The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages

VOLUME II.BOOK II

CHAPTER IV.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE IN ITALY— SICKNESS AND DEATH OF THE POPE.

 

While consultations were being held throughout Western Christendom as to the means of repelling Turkish aggression, a cause for which no one was ready to make any real sacrifice, envoys arrived from Cyprus and Rhodes. They implored assistance, bearing witness to the magnitude of the peril which threatened Europe, and unanimously asserting that no cessation of Turkish hostilities was to be expected. These envoys were accompanied by Cardinal Isidore of Russia, some Franciscans of Bologna, and a few other Italians, who had escaped from the massacre at Constantinople or from bondage among the infidels. The Cardinal, more fortunate than Cesarini, had escaped the terrible massacre which followed the victory of the Turks, by dressing a corpse in his own clothes and taking those of the dead man. Unrecognized in this disguise, he had been captured and sold as a slave, but at length   succeeded in making his escape, at first at the Peloponesus, and thence to Venice, where he arrived in the end of November, 1453, as one returned from the dead. He and the Franciscans were the first to make known the full details of the catastrophe of the 29th May, 1453.

Cardinal Isidore gave a terrible account of the cruelties practised by the Turks, and declared that they were determined to conquer Italy. The danger was, he believed, imminent, and the necessity for the union of Christians imperative. He thought the forces at the Sultan's command more numerous than those of Caesar, Alexander, or any other conqueror, and the pecuniary resources at his disposal to be equally enormous. The Turkish fleet already consisted of two hundred and thirty ships, the cavalry was thirty thousand strong, and there seemed to be no limit to the numbers by which the infantry might be increased. Calabria would probably be the spot selected for the first incursion of the infidels, and it was possible that Venice might also be attacked. According to the report of the Sienese ambassador in Venice, the Cardinal was firmly persuaded that unless within six months peace was restored another year and half would see the Turks in Italy .

It was evident that serious measures against the Turks could not be contemplated until concord had been re­established in the Italian peninsula, and accordingly Nicholas summoned the ambassadors of all the Italian powers to a Peace Congress in Rome. The matter was pressing, and the Pope's messengers were despatched in all haste towards the close of September. About a month later the ambassadors began to appear in the Eternal City. On the 24th of October, 1453, envoys from the Republic of Florence and Venice arrived; the latter were specially charged to excuse the Signoria for their negotiations with the Turks."

The Duke of Milan, who believed that the Venetians were merely endeavoring to gain time for fresh warlike preparations, reluctantly resolved to take part in the Congress. The delay of his ambassadors created a most unfavourable impression in Rome, and the Pope and his cardinals bitterly complained of Francesco Sforza. On the 10th November the long-expected envoys at length arrived, and business accordingly could begin. The despatches which have come down to us regarding this Congress are unfortunately of a very fragmentary character, and those of the Venetian and Neapolitan envoys are altogether wanting. It is, therefore, impossible to give a clear account of these complicated proceedings but there can be no doubt that the greatest difficulties arose in the way of a satisfactory settlement. All parties, indeed, were profuse in professions, but when their proposals were brought forward it became evident that the pretensions of each Power were so extravagant as to render the restoration of peace almost hopeless.

King Alfonso of Naples demanded from the Florentines the repayment of the sums which the war had cost him; the latter, far from being disposed to pay anything, called upon the King to deliver up to them Castiglione della Pescaja in the Maremma. The Venetians insisted that Sforza, for whose assassination they had, on the 14th September, 1453, promised a hundred thousand ducats, should restore all his conquests in the territories of Brescia and Bergamo, evacuate Cremona, and consider the banks of the Po and the Adda as the boundary of his States. Sforza, however, instead of making any concession to the Republic of St. Mark, asked that Crema, Bergamo, and Brescia should be restored to him. He had not the least intention of concluding peace so quickly, and his ambassadors complained of the pretensions of Naples and Venice to rule over Tuscany and Lombardy. Each one of the hostile powers brought violent accusations against his adversary before the Pope. The envoy of the Marquess of Mantua assured Nicholas that Venice, if victorious, would strive to make the Pope her chaplain, adding that his master would rather fall into the hands of the Turks than into those of the Venetians!

If anything had been wanting to render a favorable result of the Congress impossible, the deficiency was supplied by Nicholas. He had already endeavoured secretly to foment the dissensions of the other Italian powers, with the object of diverting hostilities from his own dominions and securing for them alone the blessing of peace, to this line of policy he continued to adhere. Impossible as it is to justify the Pope's conduct, we nevertheless take into account the circumstances which partially excuse it. Had the States of the Church been involved in the conflicts of the period, all that he had accomplished at immense cost, and by the labour of years, in the hope of making Rome the centre of art and of learning, would have been undone. This idea took such possession of his mind that all other considerations had to give way. Moreover, the relations which existed between him and King Alfonso of Naples were of a character unfavourable to the success of the Congress. The King did everything in his power to complicate the negotiations and hinder Nicholas from taking any step which might have tended to peace. If we may credit the ambassador of Francesco Sforza, Alfonso, even in the month of July, had threatened to ally himself with the revolutionary party in Rome in the event of the Pope adopting a policy at variance with his wishes. The monarch had supporters in the Court, his influence over the timid Pontiff had for years been excessive, and Nicholas yielded unduly, carrying on the negotiations, as even his eulogist Manetti admits, in a lukewarm and indifferent manner. The state of his health no doubt had much to do with his timidity; at the end of August he was ill, and in December he was confined to his bed with so severe an attack of gout that for a long time even the Cardinals were not admitted to his presence. After a short period of improvement, the malady returned at the end of January with fresh intensity, and for fully a fortnight Nicholas V was again unable to grant any audiences. A secret Consistory, which had been fixed for the 29th January, 1454, had, on account of the Pope's condition, to be held in his bedroom. The reports of the Florentine ambassadors enable us accurately to follow the history of Nicholas's illness. After announcing on the 6th of February that the Pope was again holding receptions, they had, five days later, to say that the gout had returned. In the beginning of March they speak of a fresh attack, and so it went on, for he never again rose from his sick bed.

Can we wonder that in the midst of such suffering, and oppressed by ceaseless anxieties, he had not sufficient energy for vigorous and determined action?

The Congress finally arrived at the end which had been foreseen. On the 19th March, 1454, the Sienese ambassadors announced to their Republic the utter failure of the negotiations, and on the 24th the Florentine envoys left Rome; the assembly effected nothing, and its members parted in mutual dissatisfaction.

A simple Augustinian friar, Fra Simonetto of Camerino, accomplished that which the Congress had been unable to effect. The Venetians, whose finances were exhausted, and who were in need of peace, sent him as a secret messenger to Francesco Sforza to treat with him personally and lay fair proposals before him. The unquiet state of Sforza's own camp made him willing to accede to these, and Cosmo de' Medici, who alone was in the secret, favoured the negotiations. He knew that the intolerable burden of taxation was causing increasing discontent among the Florentines, and that there was a general long­ing for peace throughout the city. Francesco Contarini, the Venetian ambassador to Siena during the years 1454 and 1455, repeatedly informs the Signoria of the general feeling which prevailed at Florence. "The citizens," he writes in April, 1454, "had raised a great outcry against the new taxes, and used strong language against Cosmo and the others who desired war."

Fra Simonetto's negotiations were brought to a conclusion at Lodi on the 9th April, 1454, when Sforza agreed to restore to the Venetians all his conquests in the territories of Bergamo and Brescia, with the exception of a few castles, only laying down the condition that those who had espoused his cause should remain unpunished. The Duke of Savoy and the Marquess of Montferrat were, if they desired to share in the benefits of peace, to deliver up the places which they had taken in Novara, Pavia and Alessandria; in the event of their refusal the Duke of Milan held himself free to recover them by force. The Lords of Corregio and the Venetians were to give back to the Marquess of Mantua the part of his territory which they had annexed, and he was to restore to his brother Carlo his inheritance; finally the Castle of Castiglione rlella Pescaja in Tuscany, which King Alfonso had conquered, was to be retained by him on condition that he should withdraw his army from the rest of the Florentine States. All the Italian powers were called upon to give in their adhesion to the peace within an appointed time if they desired to partake of its benefits.

The peace of Lodi did not at once produce the effects expected by the States, which were longing for tranquillity. Venice and Milan had kept the matter so secret that, with the exception of Florence, no power had been aware of what was going on. Accordingly the announcement that a treaty had been concluded on the 9th April was a surprise to all, and especially to King Alfonso of Naples. He had hitherto imagined that, as the most important of Italian princes, he could at his will impose peace, and now found himself treated as a secondary power, and invited to sub­scribe to an agreement framed without his knowledge. He expressed his indignation in no measured terms to the Venetian Ambassador, Giovanni Moro, and endeavoured, as it proved, in vain, to hinder his allies, the Sienese, from becoming parties to it.

On the 30th August Venice, Milan, and Florence entered into a League for five-and-twenty years for the defence of their States against every attack, but Alfonso, in his anger, held aloof for nearly a year, and tedious negotiations, prolonged by dread of France, ensued. The Pope, who had at first resented his exclusion from the compact of Lodi, brought these to a happy conclusion by sending Cardinal Capranica, the most distinguished among the members of the Sacred College, to Naples as his legate, with the special mission of persuading Alfonso to join the League. The Cardinal was successful, and, on the 30th December, 1454, Sforza was informed by his ambassadors at Naples that the King had determined publicly to proclaim peace, and to enter into the alliance on the approaching Feast of the Epiphany.

"On the Feast of the Epiphany, when the solemnity of the Three Kings takes place, Alfonso, after the example of those Three Kings who offered Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, will bring as an offering to God —first, peace for all Italy; secondly, the League for greater quiet and security; and thirdly, the League against the enemy of Jesus Christ for the defence of our holy Faith. On that day the Papal Legate will celebrate Mass, and this holy Peace, the League and Alliance will be proclaimed, if God permit and your Highness consent."

The peace was, however, actually confirmed by the Neapolitan Monarch on the 26th January, 1455, but with the condition that the Genoese, whose ancient offences Alfonso could not pardon, and Sigismondo Malatesta, who had deceived him, should be excluded from it By a further compact the Pope, Naples, Florence, Venice, and Milan bound themselves by an offensive and defensive alliance for five-and-twenty years. The Pope ratified this great Italian League on the 25th February, 1455, and it was solemnly published in Rome on the 2nd March. The happy event was celebrated with splendid festivities by the command of Nicholas V in that City and throughout the States of the Church.

There was good cause for these rejoicings, for now Italy might be considered as at peace, and the peace seemed likely to prove permanent. In Upper Italy, Milan and Venice, and in Lower ItaL the Pope and the King of Naples counterbalanced each other. Florence was determined to maintain the political equilibrium, and never to join those who evidently desired to impair it. The eyes of all were anxiously turned towards the East. Many of the lesser princes were ardently devoted to the interests of art and learning, and the rest, if not exempt from the vices of tyrants, were at least capable of appreciating the general intellectual revival which distinguished the age. Venice, Genoa, and Florence, with their rich commerce, were naturally averse to the continuance of war. Accordingly with Fra Simonetto's peace begins the most flourishing period of the Italian Renaissance. King Alfonso, Duke Francesco Sforza, Cosmo de' Medici and the Republic of Venice, together with Pope Nicholas V, constituted the intellectual aristocracy of Italy, and the lesser princes followed them.

While the negotiations for the pacification of Italy were thus successful, the deliberations which took place in the Holy Roman Empire in 1454 and 1455 regarding the means of defending Europe from the Turk came to little good. It soon became sadly evident that the solidarity of Christendom as opposed to Islam had ceased to exist.

Frederick III had summoned a great diet to meet at Ratisbon on St. George's Day (23rd April), 1454, "to deliberate concerning the defensive and offensive measures to be taken against the enemies of Christ in order that these should be punished, the sufferings of the martyrs avenged, the friends of God and Christian men consoled, and the faith upheld in an honourable and suitable manner, since all those who help this cause become partakers of the grace of God in the Papal indulgence for the health of their souls and obtain everlasting life."

Frederick III promised himself to be present unless prevented by some special hindrance. The imperial letter of invitation was addressed, not merely to the German States, but to all princes and republics of Christian Europe, so that it was generally supposed that a Congress of Christendom, like the Council of Constance, was about to assemble. But when the time drew near the disappointment was immense. The Emperor did not come in person, but only sent a representative. The Pope sent Bishop John of Pavia as his legate, and an embassy came from Savoy, but otherwise the Italian powers were unrepresented. The only foreign prince who came to Ratisbon was the Duke of Burgundy, and of all the many princes of Germany none but the Margrave Albert Achilles of Brandenburg and Duke Louis of Bavaria appeared. Stranger still, 110 one came on behalf of the young King of Bohemia, for whom the help of Christendom had been in a special manner invoked. In February there was a prospect of his presence at the Diet, but intrigues among those about him probably kept him away. In Buda a plan was made for the removal of Hunyadi from the government, in view of his appointment as General of the whole Christian forces against the Turks; but there is no doubt that the real object of this scheme was to keep him at a distance.

The empire never appeared to less advantage than at this Diet, and the result of the Emperor's appeal was all the more deplorable at a moment when the nation was in a state of anxious and alarmed expectation. The intestine divisions of Germany, and the weakness of its ruler, were patent to all, and we cannot wonder that even the fiery eloquence of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini failed to bring the Diet to any important decision. It was merely resolved that peace should be maintained in all countries, and that about Michaelmas another, and, if it pleased God, a more numerous and effective assembly should be held. In the event of the Emperor appearing in person, Nuremberg was selected as the place of meeting, otherwise it was to be Frankfort. The blustering Duke of Burgundy declared that if the other princes would likewise take part in the expedition he would proceed against the Turks with a force of sixty thousand men. The Diet assembled at Frankfort-on-Maine in October, 1454, was somewhat more numerously attended than that of Ratisbon. Albert of Brandenburg, together with the Margrave of Baden, represented the Emperor; Aeneas Sylvius and the Bishop of Gurk appeared as his ambassadors; the Bishop of Pavia, who was engaged in the collection of the ecclesiastical tithes in Germany, was commissioned to act as the Pope's plenipotentiary; Jakob of Treves and Dietrich of Mayence alone of the German electors were present; Archduke Albert, who arrived after the proceedings had commenced, was the only one of the temporal princes to answer the summons. A tone of drowsy indifference characterized the Diet. Many of its members openly expressed their aversion to a crusade, and their contempt for Emperor and Pope. Both of these lords, they said, merely want to extort money from us, but they will find themselves mistaken, and learn that we are not so simple as they imagine. The discourses of Capistran and of tineas Sylvius, and the urgent prayers of the Hungarian envoys, were powerless to evoke any zeal for the common cause of the West.

"The lords had no good will in the matter", says a chronicler. The energy and exertions of the Margrave of Brandenburg alone saved the deliberations of the Diet from complete failure, and at least kept up a respectable appearance."

A German force of thirty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry was to be sent in the following year to assist the Hungarians, but it was necessary that a fleet should at the same time proceed against the Turks from the Italian ports. The fleet was to be provided by the Pope, the King of Naples, and the Republics of Venice and Genoa, while the Emperor was to come to an agreement with the German princes at Vienna to furnish the land forces. The Diet of Vienna accordingly was the consequence of that of Frankfort, which in its turn had been the result of one held at Ratisbon. The witty saying of Aeneas Sylvius, in the year 1444, that the German Diets could not be accused of sterility, since each was the parent of a new one, was thus again verified.

The Vienna Diet was even more pitiful than its predecessors. "The Empire" was so scantily represented that practically it consisted only of the Emperor himself and the Electoral College. Its leader and ruler was the crafty Jakob of Treves; he personally represented four electors, and the others were his puppets. They came, commissioned to evade the Turkish question, and to urge on the Emperor their projects of reform; and, notwithstanding the speeches made by Aeneas Sylvius, Capistran and Johannes Vitez of Zredna, the proxy for King Ladislas, adhered to their purpose. Vexatious explanations ensued, and the Turkish question remained unsettled. On the 12th April the tidings of the death of Nicholas V arrived, and were far from unwelcome to this miserable assembly, furnishing, as they did, a decent pretext for the departure of its members, who agreed to put off to the following year further consultations regarding the crusade.

The health of Nicholas V had always been indifferent. Even as a boy he had dangerous illnesses, and there can be no doubt that the fatigues and privations of his youth, as well as the wearing labours of his maturer years, had told on his weakly constitution. His nervous anxiety about his health is thus easily accounted for. The pressure of work and of care had been greatly increased from the time that he wore the tiara, yet, during the earlier years of his pontificate, he seems to have enjoyed a fair amount of health and to have displayed immense energy.

In the year 1450 we hear that a sudden and severe illness attacked Nicholas V at Tolentino, and that his physician, the celebrated Baverio Bonetti of Imola, had no hopes oi his life. Nevertheless, the Pope very soon recovered, but in December of the same year he again fell ill, and from this time forth he never seems to have been really well. A great change was remarked in his disposition; his former expansiveness gave place to excessive reserve. Francesco Sforza's ambassador, Nicodemus, whom we have often mentioned, wrote, on the 7th January, 1453, to the Duke, that during the previous year an extraordinary change had taken place in the Pope, and that one of its causes was his sickness.

The year 1453 was in every way a disastrous one to Nicholas V. It opened with Porcaro's conspiracy, and the tidings of the fall of Constantinople arrived when its course was half run. The account, which says that grief for this event killed Nicholas V, may be an exaggeration, yet there can be no doubt that the agitation and anxieties, which were its inevitable consequence, must have had a most injurious effect. The Pope had a bad attack of gout soon after Porcaro's conspiracy, and another before the year was over. From the end of August, 1453, until June, 1454, he was, with short intervals, confined to his bed, hardly ever able to give audiences and altogether incapable of taking part in the great feasts of the Church.f In August, 1454. he was again suffering acutely from the gout, and the baths of Viterbo failed to give him any relief. In the early part of November he was afflicted w ith gout, fever, and other maladies, and the ambassadors contemplated the possibility of his decease. The sickness which was consuming the Pope's life manifested itself in his countenance, for his brilliantly clear complexion had become yellow and dark brown.

His physical sufferings were aggravated by disappointment and anxiety. From the beginning of his reign he had attached the greatest importance to the maintenance of peace in the States of the Church, and had been successful in re-establishing it. But from the time of Porcaro's conspiracy serious changes took place. Not only did the revolutionary party gain strength in Rome, but a dangerous agitation prevailed throughout the States of the Church. "The whole of the States of the Church are in commotion," writes Contarini, the Venetian ambassador in Siena, on the 14th May, 1454, "and messengers are sent from all sides, especially from the Marches to Rome". Troops of disbanded soldiers, who had taken part in the war of Lombary, overran the defenceless country. The Pope was soon convinced that many, even among his own people, were unworthy of confidence. The auditor of the governor of the patrimony of St. Peter was imprisoned as, a suspicious character.

Towards the end of the reign of Nicholas V great troubles broke out in the patrimony and the adjacent portion of Umbria. They originated in a quarrel between the cities of Spoleto and Norcia, in which Count Everso of Anguillara espoused the cause of Spoleto. The Pope, hoping to bring about a reconciliation between the hostile cities, forbade the Count to take part in the contest, and also endeavoured to hinder Spoleto from entering into an alliance with Everso. Neither party, however, heeded the Papal behest, and accordingly Nicholas was constrained to intervene with an armed force. Spoleto submitted, but the Count, aided by the treachery of Angelo Roncone, managed to escape. The Pope punished the traitor with death. Fresh tumults also occurred in Bologna.

The following spring brought no alleviation to the Pope's sufferings. From the beginning of March he grew daily worse; he was perfectly aware of his state, and, as we learn from the Milanese ambassador in a letter of the 7th March, spoke of the place where he wished to be buried, and seriously prepared for death. On the 15th of the month he received the sacrament of extreme unction; on the previous clay he had ordered that briefs should be sent to the chief cities of the States of the Church, requiring them in all things to obey the Cardinals until God should give the Church a new Pope.

With a view of making a good preparation for death Nicholas V summoned to his presence Niccolo of Tortona and Lorenzo of Mantua, two Carthusians renowned for their learning and sanctity; these holy men were to assist him in his last hours, and accordingly were to remain constantly with him. Vespasiano da Bisticci has given us a minute description of the last days of the Pope. He tells us that Nicholas was never heard to complain of his acute physical sufferings. Instead of bewailing himself he recited Psalms and besought God to grant him patience and the pardon of his sins. In general his resignation and calm were remarkable. The dying man comforted his friends instead of needing to be comforted by them. Seeing Bishop John of Arras in tears at the foot of his bed he said to him, "My dear John, turn your tears to the Almighty God, whom we serve, and pray to Him humbly and devoutly that He will forgive me my sins; but remember that today in Pope Nicholas you see die a true and good friend". But the Pope also passed through moments of deep dejection, in which his terrible bodily sufferings and his anxieties regarding the disturbances in the States of the Church almost overwhelmed him. At such times he would assure the two Carthusian monks that he was the most unhappy man in the world. "Never," he said, "do I see a man cross my threshold who has spoken a true word to me. I am so perplexed with the deceptions of all those who surround me, that were it not for fear of failing in my duty I should long ago have renounced the Papal dignity. Thomas of Sarzana saw more friends in a day than I do in a whole year." And then this Pope, whose reign was apparently so happy and so glorious, was moved even to tears.

As Nicholas felt that his last hour was close at hand, his vigorous mind roused itself once more. When the Cardinals had assembled around his dying bed he made the celebrated speech designated by himself as his will. He began by giving thanks to God for the many benefits conferred upon him, and then, in the manner which has already been related, justified his action in regard to the great amount of building which he had undertaken, adding the request that his work might be completed. He then spoke of his measures for the deliverance of Constantinople, because "complaints had been raised against him by a great many superficial men unacquainted with the circumstances". After a retrospect of his early life and of the principal events of his Pontificate, Nicholas continued : "I have so reformed and so confirmed the Holy Roman Church, which I found devastated by war and oppressed by debts, that I have eradicated schism and won back her cities and castles. I have not only freed her from her debts, but erected magnificent fortresses for her defence, as, for instance, at Gualdo, Assisi, Fabriano, Civita Castellana, at Narni, Orvieto, Spoleto, and Viterbo; I have adorned her with glorious buildings and decked her with pearls and precious stones. I have provided her with costly books and tapestry, with gold and silver vessels, and splendid vestments. And I did not collect all these treasures bv grasping avarice and simony. In all things I was liberal, in building, in the purchase of books, in the constant transcription of Latin and Greek manuscripts, and in the remuneration of learned men. All this has been bestowed upon me by the Divine grace, owing to the continued peace of the Church during my Pontificate". The Pope concluded by exhorting all his hearers to labour for the welfare of the Church, the Bark of St. Peter.

Then Nicholas raised his hands to heaven and said : "Almighty God, give the Holy Church a pastor who will uphold her and make her to increase. I also beseech you and admonish you as urgently as I can to be mindful of me in your prayers to the Most High". Then, with dignity, he raised his right hand and said, in a clear, distinct voice, Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus. Soon after this Nicholas, whose eyes were to the last fixed on a crucifix, gave back his noble soul to Him whose place he had filled on earth.

"It was long," says Vespasiano da Bisticci, "since any Pope had passed in such manner into eternity. It was wonderful how he retained his perfect senses to the last.

So died Pope Nicholas, the light and the ornament of God's Church and of his age.

Nicholas V was laid in St. Peter's, near the grave of his predecessor. The costly monument erected in his honour by Cardinal Calandrini was transferred in the time of St. Pius . to the Vatican grotto, where some parts of it are still to be seen. Here is also the modest effigy of the great Pope, with the four-cornered white marble urn which contains his mortal remains. His epitaph, composed by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, is the last by which any Pope was commemorated in verse.

 

EPITAPH ON NICHOLAS V.

 

Hie sita sunt Quinti Nicolai antistitis ossa,

Aurea qui dederat ssecula, Roma, tibi.

Consilio illustris, virtute illustrior omni,

Excoluit doctos, doctior ipse, viros.

Abstulit errorem quo schisma infecerat orbem,

Restituit mores, moenia, templa, domos.

Tum Bernardino statuit sua sacra Senensi,

Sancta Jubilei tempora dum celebrat.

Cinxit honore caput Friderici et conjugis aureo,

Res Italas icto foedere composuit.

Attica Romanae complura volumina linguae

Prodidit. Heu! tumulo fundite thura sacro.