance Age none but Albergati, Cesarini, and Carvajal can compare with Capranica. His sudden death was, in the existing state of affairs, the heaviest imaginable loss to the Church.

Two days later the Conclave began, and from it issued, as Pope, a cardinal distinguished alike as a statesman and an author, who had once been secretary to the Cardinal of Fermo.

 

END OF VOLUME II.