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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THIS BOOK IS ONE OF 
 A COLLECTION MADE BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 
 1854-1919 
 
 AND BEQUEATHED TO 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BX1805 .T84 
 
 Papa conclaves, as they were and as the 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 392 010 
 
ax 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029392010 
 
THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
THE PAPAL CONCLAVES 
 
 AS THEY WEEE AND AS THEY ARE. 
 
 By T. ADOLPHUS TEOLLOPE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "a DIBTOBY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF FLOEHNOE," "PAUL THE TOPE AND 
 PAUL THE FBIAK," ETC., ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY 
 ;876 
 OOKNtL 
 
 U W I V liii^* I I^^' "Oh^^ resei-ved.] 
 
LOSDOX: 
 
 P&IXTSD BY TIRTCE AND CO., LIMITED. 
 
 CITY EOAD. 
 
 V3 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Never before, since a bishop's See was first estabKshed 
 in Eome, wliether by St, Peter or another, has the "world 
 at the period of the election of one Pope had so long a 
 time in which to forget the election of his predecessor. 
 St. Peter is said by tradition to have been bishop at 
 Eome for twenty-five years. And no Pope of aU the 
 two hundred and sixty who occupied the See between 
 his death and the election of Pius IX. ever reigned so 
 long as Peter, the longest reign having been that of 
 Pius YI., who died iu 1799, after an incumbency of 
 twenty-four years and eight months. 
 
 The present Pope has already reigned more than 
 thirty years ; and in the course of nature it cannot be 
 long before the world will see yet one more Conclave, 
 But not only will the coming Conclave be a newer 
 thing to the world than ever was a Conclave before ; it 
 will take place under circumstances very essentially 
 differing from those under which all former Conclaves 
 have been held, for the Pope is no longer a temporal 
 sovereign. 
 
 There exists no controlling cause why the Conclave 
 which will elect the successor to Pius IX, should not 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 be in every external circumstance the exact counterpart 
 of tlie Conclaves wHcli have in these latter days pre- 
 ceded it. There is nothing, and it may safely be 
 predicted that there will be nothing, to prevent the 
 enactment of all the pride, pomp, circumstance of a 
 Conclave according to the description of the institution 
 given in the following pages. The Italian Government, 
 unless it be changed in spirit very much more entirely 
 than appears in any degree likely to be the case, will 
 most scrupulously respect and protect the perfect inde- 
 pendence of the electoral proceedings of the Sacred 
 College, and would respect and protect all the exterior 
 ceremonial of the occasion, if the princes of the Church 
 should think fit to give the world the spectacle of it. 
 But such will not be the case. And such a change of 
 spirit as would lead them to do so is quite as impro- 
 bable as such a change in the disposition of the Italian 
 Government as was just now alluded to. The Church 
 is undeniably under a cloud at present (to shine forth 
 in her own opinion ia undiminished splendour, when 
 that temporary cloud shall have passed) ; and ia her 
 displeasure she chooses, probably more fi'om policy than 
 from temper, to pretend that the cloud is much heavier 
 on her than it really is. She considers herself to be 
 sitting in mourning and in captivity, and professes to be 
 imable to "sing the Lord's song in so strange a land" 
 as her own Eome has become to her. At least, she will 
 not sing any portion of it with the wonted accompani- 
 ments of stately splendour and ceremonial pomp. Eome 
 will not, therefore, sec the old external circumstances 
 and surroundings of a (Vniclavo. 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 But the internal and essential business of the election 
 will, there can be little doubt, be transacted strictly 
 according to the prescribed forms. And if any differ- 
 ence shall be observed to exist in those respects "vrhieh 
 have any real influence on the election, it will be found 
 in this, that the civil governments of Europe will have — 
 to use a vulgar but expressive phrase — ^much less say ia 
 the matter than has heretofore been the case, and much 
 less means of making any say which they may wish to 
 utter, heard or attended to. The election will be, it may 
 be predicted, an especially pure one — ^that is to say, it will 
 be the real object of probably all the electors to choose 
 the man whom they think to be the most fitted and the 
 most capable of serving the interests of the Church as 
 they are understood by the Eomish hierarchy. That 
 there may be great differences of opinion among men 
 all equally desirous of serving those interests, is exceed- 
 ingly probable. But if there be, as it may be with 
 tolerable certainty conjectured that there are, two cur- 
 rents of opinion in the Sacred College on the great 
 subject of the earnest desires of all its members, it is 
 wholly impossible for the lay world — ^nay, it is probably 
 impossible for their Eminences themselves — to predict 
 which of these two currents is likely to prove the 
 stronger in the Conclave. 
 
 It is very possible that the future may have disclosed 
 what it has ia store for us in this respect before these 
 pages come beneath the eye of the reader. But be that 
 as it may, and be the result of the election which gives 
 a successor to Pius IX. what it may, the election of a 
 Pope is stUl one of the most important events of con- 
 
Till PEErACE. 
 
 temporary history, and one of tlie most pregnant with 
 consequences of deep moment to a very large portion of 
 the human race. And it can hardly be, therefore, but 
 that some sufficient account of the mode in which a 
 Pope becomes such, must have an interest for those who 
 witness the close of the present, in all respects, excep- 
 tional papacy. 
 
 It can hardly be necessary to teU any reader that to 
 attempt to write, or to pretend to have written, a history 
 of all the Conclaves which have elected Popes within 
 the compass of such a volume as the present, or of a 
 dozen such, would be preposterous. The present writer 
 has made no such attempt. What he has endeavoured 
 to do has been to give an intelligible accoimt of the 
 progress and growth of those abuses and encroachments, 
 which led to the institution of the Conclave ; to sketch 
 the successive modifications which have built up Con- 
 clave law, as it now exists ; to show the impotence 
 of all those modifying regulations to attain with any 
 reality the objects they had in view ; to point out the 
 reciprocal action of Popes and Conclaves on each other, 
 and the influence of the general tendencies of the times 
 on both ; to indicate very generally and summarily the 
 successive changes which have passed over the spirit of 
 the Papacy itself; to gi^-e such a detailed account of 
 two or three selected Conclaves as might serve as speci- 
 mens of the Conclaves of the ages from which they have 
 been taken ; and, lastly, to give a brief account of the 
 present method of proceeding in holding a Conclave. 
 
 Possibly the subject is one in which the English 
 reader may be interested to such an extent ; but I 
 
PEEFACE. IX 
 
 hardly tliiiik that, even if all conditions of time and 
 space had been favourable, a more lengthy resume of the 
 tons of volumes ■which have been written on the subject 
 would have been acceptable to the time-pressed British 
 public of the present day. 
 
 EoME, June 5th, 1876. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 BOOK I. 
 
 HIEEARCHY IN STATE OF FLVIDITY. 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 First Tentatives 3 
 
 CHAPTEE, n. 
 
 Lateran Council of 1059. — Order of Cardinals. — Meaning of the Term. — 
 First Traces of a Collegiate Body of Cardinals. — Number of the 
 Cardinals. — Variations in this respect under different Popes. — "Titles" 
 of the Cardinals. — Three Orders of Cardinals. — Numbers of Cardinals 
 created by different Popes. — Motives for keeping up the Number in the 
 Sacred College. — Cardinals in petto. — ^Anecdote of Alexander VIII. . 13 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Ceremonial connected with the Creation of Cardinals.- — Practice in the 
 Earliest Ages. — Consultation of the College on the Subject. — Modern 
 Practice. — Communication of his Creation to the new Cardinal. — His 
 customary Duties thereupon. — Costume.^ — New Cardinal's Visit to the 
 Vatican. — Patronage. — Ceremonial at the Apostolic Palace. — Speeches 
 on the Occasion. — The " Beretta." — The new Cardinal's Reception. — 
 ShuttiDg and Opening of the new Cardinal's Mouth. — Cardinalitial 
 Eing. — Fees. — Ages at which Cardinals have been made. — Anecdotes of 
 Odet de Coligny, the Heretic_Cardinal. — Laws restricting Popes a Dead 
 Letter 29 
 
 CHAPTEE rV. 
 
 Steps by ■which the Papal Election was attributed exclusively to the Sacred 
 College. — Gradual Progress of Encroachment. — Abnormal Elections. — 
 Early Kequisites for the Validity of an Election. — Earliest Examples 
 of the Conclave. — Notable Conclave at Vjterbo in the thirteenth 
 century. — First example of Election by " Compromise." — The Fifteen 
 Eulea for a Papal Election made by Gregory X. — Basis of Conclave 
 Legislation ever since .......... 54 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 NOSLE BOTS AT PLAY. 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Latter Years of the Middle Ages, from Gregory X. to Pius IV.— Contrast 
 of the Ecclesiastical World of those Days with Present Times.— Where 
 Modem History commences in the Annals of the Papacy. — ^Variability 
 of the Church. — Papal History falls into Groups of Popes. — Causes of 
 this Phenomenon. — Paul III. the last of a Group of Popes. — Paul IV. 
 the first of a different Group. — List of i'opes from 1271 to 1549 , . 75 
 
 CHAPTEE n. 
 
 Election of Innocent V. — Anecdote of his Achievements as a Preacher. — 
 Election of Adrian V. — Popes in the Thirteenth Century elected without 
 Conclave. — Conclave in which Nicholas IV. was elected. — Mortality of 
 Cardinals in Conclave. — Strange Inconsistency of the Anecdotist Cau- 
 cellieri. — Superstition respecting the Duration of St. Peter's Reign. — 
 Anecdote of the papal Physician Matthew Corte. — Election of Celestine 
 V. — Modem Exception to the Rule requiring a Concla ve to be held. — 
 Modifications of the early Conclave Rules. — Boniface Vill. — Benedict 
 IX. — Anecdote respecting his Death. — Conclave held at Perugia. — 
 Grossly Simoniacal Election. — Monstrous Assertion of the Historian 
 Spondanus. — Morone, Gregory XlV.'s Barber. — The Babylonish 
 Captivity of the Church. — Conclave at Avignon in 1334. — And again 
 in 1342. — And in 1352. — And in 1362. — Division between the Gascon 
 CardineJs Subjects of England, and those subject to France. — Election 
 of Urban V. not a Member of the College. — Tentatives for restoring 
 the Papacy to Rome. — Petrarch. — St. Bridget. — Conclave in 1370, the 
 last at Avignon. — Gregory XI. — Difficulties of the Restoration of the 
 See to Rome. — Return of Gregory XI. to Rome. — His Death in 1378 . 82 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 Sacred College at the Death of Gregory XI. — Anecdotes of the Conclave 
 that elected Urban VX. — Turbulence of the Roman People.— Alarm of 
 the Cardinals. — Circumstances which led to the great Schism. — Doubts 
 respecting the Canonicity of the Election of Urban VI.— Other Causes 
 leading to the Schism.— Irregular Election of Robert of Geneva by the 
 dissenting Cardinals as Clement \ll., who has always been held to be 
 an Antipopo. — Schism of thirty-nine Years ... .105 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Conclaves during tlio Period of the S, hism.— Council of Pisa.- Abnormal 
 and Irregular State of thiuKS in Uie Church.— Council of Constance.- 
 Dcoioos which put an end to the Sihism, by the Election of Martin V. 
 — Dillioultios arising from tho Action of the Council of Constance.— 
 I hvw tlloct as regarding Modern Theories of lufallibilitv . 125 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Otto Colonna Pope as Martin V.— Conclave for tte Election of Eugenius IV. 
 —Contest between Pope and Council.— Anecdote of the Deathbed of 
 
 Eugenius IV. — Anecdotes of the Conclave that elected Nicholas V. 
 
 Violence of the Roman Barons. — Prospero Colonna. — Cardinal Nephews. 
 Election of Nicholas V.— Condition of Itaty. — Failure of the Attempt 
 to unite the Latin and Greek Churches. — Nicholas a Patron of the new 
 learning. — Other Doings of Nicholas.— Anecdote of his Mother. — Con- 
 clave which elected Calixtus III. — Cardinal Bessarion. — Conclave which 
 elected .ffineas Sylvius Piccolomini as Pius II.— Efforts of the Cardinal 
 of Eouen to prevent the Election, and to secure his own. — Mode of 
 Pius II.'s Election 132 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Death of Pius II. — Decision to hold the Conclave in the Vatican. — Election 
 of Paul II.— The Handsome Pope.— Election of Sixtus IV.— His 
 Character. — Effect on the Church of the first menaces of Protestantism. 
 — The all-devouring nepotism of Sixtus IV. — Peter Eiario, his Nephew. 
 — Sixtus dies of a Broken Heart. — Epigrams on Sixtus. — Interregnum 
 after the Death of Sixtus. — Conclave which elected Innocent VIII. — 
 Anecdotes 154 
 
 CHAPTEE Vn. 
 
 Interregnum after the Death of Innocent VIII. — Tumults. — Conclave which 
 elected Borgia, Alexander VI. — His Reign and Death. — Scandalous 
 Scene at his Burial. — Effect of his Papacy on the Church. — Interregnum 
 after his Death. — Terrible Condition of Rome. — Conclave, and Scan- 
 dalous Election of Pius III. — Another Conclave sixteen Days later. — 
 Anecdotes of the Death of Pius III. — Simoniacal Arrangements for the 
 Election of Julius II., Delia Rovere. — Character of Julius II. — Con- 
 clave which elected Leo X. — Meeting and Demands of the Conclavists. 
 — ;A Surgeon in the Conclave. — Anecdotes of this Conclave. — 'Election 
 of De Medici as Leo X. — His Simoniacal Dealings. — Exhaustion of the 
 Papal Treasury at his Death. — Difficulties of the Cardinals. — ^Election 
 of Adrian VI. — ^Dismay produced in Rome by his Election. — Character 
 of Adrian 170 
 
 CHAPTEE Yin. 
 
 Conclave which elected Clement VII. — Change in the Characteristics of the 
 Conclaves. — ^Anecdote of Adrian's narrow Escape from being killed, and 
 of the hatred felt by the Roman Clergy against him. — Roman and 
 Florentine rivalry in the Conclave. — Intrigues in the Conclave. — The 
 Plan of Making a Pope by " Adoration." — Crafty Trick of Giulio de' 
 Medici. — His Election. — And reign. — Conclave which elected Famese 
 as Paul III. — Circumstances of hjB election. — His Character, . . 190 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK III. - 
 
 THE ZEALOUS POPES. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Eemarks of Eanbe on the Papal History of the Sixteenth Century.— Julius 
 III. — His Character. — Conclave which elected him. — View of this Con- 
 clave by the Venetian Ambassador. — Delay in Assembling of the 
 Conclaves after Paul III.'s Death.— Eeginald Pole.— The Expectation 
 that ho would be elected. — Was all but elected. — His own scruples. — 
 His Election lost by them. — Anecdote of his behaviour in Conclave. — 
 Cardinal di San Marcello, afterwards Pope as Marcellus II. — Deter- 
 mined to elect Pole, if possible. — The Emperor appealed to by Letter. — 
 He vetoes Cardinal Salviati. — Election of Del Monte as Julius III. — 
 His Character 201 
 
 CHAPTEE n. 
 
 llarcellua II. — His Character. — The Conclave which elected him — ^The 
 Choice lies between him and Cardinal Caraffa. — Hostility of the Im- 
 perial Party to the Latter. — The Meaning and Practice of " Adoration," 
 "Acclamation," or "Inspiration." — Anecdote of intrusive Conclavist at 
 a Scrutiny. — Election of Marcellus 11. — His Death, and Conduct at the 
 Council of Trent 213 
 
 CH.\PTEE III. 
 
 The C'cjnclave which elected Paul IV. — Imperialist Party. — Cardinal Pole. — 
 Eesults in practice of the requirement of a two-thirds majority. — 
 Cardinal Carpi excluded. — Cardinal D'Este. — Cardinal Morone.- Objec- 
 tions to him. — Cardinal Pozzi. — Management of Famese. — Election of 
 Paul rV. — Anecdote of the foeline; of Kome on the occasion.^Character 
 of Caraffa, Paul IV. — Imperial "Veto" disregarded in this election. — 
 Saying of Caraffa respecting his own elevation. — Estimate and descrip- 
 tion of Paul by the Venetian Ambassador.— Giovanni Angelo Medici : 
 his Family, Brother, Early Histoij. — Cliaratter and personal appear- 
 ance of Medici, Pius IV.— The Inquisition.— Signs of the times,— 
 Practice of giving complimentary votes.— Aneedoto of the craft of a 
 Conclavist.— Cardinal Carpi again.— AMiy he was objectionaKe to 
 D'Este.— Medici suddenly elected as a /»'« «//<•)• . . " . .221 
 
 CITAPTEP IV. 
 
 Death ui I'ius 1"\'.— Closing nf tlie Council of Trout.— Kanke's Remarks on 
 the work of the Council.— Action of the work of the Council on the 
 tharaclci- of the Popes.- Anecdote of a plot to assjissinato Pius IV.— 
 Michael Ghisliori: his nrilocodonts and character.— Char.ictor of the 
 Election.— CoruLivo wbidi oliHtod PiusIV.— Rivalry between Cardinals 
 Farnosii and Borromoo.— lupi csontativo of the old and of the new Umo. 
 — CarJinal Altomps.— Anecdote of Borronioo at Floroiice.— Conclavist's 
 \'iew of Borromeo's character. — Muroni's imprisonment and acquittal 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PAaK 
 on Charge of Heresy held in Conclave to he sufficient reason against 
 his Election. — Borromeo wishes to elect him. — It is found impossible, 
 however, to elect him. — Duplicity of Famese towards Borromeo. — 
 Cardinals Ferrara and D'Eate hostile to Morofie, and why. — Famese 
 and Borromeo agree to the Election of Ghislieri. — Dismay in Conclave 
 at the result accomplished in the Election of Pius V 241 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 Character and Disposition of Ugo Boncompagno is dominated hy the Spirit 
 of the Age. — Felice Peretti, Sixtus V. — Saying attributed to him. — 
 tTrban VII. — Sfondrato, Gregory XIV. — His Character and Practices. 
 — Fachinetti, Innocent IX. — Aldobrandino, Clement VIII. — His 
 Character. — Characteristics of the Conclaves that had elected these 
 Popes. — Camillo Borghese, Paul V. — Conclave which elected him. — 
 Principal Parties in it. — ^Their relative Strength, and the Manner in 
 which it operated. — Attempt to elect Cardinal Saoli. — ^Anxiety of 
 Aldobrandino's Party. — First Scrutiny. — Cardinal Bellarmine. — 
 Cardinals Baronius and Borromeo. — ^Motives for putting forward Bellar- 
 mine. — Negotiation between Baronius and Aldobrandino. — Cardinal 
 Montalto at Supper. — Cardinal Camerino put forward, and dropped. — 
 Cardinal San Olemente put forward. — Threatened "Esclusiva." — 
 Cardinal Tosco put forward. — Meeting of Cardinals for the exclusioa 
 of San Clemente 259 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Continuation of the Conclave that elected Paul V.— Aldobrandino deter- 
 mines to elect Cardinal Tosco. — Points for and against him. — Attempt to 
 elect Tosco by "Adoration." — Montalto' s Indecision. — Eemarkable Scene 
 in the Cell of Cardinal Acquaviva.— Conference between Aldobran- 
 dino and Montalto.— The Latter unwillingly agrees to the Election of 
 Tosco, which appears all but certain.— Suspense of Tosco.— Eemarkable 
 Step taken by Baronius. — He alone by the Ascendancy of his Character 
 prevents the Election of Tosco.— Baronius himself nearly elected.— The 
 " Sala Kegia" in the Vatican. — Party Tactics thrown into Confusion. — 
 Tosco's Disappointment.— Extraordinary Scene in the Sala Eegia and 
 the Sistine and Paoline Chapels.- Borghese at length proposed by 
 common Accord, and elected as Paul V 274 
 
 BOOK lY. 
 
 TEE PRINCE POPES. 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Close of the Era of the Zealous Popes.- Characteristics of the Group which 
 succeeded them.-Death of Paul V.— Alexandre Ludovisi elected as 
 Greeory XV. by the influence of Cardinal Borghese. — Ludovico 
 Ludovisi, the Cardinal Nephew.— Eegulations of Gregory XV. for the 
 holding of the Conclave.— Father Theiuer's Eemarks concemmg them. 
 
XYl CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGI 
 
 — Interregnnm, Description of.— Death of Gregory XV., and Entry of 
 Cardinals into Conclave. — Conclave expected to be a long one, and 
 why.— Parties in the Conclave.— Cardinal Saoli again. — Cardinal 
 Delmonte. — Borromeo.— Cardinula Bandini, Ginnasio, and Madmzzi. — 
 The Barberini Family.— Character of Maffeo Barberini, who became 
 Urban VIII.— Cardinals Gaetani, Sacrato, and San Severino.- Illness 
 in the Conclave of Cardinal Borghese.— He refuses to leave the Con- 
 clave. — Barberini named in the impossibility of any other Election, 
 and elected. — Terrible mortality of Cardinals and Conclavists . . 295 
 
 CHAPTEE n. 
 
 Eoign and Works of Urban VIII. — Change in the Position of the Popes. — 
 No more Possibility of obtaining Sovereignties for Papal Nephews. — 
 Accumulation of wealth by the Papal Families. — Sixtus V. — Gregory 
 XIV.— Clement VIII.— Paul V.— Gregory XV.— Urban VIII.— 
 Amount of dotation permissible to a Papal Nephew. — Persecution of 
 one papal family by another. — Conclave at the death of Urban. — 
 Parties and interest at Rome much changed since the last Conclave. — 
 Cardinal Pamphili elected as Innocent X. — The Barberini driven from 
 Eome 3H 
 
 CHAPTEE ni. 
 
 Innocent X. — The Story of his Beign stands alone in Papal History. — 
 Donna Olympia Maidalchinl, his Sister-in-Law. — Her Inflnence over 
 him. — Her scandalous venality, greed, and corruption. — Scandal 
 throughout Europe. — Innocent's futile Attempt to banish her. — Anec- 
 dote of her dealings in the last hours of the Pope's life. — Innocent's 
 Death. — A Conclave without any leaders. — The " Squadrone Volante." 
 Anecdote of Cardinals Ottobuono and Azzolini. — Chigi proposed. — 
 Opposed by the French interest. — The Barberini again. — Chigi elected 
 as Alexander VII. — End of the story of Donna Olympia. — Pestilence 
 at Eome ... 325 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Fabio Chigi, Alexander VII. — His character. — His modified nepotism. — 
 Difficulty of entirely abolishing nepotism. — Changing characteristics 
 of the Papacy. — Dispute at the death-bed of Alexander. — Eospigliosi 
 elected Pope as Clement IX. — His character. — The fluctuations in the 
 population of liome. — Curious Connection between these phenomena 
 and the decrease of nepotism. — Mixed motive of the Electors in the 
 Conclaves of this Period. — Complaints of the decline of religion and 
 morality in Eome. — Qualities now sought for in a Pontift". — Innocent 
 XI. a really capable financier.— Conclave which elected Clement X. . 337 
 
 CHAPTEE y. 
 
CONTENTS. XVll 
 
 _,, , . PAGE 
 
 Ottobuoui.— Spada.— Bonvisi. — Vidoni. — D'Elci. — Celsi. — Litta.— 
 Bonelli. — Altieri. — Nerli. — Bona. — Complaint by the Conclavist of the 
 impiety of the Times 346 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 No Chief of a party or party able to make Pope the man they most desired to 
 elect. — Fear of enmity much more operative in the Conclave than 
 enmity. — Multiplicity of considerations ever on the increase. — The 
 Conclave -which elected Clement X. especially long and difiaoult. — 
 Moderation of recent Popes as to nepotism operates to increase this. — 
 Saying of the Princess Albani. — ^Abundant evidence in this Conclave 
 that negotiations with a view to the election were not checked by the 
 Bulls to that effect. — Searching the Dinners of Cardinals a mere 
 Earce. — Odeschalchi all but elected. — Father Bona wishing to further 
 his chance, injures it. — Why Cardinal Pio could not vote for Altieri. — 
 Chigi fails altogether as Head of a Faction. — Anecdote of Cardinal 
 Eazzi. — Message from the King of Spain to the Conclave. — Remarkable 
 results of it. — ^Anecdote of Altieri on the Eve of his Election. — Election 
 of Altieri. — Anecdote of De Ketz 365 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 Letters of the French President De Brosses. — Last Years of Clement XIL, 
 Corsini. — Notices by De Brosses of the then Cardinals : of Cardinal 
 Corsini, of Cardinal Albani, of Cardinal Coscia, of Cardinal Fleuii, of 
 Cardinal Eohan, of Cardinal Tencin. — How Matters went in the Con- 
 clave. — Tencin loses aU influence. — Proposal to elect Cardinal Aldro- 
 vaudi opposed by Albani. — ^Albani's treacherous scheme to ruin 
 Aldrovandi. — Albani's treachery ruins the chances of Cardinal Porzia. 
 — Plain speaking of Cardinal Acquaviva. — Election of Lambertini as 
 Benedict XIV. — His character and appearance. — Conclaves and Popes, 
 sixteen in number, between that of Clement X. in 1670, and that of 
 Pius IX. in 1846. — Saying of Cardinal Albani. — Characteristics of latter 
 Popes 378 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 TSE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The death of a Pope. — Time to elapse before Conclave. — Cardinal Gays- 
 ruck's Journey. — The Mode of constructing cells for the Conclave. — 
 Localities in the interior of the Conclave. — Drawing lots for the ceUs. — 
 Mode of fitting and furnishing the cells. — The cell of a Koyal Cardinal. 
 
 The Camerlengo. — Mode of living of the Cardinals. — First day in 
 
 Conclave 395 
 
 i 
 
XVlll COHTilNXS. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Twenty rules of Gregory XV.— Signal for strangers to clear out.— Scale 
 of payment of fees to servants and attendants in Conclave. — Death of a 
 Cardinal in Conolare.— Business of each meeting of the Cardinals 
 between the death of the Pope and the commencement of Conclave.— 
 Entry into Conclave.— Bull of Pins VI. dispensing with certain formali- 
 ties in the electipn of his successor.— Next Conclave in all prohabiHty 
 will he quite regular 401 
 
 CHAPTEE ni. 
 
 Three Canonical modes of Election. — Scrutiny and " Accessit." — Entry of 
 the Cardinals into Chapel for the scrutiny. — Vestments. — Mode of pre- 
 paring the Sixtine Chapel for the scrutiny. — The Seats of the Cardinals 
 at the Scrutiny. — The " Sfumata." — How the day passes in Conclave. — 
 The bringing of the Cardinals' dinners. — Cardinals heads of Monastic 
 Orders. — Close of the day in Conclave 409 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Mode of Procedure at the Scrutiny. — "Ante-scrutiny." — The Four Actions 
 composing it. — Description of the voting papers. — The Eight Actions 
 composing the Scrutiny more properly so called. — Infirm Cardinals. — 
 The Manner of their voting. — Relatives may not be Conclavists. — 
 How this rule is evaded. — The " Accessit." — The " Post-scrutiny." — 
 Different procedure in case an election has or has not been accom- 
 plished. — Care to ascertain that an elector has not made the necessary 
 majority by voting for himself. — Cases of conscience as regards the 
 voting. — Objects intended to be ensured by Conclave rules impossible 
 of attainment. — Conclusion 418 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 HIERARCHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 
 
THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 HIEBABCHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Pirst Tentatives. 
 
 The isystem by -wliicli th.e Pope appoints a body of men 
 wbo become tbe electors of a new Pope has not been 
 invented, but has grown. Like other social systems and 
 arrangements which have succeeded ia establislung 
 themselves in the world as durable institutions, it grew, 
 and shaped itself as it grew, in accordance with the 
 nature and tendencies of the body social out of which it 
 sprung. The manner in which this system has acted for 
 the effecting of the purposes for which it was intended 
 has been exceedingly curious, very peculiar, and charac- 
 teristic of the institution of which it became an impor- 
 tant part; often very dramatic, always highly iateresting, 
 not only to the student of ecclesiastical history but to 
 the observer of human nature; and not unfrequently, 
 both in past and present times, iufluential in the highest 
 degree on the contemporary history of Europe. It may 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE PAPAL CONCLATES. 
 
 be supposed, therefore, that some brief account of the 
 method and working of this singular and unique institu- 
 tion, as it has been shaped by circumstances and human 
 passions, might be not unacceptable to many the course 
 of whose reading lies far out of the track which would 
 make these matters necessarily familiar to them. A 
 brief account it must be, though the story of several of 
 the Conclaves might be so told separately as to occupy a 
 volume as large as this, perhaps neither unprofitably nor 
 unamusiugly. But it is much if those whose special 
 studies do not lead them in this direction can find time 
 to read one small volume on the entire subject. It were 
 useless to hope for more. 
 
 It is the purpose of this volume, then, to give such a 
 general account of the working of the system by which 
 for more than fifteen centuries the Popes have been 
 chosen, as may be, it is hoped, made interesting to the 
 general reader. as distinguished from the special student. 
 To the latter the present writer makes no pretence of 
 ofi'ering anything that he does not already well know. 
 
 As in the case of other institutions which have grown 
 up by a process of development and endogenous growth, 
 the beginnings of this institution were rudimentary, 
 irregular, confused, and uncertain. Much that in the 
 course of generations became fixed, legalised, and in 
 process of time fossilised, was in the beginning in a 
 fluid and plastic condition. And the uncertainty and 
 confused natui-o of the development in question was all 
 the more marked in that it was in cAcry respect abusive. 
 It was, in truth, as has been said, a development, 
 an endogenous growth, and natui-al outcome of the 
 
HrEEARCHT IN STATE OP FLXTTDITT, 5 
 
 system from which, it sprung. But none the less was 
 the progress of its growth at every stage abusive, and 
 iu contradiction to the origiual and true priaciples of the 
 body which developed it. There are organisms the most 
 natural and most to be expected development of which 
 is one in contradiction to the organic priaciples they 
 profess. And it may probably be considered that the 
 greatest social organism which the world has ever seen, 
 the Catholic Church, may be one of these. It wUl be 
 expedient, therefore, to trace very briefly the course of 
 those events and arrangements which led to the defini- 
 tive organisation of the Conclave, as the means by which 
 a successor to St, Peter was to be provided. And that 
 will be the business of this first book. 
 
 It has ever been a claim of the Catholic Church that 
 it is the most democratic society that the world has yet 
 4seen. Logical accordance with the principles inculcated 
 by its Founder and with the purposes for which it exists 
 would require that it should be such. And the theory 
 of the institution has at no time failed iu accordance with 
 those priaciples and ptirposes. Nor can it be denied 
 that the practice of the Church has been ia every age to 
 a great extent in conformity with its theory in this 
 respect. If, at all times — and certainly not less so iti 
 these later days than in older and less decency-loving 
 times — the door of admission to the higher places and 
 dignities of the Church has been more freely and more 
 easily opened to the great and powerful ones of the earth, 
 yet there has been no age from the earliest to the present 
 ia which its places of power, wealth, and dignity, ia 
 every grade, have not been accessible to the lowliest. 
 
6 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 If the present Pope be the scion of a noble house, his 
 immediate predecessor had been a peasant-bom friar. 
 
 Nevertheless, although the Church has, to a great 
 extent, preserved its characteristic democratic tendencies 
 as regards its relations with the lay world outside the 
 priestly pale, it is a curious and significant fact that the 
 policy of its own internal arrangements and government 
 has continually tended to become ever more and more 
 aristocratic, oligarchic, and despotic. It has been the 
 conscious policy as well as the self-acting tendency of the 
 institution to deliver every lower grade in the hierarchy 
 ever more and more stringently bound into the power of 
 its immediate superior. Parochial clergy have been more 
 and more entirely subjected to their bishops ; and bishops 
 have been effectually taught to submit, not only their 
 conduct, but their souls, to the great central despot at 
 Rome. And the strength of this tendency, most vigorous 
 in that centre ganglion of the system, has singularly mani- 
 fested itself there by the invention of an entirely adventi- 
 tious order of ecclesisastic nobles — the Sacred College. 
 And the scope and aim of this invention has been to turn 
 the original Apostolic Church democracy into one of the 
 closest oligarchies the world has ever seen, as regards 
 the highest purposes of ecclesiastical government. 
 
 Ecclesiastical theory recognises the Bishop of Eome as 
 the universal Metropolitan of Christendom, because he 
 is the successor in that see of the apostle to whom Christ 
 said, " Tu es Petrus, et super banc petram sedificabo 
 ecclesiam mcam ! " And the circumstance that Rome 
 was the seat of empire and centre of the civilised world 
 has produced coincidence between that theory and historic 
 
HIERARCHY IN STATE OF FLTTIDITY. 7 
 
 fact. It has been denied by historical inquirers of 
 polemic tendencies that St. Peter ever was Bishop of 
 Eome, or present there at all. I think, howeyer, that it 
 must be admitted that the balance of evidence, though 
 certainly not reaching to historic proof, is in favour of 
 the truth of the facts as claimed by Eome. But in truth, 
 the whole story of the early days of the Church at Eome, 
 including the dim and shadowy names of the Pontiffs 
 who are chronicled as having succeeded each other in 
 the seat of Peter, is ia the highest degree legendary. 
 Nor have we any means of knowing by what process it 
 was settled among the faithful that the man who became 
 their bishop should be such. Tor twelve hundred years 
 indeed after the first establishment of the see of Eome, 
 though the chronological place and identification of the 
 majority of the Popes is sufficiently clear and satisfactory, 
 the succession is in many iustances so obscure, and so 
 far from being historically ascertained that the immense 
 amount of learning that has been expended on the 
 subject has not availed to bring the learned disputants to 
 a common understanding on the subject, or to produce 
 any intelligible and trustworthy line of papal succession. 
 The main difficulty of the matter arises from the number 
 of Antipopes, and the exceedingly obscure questions 
 which arise as to many of these whether he is to be con- 
 sidered as Pope or Antipope. From all which it wiU be 
 readily understood that little can be said with any degree 
 of certainty as to the method of Papal election during 
 those centuries. There is' every reason to think that in 
 the earliest times the bishop was chosen by the voices of 
 all the faithful belonging to that " Church"— to the 
 
8 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 society, that is, of tlie Christians who lived there. 
 Ecclesiastical historians are anxious to maintain that 
 from the earliest time the clergy alone had the privilege 
 of voting on the subject, while the people were only asked 
 for their consent to the choice thus made. Not all even of 
 the orthodox writers on the subject insist on this ; and 
 it is far more probable that the Eoman Bishop was in the 
 earliest ages chosen by the whole body of the faithful, 
 and that most likely by some more or less fixed and 
 orderly process, not in perfect accordance with any 
 regular system of votation. 
 
 We thus find Boniface I., who had reason to fear that 
 the peace of the Church might be troubled after his 
 death by the turbulence of an Antipope, one EulaUus, 
 writing in 419 to the Emperor Honorius a letter, in 
 which he enjoins on him that no one should be elected 
 Pope by means of intrigues, but that he only should be 
 considered the legitimate Pope who should be chosen 
 by Divine judgment and with the consent of all.* The 
 vague nature of this recommendation is sufficiently indi- 
 cative of the uncertain and unregulated practices that 
 prevailed in the election. The address of this letter to 
 the Emperor, moreover, and the reply of the latt4?r, mark 
 the fact that the Emperors had abeady begun to exercise 
 a more or less admitted and recognised influence over 
 the pontifical elections. A few years later, in 401, St. 
 Hilarius finds it necessary to decree that no Pope shall 
 appoint his own successor. In 499 St. Symmaolius, in 
 a council held at Eome, and attended by seventy-two 
 bishops, decrees that he shall be accepted as Pope who 
 
 '"^ Labile, Concil., loni. iii. col. 1582. 
 
HIEEAECHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 9 
 
 shall have united all the suffrages of the clergy, or at 
 least of the greater part of them. In this same brieff 
 we find the earliest promulgation of a rule which sundry 
 later Pontiffs, notably Paul IV., ia 1558, confirmed and 
 made more striagent, and which to the present day is 
 held as one of the fundamental and most important rules 
 of all connected with the election of a successor to St. 
 Peter. It provides that while the Pope lives no nego- 
 tiation or conference shall take place with regard to his 
 successor, and this under paia of excommunication and 
 forfeiture of all offices. At the death of Symmachus, we 
 find Odoacer publishing a law, given by Labbe under 
 the year 502 (Concil., torn. iv. col. 1334), by which he 
 forbids any pontifical election to be proceeded with 
 without the participation in the deliberations of himself 
 or a pretorian prefect on his behalf. The barbarian king, 
 however, alleged that Symmachus had requested him to 
 take this step; and the ecclesiastical historians admit 
 that some such request may have been made, but assert 
 that Odoacer availed himself of it to usurp a power 
 which it had never been intended to confer on him. As 
 late as 1072 we find the election of Gregory VII., the 
 great Hildebrand, promulgated ia the following terms : 
 " We, the cardinals of the holy Eoman Church, and the 
 clergy, acolytes, subdeacons, and priests, in the presence 
 of the bishops and abbots and many other personages 
 ecclesiastical and lay, this day, the 21st April, 1072, ia 
 the church of St. Peter in Vincula, elect as the true 
 Vicar of Christ the Archdeacon Hildebrand, a person of 
 much learniag," &c., &c., &c., "and we will that he 
 
 * Labbe, Concil., torn. iv. col. 1313. 
 
10 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 should have that same authority in the Church of God 
 which St. Peter exercised over that same Church by the 
 will and ordinance of God." * In short, for more than 
 a thousand years the elections of the Eoman Pontiffs 
 got themselves accomplished in all sorts of varying and 
 irregular ways, as best might be, with now more and 
 now less attention on the part of the electors to the real, 
 or at least professed, objects and nature of the office, and 
 now more and now less intervention of corruption within 
 the Chiirch and high-handed lay violence from without. 
 In process of time, as the number of clergy became very 
 much larger, and disorders in the proceedings at the 
 papal elections became more serious, it was thought 
 desirable before the close of the eleventh century to 
 determine that the election of the Bishop of Eome should 
 be entrusted to the leading priests in Eome — " preti 
 primari " — and the bishops of the immediately neigh- 
 bouring sees exclusively. 
 
 The variations of practice during the five hundred 
 years previous to this date, 1072, are chronicled by 
 Moroni, t who counts up eighteen different methods used 
 during this period in the process of election. It will 
 hardly be deemed necessary that the points of difference 
 which characterize these eighteen modes of election 
 should be registered here. It will be sufficient to say 
 that the general tendency of them all was to place the 
 power of election in the hands of a small clerical 
 oligarchy, and to exclude the lay element, especially as 
 represented by crowned heads, from any participation iu 
 
 * Baronius, ad an. 1074. Labbe, torn. x. col. 6. 
 
 f Dizionario di Erudizione Storico-eoclcsiastica, vol. xxi. p. 199. 
 
HIEEAECHT IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 11 
 
 it. It cannot be denied that this restriction, and the 
 practice and claim which grew out of it, were justified, 
 and it may almost be said necessitated, by the circum- 
 stances of the time and the nature of the case. It is no 
 doubt a monstrous thing that a handful of Eoman priests 
 should possess the privilege and right of nomiaating an 
 individual to exercise such a power in Christendom as 
 that of the Popes grew to be. And though the more 
 modem practice of selecting the members of the Sacred 
 College from a much larger field, whUe adhering 
 nominally to the ancient practice by virtue of the titles 
 still assumed by the cardinals, may be held to have 
 greatly modified the crude excess of the pretension as it 
 was originally put forth, it is still an outrageous claim 
 that the creature of such a body as the Sacred CoUege 
 should exercise such authority as is attributed to the 
 Pope over the entire body of the Church, which claims 
 to be de jure co-extensive with the world. But it may 
 be safely assumed that neither the better nor the worser 
 men of the curiously heterogeneous band of admirable 
 saints and turbulent self-seeking sinners which con- 
 stituted the Eoman clergy of that time had any clear 
 notion of the greatness of the thing they were arrogating 
 to themselves. And it is at the same time very difficult, 
 whether from the standpoint of the fifth or that of the 
 fifteenth century, to imagine any scheme by which the 
 end to be attained could have been on the whole more 
 advantageously reached. It may be admitted further, 
 that (though the circumstances which determined and 
 finally fixed the pontifical election in the method which 
 it has followed for more than a thousand years will 
 
12 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 doubtless be eventually found to operate, like tbe 
 canker at the root of a widely-branching tree, to the 
 ultimate destruction of the institution) the amount of 
 success which has been achieved by an arrangement so 
 little promising in its appearance is one of the most 
 interesting and curious problems which the history of 
 the world offers to the statesman and sociologist. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Lateran Council of 1059. — Order of Cardinals. — ^Meaniag of th.eTerm. — 
 First Traces of a CoUegiate Body of Cardinals. — Number of the 
 
 Cardinals. — Variations in this respect under different Popes 
 
 "Titles" of the Cardinals. — Three Orders of Cardinals. — Numbers 
 of Cardinals created by different Popes. — Motives for keeping up the 
 Number in the Sacred College. — Cardinals in petto. — ^Ajiecdote 
 of Alexander Vill. 
 
 The first step towards arriying at a fixed oligarclueal 
 method of election had, however, been taken somewhat 
 before that election of the great Hildebrand as Gregory 
 YII. in 1073. In the year 1059 Pope Nicholas II. 
 had been raised to the throne in fact by the influence 
 of Hildebrand, whose commanding figure stands forth 
 during all this period as the real and effective ruler of 
 the Church. This Nicholas had in the previous year 
 held a council at the Lateran, by a decree of which he 
 expressly deprived the general body of the clergy and 
 the Eoman people of any share in the pontifical elections 
 for the future.* " The right of electing the Pontiff," 
 so runs the decree, " shall belong in the first place to 
 the cardinal bishops, then to the cardiaal priests and 
 deacons. Thereupon the clergy and the people shall 
 give their consent ; in such sort that the cardinals shall 
 be the promoters, and the clergy and the people the 
 followers." In the same decree Pope Nicholas orders, 
 
 * Labbe, Concil., torn. is. col. 1013. 
 
14 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 that tlie futiire Pontiffs shall be chosen ''from the 
 bosom of the Eoman Church" (which means, say the 
 ecclesiastical writers, "from among the cardinals"), if 
 a fitting person shall be found among them ; and if not, 
 from the clergy of any other church. He further orders 
 that, "if it should happen that the election cannot by 
 reason of some impediment be made in Eome, it may be 
 performed elsewhere by the cardinals, even though there 
 should be but few of them." 
 
 Here we arrive at some degree of fixity in the attri- 
 bution to the cardinals of the exclusive right to elect 
 the Pope. We do not quite yet emerge from the fluid 
 state of the hierarchical institution ; for further decrees 
 were necessary and further vicissitudes had to be 
 undergone before the solid condition of the institution 
 is reached. But all the further changes and the decrees 
 of subsequent Popes regard only the manner in which 
 the cardinals are to carry out the task entrusted to 
 them. It may be proper, then, here to explain as briefly 
 as may be the origin and meaning, so far as it had any 
 meaning, of the order of cardinals. 
 
 The dire necessity which constrains every wonder- 
 fully learned Dryasdust to find some different solution 
 for his erudite problems from that suggested by his 
 predecessor Dryasdust, has caused various more or less 
 fanciful explanations of tlic origin of the term cardinal, 
 as the title of an ecclesiastical prince, to bo put forward. 
 There seems, however, to bo little room for doubt that 
 the simplest of these is the true one. Cardo is the 
 Latin for a hinge. The cardinal vii-tucs are those upon 
 which the character of a man mainly hinges, and are, 
 
HIEBAECHY IN STATE OP FLUEDITT. 15 
 
 therefore, the principal virtues. " Cardinals " are then 
 principal priests. At all events Pope Eugenius IV., 
 writing in 1431, supposed this to be the origin and 
 meaning of the word. He calls the cardinals those on 
 whom all the government of the Church hinges. " Sicut 
 per cardinem volvitur ostium domus, ita super hoc sedes 
 Apostolicse totius Ecclesise ostium quiescit et susten- 
 tatur." Some antiquaries have endeavoured to show 
 that the term is used as early as the second century. 
 This seems doubtful.* But it is certaia that the word 
 was in common use iu the fifth century. Various prin- 
 cipal and leading priests were then called " cardinals." 
 But the name had not yet come to have the signification 
 
 * Bingtam, ■when pointing out that archipresbyteri were by no 
 means the same thing aa preabyieri cardinaXes (book ii. chap. 19, 
 sec. 18), says that the use of the term cardinal cannot be fouad in any 
 genuine writer before the time of Gregory the Great, i.e. the close of 
 the sixth century. "For," says he, "the Roman Council, on which 
 alone Bellarmine relies to prove the word to have had a great antiquity, 
 is a mere figment." 
 
 I retranslate from the Latin translation of Bingham, .not having a copy 
 of the original English to refer to. Nevertheless, whether Bellarmine 
 cites them or not, there are a few other authorities for the earlier use of 
 the term. See Moroni, voc. Cardinal. 
 
 In alluding {loc. cit.) to the origin of the term, Binghaia notices the 
 opinion of Bellarmine, that the word was first applied to certain prin- 
 cipal churches, and remarks, that others have supposed that those 
 among the priests in populous cities, who were chosen from among the 
 rest to be a council for the bishop, were first called cardinals. And he 
 cites StOlingfleet, who writes, in his "Irenicon" (part ii. chap. 6): 
 "When afterwards these titles were much increased, those presbyters 
 that were placed in the ancient titles, which were the chief among them, 
 were called cardinales preshfteri, which were looked on as chief of the 
 clergy, and therefore were the chief members of the council of presbyters 
 to the bishop." The title, however, seems to have been applied to the 
 entire body of the canons in certain churohes, as a privileged use allowed 
 to those special sees. As to the above-mentioned council said to have 
 been held at Rome by Sylvester I. in 324, it is regarded as authentic 
 by Baronius as well as Bellarmine, and is judged to be apocryphal by 
 Van Espen. 
 
16 THE PAPAL CONCLATES. 
 
 it subsequently acquired. The canons of various cathe- 
 dral chapters, notably those of Milan, Eavenna, Fermo, 
 Cologne, Salerno, Naples, Compostella, &c., were grati- 
 fied with the appellation of cardinals. There are pas- 
 sages of ancient writers from which it appears clear 
 that at one period all the clergy of the Eoman churches 
 were called "cardinals." In Prance those priests em- 
 pow;ered to hear confessions and give absolution seem to 
 have been called " cardinals."* 
 
 In fact the use of the word, and the practice in 
 assuming and conceding the title, seems to have been, 
 like so much else in those ages, exceedingly vague. Nor 
 for a long time was the restriction of the title to the 
 class which now alone uses it decisive and fixed. It 
 appears gradually to have been understood to appertain 
 only to those whom the Pope specially created cardinals. 
 At last, in 1567, Pope Pius Y. definitively f decreed 
 that none should assume the name or title of cardinal 
 save those created such by the Eoman Pontiff ; and fi-om 
 that time to the present day the name has been ex- 
 clusively applied to the body of men who are now so 
 called. 
 
 Thus much for the name. That the dignity existed 
 in such sort, that the cardinals of the Eoman Church, or 
 rather of the Church at Eome, were deemed of far 
 
 * Cave, writing of Anastasius the Eoman librarian (vol. ii. p. 56. col. 
 2.), says that he was ordained by Leo IV. about the year 848 presbyter 
 of the titular church of St. Marcellus, and quotes the words of Pope Leo : 
 "Presbyter cardinis nostri quern nos in titulo, B. Marcelli Martyris atque 
 Pontiiicis ordinavimus." That is to say, continues Cave, that that 
 church was specially intrusted to him, that ho might continually be 
 busied in the care of it, " Tanquam janua in cardine suo," and so com- 
 monly called a cardinal. 
 
 ■)- Moroni, Dizionario, tom. ix. p. 247. 
 
HIERAECHY IN STATE OE PLTJIDITT, 17 
 
 superior rank and dignity to those of any other cliurcli, 
 ■who more or less abnsiTely called themselves by that 
 name, at least several centuries earlier, has been suffi- 
 ciently seen. But it does not appear that the idea of 
 the Sacro Collegio — of a collegiate body composed of the 
 cardinals, and of them alone — arose till long after the 
 earliest mention of cardinals. It is said that traces of 
 such a conception may be found in the life of Leo III., 
 created in 795, which is extant by Anastasius. Moroni 
 cites a variety of writers and documents of the centuries 
 between that date and the end of the eleventh century, 
 for the purpose of showing that at all events by the end 
 of that time the body of cardinals was recognised as a 
 collegiate corporation. And he then proceeds, " Having 
 fixed the epoch at which the cardinals were known even 
 by name as the Sacred College," &c. But in fact his 
 citations show nothing of the sort, and appear to me to 
 indicate rather the reverse. At all events he fails to 
 adduce any instance in which the phrase in question is 
 used.* Nor have I been able to discover when the body 
 of cardinals was first so called. The institution, indeed, 
 seems to have continued in a very fluid state till a much 
 later date. And it is not till Sixtus Y., by the Bull 
 Postquam, dated the 3rd of December, 1585, finally 
 
 * "The institution o£ cardinals properly so called," says Cave, "is 
 referred to the middle of this century — the eleventh. There were indeed 
 cardinals in the Eoman Church before this, that is to say, clerks fixed in 
 and taking titles from the more celebrated churches of the city. Nor 
 ■were cardinals -wanting in others of the most important churches. But 
 about this time they "were enrolled— asciW sunt — ^in an Apostolic College, 
 as counsellors of the Pope, assistant judges — conjudices — senators of the 
 city and the world, time hinges of the world— ©eri mundi cardines." — 
 Cave, Scrip. Ec. Hist. Lit., torn. ii. p. 124, col. 2. 
 
18 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 regulated the composition of the Sagro Collegio, tliat 
 we find ourselves on solid ground. Tip to this time not 
 only was the number of cardinals exceedingly variable 
 in fact, but the theory of what the number ought to be, 
 as far as any theory existed on the subject, was equally 
 uncertain. Thus John XXII., when requested to create 
 two French cardinals in 1331, replied that there were 
 only twenty cardinals, that seventeen of these abeady 
 were Frenchmen, and that he could therefore only con- 
 sent then to create one French cardiaal. AjoA at the 
 death of Clement YI. in 1352, the cardinals determined 
 that their number should not exceed twenty. Urban 
 VI. {oh. 1389) created a great number ; and the College 
 made representations to Pius II. {oh. 1464), to the effect 
 that the dignity of the purple was diminished by such 
 excess. Sixtus IV. {oh. 1484), however, multiplied the 
 number of his creations to a hitherto unexampled degree. 
 And Alexander VI. {oh. 1503), who di'ove a very lucrative 
 trade iu cardinal-making, exceeded him. But Leo X. 
 {oh. 1521), haviug no regard, as we are told, for all 
 that had been said or done by his predecessors, created 
 thii'ty-one cardinals at one batch. He created iu aU 
 forty-two in the short space of eight years and eight 
 months, and left at his death no less than sixtj--five, a 
 number unprecedented up to that day. Paul III., how- 
 ever, the Farncse Pope {oh. 1540), created seventy-one. 
 But Paul IV. {oh. 1550), after consulting the Sacred 
 College, issued the Bull called Conqhtvlnui^ by which it 
 was decreed that the number of cardinals should never 
 henceforward exceed forty, and that no new cardinal 
 should bo created till the cxistiug number had fallen to 
 
HIEEAECHT IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 19 
 
 at most thirty-nine. Despite this, however, his imme- 
 diate successor Pius IV- (oi. 1565) raised the number of 
 the cardinals to forty-six. Finally Sixtus Y. (oi. 1590) 
 established, by the Bull mentioned above, seventy as the 
 fixed number — i.e. the maximum number — of the College, 
 " after the example of the seventy elders appoiated by 
 God as counsellors of Moses." And this number has 
 never since been exceeded, and may be considered at 
 the present day as representing the complement of the 
 Sacred College, though it is expressly laid down by the 
 authorities on the subject that no canonical disability 
 exists to prevent the Pope from exceeding that number 
 if he should see fit to do so. 
 
 By the same Bull, Postquam, of 1585, Sixtus V. 
 also determined that the seventy of the Sacred College 
 should consist of six cardinal bishops, fifty cardinal 
 priests, and fourteen cardinal deacons. The first are 
 the bishops of the sees immediately around Eome. 
 The deacons take their titles from the diaconie, es- 
 tablished in the earliest centuries, and attached to 
 certain churches, for the assistance and support of the 
 widows and orphans of the faithful ; and the cardinal 
 priests take theirs from the most noted, venerable, and 
 ancient of the parish churches in Eome. 
 
 As mistakes are frequently made about the assump- 
 tion and " choice " of their titles by newly-created 
 cardinals, it may be as well here to give a list of the 
 titles, or sees or churches, after which the cardinals 
 are designated. The cardinal bishops are the holders 
 of the sees of— 1, Ostia and Yelletri; 2, Porto and 
 St. Euflna; 3, Albano; 4, Frascati; 5, Palestrina; 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 6, Sabina, The fifty " titular " churclies are St. Lorenzo 
 in Lucina, St. Agostino, St. Alessio, St. Agnes, St. 
 Anastasia, Saints Andrew and Gregory on Monte Celio, 
 the Twelve Apostles, St. Balbina, St. Bartholomew in 
 the Island, St. Bernard at the Diocletian Baths, St. 
 Calistus, St. Cecilia, St. Clement, St. Chrisogonns, St. 
 Cross of Jerusalem, St. John at the Porta Latiaa, Saints 
 John and Paul, St. Jerome of the Slaves, St. Laurence 
 in Damaso, St. Laurence in Panispema, Saints Marcel- 
 linus and Peter, St. Marcellus, St. Mark, St. Mary of 
 the Angels, St. Mary of Peace, St. Mary of Victory, St. 
 Mary of Piazza del Popolo, St. Mary in Axacoeli, St. 
 Mary in Traspontina, St. Mary in Trastevere, St. Mary 
 in Yia, St. Mary sopra Minerva, Saints Nereus and 
 Achilleus, St. Onophrius, St. Pancras, St. Peter ia 
 Montorio, St. Peter in Yincula, St. Prassede, St. Prisca, 
 St. Pudenziana, the Pour Crowned Saints, Saints Quiricus 
 and Julietta, St. Sabina, Saints Sylvester and Martin 
 on the Hill, St. Sylvester in Capite, St. Sixtus, St. 
 Stephen on Monte Celio, St. Susanna, St. Thomas in 
 Parione, the Holy Trinity on Monte Pincio. The 
 fourteen deaeonries are as follows : St. Mary in Tia 
 Lata, St. Adrian in the Porum, St. Agatha alia Subm-ra, 
 St. Angelo in Peschiera, St. Cesaroo, Saints Cosmo and 
 Damian, St. Eustache, St. George in Telabro, St. Maiy 
 ad MavtjTCS, St. Mary dcUa Scala, St. Maiy in Aquho, 
 St. Mary in Cosmcdin, St. Mary in Dominica, St. Mary 
 in Portico, St. Nicholas ia CiU'cere, Saints Yitus and 
 Modcstus. 
 
 As regards these different orders of cardinals, it may 
 bo said that for most practical piu-poscs, specially for all 
 
HIEEARCHT IN STATE OP FLUIDITY. 21 
 
 purposes of tlie election of a Pontiff, they are in modem 
 times equal. All have an equal vote. All are equally 
 eligible ; but are not, as is often imagined, exclusively 
 eligible. Any fit and proper person, wbom tbe cardi- 
 nals may in tbeir consciences tbink tbe most likely to 
 rule tbe Cburcb to tbe greater glory of Grod and welfare 
 of bis Cburcb, may be elected. It is bardly necessary 
 to say tbat sucb person bas almost invariably been 
 found among tbe members of tbeir own body, and tbat 
 tbere is not at tbe present day tbe smallest probability 
 tbat any other should be chosen. One important point 
 of difference tbere is between the cardinal deacons and 
 their colleagues. The former need not be in full and 
 irrevocable holy orders. But as regards the choice 
 of the Pope and the business of the Conclave, this 
 difference signifies nothing. Should a cardinal deacon 
 be chosen Pope, he must receive priest's orders. 
 
 Since the time of Sixtus Y., at the close of the 
 sixteenth century, there have never been more than 
 seventy cardinals at the same time. But inasmuch as 
 the great majority of those promoted to that dignity are 
 men far advanced in life, the succession is somewhat 
 rapid; and it is recorded that Clement VIII. {oh. 1605), 
 during a pontificate of thirteen years, created fifty-three 
 cardinals. Paul V. {oh. 1621), during his reign of 
 fifteen years, made sixty. Urban YIII. {oh. 1644) 
 advanced no less than seventy-three persons to the 
 purple, besides four left in petto * at his death, thus 
 entirely renewing the Sacred College during bis pon- 
 tificate of twenty years. This Urban VIII. was the 
 
 * This phrase will he explained at a future page. 
 
22 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 great BarLerini Pope, wliose zeal for tlie faith, is seen 
 in the celebrated College de Propaganda Fide, and whose 
 nepotism may be read in the vast Barberini palace 
 and galleries and collections, and in the great number of 
 buildings stiU marked by the bees, which were his 
 cognizance. This was the man who stripped the bronze 
 from the dome of the Pantheon to turn it into a canopy 
 for the tomb of St. Peter, who used the Coliseum as a 
 stone quarry for his building operations, and was the 
 barbarian of whom scandalized Eome said, " Quod non 
 fecerunt barbari, id fecere Barberini !" 
 
 Nevertheless, this notable Pope, whose "creations" 
 in stone and mortar were about as numerous as those ia 
 "purple," was almost equalled in the latter respect by 
 several of his successors. Clement XI. (pi. 1721), 
 during a pontificate of twenty years, created seventy 
 cardinals. Benedict XIV. {oh. 1758), during his reign 
 of seventeen years, made sixty-four; and Pius YI. 
 [oh. 1799), in the course of his pontificate of twenty-fom* 
 years and eight months (the longest reign in all the 
 long list till it was surpassed by that of the pre^nt 
 Pope), siKty-three. Thus Urban YIII. (Barberini) 
 would have remained on record as the most prolific 
 creator of cardinals, were it not that Pius VII., during 
 his papacy of twenty-thi-ee years and five months— the 
 next longest to that of his predecessor Pius VI. — created 
 no less than ninety-eight, besides leaving ten in 
 petto at his death — a number which is the more 
 remarkable from the fact, that, by reason of the dis- 
 turbed condition of the times and the misfortunes 
 occasioned to the world by the first French Empire, 
 
HIERAHCHY IN STATE OF FLXTIDITT. 23 
 
 he was not able to create any cardinal from the 26th. of 
 March, 1804, to the 8th of March, 1816. The number 
 of creations due to Pius IX. will no doubt be large ; 
 but it is hardly likely, though his reign has been 
 so much longer, that he will reach the number of 
 Pius VII. 
 
 It may be observed, howeyer, that it has not been 
 without some show of good reason that the later Popes 
 have been desirous of leaving a weU-filled CoUege of 
 Cardinals at their death. The smallness of the number 
 of Cardinals in Conclave has frequently been the occa- 
 sion of difficulty in coming to an election, and consequent 
 long dxiration of the Conclave — a circumstance which 
 has always been held to be, and may readUy be believed 
 to be, injurious to the Church. In old times, indeed, 
 when the period during which the Holy See remained 
 vacant was one of utter anarchy and lawlessness in 
 Eome, it was a matter of the highest importance that 
 the election should be made as quickly as possible. 
 And even in more recent times, a prolonged Conclave 
 was always the cause of disorders both in Eome and 
 to a certain degree in the Church generally. It may 
 also well be believed that scandalous elections and 
 simoniacal bargainings and promises were much more 
 likely to occur in a College composed of but a small 
 number of individuals. 
 
 Having had occasion to speak of the creation of 
 cardinals in petto, it may be as weU to take this op- 
 portunity of explaining the meaning of that phrase, 
 before proceeding to speak of those regulations, customs, 
 and specialties which are essential to a sufficient under- 
 
24 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 standing of the nature of the august body to wHch the 
 making of the Pope is entrusted. 
 
 Yarious causes occasionally arose to lead a Pontiff 
 to deem it undesirable to name openly to the world the 
 person whom it was his wish and purpose to create a 
 cardinal. Sometimes the opposition, or at all events 
 the discontent, of some one among the sovereigns of 
 Europe, sometimes jealousies and ill-wiU among the 
 members of the Sacred College themselves, and some- 
 times the consideration that the individual to be 
 promoted might for a time be more serviceable to the 
 Holy See in the less exalted dignity from which he 
 was to be elevated to the pm-ple, induced the Pontiff 
 to keep his nomination secret. Martin V. {oh. 1431) 
 was the first who thus created cardinals in secret. 
 And the usage as practised by him and sundry of his 
 successors is to be distinguished from the subsequent 
 plan of creating in fetto to which it led. Pope 
 Martin created in one batch fourteen cardinals, naming 
 and publishing only ten, and confiding in secret Con- 
 sistory to the members of the Sacred College the names 
 of the other four, who were thus secretly created but 
 not published. The Pope further took the precaution 
 of confirming his secret nomination in a subsequent 
 Consistory, and not only strictly enjoined the cardinals 
 to pubUsh the creation of the persons in question and 
 to consider them as cardinals in case he, the Pope, 
 should die without having published them, but made 
 llieiu swoar solemnly that tliey would do so. The case 
 the Pope liiid looked forward to happened. Martin died 
 without liiiviug publisluMl lht> names of the cardinals 
 
HIERAECHT IN STATE OF FLTJIDITT, 25 
 
 thus secretly created. But tlie College, their promises 
 and oaths notwithstanding, refused to recognise the 
 persons in question as cardinals, or allow them to take 
 any part in the election of the new Pope. In some 
 similar cases, the succeeding Pope created afresh the 
 secretly named cardinals of his predecessor out of 
 regard for his memory. In more cases, those who 
 remained unpublished when their patron died never 
 obtained the purple. The cardinals themselves always 
 set themselves strongly against these secret nomina- 
 tions. 
 
 But as time went on the absolutism of the Popes 
 always went on increasing, and the power of the 
 cardinals to resist it diminishing. And Paul III., the 
 Farnese {oh. 1549), a very powerful and high-handed 
 Pontiff, pushed the practice of secret nomination a step 
 in advance. Up to that time the Popes had always 
 named the cardinals whose promotion they were un- 
 willing to publish in secret Consistory, taking the 
 Sacred College into their confidence. Paul simply 
 declared that besides those named as cardinal there were 
 one or two others, as the case might be, whose names he 
 reserved in Ms own hreast {in petto), to be named when 
 he should think proper. And, further, it became the 
 practice for a cardinal created in this fashion to take 
 precedence in the College according to the date of his 
 secret nomination, whereas previously the secretly 
 named cardinals had taken rank according to the date 
 of the publication of their dignity. 
 
 The form used at present in the practice of this secret 
 nomination is as follows. The Pope in Consistory, after 
 
26 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 naming those wtom he publicly creates, adds, ''Alios duos 
 [or more or less] in pectore reservamus, arbitrio nostro 
 quandocumque declarandos." The Popes, however, have 
 never succeeded in obtaining with any degree of certaiaty 
 the recognition of cardinals thus made if they should be 
 surprised by death before the publication of them. 
 Sometimes they have been allowed to take their places 
 in the Sacred College. Sometimes their title to do so 
 has been rejected. More frequently, perhaps, than 
 either, the succeeding Pope has given them admission to 
 the College by a nomination of his own. It is now, 
 however, a recognised maxim of the Eoman Curia that 
 no Pope on succeeding to the see of St. Peter is in any 
 wise bound to recognise any nominations left by his pre- 
 decessor in this incomplete condition, even if he should 
 find the document in which his predecessor had registered 
 his act in this respect, or if the facts of the case should 
 become known to him in any other manner. 
 
 Sometimes it has been the Papal practice to cause 
 some entirely confidential person of those about them to 
 make out a list of those intended to be comprised in a 
 coming creation of cardinals. And the secret history of 
 the Vatican has many anecdotes connected with this 
 practice. Bonifacio Vannozzi, of Pistoia, well known 
 in the history of the Eoman Court as having served it as 
 secretary for more than thirty years, had been employed 
 by Gregory XIY. (o5. 1591) to draw up such a list of 
 contemplated promotions. Ilaviug subsequently passed 
 into the service of the Cardinal di Santa CeciUa, the 
 Pope's nephew, tho latter, anxious to know the names of 
 those who wore to be promoted, succeeded in wronchiag 
 
HIERARCHY IN STATE OF ELT7IDITY. 27 
 
 them from Ms secretary Vannozzi, whose own name 
 was in the list. The Pope soon found out that his 
 nephew knew all about the new creations, and, sending 
 for Yannozzi, told him, that he had misinformed the 
 Cardiaal di Santa Cecilia in one respect at least, and so 
 saying handed him the list and bade him erase his own 
 name! 
 
 On another occasion it is related * that Pope Alexander 
 YIII. {oh. 1691) sent for his secretary Gianfranceso 
 Albani, who afterwards became Pope as Clement XI., 
 that he might prepare an allocution to be spoken by the 
 Pope on the following day but one, when a Consistory 
 was to be held for the creation of twelve new cardinals. 
 As the secretary proceeded with his work, the Pope, 
 walking up and down the room the while, told him 
 with many injunctions of profound secrecy the names 
 of the cardinals to be made, one by one as the secretary 
 came to that passage in the allocution which concerned 
 them ; for in Papal allocutions upon these occasions it is 
 the practice for the Pope to utter some words of eulogy 
 and record of services rendered to the Church with 
 reference to each of the new nominees. The Pope had 
 thus gone through the first eleven on his list, and then 
 stopping in his walk said, " Well ! why don't yon go 
 on with your notice of the twelfth ? " " But who is the 
 twelfth, your Holiness ? " returned Albani. "What! 
 don't you know how to write your own name ? " said the 
 Pope. " Thereupon," says the Jesuit biographer, who 
 was, when he wrote, Bishop of Sisteron, "Albani pro- 
 strated himself before the Pope and conjured him to 
 
 * Lafiteau, Life of Clement XI., p. 27, 2 vols. 12mo, 1752. 
 
28 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 nominate some more wortliy person " — a little bit of 
 hypocritical comedy which the Jesuit deems necessary 
 to the due exaltation of his subject. But the Pope, who 
 was virtually making him not only a cardinal, but his 
 own successor next but one — Innocent XII. (o5. 1700) 
 having reigned nine years in the interim — ^told him that 
 he had made many changes in the list of those whom he 
 purposed to elevate to the purple, but that he had never 
 once thought of omitting his name. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Ceremonial connected with the Creation of Cardinals. — Practice in the 
 Earliest Ages. — Consultation of the CoUege on the Subject. — Modem 
 Practice. — Communication of his Creation to the new Cardinal. — 
 His customary Duties thereupon. — Costume. — New Cardinal's Visit 
 to the Vatican. — ^Patronage. — Ceremonial at the Apostolic Palace. — 
 Speeches on the Occasion. — The " Beretta." — The new Cardinal's 
 Eeception. — Shutting and Opening of the new Cardinal's Mouth. — 
 Cardinalitial Eing. — Fees. — Ages at which Cardinals have been 
 made. — Anecdotes of Odet de Coligny, the Heretic Cardinal. — ^Laws 
 restricting Popes a Dead Letter. 
 
 It would occupy too much, time and space to attempt to 
 give a complete account of the ceremonies attendant on 
 the creation of the members of the Sacred College. But 
 as these ceremonies, both the strictly ecclesiastical por- 
 tion of tbem and the social accompaniments of them, 
 were for three or four hundred years, and up to the time 
 of the recent revolution, which put an end to the tem- 
 poral power of the Papacy, a prominent and leading 
 feature in the routine of practices which, constituted the 
 life of the Apostolic " Curia," and in the social life of 
 Eome, it is necessary to say a few words upon the 
 subject. For unless the ecclesiastical and social dignity 
 and position of a cardinal, and the sort of place he fills, 
 or rather filled, in the eyes of the Eoman world, be clearly 
 understood, the meaning and significance of a Conclave 
 wiU not be rightly apprehended. 
 
 In the earlier ages of the Church the ceremonial 
 
30 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 observed in the creation of a cardinal was not only much 
 more simple than it became at a subsequent period, 
 "which might have been expected, but it indicates also 
 that there was in those days a very much greater reahty 
 in the theory which represents the Sacred College as 
 an assisting and, to a certain degree, controlling Council 
 established for the guidance of the Holy Father. And 
 this, too, indeed, might be expected to have been the 
 case by those who have paid any attention to the progress 
 of Church history. 
 
 The creation of cardinals in the earKer centuries 
 usually took place on the first "Wednesday of the "Quattro 
 Tempera " or fast, with which each of the quarters of 
 the year began; and the first act of the creation took 
 place mostly at Santa Maria Maggiore. There after the 
 Introit and Collect of the Mass had been said, a reader 
 ascended the pulpit, and turning towards the people, 
 said in a loud voice, " Cognoscat caritas vestra quia 
 (N. N.) de titulo (N. '!^.) advocatur in ordine- diaconatus 
 ad diaconiam (E. N.) et (N. N.) diaconus de titulo (IsT. K.) 
 advocatur in ordine presbyteri ad titulum (N. N.). Si quis 
 habit adversus hos viros aliquam querelam exeat confi- 
 denttir propter Deum et secundum Deum, et dicat." * 
 If any objection was stated, inquiry was made ; and if 
 it was found to be well founded, a diflferent person was 
 raised to the cardinalate. On the following Friday the 
 
 * " Be it known to your charitable consideration that N. N., of the title 
 of N. N. , is called in the order of deacons to the deaconry of N. N. , and N. N. , 
 deacon of the titlo N. N., is called in the order of priests to the title N. N. 
 If any man hath any complaint against yiose men, let him step forth 
 with confidence, in behalf of God, and according to God's Word, and 
 toll the same." 
 
HIEEARCHY IN STATE OP FLXJIDITT. 31 
 
 same thing was repeated in th.e clmrcli of the Twelve 
 Apostles, The next day, the Saturday, at the mass 
 at St. Peter's, after the Introit and the Collect, the 
 Pontiff, turning to the people, pronounced these words : 
 *' Auxiliante Domine Deo, et Salvatore nostro Jesu Christo 
 eligimus in ordinem Diaconi (N. N.) de titulo (N. N.) ad 
 diaconiam (N. N.) et (E. N.) Diaconum di titulo (N. N.) 
 ia ordiae Presbyteratus ad titulum (H. 'N.). Si quis autem 
 habet aliquid contra hos viros, pro Deo et propter Deum 
 exeat et dicat. Verumtamen memor vit conditionis 
 suse."* Then there was a pause for a short period, and 
 if nobody came forward with any objection, the Pope 
 proceeded to celebrate mass, and then declared the pro- 
 motion of the persons named to the cardiualate, and 
 gave them the scarlet hat then and there. 
 
 At a somewhat later period the Pope asked of the 
 Sacred College assembled in secret Consistory whether 
 in their opinion there should be a creation of cardiaals, 
 and of how many. Then on receiving an aflSrmative 
 reply to the first question, he pronounced the words : 
 ^' ISTos sequimur consilium dicentium quod fiant." j- Then 
 according to the tenor of the replies to the second 
 question, he said : " Nos sequimur consilium dicentium 
 quod fiant," — such or such a number. He then 
 requested the members of the College to give the choice 
 of persons their best consideration, and so dismissed the 
 meeting, A second Consistory was held on the follow- 
 ing Friday, and the first thing done was the deputing 
 
 * " Let Vii-m howeyer be mindful of his own condition." A hint not to 
 speak lightly or presumingly. 
 
 + " We foUow the advice of those who say that there should be a 
 creation." 
 
32 THE PAPAL CONCIiAVES. 
 
 by the Pope of two cardinals to go to the residence of 
 all those who were too infirm to attend the Consistory^ 
 and collect their votes as to the persons to be promoted. 
 When the deputation returned the Pope said : "Portetur 
 nuda cathedra ! " * Thereupon all the cardinals rose 
 and ranged themselves against the wall of the haU so as 
 to be out of ear-shot of the Pope's seat. The chair was 
 placed at the Pontiff's right hand, and the Dean of the 
 Sacred College seated himself in it. The Pope then ia a 
 low voice told him whom he thought of creating, and 
 concluded with '' Quid vobis videtur ? " f One by one 
 in order of seniority the whole College was thus consulted. 
 When this was completed the Pope said aloud: "Deo 
 gratias, habemus de personis creandis concordiam omnium 
 fratrum," or "quasi omnium," or "majoris partis," J as 
 the case might be. And then the Pontiff at once pro- 
 claimed the new dignitaries with the following formula : 
 "Auctoritate Dei onmipotentis, sanctorum Apostolorum 
 Petri et Pauli, et nostra creamus Sanctae Eomanse 
 Ecclesise cardinales presbyteros quidem (N. N.), diaconos 
 vero (N. N.), cum dispensationibus derogationibus et 
 clausulis necessariis et opportunis." &e. On the follow- 
 ing Saturday a public Consistory was held, at which the 
 Pope addressed a hortatory allocution to the new 
 cardiaals, placed the hat on their heads, and kept them to 
 dine with him. Soon, howovev, wo find all semblance of 
 consulting the Sacred College dropped ; and long before 
 the intricate mass of rules for the ceremonial at present 
 
 • "Let an empty chair be brought.'' 
 ] " What do you think of it P " 
 
 j "Thanks be to Ood, wo hare the consent of all our brethren," or " of 
 nearly all of thorn," or " of the majority." 
 
HIERAECHT IST STATE OP PLUIDITT. 33 
 
 prevailing were invented, the Pope simply announced 
 to the assembled cardinals, "Habemus fratres;"* and 
 then proceeded to declare the names of those he chose 
 to promote. 
 
 It will be observed that from a very early time secrecy 
 as to the names of those who were to be made cardinals, 
 formed, as it still does amid so much else that has be- 
 come changed, a very prominent feature in the method 
 of proceeding. And we gather from this fact an indica- 
 tion of the difilculty the Popes had to steer their way in 
 this matter amid all the jealoxisies, enmities, intrigues, 
 which this exercise of their patronage brought into play, 
 and which in the earlier times were always tending to 
 break out into open violence and even warfare. They 
 had also to guard against the embarrassments arising 
 from the requests of those whom it might often have 
 been difl3.cult to refuse. 
 
 In later times, when the Pope has determined on the 
 creation of a batch of cardinals, he calls a secret Con- 
 sistory—an assembly, that is to say, of the Sacred 
 College. He then proceeds to read the allocution, the 
 preparation of which was described in the last chapter, 
 and at the conclusion of it says, " Quid vobis videtur ? " 
 
 <■<■ How seems it to you ? " The words are as unreal a 
 
 form as the "in pace " which consigned an erring nun 
 to her living grave. For any expression of opinion on the 
 subject by any member of the assembly would be as much 
 out of the question in the one case as the hypocritical 
 farewell is meaningless in the other. The assembled 
 cardinals aU rise, take off their purple caps {henetta) 
 
 * " We have as brothers." 
 
34 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 and gravely bow their heads. Thereupon the Pope pro- 
 ceeds to the creation in the following solemn form of 
 words : " Auctoritate omnipotentis Dei, sanctorum Apos- 
 tolorum Petri et Pauli ac nostra, creamus Sancta Eomanae 
 Ecclesise, cardinales presbyteros quidem (N. N.), diaconos 
 vero (N. E".), cum dispensationibus, derogationibus, et 
 clausulis necessariis et opportunis." * If any cardinals 
 are to be created in petto^ he here adds the form of words 
 above given in the former chapter. He then thrice 
 makes the sign of the cross with his right hand, saying 
 as he does so, " In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus 
 Sancti. Amen." And the Consistory is at an end. 
 
 It is supposed that no one of the newly made Cardinals 
 has any idea that such greatness is about to be thrust 
 upon him. Of course it is almost always all perfectly well 
 known beforehand. There have been cases, however, in 
 •which the news of the promotion was wholly imexpected 
 by the subject of it, but they are so few that Moroni 
 gives a list of all the recorded cases. There are also many 
 cases, occurring in times when communications were not 
 so rapid as they arc now, of persons having been created 
 cardinals who were dead at the time of their creation. 
 
 With regard to those cardinals who are in Eome, and 
 Avho are supposed to be entirely ignorant of the coming 
 greatness, a master of ceremonies clothed in a purple 
 mantle proceeds immediately after the termination of 
 the Consistory to announce this promotion to each of 
 
 * " By the authority of Omnipotent Gk)d, and by that of the Holy 
 Apostles Petor and Paul, and by our own, we create cardinals of the 
 holy Eoman Church, in tho rank of priests (!So and so), and in the 
 rank of deacons (So and so), willi all tho necessary and fitting dispon- 
 *!i(ions, limitations, and ivscrvations." 
 
HIERAECHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 35 
 
 them viva voce at their own residences, informing them 
 at the same time at what hour that same afternoon they 
 are to go to the Apostolic Palace to receive the purple 
 cap. In fact, however, this is not the first notice the 
 new cardinals have received of their promotion, for a 
 servant of the Cardinal Secretary of State, carrying a 
 note from his master, has outrun the Master of Ceremo- 
 nies in his purple mantle and anticipated him. A third 
 messenger, however, bringing the same glad tidings, 
 comes to each of the new Eminences. For the Cardinal 
 Vice-Chancellor, beiag by virtue of his office the only man 
 who can authentically certify, the acts done in the Consis- 
 tory, his substitute starts even before the Consistory is 
 quite at an end, that is, as soon as ever the bell sounds 
 which announces the utterance of the creating words, and 
 is thus the first of all to carry the tidings. All this is 
 settled prescriptively and perfectly known to all Eome — 
 to all Eome as it was, for the greater part of the Eome 
 of the present day knows no more of such matters than 
 Londoners do. And it was not without reason that it 
 should have been so, for all these various annunciations 
 were the occasion of receiving large fees — a valuable 
 part of the emoluments of the different offices, which, 
 in some cases, had been bought on careful calculation 
 of such profits. 
 
 As soon as ever the first announcement has been 
 received, the new cardinal places himself clothed in 
 purple cassock and band on the threshold of his residence, 
 there to receive standing the so-called visite di colore, 
 — the first heat visits, as we may say, of the prelates, 
 nobles, military officers, and cardinals' gentlemen, who 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 come to offer their congratulations. Other and more 
 formal visiting will follow in due time; but these m/fe 
 di calore are supposed to represent the enthusiastic 
 rush of friends breathless with delight at the unexpected 
 news. On this occasion the new cardinal is to have a 
 black skull-cap on Ms head, which he is not to take 
 off to anybody, and he is to hold a somewhat larger 
 black cap in his hand the whUe. The article which I 
 have called a skull-cap is the lerettina. The lerretta, 
 which the cardinal holds in his hand, is the square- 
 cornered cap which the clergy use in church. The 
 lerretta of a cardinal is of sUk for the summer and 
 of cloth for the winter, save in the case of members of 
 the monastic orders, who wear merino in the summer. 
 And if the new dignitary be a canon regular, or a member 
 of any of the monastic orders, his cassock, instead of 
 being purple, must be of the colour of the dress of his 
 order. To those of the newly-created cardinals who 
 are not in Eome, the purple lerretta is sent by the 
 hands of a papal ablegate, but the purple - lerettina 
 by those of one of the Pope's Koblc Guard. In some 
 cases where it has been intended to show special favom* 
 and distinction, the Hat itself has been sent to cardinals 
 created at a distance fi'om Eome. But this has been 
 A'cry rarely done. 
 
 Paul II. {ol. 1471) was the fii-st Pope who granted to 
 the cardinals the use of the purple, or rather scarlet, cap. 
 Bonanni, in the lOCtli chapter (!) of his learned work 
 on the cardinal's lerretta saj's this colom* reminds the 
 cardinal not only of his superior dignity, but of the 
 martyrdom for which he must be ever prepared for the 
 
HIEEAECHY IN STATE OP FLUIDITY. 37 
 
 ■defence of th.e Clnxrch. ! A somewhat better known 
 author, Petrarch, in a letter to the Bishop of Sabina,'^^ 
 speaks of certain cardinals who, "being not only mortal, 
 but well-nigh moribund, are rendered oblivious of their 
 mortality by a little bit of red cloth ! " 
 
 For a long time the members of the monastic orders 
 were spared this danger, and used caps of the same 
 colour as their cassocks, which they still wear of the 
 colour proper to their order. Gregory XIV. (ob. 1591), 
 however, being moved thereto by the entreaties of 
 Cardinal Bonelli, a Dominican, nephew of Pius V., 
 thought seriously of granting the red cap to the 
 cardinals of the monastic orders, and ordered the " Con- 
 gregation of Eites" to examine the question. Five 
 cardinals constituted the congregation, of whom the three 
 oldest reported in favour of the measure. As they were 
 not unanimous, however, on the question, Gregory 
 thought it desirable to take the opinion of the entire 
 College of Cardinals on the point; and a majority of 
 three-quarters of the College being in. favour of the inno- 
 vation, the monastic cardinals got their red caps, and 
 have worn them ever since. Accordiagly, Gregory 
 summoned the four monastic cardinals, who at that 
 time belonged to the Sacred College, to the Quirinal, on 
 the 19th of June, 1591, and there, having caused four 
 red caps to be brought on a silver salver, placed them on 
 the heads of the four cardiaals kneeling before him 
 without more ado (sensa ultra eeremoma) ; and thus, with 
 their red caps on their heads, they appeared at the mass 
 ■celebrated that morning at the Chiu'ch of the Apostles, 
 
 * Lib. XT. Epist. 4. 
 
38 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 with the applause, says the special historian* of this im- 
 portant concession, of the whole court, no less than if there 
 had been a creation of new cardinals. The importance of 
 this event at Eome maybe measured by the fact that the 
 volume above cited by no means contains the whole liter- 
 ature of the subject. Father Tommaso Gonziani pub- 
 lished a letter on the same topic addressed to the Car- 
 dinal Alessandrtno. There appeared also in 1592, and 
 again in a second edition in 1606, a book "De Bireto 
 rubro, dando S.E.E. Cardinalibus regularibus, responsa 
 prudentum divini, humanique juris, ab Antonia Scappo, 
 in Eomana Curia advocate coUecta, uno etiam addito ejus- 
 response." "We have also, "Eesponsum di-voni humanique 
 juris consultorum de Bireto coccineo Illustriss, S.E.E, 
 Card, regularibus aPontifi.ee conferendo. Eome, 1606." 
 Indeed, it was time that this matter should be satis- 
 factorily settled. For already a Franciscan friar. Cardinal 
 of Aracoeli, had been so discontented with the black cap, 
 given him by Paul IV. {oh. 1559), that, after wearing it 
 a year, he had sadly scandalized all Eome by audaciously 
 assuming a red one on no authority but his own, '' it 
 being found impossible to make him understand that 
 he ought not to wear red as well as the others " ! " For 
 how otherwise," said this Franciscan friar, "should he 
 be saved from coming into contact with the populace ? '' 
 
 To return to the ceremonial of the day on which the 
 new cardinals have been proclaimed. Half an hour 
 before the time named for their arrival at the Papal 
 palace to receive the bcrrcf/n, each cai-dinal sends a 
 carriage — not his state carriage but a more ordinai'y 
 
 * I'atcnn, " Itisiuisii JclLi bonoltii rossa di Jarsi ai Cardinali rcligiosi." 
 
HIERARCHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 39 
 
 one — ^with two chaplains and two chamberlains in it to 
 the palace. One of the chamberlains carries wrapped in a 
 purple cloth garnished with a golden fringe the rochet, 
 the band, and the violet-coloured cape, and ordinary epis- 
 copal hat of his master. He consigns all these things 
 to the master of ceremonies of the Sacred Palace, who 
 places them in a chamber of the apartment of the 
 cardinal nephew. All these dependents of the new 
 cardinals then wait in the first ante-chamber, and the 
 eldest among them places himself near the door in readi- 
 ness to open the door of his master's carriage on his 
 arrival. Why rehearse all this trash? Because at 
 Eome, as Eome was, all these matters were deemed 
 worthy of being minutely and irrevocably settled and 
 appointed; and they are described authoritatively in 
 the learned volumes of those whose mastery of the 
 intricate and complex science of the etiquette of the 
 Pontifical Couit made them highly necessary specialists 
 in their own branch of learning. A whole crowd of 
 such facts are needed to give a nineteenth- century 
 Englishman some notion of the social state and pecu- 
 liarities of the old Papal Eome. And aU these minute 
 little services and duties were privileges carrying with 
 them advantages in one kind or another. And the 
 distribution of these privileges and the possibility of 
 sharing in these advantages were matters that came 
 home in one shape or another to half the homes in Eome, 
 in every social class, and formed topics of conversation 
 and interest in that strange little world so curiously 
 shut out from all the subjects that were interesting the 
 other big world outside ! The Princess's tirewoman, 
 
40 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 wtile dressing her mistress's hair, would seek to induce 
 her to move her brother the Cardinal to appoint as his 
 senior chamberlain some relative, or more probably some 
 client who had feed the waiting-woman for her 
 advocacy. Some family poor to the extent of all but 
 wanting bread, but respectable by virtue of some family 
 connection with somebody who held some post or office 
 in the retinue or household of some prelate, would specu- 
 late on the contingent advantages that might arise to 
 them through certain promotion that might fall to the 
 lot of uncle Beppo, or cousin Giuseppe, Monsignore's 
 intendente di casa, in case Monsignore should be raised 
 to the purple. One gossip calls upon another in quest 
 of a favour. " Car a mia, I should so like to get a look at 
 the new cardinals as they come for their lerrette I Xow 
 you know your husband's brother is decano in the family 
 of his Eminence of San Pietro in Yincula that is to be. 
 He will of course be at the carriage door at the QuiriQal. 
 If you could get him to let me have a little place in a 
 corner — eh ? " These things are patronage, and are 
 valued, and make safe topics of interest and talk for a 
 people ! 
 
 "Well ! At the appointed hour the new dignitaries 
 arrive at the palace in their state carriages, accompanied 
 each by his master of the chambers and cupbearer, " or 
 gentleman." The carriage must have its blinds down, 
 and be preceded by one single servant "\^ithout 
 umbrella " (the imibrclla which always precodos a 
 prelate on state occasions), and all the other servants of 
 the household (men of course) follow the carriage, 
 except the "sub-doan" [i.e. the servant second in 
 
HIERARCHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 41 
 
 seniority), who walks at the right hand of the carriage 
 door. The " dean," we remember, is waiting to open 
 the door of the carriage for his master on his arrival. 
 The new cardinal is received at the palace doors by a 
 master of the ceremonies and the chief of the out- 
 runners, and proceeds to the ante-chamber, where the 
 cardinal nephew meets him and conducts him to his own 
 apartment, where the master of ceremonies takes the 
 prelate's band off him, and girds him with one 
 adorned with tassels of gold. He also puts on him, 
 unless he be a member of a monastic order, a rochet * 
 and mantle. And thus accoutred he is presented by 
 the cardinal nephew to the Pope, whom he finds seated 
 on his throne clothed in rochet and cape,t and sur- 
 rounded by all the dignitaries of his court. The new 
 dignitary approaching kneels three times at intervals, 
 and on arriving at the foot of the throne, led by the 
 master of the ceremonies, he prostrates himself to kis 
 the papal slipper. The master of the ceremonies then 
 brings the scarlet mossetta which the Pope places 
 on the shoulders of the new cardinal with his own 
 hands. He then similarly places the " berxetta " of like 
 colour on his head. But the master of the ceremonies 
 who brought the mossetta must not touch the herretta. 
 The latter is brought by a prelate, "Monsignore 
 Guardaroba," or at least by his deputy. As soon as 
 
 * The " rochet " is the linen garment reaching about half-way down the 
 body, with sleeves covering the entire arm to the wrist, generally richly 
 laced, which in the Eoman Catholic Church answers to our surplice. 
 
 t Mozzetta. The mozzetta is that cape of fur or of silk peculiar to the 
 Pope, cardinals, bishops, abbots, and canons, which the latter are 
 ordinarily seen wearing in the choir during service. 
 
42 THE PAPAL CONCLAYES. 
 
 this has been done, the new cardinal again kisses the 
 foot and also the knee of the Pontiff, who then gives 
 him the kiss of peace on both cheeks — lo ammette al 
 duplice amplesso. Then the Pope makes a speech, in 
 which he speaks of the shining merits of the new 
 dignitary, of the motives which have moved him (the 
 Pope) to make the creation, and reminds the new 
 cardinal of the duties and responsibilities, which that 
 dignity brings with it. The cardinal — or the senior of 
 the group in the name of all, if, as is ordinarily the 
 case, there are several — makes a speech in reply, full 
 of promises and thanks, and concluding, says Moroni, * 
 as if he were giving a receipt for the performance of 
 this task, with a declaration that it is only to the 
 Pontiff's indulgence that the promotion is due. Indeed, 
 Parisi, the writer of a work entitled, " Instructions," 
 respecting all these points of ceremonial, gives a collec- 
 tion of forms for these thanksgiving speeches ! 
 
 As soon as the speech is finished the first master of 
 the ceremonies pronounces "Extra omnes," and the 
 Pope and the new cardinals and the Cardinal Secretary 
 of State are left for awhile alone together. "WTien they 
 are dismissed they return to the outer room, where they 
 find the "Monsignore Sotto Guardaroba" waiting for 
 them, ready to present to each on a silver salver the 
 berettina^ or scarlet skull-cap, to be worn under the 
 berretta, which they ha^o already received in the 
 Pope's presence ; after which they return to the apart- 
 ment of the Secretary of State, and after a little conver- 
 sation depart in their carriages as they came. Arrived 
 
 * Vol. y. p. IGO. 
 
HIEEARCHY IN STATE OE FLUIDITY. 43 
 
 at his own residence, tlie new cardinal lays aside his 
 rochet and mantle, and clad in cardinal's cassock and 
 cape, and " with his red herretta ia his hand," proceeds to 
 receive the congratulatory visits of the Eoman world. 
 
 The laws and regulations prescribed respecting the 
 honorific custody, and, one may say, attendance, on this 
 taKsmanic scarlet cap (not to to be confounded, it should 
 be observed, with the still more majestic and awful Hat), 
 are curiously illustrative of the ways and tone of the old 
 Eoman society. Even after the day of which we are 
 speaking, the herretta is to be placed on a little table 
 all to itself in the cardinal's throne apartment. His 
 Eminence uses it whenever he is in a cardinal's 
 canonicals. And on these occasions, when he takes it 
 from his head, he gives it to his " gentleman of the 
 chamber" to hold. When, however, his Eminence 
 attends collegiate service in the Papal or Cardinal's 
 Chapel, at the entrance to the sacristy, the gentleman 
 of the chamber consigns the cap to the cardinal's train- 
 bearer, who never quits his master, and hands it to him 
 every time he covers himself during the service, which 
 is very frequently, and when he receives incense. But 
 on those occasions when the cardinals wear the mitre, 
 the gentleman of the chamber always carries the 
 herretta, and in processions holds it in his hand 
 walking by the side of his master, " as an ensign," says 
 Moroni,* of the cardinalitial dignity. Caraccioli, 
 Bishop of Lecce, in the fifteenth century, strongly 
 recommends the kissing of the herretta every morning 
 and every evening. 
 
 * Loc. a'l. 
 
44 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 When any one of royal blood, or a brother or a 
 nepbew of the Pope, is created cardinal, the guns of 
 St. Angelo fire a salute ; and at the Consistory in which 
 the publication is made the oldest member of the Sacred 
 College rises immediately on the declaration of the 
 name by the Pope, and prays the Pontiff to give him 
 the scarlet lerretta instantly on the spot, which, in ac- 
 cordance with duly registered precedent, his Holiness 
 does. 
 
 The receptions held by newly-created cardinals on 
 the evening of the day of their creations, as mentioned 
 above, were always one of the great features in the old 
 Eoman society, and the evening in question was looked 
 forward to as a time of high festival by all the city. 
 There was a general illumination of the city, with fire- 
 works and burning of tar-barrels, specially in front of the 
 palaces of the cardinals and the representatives of foreign 
 sovereigns. The fronts of the residences of the new 
 cardinals were ornamented with illuminations in elabo- 
 rate designs, and vast sums were spent on these decora- 
 tions by the richer dignitaiies, specially by such as 
 were desirous of ingratiating themselves with the 
 Eoman people. It was a great matter for fine-di'awn 
 political speculations to watch carefully who went and 
 who omitted to go, or who went eai'ly and eagerly 
 and who late and perfunctorily, to the new cardinal's 
 reception on the night of his creation. As a rule, " all 
 Eomo " was tlierc, and his Eminence's rooms were all 
 a-glittcr with the crosses and stars of diploniatists, the 
 gorgeous robes of ecclesiastical princes, and the diamonds 
 of the Roman ladies, to whom these receptions were 
 
HIEEAECHT IN STATE OF PLXIIDITY. 45 
 
 occasions for displaying tlieir utmost magnificence. 
 The appearance of (say) the Imperial ambassador's wife 
 with less than the full array of diamonds she was 
 known to possess, still more, of course, her non- 
 appearance, would at once have made a ground for 
 speculating on the probability that the newly-made 
 cardinal would be struck by the Imperial " Veto "* at 
 the next papal election. The doors of the new Eminence 
 were understood to be open on this occasion ; and any 
 stranger in Eome, or indeed anybody to whom the 
 tailor or milliner had given a satisfactory ticket of 
 admission, might enter. 
 
 There is one other curious ceremony which must be 
 noticed before this, it may be feared tedious, chapter of 
 the mode of cardinal-makiag can be concluded — ^the 
 closing and opening of the mouths of the new cardinals. 
 In the first secret Consistory after the creation, before 
 laying before the members of the Sacred College the 
 business in hand, the Pope addresses these words to the 
 lately promoted dignitaries : " Claudimus vobis os, ut 
 neque in consistoriis, neque in congregationibus, aliisque 
 functionibus cardinalitiis sententiam vestram dicere 
 valeatis." f And at the end of the same Consistory he 
 says : '* Aperianus vobis os, J ut in consistoriis, &c., &c., 
 sententiam vestram dicere valeatis. In nomine Patris, 
 et Pilii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen." And so saying, he 
 makes the sign of the cross thrice with his right hand. 
 
 * An account of the origin, nature, and practice of this usage will be 
 found in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 f " We close your mouths, so that you have no power to speak your 
 opinion in consistories or congregations, or any cardinalitial functions." 
 
 + " We open your mouths," &c. &c. 
 
46 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 It used to be the custom for the new cardinal, whose 
 mouth had been shut, to leave the hall of the Consistory- 
 while the Pope consulted the Sacred College as to the 
 opening of the mouth of their new colleague. There- 
 upon the novice came in and had his mouth opened. 
 But this form has been disused of late times : an indica- 
 tion, even in such little matters of mere formality, of 
 the general tendency to erect the pontifical power into 
 a pure and absolute despotism, -uncontrolled even by the 
 semblance of any consultative authority in the College. 
 At a still more remote period, the mouths of new 
 cardinals were shut in one Consistory, and were not 
 opened tiU the following meeting of the College. 
 
 Pope Eugenius IV. {oh. 1447) decreed that^if any 
 cardinal had not had his mouth opened at the time of 
 the Pope's death, he could not take part in the following 
 Conclave. But there are signs that there was previously 
 some idea that such ought to be the case. For it is on 
 record that the English Cardinal Winterburn was in 
 this plight at the death of Benedict XI., in 1304, and 
 that his mouth was opened by the Dean of the Sacred 
 College, authorised to do so by a vote of the entire 
 College. Pius V., however, by a decretal dated 26th 
 January, 1571, repealed the decision of Eugenius. 
 
 After the opening of the mouth, the Pope places on 
 the new cardinal's finger the cai'dinalitial ring of gold, 
 with a sapphire, and at the same time assigns to each 
 the church from which ho is to take his title. In eai-ly 
 times the ring of a deceased cardinal was given to the 
 newly-created one. Nevertheless, there exist contem- 
 poraneous notices of cardinals disposing of the ring 
 
HIERARCHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 47 
 
 in question by will; so tliat it should seem that also 
 in this respect the institution was, in the fourteenth 
 century, in a state of fluidity. In modern times it has 
 been the custom for each new cardinal to pay for his 
 ring five hundred crowns to the CoUege de Propaganda 
 Fide^ which till the money was paid did not despatch 
 the brief (which it is the function of the College to do), 
 on which depends the commencement of drawing the 
 cardinal's allowance. 
 
 A few words may be added as to the age at which 
 persons can be, or have been, made cardinals ; and it 
 will be seen that, in this respect also, the institution 
 remained in a state of fluidity up to a comparatively 
 recent period. It seems to have been generally under- 
 stood that the rule was that thirty years of age should 
 be requisite to the cardinalate. Yet Sixtus Y., in the 
 Bull which professed to regulate the requirements for 
 eligibility to that dignity, decrees that no cardinal 
 deacon shall be created under twenty-two years of 
 age. He also declares that if one so created be not 
 already in deacon's orders, he must receive them within 
 the year, or remain without any voice in the College. 
 Many Popes have, by dispensation, permitted the interval 
 allowed before the necessity of taking deacon's orders 
 to be greatly extended. But if the Pontiff happened 
 to die during the time thus allowed, the cardinal who 
 was not in orders could not, save by forthwith receiving 
 them, enter the Conclave or vote for the new Pope. 
 
 In this matter of the age, however, at which a 
 cardinal could be created, as in so many others, it has 
 been found impossible to bind one infallible Yicar of 
 
48 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Clirist by the decree of another. Despite all rules and 
 precedents to the contrary, each Pope created such 
 persons cardinals as it was convenient to him to create. 
 Giocinto Bobo Orsini was created cardinal at twenty 
 by Honorius II. in 1126, and became Pope as Celes- 
 tine III. sixty-five years afterwards ! Clement YI., in 
 1348, created his nephew, Peter Eoger, cardinal at 
 seventeen ; and this young cardinal also became Pope 
 in 1370 under the name of Gregory XI. Eugenius IV., 
 in 1440, made his nephew, Peter Barbo, cardinal, who 
 also subsequently became Pope as Patd II. Sixtus lY.y 
 in 1477, created John of Arragon, the son of Ferdinand, 
 King of Naples, cardinal at the age of fourteen, but 
 gave him the hat only four years later. The same 
 Pontiff, at the same time, created his nephew, EaffaeUe 
 Eiario, cardinal when he was seventeen and a student 
 at Pisa. 
 
 Innocent YIII. (ob. 1492) created Giovanni Medicis, 
 who afterwards became Leo X., and who had been 
 Apostolic Protonotary ever since he was seven years 
 old, cardinal at the age of fourteen, adding the con- 
 dition that he was not to wear the purple tiU three 
 years later, evidently indicating his (Pope Innoccut's) 
 opinion that a cardinal of seventeen might be created 
 without scandal, as indeed such a step was, as we have 
 seen, not without precedent. Alexander TI. (ob. 1503) 
 created Ippolito d'Este a cardinal at seventeen, having 
 the excuse indeed that Ippolito had at that time been 
 an archbishop for ]tho last nine years, Sixtus IV. having 
 appointed him to the arcliiopiscopal sec of Strigonia at 
 the age of eight ! At the same time Alexander created 
 
HIEEAECHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 49 
 
 Frederic Casimir Jagellon, tlie son of the King of 
 Poland, when he was nineteen, and had abeady for 
 some little time been Bishop of Cracow. 
 
 Leo X. {oh. 1521) was hardly grateful to the Pope 
 who had made him a cardinal at fourteen, for, when 
 Pope, he made Innocenzo Cibo, the nephew of his old 
 patron, wait till his twenty-first year for the purple. 
 But he created "William de Croy a cardinal at nineteen, 
 and Alfred of Portugal, the son of the King, at seyen 
 years old, on condition that he should not assume the 
 outward marks of the dignity till he should have 
 reached the mature age of fourteen ! He also made 
 John of Lorraine, son of Duke Bene II. of SicUy, 
 cardinal at twenty, Alexander YL having previously 
 made him coadjutor to the bishopric of Metz at four 
 years of age ! Hercules Gonzaga, who had been made 
 bishop of his native Mantua at fifteen by Leo X., was 
 made cardinal by Clement VII. at twenty-two. The 
 poof Bishop must have almost despaired by that time 
 of ever reaching the purple ! Clement made his own 
 cousin IppoHto at eighteen, and Odet de Coligny, at 
 the request of Francis I. of Prance, when he was in 
 his twelfth year. 
 
 This promotion, however, turned out ill. For 
 Coligny, though he became Bishop of Beauvais in his 
 thirteenth, and Archbishop of Toulouse in his four- 
 teenth year, and held many abbeys into the bargain,, 
 fell eventually into heresy, and had to be formally 
 deposed from the purple. His heresy, indeed, was of 
 the most flagrant sort. At Beauvais, one Easter, he 
 received the Holy Communion in both kinds, which^ 
 
50 THE PAPAL CONCLATES. 
 
 though he was a bishop and an archbishop, not being in 
 
 Ml priest's orders, it was sacrilege to do. Then he " took 
 
 to the profession of arms, giving thereby terrible scandal 
 
 to all Catholics." Yet those who remembered the 
 
 history of their Church, and the example of Julius II., 
 
 and many another Pope and cardinal and bishop, need 
 
 not have been so scandalized at this. But he fought 
 
 on the wrong side! And stiU. worse married, or, as 
 
 the ecclesiastical writers are careful to point out, 
 
 pretended to marry, a wife, Isabelle di Lore, Lady of 
 
 Hauteville, "whom, deacon as he was, he lived with 
 
 as a concubine." Thereupon Pius IV. {oh. 1565), on 
 
 the 11th of September, 1563, proclaimed his deposition 
 
 from the cardinalate throughout all France. He was 
 
 exiled thence, escaped to England, where Elizabeth gave 
 
 him and his wife Sion House to live in. He died and 
 
 was buried at Canterbury, in 1568, poisoned, as was 
 
 said, by his servants. 
 
 How fearful and wonderful a thing, that one whom 
 the Church had so marked for her own that she made 
 him a cardinal at eleven, a bishop at twelve, and an 
 archbishop at thirteen, should have been so little 
 seriously impressed by the sacred nature of his respon- 
 sibilities and respect for his Church ! Truly mai'velloTis 
 and incomprehensible are the ways of Providence ! 
 
 There seems to be reason, however, to doubt whether, 
 despite all that has been stated, Coligiiy, if he had 
 presented himself at a conclave for the election of a 
 Pope, could have been cauonicully excluded and 
 deprived of his vote. But this is a subject to which 
 -\ve shall have to return in a later chapter. 
 
HIERAECHT IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 51 
 
 Paul III,, Farnese {oh. 1549), made Ms nephe-w, 
 Alexander Farnese, a cardinal at fourteen ; his grand- 
 son, Guido Ascanio Sforza, son of his daughter 
 Costanza, at sixteen; his cousin, Mccolo Gaetani, at 
 twelve; and a second grandson, Eanucio Farnese, at 
 fifteen, to whom he had a year before given the arch- 
 bishopric of Naples! He also created Charles of 
 Lorraine, son of the Due de Guise, and brother of 
 Mary Queen of Scots, cardinal at twenty -two, although 
 he had at the time a brother in the Sacred College, 
 which was contrary to the constitutions and the decree 
 of one of his predecessors. Lastly, he made his relative, 
 GiuUo Feltre della Eovere, brother of the Duke of 
 Urbino, a cardinal at eleven ! 
 
 Julius III. {oh. 1555) created Innocenzo del Monte 
 cardinal at seventeen, and his two nephews, Eoberto 
 dei Nobili at fourteen, and Girolamo Simoncelli at 
 twenty-one. The latter is noted as having been a 
 cardinal during sixty years ! The zealous and earnest 
 Pius lY. (oi. 1565), besides creating several cardinals 
 at from twenty to twenty-three, made Ferdinand de 
 Medici a cardinal at fourteen. Gregory XIII. {ol. 
 1585) made Andrew of Austria, a natural son of 
 the Archduke Ferdinand, a cardinal at eighteen ; and 
 Albert of Austria, son of Maximilian II., at the same 
 age. He also created Charles of Lorraine at sixteen, 
 and Francesco Sforza at twenty. The high-handed 
 reformer, Sixtus Y. {oh. 1590), made his nephew, 
 Alexander Peretti, cardinal at fourteen; and Innocent 
 IX. {oh. 1591), found time in his two months' papacy 
 to create his nephew, Antonio Fachinetti della Noce, 
 
 E 2 
 
62 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 at eighteen. Innocent was aware, probably, tbat he 
 had no time to lose ! 
 
 Clement VIII. (ob. 1605) made Wilhelm, son of the 
 Duke of Bavaria, a cardinal at twenty : but he had 
 been Bishop of Eatisbon ever since he had been in the 
 cradle ! Clement also created his relative, Gio. Battista 
 Deti, cardinal at seventeen, and his nephew, Silvestro 
 Aldobrandini, at sixteen, although he had previously 
 raised to the purple his brother, Pietro Aldobrandini, 
 at the age of twenty-two, despite the papal decree 
 forbidding two brothers to belong to the Sacred CoUege 
 at the same time. 
 
 Paul Y. (ob. 1621) created Maurice of Savoy at four- 
 teen; Carlo de Medici at nineteen; and Ferdinand of 
 Austria, son of Philip III. of Spaia, at ten ! 
 
 Urban VIII., Barberini (ob. 1644), although he had 
 akeady placed iu the Sacred College Francesco and 
 Antonio Barberini, his brother and his nephew, created 
 his other nephew, Antonio, at the age of twenty. 
 
 Innocent X., Pamphili (ob. 1655), made the nephew 
 of his sister-in-law, the celebrated Olympia, cardinal 
 at seventeen; and Clement IX. (ob. 1669) made Sigis- 
 mund Chigi, the nephew of Alexander VII., a cardinal 
 at nineteen, in return, we are told, for the purple which 
 he had himself received from Alexander VII. 
 
 Alexander VIII. (ob. 1691) created Lorenzo Altieri, 
 the nephew of Clement X., cardinal at nineteen; 
 Clement XII. (ob. 1740) made Luigi di Borboni, son 
 of Philip V. of Spain, archbishop of Toledo and 
 cardinal at the age of eight; and, finally, Pius VII. 
 (ob. 1823) created Luigi di Borboni, the sou of the 
 
HIEEARCHT IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 53 
 
 above-mentioned Archbisliop of Toledo, cardinal at 
 twenty-tkree. 
 
 I liave somewbat grudged th.e space that has been 
 needed to complete the list of these precocious 
 dignitaries, but I have thought that it was worth 
 giving for the sake of the Ulustration it affords of 
 the genuineness, sincerity, and state of mind generally 
 of those, ecclesiastical writers and others, who on the 
 same page which records these monstrous promotions, 
 tell us of the infallibility and, in many cases, of the 
 saintly virtues of the Pontiffs who made them, and of 
 the awful sanctity and tremendous responsibilities of 
 those who are called to the assumption of a dress 
 whose colour is the symbol of their being ever ready 
 to shed their blood in defence of the Church ! It is 
 also curiously illustrative of the utter futility of 
 attempting by any rules, canons, or constitutions 
 whatever to bind the hands of one who may at his 
 .pleasure " dispense " with all laws and rules. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 steps by wliicli the Papal Election was attributed exclusively to the- 
 Sacred College. — Gradual Progress of Encroacbment. — Abnormal 
 Elections. — Early Eequisites for the Validity of an Election. — 
 Earliest Examples of the Conclave. — Notable Conclave at Viterbo in 
 the thirteenth century. — Pirst example of Election by " Compro- 
 mise." — The Fifteen Rules for a papal Election made by Gregory X. 
 — Basis of Conclave Legislation ever since. 
 
 Me. Caetweight, in his able and interesting little 
 volume, " On the Constitution of Papal Conclayes," says, 
 quite correctly in my opinion, that, " from the Bull of 
 Nicholas II.," which I have spoken of at the beginning 
 of my second chapter, " dates the first organic consum- 
 mation of a revolution that had long been working its 
 way imderground, by which the highest constitutional 
 functions of the Eoman See came to be taken away 
 definitively from the ecclesiastical body at large." He 
 adds, however, " and vested exclusively in this corpora- 
 tion" (the Sacred College), which cannot, I think, be 
 said with accuracy. Indeed he goes on to state with 
 entire correctness, what shows this not to have been the 
 case. Quoting the same Bull, which I have referred to, 
 he adds, " so that the cardinals have the lead in making 
 choice of Popes, the other but following them." But it 
 may be seen from the words of promulgation used in 
 declaring the election of Ilildobrand in 1073, already 
 cited above in the first chapter, " wc the cardinals, and 
 
HIERARCHY IN STATE OP FLTJIDITY. 55 
 
 the clergy, acolytes, subdeacons, and priests elect," 
 &c., &c., that fixity of election, by the Sacred College, 
 bad by no means been yet reached. The language of 
 the Bulls and decrees on the subject, and that of the 
 very many writers who have striven to throw light on 
 the question, all go to show that no clear and certain 
 rules or practice in the elections of the Popes had yet 
 been attained. The impression left on the mind by 
 reading these declarations, and the commentaries on 
 them, is that it was the wish and purpose of the Popes 
 and of the cardinals to vest the election exclusively in 
 the latter body ; but that they were not able, or could 
 not venture to aflB.rm distinctly that such was the case, 
 or to decree that it should be the case. The utterances 
 both of Bulls and decrees and of the subsequent eccle- 
 siastical writers seem to be studiously wavering and 
 uncertain ; such, in short, as it might be expected to be 
 in registeriag and describing the advance of an abusive 
 encroachment. The Bull of Nicholas II. declares the 
 assent of the clergy to be necessary to an election. To 
 demand an assent implies the power of refusing that 
 assent. An election made without that assent would 
 according to the terms of the Bull of Nicholas have 
 been void. 
 
 Moroni, quoting the commentaries of Panvinius on 
 Platina, tells us that Celestine II. {oh. 1144) was the 
 first Pope elected without the intervention of the Eoman 
 people. And Sigonius,* quoted by Moroni, says of 
 Celestine's predecessor. Innocent II. {oh. 1143), " Popu- 
 lum Pontificiorum jure comitiorum, cujus a primis tem- 
 
 * De regno Italico, lib. x. an. 1143. 
 
56 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 poribiis ad earn usque diem particeps fuerat, spolia- 
 Yerat."* Pagi says that Innocent II., already before 
 the election of Celestine, had been elected hy the 
 cardinals alone, without the " assistance " of the clergy 
 and people. Otto of Freisingen declares in his chro- 
 nicle, that Eugenius III. {ol. 1153) was elected in 
 1445, " communi veto cleri et popuU." And he says 
 that in 1154 the '' clerici et laici pariter conclamantes 
 intronizarunt Hadrianum quartum," the English Pope. 
 The fact is not only that apparently contradictory state- 
 ments by the dozen may be found, but that the language 
 of all these statements is so vague, uncertain, and plastic, 
 that it is impossible to say what the precise meamng 
 was which the writer intended to convey ; or useless 
 rather, as it might perhaps be better put, to attempt to 
 extract from their words a precision of statement, which 
 the subject they were treating of did not admit, and the 
 necessity or desirability of which they had no concep- 
 tion of. This at least is clear, that during all that period 
 of fluidity, as I have ventured to call it, the line of 
 demarcation between de jure and de facto was oscil- 
 lating, changeable, and vacillating ; but that the general 
 tendency was always advancing towards the recognition 
 of an exclusive right to elect the Popes, in the CoUege 
 of Cardinals. 
 
 So far, however, was the matter from being defini- 
 tively settled by the Bull of Nicholas II., or by the 
 practice that had prevailed dm-ing the next hundred 
 and twenty years, that the fli-st attempt made to eftect 
 an election, that of Alexander III. {oh. 1181), without 
 * Breviar., torn. i. p. G69. 
 
HIERARCHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 57 
 
 the participation of the clergy and people, led to a 
 scHsm among the cardinals, and the election of an 
 Antipope, who called himself Yictor IV. Four Anti- 
 popes in succession sprung from and supported the 
 schism, and contested the election and the sovereignty 
 of Alexander III. He lived, however, to overcome his 
 enemies, and heal the wounds of the Church in the 
 course of a papacy of all but twenty-two years. And 
 before his death, he assembled the third Lateran 
 Council, which among other matters decreed that no 
 future election to the Papal Throne should be deemed 
 valid without the votes of two-thirds of the College of 
 Cardinals, a regulation which has been observed ever 
 since, and is the law which regulates the proceedings of 
 the Conclaves to the present day. 
 
 Nevertheless we have not yet by any means reached 
 the latest case of an altogether abnormal election, though 
 we have made considerable progress towards ascertaining 
 what the norma was to be. As late as 1417, Martin Y. 
 (oi. 1431) was elected for the closing of the schism, 
 which had so deeply wounded the Church, not only by 
 the members of the Sacred College, created by Gregory 
 XII. (renounced, 1415), and those of the deposed John 
 XXIII. (deposed, 1415), and those created (or rather 
 professed to be created) by the Antipope Benedict XIII. ; 
 but also by thirty other prelates, sis for each of the five 
 nations which contributed to the Council. 
 
 As far, however, as regards the final attribution of the 
 power of electing the Pontiff to the College of Cardinals 
 exclusively, we may consider that the practice of the 
 Church was fixed, as it has ever since remained, by the 
 
58 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 constitutions of Alexander III. {oh. 1181). It remains 
 to be shown tliat tlie practice thus ordained did not 
 succeed in getting itself carried out witli satisfactory- 
 regularity tUl a yet later epoch. Nothing had yet been 
 established, as a matter of rule, as to the mode in which 
 the cardinals were to elect, save that, as has been seen, 
 it needed two-thirds of the votes to make a valid elec- 
 tion. We find early instances of the shutting up of the 
 cardinals, for the purpose of the election ; but in most 
 of these cases the imprisonment seems to have been 
 involuntary, and imposed on them by force ah extra. 
 Thus Honorius III. {oh. 1227) was elected on the 18th 
 of July, at Perugia, by nineteen cardinals, whom the 
 Perugians constrained to enter into Conclave, on the day 
 after the death of Innocent III., who died in that city, 
 keeping them imprisoned till the election should be 
 completed. Such a case very clearly indicated that by 
 that time the idea, that the body of cardinals and they 
 alone could create a Pope, had entirely entered into the 
 popular mind, and been recognised and accepted. The 
 people of Perugia, in their anxiety to avoid the terrible 
 evils of an interregnum, are determined to have a Pope 
 elected with the least possible delay. But they con- 
 sider that the only possible means of accomplishing this 
 is to catch the cardinals and compel them to do their 
 work. 
 
 His successor Gregory IX. {ol. 1241) was elected 
 under somewhat similar circumstances, the Eomans 
 apparently thinking that the experiment made at 
 Perugia had answered so well as to deserve imitation. 
 The chronicler Eainaldi relates, on the authority of 
 
HIEEAECHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 59 
 
 Eiceardo di San Germano, that the cardinals, who had 
 assembled in Eome for the election of a Pope, were shut 
 •up at the Septisolium (the hill on which the Church of 
 St. Gregory stands, near the CoKseum) by the Senator 
 of Eome and the people, that they might against their 
 will proceed to the creation of a Pope,* which expedient, 
 says CanceUieri,-!- was perhaps adopted to avoid the 
 invasions of the Emperor Frederick, who, encamped at 
 Grotta Ferrata, was devasting all the neighbourhood of 
 Eome. 
 
 Gregory IX. died in 1241. Celestine IV., who suc- 
 ceeded him, reigned seventeen days only. Innocent IV., 
 who came next, reigned eleven years and nearly a half. 
 The papacy of his successor Alexander IV. lasted 
 six years and nearly a half. The next in the list, 
 Urban IV., reigned three years and a month. Clement 
 IV. succeeded him, and, after a reign of three years 
 and nine months, died in 1269. These twenty- 
 eight years, from the death of Gregory to that of 
 Clement, had been disastrous and stormy ones for Italy, 
 mainly by reason of the contests between different pre- 
 tenders to the crown of Sicily, and by the pretension of 
 the Popes to have the nomination of the sovereign in 
 their hands. Clement IV. introduced a new and fatal 
 element into the troubled skein of Italian politics by 
 
 * Cardinales qui in Urbe ad Papse electionem convenerant, per Sena- 
 torem et Eomanos apud Septisolium iaoluduntur, ut at creandum 
 Papam inviti procedant. 
 
 f Notizie Istoriche delle Stagioni e de' Siti diversi in cui Bono stati 
 tenuti i Conclavi neUa Citta di Eoma, &o. Eaccolta da Francesco 
 Cancellieri. Eoma, 1823. A very rare tract, as are many of the great 
 number of gossiping and amusing tracts on very various subjects, 
 ■written by tbe same author. 
 
60 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 conferring this crown on Charles of Anjou, thus bringing 
 a French dynasty into Italy, and, what is more to our 
 immediate purpose, causing thus a profound and irrecon- 
 cilable division ia the College of Cardinals, some of 
 whom attached themselves to the French interest, and 
 some feeliag the most bitter resentment against the 
 French prince, and against the policy which had called 
 him into Italy. At the death of Clement IV. in Viterbo, 
 just a month after the last of the Hohenstauffens, the 
 hapless Conradin, had lost his head on a scaffold at Naples 
 — (he had never once during his pontificate of three 
 years and nine months been at Eome) — the discrepancy 
 of opinion between the cardinals led to a most bitterly 
 and obstinately contested struggle for the election of the 
 next Pope, which resulted in an interregnum, the longest 
 on record in the annals of the Church, of two years and 
 nine months. Seventeen* cardinals went into Conclave 
 in Viterbo, which small town, as Mr. Cartwright truly 
 says, " became the point on which remained the fixed and 
 anxious gaze of Christendom." Seven of the cardinals 
 in Conclave were in the French interest, and seven as 
 entirely opposed to it. Moroni remarks that perhaps 
 the length of the interregnum was due to the division of 
 parties! — the "perhaps" being introduced in deference 
 to the theory and claim that let what may be the motives 
 and intentions of the electors, the result is due to the 
 
 * Mr. CartwrigM says that they wero eighteen ; but I cannot find 
 that more than seventeen are recorded as being present. Moroni says 
 fifteen, or seventeen. Perhaps the circumstance of the Cardin.al Henry 
 of Ostia having quitted (he Oouclavo on .account of illness, may account 
 for the discrepancy, ono rockoniug having been of those who went into 
 Conclave, and the other of those -who participated finally in the election. 
 
HIERAECHT IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 61 
 
 direct action of the Holy Spirit. He adds that the delay 
 could not be due to the want of any person among their 
 own body fitted for becoming Pope, inasmuch as no less 
 than four of those then present became subsequently 
 Popes, under the names of Adrian V. {ol. 1276), Nicholas 
 III. {ol. 1280), Martin IV. {oh. 1285), and Honorius IV. 
 {oi. 1287). Unquestionable, however, as the "papa- 
 bility," — ^to use a word which has become a cant one in 
 Conclave language — of aU these four may have been, 
 the cardinals at Viterbo could not come to an election, 
 for the opposing parties were so evenly balanced, and 
 the interests at stake so great, that neither side would 
 yield. Charles of Anjou came to Viterbo, and remained 
 there, hoping that by throwing the weight of his personal 
 presence into the scale, he might intimidate the cardinals 
 on the opposite side. He had not calculated on the 
 patient obstinacy of an Italian who trusts for victory to 
 the policy of doing nothing ! The desired election was 
 none the nearer for the presence of the foreign prince, 
 who was so odious to all save his own creatures in the 
 College. 
 
 The citizens of Viterbo, and the town captain, oneEanieri 
 Gatti, who as such had the custody of the Conclave, which 
 seems to have implied the imprisonment of the car- 
 dinals, in his hand, understood their countrymen better. 
 Despairing of seeing an end put to the shocking condition 
 of disorder and anarchy, which always, down even to quite 
 modern times, made the Pontifical States a hell upon 
 earth during the period of every interregnum, they re- 
 sorted to the novel expedient of unroofing the palace in 
 which the Conclave was sitting, at the same time gradually 
 
G2 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 diminishing the rations supplied to the cardinals. But 
 not even did this strong measure succeed in producing 
 the desired result. There is a curious letter extant, ad- 
 dressed by the cardinals to Qatti, the town-captain, the 
 purpose of which was to request him to allow one of 
 their number, the Cardinal Henry of Ostia, to quit the 
 Conclave on the ground of illness. This letter is dated 
 in Palatio discoperto Episcopatus Yiterbiensis, VI. Idus 
 Junii MCCLXX., ApostoHcse sede vacante : * — " From 
 the unroofed episcopal palace of Viterbo." — The letter 
 in question is curious, moreover, from the statement 
 specially made in it, that the cardinal, whose release 
 from Conclave is requested, has altogether renounced 
 his right to Vote on this occasion. -f But not for more 
 than a year after this incident, — and more than a year, 
 therefore, after the unroofing of the palace, — did the 
 imprisoned cardinals, exposed to the elements as they 
 were, come to an election. At last, moved, it is said, 
 not by any threats or persuasions from without, nor by 
 their own sufferings within their prison, but by the per- 
 suasions of the Cardinal Bishop of Porto, and those of 
 the Franciscan Saint Buenaventura, the Conclave was 
 
 * Cancellieri, p. 6. 
 
 ■f Mr. Oartwriglit remarks that tlie " insertion of this clause in the 
 letter deserves attention, as proying that, at this period, it had not yet 
 been definitely ruled that every cardinal's active participation was not 
 an indispensable condition for setting a papal election beyond challenge." 
 It does not seem likely to me, that the insertion of tho clause in question. 
 was dictated by any such intention. I am not aware that it vras ever 
 hold, that the active participation of every cardinal is necessary to a 
 canonical election. And it seems to me, that the notification that His 
 Eminence of Ostia had renounced all right and purpose of voting, -was 
 intended to assure thoso outside that his departure from tho Conclave 
 need not be speculated on as exunising any influence over the result of 
 the contest. 
 
HIEEARCHY IK STATE OF FLTJIDITT, 63 
 
 persuaded, not to elect in tlie usual way, — ^that would 
 liave involved an abnegation of wMclx those fierce 
 partisans and good haters were incapable, — ^but to con- 
 sent to appoint six of their number to nominate a Pope, 
 pledging themselves to agree to and confirm the nomina- 
 tion so made. 
 
 These six electors, thus empowered, named Theobald 
 Yisconti, at that time Archdeacon of Liege, who was 
 not a cardinal, and who at that time was at Acre, 
 having left England, where he had contributed to the 
 successful establishment of Henry III.'s throne, for the 
 purpose of accompanying the crusaders as Papal Legate; 
 an election which has been commemorated in the follow- 
 ing characteristic lines, by Giovanni of Toledo, the then 
 Bishop of Porto : — 
 
 " Papatus muims tulit AroMdiaoonua unus 
 Quern Patrem Patrum fecit disoordia fratrum." 
 
 This was the first instance of that mode of election, 
 which has since taken its place as one of the three 
 recognized methods by which a Conclave may elect a 
 Pontiff, and which is known as Election by Compromise. 
 But of this it will be necessary to speak by-and-by in 
 its proper place. 
 
 This Theobald Visconti, whom the Bishop of Porto 
 somewhat superciliously thus speaks of as " one arch- 
 deacon," being recalled by the news of his totally un- 
 expected elevation to the Papacy, reached Yiterbo on 
 the second of Pebruary, 1272, and was subsequently 
 crowned in Eome as Gregory X. (ob. 1276). 
 
 Mindful of the evils which had in very terrible abun- 
 
64 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 dance visited the Churcli and the States of the Church 
 by reason of the interregnum, and of the difficulties 
 and scandals attending such a Conclave as the last, 
 Gregory called a General Council of the Church (the 
 fourteenth), at Lyons, in 1274, by which the following 
 code of laws for the regulation of future Councils was 
 established. Here at last, then, we do touch solid 
 ground, and the fluid state of the institutions on which 
 the elections of the Popes depend may be said to come 
 to an end with the constitution of Gregory X. 
 
 The rules in question are somewhat lengthy, and all 
 of them are not of equal importance. But inasmuch as 
 they are the foundation and charter of that which has 
 been, for the last six centuries, the practice of the Con- 
 claves, it will hardly be thought unnecessary to give 
 them — ^not quite in extenso, but with considerable fulness. 
 " I. When the Pope is dead, the cardinals shall wait 
 for those who are absent ten days only ; at the end of 
 which, having for nine days celebrated the obsequies of 
 the deceased Pontiff in the city in which he resided 
 with his Court, they shall all shut themselves up in the 
 palace which the Pope inhabited, contenting themselves 
 each with one sole attendant, either clerk or lay, unless 
 there shall be evident necessity for two, for whom 
 permission may be in such case granted ; the choice of 
 such attendant being left to each cai-dinal for himself." 
 
 Pius IV. by Bull bearing date 9th October, 1562, 
 declared that the day of the Pope's death should be 
 counted as one of the ten days. And ecclesiastical 
 writers maintain that it is within the competency of 
 the College to defer the election beyond the time 
 
HIBRAECHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 65 
 
 specified, in case any danger threatening tlie interests 
 of the Church should require it. 
 
 "II. In the palace in which the Pontiff dwelt, let a 
 Conclave be formed in which let all the cardinals live 
 in common, without any wall, or curtain, or veil to 
 separate them from one another, one secret chamber 
 being reserved. Let this Conclave be so closed on every 
 side that nobody can enter or go out of it." 
 
 The rigour of this rule was in some degree moderated 
 by Clement VI., by a Bull dated 6th December, 1351, 
 permitting the beds of the cardiaals in Conclave to have 
 simple curtains. 
 
 " III. Let there be no access to the cardinals shut 
 up in Conclave. Let no one have the possibility of 
 speaking to them secretly ; nor let it be possible for 
 them to receive anybody, save such as may be summoned 
 by the consent of all present solely on matters pertaining 
 to the election. Let no one have the power of sending 
 messages or writings to the cardinals, nor to any of the 
 conclavists,* under pain of excommunication." 
 
 The strictness of this well-intentioned rule also has 
 been modified in practice, to the facilitating of intrigues, 
 which it was the object of Gregory to render impossible. 
 In modern times, whoso wishes to speak with a cardinal, 
 or with any of those shut up in Conclave, is not pre- 
 vented from doing so, except, as regards the cardinals 
 themselves, during the actual time of the voting. Such 
 speaking must take place, however, in public, that is 
 
 * These are the attendants provided for in the first rule. They are 
 in practice always clerks, are always two if not more (the latter very 
 rarely), .and are very important personages in the conduct of all the 
 affairs of the Conclave. 
 
66 THE PAPAIi CONCLAVES. 
 
 to say, at the " rota " * in the presence of the ofl&cials 
 appointed for the service of the Conclave on the inside, 
 and on the outside the prelates and others appointed for 
 guarding the assembly. But it will be very readily 
 understood that, if a private communication were 
 desired, there would be little difficulty in shutting the 
 ears of undesired hearers, especially when the person 
 desiring so to shut them may, within a few hours, be 
 the despotic sovereign of the hearers in question. 
 
 "lY. Nevertheless, let an opening of the Conclave 
 be left, by which food may be conveniently passed in 
 to the cardinals, but such that no one can pass in to 
 them by that means. [The 'rota' spoken of.'] 
 
 "V. If at the end of three days from the entry 
 into Conclave the election of the new Pope has not 
 been accomplished, the prelates and others deputed to 
 guard the Conclave shall, during the next five days, 
 prevent more than one single dish from being served at 
 the table of the cardinals either at dinner or at supper. 
 And when these five days shall have passed, they shall 
 after that not permit the cardinals to have aught save 
 bread and water until such time as the election shall be 
 completed." 
 
 Clement YI. modified this rule also. Such severity, 
 it is stated, was found to injure the health of those in 
 Conclave ; and Clement therefore contented himself 
 with recommending a " moderate frugality '' during 
 
 • The "rota," of wliich much -n-ill be hoard in connection with tho 
 interior arrangements and practices of the Conclave, are the apertures, 
 with turning tables, after the fashion of tho means proyided for receiving 
 infants at continental foundling hospitals, which are used for passing 
 food into the Conclave, and other necessary communications. 
 
HIERAECHY IN STATE OF FLtTIDITT. 67 
 
 the entire time of the Conclave. He laid down rules, 
 however, for the more precise defining of this moderate 
 frugality. Meat or fish, or eggs, together with salted 
 things, vegetables, and fruit, might be used, whether at 
 dinner or supper. But Clement expressly forbad the 
 cardinals from acceptiug any of these things one from 
 another. It woxdd seem that the object of this last 
 prohibition must have been to prevent their Eminences 
 from clubbing their provisions together, and so securing 
 a more varied repast. Pius IV., an ascetic and zealous 
 man, recalled into vigour these rules, decreeing that 
 the cardinals should be content, as they were bound 
 to be, with one sole dish, whether at dinner or supper. 
 Whereupon an erudite prelate* wrote a long and learned 
 work on papal elections, in the course of which he 
 treats at great length on the permissible component 
 parts of this one dish. 
 
 "YI. The cardinals shall, duriag the time of the 
 Conclave, take nothing from the apostolic treasury or 
 from its revenues, which shall during the vacancy of 
 the see remain in the custody of such faithful and 
 upright person as shall have the custody of them. With 
 the death of the Pope let all ecclesiastical offices and 
 the tribunals of the Courts cease and determine, with the 
 exception of the Chief Penitentiary and the Treasurer, 
 who shall continue in office during the vacancy of the 
 
 see. 
 
 «' VII. Let the cardinals treat of no other business 
 in the Conclave save that of the election of a new Pope, 
 unless the necessity of defending the territory of the 
 
 * Monsigr. Cumarda, De Elect. Pont. 
 P 2 
 
68 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Churcli from imminent danger should make it neces- 
 sary for them to do so. 
 
 " VIII. If any cardinal shall not enter into Conclave, 
 or shall by reason of sickness quit the Conclave, let 
 the election be proceeded with all the same -without 
 such cardinal. If, however, he that has quitted the 
 Conclave should recover let him be readmitted. Let 
 the cardinals also who shall arrive after the others 
 have entered the Conclave be admitted, for no one shall 
 give any vote in the election except in Conclave. 
 Besides which entrance cannot be denied even to 
 cardinals who may have been censured or excommuni- 
 cated. No one can be declared Pope unless at least 
 two-thirds of the electors shall have concurred in 
 electing him. Not only the cardinals, even those 
 absent from the Conclave, but any other person, not 
 incapacitated by just impediment, may be elected to 
 the Papacy in this manner." 
 
 The provision as to the admission to the Conclave 
 of cardinals under censui'e or excommunication is a 
 very important one ; and at one time during the present 
 Pontificate it seemed likely to become very immediately 
 important. And it will be necessary to return to the 
 subject in a subsequent chapter. Evidently the inten- 
 tion of the rule was to put it out of the power of a Pope 
 to ensure the election of such or such a successor by 
 excluding from the Conclave all such cardinals as were 
 not disposed to vote for him, which a Pope might easily 
 have accomplished if his censure could suffice to deprive 
 a cardinal of his vote. 
 
 As 1() (lections of persons not present in Conclave, 
 
HIEEAKCHY IN STATE OF FLUIDITY. 69 
 
 it may be noted that the last instance of the election of 
 an absent cardinal was that of Florenz the Flemiag as 
 Adrian VI. in 1522 ; and the last instance of the elec- 
 tion of a Pope who had not been a cardinal was that 
 of Prignani, a Neapolitan, and Archbishop of Bari, as 
 Urban VI. in 1378. 
 
 " IX. If the Pope shall have died outside the city in 
 which he was residing with his court, the cardinals 
 shall hold the Conclave ia the city within whose territory 
 the Pope died. But if this city be under iuterdict or in 
 rebellion, they shaU hold the Conclave in the nearest 
 city. 
 
 "X. The governors and officials of the city in which 
 the Conclave shall be held shall see to the observance 
 of the prescribed rules. 
 
 "XI. As soon as ever the tidings of the Pope's death 
 shall be received, such governors shall swear, in the 
 presence of the clergy and people, who shall be assem- 
 bled for that purpose, that they will observe the above 
 rules. 
 
 "XII. If such governors should not observe such 
 rules, let them be excommunicated, and perpetually 
 infamous ; let them lose their charters, and let the city 
 be placed under interdict and lose the rank of an epis- 
 copal see. 
 
 "Xni. Let the cardinals engaged in the election 
 lay aside entirely all private affections, and let them 
 take heed solely to the common welfare of the Church. 
 
 "XIV. No one of the sacred electors shall speak to, 
 make promise to, or entreat in any sort any one of the 
 •other cardinals with a view of inducing such cardinal 
 
70 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 to incline to their own wishes in the matter of the 
 election, under pain of excommunication. Let, on the= 
 contrary, all bargains, all agreements, all undertakings,- 
 even though they may have been corroborated by an 
 oath, be held to be of no validity; and let him that 
 breaks them be deemed worthy of praise rather than 
 of the blame of perjury." 
 
 This rule, all-important, were it not that all hope of 
 the observance of it is absolutely futUe and vain, was 
 confirmed by Innocent YI. in 1353 ; and Julius II., in 
 1505, issued a BuU against the simoniacal election of a 
 Pope, in which it is declared that "the election of a 
 Pope tainted by simony must be considered to possess 
 no validity ; that the man so elected, even though he 
 should have the vote of all the sacred electors, must be 
 considered a heresiarch, and deprived of all honour and 
 dignity; that a simoniacal election does not become 
 valid either by enthronement, by adoration, by the 
 lapse of time, nor by the obedience of the cardinals; 
 that, on the contrary, it shall be lawful for the cardinals,^ 
 for the clergy, and the Koman people to refuse obedience 
 to a Pope simoniacally elected." 
 
 The enactment of such a law is surely a very ciu-ious 
 instance of the simple-minded, unreasoning, unforesee- 
 ing, naivete of the medieval mind, which is thus shown 
 to us as childlike as that of a Eed Indian. No pro- 
 vision is made for the authoritative decision of the 
 question whether an election have been vitiated by 
 simoniacal bargainings or not ; but each unit in the 
 whole social body is empowered to do his best towards 
 breaking up the whole framework of society if the 
 
HIEEARCHY IN STATE OF FITJIDITT. 71 
 
 election of a Pope hare been simoniacal — that is, 
 necessarily, if he, the unit, think so. The French 
 ecclesiastical historian, Jean Sponde,* better known by 
 the Latia form of his name, Spondanus, remarks (a.d. 
 1505), obviously enough, that the remedy provided by 
 Julius II. would be of considerably difficult application ; 
 "wherefore," he proceeds to add, with an amount of 
 audacious and brazen-fronted hypocrisy and falsehood 
 hardly to be paralleled, " God has provided that there 
 has never been need of it." The perhaps most grossly 
 and notoriously simoniacal election, that of Alexander 
 VI. in 1492, was still fresh in men's minds, besides 
 numerous other examples in more remote times. The 
 very next election after that of Julius II. himself, when 
 these denunciations and threats of his were brand new 
 and fresh, that of Leo X., was unquestionably simoniacal. 
 And the probability is that scarcely one, if one, election 
 could be adduced during the last three centuries which 
 has not been tainted by simony as understood and 
 defined by Julius II. 
 
 "XY. In all cities and places of importance, as soon 
 as the death of the Pope is known, solemn obsequies shall 
 be celebrated ; and during the vacancy of the see 
 prayer shall be every day made to God for the speedy, 
 unanimous, and judicious election of a new Pontiff, 
 which the prelates shall also strive to promote by pre- 
 scribing days of fasting." 
 
 Such are the constitutions of Gregory X., which, 
 
 * Sponde was born at Mauleon in 1568. His " Ecclesiastical Annals " 
 are in fact an abbreviation of tte great work of Baronius, -wbo was 
 his intimate friend. 
 
72 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 thougli modified by subsequent Pontiffs in many respects, 
 and supplemented by more minute regulations in yet 
 more, remain to the present day the foundation and 
 origin of all tlie law and usage observed in the papal 
 elections up to this time, and may therefore be considered 
 as putting an end to the fluid state of matters which has 
 been described in the precediag chapters, and to this 
 our first book. 
 
BOOK IL 
 
 JSrOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 
 
BOOK 11. 
 
 NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Latter Tears of the Middle Ages, from Gregory X. to Pius IV. — Contrast 
 of tlie Ecclesiastical World of those Days with. Present Times. — Where 
 Modern History commences in the Annals of the Papacy. — ^VariahUity 
 of the Church. — Papal History falls into Groups of Popes. — Causes 
 of this Phenomenon. — Paul III. the last of a Group of Popes. — Paul 
 IV. the first of a different Group.— List of Popes from 1271 to 1549. 
 
 We start fair, then, from the constitutions of Gregory 
 X., made in the Council held by him at Lyons in 1274. 
 But it "was easier in those days to make " constitutions " 
 than to get them observed. This, though unfortunately 
 not a peculiarity of the Middle Ages, was yet a charac- 
 teristic belonging to them in a special manner. His- 
 torians have considered these Middle Ages to last from 
 the fifth to the fifteenth century — a thousand years. 
 And though the days of Gregory X. were comparatively 
 near the end of them, we are, therefore, not out of them 
 yet when we arrive at that point. And the last quarter 
 of the space so designated is, of course, that of which 
 we know most, and which is infinitely the most impor- 
 tant to us. We get well out of the epoch of the Middle 
 Age before reaching the time when Pius IV. (ob. 1565) 
 found it necessary to add a string of supplementary 
 
76 I'HE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 regulations to the Gregorian constitutions. And this 
 second book of my story shall consist of such notices of 
 the Conclaves during this period of two hundred and 
 seventy-nine years, from the death of Gregory X. to the 
 election of Paul IV. (1555) as can be found, and seem 
 to offer any points of interest. 
 
 Eegularity is an essential characteristic of modem 
 times, of an adult state of society, that is to say. And 
 regularity means, in the case of an iiidi"sidual, the subjec- 
 tion of his impulses to rule, and in the body social the 
 subjection of all that makes and marks individuality to 
 rule. And regularity has a tendency to degenerate into 
 that condition of senile induration in which custom is 
 held to be the most sacred of all rules. This, to a 
 curiously marked degree, has been the condition of the 
 ecclesiastical world at Eome in these latter generations. 
 Hence the immense contrast between its ways and doings 
 in the last two centuries, and those ages with which we 
 have now to occupy ourselves. Some poet * of our 
 days has likened the ways and works of the men of the 
 times in question to those of " noble boys at play.'' 
 Unquestionably there is a nobility of its own about 
 marked and strong individualism. And so much of it 
 as may be discoverable in the Chm-ch we may attribute 
 to those masterful Churchmen of the medieval times 
 who were men first and priests afterwards, instead of, 
 as their successors of a more tranquil time may be said 
 to have been, priests first and men afterwards. 
 
 * I bog his pardon for forgetting the namo of a ■^\ritov ■whose expres- 
 sion struck mo liy its justness. 1 havo not, unfortunately, the moans of 
 verifying the roforoncos at hand. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 77 
 
 For these reasons the ecclesiastical /asfo' of this period 
 offer an interest of a diBPerent kind, and one marked off 
 from those of the subsequent period. 
 
 There is also another reason for drawing a line at the 
 death of Paul III. {ol. 1549), and making a fresh start 
 thence. I hare spoken above of the election of Paul lY. 
 as the point from which what may be called the modern 
 history of the Papacy may be held to begia. There may 
 seem, therefore, to be some iaconsistency in making the 
 death of Paul III. the closing event of the former period. 
 For Paul III,, Parnese, was not the immediate pre- 
 decessor of Paul lY. ; and I have, moreover, referred to 
 the new set of supplementary rules for the holding of 
 the Conclaves promulgated by Pius lY. as a reason for 
 closing the one period and opening a new one. 
 
 The matter stands thus : — 
 
 Paul ni., Parnese, died 1549. 
 
 Julius in., his successor, GiocoM, died 1555. 
 
 Marcellus II., who came next, Oervini, died the same year, 1555. 
 
 Paul IV., succeeding Marcellus, Caraffa, died 1559. 
 
 Pius IV., Ms successor, MedicMni, died 1565. 
 
 Nevertheless, I close an epoque with the death of 
 Paul III., and open the next with the accession of 
 Paul lY., although it was his successor, Pius lY., who 
 enacted the new constitutions which, ia some degree, 
 placed the Conclaves on a new basis. And my reasons 
 for doing so are as follows. 
 
 Despite the favourite boast of the Church that she has 
 been semper eadem — always the same — the fact is, that 
 the Church has varied from age to age almost as much 
 as most other human institutions, having been ever the 
 
78 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 same only in ttis : that it has never varied in or lost 
 sight of its object to make clerical power dominant in the 
 world — an object that was abundantly beneficent in days 
 when clerks were more fit than laymen to rule, but 
 which has become still more largely noxious when the 
 relative positions of clerk and layman in this respect 
 were manifestly reversed. In all other points the 
 Church has been by no means semper eadem. But 
 although it is true that the character of the reigning 
 Pope has often influenced to a very important degree 
 the character, policies, and practices of the institution, 
 as might be expected to be the case, yet the fact that 
 the Church has been to a far more important degree 
 influenced ia all these respects by the general com- 
 plexion of the times and the character of the age athwart 
 which it was at the time passing, is curiously proved by 
 a circumstance which must suggest itself to the obser- 
 vation of the most superficial reader of ecclesiastical 
 history — the singular and marked divisibility of the 
 long line of Popes into groups. Apostle Popes, warrior 
 Popes, priest Popes, mundane Popes, pagan Popes, bigot 
 Popes, fainSant Popes, easy-going Popes, respectable 
 Popes, occur in the list not singly, but in groups I To 
 a certain degree this tendency may be perceived to have 
 been assisted by the fact that the creatures* of each 
 Pope are mostly they who, in their turn, create his suc- 
 cessor. But the ruling cause of the phenomena will be 
 found in the aspect and bearing of the time. 
 
 * I uso the ■word not in tlio common dopiociatory sense, but according 
 to tho technical use of the word, as rd'orring to tho members of the 
 Sacrod College. Tho cardinals created by each Pope arc said to bo his 
 
 creaiures. 
 
NOBLE B0T8 AT PLAY. 79 
 
 Now Paul III. was in a very marked manner the last 
 of a group of Popes. He was the last Pope whose 
 nepotism soared to the height of making his descendants 
 sovereign princes. Subsequent equally mundane Popes 
 ambitioned the founding of princely Eoman houses, and 
 founded plenty such. Paul the Farnese was the last 
 who sought to carve out of Italy a sovereign priacipality 
 for those of his name. He was the last, too, for the 
 nonce, of the thoroughly mundane and grand seigneur 
 class of Popes ; and is followed by a group of Popes of 
 a very different and contrasted class — ^the earnest, 
 zealous, bigot Popes, of which group I consider the 
 Paid lY. as the first. For in fact the two intervening 
 Papacies of Julius III., who reigned five years, and of 
 MarceUus II., who reigned twenty-three days, were 
 historically unimportant, and may be left out of the 
 account. 
 
 And we will make the story of the modern Papacy 
 begin with Paul IV., and not with his successor Pius IV., 
 notwithstanding that it was the latter who enacted the 
 new constitutions for the regulation of the Conclaves, 
 because Caraffa, Paul IV., was in a very marked and 
 emphatic degree the beginner of a new epoch. In this 
 case both the especial aspect of the times, and the 
 strongly marked character of the man himself, con- 
 tributed with a singular similarity and coincidence of 
 tendency to bring about the change which at that time 
 came over the spirit of the Papacy. The ruling cause, 
 of course, is to be found in the growling of that Ultra- 
 montane tempest which, with so terrible a voice, was 
 warning Eome to put her house in order. But Caraffa 
 
80 
 
 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 "was, if any dyke was to be erected to save a remnant 
 of the Church from the advancing -waves of heresy, 
 eminently the right man in the right place ! Not at all 
 the right man if the object were so to obey, and while 
 obeying use, the tendencies of the time, as to avail him- 
 self of them, for such refitting of St. Peter's barque as 
 should make it seaworthy for many a century to come ; 
 but eminently the right man. to force it through the 
 breakers with an unflinching eye and iron-strong hand 
 on the helm, on the sint ut sunt, aut non sint prin- 
 ciple. And Paul was, in accordance with the apparently 
 historic law which I have iudicated, the first of a group 
 of such Popes. 
 
 These, then, are my reasons for considering the death 
 of Paul III. as the closing event of an epoch in Papal 
 history. And I will occupy the other chapters of this 
 second book with such extant notices of the elections of 
 the thirty-eight Popes who ruled the Church during the 
 two hundred and seventy-three years which elapsed from 
 the death of Gregory X. {oh. 1276) to that of Paul III. 
 {oh. 1549) as may seem to have any interest in them. It 
 wUl be observed that these tliii-ty-eight Popes reigned a 
 fraction more than seven years each on an average. 1 
 will conclude this chapter by giving a list of them, which 
 may be found useful. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Elected. 
 
 Died. 
 
 Gregory X., Visoonti 1271 . . 
 
 1276 
 
 Innocent V., Cliampagni . 
 
 
 
 
 1276 . . 
 
 1270 
 
 Adrian v., Fiosquo. . . 
 
 
 
 
 1276 . . 
 
 1276 
 
 John XXI., Jiilion. . . 
 
 
 
 
 1276 , 
 
 1277 
 
 Nicholas III., Orsini . . 
 
 
 
 
 1277 . . 
 
 1280 
 
 Martin IV., Do Brion . . 
 
 
 
 
 12S1 . . 
 
 12Sj 
 
 Ilonorius IV., Sayolli . . 
 
 
 
 
 1285 . . 
 
 12S7 
 
 Nicholas IV., T>'Ascoli . 
 
 
 
 
 128S . . 
 
 12112 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 
 
 81 
 
 Elected. Died. 
 
 S. Celestine V., De Moron .... 1294 resigned 1294 
 
 Boniface VIII. Gaetani 1294 died 1303 
 
 Benedict XI. Bocoasini 1303 . . . 1304 
 
 Clement V. De Got 1305 . . . 1314 
 
 John XXII. d'Euse 1316 . . . 1334 
 
 Benedict XII. Poumier 1334 . . . 1342 
 
 Clement YI. Eoger ....... 1342 . . . 1352 
 
 Innocent VI. Aubert 1352 . . . 1362 
 
 Urban V. Grimoard 1362 . . . 1370 
 
 Gregory XI. Eoger 1370 . . . 1378 
 
 Urban VI. Prignani 1378 .. . 1389 
 
 Boniface IX. Tomaelli 1389 . . . 1404 
 
 Innocent VII. MeUorati 1404 . . . 1406 
 
 Gregory XII. Oonrario ... . 1406 resigned 1409 
 
 Alexander V. Philarge 1409 died 1410 
 
 Jobn XXTTT. Cossa 1410 deposed 1415 
 
 Martin V. Colonna 1417 died 1431 
 
 Bugenius IV. Condolmero .... 1431 . . . 1447 
 
 Nicholas V- Parentucelli 1447 . . . 1455 
 
 Calistus m. Borgia 1455 . . . 1458 
 
 Pius n. Piccolomini 1458 . . . 1464 
 
 Panl II. Barbo 1464 . . . 1471 
 
 Sixtns IV. De la Eovere 1471 .. . 1484 
 
 Innocent VIII. Cibo 1484 . . . 1492 
 
 Alexander VI. Borgia 1492 . . . 1503 
 
 Pius III. Piccolomini 1503 . . . 1503 
 
 Julius n. De la Eovere 1503 . . . 1513 
 
 Leo X. Medici 1513 . . . 1521 
 
 Adrian VI. Boyers 1522 . . . 1523 
 
 Clement VII. Medici 1523 . . . 1534 
 
 Paul III. Farnese 1534 . . . 1549 
 
 A glance at this list will show that a small defalcation 
 must be made from the average time of each Pope's 
 reign on account of the time lost in the various 
 interregnums, some of which, as the list shows, have 
 been prolonged to a considerable duration. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Election of Innocent V. — Anecdote of Ms Achievements as a Preacter. — 
 Election of Adrian V. — Popes in the Thirteenth Century elected with- 
 out Conclave. — Conclave in which Nicholas IV. was elected. — 
 Mortality of Cardinals in Conclave. — Strange Inconsistency of the 
 Anecdotist Cancellieri. — Superstition respecting the Duration of St. 
 Peter's Eeign. — Anecdote of the papal Physician Matthew Corte. — 
 Election of Oelestine V. — Modem Exception to the Eule requiring a 
 Conclave to be held. — Modifications of the early Conclave Enles. — 
 Boniface VIII. — Benedict IX. — Anecdote respecting his Death. — 
 Conclave held at Perugia. — Grossly Simoniacal Election. — Monstrous 
 Assertion of the Historian Spondanus. — Morone, Gregory XTV.'s 
 Barber. — The Babylonish Captivity of the Church. — Conclave at 
 Avignon, in 1334. — And again in 1342. — And in 13j2. — And in 
 1362. — Division between the Gascon Cardinals Subjects of England, 
 and those subject to France. — Election of Urban V. not a Member 
 of the College.' — Tentatives for restoring the Papacy to Eome. — 
 Petrarch. — St. Bridget. — Conclave in 1370, the last at Avignon. — 
 Gregory XI. — Difficulties of the Restoration of the See to Rome. — 
 Eetum of Gregory XI. to Eome. — His Death in 137S. 
 
 Inistocent v., a Savoyard, the successor of Gregory X., 
 was elected according to the rules laid dovn by his 
 predecessor, with a regularity and celerity ■which seem 
 to argue strongly in favour of the judiciousness of the 
 Gregorian constitutions. Gregory died in the episcopal 
 palace of Arezzo ; and there the Cardinals entered into 
 Conclave, and elected Pietro di Tarantasia* — as lie was 
 called, from the name of his native province — Pope by 
 the name of Innocent V., on the 22ud January, 1276, 
 the day after the cardinals -went into Conclave, and in 
 
 * Ilis family name wns do' Champagiii. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 83 
 
 tlie first scratiny, as the new Pope failed not to tell the 
 princes and prelates in the letters announcing his 
 •election. It is true that the Sayoyard Cardinal must 
 have been strongly recommended to his colleagues by a 
 truly unparalleled feat, which he had, as we are assured, 
 ishortly before performed. At the second Council of 
 Xyons, the Cardinal Saint Bonaventura died, and Pietro 
 ■di Tarantasia was appoiated to preach his funeral sermon, 
 in the presence of the Pope, the whole of the members 
 of the Sacred College, two patriarchs, five hundred 
 bishops, sixty abbots, the ambassadors of many foreign 
 princes, and above a thousand priests, from the eyes of 
 every one of which illustrious assembly his discourse 
 drew tears, as is clearly set forth in the introduction to 
 the last edition of the works of S. Bonaventura, a 
 success which he followed up by baptizing a Turkish 
 ambassador and two of his suite. Clearly the man for 
 St. Peter's successor ! 
 
 Adrian V., Pieschi, a Genoese, the successor of the 
 above Innocent, was elected at Yiterbo, on the 10th July, 
 1296. He had been somewhat of a pluralist, holding 
 contemporaneously archdeaconries in the churches of 
 Canterbury, Eheims, and Parma, and a canonry ia that 
 of Piacenza. St. Pilippo Benizzi, the Servite Saiat, 
 to whom Cardinal Fieschi had been sent by the Sacred 
 College to offer the papacy on the death of Clement IV., 
 1269, refusing, that elevation for himself, foretold 
 to the ambassador that he himself should rise to that 
 <iignity, but should not enjoy it long. Adrian, firmly 
 believing the prophecy, said to those who came to 
 congratulate him on his elevation, "Would to Heaven. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 you had come to congratulate a cardinal in health, 
 instead of a moribund Pope ! " and died at the end of 
 a reign of one month and niae days. He had found 
 time, however, to do at least one important act. He 
 suspended the constitutions of Gregory, regulating the 
 papal elections. What his motive for this step was, I 
 do not find recorded ; but it must be presumed to have 
 been on some ground or other a cogent one, for his suc- 
 cessor, John XXI., revoked the constitutions entirely. 
 And the next three Popes, Nicholas III., elected iu 
 1277, Martin IV., elected ia 1281, and Honorius IT., 
 'elected ia 1285, were accordingly elected without any 
 Conclave. A Conclave, however, assembled for the 
 election of the successor of the last of these, and chose 
 Nicholas lY, ; but his successor, St. Celestiue Y., was 
 again elected without any Conclave.* 
 
 Eespecting this Conclave of Nicholas IV., some 
 curious particulars have been preserved. The repeal of 
 the Gregorian constitutions did not prohibit the holding 
 of a Conclave, and, as we have seen, that mode of 
 election had been iu use before the time of Gregory. 
 The decree by John XXI. only made it no longer im- 
 perative to assemble a Conclave. 
 
 The Conclave that ultimately elected Nicholas was 
 held in the then papal palace at Santa Sabuia ; and it 
 assembled immediately after the death of Honorius, 
 which happened ia the middle of the hottest season of 
 the year, Thcii- eminences, imable to agree in an 
 election, remained till six of their number died of 
 malaria fever, and many of the survivors were very ill. 
 * Conoolliori, p. 8. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT, 85 
 
 They still would not come to an election; but they 
 left the Conclave and Eome, all except the Cardinal 
 'Girolamo Masci de Alessiano, sometimes called d'Aseoli, 
 Bishop of Palestrina. He, " keeping fires burning con- 
 iinually, to purify the air," remained alone in Conclave 
 at Santa Sabina over ten months. At the end of that 
 time, the pestilence having ceased, the other cardinals 
 Teturned and elected him Pope, by the name of Nicholas 
 ly. ; — as surely he well deserved ! 
 
 It is singular enough that Cancellieri, who relates 
 this story, opens his work by declaring that " although 
 many Conclaves have chanced to take place in the 
 hottest months, yet no example is found of any epidemic 
 .sickness having happened during the continuance of 
 them ; it being the case that almost always those who 
 have journeyed to Eome in the dog-days for this 
 j)urpose, and have entered into Conclave, have come 
 out thence without suffering in any wise in their 
 health," The worthy old gossip evidently means to 
 .give the reader to understand that a special protection 
 is accorded by Providence to those engaged in the holy 
 work of making a Pope. The truth, however, of the 
 matter is rather remarkably the reverse of his state- 
 ment ; and he himself has proceeded but a few pages, 
 before he contradicts himself ia the above remarkable 
 manner. 
 
 On the same page with the above-cited passage, Can- 
 cellieri has an amusing note on the well-known supersti- 
 tion (now destroyed for good and aU !) to the effect that no 
 Pope could reach the length of Papacy said to have been 
 •enjoyed by St. Peter. " Among all the two hundred and 
 
86 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 fifty-four Popes," says lie, writing in 1823, immediately 
 after the death of Pins VII., a number now to be 
 increased by four more, "Pius YII. had been exceeded' 
 in the length of his papacy only by Adrian I. {ob. 795), 
 who ruled the Church twenty-three years, ten months, 
 and seven days, and Pius VI., who held the papacy 
 twenty-four years, six months, and fourteen days. 
 Only the Antipope Benedict XIII. reigned more than 
 twenty-eight years, of whom St. Antonine, in his 
 Chronicle, remarks that, ' He exceeded the duration of 
 the pontificate of St. Peter, to the heaping up of his 
 own damnation; and no wonder, since he was in 
 reality not in Peter's* seat.' " The good saint's idea 
 that the wicked Antipope, damned already for being an 
 Antipope, is extra-damned for living so long, is amusing^ 
 enough. " Hence^'' continues Cancellieri, " one may 
 say with Bzovius, in his history of the Eoman pontiffs,. 
 * Sint licet assumpti juvenes ad Pontificatum — Petii 
 annos potuit nemo videref tamen!" Cancellieri 
 rambles on with his pleasant gossip to an anecdote 
 (which Tiraboschi also tells in his history of Italian 
 literature) of the papal physician, Matthew Corte, wha 
 professed to have discovered the means of prolonging- 
 life to a hundred and twenty years, and wrote a book 
 specially on that subject. He used to present a copy 
 of this work to each new Pope, taking the precaution, 
 however, to substitute on every occasion a new title- 
 page, with the assurance to each new patron, "Yidebis 
 
 * "Transivit annos Petri nd cumulum sua^ damnationis; neo minim, 
 quia non in sodo rctii." — ^/. AnUmin. CJiron. p. 3. tit. -'J. 
 
 I "Although youiigmen have beon misod to the Pontificate, jotnoone 
 has been ablo to ecu the years of Potor." 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 87 
 
 dies Petri et ultra."* TiraboscM says that lie lias seen 
 copies that had been thus presented to Julius III., Pius 
 IV., and Paul IV. 
 
 This Conclave, ia which Nicholas IV. was elected, 
 was the first that was guarded — custodito — ^by a Savelh. 
 The privilege of holding this office was granted to the 
 head of the Savelli family " for ever " by Gregory IX. 
 Prince Chigi is now the hereditary "custode" of the 
 Conclaves. 
 
 Celestine V., the successor of this Nicholas IV., 
 elected in 1294, abdicated the papacy after a reign of 
 five months and eight days ; but found time to re-enact 
 the Gregorian constitutions, which were further con- 
 firmed and established by his successor, Boniface VIII. 
 And since that time these constitutions have without 
 intermission ruled the papal Conclaves, save when Pius 
 VI. [oh. 1799) dispensed the cardinals from the observa- 
 tion of them by reason of the bondage in which the 
 Church was held by Napoleon Buonaparte. There is 
 also the ever-memorable and aU-important case of Pope 
 Martin V., elected by the authority of the Council of 
 Constance, which has abeady been referred to in the 
 fourth chapter of Book I. The Gregorian constitutions 
 have with these exceptions formed the rule of the Con- 
 claves in all essential matters uninterruptedly for the 
 last six hundred years ; but they have been frequently 
 modified as to points held not to be essential by various 
 Popes, mostly in the sense of mitigating the rigour of 
 them as regards the personal comfort of the cardinals 
 during their seclusion. These modifications will be 
 
 * " Tou shall see tlie days of Peter and more." 
 
88 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 noticed in their proper places, but it may be convenient 
 to give here a list of them : — 1. Clement Y. {oh. 1314) 
 confirmed the constitutions, adding some small modifi- 
 cations. 2. Julius II. {ol. 1513), and Pius lY. {ol. 1565), 
 put forth other constitutions confirmatory of those of 
 Gregory, and adding minatory sanctions and explanatory 
 regulations. Gregory XY. {oh. 1623) approved and con- 
 firmed the whole of these, adding a minutely elaborated 
 ceremonial of his own. Urban YIII. {oh. 1644), and 
 CLement XII., issued confirmatory Bulls, with small 
 additions of ceremonial directions. And the various 
 Bulls here rehearsed form the whole body of Conclave 
 law as it exists at the present day. 
 
 Celestine seems to have been an unlucky name for the 
 pontiflfs. The first of the name was a fifth-century Pope. 
 The second {oh. 1144) reigned only five months and 
 thirteen days. The third {oh. 1198) had, indeed, a fair 
 length of reign — six years and nine months ; but the 
 fourth {oh. 1241) was Pope for seventeen days only ; and 
 the fifth abdicated in 1294, as has been said, at the end 
 of a reign of five months and eight days. Siace him no 
 Pope has called himself Celcstiue. 
 
 Celestine Y., taken from his hermitage to be made 
 Pope, was elected at Castel ISTuovo, near Xaples, and as 
 contemporary writers assure us, accepted the papacy very 
 unwillingly. The number of Popes of whom this was 
 declared to be the case is worthy of notice. Xotwith- 
 standing Dante's phrase respecting the "gran' rifiuto " 
 if wo arc to consider that the poet had Colostine's abdi- 
 cation in his mind, which seems to bo improbable this 
 
 unwillingness, or the profession of it, was cviJoutly 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 89 
 
 looked upon as meritorious : and our '' nolo episcopari" 
 is a survival of tlie same sentiment. The modesty, 
 however, wliich. prompted Celestiae to shriuk from the . 
 supreme dignity, did not characterize his successor, nor 
 prevent him from pushing his greatness to the utmost. 
 He went from Naples to Eome to be consecrated, accom- 
 panied by Charles II., Kiag of Sicily, and his son Charles, 
 Eiag of Hungary ; and proceeded, when consecrated at 
 St. Peter's, to the Lateran Palace, to be enthroned there, 
 with an unprecedented amount of state and magnificence, 
 mounted, we are told, on a palfrey, whose bridle was 
 held on either side by the above-mentioned two monarchs 
 on foot. 
 
 On the death of Boniface YIII., his successor, Benedict 
 IX., was elected regularly and normally. Boniface died 
 on the 11th of October, 1303 ; the cardinals went iato 
 Conclave on the 21st, and at the first scrutiay, on the 
 22nd, elected the new Pope by a unanimous vote, given, 
 as it would seem, ia genuine recognition of his merit. 
 
 But Benedict reigned only eight months and five days, 
 and the Conclave which assembled on his death was in 
 marked contrast to that which had elected him : one of 
 the most scandalous in its iacidents, and most disastrous 
 in its results, of any that has ever been held for the 
 election of a pontiff. The received account of Benedict's 
 death attributes it to poison. He was dining in the 
 Dominican Convent at Perugia, when a lad, dressed as 
 a girl, and pretending to be a maid servant of the nuns 
 of St. PetroniUa, presented him with some figs of a kind 
 he was known to be fond of. They were poisoned, and 
 the Pope died. Such is the received story. It has been 
 
90 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 said, especially by French, writers, that there is no satis- 
 factory evidence for the truth of the statement. And, 
 while it cannot be denied that poison was in those day& 
 very commonly used, and that there is abundant reason 
 for thinking, both that many persons may have wished 
 the removal of the Pope, and that those so wishing were 
 men who would by no means have scrupled to reach 
 their object by such means ; it must, on the other hand, 
 be admitted that the medical science of the period was 
 totally inadequate to ascertain whether a death had, or 
 had not, been occasioned by poison, and that the con- 
 sciousness of this inability, together with a knowledge 
 of the frequency of the crime, no doubt caused suspicion 
 to be roused in many cases where the truth did not 
 justify it. It must, however, also be conceded that the 
 conduct of the cardinals, who had the making of the 
 new Pope, was such as very strongly to suggest the 
 notion that some of them may have determined on 
 making the vacancy, respecting the filling of which pas- 
 sions ran so high, and such weighty interests were at 
 stake. 
 
 Civil war was raging throughout the north of Italy 
 and in Tuscany between Guelphs and Ghibelines, Bianchi 
 and Neri. The Pope scut the Dominican ciu-dinal, 
 Niccolo da Prato, as his legate to make peace between 
 the parties. But his reception was such, that the Pope 
 thought himself obliged to place Florence under inter- 
 dict, and to excommimicate the Guelphs, the Nori, and 
 the people of the cities Lucca and Prato. Hence it was 
 thought prdbable lliat the Florentines might have been 
 guilty of his murder. ]3ut other quax-rcls as bitter, and 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 91 
 
 enmities as irreconcilable, divided tlie members of tbe 
 Sacred College. Benedict bad liberated Pbilippe le Bel 
 from tbe censures wbicb Boniface bad fulminated against 
 bim ; but tbe cardinals were on many grounds divided 
 into two parties — tbe one favourable to tbe Frencb King, 
 tbe otber entirely Italian in its proclivities. Tbat otber 
 and more intimate causes of batred and partisan feeling 
 divided tbem may be sufficiently learned from tbe fact 
 tbat tbe friends of tbe Orsini were on tbe one side, and 
 tbose of tbe Colonnas on tbe otber ! 
 
 Tbe cardinals went into Conclave at Perugia, and 
 remained tbere more tban ten montbs witbout coming 
 to an election, so even was tbe balance, and so great 
 tbe animosity between tbe two parties. At last tbe Con- 
 clave agreed to make an election "by compromise," 
 intrusting tbe nomination of tbe pontiff to tbe two beads 
 of eitber faction, tbe Cardinal Albertino da Prato and 
 tbe Cardinal Gaetani. Tbe latter, wbo was opposed to 
 tbe Frencb interest, and wisbed to favour tbe party of 
 tbe cardinals created by Boniface YIII., proposed tbat 
 tbey sbould agree to elect one of tbe tbree arcbbisbops 
 created by Boniface. Now one of tbese was Arcbbisbop 
 of Bordeaux, wbo was known to be on bad terms witb 
 tbe Eing, on account of offences given to tbe Arcb- 
 bisbop's family at tbe time of tbe war in Gascony — tbe 
 lure to Gaetani being, of course, tbe prospect of tbus 
 electing eitber an enemy to tbe Frencb Xing, or, in any 
 case, one of Boniface's creatures. But Cardinal Albertino 
 being a man, as Moroni tells us, of very acute shrewd- 
 ness — di finissima politica — determines tbat tbe Arcb- 
 bisbop of Bordeaux sball be tbe real man, and sends off a. 
 
92 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 messenger to him in all secresy to strike a bargain with 
 him for his elevation to the papal throne. The messenger 
 found the Archbishop, Bertrand de Got, in the monastery 
 of St. John at Saintonge, and there quickly - came to 
 terms with him. De Got promised on oath that, if he 
 were made Pope, he would grant to Albertino six favours. 
 Four of these had reference to the matters which had 
 been in dispute between the French King and Pope 
 Boniface ; the fifth was that the clergy of France should 
 be excused from paying tithes to the Eoman See for the 
 next five years ; and the sixth not to be declared till 
 after the Archbishop should be crowned Pope ! This 
 bargain was successfully struck, and Bertrand de Got 
 became Pope by the name of Clement V. 
 
 This grossly simoniacal bargain and election was 
 made just thirty-one years after Gregory X. had in his 
 celebrated constitutions above quoted * fulminated 
 excommunication against all who should in any waj- 
 by promise, entreaty, persuasion, or bargain, tamper 
 with a papal election ! It is needless to point out how 
 flagrantly such bargaining was in violation of the 
 solemn pledges given by a cardinal at his creation, 
 or how shamelessly it contradicts the whole theory and 
 professions on which the election by the cardinals is 
 based. Yet the recognized and official historian, Sponda- 
 nus, as has been shown, declares that God's providence 
 has ordained that the case of a simoniacal election 
 should never occur ! And the wi'iter f who has quoted 
 
 * Chapter iv. book i. 
 
 I ]\[oroni. It is perhaps inaccurate to speak of Moroni as a " writer." 
 The cavaliere Moroni was tlio barber syho attended the Carnaldolese 
 prior, who becamo afterwards Gregory XVI. Moroni followed the 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 93 
 
 this passage from Spondamis narrates the history of 
 this simony with no word of remark, save that it was an 
 act of '■'■ finissima politica !" It is utterly out of the 
 question to suppose that any of these men, either the 
 purchaser or the seller of the papacy, could have had 
 any real belief in any portion of the matter,— either in 
 their own solemn pledges ; or in the yet more solemn 
 declaration, that the work of the election proceeded 
 under the special influence of the Holy Ghost ; or in 
 the validity and significance of the excommunication 
 pronounced by their own Pope when they had elected 
 him ! What could this Bertrand de Got's own idea of 
 his own Bulls and fulminations and declarations of the 
 faith, when he had ascended the seat of St. Peter, 
 have been ? 
 
 The election thus scandalously brought about was as 
 disastrous to the Church, and especially to Italy, in its 
 result, as it was unblushingly infamous in its initiation. 
 For it was this Frenchman, Bertrand de Got, who trans- 
 ferred the See to Avignon, which "Babylonish cap- 
 tivity," as the ecclesiastical writers have been fond 
 of calling it, endured till the death of Gregory XI. in 
 
 fortunes of his patron, was a great favourite mtli th.e late Pope, became 
 Ms first " Gentleman of the Chamber," and was, or was supposed in 
 Eome to be, able to obtain any favour from Gregory. Eoman gossip 
 tells that the good-natured but not scrupulously conscientious Pontiff, 
 would say to his favourite, when disposing of some benefice or office at 
 his solicitation, " you make 'em pay for it, I hope ? They pay well, I 
 hope ! " Thence when it came into the head of the first gentleman of the 
 Chamber to bring out a " Dizionario diErudizione Storioo-eoelesiastica," 
 (in 103 volumes, 8vo. 1840-1861), he had no difficulty, as may easily be 
 understood, in obtaining all his articles from the men most competent to 
 treat each subject. And the barber's book is thus an extremely valuable 
 one ; grievously in want of an Index, which, it is said, he has caused to 
 be prepared, but wUl not print because of the "perversity of the times." 
 
94 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 1378, a period of seventy-three years. During tMs 
 time the See was held in succession by seven French- 
 men, John XXII., Bendict XII., Clement YI., Inno- 
 cent the YI., Urban Y., and Gregory XI. That 
 nothing might be wanting to the sioister auguries 
 with which this papacy, the first of the "Babylonish 
 captivity," commenced, the ceremony of the French 
 Pope's coronation was marked by a terrible catastrophe. 
 Clement refused the prayer of the cardinals that he 
 would go to them at Perugia, and insisted that on the 
 contrary they should come to him at Avignon. They 
 did so, and the tiara was transported thither from Rome 
 with immense ceremony by the Cardinal Eanieri, as 
 Camerlengo of the Holy See. Clement was desii-ous of 
 imitating the pompous progress made by Boniface from 
 St. Peter's to the Lateran. There was no St. Peter's 
 and no Lateran at Avignon. But still he could ride 
 from one church to another in Avignon ; and this he 
 did, or at least attempted to do, with the Duke of 
 Brittany, and Guglielmo de Got his brother, holding the 
 bridle of his palfrey on either side. But the concoui'se 
 of people and the crush were so terrible in those narrow 
 streets that a wall was thi-own down, as the Pope was 
 passing, which killed twelve of the barons who were 
 nearest to him in the procession, the Duke of Brittany 
 and the Pope's brother among them, wounded the King 
 of France, and Charles of A'alois, and many others, and 
 tlu'cw the Pope himself from his horse, causing the 
 sacred tiara to roll from his head, and thereby to lose 
 from it a ruby worth, sajs the chi-oniclcr, six thousand 
 golden florins. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 95 
 
 Clement proceeded to fill the Sacred College witk 
 Prencli cardinals, whose scandalous quarrels and grossly 
 simoniacal proceedings caused, at Ms death in 1314, an 
 interregnum of two years, five months, and seventeen 
 days. Two Conclaves were held during this time, one 
 in Carpentras and one in Lyons ; at the last of which, 
 a "compromise" having at length been agreed to, and 
 the French Cardinal Jacopo d'Euse having been intrusted 
 with the nomination of the Pope, and the cardinals 
 having bound themselves, as is the essential condition 
 of an election by " compromise," to accept his nominee 
 as the legitimate Pope, he forthwith declared "Ego sum 
 Papa ! " "I am the Pope," and was elected accord- 
 ingly. The reasons assigned by Novaes * for not be- 
 lieving this story seem to me extremely futile. They 
 consist mainly ia the new Pope's declaration in a letter 
 to Eobert of Sicily that he had been elected " nemine 
 discrepante," and in the declaration of a Portuguese 
 bishop, writing to another Pope, to the same effect. 
 But this D'Euse, John XXII., was in perfect truth 
 elected unanimously by aU the cardinals, in accordance 
 with their agreement so to elect his nominee. 
 
 The Conclave which assembled at Avignon, on the 
 death of John XXII., who after ruling the Church for 
 eighteen years and three months, died in his ninety-first 
 year, on the 13th of December, 1334, was almost as dis- 
 graceful an one as that which elected the Pope who led 
 the Church into "Captivity," Clement V. The spirit 
 which animated its members is sufficiently shown by the 
 offer which they made of the Papacy to John de Com- 
 
 * " Dissertazioni Storico-criticH." Diss. iii. sec. i1. 
 
96 THE PAPAL CONCLAYES, 
 
 minges, on condition that he would not restore the Papaeij 
 to Rome. This offer, however, having been declined, 
 the Conclave elected, to his great surprise, the Carmelite 
 monk Jacopo del Forno, who became Pope, as Benedict 
 XII., and turned out a better Pontiff than might have 
 been expected. 
 
 Pierre Eoger, of the noble ho.use of Beaufort,* was 
 elected regularly by Conclave, assembled at Avignon, on 
 the 7th of May, 1342, which was the thirteenth day 
 after the death of Benedict XII., and became Pope, as 
 Clement YI. He, too, made a triumphal procession on 
 horseback, the bridle rein of his palfrey being held by 
 the Count of Normandy, afterwards King of France. 
 One of his first acts was to proclaim that, for two 
 months, all graces and favours demanded of the Holy 
 See should be, in the granting of them, free from the 
 usual fees and charges. And we are told that in con- 
 sequence of this announcement more than a hxmdred 
 thousand ecclesiastics flocked to Avignon fr'om all parts 
 of Europe, during those two months, and returned home 
 " filled with graces and benefits ! " This was the Pope 
 who excommunicated Cola di Eienzi, and caused him to 
 be brought to Avignon, and there imprisoned. The 
 Eomans dispatched two embassies to Pope Clement, 
 at the head of the second of which was Francesco 
 Petrarcha, the object of which was to prefer thi-eo 
 
 * It is strange that tho -nTiter of the ai-ticlo on Clomont YI. in Moroni's 
 Dictionary, should say that he took tho Bonodictine habit in the monas- 
 tery of Alvernia ; whereas that celebrated retreat in the Tuscan Apennines 
 is and always was a Franciscan convent, and was one of the most noted 
 haunts of St. Francis, and tho scone of many of tho legends connected 
 with him. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 97 
 
 petitions : 1. That lie -would accept, not as Pope, but 
 as Pierre Eoger, tlie places of Senator and Captain of 
 Eome ; 2. That lie would come and fix himself at the 
 Lateranj 3. That he would reduce the period elapsing 
 between one jubilee and the next to fifty years instead 
 of an hundred. To the first Pierre Eoger replied that 
 he had no objection, seeing that he was the master of 
 the city, to all intents and purposes, as he was. To the 
 third he gave his entire adhesion. But to the second, 
 which was the important point and main object of the 
 embassy, he replied that he could not do as was wished, 
 because he was so much occupied in endeavours to make 
 peace between the different warring princes of Europe — 
 which was true. 
 
 But in his reign of ten years and a half he accom- 
 plished little or nothing towards that end, and at his 
 death in 1352, twenty-eight cardinals went into Con- 
 clave at Avignon, and on the third day elected the 
 Cardinal Stephen d'Albret, a native of the parish of 
 Brissac, in the diocese of Limoges, by the name of 
 Innocent YI. This Conclave was, though a short, a 
 busy one. Por on going into Conclave a large number 
 of the cardinals wished to elect the General of the 
 Carthusians : a proposed election which seems to indi- 
 cate the existence of an improved spirit in the Sacred 
 College, for the Cardinal de Talleyrand, we are told, 
 fearing the severity of that holy monk, dissuaded the- 
 cardinals from their choice. Another attempt was then 
 made to elect a Cardinal de Cannillae, who had, how- 
 ever, only fifteen votes. This having failed, the car- 
 dinals in Conclave found it necessary to lose no more 
 
 H 
 
98 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 time; for it was known tliat the king, John II., was 
 approaching Avignon, by forced marches, with a view to 
 exercise a pressure on the Conclave. Stephen d'Albret 
 was, therefore, made into Innocent YI. in a hurry, and 
 turned out a very good Pope, as the times went, though 
 somewhat more of a reformer of abuses, specially in the 
 matter of non-residence and the holding of benefices in 
 conimendam, than their eminences much liked. 
 
 It is to be observed that all the tentatives made in the 
 Conclave were in favour of Frenchmen only. 
 
 Innocent's successor, "William Grimoard, resembled 
 
 Homer, as the ecclesiastical historians remark, at least 
 
 in one respect — that seven places contend for the honour 
 
 of having given him. birth, and each of these has found 
 
 Avriters to maintain its claim. He was certainly a 
 
 Frenchman, and was most probably born at Grissae, in 
 
 Languedoe, in the diocese of Mende. Twenty cardinals 
 
 went into Conclave at Avignon, after the death of 
 
 Innocent, on the 22nd of September, 1362 ; and it soon 
 
 appeared that a new line of division, and consequently 
 
 of strife, had manifested itself among them. The great 
 
 majority were French; but a considerable number of 
 
 their eminences were Gascons, and subjects therefore of 
 
 the King of England, and these placed themselves in 
 
 opposition to those of their colleagues, who were subjects 
 
 of the King of France. The ecclesiastical historians, in 
 
 recording this, do not seem to bo at all struck by the 
 
 fact that such a division implies a total forgetfulness of 
 
 the sacred duties and functions for the dischai'ge of 
 
 which they professed to have been called altogether. 
 
 J3ut, in truth, it would have been well-nigh impossible 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 99 
 
 for any Catholic writer to have treated of the history of 
 the elections of the Popes at all, if he were to make any 
 attempt to meddle with considerations of this order ! 
 The twenty cardinals, however, despite their differences 
 and jealousies, contrived to agree, after six days' seclusion, 
 to elect Cardinal'^Hugo Eoger. But he, to the infinite 
 surprise of his colleagues, took the almost unprecedented 
 step, not of merely professing unwillingness, but of 
 absolutely declining, to'accept the tiara ! And the diffi- 
 culties of the Conclave recommenced, and the discus- 
 sions broke out with redoubled violence. It was found 
 indeed impossible to agree in the election of one of their 
 own body; and it was not till the 28th of October that 
 a way out of the difficulty was found by the election, as 
 "Urban V., of the Abbot William, who was no cardinal, 
 and had been sent as Legate to Sicily, and was at that 
 time at Florence. It is a curious illustration of the con- 
 dition of things and of men's minds at the time, that it 
 is recorded that the cardinals, instead of sending to him 
 to announce his election, sent a message to the effect 
 that they desired to consult with him ; the motive for 
 the step being that they feared lest, had it been known 
 that he was the Pope, the Italians might have forcibly 
 detained him, with a view to the re-establishment of the 
 Papacy in Eome ! In truth repeated indications are 
 found that all the Avignon Popes felt a more or less 
 decided consciousness that they were in some sort doing 
 wrong in holding the Papacy out of Eome, and that it 
 would be a good and meritorious act to restore it to the 
 seat of Peter. Petrarch again interceded strongly by 
 letter with Urban Y. on this point; and Urban, who 
 
 h2 
 
100 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 seems to have been a really conscientious man, was- 
 mucli minded to do as all Italy implored him to do. 
 The difficulty of doing this, however, with a College of 
 Cardinals now almost entirely French, was very great. 
 How much greater it was felt to be by a Pope than it 
 could be imagiued to be by any other, is curiously shown 
 by a recorded expression which fell from Urban Y., 
 long before he had any thought that he should ever be 
 Pope, to the effect that if he could only live to see the 
 next Pope restore the see to Eome, he should be well 
 content to die the next day ! Yet when he himself had 
 become that next Pope, he did not do it ! He did deter- 
 mine, however, to at least give Eome the consolation of 
 his presence temporarily. He arrived there, to the im- 
 mense joy of the Eomans, on the 16th of October, 136". 
 He remained in Eome and its neighbourhood three years 
 and nine months, and then departed on his return to 
 Avignon, on the 26th of August, 1370, despite all the 
 entreaties that could be brought to bear on him ; despite 
 the warnings of the sainted Miuorite friar, Peter of 
 Aragon, to the effect that his residence in Avignon 
 would lead to a schism ia the Chui-eh ; and those of St. 
 Bridget, who, when he was at Montefiascone, on his 
 way to embark at Corncto, assm-ed him that the Blessed 
 Yirgin had revealed to her that if the Pope returned to 
 Avignon he might at once prepare for his death, for 
 that he would not long yurAive it. Urban, however, 
 replying to all these eutr(>aties and persuasions that the 
 interests of the government of the universal Chm-ch 
 made it impossible for him to yield to them, returned to 
 Avignon, which he reached on the l^lth of September, 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 101 
 
 1370, and died on the 19tli of December of that year, 
 in complete fulfilment, as the historians do not fail 
 -to point out, of the prophecy of St. Bridget. 
 
 The Qonclave assembled at Avignon on the canonical 
 tenth day after the death of Urban, and immediately, by 
 the unanimous vote of all the nineteen cardinals present, 
 ■elected Pietro Eoger of Maumont, in the diocese of 
 Limoges, Pope, by the name of Gregory XI., the 
 seventh and last of the line of French Popes. Gregory 
 seems to have been a conscientious man, and, like his 
 two or three predecessors, made some nearer approach 
 towards the character and conduct that might be sup- 
 posed fitting in a ruler of the universal Church, as the 
 duties of such a position were then understood by the 
 best members of that Church, than any of the Popes 
 shortly preceding the "Babylonish Captivity" had 
 done. And these last Popes had been chosen almost 
 entirely by French cardinals. Was it the case, that, 
 rude, rough, and violent as the times were among those 
 Gascon and Languedocian populations, there existed iu 
 the social atmosphere of those races a somewhat nearer 
 approach towards an adequate conception of the meaning 
 and significance of the oflB.ce to be filled by the Supreme 
 Euler of the Christian Church, than was the case among 
 the invincibly and permanently Pagan tendencies of the 
 Italian people ? The discussion of such an idea would 
 lead us very much too far afield from the proposed 
 subject of this volume. It is sufficient to have suggested 
 it to the speculative inquirer interested in the study of 
 national characteristics. 
 
 Gregory XI. was, as I have said, to all appearances a 
 
102 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 conscientious man, and he like Ms predecessor seems to- 
 have felt strongly on tlie subject of restoring the Papacy 
 to the Eternal City. Indeed he had made up his mind 
 to do so, not merely by his temporary presence in Eome^ 
 as his immediate predecessor had done, but by defini- 
 tively re-transferring the Papal Court to Eome. This 
 is proved by the fact that when he left Avignon for 
 Eome, on the 10th of September, 1376, he was ac- 
 companied by all the cardinals, save six, and by the 
 whole of the members of the Pontifical Court. 
 
 But this restoration was a very difficult matter — a 
 much more difficult matter than it had been to carry the 
 Apostolical Court from Eome to Avignon. The diffi- 
 culties in the way of returning to Eome may be easily 
 understood in a great degree ; and it is equally easy tO' 
 feel assured that other obstacles and difficulties must 
 have existed besides those which we can now descry. 
 Further, there is no reason to doubt that the assertions 
 of Gregory's predecessors, to the effect that the interests 
 of the Church and the work of administering it required 
 their presence in France, were made in all good faith and 
 entire persuasion that such was the fact. They were 
 Frenchmen, and were naturally conriuced that France 
 was the true centre of the Christian world, as indeed it 
 had for the last century or so been becoming more and 
 more. England and English affiiii'S, the wars of her 
 kings, and the heresies of her people, had contributed 
 much in those latter times to the cares of the Popes. 
 And they felt themsehes to be more .at hand for the 
 supor\'ision of them at A^'ignou than at Eome. Then, 
 again, if Aquitainian and Langucdocian barons were 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 103 
 
 masterful and high-handed, if times were rude and men 
 violent in France, the men into the midst of whom the 
 Popes were importuned to return were a herd of raging 
 ruffians, cut-throats, and poisoners. The former were 
 men who could always be awed into reverence by a due 
 exhibition and administration of Papal Mumbo-jumbo. 
 The latter were men whom no Mumbo-jumbo could awe 
 into a reverence which was alien to their nature, or into 
 superstition which too long a close acquaintance with, 
 and handling of, Mumbo-jumbo had utterly liberated 
 them from. 
 
 And the great and all-important fact of a definitive 
 restoration of the Papal Court to Eome was accordingly 
 brought about by an accident after all. 
 
 Gregory XI., having left Avignon, as has been said, 
 on the 10th of September, 1376, celebrated his Christmas 
 mass at Corneto, on his arrival in Italy. He was received 
 with the utmost possible enthusiasm by all classes, and 
 with the greatest pomp and magnificence-; and at once 
 began active endeavours to repair the evils, material and 
 moral, which had resulted from the absence of the Popes 
 from Eome. But it was uphill work ! The Florentines 
 were at open war with him. The petty tyrants of the 
 papal cities joined themselves to them, whenever they 
 were disposed to rebel against the Pope. The Eoman 
 barons showed not the smallest disposition to obey him. 
 And the Gascon and Breton troops, whom he had brought 
 with him to protect him, found it hard work to do so. 
 Gregory, we are told, was stricken with melancholy from 
 the day of his arrival in Eome. How well we can imagine 
 that it should have been so ! A gloomy, savage-looking, 
 
104 THE TAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 and half-ruined city grovelling amid the majestic ruins 
 of the Paganism which still survived in the blood of the 
 descendants of those who had raised them ; lawless and 
 knowing no authority save that of the ruffian barons and 
 their retainers, who were ever snarling over the carcass ; 
 desolate in the midst of the ever sad and dreary 
 
 Campagna ! Yes ! It may be understood that 
 
 the Languedoc Pope should have been stricken with 
 melancholy at the sight of the surroundings, and the 
 life, and the work before him. 
 
 He seems very soon to have begun to make up his 
 mind that it would not do, and that he must return ! 
 That, however, was far more easily said than done. The 
 Eomans, who would not obey him, were by no means 
 willing that he should depart. It is probable that they 
 would have attempted, and probably succeeded, in de- 
 taining him by violence. And it is to be remembered 
 that his death at Eome would have suited theu* plans 
 and wishes just as well as his continuing to Live there. 
 For in that case there would be a Conclave at Eome, 
 and the probability of a Pope who would continue to 
 reside there. 
 
 Gregory had, however, determined to return. But he 
 was continually tormented by an incui-able and painful 
 illness, and he began to foresee that he might never see 
 his Languedoc again ! And his last act seems to indicate 
 a conviction, not only that he had make a mistake in 
 moving to Eome, but that it would be desirable for his 
 successor, bo ho whom he might, to oontinue to keep 
 the Papacy in France; for his last act was the pre- 
 paration of a dispensing Bull, empowering the cardinals 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 105 
 
 to elect Ms successor either in or away from Eome, 
 wtereTer tlie greater number of the members of tbe 
 College might be. Now as the major part of tbe cardinals 
 were then in Eome, and as tbey bad all been most urgent 
 with tbe Pope to return to France, tbis Bull would seem 
 to contemplate tbeir going away from Eome to make tbe 
 election elsewhere, 
 
 Gregory indeed was destined never to leave Eome. 
 His last illness overtook him before be could put bis 
 intention of returning into execution ; and he died on 
 the evening of the 27th of March, 1378, haviag reigned 
 seven years and all but three months, of which tbe last 
 year and three months were passed in Italy. 
 
 And thus ended the "Babylonish Captivity." 
 
CHAPTEK III. 
 
 Sacred College at the Death of Gregory XI. — Anecdotes of the Conclave 
 that elected Urhan VI. — Turbulenoe of the Eoman People. — Alarm 
 of the Cardinals. — Oirciinistances which led to the great Schism. — 
 Doubts respecting the Canonicity of the Election of Urban VI. — 
 Other Causes leading to the Schism. — Irregular Election of Eobert of 
 Geneva by the dissenting Cardinals as Clement VII., -who has always 
 been held to be an Antipope. — Schism of thirty-nine Tears. 
 
 The death of Gregory XI., wliich. overtook him at Eome 
 when he was meditating his return to Avignon, was the 
 means of restoring the Papacy to the Eternal City, but 
 by no means smoothed away or cut the knot of the diffi- 
 culties by which that restoration was surrounded. The 
 details of the story of the Conclave which elected his 
 successor, Bartolommeo Prignani, Archbishop of Bari, 
 who was not a cardinal,* as Urban YI., are curious and 
 strongly marked by the characteristics of the times. 
 They have been preserved ia the Latin relation of a con- 
 temporary, probably a "Conclavista,"-f which is printed 
 in the collection published in 1691, by G. L.J 
 
 * Since him no Pope has been elected who was not at the time a 
 member of the Sacred College. 
 
 t I.e., one of tho " attendants " provided for in the constitutions of 
 Gregory. They may in accordance with them bo either clerks or laymen. 
 In practice they nro always clerks. 
 
 \ Grogorio Leti. Tho edition cited is a reprint mado at Cologne, 
 and is in 12mo. The original edition in ito. has no date of place or year. 
 logorio Leti was born in 1630. His inexactitude as an historian is 
 notorious. But in the caso of those relations of the ConcLave, he is 
 itiorcly tho cullcrlor of tho accounts of others. That of tho Conclave of 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 107 
 
 Gregory left tlie Sacred College consisting of twenty- 
 three cardinals, of wliom four only were Italian. There 
 was one Spaniard, and all the others were French. Some 
 of these had remained at Avignon ; and sixteen only (as 
 Moroni says, reckoning one Spaniard, eleven French, 
 and four Italians ; or seventeen, as the old Conclavista 
 says) entered into Conclave on the 7th of April, 1378.* 
 But, as the Conclavista relates, without the smallest 
 appearance of any consciousness that he is telling that 
 which vitiated the whole election, t they met before 
 entering into Conclave to discuss the matter, and see 
 what prospect there was of coming to an agreement. 
 This at once appeared to he but small. For although 
 the eleven French cardinals were strong enough to have 
 elected one of their own body, who would have carried 
 the Papacy back into France, as they ardently wished, 
 if they had been unanimous, there was a principle of 
 division among them which deprived them of their 
 power. The difficulty arose from the fact that the 
 French cardinals, though all French, were not all from 
 the Diocese of Limoges ; as (from the circumstance of 
 three out the line of seven French Popes, Clement VI., 
 Innocent YI., and Gregory XI., having been natives of 
 
 Urban VI. is shown to be by a contemporary, by tlie statement tliat 
 Joanna of Naples "was and is " a person much esteemed by the 
 cardinals. 
 
 * CancelUeri, withhis usual carelessness, says on the Uth of September, 
 which could in no wise have been the case ; a blunder which is the more 
 strange in that in the same passage he quotes Leti's Oonclayista, who 
 gives the date correctly. 
 
 ■)■ His words are, " Cardinales ante ingressum Conclavis simul in certo 
 loco aUquando congregati inter se colloquium habuerunt super 
 persona (sic) futuri Pontiflcis tractantes et colloquentes, qui tamon nou 
 potuerunt concordare." Compare this with the Uth of Gregory X.'s. 
 rules. 
 
108 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 that diocese) was the case with a considerable number 
 among them. The other French cardinals, determined 
 that the Papacy should not become the hereditary pro- 
 perty of the Limoges clergy,* were ready to unite with 
 the Italian cardinals even in the election of an Italian, 
 if by no other means could they prevent the election of 
 a Limoges man. In this frame of mind they cast their 
 eyes upon the Archbishop of Bari, — '' unum Archiepis- 
 copum Barensem," as the Eoman Conclavista somewhat 
 contemptuously calls him, — no other indeed than oui* 
 Bartolommeo Prignani, who, if to a Eoman conclavist 
 he was " one Archbishop of Bari," was sufficiently well 
 known in the ecclesiastical world of Chi-istendom, and 
 Avho eventually became Urban YI. The reasons for the 
 choice are given as follows by the concla-sist : It was 
 hoped that the Italian cardinals would agree to elect 
 him, an Italian, rather than another Frenchman ; 
 while it was thought on the other hand that the Ultra- 
 montanef cardinals would agree "because the Bari 
 Archbishop was a very learned man, used to business, 
 erudite, and instructed in the style of the Curia and 
 Chancery, "J and from his early years the familiar com- 
 panion and domestic chaplain of the Cardinal Yicc- 
 
 * ' ' Concordarunt cum cardinalibus Italicis do liabondo potius Italicum 
 quam unum Lemovicensom, dicentes aporti' quod totus muudus admodum 
 <rat attediatus do Leiiii>vicciit<ibiis, qui tauto tempore Papatum posside- 
 rimt quasi hereditarium ;" saying openly that all the ^rorld was very 
 tiiod of the Limogians, who had possessed the Papacy so long as though 
 it weio hereditary among them. — Conclavi dei Poi:ti}ic. Colonia, 1691. 
 V. i. p. LM. 
 
 t J.e. the cardinals from the nortlicrii side of the Alps. The change 
 of moaning anil relative position iu tho current talk of the day is not 
 unworthy of notice. 
 
 I " Instructus iu flylo Cui'iiv ct Canoellarifo." 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 109 
 
 Chancellor, -who was himself of Limoges. So much, so 
 that the French cardinals considered this Bishop of Bari 
 to be as it were one of themselves, and conformable* to 
 their ways. Lastly, it was a reason in favom- of the 
 choice that the Archbishop was a Neapolitan, " of which 
 kingdom the Serenissima Joanna^i who was exceedingly 
 devoted to the Holy Chnrch, and very acceptable to and 
 beloved by the cardinals, was mistress. These grounds 
 for the choice appeared to have approved themselves to 
 the majority of the cardinals, and it was well understood 
 before they went into Conclave that the Archbishop of 
 Bari was to be the man. So much so that on entering 
 Conclave, as soon as the appointed mass " De Spiritu 
 Sancto" had been performed, the Cardinal de Agrifoglio, 
 addressing his colleagues, said, J "Let us set to work at 
 once, for I feel sure that we shall make an election out 
 of hand." But the Cardinal Orsini, who was believed 
 to be himself an aspirant to the Papacy, and who saw 
 that the election of the Archbishop of Bari was imminent, 
 wishing to gain time, and ut creditur, to get rid of it 
 altogether, spoke thus, or to this effect : " Let us, your 
 eminences — Domini mei — defer this election to another 
 time, that we may elude — ut deludamus — this Eoman 
 people, who wish to haA^e a Eoman citizen for Pope; 
 
 * " Ipsorum moribus conformem." 
 
 f It may be as well to remind tbe reader that tliis most Serene favour- 
 ite of the cardinals was tbe woman who incited her lover to murder 
 her husband, who used means of nameless infamy to escape public 
 denunciation for the crime, who was the consistently adulterous wife of 
 four husbands, who espoused subsequently the cause of the Antipope 
 against the Pope, and was ultimately stifled under a feather bed in a 
 remote castle in the Apennines by the order of her murdered husband's 
 nephew. 
 
 t "Dixit hsec verba," says the conclavist. 
 
110 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 and let us summon some Minorite friar, and let us put 
 the papal cope and mitre on him/and pretend that we have 
 elected him for Pope ; and so let us get away from this 
 place, and elect somebody else elsewhere." For, explains 
 the conclavist, there was a crowd in the Piazza in 
 front of the palace, "not violent, however, or making 
 any threats " (this, as will be seen, was an important 
 point) ; but imprudently — incauti — crying out, " We 
 want a Eoman for Pope," their real object being rather 
 to run off to plunder the house of the new Pope, accord- 
 ing to custom, as soon as the election should be 
 announced, than really to influence in any way the 
 election; as in truth they did nothing when subse- 
 quently one who was not a Roman was elected. But 
 the other cardinals, in reply to the Cardinal Orsini, said, 
 " Certainly we will not do this thing. For we will not 
 make the people idolaters — (as they would be, that is to 
 say, if we deceived them into adoring as Pope one who 
 was not so in reality), — nor will we deceive them to the 
 damnation of oiu- own souls. On the contrary, it is our 
 intention forthwith to elect, and we will elect a true 
 Pope ; and for the words and clamoiu's of those people 
 we care not." 
 
 Cardinal Orsini, however, making one more attempt 
 to prevent the election of the Archbishop, attempted to 
 persuade his colleagues to elect Francesco, Cardinal of 
 St. Sabine, a Eoman, upon which one of the Limoo'os car- 
 dinals said that although the Cardinal of St. Peter's (his 
 Eminence of St. Sabine was so called) was a good and 
 holy man, they ^\'ould not oloet him ; in the first place 
 because he was a Eoman, and by doing so the ConclaAo 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. Ill 
 
 would seem to have been influenced by the clamour of 
 the mob, and, in the second place, because he was too 
 infirm to sustaia the weight of the Papacy ; then, 
 turning towards the Florentine Cardinal, he said, " Tou 
 are of Florence, a city at war with the Holy See, There- 
 fore we will not elect you. His Eminence of Milan is 
 from a country that was always opposed to the Church. 
 The Cardinal Orsini is, again, a Eoman, a partisan, and 
 too young for the Papacy. Therefore we will elect none 
 of these." (These were the only four Italians in the 
 Sacred College. It only remained, therefore, to find a 
 Pope outside the College, or to elect one from one or 
 other of the two hostile factions of Frenchmen, a course 
 which the hostility of either party was sufficient to 
 render impossible.) Having thus spoken, continues the 
 conclavist, "Cardinalis ipse Lemovicensis,"* in the pre- 
 sence and hearing of all the other cardinals, and before 
 them all, chose as Eoman Pontiff Monsignore Bartolom- 
 meo. Archbishop of Bari, using words to the following 
 effect, " I purely and freely elect and assume to be Pope 
 Monsignore Bartolommeo, Archbishop of Bari.'' And 
 on that same spot, without any interval of time,f all the 
 other cardinals acting and constituting a part much 
 larger than the two-thirds of the number of cardinals 
 in Conclave, freely elected similarly the said Archbishop 
 of Bari to be the Eoman Pontiff, t The Florentine 
 
 * It is not clear whicli of the cardinals from Limoges is intended. But 
 it is of no importance. 
 
 f It is evident from tliis and many other of the points insisted on in 
 tlie narrative, that it was composed in view of the schismatic election of 
 an Antipope, to -which the proceeding of this Conclave gave rise. 
 
 t He says all the other cardinals, and thus in fact contradicts himself. 
 But I have accurately translated his words, and his meaning is clear. 
 
112 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Cardinal seeing that there was a majority of more than 
 the requisite two-thirds for the Archbishop of Bari, 
 joined his vote to theirs, and " so the election was 
 celebrated." 
 
 The Conclave having remained duly closed all this 
 time, and the election thus canonically* made, their 
 eminences began to have misgivings as to what they had 
 done so bravely, and began to question among themselves 
 whether it were expedient to proclaim the said election 
 forthwith to the people. ''And at length they came to 
 a conclusion to put off this publication tUl the time of 
 dinner had passed, and they should have dined ; the 
 object of which was that, inasmuch as the dignitary 
 elected was not then in the palace where the Conclave 
 was held, there was reason to fear that if the election 
 were then proclaimed before he had had time to come to 
 the cardinals in the palace, something unpleasant — 
 aliqua sinistra — might happen to the said prelate by the 
 way, inasmuch as he was not a Eoman, which the popu- 
 lace were bent on having." Another reason, adds the 
 conclavist, was that their eminences were anxious to 
 get their silver plate and other valuables that they had 
 with them in the Conclave, carried to their houses, or to 
 some other place of safety, which they feared they might 
 not be able to accomplish after the election had been 
 declared. 
 
 So, " ne aliquis posset suspicari vol prajsumere, ipsum 
 esse electum," they sent for several prelates, known to 
 
 * Except in so far as it was vitiated by tlio simoniacal proceedings 
 preceding the Conclave, as before observed, wbicb nobody seems to havo 
 thought anything about. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 113 
 
 be then in Eome, desiring tliem to come and confer 
 respecting certain arduous affairs of the Cturcli, Tlie 
 conclavist names five thus sent for besides the Arch- 
 bishop of Bari. They all came, and the cardinals gave 
 them a dinner, not inside the Conclave where they were 
 dining themselves, but in the palace. After dinner, the 
 Conclave being still closed, and all semblance of pressure 
 from without having ceased, they again, for greater 
 security, safety, and precaution — " concorditer ac unani- 
 miter"* — elected Bartolommeo, Archbishop of Bari, to 
 be Pope. 
 
 When that had been done, a rumour got out — " cepit 
 exire et dici " — ^that the Pope had been elected. But 
 nobody coiild say on whom the election had fallen. 
 Thereat the people began to be clamorous, and going to 
 the Bishop of Marseilles, who had been appointed keeper 
 of the Conclave, insisted that it should be told to them 
 who the Pope was. The Bishop answered that he would 
 go to St. Peter's and ascertain, and that the result of the 
 election should then be published. But some of the 
 people misunderstanding him, thought that he said he 
 would go to the house of the Cardinal " de Sancti Petri " 
 (Orsini), and concluded at once that he had been elected. 
 Whereupon the populace rushed off to that cardinal's 
 dwelling, and to show their joy at having a Koman for 
 Pope, plundered the house according to custom. When, 
 however, the hours went on and no proclamation of the 
 election was made, an idea began to gain ground that the 
 
 * I presume ttat he means that those who had before done so unani- 
 mously repeated the election. It is not likely that the others who had 
 refused before dinner to concur in the election should have now agreed 
 to it. The sequel of the history makes this very improbable. 
 
114 THE PAPAL CONCIiAVES. 
 
 people tad been deceived, and the notion was confirmed 
 by some who had observed some of the plate of the car- 
 dinals being carried away out of the Conclave, where- 
 upon a portion of the populace made an irruption into the 
 Conclave, intending to insist on the cardinals remaining 
 where they were until an election should have been 
 made. 
 
 The French cardinals, seeing the people rushing into 
 the Conclave, " were exceedingly frightened because they 
 had not elected a Eoman Pope ; " and forgetting not 
 only the bravery with which they had declared that 
 they would elect without regard to the clamour of 
 the people, but also all that care for the welfare of their 
 own souls which had induced them to reject the pro- 
 posal of Cardinal Orsini, they induced that Cardinal 
 to permit himself to be clothed with the insignia of 
 the Pope, "ad placandum populum." And the people, 
 believing him to be the Pope, adored bim as such ; so 
 that, to use the expressions of the Limoges cardinal 
 who had spoken so bravely when the walls of the 
 palace were between him and the populace, " the 
 people" were "made idolaters," and the souls of the 
 cardinals acting the fraud were "damned," as his Emi- 
 nence had said. 
 
 While these things were being done in a tumultuous 
 manner, all the cardinals got away out of the Conclave 
 and reached their own houses in safety, except the real 
 Pope, who had hidden himself in the palace, and the 
 mock Pope, Orsini, Avho was receiving the salutations of 
 tlie people. Whcu, liowovcr, this had been going on 
 for some little time, Cardinal Orsini, beginning to feel 
 
NOBLE BOTS AT PLAY, 115 
 
 uncomfortable in his strange position, cried out,* " I am 
 not tlie Pope, and I don't want to be an Antipope. A 
 better man than I has been chosen Pope — the Archbishop 
 of Pari." 
 
 Meantime most of the cardinals had become so much 
 alarmed at the aspect of things that they thought they 
 could not venture to remain in their own houses, A 
 few, three or four, did so in perfect safety ; of the others, 
 some hid themselves in the city, some escaped to strong 
 places out of the city, and some took refuge in the Castle 
 of St. -Angelo. The conclavist gives the names of all 
 those who adopted each of these courses. That same 
 evening those who were in Castle St, Angelo wrote to 
 the elected Pope recommending him, inasmuch as he was 
 not a Eoman, to escape to some safe place ; but the new 
 Pope, on receiving this message, consulted Cardinal 
 Orsini, who alone had remained in the palace, as to the 
 course he should adopt, Orsrni told him that he was 
 well and truly made Pope, and that nothing could hurt 
 him if he remained where he was. He accordingly did 
 pass that night in the palace, and on the morrow it was, 
 " by the counsel and will of " the Cardinal Orsini, 
 announced to the oflEcial personages of the city that the 
 Archbishop of Pari had been elected Pope, Whereupon 
 they, the oflScial personages, were much astonished, but 
 were highly contented, and wished to approach the Pope, 
 and did go to him for the rendering to him that reverence 
 which is usually shown to the Popes, But he, the new 
 Pope, was unwilling that such reverence should be 
 shown him by the said officials, or by anybody else, 
 
 * " Hsec verba protulit in effectu," says tte Conclavist. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 saying, among other things, that for the present he did 
 not choose to be called other than the Axchbishop of 
 Bari.* 
 
 This statement is very important as indicating that 
 Urban YI. was not himself contented with his election, 
 and had doubts as to its validity. It is, at the same 
 time, evidence of the impartial good faith of the con- 
 clavist who has preserved the story of the Conclave. 
 Many of the passages which have been quoted, in which 
 he iasists upon small facts that go to show that the 
 election was canonical according to the rules, might lead 
 to the suspicion that, writiag his account of the election 
 after it had been disputed, he wrote merely as a par- 
 tisan. But it is impossible to suppose that he could 
 have failed to perceive the very damaging inference to 
 be drawn from the conduct of Urban himself. 
 
 The writer goes on to relate that, on the morning after 
 the election, the five cardinals who had remained in 
 their own homes came to the new Pope to congratulate 
 him and implore him to accept his election. They 
 
 * THs passage is so important, in riew of the disastrous schism Trhich 
 the circumstances of this memorable Conclave led to, that I think it 
 ■worth -while to give the text of the original. 
 
 " In crastinum autem de consilio et voluntate Domini Cardinalis Sauoti 
 Petri (Orsini) fuit electio Dom. Barensis intimata officialibus Urbis, qui 
 de electione hujus modi remanserunt ; et fuerunt valde contonti, et volue- 
 runt acoedere et accesserunt Dominum olectum ad exhibendum ei 
 reverentiam exhibeii solitam summis Pontificibus ; qui noluit sibi talem 
 reverentiam fieri per dictos offlcialcs, neo per alium quempiam, dicendo 
 inter ccetera, quod pro nunc nolebat nominori, nisi Archiepiscopus 
 Barensis." 
 
 Tho reader -will have remai-kod the peculiar use of the -word " reman- 
 serunt." Nobody could understand it -who -was not familiar -with 
 modern Italian colloquialisms — "lo rimaugo ! " " Sono rimasti!"("I 
 am amazedl " " They were much astonished! ") vrhich may be heard any 
 day in tho mouths of Italians. A quaint instance of the persistence of a 
 popular, almost slang, phrnso. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 117 
 
 persuaded Mm also to allow a message to be sent to the 
 six cardinals "who were in Castle St. Angelo, requiring 
 tliem to meet their colleagues, and that the Elected 
 might give his consent to the election made in his 
 person, as is customary. He, however — the new Pope 
 — wishing to be secure in Ms conscience, asked all* the 
 cardinals, each one separately, whether in truth he was 
 elected Pope, "sincerely, purely, freely, and canonically," 
 by all the cardinals in Conclave. And they replied that 
 assuredly he was so elected as much as any one could 
 be, persuading him by no means to refuse or delay his 
 assent to his election on account of the danger of a long 
 interregnum^ considering that it would be very difficult 
 for the cardinals to be again assembled together. The 
 cardinals who had remained in St. Angelo, moreover, 
 gave by publicly executed instrument full and free 
 power to the five who were at St. Peter's with the 
 Pope to enthrone him, and do all things that they could 
 by their own presence do. When, however, this instru- 
 ment was shown to the Senate of Eome and the other 
 officials of the city, they went to Castle St. Angelo, and 
 humbly prayed the cardinals there to come out and join 
 their colleagues at St. Peter's, assuring them that they 
 would be there ia a perfectly safe, free, and secure place ; 
 and that although they had not chosen a Eoman, yet the 
 Eoman people were contented with the election of the 
 Archbishop of Bari, and were perfectly quiet and peace- 
 fully disposed. Thus reassured, the six foreign cardinals 
 
 * That is, all the five who had come to hini. For it appears imme- 
 diately afterwards that the six who were in St. Angelo did not as yet 
 . come out to join their colleagues. 
 
118 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 came out of the castle and joined the Pope elect and the 
 other five cardinals at St. Peter's ; and there the whole 
 eleven together in the chapel, "a second time and for 
 the greater surety," elected the Archbishop Pope, "or 
 purely, freely, agreeingly, and unanimously consented 
 that he should be elected." 
 
 Here again the narrative of the conclavist is very 
 damaging to the cause of Urban VI. It is clear that if 
 he had not been didy, fully, and finally elected in the 
 Conclave, nothing that could be done afterwards could 
 canonically make him Pope. And yet the cardinals by 
 their conduct show that they must have had doubts upon 
 the subject. The eleven constituted, it is true, two- 
 thirds of a Conclave consisting of sixteen (if seven- 
 teen entered into Conclave the eleven did not make a 
 two-thirds majority) ; but a canonical election could not 
 be efi'ected by first getting rid of a portion of the electors 
 by means of an erroneous statement that the election 
 was consummated, and then proceeding with the real 
 effective election in their absence. It would seem, in- 
 deed, that from the first, the cu'cumstances attending 
 this Conclave did inspire a certain degree of doubt and 
 misgiving in all those who were actors in it. Neverthe- 
 less, the sequel of the story, as narrated by the contem- 
 porary writer whom I have followed, and who in all 
 probability was, as I have supposed, a conclavist, seems 
 to show that the pretences on -which the terrible schism 
 that followed Avere foimded wore in truth insincere and 
 merely colourable. My impression, too, fi.-om a very 
 careful reading of the narrative, is strongly in favour of 
 the truthfulness and sincerity of the wi'itcr. 
 
'noble boys at play. 119 
 
 He goes on to show at great length, that every part of 
 the usual ceremony of enthronement, and of the practices 
 that according to custom follow after it, were duly, fully, 
 and undisputedly done and compKed with in the presence 
 and with the assent and assistance of all the sixteen car- 
 dinals who had taken part in the Conclaye,* those who 
 had fled from the city having returned. He proceeds 
 to show that for three months all these cardinals treated 
 Urban as Pope in every respect and particular, no word 
 of doubt having been breathed on the subject. The 
 writer then mentions various papal acts done by Urban, 
 such as holding a Consistory, appointing a Bishop of 
 Ostia, granting graces and dispensations, and some others. 
 But among the things done he tells us that the cardinals 
 wrote letters to the different princes of Christendom, 
 informiag them of the election, and loarning them to give 
 faith to none who should assert the contrary, or insinuate a 
 doubt as to the election— again a very damaging admission; 
 for certainly such a warning implies, if not that objec- 
 tions to the election had abeady been put forward, at 
 least a conscious fear that such might be likely to arise. 
 
 We soon come, however, to matter that was much worse 
 than simony, or any possible formal objection that could 
 
 * " Oardinalibiis omnibus numero xvi. assistentibus, presentibus, et 
 sic fieri Yolentibus, ipsique Domino Urbano ministrantibns. Omnes 
 enim dicti cardinales numero xvi., qui in electione fuerunt, in hoc 
 Coronationis festo interfuerunt, pureque et liberS consenserunt, et 
 quatuor illi cardiaales, qui ab urbe recesserant jam fueranfrad urbem 
 reversi, ubi omnes dicti cardinales per tres menses continues steterunt, 
 ipsi domino TJrbano assistendo et ministrando, Ooncistoria et alia per 
 cardinales summis Pontiflcibus consueta faciendo . . . et durante tem- 
 pore dictorum trium mensium dicti D. Cardinales semper tractarunt, et 
 habuerunt Dominum Urbanum pro vero, unico, et indubitato siuno 
 Pontifice." 
 
120 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 be brought against tbe election. " One day the Pope, 
 Urban, having summoned all the cardinals, addressed to 
 them many admonitions for the good government of the 
 Church, and respecting their setting a good example to 
 the people. For he warned them to abstain and hold 
 their hands from all gifts, declaring that he detested and 
 would severely punish all guilty of simony,* and all 
 seekers after gain ; forbidding them to accept presents 
 either great or small on whatsoever account, as it was 
 his ratention that all affairs that came before him should 
 be despatched gratis, no man thence hoping anything. 
 Poor Urban ! He was by no means the right man in the 
 right place. One sees in truth that they ought to have 
 chosen a Eoman for the position. He admonished them 
 further as to exemplary living, speaking strongly agaiost 
 superfluous expense, and numerous retinues, and expen- 
 diture in horses, garments, and conviviality; asserting 
 that all such pompous and puffed-up ways of living 
 tended to injure rather than support the Church and the 
 Papacy. He said further that it was his intention that 
 justice should be rendered to all seeking it without dis- 
 tinction of persons; and added that since the Divine 
 Providence had placed the Apostolic See in Eome, his 
 purpose was to reside in the city and there to live and 
 die, and he deemed it an offence to God to do otherwise. 
 Here, indeed, were gi-ounds enough for disputing the 
 election ! Surely it was clear that this man was not the 
 
 * It is fair to obsorvo, inasmucli as I hnvo spoken of tlio vitiation of 
 Ui'ban's election as eimoniacal, that no eliiidow of such, an accusation 
 rests on him. The simony which vitiated (he ohxtion consisted in the 
 bargaining among the carilinals which piccoded it. In fact but few 
 papal elections, if nny, have been other than simoniacal. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 121 
 
 man for a Pope ; and that the cardinals must have been 
 acting under some pressure, or at all events some hallu- 
 cination, in electing him. The writer, indeed, of the 
 impartial and passionless narrative which I have followed 
 evidently is much of this opinion. He tells us that the 
 cardiaals who rebelled against the Pope, and were the 
 authors of the schism, were tired of TJrban's * morality ; 
 and that his too great severity, rather than any flaw iu 
 his title to the Papacy, caused the cardinals who rebelled 
 against him. to do so. And a little further on he tells us 
 that it was generally thought that he was himself the 
 cause of all the persecution he suffered, because he was 
 unduly severe, f and that out of his own head, and had 
 more confidence in himself than iu others. 
 
 Ugly symptoms, ia fact, of rebellion and disaffection 
 exhibited themselves immediately after this solemn 
 monition. The Bishop of Aries, who had been Chamber- 
 laiu to Gregory XI., and had the custody of all the 
 ■jewels belonging to the papal treasury, went off with 
 them to Anagni, carrying with him also the tiara, with 
 which Urban and many of the Popes, his predecessors, 
 had been crowned. One Peter, the commandant of the 
 Castle of St. Angelo, at the instigation of another of the 
 French cardinals, refused to render up possession of the 
 fortress. The Cardinal of St. Eustace, after having 
 treacherously J persuaded the Pope to give a large sum 
 of money to a company of Breton free-lances, induced 
 
 * " Attediati moribus TJrbani." 
 
 ■\f ' ' Propterea quod homo ultra quam deoebat severus erat, et sui 
 capitis, et sibi magis quam cseteris predens." 
 
 J " Per STiaa virtutes, et subtiles traotatus, ac deceptoria verba, et falsas 
 ac dolosas inductiones." 
 
122 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 them as soon as ever they had received the money to 
 turn their arms against the Pope, They too, of course, 
 were desirous of having a French Pope, and were easUy 
 made to believe that Urban had not been duly elected. 
 In a word, thiags wore beginning to look very ugly. 
 And at the end of June the Pope seems to have been 
 guilty of a mistake and an imprudence. The cardinals 
 who were hostile to him, making a pretext of the heat 
 in Eome, asked permission to retire to Anagni, which 
 Urban, "wishing to please them," conceded, and at 
 the same time forgetting what he had so recently said 
 about living and dying ia Eome, or, perhaps, coerced 
 by fear, he himself went to Tivoli. 
 
 Thus two hostile camps were formed; and very shortly 
 afterwards the disaffected cardinals, breaking into open 
 and avowed schism, declared the election of Urban to 
 have been ah initio void, on the ground that the Conclave 
 had not been held in a safe place, and that the electors 
 had acted under the influence* of fear. And possibly 
 the reader of the foregoing pages may be under the 
 impression that such a statement was not altogether 
 unwarranted by the facts of the case. The northern 
 cardinals, who were not to the manner bom, may not 
 have understood the playful ways of the Eoman popu- 
 lace, or comprehended that when the crowd in the 
 ■piazza were bawling Papa Romano volemo, they were 
 only waiting to offer their congratulations to the new 
 Pope by losing no time in wrecking his house. But in 
 reply to all this it must be remembered that the election 
 
 • " Quia per impressionom, ot quod olootio non fuit celcbrata in loco 
 tuto." 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 123 
 
 ■was completed lefore the irruption of the populace. 
 Besides, there was the still more conclusive fact of the 
 perfect adhesion of the cardinals to their choice during 
 three months. The rebels, however, proceeded to hold 
 a Conclave, -which professed to elect the Cardinal Eobert 
 of Geneva Pope, by the name of Clement YII., " but in 
 .truth," says the conclavist, " rather erected an idol, and 
 called him so." 
 
 And thus began the great schism, which lasted thirty- 
 nine years, and was only closed by the irregular election 
 of an undisputed Pontiff ia the person of Martin V., by 
 the authority of the CouncU of Constance, in 1417. 
 
 This election, or pretended election, of an Antipope 
 divided all Europe, and was the cause of a long and sad 
 series of evils, as those who engaged in it must have 
 known that it would be. All Italy (except the Count of 
 Fondi and the prefect of the city, who had from the 
 first joined the rebel cardinals in their conspiracy agaiast 
 Urban), all Germany, all England, and Portugal, maih.- 
 tained their allegiance to Urban. France and Spain 
 adhered to the Antipope. "And thns," says the Con- 
 clavist, "followed difficulties and very many errors 
 among Christian people. And what one Pope bound 
 the other loosed. And hence arose legal processes, and 
 deprivations, and anathematizations, to the great dis- 
 grace of the Church and of Christendom. Prom the same 
 cause it came to pass that the same benefice often was 
 given to two persons, and the matter was frequently 
 settled by force of arms, whence followed the deaths of 
 many men, the depopulation of the country, and the 
 destruction of many. Hence, too, followed the great 
 
124 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 war bet-ween the Duke of Burgundy and him of Liege, 
 in wHch, as it is said, thirty thousand men perished," 
 
 The very important results that followed from the 
 circumstances of this Conclave, and the singularity of 
 them, have seemed to afford a reason for relating the 
 details of it at greater length than can be afforded to the 
 story of many of them. But the history of this Con-, 
 clave of Urban VI., and of the terrible results of it, will 
 be worth remembering when we come to the descrip- 
 tion of the minute and elaborate precautions and cere- 
 monies, the main object of which has been to render any, 
 even the smallest, irregularity in the action of the Con- 
 claves impossible. 
 
 The whole tone and style of the proceedings which 
 have been related contrasts amusingly with the more 
 staid and solemn, but not a whit more sincere or honest, 
 doings of the Conclaves of later times. And there is a 
 flavour of masterful directness and reckless violence 
 mingled with a sort of naive semi-barbarian simplicity, 
 which, as characteristic of the times, has suggested the 
 heading of this book of my story. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Conclaves during the Period of the Schism. — Council of Pisa. — Abnor- 
 mal and Irregiilar State of Things in the Church. — OouncU of Con- 
 stance.— Decrees which put an end to the Schism, by the Election 
 of Martin Y. — Difficulties arising from the Action of the Council 
 of Constance. — Their Effect as regarding Modem Theories of In- 
 fallibility. 
 
 The notices tliat have been preserved of the Conclaves 
 wMch elected the Popes during the period of the schism 
 — from the election of IJrban YI., that is to say, in 1378, 
 to that of Martin V., in 1417 — contribute nothing of 
 special interest to a history of the Conclaves. The story 
 of the Church, indeed, during those disastrous years is 
 full enough of interest. But it would require the 
 entirety of a volume as large as the present to give a 
 detailed and intelligible account of the struggles, plottings, 
 and counter-plottings, of the rival Popes, of whom there 
 were at one time three in the field. For the Council of 
 Pisa, 1409 (the legitimacy of which is itself disputed, on 
 the ground that no Pope summoned or presided over it), 
 deposed, or pretended to depose, both Gregory XII. and 
 the Antipope, Benedict XIII., and elected Alexander V. 
 But neither Gregory nor Benedict would consider them- 
 selves to be deposed, though the former renewed the 
 offer which he had before made as regarded Benedict, 
 to resign the Papacy if both his rivals would do the 
 
126 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 same. The cardinals who elected his predecessor, Inno- 
 cent yil., in 1404, had in Conclave all sworn, each for 
 himself, that if elected Pope he would pledge himself to 
 resign if the Antipope would do so also. But Innocent 
 no sooner was elected than he dispensed aU the cardinals, 
 himself included, from the observance of the vow ! — a 
 notable instance of the futility of any attempt to bind a 
 Pope by any moral sanction. In the Conclave which 
 elected Grregory XII. the same oath was taken by aU 
 the cardinals, and one cannot but feel astonishment that 
 they should have had the face, each in presence of his 
 fellow, to go through such a solemn farce so shortly 
 after the experience they had had of the efficacy of 
 the oath in question, and astonishment still greater at 
 the simplicity of those, if such there were, who could 
 imagine that they were binding an infallible beiag, 
 armed with such authority as a Pope wields ! 
 
 Gregory XII. did not, indeed, forthwith repudiate his 
 oath, as Innocent did. On the contrary, he continued 
 to protest his readiness to abdicate if his rival would do 
 so too. But the promise was one which it was very 
 safe to make. He promised also on oath in Conclave to 
 create no more cardinals than such as should be sufficient 
 to keep his College of Cardinals as numerous as that of 
 the Antipope. But as soon as ever it became convenient 
 to him to do so he violated his oath, decl;u*ing that he 
 was not guilty of any perjiuy because circumstances had 
 changed since he made the promise. 
 
 Alexander V., the Pope elected by the self-constituted 
 Council of Pisa, died in 1410, after a reign of onlv ten 
 months and eight days. His name appears in the official 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 127 
 
 lists of the Popes, and lie is recognised by th.e Clmrcli as 
 liaving been such. ; — strangely enough ! For it follows 
 that there were two legitimate Popes (beside the Anti- 
 pope) at one and the same time. The list published iu 
 the official Pontifical Calendar declares Gregory XII. to 
 have resigned in 1409, the date of his deposition by the 
 Council of Pisa ; and places the election of Alexander in 
 the same year, avoiding the appearance of two contem- 
 porary Popes on the face of the list. But in the list of 
 the Popes given in the "Eelazione della Corte di Eoma," 
 by the CavaHere Lunadoro — a useful little work recog- 
 nised by the ecclesiastical authorities, and reprinted 
 again and again in Eome — the following is the state- 
 ment made respecting Gregory XII. : " His Pontificate, 
 according to the opinion of those who think that it 
 terminated in the fifteenth session of the Council of Pisa, 
 lasted two years, six months, and four days; and 
 according to the opinion^of such as prolong his reign till 
 the fourteenth session of the Council of Constance, at 
 which time Gregory solemnly renounced the Papacy, it 
 lasted eight years, seven months, and three days." And 
 in truth the resignation of Gregory did not take place 
 till he sent it by his plenipotentiary, Carlo Malatesta, to 
 the Council of Constance, at the fourteenth session of 
 that body on the 14th>f July, 1415. And during all 
 the time from the election of Alexander by the self- 
 created Council of Pisa, in 1409, to the 14th July, 1415, 
 there were two Popes, neither of whom has the Church 
 agreed to consider spurious and illegitimate. Por 
 though Alexander V., the first creation of the rebellious 
 and schismatic cardinals, died at Bologna ten months 
 
128 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 after his creation, another Pope, Giovanni XXIII., was 
 forthwith created by them in that city, in the person of 
 Baldassare Coscia. The Church considers both these 
 Popes, Alexander V. and Giovanni XXIII., to be 
 genuine. But it is difficult to understand the theory 
 on which it does so. For they were the creations of 
 cardinals who had created an Antipope, or of cardinals 
 who had been themselves created by an Antipope. The 
 Council of Constance, which had been itseK summoned 
 by a Pope, John XXIII., who had been created by 
 seceding cardinals in opposition to an accepted and 
 recognised Pope contemporaneously reigning, Gregory 
 XII., and the authority of which, as summoned by a 
 Pope so created, had been expressly repudiated and 
 denied by Gregory, ordained that both Gregory and 
 John should be deposed and a new Pope elected. This 
 election was made in a whoUy novel and abnormal 
 manner. It was decreed by the Council that a Pope 
 should be elected by a specially constituted body, 
 consisting, firstly, of the cardinals of the CoUege of 
 Gregory XII. ; secondly, of those created by his rivals 
 John XXIII. and his predecessor Alexander T. ; thirdly, 
 of those created by the Antipope Benedict XIII. ; and 
 fourthly, by thirty other prelates, sis for each of the 
 five nations which took part in the Council. 
 
 Such an election iavolved, it will be seen, nothing less 
 than a new departui-e for the Church. All continuity 
 with the traditional past is wholly and definitely severed. 
 And though, Martin having been elected, it was thought 
 fit to return with all possible accuraey into the old 
 grooves, and to speak and act as though no continuity 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 129 
 
 had been broken, nothing can be more indisputable 
 than that the legitimacy of the whole scheme and con- 
 stitution of ecclesiastical government thenceforward 
 reposed and reposes on the innate authority of a self- 
 constituted* General Council. No better ground aecord- 
 ing to the veritable nature of things and of a constituted 
 Church can be imagined. But various difficulties, then 
 unforeseen, have arisen from the course pursued by 
 that CouncU at Constance in the fifteenth century, and 
 ultimately, therefore, from the disastrous action of those 
 schismatic cardinals who rebelled against Urban YI., 
 because he menaced them with the suppression of their 
 simoniacal gains, luxurious habits, and loose lives. 
 From that rebellion, and from the series of events to 
 which it directly led, arose a condition of things, the 
 only outlet from which, as found by the Council of 
 Constance, has made it exceedingly difficult for the 
 defenders of the Eoman Curia to support in its 
 continual encroachments the ever-growing and advanc- 
 ing theory of papal infallibility. Could the Counfcil 
 have foreseen to what a length these claims of infalli- 
 bility would one day rise, they might have managed 
 better. The better course — the only possible consistent 
 course — would have been to declare the cardinals who 
 rebelled against Urban YI. schismatic, and all their 
 
 * Self-constituted, inasmuch as Gregory absolutely refused to recog- 
 nise the Council as summoned by John !XXin. — and not iuu:easonably, 
 for John could be deemed to be Pope only by a seceding portion of 
 cardinals and of Christendom. But Gregory did not refuse to recognise 
 and submit to the Council, considered, not as summoned by John, but as 
 a spontaneous meeting of the bishops of the Universal Church. As to- 
 the summoning of it by this or that lay prince, of course such summon- 
 ing could impart no sort of authority to the Council in ecclesiastical eyes. 
 
 K 
 
130 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 acts null, and th.e Popes elected by them, Alexander Y. 
 and John XXIII., Antipopes, and to have placed 
 Gregory XII. upon an undisputed throne. Probably it 
 was out of the power of the Council to pursue any 
 such course. Probably no exit from the dead-lock 
 could have been found save by compromise. But the 
 compromise was fatal to a theory of papal infallibility, 
 which, as matters have by the action of the Council 
 been made to stand, not only bases the world of papal 
 authority on an elephant which rests upon a tortoise, 
 but takes that same elephant for the support on which 
 to place the tortoise ! 
 
 The intricate details of the vexed questions to which 
 the proceedings of the Council of Constance have led, 
 and of the all-important bearing of them on the con- 
 temporary controversy to which the unprecedented 
 pretensions and claims of the present Pontiff have 
 given rise, cannot be held to belong to a story of the 
 Papal Conclaves, and would lead us into fields much 
 too far away from our subject. The facts of the case, 
 as well as the bearing of them on the claims advanced 
 in accordance with the decrees of the late Vatican 
 Council, have been as succinctly as lucidly set forth in 
 Mr. Gladstone's tract on " The Vatican Council and the 
 Infallibility of the Pope,'' and may there bo read by 
 those who arc interested in the subject. 
 
 It is more germane to the scope of the present volimie 
 to point out, that all the disasters of a schism which 
 divided Eiu-opo for thirty-niuo years, all the heroic 
 remedies applied by the Council of Constance to an 
 intolerable stat(> of things, from the violence of Avhich 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 131 
 
 remedies the constitution of the Church, yet suffers, and 
 all the insuperable difficulties imported into the theory 
 of the existence and government of the Eoman Church, 
 werp caused by small circumstances in that fourteenth 
 century Conclave which elected Urban YI., such as it 
 has been the object of all the voluminous ceremonial and 
 minutely precise regulations which govern those assem- 
 blies to render impossible. 
 
 K 2 
 
CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 otto Colonna Pope as Martin V. — Conclave for tlie Election of Eugenius 
 IV. — Contest between Pope and Council. — Anecdote of the Death- 
 bed of Eugenius IV. — Anecdotes of the Conclave that elected 
 Nicholas V. — Violence of the Eoman Barons. — Prospero Colonna. — 
 Cardinal Nephews. — Election of Nicholas V. — Condition of Italy. 
 — Failure of the Attempt to unite the Latin and Greek Churches. — 
 Nicholas a Patron of the new learning. — Other Doings of Nicholas. 
 — Anecdote of his Mother. — Conclave which elected Calixtus IH. — 
 Cardinal Bessarion. — Conclave which elected .ffineas Sylvius Picco- 
 lomini as Pius II. — Efforts of the Cardinal of Eouen to prevent the 
 Election, and to secure his own. — Mode of Pius II.'s Election. 
 
 Otto Colonna, Pope Martin Y., thus elected by the 
 authority of the Council in the November of 1417, was 
 then in sound health, and fifty years old, and he reigned 
 thirteen years and three months, not without some 
 success in reducing the confused state of things in the 
 Church to some degree of regularity and order. It was 
 but little he could do or even attempt towards achieying 
 as much for Italy, which was torn by war from end to 
 end. But as has mostly been the case, the Eoman 
 Colonna Pope, object of jeers* as ho may have been 
 elsewhere, was liked, and seems to have done weU at 
 
 * The rhymes sung under his window at Florence by the Florentine 
 street boys, then as lawless, and as incapable of reverencing aught save 
 cash, as now, are woU known. 
 
 " Papa Martino 
 Non vale un iiuattrino," 
 
 screamed the boys, imputing to the new Pope the only fault which thoy 
 coidd comprehend to be such. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 133 
 
 Eome, where, as an old contemporary diarist tells us, lie 
 ''kept liis dominions quiet and tranquil, so that one 
 could go about with gold in one's hands for a couple of 
 hundred miles around Home, and be safe by day or by 
 night ; and he did great good to the city of Eome."* I 
 should not have liked to make the experiment suggested. 
 But the statement may be taken to indicate the general 
 impression made at Eome by the pontificate of Martin V. 
 He died on the 13th of February, 1431 ; and on the 
 2nd of March, six days, it will be observed, after the 
 due time, thirteen cardinals went into Conclave at Santa 
 Maria sopra Minerva, and on the following day elected 
 the Venetian Gabriel Condulmieri Pope as Eugenius IV. 
 If Pope Martin had kept Eome quiet while he lived, 
 all law seemed to have come to an end there at his 
 death and during the pontificate of his successor. 
 The Colonnas, the late Pope's kinsmen, seized on the 
 treasure of the Church, and very nearly succeeded in 
 their rebellion against Eugenius. They had to be, and 
 by the assistance of Florentine and Venetian troops were, 
 put down ; and the Pope launched against them the first 
 of those excommunications of which he had to make 
 such frequent use in the course of his pontificate of all 
 but sixteen years, for the whole course of it was one 
 continual struggle with opponents and rival authorities 
 •of all kinds. The history of his reign, a very interestiag 
 one, cannot be entered on here. And it must suflB.ce to 
 remark that the story goes to show that the Church had 
 learned nothing of moderation, of prudence, or of the 
 duty of preferring the welfare of Christendom to the 
 
 * Diario del Ceremoniere Paolo Benedetto Nicolai. 
 
134 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 most paltry private interests, by tlie terrible misfortunes 
 throngh wbich it bad so recently passed. A new scbism^ 
 tbougb, as it cbanced, a less important one tban tbe last, 
 was created. Pope and Connoil were again opposed to 
 eacb otber, tbe Pontiff dissolving tbe Council by Bull, 
 and tbe Council deposing tbe Pontiff! Nevertbeless, 
 Eugenius did contrive to Hve and die as Pope, exclaim- 
 ing, we are told, on bis deatb-bed, as well be migbt, 
 "Ab, Gabriel! How mucb better for tbee it would 
 bave been, instead of being eitber cardinal or Pope, to 
 live and die in tby cloister,* occupied witb tbe exercises 
 of tbe monastic rule ! " 
 
 Eugenius lY. died on tbe ■28tb February, 1447; and 
 on tbe 4tb of Marcb tbeir Eminences went into Con- 
 clave — too soon tbis time, as on tbe last occasion tbe 
 Conclave bad been deferred too long, possibly in 
 deference to words wbicb feU from tbe dying Pope in 
 bis last address to tbe cardinals wbom be bad assembled 
 around bis bed. "Purtber," be concluded, after many 
 exbortations to unity and concord, "I earnestly beg of you 
 all tbat, as soon as I sball bave passed from tbis Hfe, you 
 lose no time in matters of pompous exequies." It may 
 bave been considered tbat tbese words constituted a dis- 
 pensation from tbe exact observance of tbe Gregorian 
 rule, wbicb required a lapse of nine days between tbe 
 deatb of a Pope and tbe entrance of tbe cai'dinals into 
 Conclave. Eugenius IV. left a College consisting of 
 twenty-four cardinals, all save one created by bimself, 
 of wbom eigbtcon (all wbo wore tbcu present in Eome) 
 
 ■ Ho had belonged to the congrogatiou of Cclostiucs of St. Giorgio, in 
 
 A1l'!i, tit "N^niico. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 135 
 
 entered into Conclave, in the dormitory of the monks 
 of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, much, against the will of 
 that body, who maintained that the Yatican was the 
 proper place to hold the Conclave in. It is recorded 
 that on this occasion the cells for the cardinals were not 
 constructed, as was usual, of wood, but of green or 
 violet-coloured cloth, save only that of the Cardinal of 
 Bologna, who gave especial orders that his cell should 
 be of white material — "perhaps," says slily the con- 
 clavist who has written an extant account of this Con- 
 clave, "because his mind was neither more white nor 
 more black than that of the others." 
 
 The first incident in this Conclave was an irruption 
 of several of the Eoman barons, who pretended the right 
 of taking part in — or perhaps the word used may signify- 
 only being present at — the election. But the cardinals 
 would not submit to this, and succeeded in getting rid 
 of the intruders, the most obstinate of whom was the 
 aged Gio Baptista Savelli, who furiously protested that 
 he had a right to be there by virtue of a special papal 
 grant. What the old blockhead had got in his thick 
 baron's head was the privilege granted to his family by 
 Gregory X. to hold the hereditary position of keepers 
 of the Conclaves, which duty required him to be on the 
 outside and not on the inside of the door ! 
 
 When the cardinals went into Conclave, the universal 
 opinion was that Prospero Colonna would be elected. 
 He must have been the Dean of the Sacred College, 
 for it is recorded that all the cardinals save one were 
 of the creation of Eugenius lY. ; and Colonna must have 
 been that one — a creation of his kinsman, Martin Y. — ^for 
 
136 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 he was certainly a cardinal at the time of the election of 
 Eugenius, and was then thought to have a good chance 
 of the Papacy. He had at the first scrutiny ten votes — 
 twelve, it will be observed, being needed to elect, i.e. 
 two-thirds of eighteen — the other eight being given 
 to the Cardinal of Fermo. The next day Prospero 
 Colonna still held his ten votes, though many attempts 
 were made on the part of the other eight to entice away 
 from him some of his ten, by putting forward a variety 
 of other candidates, several even who were not cardinals, 
 as the Archbishops of Benevento and of Florence, and 
 others. Prospero Colonna's ten supporters, however, 
 stood firm, and nothing was done on that second day. 
 
 There were reasons, indeed, for electing Colonna, but 
 they were reasons of a kind which indicate the fatal con- 
 sequences which have fallen upon the Church fi-om the 
 universal sovereignty of its head — reasons of European 
 policy, and in no wise reasons having any regard to his 
 fitness as a supreme bishop of souls, nor even to a right 
 recommending him as a governor of Eome. He was 
 acceptable to the French party in the Conclave, and was 
 deemed more likely than any of his colleagues to com- 
 mand the means of compelling the obedience of the 
 diiferent Italian States. But, Colonna as he was, ho 
 was not the favourite candidate of the Eoman people. 
 They wished the Cardinal of Capua to bo Pope, perhaps 
 from having had too much oxporieuce of Colonna's high- 
 handed and lawless violcuce. On the thii-d day, the 
 Gtli of March, the steady phalanx of Colonna's ton sup- 
 porters still continued unassailable; and on that day, 
 after the first of the two scrutinies that take place daily. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 137 
 
 the Cardinal of Fermo, seeing matters thus at a dead 
 look, and that his own eight voices could do nothing for 
 him, and thinking that the next best thing to getting 
 the tiara for himself was to be the conspicuous means of 
 obtaioing it for another, rose and addressed the meeting. 
 
 " Why," exclaimed he, " are we thus losing time, see- 
 ing that there is no greater danger to the Church than 
 a long delay in the election of a Pontiff ! The city of 
 Home is divided into parties ! The King of Aragon is 
 close at hand on the sea with an army ! Duke Amadous 
 of Savoy is in opposition to us ! The Count Francis is 
 our enemy ! Suffering, then, from all these evils, why 
 do we not rouse ourselves to give to the Church of Christ 
 a pastor and a guide ? Here is that angel of God, the 
 Cardinal Prosper© Colonna, mild as a lamb — mansueto 
 agnello — .why do we not elect him Pope? He has 
 already ten votes. He needs only two more ! * Why 
 do not some of you rise and give him these two ? If 
 only one will do so, the thing is done; for then a 
 twelfth is sure to follow ! " 
 
 But not a man moved ! It was a trying moment, for 
 any one of the eight, acceding to Fermo's call, might 
 have had, in the eyes of Colonna, the merit of giving 
 him the Papacy. 
 
 "Mansueto agnello!" — a mild lambkin! — ^his Emi- 
 nence of Permo had called him ! And of course that was 
 a characteristic that always recommended itself very 
 
 * It seems, therefore, that the Oardiiial of Permo, although voted for 
 himself at the jfirst scrutiny by eight cardinals, must have been him- 
 self one of Oolonna's original ten supporters. Otherwise he could not 
 have said that Colonna needed two more votes, seeing that he, Fermo, 
 would have been the eleventh, and only twelve were needed. 
 
138 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 strongly to those who were setting oyer themselves an 
 indefeasible and despotic master. But probably some of 
 those present may have called to mind that this mild 
 lambkin was the man who, at the death of Martin Y., 
 had, in company with two of his lawless kinsmen barons, 
 seized on the papal treasure chest and carried it off ; and 
 had had to be excommunicated for the deed by Eugenius 
 IV., till, on disgorging the plunder, the sentence was 
 removed. Prospero Colonna, in fact, belonged to a 
 category of cardinals from which more Popes were chosen 
 in the subsequent centuries than had hitherto been the 
 case — the category of " cardinal nephews." The evil 
 wrought by them in and to the Church has been well- 
 nigh fatal to it ; and it continued to increase till increas- 
 ing danger warned the Pontiffs to abstain. The worst 
 cardinals, providing, of course, the material for the worst 
 Popes, have been for the most part cardinal nephews, 
 the temptation to the creation of such having been 
 rendered too great to be resisted by the exorbitant great- 
 ness of the power, dignity, and wealth attributed to the 
 members of the Sacred College. The value of these 
 great " prizes " was so enormous, that the "hat" became 
 an object of ambition to princes, and it was a primaiy 
 object with a long series of Popes to bestow it on theii- 
 kinsmen. If among these there was none fitted by 
 character, education, and antecedents for the position, 
 the dispensing power was called into requisition, and the 
 Pope's relative, however unfit in all these respects, be- 
 came one of the princes of the Chiu'ch. Of course pre- 
 cedents once made were eagerly quoted, and it became 
 an imdorstood thing that a "prince of the Churcli" was 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 139 
 
 not to be expected to have the virtues or professional 
 character of a private in the ranks. And thus the insti- 
 tution went from bad to worse; the invention of the 
 Sacred College having been, on the whole, perhaps, the 
 most fertile source of corruption ia the Church, especially 
 of the Church as it has existed in Eome. 
 
 This Prospero Colonna had been a cardinal nephew, 
 and the Church very narrowly escaped having him for a 
 Pope! 
 
 The speech of the Cardinal of Fermo took the Con- 
 clave by surprise, and all remained mute and motionless 
 and watchfully expectant. Then, after a pause, the 
 Cardinal of Bologna rose, and was on the point of giving 
 Colomia the eleventh vote, which the Cardinal of Permo 
 had said would surely draw after it the twelfth, when the 
 Cardinal of Taranto brought him to pause. 
 
 "Be not ia so great a hurry," he said, "to do so 
 great a thing ! Pause a little ! The matter we have 
 before us is a very weighty one ; nor will a short delay 
 matter, so that the business be well done ! Think what 
 you are doing ! We are not here to choose the ruler of 
 a town, but one who is to rule the entire world — one, 
 remember, who is to bind and to loosen, to open and to 
 shut ; one, in a word, who is to be a God on earth ! 
 Much consideration is necessary; and he who sees 
 quickly sees little ! " 
 
 Hereupon the Cardinal of Aquileia cried out in anger, 
 
 " Cardinal of Taranto,* all that you have said, and 
 
 * Not Otranto, as has been sometimes written. The see of Otranto 
 was not at that time, or at any other, so far as I know, occupied by a 
 cardinal. 
 
140 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 all that you have done, has been said and done with 
 the sole object of preventing the election of Cardinal 
 Colonna, and forcing one of your own choice ! Say at 
 once, whom do you wish to see elected? " 
 
 This was an exceedingly impolitic outburst of temper, 
 such as, it is safe to say, no member of any of the Con- 
 claves of the following century, when policy had become 
 more subtle, dissimulation finer, and manners more 
 urbane, would have been guilty of. There is nothing 
 which an Italian more sorely dislikes and resents than 
 an attempt to put a pressure on him by outspoken plain- 
 ness of language, which tries to break through the cob- 
 webs of conventional surface smoothness, and fiction. 
 The frankness which among northern people may often 
 engage sympathy and disarm opposition is sure to be 
 deemed rustic and ill-mannered violence by the Itahans, 
 and resisted accordingly. And the Cardinal of Aquileia 
 had soon cause to perceive that he had made a mistake. 
 
 Instead of waiting for the Cardinal of Taranto, who 
 had been addressed, to reply, the Cardinal of Bologna 
 struck in dexterously : " And I follow the lead of the 
 Cardinal of Aquileia " (who had, of course, never meant 
 to lead in any such direction); " I am ready to give my 
 vote for any one, whom you " (i.e. the Cardinal of 
 Taranto) " may select." " Then," said Taranto, " I give 
 my vote for you ! " The Cardinal of Aquileia, thxis 
 caught, did not care to back out from the position in 
 which he had placed himself, but seconded the nomina- 
 tion of the Cardinal of Bologna. Thereupon one after 
 unutlicr followed till tlio Cardinal Marino gave the 
 eleventh \oiv ; and then, after a pause, the Cardinal 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 141 
 
 San Sisto rose and added, "And I, Thomas" (the 
 name of the Cardinal of Bologna was Tommaso di 
 Sarzana) "make yon Pope this day, which precisely 
 happens to be the Vigil of St. Thomas ! " * Thus the 
 election was made; and once again was yerified the 
 Eoman saying, that he who goes into Conclave a Pope 
 (i.e. one whom everybody expects will be elected) 
 comes ont of it a simple cardinal, as was on this 
 occasion the case with the Cardinal Prospero Colonna. 
 
 An election wonld not have been made in this direct, 
 open, cards-upon-the-table fashion a hundred years 
 later ; and the whole style and tone of the proceedings 
 show them to belong to the period which has been 
 characterized by the heading given to this book. 
 
 This election was one of the few to which those who 
 maintain that in these Conclaves the unwisdom of men 
 and their purposes are overruled by the special provi- 
 dence of God and the operation of the Holy Ghost, may 
 point in exemplification of their contention. It was 
 intended that Colonna should, and everybody supposed 
 that he would have been elected ; and he would, doubt- 
 less, have made a very bad Pope. On the other hand, 
 Thomas of Sarzana, who was elected as Nicholas Y., 
 against the original will of the majority, apparently by 
 a sort of accident, and to the surprise of all parties, 
 turned out one of the best Popes who ever sat on the 
 Papal throne. 
 
 Italy, and especially the Church, was in a dreadful 
 state when Nicholas became Pope. The schism en- 
 
 * Not St. Thomas the Apostle, but St. Thomas Aqiiinas, the 6th of 
 March. 
 
142 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 gendered by the Council of B^le was still causing 
 miscliievous divisions. The union of the Latin and 
 Greek Churches, so much wished for, seemed further 
 than ever from accomplishment. Italy was desolated 
 from end to end by factions and the lawless troops 
 which supported them. The Roman barons had 
 made theraselves the despotic tyrants of the cities 
 and provinces which had been entrusted to their rule, 
 as vice-regents for the Church, and were in rebellion 
 against the Pontiff. Yenetians, Genoese, and Floren- 
 tines were all in arms. The Holy See was oppressed 
 by debt. Mcholas applied himself from the first day of 
 his pontificate to meet this sea of troubles with energy, 
 zeal, industry, and a degree of enlightenment in advance 
 of his age. In the course of the eight years of his 
 reign he extinguished the schism growing out of the 
 Bale Council ; endeavoured much, and accomplished 
 somewhat, towards composing the diiferenecs which 
 were lacerating Europe ; and had the infinite pleasure 
 of leaving Italy at peace. He did not, as we aU know, 
 succeed in uniting the Latin and Greek Chui-ches. He 
 had warned the last Constantino that the result of 
 continued schism would be the final fall of the Eastern 
 Empire, and he saw his prophecy verified in 1453. It 
 would be difficult, perhaps, to show that this event 
 would have been avoided by union of the Chiu-ches • 
 and the accomplishment of his prophecy was am thin"- 
 but a source of satisfaction to the Pontiff. The Tui-k 
 was at last the master of the Eastern world, and the 
 fact was lamented by all the Christian world with a 
 genuineness of grief which men do not often feel for 
 
KOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 143 
 
 public disasters. But Nicliolas was among the most 
 active in turning to the best account tbe circumstances 
 tbat followed from the misfortune. He received with 
 open arms and was largely beneficent to the crowd of 
 scholars and men of learning and letters who were 
 driven by the Turkish conqueror to seek refuge in 
 Western Europe, and more especially in Italy. He 
 eagerly availed himself of the occasion to acquire manu- 
 scripts of the ancient writers ; and the modern world, 
 which profits by that revival of learning which became 
 then or never possible, may thank Nicholas for his 
 enlightened activity. He was a great builder and 
 founder of universities. He largely improved that of 
 Bologna, and founded those of Treves, Barcellona, and 
 Olasgow, and conferred many privileges on that of 
 Cambridge. He was the founder of the Vatican library ; 
 and the Medicean library at Florence, if due to the 
 money of the Medici, was planned and carried out in 
 accordance with the suggestions of Nicholas. He built 
 the palace at the Lateran, and was the first of the long 
 series of Popes to whom the rebuilding of St. Peter's is 
 due, who conceived that noble ambition. He rebuilt 
 the Milvian bridge, and largely improved many parts of 
 Eome, Sarzana, Yiterbo, Pabriano, Civita Vecchia, 
 Orvieto, Spoleto, were all enriched by him with new and 
 useful buildings. He was not chargeable with any 
 tendency to nepotism ; and an interesting anecdote has 
 been preserved of a visit paid to him in Eome by his 
 aged mother, who had come up from far-away little 
 Sarzana, among the Tuscan Apennines, to see her two 
 sons, one the Pope and the other a cardinal of the 
 
144 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Church. The poor old woman thought it necessary to 
 present herself to his Holiness in very gorgeous attire, 
 resplendent with gems and brilliant colours. But the 
 Pope, as soon as ever he saw her, left the room, desiring 
 his chaplain to tell the stranger that it was a mistake ; 
 that bedizened lady could not be his mother, and was, 
 indeed, hardly a fitting visitor for the Apostolic palace. 
 "He well remembered," he said, "his dear mother, who 
 was a very plain and decent body, and whom he would 
 fain see again, but had no desire to speak to the 
 magnificent lady who had entered his room ! " The old 
 lady took the hint, returned in her own homely dress, 
 and was received with open arms. 
 
 Fifteen cardinals entered into Conclave at the due 
 time after the death of Nicholas, and on the fourth or 
 fifth day elected, to the general surprise, the Spanish 
 Cardinal Alfonso Borgia, by the name of CaUxtus III. 
 The purpose of the majority of the cardinals was to 
 elect the learned Bessarion, who had come from Con- 
 stantinople at the time Eugenius lY. was endeavouring 
 to effect the union of the Eastern and "Western Chm-ches. 
 He was unquestionably the man whom attainments and 
 character marked as the fittest man in the Sacred 
 College for the papacy. And had the cardinals held 
 firmly to their first purpose, they would have spared 
 the Church the indelible shame of ha^•ing for ever on 
 her list of Pontifi's Alexander YI., the second Borgia 
 Pope ! But the Cardinal of A^-ignon, who hoped that 
 ho himself would bo elected, succeeded in ai'ousing the 
 jealousy and the bigotry of his colleagues by a violent 
 speech, in which he dwelt upon the disgrace which it 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 145 
 
 would be to the Latin Churcli to confess, by putting a 
 Greek on the Papal throne, that there was no man 
 among themselves fitted for the Papacy ; and, further, 
 threw doubts upon the genuineness of Bessarion's "con- 
 version," and on the orthodoxy, in any case, of a 
 " Greek neophyte." The cardinals, however, would not 
 have his Eminence of Avignon, and elected Borgia as a 
 compromise. * This Conclave, as has been said, was 
 held in the Vatican ; and from this time the Conclaves 
 were held there uninterruptedly until the present 
 century. 
 
 Calixtus III. {oh. 1458) reigned three years and three 
 months ; and on the due day after his death, on the 16th 
 of August, eighteen cardinals went into Conclave, and 
 on the third day elected ^neas Sylvius Piccolomini of 
 Siena. In this case again the believers in the super- 
 vision of a special providence, controlling the actions of 
 the electors, may point to this election as a notable in- 
 stance of the truth of their theory. Few Conclaves have 
 been more disgracefully conducted than was this, and 
 few have concluded by making a better choice among 
 the persolis befoi*© them. After the first unsuccessful 
 scrutiny the cardinals went to dinner, and after dinner 
 there were, we are told, many meetings of groups and 
 knots of cardinals, each intriguing in favour of difi'erent 
 candidates, in which, as the chronicler of the Conclave 
 says, "they hunted the Papacy either for themselves or 
 
 * This was tlie first election made in the manner ■which was subse- 
 quently recognised as one of three ways in which a Pope may be elected, 
 and called an election "per accessum," the manner of which will be 
 explained when we come to speak of the processes and ceremonial of the 
 Conclave. 
 
146 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 for their friends, and spared not either prayers, promises, 
 or threats. And some there were who, without any 
 sense of shame or modesty, made speeches about them- 
 selves, and pointed out their own fitness for the Papacy; 
 as did the Cardinal of Eouen, Barbo, Cardinal of Santa 
 Maria Nuova, and Castelli, Cardinal of Pavia. 
 
 The Cardinal of Eouen seems to have been the chief 
 of these audaciously simoniacal self-praisers, and was 
 thought, when the cardinals went into Conclave, to be 
 the most likely candidate. Though ^neas Sylvius of 
 Siena took no steps to obtain the tiara for himself, say- 
 ing at the opening of the Conclave, "It is God who 
 appoints to the Papacy, not men ! " his Eminence of 
 Eouen perceived that he was his most dangerous rival. 
 The writer of the story of this Conclave which I have 
 before me declares that the Cardinal of Siena himself 
 (^neas Sylvius) did not disdain to recommend his own 
 merits to the electors, despite what he had said. But 
 other writers do not so represent the matter. And the 
 writer in question seems to contradict himself in this 
 respect, for he says presently that the Cardinal of Eouen 
 feared the silence of the Cardinal of Siena more than 
 he did all the much talking of the others. So "he kept 
 calling aside now one and now another, sayiug to them, 
 ' "What can you want of this iEucas ? Why do you 
 think him worthy of the Papacy ? "Would you elect for 
 Pontiff a gouty old man, as poor as Job ! How can he, 
 infirm and in poverty, support or succour the Church ? 
 But recently ho has returned from Germany ! ' " (Pic- 
 colomini had nearly passed his life in various missions 
 and embassies entrusted to him by the last and previous 
 
NOBLE BOTS AT PLAY, 147 
 
 Popes, and haying had no time to care for his own for- 
 tunes, "was ia truth a very poor man.) '' 'How do we 
 know that he will not transfer thither the Papal court! 
 What literature has he? Shall we put a poet on the 
 seat of St. Peter ? ' " (-^neas Sylvius had that defect.) 
 " ' Shall we govern the Church by the statutes and laws 
 of the Gentiles ? '" (Alluding to Piccolomini's reputed 
 acquaiatance with the ancient literature.) ..." 'Know, 
 then, that I am not unworthy of consideration, and am 
 no fool ; nor am I unworthy of the Papacy ia poiat of 
 learmng.' " (^neas Sylvius, it may be remarked, was 
 one of the most distiaguished scholars of his day.) " 'I 
 come of royal race, and am in want neither of friends, 
 nor power, nor wealth, by which means it will be ia my 
 ^ower to be of service to the poor Church. I hold many 
 benefices, which, when on my elevation to the Papacy I 
 give them up, will be divided among you.' " He con- 
 tiaued, says the chronicler, to insist with many en- 
 treaties, miagled with threats. He went on to observe 
 further, with an unblushing frankness which is the most 
 amusingly audacious touch in his whole discourse, that 
 should any one maintain that he could not fitly aspire 
 to the Papacy by reason of the simony which he had 
 practised, seeing that he had bought all the benefices he 
 held, he would not deny that for the past he had been 
 smirched by that foul stain, but that he promised and 
 swore that for the future he would keep his hand clear 
 of all such wickedness ! And this while he was in the 
 act of committing the most heinous simony conceivable 
 by the persons he was addressing! As it appeared, 
 however, that he failed to prevail on a sufficient number 
 
 L 2 
 
148 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 of the electors to secure his election, the knot of sup- 
 porters who were bent on making him Pope, finding it 
 very difficult to meet for the concocting of their ulterior 
 plans in any comer of the space enclosed for the Con- 
 clave (very far inferior in accommodation of all sorts to 
 that provided in later times) where they would be safe 
 from the danger of interruption, betook themselves to a 
 certaia inconveniently small and otherwise disagreeable 
 but sufficiently remote and private apartment. There 
 all the conspirators mutually bound themselves by oath, 
 and the would-be Pope promised to each benefices and 
 offices and appointments in the provinces ! " And a 
 very fitting place it was," concludes the narrator, "for 
 the election of such a Pope, seeing conventions and 
 bargains so base and so foul could not have been pre- 
 pared and accepted in a spot more adapted to them ! " 
 
 This notable meeting took place at midnight, but 
 before the morning the fact that it had taken place and 
 the general nature of the bargains made at it had be- 
 come known to all in the Conclave. One of his friends 
 came to the Cardinal of Siena at a very early hour, and 
 warned him that the Pope was as good as made, and 
 counselled him to go at once and offer his vote and 
 interest to the French Cardinal (Eouen). But ^neas 
 not only absolutely refused, with the greatest disdain, to 
 do anything towards the election of such a man, but 
 spoke so forcibly that he induced the friend who had 
 come to counsel him to abandon his own intention. He 
 went to several others of the midnight conspii-ators, and 
 by the sheer force of his eloquence made them ashamed 
 of their promises, and determined them to break tliem. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 149 
 
 The main arguraents lie used were the exceedingly bad 
 character of the French Cardinal, and the danger that 
 he might agaia remove the seat of the Holy See to 
 Erance, and fill the Sacred College with Frenchmen, so 
 that it might become impossible that it should ever 
 Jeturn to Italy, 
 
 At the scrutiay of that morniag it so chanced that 
 the Cardinal de Eouen was one of those scrutators who 
 received the votes at the altar. His agitation was ex- 
 cessive ; and when the Cardinal of Siena, whom he knew 
 to be his most dangerous rival, stepped up to the altar to 
 put the paper containing his vote into the chalice, he 
 lost all sense of dignity or decorum, and was mean 
 enough to say, as his rival passed him, " ^neas, have 
 compassion on me ! Be kind to me ! Do not forget 
 me ! " ""Words," says the chronicler, "truly rash and 
 inconsiderate, specially as they were spoken when the 
 vote that had been written could no longer le changed. 
 But his longing blinded him and made him lose his 
 head." " What ! " replied Piccolomini, " appeal to a 
 worm like me ! " When the votes had been counted — 
 every name that he was compelled to utter being a 
 ■dagger thrust in the heart of his Eminence of Eouen — 
 it was found that Piccolomini had nine votes and the 
 French Cardinal only three ! The blow was a terrible 
 one. But nothing was yet lost or won; for twelve votes 
 were needed to make the election, and the Cardinal of 
 Eouen and his supporters were by no means willing 
 to despair. Unless at least three of their own friends 
 deserted them Piccolomini could not be elected. 
 
 Then commenced a sitting to see whether an election 
 
150 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 could be made, as in the last Conclave, by accession, 
 Th.e pause for this purpose is ordinarily occupied by 
 busy talk and negotiations, but upon tbis occasion the- 
 tension appears to have been too great to admit of this. 
 " They all sat,'' says the narrator of the scene, evidently 
 an eye-witness, and in aU probability a conclavist, " pale 
 and silent, in a sort of amazement, and as if beside them- 
 selves. No one of them dared to speak or to open his- 
 mouth, or so much as to stir a finger, or any other part 
 of the person save the eyes, which rolled around, now on 
 this side of the meeting, now on that. The dead silence 
 was wonderful. "Wonderful, too, was the aspect and 
 appearance of all of them as they sat like so many statues, 
 not a sound or a movement to be heard ; and so they 
 remained for a while, the juniors in the College waiting 
 for the seniors to begin their work of the accessus. At 
 length Eoderigo, the Yice-Chancellor (he who afterwards 
 became Alexander YI.), rose and said, * I join the party 
 of -^neas ! ' The word stabbed the Cardinal of Eouen to 
 the heart to such a degree that he was like one dead. 
 Then a second silence fell upon the assembly, while each 
 looked in his neighbour's face with expressions produced 
 by the conviction that Piccolomini was already as good 
 as Pope. Then the Cardinal of San Sisto and another 
 rose, and, making an excuse for leaving the room, wont 
 out, in the hope of avoiding instant defeat by breaking 
 up the. assembl}', but finding that no man followed them, 
 they shortly returned to their seats. Then James, Car- 
 dinal of Santa Anastasia, got up and said ' I too accede 
 to the Cardinal of Siena.' (This, it will be observed, was 
 the eleventh vote given for riccolomini. One more only 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 151 
 
 "was needed to make tlie required majority of two-tliirds 
 of the Conclave.) Again a thrill of agitation ran through 
 the whole assembly ! They seemed like men in a maze 
 and without power of speech ! Then, at length, the Car- 
 dinal Prospero Colonna (he who had once so very nearly 
 been made Pope himself) rose, and promising himself the 
 glory of giving the Papacy, was about to record his vote. 
 Pausing, however, a moment in order to do so with 
 becoming gravity, he was at that moment seized by the 
 cardinals of Nice and Eouen, one on each side of him, 
 and violently reproached by them with the intention of 
 giving his vote to the Cardinal of Siena ; but when they 
 found that they could not divert him from his purpose, 
 they strove to drag him from his place by main force,* 
 and one taking him by the right arm and one by the left 
 they struggled to force him out of the assembly. But 
 in the midst of all this, Colonna, who, although he had 
 at the first scrutiny given his vote to his Eminence of 
 Eouen, was an old friend of JEneas Sylvius, turning his 
 head towards the other cardinals, cried aloud, 'And I 
 accede to the Cardinal of Siena, and thus make him 
 Pope ! ' " 
 
 The deed was done, and neither persuasion, plotting, 
 intrigue, or violence could thenceforth undo it ! Suddenly 
 the losing party fell back into their seats as if paralyzed. 
 Por a minute another dead silence and stillness fell upon 
 the assembly, and then all with a sudden rush threw 
 themselves at the feet of the new Pontiff, and the usual 
 confirmation of the election and adoration followed. 
 
 But the Cardinal Bessarion thought fit to make a 
 
 * " Si sforzarono cavarlo 5, viva forza dal suo luogho." 
 
152 THE PAPAL CONCLAYES. 
 
 speech before the assembly separated in explanation of 
 the part wMch. he and those who had acted with him 
 had taken. He had all through supported the Cardinal 
 of Eouen, and it is odd enough that he should have done 
 so considering the characters and tendencies of all the 
 three men — ^himself and the two rival candidates. He 
 and ^neas Sylvius were essentially book-men, scholars, 
 and held high and acknowledged rank among the learned 
 men of Europe. The French cardinal was a thoroughly 
 vicious and depraved man of the world, notorious for his 
 immoralities and scandalous simony. Axe we to see in 
 this the jealousy entertained by one celebrated scholar of 
 another ? Did some infinitesimal question of criticism, 
 or the interpretation of a greek passage, or the relative 
 value of the Aristotelian and Platonic philosophies (a 
 fertile source just then of learned enmities) cause hate 
 between those two erudite Eminences ? " Tantsene animis 
 Eminentibus irse ! " The ground, however, on which 
 Bessarion chose to motive his opposition to ^neas 
 Sylvius was that the latter was afflicted by gout. " TVe, 
 Supreme PontiflP, rejoice in thy election, being well 
 assured that it comes from God. And truly we have 
 always in the past as well as now judged thee to be well 
 worthy of so great an office ; and if we did not give thee 
 our votes, the reason was thy not robust health. For, 
 afilicted as thou art by gout, we judged that that alone 
 stood in the way of thy complete fitness for the Papacy, 
 seeing that the Church has need of an active man, and 
 one who fears not the fatigues of journeyiugs and dangers 
 which threaten us from the Turk. Thou, on the other 
 hand, hast need of repose ; and this alone has moved us 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 153 
 
 to support his Eminence of Kouen. For hadst thou been 
 sound of body, there is none whom we should have 
 judged preferable to thee. But since it has pleased God 
 that it should be thus, it must needs please us also. The 
 Lord, who has promoted thee, will supply the defects of 
 thy feet, and wiU not chastise us for our ignorance. We 
 adopt thee as Pope ; we elect thee as much as it lies with 
 us to do, and we will serve thee faithfully." 
 
 Thus was completed the election of Pius II. Again, 
 we may remark, after a fashion, if no purer or more 
 elevated as regards motive, yet simpler, rougher, more 
 direct and open than would have been the case had the 
 actors in it lived a hundred years later. They were 
 still boys — if rather naughty than noble boys — at play. 
 
CHAPTEE YI. 
 
 Death of Pius II. — ^Decision to hold the Conclave in the Vatican. — 
 Election of Paul 11. — The Handsome Pope. — Election of Sixtus IV. 
 — His Character. — ^Effect on the Church of the first menaces of Pro- 
 testantism. — The all-devouring nepotism of Sixtus IV. — Peter 
 Eiario, his. Nephew. — Sixtus dies of a Broken Heart. — Epigrams^ 
 on Sixtus.' — Interregnum after the Death of Sixtus. — Conclave 
 ■which elected Innocent VHI. — Anecdotes. 
 
 Pius II. died on the 14t]i* of August, 1464, at Ancona,. 
 wMther lie had gone to hasten the sailing of the fleet 
 which he had assembled there for the war against the 
 Turks. His entry into Ancona, together with the other 
 main incidents of his life, may be seen very grandly 
 represented on the walls of the Piccolomini Chapel, 
 generally called the library, in the cathedral of Siena, 
 by the frescoes of Pinturicchio. Some of the cardinals 
 had accompanied him to Ancona, and they brought the 
 Pope's body to Eome, and the Conclave took place duly 
 on the appoiated day. It is said by the historians that 
 the Conclave was not held at Ancona because it was 
 difficult for many of the older cardinals to go there. 
 But I do not find that any notice was taken of the fact 
 that, according to the Gregorian prescription, the Con- 
 clave for the election of the next Pope ought to have 
 been held in the city where hia predecessor died. 
 There Avas some question between the cardinals as to 
 
 * Somo authorities say the Vth of August. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 155 
 
 wliere tlie Conclave should be held ; for a party among 
 them alleged, that inasmuch as the castle of St, 
 Angelo was held by a lieutenant of the Pope's nephew, 
 who was the governor of it, and this nephew was at a 
 distance from Eome, and that they were not certain, 
 what his intentions might be, the Conclave could not 
 be held with due independence and liberty in the 
 immediate vicinity of the fortress. But those who had 
 these scruples, having been assured of the perfect loyalty 
 of the intentions of the governor, and another nephew 
 of the Pope, a brother of the governor, and a cardinal, 
 undertaking to answer for him, the Conclave was held 
 at the Yatican, and the idea of holding it in the convent 
 of Santa Maria sopra Miaerva, which had been pro- 
 posed, was abandoned. 
 
 The Conclave was a very short and uneventful one, 
 the Yenetian Pietro Barbo, a nephew of Eugenius lY., 
 and great nephew of Gregory XII., by his mother 
 Polissena Condulmieri, having been elected, as Paul II., 
 almost without opposition, by accession, after the &st 
 serutiay. One amusing incident followed, however, 
 after the election, but before the Conclave broke up, 
 Barbo, when asked, according to custom, by what name 
 he would become Pope, said that he would be called 
 Formoso — a not imprecedented name, though the one 
 precedent had to be sought as far back as the ninth 
 century. Now it so happened that Pietro Barbo was a 
 very remarkably handsome man,* and their EminenceSy 
 
 * A contemporary ckronioler says of Mm that, " not taving succeeded 
 well in literary culture, lie determined to make his pontificate reputable 
 by ornamental pomp, in whicli his majestic presence and pre-eminently 
 
156 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 some-wliat scandalised at th.e proposal, and taking into 
 consideration the marked accordance of the name with 
 the fact, demurred, declaring that such an appellation 
 would savour too much of mundane and personal vanity. 
 Pietro Barbo, perhaps a little ashamed of his choice of 
 appellation, made no difficulty about giving it up, but 
 was unlucky enough to choose a second name which 
 was also objected to. He said, well then, he would be 
 called Marco. But to this it was objected that a 
 Venetian choosing such a name would seem imprudently 
 to declare too strong a partiality for his own nation. So 
 he submitted to take a commoner appellation, and was 
 enthroned as Paul II. 
 
 But this splendid lay-figure of a Pope died after a 
 reign of six years and ten months, at the comparatively 
 early age of fifty-three, quite suddenly in the evening of 
 a day in which he had celebrated a consistory with 
 much pomp and ia high spirits. It was the 18th of 
 July, 1471. The suddenness of the Pope's death caused 
 the number of cardinals in Eome to be smaller than it 
 would otherwise probably have been, and only seven- 
 teen cardinals went into Conclave at the Vatican, on. 
 the tenth day after Paul's death, and almost immediately 
 and unanimously, after an entirely uneventful Conclave, 
 elected Francesco della Eovere Pope by the name of 
 Sixtus IV. 
 
 But if this Conclave was short and its work easily 
 accomplished, few Conclaves have ever done a deed of 
 
 tall and noblo person helped him not a little, giving him, as it did, tho 
 appearance of a new Aaron, vouorablo and reverend beyond that of any 
 other Pontiir." 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT, 157 
 
 more far-reaoHng importance in th.e liistory of tlie 
 Papacy. 
 
 Historians and antiquaries have been much troubled 
 by doubts, which appear to be insoluble, as to the 
 parentage of Francesco della Eovere, and the position in 
 life of his parents. He is said, in aU probability with 
 good reason, to have been a poor fisher-boy, the son of 
 parents following that occupation on the Ligurian coast 
 at or near to Savona, on the Genoese riviera. But this, 
 the sole poiat of similarity between him and that first 
 predecessor of his, in whose seat he was so proud to 
 sit, was indignantly repudiated by his biographers and 
 chroniclers as soon as he had been invested with the 
 fisherman's riag. It was then discovered that he was a 
 scion of the old and noble house of deUa Eovere, and 
 the illustrious bearers of that name were glad enough to 
 enroll a Pope among the glories of their house. The 
 matter in dispute has been the object of much learned 
 research ; but I do not know that any one of the 
 supporters of either opinion has put forward the theory 
 that both statements may well have been true, and are 
 by no means incompatible. 
 
 Let his birth, however, have been what it may, it is 
 certaia that during his early youth and manhood he was 
 a Franciscan friar, and the learning which enabled him 
 to acquire that fame as a preacher and theologian, which 
 obtained the Papacy as its reward, was obtained by con- 
 vent teaching. And it cannot be denied that Sixtus, 
 when he was made Pope, had the qualities, character, 
 and antecedents which rendered him no imfitting 
 object of the su&ages of his colleagues of the Sacred 
 
158 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 College, and seemed to aflford a reasonable hope tliat lie 
 would be a fair Pope, as Popes were at tliat day. Nor, 
 further, can it be denied that Francesco della Eovere, 
 let his forefathers have been what they might, was 
 in many respects a born ruler of men. 
 
 "Wadding, in his great history of the Order of St. 
 Francis, writes of him ia the following terms : ''In 
 truth," says the Franciscan historian, writing some 
 century and a half after the death of this great Pope, 
 "he appeared made by nature to govern. He was 
 affable, a speaker of infinite efficacy, and quick and 
 witty in reply. He was a common father, revered by 
 the good, feared by the bad. With the learned he was 
 erudite, with the simple forbearing. He reproved the 
 faults of those guilty of them not by abuse but by 
 reasoning. He was a prudent man, too, temperate in 
 eating and drinking, and pleasant to look upon.'' Of 
 course the Franciscan historian's account of the great 
 Franciscan Pope must be taken with a grain — nay, 
 with many grains — of salt. But it may be accepted as 
 the truth that the fisherman's son had many of the 
 qualities needed to make him a worthy wearer of the 
 fisherman's ring. 
 
 And Sixtus would have, doubtless, continued eminently 
 well fitted for the Papacy if he had never been made 
 Pope. With the possession of worldly power, the 
 demon of worldly ambition seems to have entered his 
 soul, and to have worked till it obtained entii-e posses- 
 sion of the '\^■hole of it. Of Sixtus TV. I wrote as 
 follows noAV nearly twenty years ago,* and I do not 
 • " A Pocaile of Italian "\Vomou," Lornlou, 1859. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 159 
 
 know that anything ■would be gained by attempting to 
 recast what I then said. 
 
 " This barefooted mendicant friar, the vowed disciple 
 of that St. Francis whom no degree of poverty would 
 satisfy short of meeting his death, naked and destitute, 
 on the bare earth — ^this monk sworn to the practice of an 
 humility abject in the excess of its utter self-abnegation — 
 was the first of a series of Popes who one after the other 
 sacrificed every interest of the Church, waded mitre 
 deep in crime and bloodshed, and plunged Italy into 
 war and misery, for the sake of founding a priacely 
 family of their name." 
 
 It is curious to observe that generally throughout 
 the pontifical history, scandalously infamous Popes and 
 tolerably decent Popes, are found in bunches or series 
 of six or eight in succession — a striking proof of the 
 fact that when they have been of the better sort the 
 amelioration has been due to some force of circumstance 
 operative from without. Never were they worse, with 
 perhaps one or two exceptions, than during the century 
 which preceded the first quickly-crushed efforts of the 
 Eeformation ia Italy — from about 1450, that is to say, 
 down to 1550.* Competing Protestantism then began 
 to act on the Eoman Church exactly as competuig 
 Methodism acted on the Anglican Church three cen- 
 turies later, and a series of Popes of a different sort was 
 the result. 
 
 But the conduct of the great family-founding Popes, 
 
 * Paul III., whose death. I have assigned as the break at which this 
 book of the story of the Conclaves shall close, for the reasons given in 
 ihe first chapter thereof, died in 1549. 
 
160 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 ■wHcli strikes us, looking at it through the moral atmo- 
 sphere of the nineteenth century, as so monstrous, wore 
 a very different aspect even to the gravest censors 
 among their contemporaries. The Italian historians of 
 the time tell us of the '^royal-mindedness" and "noble 
 spirit " of this ambitious Franciscan, Pope Sixtus, iu a 
 tone of evident admiration. And the gross worldliQess, 
 the low ambition, and the unscrupulous baseness of 
 which he may fairly be accused, did not seem, even to 
 Du Plessis Mornai * and the French Protestant writers 
 of that stamp, to be sufficient ground for denouncing 
 him and the system which produced him. Otherwise 
 they would not have disgraced themselves and their 
 cause by asserting that he was guilty of hideous and 
 nameless atrocities, for which, as the less zealous but 
 more candid Bayle f has sufficiently shown, there is no 
 foundation either in fact or probability. 
 
 The new Pope lost no time in turning the Papacy to 
 the best possible account in the manner which had for 
 him the greatest attractions. And it so happened that 
 he was singularly well provided with the raw material 
 from which the edifice of family greatness he was bent 
 on raising was to be furnished forth. He had no loss 
 than nine nephews, five of them the sons of his thi-ee 
 brothers, and four the sons of his three sisters ! — a field 
 for nepotism sufficiently extensive to satisfy the " high- 
 spirited " ambition of even a Sixtus IV. ! But among 
 all this wealth of nephews, the two sons of his eldest 
 sister, Girolamo and Pieti'o Eiario, wore distinguished 
 
 " Du Plossis Momai, "Mystero d'liiiquite," p. 655, d seq. 
 \ Baylo, Diet, artiolo Sixto IV. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 161 
 
 by Mm so pre-eminently that a great many contempo- 
 rary writers, tHnking it strange tliat he should prefer 
 them to those of his own name, have asserted that they 
 were, in fact, his sons.* Giuliano della Eovere, the 
 eldest of all the nine, who received a cardinal's hat from 
 his uncle, but could obtain from him no further favour, 
 was, nevertheless, destined, as Pope Julius II., to become 
 by far the most important pillar of the family greatness. 
 His sister's son, Peter Eiario, was, like his uncle, a 
 Franciscan f monk, and was twenty-six years old when 
 the latter was elected. Within a very few months 
 he became Bishop of Treviso, Cardinal-Archbishop of 
 Seville, Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop of Ya- 
 lentia, and Archbishop of Florence ! Prom his humble 
 cell, from his ascetic board, from his girdle of rope and 
 woollen frock, baked yearly to destroy the vermin bred 
 in its holy filth, this poverty- vowed mendicant suddenly 
 became possessed of revenues so enormous, that his 
 income is said to have been larger than that of all the 
 other members of the Sacred College put together ! 
 The stories which have been J preserved of his reckless 
 and unprecedented expenditure at Eome would seem 
 incredible, were they not corroborated by the fact that 
 
 * Oorio, tlie contemporary annalist of Milan, writes; "Hebbe dua 
 che egli chiamava Nipoti. — Istoria Milanesi, p. 974. MacliiaTeUi 
 says, " Secundo che ciascuno credeva, erano suoi figliuoli." — Storia,. 
 Lib. vii. 
 
 f Those who have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted -with 
 the nature of the tie which usually binds a friar to his order, and with 
 the amount of feeling and sentiment frequently generated by it, will be 
 likely to find in the fact mentioned in the text a sufficient motive for 
 the preference shown to Peter over the other nephews of Sixtus. 
 
 J "Papiensis Cardinahs," Epis. 548; but especially, "Infessura. 
 Diario," p. 1144. 
 
162 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 he had in a very short time, besides dissipating the 
 enormous wealth assigned to him, incurred debts to the 
 amount of sixty thousand florins. He gave a banquet 
 to the French ambassador, which cost twenty thousand 
 crowns, a sum equal to more than ten times the same 
 nominal amount at the present day. "Never," says 
 the Cardinal of Pavia, "has pagan antiquity seen any- 
 thing like it. The whole country was drained of all that 
 was rare and precious, and the object of all was to make a 
 display such as posterity might never be able to surpass. 
 The extent of the preparations, their variety, the number 
 of the dishes, the price of the viands served up, were all 
 registered by inspectors, and were put info verse, of which 
 copies were profusely circulated, not only in Eome biit 
 throughout Italy, and even beyond the Alps." 
 
 The diarist Infessura, in his valuable chronicle of the 
 events which occurred at Eome fi*om a.d. 1294 to a.d. 
 1494, the events of the latter years 'of which period are 
 recorded with great and most amusing detail, says that 
 the Adands on the occasion of this remarkable festival 
 were gilt ! He especially notes, as a marked indication 
 of reckless extravagance, that sugar was lavir^hly used. 
 In recording another equally magnificent festival given 
 by this mendicant friar to Leonora, daughter of Eing 
 Eerrantc, who passed through Eome on her way north- 
 Avards to be married to the Duke of Ferrai-a, Infossm-a 
 tells us * that this Frauciscau moiulioaut turned cardinal 
 <aused tlie bed-chamber of the princes?, and those of all 
 the ladies of hoi- court, to be furnished with certain im- 
 plements, of a kiud generally doomed more useful than 
 
 * Ecrum Ital. Sciiii., torn, iii., pars ii, p. 11-14. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 163 
 
 ornamental, made of gold ! " Look now," cries the 
 diarist, as he "well might, " in what things the treasure 
 of the Church has to be squandered ! " * 
 
 Such was the great Sixtus IV., the first of the Popes 
 who conceived the ambition of making the universal 
 bishopric of souls subservient to the schemes of leaving 
 their kinsmen in the position of sovereign princes ! — 
 an example but too readily followed by the more power- 
 ful among his immediate successors, with results to Italy 
 fatal, though it may be hoped not finally fatal ; but to 
 the Church, if not so perceptibly and unmistakably, and 
 immediately, yet probably more ultimately fatal still, 
 in their far-reaching consequences. He had lived (as 
 Pope) but for one object, and despair of obtaiuiug it 
 seems to have killed him. 
 
 On the 10th of August, 1484, he " was seen at vespers 
 with his hands clasped together, and very sad. The 
 next day the ambassadors of the confederated Italian 
 States, thinking f to bring him news that would cheer 
 and comfort him, came to him and set forth how that 
 peace had been concluded iu all Italy, and all the powers 
 of the League and Confederation had come to an agree- 
 ment ! At which, marvelling much that this should 
 have been done without him, he was amazed ; and find- 
 ing, on questioning them, that he had no power to undo 
 what had been done, he was smitten with great grief. 
 
 * "Oil! guarda ! in quale cosa bisogna olie si adoperi lo tesaiiro della 
 Ctiesa." 
 
 \ The genuineness of their thougMs upon this subject appears to me 
 not a little questionable. Doubtless in addressing the Pope they pre- 
 tended to think that their news ■would be acceptable to him, but they 
 must have known right well, that they were plunging daggers into his 
 heart, 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 And the cause of his sorrow was, as all men deemed^ 
 this : " that whereas he had lived, and Hghted war in 
 Italy, and spent the treasure of the Chiirch only to 
 secure the greatness of his family, he now saw that all 
 had been done in vain. " So crushed, both by the first 
 of these sorrows (the ruin of his hopes for his family), 
 as well as by the second (the consideration of all the 
 terrible ill he had done to secure that object), he was 
 seized by fever, took to his bed, and said never a word;"* 
 and on the evening of the 12th of August breathed his 
 last. " All," continues the recorder of the Conclave 
 which assembled on his death, who writes in Latin worse 
 even than that of the conclavist at Urban VI.'s election 
 a hundred years before, from which I quoted in a former 
 chapter, " all spoke ill of him, nor was there any man to 
 say a word in his favour, save a certain Franciscan friar, 
 who alone watched the body during that day, despite 
 the dreadful effluvium. Many verses were made against 
 him, perhaps because he had always been the enemj- of 
 Hterary men, and of all who lived good lives. Here is a 
 specimen." t 
 
 It may be worth while, inasmuch as one very notable 
 speciality of the Conclaves for the election of the Popes 
 has always been the social condition of the city of 
 Eome while the cardinals were engaged in the choice 
 of a new sovereign, to give here a few notices of the 
 
 * " Conclavi de' Pontifici," V. i. p. 119. 
 
 f I will give the Bpccinicu in this note, because it is also a specimen of 
 the times, and of the foeUng -n-hich tho rontificato of Sistus had created 
 among tho Eomnns. But I do not think it necessary to translate it. 
 " Lono, Yorax, Palhicus, Mcretrix, Idolater, Adulter, 
 Si Eomam vonerit, illioo C'ra-sus erit." 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 165 
 
 state of things that followed the death of Sixtus, as a 
 specimen of an interregnum in the fifteenth century. 
 
 No sooner was the death of the Pope known than a 
 band of young men, armed to the teeth, rushed to the 
 palace of the Count Girolamo — the Pope's other favourite 
 nephew, the brother of that Cardinal Peter, of whose 
 magnificence some full account has been given — ^hoping 
 to find him there. But he had not waited for the 
 bursting of the storm, and the house was found deserted. 
 Thereupon, with a cry of "A Colonna ! a Colonna ! " 
 they proceeded . to wreck the palace, destroying and 
 despoiUng everything, "smashing the doors and the 
 marhle window-frames with two-handed axes, and carry- 
 ing off everything. They destroyed the greenhouse, 
 pulling up the trees by the roots, so that not a door nor 
 a window was left, as may be seen at the present time. 
 On the same day the young men of the city, with similar 
 clamour, went into the Trastevere ; and there, finding 
 near the river bank two magazines full of goods, the 
 property of certain traders from Genoa, they, as is said, 
 sacked them entirely. Then they entirely carried off 
 two boats, the property of a citizen of Genoa, together 
 with all the nautical apparatus belonging to them. Then, 
 returning to the city, they similarly treated every house 
 •or goods that could be found belonging to any Genoese.* 
 And some went to the villa of the Countess (the wife of 
 
 * Th.e sort of " solidarity " recognized as existing between all the 
 •citizens or natiyes of any one of the rival Italian cities during tlie 
 Middle Ages, is worthy of notice. The instance in the text is one of a 
 thousand such ; and the feeling is one of the most constant and curious 
 factors among the causes of events ia Italian history. The Genoese -were 
 deemed legitimate objects of plunder because the Pope had belonged to 
 Tthat province. 
 
166 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Girolamo) and carried off a hundred cows, and an equal 
 number of goats, mules, pigs, donkeys, geese, and hens, 
 which belonged to the Countess, together with an im- 
 mense quantity of salt meat and Parmesan cheese and 
 furniture. Then the greater part of the band broke 
 open the granaries of Santa Maria Nova, and took thence 
 an enormous quantity of grain, which the Pope had not 
 been able to sell last year, but hoped to sell it here- 
 after." The Colonnas, meantime, were engaged in re- 
 covering the strongholds which Sixtus had taken from 
 them. In one place the constable whom the Pope had 
 placed there, together with all the garrison, were mas- 
 sacred either by the sword or by being thrown from the 
 battlements of the fortress. At Cafraria, another hold 
 of the Colonnas, the whole of the garrison was slain. 
 The Countess escaped into Castle St. Angelo, her hus- 
 band, with some of the Orsini, escaping to some other 
 place of safety. Such was the state of Pome during an 
 interregnum in the fifteenth century. 
 
 On the day following the Pope's death his exequies 
 •were commenced at St. Peter's, but very few cardinals 
 took part in them, " because they were afraid of the 
 Castle of St. Angelo," stiU in the hands of the kinsmen 
 of Sixtus. At last, however, it haviag being agreed that 
 the Castle should be given up to the cardinals, the 
 Countess having got off in safety on the 2oth — on the 
 thirteenth day, that is, after the Pope's death — and both 
 the Orsini and the Colonna factions having agreed to quit 
 the city, and not retiu-n to it for two months after the 
 new Pope should have been elected, the cardinals, to the 
 number of twenty-five, three only of the cntu-e College 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 167 
 
 being absent, ventured to come forth, from tbeir fortified 
 dwellings, and entered into Conclave at the Vatican on 
 the 26th, a day or two later than they ought to have 
 done so. 
 
 At the first scrutiny the Cardinal of St. Mark had 
 eleven votes, whereupon the Cardinal of St. Peter ad 
 Vincula went to him and said that if he would promise 
 to give bis palace to the Cardinal of Aragon, the son of 
 King Ferdinand, be (bis Eminence of St. Peter ad Vin- 
 cula) would give him three votes, making with those be 
 bad already, fourteen. But the offer was rejected on the 
 ground, first, that an election so brought about would 
 not be canonical, and, secondly, that the palace in ques- 
 tion commanded the Castle of St. Angelo to a very great 
 degree, so that the giving it to the King's son might be 
 very "prejudicial to the city, and to the whole of 
 Christendom. For tbe King migbt easily come there 
 and make himself master of tbe city, and disturb tbe 
 state of the Church." So on these grounds, temporal 
 and spiritual, the Cardinal of St. Mark refused the offer 
 made to him ; and this simoniacal Eminence of St. Peter 
 ad Vincula went off with bis votes to sell to tbe Yice- 
 Cbancellor — i.e., to Eoderigo Borgio, afterwards Alex- 
 ander TI. But it is wortb notice that be did not offer 
 them to him witb a view to any aspirations of bis own. 
 It would seem that Borgia had as yet conceived no bopes 
 of the Papacy, or at least no expectation of fulfilling 
 such bopes yet. Probably he was not yet rich enougb 
 to attempt tbe purchase of votes which be afterwards 
 effected. The offer of the Cardinal of St. Peter ad Vin- 
 cula was that they two should put their forces together 
 
168 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 and make the Pope between them. Borgia, who espe- 
 cially hated the Cardinal of St. Mark, agreed to any plan 
 which should exclude him. So that night, while all the 
 Conclave slept, the two conspirators arose and went from 
 one to another of the younger cardinals who had no hope 
 for themselves, making them large promises of all kinds. 
 All save six of the seniors and leading men in the Col- 
 lege, who were carefully left sleeping, were thus nego- 
 tiated with, and the election of Cardiual Cibo, as Innocent 
 YIII., was thus, by sheer simony, effected before 
 morning. 
 
 " In the morning they called the sleepers, and said to 
 them, ' Come, we have made the Pope ! ' But the others 
 said, ' Whom ? ' They repUed, ' The Cardinal of :\Ielfi ! ' 
 The seniors said, ' How ? ' They replied, ' Why during 
 the night, while you were asleep, we collected all the 
 votes save those of you sleepers ! ' But the others per- 
 ceiving that those who had played this trick were eighteen 
 or nineteen, and that they were too few to disturb what 
 had been done, consented ; and Cibo was accordingly 
 proclaimed." 
 
 The writer of the narrative goes on to specify in detail 
 what each of the electors, who had thus sold their votes, 
 received as the price of this simony. '' 3Iay God grant 
 him (the new Pope, he concludes) His grace that he may 
 lead a good life, and administer the Chiu'ch well ; which, 
 however, it seems very difficult to expect, looking to his 
 past life, and considering that ho is a young Genoese 
 who has seven cliildreu, male and female, by various* 
 
 ' Any littlo iirogularily of tliis sort was, liowoTor, abundantly com- 
 pcubutcd in au ccck-siaslicul point of view by his having condcmuoii two 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 169 
 
 mothers ; and considering also the manner of Ms election, 
 wHcli was -worse than that of Sistus lY." 
 
 But where then was the overruling influence of the 
 Holy Ghost, which if avowedly absent from one election, 
 there can be no reason to expect to preside over others ? 
 For the all-important nature of the choice to be made, 
 which is the ground on which it is hoped that the voices 
 of the electors are specially controlled by the Holy Spirit, 
 is as great in one election as in another ! In truth, the 
 mere enunciation of such a theory, in the face of the long 
 story of the Papal Conclaves, extending over so many 
 centuries, needs a cynical audacity of confidence in the 
 capacity of the lay world to swallow any amount of the 
 grossest absurdities and falsehoods if put forth with a 
 sufficient amount of unction and solemnity, which is no 
 less astounding than revolting. 
 
 men, Domenico di Viterbo and Francesco Maldento, to be burned aliye, 
 for haTing said that according to Innocent's opinion such, matters •were 
 not prohibited. " And those ■who had said so were burned." — Beenini, 
 Storia di tulle VEresie, torn. iv. p. 213. 
 
CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 Interregnuia after the Death of Innocent VIII. — Tumults. — Conclave 
 •whicli elected Borgia, Alexander VI. — His Eeign and Death. — 
 Scandalous Scene at his Burial. — ^Effect of his Papacy on the 
 Church. — Interregnum after his Death. — Terrible .Condition of 
 Eome. — Conclave, and scandalous Election of Pius IH. — Another 
 Conclave sixteen Days later. — ^Anecdotes of the Death of Pius m. — 
 Simoniacal Arrangements for the Election of Julius II., Delia Eovere. 
 — Character of Julius II. — Conclave which elected Leo X.^ — Meeting 
 and Demands of the Conclavists. — A Surgeon in the Conclave. — 
 Anecdotes of this Conclave. — ^Election of De Medici, as Leo X. — ^BEs 
 Simoniacal Dealings. — Exhaustion of the Papal Treasury at his 
 Death. — Difficulties of the Cardinals. — ^Election of Adrian VI. — 
 Dismay produced in Eome by his Election. — Character of Adrian. 
 
 Pope Innocent YIII., "tlie young man from Genoa,'' 
 died, after a reign of nearly eight years, on the 2Gt]i of 
 July, 1492. The interregnum which followed was a 
 very short one, but it was an even more than usually 
 tempestuous and lawless one. 
 
 "Alas! for the miseries of humanity!'- cries the 
 moraliziag historian of the Conclave of Alexander TI., 
 speaking of his predecessor Innocent ; " his body lay ex- 
 posed to the crowd and the rude cries of the populace, 
 whose ears had ever been shut to the prayers of the poor ; 
 and a small coffin of perishable wood enclosed liim, who 
 had deemed the gilded halls of the Vatican too narrow 
 for him ! But Eome the while was up in arms, and 
 bands of lawless malefaetors overran the city in every 
 direction, aud many murders were committed because the 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 171 
 
 tribunals listened to no complaints, the judges having 
 shut themselves up for fear of their lives. . . , Gangs 
 of robbers, murderers, and bandits, the very scum of the 
 earth, ranged freely in every part of the city ; and the 
 palaces of the cardinals were guarded by archers and 
 troopers or they would have been sacked and wrecked. 
 But although all Eome was in arms, there did not occur 
 any notable tumult ;* only a great number of people 
 were killed from private enmity. The streets of the 
 Borgo (the part of the city between the Ponte St. Angelo 
 and St. Peter's) were barred and guarded by companies 
 of soldiers and cavalry." 
 
 Twenty-three cardinals went into Conclave, and elected 
 Eoderigo Borgia Pope by the name of Alexander YI. 
 almost immediately and without any divisions. The 
 account given by the chronicler of the Conclave is on this 
 occasion extremely meagre and short. There was, in 
 fact, but little to be said upon the disgraceful subject. 
 The voices of the electors had been simply bought before 
 they went into Conclave. The Yice-Chancellor, says the 
 writer I have quoted, " used his utmost industry and art 
 for the satisfaction of his immoderate ambition, having 
 conciliated by all sorts of means, good and bad, the minds 
 of the more powerful among the cardinals." The elec- 
 tion afforded a striking instance of the way in which a 
 bad Pope prepares the way for a yet worse than he. 
 
 This infamous man, the worst probably of all the 
 Popes, reigned eleven years, and died on the 18th of 
 
 * A curious statement indicating the sort of thing that might be 
 expected on these occasions. The state of matters described Tvas not 
 held to constitute any notable breach of order. 
 
172 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 August, 1503, poisoned, as there is every reason to 
 believe, by tbe mistake of a servant, wbo Landed both, to 
 him and to his son Csesar some poisoned vrine which had 
 been prepared by their orders for the poisoning of several 
 cardinals who had been invited to sup with them ; the 
 object of the intended murder being that the "hats" 
 thus vacated might be resold to others ! The writer of 
 the story of the Conclave of his successor, Pius III., 
 who tells us that he was a Papal Master of the Chambers, 
 and seems evidently to have been a conclavist also, gives 
 a terrible and horrible account of the death and biu'ial 
 of Alexander. Hardly was the breath out of his body 
 before the servants and soldiers plundered his private 
 apartments. This search for plunder was not very 
 thorough or successful, however, for subsequently stores 
 of valuables were discovered to a very large amount, 
 as also " a Avriting desk covered with green cloth, which 
 was full of gems and precious stones to the value of 
 twenty thousand crowns," worth something Uke fifty 
 thousand pounds at the present day. 
 
 The mortal remains of r the Popes were very generally 
 utterly deserted and left to the cai-e of the lowest people 
 about the palace ; and it was not likely that the body of 
 such a Pope as Alexander should be treated with more 
 respect than those of the most detested of his predecessors. 
 When the body had been carried into the Church of St. 
 Peter's there was no priest ready to begin to read the 
 service ; and some soldiers took advantage oi the pause 
 to begin wresting the wax torches out of the hands of 
 the attendants around tlie bier. The latter defended 
 thi'insohes. using the torches for the purpose, and the 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 173 
 
 soldiers using tlieir arms. At last the clerical party, 
 getting the ■worst of it, ran away into the sacristy ! 
 " Then leaving oflP their singing (of the burial psalms) the 
 Pope was left alone ; and I and some others took the 
 bier and carried him to a spot between the high altar and 
 his seat, and placed him there, turning his head towards 
 the altar." The body was left there tiU the eyening, 
 when a change came over the appearance of it, which the 
 Master of the Chambers describes with a loathsome 
 minuteness of particulars into which I will not follow 
 him. "He was," continues he, "horrible and fearful to 
 look on; and after nightfall he was carried to the 
 mortuary chapel by six porters and two carpenters who 
 chanced to be gambling together near at hand. And 
 inasmuch as the coffin had been made too short, they 
 pounded the corpse and stamped on it with their feet to 
 make it go into the coffin, haying first despoiled it of the 
 mitre and the graye-clothes, and covered it instead with a 
 dirty old bit of green carpet." 
 
 Such was the end of him whose existence on the earth 
 the English poet deemed might be a stumbling-block to 
 those who attempt to scan the providential government 
 of the world, and whom the fathers of the Church 
 selected as the vicegerent of God upon earth — Pope 
 Alexander YI. ! 
 
 It was the inevitable tendency of the combined mode 
 of electing the Popes and creating the cardinals, that a 
 bad Pope should, as has been said, pave the way for a 
 worse successor, Alexander effectually provided an ex- 
 ception to the rule, for a worse than he could hardly 
 have been found. But there can be no doubt that the 
 
174 THE PAPAL CONCLAYES. 
 
 manner in wliicli he filled the Sacred College prepared 
 the way for a period of Church history which was the 
 lowest in the whole annals of the Church as regards the 
 character of the Popes, and the utter and audacious 
 shamelessness of the prostitution by them of their posi- 
 tion and their power to the pursuit of objects which the 
 great and powerful have often pxirsued unscrupulously, 
 but which have never been pursued with such reckless and 
 monstrous wickedness as by the successors of St. Peter ! 
 
 The condition of Eome during the interregnum between 
 Alexander and Pius III. was terrible. No man's life 
 was safe in the streets : murder, plunder, and open fight- 
 ing were rife in every part of the city. The hands of 
 Orsini and Colonnas were against all men, and all men's 
 hands were against them. The Holy City was a veritable 
 pandemonium. At last thirty-eight cardinals went into 
 Conclave on the 12th of September, twentj--five days 
 after Alexander's death, a delay which was contrary to 
 aU rule, but was necessitated by the state of Eome and 
 the violence of Caesar Borgia, who had possession of St. 
 Angelo, and could not sooner be got rid of out of Eome ; 
 and on the 22nd of the same month they elected the 
 Cardinal of Siena, Piccolomini, nephew of Pius II., by 
 the name of Pius III. 
 
 " On the 14th of the same month," notes the ^Master 
 of the Ceremonies — also, no doubt, a conclavist — who 
 relates the story of this Conclave, "I foimd a biUet 
 liidden in a dish which was going in to the Cardinal of 
 Bologna, which I plainly saw, but held my tongue, con- 
 sidcruig it for tlie best." He then goes on to give the 
 story of the Conclave as follows: " The divisions and 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 175 
 
 parties among tlie cardinals were manifold, concerning 
 wHch. I am sUent by reason of th.e ugliness of tlie busi- 
 ness, and the simony wMcli then took place among them 
 ■without blushing or shame. At last on the Thursday, 
 by the help of God (!), the Cardinals Ascanius, Volterra, 
 and Eouen took counsel together to elect the Cardiaal of 
 Siena, who had promised them many things if, by their 
 means, he should be made Pope. Many cardinals pur- 
 posing to elect him, went to congratulate him, and, on 
 the following day, the Sacristan made a little hole in 
 the walling-up of a door that was in his room, and sent 
 a note to the house of the Cardiaal of Siena, announcing 
 that he was elected ; " — in order to give friends of his 
 own a hint to take time by the forelock in plundering 
 the new Pope's house. 
 
 Further particulars of this very disgraceful Conclave 
 have been preserved, and are with singular candour 
 recounted by the modern writer of the article on Pius 
 III. in Moroni. The friends of Csesar Borgia, and crea- 
 tions of his father, were a very strong party in the Con- 
 clave, and they wished to make the Cardinal Antoniotto 
 Pallavicini, Pope. But there was a certain Mcolo 
 Bonafede, Bishop of Chiusi,* who, having a special 
 enmity against Pallavicini, and being at the same time a 
 friend of Piccolomini, and in the confidence of Csesar 
 Borgia, succeeded in persuading the latter that it would 
 be impossible to get Pallavicini elected ; and proposed to 
 him that the Borgia party should support Piccolomini, 
 who was specially hostile to the Petrucci (who were 
 
 * A life of him, in great part written by himself, is extant, and was 
 printed at Pesaro, in 1832. 
 
176 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 endeayouring to make themselves tyrants of Siena, 
 ■wMch Caesar Borgia wanted for himself), and whose 
 candidature, as Bonafede pointed out, would not awaken 
 any suspicions or animosities, because there had never 
 been any intimacy or alliance between Piccolomini and 
 the Borgias, whereas if now elected by their influence 
 he would ... be grateful. Bonafede went off to 
 Piccolomini, who gave him full power to promise in his 
 name all that was wished — "always safeguarding his 
 own honour and that of the Holy See." 
 
 How one can see the decorous faces of the two bargaia- 
 ing dignitaries, and the mutually understood expression 
 of the eye beneath the drooping eyelid, as this saving 
 clause was stipulated and accepted with an "Of course I 
 Of course ! " and a deprecatory raising of outstretched 
 palms ! 
 
 Csesar Borgia, however, knew what he was about, 
 and drew up articles of agreement, which he made Pic- 
 colomini sign before assenting to running him as the 
 Borgia candidate. All this was duly settled, and then 
 Bonafede set himself to detach some of the Italian 
 cardinals (the Borgia party consisted mainly of 
 Spaniards) from Pallavicini, in which he succeeded so 
 well, that " Pallavicini found the 50,000 ducats which 
 Csesar had lent him, and the 30,000 which he brought 
 into the Conclave in banker's notes, of no avail ! " 
 "Pallavicini," the writer goes on to say, in the very 
 next sentence, "was a most worthy cardinal, and some 
 exaggeration may be suspected therefore in this state- 
 ment." Perhaps the sum destined to the pui'chase of the 
 Papacy by this most worthy cardiual Avas only fifty or 
 
NOBLE BOXS AT PLAY. 177 
 
 sixty thousand, and not eighty, as his enemies "would 
 have it ! " True it is, however," adds the writer, " that 
 we often have to deplore similar human weakness." 
 
 And thus, after ten days of Conclave, Francesco 
 Piccolomini was made Vicegerent of Christ upon earth, 
 " by God's help " and that of Csesar Borgia, being at 
 the time unable to stand from infirmity, and having one 
 foot so far advanced into the grave that he died on the 
 sixteenth day after the election — Shaving had time, how- 
 ever, it is pleasing to hear, to make that faithful creature, 
 Bonafede, governor of Eome. 
 
 And so the work of the Conclave, with all its base 
 bargaining and hypocrisy, had to be done over again ! 
 It was pretty well accomplished, however, before going 
 to Conclave, and was achieved in a very business-Kke 
 manner without much difficulty. We have an account 
 of the Conclave written by "me, Giorgio Broccardi, 
 Clerk of the Ceremonies." The writer relates that he 
 was sent for immediately after the death of Pius III., 
 and assisted in putting on the body the pontifical gar- 
 ments, and laying it out " on a mattress under a cover- 
 ing of green velvet, nothing being wanted save the cross 
 on his breast, to supply which I made him one out of 
 the four tassels that hung from the corners of the green 
 velvet pall, which I pinned on his breast with four 
 pins." Fifteen cardinals were present at the funeral 
 service, the Spanish and French cardinals excusing- 
 ' themselves for their absence on the ground that they^ 
 could not venture to pass through the Borgo * because 
 
 * The street that runs between the Bridge of St. Angelo and tha 
 Yatican. 
 
178 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 it was full of the Orsini. The Clerk of the Ceremonies 
 tells us that, on the 29th of October, he was sent to 
 warn all the cardinals that the Conclave would begin 
 on the following day. And "on that same day the 
 Cardinal of St. Pietro ad Vincula (Guiliano della Eovere, 
 nephew of Sixtus lY., who was about to become Pope 
 as Julius II.) had an interview with the Duca Valentino 
 (Cesare Borgia) in the Vatican Palace ; and, together 
 with the Spanish cardinals of his party, came to certain 
 terms of agreement between them, among which, besides 
 many others which cannot be told, the Cardinal San 
 Pietro promised the Duke that if he were elected 
 Pope by his (the Duke's) means, he would create him 
 Gonfaloniere and General of the Holy Church. And 
 the Duke, on the other hand, promised many things to 
 the Cardinal. And all the cardinals present promised 
 and obliged themselves by oath to give their votes to 
 the said Cardinal of St. Peter." In Conclave an agree- 
 ment was at once come to as to what they were going to 
 do, and "I," says the Clerk of the Ceremonies, "went 
 to his cell to congratulate him, and he promised me the 
 church of Orti, and his mule with its trappings, and 
 his cope and rochet." And when, after the unanimous 
 election, the new Pope was, according to custom, 
 divested of his robes, our friend George tells us that 
 " his Holiness was disrobed of his rochet and cassock, 
 which I took for myself, despite the opposition of the 
 Sacristan." 
 
 In the whole list of the Conclaves, there is not one 
 more decidedly and notoriously black with simony than 
 this of Julius II. Guicciardini, though strongly prepos- 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 179 
 
 sessed in fayour of Julius, and writing favourably of Hm, 
 yet speaks of Ms simoniacal elevation to the Papacy as 
 a notorious tiling — -wliich, however, Guicciardini was 
 not a man to have deemed any very serious accusation. 
 But the defence put forward by the recent writer of his 
 Life* is not a little amusing. " It would suffice for his 
 disculpation," says this very naif deieuder, " to cite the 
 constitution, cum tarn divino, wliich the Pope published 
 against the simoniacal election of a Pope ! " It is per- 
 fectly true that Julius II. thundered against simony in 
 the Conclave as loudly, or more so, than any Pontiff on 
 the list. His Holiness knew weU what he was talking 
 of, and, on the principle of setting a thief to catch a 
 thief, was certainly so far the right man in the right 
 place. His conduct in the matter reminds one of those 
 apostles of universal peace and liberty who demand a 
 little war and sharp coercion as a preliminary means for 
 enabling them to enter on their mission. Julius felt 
 that a scruple respecting a little simony ought not to be 
 allowed to [stand in the way of the election of one 
 minded to enforce such salutary reforms. 
 
 Julius, a great Pope in his way, though that was a 
 way more fitted for a lay than an ecclesiastical ruler, 
 reigned nine years and three months ; and then another 
 Conclave elected Leo X., the great Meceenas of the arts 
 and of literature, to whom literature and the arts have 
 been more than sufficiently grateful — ^the jovial Pope, 
 who, as soon as he felt the tiara on his head, expressed 
 his sense of the tremendously awful nature of the posi- 
 tion to which he had been raised by ejaculating, " Since 
 
 * Moroni, vol. xxxi. p. 161. 
 N 2 
 
180 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 God has given us the Papacy, let us enjoy it ! " — and 
 proceeded to do so accordingly. 
 
 Julius II. left thirty-two Cardinals in the Sacred Col- 
 lege, of whom twenty-five entered Conclave on the 4th 
 of March, 1513. But some days passed before the first 
 scrutiny was held, during which their Eminences were 
 engaged in settling various matters of regulation for the 
 internal management of the Conclave, and especially the 
 rights and privileges of the body of conclavists. The 
 majority of these, who in this Conclave must have been 
 at least fifty, held several meetings of their own, in 
 which they drew up a statement of their demands, espe- 
 cially as to their presentation to certain benefices, all 
 which were agreed to by the cardinals. They also 
 arranged among themselves, by legally executed instru- 
 ment, that the conclavist of the cardinal who should be 
 elected Pope should pay to the others, his comrades, the 
 sum of 1,500 ducats as the price of their share of the 
 contents and furniture of his patron's cell, which had 
 hitherto been scrambled for in a tumultuous manner. 
 All that the cell of the Pope elect contained was in con- 
 sideration of this payment to be the sole and legitimate 
 property of the new Pope's conclavist. 
 
 Other abuses of the Conclave seem to have enframed 
 the attention of their Eminences before they began their 
 scrutinies, for we learn that the Cardinal Camerlengo, 
 and the Cardinals of Aragon and Famese, made a se;irch- 
 ing examination of all the cells and every pai-t of the 
 localHy of llio Conclave, for the purpose of assuring 
 themselves that there •\\ere none present save the e;u'- 
 dinals and their coucUnists. Nor do I find any mention 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 181 
 
 -of those other officers and functionaries who, by subse- 
 quent regulation, made a recognised part of the Conclave 
 "world. Perhaps, howeyer, these, or the more important 
 among them, were not mentioned by the writers as 
 having been there as a matter of course. It is noted, 
 however, that the Cardinal de' Medici required the 
 presence of a surgeon, one Giacomo di Brescia, in the 
 donclave for the performance of an operation on an im- 
 posthume ; and that the said Giacomo, despite his urgent 
 entreaties, was not permitted to leave the Conclave imtil 
 its conclusion. 
 
 It was not till the 10th that the first scrutiny took 
 place ; and then, before proceeding to the votation, the 
 recent Bull of Julius against all simoniacal practices in 
 the election of the Pontiff was solemnly read. Then all 
 the conclavists were turned out, and the cardinals 
 remained alone for the transaction of their all-important 
 business. At the first scrutiny the " Cardinal Albo- 
 rense ' ' had thirteen votes. It was probably perfectly weU 
 known that he would not be elected. But the number 
 of votes given to him seems to have somewhat startled 
 those who had the management of the Conclave mainly 
 in their hands. And immediately after dinner (on one 
 ■dish apiece only, those charged with the custody of the 
 Conclave on the outside appearing to have adhered on 
 this occasion to the rules provided on that subject) the 
 work of secret conversing and bargaining became very 
 active throughout the Conclave. In the evening the 
 Cardinals De' Medici and Eaffaello Eiario, the nephew of 
 Sistus lY., were seen in close conversation in the great 
 liall. But though' the fact of their taking counsel 
 
182 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 together was patent enough, it was even more impossi- 
 ble to overhear any syllable of what passed between 
 them than if they had had their interview ia the cell of 
 either of them; for as they walked together in the 
 ample space of the hall, it was impossible for the 
 sharpest ears of the most enterprising conclavist to 
 catch even a tone of their cautious voices. And it was 
 in that conversation that the Pope was made, and that 
 " the age of Leo X.," with all its manifold and inter- 
 minable series of consequences, was from a potentiality 
 made into an actuality. 
 
 Those who were, with anxious and understanding 
 eyes, watching that coUoquy, in which two of the most 
 intensely worldly and unspiritual-minded men on earth 
 were deciding the spiritual conditions of imborn millions, 
 well knew the decisive nature of such a combination of 
 forces. And it was assumed as certain that one of 
 those two was to be the Pope. And the older cardinals, 
 we are told, were in much dismay, for the influences 
 which it was felt would sufB.ce to make one of those 
 two the new Pope lay mainly among the younger men. 
 The Cardinal de' Medici himself was only thirty-seven. 
 The intrigues among the latter, however, had been con- 
 ducted so secretly, that the few older and more promi- 
 nent cardinals were mystified, and felt that they had 
 been left out in the cold. The result of the all- important 
 colloquy in the great hall was soon, however, allowed to 
 leak out ; and it became known throughout the Con- 
 clave that night that De' Medici was to be Ckrist's Yicai- 
 on earth ! And all the cardinals thronged to his coll to 
 congratulate him, prostrate themselves before him, and 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY, 183 
 
 kiss liis feet ! All, for it is ill voting against a man 
 to-day who is to be the despotic master of your fate and 
 fortunes on the morrow ! And on the following morning 
 Giovanni de' Medici walked forth from the scrutiny 
 duly elected without a dissentient voice. 
 
 A very decently conducted election ! For no human 
 ear heard what passed between the gay and gallant 
 young Medicean Cardinal and that infamous and needy 
 spendthrift the Cardinal Eiario, of whose modes of life 
 something has already been said in these pages. No 
 indiscretest of conclavists has ventured to whisper that 
 the universal bishoprick of souls was then bought and 
 sold. But I will here again venture to quote from a 
 volume of my own on the life of a contemporary, con- 
 nection, and friend of the new Pope, Mlippo Strozzi. 
 "The Cardinal was accompanied," I wrote, " on his 
 hurried journey to Eome " (from Florence, on the occa- 
 sion of the death of Julius II.) "by Filippo Strozzi. 
 "What on earth could a grave Churchman, going on such 
 a mission, want of such a companion as the gay, hand- 
 some, pleasure-seeking young banker ? Some silver- 
 haired and venerable confessor, who should have be- 
 guiled the way by his exhortations as to the awful 
 nature of the responsibilities the Cardinal was hoping to 
 assume — such an one, it might have been supposed, 
 would be the companion of a dignified priest bound on 
 such an errand. But a dissipated young banker ! Yet 
 the young banker's brother, disciple of austere Savona- 
 rola as he was, teUs us as simply as if it were the most 
 ordinary business in the world what Filippo went to 
 Eome for with the Cardinal. " Inasmuch as the latter 
 
184 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 aspired not without good reason to the Papacy, it was 
 likely enough that he might have to avail himself of 
 rilippo's credit ! * So that it seems to have been quite 
 as much a recognised thing, even among the strictest, 
 in those admirable 'ages of faith,' that a candidate for 
 heaven's vicegereney should come up to Eome with his 
 banker to support him, as that in our days a candidate 
 should seek similar aid in presenting himself to a select 
 borough constituency." But the simoniacal Pope Julius's 
 solemn Bull against simony had been solemnly read in 
 this the Conclave immediately following hia death ; and 
 the authoritative French Church historian, t quoted in a 
 former chapter, assures us that the Holy Ghost has 
 effectually provided that no case has ever arisen calling 
 for the penalties fulminated by sundry Popes besides 
 Julius against simony ! 
 
 Leo X. reigned eight years and eight months, and 
 died somewhat suddenly, not without very strong 
 reasons for believing that he was poisoned.J The 
 Yenetian ambassador believed it ; and the Pope's phy- 
 sician, Bernardino Speroni, was a subject of Venice and 
 in confidential intercourse with the ambassador. 
 
 The interregnum which succeeded the death of Leo 
 was, as on former occasions, a time of trouble. But 
 already the nature of the troubles begins to wcai- a more 
 modern aspect. The interval between the death of the 
 Pope and the entry of the cardinals into Conclave was 
 
 * " Lifo of Filippo Strozzi," by his brother Lorenzo, p. xxsiv. 
 
 f IlGuri do Spond, generally quoted as Spondanus. 
 
 j See tho very curious particulars recorded in the summary of Luigi 
 OraJonigo's (tho Ypnotian ambassador) report to tho Senate (Relat. 
 Ambas. Von., sorios ii. vol. iii. p. 71). 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 185 
 
 prolonged beyond tlie prescribed time; Leo baying 
 died on the 1st of December, and the Conclave not 
 having been begun till the 27th. Despite the immense 
 sums which Leo had received mainly from the sale of 
 profitable offices,* he left the Papal treasury absolutely 
 empty at his death. There was not even money enough 
 to pay the expenses of his funeral. And the Papal 
 palace was stripped of everything of value, the moment 
 the breath was out of his body, by his sister, who had 
 been living in the Yatican.t The wax candles that 
 had been prepared for the funeral of the Cardinal di San 
 Giorgio, who died shortly before the Pope, were taken 
 to serve for the Pope's obsequies, for there was no 
 money to buy others. On the 14th the cardinals got a 
 loan of two thousand ducats from the Jews on the 
 security of the dues payable to the Sacred College ; and 
 they obtained a loan of a similar sum from Monsignore 
 Tomaso Eighi, the Clerk of the Chamber, which was 
 advanced gratis. Other sums were borrowed on the 
 above-named security. And, in truth, their Eminences 
 were very hardly pressed for the means of carrying on 
 the government of the city. Two noble barons of the 
 Colonna family and two of the Orsini having been ap- 
 pointed as guardians of the Sacred Palace and Conclave 
 duriag the interregnum, they came to the cardinals and 
 declared that they could not undertake the duty imless 
 six thousand ducats were paid them in advance, to 
 which their Eminences were obliged to submit. 
 
 * And tliat quite recently. See the relation of the Venetian amha s- 
 sador, loc. cit. 
 I Ibidem, 
 
186 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 On the 27th of December thirty-eiglit cardinals went 
 into Conclave at the Vatican, but it was not till the 30th 
 that the first scrutiny took place. The intervening time 
 had been employed in receiving the envoys of the 
 different Powers, and in making rules now observed for 
 the first time as to the method of voting and the pre- 
 paration of the voting papers. It was on this occasion 
 finally decided that the voting should be secret, and the 
 papers so arranged as to disclose the name of the person 
 voted for without allowing the name of the voter, also 
 written in the paper, to be seen. Minute precautions 
 also were adopted to prevent fraud in giving the votes 
 per accessum, as will be more fully explained in a future 
 page. Besides the arrangement of these matters, after 
 considerable debate, the Bull of Julius against simony 
 was solemnly read, and aU present swore by their hope 
 of eternal salvation to observe its provisions to the 
 letter ! Then on the 30th the bargaining began, " with- 
 out any reserve" (sensa rispetto), says the Venetian 
 ambassador. 
 
 The election in which this Conclave resulted was 
 assuredly as pure from all taint of simony as any in the 
 whole long roll of the Popes. But none the less did the 
 Conclave reek with simony ; only the chapmen in the 
 field were so numerous that they spoiled the mai-ket, 
 and rendered simony for once ineffective. Gradenigo, 
 the Venetian ambassador, gives the process and result 
 of the Conclave in compendious form thus : " All the 
 cardinals received the Eucharist, and fortliMith all began 
 bargaining for the Papacy without any regard for 
 decency. The cardinals in Conclave were thirty-eight ; 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 187 
 
 fifteen of whom were in favour of Cardinal de' Medici, 
 (Giulio de' Medici, afterwards Clement YII.*) and 
 twenty-three against him ; of which twenty-three eight- 
 teen wished each to be Pope himself. And after the 
 first scrutiny the Cardinal Grimani, seeing that he had 
 no chance, left the Conclave." (The conclavist, who 
 has left a narrative of the Conclave, says that Grimani 
 went out from the Conclave because his conscience 
 revolted from the things he saw done there.) " Tha 
 Cardinal Farnese" (he who was afterwards Paul III.) 
 " had twenty-two votes ; but the Cardinals Egidio and 
 Colonna would not give him their votes. Had they 
 done so, he would have been Pope. Farnese gave a 
 promise to Medici to secure to him all he had, and to- 
 make him greater than ever. But the Cardinal Adrian, 
 who was in Spaiu, was elected." But the conclavist, 
 less exclusively interested in the result, gives at length 
 the particulars of nine scrutinies which took place be- 
 fore the election was effected. It would be wearisome 
 to give all these details of the various fluctuations of the 
 votes among eighteen different names, most of which are 
 now wholly forgotten. There absolutely were at least 
 eighteen candidates, and the statement of the Venetian 
 was no mere exaggerated phrase. At each new voting 
 the numbers varied, and the chances of the election 
 seemed to defy all prognostication. The only remaining 
 interest in the facts, however, is this — that it was only 
 as an escape from insoluble difficulties, and when their 
 
 * Sometimes called tlie cousin and sometimes the nephew of Leo X. 
 He was in fact not legally related to him in anyway, being of illegitimate 
 birth. He was the son of the Giuliano who was killed in the conspiracy 
 of the Pazzi. 
 
188 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Eminences were truly at their wits' end, that they deter- 
 mined on electing a man who had no recommendation 
 whatever save his real fitness for the promotion. In fact, 
 this poor Elemish professor, Adrian, who had come to be 
 a cardinal in consequence of having been Charles Vs. 
 tutor, was wholly unknown at Eome, save by the 
 general report of his piety and worth. And, to cite 
 again the Venetian ambassador, "When they had elected 
 him, the cardinals were like dead men at the thought 
 that they had elected one whom they had never seen. 
 And as they came out of the Conclave, a terrible outcry 
 was raised against them by the people, who cried out, 
 why could you not elect one of yourselves ! And so strong 
 was this feeling that placards were stuck up about the 
 city with Roma est locanda,* that is to say, Eome is to 
 be let ! because all thought that Adrian would take the 
 Papacy to Spain." f 
 
 But the cardinals soon found that they had brought a 
 worse fate upon themselves and upon Eome than even 
 such a second Babylonish captivity. Adrian came to 
 Eome, but came in all the simplicity of his northern 
 piety, actually taking the duties and responsibilities of 
 the Papacy au s^neux, and minded, as far as was in him, 
 to act up to them ! The astonishment, dismay, and 
 disgust of all the cardinals, and aU the Apostolical 
 Court, and indeed of all Eome, at such an incredible 
 and unprecedented phenomenon may readily be imagined. 
 Of course poor Adrian was an utter failure ! Xo doubt 
 
 * Tho words Btill usod in Eomo to signify that any tonomont is to bo 
 lot. 
 
 ■\ Lnc. cil., p. 7-1. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 189 
 
 it "was as happy a fate for himself as it was a source of 
 immense rejoicing to Kome, when he died, after an 
 tmhappy reign of one year and eight months. And 
 never, since that time, have their Eminences of the 
 Sacred College made the mistake of electiag any save 
 an Italian to the chair of St. Peter ! 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 Conclave wMch elected Clement VII. — Change in the Clxaracteristics of 
 the Conclaves. — Anecdote of Adrian's narrow Escape from being 
 killed, and of the hatred felt by the Eoman Clergy against him. — 
 Eoman and Florentine rivalry in the Conclave. — Intrigues in the 
 Conclave. — The Plan of Making a Pope by " Adoration." — Crafty 
 Trick of Giulio de' Medici. — His Election. — ^And reign. — Conclave 
 which elected Farnese as Paul III. — Circumstances of his election. 
 — His Character. 
 
 The Conclave wMcli elected Giulio de' Medici as 
 Adi-ian's successor, by the name of Clement YII., was 
 an interesting one, as being, probably, the first in 
 wHch the more modern spirit of finesse and intrigue 
 seems to have prevailed over the nakedly simoniacal 
 method of proceeding of earlier times. The menacing 
 growlings of the storm that was about to break over the 
 Church were beginning to be heard from the other side 
 of the Alps. That word of di'ead — as it was to the 
 Popes of those days — "an (Ecumenical Council," had 
 been heard ; and the Church began to affect a show of 
 decency. The motives which produced the election of 
 Clement YII. were as far removed from any such as 
 should have dictated the choice of a vicoc:cront of 
 God upon earth as thoy well could be. But the 
 election does not seem to have been an openly simo- 
 niacal one. 
 
 Adrian died on the 14th of September, 1523. When 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PIAY. 191 
 
 the Eomans learned that he was dead, "it was an 
 incredible pleasure and contentment to them ; the fact 
 being, that he was universally disliked by the whole 
 Court, because his Holiness differed much from the 
 greatness, magnificence, and splendour which his more 
 immediate predecessors were wont to manifest in the 
 pontificate, though he was, in truth, more inclined to 
 those good qualities which one is wont to seek and look 
 for in the elections of the Popes in the primitive ages 
 of the Church." * The writer goes on to relate how, 
 on one occasion, when the architrave of the doorway of 
 the Sistine Chapel fell just as the Pope was entering, 
 kilKng some of those around him, while he very nar- 
 rowly escaped, a certain prelate amongst those present 
 scrupled not to curse Fortune and inveigh aloud against 
 the ill fate which had saved the Pope from destruction. 
 Nor, adds the writer, "was that prelate in any way 
 blamed for his words by the cardinals who heard him, 
 but was rather praised and petted for them. So that 
 this holy man was little fitted for governing worldly 
 affairs." 
 
 Thirty cardinals went into Conclave on the proper 
 day after the death of Adrian. A large portion of them 
 were young men, the creations principally of Leo X., 
 who had no pretentions to the Papacy. But there were 
 among them four men, the bearers of great names, the 
 heads of powerful factions, and each anxious to be 
 Pope, and with claims to the throne equal to those of 
 his rivals. These were Pompeo Colonna, Alessandro 
 Farnese, Giulio de' Medici, and Francesco Orsini, Among 
 
 * " Conclavi de' Eomani Pontifloi," vol. i. p. 194. 
 
192 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 these, tlie favourites — to use the word, in its turf sense — 
 were Colonna and Medici. Medici, however, the con- 
 clavist writes who has left a narrative of this election, 
 " was in truth the more powerful, from the great number 
 of cardinals who followed him; as, indeed, might naturally 
 be expected from the fact of his kinsman's unscrupulously 
 partizan papacy having so recently come to a conclusion. 
 Colonna, on the other hand, had all the more strictly 
 Eoman world in his favour, as well as the strong pruden- 
 tial consideration arising from the fact that he was known 
 to be in close relations with the Emperor Charles Y. 
 Upon the whole, the older members of the College 
 were for Colonna, the younger for Medici. In the 
 beginning of the Conclave, at the first scrutiny, Colonna 
 had more votes than Medici, and had, indeed, nearly 
 been elected, two votes only having been wanting to 
 him to make the twenty necessary for an election in a 
 Conclave of thirty. Now Colonna and Orsini were well 
 known to hate each other bitterly ; which was quite as 
 naturally and inevitably the case as that cats and dogs 
 should hate each other. They had been the Montagues 
 and Capulets of Eome for many generations, and enmity 
 was traditional between all the nimierous members of 
 either family. And Orsini had a compact little party of 
 his own ia the Conclave. Mcdiui, therefore, feai-ing the 
 result of a contest with Colonna, and alleging the urgent 
 necessity of not prolonging the interregnum and the 
 Conclave, declared his intention of bringing it to an 
 end by giving his support and that of all his friends to 
 Orsini ; for ho doubted not that, while this hope would 
 prevent any of Orsiai's friends from deserting him 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 193 
 
 Medici — it would be impossible for Colonna to obtain 
 the necessary majority among Ms own followers. And, 
 on tbe otber Land, be felt perfectly sure tbat Colonna 
 would ratber see bim (Medici) Pope tban an Orsini. 
 
 Wben tbis was reported to Colonna, be set to work 
 actively to procure tbe exclusion of Orsini, declariag 
 tbat be would be content witb any election tbat migbt 
 be made save tbat one. Eleven voters, on wbom be 
 could perfectly depend, would suffice to render tbe 
 election of Orsini impossible, and so many be was, be 
 tbougbt, able to command. But votes are given 
 secretly. Sbould an election not be accomplisbed in 
 tbat scrutiny for wbicb tbey are tendered, tbe names of 
 tbe givers are never known. And sbould an election be 
 effected, tbe value of treason wbicb bas availed to make 
 a Pope is apt to be so bigbly assessed by bim wbo bas 
 profited by it, tbat defection from bim wbo migbt bave 
 been, but is not. Pope, is not likely to coimt for mucb. 
 In tbe state of dead-lock to wbicb tbis policy of De' 
 Medici bad brougbt tbe Conclave, an attempt was made 
 to elect Parnese, wbo was popular in Eome and witb 
 tbe members of tbe Sacred College. Tbere was no very 
 valid or ostensible ground for refusing to join in sucb 
 an election, and tbe beads of tbe otber parties were 
 obliged to pretend tbat tbe welfare of tbe Cburcb, and, 
 p'o tanto, tbe speedy election of a due and fitting suc- 
 cessor to tbe Papacy, were tbe main and paramount 
 objects tbey bad ia view ; and for a moment it seemed 
 likely tbat Parnese would bave carried tbe day. He 
 did succeed, as we know, at the next election, ten years 
 subsequently, and tben beld tbe Papacy for fifteen years.. 
 
 
 
194 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 But he always was wont to say that Giulio de' Medici had 
 robbed him of ten years of his reign ! 
 
 MeanwhUe, the days went on; scrutinies took place 
 twice every day, and continued to give results not very 
 much varying from each other, and all equally futile. 
 The Conclave had lasted more than a month ; and indi- 
 cations of the discontent of the people and of the Eoman 
 world generally, at the prolongation of the interregnum, 
 were made to reach the cardinals in their retreat. And 
 still Colonna, though perfectly sincere in his declaration 
 that he would rather see De' Medici, or any other 
 member of the Sacred College, in St. Peter's Chair, than 
 his hereditary foe, Orsini ; and fully decided to give his 
 support to the Medicean cardinal, if there was no hope 
 of placing himself there; could not yet quite bring himself 
 to believe that there was no such possibility. The 
 contest, in short, between Colonna, Orsini, and De' 
 Medici, had assumed very much of similitude to a game 
 of brag ; with, however, the additional complicating and 
 disturbing element, — that there was a continual danger, 
 a danger of every day and every hour, that the cai-- 
 diuals who were not mainly and personally interested in 
 the elevation of either of the three great rivals, might 
 suddenly and secretly coalesce and make a Pope of their 
 own, Farnese probably, or possibly even some outsider, 
 whom nobody had seriously thought of. That ''adora- 
 tion" plan of making a Pope was such a dangerous 
 thing, and so diflficult to be guarded against! The 
 thing might bo done by sudden impulse, in a moment, 
 Avithout any warning, except such as was afforded by 
 observing any unusual and suspicious gathering together 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAY. 195 
 
 of cardinals ! And then, if such, a thing were to happen, 
 the disadvantage of having taken no part in it was 
 obvious and much to be avoided. 
 
 Stni Colonna, though he had caused it to be whis- 
 pered to De' Medici that he was ready to give bim his 
 vote and interest, rather than that Orsini should be 
 elected, was not willing to give up ; and in order to gain 
 time, and at the same time to make it appear that he 
 was really anxious to bring the injurious prolongation 
 of the Conclave to an end, caused his followers to put 
 forward sundry other candidates whom he knew well 
 would not have the necessary majority of votes. One of 
 these, the Cardinal di Santiquattro, however, was very 
 nearly elected in this manner, and instances are not 
 wanting in the history of the Conclaves of precisely 
 similar accidents having happened. 
 
 But one morning, when this sort of work had been 
 going on for nearly fifty days, De' Medici determined on 
 a plan to make Colonna declare himself one way or 
 another. Having caused his friends to assemble in the 
 vicinity of Orsini's cell, he himself paid a visit to his 
 rival, and so contrived as to come out of the cell, he and 
 Orsini together, and the latter apparently in high good 
 humour and jovial mood. They walked towards the 
 great hall, and a crowd of the special friends of either 
 following them. Care had, moreover, been taken that 
 all this should be breathlessly reported to Colonna on 
 the instant. " At last, we are going to elect a Pope ! " 
 cried De' Medici in a loud voice as Colonna came out of 
 his cell. "Are you going to elect Orsini?" asked one 
 of Colonna's friends of one of those who were following 
 
 2 
 
190 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 him and De' Medici. " Well, it looks very like it ! " 
 replied the dignitary questioned. "But," cried Colonna, 
 who felt that, if he was to avoid having his old enemy 
 Orsini as a master over him and aU the other Colonnas, 
 there was not a moment to be lost, " I thought it had 
 been understood that we — I and my friends — were ready 
 to give our votes to the Cardinal De' Medici ! I am not 
 the man to promise what I do not mean. We are ready 
 to elect De' Medici Pope on the spot, and this instant 1 " 
 Whereupon a shout was raised for De' Medici, and an 
 "Adoration" followed, unanimous, or nearly so, on the 
 part of all present. Giulio De' Medici, however, who 
 was as careful and cautious a man, as his relative, 
 Leo X., was the reverse, begged his friends to proceed 
 to the more regidar process of a scrutiny, which was 
 done accordingly, and he was duly elected as Cle- 
 ment VII. by an unanimous vote, on the fiftieth day of 
 he Conclave, the 18th November, 1523. 
 
 Clement reigned ten troublous and disastrous years. 
 His life as Pope was like that of a hunted hare. He 
 lived in perpetual fear — fear of the lawless bands of 
 the Constable Bourbon, who sacked his capital and 
 threatened his life ; fear of the raising of the question 
 of the canonical validity of this election, on the ground 
 of his illegitimacy ; fear of the rivals Chai-les Y. and 
 Francis I. ; fear of the treacheries by which he strove 
 to cheat and deceive both of them being found out; 
 fear, perhaps the worst of all, of the General Council, 
 which he did manage to stave ofi", but which could no 
 longer bo staved oif by his equally imwilliug, but bolder 
 successor. 
 
NOBLE BOYS AT PLAT. 197 
 
 The Papacy of that successor, Paul III., was a notable 
 and highly important one. But the Conclave which 
 preceded it was one of the shortest and most uneventful 
 in the whole list. 
 
 The cardinals went into Conclave on the 11th of 
 October, 1534, and elected Alessandro Famese Pope by 
 the name of Paul III. unanimously, and at the first 
 scrutiny. In fact, there are few, if any other, instances 
 in the history of the Popes, of its having been so well 
 known, and so entirely a foregone conclusion, who the 
 Pope was to be, as in the case of Paul III. All Eome 
 knew perfectly well that Famese was to be Pope, before 
 the Conclave was begun. In fact, he was abundantly 
 marked out for the choice of his colleagues. He was 
 then in his sixty-eighth year, and he had been forty 
 years a cardinal ! He was a man of good character, 
 born to rule, and of a very noble presence. And had 
 he had no nephews or sons, would have made a very 
 good Pope. As it was, he made one very fatal to the 
 interests of the Church. 
 
 This election was certainly untainted by simony. The 
 Farnese proceeded with refractory voters otherwise than 
 by buying them. It is related that, having heard that 
 one of the younger cardinals in the Conclave was 
 speaking against him, and striving to organize a party 
 in opposition to his election, he proceeded straight to 
 the cell of the offender, and there — voice, eye, and mien 
 assisting him — administered such a verbal castigation 
 to the offender, that he professed repentance, implored 
 pardon, and on receiving it became one of Farnese' s 
 fastest friends. 
 
198 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 And so ends that portion of our story whicli falls 
 ■within the period that has been called the Middle Ages ; 
 if not quite accurately so according to the almanac, yet 
 sufficiently so in respect to the animating spirit of the 
 times, and the iufluence of that spirit on the Papal 
 Conclaves, to justify the adoption of it as a story -shed 
 dividing the old time from the new. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 THE ZEALOUS POPES. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 THE ZEALOUS POPES. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Eemarks of Eanke on the Papal History of the Sixteenth Century. — 
 Julius III. — His Character. — Oonclave wMch. elected him. — View 
 of this Oonclave by the Venetian Ambassador. — Delay in Assem- 
 bling of the Conclaves after Paul III.'s Death. — Eeginald Pole. — The 
 Expectation that he would be elected. — Was aU but elected. — His 
 own scruples. — ^His Election lost by them. — Anecdote of his beha- 
 viour in Oonclave. — Cardinal di San MarceUo, afterwards Pope as 
 MarcellusII. — Determined to elect Pole, if possible. — The Emperor 
 appealed to by Letter. — He vetoes Cardinal Salviati. — Election of 
 Del Monte, as Julius III. — His Character. 
 
 I HAVE given in a former chapter my reasons for 
 drawing a line of division at tlie death, of Pan! III. 
 Eanke says,* that the sixteenth century was especially 
 marked by the spirit of religious creation. Even yet, 
 in our own days, we are living on the struggles between 
 various creeds which first broke out in that age. But 
 if it is desired to fix with greater precision the epoch at 
 which the separation of the creeds was consummated, we 
 must not fix it at the first appearance of the reformers. 
 For their opinions did not so soon succeed in establish- 
 ing themselves ; and for a long time there was room to 
 hope for an agreement on the controverted points. But 
 
 * Hist. Popes, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Book iii. 
 
202 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 it Avas about the year 1552 that all attempts at con- 
 ciliation were seen to have completely failed. A little 
 farther on he remarks, that the most immediate obstacle 
 ■which the Catholic Church had to contend against, in the 
 effort to effect such a renovation of itself as should avail 
 to stem the advancing tide of reformation, arose, at the 
 very ffrst, from the Popes themselves, from their cha- 
 racter and their policy. And it is impossible to take 
 even the most cursory view of the reign of Paul III. 
 without arriving at the conviction that he, though not 
 wholly opposed to the Council of Trent, and not by any 
 means altogether without care for the spiritual interests 
 of the Church (though he was far more prone and more 
 fitted to consider its temporal affairs), must yet be 
 counted among those Popes whose character and policy 
 formed a terrible obstacle to any such renovation. 
 
 Nor can it be said that the successor of Paul III., 
 Julius III., in any degree deserved a place in that series 
 of Popes whom I have grouped together, as the subject 
 of this division of my story, under the denomination of 
 The Zealous Popes. In truth Giovanni Maria Del 
 Monte, who became Pope as Julius III., was one of the 
 last of the Popes who could be called ''zealous" in 
 any sense. And if I had been writing a compendium of 
 the history of the Popes, with reference to that remark- 
 able tendency to group tlicuisclves into series which I 
 have before spoken of, I should certainly have assigned 
 him his })laco as the last among the procediag group, 
 though he cannot be said to have belonged to the series 
 of sovereigu-family-foundiug Popes. But inasmuch as 
 our business is more especially with the Conchnes that 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 203 
 
 elected the PontiiFs, than with the Popes themselves, 
 and as the rising spirit, characterised by Eanke in the 
 above-cited passage, may be plainly discerned in the 
 Conclave which elected Julius III., I have preferred to 
 draw my dividing line at the death of that great and 
 memorable Pontiff, Alessandro Pamese, Paul III. 
 
 The conclavist indeed, who has left a narrative of the 
 proceedings of the Conclave which elected Julius, re- 
 presents the motives of all concerned to have been 
 exactly of the old sort, pxu-ely and exclusively worldly, 
 and proceeding from low personal ambitions and enmities. 
 He was doubtless an old hand; had probably held a 
 similar position in other previous Conclaves, and, as one 
 can imagine readily woidd be in such case the result, 
 was utterly incapable of conceiving any other motives, 
 or any other scheme of conducting a Papal election. 
 But we have an account of this Conclave by a very dif- 
 ferent sort of person ; who, if he made no part of the 
 little Conclave world, and had therefore not the means 
 of observing, as the Conclavist had, every conversation 
 and every report, and spying every wish, was able to 
 take a much larger and higher view of the entire 
 matter, to interpret in a more just, as well as in a more 
 liberal, spirit the motives of the chief actors, and to 
 comprehend the forces which influenced them. The 
 person in question was the old and experienced Venetian 
 statesman, Matteo Dandolo, who had been sent by the 
 Senate as ambassador to Paul III., and who remained at 
 Eome during the Conclave which elected his successor. 
 The "relation" or report of his embassy, which he read 
 before the Senate in accordance with Yenetian law, on 
 
204 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 his return, is an extremely valuable and interesting 
 document, and is printed in the third volume of the 
 second series of Sign. Alberi's collection.* It has been 
 much used by Eanke, Now, that improvement in the 
 spirit of the Conclave, which was invisible to the 
 conclavist, is unmistakably to be read in Dandolo's 
 account of the election of Jidius III. 
 
 Paul III. died, truly broken-hearted at the misconduct 
 and treachery of those relatives for the aggrandizement 
 of whom he had risked everything and sacrificed so 
 much, on the 10th of November, 1549, having reigned 
 fifteen years. An unduly long time elapsed before the 
 cardinals entered Conclave at the beginning of December; 
 the cause of the delay having probably been that some 
 of the absent cardinals, especially the French, were 
 waited for. Nevertheless some of these had not arrived 
 when the Conclave commenced. The Venetian ambas- 
 sador reports that the interregnum was an unusually 
 orderly one; so much so that "save during the first 
 days, when the shops were all shut, and some mui'ders 
 were committed, all passed in the quietest manner, as 
 though the See were not vacant ! " Seven thousand good 
 troops, the same authority tells us, brought for the most 
 part from Perugia, kept the city in order. 
 
 As the procession of cardinals passed to the Conclave, 
 says Matteo Dandolo, the marked deference shown by 
 all of. them to the Cardinal of England (Eogiuald Pole) 
 was much commented on ; and the opinion was very 
 
 * It may bo useful to stuilouts rofovriug to tliis report, to mcntiou 
 tlial a very misleading misprint ol' "Paul IV." for Paul III. occxirs 
 twioo in the imlijx to this volumo . 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 205 
 
 common througliOTit the city that he would be the new 
 Pope. The Conclave was mainly divided iuto three 
 parties. The first consisted of those who were partisans 
 of the Emperor (Charles Y.) ; the second was composed 
 of the friends of the French Kiag (Francis) ; the third, 
 perhaps the most powerful of the three, consisted of the 
 " creatures " of, i.e., the cardinals created by, Paul III. 
 Inside the Conclave the opinion was, that the making of 
 the new Pope would, 'at the upshot, lie with the members 
 of the latter. Nor was this party altogether averse to 
 the election of Pole. So that, at the beginning of the 
 Conclave, it was calculated that, if the election were 
 made instantly, it would be found that the English 
 Cardinal had three votes more than were sufficient 
 to make the requisite two-thirds' majority. Cardinal 
 Earnese, [the recognised leader of the third of the 
 above-named ['parties, and certainly the man of by far 
 the greatest influence among the members of it, had 
 made up his mind to elect Cardinal Pole. The Yenetian 
 ambassador gives three reasons for that determination of 
 his ; in the setting forth of which he amusingly places 
 last that, which few, and least of aU the ambassador, 
 could fail to recognise as, not only the first, but in truth 
 the reason that motived his decision. He had made up 
 his mind to place the English Cardinal on the throne, 
 says the Yenetian, "because of the remarkable purity of 
 his life and morals ; because also of the great degree of 
 authority he enjoyed, having been a cardinal for many 
 years ; and, lastly, because of the hope he had that the 
 English Cardinal, if he became Pope, would be disposed 
 to secure to him the dominion of Parma." In fact, 
 
206 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Farnese seems to have made the latter point the nding 
 motive of his conduct in the Conclave ; for there is no 
 trace of his having attempted to secure the Papacy for 
 himself, to which his position in. the CoUege might have 
 well justified him in aspiring. To be sure, such an 
 election would have been as scandalous an one as any 
 of those of the days, which were already beginning to 
 be considered at Eome as the good old times. And the 
 fact that Farnese does not seem to have conceived any 
 hope or plan of the sort, may be accepted as an unmis- 
 takable indication of the improved spirit of the times. 
 
 But there were stni plenty of men in the College, to 
 whom the sanctity of life of the EngHsh Cardinal was 
 no sufficient recommendation. The Cardinal of Ferrara, 
 immediately on the openiag of the Conclave, made an 
 effort to prevent an election which seemed immiaent, 
 by making overtures to the Cardinal di San Giorgio, who 
 was an intimate friend of Farnese, to the effect that he, 
 Ferrara, was ready to make Farnese Pope, if he would, 
 for that he could bring a sufficient number of the French 
 party to concur in such an election, as, joined with the 
 "creatures" of Paul III., would make it a certainty. 
 But he only got a snubbing* from Fai-nese for his pains. 
 He then went off to two others of the Paolini party 
 with similar prupu^^als, which wore equally ill-received 
 by both of them. And therewith his power and that of 
 the French party to nominate the Pope by a coalition 
 with the Paolini "crcatui-es" was at an end. For after 
 the loss of throe voles out of the latter pai'ty, auy such 
 
 * " Lo ribatt^ con aooorta risposta,'" — Vai. Eclat. Vol. iii. Series 2ud. 
 p. 3-JG. 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 207 
 
 coalition would have had one vote less than was re- 
 quisite. 
 
 Meanwhile Famese was endeavonring to unite all the 
 PaoUni and the Imperialists in favour of Cardiaal Pole. 
 It was proposed to elect him on the spur of the moment 
 by adoration ; and there can be little or no doubt that 
 the attempt would have succeeded, and all the subsequent 
 course of European history have been most impor- 
 tantly modified, if it had been made. The ambassador 
 of Charles Y., Don Diego Mendoza, "had," says the 
 Venetian reporter, "the strictest, most resolute, and 
 most efficacious orders from the Emperor, that his Mends 
 should consent to no election save that of the Cardinal 
 of England. * So that when on the night of the election 
 thousands of voices were shouting Monte ! Monte !'\ 1 
 believed rather in the one voice, which cried England ; " 
 the voice, that is to say, of the Emperor's ambassador. 
 But the result was a notable instance of the proverbial 
 impossibility of foretelling, under any circumstances, the 
 most probable upshot of a Conclave. The Emperor, his 
 ambassador, the Venetian resident, and the whole of the 
 Imperialist party were on this occasion mistaken. 
 
 Within the Conclave, in the meantime, what had been 
 goiag on was certainly of a nature to throw out the 
 previsions of the old hands. When the proposal to 
 secure the election of Cardinal Pole, by proceeding to a 
 sudden adoration, was made to him, and his supporters 
 wished to hui'ry him into the chapel for the purpose, he 
 could not be persuaded to accompany them, saying that 
 
 ♦ Eelat. Yen., ih. p. 147. 
 
 f In anticipation ttat the Cardinal Del Monte would be elected. 
 
208 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 "he did not wish to enter by the window, but by the 
 door, if it should please God that he should do so."* 
 The conclavist, however, who has left us a narrative of 
 the proceedings of this Conclave, says that the proposed 
 adoration of Pole was deferred until the following morn- 
 ing, because the Cardinals St. Marcello and Yerallo, 
 belonging to the Imperial party, were ill, and it was 
 deemed necessary to wait for their concurrence in the 
 election. So the cardinals of the Paolini and Imperial 
 parties went to bed with the understanding that His 
 Eminence of England was to be elected on the folloAving 
 morning. But the upshot showed the value of the Italian 
 proverb, which tells you that you may give your enemy 
 anything rather than time ! Some members of the 
 French party learned the fact that all had been arranged 
 for the election of the Cardinal of England the following 
 morning, and spent the night in going privately from 
 ceU to cell, and endeavouring to persuade a few — some 
 two or three would suffice — of the coalesced parties to 
 desert their friends. And this they succeeded in doing. 
 So that the next morning it was found that, whereas 
 thirty-three votes were needed for an election — the entii-e 
 number of cardinals in Conclave being foi"ty-nine — Car- 
 dinal Pole had only twenty-six ! The opportunity had 
 been lost, not to retm-n again. After this failui-e the 
 votes became more and more scattered at every succeed- 
 ing scrutiny ; and there Avas scarcely one of the older 
 cardinals who did not conceive hopes, and put forward 
 pretensions of his own. Scrutiny after scrutiny followed 
 unavailingly, and there seemed little prospect of coming 
 
 * Eelat. Yon., ihidcm. 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 209 
 
 to an election. Amid all this, however, there was one 
 man who remained unalterably firm in his determination 
 to elect Pole if it were possible. This was the Cardinal 
 di San Marcello, who became Pope, as Marcellus II., in 
 the next Conclave. And the circumstance is worth 
 mentioning as a testimony in favour of Eeginald Pole ; 
 for the Cardinal di San Marcello was in all probability 
 by far the best man in that assembly, and was undoubt- 
 edly one of the best who ever sat on the Papal throne. 
 
 This state of things, says the conclavist, enabled also 
 the Cardinal Salviati to make an attempt for himself, 
 for there were many who were ready to vote for him. 
 His friends accordingly went to Farnese to see if he 
 could be got to support such an election. Farnese 
 showed himself much averse to it. But on the Cardinal 
 Sforza going to him on the same errand, he got him to 
 promise that if they would write to the Emperor and 
 obtain his approbation, he (Farnese) would make no 
 further opposition. So the Cardinal of Mantua, one of 
 the Gonzagas, who was a warm supporter of Salviati, 
 wrote to King Ferdinand, the Emperor's brother, beg- 
 ging him to use his interest with his brother to induce 
 him to consent to the election of Salviati. Ferdinand 
 did write to the Emperor on the subject, but received 
 so bitter* an answer, that he wrote back to the Cardinal 
 of Mantua that he could not favour the election in 
 question in any way. So there was an end of Salviati's- 
 hopes and candidateship ! AU which is curious as. 
 showing the sort of way in which the elections were 
 carried on in that day, and how very far the Conclave. 
 
 * " Fu cosi acerba la risposta." — Condav, vol. i. p. 227. 
 P 
 
210 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 was from being impervious to communications with, and 
 from the outer world ! A cardinal's dinner was to be 
 examined, lest some written communication should be 
 introduced into the Conclave hidden in the interior of a 
 capon; and letters were openly addressed to and received 
 from the potentates of Europe. It will be observed, 
 however, that nothing is heard as yet of any regularised 
 and formal veto. 
 
 Gradually, in sheer despair apparently of coming to 
 any more satisfactory election, an increasing number of 
 votes began to drift towards the Cardinal Del Monte. 
 Cardinal de Guise, however, did his utmost to oppose 
 him, pointing out his defects, which were generally 
 supposed to be a quickness to wrath and passion, and 
 writing to France to warn the King that if his friends 
 concurred in such an election, "he would directly he 
 should be Pope give everything to the Emperor, to 
 the great prejudice of his most Christian Majesty." 
 The Cardinal de Guise, too, made an attempt on behalf 
 of his uncle, the Cardinal of Loraine, and obtained a 
 promise of support from Tarnese. But the leaders of 
 the Imperial party, getting scent of this conjimction, 
 rushed off to Farnese, and pointed out to him so strongly 
 the objections of the Emperor to such an election, that 
 Farnese withdrew his promise. Here again there is no 
 sort of mention of any veto on the pai-t of either the 
 Emperor or the French King; yet the one was evidently 
 anxious to exclude Del jMonte, and the other to exclude 
 do Guise. 
 
 It was not till the 8th of February that the cardinals 
 could agree to an election. And then a sufficient 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 211 
 
 majority was found to make th.e Cardinal Del Monte 
 Pope by the name of Julius III. His election was 
 caused wlioUy by the apparent impossibility of making 
 any otber. It was by no means because any party of 
 those who concurred in the choice considered him to 
 be the most fitting man among them for that supreme 
 position, but because he was deemed the least objection- 
 able of those whom it was possible to elect. The 
 electors might faiiJly answer to their own consciences 
 that, if they had not placed on the throne any one of the 
 men, who might have been supposed to be the most fit 
 man to be chosen, if in truth the Holy Ghost were the 
 veritable controller of the election, they had endeavoured 
 but had found it impossible to do better than they had 
 done. And the election does not seem to have been 
 vitiated by simony. It is related, indeed, that on one 
 occasion, when a knot of cardinals, of whom Del Monte 
 was one, were standing around the altar, after an un- 
 successful scrutiny, discoursing of the apparent hope- 
 lessness of the effort to come to any election at all, Del 
 Monte said, " Well ! make me Pope, and the next day 
 I will give you as a colleague my Prevotino " — a sort 
 of clerkly official and intimate attached to a cardinal — 
 words which seem to have been uttered jestingly, and 
 to indicate, if they can be considered to indicate any- 
 thing, that the speaker had little thought of being taken 
 at his word. 
 
 Julius III. was placed at the helm of St. Peter's 
 barque when it was struggling in a very troubled and 
 tempestuous sea ; and he was utterly inadequate to 
 assume the management of it. The duties he was en^ 
 
 p 2 
 
212 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 trusted to do in that state of life to which he had been 
 called would have been very terribly arduous ones to 
 any man. Julius cut the knot by doing nothing ! He 
 assuredly has no place, by his own right, in a series 
 called that of the '' zealous Popes ! " There has hardly, 
 perhaps, been one of the long line to whom such title 
 would less apply ! But, as has been explained, our 
 division has been adopted as much with an eye to the 
 Conclaves as to the Popes. And the Conclave which 
 elected Julius was a great improvement on its pre- 
 decessors. Earnest attempts had been made to elect the 
 truly best man there. They had miserably failed. But 
 we shall see that the next Conclave shows a further im- 
 provement, and marks clearly enough the change that 
 was coming over the spirit of the Church. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Marcellus II. — ^His Character. — The Conclave which elected him.— The 
 Choice lies between him and Cardinal Caraffa. — Hostility of the 
 Imperial Party to the Latter. — The Meaning and Practice of ' ' Adora- 
 tion," "Acclamation," or "Inspiration." — Anecdote of intrusive 
 Conclavist at a Scrutiny. — ^Election of MarceUus 11. — His Death, 
 and Conduct at the Council of Trent. 
 
 Marcellus II. was the first of a very remarkable series 
 of "zealous Popes " — of Pontiffs, tliat is to say, wto, if 
 their conceptions of the functions, duties, and position 
 of a true and supreme bishop of souls was still such as 
 might have made philosophers smile and angels weep, 
 were yet true and faithful Popes in so far as the main 
 and earnestly pursued object of their lives was the 
 prosperity, welfare, and advantage of the Church, as 
 they understood the nature of these things. Marcellus 
 was the first of these; but he, and he alone, was some- 
 thing more. Marcello Cervini, of Montepulciano — ^for 
 his baptismal name was Marcello, and having the pre- 
 cedent of a predecessor of that name, a Pope and martyr 
 at the beginning of the fourth century, he declined to 
 change it on his elevation — ^was not only a zealous 
 Pope, but a true, faithful, and pious bishop, and exem- 
 plary man and Christian. 
 
 "After the death of Julius III.," says Eanke, "the 
 religious party, composed of the defenders of strict 
 
214 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 principles of duty and conduct, for the first* time exer- 
 cised an influence on tlie election of a Pope." " It was 
 an election," he adds, " which abeady manifested the 
 change of spirit that had begun to be dominant in the 
 Church." And any one who reads the notices of the 
 election which have reached us, with a somewhat larger 
 appreciation of men and things than a conclavist can be 
 supposed to have possessed, will hardly fail to recognise 
 that such was the case. But the same remark has to be 
 repeated here which was made on a former occasion 
 with reference to the conclavist's narrative. He is 
 evidently an old hand ; and such a person woidd be one 
 of the last of mortals to comprehend or admit the exist- 
 ence of any such changed spirit. Eeformation in such a 
 matter, if it may be said, looking largely over the face 
 of Eui'ope and the progress of the world, that it came, 
 and had to come, from below as regards the social supe- 
 riorities and inferiorities, yet ia Eome, in clerical Eome, 
 and in that inmost heart and sanctuary of clerical Eome, 
 the adepts of the Curia and the Conclave, cleai-ly had 
 to percolate from above. Little trace, accordingly, will 
 be foimd of any other feeling than the old traditional 
 notions of intrigue, cunning, bargaining, and interest in 
 the narration of the conclavist who has recorded the 
 incidents of the Conclave that elected perhaps the best 
 and piu-est man in the long line of Pontiffs. 
 
 It is not to be imagined, howovi-r, that improvement 
 
 • I haye said tliat to a certain degroo n similar improTcd tone and 
 feeling may be observed to haye chnractorizcd tbo motives of the electors 
 in the preceding Conclave. Tho manifestation of the improved spuit of 
 the time was, howovor, undoubtedly, far more marked in tho Conclavo 
 \\hich elected Marcellus. 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 215 
 
 had yet proceeded to the extent of inducing the 
 members of the Sacred College to place the considera- 
 tion of their duty towards God before that of their 
 deference for the Emperor or the French King ; but 
 there was a disposition to elect the best and fittest 
 man, should it turn out to be impossible to do that 
 Avhich the Emperor or the King desired — for, as may 
 be supposed, the desires of King and Emperor were in 
 diametrical opposition to each other. The Cardinal of 
 Ferrara was the head of the French faction in the 
 College, which was very numerous ; and when the 
 cardinals went into Conclave the general opinion was 
 that he would be Pope. But the more authoritative 
 cardinals were attached to the interest of the Emperor ; 
 and many of the Italian cardinals took part with his 
 Eminence of Ferrara, considering, as the conclavist tells 
 us, that "however the matter went they would be 
 clear gainers by doing so ; since, if they should fail of 
 making him Pope, they would at least profit by this 
 demonstration of their good will, as they would have 
 merited the favour of the King, from whom they might 
 expect various marks of recognition." But such sup- 
 porters were of course likely to fall away as soon as 
 ever it became evident that the cause they had espoused 
 was not going to be the winning one. 
 
 I borrow the following statement of the result from 
 Mr. Cartwright's book on Papal Conclaves.* 
 
 * I do so because tlie author seems to have had an ampler narrative 
 than that before me, which is in the collection of such relations by 
 Gregorio Leti. The narrative quoted by Mi-. Cartwright is evidently 
 the same as that which I have, for he cites certain passages which are 
 almost — not quite — word for word the same. Yet he gives several 
 particulars not to be found in my copy of the old conclavist's stoiy. 
 
216 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 " On this occasion the cardinals appear to have had 
 special grounds for being on their guard against the 
 possible presence of unqualified conclavists " (Mr. Cart- 
 wright means unqualified persons ; if they were con- 
 clavists they were qualified), for the day after the 
 closing of the gates and the formal expulsion of 
 strangers they proceeded to an exceptional scrutiny 
 of all who had remained within. The whole population 
 of the Conclave was got together in the Pauline Chapel, 
 at the door of which the three cardinals, Capi d' Online 
 (i. e. the Dean of the College, who was the senior of the 
 cardinal bishops, the senior of the cardinal priests, and 
 the senior of the cardinal deacons), with the Cardinal 
 Camerlengo, took their seats and scrutinized each in- 
 dividual as he passed out singly before them, the result 
 of the inspection being the ejection of fifteen interlopers-. 
 . . . After an unusual and unexplained delay, the 
 cardinals, who had formally entered Conclave as long 
 ago as the 5th, proceeded to a first ballot on the 9th 
 of April, when the suffrages were found divided between 
 Caraffa (who subsequently became Paul the Foiu-th), the 
 Cardinal of Chieti, and CerAini, Cardinal of Santa Croco. 
 The first of these three was particularly obnoxious to 
 the Imperialists; but his following was considerable, 
 his influence formidable ; and his ole^■ation to the Papal 
 chair, out and out the result most deprecated from an 
 Imperialist point of view, scorned not merely possible, 
 but was considered likely to be assiu-ed, if the election 
 wore protracted another four-and-t^Yenty hours. To 
 defeat Ferrara's chance of success became^ accordin"-lv 
 the object above every other of the eff'orts of those 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 217 
 
 cardinals who had at heart the Emperor's interest. To 
 this end they quickly concerted to throw their influence 
 without loss of time on the side of Cervini, as the most 
 generally popular candidate" (this hardly states the 
 matter correctly. Cervini was in no wise a candidate 
 at all, save in so far as he was a cardinal ; nor was the 
 resolution of the Imperialists so immediately taken. 
 Other attempts were made first, but Cervini was found 
 to be the man on whom most votes could be united 
 among those who might be supposed not utterly dis- 
 tasteful to the Emperor), " even though there were 
 grounds why he could not be specially agreeable to 
 the Emperor, whom he had displeased during his 
 presence as legate at the Council of Trent. But the 
 danger of Eerrara's elevation was so imminent, that a 
 sacrifice had to be made without loss of time. Under 
 these circumstances it was resolved to carry the election 
 by surprise before Eerrara and the French party had the 
 opportunity to counteract the move the next morning. 
 Accordingly Cardinals Madruzzi (Trent) and Caraflfa 
 stole privately to Cervini's cell to prepare him for what 
 was coming, while the cardinals were assembled within 
 the Paoline Chapel in debate, which became eager and 
 hot. Suddenly up jumped Cardinal Crispo, a confede- 
 rate, and exclaimed, * Up ! and let us be going ; I, for 
 one, will not rebel against the Holy Ghost ! ' and with 
 these words he led the way, followed by most of the 
 cardinals, to the cell of Cervini, who was carried forcibly 
 into the chapel amidst the vociferous acclamations not 
 merely of his supporters, but even of most of his oppo- 
 nents, when they saw the day lost for them. ' Still 
 
218 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 success had been snatched so far only by a bold stroke ; 
 and to confirm the adverse party in disorganisation, the 
 conclavists were employed to make the fact of Cervini's 
 election known at once in the city, with the view of 
 eliciting popular demonstrations that might eflfectually 
 suppress any awakening tendency to opposition. For 
 what had occurred, though of unmistakable force, was yet 
 quite informal, and before the acclaimed Cervini could 
 legitimately call himself Pope, it was still necessary to 
 go through certain elaborate and punctiliously enjoined 
 formalities.' " 
 
 The above passage, which is marked as a quotation, 
 contains of course a statement of Mr. Cartwright's own 
 views, and not the substance of any information given 
 by the conclavist. And the view expressed in them is 
 an entirely erroneous one. After the acclamation de- 
 scribed, one thing, and one thing only, was needed to 
 make the election complete, final, irrevocable, and 
 canonical — the acceptance of the individual so acclaimed. 
 Mr. Cartwright seems to fall into the same error when 
 at another page of his usually accurate book (p. 152, 
 note) he says, after citing the names of sundry Popes, 
 whom the ecclesiastical writers consider to have been 
 elected by " inspiration," " acclamation," or (more 
 properly) " adoration," among whom Marccllus II. 
 figures, " this list confounds acclamation, such as might 
 follow discussion, with the little shout of mii-aculously 
 spontaneous unanimity exacted by canonical prescrip- 
 tions for an election by inspiration." The list rightly 
 and properly " confounds " acclamation with inspiration. 
 The two words in Conclave language mean the same 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 219 
 
 thing ; but the term " adoration," still meaning the same 
 process and the same thing is preferred by the best 
 authorities. It is quite true that such a spontaneous 
 unanimity as the canons contemplate for an election of 
 this sort would be, not "little short of," but clearly 
 "miraculous," and the Church considers it as such. 
 It is quite true, further, that an unanimous acclamation 
 or adoration following and produced by discussion and 
 planned arrangement is a very different thing, and need 
 have nothing at all miraculous about it. But it would 
 seem to argue an ingenuousness, which a small amoimt 
 of ecclesiastical reading would, it might be thought, 
 dissipate for ever, to suppose that, because a plotted 
 acclamation can, in truth, have none of the essential 
 characteristics and qualities contemplated by the canons 
 as constituting the real meaning and virtue of an elec- 
 tion by adoration, therefore an election brought about 
 by such planned and plotted acclamation cannot be the 
 same thimg as that intended by the "inspiration" re- 
 cognised by the Church. Of course there never was an 
 election made by sudden and spontaneous unanimity of 
 choice. That is the theory of what might conceivably 
 be. The practice has always been to bring about these 
 supposititious sudden impulses by previous plotting. 
 It is true that unanimity is necessary to the validity of 
 the process ; and it may at first sight seem to the un- 
 initiated that if the members of the College in Conclave 
 are or have after discussion become unanimous in their 
 choice, there can be no need for plotting, and it can 
 matter little by what process the votes of the electors 
 are expressed. But the expression of such a notion 
 
220 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 would cause a smile of a very significant character to be 
 visible in the eyes at least of every old conclavist. The 
 proper and skilful management of the vote by adoration 
 was one of the most delicate, subtle, and difficult por- 
 tions of the science of a conclavist ; and an explanation 
 of the methods in which it was worked, and of the 
 nature of the dangers and difficulties which surrounded 
 it, will be found at a subsequent page, where the 
 doings of the Conclave which elected Paul V. are 
 described at length. The necessity of a further and 
 more orderly process in the case of Marcellus, whom 
 nevertheless the Church has always considered to have 
 been one of the Popes elected by "adoration," was 
 doubtless occasioned, not by any fear that the validity 
 of the election by adoration might be endangered by the 
 fact that it was planned and not spontaneous, but by 
 doubts respecting the unanimity of it. 
 
 Mr. Cartwright proceeds : "In the heat of the 
 moment the proposal was indeed heard to hoist Cervini 
 without more ado into the Papal chaii-, and to proceed 
 forthwith to the act of adoration ; but Medici, though 
 a warm supporter, interfered, and drew attention to the 
 necessity for observing carefully in this case every en- 
 joined prescription, as a safeguard against later chal- 
 lenge of tlu^ election. At this admonition the cai'diuals 
 calmed their excitement, and relapsing into a proper 
 air of gravity, proceeded to their scuts, while the con- 
 (•liivists were ordered out of the chapel. ' I alone went 
 lirhind the altar,' writes the anonymous conclavist, 
 ' wlu'ii the otluTM Avoro being driven out, and after the 
 door had bcH'u c'k>srd came bade again and put myself 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 221 
 
 behind the Pope's chair, without anything being said to 
 me, though I had been perceived by cardinals ; and so, 
 all of them being seated, the Cardinal of Naples (Caraffa), 
 as Dean, stood up and gave his vote viva voce for the 
 Cardinal of Santa Croce ; and in the same manner did the 
 others give their votes, a secretary writing down each 
 like a notary, when, just as they had finished, the Ave 
 Maria sounded, which haviug been repeated by all, 
 as if in thanks to God for the consummation of the 
 election, the Pope rose and made a little Latin speech, 
 thanking the College for its choice, and expressing his 
 resolve, though conscious of unworthiness and insufii- 
 ciency for such a charge, to do his duty, with an en- 
 gagement to attend to no private interest, but only to 
 the good of all, and several other words very much to 
 the point, and of great gravity. Hereupon the Cardinal 
 of Naples as Dean got up and said, that, in observance of 
 the ancient rules, a ballot should be taken the following 
 morning, with the voting papers open, in order that 
 his Holiness might see the good affection of all towards 
 him, and this without prejudice of the present election, 
 which was approved by all, who unanimously would 
 have the Pope speak the words, "Acceptamus sine 
 prejudicio prsesentis electionis." After this aU the 
 cardinals kissed the Pope ; and, the doors having been 
 opened, I was the first who kissed his feet, which he 
 would not have me do, saying that it would have been 
 better next day. Nevertheless I did kiss them, and 
 then all left the chapel, attesnditig the Pope to his cell, 
 which he found so thoroughly gutted by the conclavists 
 that he was forced to betake himself into that of the 
 
222 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Cardinal of Montcpulciano, when lie at once resolved on 
 getting crowned next day in St. Peter's. Wliile all 
 this noise was going on, the gates of the Conclave were 
 forced and a mob entered, so that, but for Messer 
 Antonio Cornia,* the whole Conclave had a chance of 
 being gutted. As soon as he had come in measures of 
 precaution were, however, taken for everything, and no 
 one entered more but a few prelates, who came to kiss 
 the feet of his Holiness. All that night long one slept 
 but badly from the sound and noise made by those who 
 were removing their goods out of the Conclave. Next 
 morning, "Wednesday, the 10th, the Pope and cardinals 
 entered the chapel an hour before day, according to the 
 regulations ; and mass having been read by the Sacristan, 
 all gave their votes open in behalf of the Cardinal of 
 Santa Croce, who, not to vote for himself, gave his vote 
 for the Cardinal of Naples. After this he was adored 
 by all; and Cardinal Pisani, as senior deacon, went, 
 according to custom, to a window, and said to the people, 
 ' Papam habemus' — his name being ]\rarcellus II., which 
 he bore before, and would by no means change." 
 
 Marcellus II. reigned twenty-three days only ! Men 
 applied to him the words of Yirgil with reference to 
 another Marcellus, and said that earth not being worthy 
 of him. Heaven had but shown him for a moment to the 
 world ! How infinite might not the consequences have 
 been had it been otherwise ? He came exactly at the 
 moment when wucli a man in Peter's seat was most 
 wanted, and when the consequeuccs of its occupation by 
 such an one might hu^'e been most momentous. Look- 
 
 • The " CustoJo" of tho Conolavo. 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 223 
 
 ing at his cliaracter, opinions, and conduct previously 
 to and at the Council of Trent, it is hardly too much to 
 suppose that, had the guidance of the Church remained 
 in his hands as many years, as, from his age, might have 
 been hoped, the divisions which have torn the Church 
 might even then have been healed, and the great schism 
 avoided ! 
 
 But worn out by previous travels and labours, and 
 called on immediately after his elevation to perform his 
 laborious part of the functions of the Holy Week, which, 
 though suffering much, he would in no degree spare 
 himseK, he was attacked by a new access of fever, which 
 assailed him while he was in the act of washing the 
 feet of the thirteen pilgrims accordiag to custom, and 
 put an end to his life, on the twenty-third day of his 
 pontificate, on the 1st of May, 1555, in the fifty-fourth 
 year of his life. 
 
CnAPTER III. 
 
 Tho ("'onclavr> -which olcctod Paul IV. — Imperialist Party. — Cardinal 
 I'olc. — Rcsulta in practice of the requirement of a two-thirda 
 innjority.— Cardinal Carpi excluded by Cardinal D'Este. — Cardinal 
 Moreno. — ftbjfctions to him. — Cardinal Pozzi. — Management of 
 I'arncsc. — Eli-ction of Paul IV. — Anecdote of the feeling of Some 
 on tho occa.'-ion. — Character of Carafla, Paul IV. — Imperial "Veto" 
 disregarded in this flection. — Sajing of CarafiFa respecting his own 
 elevation. — llttimato and description of Puul by the Venetian 
 Ambassador. — Giovanni Angelo Mfdid: his Family, Brother, 
 Early History. — Character and personal appearance of Medici, 
 Pius IV. — Tho Inquisition. — Signs of the times. — Practice of giving 
 complimentary votes. — Anecdote of the craft of a Conclavist — 
 Cardinal Carpi again. — Why he -was objectionable to D'Este. — 
 Medi. i .suddenly olectod as a pit aUer. 
 
 Tin: Ciiiilavo which elected Paul IT., who asceaded 
 
 the r;ipal thriiuo as successor of Marcellus on the 23rd 
 
 (if May. l'i^>-'>, was in fact little other than a con- 
 
 timiafion of the Cuiiclave Avhich elected his predecessor. 
 
 Tlio three and (Mciity Jaj's which separated the two 
 
 were insufficient to have cJiauged any of the conditions 
 
 er renioNcd any ef tlie difficulties which existed when 
 
 they M-eic .solved by tlie election of :MarcelIus. They 
 
 were iu. nas, ,1 l,y tlie renieval of that solution of them. 
 
 'J'lie Iniperiali.st j)ar(y liad made tlie last Pope, and their 
 
 authority and intliieiice ]ia\ iiio; naturally been increased 
 
 by that success, it was supposed that tlie ( ivation of his 
 
 successor Avould lie mainly in tlieir hands. Their party 
 
 was rendered y.'t further tho mor,> i.oMerful, and had 
 
 the .^vvAtcv chancva of success, in (hat tho most proper 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 225 
 
 and fitted persons in the College — tlie most papabili in 
 Conclave slang — belonged to their faction. Eeginald 
 Pole, -who had been so nearly elected in the penultimate 
 Conclave, was still a member of the Sacred College. 
 The Cardinals Carpi and Morone were also among the 
 most papahili of the College, and were either of them 
 acceptable to the Imperialists. But Pole had been 
 present on the former occasion, and he was now absent — 
 a very important and significant difference. It was felt, 
 moreover, that the lapse of time that must occur before he 
 could be expected to reach Eome, should he be elected, 
 might be prejudicial to the interests of the Church. 
 As for Carpi, his election was specially objected to 
 by the Cardinal d'Este (Ferrara), the recognised head of 
 the French party. And the fact that this circum- 
 stance constrained the Imperialists to pass him over 
 in their plans for filling the Papacy with one of their 
 party is a good illustration of the manner in which 
 party polities worked in the papal elections. 
 
 If, indeed, the ImperiaKst party had been strong 
 enough to elect a candidate of their own without any 
 reference to their adversaries — if, that is to say, they 
 could securely count on constituting a two-thirds ma- 
 jority of the electors — then, of course, none of the con- 
 siderations in question would have come into play. But 
 this was rarely the case. One party, for instance, might 
 number, say, twenty-eight votes out of forty-five. Their 
 adversaries would have the command of seventeen. 
 Thirty votes are needed to make an election. It is clear 
 that if every man is perfectly true, and all of them per- 
 fectly obstinate, no election could ever take place. And 
 
 Q 
 
226 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 it is an approach, to such conditions that has caused 
 some Conclaves to be dragged out to such inconvenient 
 lengths. But their Eminences are not perfectly obsti- 
 nate, and still less are they all and eacb of tbem per- 
 fectly true to their party engagements, not to mention 
 that there may be some who have never assumed any 
 party engagements. Then it is of course exceedingly 
 easy to understand that a variety of other secondary 
 considerations must exist to modify the individual 
 wishies of each member of a party. His Eminence A, 
 we will say, desires that some one of, say, the Imperial 
 party should be made Pope. But seeing that tbat can- 
 not be accomplished, he makes up his mind to vote for 
 a member of the opposite faction, but not for awj 
 member of it. He can be induced to vote for B because 
 he is the nephew of the Pope wbo created himself a 
 cardinal, or for C because there is a connection between 
 their families, &c., &c. But nothing will induce him to 
 vote for D. "When, therefore, a party, not quite strong 
 enough to elect their own man, ai'e determining who 
 shall be the candidate to be put forward by the pai'ty, 
 it behoves them to consider with the most minute and 
 detailed care all the causes that may exist for rendering 
 this or that man among the opponents likely to yield so 
 far as to give his vote for such a candidate, whereas 
 he would by no means desert his party for another. 
 Sometimes also it will occur that, although a man may 
 wish that some member of his faction shotdd be elected, 
 he will prefer that a member of the opposite party 
 .should bo made Pojic rather than some one particular 
 member of his o^^^l party. And all such motives have 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 227 
 
 to be carefully considered by tlie party leaders -who 
 would avoid desertions among their followers at the 
 critical moment. 
 
 Now, iu the present instance, Cardinal Carpi was 
 known to be especially objectionable to the Cardinal 
 D'Este, the head of the French faction. And this was 
 quite sufficient to prevent the leaders of the Imperial 
 faction from selectiag him as the candidate of the party. 
 In the language of the Conclave, he had an esclusiva from 
 the Cardinal di Ferrara, and it was therefore useless to 
 attempt to elect him. 
 
 There was a difficulty, too, about Morone. There had 
 been whispers as to the soundness of his orthodoxy. 
 The awful word heresy had been heard in coimection 
 with his name, and these were times when such an 
 accusation could not be disregarded — when, indeed, any 
 mere suspicion of a tendency to laxness on any of the 
 points that were then making the dividing line between 
 orthodoxy and the tenets of the sectarians would have 
 been quite sufficient to prevent the greater number of 
 the assembled cardinals from giving a vote to one labour- 
 ing under such an accusation. Curious enough to mark 
 how far both the accusation and the importance of it 
 shows the Church to have floated down the stream of 
 time during the last hundred years. Fancy anybody 
 accusing Leo X. or Julius II. of heterodox opinions, 
 or of his finding anybody to listen to him if he had 
 done so ! 
 
 Under these circumstances the leaders of the Impe- 
 rialist party cast their eyes on Cardinal Pozzi, a mode- 
 rate man, who was esteemed by all parties, and who^ 
 
 a 2 
 
228 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 being a man of low birth, would not give any cause of 
 jealousy on tbat ground to bis princely fellow-cardinals. 
 It seemed as if tbe election was as good as made ; and so 
 it probably would have been, bad not Cardinal Famese, 
 wbo, as tbe conclavist remarks, bad been accustomed in 
 so many Conclaves to dictate tbe law instead of being 
 dictated to, suddenly taken offence at a decision baving 
 been come to, as be fancied, without due reference to 
 his views on the matter. He immediately went into 
 tbe Paoline Chapel, where tbe French party were as- 
 sembled, very much out of heart and despairing of pre- 
 venting the election of Po^zi by their adversaries, and 
 offered to lend them bis aid to elect Cardinal Pano, 
 There were reasons, however, why tbe French leaders 
 could not accept that proposition. Whereupon Famese 
 at once proposed to them the Cardinal of Chieti (Caraffa), 
 who was accepted by them, and was, by a coalition of 
 the Paolines, or creatures of Paul III., under Famese 
 and tbe cardinals in the French interest, elected Pope. 
 
 The Cardinal of Chieti (Caraffa), wbo became Pope 
 under tKe name of Paul IV., is on the Hst of those wbo 
 are recorded to have been elected by adoration or acda- 
 maUon. And, in truth, it would seem as if their Emi- 
 nences had been " inspired," or hurried into doing what 
 they would hardly have done in a calmer manner and 
 after more reflection. For the conclavist concludes his 
 narrative by the remark, that " it is beyond belief what 
 a melancholy fell, not only on all Eomo, but on those 
 who had themselves done the deed, as soon as ever it 
 bad become irrevocable!" Their "melancholy" was not 
 perhaps -R-bolly uurca^ouablo, or, at least, was not unin- 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 229 
 
 telligible. For this Giampietro Caraffa, wlio was now 
 Paul lY,, came to his high office with at least a suffi- 
 ciently high conception of its importance, and a stern 
 determination to do his duty, as he understood it, in the 
 state of life to which God had called him ! And he 
 had, perhaps, more excuse for believing that he had been 
 so called in a special and extraordinary manner, for he 
 had gone into Conclave banned by the especial veto of 
 the Emperor Charles V. Of all the cardinals composing 
 the Sacred College, this was the one man whom the 
 Emperor would be least willing to see Pope ! The veto 
 had not yet come to be exercised with the regular 
 forms and in the matter-of-course manner which pre- 
 vailed a few years later. It ij-as abusively growing into 
 an admitted custom. And the failure of the Emperor's 
 especially urged veto on this memorable occasion is a 
 notable proof that the growth of the thing was abusive. 
 Very highly characteristic of the man Caraffa, too, was 
 his reply, when it was signified to him, before the com- 
 mencement of the Conclave, by the Emperor's ambassa- 
 dor, Mendoza, that his master could not consent to his 
 elevation to the Papacy. " If God wills that I should 
 be the Pope," said Caraffa, " the Emperor cannot 
 prevent me from becoming such. And should I become 
 such, I shall be the better pleased to have done so 
 despite the imperial veto, because it will be the more 
 clear that my elevation will' have been the work of God 
 alone ! " 
 
 It can hardly be doubted, looking at the matter from 
 any standpoint of merely human poKcy and wisdom, 
 that the sagacious old Emperor was right in his estimate 
 
230 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 of tte character of the man, and of the results that •would 
 he likely to follow from his elevation to the Papacy. If it 
 is not unreasonable to conjecture that a prolongation of 
 the reign of Marcellus II, might not impossibly have 
 healed the great schism which divided the Church, it is 
 at the least equally permissible to hold the conviction 
 that Caraffa's mode of wielding the power of the keys 
 and governing the Church finally destroyed any hope of 
 such a consummation, Eanke* says of him : "If there 
 was a party which proposed to itseK the restoration of 
 Catholicism in all its severity, he who now mounted the 
 Papal throne was, not a member of, but the founder of 
 that party. Paul lY. was already seventy-nine years 
 old ; but his deep-set eyes still burned in their sockets 
 with the fire of youth. He observed no rule in his 
 daily life, often sleeping by day and studying all night. 
 And woe to the servant who entered his room when he 
 had not called him ! He was very tall, very thin, and 
 his carriage and movements were full of vivacity. He 
 seemed to be all nerves ! In everything he obeyed the 
 impulse of the moment. But these impulses were 
 dominated and produced by sentiments which had been 
 developed in his mind during a long life, and which had 
 become a part of his nature. He seemed to know no 
 other duty, no other occupation, than the ro-establish- 
 ment of the ancient faith with all the absolute supre- 
 macy which it had ever enjoyed." And the means 
 which appeared to him most fitted for the attainment 
 of this end were always of the most violent kind, and 
 
 • Eanke's description is taken mainly from the relation of the Venetian 
 nmbaesador, Bernardo Navagoro. 
 
THE ZEAlOtrS POPES. 231 
 
 the freest use of both the spiritual and the material 
 sword. He reigned somewhat more than four years, 
 and died specially recommending to the assembled car- 
 dinals whom he had called about him the Inquisition, 
 which he had re-established and armed with new and 
 more terrible powers ! 
 
 It is a noteworthy indication of the efficacy of the 
 spirit of the time in fashioning the characters and quali- 
 fications of the Popes, thus causing that tendency 
 observable in their history to group themselves into 
 series, that the man who succeeded to Paul lY. also 
 deserves to be ranked among "the zealous Popes," 
 although it is impossible to conceive two men more com- 
 pletely contrasted in temperament, character, opinions, 
 and habits. This successor to the ferocious bigot Caraffa 
 was Giovanni Angelo Medici, no recognised relative of 
 the great Florentine family of that name, though doubt- 
 less the unknown adventurer, Bernardino Medici, who 
 settled in Milan, and there acquired a small fortune as a 
 farmer of the taxes, was a member of it. This Bernar- 
 dino had two sons, Giovanni Angelo, who became Pope, 
 and Giangiacomo, who, beginning life as a " gentleman's 
 gentleman," found means subsequently to thrust himself 
 into positions yet more incongruous than that of own 
 brother to a Pope ! His first essay towards "bettering 
 himself " was to become a Iravo. He hired himself to 
 certain persons of high position in Milan as an assassin 
 to murder a certain Visconti, which he duly accomplished. 
 Thereupon his employers, desirous of making away with 
 him too, sent him with a letter to the governor of the 
 castle of Mus, on the Lake of Como, the tenor of which 
 
232 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 was an order to that ftmctioiiary to put the bearer to 
 death. But Giangiacomo, conceiving certain suspicions 
 as to the nature of his errand, opened the letter, and 
 having thus obtained an accurate comprehension of the 
 nature of the position, formed his plans for making him- 
 self master of it with all promptitude. He collected a 
 baud of desperadoes like himself, presented himself at 
 the castle, and having by means of his letter obtained 
 admittance, overpowered the governor and his garrison, 
 seized and held the castle for himself; and com- 
 menced life as an independent chieftain, supporting 
 himself and his men by raids on the Milanese, the 
 Yenetians, and the Swiss in the true spirit of an old 
 border moss-trooper ! Getting tired of this after a while, 
 he assumed the "white cross," and entered into the 
 service of the Emperor, who made him Marquis of Marig- 
 nano, and sent him to conduct the siege against Siena. 
 In the imperial service he distinguished himself as the 
 right man in the right place. As prudent as audacious, 
 and as implacable as either, he was fortunate in all his 
 undertakings, and did thoroughly the work he was sent 
 to do. There was not a tree in the vicinity of Siena on 
 which he had not caused some Avretch, who had attempted 
 to convey provisions into the leaguercd city, to be hung; 
 and it was calculated that five thousand persons had been 
 put to death by his orders ! Such was the worthy whose 
 rising fortunes formed a stepping-stone for his clerical 
 brother to the Papacy. For when the Marquis of Marig- 
 nano married an Orsini, who Avas the sister-in-law of the 
 infamous Pic^r Luigi Faruoso, the connection obtained for 
 his brother a cardinal's hat ! 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 233 
 
 Giovanni Angelo, however, must have well seconded 
 his fortune by his own merit. He is found constantly- 
 employed in the government of the different cities of the 
 ecclesiastical States, and everywhere winning golden 
 opinions by his prudence, ability, and the goodness of his 
 disposition. Paul IV. alone could not endure him ; and 
 it is intelligible enough that the contrasted nature of the 
 two men must have made them antipathetic to each 
 other ; and when Caraffa mounted the throne, his des- 
 tined successor deemed it prudent to absent himself 
 from Eome. He lived at Milan or at the baths near 
 Pisa, in both which places he beguiled his exile with 
 literary occupations, and in the employment of his 
 means in works of beneficence on a scale which, in 
 either place, obtained for him the title of "father of 
 the poor ! " 
 
 Such was the man who followed the terrible Carafia 
 in the Papal throne. But the striting contrast between 
 the two men was completed even in their personal appear- 
 ance. "Picture to yourself," says Eanke, drawing as 
 usual from the Venetian ambassador, "an old man of 
 extreme corpulence, but so active withal that he arrives 
 at his country villa before the dawn of day. Serene of 
 countenance, bright of eye, conversation, the pleasures 
 of conviviality, and witty discourse are his favourite 
 recreations. As soon as ever he is recovered from a 
 dangerous illness we find him on horseback, and out at 
 the favourite house which he had occupied when a car- 
 dinal, briskly running up and down the stairs as he 
 chuckled to himself, « No, no, no, we are not going to 
 die yet ! ' He was as easy, as simple in his manner, as 
 
234 THE PAPAL CONCLAYES. 
 
 aflPable, as accessible to all, as his predecessor had been 
 the reverse of all this. And although the sentence of 
 death passed by him on the infamous nephews of 
 Paul IV., whom their uncle himself had been forced to 
 drive from Eome and to deprive of all employment, 
 showed that he could be severe when his duty required 
 it, he was to the utmost of his power kind and indulgent 
 to all. He hated the Inquisition, blamed the monkish 
 narrowness and hardness of its proceedings, and very 
 rarely attended any of its sittings. But ^ he did not 
 dare ' * to attack it ! He used to say that he understood 
 nothing about it; that he could not call himself a 
 theologian; and in fact he left it with all the power 
 that Paul lY. had attributed to it." 
 
 It would not be easy to conceive a more striking testi- 
 mony to the change that had come over the spirit of the 
 times, than that statement that the Pope, little as he 
 liked it, dared not to stretch out his hand against the 
 ark of the Inquisition ! The Church had become once 
 again a Church militant. "Wicliff, Luther, and the con- 
 sequences of their work had done the Church this alto- 
 gether inestimable service. The days of struggle, of 
 competition, had come back agaiu with all their puri- 
 fying, animating, arousing properties. Therefore it was 
 that easy-going, jovial-tempered Pius lY. dared not 
 move a finger against the Inquisition ; and therefore 
 that, though his natural temper and disposition would 
 have tended to make of him a second, more kindly- 
 tempered, more refined, more conscientious Leo X., it 
 was still, as the Yenctian ambassador tells us, ''the 
 
 * Those are the words of Eanke. 
 
THE ZEAIiOtJS POPES, 235 
 
 inmost and dearest thouglit and desire of Lis heart to 
 exert all his power for the good of the Church ; " there- 
 fore he "hopes, by the grace of God, to accomplish some 
 good in the world." 
 
 The election of the Cardinal Medici, howeyer, as 
 Pius IV. was, as that of his predecessor may be said to 
 have been, a pis aller, resulting from the same difiBL- 
 culties as those which had perplexed the former Con- 
 clave but a few days previously, arising from the 
 opposing interests of the Imperialists and the French 
 parties. Of course these were complicated by a host 
 of personal sympathies and antipathies, and were further 
 intensified by the newly arisen necessity of thinking also 
 of the fitness of the man chosen for the duties to be 
 entrusted to him. 
 
 It was soon seen that the Conclave was, under these 
 cirexmistances, likely to be a long one. And " you must 
 know," writes the conclavist who has left us a narra- 
 tive of this Conclave, " that it is customary in the Con- 
 clave, when it is clearly seen that the election will be a 
 long business, for the cardinals to give each other a 
 good number of votes, not with any intention of arriving 
 at a real election, but merely as a complimentary dis- 
 tinction, and a means of showing to the outside world 
 that the persons so honoured were held in consideration 
 by their colleagues."* It thus came to pass that the 
 Cardinal di Cueva, who was a man of pleasing manners 
 
 * It will be observed, that tbe conclavist who writes this contem- 
 plates the iiTimber of the votes given in each abortive attempt at an 
 election being perfectly well known as a matter of course outside, de- 
 spite the burning of the voting papers and the sworn secrecy of the 
 Conclave. 
 
236 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 and popular in the College, though, very far from pos- 
 sessing any such qualities as would fit him for being 
 made Pope, sent his conclavist, Fernando di Torres, to 
 ask sundry cardinals, both of the Imperial and the 
 French party, to pay him this compliment. But Torres 
 did his work so well and zealously, going round to each 
 of the cardinals privately in his cell, that he obtained 
 the promises of a number of votes sufScient to make the 
 election, while each of those who had promised him 
 theirs did so in the firm persuasion that nobody had 
 the slightest idea of electiag Cueva, or that there was 
 the remotest chance of such a result. It was, however, 
 the merest chance that prevented such a result from 
 having been realised ! On goiag iato the chapel for the 
 scrutiny, the Cardinal Capo di Ferro in an otiose sort of 
 manner asked those who chanced to be next to him for 
 whom they were going to vote, which he woidd by no 
 means have done if it had not been perfectly well 
 understood on all sides that the business in hand was 
 not serious, but merely a formal and complimentary 
 voting. " Oh ! I am going to vote for Cueva ! '' said 
 the man asked. " So am I ! " said the man on the other 
 side of Capo di Ferro ! " Per Bacco ! And so am I ! "' 
 cried Capo di Ferro. And a sudden suspicion darted 
 into the minds of all three, that if they did not mind 
 what they were about, that might happen which so very 
 nearly had happened ! The thi'ee cardinals, whose 
 chance communication had thus saved the College from 
 doing what it had not the smallest iatention of doing, 
 instantly destroyed the voting papers they had prepared 
 and made new ones, openly declaring their reasons for 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 237 
 
 doing so amid the general laughter of the assembly, in 
 which his Eminence Cardinal Cueva heartily joined ! 
 
 " Many other kinds of tricks were tried," says the 
 conclavist, some of which being in connection with can- 
 didates qualified to aspire in earnest to the Papacy were 
 much praised,* and carefully recorded of the authors of 
 them. Such was the plot of some of the leaders of the 
 French party with a view to the election of Cardinal 
 Tournon, a man, says the conclavist, very worthy of 
 being elected by reason of his exemplary life, prudence, 
 discretion, and administrative abilities, especially (as he 
 notably adds) now that the fear that a French Pope 
 might again take the Eoman Court to Avignon has 
 vanished. Now the French party were able to muster 
 about twenty-four votes among themselves ; and they 
 had reason to think that they could rely on four or five 
 " accessits " •]• from among the Imperialists. But still 
 the twenty-eight or nine votes thus obtained were not 
 enough to make an election — all which calculations were 
 perfectly well known to everybody in Conclave. Their 
 plan was therefore to obtain the secret promise of some 
 four or five accessits, besides those which they could 
 count upon as merely complimentary and given by men 
 who were convinced that no election would be the re- 
 sult, which might be given unexpectedly at the last, 
 after the others had been recorded, and thus an election 
 
 * It is fair to say that tie word lodafe is often used in suoli a manner 
 as to justify the translation of it as simply "talked about," chiefly in 
 the use of " sulodate " in the sense of " aforesaid." 
 
 f The exact meaning of this term, and the method of proceeding to 
 the " accessit," will be described at a future page. After each scrutiny 
 the voters were at liberty to change the vote they had just given for an 
 " accession " to the numbers of those who had voted for another. 
 
238 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 be attained. But they failed in getting enougli of these 
 secret promises ; and therefore, for the sake, as the con- 
 clavist says, of not exposing their candidate to such an 
 indignity as the discovery of an unsuccessful trick, did 
 not make the attempt. 
 
 Of those whose election was openly and avowedly put 
 forward and canvassed, it was thought at the beginning 
 of the Conclave that the Cardinal di Carpi was the most 
 likely to succeed. He had been the only cardinal who 
 had lived on terms of intimacy with the late Pope ; and 
 as there was not a member of the Sacred College who 
 was not in continual fear of the ever-vigilant severity of 
 that terrible Pontiff, so there was hardly one who had 
 not striven to be on good terms with Carpi ; and, "in- 
 asmuch," says the Conclavist, "as nothing is so pleas- 
 ing to an old cardinal as to give him to understand that 
 you wish him to be the living Pope's successor," all the 
 members of the College living in Eome had more or less 
 promised him their votes. He himself thought himself 
 sure of the tiara. But it was a great blow to Cardinal 
 D'Este, the head of the French faction — who, being on 
 bad terms with Paul IV., had long been absent from 
 Eome — to hear that Carpi was likely to be Pope; for 
 that cardinal, so called from the name of his native city, 
 which had once been an independent principality, but 
 was now part of the domains of the D'Esto family, was 
 exceedingly anxious to restore the separate independence 
 of Carpi, and was therefore a special enemy of the Duke 
 of Ferrara, the brother of the Cardinal. In this dan^'er 
 the Cardinal Ferrara wi'otc to the Duke of Florence 
 who had recently become connected with the Duke of 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES, 239 
 
 Perrara by marriage, promising that if he (the Duke) 
 would induce the Cardinal Camerlengo, who was the 
 leader of the ImperiaKst party, to oppose the election 
 of Carpi, he (the Cardinal of Ferrara) with all the French 
 party would give their votes to the Cardinal Medici. 
 The Duke of Florence accepted the offer, and forthwith 
 opened negotiations with the Cardinal Camerlengo, 
 whom he found well prepared to fall in with his views, 
 from a cause which, as the conclavist remarks, might 
 at first sight seem likely to have had quite a contrary 
 effect. This was, that negotiations for a marriage 
 {secret negotiations, the narrator says, though it is diffi- 
 cult to xmderstand why they should have been secret, 
 save from the general tendency of those classes of people 
 and those times to be secret in everything !) had been 
 going on between the brother of the Camerlengo and 
 the sister of Cardinal Carpi. For the Camerlengo 
 argued that Carpi, "being a man of a very proud dis- 
 position," would, if he became Pope, assuredly break off 
 the marriage, for the sake of making some grander 
 match ! The Camerlengo, therefore, and Ferrara found 
 themselves agreed in the determination to exclude carpi. 
 The former, indeed, seems to have had some difficulty in 
 finding any valid reason to give him for declining to 
 support his candidature. He told him, says the con- 
 clavist, that if he was observed to show marked anxiety 
 for his success, the secret of the proposed connection 
 between their families might be suspected ! Eeally 
 this puts one in mind of the French burlesque of a 
 melo-dramatic mystery, " Feignons a feindre, k fin de 
 mieux dissimider ! " And the incident is only worth 
 
240 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 mentioning as a good example of the sort of considera- 
 tions that often influenced the elections, and of the 
 motives of their conduct which were put forward in 
 the discussions between the electors. 
 
 However, so large a number of cardinals were more 
 or less hampered by the promises they had given, or at 
 least the expectations they had held out, to Cardinal 
 Carpi, that even after the coalition between the Card- 
 inal D'Este and the Camerlengo the way to the election 
 of Medici was by no means clear. And it was once 
 more the veteran Famese who took the matter in hand, 
 and was finally the maker of the new Pope. " At last," 
 concludes the conclavist, "the Cardinal Famese, seeing 
 all the confusion, and the struggles it gave rise to, 
 resolved energetically to end the business ; otherwise 
 the Conclave would have lasted much longer. He 
 therefore threw all his weight and that of his friends 
 iato the scale in favour of Medici, who by virtue of this 
 powerful assistance was elected all of a sudden, on the 
 23rd of October, 1559, at eight o'clock in the evening ;" 
 being thus the third Pope in succession elected by 
 "Acclamation" or "Adoration." 
 
CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 Death of Pius IV. — Closing of the Council of Trent. — ^Eanke's Remarks 
 on the work of the Council. — Action of the work of the Council on 
 the Character of the Popes. — Anecdote of a plot to assassinate 
 Pius IV. — Michael Ghislieri : his antecedents and character. — 
 Character of the Election. — Conclaye 'which elected Pius IV. — 
 Rivalry between Cardinals Farnese and Borromeo. — Eepresentatiye 
 of the old and of the new time. — Cardinal Altemps. — Anecdote of 
 Borromeo at Florence. — Conclavist's View of Borromeo's character. 
 — Moroni's imprisonment and acquittal on Charge of Heresy held 
 in Conclave to he sufB.cient reason against his Election. — Borromeo 
 wishes to elect him. — It is found impossible, however, to elect him. 
 Duplicity of Farnese towards Borromeo. — Cardinals Ferrara and 
 D'Este hostile to Morone, and why. — Farnese and Borromeo 
 agree to the Election of Grhislieri. — Dismay in Conclave at the 
 result accomplished in the Election of Pius V. 
 
 Pius IY. reigned very nearly six years. He died 
 on the 10th. of December, 1565, having had the great 
 pleasure and triumph of closing the Council of Trent 
 two years previously. It has often been said that the 
 work accomplished by the great Council was a fatal one 
 for the Church. It was called for the reformation of 
 abuses which it failed to reform ; and it finally fixed 
 and clenched doctriaes which must ever act as a burning 
 of their ships by the heads of the Church. The Council 
 has cut off the possibility of retreat from positions which 
 the Church has assumed ; it has consoKdated and fixed 
 doctrines which must sooner or later be exploded and 
 abandoned ; and it needs but a sufficiently far look into 
 futurity to see and understand the justification of those 
 
 E 
 
242 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 who maintain that the work of the great Council was, 
 and will in time be seen to have been, suicidal. But 
 for the time being it unquestionably strengthened the 
 Church. There had ever been, as Eanke well remarks, 
 a certain alloy of Protestantism within the Church. 
 The Council expelled that virus. If it failed to accom- 
 plish aught towards healing the schism which had cut 
 Christendom in half, but had on the contrary made the 
 gulf between the two halves so wide that it seemed im- 
 possible to the men of those days — and might well so 
 seem — that any one should pass from the one bank to the 
 other, it at least marked out the frontier Hues of the 
 Church's dominion with no faltering or uncertain 
 tracings, and thus enabled the rulers of the teiTitory 
 within the lines to govern it with a firmer and more 
 vigorous sway and a more perfect uniformity of dis- 
 cipline. It also left the Chm'ch at peace and accord 
 with the civil powers of the countries which remained 
 faithful to it ; and though this prepared the way for 
 the sleepy epoch, when zeal was once more to run low, 
 the more immediate effect was to leave the Popes fi'ee to 
 labour for and to stimulate them in the work of more 
 and more completely catholicizing the Church, and 
 enabling their clergy to fasten a surer and tighter grip 
 on the social life of the people. 
 
 The results of this intensification of Church action 
 and Church feeling made themsehes very sensibly felt 
 by, and ^^■e^c very unmistakably visible in the conduct 
 and fortunes of, the Popes and the makers of them. 
 i'iiis IV., the third "zealous'' Pope in succession, was 
 .ahi'ady found not to be up to the mark. A Eomau 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 243 
 
 fanatic, conceiving himself to have a mission from God 
 to give the world a worthier and more vigorous Pope, 
 and consequently, to make way for such, by removing 
 the occupant of the throne of St. Peter, had determined 
 to assassinate Pius lY. He found an accomplice; and 
 the two men — their names were Accolti, the principal, 
 and Canossa, th.e assistant — armed took up their positions 
 in a spot which the Pope was about to pass in a pro- 
 ■cession. Pius, unguarded, and wboUy unsuspicious of 
 any man in a city, to all whose inhabitants he had ever 
 done good and not evil, came on tranquilly walking in 
 the ranks of the procession. Nothing could have been 
 easier than to strike him down. But the majesty which, 
 liedges a Pope was too much for the intending assassin. 
 He trembled, turned pale, and stood as if paralyzed, 
 while the Pope passed unbarmed and unconscious. But 
 Canossa, tbe original fanatic's recruit, was not only 
 unnerved by the Pope's presence, but was moved after- 
 wards by his conscience to confess the design ; and both, 
 he and Accolti perisbed on the scaffold. The value of 
 the anecdote consists only in the indication afforded 
 by it of the religious temper of the time, which had 
 been heated to such a pitch of fanaticism, that the 
 religious zeal of a Pope who, eager for the interests 
 of the Churcb as he was, disliked the Inquisition, and 
 would fain have persecuted no man, was not enough to 
 satisfy it. 
 
 The next Conclave found the means of contenting the 
 temper of the times, for it gave as the fourth in tbe 
 series of zealous Popes, and the culmination of it, one 
 whom tbe Churcb has canonized — ^the last Pontiff whom 
 
 E 2 
 
244 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 she has yet enrolled in her list of saints, perhaps not 
 the last whom we may see so enrolled. 
 
 This was Michael Ghislieri, who ascended the Papal 
 throne in 1572 as Pius, now Saint Pius, V. In this 
 man the rigorous and ascetic party in. the Church, then 
 by so remarkable a return of the oscillating pendulum 
 of public feeling in the ascendant, saw with delight 
 and triumph a resuscitation of the spirit of Paul IV. 
 Born of humble parents in the village of Bosco, near 
 Alexandria, ia Piedmont, he had entered a Dominicau 
 convent at the age of fourteen, and had from the very 
 beginning of his career given himself body and sotd ta 
 the most rigorous practice of all the austerities, and 
 heart and mind to the assimilation of the sternest and 
 most unbending maxims of the most fiercely intolerant 
 of all the orders. This was at the time when the 
 doctrines of the reformation were beginning to make some 
 little show of progress in Italy — when an Olympia 
 Morata had to fly across the Alps, and a Yittoria 
 Colonna might have had to accompany her had heresy 
 been as easy in a palace as in a professor's garret, or 
 had the vcllcitcs of a princess been scrutinised as 
 closely as those of a poor professor's wife ; and it was 
 to do the work that had to be done in such times 
 that Michael Ghislieri, while yet at an early age, was 
 deemed the fitting instrument, and was inh-usted with 
 the terrible powers of an Inquisitor. Called on to 
 exercise his fimctions in the distriets around Como 
 and Bergamo, where the commimieations of the people 
 with tlie Swiss and Germans made the task an especially 
 arduous one, ho allowed no consideration to interfere 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 245 
 
 with, tlie uncompromising discliarge of his harshest 
 duties. IN'o, danger to life, often imminent, ever caused 
 him to pause or spare to strike. And when the cause 
 lie thus supported became the victorious one, wh.en the 
 last spark of free thought was quenched by faggot 
 and sword in Italy, Michael Ghislieri was naturally 
 carried upward by the rising fortunes of his party. 
 He was named Commissary of the Inquisition in Eome ; 
 and that kindred spirit, Paul IV., was not slow to per- 
 ceive that Fra Michele was in truth a great servant of 
 Ood, and worthy of being called to the high, places in 
 his Church. He named him Bishop of Nepi, and in 
 1557, Grhislieri being then fifty -three, made him a 
 cardinal. In the purple he in no degree relaxed the 
 poverty and austerity of his life, telling those of his 
 household that those who lived with him must live as if 
 they were in a convent, and giving his own life wholly 
 to ascetic practices and the duties of his position as 
 inquisitor. 
 
 Such was the man whom the Conclave which as- 
 sembled on the death of the kindly Pius IV. set over 
 themselves and over Christendom. And it was certainly 
 one of the few elections to which the historians of the 
 Church may point in justification of their theory, that 
 the results of them are overruled by the special provi- 
 dence of the Almighty. 
 
 More than fifty cardinals went into Conclave after the 
 death of Pius IV ; and it was thought that a number 
 of electors so unusually large for those days would have 
 made the election very difficult, and the Conclave 
 consequently a long one. But those, remarks the con- 
 
246 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 clavist who lias left a narrative of this Conclave, who 
 so judged did not consider that "in these Conclaves, 
 at least as far as has hitherto been seen, the Popes have 
 always been elected by the heads of parties," and the 
 other cardinals, bo they as numerous as you will, have 
 followed their lead. And the reason of this has been, 
 either because the less distinguished members of the 
 College have been in some way bound to the leaders of 
 it or have feared to separate themselves from them, or 
 because they have found that united in groups they 
 Averc strong, but were powerless when isolated. The 
 greater or less length of Conclaves has thus been seen to 
 depend, says the conclavist, not on the lai'ger or smaller 
 :iuml)cv of the cardinals, but on the greater or lesser reso- 
 lution aud obstinacy of their loaders. 
 
 The present Conclave, he goes on to show, was re- 
 markable as ha-sang been "wholly uninterfered with by 
 any power or influence foreign to it. It was not sm-- 
 prising, he says, that neither the Emperor nor the King 
 of France took much heed of what was being done in 
 Eome, for both were too much occupied by the ti'oubles 
 and difficulties which surrounded them. But it was 
 strange that Philip of Sjiain, the son of siuh a father as 
 Charles V., who had ahvays so well understood the 
 importance of keeping a watchful eye on the papal elec- 
 tions, being, too, as the conclavist says, free fi-om 
 trouble at home, and, moreover, having sueh large aud 
 important inter(\sts in Italy, should ha>e made no at- 
 tompl to iiRHldle with the election in anj- wav. Those 
 Avho arc now better acquainted with Philip II. and his 
 doiii,L',s (liaii tlic ceiielavist coukl have been, will pro- 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 247 
 
 bably not agree witli him iu supposing that Philip did 
 not interest himself ia the result and management of the 
 election, however little his hand may have been seen in. 
 it at Eome. 
 
 The leaders of parties, to whom the conclavist attri- 
 butes all the responsibility of the election, were on this 
 occasion two, who were such in a more marked and 
 special degree than usual. These were the Cardinal 
 Tarnese, whom we have already seen as the controlling 
 spirit of so many Conclaves, and Carlo Borromeo, the 
 celebrated Archbishop of Milan, and still more celebrated 
 Saiat Charles. It would be difficult to imagiae to 
 oneself two men more strikiagly — one might say more 
 picturesquely — contrasted than these two. They were 
 so not merely, perhaps even not so much, by reason of 
 their own distinctive characters, though these were dis- 
 similar enough, as by the position and surroundings in 
 which the circumstances of the time had placed them. 
 Farnese was markedly the representative of the old, 
 and Borromeo of the new day, and that at a period when 
 the change in the spirit of the time had been most rapid 
 and most strongly marked. One might wish that Landor 
 had thought of giving us an " Imaginary Conversa- 
 tion" between these two men. How wonderfully he 
 would have brought before us the contrast between the 
 two representatives of epochs so near to each other, and 
 yet so far asunder ! How strange, how new-fangled, 
 how pitiably enthusiastic and fanatical, must Borromeo's 
 ideas of the business upon which they were met have 
 seemed to the old veteran of so many Conclaves, satu- 
 rated from his earliest youth upwards with the very 
 
248 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 quintessence of thorouglily mundane policy and iatrigue, 
 which had in his day made the social atmosphere of 
 Eome ! It was hardly possible that there should not 
 have been some bitterness in the smile with which he 
 saw this saintly young archbishop from the north come 
 to upset all the old Eoman ideas, and turn the Eoman 
 world of his day upside down ! Famese's day was 
 nearly done now ; and we can fancy him saying to him- 
 self that it was well that it should bo so ! 
 
 The position and authority of these two most influen- 
 tial cardinals in the Conclave was analogous to that 
 which their age and cii'cumstanccs had caused them to 
 exercise in the world in general. And Bon-omeo's in- 
 fluence was by the nature of it the more powerful of the 
 two. His following, consisting mainly of the younger 
 men, the " creatures " of Pius IV., who was his uncle, 
 of his own cousin, the Cardinal Altemps, also a nephew 
 of the late Pope, and his friends, were disposed to be 
 led by him implicitly. The old cardinals, who were 
 attached to Parnese, many of them men of high and 
 princely birth and station, were so mainly by virtue of 
 old ties and friendships, of habitual respect for the great 
 Parnese name, and from having acted with him on many 
 another occasion, rather than from any of those more 
 active motives Avliich are connected with plans and am- 
 bitions and hopes and fears. And it is evident that such 
 a following could not be led with that assumption of 
 authority and certanity that Porromeo could exercise 
 and count upon with regard to his own pai-ty. The 
 passiige of the conclavist's nai-rativc in which he sums 
 up the value iu the Conclave of these difi'creuccs is not 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 249 
 
 a little amusing, as stowiag lio-w far tlie new ideas and 
 feelings wMch were moviag tlie world were from having 
 yet penetrated to that inmost sanctuary of the old, in 
 which a Eoman conclavist lived and breathed and had 
 Ms being. "But if Borromeo," says he, "was thus 
 superior to Farnese in his authority over his followers, 
 the latter far excelled him in calmness of disposition, in 
 resoluteness of will, in abundance of connections, and 
 in having been in many Conclaves, and well accustomed 
 for many long years to the various accidents of fortune, 
 and aU the difficulties incidental to the government of 
 men. Borromeo, besides the want of dexterity which 
 always accompanies the novice in any business, was of a 
 subtle mind, and by nature extremely obstinate, which 
 made negotiating and acting with him very difficult; 
 and all the more so because his designs were fixed and 
 rooted in a rigorous zeal for religion, making, as he did, 
 open profession of an excessive goodness in such sort 
 that it was impossible to move him from any impression 
 he had received, either by persuasion or any regard for 
 civil considerations." Evidently a very impracticable 
 fellow to deal with ! "Wlien he was coming up to Eome 
 from MUan on the news of the Pope's illness, with the 
 probability that he could not recover, he had an inter- 
 view with the Duke of Florence; and it would have 
 been natural and proper, says the conclavist, seeing that 
 the Duke was on terms of intimate friendship with the 
 King of Spain, whose subject Borromeo was, that the 
 latter should have consulted with the Duke respecting 
 the election to be made when the vacancy of the Papal 
 throne should occur. But though he had every oppor- 
 
250 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 tunity, and though news reached him at Florence that 
 the Pope's condition was desperate, he would not speak 
 a single word with the Duke respecting the coming 
 election. <' And this, it is said, was because there is a 
 Bull prohibiting, under pain of excommunication, all 
 negotiation or consultation respecting the election of a 
 new Pope before the death of his predecessor." Such 
 nonsense, you know ! we cannot help hearing the old 
 conclavist muttering to himself as he wrote. "When 
 he got to Eome, and when the Pope was dead," con- 
 tinues the narrator, " he showed the same harshness to 
 Signer Marc Antonio Colonna, whose son had married 
 his sister. Signer Marc Antonio was so offended by his 
 harshness and ways of going on, that he left Eome and 
 went away to Marino. Afterwards, however, being 
 apparently ashamed of himself, the Cardinal begged 
 him to return, and told him what he purposed to do, not 
 to consult with him, as any one would have said was 
 due to Signer Marc Antonio's intelligence and know- 
 ledge of Eome and its affairs, but simply to pay him the 
 compliment of showing confidence in him." 
 
 How are you to deal with a fellow whose crabbed 
 harshness is such that he takes the threaterdngs of a 
 Bull menacing excommunication an sen'euz, and declines 
 consultation with his lay family connections as to his 
 A'ote in the Conclave ? 
 
 Borromeo seems to have gone into Conclave with the 
 intention of giving all his support to Cartlinal Moroni, 
 and the general opinion was that he would be the new 
 lN>pe. ]\Ioroni was, indeed, a man with probably higher 
 claims to the suffrages of the electors, his colloaL:;uos, 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 251 
 
 than any other member of the Sacred College. He had 
 spent a long and laborious life in the administration and 
 diplomatic business of the Holy See, had shown himself 
 an able and indefatigable servant of the Church, had 
 been remarkably successful in all the important affairs 
 entrusted to him, including the very difficult, very 
 delicate, and thorny task of presiding as legate * at the 
 great Council, and was a man of irreproachable life. 
 But, as it is very easy to conceive might have been the 
 case, especially as the result of the position in which he 
 had been placed, the envious tongues of more narrow- 
 minded and bigoted men had raised against him an 
 accusation of heresy. And a whisper of the sort, when 
 the terrible Paul IV. was sitting in St. Peter's seat, 
 was sufficient to hurl down any man from any eminence, 
 however high and however deservedly occupied. Paul 
 threw the Cardinal Moroni, who had been his nearly 
 successful rival in the Conclave which elected him, 
 into prison in the Castle of St. Angelo, in 1557. Pour 
 cardinals, one of whom was the rigid and inflexibly severe 
 Ghislieri, who became Pope as Pius V. in the Conclave we 
 are now describing, were appointed to examine the accu- 
 sations, and him with reference to them. The Inquisitor 
 examined him most rigorously on twenty-one articles 
 (which may be seen printed in the " Literary Ameni- 
 ties " (!) for the year 1729, vol. xii., printed at Leipzig), 
 
 * It had originally been intended that he should have opened the 
 Council as legate at the commencement of it. But when the Council 
 was after some delay assembled, this purpose was changed, it is not 
 known for what reason, unless, perhaps, it may have been that some 
 difference of opinion arose between him and the Emperor Charles V. at 
 a conference which took place between them at Innspruck. 
 
252 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 and finally pronounced him innocent and perfectly 
 sound of faith, and gave emphatic testimony to that 
 effect to Paul IV. Paul thereupon said that he might 
 leave his prison. But Moroni refused to do so till he 
 should be formally and publicly absolved by Paul from 
 the charges brought against him. This, to his eternal 
 disgrace, the savage bigot would not do, but left him in 
 prison till his own death ; — perhaps, says an ecclesiastical 
 writer, for fear of condemning himself ! A sincere 
 friendship, creditable to both of them, had always united 
 Cardinal Medici — who became, as has been seen, Pius 
 IV. — and Cardinal Moroni, despite their rivalry as can- 
 didates for the Papacy in the Conclave which elected 
 the former. Pius IV., of course, at once gave him full 
 and exemplary absolution. But, though ]Moroni had 
 since that time added to the briUiant list of his services 
 to the Church the most important one of bringing the 
 great Council to a satisfactory close, though he was the 
 candidate for the Papacy especially favoured by the 
 Empire and by the Duke of Plorence, and though he 
 was supported by the whole weight of the influence of 
 Carlo Borromeo, which was believed at the beginning of 
 the Conclave to have been sufficient of itself to make 
 the Pope, the taint which even the false, and proved 
 false, accusation of heresy had left upon his name still 
 so far clung to it, that even in the opinion of those who 
 best knew tlie utter falseness of the charge, it was held 
 to be a sufficient reason for not placing him in St. 
 Peter's scat ! 
 
 Carlo Borromeo was not among those who so judged. 
 Knowing the man well, truly desu'ous above all things 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 253 
 
 of elevating to tlie Papal throne th.e man whom lie con- 
 sidered most fitted in the interests of the Church and of 
 the Faith to fill it, and deeming that the substantial issues 
 at stake were far too important to be sacrificed or jeopar- 
 dized for the sake of a shadow of a prejudice, he went 
 into Conclave fully minded, as has been said, to elect 
 Moroni; and for awhile it was the general opinion in 
 the Conclave that he would assuredly be the Pope — 
 a result that seemed the more certain when, on Bor- 
 romeo's first opening himself on the subject to Famese, 
 the latter appeared perfectly disposed to second his 
 views, giving as a reason why such a nomination must 
 be acceptable to him the curiously characteristic one 
 that, ija that case, no man would ever have left a 
 Conclave with so much honour as he should leave that 
 one, inasmuch as he would then have seen five Popes 
 in succession, all cardinals the creatures of his great- 
 uncle, Paul III. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these favourable ciccumstances, 
 the Conclave was not many days old before it began to 
 be apparent that there were difficulties, perhaps insur- 
 mountable ones, in the way of the election of Moroni. 
 He had the reputation of being a man of great intellect 
 and "profundity of mind." And this "profound intel- 
 ligence, which few had been able to fathom, led many 
 to fear that he might have desires equally profound;" 
 that, however afiable and benignant he might always 
 have appeared, "this might have been assumed only 
 for the attainment of his ends, whereas it might turn 
 out that he was ia reality of a haughty and proud 
 disposition, deep and reserved in his designs, and likely 
 
254 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 to show himself very different in power from that which 
 he had been when imder the authority of others." And 
 then he had been accused of heresy. In fact, the case of 
 Moroni was a signal instance of what has been often 
 said of the papal elections, that too eminent a reputation 
 for ability, learning, or intellect is not a recommen- 
 dation to the majority of the electors. In a word, they 
 were afraid of him ; and, as is wont to be the case with 
 men so influenced, acting on the natural antipathy of 
 small minds to large ones, in selecting one of their own 
 calibre, they gave themselves a master who in very 
 truth was one to be feared ! 
 
 The first symptom of these rising difficulties showed 
 itself in the conduct of Farnese. When first Borromeo 
 went to him with the proposal to elect Moroni, the 
 veteran received his overtures, as has been seen, with 
 professions of his entire readiness to coincide with his 
 younger colleague's views. But when, having spoken 
 with his cousLq Altemps of his confidence in their 
 power to place Moroni on the throne since Farnese was 
 willing to assist them, he and Altemps retm-ned together 
 to Farnese, they found his manner of speaking on the 
 subject much changed. He said coldly that as far as he 
 was concerned, he was ready to give his vote to Moroni, 
 but that he wai-ned them that they would find it a 
 more difficult matter than they imagined to procure the 
 election of Moroni. "Whatever the cause may have 
 been, he was evidently ^ery differently disposed from 
 what he had been a few hours ago. Either his fii-st 
 reception of Borromeo had boon merely a specimen of 
 the all-pervading and over-prcsout dissimulation which 
 
THE ZEALOtrS POPES. 255 
 
 «, long course of Conclave practice Lad made a portion 
 of his nature, or he had had an opportunity in the 
 iaterval really to become acquainted with the temper 
 prerailing in the Conclave, and had really arrived at 
 the conclusion that the attempt to elect Moroni would 
 not be a successful one. If so, the omen was a bad one 
 for Moroni and his supporters ; for if there was a man 
 in the Conclave able to form a shrewd opinion as to the 
 probable issue of the election, that man was Tamese. 
 
 Borromeo, however, though disappointed, would not 
 by any means admit that it was a hopeless case ; and 
 when Farnese told him that he had reason to believe that 
 Cardinal Medici and his friends would oppose Moroni, 
 replied that he gave himself no concern about that, as 
 he felt sure that Medici would rather assist him than 
 otherwise — a sort of answer in which the young Conclave 
 hand is very apparent ! On leaving Parnese, Borromeo 
 at once betook himself to the cell of the Cardinal of 
 TJrbiao, where most of the older cardinals happened to 
 be assembled, and had there an opportunity of discover- 
 ing that they were almost to a man ill disposed towards 
 the election of Moroni. The Cardinal d'Este and the Car- 
 dinal di Ferrara, his uncle, finding that the report that 
 Moroni was to be the new Pope had really some sem- 
 blance of truth in it, began to exert themselves to avert 
 a consummation which, for a very unworthy reason, 
 would have been distasteful to them. Tears before 
 Moroni had been legate at Bologna, and in that capacity 
 had taken part with the Bolognese in a quarrel with the 
 people of Ferrara respecting some question of water 
 right, and had reported in the same sense to Paul III. 
 
256 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 This letter fell, years afterwards, into the hands of the 
 Cardinal of Ferrara, and he never forgave the writer of 
 it ! He therefore now exerted all his influence to pre- 
 vent the election of Moroni. As the opposition to him 
 gathered strength and consistence, other private grudges 
 were remembered, and those who had treasured them up 
 saw their opportunity for gratifying a spite which they 
 would have heen ashamed to confess the existence of 
 had there been none others to countenance their base- 
 ness. In a word, Borromeo began to find that old 
 Farnese's experienced tact had not deceived him T\"hen 
 he had said that it would be found more difficult than 
 had been imagined to make Cardinal Moroni Pope. 
 Nevertheless, Borromeo would not abandon his hope, 
 and was determined to push the matter to a scrutiny — - 
 evidently much to the disgust of the narrating con- 
 clavist, who, strongly prejudiced as he shows himself all 
 through against this saintly yoimg cardinal from the 
 north, who "makes open profession of excessive good- 
 ness," considered such a proceeding to be foolhardy, 
 and against all the recognised rules of Conclave strategy. 
 He pushed his audacity to the point of demanding, too, 
 that tliis scrutiny should be by open vote. But the 
 Cardinal of Ferrara publicly objected to this, saying 
 that it was an undue curtailment of the liberty of many 
 who might have reason to fear the consequences of 
 letting theii- ^otes be known. Farnesc, notwithstanding 
 his coldness and his warnings, stood true to his promise, 
 saying that he was willing to give his ^ote openly or 
 secretly for Moroni in any way that Borromeo might 
 wisli, and could only say that he was sorry if ho had 
 
THE ZEALOTJS POPES, 257 
 
 "been imable to induce his friends to follow him. Never- 
 theless, he perhaps gave his yote ia the fall confidence 
 that the abstention of his friends would suffice to make 
 his doing so useless ; for it is pretty certain that Farnese 
 was not without hope of the tiara for himself. The 
 scrutiny accordiugly took place, and the result was, that 
 with first votes and aecessits together Moroni had 
 twenty-nine votes, whereas thirty-five were needed to 
 make an election. So there was an end to Moroni's 
 chance, and to the chance which had been offered to 
 the Church of escaping from the iron sway of one of the 
 most ferocious bigots who ever made the pretensions of 
 Eomanism hateful to humanity. 
 
 Some further attempts on the part of the friends of 
 Tarnese to make a Pope from among their own faction 
 only served to show that, if Borromeo could not effect an 
 election without the aid of Farnese, so neither could Far- 
 nese make the Pope without the aid of Borromeo. The 
 result was that those two leaders in concert cast their 
 eyes on Ghislieri — the Cardinale Alessandrino, as he 
 was called, from Alexandria, near which was his native 
 place. Borromeo made a poiat of consultiug Moroni 
 before giving iu his adhesion ; but finding his friend 
 altogether well iucliaed to such an election, assented. 
 The Cardinal Alessandrino was suddenly proposed by 
 the leaders, and was elected by adoration almost before 
 the electors knew what they had done. Never, perhaps, 
 was a Pope elected so much by a leap iu the dark, so 
 entirely by the operation and will of two or three 
 members of the Conclave alone, as in this case. It was. 
 a result that could not have been brought about by any 
 
258 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 otlier process of voting tlian that of sudden adoration — 
 a scheme made, as if purposely, for the facilitation of 
 elections made by surprise, and without wisdom or con- 
 sideration. In this instance the cardinals were fright- 
 ened at what they had done the instant the act was 
 completed ! And well they might be ! For Pius V. 
 was the man who, when the crop of condemnations by 
 the Inquisition was small in any district, immediately 
 di-ew the conclusion, not that the faith was pure and 
 heresy rare in those parts, but that the iaquisitors had 
 been slack in doing their duty ! 
 
 Borromeo had in all probability, as the conclavist 
 who narrates the story of the Conclave plainly intimates, 
 mismanaged the election in his inexperience of such 
 matters. It seems probable that had he reversed the 
 order of his tactics, and made his first proposal in favoui- 
 of the Cardinal Alessandrino, reserving his eflforts ia 
 favour of Moroni till the results of the struggle in the 
 Conclave should have demonstrated the impossibility of 
 arriving at any election without a cordial agreement 
 between him and Farnese, Moroni might have been 
 Pope, for Farncsc had no special objection to him. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 Character and Disposition of Ugo Boncompagno is dominated by the 
 Spirit of the Age. — Felice Peretti, Sixtus V. — Saying attributed to 
 him. — Urban VII. — Sfondrato, Gregory XIV. — His Character and 
 Practices. — Fachinetti, Innocent IX. — Aldobrandino, Clement Vill. 
 — His Character. — Characteristics of the Conclaves that had elected 
 these Popes. — Camillo Borghese, Paul V. — Conclave which elected 
 Mm. —Principal Parties in it. — Their relative Strength, and the 
 Manner in which it operated. — Attempt to elect Cardinal Saoli. — 
 Anxiety of Aldobrandino's Party. — First Scrutiny. — Cardinal 
 Bellarmine. — Cardinals Baronius and Borromeo. — Motives for 
 putting forward Bellarmine.— Negotiation between Baronius and 
 Aldobrandino. — Cardinal Montalto at Supper.^ — Cardinal Camerino 
 put forward, and dropped. — Cardinal San Olemente put forward. 
 — Threatened "Esclusiva." — Cardinal Tosco put forward. — ^Meeting 
 of Cardinals for the exclusion of San Olemente. 
 
 Ugo Boncompagno, of Bologna, succeeded Pius V. as 
 Gregory XIII., after tlie latter had reigned six years, 
 in 1572. He was a man diametrically opposed in 
 character and disposition to the ascetic Pius, his imme- 
 diate predecessor, and much of the same nature as the 
 penultimate Pope Pius lY- Though a good and con- 
 scientiously religious man, he loved life and its enjoy- 
 ments, and was of a cheerful disposition. But, as 
 Eanke well remarks, Grregory was a very notable 
 instance of the power over iadividuals of the dominant 
 spirit of an epoch. An hundred years earlier he 
 would have lived and ruled after the fashion of an 
 Innocent YIII. As it was, he was subject to the 
 tendencies of the time ; his mind was dominated by the 
 
 s 2 
 
260 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 ascetic atmospliere of tlie men about him — tiie Jesuits, 
 the Theatines, and such men as Frumento, Comaglia, 
 Tolet, and ContaTell ; and the jovial-tempered Gregory 
 takes his place deservedly in the list of the " zealous 
 Popes." Those who followed him did less violence to 
 their natural dispositions in classing themselves in the 
 same category. 
 
 The celebrated swineherd, who became Sixtus V. — 
 that FeHce Peretti, whose reply to some blockhead 
 reproaching him with his humble origin, "Yes, but if 
 you had ever been a swineherd, you would have been 
 one still ! " has been preserved — had a more marked 
 character of his own — one of those, indeed, which un- 
 mistakably stamps its possessor as a ruler of men. Ho 
 was very far from being a mere monastic ascetic or 
 narrow-minded bigot ; but he, too, very incontestably 
 deserves a place in the group of zealous Popes. 
 
 Urban VII. (Giambattista Castagna) was a man more 
 of the kind of Pius Y., without his force of character. 
 But he reigned only thirteen days. The Conclave which 
 elected him and that from which his successor, the 
 Cardinal Sfondrato, came forth as Gregory XIV., may 
 be considered to have been one and the same assembly. 
 Sfondi'ato was also, as the Popes of this period seem to 
 have almost all been by an invincible law, a pious and 
 fanatic devotee. He was a man who fasted twice 
 a week, celebrated mass every day, constantly went 
 through the offices in liis breviary on his knees, and 
 then spent an hour witli his lavoiuite autlior, St. Bernard. 
 But Gregory XI Y. reigned only ten months; and the 
 Concla\'e had to begin their work, which had been 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 261 
 
 difficult enougli, over again wliere they had left it; 
 and again to little purpose, for Giannantonio Eachinetti, 
 who was elected as Innocent IX., reigned only two 
 months. "When his successor, the Florentine Ippolito 
 Aldobrandino, ascended the throne as Clement YIII. 
 in 1592, the era of the zealous Popes had not yet closed, 
 and Clement was such, not only as a bishop but as a 
 sovereign. He was a man of great abilities, of great 
 power of work, and thoroughly conscientious. His 
 reign of thirteen years was eminently useful to all the 
 best interests of the Church. 
 
 The characteristics of all these Conclaves had been 
 very much alike. The main influence which had shaped 
 and ruled them had been the struggle between the 
 Spanish and the French interests, varied, of course, by 
 a multiplicity of considerations arisiug out of mere 
 private and personal sympathies and antipathies. In all 
 these rapidly recurring struggles the Spanish influence had 
 been victorious. The spirit of Philip II., and that which 
 he had succeeded in impressing on the Spanish people, 
 were more in conformity with those tendencies which 
 recent ecclesiastical events had imparted to the Church 
 than were the ideas and tendencies prevailing in France. 
 
 The often observed tendency of a, long Papacy to 
 bring about the election of a Pope antagonistic to his 
 predecessor resumed its influence after the close of the 
 reign of Clement ; and the French interest was successful 
 in procuring the election of the Florentine Cardinal de' 
 Medici as Leo XI. ; but he reigned only twenty-seven 
 days, and the same men had to rqturn to the Conclave to 
 begin a second struggle. 
 
262 THE PAPAL CONCLAYES, 
 
 The main features of all these Conclaves were, as 
 has been observed, very similar ; and the limits assigned 
 to the present volume must have been very considerably 
 extended for it to have been possible to give the reader 
 as detailed an account of each of them as has been 
 attempted in the case of the first Popes of the zealous 
 group ; while at the same time it would have been 
 difficult to interest him in the ever-recurriag plots, 
 dissimulations, and manoeuvres which make the staple of 
 the history of all of them. But the Conclave which 
 elected Leo's successor, Camillo Borghese, as Paul Y., 
 was a curious and remarkable one, a detailed account 
 of which will serve well as a specimen of the way 
 in which the business of an election was transacted in 
 the early days of what may be called modem times — 
 in the period of Church earnestness which intervened 
 between the audacious scandals and overt heathenism of 
 the Italian renaissance time, and the sleepy times of 
 comfortable easy-going orthodoxy and decorous propriety 
 which succeeded. 
 
 Such a detailed account of the Conclave which elected 
 Camillo Borghese I have already written. And as on 
 reading what I then T^Tote I do not find that I can 
 better it, though doubtless it might be easily bettered, 
 I may as well borrow the passage from the volume 
 entitled " Paul the Pope and Paul the Friar," in which 
 it first appeared. 
 
 On the 11th of May, 1605, fifty-nine cardinals went 
 into Conclave. Tlioy were divided into no less than 
 four principal parties. The strongest seemed to be 
 that of Cardinal Aldobrandino, the nephew of the last 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 263 
 
 Pope, and was composed of his uncle's " creatures." 
 Of course there was also to a certain extent a natural 
 bond of union and sympathy between the cardinals 
 made by the same Pope ; and they naturally gathered 
 around the man who had held the place of favourite, 
 cardinal nephew, and prime minister during the time 
 of their promotion. But the great and all but unlimited 
 power which was always enjoyed by a cardinal nephew 
 rarely failed to excite against him an immense amount 
 of enmity and jealousy among the other cardinals of 
 the creation of preceding Popes. None in that position 
 had ever possessed this authority to a greater degree, 
 during at least the latter years of the pontificate of 
 Clement YIII., than the Cardinal Aldobrandino, who 
 was in many respects a very able man. The creatures 
 of former Papacies were equally naturally banded 
 together in the Conclave against him. The strength 
 of Cardinal Aldobrandino's party in the present Conclave 
 was estimated at twenty-six votes. 
 
 Next in force came the independent party of his 
 opponents and enemies. They were chiefly under the 
 influence and lead of the Cardinal Montalto, and counted 
 twenty-one votes. 
 
 Then there were thirdly and fourthly the cardinals 
 wholly in the interest of the Court of Spain, and those 
 wholly in the interest of the Court of Prance. The total 
 number of votes, as we have seen, was fifty-nine. Of 
 these, forty-seven have been already accounted for; there 
 remain twelve. And as the conclavist tells us, though 
 without mentioning the numbers, that these two latter 
 parties were of equal numerical strength, we must 
 
264 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 suppose them to have commanded six votes each. ; bear- 
 ing in mind, however, that some of those who owed 
 their primary allegiance to their leader in the Conclave 
 were doubtless also attached by preference either to the 
 Spanish or the French interest. The action of the two 
 great Catholic Powers in the Conclave generally was 
 exerted to secure the exclusion of certain possible can- 
 didates especially obnoxious to them. And a much 
 smaller number of devoted adherents, of course, sufficed 
 to attain this object, than would have availed to secure 
 the election of any given individual. The number of 
 votes necessary to make an election in the Conclave in 
 question was, it will be observed, forty, that being the 
 nearest possible approach to the requisite majority of 
 two-thirds. 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that, if all the members of the 
 two strongest parties had remained obstinately true to 
 their colours, no election could be effected, even if the 
 strongest of them, that of Aldobrandino, could have 
 united to itself all the voices commanded by both Spain 
 and France — a consummation entirely out of the question, 
 inasmuch as any candidate acceptable to the one Power 
 would be precisely the one whom the other would be 
 most desirous of excluding. But it is not to be imagined 
 that there was ever any chance that all the adherents of 
 a party should remain perfectly staimch and to be trusted 
 by its chief. Too great a number of subsidiary motives 
 influenced different indiA'iduals, in a vast variety of wavs, 
 for this to be possible. One man M-ould wish a Pope of 
 his party to be t'lccted, but not this or that particular 
 individual; and if such a residt appeared probable he 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 265 
 
 "would desert his party to ayert it, more especially as h.e 
 could do so without detection, unless it so happened that 
 the scrutiny in -which he had done so turned out to be the 
 successful and final one ; for if the scrutiay of that votiag 
 resulted in no election, the papers containing the votes 
 ■were burned without further examination. It will be 
 readily imagiaed how tangled and vast a mass of hypocri- 
 sies, false promises, and cross purposes such a system, to- 
 gether with all the variety of motives and iaterests at work 
 in those scarlet-hatted old heads, must have occasioned. 
 
 The first move in the Conclave was an attempt on the 
 part of the allies — i.e. the creatures of Popes anterior 
 to Clement YIII. — ^to elect Cardinal Saoli, one of their 
 number. Cardinal Yisconti, who belonged to Aldobran- 
 diao's camp, had lately, it was known, felt less well 
 disposed towards his leader ; and as SaoU was Yisconti's 
 mother's cousin, he was easily induced to enter warmly 
 into the scheme for electing him, and he succeeded in 
 drawing several of the Aldobrandino party with him. 
 Moreover, San Marcello, another of Aldobrandino' s 
 friends, though adhering to him firmly in every other 
 circumstance, had declared that he could not vote against 
 Saoli, because that Cardinal's brother, when Doge of 
 Genoa, had favoured the reception of the San Marcello 
 family as patricians of that republic. 
 
 Aldobrandino, it must be observed, was very far 
 from well at the time of entering into Conclave. It had 
 been feared and hoped that he could not have joined it. 
 He would not give up, however, and went in with the 
 rest, but immediately retired to bed in his cell. 
 
 Under these circumstances the friends of Saoli thought 
 
266 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 that there was a very good ehance of carrying his election 
 by a sudden "adoration" at the very outset of the 
 Conclave. But the Cardinal Saoli himself was unwilling 
 to risk it. He was fully persuaded, says the conclavist, 
 that Aldobrandino's illness would compel him to quit 
 the Conclave, in which case he would have been sure of 
 his election by the ordinary means of voting. He was 
 mistaken in his calculation, and lost a chance which, the 
 conclavist thinks, would have in all probalbiity turned 
 out successful by his timidity. Some whisper, however, of 
 the projected step had reached Aldobrandino and his 
 friends, and kept them in great anxiety aU the first day 
 and all the first night ; so much so that Cardinal Cesi 
 went to him about ten o'clock at night, and told him 
 that he must get up, ill as he was, and go round among 
 their friends and show himself. Had he not done so, 
 the conclavist thinks, the attempt at adoration would 
 have been made by Saoli's friends. The Aldobrandino 
 faction, however, " in order to give the opposite faction 
 something to chew," as the conclavist expresses it, in 
 the meantime put about a rumour that very possibly an 
 " adoration " of Cardinal Tosco, a favourite candidate of 
 their own, would be attempted in the course of the night ; 
 and this had the effect of causing many of the allies to 
 quit their beds and remain on the alert. 
 
 The next morning after mass, said by the oldest Cai-- 
 dinal, Como, the Conclave proceeded to the fii'st scrutiny, 
 in which, to the general surprise, fourteen votes were 
 given to Cardinal Bellarmino. 
 
 The (iidy names in all the Conclave that have retained 
 any placf in history, besides that of the successful can- 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 267 
 
 didate, were the Cardinals Baronius, Bellarmine, and 
 Borromeo, All three of them belonged to the party of 
 Aldobrandino, This unexpected result of the scrutiny- 
 puzzled the majority of the assembly exceedingly. The 
 Conclave, says the conclavist, was all in the dark ; for 
 though Bellarmine was of the Aldobrandino or Clementine 
 faction, that party had not thought of making him Pope. 
 Though he was much beloved, and his character stood 
 high, still, as our author remarks, his being a Jesuit, 
 and being known to be " delicate of conscience," did not 
 recommend him for the Papacy. The fact was that the 
 motion of putting him forward had originated, not with 
 his own party, but with that of Montalto and the allies. 
 Sforza was his relative by the mother's side; and to 
 Acquaviva, a nephew of the General of the Jesuits, his 
 quality of Jesuit was a recommendation. The plan was 
 originated by these two, who easily persuaded several of 
 their own party to join them by the considerations that, 
 as matters stood, there was no hope of electing Saoli ; 
 that it was certain that the elevation of Bellarmine would 
 not suit the views of Aldobrandino ; and that, let the 
 matter turn either way, they could not but be gainers ; 
 for if a sufficient number of his own party joined them 
 to elect him, they would have the merit of having given 
 him the Papacy ; and if, on the other hand, the attempt 
 failed, they would in all probability cause disunion among 
 the Clementines, and very likely obtain Bellarmine's 
 support for their own candidate Saoli. The whole of that 
 day was spent in. the intrigues to which this unexpected 
 move gave rise. Baronius was an intimate friend of 
 Bellarmine, and was known to have spoken with Bor- 
 
268 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 romeo, who was also favourable to him, of the expediency 
 of such an election, though without any idea of realising 
 it. Sfondrato, one of the knot of the allies who had 
 started the candidature of Bellarmine, went to Baronius 
 and persuaded him to go, as on his own idea, to Aldo- 
 brandino, and poiat out to him that if he and his friends 
 would vote for Bellarmine, he might be sure of sufficient 
 support from the party of the allies to elect him. Aldo- 
 brandino cautiously requested to know from Baronius 
 his grounds for such an opinion; to which the latter 
 replied that he might trust him, as his information was 
 from a perfectly trustworthy source. Aldobrandino, 
 however, divining how matters really stood, as soon as 
 ever Baronius had left him, sent Cardinal San Giorgio 
 to Bellarmine to assure him of his (Aldobrandino's) per- 
 fectly favourable disposition towards him; but, at the 
 same time, to point out to him that the move in his 
 favour was merely a trick of the other party, set on 
 foot with the hope of sowing division among them, and 
 to beg of him not to play into then- hands, and be duped 
 by lending any encouragement to their project. He, at 
 the same time, sent two other of the yoimger cai'dinals 
 round to all his adherents to warn them that the pro- 
 posal to elect Bellarmine was only a trick of the 
 adversaries, and to advise them "to go to bed and pay 
 no attention to any rumoui'S on the subject."' All the 
 cardinals belonging to the monastic orders were already 
 astir, we are told, at the first report of a possibility of 
 tlu- election of ISollarmine, ready to exert themselves to 
 tlie uluiDst t(i pvcveiit the eliuice of a Jesuit Pope. 
 Cardinal Sibudrato in the meantime, as soon as ho 
 
THE ZBALOXTS POPES. 269 
 
 had sent Baronius to Aldobrandino, as has been seen, 
 himself proceeded to the cell of Montalto, the leader 
 of his party, who was just sitting down to supper, 
 and told him that iatrigues were on foot ia the Conclave 
 for the election of Cardinal Como, The object of this 
 falsehood was, the conclavist tells us, to prevent 
 Montalto from hurrying off to prevent the election of 
 Bellarmine if any rumour of it should reach him. But 
 the precaution was needless, our historian assures us, 
 " for Montalto, seduced by the sight of the good thbgs 
 before him, replied that they might iatrigue for any one 
 they liked, for he did not mean for his part to leave his 
 supper ! " So Sfondrato left him ; but on returning to his 
 colleagues in the attempt to elect Bellarmine found that 
 Aldobrandino's vigilance and activity had put an end to 
 all hopes of success. So there was an end to the chance 
 of a Jesuit Pope, and of the first day of the Conclave. 
 
 The next move was another attempt on the part of 
 the allies to put forward Cardiaal Cameriao, who, 
 though one of themselves, was thought not to be 
 strongly objectionable to many of the other party. 
 Aldobrandino had a conference with Montalto on the 
 subject, and pretended to be desirous of iaducing his 
 party to accept this new candidate. But Montalto was 
 not deceived by his professions. He saw that the 
 Clementines did not intend to allow the elevation of 
 Camefino, and dropped the attempt; not, however, 
 without determiaing to avenge himself by opposiag any 
 candidate of Aldobrandino to the utmost of his power. 
 
 Hitherto the active tentatives had been all on the 
 part of the allies. Aldobrandino and his friends had as 
 
270 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 yet contented themselves with standing on the defensive. 
 But the real and earnest vdsh of the late cardinal 
 nephew and minister was to bring about the election of 
 Cardinal San Clemente, his intimate friend and con- 
 fidant. He had begun by securing the co-operation of 
 the Erench party in return for his promise to insure the 
 exclusion of the cardinals especially objected to by 
 France. He had next applied to the Spaniards ; and as 
 San Clemente was not among those whom they had 
 orders to exclude they also promised their assistance. 
 This seemed, therefore, to offer a better chance of 
 coming to an election than any that had been yet pro- 
 posed to the Conclave. But, as has been seen, aU the 
 Clementines, united to all the French and all the 
 Spaniards, only amounted to thirty-eight votes — two 
 short of the number requisite. If, therefore, the allies 
 held firmly together, they could prevent the possibility 
 of San Clemente's election. And upon this occasion 
 they not only seemed inclined to do so, but, not content 
 with that, succeeded in inducing Cardinal Sordi, one 
 of the French party, to break his engagement with 
 Aldobrandino, and. join them. They determined, more- 
 over, to take the violent step of openly and by solemn 
 resolution excluding San Clemente, declaring frankly 
 that it was thcii' determination. not to vote for him — a 
 \'ery strong and decisive measure, because the cai-dinals 
 taking part in it having thus declared themselves hostile 
 to San Clemente, were detiuitively bound to struggle to 
 the last against the election of a Pope in the person of 
 one whom tliey bad already rendered their enemy. 
 Aldobrandino, therefore, was extremely anxious to 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES, 271 
 
 avert this threatened measure, and did succeed in 
 causing it to be delayed for one day— a respite which, 
 he calculated on employing in putting his adversaries 
 on a false scent. While stiU continuing every effort to 
 seduce some one or two voices from the allied party, he 
 caused it to he rumoured in the Conclave that he had 
 abandoned the hope of electing San Clemente, and was 
 now intent on electing Cardinal Tosco, another of his 
 adherents. With a view to throw dust into the vigilant 
 eyes around him, he induced the Cardinal San Marcello, 
 who had not entered the Conclave in consequence of 
 serious illness, to come in. One does not see how this 
 could have been compatible with the strict prohibition 
 of all intercourse with the world outside the Conclave. 
 The conclavist, however, states the fact without 
 observation ; and we are left to suppose that the 
 non-intercourse supposed to be assured by so many 
 ostentatious precautions had become, like so many other 
 pretensions and forms at Eome, a mere sham. 
 
 The sick man was known to be a very iatimate friend 
 of Cardinal Tosco ; and Aldobrandino meant it to be 
 supposed by everybody that San Marcello would never 
 have thought of coming into the Conclave in his state 
 were it not for the purpose of securing the election of 
 his friend. Indeed, the poor iavalid himself was duped 
 by Aldobrandino, and supposed that it was really to 
 elect Tosco that he was so urgently wanted. But if 
 the sick man was deceived, the lynx-eyed watchfulness 
 of the rest of the Conclave was not. Indeed, the study 
 of these prize-matches of duplicity and cunning, in 
 which the sciences of simulation and dissimulation were 
 
272 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 carried to the most polished pitch of perfection, would 
 lead us to the conclusion, that among masters of the craft 
 the arts of defence were generally more than a match 
 for those of attack. The imceasing efforts to deceive 
 seem rarely to have succeeded. Unsleeping perpetual 
 suspicion of every word spoken, and of every apparently 
 insignificant detail of conduct, joined to life-long practice 
 in the knowledge, estimate, and calculation of all the 
 littlenesses, meannesses, selfishnesses, and hypocrisies of 
 human, and more especially of priestly nature, sufficed 
 almost invariably to guard against the strategy of a craft, 
 every turn and double of which was familiar to the 
 objects of it. The open dealing of an honest man might 
 probably have thrown them out entirely. 
 
 The allies discovered that it was still San Clemente 
 who was advancing to the Papacy imder the mantle of 
 Tosco, as the conclavist expresses it. They determined, 
 therefore, on the next day to proceed, as they had 
 threatened, to the open and avowed resolution of ex- 
 cluding him. This they accordingly did. And our 
 conclavist's account of the meetuig held for the purpose 
 gives us a di-amatic little peep at Conclave life. 
 
 The meeting was held in the cell of Cardinal 
 BevUacqua, one of the less notable members of the 
 party. And their Eminences Avere just about to begin 
 the business in hand when two of the youngest cai-dinals 
 of Aldobrandino's party, Pio and San Cesarco, entered 
 the cell, as if strolling in by chance to visit its 
 occupant. They luul been sent on this errand by 
 Aldobrandino in the hope that their unwelcome presence 
 might (IriA'c the allies assembled there to put off the 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 273 
 
 business they were engaged in, and thus gain a little 
 time, which, he might be able to put to profit. The 
 young intruders began joking and talking on all sorts 
 of irrelevant matters. But the veterans with whom 
 they had to deal were not to be beaten in that manner. 
 Yisconti, Sforza, and Sfondrato turned away together 
 for a moment, and having rapidly decided on their 
 course returned to the general circle; when Yisconti, 
 addressing Pio and San Cesareo, said plainly that they 
 were there for the purpose of formally agreeing to the 
 exclusion of Cardinal San Clemente, and that if it pleased 
 their Eminences to remain they would at all events serve 
 as witnesses of the declaration about to be made. He 
 then proceeded to declare, in his own name and in that 
 of all their friends, that they bound themselves together 
 not to elect San Clemente. He rehearsed the names of 
 the allies agreeing in this resolution one by one. When 
 he na,med Montalto, San Cesareo interrupted him, saying, 
 "Nay, his Eminence of Montalto is present; let him 
 speak for himself!" ''No, no!" returned Montalto, 
 smiling; "let Yisconti be spokesman; I ratify all he 
 says ! " Cardinal Este, when Yisconti came to his name, 
 added, " I confirm it; and only wish that I had a dozen 
 votes to make the exclusion more overwhelming." 
 "And now," said Yisconti, when he had finished,, 
 " we may go to bed ! " " Ah, we may ! " exclaimed 
 Sfondrato, turning to leave the cell; "and your 
 Eminences," he added, looking towards Pio and San 
 Cesareo with a laugh as he went, "may now go and 
 elect a Pope, if you can ! " 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Continuation of the Conclave that elected Paul V. — Aldobrandino 
 determines to elect Cardinal Tosco. — Points for and against him. 
 — Attempt to elect Tosco by " Adoration." — Montalto's Indecision. 
 — Remarkable Scene in the Cell of Cardinal Acquaviva. — Conference 
 between Aldobrandino and Montalto. — The Latter unwillingly 
 agrees to the Election of Tosco, which appears all but certain. — 
 Suspense of Tosco. — Remarkable Step taken by Baronius. — He 
 alone by the Ascendancy of his Character prevents the Election of 
 Tosco. — Baronius himself nearly elected. — ^The " Sala Eegia " in 
 the Vatican. — Party Tactics thrown into Confusion. — Tosco's 
 Disappointment. — ^Extraordinary Scene in the Sala Eegia and the 
 Sistine and Paoline Chapels. — Borghese at length proposed by 
 common Accord, and elected as Paul V. 
 
 BiTTEE was Aldobrandino's anger and mortification 
 when his two emissaries returned and made their 
 report. He immediately collected all his own ad- 
 herents, among whom might now be counted most of 
 the French and Spanish supporters, to consider what 
 was next to be done. The fii'st measure determined on 
 was to proceed to an exclusion of Cardinal Saoli, yet 
 more solemn and formal than that pronounced by their 
 adversaries against San Clcmente — a stop which would 
 seem to have been prompted entirely by pique and 
 anger, as the election of Saoli had ah'eady entii'cly 
 lailed, and there does not appear anj- indication that the 
 allies had any thought of bringing him forwai-d again. 
 The meeting, however, to the number of twenty-two, 
 decreed the exclusion ; and then, having taken the 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 275 
 
 precaution of causing tlie door and outside of the cell to 
 be so guarded by their conclavists that there was no 
 danger that a trick should be played them, such as they 
 had played on the meetiag for the exclusion of San 
 Clemente, they bound themselves by an agreement to 
 give their votes unanimously to any one of those then 
 present whom Aldobrandino might designate. 
 
 It was further determined that the whole strength of 
 the party should be exerted to elect Cardinal Tosco, 
 this time in earnest, and not as a blind to other designs. 
 This was a candidature that seemed to ojffer much more 
 «hances of success than any other which had yet been 
 tried. Tosco was not objected to by the representatives 
 in the Conclave of either Spain or Erance. It was 
 known that his election would be agreeable both to the 
 Orand Duke of Tuscany and to the Duke of Savoy. He 
 was, moreover, by no means objectionable to many of the 
 party of the allies. The Cardinals D'Este and Sfondrato 
 were both favourable to him; and even Montalto had 
 promised the Grand Duke that he would give Tosco his 
 support if he should be unable to elect any one of his 
 own party. In short, says the conclavist, it seemed 
 as if he had no opposing influences against him, save 
 those of a few scrupulous consciences — especially Baro- 
 nius and one or two of his friends — who objected to 
 him that he was licentious in his conversation and 
 negligent of his pastoral duties, so much so that, having 
 been for many years Bishop of Tivoli, he had never 
 once been near his see. But, as the conclavist re- 
 marks, such objections were nothing against so large an 
 amount of favour. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Montalto, however, was by no means willing to 
 concur at once in Tosco's election. He stiU nourish.ed 
 hopes of electing some one of his own special adherents. 
 He did not, however, wish to take any step towards a 
 formal exclusion of Tosco, and contented himself, there- 
 fore, with exacting a promise from the cardinals of his 
 party that they would do nothing towards his election 
 before the expiration of a delay of ten days, thinking 
 that this would give him time to try the chances of his 
 own special friends. 
 
 Having obtained this, Montalto had gone to bed on 
 the night of the 15th, tranquil on the subject of Tosco's 
 candidature, when he was suddenly waked by the noise 
 of Aldobrandino, accompanied by all his adherents and 
 the Spanish and French parties, coming into the 
 corridor, where he was urging them to hurry Tosco 
 at once into the chapel, and try for an election by 
 "Adoration." In this conjuncture, those of the aUies 
 who were favourable to Tosco hurried to Montalto to 
 press on him the immediate necessity of resolving on a 
 line of action. There was great probability that the 
 " Adoration" might succeed ; and, in that case, would it 
 be worth while for them to risk showing hostility to 
 one so likely to be Pope merely to oppose an election, 
 to which after all they had no strong dislike ? The 
 allies were gathered in the cell of Acquaviva, says the 
 conclavist, in greai trepidation, urgently prcssiug 
 Montalto to come to a decision. He complained bit- 
 terly lliat they wort' breaking theii* engagement to do 
 untiling in the matter of Tosco for ten days. In vain 
 they pointed out to him that there was no hope of his 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 277 
 
 making a Pope from among his own special adherents ; 
 that they were still willing to foUow his lead ; but that 
 by their present position of indecision at so critical a 
 moment they were only riskiag the election of a Pope in 
 spite of them, when it was in their power, without any 
 sacrifice of principle, by yielding gracefully, to take their 
 share in the election, and by so doing make the future 
 Pontifif their friend instead of their enemy. Those, 
 however, who thus argued were the members of the 
 party who had themselves no hope of or pretensions 
 to the Papacy. The three or four among the party of 
 the allies who each hoped that he might be the man 
 stood by, in the words of the narrator, in icy silence, 
 while the others were thus warmly urging Montalto, 
 and by their reserved and cold demeanour increased the 
 irresolution of his naturally slow and hesitating dispo- 
 sition. At length the irrgency of the case, and the 
 approaching voices of the crowd accompanying Aldo- 
 brandino, who seemed on the point of proceeding 
 to the chapel to perform the " Adoration," produced 
 symptoms of a mutiny among some of the followers of 
 Montalto. What was the use, they said, of talking 
 about ten days, even if there were any prospect of doing 
 anything at the end of them, when the Pope would be 
 made there and then before their eyes in ten minutes. 
 They should yield to necessity, they said, and join in 
 an act they were unable to prevent. They could still 
 have prevented it, if every man of them had stood firm, 
 and if each of them could have trusted all the rest. 
 But this was just what was impossible to them. And 
 the smallest defection was fatal; for only a voice or 
 
278 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 two was wanting to make those intent on electing Tosco 
 a majority of the necessary amount. 
 
 Tamese and Sfondrato were standing at the door of 
 the cell in which the rest of their colleagues had been 
 enacting the scene described ; and when they heard 
 some voices of the party expressing their intentions as 
 above, they adopted the strong measure of going 
 instantly to Aldobrandino, where he stood in the midst 
 of his followers, and inviting him to a conference with 
 Montalto. The measure, it will be observed, was sud- 
 denly adopted without any authorisation from that 
 Cardinal himself. Farnese and Sfondrato took each an 
 arm of the hostile chief, and led him to the cell where 
 Montalto and the allies were. Sfondrato took upon 
 himself to be spokesman. They all ought to thank the 
 Almighty, he said, who had providentially led them to 
 agree in so excellent an election. All ought to join in 
 it alike, and forget past animosities. Montalto stood 
 leaning against a table, with downcast eyes and strongly 
 working features, in which the agony of abandoning his 
 own hopes and the bitterness of yielding himself to the 
 accomplishment of those of his adversary were violently 
 expressed. Concentrated rage contributed also to thi'ow 
 his mind off its balance, for he felt that he had been 
 betrayed by his friends. He knew that if only they 
 had all been true to thcii- promises and to each other, 
 the adversaries could not have accomplished an election. 
 He knew also that in yielding thus tardily and reluc- 
 tantly, he, at least, would have none of the merit of 
 jdelding in the eyes of the new Pope. Those who had 
 made his doing so necessary might claim the merit of 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 279 
 
 their defection ; but it was too clear that the Pope to be 
 thus elected was elected in his despite. 
 
 In answer to Sfondrato's address he replied no word ; 
 nor did he raise his eyes or turn towards Aldobrandino, 
 but he silently put out his hand to him. And they 
 went forth together into the hall, where the crowd of 
 cardinals, now consisting of nearly all the Conclaye, 
 were waiting to proceed to the chapel for the " Adora- 
 tion." For it is observable that, notwithstanding the 
 apparent union of the parties, the Clementines, who had 
 prevailed, did not deem it advisable to trust to a 
 scrutiny, but were still bent on hurrying to the quicker 
 and more open process of " Adoration." 
 
 And now the election of Cardinal Tosco seemed 
 certain. He himself, meanwhile, was walking up and 
 down with the Cardinals San Giorgio and Diatristain 
 in a distant part of the vast Yatican galleries. His 
 companions lu-ged him to go with them at once to the 
 chapel; but he shrunk from doing this, preferring to 
 wait till Aldobrandino or some of the others came to 
 bring him thither, according to the custom in such cases. 
 But as the minutes went on, and nobody came, Cardinal 
 San Giorgio sent his conclavist to see how matters were 
 going on. He came into the hall just as Aldobrandino 
 and Montalto, hand in hand, came forth to the body of 
 the cardinals from the cell of Acquaviva. Eeturning 
 therefore in all haste, he told his master and Tosco what 
 he had seen, and said that both the chiefs were coming 
 with a large number of their followers to bring Cardinal 
 Tosco to the chapel. At the same time a tumultuous 
 crowd of conclavists came rushing towards the cell of 
 
280 THE PAPAL CONCLATES. 
 
 the Pope elect, to make booty of all that it contained, 
 according to recognised and tolerated custom. Indeed 
 the election seemed as good as if already made. 
 
 But now came a sudden slip between the cup and the 
 lip, which changed the whole face of things in the 
 Conclave, and produced as strange a scene as had ever 
 been witnessed in any of those remarkable assemblies, 
 which had enacted and seen so many curious dramas. 
 
 While Aldobrandino and Montalto were on the point 
 of going to bring Cardinal Tosco to the spot where the 
 crowd of cardinals were waiting to conduct him triumph- 
 antly to the chapel for the "Adoration," two cardinals 
 held aloof, and were walking up and down the gallery 
 together at a little distance, in deep and evidently not 
 well-pleased conversation. These were Baronius* and 
 Tarugio, an intimate friend of his, who were, as the 
 conclavist says with an evident sneer, " professors of a 
 scrupulous conscience," and as such could not approve of 
 the elevation to the Papacy of such a man as Cardinal 
 Tosco. "While the negotiations had been going on that 
 resulted in the all but certainty of his election, Aldo- 
 brandino had sent no less than seven successive messages 
 to Baronius, urging him to join the rest of the party — 
 and now, since the accession of Montalto and his fi-iends, 
 it might be said the rest of the Conclave — in the proposed 
 "Adoration" of Tosco. This persistence on the part 
 of Aldobrandino is remarkable. After the yielding of 
 Montalto and his party, there could be no doubt about 
 
 • I have used here and elsewhere the Latin iustoad of the Italian form 
 of the great Church historian's name, because it is so famihar to the 
 English reader. 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 281 
 
 the sufficiency of the votes to carry the election. The 
 abstention of Baronius and his friend could in nowise 
 have affected the result. Yet Aldohrandino, before pro- 
 ceeding to the chapel, made another — ^the eighth — effort 
 to carry Baronius with him. If we are to suppose that 
 this anxiety was caused simply by respect for the high 
 character and reputation of Baronius, and by an uneasy 
 sense of the responsibility of proceeding to the election 
 of the Pope despite the manifest disapprobation and silent 
 protest of the man whose character had greater weight 
 than that of any other there, it deserves noting as an 
 example of conscientiousness so rare and strange in that 
 world of sacerdotal princes, as to seem almost incredible 
 to us, and quite so to the bystanders who witnessed it. 
 So much so, that our conclavist guide to these mysteries 
 declares that Aldobrandino's imprudence could only be 
 accounted for on the supposition of an immediate inter- 
 position of Providence, thus working out its own designs 
 for the election. 
 
 On receiving this eighth message, which begged that 
 Baronius and Tarugio would come and confer with 
 Aldobrandino, without any reference to the matter imme- 
 diately in hand, Baronius yielded, and following the 
 messenger to the great hall, found himself there in the 
 midst of the unanimous assembly of nearly the whole 
 Conclave, bent on proceeding at once to the "Adoration." 
 Aldobrandino had evidently calculated on his not having 
 sufficient moral cour§,ge to stand out alone and con- " 
 spicuously beneath the eyes of his assembled colleagues. 
 But his calculation had been based on an insufficient 
 estimate of the man. Not only did he adhere to his 
 
282 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 refusal to join in the vote, but proceeded openly to state 
 his reasons for doing so. Their first and absolute duty, 
 he said, was to elect a man of irreproachable character ; 
 and for his part it should be written in his Annals * that 
 he was the last to concur in the choice proposed. It 
 was answered by those around that the election was 
 good and respectable, and the subject of it certainly a 
 worthy one ; an assertion which he repudiated, says the 
 conclavist, by the most expressive gestures, "beating 
 his breast, and shaking his head, and uttering broken 
 words and sighs." 
 
 Conduct so frank and vehement, a manifestation of 
 sentiments so open, public, and fearless, was almost 
 unprecedented in that world of cautious reticence and 
 simulation,' and the result produced by it on the dig- 
 nified crowd around was remarkable. Montalto fii-st, 
 who saw in this unexpected diversion a possibility of 
 escaping from the election which a moment ago seemed 
 inevitable, and which was fatal to all his cherished hopes, 
 was, or pretended f to be, extremely agitated, and cried 
 out that in truth it were well to lay to heart the words 
 
 • The "Annali" is the great ■work by ■whioli Baronius is known to 
 the world. The conclayist makes a ludicrous and inconceivable error 
 in his record of this declaration of the great Church historian. He 
 protested, says the conclavist — or the printer for him — that it should 
 be wi'itton in his hoots, — " negl^ suoi stivali." The real phrase is supplied 
 by the Venetian ambassador's account of the Conclave. 
 
 ■|- Montalto vrna ono of the last men iu the Conclave to have been 
 really touched by any such appeal. Here is a character of him, as he 
 was thirteen years before the present time. " A handsome young man, 
 luxiuious, with no firmness of ohnrnctov, broken by debauch, with an 
 income of an hundred thousand crowns, and debts to the amount of four 
 hundred thousand, it was impossible that he should be his own master. 
 His passions, his vices, constrained him to bo dependent upon the courts 
 of Europe. He hnd offered himself to the Eing of Spain, and had been 
 uciopted." 
 
THE ZBAI/OTJS POPES. 283 
 
 they had just heard ! Sordi, who stood next to him, and 
 who was one of the representatives of the French interest, 
 to which Baronius was especially acceptable, cried out 
 that a saint of God had spoken, and that the words of 
 such a man should not be let fall to the ground. Mon- 
 talto, finding himself thus seconded, "lost his head alto- 
 gether," says the conclavist ; and forgettiag that in the 
 last Conclave, which had closed little more than a month 
 ago, he had especially excluded Baronius, cried aloud, 
 "Let us elect Baronius ! I go for Baronius ! " Some 
 of his own friends took up the cry ; and all the French 
 adherents shouted " Baronius ! Baronius ! " and the 
 conclavists outside the circle raised the same cry. On 
 this the friends of Aldobrandino, and several of the party 
 of the allies, began to shout " Tosco ! Tosco ! " to the 
 utmost power of their lungs. " And thus," ia the words 
 of our narrator, "all screaming together, and moving 
 on together, divided in cry and ia mind, but with their 
 bodies closely jammed together by reason of the narrow- 
 ness of the passage, they reached the Sala Eegia, into 
 which they burst confusedly, shouting more loudly than 
 ever the names of Tosco and Baronius." 
 
 The Sala Eegia is a noble hall in the Yatican, at one 
 end of which is the entrance into the Sistine Chapel, and 
 at the other that into the Paoliae Chapel. It is neces- 
 sary to the understanding of the sequel of this extra- 
 ordinary scene to bear in mind this explanation of the 
 locality. 
 
 The result, it will be observed, of the sudden gust, 
 which had thus in a moment blown to the winds the 
 chances of an election so nearly consummated, and had 
 
284 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 the germ in it of so many modifications of tlie subsequent 
 history of Europe, -was at tlie moment to tkrow all the 
 party arrangements and tactics of the ConclaTC into 
 utter confusion. Baronius, whose leading supporter was 
 now Montalto, was a member of the opposite party, of 
 which Aldobrandino was the head. On the other hand, 
 many of the allies who recognised Montalto as their 
 chief remained firm in their resolution to elect Tosco, 
 and thus found themselves joined with Aldobrandino 
 against their own leader. In this state of things the 
 confusion in the hall was extreme. Montalto and Baro- 
 nius and their adherents made for the PaoUne Chapel, 
 and Aldobrandino wavered for a moment whether he 
 should follow them. But determining, after a short pause, 
 not to give up the game, he shouted at the top of his 
 voice, " This way, all friends of mine ! " pointing as he 
 spoke towards the Sistine Chapel. Acquaviva also, and 
 some others of the same party, cried out as loudly as 
 they could, "Let all friends of Tosco come this way !" 
 And the move, says the conclavist, was a very prudent 
 one, "for if they had all gone in disorder into the 
 Paoline Chapel together, it might very easily have 
 happened that the ' Adoration ' of Baronius had fol- 
 lowed, without their being able to oppose it, amid all 
 that confusion and mixing up of the different parties." 
 The extent of this confusion, and of the violence of 
 the emotion among those holy and reverend old men, 
 may be estimated from the circumstance that Cardiual 
 Visconti was thrown down in the mcUc, and Cardinal 
 Scrapino got a sprained arm before the two factions 
 could tliscngago themselves from each other. And even 
 
THE ZBAIiOTJS POPES. 285 
 
 tlLen two Cardinals, Pinelli and Ascoli, found themselves 
 on the Sistine side of the hall with Aldobrandino, whereas 
 their intention was to yote with Montalto. 
 
 All this time Cardinal Tosco, who "deemed his great- 
 ness was a-ripening," had been awaiting the expected 
 arrival of the cardinals to bring him into the chapel to 
 his "Adoration;" but at last his mind began to mis- 
 give him. He sent again, therefore, the same conclavist 
 to see what was going on, and soon received the tidings 
 of the sudden wreck of all his high hopes at the 
 moment when the realisation of them seemed to have 
 been placed beyond danger. " The good old man," says 
 the conclavist, forgetting what he had above written of 
 his unfitness for the Papacy, or more probably, perhaps, 
 deeming that there was no incompatibility between that 
 and the epithet he now bestows upon him, " turned 
 deadly pale ; " but determining not to give up all for lost, 
 proceeded, with shaking steps, and leaning on the shoulder 
 of his conclavist, to the Sala Eegia. " Behold the Pope ! " 
 cried the conclavist aloiid as he entered the hall, thinking 
 that even then, perhaps, the sudden announcement might 
 lead to an " Adoration." The crowd of his supporters, 
 who had by that time grouped themselves before the 
 doors of the Sistine Chapel, received him among them, and, 
 the keys being at that moment brought, they took him 
 with them into the chapel. The other party had taken 
 possession of the Paoline Chapel. But in the first confusion 
 the keys of the Sistine Chapel had been missing, and 
 the Aldobrandino and Tosco faction had been obliged to 
 content themselves with grouping themselves before the 
 doors. 
 
286 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Thus the two parties occupied the two opposite chapels 
 as hostile camps, with the neutral ground of the Sala 
 Eegia between them. Thirty-six cardinals went into 
 the Sistiue Chapel in favour of Tosco, and twenty- 
 five into the Paoliae in favour of Baronius ; for the 
 entire number was now sixty-one, having been in- 
 creased by two cardinals — San Marcello, as has been 
 mentioned, and another who had been iU at the be- 
 ginning of the Conclave, and had been subsequently 
 able to join it. 
 
 And now an infinity of negotiations, messages, per- 
 suasions, and seductions began to be put on foot between 
 the two opposite camps. Those ia the Paoline Chapel 
 were quite open to proposals ; for though the name of 
 Baronius had been used for the breaking up of the 
 unanimity which was on the point of electing Tosco, 
 and the dissentients had entered the Paoline Chapel 
 shouting his name, no sooner had it served their 
 purpose than they abandoned all thought of reaUy 
 electing him. 
 
 Visconti having risen from his fall in. no very pleasant 
 mood, and entered the Paoline Chapel with Baronius 
 and his friends, began to vent his ill humour on the 
 first mover of the distui'bance, accusing him of sowing 
 divisions in the Conclave. 
 
 "I neither wish to sow divisions, nor have I any 
 desire to be Pope," replied Baronius ; "only put for- 
 ward some good and proper candidate." 
 
 Visconti thereupon would have left the chapel, but 
 the others crowded around him and would not let 
 him go. 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 287 
 
 "I protest," he cried, "that I am subjected to 
 Tiolence ! " and turning to the master of the cere- 
 monies bade him draw up an official protest to that 
 effect. 
 
 "Pooh, pooh!" said Montalto ; "are not my two 
 friends, Ascoli and Pinelli, detained against their will 
 in the Sistine Chapel ? Let every one be left at 
 liberty ! " 
 
 So Visconti went out and sat down by himself in the 
 Sala Eegia, protesting that he would join in_ no election 
 that day. " I would not make St. Peter himself Pope 
 after this fashion ! " grumbled he. But he had sat only 
 for a very little time in the Sala Eegia before Ac(][uaviva 
 slipped out of the Sistine to him, and after a little 
 persuasion carried him off into that chapel to join the 
 camp of the enemy. 
 
 " Gioiosa," as the Italian writer calls the French 
 Cardinal Joyeuse, seeing that there was no chance of 
 electing Baronius, wished to leave the Paoline Chapel to 
 return to his allegiance to Tosco ; but he made several 
 attempts to get away in vain, for " Montalto and the 
 others threw their arms around him and stayed him 
 with violent entreaties." 
 
 Then Aldobrandino goes in person into the enemies' 
 tjamp in the Sistine to try negotiations. Montalto 
 promises his support to any other candidate if only 
 Aldobrandino will abandon Tosco. This inclines the 
 chief of the Clementine party to recur to his former plan 
 of electing San Clemente ; but when he returns to the 
 Paoline Chapel his own party rebel against this, and 
 insist on remaining firm to Tosco, Montalto makes a 
 
288 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 sortie from the Sistine for the piorpose of getting his 
 two adherents, Pinelli and Ascoli, out of the Paoline 
 Chapel. But he fails in his attempt, as these two 
 cardinals are detained, much against their will as it 
 would seem, in the hostile camp. 
 
 All the rest of that day was occupied in negotiations 
 on a variety of propositions. The leaders of parties and 
 men of most weight on either side are continually 
 passing to and fro from one chapel to the other, trying 
 new combinations, and gradually limiting their pre- 
 tensions on either side to making sure of the exclu- 
 sion of those especially obnoxious to them. But every 
 fresh proposal finds some knot or other of cardinals 
 sufficiently strong to secure its rejection. 
 
 There was not one of the elder cardinals, remarks the 
 conclavist, who had not for awhile conceived hopes of 
 being elected. But when night overtook the jaded but 
 still busy Conclave in the two chapels, they appeared to 
 be as far from the election of a Pope as ever. Yet both 
 parties seemed determined not to quit their present 
 position before the work was done. 
 
 Both the chiefs were afraid that, if they allowed theii* 
 camp to break up and disperse for the night, some fresh 
 scheme or combination would be hatched before the 
 morning. At present, though neither party could ac- 
 complish anything, at least each held the other in check. 
 Some of the older and more infii-m cardinals retu-ed to 
 their cells, leaving directions that they should be called 
 instantly should any change in the condition of things 
 take place. Beds and supper were brought into the 
 chapels for many of the others. 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES. 289 
 
 Those to whom the Sistine Chapel is familiar as it 
 appears at the pontifical service, when it is the theatre 
 of all the magnificent pomp of the Eoman Church, with 
 its piirple dignitaries ranged in decorous order along its 
 sides, may amuse themselves with fancying the picture 
 presented by it, when the same holy, but cross, hungry, 
 weary, bothered, and well-nigh exhausted seniors were 
 picnicking and bivouacking on its pavement — ^here a 
 knot of three or four snatching a makeshift supper; 
 there a tired eminence snoring on a makeshift pallet ; 
 here a trio of the staunchest in earnest whispered talk ; 
 and there again a portly dignitary sleepily doffing his 
 purple and scarlet ia front of the altar for a few hours' 
 rest at its foot. 
 
 At last Aldobrandiao and Montalto came once again 
 to a conference, and agreed that, as all combinations for 
 the election of any one of the older cardinals had failed, 
 and there appeared no hope of uniting the suffrages of 
 the Conclave on any one of them, the only solution was 
 to look among the younger men. Several of these were 
 suggested, discussed between them, and for one reason 
 or another rejected. At last Borghese was named ; and 
 both the rival chiefs agreed that there seemed to be no 
 objection to him. He was a member of Aldobrandino's 
 party, the "creature" of Clement YIII., personally a 
 friend of Montalto, and was known to be acceptable to 
 the Spanish party. It only remained to ascertain 
 whether the French cardinals would make any strong 
 opposition to his election ; for Montalto had, in the 
 course of the various tentatives that followed the break- 
 ing up of the regular party divisions at the time of the 
 
 u 
 
290 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 proposal of Baronius, become so bound up with. Joyeuse 
 by promises and agreements, tbat he felt himself bound 
 to make his acceptance of Borghese contingent on the 
 consent of the Trench party. 
 
 Cardinal Joyeuse was one of the few who, tired out 
 with the day's work, had left the battle-field of the two 
 chapels and the Sala Eegia, and gone to his cell. Aldo- 
 brandino accordingly hurried off to find him there ; and 
 meeting on his way Borghese, who was returning to the 
 PaoUne Chapel after having been to snatch a morsel of 
 supper in his cell, told him that his present errand was 
 to make him Pope, and conjured him to say no word of 
 the matter till his return. Borghese, who probably put 
 no great faith ia the success of any such scheme, even 
 supposing Aldobrandino was sincere in the statement 
 that he intended to attempt it, composedly thanked him 
 for his good will and passed on. 
 
 Aldobrandino was, in truth, earnest enough in the 
 matter. It appeared his last chance of making one of 
 his own party Pope. He fell in with Joyeuse in his 
 cell ; and finding him, though not altogether indisposed 
 to Borghese, rather cold upon the matter, actually flung 
 himself on his knees before him to entreat his consent. 
 Joyeuse replied that he must first consult Montalto, 
 and at that moment the latter entered the cell. Aldo- 
 brandino sprang to his feet, not a little ashamed, says 
 the conclavist, at having been caught in such an 
 attitude by his rival leader in the Sacred College. 
 Montalto, however, joined his representations in favom- 
 of Borghese, as his election seemed to offer the least 
 objectionable issue from the difficulties in which the 
 
THE ZEALOUS POPES, 291 
 
 Conclave found itself. Joyeuse thereupon at once con- 
 sented on behalf of the French interest ; and it seemed 
 at last — if, indeed, no such strange incident were to 
 occur at the last moment as that which had pushed 
 Tosco from the steps- of the throne when he seemed 
 already to have his foot on them — that the Pope was 
 found. 
 
 And thus the history of Europe was made in that 
 little fir-plank cell by those three old men, neither of 
 whom was fitted by any quality of head or heart for 
 the good and righteous government of a parish ! And 
 those Venetian interdicts — -preposterous papal preten- 
 sions leading to the consolidation of a Galilean Church — 
 Borghese palaces, Borghese gardens, Borghese galleries, 
 the " great " Borghese family — so great as to repudiate 
 with indignation the imputation of blood alliance with 
 St. Catherine of Siena, all canonized saint as she is — 
 Borghese " alliances " and princesses, with so much 
 else — all loomed into potential existence, selected out of 
 the many possibiKties around them, as the things that 
 tvere to be, to the exclusion of the thousand other combi- 
 nations that were not to be, by the passions, jealousies, 
 and low hopes, cupidities, and fears of those three 
 narrow-hearted old men ! 
 
 So, on the 10th of May, 1606, the Eoman world 
 learned that it had a new Prince and Pope ; the cardinals 
 dispersed to set their minds to new politics, new hopes 
 and fears, new schemes, speculations, and intrigues ; all 
 Europe began to canvass the likes and dislikes, dis- 
 positions, passions, and character of the obscure Curia 
 lawyer who had mounted St. Peter's throne, as about 
 
 TJ 2 
 
292 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 the most iuteresting and important subject tliat could 
 occupy the attention of sovereigns and their counsellors ; 
 and the crabbed, rigid, ignorant, pedantic, but in the 
 main conscientious old lawyer himseK came forth tiaraed 
 Paul v., in his oavu honest belief by far, very far, the 
 gvoatost man on earth. 
 
BOOK TV. 
 
 THE PRINCE POPES. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 THE PRINCE POPES. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Close of the Era of the Zealous Popes. — Characteristics of the Group 
 ■which succeeded them. — Death of Paul V. — Alexander Ludovisi 
 elected as Gregory XV. by the influence of Cardinal Borghese. — 
 Ludovico Ludovisi, the Cardinal Nephew. — Eegulations of Gregory 
 XV. for the holding of the Conclave. — Father Theiner's Remarks 
 concerning them. — Interregnum, Description of. — ^Death of Gregory 
 XV., and Entry of Cardinals into Conclave. — Conclave expected 
 to be a long one, and why. — ^Parties in the Conclave. — Cardinal 
 Saoli again. — Cardinal Delmonte. — Borromeo. — Cardinals Bandini, 
 Ginnasio, and Madruzzi. — The Barberini Family. — Character of 
 Maflfeo Barberini who became Urban VIH. — Cardinals Gaetani, 
 Sacrato, and San Severino. — Illness in the Conclave of Cardinal 
 Borghese. — He refuses to leave the Conclave. — Barberini named in 
 the impossibility of any other Election, and elected. — Terrible 
 mortality of Cardinals and Conclavists. 
 
 The Borghese Pope, Paul Y., witli Hs reign of fifteen 
 years, may be said to conclude the series of " the zealous 
 Popes." Not that their successors can be accused of 
 haying been otherwise than anxious and vigilant for the 
 power and greatness of the Church over which they 
 ruled, or their more immediate successors /or the exten- 
 sion of its territorial limits. But the Church, at least 
 within its own bounds, was no longer a Church militant ; 
 and the result of this — invariable in the case of all 
 churches — was that zeal for the faith, as a true faith, 
 
296 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 slackened, and we liave a series of Popes in wtom 
 the Prince tends ever more and more to supersede tlie 
 Theologian. Scarcely in any Conclave since that which, 
 elected Paul V. would any Baronius have been found 
 to protest, and protest effectually, against the election of 
 a candidate deemed a likely man to hold his own among 
 the crowned heads of Europe, on the ground that as a 
 bishop he had neglected his diocese. Scarcely, on the 
 other hand, would there have been found in any subse- 
 quent Conclave a necessity for protesting against the 
 election of a candidate deemed papabile that he was 
 licentious in his conversation. In the old renaissance 
 days such a protest would never have been heard, because 
 it never would have occurred to any man that such a 
 matter was worth a protest. In the period we are now 
 entering on it would not be heard, because no need for 
 it would arise. "We are entering on an emphatically 
 decent epoch ; not an epoch of improved morality, but 
 of a higher regard for appearances ; not an epoch when 
 any Pope could have talked jovially of " enjoying the 
 Papacy," like a Leo X., still less have turned the 
 Vatican to the purposes of a casino, like an Alexan- 
 der YI. ; nor, on the other hand, an epoch when the 
 Inquisition was encouraged to biu-n and persecute men 
 for inexactitude in theii- orthodoxy, and ascetic practices 
 were a recommendation to Papal favour ; but an epoch 
 when men's minds were greatly exercised in matters of 
 court ceremonial, and the order of preccdouce among 
 the ambassadors to the Pontiff was a matter capable of 
 sotting Europe at war, and when Eoman society was 
 convulsed by the question of the sort of headgear which 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 297 
 
 a cardinal should most properly wear when, receiving 
 company, and whether he should hold it in his hand or 
 put it on his head ! 
 
 This book of my narrative might have been called 
 " The Popes of Fribbledom," but that we have not quite 
 reached that stage yet. But it may, I think, be fairly 
 said that we have reached the age when the Popes 
 became princes first and priests afterwards. 
 
 Paul Y., whose tall and majestic figure looked a few 
 days before his death (as the narrator of the Conclave 
 which elected his successor teUs us) as if he might have 
 attended the obsequies of every member of the Sacred 
 CoUege, had a fit of apoplexy during the procession 
 which he celebrated in thanksgiving for the victory in 
 the famous battle of the White Mountain, near Prague. 
 It was not immediately fatal ; but at the distance of a 
 few days he had a second, which killed him on the 28th 
 of January, 1621. 
 
 The Conclave which followed was not a remarkable 
 one, Paul had reigned the, for those days, exception- 
 ally long space of nearly sixteen years ; and it resulted 
 thence that by far the greater number of the cardinals 
 existing at the time of his death were his "creatures," 
 and were in the Conclave adherents of his nephew, the 
 Cardinal Borghese. His party was also further in- 
 creased by the adherents of Montalto and one or two 
 more of the oldest cardinals who dated from before the 
 elevation of Clement VIII. Opposed to him was Aldo- 
 brandino, our old acquaintance, still alive and busy, at 
 the head of the survivors of the old Clementine party 
 and of the Prench cardinals. But Borghese commanded 
 
298 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 forty votes out of the fifty-two cardinals who went into 
 Conclave, and the result could not be doubtful. The 
 new Pope was the man of his choice, and that fell on 
 Alexander Ludovisi of Bologna, who was elected Pope, 
 as Gregory XV., on the 9th of February, 1621. 
 
 The selection of Ludovisi marks the tendency of the 
 time as distinctly as that of the Caraffas and GhisKeris 
 had marked the preceding epoch. He had been known 
 as an able and successful diplomatist. But he was now 
 an old and broken man, and reigned only two years and 
 five months. 
 
 His nephew, the magnificent and splendid Cardinal 
 Ludovico Ludovisi, an able energetic man of only five- 
 and-twenty at the time of his uncle's election, exercised, 
 in fact, the sovereign power during the short reign of 
 Gregory XV. Ludovisi, though a worldly and world- 
 loving man, was not negligent of the duties of his 
 station as he understood them. His tenure of power 
 was marked by the establishment of the celebrated 
 Propaganda,* and by the canonization of the two first 
 generals of the Jesuits — both events also marking the 
 character of the period. 
 
 The election to be now made was the first under 
 the ncAV regulations which had been laid down by 
 Gregory XV. in his Bulls of the 15th of Xovember, 
 1621, Eterni Pain's Films, and of the following 
 
 • It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that the full title of this 
 ■world-famous College is the "Sacra Congrogatiouo de Propaganda 
 Fide." The first planning of the institution dates from the time of 
 Gregory XIII. — but it was not offoctually founded till tho reign of 
 Gro-ory X^^, and mainly by tho efforts and munificence of the Cardinal 
 Ludovisi. 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 299 
 
 15th of March, Decet Romanum Pontificem. These 
 Bulls of Gregory XV. make no change whatever in the 
 principle and theory of the election, but only regulate 
 the mode of procedure and ceremonial, and they form 
 the basis of Conclave law and practice at the present 
 time. The most important innovation made in them 
 seems to have been that which orders that the scrutiny 
 shall be in future secret. We have seen enough of 
 the disorders to which the proceedings were rendered 
 liable by the practice of open voting to appreciate the 
 motives of Gregory's ordinance. These Bulls also 
 repeat and renew the strictest prohibitions to the 
 cardinals from conferring with any one, even with 
 their own colleagues, on the Pope to be elected, or 
 from forming factions and parties in the Conclave, or 
 from communicating to the world outside aught that 
 passes within it. "We have seen how far such rules 
 were observed in the Conclaves heretofore — what sign 
 there has been perceptible that any of the parties con- 
 cerned thought any obedience was due to any such 
 rules. And it is difficult to understand how Gregory 
 himseK, who knew well what Conclaves were, could 
 have supposed that such rules would or, one may almost 
 say, could be observed. 
 
 Father Theiner, in his very able history of the 
 pontificate of Clement XI Y., declares that these regula- 
 tions go beyond what is humanly possible. Still, as 
 Mr. Cartwright remarks,* he makes the distinct 
 admission that in the correspondence written from the 
 Conclave the cardinals violated obligations by which 
 * " Constitution of Papal ConclaTes," p- 112. 
 
300 THE PAPAL CONCLAYES. 
 
 they had boirnd themselves. It might be added that 
 they subjected themselves to penalties which it is 
 incredible that they would have incurred if they had 
 lelieved in them. " How, it will be asked," says Father 
 Theiaer, " could some cardinals venture on such an open 
 violation of the above constitution (that of Gregory XV.) 
 as to communicate so freely to their Court all that passed 
 in the Conclave as was the case with the French 
 cardinals and with Orsini ? " To which the author 
 attempts so lame an answer, that the reader can hardly 
 help feeling that it was imprudent on the part of an 
 orthodox writer to have asked it, or to avoid the con- 
 clusion that the true answer is, because they had no 
 belief in the sacred nature of the command or in the 
 punishment of the violation of it, but regarded the 
 whole thing as a solemn sham and farce ! 
 
 The constitution of Gregory enjoining the secrecy of 
 the votes given in scrutiny was observed on the next 
 following election, and has been the mle ever since, 
 no doubt to the great increase of order and regularity 
 of proceeding in the Conclaves — not that the plan is 
 otherwise than an immoral one, and the necessity for 
 it discreditable to the electors of the Sacred CoUege. 
 There should be nothing to prevent a conscientious man 
 in that position fi-om declaring openlj- in the face of his 
 fellows the name of him Avhom, as before God, he con- 
 siders most fitted to assume the government of the 
 universal Church ; but, as the electors are, and as tbe 
 elections are, no doubt the secrecv of the votinc: has 
 contributed to order and regularity. 
 
 But if tlio attention of Gregory had been drawn to 
 
THE PEINCB POPES. 301 
 
 tlie expediency of providing for the better ordering of 
 the proceedings of the Conclaves, he omitted to attempt 
 anything towards ameliorating that terrible evil and 
 scandal to Eome and its priestly government — ^the state 
 of the city during the interregnum between one Pope's 
 reign and that of his successor. " Let no man say that 
 he has seen Eome," says the historian of a Conclave of 
 this period, " who has not been there during a vacancy of 
 the Holy See ! The authority of the tribunals is then 
 at an end, and every one is free to speak and to write 
 and to say openly that which on all accounts at any 
 other time it was necessary to keep concealed," The 
 remark is very characteristic of Eome and its social 
 atmosphere at that period ; but it would have been well 
 if the general unloosiag of tongues and pens had been 
 all the licence to which the interregnum gave occasion. 
 Here is a passage from Girolamo Gigli, quoted by 
 Cancellieri, who calls him a most accurate writer of the 
 things which happened ia his time, giving some account 
 of the state of things during the interregnum between 
 Gregory XV. and Urban VIII. It is abundantly con- 
 firmed in all respects by other writers. The interregnum 
 in question, as has been seen, did not continue beyond 
 the normal time. What must the state of Eome have 
 been when the period of utter lawlessness was prolonged 
 for months ! 
 
 " Not a day passed," says Gigli, " without quarrels, 
 homicides, and ambuscades. Many men and women 
 were found killed ia various parts of the city; many 
 headless bodies were found, many, also headless, which 
 had been thrown into the Tiber; many houses were 
 
302 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 broken into by nigbt and sacked ; doors were broken 
 open; women were done Tiolence to, some killed, and 
 others carried off by violence ; many young girls were 
 dishonoured, forced, and taken away. All the officers 
 of justice who made any attempt to take any man to 
 prison were either killed or badly wounded and maimed. 
 The governor of Trastevere was stabbed while making 
 the round of his district ; and other governors of 
 districts were in great peril of their lives. But many 
 of these disorders and audacious crimes were committed 
 by soldiers whom different lords and princes kept at 
 Eome for their own protection. Such was the case 
 especially with the guards whom the Cardinal of Savoy 
 had brought to Eome with him, by whom a large 
 number of the officers of justice, who had taken one of 
 their band into custody, were slaia. In short, the evil 
 went on increasing from day to day, till it was thought 
 that Eome woiild be brought to a bad pass indeed if the 
 Conclave were to last as long as there was much reason 
 to fear it might ! " 
 
 Gregory XV. had died in the Quirinal Palace on the 
 evening of Saturday, the 8th of July, 1G23 ; and on the 
 morning of the 19th fifty-two cardinals, after hearing 
 mass in St, Peter's, went into Conclave in the Vatican. 
 Three other cardinals arrived in Eome subsequently, 
 and entered Conclave, making the number fifty-five ; 
 but Cardinal Pcrotti having boon obliged to quit it on 
 account of illness, the number of those who took part 
 in the election was eventually fifty-four. Thirty-six, 
 therefore, was the requii-ed majority of two-thirds 
 necessary to make an election. 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 303 
 
 It was expected that the Conclave would be a long and 
 diflGLcult one, for the three following reasons assigned by 
 the narrator of the story of it. In the first place, it 
 was thought that the new rules would have the effect of 
 rendering it more difficult to get together the necessary 
 majority. Private and personal opinions and interests, 
 it was urged, would have greater sway, and authority 
 less, in an election in which the votes were given 
 secretly. And the expectation seems a reasonable one. 
 In the next place, there was very pronounced enmity 
 between the two prominent and natural leaders of the 
 Sacred College. These were Cardinal Borghese, the 
 nephew of Paul V., and Cardinal Ludovisi, the nephew 
 and all-powerful prime minister of Gregory XV. The 
 two men were so different in character and disposition, 
 as well as divided by the circumstances of their position, 
 that it was thought that there could be small hope of 
 their acting together. The third reason for expectiag a 
 long Conclave was that there was a specially large 
 number of cardinals who, from their age, influence, and 
 character, might be deemed papahilij or who, at all 
 events, were such in their own opinion. Yet the objec- 
 tions of one kind or another which existed in the case 
 of almost every one of them were such as, it was prog- 
 nosticated, must render the choice a very difficult one. 
 
 Although the two main factions into which this Con- 
 clave (the first held under the rules of Gregory XV., 
 which strictly prohibit the formation of factions in the 
 Conclave) was divided consisted of the "creatures" of 
 Paul v., led by his nephew, the Cardinal Borghese, and 
 the " creatures " of Gregory XV., led by his nephew, 
 
304 ■ THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 the Cardinal Ludovisi, those two categories by no means 
 exhausted the whole College. Besides Sforza, whom 
 nobody thought of for the Papacy, there were still 
 surviving three of the creations of Sixtus Y., since whose 
 day no less than seven Popes had reigned ! These were 
 Saoli, whom we have met with before, Delmonte, and 
 Borromeo; and all three were considered among the 
 probable candidates. Saoli was esteemed a politician of 
 much insight and judgment, but not much of a church- 
 man. His chance was thought also to be much injured 
 by the unreasonable amount of partiality shown by him 
 to a certain favourite of his, who is not more parti- 
 cularly mentioned. The circumstance is worth men- 
 tioning only as a specimen of the sort of matters that 
 were held to influence the Sacred College in the elections. 
 Further, Saoli was known to be on bad terms with the 
 Aldobrandini family, still powerful in the College in the 
 person of a younger Cardinal Ippolito, who had inhe- 
 rited a portion of the influence of his elder relative, the 
 nephew of Clement YIII. 
 
 Delmonte was known as a man of licentious life ; but 
 more injurious to him, says the conclavist wiiter, than 
 this reputation, was the fact that his family was connected 
 with that of the French Boiu'bons. It was also known 
 that his election would have given a great Uft to the 
 Medici, a consideration that would ha^e ensured biin 
 the utmost opposition on the pai-t of the Cai'dinal of 
 Savoy. Delmonte laboured also under the disadvantage 
 — no small one on that occasion — of being somewhat 
 over-careful in money matters. Against Borromeo there 
 was little or nothing to be said ; but it Avas thought that 
 
THE PEIXCE POPES. 305 
 
 his election would not have been agreeable to the Court 
 of Spain, wbicb had, on more than one occasion, in certain 
 matters respecting which it had come into collision with 
 him, as Archbishop of Milan, found him more uncom- 
 promising and less accommodating than it could have 
 wished. 
 
 Among the surviving " creatures " of Clement VIII. 
 there were also three deemed papahili, the Cardinals 
 Bondini, Ginnasio, and Madruzzi. The first was gene- 
 rally held to be a man of great ability, much admiais- 
 trative experience, and brilliant natural talents. "And 
 this reputation," remarks the conclavist very characteris- 
 tically, "he had continually endeavoured to augment, 
 very unwisely, not understanding that an exhibition 
 of extraordinary merit, no less than demerit, is influential 
 in removing the Papacy out of a man's grasp." He 
 goes on, however, to enumerate a variety of causes of 
 private enmity, which would have the effect of alienating 
 this, that, and the other cardinal from him, which (though 
 the enumeration of them is curious as affording glimpses 
 of the manners of the time, and especially as indicating 
 the minuteness and vast variety of the .considerations 
 which influenced the elections, and had to be thought of 
 by the managers of them) would need too much space to 
 be here developed in detail. Ginnasio, though deemed 
 a creaiura papahili — a possible Pope — was a man of less 
 mark. He had against him a character for being fond 
 of money ; and it was thought that during his residence 
 as legate in Spain he had rendered himself distasteful 
 to the Spanish Court. Of Madruzzo of Trent, we are 
 told that, though he strove to the utmost of his power 
 
 X 
 
306 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 to get himself accepted among tlie Italians as an Italian, 
 the latter would always consider him as a German. It 
 is added that, even if he could have succeeded in causing 
 it to be forgotten that he was an Ultramontane (sic), he 
 would still have been a cardinal named by Spain, which 
 came to the same thing as far as exclusion from the 
 Papacy went. 
 
 The Papacy of Paul V, was so long an one — over 
 fifteen years — and that of Gregory XV. so short — less 
 than two years and a half — that although Gregory was 
 the last, and Paul only the last but one, the "creatures" 
 of Paul were still more numerous in the College than 
 those of Gregory. The historian of the Conclave inti- 
 mates that the Paoline cardinals were not only the more 
 numerous, but the more conspicuous for merit and 
 weight. And he enumerates no less than eleven who 
 were considered papahili. Barberini is one of them. 
 The other ten names are now as unknown as his also 
 would have been, had he not been the one among them 
 elected Pope ; and it would be tedious to go over all the 
 grounds of objection to each one of them, which the 
 conclavist, who seems to have been most perfectly 
 master of all the public and private history of every 
 member of the College, assigns at length. We must 
 content ourselves with noting what he and others tells 
 us of the winner in the race. 
 
 The Barberini were Florontiaes, who liad thriven as 
 lucrchant adventm-ers at Ancona. Maffeo, a scion of the 
 family, born in 1568, was taken to Eome, where an 
 imcle bad risen to a certain position in some one of the 
 ,tldministrati^'o dcpai'tmcnts of the Apostolic Court. The 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 307 
 
 young Maflfeo had an opening made for him in the same 
 career, and soon gave evidence of possessing considerable 
 talent and industry. It was remarked that whatever 
 work was given him to do was better done than that 
 entrusted to any of his colleagues. He rose rapidly, 
 and eventually had the way to the highest honour 
 opened to him by being sent as legate to France. Here 
 his tact and judgment succeeded in accomplishing the 
 difficult task of impressing the Eoman world with a high 
 idea of his zeal for the advancement of the interests of 
 the Church, while at the same tirae he rendered himself 
 acceptable to the French Court. Paul Y. gave him the 
 purple, and at the death of Gregory, the French party in 
 the Conclave at once conceived the idea of bringing 
 about his elevation to the Papacy. In truth he was the 
 man for the time. As far removed from a Leo X. or 
 from an Alexander VI. as he was from a Paul IV. or a 
 Pius v., he was well adapted for the purposes of the 
 period, when the Head of the Church was taking his 
 place in the European system as — not the Vicegerent of 
 Heaven entrusted with the supremacy over all other 
 monarchs — but one of the crowned heads who had to ma- 
 nage the affairs of Europe among them. Clement VIII., 
 as Eanke remarks, was ordinarily found occupying his 
 leisure with the works of St. Bernard, and Paul V. 
 with those of the Venetian lawyer Giustiniani ; but on 
 Barberini's table might be seen the last new poems, and 
 the drawings and plans of fortifications. It would have 
 been well, at least for the finances of the Apostolic 
 Chamber, if he had among his other worldly knowledge 
 possessed a somewhat more trustworthy estimate of the 
 
 X 2 
 
308 THE PAPAL CONCLAYES. 
 
 proportion his own power as a sovereign bore to that of 
 the monarchs his contemporaries. The fortress which 
 he caused to he built on the frontier of the Bologna 
 district, and called Urbano, might more appropriately 
 have been called "Barberini's folly; " and the sums he 
 expended in fortifying the Castle of St. Angelo might 
 as usefully have been thrown into the Tiber. 
 
 Maifeo Barberini had contrived in France to conciliate 
 objects and interests somewhat incompatible— in gaining 
 the favour of the French monarch and the French states- 
 men, and at the same time acquiring at Eome a reputa- 
 tion for zeal for the pretensions of the Church. And if 
 what is told of his management of his affairs in the 
 Conclave be true, he would seem to have availed him- 
 self then of the same order of ability. It has been said 
 that the ultimate and the penultimate cardinal nephews, 
 the Borghese and the Ludovisi, were at chronic enmity ; 
 and it is said that the clever Cardinal Maffeo found the 
 means of persuading each of them that the other was his 
 especial aversion ! 
 
 The cardinals deemed pajmhiU of the creatures of 
 Gregory XY. (the Ludovisi party) were three in 
 number, Gaetani, Sacrato, and San Severino. The fii-st 
 was a man of literary tastes and habits, and had had 
 much experience in the business of courts. It is curious 
 to find that the main objection to his election was the fact 
 that he was a Eoman baron. The time had been when 
 that circumstance Avould have told in his favour-. It 
 was also against him that the Borghese, Paul V., and all 
 the family, had been much discontented with his conduct 
 as nuncio in Spain, where, instead of obtaining the rank 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 309 
 
 of Spanish grandee for a Borghese, as Paul had expected 
 -of him, he had done so for his own relative the DiLke of 
 Sermoneta, Further than that, he had purposely, as 
 was believed, kept from the knowledge of Paul the fact 
 ihat the Duke of Lerma had fallen into disgrace with 
 Philip III. of Spain, and had thus caused the Pope to 
 create him a cardinal, which he would not have done 
 had the truth been made known to him. These were 
 faults which none of the Borghese faction were likely to 
 forget or to forgive ! The second, Cardinal Socrati, was 
 considered to be too young; for "though his boldness 
 might have led to his being supposed to be older, it was 
 known that he was little more than fifty years old." 
 Besides that, he had never been liked by Paul V., and 
 was therefore now opposed by the Borghese faction. The 
 third, San Severino, though unobjectionable in all other 
 respects, was strongly opposed by the Spanish party. 
 
 At the beginning of the Conclave it was calculated 
 that Borghese could command twenty-four votes — not 
 enough to make an election, but abundantly sufficient to 
 exclude any nomination they might unite in opposing. 
 But it soon became apparent that Borghese could not 
 count with any security on the allegiance of all those 
 •\vho were deemed to belong to his party. It had been, 
 Ihe historian of the Conclave tells us, the constant 
 object and efibrt of Cardinal Ludovisi, during the whole 
 time of the Papacy of his uncle, to secretly detach from 
 their party the friends of the Borghese interest ; and it 
 became evident that an unknown number of those in the 
 Conclave could not be depended on. The Paoline party 
 was, moreover, stricken by a great misfortune in the very 
 
310 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 heat of the battle. Their leader, the Cardinal Borghese, 
 was smitten by illness. It was July, and the malaria 
 from the low-lying meadows around the Castle St. 
 Angelo laid its benumbing hand on him ! He took to 
 his bed in his cell, and it was thought that he must 
 have quitted the Conclave. The Gregorian or Ludo- 
 visian party were in the highest spirits, and thought 
 themselves sure of the victory as soon as Borghese 
 should be no longer present to overawe and hold to- 
 gether the body of his adherents. But he too under- 
 stood but too well all that was likely to be the conse- 
 quence of his absence, and determined to struggle on, 
 dragging himself from his bed from time to time as the 
 progress of the struggle rendered it necessary, or the 
 alternating cold and hot fits of the fever rendered it 
 possible for him to do so. Day by day his struggles 
 and his sufferings were marked by hostUe and calcu- 
 lating eyes, and day by day the conA'iction grew that, if 
 he would not die at the stake, he must give up and 
 leave the pestiferous air of the Conclave. 
 
 What ! succumb ! he at the head of such a body of 
 cardinals as no cardinal nephew had ever yet come into 
 Conclave with, and live to see Ludovico Ludovisi create 
 a Pope ! Not if he died for it ! So still he struggled 
 on. Day after day he was at his post in the Sistine 
 Chapel, though looking as if he must have died on the 
 benches of it. And the Ludovisians began to lose hope. 
 If the fever would but kill him at once ! But it would 
 not ! That is not Malaria's modus operandi, and it was 
 t'\ident that Borghesi^ would strike to no force less than 
 that (.fdralli! 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 311 
 
 Still the Ludovisians, though they could not make, 
 could yet mar any possible election. The days dragged 
 on in yarious futile attempts till all vere tired out ; and 
 many feared that, if the Conclaye were prolonged at that 
 season of the year, the same fate would overtake them 
 that had stricken Borghese. 
 
 So at last Barberini was named, as upon the whole 
 the candidate to whom the greatest number had the 
 least objection ; and thus Urban VIII. became yet one 
 more pis oiler Pope. The election was so far a triumph 
 for Borghese and the Paoline party that Barberini was 
 among the number of his adherents ; and it was in so 
 far a triumph for the Ludovisi faction, as that they had 
 compelled their adversaries to be content with one 
 against whom Paul Y., and, by that law of inheritance 
 which no statute of limitations ever sets aside in the 
 priestly world of Home, his nephew the Cardinal 
 Borghese, had sundry old grudges of long standing. 
 As it was, the election was, by virtue of an under- 
 standing between the parties, unanimous, with the 
 exception of three of the oldest cardinals, who, remain- 
 ing in their cells, had been unaware of what was being 
 done. 
 
 But this account of the result of the Conclave gives 
 but a very inadequate idea of what a Conclave in the 
 month of July — or August or September — ^was (and 
 would be again) at Eome. The obstinacy and jealousies 
 of the rival factions needed to be backed and sustained 
 in their Eminences by a degree of determined tenacity 
 of purpose which was proof against suffering of no 
 ordinary kind, and which almost deserves to be called 
 
312 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 heroic. The result of the Conclave, as regards the elec- 
 tion, has been told. Here are some of the results of it 
 from another point of view, as given in CanceUieri's 
 gossiping and curious little volume. 
 
 "On Wednesday, the 29th of July, 1623, about sixty 
 cardinals entered into Conclave, and were shut up that 
 same night. But it appeared as if the election of the 
 new Pope would be an abnormally long affair. ISTever- 
 theless the heat of the weather, in the severest [piit 
 aspro) season of the year, and the discomfort which the 
 cardinals suffered in Conclave, and the imminent danger 
 of falling ill and of dying, made them determine to 
 despatch the business more quickly than they would 
 have otherwise done. The see was vacant twenty-eight 
 days. On the 4th of August Cardinals Peretti and 
 Girardi went out ftom the Conclave ill. And a great 
 many of the others, including the Cardinal Borghese, 
 began to suffer. 
 
 " On the 6th of August, the festival of the Transfigu- 
 ration, which was a Sunday, Cardinal Maffio Barberini 
 was elected Pope, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and 
 assumed the name of Urban YIII., and was proclaimed 
 at the nineteenth hour {i.e. about thi-ee o'clock in the 
 afternoon). As soon as they came out of conclave 
 nearly all the cardinals fell ill ; many were at death's 
 door, and some died. As for the conclavists, they 
 almost all diod. Shortly Pope Urban himself fell ill. 
 On the 14th of August Cardinal Pignatelli died, in his 
 forty-third year, and his body was buried at the ]iliucrva. 
 Uo was a man of low bu-th, but a very clever negotiator, 
 and therefore much esteemed by Borglieso, who caused 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 313 
 
 Ms elevation to the purple, and wliose most intimate 
 counseller lie was. On the 19th of August died Car- 
 dinal Serra, of Genoa, in his fifty-third year, and was 
 buried at the Pace Church. On the 23rd of August 
 Cardinal Saoli, of Genoa, the Dean of the Sacred College, 
 died in his eighty- sixth year, and was buried at the 
 church of La Madonna del Popolo. On the 1st of 
 September Cardinal Gozzadino, of Bologna, died in his 
 fifty-first year. It had been many years previously 
 predicted to him by an astrologer that he should die 
 from imprisonment. He was much in debt, and it was 
 supposed that the astrologer took his hint from that. 
 But when his uncle, Gregory XV., was elected Pope, he 
 said that he now felt safe from the prediction. But on 
 his death-bed he declared that the astrologer had spoken 
 the truth, for that, in fact, the imprisonment of the Con- 
 clave had killed him ; for, in truth, the Conclave was a 
 prison, and a prison of the very worst description for 
 him and for the others ! Finally, the Cardinal Girardo 
 died, in the forty-seventh year of his age, on the 1st of 
 October." 
 
 The worthy gossip gives us the chronicle of this 
 terrible mortality on the fifty-fifth page of his volume, 
 utterly and very amusingly forgetful that he had begun 
 his work by the statement that, " although many Con- 
 claves have occurred duriug the hot months, yet no 
 example of epidemic infection has happened in them; 
 all those who have taken part in them having almost 
 always come out from them without any injury to their 
 health." 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Eoign and Works of Urban VIII. — Change in the Position of the Popes. 
 Ko more Possibility of obtaining Soyereignties for Papal Nephews. 
 — Accumulation of -wealth by the Papal Families. — Sixtus V. — 
 Gregory XIV.— Clement VrH. — Paul V.— Gregory XV. — Urban 
 VIII. — Amount of dotation permissible to a Papal Nephew. — Per- 
 secution of one papal family by another. — Conclave at the death 
 of Urban. — Parties and interest at Eome much changed since the 
 last Conclave. — Cardinal PamphiU elected as Innocent X. — The 
 Barberini driven from Home. 
 
 Urban VIII., who left so large a material mark at 
 Eome, both by what he built and by what he destroyed, 
 is he of whom and of whose kinsmen it was said, and is 
 remembered, that " Quod non fecerunt Barbari, id fecere 
 Barberini." Even to the present day it is impossible 
 to walk through the streets of Eome without being 
 reminded, almost at every turn, of the building pro- 
 pensities of Urban and his enriched family by the 
 frequent appearance of the bees, his family cognisance. 
 And when these same "busy" creatures are recognised 
 on the colossal bronze canopy over the high altar in St. 
 Peter's, we are reminded of the above-quoted sarcasm, 
 and of the fate of the Pantheon robbed of its bronze 
 covering to deface the nave of Michael Angelo's church 
 by a tasteless monstrosity. But there are no bees at 
 the Coliseum to record the irreparable mischief done by 
 Barberini hands in carting away the materials for theii- 
 modern buildings ! 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 315 
 
 Urban reigned all but twenty-one years, and the con- 
 ditions of the Papacy were more changed during this 
 period than had been the case during any previous 
 Pontiff's reign for a very long time. It was the begin- 
 ning of the long down-hUl course on which the power 
 and importance of the Popes has been moving ever 
 since, till the entire loss of temporal dominion, reached 
 at the bottom of that long incline, has, in the opinion 
 of many, opened the way for a return to extended power 
 by a different path. The long hill which has been 
 spoken of was somewhat steep in the earliest portion of 
 it, and became very steep just before the bottom was 
 reached. But the intervening slope was long and very 
 gradual. 
 
 The change, of course, necessarily produced a series 
 of prince Popes, as I have called^them — of sovereigns who 
 were temporal princes first and churchmen afterwards ; 
 for the Popes could only play a great part in European 
 state affairs as Churchmen, The Yicegerency of Heaven 
 had to be put prominently forward in advancing a claim 
 to supremacy over crowned heads. Prom the time of 
 Urban the Popes became resignedly the petty sovereigns 
 of a petty state; or if, theoretically, not resignedly, 
 their protests against being considered only such were 
 made but for theory and form's sake. 
 
 "With this decadence from a position of European 
 importance, the completion of the dom i nions of the Church 
 as they have existed in modern times coincided. For it 
 was not till the reign of Urban VIII. that the duchy of 
 Urbino formed part of the possessions of the Apostolic 
 See. The family of the Delia Eovere Dukes— about the 
 
316 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 best of all the mediseval Italian sovereign families in 
 all respects — became extinct under very unfortunate 
 circumstances during the papacy of Urban; and the 
 Pope was able to exercise a degree of moral pressure on 
 the old, discouraged, unhappy, and childless Duke, which 
 ended by inducing him to give up his duchy to the Holy 
 Father. Urbino thus fell to the Apostolic See, and 
 completed the Papal dominions as we of this generation 
 have known them. 
 
 Contemporaneously with that change in the condition 
 of European affairs which operated to reduce the power 
 of the Pontiffs to that of mere Italian princes, the 
 political conditions of Italy assumed a form and settle- 
 ment which made it impossible for the Popes to con- 
 template, or at all events to succeed in, carving out 
 from the body of Italy hereditary principalities for their 
 families. Paul III., the Farnese, was the last who 
 accomplished this. It is true, as has been seen, that 
 the Papal See became possessed of Urbino subsequently 
 under the pontificate of Urban YIII ; and had that 
 pontificate and that Pope existed a centui-y earlier, the 
 world would doubtless have seen a series of Earberuii 
 dukes at Urbino. But the times were changed. And 
 to put other difficulties — which, however, would have 
 been found insuperable — out of the question, so strong a 
 feeling had grown up in the Chiu'ch, and especially in 
 the Sacred College, the authority and power of which 
 was now far more able to counterbalance that of the 
 Pontiffs than it had been in earlier times, against dis- 
 membering the territory of the Holy See, that Urban 
 did not dare to make the attempt. 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 31T 
 
 It remained, then, for the ambition and family feeling 
 of the later Popes to find some other means for the 
 gratification of passions, which were no less strong in. 
 them than they had been in their predecessors. And 
 these means were found in the foundation of princely 
 families, claiming, indeed, no higher rank than that of 
 Eoman nobles, but each striving to eclipse, and in many 
 cases succeeding in eclipsing, the relatives of former 
 Popes in splendour, wealth, and the accumulation of 
 real property. 
 
 Here are a few particulars of what was accomplished 
 by the successive Popes of the nephew-enriching group ; 
 for neither has that phase of Church corruption sur- 
 vived the changes of the times and of public opinion, 
 and we do not find the family names of the more recent 
 Popes familiarized to the world by the immensity of 
 their possessions. 
 
 Paul III. was, as has been seen, the last of the 
 sovereign-family-founding Popes. He died in 1549. 
 Sixtus Y. was the first of the group we are now 
 speaking of. He ascended the throne in 1585. The 
 interval was occupied by the " zealous Popes," whose 
 minds were bent, as has been seen, on other things. 
 
 Sixtus V. conferred on his cardinal nephew eccle- 
 siastical revenues to the value of 100,000 crowns a year. 
 He negotiated a wealthy marriage for another nephew, 
 created him Marchese di Montana, and gave him the 
 principalities of "Venafro and Celano. 
 
 Gregory XIV. reigned but ten, and Innocent IX. but 
 two months. 
 
 Then came Clement YIII. with his thirteen years of 
 
318 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 papacy and the Aldobrandino greatness. Pietro Aldo- 
 brandino, the cardinal nephew, already in 1599, when 
 only the first half of his sunshine and haymaking period 
 had elapsed, possessed ecclesiastical revenues to the 
 amount of 60,000 crowns a year; and these were sub- 
 sequently immensely increased. The Cardinal Pietro 
 was a careful man, bought property largely, and had 
 moneys in the Bank of Yenice. All his accumulations 
 were destined to pass to Gianfrancesco Aldobrandini, 
 his sister's husband, who had himself, in 1599, 60,000 
 crowns a year from lay offices in the Pontifi''s gift, 
 and who, besides, was constantly receiving presents 
 in cash from the Pope. Eanke tells us that he had 
 found a statement of accounts, according to which 
 Clement VIII. gave to this Gianfrancesco more than 
 a million (of crowns, I presume, is meant) in cash. 
 Gianfrancesco also was a careful and thrifty man. 
 He bought a property which rendered to its owner 
 3,000 crowns a year, and shortly drew from it 
 12,000 ! He married his daughter Marghorita to 
 Eanuccio Farnese, and gave her a dower of 400,000 
 crowns. 
 
 Leo XI., Clement's successor, reigned only twenty- 
 seven days ; and then came Paul V. and the day of the 
 Borghese greatness. Of course it wns the object of 
 each one of these Popes, and yet more perhaps that of 
 their ncphows, to eclipse the fortunes and the grandeur 
 of the family of the preceding occupant of the throne ; 
 and as the scandalous nepotism and hn-ish expenditure 
 ul' tlio treasure of the Churcli by each Pontiff in a certain 
 sense legit iinatised such practices, and rendered it pos- 
 
THE PEINCB POPES. 319 
 
 sible for the next in the line to go yet a little (or not 
 a little) further, this was not difficult of accomplish- 
 ment. The ecclesiastical revenues possessed by Cardinal 
 Borghese were valued in 1612 at 150,000 crowns. But 
 Marcantonio Borghese was the layman to whom the 
 transmission of the family name and greatness was 
 intrusted. He received from the Pope the principality 
 of Sulmona, several palaces in Eome, and many of the 
 most valuable villas in. the environs. In this case, 
 again, Eanke has found a list of the " gratifications" 
 given by Paul up to the year 1620. They consist in 
 property of almost every conceivable kind, very much of 
 it taken from the treasure-chambers and storehouses of 
 the Apostolic Palace. But the sums in hard cash which 
 Marcantonio Borghese is stated to have received up 
 to 1620 amount to 689,727 crowns in ready money; 
 24,000 crowns of titles in the public debt, according to 
 their nominal value ; and 268,176 crowns in offices, 
 calculated at the price for which they could have been, 
 and ordinarily were, sold by the Apostolic Chamber ! 
 The Borghesi also bought lands on a large scale. It is 
 calculated that they purchased about eighty estates in 
 the Eoman Campagna, sold by Eoman nobles who found 
 that they could increase their revenues by putting the 
 purchase-money of their lands in the public funds. 
 They established themselves also in various other parts 
 of the States of the Church ; and the unscrupulous Paul, 
 who was so scrupulous an asserter of the rights of the 
 Church against others, did not hesitate to damage the 
 revenues of the State, as well as his subjects, by granting 
 to his relatives special privileges as to the holding of 
 
320 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 markets, and the granting remission from and levying 
 of taxes. Upon the whole, Paul V., the Borghese, was 
 the most unscrupulous and imconscientious of the Popes 
 since Paul III. in his nepotism ; and the Borghesi 
 became the wealthiest and most powerful family that 
 had yet risen in Eome. The Farnesi, Paul III.'s kin, 
 had passed beyond those limits, and become sovereign 
 princes, to the infinite affliction and misery of the sub- 
 jects they governed. 
 
 Then came the turn of the Ludovisi. Gregory XY. 
 had only two years and five months to work in for the 
 enrichment and establishment of his family, but he used 
 them to this end so energetically that the Ludovisi, from 
 being small provincial nobles at Bologna, have ever 
 since taken their places among that higher Eoman aris- 
 tocracy, every family of which has a hotbed of simony, 
 robbery, corruption, perjury, and shameless greed at its 
 root ! 
 
 The Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi was even more abso- 
 lutely master of the Pope and the Government during 
 his uncle's pontificate than the preceding cardinal 
 nephews had been. He received, or rather took for 
 himself, the two greatest and most lucrative offices of 
 the Ecclesiastical Court — those of Yice-Cliancellor and 
 Camerlengo. The Church revenues monopolized by him 
 amounted to 200,000 crowns a year ! As Pianke re- 
 marks, the very apparent probability that (jfi-egory 
 would not live long only impelled him and his kins- 
 men to a more energetic and more shameless rapidity 
 in the work of enriching their family. The Pope's 
 brother was made General of the Church, and rcecivod 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 321 
 
 yarioTis other very lucrative appointments. In the short 
 space of the two years and five months which contained 
 the whole reign of Gregory XV., the Ludovisi accumu- 
 lated a revenue of 800,000 crowns on the public debt. 
 The duiedom of Fiano was bought for them from the 
 Sforza family, and the principality of Zagorolo from 
 the Farnesi. Mccolo Ludoviso, the heir to the family 
 honours and possessions, added to them Yenosa by a 
 first marriage, and Piombino by a second ! 
 
 Then came Urban YIII. with his twenty years of 
 Papacy and the day of the Barberini. Urban had three 
 nephews, two of whom were made cardinals, while the 
 thud, Taddeo, was to be the founder of the new family. 
 It is stated that the regular income of the three brothers 
 amounted to half a million of crowns annually. All 
 the most lucrative posts were in their hands. Calcu- 
 lations of the time show that the Barberini, during 
 the pontificate of Urban VIII., received in one way 
 or another the almost incredible sum of 105,000,000 
 crowns ! Gregory himself seems to have been assailed 
 by some scruples of conscience as to the enormity of 
 the sums he was turning from their proper uses to the 
 enrichment of his family. He named a commission in 
 1640, charged to examine into and report upon the pro- 
 priety and legitimacy of the Pope's doings in the matter. 
 As might easily have been predicted, the commission 
 found that it was all perfectly right. In order, how- 
 ever, to make assurance doubly such to the most delicate 
 conscience, Vitelleschi, the General of the Jesuits, was 
 also consulted upon the point ; and when he expressed 
 his opinion that the Pope had not exceeded the bounds 
 
 Y 
 
322 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 of moderation (!), of course ttere could be no further 
 misgiving, 
 
 " Thus," says Eanke, '' from one pontificate to another 
 new families were always rising into hereditary power, 
 and at once taking their places among the upper 
 aristocracy of the country. It could not be but that 
 enmities should arise among them. The struggle that 
 had at one time existed between factions in the Conclave 
 raged henceforth between the nephews of successive 
 Pontiffs. The new family which had attained to power 
 clung to supremacy with jealous tenacity, and entered 
 at once into hostility, pushed even to the extent of 
 persecution, against the family which had preceded it in 
 power. Despite all that the Aldobrandini had con- 
 tributed towards raising Paul V. to the Papacy, they 
 were attacked, persecuted, and assailed by ruinous legal 
 proceedings at the hands of the kinsmen of that Pope. 
 The nephews of Paul Y. were no better treated by the 
 Ludovisi ; and Cardinal Ludovisi was in his turn driven 
 from Eome when the Barberini came into power." 
 
 This summary statement of facts that for several 
 Papacies past had made up the principal part of the 
 history and politics of the Eoman Court, furnishes a 
 very intelligible explanation of the conduct of the 
 Barberini faction in the Conclave which was held on 
 the death of Urban VIII, At the close of a Papacy of 
 twenty years things were very much changed in Kome. 
 The French interest had been dominant during the whole 
 of that long reign ; and the length of it gave reason at 
 first sight to think that the same ascendancy might 
 continue to prevail, for out of sixty-nine cardinals who 
 
THE PEIKCE POPES. 323 
 
 went into Conclave on the 18th. of January, no less than 
 forty-eight were creatures of TJrban VIII., and formed 
 the faction -of his nephew's adherents. Forty-six were 
 sufficient to elect the Pope, and Barberini might have 
 named his own man if only he could have trusted all 
 the professing adherents of his party ; hut his attempt 
 to cause the election of Cardinal Sacchetti, who would 
 have entirely suited him, soon showed that he could not 
 so trust them. The party of the older cardinals were 
 strong enough, if not to elect a Pope, at least to exclude 
 any one of his proposing. Under these circumstances it 
 was vital to them to secure, at least, the exclusion of a 
 declared adversary. And thus the Barberini party were 
 at last driven to consent to the election of one who was, 
 indeed, nominally a member of their party, and who 
 had been a " creature " of Urban YIII., but was one of 
 the last of those " creatures " whom they would have 
 chosen if they could have done otherwise; for the 
 Cardinal Pamphili had shown himself inclined to favour 
 the Spanish party, and he had been formally excluded 
 by France. Nevertheless, he was elected on the 16th of 
 September, 1644, and took the name of Innocent X. 
 
 But the Barberini very soon found that the modicum 
 of success which they had achieved in the Conclave in 
 securing the election at least of one nominally of their 
 own party was in the result worse than worthless. 
 Pamphili, as has been said, inclined to the Spanish 
 interest, which, though it had been altogether eclipsed 
 and under a cloud during the twenty years of Urban's 
 Papacy, was by no means dead in Eome, but ready to 
 revive and reassume its activity in every ramification of 
 
 T 2 
 
324 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 the complicated macliine of the Papal Court in the 
 retumiag warmth of pontifical favour. And one of the 
 first manifestations of this resuscitated activity was a 
 war to the knife against the Barberini and all that was 
 theirs. Their palaces were occupied by the Papal 
 troops ; their property ^ was sequestered ; confiscations 
 raiaed upon them; demands of accounts respect- 
 ing their administration of the public moneys were 
 threatened; and Antonio Barberini deemed it prudent 
 to fly from Eome. But for one of those sudden changes 
 in the whole Papal sky, to which the peculiar nature 
 of the government renders it liable, the Barberini were 
 wholly ruiaed ! 
 
CHAPTEK III. 
 
 Innocent X. — The Story of his Eeign stands alone in Papal History. 
 — ^Donna Olympia MaidaloMni, his Sister-in-La-w. — Her Influence 
 over him. — Her scandalous venality, greed, and corruption. — 
 Scandal throughout Europe. — Innocent's futile Attempt to banish 
 her. — Anecdote of her dealings in the last hours of the Pope's 
 life. — Innocent's Death. — A Conclave mthout any leaders. — The 
 "Squadrone Volante." — Anecdote of Cardinals Ottobuono and 
 AzzoUni. — Chigi proposed. — Opposed by the French interest. — 
 The Barberini again. — Chigi elected as Alexander VII. — End of 
 the story of Donna Olympia. — Pestilence at Eome. 
 
 Such was the punishment of tlie nepotism of Urban YIII. 
 But "wliat was the conduct of Innocent himself, who 
 thus raged against the nepotism of his predecessor, 
 when he was in his turn exposed to similar temptation ? 
 
 The story of the reign of Innocent X. is in this 
 respect a very singular one. It stands alone among the 
 stories of the long line of Popes, reminding the reader 
 of the old fables of a Pope Joan, which took their dim 
 rise from the metaphorical accounts of the scandals of a 
 Papal Court, not wholly dissimilar from those which 
 Innocent reproduced in more entirely historical times. 
 
 A very singular change came over the spirit of the 
 Papal Court. Innocent X. was guiltless of all nepotism, 
 and yet, strange to say, after all that has been told of the 
 Papal favourites of the preceding reigns, the pontificate 
 of Innocent was in this matter of favouritism the most 
 disgraceful of them all ! Innocent X. was ruled by no 
 
326 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 cardinal nephew; but lie was ruled, more despotically 
 than ever a Pope was ruled before, by a sister-in-law. 
 This was the too celebrated Donna Olympia Maidalchini, 
 the widow of Innocent's brother ! 
 
 rifteen centuries * of Papal government had habitu- 
 ated mankind to see without surprise in Heaven's Vicar 
 on earth an amount of dereliction of duty, and an. 
 enormity of distance between profession and practice, 
 such as has never been recorded in history or exhibited 
 to the world in any other department of its affairs. 
 Yet Europe was startled at the novelty of the position 
 assumed by Olympia immediately on Innocent's eleva- 
 tion. She accompanied the new Pope to the Vatican, 
 and established herself there as its mistress ! No step 
 of domestic government or foreign policy decided on, no 
 grace, favour, or promotion accorded, no punishment 
 inflicted, was the Pope's own work. His invaluable 
 sister-in-law did all. He was absolutely a puppet in 
 her hands. The keys of St. Peter were strung to her 
 girdle; and the only function in which she probably 
 never interfered was blessing the people ! 
 
 The great object of her unceasing care and diplomacy 
 was to keep at a distance from Innocent every person 
 and every iafluence which covld either lessen her own 
 or go shares in the profits to be extracted from it ; for 
 this, after all, was the great and ultimate scope of her 
 exertions. To secure the profits of the Papacy in hard 
 cash, this was the problem. No appointment to office of 
 any kind was made except in consideration of a propor- 
 
 • Tho following account of this extraordinary ■woman is taken from a 
 lifo of her by the present author. 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 327 
 
 tionable sum paid down into her coffers. This often 
 amounted to three or four years' revenue of the place to 
 be granted. Bishoprics and benefices were sold as fast 
 as they became vacant. One story is related of an un- 
 lucky disciple of Simon, who, on treating with the 
 Popess for a very valuable see, just fallen vacant, and 
 hearing from her a price at which it might be his far 
 exceediag aU that he could command, persuaded the 
 members of his family to sell all they had for the 
 purpose of making this profitable investment. The 
 price was paid, and the bishopric was given to him; 
 but, with a fearful resemblance to the case of Ananias, 
 he died within the year, and his ruined family saw the 
 see a second time sold by the insatiable and shameless 
 Olympia ! The incident only served her as a hiat 
 always to exact cash down, and not to content herself 
 with a yearly payment from the accruing revenue. The 
 criminal judges in Eome were directed to punish crimi- 
 nals of all degrees in purse instead of person, and the 
 fines were aU paid over with business-like exactitude to 
 the all-powerful favourite. 
 
 At last the discontent of Eome, the remonstrances 
 of the cardinals, and the contempt and indignation of 
 foreign courts we rebeginning to render the position of 
 Innocent and Olympia hardly tenable. One day a large 
 medal was conveyed into the Pope's hands, on the 
 obverse of which was represented Olympia with the 
 pontifical tiara on her head and the keys in her hand, 
 while the reverse showed Innocent in a coif with a 
 spindle and distaff in his hands. Another day a report 
 was brought to him from England that a play had been 
 
328 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 represented before Cromwell called "The Marriage of tlie 
 Pope," in which. Donna Olympia was represented reject- 
 ing his addresses on account of his extreme ugliness, 
 till, having in vain offered her one of the keys to induce 
 her to consent, he attains his object at the cost of both 
 of them ! The Emperor again had said to the Papal 
 nuncio, "Your Pope, my lord, has an easy time of it 
 with Madame Olympia to put him to sleep." 
 
 Driven by these and many other such manifestations 
 of public feeling. Innocent determined to make a great 
 effort. He announced to Olympia, with every expres- 
 sion of regret for the hard necessity, that she must quit 
 the Yatican ; and knowing well what he would have to 
 endure if he exposed himself to her reproaches and 
 entreaties, he forbade her to come for the future into 
 his presence. 
 
 But the weak and infirm old man had far over- 
 calculated his moral strength. The prop on which he 
 had relied during his years of best vigom- could not be 
 voluntarily relinquished now in the time of his decrepi- 
 tude. Yery soon Olympia obtained permission to make 
 secret visits to the Yatican. These were made generally 
 every night ; and this nightly secret coming and going 
 at untimely hours threatened to become more ridiculous, 
 if not more seriously scandalous, in the eyes of the lam- 
 pooning Eoman world than an acknowledged residence 
 in the Yatican. Besides, such an arrangement did not 
 adequately meet the necessities of the case. Olympia 
 pointed out to the infirm old man that her constant care 
 and superintendence were neccssaiy to his personal 
 comfort — perhaps to his safety. So Rome very shortly 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 329 
 
 saw the "Papessa" once again at her old home in the 
 Yatican ; and, as from the nature of the circumstances 
 must necessarily have been the case, her power and 
 entire disposal of the functions and revenue of the 
 Papacy became more absolute than ever. 
 
 But the rapidly declining health of Innocent warned 
 her that her time was short, and prudence might have 
 counselled her to make some preparation for the storm, 
 which she must have well known she would have to 
 face after his death, by moderation if not relinquishing 
 the corrupt and offensive practices of all sorts which 
 were daily added in the minds of the Eomans to the 
 long account against her. Her observation and reading 
 of the world had, however, suggested to her a different 
 policy. If more danger had to be encountered, more 
 money would be needed to meet it. Donna Olympia's 
 faith in the omnipotence of money was unbounded. 
 Only let her have money -power enough, and she 
 doubted not that she should be able to ride out the 
 storm. 
 
 So she applied herself with more energy and assiduity 
 than ever to the two objects which shared her entire 
 care — the collection of cash by the most unblushing and 
 audacious rapine and venality, and the keeping the 
 breath of life to the last possible instant within the 
 sinking frame of the aged Pontifif. The latter task was 
 so important, that, both for the insuring of proper atten- 
 tion and for providing against the danger of poison, she 
 kept the Pope almost under lock and key, attending to 
 his wants with her own hands, and allowing him to 
 touch no food that had not been prepared under her own 
 
330 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 eyes. During the last year of his life she literally 
 hardly ever quitted him. Once a week, we read, she 
 left the Vatican secretly by night, accompanied by 
 several porters carrying sacks of coin, the proceeds of 
 the week's extortions and sales, to her own palace ; and 
 during these short absences she used to lock the Pope 
 into his chamber and carry the key with her ! 
 
 At last the end was visibly at hand. Diiring the last 
 ten days of his life the Pope's mind was wholly gone. 
 And in these ten days, by rapidly selUng off for what 
 she could get for them nominations to vacant benefices 
 and " Prelature," Olympia is said to have amassed half 
 a million crowns ! Her last transaction was with a 
 canon, who had been for some time previously in treaty 
 with her for a " Prelatura." He had offered fifty, while 
 she had stood out for eighty thousand crowns ; and the 
 bargain had gone off. In the last hours of Innocent's 
 life she sent for this man and told him that she would 
 take his fifty thousand. He said he had dissipated 
 twenty thousand of the sum since that time, and had 
 only thirty thousand left. " Well ! " said the unblush- 
 ing dealer, "since you can do no better, hand them 
 over, and you shall have the ' Prelatura.' " So the 
 money was paid, and the nomination obtained from the 
 dying Pope in extremis. 
 
 Innocent died on the 7th January, 1655, having 
 reigned ten years and three months. His body re- 
 mained three days utterly abandoned. Donna Olympia, 
 who had of course left the Vatican the moment that 
 breath left Innocent's body, said that she was a 
 poor widow, whose means were entirely inadequate to 
 
THE PEINCE P0PE8. 331 
 
 the expense of the obsequies of a Pope. At last a 
 canon, who had been in the Pope's service for many 
 years, but who had for a long time past been out of 
 favour, came forward, and at the sacrifice of a consider- 
 able sum paid the last honours to his old patron. 
 
 For the first time for many years there had been a 
 Papacy without nepotism, and without a reigning card- 
 inal nephew. And though, as regarded the administra- 
 tion of the Holy See, the credit of the Papacy, and the 
 general tone of morality in the Apostolic Courts, 
 matters had, in this absence of nepotism, changed for 
 the worse, yet at Innocent's death the change that 
 hence arose was seen to be a very important one. The 
 Conclave was without a natural leader, nor was there 
 any bond which as usual banded together the 
 "creatures" of Innocent X. An anecdote was current, 
 which has been preserved by Eanke, that when a pro- 
 posal was made that they should choose a leader — a 
 "head" whose captaincy they should follow in the 
 Conclave (most naturally the Cardinal Medici, who was 
 the senior of Innocent's creatures) — some of them replied 
 that each man had a head as well as feet of his own, and 
 needed no other. The conclavist who has narrated the 
 story of the Conclave that followed the death of Inno- 
 cent declares that no less than twenty-two of the 
 " creatures " of Innocent aspired to the Papacy, each 
 for himself! The Spanish ambassador, the Duca di 
 Terranuova, gave them the name of the "squadrone 
 volante," and to a certain degree they seem to have 
 acted together. 
 
 It is said that the Cardinal Ottobuono, one of them. 
 
332 THE PAPAL COKCLAYES. 
 
 exclaimed at the death-bed of Innocent, " What we 
 have to do is to elect an honest man ! " " If you are in 
 search of an honest man," replied Cardinal Azzolini, 
 another of " the squadron," " there is one there," point- 
 ing to the Sienese Cardinal Chigi as he spoke. Chigi, 
 in fact, in the course of the affairs, mainly diplomatical, 
 which his life had been passed in transacting for the 
 Apostolic See, had acquired the reputation of an upright, 
 able, and moderate man, of blameless life, and was 
 further known to condemn very strongly the corruptions 
 and abuses which had characterized the pontificate that 
 had just come to a conclusion. The way to elect Chigi 
 Pope, however, was by no means clear. He was strongly 
 opposed by the whole force of the French interest. 
 Chigi had been nuncio at Cologne when Mazarin, driven 
 from France by the fronde, was in Germany striving to 
 prepare the means of recovering the power and position 
 he had lost ; and Mazarin perceived, or imagined him- 
 seK to perceive, that Chigi had not given him the sup- 
 port which he had expected from him. From that time 
 Mazarin was his enemy, and did his utmost to prevent 
 his election to the Papacy. 
 
 But there was another sti-ong influence and power in 
 the Conclave — that of Cardinal Barberini. "We parted 
 from him and his when, vanishing behind a cloud, they 
 went down in the first days of Innocent's Papacy. But 
 now was the time for them to raise their heads, bruised 
 but not crushed by the storm, once again. It might 
 have been supposed that the least likely of all alliances 
 woiild have been one between the Barberini and the 
 popcss of the Pope who had so severely punished them. 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 333 
 
 But a common misfortime, like a common failing, makes 
 one ■wondrous kind and forgiving. Olympia, as has 
 been said, had an unlimited faith in the oronipotence of 
 money. Barberuii was a fervent worshipper at the same 
 shrine. To Olympia it was all important that a Pope 
 should he elected who should condone her past ; and 
 Barberini was deeply interested in the election of one 
 who would not be likely to pursue and renew the severe 
 measures against his family to which Innocent had lent 
 himself at the beginning of his Papacy. And Olympia 
 had contrived, it must be supposed by the influence of 
 the god which she trusted and placed her faith in, to 
 make a party of friends in the Conclave, mainly, of 
 course, among the members of the " squadrone volante." 
 Chigi was not the man, however, that either Barberini 
 or Olympia would have chosen could they have had 
 their way. But though strong enough to prevent, they 
 were not strong enough to secure the election of a Pope. 
 And this is the most constantly recurring phenomenon 
 in the history of the Conclaves. No party, no person, 
 is ever able to obtain that the person they wish to make 
 the Pope becomes such. Each party has to limit his 
 hopes to the exclusion of such candidates as are espe- 
 cially obnoxious to him. And at last the efforts of the 
 strongest party leader in the Conclave content them- 
 selves with securing the election of him who stands 
 perhaps the fifth or sixth on their list drawn up in order 
 of preference, who may probably also be sixth or seventh 
 on the list of a rival party. Thus the majority of the 
 Popes have been elected by force of. pis aller. 
 
 In the Conclave of which we are now speaking, it was 
 
334 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 discovered at an early day, to the entire conviction of 
 all who understood the -work they were about, that no 
 Pope could be elected against the will of Barberini. 
 The question was, not whether that will should be set 
 aside, but to what extent it should be allowed to prevail. 
 The French interest was powerful ; and it was this 
 struggle which caused the Conclave to be of unusual 
 length, at least for recent times. It lasted over three 
 months, at the end of which the "squadrone volante," 
 with the acquiescence and help of Barberini, elected 
 Fabio Chigion the 7th of April, 1655. 
 
 As so much has been said of Donna Olympia Pamfili, 
 and her influence was so largely felt in the Conclave, this 
 chapter may be concluded by giving in a few words the 
 end of her story. As Chigi was one of the " creatures" 
 of Innocent, and was considered a moderate man, it was 
 thought that he would not be likely to molest the sister- 
 in-law, favourite, and governante of his old patron. It 
 never seems to have occurred to her or her friends that 
 the new Pope might demand a strict account from her 
 merely from considerations of abstract right and justice. 
 She was among the first to compliment him on his 
 accession, and at an early day asked for an audience. 
 The answer was not calculated to reassure her. 
 Alexander sent her word that it was not his inten- 
 tion to receive ladies except on important matters of 
 business. Still she determined not to give up the game, 
 and repeated her application to be allowed to speak with 
 his Holiness with increased urgency ; but she onlv 
 obtained the still more alarming reply that "Donna 
 Olympia had had but too much conversation with Popes, 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 335 
 
 and that ste must understand tliat things would hence- 
 forth, be very different." 
 
 So much time elapsed, hoTrever, before any step was 
 taken with regard to her, that Olympia began to hope 
 that she would be left alone with her enormous hoards. 
 But Alexander, unwilling to incur the blame of acting 
 passionately or hastily upon the subject, was listening 
 to the innumerable proofs of her ill-doings, and quietly 
 makiag up his mind on the matter. Suddenly an order 
 reached her to quit Eome withiu three days, and to be 
 at Orvieto within eight. It came upon her like a 
 thunderbolt, for she felt that it was the beginning of 
 the end. 
 
 A commissary was sent after her thither to require a 
 strict account from her of all the State moneys that had 
 passed into her hands, immediate restitution of the 
 jewels and other valuables carried off by her from the 
 Vatican, and her answer to the innumerable charges 
 against her of selling offices, benefices, and pardons. 
 She answered by general denials, and by asserting that 
 whatever money had passed into her hands had been 
 paid over to her by Innocent. The next step, it was 
 ■expected, would have been her imprisonment. But at 
 this stage of the business an unexpected and terrible ally 
 stepped ia to save, not the wretched woman herself, but 
 at least her infamously gotten wealth to the Pamflli 
 family. This ally was the pestilence, which invaded 
 Italy, and specially Eome, with such violence, that it 
 threw other matters into abeyance by concentrating on 
 itself all the care and attention of Alexander and his 
 government. 
 
336 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 But the pestilence, wMeh. tlius saved her money-bags, 
 did not spare her to the enjoyment of them, for on its 
 appearance in Orvieto Olympia was one of the first 
 victims. 
 
 'No further steps were taken by the Government in 
 the matter ; and Camillo Pamfili, her son, inherited 
 quietly the almost incredible sums she had amassed. 
 It was said that, besides the vast estates she had 
 acquired, and an immense amount of precious stones 
 and gold uncoined, more than two millions of crowns 
 in money were found in her coffers ! 
 
CHAPTEK lY. 
 
 Fabio Chigi, Alexander Vli. — His character. — His modified nepotism. 
 — Difficulty of entirely abolishing nepotism. — Changing charac- 
 teristics of the Papacy. — Dispute at the death-bed of Alexander. — 
 Eospigliosi elected Pope as Clement IX. — His Character. — The 
 fluctuations in the population of Eome. — Curious Connection 
 between these phenomena and the decrease of nepotism. — Mixed 
 motive of the Electors in the ConolaTes of this Period. — Complaints 
 of the decline of religion and morality in Eome. — Qualities now 
 sought for in a Pontifif. — Innocent XI. a really capable financier. 
 — Conclave which elected Clement X. 
 
 Fajbio Chigi had been all liis life a well-conditioned 
 ecclesiastic, of decent conduct, doing his duty in that 
 state of life to which it had pleased God to call him, and 
 doing it well according to his lights and the lights of 
 the times in which he lived. He was a well-read, 
 active-minded man, of industrious and active habits, and 
 had gained a reputation for moderation, practical wis- 
 dom, and sagacity. Some of these good qualities he 
 retained as Pope. The influences of power and pomp, 
 or the declining energies of advancing age, or both these 
 causes, seem to have deprived him of others. His 
 private conduct continued to be all that could be desired 
 in a dignified ecclesiastic, and his pleasures were such 
 as were suitable to that character. He began his 
 Papacy, too, with all that vigour of good intentions 
 which has been proverbially likened to the action of new 
 brooms. He would have no nepotism ! He forbade 
 
 z 
 
338 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 his relatives — a brotlier and his sons — to come to Eome. 
 But .... it was soon represented to him by those about 
 him that such rigour was not necessary, was not 
 desirable, was not even right as a matter of conscience ; 
 and Alexander VII. was only too weU inclined to give 
 ear to such representations. His family affections 
 pleaded for his kinsfolk, and his own decreasing 
 activity longed for the assistance and prop of a cardinal 
 nephew. 
 
 The nephew came and was made a cardinal; the 
 brother came, and had the best things that the Apos- 
 tolic Court had to give to a layman ; and a new family 
 was founded. But the Chigi were enriched more mode- 
 rately, and not in such a manner as to cause scandal or 
 reprobation in that age. It is however worth remarking, 
 as an illustration of the feeling of the time, that Cardinal 
 Pallavicini, the historian of the Council of Trent,* 
 writing while Alexander was still keeping his kinsmen 
 at a distance from Eome, promises him immortality on 
 the strength of that heroic piece of virtue. But the 
 worst consequences of Alexander's fall into the old ruts 
 of nepotism were seen in the increasing tendency which 
 he manifested to throw all the burden of business on 
 the shoulders of those about him. He became a very 
 fainiant Pope, occupying his leisure hours, not dis- 
 creditably, with literature and learned men, but making 
 of those hours a far larger portion of his life than was 
 consistent with the duty of a supreme head of the 
 Church. 
 
 * PaUaviciui ■wrote tlto orihodoi} history of that great eveut in oppo- 
 sition to the historj' of Pra Paolo Sai'pi. 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 339 
 
 But Alexander's inclinations in tlis respect, and the 
 general tendencies of the Apostolic Court and Cliurcli at 
 that period, played into the hands of each other. The 
 Sacred College was, day by day, acquiring a greater 
 weight in the State, and a larger share of authority and 
 self-assured importance. The Popes were becoming less 
 autocratic, and more controlled and controllable by a 
 body which was assuming the real position and con- 
 ditions of a Council of State. "We have lived to see the 
 pendulum swinging back again in the contrary direction. 
 But the Popes of the latter half of the seventeenth, the 
 whole of the eighteenth, and the first half of the nine- 
 teenth centuries, were priests of decent life, sovereigns 
 surrounded by, and to a great extent the slaves of, 
 ceremonial and etiquette, and autocratic rulers rather in 
 theory and outward appearance than in reality. 
 
 Together with propriety and decency, smallness begins 
 more and more to characterize the doings, the interests, 
 and the life of the denizens of the Apostolic Court and 
 its rulers. Terrible hatreds give place to little spites. 
 One cardinal no longer plots the murder of another 
 because he interferes with his pretensions to sovereign 
 power; he only plans to affront his rival because he 
 has been himself offended in some infinitesimal ques- 
 tion of privilege, precedence, or dignity. Alexander 
 YII. was not deserted by his relatives and attendants 
 on his death-bed, and no more stories of lurid horrors 
 impart a morbidly melodramatic interest to the Papal 
 annals. But a sharp dispute arose by the dead Pontiff's 
 bedside between two cardinals, who quarrelled over the 
 special privilege, which each claimed, of enacting some 
 
 z 2 
 
340 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 particular part in the ceremonial of the obsequies. And 
 the incident is a significant illustration of the new epoch 
 on which we are entering. 
 
 Alexander and his nephew the cardinal were no 
 haters or persecutors. The custom, which usage had 
 almost erected into a law, that the family of the preced- 
 ing Pope should be pursued by the unrelenting hostility 
 of the kinsmen of his successor, was no longer observed 
 during Fabio Chigi's pontificate. Family, indeed. Inno- 
 cent had left none to be persecuted, save the layman 
 Camillo Pamfili. But neither did any hostility arise 
 between the '' creatures " of Innocent and those of 
 Alexander. And the " squadrone volante," which had 
 mainly decided the election of Alexander, was also 
 chiefly instrumental in placing his successor, Eospigliosi, 
 on the throne as Clement IX. Cardinal Chigi wished 
 at first to have brought about the election of Cardinal 
 D'EIci, a Florentine, because the Grand Duke of 
 Tuscany had set his heart on that election. But finding 
 that none of the other factions in the Conclave would 
 join him in doing so, he allowed himself, without much 
 difficulty, to be persuaded by Barberini and the 
 '' squadrone volante," to agree to the election of 
 Eospigliosi, who was elected on the 20th of June, 1667, 
 by sixty-one votes out of the sixty -four which con- 
 stituted the entire Conclave. Eospigliosi, for form and 
 decorum sake, gave his own vote to Cliigi, and it was 
 not known what became of the two others. 
 
 Giulio Eospigliosi was conspicuous for all the good 
 qualities which can be insiired by the absence of evil 
 ones. He was a man of blameless Ufe, and the kindest, 
 
THE PKINCE POPES. 
 
 341 
 
 easiest-tempered man that could be met with. And 
 these are the qualities which seem maioly to have 
 oaused his elevation to the Papacy. Clement IX. was the 
 first Pope for a very long time who could not be accused 
 in any degree of nepotism. A fair share of prefer- 
 ment fell to his relatives, and the Eospigliosi became 
 greatly enriched, but mainly by a rich marriage with a 
 Oenoese Pallavicini heiress. Cardinal Chigi was not 
 even displaced from his position of Minister of State, 
 and his advice and representations were, as Eanke 
 remarks, almost as much attended to by Clement as 
 they had been by Alexander. 
 
 The same historian gives from a MS. in the Barberioi 
 library an extremely curious statement of the popula- 
 tion of Eome at various dates about this period, which 
 illustrates in a very remarkable manner one of the 
 results of this cessation of nepotism on a large scale, 
 and of that successive persecution of one family by 
 another which arose from it. The facts are given in 
 tabular form as follows : — 
 
 
 Inhabitants. 
 
 Families. 
 
 In 1600 . . . 
 
 100,729 . . 
 
 . . 20,019 
 
 In 1614 . . . 
 
 115,643 . . 
 
 . . 21,422 
 
 In 1619 . . . 
 
 106,050 . . 
 
 . . 24,380 
 
 In 1628 . . . 
 
 115.374 . . 
 
 . . 24,429 
 
 In 1644 . . . 
 
 110,608 . . 
 
 . . 27,279 
 
 In 1653 . . . 
 
 118,882 . . 
 
 . . 29,081 
 
 In 1656 . . . 
 
 120,596 . . 
 
 . . 30,103 
 
 Now the curious fact m this statement is, that 
 while the number of the population varies in a very 
 ■capricious manner, the iucrease iu the number of fami- 
 lies is constant and steady. And the explanation of so 
 singular an anomaly is to be found in the diminution 
 
342 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 in the numbers of mere adventurers — ecclesiastical, and 
 consequently bachelor, seekers of fortune — and the con- 
 tinual increase in the number of permanent and settled 
 citizens. And this change is unquestionably the result 
 of a cessation of the state of things, when at every 
 demise of the tiara everybody was turned out from his 
 position, and the whole field was open to the hopes and 
 ambitions of new comers. A constant movement of 
 coming and going was thus produced, which accounts 
 for the apparently capricious variations in the popula- 
 tion ; while the steady, though by no means rapid 
 increase in the number of families indicates the gi'eater 
 degree of stability of those who for any reason had once 
 fixed their residence in Eome. 
 
 While the general character of the Conclaves, begin- 
 ning from about the middle of the seventeenth century, 
 shows a very marked and increasing improvement, not 
 only in external decency, but in a real sense of the 
 paramount duty of electing a successor to the throne of 
 St. Peter who might be hoped to tiu-n out a ruler 
 devoted to and calculated to secure the interests of the 
 Church, these aims were not so unanimously understood, 
 and these motives were not so unmixed with others, 
 that were in some of the electors secondary and in not 
 a few even primary, as to render the choice of the 
 Pontiff and the management of the Conclave a simple 
 matter. On the contrarj-, the increased numbers of the 
 Sacred College, in the first place ; the increased number 
 of soggetU jxipahili^ ^vhich was the natural result of an 
 ago when at least decency of ecclesiastical conduct had 
 become common, and when a fair cliaraetor, a reasonable 
 
THE PEINCE POPES, 343 
 
 amount of talent for business, and industry iu the trans- 
 action of it, were held to confer a right to aspire to the 
 tiara, in the second place ; thirdly, the infinitely increased 
 number of wires and wire-pullers produced by an age 
 when audacious violence was no longer the order of the 
 day, when the interests of all European States had 
 become much more complicated and bound up together, 
 and diplomacy was universally understood to signify 
 dissimulation and craft ; and lastly, the increased num- 
 ber and variety of the considerations which went to the 
 choosiug of a really good and fi.tting Pope — all tended 
 to complicate the business of the Conclaves. The out- 
 lines which mark the doings within them become less 
 bold and distinct. They are finer, more intricate, more 
 constantly crossing each other, and more blurred by the 
 secrecy and frequently unavowed nature of the motives 
 of the actors. 
 
 I have said that the amount of virtue to be found ia 
 the Sacred College about the period of which we are speak- 
 ing had greatly increased. And, indeed, I think that the 
 remark might have been made of an epoch begimiing 
 somewhat earlier — ^from the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century perhaps. But I find the narrator of the 
 Conclave which elected Clement X. in 1670 complain- 
 ing in no measured terms of the exceeding wickedness 
 of the Eoman world — of its avarice, luxury, worldli- 
 ness, and above all of its irreligion. But such com- 
 plaints will be recognised by those who have the history 
 of that century and its neighbouring centuries before 
 their eyes, instead of the immediate view of the life 
 around them, as evidences of that improvement which a 
 
344 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 sense of the necessity of improvement always implies. 
 But the writer, who seems to have composed one division 
 of his narration previously to, and in anticipation of, 
 the Conclave, says much, in a curious exposition of the 
 qualities of the possible candidates — the papaUli — and 
 the motives that may be expected to influence the electors, 
 of some considerations of an order entirely new in the 
 history of the Papacy and the Conclaves. No quality 
 has hitherto seemed to all the persons concerned, includ- 
 ing the historians of the Conclaves, to give so good a 
 title to aspirations to the tiara as a reputation for bound- 
 less "liberality." A Pope who would open wide his 
 hand, and fling the exhaustless treasures of the Church 
 broadcast over all the open-mouthed expectants high 
 and low who were gaping for them — this was the man 
 Borne and the Holy See wanted. But the nan-ator of 
 the Conclave which elected Clement IT. iu 1670 has 
 a singularly changed note. What is wanted is, almost 
 above all else, an economical Pope — one who -will not 
 squander the revenues of the Church either by spending 
 or giving. The character which more than one of the 
 soggetti papalili had acquii'ed for parsimony as a private 
 individual is cited as no bad qxialification for his election. 
 And in truth such considerations were beginning to 
 make themselves felt at Eome not a moment too soon. 
 The reckless and inordinate profusion of the recent 
 Popes, together with an absolutely ignorant and ruinous 
 financial system, had brought the Apostolic Court almost 
 to the verge of banla-uptcy ; nnd had it not been for 
 the rare and little to have bcon expected good fortiine 
 ^^■llich, six years subsequently to the time we ai-e now 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 345 
 
 speaking of, placed a really capable financier on tlie 
 Papal throne ia tlie person of Innocent XI., that verge 
 would infallibly have been passed. 
 
 In the two hundred years which have elapsed since 
 the elevation of Innocent XI. till the present day, six- 
 teen Popes, including Innocent and Pius IX., have 
 reigned, and accounts which might be rendered both 
 intelligible and amusing might be written of each one 
 of the sixteen Conclaves which have elected them. But 
 at least eight such volumes as the present would be 
 needed for the purpose. It is out of the question, 
 therefore, that any such attempt should be made. To 
 give, however, such a mere statement of names, votes, 
 and the results of them as could be given within any 
 reasonable limits, would be neither intelligible to any 
 good purpose nor amusing, but on the contrary intole- 
 rably tedious. It has seemed better, therefore, to endea- 
 vour to treat this Conclave which elected Clement X. 
 with some little degree of detail, taking it as a specimen 
 of the sort of elections which have prevailed under the 
 new conditions which the changed face of things in 
 Europe had imposed on the Papacy. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 Conclave wHct elected Altieri as Clement X. — ^No fewer than twenty- 
 one "Soggetti Papabili." — Barberini. — Ginetti.. — Brancacci. - — 
 Carpegna. — Facehinetti. — Grimani. — Gabrielli. — OdesctalcH. — 
 Alvizzi. — Cibo. — Ottobuoni. — Spada. — Bonvisi. — Vidoni. — D'Elci. 
 — Celsi. — Litta. — Bonelli. — Altieri. — ^Nerli. — Bona. — Complaint by 
 the Conclavist of the impiety of the Times. 
 
 The Conclaye from wMch Cardinal Emilio Altieri came 
 forth, as Clement YI. was an unusually long one. 
 Clement IX. died on the 9th December, 1669 ; the 
 cardinals went into Conclave duly on the twentieth, of 
 that month ; but the election was not made till the 29th 
 of April in the following year. Morone says th.at at the 
 beginning of the Conclave every one was in favour of 
 the Cardinal Altieri, and the whole Eoman world ex- 
 pected him to be elected. But this seems to be bardly 
 consistent with the fact that the Conclave was so long 
 an one. And in fact the special narrator of the Conclave, 
 in all probability a conclavist as usual, gives a very 
 different account of the matter. According to bis con- 
 temporary statement, no fewer than twenty- one of the 
 cardinals who went into Conclave were deemed to 
 belong to the category of soggetti pftjnibili. It is very 
 intelligible that such a condition of matters should lead 
 to a severe struggle, to manifold complications, and 
 consequently to a Conclave of long duration. But it is 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 347 
 
 impossible to believe that aU, or nearly all, the electors 
 were from the first minded to elect the same man, and 
 yet were four months about it. 
 
 The conclayist gives us the list of these one-and- 
 twenty joapahili, together with the qualities which re- 
 commended and the objections which impeded each of 
 them. And the list thus commented serves to afford 
 an excellent insight into the nature and variety of the 
 considerations which were operative on the minds of 
 the electors. 
 
 The first on the roll is Cardinal Barberini, now Dean 
 of the Sacred College, by force of seniority, not of years, 
 it will be understood, but of his standing in the College, 
 and eminently papaUle by virtue of his character, as 
 well as his connections, infiuence, and social standing ia 
 Eome. He was bom in 1597, and was therefore now 
 seventy-three years old. In the words of the conclavist, 
 "his kindness of heart, his wisdom, his experience, 
 vigilance, and zeal, his charity to the poor, his unwearied 
 industry in business, are qualities which would not only 
 merit the Papacy, but in the present conjuncture of 
 circumstances would necessarily fix the choice of the 
 electors on him, if they were not counterbalanced by his 
 obstinacy, capriciousness, instability, and too great self- 
 confidence." In fact, as the writer goes on to show, 
 both the cardinals and the crowned heads of Europe 
 were too much afraid of him to wish to see him Pope. 
 "Besides, prone to anger as he is, men think that were 
 he to find himself with the tiara on his head and the 
 pontifical mantle on his shoulders, he would not be apt 
 to spare any of those around him if things did not go 
 
348 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 to Ms mind, or if he were surprised by one of Ms fre- 
 quent outbursts of passion." 
 
 Cardinal Ginetti, of Yelletri, the next on the list, was 
 born in 1585, and was therefore eighty-five years old. 
 The large experience of Courts which he had acquired 
 from a long residence at the Court of the Emperor as 
 legate from Urban YIII., his well-known industry, the 
 blamelessness of Ms life, are all strongly in Ms favour. 
 *'Nor will his reputation for parsimony injure Mm in 
 an age when there is need of a Pontiff who will repair 
 the too reckless liberalities of the past." He has a 
 nephew, too, the most eminent man among the body of 
 Eoman prelates, who is a clerk of the Papal Chamber — a 
 thorougMy well-conducted man, liberal and open-handed, 
 and in tMs respect might be a useful complement to 
 the qualities of his uncle. Cardinal Ginetti has, in 
 Conclave language, the exclusive of nobody, and the in- 
 clusive of BarberiM — wMch means that no cardinal nor 
 any sovereign has declared that he shall not be Pope if 
 they can help it, and that Barberiui has declared him 
 one of those whom (failing perhaps other combinations) 
 he would willingly see Pope. It is known that the 
 Medici would make no difficulty in acqMescing in Ms 
 election, and Cardinal Caraffa, one of the CMgi group, 
 is a family connection of the Ginetti. The SpaMards 
 would be very willing to accept Mm; and Cardinal 
 Chigi would, in case he should not be able to bring 
 about the election of any of the "creatures" of Ms 
 uncle, Alexander YII., probably consent to his election 
 nither than to that of any other outside the circle of his 
 own faction, because his great ago would still leave 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 349 
 
 Chigi tlie hope that lie might place one of his uncle's 
 "creatures" on the throne at the next election. On 
 the whole, it was thought that Ginetti's chance was a 
 very good one. 
 
 Third on the list is his Neapolitan Eminence Bran- 
 cacci, born in 1592. He is a man of decent character 
 and studious habits, and attentive to business, and his 
 nephew, a prelate, if not distinguished in any way, is 
 inoffensive, good-natured, and well-liked. He is put 
 forward by Barberini as one of his uncle's "creatures," 
 and Chigi, if obKged to seek a Pope beyond the circle 
 of his own faction, would not object to him. He has 
 some friends among the "squadrone volante," which 
 still exists and is influential. The French would be 
 well contented with his election ; and Cardinal Eospig- 
 liosi, the last Pope's nephew, would vote for him if he 
 should fail in securing the election of a Clementine 
 cardinal. But all these favourable circumstances are 
 probably more than neutralised by the fact that he is 
 specially excluded by the Spaniards, which might pos- 
 sibly not suffice to render his election out of the ques- 
 tion were it not that the Spaniards have named to Chigi 
 four of Alexander's creatures, in the election of either 
 of whom they would be willing to concur. Still it was 
 on the cards that Braneacci might become Pope as the 
 result of a failure of other combinations. 
 
 Fourth is Carpegna of TTrbino, about seventy years of 
 age. He is not a man who has much to recommend 
 him in point of intelligence or political knowledge ; but 
 he is a very good sort of man, who would be content 
 to live and let everybody else live in peace. He has 
 
350 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 exactly that in liis favour wHcli Barberini has against 
 him — nobody would be afraid of him. He would be 
 safe to avoid all innovations and novelties ; and for this 
 reason the crowned heads would be well content with 
 his election, which is especially desired by the Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany. On the whole, however, his chance is 
 a very poor one. 
 
 Fifth comes the Bolognese Pacchinetti, bom in 1608 ; 
 and he is the man whom Barberini will strive with aU 
 his power to place on the throne. Facchinetti had been 
 nuncio in Spain under Urban YIII., and had been 
 thought to acquit himself well upon that occasion. He 
 had made himself agreeable to the Spanish Coui-t, not- 
 withstanding which, however, the Spanish interest in 
 the Conclave would be opposed to him merely on the 
 ground of his age, sixty-two years only, the maxim of 
 that Court being in favour of electing an older man. 
 Medici, if unable to have either D'Elci or Carpegna, 
 would vote for Facchinetti. Cardinal d'Este also would 
 vote for him from private friendship. The " squadrone 
 volante" would be divided concerning him. "But," 
 says the conclavist, " Chigi, if he be well advised, wiU 
 oppose him with all his power, nor take any heed of 
 whatever promises may be made to him ; for besides that 
 Cardinal Facchinetti is of such an age and constitution 
 as to make it probable he may outlive all the Alexandrine 
 creatures (and so prevent for ever the hope of raising a 
 Chigi cardinal to tho throne), it would come to the 
 same thing as making Barberini himself Pope, since 
 Facchinetti recognises him as the sole author of his 
 fortunes. The loud report of this cardinal's (Facchi- 
 
THE PEINCB POPES. 351 
 
 netti's) amiable qualities," the conclavist goes on to say, 
 " resounds everywhere ; for lie has made it his special 
 aim to gain imiversal popularity, after the fashion of 
 Cardinal Ginlio Eospigliosi, who, by beiag hail-feUow- 
 well-met with everybody who sought him, and by never 
 failing to answer the letters of even the most obscure 
 and low persons (filling his letters, too, with all the 
 same courteous expressions that he used to persons of 
 quality), found the means of winning everybody's heart 
 in such sort that he made everybody believe that he was 
 his special confidant and friend. In the same manner, 
 Facchinetti has as many friends as Eospigliosi had 
 adherents ; but as these tricks are generally played off 
 by persons more ingenious than ingenuous, it might be 
 feared (were it not for his well-known virtue) that if 
 he should ascend the throne his confidants and friends 
 might find themselves deluded and neglected." That 
 last parenthesis is delicious, and one fancies that one 
 can see the expression of the sly old conclavist's face as 
 he wrote it ; but I think it may be assumed, without 
 much fear of mistake, that the writer was not one 
 of those whom Facchinetti's popularity-huntiag had 
 captivated. 
 
 Next came, sixth on the list, the Genoese Cardinal 
 Grimani, who was bom in 1603. The conclavist says 
 that he was injured as a candidate for the Papacy by the 
 belief that he was French in his sympathies ; but that, 
 if the truth were known, that would be found so far 
 from being the case that the Spaniards would under- 
 stand that he is the man they would most wish for. 
 Indeed, says the conclavist, "the Church, the State, 
 
352 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 nay the wliole world, could desire nothing better than 
 the exaltation (i.e. election) of this great man." 
 
 Gabrielli, a Eoman cardinal, is the seventh of the 
 papalili. "And if St. Paul had been Christ's Yicar, 
 he might justly pretend to be his successor by reason of 
 his personal likeness to that apostle. He is," continues 
 the writer, " of Portuguese origin, and his sordid mode 
 of life gives testimony to that fact in the most remark- 
 able manner." Barberini names hrm as papabile merely 
 as being one of Urban's creatures. Medici is favourable 
 to him " with a superficial adherence." But his Emi- 
 nence Gabrielli has no acquaiatance with state affairs, 
 and he does not enjoy either esteem or favour in public 
 opinion. "And this is all," concludes the conclavist, 
 " that there is to be said about bim ! " 
 
 Odeschalchi comes next, the eighth. His "rare excel- 
 lencies in point of holiness of life would make biTin an 
 excellent Pontiff, if he were in other respects fitted to 
 the present needs of the Church." In the first place, he 
 is only fifty-eight, and in such robust health that if he 
 were elected a long Papacy might reasonably be counted 
 on ; and this alone is sufficient to make the crowned 
 heads hostile to him. He is a great lover of study, of 
 excellently good intentions, charitable to the needy to 
 the utmost limit of his means, and if the people of Eomc 
 had votes he would be Pope to a certainty ; but he is 
 reserved and ungcnial in his manners, and scrupulous to 
 excess in matters of conscience, which stands much in 
 his Avay. The Spanish faction object to him on various 
 grounds ; and the French would be xcvj sorry to see a 
 Pope so austere, both in reality and in appearance, as 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 363 
 
 the conclavist says, on the throne of St. Peter. Cardinal 
 Imperiale is a great enemy of his, but that would rather 
 be of service to him than otherwise. On the whole, it is 
 hardly likely that he should be the successful candidate. 
 He was not so on this occasion ; but from the next Con- 
 clave, six years later, he came forth as Innocent XI., 
 and showed himself to be the right man ia the right 
 place, as regarded the needs of the Church at that time, 
 to a degree which the elections of the Sacred College 
 have rarely equalled. 
 
 Albizzi, ninth on the list, is a very different sort of 
 man. Haughty, bold, enterprising, ambitious, every man 
 in the Sacred College is afraid of him. The Spaniards 
 would absolutely refuse to accept him. The French 
 would not object to him because he is objected to by the 
 Spaniards, and because " they have nothing to lose 
 in Italy." The Florentines would naturally be in his 
 favour as a countryman of their own, but that they are 
 afraid of him. He is one of Barberini's candidates, as 
 having been a " creature " of Urban ; but neither Chigi 
 nor Eospigliosi with their respective adherents would 
 hear of him, deeming him " a man too terrible and 
 exceedingly learned." 
 
 Cardinal Cibo, the brother of the reigning Prince of 
 Massa, is the tenth of the papabili. There is little else 
 than good to be said of him. He is a man of exceeding 
 pleasing and popular manners, and would, the conclavist 
 thinks, make a very good Pope. He would be accept- 
 able to the crowned heads, who in his case probably 
 would not be rigorous in adhering to their maxim of 
 requiring a Pope to be not less than seventy. Barberini 
 
 A A 
 
9 
 
 54 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 could, the conclavist thinks, liave no objection to him. 
 And the squadrone volante, of which he is a member, 
 could not but be pleased to see so creditable a member of 
 their party raised to power. The Medici, too, would not 
 refuse to concur in his election. Nevertheless, with all 
 this, he will not be proposed by the leader of any faction, 
 and " therefore he must recommend himself for aid to 
 the Holy Ghost, since he has an objection to anything 
 simoniacal." The reader is left to conclude that his 
 chance is a desperate one. 
 
 Of the Venetian Cardinal Ottoboni the conclavist 
 writes only this : "So many are the writings current 
 in Eome respecting the Venetian Ottoboni, that it is 
 unnecessary to say anything here about him, save that, 
 during all the time that he governed the Dataria, he has 
 shown himself so hostile to princes and to men of merit, 
 that it is hardly likely, despite his sardonic grin, that 
 he should ever at any time attain to the Papacy." aSTine- 
 teen years subsequently, however, after Altieri had 
 reigned more than sis as Clement X., and Odeschalchi 
 had reigned more than twelve as Innocent XI., this 
 Ottoboni was elected Pope, "despite his sardonic gria," 
 as Alexander VIII. But promotion came to him, as to 
 so many another, too late, and he reigned only sixteen 
 montlis. 
 
 We come next to Cardinal Spada, a Luccheso, in his 
 Hovcnty-thii-d year. He was the favourite candidate of 
 the sijKdiIroiic rolaufe, and was probably the man whom 
 Barbcrini would most willingly haAo contributed to 
 elect, ?■/■ ho should bo unable to secure the election of 
 Faccliinotli. The whole of the squadrone wo\ild vote 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 355 
 
 for him; and it was thought that Cardinal Azzolini, 
 one of their number, would very possibly be able to 
 persuade Eospigliosi and the Clementine cardinals to 
 acquiesce in his election. Chigi and the Alexandrines 
 would oppose him; but it was calculated that, unless 
 the French party and the Medici party joined Chigi in 
 his opposition, he would hardly succeed in preventing 
 his election. In short, Spada's chance was thought a 
 good one. 
 
 Another cardinal from Lucca is the thirteenth on the 
 list, his Eminence Bonvisi, now in his sixty-third year. 
 He is described as naturally candid, open to conviction, 
 liberal, kindly, and sincere. He is said to possess a 
 very intimate knowledge of the European Courts and 
 of the policy of their rulers, though, as clerk of the 
 Apostolic Chamber, his own special business had led 
 him to be more versed in legal matters. It is remarked 
 that he is, as a Lucca man, specially well informed of all 
 that is going on in Europe, from the particular care 
 which that republic takes to keep itself well acquainted 
 with such matters. And " as the people of that nation 
 (the Lucchese) are known to be industrious, affable, and 
 courteous," it would, says the conclavist, be much for 
 the advantage of the Church and the city of Eome to 
 have a Pope with such qualities. The chief objection 
 to so admirable a candidate (" such is the perversity of 
 the world !" ejaculates our conclavist) is, that Erancesco, 
 his nephew, is too clever by half ! On the contrary, our 
 author maintains, the nephew would furnish an excellent 
 complement to the qualities of the uncle, who, by reason 
 of failing health, might be found to be slow, and too 
 
 AA 2 
 
356 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 mucli inclined to let things take their own course; 
 whereas Francesco Bonvisi is a man of an active, reso- 
 lute, frank, and bold turn of mind, well versed in pubHc 
 affairs, industrious, assiduous in the despatch of busi- 
 ness, in such sort that " the conjunction of the suavity 
 of the uncle with the authority of the nephew would 
 form such a compound," that it would be the very thing 
 wanted. Chigi would be opposed to him, at least till 
 after proof of the impossibility of electing either D'Elci 
 or Celsi. Neither the French nor the Spaniards would 
 specially oppose him. The squadrone would be divided 
 as regarded him; but this, remarks the writer, might 
 do him more good than harm with all those who, dis- 
 gusted with recent events,* wish for a Pope capable of 
 managing his own affairs. 
 
 Next "comes Yidoni, fourteenth on the list, born in 
 Cremona, and now in his sixtieth year. He, apparently, 
 would be the Pope, if our conclavist had the making of 
 one in his hands, notwithstanding aU the grand things 
 he has said of others. " He alone,'' says the writer, 
 " possesses all those grand qualities which are needed to 
 constitute a great Pontiff." The austerity of his aspect 
 does not interfere with the remai-kable affability of his 
 behaviour to all who are brought to speak with him ; 
 and the better he is known the more sm-ely do those 
 who know him find that this kindly manner is the out- 
 come of genuine goodness. His well-known parsimony 
 is, in the present condition of circumstances, a recom- 
 mendation, since "the Church does not need a Pontiff' 
 
 * IIo is alluding to tho poutiflcato of Pamfili, lunocent X., and the 
 scandals of Olympia. 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 357 
 
 whose liberalities -would consummate h.er ruin, expe- 
 rience having taught us how pernicious to the people 
 is the prodigality which gives away the property of 
 others." He would be a most vigilant and zealous 
 Pope in ecclesiastical matters, and absolutely indefa- 
 tigable in the transaction of business. It is not true 
 that he is an unduly severe man. On the contrary, he 
 is prone to pardon — too prone, indeed, as it is asserted 
 that he was when legate at Bologna — a defect which is 
 objected to him with absurd inconsistency, at the same 
 time that he is accused of harsh severity. He has had 
 much experience in the management of State affairs, and 
 the registers of the Papal Secretary's oflB.ce furnish 
 abundant testimony of his diplomatic successes when 
 employed as nimcio in Poland. It cannot be supposed 
 that he would be otherwise than acceptable to Barberini, 
 seeing that Urban made an uncle of his a cardinal. It 
 was Innocent X. who sent him to Poland, and it must be 
 believed, therefore, that the squadrone volante* would 
 be favourable to his candidature. The good opinion of 
 the Emperor, which he won on that occasion, would 
 probably serve his cause with the Spaniards, whUe the 
 fact that he was made cardinal at the request of the 
 King of Poland might dispose the French to look 
 favourably on his candidature. This phoenix of a car- 
 dinal is the only one in the list to whose candidature 
 our conclavist finds nothing to oppose, and intimates no 
 hostility as threatening. But Cardinal Vidoni did not 
 become Pope. 
 
 * The group of cardinals so called, and so often referred to, consisted 
 mainly of th.e " creatures " of Innocent X. 
 
358 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Cardinal D'Elci, a Tuscan, though born at Madrid, 
 comes next. He is seventy years old. He was nuncio 
 at Venice and at Yienna before he had the purple; 
 and even in those days, on his return from those em- 
 bassies, shrewd judges had had their eye on him as a 
 man who might some day reasonably aspire to the 
 Papacy, so much credit had he gained in those employ- 
 ments. He is a kindly and popular mannered man too. 
 The greastest objection to him is the character of his 
 nephew, the Archbishop of Pisa, who is well known in 
 Eome as an austere, punctilious, and severe man, very 
 diflB-Cult to deal with — not the sort of man, in short, 
 whom the Church needs at the present conjuncture, 
 which demands above all a man vigilant and zealous for 
 the interests of the Holy See, and at the same time well 
 fitted for treating with foreign Courts, a man who will 
 be ready to act siiaviter in modo sed fortitcr in re. Such 
 qualifications were truly indeed desirable in the struggle 
 with Louis XIV- and the growing pretensions of the 
 GalHcan Church, which was then rising menacingly 
 on the Papal horizon ; and our author judges that they 
 would not be found in a sufficient degi-ee in D'Elci and 
 his nephew. The elements of success which he has in 
 his favour are the good wishes of the Spanish party, 
 secured to him by his Spanish birtli and his connection 
 with that Court, the support of Metlici and the Tuscan 
 party, and his place as first on the list of those whom 
 Chigi and the Alexandrines would strive to place on the 
 throne. An ohitcr dicliun of our concla-\-ist, the spiteful 
 significance of A\liich is amusingly illustrative of a phase 
 of Italian feeling which is met with again and again 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 359 
 
 throughout the whole course of Italian and above all of 
 Papal history, shows, however, that this Tuscan favour 
 was not to be reckoned on entirely as an element of 
 success in the Conclave. So highly is D'Elci thought 
 of at Florence, and so celebrated in all Tuscany is the 
 memory of Count Orso, the father of the Cardiaal, 
 that it is to be expected, if D'Elci should be elected, 
 that " all that country would be depopulated by reason 
 of the numbers who would throng to Eome to applaud 
 and pay their court to so excellent a sovereign." And 
 although Chigi would rather see him on the throne than 
 any other, that cautious leader will not venture to put him 
 forward as a candidate, unless some opportunity should 
 seem to show greater chances of success than are at 
 present apparent. 
 
 Cardinal Celsi, aEoman, hornlike D'Elci in IGOO, and 
 therefore now seventy, is the sixteenth on the list of 
 papabili. This " subject " — questo soggetto — such is the 
 constant Conclave style, where it would be as much out 
 of place to talk of a candidate as to speak of toater in a 
 brewery — this subject would have a better chance if he 
 knew less of the "paragraphs of the Eota," and more of 
 the affairs of the great world. His reputation of being 
 a man of immoral life is also against him "with the 
 scrupulous." The only persons anxious to elect him are 
 the Spaniards. Barberini, on these as well as other 
 grounds, would be strongly opposed to him. Many of 
 the squadrone would not vote for him ; and even Chigi's 
 adherents would give him an excluswa, despite what has 
 been said above that Chigi himself would prefer him 
 next to D'Elci. It has been explained that this strongest 
 
360 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 form of opposition consisted in an open declaration that 
 nnder no circumstances would the person or party giving 
 the cxclusiva vote for the candidate in question, thus 
 finally and decisively placing enmity between them. 
 Under these circumstances, concludes the conclavist, it 
 is not necessary to pay any further attention to him. 
 
 Cardinal Litta, of the noble Milanese family of that 
 name, is very briefly dismissed with the remai-k, that 
 the Spanish party have such a fear of his indiscreet zeal, 
 that they would oppose him with such determination 
 that, as he strangely phrases it, "it would be superfluous 
 to hope for his election." 
 
 BonelLi comes next, eighteenth on the list, a Eoman, 
 born in 1613, and accordingly only fifty-seven. " And 
 certainly," says the conclavist, " if ardour in the hunt- 
 ing field were equally applicable to the pursuit of the 
 Papacy, Bonelli might hope to run it down." The vio- 
 lent and passionate temper of his nephew, the Cardinal 
 Imperiale, who would, if he were made Pope, be the 
 ruling power, is felt to be a great objection to him. 
 Nevertheless, Barberini would perhaps accept him because 
 of the decided hostility of the French party to his can- 
 didatiu-e ; the Genoese cardinals would vote for him 
 because he is connected with nearly all of them by ties 
 of relationship ; the squadrone would not be opposed to 
 him ; and Chigi and his party would remember that ho 
 is a " creature of Alexander VII. ; and, finally, the 
 Spaniards would probably vote for liiin in consequence 
 of his having been nuncio at Madrid. Despite all these 
 points in his fa^'our, however, it does not seem that this 
 Niuu'od had ever much chance of being elected. 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 361 
 
 The next, nineteenth, in the list, is a more serious can- 
 didate, Cardinal Altieri, who, though eighty years old 
 or thereabouts, is the last on the list of the Sacred 
 College, having been created by Clement IX. -when he 
 ■was almost in extremis. "His aspect is noble, his cha- 
 racter angelic!" writes the conclavist; "for kiadness, 
 affability, generosity, and integrity he has not his 
 equal! He was nuncio at Naples; and had it not 
 been that the Divine Providence specially reserved for 
 Clement IX. the glory of recognising and rewarding 
 Altieri's merit, he would have been a cardiaal much 
 sooner." Clement IX., however, almost let this glory, 
 so specially reserved for him, slip though his fingers, 
 for it was only in his last hours that he gave Altieri the 
 purple. The principal objection to him as a candidate 
 for the Papacy is to be found, the conclavist thiaks, in 
 his age. But, he adds, he is in such health, so strong 
 and vigorous, that he may well be expected to live for 
 half a dozen years to come (an anticipation which was 
 exactly verified by the event). In other respects, the 
 chances of this the oldest man, though youngest member 
 of the Sacred College, appear to be very favourable. 
 Neither Spaia nor France could object to him. Medici 
 and his Tuscan adherents would be favourable to him. 
 It cannot be supposed that Barberiai would have any 
 invincible objection to him, since a brother of Altieri 
 iad been made cardinal by him. The Cardiaal D'Este 
 would not refuse to concur in his election ; and though 
 among the adherents of Chigi there would be some 
 opponents, they would probably not stand out against an 
 election so generally desirable. There would also be a 
 
362 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 strong feeling generally among the Eomans, prompting 
 them to consent to an election which would "restore to 
 Eome its former splendour, and show the world that it 
 was still capable of producing the material from which 
 great Pontiffs are made ! " For with the exception of 
 Innocent X., Pamfili, whose pontificate was assuredly in 
 no wise calculated to do credit to Eome and the Apostolic 
 See, there had not been a Eoman Pope for half a 
 century. 
 
 Cardinal Nerli, Archbishop of Florence, is the twentieth 
 on the list. An excellent man, of entirely blameless 
 life, he is yet hardly fitted for the Papacy, both by 
 reason of his failing health and his inexperience of State 
 afi'airs. Though four years younger than Altieri, any- 
 body would suppose him to be much his senior. Inno- 
 cent X, made him a cardinal and Secretary of the Briefs, 
 and in that position he had remained ever since — an 
 excellent canonist, but wholly ignorant of the politics 
 and interests of Europe. He has a hypochondi'iac, im- 
 practicable man for a nephew too — a consideration 
 much against him. In short, it seems that the Arch- 
 bishop of Florence has hardly any place on the list of 
 the 2Mj)ahUi. 
 
 The twenty-first and last on the list (for the concla- 
 vist seems to have made some error in his reckoning, 
 and though he speaks of the papabiU as twenty-two, 
 names only twenty-one) is the monk, Father Bona. 
 "Ilis holiness of life, his highly conscientious upright- 
 ness. Ids profound knowledge of the canon law, his ac- 
 (|uiremcnts as a theologian, would render him the choice 
 of all A\ho recognise the imminent need of reformation 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 36S 
 
 in the Chureli, and of a bulwark against the rising flood 
 of Atheism." For, as the writer goes on to complain, 
 "there is no sort of impiety which the utter absence of 
 Christian charity and a connivance at heretical interests 
 does not lead to. So that Eome, formerly so holy, has 
 become the very asylum of heresy. Papal censures are 
 no longer feared. Divine worship is neglected. The 
 saints are maltreated and their images trampled on to 
 such a point, that the sacred songs and psalms, with 
 which in better times praise and thanksgiving were ren- 
 dered to God and his Holy and Immaculate Mother, are 
 in these days reduced to pasquinades!" "And what 
 wonder is it," he proceeds, " if territories are lost, if the 
 Turk advances, if heresy is accredited, and if Christ 
 scourges the world with pestilence, war, and famine, 
 and uses the Turks, his most implacable enemies, to 
 chastise those who place him under the necessity of 
 again purging the Christian world, which has become 
 worse than the Jews who crucified him." 
 
 One is curiously reminded of the complaints of an 
 earlier censor : — 
 
 '■^Delicto majorum immeritus lues, Romane, donee templa 
 refeceriSj cedesque labentes Deorwm^ eifceda nigra simulaera 
 fumo^'' and the rest, in a singularly similar tone of 
 thought and mind. 
 
 These are considerations, pursues our author, which 
 would tend to direct the choice of the electors to Father 
 Bona. But .... such a thing is hardly to be thought 
 of. The government of monks has always been abhor- 
 rent to the secular priesthood j and least of all would 
 their Eminences place so austere a reformer over them 
 
364 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 in days when there is so much, that needs reforming ! 
 And his comparative youth and robust health are against 
 him ; for he would be likely enough to live till he had 
 filled the Sacred College with friars. Besides, the 
 crowned heads would never consent to the election of 
 a Pope whose austerity they would dread, and who 
 would prove inflexible in upholding ecclesiastical privi- 
 leges and immunities. 
 
 It will have been seen that from this list of the soggetti 
 papalili — of those, that is to say, who might by possi- 
 bility be thought of by the electors — several might 
 fairly be erased on the score that then- election was 
 hardly on the cards. But it is abundantly clear that, 
 when this has been done, the papalile material remaius 
 sufficiently copious to make the work of election a long, 
 difficult, and extremely uncertain one. 
 
CHAPTEE YI. 
 
 No Chief of a party or party able to make Pope tlie man they most 
 desired to elect. — Fear of enmity much more operative in the 
 Conclave than enmity. — Multiplicity of considerations ever on the 
 increase. — The Conclave which elected Clement X. especially long 
 and difficult. — Moderation of recent Popes as to nepotism operates 
 to increase this. — Saying of the Princess Albani. — Abundant 
 evidence in this Conclave that negotiations with a view to the 
 election were not checked by the Bulls to that effect. — Searching 
 the Dinners of Cardinals a mere Farce. — Odeschalchi all but elected. 
 — Father Bona wishing to further his Chance, injures it. — Why 
 Cardinal Pio could not vote for Altieri. — Chigi fails altogether as 
 Head of a Faction. — Anecdote of Cardinal Eazzi. — Message from 
 the King of Spain to the Conclave. — Remarkable results of it. — 
 Anecdote of Altieri on the Eve of his Election. — ^Election of Altieri. 
 — Anecdote of De Eetz. 
 
 I HATE gone througli th.e long list of candidates given 
 in tlie last chapter, witli their qualifications, disqualifica- 
 tions, and reckoning up of their probable supporters and 
 opponents, because the detail, which has in this instance 
 been preserved to us, seemed to afford the means of 
 forming a very fair notion of the sort of considerations 
 on which the preferences of the electors were, or were 
 supposed to be, based, of the extreme complexity of 
 these considerations, and of the remarkable indirectness 
 of the methods by which they operated to an eventual 
 election. It will have been made clear to the reader 
 that it hardly ever occurred, or could occur, especially 
 in the more recent centuries of the Papal history, that 
 any one, or any one group of the electors, was able to 
 
3G0 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 place on the throne the man that he, or it, most wished 
 to place there. The necessity of a two-thirds majority, 
 which makes, in Conclave language, exclusion so very 
 much easier than inclusion — makes it, that is to say, so 
 very much easier for any party in the Sacred College to 
 say that such or such a man shall not be Pope than to 
 secure the election of any individual — ^necessarily pro- 
 duces the result that has been mentioned. The election 
 is always, at least as regards many if not most of the 
 electors, of the nature of a pis aller. It in some degree 
 resembles the election of that officer to be general-in- 
 chief, who, as the story goes, was chosen by the secretly 
 given second votes of all the voters. But ia the case of 
 the Conclave these second votes are not given tni more 
 or less overt tentatives have convinced the voter that 
 the attainment of his first preference is hopeless. 
 
 Another characteristic of these elections and of the 
 men engaged ia them, which is curiously brought out 
 by the stories of the Conclaves, is that the fear of 
 enmity is more largely and widely influential than 
 enmity itself. An elector will not vote for this or that 
 "subject," because he is conscious of haviag at some 
 former period of his life done something for which he 
 takes it for granted that the iadividual in question 
 must owe him a grudge. The candidate has never in 
 any way expressed any feeling of the sort. But none 
 the less docs the man who is conscious of liavinc; iu- 
 jurcd or affronted him feel that it would be unsafe for 
 him tlial 11 Kit man should become Pope ! It may well 
 1)0 that he hiiuscU" would be capable of forgiving such 
 an ill turn received from another, but he is utterlv 
 
THE PEINCB POPES, 367 
 
 incapable of beKeving that another should so forget or 
 forgive it ! A very large and long experience of the 
 Italians of all classes has shown the present writer many 
 an honest man among them, but he never met with 
 one who believed in the honesty of his fellows. Thus 
 one reads again and again that Cardinal So-and-so might 
 be counted on as a supporter of such a candidate, not 
 because he, the candidate, had done some good thing to 
 the voter, but because the latter, the voter, had in 
 some way or other, and at some time or other, conferred 
 a favour on the candidate ! "I placed him under an 
 obligation to me, therefore I can venture to contribute 
 towards raising him to the throne." 
 
 It will be observed, further, that, as the years roll on, 
 and we begin to approach modern times, the diversity of 
 considerations which an elector has present to his mind, 
 and must be in greater or lesser degree ruled by, 
 become infinitely more numerous, and the weighing of 
 them a more complex business. At the same time each 
 one of these considerations is less all-important and 
 jparamount, less likely to drive the elector swayed by it 
 to violent courses, more capable of being neutralised by 
 antagonistic motives. The considerations belonging to 
 the category, which may be denominated legitimate, are, 
 equally with those of the opposite description, multi- 
 plied by the tendencies and complexities of modern life. 
 Not only was the elector, whose object in the exercise of 
 his privilege was the pushing of his own fortunes, the 
 furthering of his own ambition, the gratification of his 
 sentiments and passions, compelled to take a much wider 
 and more detailed survey of all the circumstances of the 
 
368 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 lives around him than was the case in an earlier and 
 simpler if less decorous age, but also he who was 
 anxious to vote with a single-minded desire to promote 
 the best interests of the Church had a no simpler matter 
 before him. Father Bona is as holy a man as any the 
 Chujch ever canonized. But what if his zeal for reli- 
 gious reformation should, by pulling the rein too tight, 
 operate in the contrary direction ? Cardinal Odeschalchi 
 is a man of sound judgment as well as the most fervent 
 and sincere piety. But what of that, if he is unversed 
 in matters of State, and not Likely to be able to hold his 
 own against the encroachments of France and her high- 
 handed sovereign ? And it is not only a question of 
 what one would, but of what one can do ! Even if the 
 man be found fitted in all respects for the manifold and 
 heterogeneous necessities of the Church, is he one whom 
 it will be possible to induce the electors to accept ? And 
 these are the difficulties that presented themselves to an 
 entirely single-minded elector, either of the conscien- 
 tious or unconscientious sort. How much more was the 
 matter confused and complicated for those who were not 
 single-minded in either direction. And this probably 
 was the case, to a greater or lesser degree, with every 
 man in the Conclave ! It could hardly be otherwise, 
 indeed, than that the business of electing a Pope should 
 have been becomiug e\cv more and more difficult ! 
 
 The Conclave which resulted in the election of 
 CleiiR'ut X. was a specially long and difficult one. The 
 niudcrution of the last Topes in the matter of nepotism 
 tended very powerfully to complicate matters. In the 
 old days of the Aldobrandini, the Borghesi, and the 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 369 
 
 Ludovisi, each successive nephew and family had waged 
 such a war to the knife against the proTious one, that 
 when a Conclave came the nephew of the last deceased 
 Pope was the iafluential man in it, who was at the head 
 of the largest following. But Innocent, who followed 
 Urban the Barberini, had left no nephews. The nephew 
 of Alexander YII., Cardinal Chigi, had exercised his 
 power with such moderation that his recolnmendations 
 had often had as much weight with Clement, Alex- 
 ander's successor, as with that Pontiff himself. Of the 
 Eospigliosi, duriag the short pontificate of their Pope, 
 Clement IX., the same may be said. And it thus came 
 to pass that Barberini, though three Popes had reigned 
 during twenty-six years since the death of Urban 
 YIII., was still, perhaps, the most powerful man in the 
 Conclave. And though, of course, the Cardinals Chigi 
 and Eospigliosi were both at the head of parties, there 
 was rto such interneciue enmity between them as to 
 shut out possibilities, or even probabilities, of coalition 
 and co-operation. These old enmities were softened and 
 in some sort civilised, not, however, appeased entirely ; 
 for the President De Brosses in his letters written from 
 Italy, in 1739-40, tells us of a Princess Albani, who 
 used to say that people of Papal families died twice, 
 once at the death of their uncle and once at their own 
 natural demise. 
 
 It is probable, also, that on the occasion of the Con- 
 clave of which we are speaking, the season of the year 
 at which it was held contributed to the inordinate 
 length of it. Their Eminences went into Conclave in 
 December, There was, therefore, no malaria demon to 
 
 B B 
 
370 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 drive tliem to a decision by constant reminders of the 
 probable results of tarrying long at tbeir work. We 
 bear some talk about tbe severity of tbe season; and 
 doubtless tbeir Eminences would bave passed tbe 
 December days and nigbts more comfortably in tbeir 
 own palaces tban in tbe fir-plank cells erected in tbe 
 cold bleak balls of tbe Vatican. But a little discomfort 
 is one tbing", and a danger of deatb, greater than tbat 
 of tbe soldier on tbe field of battle, is anotber ! So tbe 
 cardinals, perplexed by tbe eniharras de ricJtcsse, offered 
 by a Sacred College containing over twenty soggetti 
 papahili, did not burry tbemselves; and at tbe end of 
 tbe first two montbs tbe Conclave bad done notbing 
 beyond convincing most of tbe beads of parties tbat no 
 one of tbem was strong enough to secure the election of 
 any one of the candidates who stood fiirst or even second 
 on their lists. 
 
 A detailed but very confused and iU-written narrative 
 of this election of Clement X. has been left by some 
 conclavist, who tells us that bo has bad a long experience 
 of such matters, and has been shut up in many a Con- 
 clave, but confesses that all his practised knowledge of 
 the subject has but very imperfectly enabled him to read 
 all the riddles and disentangle all the cross-piu'poses ia 
 which this long Conclave was fertile. One thing, how- 
 ever, is abundantly clear from it, that despite all the 
 bulls and threatened excommunications on the subject, 
 and despite all the ostentatious and formal ceremonial 
 proiondiug to secure the absolute isolation of the car- 
 dinals from the outside world, negotiations bad been 
 eutdt'd into and plans arranged for the coming election, 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 371 
 
 in anticipation of the reigniag Pope's death, and com- 
 munications of the most avowed and open description 
 were going on, apparently almost uninterruptedly, with, 
 the outside world. While roasted capons were being 
 ostentatiously prodded by the examining probes of the 
 custos of the Conclave at the turntables, where the 
 dinners of the cardinals were with much ceremonial 
 passed in to them, to ascertain that no letter or hidden 
 message of any kind was concealed within them, we find it 
 stated, as if it were completely a matter of course, that 
 the Conclave suspended its operations while a reply was 
 awaited from some Court or some ambassador who had 
 been consulted as to such or such probabilities or possible 
 solutions ! 
 
 At one moment, towards the end of the Conclave, the 
 chance of the austere and saintly Odeschalchi seemed a 
 good one ; and we hear of his adherents waiting the 
 return of a messenger sent to France with the hope of 
 securing the adherence of the French party ! And Car- 
 dinal Bona, the ascetic mont, went about the Conclave 
 speaking of Odeschalchi's exalted virtue, and declaring 
 that the Holy Ghost at the end of so wearisome a con- 
 flict was about to conclude it once for all by an election 
 of his own making, which would tend to the sure 
 reformation so much needed in the Church — discourses, 
 says the conclavist, which set so many tongues waggiag 
 about such a tendency, that the combined intentions 
 which arose from them amounted to an exclusion for the 
 proposed reforming Pope ! 
 
 Gradually the ideas of the leaders of factions began to 
 draw together towards Altieri as a man to whom nobody 
 
 BB 2 
 
372 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 had any special objection. Nobody, or nearly so — not 
 quite. For we read tbat Barberini, wbo had now made- 
 ap his mind to try for the election of Altieri, showed 
 Cardinal Pio one day a paper on which was written the 
 name of Altieri. Whereupon Pio, having cast his eyes 
 on the paper, did not give him time to add a word, but 
 told him at once that " he had had a long litigation with 
 that person in the court of the Eota, that the E min ence 
 whose name was written there had lost his cause, and 
 that he (Pio) had made him pay the damages. So that 
 your Eminence must excuse me ! " " True ! " said 
 Barberini ; '' excuse me ; I had forgotten it. Let us say 
 no more about it." And it is notable, in accordance 
 with a remark that has already been made, that the 
 grounds on which Cardinal Pio states that he camiot vote 
 for Altieri, and which Barberini at once accepts and con- 
 siders to be quite as a matter of course unanswerable, are 
 not that Pio, the winner of the cause, owes Altieri a 
 grudge because of the lawsuit, but that he takes it so 
 much for granted that Altieri owes bim such a giaidge 
 on that account, that common prudence requires that he 
 should do nothing towards putting into that man's hands 
 the supreme power of the Papacy. 
 
 Chigi, who had cutered the Conclave, in his own per- 
 suasion and in that of most others, both within and 
 without the Conclave, the most lilvcly man to have in 
 effect the nomination of the new Pope, had become 
 entirely couvincfd not only that such power was cntii-cly 
 out of his reacli, but that lie might bo well content if he 
 could succeed in averting the election of one whose 
 elevation would bo esijccially objectionable to him ; and 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 373 
 
 he was accordingly contented to accede to tliat of Altieri, 
 Mean-wliile one of tliose curious little accidents wbicli 
 often produced large results in tlie semi-obscurity and 
 studied silence of tlie Conclave world, wliere the echo of 
 a wliisper in circulating tkrougli tliose mysterious corri- 
 dors frequently did more than any loud-voiced announce- 
 ment might have effected, reduced to nothing the chances 
 of Odeschalchi, on whom just previously to the final 
 decision of the Conclave the voices of the electors seemed 
 to have been on the point of concentrating themselves. 
 Cardinal Eazzi one evening, while he was under the 
 hands of his barber, and was chatting the while with his 
 conclavist, said, puzzling out the probabilities of the 
 upshot in his own mind rather than intending to make 
 an assertion, that Spinola would be the Pope. The 
 conclavist soon betrayed what he conceived to have been 
 a secret confided to him, and the statement very shortly 
 came to Spinola's ears. He immediately rushed to 
 Eazzi's cell and implored him "for heaven's sake not to 
 place him in a discreditable position by attributing to 
 him pretensions and expectations which he was far from 
 entertaining, and which were wholly out of the ques- 
 tion." Eazzi was taken aback, and, not knowing how to 
 excuse himself, declared that what he had said was that 
 "Odeschalchi would be the new Pope," making the 
 statement in a way which led to the supposition that he 
 was in the secret of the real wishes of the Spanish party. 
 And this had contributed, at a period of the Conclave 
 when all began to feel the necessity of putting an end to 
 it, to recommend the election of Odeschalchi to many. 
 JBut almost immediately afterwards there came a com- 
 
374 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 munication from the ambassador of Spain, bearing a 
 strong remonstrance to tbe cardinals from the King his 
 master on their protracted delay, and urging them, 
 layiug aside the supposed wishes of any crowned head, 
 to exercise their unquestioned right and elect indepen- 
 dently any fit and proper person, adding that the King 
 was the more scandalized at the delay from reports that 
 had reached him to the effect that " a certain number of 
 the cardinals, called the ' squadrone,' would not con- 
 sent to any election from motives of private interest." 
 
 The conclavist's account of the result of this com- 
 munication is remarkable. "The Conclave became on 
 a sudden a gathering of dumb men ! " All talking and 
 intriguing for this or that candidate ceased. The elders 
 felt that the time was come when the business must be 
 brought to a conclusion, and the younger men pro- 
 fessed their readiness to follow the lead of theii' elders. 
 At the same time reports came to the Conclave {how, 
 we are not told ; but the fact is mentioned in the most 
 matter of course way possible, and it shows how great a 
 farce the isolation theory had become) that there was 
 a great outcry throughout Eome against the election of 
 Odeschalchi ; and it is intimated that this was by no 
 means without influence upon the purposes of the electors. 
 So it appears, therefore, that not only were those shut 
 up in Conclave aware of what was being thought and 
 said in Itoiue, but that those outside the hermetically 
 sealed Cunclavo walls were instructed — in a certain 
 degree — of what ^^'as passing inside them. 
 
 Thus gradually Altieri became designated as the man 
 against Avliom the least amount of objeetion could be 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 375 
 
 found. One evening Altieri clianced to look in on 
 Cardinal Eazzi in his cell, and the latter offered him 
 some refreshment. Altieri drank a glass of water, and 
 filled his glass again. Upon which Eazzi's conclavist 
 ventured to caution his Eminence, remarking that the 
 water he was drinking was exceedingly cold. Altieri 
 replied that he was of robust constitution, and that icy- 
 drinks agreed with him ; whereupon the conclavist 
 took occasion to wish that such a constitution might 
 give the world a long Papacy. Altieri left the cell, 
 smiling, as was thought, significantly. The writer of 
 the narrative, which has been preserved, however gives 
 a different interpretation to the smile, believing that 
 Altieri was far from expecting or desiring the Papacy. 
 Unless indeed he deems the self-depreciatory speeches 
 and papari nolo shrinking of the octogenarian, when the 
 cardinals came to his cell to announce their resohition 
 of electing him, to have been mere matter-of-course dis- 
 simulation and hypocrisy. 
 
 The thing was settled at last at a conference between 
 Barberini and Chigi, while, according to the conclavist, 
 a great many of the younger cardinals still thought that 
 Odeschalchi was the man they were going to elect. 
 Having, however, agreed on the course they were about 
 to take, those two chiefs went round to their adherents, 
 and it was understood that there was to be an " adora- 
 tion " the next morning. It is remarkable, however, 
 that even during that night and the few intervening 
 hours before the " adoration " could take place, an extra- 
 ordinary degree of secrecy seems to have been observed. 
 Even though all, or nearly so, were told what was in 
 
376 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 hand, they were told it as a profound secret. It seems 
 as if each man was allowed to know that the head of 
 his faction had resolved to vote for Altieri, and that an 
 attempt to elect him was to be made, but that he was 
 not permitted to know that it was a settled and weU- 
 nigh certain thing. And the reason of this was pro- 
 bably the fear that such a knowledge might have led 
 to the attempted formation of some new combination 
 during the night by malcontents. 
 
 All, however, passed in perfect quiet. On the even- 
 ing of the 28th of April tidings were conveyed to 
 the ambassadors of the Powers to the effect that the 
 Pope would in all probability be elected the next 
 morning, in the person of an hitherto unproposed 
 candidate, against whom no objection of any sort could 
 be found. The same night also the relatives of the pro- 
 posed candidate " received notice that they would do weU 
 to pray to the Divine Majesty for the election of his 
 Eminence Altieri." And the next morning Clement X. 
 was made Pope, despite his own declarations of his 
 insufficiency, and his recommendations of other names 
 (whom he must have perfectly well known could not 
 be by any possibility elected), by a perfectly orderly 
 and unanimous "adoration." 
 
 Before quitting the subject of this selected specimen 
 of the Conclaves of the sevcutcenth and eighteenth 
 centuries, I may give the reader a rather amusing 
 anecdote of the man perhaps the best known to histeiy 
 of ;ill the purple figures in that gathering. Cardinal de 
 Pietz was among their Eminences, active for evil in some 
 Avay wo may bo very sm-e, although our conclavist docs 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 377 
 
 not speak of him save to correct a certain report current 
 in Eome respecting him. It was commonly said that 
 h.e went about the Conclave by night in a mask, and 
 that his fellow cardiaals had been much scandalized by 
 the practice. The conclavist, however, assures us that 
 he had had opportunities of observing him very closely 
 on such occasions, and that his Eminence wore no mask 
 properly so called, but a pair of spectacles with a certain 
 garniture attached to them, which might easily be mis- 
 taken for a mask! As if De Eetz needed any mask, 
 even among Italian cardinals, save his own features ! 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Letters of the French President De Brosses — Last Years of Clement Xll, 
 Corsini. — Notices by De Brosses of the then Cardinals : of Cardinal 
 Corsini, of Cardinal Albani, of Cardinal Coscia, of Cardinal 
 Pleury, of Cardinal Eohan, of Cardinal Tencin. — ^How Matters 
 ■went in the Conclave. — Tencin loses all influence. — ^Proposal to 
 elect Cardinal Aldrovandi opposed by Albani. — Albani's trea- 
 cherous scheme to ruin Aldrovandi. — Albani's treachery ruins the 
 chances of Cardinal Porzia. — Plain speaking of Cardinal Acquaviva. 
 — Election of Lambertini as Benedict XTV. — His character and 
 appearance.' — Conclaves and Popes, sixteen in number, between 
 that of Clement X. in 16Y0, and that of Pius LX. in 1846. — Sayinj 
 of Cardinal Albani. — Characteristics of latter Popes. 
 
 The President De Brosses, in his amusing volumes of 
 " Familiar Letters," written from Italy in 1739 and 
 1740, gives a lively account of the Conclave -which, took 
 place at the death of the Corsini Pope, Clement XII., 
 which happened in the latter year, on the 16th of 
 February. Clement was in his eighty-eightli year ; he 
 had been blind for the last eight years, and the gout, 
 from which he had long been a great STiffcrer, con- 
 tinually menacing the vital parts of his system, had 
 for some time past indicated that the end was near at 
 hand. So that, as tlie French President, innocent of 
 any knowledge^ or thought of canons or excommunica- 
 tion-fulminating Bulls on tho subject, says naively, 
 thoi'(^ had been plenty of time for the electors to con- 
 sjiirc, combine, and intrigue with a view to the coming 
 election. 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 37 & 
 
 De Brosses gives a list of th.e entire College of 
 Cardinals, with, a short notice of each, of them, reflect- 
 ing the opinions of the Eoman world, as a winter's 
 residence there had enabled him to become acquainted 
 with them. With regard to the greater number of 
 these names, obHYion has in a great measure destroyed 
 the interest that no doubt attached to the President's 
 remarks when he made them. But it may be worth 
 while to give a glance at what he says (and of course 
 all Eome was then saying) of a few among them — of 
 the heads of factions especially. It was known that 
 the Conclave would be divided into two parties, led — ^the 
 one by the nephew of the Pope who had just died, 
 Clement XII., Cardinal Corsini, and the other by the 
 Camerlengo, the Cardiaal Albani, the nephew of Clement 
 XI. The Corsini party was the most numerous, and 
 it was thought that if, as was considered probable, the 
 Spanish and French factions joined him, the making of 
 the new Pope would lie with him. But, says De 
 Brosses, he is a man of no caj)acity ; he has neither 
 intelligence nor vigour. Public affairs have been goiag 
 very badly in his hands ; the finances especially have 
 fallen into a deplorable condition. "We shall see," 
 adds the President, " what he can do in the Conclave. 
 Superiority of numbers ought to assure him the victory. 
 But he has for his opponent a master mind." 
 
 Of the man whom he so characterizes. Cardinal Annibale 
 Albani, the Camerlengo, he says, that "he enjoys a very 
 high reputation for capacity, but is excessively hated and 
 feared. Without belief, without principles, an implac- 
 able enemy, even when feigning to be reconciled, he has 
 
380 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 true genius in transacting affairs, is inexliaustible in 
 resources and intrigues, is tlie most able man in th.e 
 College and the worst in Eome. His party is not 
 numerous, the creatures of his uncle diminishing natu- 
 rally in number from day to day. But he mil put himself 
 at the head of the Zelanti {i.e. the professedly devout 
 men, who declare that they will give their votes in 
 Conclave truly according to the dictates of the Holy 
 Spirit), and will attack Corsini with all his forces. An 
 army of deer commanded by a lion is more powerful 
 than an army of lions commanded by a deer. Albani 
 governs in the College by the superiority of his genius, 
 the authority of the place he holds (that of Camerlengo), 
 and his imperious and formidable manners. He knows 
 well that he can never be Pope ; but he hopes to haA^e 
 one of his making, and if he cannot accomplish that by 
 himself, he will at least prevent anybody else from 
 making one without him. It would be unfair to Albani 
 not to add the last words of the President's character of 
 him: "He is the enemy of the French I " 
 
 Another member of this ConclaA'e may be mentioned, 
 because the circumstances under which he entered Con- 
 clave were peculiar, and his case is a leading and very 
 important one in Conclave law. This was his Eminence 
 Cardinal Coscia, M'ho had been the prime minister of 
 Benedict XIII., a saintly Pope, who might possiblj' have 
 been trusted advantageously Avith the government of 
 the monastery in Avhicli ho had spent his days, but who 
 was utterly unfit for any more extended rule. In his 
 innocence and ignorance he selected for his confidential 
 minister the gr(-atost scoundrel he could have chosen. 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 381 
 
 It is needless to go into th.e story of the misdeeds of this 
 Coscia, because all writers of every party are -unanimous 
 in stigmatizing them. De Brosses says of him that he 
 deserved the gallows and had been condemned to per- 
 petual imprisonment in the Castle of St. Angelo. None 
 of his colleagues or contemporaries of any class said or 
 thought otherwise. But the right of a cardinal to take 
 part in the election of a Pope is entirely indefeasible, 
 and Cardinal Coscia was liberated from his prison in 
 order that he might enter Conclave, and did so. 
 
 Of Cardinal Fleury De Brosses writes : "He enjoys 
 the highest degree of consideration, specially since the 
 late war and the peace of Vienna. They regard him 
 here as the oracle of Europe. Major e longinquo reve- 
 rentia ! " adds the President slUy. 
 
 Of Cardinal Eohan he says : "Magnificent here as ia 
 Prance, he has Vair nolle and the manners of a grand 
 seigneur ; but has nevertheless little credit or esteem. 
 Then he does not understand Italian manners, and 
 chatters of political secrets at the women's receptions in 
 the lightest manner. He ruined the hopes of Cardinal 
 Olivieri, who had ia everybody's opinion a very good 
 chance of the Papacy, by saying out loud that he had 
 come to Eome to make Olivieri Pope. The Italians 
 were piqued at this ; and Olivieri himself, understanding 
 Italian ways better than French ones, thought for a long 
 time that Eohan had acted as he did with the express 
 intention of ruining him." 
 
 Here is what he says of another French cardinal, not 
 altogether forgotten by history, Tencin : — 
 
 " Tencin, Archbishop of Embrun, is hard, malevolent. 
 
382 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 and revengeful by temperament, grave and politic by 
 profession. His natural inclination would be for worldly 
 pursuits and gallantry. Supple and ambitious at the 
 Court of France, imperious and haugbty at that of Eome, 
 living with more state than any other here, and under- 
 standing well the doing of it, he is much feared, 
 highly considered, and has great credit. The people 
 here think of him at least as highly as he deserves. In 
 addition to all this, the fact that the influence of the 
 King of France has become since the war aU-powerful in 
 Italy, and that the French faction in the Conclave is 
 more powerful than that of Spaia, despite the superior 
 numbers of the latter, by reason of the greater talent of 
 the French — all this makes people think that the 
 making of the Pope will rest with Cardinal Tencin ; and 
 in fact such must be the case. His business in the 
 Conclave will be to oppose the Camerlengo, to lead 
 Corsini by the nose, and to keep himself in strict alli- 
 ance with Acquaviva," the head of the Spanish faction. 
 
 Despite the " French talent," however, and the Presi- 
 dent's complacent prognostications, Cardinal Tencin did 
 not make the Pope, and was quite unable to hold his 
 own against Albani, the terrible Cardinal Camerlengo. 
 As for the manner in which that " lion " led his " army 
 of deer," and the way in which he showed the supe- 
 riority of his genius, and the fertility of his talent for 
 resource, one or two anecdotes of what passed in the 
 ConclaA'c, or what was at the time believed in Eome to 
 have passed, arc worth repeating. 
 
 A quarrel between Aequaviva and Tencin very soon 
 put an end to all the influence of the latter in the Con- 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 383 
 
 clave. The former united Mmself witli Corsini and Ms 
 numerous following, and they agreed on the election 
 if they could compass it of Cardinal Aldrovandi, a 
 Bolognese, of whom De Brosses only says that he was 
 well bom, well esteemed, and had nothing against him. 
 The terrible Camerlengo, however, was agaiust him, and 
 was determined to prevent his election, which, however, 
 seemed likely to be beyond his power. Besides the 
 allies who have been mentioned, all the selanti were 
 ia his favour. He had thirty-three votes at the first 
 scrutiny at which he was put forward. One more 
 would have made him Pope. Thirty-four was the num- 
 ber required for the iadispensable two-thirds majority. 
 It is recorded that Cardinal Passionei, one of the party 
 opposed to him, was as it chanced scrutator at that 
 scrutiny, and that when he opened and declared the 
 thirty-third vote for Aldrovandi he became pale as a 
 sheet. However, no thirty-fourth was forthcoming, and 
 the Camerlengo and his party were quittes pour la peur ! 
 And they had time before them to work in. 
 
 But all their efforts could accomplish nothing more 
 than to' keep any one of their own. friends from deserting 
 to the enemy. They were unable to detach a single vote 
 from the thirty-three. And this state of things continued 
 unchanged during many successive scrutinies, a pheno- 
 menon almost, if not quite, unprecedented in Conclave 
 history. And at each successive scrutiny the Camer- 
 lengo's fears were not only repeated but increased, 
 for the Conclave had already lasted more than five 
 months. The delay was becoming scandalous, and, 
 what was worse, the weather was becoming very hot. 
 
384 THE PAPAL C0KCLAVE9. 
 
 Several cardinals had been obliged to leave the Conclave 
 seriously ill; some bad died; and all were becoming 
 utterly worn out and eager to escape from tbe un- 
 healthy and infected air of the Conclave. And it was in 
 the power of any one cardinal twice every day to put 
 an end to his own and his colleagues' sufferings by 
 adding his vote to those regularly given every scrutiny 
 to Aldrovandi. The Camerlengo felt that if such a con- 
 summation was to be avoided, he must adopt some strong 
 measure, and that at once. This was what he imagined 
 and did. 
 
 There was a certain Franciscan friar, " of easy con- 
 science," as De Brosses says, Avhom his Eminence 
 Cardinal Albani deemed to be the man for his purpose, 
 and to him he gave his instructions. He was to pay a 
 visit to Aldi'ovandi at the " Eota " (the Httle window 
 communicating with the outside world, at which such 
 visits were tolerated), and there compliment him on his 
 approaching election. Aldi'ovandi replied that it was 
 true the majority had done him the honour of thinking 
 of him, but that he did not think that anything was 
 likely to come of it, seeing that there were opponents who 
 seemed determined to exclude him. In reply to this the 
 monk told him that he was sufficiently acquainted with 
 the sentiments of tho Camerlengo to be able to assure 
 him that the only feeling which prevented that Cardinal 
 from voting for him was a fear that he (Aldrovandi) 
 might have an unpleasant remembrance of certain disputes 
 which had occurred between members of theii- fimailies, 
 and might feel rmkindly towards him (Albani) on that 
 score. Aldrovanili at onco fell into the snare, declarinsr 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 385 
 
 that if there had ever been any such feeling he had long 
 since forgotten it, that he had the highest respect for 
 the Cardinal Camerlengo's character, and that so he 
 "would find if he were kind enough to vote for him. 
 The monk declared that since such were his sentiments, 
 there was nothing to prevent an immediate election and 
 a conclusion to the over-long Conclave, that he should 
 make known to Albani what Aldrovandi had said, and 
 that there would no longer be any difficulty about his 
 election. But just as he was going he turned back, 
 seeming to be struck by a sudden thought. " But, after 
 all, I am but a poor monk ! " said he. " I know Albani's 
 mind well, but it does not follow that he should place 
 implicit trust in me. If your Eminence would intrust 
 me with a line expressing what you have said . . . the 
 matter would be settled ! " Aldrovandi in his eagerness 
 wrote the line, putting rather strongly, as was said, the 
 point of his gratitude for a service rendered to him. 
 The Franciscan clutched his prize and sped with it to 
 his employer. Instantly before the next scrutiny Albani, 
 with well-acted horror and scandalized propriety in his 
 features, sought out the selanti cardinals. " Look at 
 this!" he cried; "could you have believed it! Look 
 at your model Pope ! Here is Aldrovandi intriguing ! 
 — making promises ! — guilty of simony ! " The good 
 men were as much astonished and shocked as Albani 
 intended they should be. At the next scrutiny Aldro- 
 vandi had lost several votes ; at the next after several 
 more. His chance was gone, and the terrible Camer- 
 lengo was so far triumphant. 
 
 At an earlier period of the Conclave Albani had 
 
 c c 
 
386 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 shown Lis fertility in resources by getting rid of tlie 
 candidature of another soggetto papahile^ whose chance 
 was interfering with his designs in another way. 
 This was the Benedictine monk Porzia, a Venetian from 
 Triuli, who was nearly elected. He was a creature of 
 Benedict XIII., and was in many respects a man well 
 fitted for the position. But the fact that he was a 
 monk was against him in the CoUege ; though not so 
 much so, as De Brosses remarks, as if he had been a 
 member of one of the mendicant orders or a Jesuit. 
 Again, he was known as a very severe and hard man. 
 " Just the man needed," says the President, "to esta- 
 blish order in this State, which has so great need of it. 
 He would know how to rule, and would be a second 
 Sixtus V. Accordingly he is feared and hated by the 
 populace to the last degree." Nevertheless his election 
 seemed almost certain. It was probable that it would 
 be consummated at the scrutiny to take place on the 
 morrow morning. But in the course of that intervening 
 night a paper was mysteriously circulated in the Con- 
 clave, containing a grossly defamatory Ubel against his 
 Eminence Porzia. Gross and venomous abuse was 
 mingled with accusations of the most damning kind. 
 The Benedictine, unspeakably outraged, demanded inves- 
 tigation and the exemplary punishment of the libeller 
 with all the energy and sternness of his character. But 
 it was impossible to trace the hand that had spread the 
 poison, though all in the Conclave were loud in indig- 
 nation against the author and disseminator of the 
 calumny. None the less, however, was the mischief 
 done, and the slanderer's aim attained. The supporters 
 
THE PRINCE POPES. 387 
 
 of Porzia began to fall oif from him. Even those 
 who most entirely disbelieved the foul accusations, and 
 •were loudest in their indignation against so base and 
 vile a trick, were of opinion that it would not be well 
 for the majesty and decorum of the Papacy that St. 
 Peter's chair should be filled by one wh.o had just been 
 made, however unjustly, the subject of so scandalous 
 and public an affront. All chance of his election, which, 
 seemed so certain, was lost; and the poor monk re- 
 tired to his cell, with, rage and indignation in his heart, 
 and died there three days afterwards. 
 
 At last Acquaviva sought an interview with the 
 Camerlengo, who was now proposiag Cardinal Mosca, 
 and addressed him in more straightforward terms than 
 were often heard among the cautious negotiators of the 
 Conclaves. "It is of no use," said Acquaviva, "to speak 
 of Mosca, for we will not elect a Pope of your choice. 
 But we wish to make one with your consent and co- 
 operation. Aldrovandi is objectionable to you. Yery 
 well ; let us speak no more of him. Tou will not 
 have any one of our cardinals [the creatures of Corsini] ; 
 we will not accept any one of yours [the creatures of 
 Albani]. It remains then to find a Pope among those 
 who belong to neither party [that is to say the crea- 
 tures of Benedict XIII., Orsini]. Now among them I 
 see no soggetti papahile save Lambertini or Lercari. 
 Which of the two would you prefer? Lambertini? 
 Very weU. So be it. Let us go and elect him and 
 have done with it." 
 
 Of Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, who thus became 
 Benedict XIV., President de Brosses says: "He was 
 
 cc 2 
 
388 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 born at Bologna, of wMcli see he was arclibisliop, of a 
 noble and, I am told, very ancient, but not illustrious, 
 family. His age is sixty-four or five. He is somewbat 
 below the ordinary heigbt, stout, and of a good strong 
 constitution, witb a round full face, a jovial air, and a 
 genial kindly physiognomy. His character is open, 
 good-humoured, and easy; his tone of mind gay and 
 cheerful ; his conversation agreeable ; his tongue very 
 free, and his talk often licentious ; but his moral con- 
 duct and habitudes pure and perfectly regular. He 
 managed his diocese of Bologna with infinite charity 
 and to the edification of all. But it wiU be absolutely 
 necessary that he should get rid of his habit of using 
 phrases fitted rather for the guard-room than the Papal 
 throne." 
 
 Sixteen Conclaves have taken place since that which 
 elected Clement X. in 1G70— a period which may be 
 taken as marking the commencement in the Conclaves of 
 Louis XIY. modes of thought and behavioiu'. 
 
 There were three more within the seventeenth cen- 
 tuiy: 1st., that which elected the Odeschalchi, with 
 whom the reader has made some acquaintance in the 
 last Conclave, as Innocent XI., in 1670, who was not 
 more than sixty-four when elected, and who governed 
 the Church for nearly twelve years, with a more happy 
 combination of the piety of a bishop with the wisdom 
 of a good temporal ruler than any other Pontift', at least 
 in modern time, if not in the whole list of the Popes ; 
 2nd., that which elected Ottoboni of "N'cnice, as Alex- 
 ander ^711., in 1689, Avho reigned little more than a 
 year ; and IJrJ., that which elected Pignatelli of Xaples, 
 
THE PRINCE POPES, 389 
 
 as Innocent XII., in 1691, wtose reign of little more 
 than nine years completed the century. He died in 
 1700, 
 
 There were eight Conclaves in the eighteenth century, 
 the last of the eighteenth century Popes again closing 
 his reign with the close of the century. These were : — 
 
 1st. Albani of Urbino, elected as Clement IX. in 
 1700, who reigned a little more than twenty years. 
 
 2nd. Conti, a Eoman, elected as Innocent XIII. in 
 1721, who reigned not quite three years. 
 
 3rd. Orsini, a Eoman, elected as Benedict XIII. in. 
 1724, who reigned nearly six years. 
 
 4th. Corsini, a Florentine, elected as Clement XII. 
 in 1730, who reigned nine years and a half. 
 
 5th, Lambertini of Bologna, Voltaire's well-known 
 correspondent, elected as Benedict XIV, in 1740, as we 
 have seen, who reigned somewhat less than eighteen 
 years. 
 
 6th. Eezzonico, a Venetian, elected as Clement XIII. 
 in 1758, who reigned ten years and a half. 
 
 7th. Ganganelli, a Eomagnolo, elected as Clement 
 XIV, in 1769, who reigned five years and four months. 
 
 8th, Braschi, a Eomagnolo, elected as Pius VI, in 
 1775, who reigned twenty-four years and eight months. 
 
 In this nineteenth century there have been five Con- 
 claves : — 
 
 1st, That which elected Chiaramonti, a Eomagnolo 
 and a native of the same small town from which his 
 predecessor Pius VI. had come (Cesena), as Pius VII., 
 in 1800, who reigned nearly twenty-three years and a 
 half. 
 
390 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 2nd. Delia Genga, bom at tlie place of tliat name, tlie 
 manor of his family, near Fabriano, in IJmbria, elected 
 as Leo XII. in 1823, wbo reigned five years and four 
 months. 
 
 3rd. Saverio, bom at Cingoli, elected as Pius VIII. in 
 1829, who reigned twenty months. 
 
 4th. Capellari of Belluno, elected as Gregory XVI. in 
 1831, who reigned over fifteen years. 
 
 5th. Mastai of Sinigallia, elected as Pius IX. in 1846, 
 who has, up to this present time of writing, reigned over 
 thirty years, the only Pope in all the two hundred and 
 sixty-two occupants of the Holy See who has over- 
 passed the quarter of a century, which is the traditional 
 limit of the incumbency of St. Peter ! 
 
 It is impossible, as I have said, and as the reader can 
 very well see for himself, to attempt any account within 
 the limits of this volume of these Conclaves. It may 
 be said of them generally, that more and more they 
 approached the nature of arrangements a Vaimable. If 
 the passions of ambition, jealousy, greed, and the love of 
 power were by no means extinguished, they were con- 
 strained by the decencies of modern manners to show 
 themselves less openly, to moderate their violence, and 
 to veil themselves beneath a coui-teous phi-aseology, and 
 at least a theoretical devotion to the objects which 
 ought to be those for which cardinals and Conclaves 
 exist. The Popes become less and less high-handed and 
 despotic. The cardinals, if they have still much to hope- 
 from the man the}- agree to set over them, ha^e much 
 less to fear from him, and U^ss motive to be swavcd bv 
 those eoiisideratioiis of sa^•ing• thcinsolves from enmities- 
 
THE PEINCE POPES. 391 
 
 and tlie consequences of old grudges which, in the times 
 we have been traversing played so large a part in the 
 Conclaves. De Brosses, however, reports some words of 
 the Camerlengo, Cardinal Albani, which may be cited 
 on this point: "These gentlemen from France [the 
 French cardinals] are always in a hurry. They want 
 the work [of the Conclave] done as soon as ever they 
 arrive. When the Pope is elected they remain here a 
 few weeks to amuse themselves ; they are fited by 
 everybody, and made much of by the new Pope. Then 
 they go home, and hear no more of the Pope, except 
 from a distance, for the rest of their lives. But I have 
 to remain under the rod ! He is my sovereign. He can 
 put me in prison if he pleases. Messieurs the foreign 
 cardinals must be good enough to allow me to take suflS.- 
 cient time in deciding on my choice to take care of my 
 own interests." More and more, however, those once 
 terrible and mysterious gatherings came to resemble 
 in their operation the election to the wardenship of a 
 college in an English university. The Popes are in the 
 main amiable and easy-going old gentlemen, not distin- 
 guished for ability, or for ascetic sanctity, or for laxity 
 of moral conduct, or for anything, in short. More and 
 more would a man characterized by any one of the 
 above notes be felt by members of the Sacred College 
 to be one unfitted for occupying St. Peter's seat. There 
 have been cardinals of distinguished ability in various 
 lines and departments during this period, but they did 
 not become Popes. The lives of the men who were 
 deemed fitted for the post of the Supreme Pastors of 
 Christendom were passed in enacting their parts in a 
 
392 THE PAPAL CONCLATES. 
 
 mass of ceremonial and prescriptions of etichette, wHch 
 had in the course of generations become so intricate and 
 complicated that the professional masters of it alone 
 could find their way and that of their superiors 
 through its mazes, and so onerous that the due per- 
 formance of " scenic worship," as Carlyle calls it, might 
 entitle an aged man to feel that in accomplishing his 
 task he was labouring severely as well as faithfully in 
 his high and sacred calling. 
 
 Of the Conclaves that elected them, what has been 
 said must suffice for a specimen ; for the remianing 
 pages of this volume are needed for the purpose of 
 giving the reader a brief description of the ceremonial 
 of a Conclave as it now is — as it was, rather, thirty years 
 ago, and as it probably will be in all essentials on the 
 next not far- distant occasion. 
 
BOOK Y. 
 
 THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 
 
BOOK V. 
 
 THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 The death of a Pope. — Time to elapse before Conclave. — Cardinal 
 Gaysruck's Journey. — The Mode of constructing cells for the Con- 
 clave. — Localities in the interior of the Conclave. — Drawing lots 
 for the cells, — Mode of fitting and furnishing the cells. — The cell 
 of a Eoyal Cardinal. — The Oamerlengo. — Mode of living of the 
 Cardinals. — First day in Conclave. 
 
 As soon as ever the breath, shall have finally left the 
 body of a dying Pope, the first thing to be done is to 
 advise the Cardinal Camerlingo* of the fact. He has the 
 entii-e government in his hands during the vacancy of 
 the see. That dignitary immediately repairs to the 
 chamber in which the dead Pope lies, and, striking the 
 dead body on the forehead thrice with a little hammer, 
 calls him thrice by his name — by his original name, not 
 without a picturesque significance. " Giovanni Mastai !" 
 the Camerlengo Cardinal will call thrice as he strikes 
 on the senseless forehead which bore the tiara with a 
 hammer, and getting no answer will take off from the 
 dead man's finger the "ring of the fisherman," and 
 break it ! 
 
 * Camerlengo, or Camerlingo, derived from "Camera, "meant originally 
 a chamberlain, and secondarily a treasurer. It is still used in the latter 
 sense in monastic communities. 
 
396 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Nine days are allowed according to the ancient con- 
 stitutions for the preparations for the Conclave and the 
 arrival of those members of the Sacred College who may- 
 be at a distance. In these days the time allowed is suffi- 
 cient. But it was in many cases evidently insufficient 
 in former times. The present Pope owes his Papacy of 
 more than thirty years to the insufficiency of the time 
 allowed for the arrival of foreign cardinals. Cardinal 
 Gaysruck, the Austrian, was on his way to the Conclave 
 from "Vienna, hastening as fast as post-horses could bring 
 him and Austria's " veto " against the very man who 
 was elected, with which he was commissioned. His post- 
 horses did not go quick enough. He arrived too late, 
 and found the man he was sent specially to exclude 
 already elected ! 
 
 The nine days are little enough, too, for the mere 
 material preparations for the Conclave. In recent times 
 the Conclaves have been always held either at the 
 Quirinal or the Vatican. It is evident that the next 
 must be held at the latter palace ; and there the neces- 
 sary arrangements will have to be made at the death of 
 Pius IX. " To tell you the matter in one word," -writes 
 President de Brosses to his correspondent, ''they build 
 a to-wn in a house, and a quantity of little houses in vast 
 chambers, from which you may conclude that of all the 
 to-wns in the ^^■orld this Conclave town is the stuffiest 
 and the least pleasant to live in." 
 
 The first business is for the bricklayer to wall up all 
 doors and windows, leaving at the t^p of the latter one 
 iir two panes of glass to give a little light to the interior. 
 This immense opcrdsily in acting out to the lilc a comedy, 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 397 
 
 which, at best is but a symbol, and now a symbol from 
 wbicli the significance has departed, is curiously charac- 
 teristic of priestly Eome and its ways of being and 
 doing ! 
 
 The halls in the interior of" the Vatican are numerous 
 and large enough for the accommodation of a dozen 
 Conclaves. The apartments, the walls of which are 
 decorated with priceless paintings, are not used for the 
 purpose. The great peristyle over the entrance to St. 
 Peter's forms, as De Brosses remarks, an extremely 
 spacious gallery, where there is room for two ranges of 
 cells, arid a corridor in the middle between them. Seven- 
 teen cells can be constructed in that gallery alone, and 
 they are some of the most convenient in the Conclave. 
 Each cell is composed of a small chamber in which is the 
 cardinal's bed, another small room by the side of it, and 
 a stair to climb to a sort of garret above the cell, in which 
 space is found for two little rooms for his two con- 
 clavists. Constructed thus in different parts of the 
 interior of the palace, of course some of the cells are very 
 much better than others. Their Eminences draw lots 
 for them. Thus, on the occasion described by De Brosses, 
 the French Cardinal Tencin, of whom I spoke in a pre- 
 vious chapter, had the luck to get the cell immediately 
 over the central door of St. Peter's, so that the projection 
 of the balcony in that part gave room for an extra cham- 
 ber in his cell, which served as a good-sized study. But 
 then, on the other hand, as the President remarks, that 
 cell would be sure to be wrecked and everything in 
 it pillaged when the new Pope should come to give 
 his benediction to the people assembled in the piazza of 
 
398 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES, 
 
 St. Peter from that balcony. Also Tencin had been able 
 to gain a little space at the expense of his neighbour 
 Molto, who, it was known, was not coming to the Con- 
 clave. For it is to be understood that a cell must be 
 prepared for every member of the College whether he 
 comes or not, at the cost of each cardinal for his own — 
 a cost which De Brosses at the time he wrote estimates 
 at five or six thousand francs, remarking that the Roman 
 workmen took the opportunity to fleece their Eminences 
 outrageously, as indeed must have been the case if such 
 a sum as £200 or £250 had to be paid for such a cell as 
 is described. If the cost was five or six thousand francs 
 in 1740, it would at the same I'ate be at least double at 
 the present day. 
 
 Each little dwelling — cell, as it is called, although in 
 fact it consists, as has been said, of three or four- cells — is 
 constructed of ordinary fir planks, covered uniformly on 
 the outside with serge of violet coloiu: if the inhabitant 
 is a " creature " of the Pope who has just died, of green 
 if he be of any anterior creation. In the coming Con- 
 clave the more sombre of these colours wdll assuredly be 
 the prevailing hue in the Conclave. On the inside the 
 cells are fitted up according to the pleasui-e of the 
 individual occupant, and, as may be supposed, ai-e for the 
 most part simple enough. On the occasion of the Con- 
 clave at the death of Clement XII., tho cell of the 
 " Infant of Spain," then a member of the Sacred CoUeo-e, 
 whom there was no chance of seeing at the Conclave, 
 was magnificently fitted up with damask draperies, and 
 consoles and marble tables, while the windows in it were 
 made as largo as possible in order that all this ma^nifi- 
 
THE CONCLAVK AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 399 
 
 'Cenee might be seen to advantage from tlie outside. 
 ^' One would say," remarks De Brosses, "ttat it was the 
 ^afe of the Conclave." The other cells, which are to be 
 reaUy inhabited, have a little square window, which 
 admits a small portion of such dubious light as can be 
 had from the corridors, themselves darksome enough. 
 " There they live," says the lively French President, 
 " packed like herrings in a barrel, without air, without 
 light, burning candles at mid-day, a prey to infection, 
 devoured by fleas and bugs ! A pretty sort of residence 
 it will be if their Eminences do not get their business 
 finished before the heat begins ! It is reckoned accord- 
 ingly that three or four cardinals generally die of it every 
 Conclave ! " If this is somewhat of an exaggeration, it 
 wUl have been seen from such scattered notices as have 
 found place in the foregoing pages that the percentage of 
 cardinals killed by Conclaves has been by no means a 
 small one ! And it will be -understood how sincerely 
 the members of the Sacred College must pray that the 
 heavenward -flight of the holy father may be in the 
 winter ! 
 
 The Cardinal Camerlengo, as Chief of the Apostolic 
 Chamber, is Governor of the Conclave, and has all the 
 police of it in his hands. In the Conclave of which De 
 Brosses has preserved the anecdotes I have availed 
 myself of in this chapter, the Cardinal Albani, we are 
 told, performed these duties in a haughty and severe 
 spirit. He makes his round every evening to see that 
 all is quiet and in good order. He places emissaries as 
 sentinels to prevent visits by night by one cardinal to 
 another. But, says De Brosses, they find means to 
 
400 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 prowl about in the darkness. The anecdotes of other 
 Conclaves which have been given, and indeed those 
 concerning this Conclave and of Albani's own conduct 
 in it, abundantly show that all these pretended precau- 
 tions were like so much else — may one not say like 
 everything else? — connected with the subject, a mere 
 sham and solemn farce ! "When a cardinal wishes to be 
 alone in his cell, he causes a couple of rods provided 
 for the purpose to be placed crosswise before his door, 
 which is understood to be a sign that "he is sleeping, 
 or that at all events he does not wish to be disturbed." 
 
 The first day in the Conclave, or rather the afternoon 
 and evening of the day, on which the cardinals, having 
 heard the mass and sung the hymn "Veni Creator," 
 proceed to their prison-house, is full of bustle. Many 
 last words have to be said. The ambassadors of the 
 Catholic powers are then paying their last visits to their 
 Eminences. It is the very high-tide of intrigues, solici- 
 tations, promises, warnings, dissimulations, and lies ! 
 Then at the ringing of a bell the master of the cere- 
 monies pronounces an " Extra Omnes," and the last 
 door is shut and walled up, and the Conclave has 
 begun. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 The Twenty rules of Gregory XV. — Signal for strangers to clear out. — 
 Scale of payment of fees to servants and attendants in Conclave. — 
 Death of a Cardinal in Conclave. — ^Business of each meeting of the 
 Cardinals between the death of the Pope and the commencement of 
 Conclave. — Entry into Conclave. — Bull of Pius VI. dispensing with 
 certain formalities in the election of his successor. — Next Conclave 
 in all probability will be quite regular. 
 
 The rules for regulating the proceedings of tlie Con- 
 claye made at divers times by various Popes, specially, 
 as has been seen, by Gregory X., were anew reduced to 
 order, confirmed, and set forth, by Gregory XY., on the 
 15 th of November, 1621, by a Bull entitled ^terni 
 Patris Filius. These rules may be thus compendiously 
 stated : — 
 
 1st. The election of the Pontiff in Conclave, and no 
 otherwise, may be done in either of three manners — by 
 scrutiny, by compromise, or by acclamation {i.e. the 
 manner earlier called and which has been described as 
 " adoration "). 
 
 2nd. The number of votes needed to make an election 
 is two-thirds of those present in Conclave. And a man's 
 own vote for himself shall not be counted in this 
 number. 
 
 3rd. No election shall be considered as accomplished 
 unless all the votes shall have been published. 
 
 D D 
 
402 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 4th. If more than one person has two-thirds of the 
 votes, no election has taken place.* 
 
 5th. Before placing his voting paper in the iim, every 
 elector shall swear that he has named in it him whom he 
 believes to be the most fitting person. He must write in 
 the schedule his own name and that of the person to 
 whom he gives his vote. 
 
 6th. These schedules must be folded f and sealed in 
 order that it may be ascertained by the seal that two 
 schedules have not been put into the urn by one 
 elector. 
 
 7th, The schedules for the scrutiny and for the 
 "accessit," J must be alike. 
 
 8th. The name of the person voted for must be stated 
 in the ''accessit" schedule, as in the case of the 
 scrutiny. 
 
 9th. He who purposes to "accede" to some one who 
 has been nominated at the scrutiny must write the name 
 of that person. He who does not purpose to do so 
 must write nemini — to no one — in the place of the 
 name. 
 
 10th. In each scrutiny only one " accessit •' shall 
 take place. 
 
 11th. Both at a scrutiny and at an "accessit" the 
 schedules shall be counted before they ai-c opened, to see 
 
 • It seems difficult to understand tkis at first. The explanatiou is that 
 the cardinals were sometimes in the habit of adding one or more other 
 names in their voting papers to tJie first inscribed, meaning that ther 
 voted for the second failing the election of the first ; and so on. Thus 
 it might be possible for two persons to have two-thirds of the votes. 
 
 t The special method in which these voting papers must bo folded 
 will be explained presently. 
 
 X This term will also be explained hereafter. 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 403 
 
 "whether the number of them is equal to that of the 
 cardinals ia Conclave. 
 
 12th. He who does not observe these rules shall be 
 excommunicated. 
 
 13th. Three cardinals chosen out of the whole body 
 by lot, previous to the scrutiny, shall together with the 
 scrutators go to the cells of such cardinals as are pre- 
 vented by illness from going into the chapel to receive 
 their schedules in the urn. 
 
 14th. The scrutiny shall take place twice every day 
 without exception, once in the morning and once in the 
 afternoon, at a convenient hour. 
 
 15th. Let the cardinals abstain, under pain of excom- 
 munication, from any agreement, signal, or threat having 
 reference to the election. 
 
 16th. Those, whether electors or elected, who contra- 
 vene any of the above regulations are excommunicated 
 with the greater excommunication. (But the same 
 penalty had been enacted again and again for the same 
 oflfenee in the most solemn manner, mth the result, 
 probably, of rendering excommunicate every cardinal 
 who ever took part in the election of any Pope !) 
 
 17th. The most rigorous secrecy respecting the elec- 
 tion of the Pontiff is enjoined. 
 
 18th. Let the three cardinals who are the heads of 
 the monastic orders, together with the Cardinal Camer- 
 lengo, be the executors of this Bull. 
 
 19th. Every cardinal must swear to observe these 
 rules at the time of his promotion to the purple, a second 
 time on the first day after the death of the Pope, and a 
 third time after his entry into Conclave. 
 
 DB 2 
 
404 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 20tli. Cardinals under ecclesiastical censures are not 
 on that account to be excluded from taking part in the 
 election of the Pontiif. 
 
 A Commission was appointed by Gregory XV. to 
 draw up a manual of the ceremonial of the Conclave 
 based on these rules ; and a few minor regulations may 
 be gleaned from the completed document put forth by 
 the Commission, The expenses of the obsequies of the 
 deceased Pope shall not exceed ten thousands ducats. 
 This has nothing to do with the monument which may 
 be raised to any Pope by the members of his family or 
 others, but is merely the expense of the ceremonial of 
 the funeral. 
 
 "When their Eminences have entered the Conclave, 
 after three signals on a bell, with the inten'al of an 
 hour between each, nobody shall be permitted to leave 
 the Conclave. 
 
 Clement XII. reconfirmed these provisions in a Bull, 
 which adds nothing of importance to them, but esta- 
 blishes by a subsequent document, which he declared to 
 have the same force as if it had made part of the Bull, 
 the following scale of payments. Besides the hundred 
 crowns a month which are customarily paid to the two 
 physicians and the surgeon of the Conclave, a similar 
 sum shall be paid to the secretary of the Conclave, with 
 the onus, however, of maintaining two assistants, whom 
 he may bring into Conclave with him. The six masters 
 of the ceremonies iu ordinary, and likewise such supcr- 
 numcnivj' masters of the ceremonies as may have 
 received permission to come into Conclave, shall receive 
 tweuty-five crowns a month each. The confessor of the 
 
THE CONCLAYE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 405 
 
 Conclave and the under-sacristan shall receive thirty- 
 crowns a month; and the person whom the nnder- 
 sacristan may bring with him to serve at the mass shall 
 have six crowns a month. If the first master of the 
 ceremonies be a bishop, he may have an attendant to 
 serve at the mass, as also the sacristan, and to each of 
 such attendants ten crowns a month shall be given. 
 And it shall be the duty of the first master of the 
 ceremonies to keep the keys of the Conclave. Ifo 
 article that can be useful for future Conclaves shall 
 be taken away by the thirty-five sweepers, except the 
 bed that shall be given to each of them. The cardinals 
 must take care that the doors of communication between 
 the Conclave and the remainder of the Yatican be walled 
 up. The wood that has been used for the construction 
 of the Conclave shall not be taken away without the 
 permission of the cardinals who are heads of the religious 
 orders. If there is any remainder it shall be used for 
 the Apostolic Palace. "No mourning garments for the 
 deceased Pope shall be given to the Camerlengo, the 
 Treasurer, to the Auditor- Greneral, and two Clerks of the 
 Chamber, or to the President of the Apostolic Chamber.* 
 No profit of any kind shall be given to any official who 
 has not bought his office. The servants of the Conclave 
 shall not demand new clothes under pretext of a change 
 
 * This protibition of giving mourning cloth.es to some of the highest 
 placed and richest men in Eome is a curious indication of the universal 
 greed, which was absolutely insensible to any sense of shame, and 
 shrunk from no depth of meanness. It would probably be found on 
 inquiry that the custom of giving mourning to these high officials had 
 degenerated into a recognised job, by virtue of which the Cardinal 
 Camerlengo's valet put a certain considerable sum of cash into his 
 pocket, the enjoyment of which the Camerlengo grasped at as improving 
 the value of his patronage. 
 
406 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 of season unless when the Conclave has lasted over two 
 months. 
 
 If a cardinal should die in Conclave all his attendants 
 shall go out of it.* 
 
 In the first meeting of the cardinals after the death of 
 a Pope the constitutions of Gregory X, respecting the 
 Conclave, those of Julius II. on simoniacal election, 
 those of Pius IV. and Gregory XV. as to the cere- 
 monial of the Conclave, shall be read. At the second 
 meeting the ofl&cials of Eome and the State shall be 
 confirmed in their places. In the third meeting the 
 confessor of the Conclave shall be elected, and the 
 deceased Pope shall be buried, the cardinals, his creatures, 
 being present. In the fourth meeting the physicians 
 and the surgeon of the Conclave shall be elected. In 
 the fifth the barbers and the apothecary shall be elected. 
 In the sixth meeting the junior cardinal deacon shall 
 draw lots for the cells of the cardinals in the Conclave, 
 and the masters of the ceremonies shaU show the 
 brief by A'irtue of which each of them is to enter the 
 Conclave. In the seventh meeting those cardinals who, 
 being in Eome, shall wish to haA'o a third conclavist, 
 shall prefer their petitions to that effect. In the eighth 
 meeting two cardinals shall be appointed, who shall have 
 the duty of scrutinizing all those who shall enter 
 into Conclave, and to whom all who arc to enter as 
 conclavists shall present their names, and the names 
 
 * It might havo beon expected that the rule should have been that the 
 attendant concla-vists and others should in such case not havo qviitted 
 the Oonclavo. What becomes, under the rule as given, of the absolute 
 non-communication to the outside world of what has passed and is 
 passing in Cuuclavo 'f 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT JEESENT. 407 
 
 of the countries from -wMcli they come, and of the 
 cardinal to whom they are attached. In the ninth 
 meeting three cardinals shall be elected who shall watch 
 over the due closing of the Conclave. In the tenth 
 and last meeting those cardinals who are not ia deacon's 
 orders shall present the brief of dispensation by virtue 
 of which they propose to enter iato Conclave, On the 
 following day, when the mass of the Holy Ghost has 
 been celebrated, and the prayer respecting the election of 
 a Pope has been recited, all the cardinals shall proceed 
 processionally to the Conclave, where the various con- 
 stitutions of the Pontiffs respecting the mode of election, 
 and at the end of them these present rules of Clement 
 XII., shall be read. 
 
 When Pius YI. determined to go to Vienna in 1782, 
 he left a Bull by which the Sacred College was enjoined 
 in case of his death while absent to hold the Conclave 
 in Eome, the same as if he had died there. But when 
 in 1798 the same Pope was driven from Eome by the 
 Prench, and taken prisoner to the monastery of the 
 Certosa, near Plorence, in view of his probable death at 
 a time which should find all the cardinals dispersed or 
 imprisoned, he gave a Bull to his nunsio at Plorence, 
 Cardinal Odescalchi, empowering the College to elect 
 his successor in whatsoever place the greatest number of 
 them could meet together. This Bull, commencing with 
 the words, "Attentis peculioribus et deplorabilibus cir- 
 cumstantiis," suspends by Apostolical authority all the 
 ancient laws for the election of the Pontiff and for the 
 holding of the Conclave. It further empowers the 
 cardinals to dispense with the usual forms and solem- 
 
40S THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 nities of tlie Conclave, especially as to sliortening at 
 their own discretion tlie time whicli ought, according to 
 rule, to elapse between the death of the Pope and the 
 election. Novaes, in his life of Pius YI., declares that 
 a chamberlain of Monsignore Carracciolo, who was 
 Master of the Chamber to the Pope, carried this Bull 
 secretly to the cardinals who were at ISTaples, at Yenice, 
 and in other cities near at hand. And it is probatle 
 that Novaes is right. But other wi'iters maintaiu that 
 this Bull was prepared in Pome before the Pope was 
 compelled to leave it, which was on the 11th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1798, and that Cardinal Albani, the Dean of the 
 Sacred College, determined with such of the cardinals as 
 were accessible that they should meet at Yenice, at the 
 same time communicating this arrangement to all the 
 Catholic European sovereigns. The precedent is one 
 which probably will not have escaped the attention of 
 some of those who are not Catholic sovereigns, in view 
 of the next papal election, which cannot be far off, 
 although, as far as can be judged from the present 
 aspect of affairs, there seems little possibility of doubt- 
 ing that the Conclave will be held and the future Pontiff 
 elected in exact and scrupulously regular conformity 
 with precedent. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Three Canonical modes of election. — Scrutiny and "Accessit." — ^Entry 
 of tlie Cardinals into Chapel for the scrutiny. — ^Vestments. — Mode 
 of preparing the Sistine Chapel for the scrutiny. — The Seats of the 
 Cardinals at the Scrutiny. — The " Sfumata." — How the day passes 
 in Conclave. — The bringing of the Cardinals' dinners. — Cardinals 
 heads of Monastic Orders. — Close of the day in Conclave. 
 
 Of the three modes of election recognised as regular 
 and canonical in Conclave, that by "adoration," "inspi- 
 ration," or " acclamation," and that by " compromise," 
 have been sufficiently explained in former chapters. It 
 remains to give an account of the election by "scrutiny" 
 and " accessit," which may be considered as the method 
 practised at the present day. These two terms do not 
 signify two different modes of performing the election, 
 but two portions of the same method of arriving at a 
 result, as wUl be seen from what follows. 
 
 The afternoon of the first day, after the processional 
 entry of the cardinals into Conclave, having been occu- 
 pied with visits and adieux, as has been described, and 
 the "Extra Omnes " having been pronounced at the 
 third ringing of the bell, their Eminences take possession 
 of the cells which chance has assigned to them, and 
 retire for the night. The next morning at eight o'clock 
 the junior master of the ceremonies rings a bell at the 
 door of each cell, and a second time half an hour later. 
 
410 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 At nine he rings a third time, adding this time to his 
 bell the call, " In Capellam, Domini ! " — " To chapel, my 
 lords ! " Then the cardinals, clad in cassock, band, 
 rochet, cape, and croccia^* and with their scarlet herrette, 
 and attended by their conclavists, proceed to the Paoline 
 Chapel, where mass is celebrated by the Dean of the 
 College, and the communion is administered to them. 
 The croccia is on this occasion taken off in chapel before 
 communicating, and a white stole assumed in place of it, 
 which is to be handed to them by the master of the 
 ceremonies. The cardinals belonging to the monastic 
 orders do not assume the rochet, except the heads of 
 certain orders who have the privilege of wearing it. 
 "Whole pages might be filled with minutise of this sort, 
 all regulated in the most precise manner. The above 
 have been given as a specimen of the infinitely numerous 
 and infinitesimally small regulations with which the 
 whole of the procedure — as well indeed as every other 
 portion of Eoman Court life — is surrounded ! 
 
 After the service in the chapel their Eminences retire 
 to their cells to breakfast ; after which they go, accom- 
 panied by their conclavists, to the Sistine Chapel, 
 without their rochets, to proceed to the first scrutiny. 
 One of the conclavists at the door of the chapel hands 
 to his cardinal a closed desk or box containing the 
 ruled and prepared registers for the day's voting, the 
 schedules printed and prepared (as will be presently 
 described) for giving the votes, the cai'dinal's seal and 
 
 ' A garment s])ccially worn in Conclave. It is a long mantle of serge 
 or merino from tho iKK-k to the foot, open in front, and with, a train 
 behind. Tlio Inttor is tied up in a knot, only loosened when tho wearer 
 is receiving the Muoharist. 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 411 
 
 materials for sealing, and writing requisites. The con- 
 clavists then retire and the doors of the chapel are 
 closed. Their Emiaences, it is expressly provided, may- 
 recite their breviary during the scrutiny, or read any 
 book, if they like that better. 
 
 The chapel is divided, as visitors to Kome mU no 
 doubt remember, into two halves by a balustrade, the 
 inner portion, or that nearest to the altar, being called, 
 as in other churches, the presbytery. The entire floor 
 of this is raised to a level with the dais, on which ordi- 
 narily is placed the Pontiff's seat, on this occasion 
 removed. The altar alone remains, with its crucifix and 
 six candles, which are always Hghted during the whole 
 time of the scrutiny. All round the walls of the presby- 
 tery thus prepared are erected a number of "thrones" 
 (for they are all sovereigns duriag the vacancy of the 
 see), equal to that of the members of the College. 
 Each has a baldaquin, or canopy, over it, which, as well 
 as all the other drapery attached to it, is of green for 
 those cardinals not created by the last Pope, and of 
 purple for his " creatures." These canopies are so 
 arranged that they can be removed by pulling a rope 
 at a minute's notice, and they are all let down the 
 instant the new Pope is chosen, with the exception of 
 that one above the seat he has occupied. Under the 
 baldaquin, and in front of each seat, is a table covered 
 with drapery of similar colour, in front of which is 
 written the name of each cardinal, and below the name 
 his coat-of-arms. On the table there is what we should 
 call a blotting book, which is to be, as we are told, of 
 black leather ornamented with lines of gold. The Dean 
 
412 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 of the Sacred College sits under tlie first baldaquin on 
 the gospel side of the altar. All the rest follow, the 
 bishops, priests, and deacons, in the order of their crea- 
 tion, so that the junior occupies the baldaquin nearest 
 to the altar on the epistle side. In the middle of the 
 floor are six little tables, similarly furnished with every- 
 thing necessary to the busiaess in hand. These are 
 for the use of any cardinal who, fearing that he may 
 be overlooked by his neighbour when writing his voting 
 paper, may prefer to do it in the open space, where 
 overlooking is impossible. 
 
 In front of the altar is a large table covered with 
 red serge, with the following objects on it : a nimiber 
 of papers folded, wafers, sealiag-wax, four candles ready 
 for lighting, a box with flint, steel, and matches, a 
 quantity of red and another parcel of purple cord for 
 filing the schedules on, and a box of needles for the 
 same purpose. There is also a tablet of walnut wood 
 with seventy holes in it, answering to the number of 
 cardinals when the College is full, together vrith a 
 purple bag containing as many balls of wood as there 
 arc cardinals, with the name of a cardinal on each of 
 them. From this bag, every morning and every after- 
 noon, are drawn by lot by the hand of the junior cai-- 
 dinal deacon the thi-ce scrutators, and three cardinals to 
 attend the invalids and take their votes in their cells 
 if there are any invalids in the Conclave, as is almost 
 certain to be the case. And the balls, with the names 
 of the six cardinals thus dra\\n by lot, arc placed in the 
 respective holes in the tablet above mentioned, and are 
 allowed to remain there during the entu-e time of each 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 413 
 
 scrutiny. Finally, tliere is also on the large table th.e 
 form of oath, to be used on putting the voting papers 
 into the urn, and two urns with their dishes beneath 
 them, which during the time of the scrutiny are placed 
 on the altar; also a box with a slit ia the lid, and a 
 lock and key, which the cardinals appointed to receive 
 the votes of their invalid colleagues carry round, locked, 
 to the cells of the latter, and into the slit in which the 
 sick cardinals put their folded papers containing their 
 votes with their own hands. 
 
 Behind the altar there is a little iron fireplace with a 
 tube chimney communicating with the outer air. There 
 is also a little closed grating and a small quantity of 
 damp straw. At the close of each scrutiny in which 
 no election has been accomplished all the voting papers 
 are placed, together with a portion of straw, in this 
 grating, which is then inserted in the iron stove, and 
 the whole is set on fire by a match lighted from the 
 tinder-box before mentioned, so that the burning occa- 
 sions a dense smoke, by the rising of which all Eome, 
 eagerly on the watch, is informed that no election has 
 taken place at that morning's, or that afternoon's, 
 scrutiny. This is the celebrated "Sfumata" of which 
 so much has been heard, and on which so many bets 
 have been decided. It serves also as a signal to the 
 artillerymen who are on the watch at Castle St. Angelo, 
 ready to fire their guns as soon as the election shall 
 have been made ; and, further, to the workmen, also on 
 the watch, to pull down the walling-up of the great 
 balcony from which the new Pope wiU, immediately on 
 his election, give his first benediction, " Urbi et orbi," 
 
414 THE PAPAL CONCIiAVES. 
 
 on the instant that an election shall have been consum- 
 mated. 
 
 When the cardinals have entered the chapel and taken 
 their places, the senior master of the ceremonies reads 
 the instrument declaring the perfect closing of the 
 Conclave, and the other masters of the ceremonies 
 distribute to the cardinals little books containing a 
 form of prayer to be used during the vacancy of the 
 see. The sacristan, who is always a bishop, then in- 
 tones the " Veni Creator Spiritus," and the " Or emus ; " 
 and then every one save the cardinals leaves the 
 chapel, and one of them fastens the door with a chain, 
 which must be no more removed tUl the end of that 
 scrutiny. As soon as it has been brought to a con- 
 clusion, the Dean of the College lings a bell which is on 
 the little table before him, and all the cardinals rise to 
 leave the chapel. The first who reaches the door un- 
 locks the chain and riags a bell, the rope of which is 
 there, to let the conclavists and all the Conclave world 
 know that the scrutiny is over. The morning's work, 
 including the mass, generally occupies about two houi-s. 
 The afternoon scrutiny, without the mass, takes about 
 an hour and a half. 
 
 When their Eminences come out from the morniac 
 scrutiny it is about time for the mid-day meal— a great 
 event in the day, doubtless, Avithin the Conclave walls, 
 but a still greater one on the outside ; for the dinners 
 of tlu'iv Eminences arc brought to the " rota,"' or turn- 
 table opening, at which they are to be passed into the 
 Couclavo in groat state and with much ceremony. Each 
 cardinal has a "Dapifer '' — a bringcr of the feast — who 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 415 
 
 performs that office for his imprisoned master. We 
 read in the old constitutions of the one dish to be 
 allowed to the electors, and that to be diminished to 
 bread and water if the election were not terminated 
 within a given number of days. And it might be 
 supposed that Dapifer could convey that "feast" with 
 sufficient convenience in a small hand-basket ! But 
 such Apostolic simplicity has given way to a cere- 
 monial which forms — or perhaps I should say, formed — ■ 
 one of the great spectacles of Eome during an inter- 
 regnum. The cardinal's state carriage and state liveries 
 set forth from his Eminence's palace with much accu- 
 rately prescribed ceremonial, under the command of 
 " Dapifer," who superintends the passing of the good 
 things brought by him through the " rota," after they 
 have been duly probed and examined by the officials 
 appointed, ad hoc, to see that no scrap of writing or 
 message of any kind is conveyed with or in them. How 
 gross a farce all this is has been sufficiently seen in 
 the accounts of sundry Conclaves which have been 
 given. 
 
 By various other regulations, the utmost apparent 
 care is taken that no communications respecting the 
 business of the Conclave shall take place between those 
 imprisoned and the outside world. The prelates who 
 preside at the " rota " are directed to read all letters 
 passing in or out, to seal and pass them if there is 
 nothing relative to the election in them, and to refuse 
 to allow them to pass otherwise. Conversations at the 
 " rota," to which any cardinal may be called by those 
 who wish to confer with him, may not be carried on in 
 
416 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 a low voice, but must be perfectly audible to tbe by- 
 standers — all absolute farce, nowadays recognised farce, 
 and in the days when it was hoped that such regu- 
 lations would really secure the end in view, absolutely 
 vain for any such purpose. 
 
 At three hours before sunset their Eminences are 
 called again to chapel for the afternoon scrutiny with 
 the same ceremony, and all the same formalities are 
 observed as in. the morning. After the second scrutiny 
 of the day is over comes the hour for recreation and 
 visits in the Conclave world. I find in the writers 
 upon the subject the most exact and detailed prescrip- 
 tions for the dress of those cardinals who employ this 
 evening hour in taking a turn in one of the courts of the 
 building or in the corridors, and for that of such as A"isit 
 their colleagues in theii- colls — how the Conclavista 
 shall stand at the door of the cell visited, when the 
 visitor departs, with two candles, &c., &c. — matters 
 which the reader would hardly thank me for placing 
 before him. 
 
 The first evening a solemn meeting of those cardinals 
 who are chiefs of the monastic orders is held, for the 
 purpose of administering a solemn oath to the con- 
 clavists and to every other person in the Conclave down 
 to the sweepers, that they will never reveal aught that 
 they may hear or sec in the Couolavo touching the 
 election! The degree of obsorvaneo of Avhich oath 
 administered, as it is, -with OAory oireiimstance of solem- 
 nity and the menace of the most awful penalties to those 
 who should break it, the reader has already had abun- 
 dant means of verifying ! \g, 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PEESENT. 417 
 
 Cardinals who from infirmity are -unable to return 
 yisits received in their cells, "like Cardinal Firmo, who 
 went into the Conclave of 1829 at ninety-three years of 
 age," must send round their cards to every cell. That first 
 evening also the dresses (accurately prescribed) which 
 were furnished at the cost of the Apostolic Chamber to 
 all the servants in the Conclave are served out by a 
 bursar, on presentation of written requisitions from the 
 different conclavists. The same bursar supplies fuel, 
 candles, and the like for the cell of each cardinal. But 
 "if" (I find it oddly enough stated in. connection with 
 the above details) "any donatives of eatables which 
 ought to belong to the Pope arrive in. the Conclave, they 
 are distributed to the members of the Sacred College, 
 giving a share also to the secretary and sacristan of the 
 Conclave!" It is difficult to imagine how any such 
 present intended for the Pope should arrive, at the 
 earliest, ten days after his death, and what the nature of 
 the " eatables" could be which, after such a delay, their 
 Eminences were still desirous of sharing ! 
 
 Finally, the day closes by another ringing of his bell 
 by the junior master of the ceremonies two hours after 
 sunset, a second time half an hour later, and a third 
 time three hours after sunset, the last ringing being 
 accompanied by the call, " In Cellam Domini ! "— " To 
 your cells, my lords !" 
 
 E E 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Mode of Procedure at the Scrutiny. — "Ante-scrutiny." — The Four 
 Actions composing it. — Description of the voting papers. — The 
 Eight Actions composing the Scrutiny more properly so called. — 
 Infirm Cardinals. — The Manner of their voting. — ^Eelatives may not 
 be Conclavists. — How this rule is evaded. — The " Accessit." — The 
 "Post-scrutiny." — Different procedure in case an election has 
 or has not been accomplished. — Care to ascertain that an elector 
 has not made the necessary majority by voting for himself. — Cases 
 of conscience as regards the voting. — Objects intended to be ensured 
 by Conclave rules impossible of atta inment. — Conclusion. 
 
 It remains to give an account of the mode of procedure 
 adopted in tlie scrutiny and tlie " accessit," ■whicli latter 
 operation, towever, is more properly considered as a 
 portion of the scrutiny, though, often spoken of even by 
 ecclesiastical writers as a separate act. 
 
 The scrutiny, as defined by the BuU of Gregory XY., 
 must be secret, and consists of three portions — the 
 "ante-scrutiny," the "scrutiny" more properly so 
 called, and the " post-scrutiny." 
 
 Four actions go to the performance of the " ante- 
 scrutiny": 1, The preparation of the schedules or 
 voting papers. 2. The drawing by lot of the three 
 scrutators and of the three deputed to wait on the 
 infirm cardinals in their cells. 3. The wi'iting of the 
 voting papers. 4. The folding and sealing of the same. 
 
 Of the second of these nothing need be added to what 
 has before been said. 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 
 
 419 
 
 The preparing, writing, folding, and sealing of the 
 voting papers is done as follows. 
 
 The schedule, or slip of paper on which the vote is 
 written, is about eight inches long by six wide. These 
 papers have been previously printed and divided 
 thus : — 
 
 Ego 
 
 
 
 Card. 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 Bligo 
 meum 
 
 ill 
 D. 
 
 Summum Pontifioem Em. 
 Card. 
 
 Dom. 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 The voter after "Ego" writes his baptismal name, 
 and after "Card" his surname; fills the third division 
 of the schedule with the name and surname of the 
 cardinal to whom he gives his vote, writing these words 
 as far as possible ia such sort that they shall not be 
 recognised by his colleagues as his writing ; writes in 
 the fifth division of the paper an Arabic number and 
 a motto ; and then folds and seals as described presently. 
 
 E E 2 
 
420 
 
 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 Here is a specimen of tlie electoral scliedule duly 
 filled :— 
 
 Ego 
 
 Franciscus 
 
 Card. Barberini 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 Eligo 
 meum 
 
 in Summum Pontificem Eeyd 
 Dom. LudoTico Ludoyisi 
 
 Dom. 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 24. 
 
 Salvum me fac, Deus. 
 
 
 Tlie Yoter then folds tlie first division do-wn over tlie 
 second, and seals it in the two places marked by circles ; 
 and folds tip the fifth division over the foiu'th, and seals 
 it down similarly ; so that only the words wi'itton in the 
 middle division, "Eligo in Siimnnmi Pontificem," so- 
 and-so, remain visible. But before putting the paper 
 into the urn, these also arc covered by folding the 
 two remaining portions of the paper yet once again over 
 the central part. 
 
 The practice which formerly prevailed of VTiting 
 more than one name in the voting paper, with the 
 understanding that the elector ga-se his vote to the 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PEESBNT. 421 
 
 first named if he Lad enough votes to elect, and to 
 the second inscribed if the first should not so have, was 
 abolished by Gregory XY. ; and at the present day any 
 voting paper which contained more than one name 
 would be considered null and void. 
 
 The acts of the " anti-scrutinium " having been thus 
 duly performed, we proceed to those of the " scrutinium" 
 itself, which are with equally pedantic minuteness 
 divided by the ecclesiastical writers into eight opera- 
 tions : 1, The carrying of the schedules. 2. Taking 
 the oath. 3. Placing the vote in the urn. 4. Mixiag 
 up all the votes in the urn. 5. Counting the sche- 
 dules. 6, Publishing the result to all the cardiaals 
 present. 7. Piling the schedules. 8. Putting them 
 away separately. 
 
 First,, carrying the voting papers. Each cardinal, 
 habited in the '' croccia," or long mantle, which has 
 been described, and beginning with the Dean of the 
 Sacred College, walks from his place to the altar, carry- 
 ing the schedule folded and sealed in the manner 
 specified, held high between his finger and thumb. 
 Arrived at the step of the altar, he kneels and (second 
 act) pronounces the following oath : " Tester Christum 
 Dominum, qui me judicaturus est, me eligere quern 
 secundum Deum judico elegi debere, et quod in accessu 
 prestabo." " I call to witness Christ our Lord, who shall 
 be my judge, that I am electing him whom before God 
 I think ought to be elected, and the same as to the 
 vote, which I shall give at the ' accessit.' " On the 
 altar there is a large urn or chalice, covered with a 
 patina; and the elector, having thus sworn, places his 
 
422 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 schedule on the patina, and taking tliat ia Hs hand, 
 throws the vote into the chalice "with it. 
 
 Should any one of the cardinals present be unable to 
 walk from his stall to the altar, the junior of the three 
 scrutators goes to him at his seat, and having received 
 from him his voting paper, after he has pronounced the 
 oath, carries it in the manner described to the altar, 
 and deposits it in the urn. "With regard to such 
 cardinals as are not able to come into chapel, being Ul 
 in their cells, the mode of proceeding is as follows. 
 The three cardinals chosen by lot for this purpose 
 place their votes in the urn immediately after the Dean, 
 in order that they may be free to attend to the sick. 
 Then taking from the above-mentioned table the box 
 with the slit in the lid, they open it, and hold it up to 
 show to all present that there is nothing in it. Then 
 they lock it and deposit the key on the altar. Then the 
 three deputed to attend the sick depart on their errand 
 to the cells of the sick men, a cardinal opening the door 
 of the chapel for them, and chaining it up again as soon 
 as they have passed. They go to the cell of each sick 
 man in tm-n, hear him pronounce the oath, and receive 
 his vote in the box. If any cardinal is im^able to write, 
 he may depute any one of his colleagues to write his 
 voting paper for him, in which case the person so 
 deputed swears solemnly that he will never di-STilge the 
 secret of the vote he has wiittcn, the breach of which 
 oath involves ijhso facto the greater excommunication. 
 Or the person deputed to write the vote may be the 
 conclavist of the infirm man; and iu such cases it is 
 very usual for a cardinal to be attended by some near 
 
THE CONCLAVE A8 IT IS AT PRESENT. 423 
 
 relative as conclavist ; for though, the constitutions 
 forhid any cardinal to take a relative with him into 
 Conclave as conclavist, this is very easily evaded by 
 two cardinals agreeing together to appoint each the 
 relative of the other. 
 
 The fourth act of the scrutiny, to he performed when 
 all the votes, including those of the sick, have been 
 placed in the chalice, is the mixing them up together ; 
 and this is done by the senior of the three scrutators. 
 The fifth act is the counting of the schedules. This is 
 done by the junior scrutator, who counts them, taking 
 them one by one from the chalice, and dropping them 
 into another similar receptacle, If the counting should 
 show that there has been any mistake, and that the 
 number of votes given does not correspond with that of 
 the cardinals in Conclave, all the votes are burned, and 
 the work must be begun again. Next comes the " sixth 
 act," which is in fact the scrutiny itself, and is per- 
 formed in this manner. The three scrutators sit at the 
 large table which has been described, with their backs 
 to the altar, so that they may be in full view of all 
 present, and the first of them takes a voting paper from 
 the chalice, and leaving the seals which seal down the 
 name and the motto of the voter intact, opens the other 
 folds, and reads the name of the person in whose favour 
 the vote is given. He then passes it to the second 
 scrutator, who also takes note of the person voted for, 
 and passes it on to the third, who declares the vote in 
 a loud voice readily to be heard by all the cardinals 
 present ; and each one of them, as it is uttered, marks 
 the vote on a register before him, which is prepared for 
 
424 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 the purpose. These large sheets of paper, of which 
 there are a number in each of the little tables in front 
 of the cardinals' seats, are used one for each scrutiny. 
 They contain a printed list of all the members of the 
 Sacred College, with spaces for the record of the votes 
 given, both at the scrutiny more properly so called and 
 at the " accessit." When this voting and counting, 
 which each cardinal does for himself on his own re- 
 gister, and the scrutators do more formally, recording 
 the number of votes given to each cardinal who has 
 been voted for at all in a separate paper, has been 
 accomplished, the assembly proceeds to the seventh 
 operation of the scrutiny. This is the threading of the 
 schedules on a file, and is done by the junior scrutator, 
 each paper being pierced exactly at the word " Eligo." 
 The eighth and last act of this the second portion of the 
 scrutiny consists in the tying together, by the junior 
 scrutator, of the two ends of the thread on which the 
 votes have been filed, and the placing of the whole of 
 them apart on the great table. 
 
 Then comes the third and last operation of the 
 scrutiny, Avhich has three divisions in case an election 
 has been accomplished, which are — 1st, the counting of 
 the votes ; 2nd, the verifying of the votes by three other 
 cardinals, di-awn by lot, and called " ricognitori ; "' and 
 3rd, the burning of the votes in the manner which 
 has already been described. 
 
 But if no election has been achieved, the last portion 
 of the operation, the " post-serutinium,"' consists of 
 seven "acts," of which the first is the " aecessit.'' 
 The meaning of the phrase is eAiJent enough, and the 
 
THE COIfCLA.VE AS IT IS AT PRESENT. 425 
 
 act is performed in the same maimer as in giying tlie 
 first vote, save that " accedo ad" is printed in the 
 schedule instead of '' Eligo," and if the elector remains 
 fijied in. his original intention, he writes the word 
 "nemini" in the place of the name of one of the cardi- 
 nals. The numbers written on the paper, the motto, 
 and the seals must be the same as in the first voting, 
 otherwise the vote given will be void. Further, no 
 cardinal can be voted for by "accessit" who has not 
 had at least one vote in the first voting. Nor can an 
 elector give an "accessit" for the same person for whom 
 he voted in the first voting, otherwise he would vote 
 twice for the same man. And as regards the invalids 
 who have remained in their cells, the three cardinals 
 deputed to attend them carry round together with the 
 box for receiving their votes a statement of the results 
 of the first voting. 
 
 The mode in which this method of the "accessit" 
 operates, and the nature of the motives which will 
 influence the electors in proceeding to it, are readily 
 intelligible. If the candidate A, for whom I have 
 voted, shall be shown to have received four or five votes 
 only, while B has received twenty, and C thirty, it will 
 become a delicate question whether I shall transfer my 
 vote to one of these latter, and, if so, to which of them. 
 If failing my own favourite candidate, who has been 
 shown to have no chance, I am contented to have C, 
 my course is clear; I "accede" to him. If he is 
 objectionable to me, I may still prefer to do so if it 
 shall seem to me that his election is inevitable. If B is 
 one with whom I could be contented, and if I think 
 
426 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 he has a chance, I "accede" to him. If my main 
 object is to prevent if possible the election of either B 
 or C I accede to some other cardinal, in the hope that 
 the votes given to him, if not sufficient to elect him, may 
 at least, in Conclave language, give an exclusion to B 
 and C, i.e. prevent either of them from having a two- 
 thirds majority. It will be seen that the " accessit " 
 requires for its management some of the most delicate 
 and dexterous play of any portion of the Conclave 
 operations. 
 
 The second act of the post-scrutioium, when no elec- 
 tion has been made at the first vote, is the opening of 
 the seals which seal down that fold of the voting paper 
 where the number and the motto are written, to ascer- 
 tain that the first and second votes are by the same 
 person, and are given either "nemini," or to a different 
 candidate from him voted for the first time ; the third, 
 the numbering ; and the fourth, the examination of the 
 votes (only in case an election has been accomplished). 
 The fifth act of the post-scrutinium is the adding 
 together the votes obtained by the different candidates 
 in the scrutiny and the " accessit.'' The sixth act con- 
 sists in the verification by the " ricognitori ' ' of the votes 
 and the counting of them by the scrutators ; and the 
 seventh and last in the burning of the voting papers. 
 
 It should be noted, however, that in the examination 
 of the votes, if an election should have been made bv 
 a number of votes exactly sufficient to constitute the 
 required two-thirds majority, the scrutators must ascer- 
 tain that the person elected has not voted for himself. 
 Otherwise no election would have been made. 
 
THE CONCLAVE AS IT IS AT PKESENT. 42 T 
 
 Yolumes of subtle casuistry have been written on tbe 
 exact sense of the terms of the cardinal's oath, that lie 
 will elect him whom he believes before God ought to 
 le elected^ and on the degree of literalness in which it 
 must be assumed to be binding on the conscience. At 
 the beginning of a Conclave many scrutinies are gone 
 through without any thought of coming to an election, 
 merely to try the strength of the different parties and 
 to explore the ground. Conclave tacticians are of 
 opinion that an elector may often injure the final chance 
 of a candidate by voting for him from the outset in these 
 tentative skirmishes. Is an elector, therefore, to injure 
 the chance of the man whom he believes to be the fittest 
 by voting for him at such times ? A man may in his 
 heart and conscience believe himself to be the fittest 
 there to be made Pope. Is he bound to risk invalidating 
 his own election by voting for himself ? Or must ho 
 vote for some one whom he does not think the fittest ? 
 May a man vote for one whom he deems unfit when it 
 is clear that that one will be elected ? Answer : Yes ! 
 because it is fitting that an election should be made with 
 concord and without giving rise to evil passions. Such 
 questions and " cases " might be, and indeed have been, 
 multiplied almost ad infinitum. 
 
 But the entire history of the Conclaves in which the 
 Popes have been elected, and of the rules which have 
 been enacted for the regulation of them and restriction 
 of the actors in them, is one long series of demonstra- 
 tions of the vanity and futility of endeavouring to bind 
 by law the wills of men whose power is above that of 
 law and who recognise no superior. Prescription has 
 
428 THE PAPAL CONCLAVES. 
 
 a certain amount of power, wHch. is even greatly 
 increased wlien it is applied to a corporate body. But it 
 breaks down under tbe strain of the temptations to wbich 
 those are exposed to whom so great a business as the 
 election of a Pope is entrusted. Given the necessity of 
 having a Pope, it would probably be impossible to devise 
 a better means of getting one than that which the 
 Church has gradually perfected. But she attempts the 
 impossible ; and her efforts to secure her aim, though 
 they have been to a great degree successful, have 
 resulted in an amount of false pretence, solemn sham, 
 hypocrisy, and substitution of pompous appearance for 
 reality, the long story of which makes the account of 
 these Conclaves somewhat humiliating reading for the 
 believer in human perfectibility. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abdication of Celestine V., 87. 
 Abnormal length of the reign of the 
 
 Antipope, Benedict XIII., 86. 
 
 papal elections, 57. 
 
 Abuses of the secret system of nominal' 
 
 ing Cardinals, 25. 
 Accumulation of wealth by papal 
 
 families, 317-322. 
 Advantage of a numerous College of 
 
 Cardinals, 23. 
 Age of candidates for the Cardiualate, 
 
 47. 
 Alexander VH., character of, 337. 
 modified nepotism of, 
 
 338. 
 Alexander VIIL, 
 
 and his secretary, 
 . afterwards Clement XI., 27, 28. 
 Amoimt of dotation permissible to a 
 
 papal nephew, 321. 
 Anecdote of Cardinal Altieri on the eve 
 
 of his election as Clement X., 375. 
 Anecdote of Cardinal de Eetz, 377. 
 Giampietri'Caraffa 
 
 (Paul IV.), 229. 
 
 Giangiacomo Medici, 
 
 brother of Pius IV., 232 
 
 Gregory XIV. and Boni- 
 facio Vanozzi, 26-27. 
 
 an hereditary conclave 
 
 "custode," 135. 
 
 an intrusive Conclavist, 221. 
 
 Matthew Corle, the papal 
 
 physician, 86. 
 
 Nicholas IV., 85. 
 
 Nicholas V. and his mother. 
 
 144. 
 
 • Paul II., 156. 
 . SixtQS.V., 260. 
 
 Anecdotes of the Conclave at the death 
 
 of Eugenius IV., 137-141. 
 , _ that elected 
 
 Pius II., 146-151. 
 
 Announcement of their creation to new 
 
 Cardinals, 35. 
 Antecedents of Moroni, Gresorv 
 
 XIV.'s barber, 93. 
 Antipopes, 57. 
 Ascetic and bigoted character of 
 
 Michael Ghislieri, Pius V., 244. 
 
 B. 
 
 Barberini Family, downfall of the, 324. 
 Behaviour of newly created Cardinals, 
 
 36. ' 
 
 Benedict XTV., character of, 338. 
 Beretta, the, 36, 43. 
 Berettina, the, 36, 42. 
 Bitter dissensions in the Sacred College 
 
 (1303), 90. 
 Bull of Sixtus V.j'finaUy regulating the 
 
 composition of the Sacred CoUeee, 
 
 18, 19. ^ ' 
 
 Bulls of Gregory XV. forming the 
 
 basis of Conclave Law, 229. 
 
 Pius VI., promulgated ia. 
 
 1782 and 1798, 407. 
 
 Burial of Alexander VI., extraordinary, 
 
 C. 
 
 Cardinal Albani in the Conclave after 
 the death of Clement XH., cuiming 
 intrigues of, 385-387. 
 
 nephew of Clement 
 
 XI., sketch of, 380. 
 
 de CoUgny, deposition of, bj' 
 
 Pins IV., 60. 
 
 deacons, 21. 
 
 Cardinal's hat, the, 36, 37. 
 Cardinal Ludovisi during the reign of 
 Gregory XV., influence of, 298. 
 
 Moroni accused of heresy in 
 
 1557, 251. 
 
 • Nephews," 138. 
 , origin of the term, 14. 
 
430 
 
 IITOBX. 
 
 Cardinal Pole, of England, nearly 
 elected to the Papacy, 205-208. 
 
 loses his election hy his 
 
 scruples, 208. 
 
 Kohan, French naivete of. 
 
 381. 
 
 Cardinals and Cardinal Deacons, dif- 
 ference between, 21. 
 
 , early, diftiering ecclesiastical 
 
 rank of, 16. 
 
 -, fifty churches after which 
 
 they are called, 20. 
 
 -, during Conclave, inaccessi- 
 
 VI., 48. 
 
 tility of, 65. 
 
 -, juvenile, made by Alexander 
 
 - by Alexander YIII., 52. 
 
 - by Clement VI., 48. 
 
 - by Clement VIII., 52. 
 
 - by Eugenius IV., 48. 
 
 - by Honorius II., 48. 
 
 - by Innocent VIII., 48. 
 
 - by Innocent IX., 61. 
 
 - by Innocent X., 62. 
 -by Julius III., 61. 
 
 - by Paul TIL, 51. 
 
 - by Paul v., 52. | 
 -by SixtusIV., 48. 
 
 - by Sixtus V., 61. 
 ■ by Urban Vin., 52. 
 
 Cardinals, new, receptions held by, 
 
 44, 45. 
 . , newly created, behaviour 
 
 expected of, 36. 
 
 -, objections to the secret sys- 
 
 tem of nomination to the order of, 
 
 , original number of, 18. 
 
 in petto, 23, 24. 
 
 , rapid succession of, 21, 22. 
 
 -, six sees after which they are 
 
 called, 19. _ 
 
 -, social position in the Eoman 
 
 world of, 29. 
 
 Cardinalitial ring, the, 46. 
 
 Carlo Borromeo, the celebrated Arch- 
 bishop of Milan, 247. 
 
 Catastrophe at the coronation of 
 Clement v., 94. 
 
 Celebration of public obsequies at the 
 death of a Pope, 71. 
 
 Cells prepared iox the Cardinals in 
 Conclave, 398. 
 
 Change in the position of the Popes, 31 o . 
 
 C'h:inictcr of Adrian VI., 188. 
 
 Gregory Xlll., '2o9. 
 
 Pius 1\'., 233. 
 
 Choice of a lonilily fur Coiielavcs, 69. 
 
 Chrunicl(! of the iliiirist Infesauiii, 162. 
 
 element VIII., 261. 
 
 Close of the day in Conclave, 417. 
 
 Close of the era of " the Zealous Popes," 
 
 295 
 Closing of the Council of Trent in 
 
 1663, 241. 
 " Closing and opening " of the mouths 
 
 of new Cardinals, 45, 46. 
 Commencement of modem Papal 
 
 history, 77. 
 Conclave at the death of Alexander 
 
 VT., 176. 
 of Adrian VI., 190- 
 
 196. 
 
 -of CaIista8lII.,145. 
 
 - of Clement VII., 197. 
 
 — ofQement IX., 346- 
 
 376. 
 
 387. 
 
 312. 
 
 333, 334. 
 
 - of Clement XII., 379- 
 
 ■ of Eugenius IV., 135. 
 
 - of Gregory XI., 106. 
 
 - of Gregory XV., 303- 
 
 - of Innocent yi., 98. 
 
 - of Innocent V 111., 171. 
 
 - of Innocent X., 332, 
 
 - of John XXn., 95. 
 
 of Julius n., 180. 
 
 of JuUus ni., 213, 221. 
 
 of Leo X., 186. 
 
 . — of Leo XI., 262-29'2. 
 
 ofMarcellus II., 224. 
 
 of Paul IL, 156. 
 
 of Paul in., 204-211. 
 
 of Paul n*., 236-240. 
 
 of Pius II., 155. 
 
 of Pius III., 178. 
 
 of Pius IV., 245-257. 
 
 of Urban VUL, 322. 
 
 of Sixtus IV., 107. 
 
 — , the modem, 395-428. 
 
 , a modern, how the day 
 
 passes at, 414, 415. 
 
 regulations, futility of, 427. 
 
 at Viterbo in 1269, remark- 
 
 390. 
 
 able, 60. 
 Conclaves in the eighteenth century, 
 
 3S9. 
 ' , modem, internal discipline 
 
 of, 399. 
 
 • in the nineteenth century, 
 
 • during the schism of 137S — 
 U17, 125. 
 
 Confusion in Christendom after the 
 rloction of the antipopo Clement 
 VII., 123, 124. 
 
 Contjrosation of Rites, the, 37. 
 
 Con.sjiiracy to assassinate Pius IV., 
 243. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 431 
 
 Contests between Eugeuiua IV. and 
 
 his Council, 134. 
 Contrast between the ecclesiastical 
 
 world of the Middle Ages and that 
 
 of our day, 76. 
 Council of Constance, its results on the 
 
 present Papal pretensions, 130. 
 
 Pisa, the, 125. 
 
 Creation of Cardinals, ceremonial used 
 
 at the, 29, 
 
 — in tie earlier 
 
 centuries, 30. 
 
 tice at the, 33. 
 
 -, modem prac- 
 -, the Sacred 
 
 College formerly consulted hy^ the 
 Pope at the, 31. 
 
 -, the Sacred 
 
 College no longer consulted hy the 
 Pope at the, 32. 
 
 D. 
 
 Death of Alexander VI., 172. 
 
 Alexander VII., 339, 
 
 Adrian VI., 189. 
 
 Benedict IX., 89. 
 
 Clement IX., 346. 
 
 ■ Gregory XI., 105. 
 
 Gregory XV., 302. 
 
 Innocent VIII., 170. 
 
 Innocent X., 330. 
 
 MarceUus II., 204. 
 
 ■ Martin V., 133. 
 
 Paul II., 156. 
 
 Paul III., 204. 
 
 Paul v., 297. 
 
 Pius II., 154. 
 
 Pius III., 174. 
 
 Pius IV., 241. 
 
 Pius v., 259. 
 
 Sixtus rV., 164. 
 
 Olympia Maidalchini, Inno- 
 cent X.'s sister-in-law, from the 
 plague, 336. 
 De Brosses's Letters from Italy (1739), 
 
 378. 
 Decadence of the despotic power of the 
 
 Popes, 390, 391. 
 Decree of Nicholas II. on Papal elec- 
 tions, 13. 
 
 St. Hilarius (461), 8. 
 
 St. Symmachus (499), 8. 
 
 Democratic professions of the Catholic 
 
 Church, 5. 
 Deposition of Cardinal de Coligny, by 
 
 Pius IV., 50. 
 Difference between Cardinals and Car- 
 dinal deacons, 21. 
 Different classes of Popes, 78. 
 
 Differing ecclesiastical rank of the early 
 
 cardinals, 16. 
 Dislike of Eome to Adrian VI., 191. 
 Dismay in Conclave after the election 
 
 of Pius v., 258. 
 Dismay of Rome at the election of 
 
 Adrian VI., 188. 
 Dissensions in the Sacred College, on 
 
 the accession of Charles D'Anjou to 
 
 the Italian throne, 60. 
 Dual Papacy, a, 127. 
 Duration of the Middle Ages, 75. 
 
 E. 
 
 Early method of Papal election, 7, 
 Early requisites for the validity of a 
 
 Papal election, 57, 68. 
 Eighteen different methods of Papal 
 
 election chronicled by Moroni, 10. 
 Election by " accessit," 409. 
 
 "acclamation," 218, 219. 
 
 "adoration," 218, 219. 
 
 compromise, first instance 
 
 of, 63. 
 
 " inspiration," 218, 219. 
 
 "scrutiny," 409. 
 
 Election of Adrian V., 83. 
 
 Adrian VI., 188. 
 
 Alexander v., 126. 
 
 Alexander VI., 171.' 
 
 Alexander VII., 334. 
 
 Benedict XII., 96. 
 
 ■ ■ Benedict XTV., 387, 
 
 Calistus III., 144. 
 
 Clement VI.. 96. 
 
 Clement VII., 190, 196, 
 
 Clement IX., 340. 
 
 Clement X., 376. 
 
 Eugenius IV., 133. 
 
 Giovanni XXIII., 128. 
 
 Gregory XI., 101. 
 
 Gregory XII., 126. 
 
 Gregory XV., 298. 
 
 Innocent V., 82. 
 
 Innocent VI., 97. 
 
 Innocent VIII., 168. 
 
 Innocent X., 323. 
 
 Julius II., 178. 
 
 Julius III., 211. 
 
 Leo X., 183. 
 
 MarceUus II., 221. 
 
 Martin V., 67, 132 
 
 - Nicholas V., 141, 
 
 - Paul II., 156. 
 
 - Paul II?., 197. 
 
 - Paul IV., 228. 
 
 - Paul v., 291. 
 ■ Pius II., 151. 
 
 : Pius ni., 174. 
 
432 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Election of Pius IV., 240. 
 
 Pius v., 2.57. 
 
 Sixtus IV., 156. 
 
 Urban V., 99. 
 
 Urban VI., 113. 
 
 Urban VIII., 311. 
 
 Urban VI., curious intri- 
 gues at the, 109—117. 
 Emptiness of tbe Papal treasury at the 
 
 death of Leo X., 185. 
 End of the " Babylonish Captivity " at 
 
 Avignon, 105. 
 "Middle Ages" period of 
 
 the Papacy, 198. 
 Eugenius IV., dying speech of, 134. 
 Examination of the dinner provided 
 
 for Cardinals in Conclave, 415. 
 Excommunication of the Colonnas by 
 
 Eugenius IV., 133. 
 Extravagance of Pietro Riario, Sixtus 
 
 IV.'s nephew, 161, 162. 
 
 Eall of tbe Eastern Empire, 142. 
 
 Eatalitv of " Celestinus " as a Papal 
 title," 88. 
 
 Fifty churches after which the Cardi- 
 nals are designated, 20. 
 
 Final definition of the ranlt of Cardi- 
 nals, 16. 
 
 First entry of the Cardinals into chapel 
 during a Conclave, 410. 
 
 First Pope elected without the inter- 
 vention of Roman clergy and people, 
 56. 
 
 First "scrutiny " at a Conclave, 411. 
 
 traces of the Sacred College, 17. 
 
 Food prescribed for Cardinals during 
 Conclave, 66, 67. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gregory XIV., 260. ' 
 
 and Bonifacio Vanozzi, 26, 
 
 27. 
 Gregory XV.'s constitutions regulating 
 
 Conclave proceedings, '299. 
 
 403. 
 
 ■ the twenty rules of, 401, 402, 
 
 II. 
 
 Ilcroditary "Custodes" of the Con- 
 claves, 87. 
 
 llorcsy of Cardinal do Coligny, 49. 
 
 Cardinal Moroni accused of, 
 
 (lfifi7), 251. 
 
 Hypoirisy of Spondanus, the French 
 ccek'siublical historian, 71^ 
 
 Imperial veto at the election of Paul 
 
 IV., disregard of the, 229. 
 Imprisonment of Cardinals by the 
 
 Perugians at the election of Hono- 
 
 rius 1X1., 38. 
 • Cardinals by the 
 
 Romans at the election of Gregory 
 
 IX., 59. 
 Inaccessibility of Cardinals during 
 
 Conclave, 65. 
 Infirm Cardinals, method of voting 
 
 prescribed for, 422. 
 Innocent V.'s achievements as a 
 
 preacher, 83. 
 Innocent VII. repudiates the oaths 
 
 taken by him before election, 126. 
 Innocent XI., 388. 
 Inquisition, re-establishment by Paul 
 
 IV. of the, 231. 
 Interregnum after the death of Cle- 
 ment v., long, 95. 
 - — ■ after the death of Inno- 
 cent VIII., 171. 
 Intrigues of the Cardinal of Rouen at 
 
 the Conclave of 1458, 146, 14 7. 
 Intrigues at the Conclave assembled 
 
 after the death of Paul HI., 206— 
 
 211. 
 
 Julius III., nonentity of the character 
 of, 212. 
 
 Last of the French Popes, 101. 
 
 instance of election as Pope of a 
 
 Cardinal absent from Conclave, 69. 
 • instance of election of a Pope, 
 
 not a Cardinal, 69. 
 Later modifications of the constitutions 
 
 of Gregory X., SS. 
 Leo XI., 2Ui. 
 Letter of Boniface I. to the Empress 
 
 Honorius, S. 
 List of Popes between 1271 and 1549, 
 
 80. 
 " Lo Ammctto al duplice ampler s,t,' 
 
 42. 
 Long papacy of Adrian I., 86. 
 
 ^ Pius VII., S6. 
 
 Longest Papiil interregnum on record, 
 
 60. 
 
 M. 
 
 Magnificence of Boniface VIII., 89. 
 MarccUus II., brief reign of, 222. 
 Minute ceremonial at l lie reception of 
 now Cardinals, 39, 40, 41. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 433 
 
 Mode of procedure at the " scrutiny," 
 
 418. 
 Modern exception to the rule requiring 
 
 a Conclave, 87. 
 Mortality among Cardinals in Conclave, 
 
 84. 
 Mortality among Cardinals after the 
 
 Conclave that elected Urban YIII., 
 
 312, 313. 
 Mozetta, the, 41. 
 
 N. 
 
 Naivete of Cancellieri, the ecclesiastical 
 
 historian, 85. 
 
 Cardinal Eohan, 381. 
 
 the medisBval religious mind, 
 
 70. 
 Nepotism of TJrhau VIII., 22. 
 Nicholas V., heneficent reign of, 142, 
 
 143. 
 Novel method of election decreed by 
 
 the Council of Constance, 128. 
 
 0. 
 
 Oalh taken by the Cardinals at the 
 election of Innocent VII., 126. 
 
 Objection of the Cardinals to secret 
 nominations to their order, 25. 
 
 Oligarchic policy of the Catholic 
 Church, 6. 
 
 Olympia Maidalchini, sister-in-law to 
 Innocent X., influence and corrup- 
 tion of, 325—330. 
 
 death of, 336. 
 
 Origin of the term Cardinal, 14. 
 
 Original number of the Cardinals, 18. 
 
 Outrages committed in Home at the. 
 death of Sixtus IV., 165, 166. 
 
 P. 
 
 Papal disregard of precedent as to the 
 age of new Cardinals, 48, 49. 
 
 elections gradually confined to 
 
 the Sacred College, 54r— 57. 
 
 Parentage of Francisco deUa Eovere 
 (Sixtus IV.), 157. 
 
 Patronage in the old Roman world, 
 40. 
 
 Paul m., the last of a particular group 
 of Popes, 79. 
 
 Paul IV., the first of a new epoch, 79. 
 
 character of, 230. 
 
 Permanent basis of Conclave legisla- 
 tion, 72. 
 
 Petitions addressed to Clement VI. by 
 the Komans, 97. 
 
 Piccolomini Chapel, frescoes represent- 
 ing the entry of Pius II. into An- 
 oona in the, 154. 
 
 Popes elected without a Conclave, 84. 
 
 who reigned during the " Baby- 
 lonish captivity," 94. 
 
 Post-scrutiny, the, 426. 
 
 Prediction of the early death of Adrian 
 v., 84. 
 
 Presentation of new Cardinals to the 
 Pope, 41. 
 
 Pressure put on the Conclave at Viterbo 
 by the citizens, 61. 
 
 Proceedings consequent upon the death 
 of a Cardinal in Conclave, 406. 
 
 Prophecy of St. Bridget as to the early 
 death of Urban V., 100. 
 
 Q. 
 Quiet condition of Home under Martin 
 v., 133. 
 
 E. 
 
 Rapid succession of Cardinals, 21, 22. 
 
 " Red cap " literature, 38. 
 
 Red caps granted to monastic Car- 
 dinals, 37. 
 
 Receptions held by new Cardinals, 44, 
 45. 
 
 Re-enactment of the Constitutions of 
 Gregory X., 87. 
 
 Regulations for Papal elections pro- 
 mulgated by Gregory X., 64-72. 
 
 Remarkable Conclave of Nicholas IV., 
 84. 
 
 Resignation of Gregory XII., 127. 
 
 Return of Gregory XI. to Rome, 103. 
 
 Revocation of the Constitutions of 
 Gregory X., 84. 
 
 Rome, during the interregnum between 
 Gregory XV. and Urban VIII., 301, 
 302. 
 
 < , during a Papal interregnum, 
 
 - habitual state of, 301 . 
 
 in the seventeenth century, 
 
 population of, 341. 
 
 Routine at the death of a pope, 
 modem, 395. 
 
 S. 
 Sacred College in 1660, increasing 
 
 power of the, 339. 
 Sala Regia (Vatican), extraordinary 
 
 scenes in the, 285. 
 Scale of payments in Conclave drawn 
 
 up by Clement XII., 404. 
 Scandalous election of Clement V., 92. 
 
 F P 
 
434 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Schedule, or voting paper, 419. 
 Schism caused by the severe moraKty 
 
 of Urban VI., 121. 
 Scrutiny, eight acts of the, 421-124. 
 Self-election of John XXII., 96. 
 " Serenissima Joanna," the friend of 
 
 the Holy See, 109. 
 " Sfumata," the, 413. 
 Sham investiture of Cardinal Orsini at 
 
 the Conclave that elected Urban VI., 
 
 " ad placandum populum," 114. 
 Simoniacal elections, 70, 71. 
 practices at the election of 
 
 Innocent VIII., 168. 
 Sistine and Paoline Chapels, hostile 
 
 camps in the, 286-289. 
 Six sees after which the Cardinals are 
 
 designated, 19. 
 Sixtus IV., nepotism of, 160, 161. 
 Sixtus v., 260. 
 Social position of cardinals in the 
 
 Roman world, 29. 
 " Soggetti Papaiili," twenty-one, 347. 
 Superstition as to the length of the 
 
 Papal reign, 85. 
 Suspected poisoning of Leo X., 184. 
 
 T. 
 
 Terms of the promulgation of 
 election of Gregory VII., 9. 
 
 the 
 
 Third Lateral Council, 67. 
 
 " Thrones " of the Cardinals during 
 
 scrutiny, 411. 
 Time allowed for preparation for a 
 
 modem Conclave, 396. 
 Transfer of the Papal See to Avignon 
 
 by Clement V., 93. 
 Trifling origin of the thirty-nine 
 
 years' schism (1378-1417;, 131. 
 Turbulence of the Eomans during the 
 
 election of Urban VI., 113. 
 Twenty rules of Gregory XV., the, 
 
 401, 402, 403. 
 
 U. 
 
 Unanimous election of Benedict IX., 
 
 89. 
 Urban VI. imprudently quits Home for 
 
 TivoU, 122. 
 Urban VII., 260. 
 Urban VIII., reign and works of, 314. 
 
 Vatican, great size of the, 397. 
 Vestments worn by Cardinals in Con- 
 clave, 410. 
 Veto, imperial, disregard of the, 229. 
 Visite di calore, 35. 
 
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