CHAP. When he was raised to the papal throne, under the name of LXVIII. Pius the Second, devoted his life to the prosecution of the

Weath of

MahometII.

A. D. 1481,

May 3, or July 2

Turkish war. In the council of Mantua he excited some sparks of a false and feeble enthusiasm; but when the pontiff appeared at Ancona to embark in person with the troops, engagements vanished in excuses; a precise day was adjourned to an indefinite term; and his effective army consisted of some German pilgrims, whom he was obliged to disband with indulgences and alms. Regardless of futurity, his successors and the powers of Italy were involved in the schemes of present and domestic ambition; and the distance or proximity of cach object determined in their eyes, its apparent magnitude. A more enlarged view of their interest would have taught them to maintain a defensive and naval war against the common enemy; and the support of Scanderbeg and his brave Alba. nians, might have prevented the subsequent invasion of the kingdom of Naples. The siege and sack of Otranto by the Turks diffused a general consternation; and pope Sixtus was preparing to fly beyond the Alps, when the storm was instantly dispelled by the death of Mahomet the Second, in the fifty-first year of his age. His lofty genius aspired to the conquest of Italy: he was possessed of a strong city and a capacious harbour; and the same reign might have been decorated with the trophies of the NEW and the ANCIENT ROME.97

96

96 Besides the two annalists, the reader may consult Giannone (Istoria Civile, tom. iii. p. 449-455,) for the Turkish invasion of the kingdom of Naples. For the reign and conquest of Mahomet II., I have occasionally used the Memoire Istoriche de Monarchi Ottomanni di Giovanni Sagredo (Venezia, 1677, în 4to.) In peace and war, the Turks have ever engaged the attention of the republic of Venice. All her despatches and archives were open to a procurator of St. Mark, and Sagredo is not contemptible either in sense or style. Yet he too bitterly hates the infidels; he is ignorant of their language and manners; and his narrative, which allows only seventy pages to Mahomet II. (p. 69-140,) becomes more copious and authentic as he approaches the years 1640 and 1644, the term of the historic labours of John Sagredo.

97 As I am now taking an everlasting farewell of the Greek empire, I shal briefly mention the great collection of Byzantine writers, whose names and testimonies have been successively repeated in this work. The Greek presses of Aldus and the Italians, were confined to the classics of a better age: and the first rude editions of Procopius, Agathias, Cedrenus, Zonaras, &c. were published by the learned diligence of the Germans. The whole Byzantine series (XXXVI volumes in folio,) has gradually issued (A. D. 1648, &e.) from the royal press of the Louvre, with some collateral aid from Rome and Leipsic; but the Venetian edition (A. D. 1729,) though cheaper and more copious, is not less inferior is correctness than in magnificence to that of Paris. The merits of the French editors are various; but the value of Anne Comnena, Cinnamus, Villebardouin, &c. is enhanced by the historical notes of Charles du Fresne du Cange. supplemental works, the Greek Glossary, the Constantincpolis Christiana, the Familia Byzantinæ diffuse a steady light over the darkness of the Lower Empire.

Lis

CHAPTER LXIX.

State of Rome from the Twelfth Century-Temporal Dominion of the Popes-Seditions of the City-Political Heresy of Arnold of Brescia-Restoration of the Republic-The Senators-Pride of the Romans-Their Wars-They are deprived of the Election and Presence of the Popes, who retire to Avignon- -The Jubilee-Noble Families of Rome-Feud of the Colonna and Ursini.

revolutions

A. D. 1100

IN the first ages of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, CHAP. our eye is invariably fixed on the royal city, which had given LXIX. laws to the fairest portion of the globe. We contemplate her fortunes, at first with admiration, at length with pity, always State and with attention; and when that attention is diverted from the of Rome, Capitol to the provinces, they are considered as so many-1500. branches which have been successively severed from the Imperial trunk. The foundation of a second Rome, on the shores of the Bosphorus, has compelled the historian to follow the successors of Constantine; and our curiosity has been tempted to visit the most remote countries of Europe and Asia, to explore the causes and the authors of the long decay of the Byzantine Monarchy. By the conquest of Justinian, we have been recalled to the banks of the Tiber, to the deliverance of the ancient metropolis; but that deliverance was a change, or perhaps an aggravation, of servitude. Rome had been already stripped of her trophies, her gods, and her Ccsars; nor was the Gothic dominion more inglorious and oppressive than the tyranny of the Greeks. In the eighth century of the Christian era, a religious quarrel, the worship of images, provoked the Romans to assert their independence; their bishop became the temporal, as well as the spiritual, father of a free people; and of the Western empire, which was restored by Charlemagne, the title and image still decorate the singular constitution of modern Germany. The name of Rome must yet command our involuntary respect; the climate (whatsoever may be its influence) was no longer the same; the purity of blood had been contaminated through a thousand channels; but the venerable aspect of her ruins, and the memory of past greatness, rekindled a spark of the national character. The darkness of the middle ages exhibits some scenes not unworthy of our notice. Nor shall I dismiss the present

1 The Abbé Dubos, who, with less genius than his successor Montesquieu, has asserted and magnified the influence of climate, objects to himself the degeneracy of the Romans and Batavians. To the first of these examples he replies, 1. That the change is less real than apparent, and that the modern Romans prudently conceal in themselves the virtues of their ancestors. 2. That the air, the soil, and the climate of Rome have suffered a great and visible alteration (Reflections sur la Poesie et sur la Peinture, part ii. sect. 16.)

CHAP. Work till I have reviewed the state and revolutions of the RoLXIX. MAN CITY, which acquiesced under the absolute dominion of the popes about the same time that Constantinople was enslaved by the Turkish arms.

The French

In the beginning of the twelfth century, the era of the first and Ger- crusade, Rome was revered by the Latins, as the metropolis of the world, as the throne of the pope and the emperor, who, A. D. 1000 from the eternal city, derived their title, their honours, and

inan emperors of

Rome,

-1100.

the right or exercise of temporal dominion. After so long an interruption, it may not be useless to repeat that the successors of Charlemagne and the Othos were chosen beyond the Rhine in a national diet; but that these princes were content with the humble names of kings of Germany and Italy, till they had passed the Alps and the Appenine, to seek their Imperial crown on the banks of the Tiber.3 At some distance from the city, their approach was saluted by a long procession of the clergy and people with palms and crosses; and the terrific emblems of wolves and lions, of dragons and eagles, that floated in the military banners, represented the departed legions and cohorts of the republic. The royal oath to maintain the liberties of Rome was thrice reiterated, at the bridge, the gate, and on the stairs of the Vatican; and the distribution of a customary donative feebly imitated the magnificence of the first Cesars. In the church of St. Peter, the coronation was performed by his successor the voice of God was confounded with that of the people; and the public consent was declared in the acclamations of "Long life and victory to our lord the pope! Long life and victory to our lord the emperor! Long life and victory to the Roman and Teutonic armies!"4 The names of Cesar and Augustus, the laws of Constantine and Justinian, the example of Charlemagne and Otho, established the supreme dominion of the emperors; their title and image were engraved on the papal coins; and their jurisdiction was marked by the sword of justice, which they delivered to the præfect of the city. But every Roman prejudice was awakened by the name, the language, and the manners of a barbarian lord. The Cesars of Saxony or Franconia

2 The reader has been so long absent from Rome, that I would advise him to recollect or review the xlixth chapter, in the fifth volume of this History.

S The coronation of the German emperors at Rome, more especially in the xith century, is best represented from the original monuments by Muratori (Antiquitat. Italiæ medii Evi, tom. i. dissertat. ii. p. 99, &c.) and Cenni (Monu ment. Domin. Pontif. tom. ii. diss. vi. p. 261,) the latter of whom I only know from the copious extract of Schmidt (Hist. des Allemands, tom. iii. p. 255– 266.)

4 Exercitui Romano et Teutonico! The latter was both seen and felt; but the former was no more than magni nominis umbra.

5 Muratori has given the series of the papal coins (Antiquitat. tom. ii. diss. xxvii. p. 548-554.) He finds only two more early than the year 800; fifty are still extant from Leo III. to Leo IX. with addition of the reigning emperor; none remain of Gregory VII. or Urban II. but in those of Paschal II. he seems to have renounced this badge of dependence.

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

were the chiefs of a feudal aristocracy; nor could they exer- CHAP. cise the discipline of civil and military power, which alone LXIX. secures the obedience of a distant people, impatient of servitude, though perhaps incapable of freedom. Once, and once only, in his life, each emperor, with an army of Teutonic vassals, descended from the Alps. I have described the peaceful order of his entry and coronation; but that order was commonly disturbed by the clamour and sedition of the Romans, who encountered their sovereign as a foreign invader: his departure was always speedy, and often shameful; and, in the absence of a long reign, his authority was insulted and his name was forgotten. The progress of independence in Germany and Italy undermined the foundations of the Imperial sovereignty, and the triumph of the popes was the deliverance of Rome.

of the popes

fection;

Of her two sovereigns, the emperor had precariously reign-Authority ed by the right of conquest; but the authority of the popes in Rome was founded on the soft, though more solid, basis of opinion and habit. The removal of a foreign influence restored and endeared the shepherd to his flock. Instead of the arbitrary or venal nomination of a German court, the vicar of Christ was freely chosen by the college of cardinals, most of whom were either natives or inhabitants of the from af city. The applause of the magistrates and people confirmed his election; and the ecclesiastical power that was obeyed in Sweden and Britain, had been ultimately derived from the suffrage of the Romans. The same suffrage gave a prince, as well as a pontiff, to the capital. It was universally believed, that Constantine had invested the popes with the temporal dominion of Rome; and the boldest civilians, the most profane sceptics, were satisfied with disputing the right of the emperor and the validity of his gift. The truth of the fact, the authenticity of his donation, was deeply rooted in the ignorance and traditions of four centuries; and the fabulous origin was lost in right; The name of Dominus or the real and permanent effects. lord was inscribed on the coin of the bishops: their title was acknowledged by acclamations and oaths of allegiance, and with the free or reluctant, consent of the German Cesars, they had long exercised a supreme or subordinate jurisdiction over the city and patrimony of St. Peter. The reign of the popes, which gratified the prejudices, was not incompatible with the liberties, of Rome; and a more critical inquiry would have revealed a still nobler source of their power, the gratitude of a nation, whom they had rescued from the heresy and oppression of the Greek tyrant. In an age of superstition, it should seem that the union of the royal and sacerdotal characters would mutually fortify each other; and that the keys of paradise would be the surest pledge of earthly obedience. The sanctity of the office might indeed be degraded by the But the scandals of the tenth personal vices of the man.

340

benents.

CHAP. century were obliterated by the austere and more dangerous LXIX. virtues of Gregory the Seventh and his successors; and in the ambitious contests which they maintained for the rights of the church, their sufferings or their success must equally tend to increase the popular veneration. They sometimes wandered in poverty and exile, the victims of persecution; and the apostolic zeal with which they offered themselves to martyrdom, must engage the favour and sympathy of every Catholic breast. And sometimes, thundering from the Vatican, they created, judged, and deposed, the kings of the world: nor could the proudest Roman be disgraced by submitting to a priest, whose feet were kissed, and whose stirrup was held, by the successors of Charlemagne. Even the temporal interest of the city should have protected in peace and honour the residence of the popes; from whence a vain and lazy people derived the greatest part of their subsistence and riches. The fixed revenue of the popes was probably impaired: many of the old patrimonial estates, both in Italy and the provinces, had been invaded by sacrilegious hands; nor could the loss be com pensated by the claim, rather than the possession, of the more ample gifts of Pepin and his descendants. But the Vatican and capital were nourished by the incessant and increasing swarms of pilgrims and suppliants: the pale of Christianity was enlarged, and the popes and cardinals were overwhelmed by the judgment of ecclesiastical and secular causes. jurisprudence had established in the Latin church the right A new and practice of appeals; and, from the north and west, the bishops and abbots were invited or summoned to solicit, to complain, to oppose, or to justify, before the threshold of the apostles. A rare prodigy is once recorded, that two horses, belonging to the archbishops of Mentz and Cologne, repassed the Alps, yet laden with gold and silver: but it was soon understood, that the success, both of the pilgrims and clients, depended much less on the justice of their cause than on the value of their offering. The wealth and piety of these strangers were ostentatiously displayed; and their expenses, sacred or profane, circulated in various channels for the emolument of the Romans.

6 See Ducange, Gloss. mediæ et infimæ Latinitat. tom. vi. p. 364, 365. STAFFA. This homage was paid by kings to archbishops, and by vassals to their lords (Schmidt, tom. iii. p. 262;) and it was the nicest policy of Rome, to confound the marks of filial and of feudal subjection.

7 The appeals from all the churches to the Roman pontiff, are deplored by the zeal of St. Bernard (de Consideratione, 1. ii. tom. ii. p. 431-442, edit. Mabillon, Venet. 1750) and the judgment of Fleury (Discours sur l'Hist. Ecclesiastique, iv. and vii.) But the saint, who believed in the false decretals, condemns only the abuse of these appeals; the more enlightened historian investigates the origin, and rejects the principles, of this new jurisprudence.

8 Germanici....summarii non levatis sarcinis onusti nihilominus repatriant inviti. Nova res! quando hactenus aurum Roma refudit? Et nunc Romanorum consilio id usurpatum non credimus (Bernard de Consideratione, 1. ii. c. 3, p. 437.) The first words of the passage are obscure and probably corrupt.