folio, in which are some curious anecdotes; the Memoirs of his own Life, published by John Gobellin Personne, his secretary, at Rome, 4to, 1584; Historia rerum ubicumque gestarum, of which only the first part was published, at Venice, in 1477, in folio. His works were printed at Helmstadt, in 1700, in folio, with his life prefixed.

PAUL II., pope, whose original name was Peter Barbo, was descended from an ancient family, and born at Venice in the year 1417. He was educated in the mercantile line, which the Venetians very wisely did not consider to be degrading to men of noble blood. On receiving intelligence that his maternal uncle had been promoted to the popedom, he flattered himself with the prospect of better success in the ecclesiastical profession, than in commercial pursuits. He therefore quitted business for study; and though he made but very little progress in literature and the sciences, he was in the course of a few years raised to the archdeaconry of Bologna, the bishopric of Cervia in the Romagna, the office of apostolical prothonotary, and in the year 1440, to the dignity of cardinal. By his address and obliging behaviour, he recommended himself, after the death of Eugenius, to the succeeding popes, Nicholas V., Callixtus III., and Pius II. Callixtus gave him the appointment of legate in Campania. While he continued a cardinal, men of all ranks and conditions had free access to him, and he made it his study to gratify, as far as lay in his power, all who applied to him. Upon the death of that pontiff in 1464, the cardinals entered into the conclave, and proceeded to elect a new pope, and on the 30th of August, cardinal Barbo was chosen by a great majority, and took the name of Paul II. One of the first measures of Paul's government was a declaration in favour of Ferdinand, king of Naples, against the family of Anjou; and as the party of the latter had begun to revive in the kingdom, many of the barons being disaffected with the arbitrary government of Ferdinand, he sent a considerable body of troops to assist that prince, who was thus enabled speedily to quell the insurgents, and to restore peace to the kingdom. At this juncture, when a sense of his obligations to his holiness was quite fresh in the king's memory, Paul applied to him for the arrears of the tribute due from the kings of Naples to the papal see, which had never yet been paid either to himself or his father Alphonso. In answer, Ferdinand complained of the unseasonableness of such an application, when the exhausted state of his treasury, owing to the expensive war in which he had been engaged ever since he came to the crown, rendered him unable to comply with it; and he added, that he would discharge the arrears, as soon as his holiness restored to him the city of Benevento, and all other places held by the church within the limits of the kingdom of Naples, which, he maintain

ed, belonged to that crown. Exasperated at this answer, Paul threatened to excommunicate the king, and lay the kingdom under an interdict. Upon this, Ferdinand, to show how little he dreaded the pontiff''s menace, sent a body of troops to besiege Benevento; which step compelled Paul to send Cardinal Rovarella to the king, that matters might be accommodated. With this view the cardinal had several conferences with Ferdinand, and was at last obliged to acquiesce in the king's promise to pay what was in justice due to the apostolic chamber, when he conveniently could. In 1466, the pope had the mortification to hear of the ruin of one of his designs for maintaining the authority of the Roman see, by punishing offenders against its injunctions. In Bohemia the principles of John Huss had obtained a wide diffusion; and Podiebrad, the king of the country, ever since his accession to the crown, had favoured those who held them, insisting that the sacrament should be administered to all communicants in both kinds. His conduct in this respect so incensed the pope, that, after he had in vain tried the effect of his admonitions and menaces in reclaiming the king to his spiritual obedience, he excommunicated him, absolved his subjects from their allegiance, and declaring that he had forfeited his kingdom as an heretic, bestowed it upon the king of Hungary. At the same time, he caused a crusade to be preached all over Germany against this Christian prince, while the Turks were pursuing their conquests without opposition. The indulgences which were granted to those who took the cross, proved the means of speedily raising a numerous army; but as it consisted chiefly of an undisciplined crowd, Podiebrad defeated them with great slaughter, and returned triumphant to Prague with a number of prisoners, exceeding his whole army. After this defeat, the pope was only able to repeat his anathemas, declaring the king of Bohemia a rebel to the church, and, as such, incapable of holding any dignity whatever.

In the year last mentioned, Paul sent a legate into France, to procure a decree from the parliament of Paris, confirming the abrogation of the Pragmatic sanction; but in this design he failed of success, notwithstanding that he obtained a royal edict to that purpose, since the parliament steadily opposed it, and the university of Paris appealed from the legate and the edict to a general council. During the following year he was more successful in a better cause, having brought about a reconciliation between several states of Italy, which had taken up arms as auxiliaries to the opposite factions in Florence. Soon after this event, the Emperor Frederic arrived at Rome, in consequence of a vow, and the pope entertained him with great magnificence. As a proper expedient to engage the Christian princes in a league against the Turks, that prince

proposed, in a public consistory, that a convention should be held at Constance, at which the pope and himself should assist in person, and that they should send invitations to the other Christian princes. Paul, however, recollecting the former proceedings of that city, would not consent to the proposal; but at length agreed that letters should be written in the emperor's name and his own to all the princes and states in Christendom, inviting them to send their ambassadors to Rome, in order to treat about the means of defending the faith. About the same time, Paul was instigated by his ambition to obtain possession of the city of Rimini, then held by Robert, natural son of Gismondo Malatesti. Finding his pretensions opposed, he attempted to enforce them by the sword, and prevailed upon his countrymen the Venetians to afford them assistance. Robert had applied for succour to the Medici, and by their interference the Roman and Venetian troops were speedily opposed in the field by a formidable army, led by the duke of Urbino, and supported by the duke of Calabria and Robert Sanseverino. An engagement took place which terminated in the total rout of the pope's army, who dreading the resentment of so powerful an alliance, found himself compelled to accede to such terms of peace as the conquerors thought proper to dictate. In the year 1471, Paul published a bull, by which he reduced the jubilee circle to twenty-five years, and thus accelerated the return of that most absurd and superstitious ceremony. He died suddenly of an apoplexy, in the night of July 25, 1471, no person being present to afford him any assistance, after a pontificate of six years, and between ten and eleven months, and when he was in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Platina charges him with avarice and simony, with selling all offices for ready money, with putting up to sale all vacant benefices, not excepting bishoprics, which were disposed of to the highest bidders, while those candidates whose pretensions were only supported by learning and a good life, were always set aside. But the immense sums which he expended in buildings, in receiving and entertaining distinguished personages, in relieving the poor and decayed nobility, in purchasing, at any price, jewels and precious stones to adorn the papal crown, and in exhibiting public shows for the entertainment of the Roman people, sufficiently clear him from the imputation of avarice. To make a more august appearance, he loaded the papal crown with such quantities of precious stones, that one would rather have taken him for the Phrygian goddess Cybele with turrets on her head, than for the vicar of Christ, who should teach, by his example, the contempt of all worldly grandeur. That he might reconcile the cardinals to this ostentation, he granted them the privilege of wearing purple habits, with red silk

7

hats, and silk mitres with those of the same fashion formerly worn only by the sovereign pontiffs.

SIXTUS IV., pope, whose original name was Francis Della Rovere, was descended from a branch of the noble family of Rovere of Savona in the state of Genoa. He was born in 1414 at Cella, a village near Savona, and entered young into the Franciscan order. He studied in the universities of Pavia and Bologna, and having taken the degrees of doctor of philosophy and theology, he gave lectures in several of the principal cities in Italy, and acquired a high reputation for learning. Pope Paul II. promoted him to the purple in 1467, by the title of St. Peter ad Vincula. On the death of that pope, in 1471, he was raised to the papal chair. He began his pontificate with attempting to form a league among the Christian princes against the Turks, who had made themselves masters of Bosnia, Istria, and great part of Dalmatia, and threatened Italy. For this purpose he sent some of the most distinguished cardinals as his legates to different courts, with instructions to endeavour to compose the disputes existing between the several sovereigns, but, as usual in such case, with small effect. He procured, however, the fitting out of an allied fleet of galleys, which recovered Smyrna from the Turks, but did little besides. He was more successful at home, in an attempt to expel a number of petty tyrants who had seized upon cities belonging to the church, and governed them as independent sovereigns. With the assistance of Ferdinand king of Naples, he completely expelled these usurpers, and thereby doubled his revenue. year 1475 was that of the jubilee, according to the period of 25 years fixed for its return by Paul II. It was celebrated with great magnificence by Sixtus, and was dignified by an unusual assemblage of crowned heads, though the resort of pilgrims in general was less than on former occasions.

The

One motive which Sixtus had for expelling the independent possessors in the ecclesiastical towns was, that he might have territories to form principalities for his nephews; and in pursuance of this plan, he sent Giuliano de Rovere, afterwards pope Julius II., to capture the city of Castello from Niccolo Vitelli. Niccolo having obtained the assistance of the duke of Milan and the Florentines, made a vigorous resistance, but was obliged to capitulate. This event occasioned a defensive league between the duke of Milan, the Venetians, and Florentines. The latter people were under the influence of Lorenzo de Medicis, whose political conduct could not but be highly displeasing to the pope; and he displayed his resentment by deFriving Lorenzo of the office of treasurer to the holy see, which he had conferred upon him in the days of their friendship. This, however, was a trifling retaliation, and he deter

mined to subvert the power of the Medici in Florence. In conjunction with his nephew, Girolamo Riario, he formed one of the most detestable leagues recorded in history. By means of the powerful family of the Pazzi, rivals to the Medici in Florence, a revolution was to be effected in the government of that city, which was to commence with the assassination of Lorenzo and Giuliano de Medicis, when assisting at mass in one of the churches, and the elevation of the host was to be the signal. The result of this conspiracy is related in the life of Lorenzo de Medicis*, and it will be sufficient here to mention its consequences as far as the pope was concerned. Stimulated to fury by the miscarriage of the plot, and the vengeance exercised upon the conspirators, one of them an archbishop, he excommunicated Lorenzo and the magistrates of Florence, and laid the city and its territories under an interdict. Having in vain endeavoured by menaces to induce the Florentines to deliver up Lorenzo, he formed a league with the king of Naples, whose troops, in conjunction with those of the church, invaded the territory of Florence, and spread devastation through it. They were, however, encountered by an opposite league, and Lorenzo, by a personal visit to the king of Naples, having reconciled him to the state of Florence, the pope was left alone in the contest. Still determined, notwithstanding the submissive applications of the Florentines, to persist in the war till he had accomplished the destruction of Lorenzo; he was at length, by the interposition of the king of France, and the alarm excited through Italy in consequence of the capture of Otranto by the Turks, obliged to consent to a peace, which fully satisfied the offended dignity of the head of the church.

Italy did not long enjoy tranquillity. In 1482 Sixtus joined with the Venetians in attempting to dispossess the duke of Ferrara of his territories, for which his motive was a hope of vesting the government of that city in one of his own family. The consequence was, the duke of Calabria invaded the ecclesiastical state, but was defeated by Malatesta, lord of Rimini. The success of the Venetians rendered them formidable to their neighbours, a league was formed against them, which the pope was persuaded to join, and he excommunicated his late allies. The confederates, however, received proposals from the Venetians, who found it necessary to renounce their ambitious projects, and concluded a peace without consulting Sixtus. This affront, with the disappointment of his expectations from the new war in which he engaged, so operated upon his haughty and violent temper, that he was thrown into a severe fit of the gout, which proved fatal. He died in 1484, having completed the 70th year of his age, and the thirteenth of his pontificate.