withstanding. After some other business of trifling import was transacted, Martin contrived to have the assembly transferred to Basil.

This event occurred in the year 1431, and may be said to have been the only transaction of consequence in which he was engaged before his death, with the exception of the negociation which he opened with the Greek emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople, in order to put an end to existing differences between the two churches. The pontiff did not live to be a witness of the proceedings of this assembly, being carried off by a sudden death on the 21st of February, 1431, just about the time when the council was to meet. He was immediately succeeded by Gabriel Condolmerio, a native of Venice, and bishop of Sienna, who is known in the papal list by the title of Eugenius IV. This pontiff approved all the measures of his predecessor, in relation to the assembling of the council of Basil, which was accordingly opened on the 23rd of July, 1431, under the superintendence of cardinal Julian Cæsarini, who performed the functions of president in the place of Eugenius. It was now manifest that the assembled fathers were in earnest, and firmly resolved to answer the end and purpose of their meeting; Eugenius, therefore, much alarmed at the prospect of a Reformation, determined to dissolve the council.

The council, however, proceeded vigorously with their measures of reform. On the 25th of March, 1436, a confession of faith was read, which every pontiff was to subscribe on the day of his election; it was voted that the number of cardinals should be reduced to twenty-four; and the papal impositions, called expectatives, reservations, and provisions, were annulled. These measures, with others of a like nature, provoked Eugenius to the highest degree, and induced him to form a design either of removing this troublesome and enterprising council into Italy, or of setting up a new council in opposition to it, which might fix bounds to its zeal for the reformation of the church; and this occasioned a warm and violent contest. The council summoned Eugenius to appear at Basil on the 26th day of July, 1437, in order to give an account of his conduct; but the pontiff, instead of complying with the requisition, issued a decree by which he pretended to dissolve it, and to assemble another at Ferrara. This, indeed, was treated with the utmost contempt by the council, which, with the consent of the emperor, the king of France, and several other princes, continued its deliberations at Basil, and on the 28th of September, in the same year, pronounced a sentence of contumacy against the rebellious pontiff but in the year 1438 Eugenius in person opened the council which he had summoned to meet at Ferrara, and at the second session thundered out an excommunication in return against the fathers assembled at Basil. In the mean time the latter, after declaring the superiority of councils over the pope to be an article of the Catholic faith, proceeded to depose Eugenius from the papacy, as disobedient to the commands of the church, and an obstinate heretic. and raised to the papal throne Amadeus, duke of

Savoy, who assumed the name of Felix V. This election was the occasion of the revival of the western schism, and it was at this time even more extensive than before, as the flame was kindled not only between rival pontiffs, but also between the contending councils of Basil and Florence. The rival popes and rival councils anathematised each other, laying claim to the true apostolic powers. Eugenius was supported by France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, and England: Felix by the people of Savoy, the Swiss, and the dukes of Bavaria and Austria. The German princes chose to preserve a neutrality till the year 1447, when they declared for Eugenius. In the midst of the public rejoicings, on this occasion, he died in his sixty-fourth year. On his death Thomas de Sarzano, bishop of Bologna, was elevated to the pontificate, under the denomination of Nicholas V., under whom the European princes, and more especially the king of France, exerted their warmest endeavours to restore tranquillity, and their efforts were crowned with success. In 1449 Felix V. resigned the papal chair, and returned to his delightful hermitage at Rissalle, while the fathers of the council of Basil assembled at Lausanne ratified his voluntary abdication, and, by a solemn decree, ordered the universal church to submit to the jurisdiction of Nicholas as their pontiff. On the other hand Nicholas proclaimed this treaty of peace with great pomp on the 18th of June, in the same year, and set the seal of his approbation and authority to the acts and decrees of the council of Basil. This pontiff distinguished himself in an extraordinary manner, by his love of learning, and by his ardent zeal for the propagation of the arts and sciences; what was still more laudable, he was remarkable for his moderation, and for the meek and pacific spirit that discovered itself in all his conduct and actions. In the year 1453 Nicholas received intelligence of the capture of Constantinople by Mahomet II.; and some historians mention this fact as the greatest affliction that befel the pope, but Gibbon thinks differently. The Roman pontiff,' says he, was exasperated by the falsehood or obstinacy of the Greeks. Instead of employing in their favor the arms and treasures of Italy, Nicholas V. had foretold their approaching ruin, and his honor seemed engaged in the accomplishment of his prophecy. Perhaps he was softened by the last extremity of their distress; but his compassion was tardy, his efforts were faint and unavailing, and Constantinople had fallen before the squadrons of Genoa and Venice could sail from their harbours.' From this time he spent the remainder of his pontificate in endeavours to allay the civil wars and commotions which took place in Italy; to reconcile the Christian princes who were then at war with one another; and to unite them against the enemies of the Christian church. In his efforts he was completely unsuccessful, and the disappointment is said to have hastened his death, which happened in 1455, after he had completed the eighth year of his pontificate.

Eneas Sylvius Piccolomini, who succeeded in 1453 to the pon1ificate, under the title of Pius II., rendered his name illustrious, not only by

his extensive genius, and the important transactions that were carried on during his administration, but also by the various and useful productions with which he enriched the republic of letters. He, however, deplored the mistaken law which compelled the clergy to celibacy, and the intolerable consequences to human happiness and virtue arising from its enactment. The genius and learning of Eneas Sylvius would have shed a lustre over the age which gave him birth, had they continued to be employed in the sphere in which they had at first acquired for him celebrity. In his character of ambassador from the Roman see to different potentates, he acquired the credit of a diplomatist; but it was by his advocacy of the rights and privileges of general councils, and his opposition to papal encroachment and usurpation that he rendered his name illustrious. As secretary to the council of Basil, he was the boast of literature; but, as if he had changed his nature with his name, he disgraced it as Pius II. No longer was his voice raised to elevate the council above the pope, but to recommend blind submission to his authority. It would appear that he gloried in his inconsistency, since he even went so far as to procure a partial repeal of the Pragmatic sanction from the French monarch, which had been solely instituted with the design of curtailing the power of the pope within the Gallican territory; and published, in his pontifical capacity, a solemn retractation in the year 1463 of his defence of the council of Basil.

To Pius succeeded Paul II., of whose pontificate history relates nothing worthy of record. His successor Sixtus IV. was the instigator of a conspiracy to assassinate Giuliano and Lorenzo de Medici, and to change the government of Florence. The assassination was to take place in the principal church, where a cardinal legate was present, and the signal for it was to be the elevation of the host: Giuliano was killed on the spot; Lorenzo was wounded by two priests, who had undertaken his murder, but escaped; the archbishop of Pisa, who in the mean time had attempted to overpower the magistrates and possess himself of the seat of government, failed in his attempt, and was hung in his pontifical robes from one of the windows of the palace. For this act of justice Sixtus excommunicated Lorenzo, and the magistrates of Florence. The bull issued on this occasion has been justly designated one of the most extraordinary specimens of priestly arrogance, that ever insulted the common sense of mankind. Alexander VI., a Spaniard by birth, whose name was Roderic Borgia, succeeded in 1492 to the papal chair. The life and actions of this man show that there was a Nero among the popes, as well as among the emperors. The crimes and enormities that history has imputed to him exhibit him as not only destitute of religious and virtuous principles, but even regardless of decency. By Vanazza, a Roman lady, with whom he had continued an illicit connexion for many years, he had five children: his second son was Cæsar Borgia, a monster of debauchery and cruelty, who is said to have quarrelled with his elder brother for the favors of his sister Lucretia, and to have killed him and thrown his

body into the Tiber. Notwithstanding his infa mous character he was the favorite of his father, who trampled with contempt on every obstacle which the demands of justice, the dictates of reason, and the remonstrances of religion laid in his way, in order to aggrandise his family. The profligate career of this execrable hypocrite and tyrant was continued till the year 1503, when the prison which he and his son Cæsar had prepared for others, and particularly for Adrian, a wealthy cardinal, who stood in the way of their avarice and ambition, by a happy mistake, terminated his own days. See BORGIA.

On the death of Alexander, Pius III. occupied the papal throne for only one month; at whose decease the vacant chair was obtained, through fraud and bribery, by Julian De la Rovere, who assumed the denomination of Julius II. To the odious list of vices with which he dishonored the pontificate we may add the most extravagant and frenetic passion for war and bloodshed. He began his military enterprises by entering into a war with the Venetians, after having strengthened his cause by an alliance with the emperor and the king of France. His whole pontificate, in short, was one continued scene of military tumult; nor did he ever suffer Europe to enjoy a moment's tranquillity as long as he lived; fortunately death carried off this audacious pontiff in 1512, in the midst of his ambitious and vindictive projects.

Leo X., of the family of Medicis, ascended the papal throne after the death of Julius. He was a protector of men of learning, and was himself learned as far as the darkness of the age would admit; but wholly indifferent to religion: his time being divided between conversation with men of letters, and the pursuit of pleasure. He had an invincible aversion, we are told, to whatever was accompanied with solitude and care, and was remarkable for his prodigality. He did not, however, lose sight of the grand object which the generality of his predecessors had so much at heart-that of promoting the opulence of the Roman see; for he took the utmost care that nothing should be transacted in the Lateran council (which Julius had assembled and left sitting) that had the least tendency to favor the reformation of the church. He went still farther; and in a conference which he had with Francis I., king of France, at Bologna, engaged that monarch to abrogate the Pragmatic sanction which had been so long odious to the popes, and to substitute, in its place, another body of laws under the title of the Concordat.

It was in the reign of Leo X. that those events transpired which form an era in the history of the Romish church, and indeed in the annals of the world, resulting in the Protestant REFORMATION. For some time there had been a season of comparative tranquillity, and the pontiffs thought themselves thoroughly confirmed in their assumption of power. We must not, however, conclude from this apparent tranquillity and security, that their measures were unanimously applauded, or that their chains were worn without reluctance; for, not only private persons, but also the most powerful princes and sovereign states exclaimed loudly against the despotic dominion

of Rome; the arrogance, tyranny, and extortion of her legates, the unbridled licentiousness and enormous crimes of the clergy and monks of all denominations, the inordinate severity and partiality of the papal laws; and demanded pub. licly, as their ancestors had done before them, a reformation of the church in its head and members. But these complaints and demands had not hitherto been carried so far as to produce any good effect; since they came from persons who did not entertain the least doubt about the supreme authority of the pope, and who, therefore, instead of attempting, themselves, to bring about that reformation which was so ardently desired, remained entirely inactive, and looked for redress to the court of Rome, or a general council. If any thing seemed likely to destroy the gloomy empire of superstition, and to alarm the security of the lordly pontiffs, it was the restoration of learning in Europe, and the number of men of genius that suddenly arose, under the benign influence of that revolution. The efforts of man cannot eternally prevail against the course of nature. A commerce with distant countries, and the knowledge of a new world, had disposed men to receive new ideas. The art of printing, uniting with the invention of making paper from rags, incalculable advantages to the human race, and the highest which the mind ever received from the hand of industry, multiplied knowledge to infinity, and prevented its longer concealment. The time, therefore, was now arrived, when the papal power was about to receive a shock which it has not been able to, and never will, recover.

Having devoted the article REFORMATION to the details of this important era, we must only glance at them here. The profusion of Leo had rendered it necessary to devise means for replenishing his exhausted treasury, and one of these was the sale of indulgences. The commissioners appointed for this traffic exaggerated in Germany the efficacy of their wares, until Luther, a friar of Wittemberg, warmly protested against this abuse, and published a set of propositions in which he called in question the authority of the pope to remit sins. Luther was of humble origin; his talents alone had raised him to the situation which he filled as professor of philosophy and theology at the university of Wittemberg. Supported, however, by indefatigable zeal, and an enlarged acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, the fathers, and ecclesiastical antiquities, he overwhelmed the scholastics in every encounter, and covered their science with confusion and ridicule. In his individual character, which had such influence on the reformation, was seen an irresistible union of energy and uprightness. Ardent and calm; high spirited, and at the same time humble; irritable and warm in his language when provoked by injurious treatment; mild and inimical to every species of violence in actions; jovial, open, of ready wit, and even a pleasant companion of the great; studious, sober, and a stoic in himself; courageous and disinterested, he exposed himself with tranquillity to every risk, in support of what he believed to be the truth. Such a man must have been filled with indignation at the approach of the shameless Tetzel. At length, at the ex

press desire of the emperor Maximilian, Leo summoned Luther to appear before the court of Rome. Permission was, however, subsequently granted for the cardinal of Gæta to hear his defence at Augsburg. Nothing satisfactory was determined; and the pope, in 1518, published a bull, asserting his authority to grant indulgences, which would avail both the living and the dead in purgatory. Upon this the reformer appealed to a general council, and thus open war was declared, in which the abettors of Luther appeared with a strength little calculated upon.

And thus began, the Reformation. It found a multitude of minds prepared to receive it, and many enlightened and eloquent men disposed to become its apostles. The learned and moderate Melancthon and Carlostadt, both of Wittemberg; in Switzerland Zuinglius; and in France Calvin, all contributed to the great work. Leo X. engaged all the force of the pen, as well as of civil power, to impede its progress; but in the midst of these efforts he was seized with an illness, which at first was considered as a slight cold only, but which put an end to his life in a few days. This event happened on the 1st of December, 1521, when Leo was in the forty-sixth year of his age, and the ninth of his pontificate. Upon his death the conclave was divided about the choice of a successor. The younger members were attached to Julio cardinal de Medici, the nephew of Leo; but the old cardinals were averse from choosing a pontiff out of the powerful family of the Medici, and yet they were not agreed in their views. By a manœuvre, which was merely designed to gain time, the party o Julio voted for cardinal Adrian in the preparatory scrutiny. The other party closed with them, and thus a stranger to Italy, and a man unqualified for the office, was elected, no less to their own surprise than to the astonishment of Europe. Whilst he demanded a zealous execution of the imperial edict against Luther and his followers, Adrian declared a disposition to exercise his spiritual authority for the reformation of the church; but notwithstanding the just claim's on respect which resulted from the pontiff's general conduct, he was very unpopular. He resigned his life and the anxieties of his elevated station in December, 1523, after he had possessed the papal dignity only one year and ten months, and was succeeded by cardinal de Medici, under the name of Clement VII. High expectations were formed of a pope, whose great talents and long experience in business seemed to qualify him no less for defending the spiritual interests of the church, than for conducting its political operations with the prudence requisite at such a difficult juncture; and who, besides these advantages, had in his hands the government of Florence, and the wealth of the family of Medici.

But, Clement having excited the anger of Charles V., the general of the imperial army, in conjunction with his allies, determined to attack and plunder Rome. The resolution was bold, and the execution of it no less rapid. The misery and horror of the scene that followed may be more easily conceived than described. The pillage and cruelty that were exercised on this occasion, exceeded, it is said, those of the Huns,

Vandals, or Goths, in the fifth and sixth centuries. The booty, in ready money alone, amounted to 1,000,000 of ducats. Clement, who had shut himself up in the castle of St. Angelo, being deprived of every resource, and reduced to such extremity of famine as to feed on asses' flesh, was obliged to capitulate on such conditions as the conquerors were pleased to prescribe. He agreed to pay 400,000 ducats to the army; to surrender to the emperor all the places of strength belonging to the church; and, besides giving hostages, remaining a prisoner himself until the chief articles were performed. At length, however, the progress of the confederates in Italy and other political considerations, induced the emperor to concert measures for setting the pope at liberty, on consideration of his allowing 100,000 crowns for the use of the army, paying the same sum at the distance of a fortnight, and at the end of three months 150,000 more.

During a period of six years, Henry VIII. of England had been suing the court of Rome for a divorce from Catharine of Arragon; but the pope negociated, promised, retracted, and concluded nothing. Cranmer's sentence at length annulled the king's marriage with Catharine; her daughter was declared illegitimate, and Ann Boleyn acknowledged queen of England. Clement, who had already seen so many provinces and kingdoms revolt from the holy see, became apprehensive lest England should follow their example, and determined to give Henry such satisfaction as might still retain him within the bosom of the church. But the violence of the cardinals, devoted to the emperor, hurried him with a fatal precipitation to issue a bull rescinding Cranmer's sentence, enforcing Henry's marriage with Catharine, and declaring him excommunicated, if, within a time specified, he did not return to her. Henry was enraged; the resistance he met with in the accomplishment of his wishes from the court of Rome led him to question its jurisdiction; and the more this was examined the weaker it appeared. From this to question its discipline and doctrines was only another step, and the nation was prepared for it. An act of parliament was therefore passed, abolishing the papal power and jurisdiction in England. By another act the king was declared supreme head of the church, and all the authority of which the popes were deprived was vested in him. The successes that had attended the allies in their opposition to Clement inspired with new vigour and resolution all the friends of the reformation. Soon after his sentence on Henry, Clement fell into a languishing distemper, which closed his pontificate, after a duration of ten years and ten months, on the 25th of September, 1534. He was succeeded by Alexander Farnese, who assumed the name of Paul III., and whose first object was to crush the progress of the reformation. He was, like his predecessor, enraged at the innovations in Germany, and equally averse from any scheme for reform, either in the doctrines of the church, or the abuses of the papal court. In 1538 he issued his bull of excommunication against Henry VIII. of England, and required all Christian princes, whatever had been their oaths, to render no assistance to Henry.

The year 1540 was rendered memorable by the establishment of the order of the Jesuits. These new soldiers of the church did every thing which could be hoped for from human powers, directed by the most profound zeal, prudence, perseverance, and genius. They soon obtained possession of courts, of nations, of confessions, of pupils, of the education of youth, of missions. Nothing appeared to them impossible in extending the dominion of the holy see to places where it did not exist, or in consolidating it where it was maintained. Represented as ambitious, fomenters of trouble, corrupt men, and even as rebels, by their adversaries, they opposed the stoical severity of their lives, their zeal, and services to, the Roman see, and their studious austerity, to these accusations. In a few years the society established itself in every Catholic country; and, acquiring prodigious wealth, soon became the confessors of almost every Catholic prince, and the spiritual guides of nearly every person of rank or influence.

The church and court of Rome, since the remarkable period when so many kingdoms and provinces withdrew from their jurisdiction, have perhaps derived more influence and support from the labours of this single order than from all their other emissaries and ministers. About this time the pope, finding it impossible to avoid any longer calling a general council, sent John Morone, bishop of Modena, to announce to the diet of the empire at Spires his determination of assembling such a council, and published a bull, nominating three cardinals to preside as his legates. These legates repaired to Trent, on the 1st of November, 1542, where they remained several months; but, as no other persons appeared there except a few prelates from the ecclesiastical states, the pope recalled them and prorogued the council. On the 13th of December, 1545, the council was again opened at Trent; though as yet only twenty-five bishops had arrived, and these were Italians or Spaniards. The council showed great eagerness in condemning the opinions of the Protestants; but it was soon after dissolved. In this council, protracted through many years, the church of Rome increased, in the view of Protestants, instead of diminishing, every acknowledged evil. Nothing was altered; no error retracted; no compliance with the popular demand for reformation was made. This was the issue and aim of the Trent reformation,' remarks Richerus, that no respect should be had to truth, but to show and outward pomp only; and that all things should be referred to the splendor and profit of the Ro

man court.'

As the pope advanced in years he grew more strongly attached to his family, and more jealous of his authority; but, in the midst of the schemes for the aggrandisement of the latter, he died A. D. 1549, in the eighty-second year of his age, and after he had held the Roman see more than fifteen years. He was succeeded by Julius III., formerly known as John Maria Del Monte. One of his first acts gave great offence to every decent person; he conferred a cardinal's hat, with ample ecclesiastical revenues, upon a youth of sixteen, born of obscure parents, and known

by the name of Ape, from his having been entrusted with the care of an animal of that species in the cardinal Del Monte's family. When Julius was reproached by the cardinals for introducing such an unworthy member into the sacred college, a person who had neither learning, nor virtue, nor merit of any kind, he imprudently replied, by asking them, 'What virtue or merit they had found in him that could induce them to place him (Julius) in the papal chair?' Having also one day ordered a cold peacock for his supper, and not perceiving it on the table, he expressed his anger in a most horrible blasphemy. One of his cardinals remonstrating with his holiness on the violence of his passion, his reply was, If God could be so very angry about an apple, as to turn our first father out of paradise, why should it not be lawful for me, who am his vicar, to be in a passion for a peacock?' The subsequent conduct of Julius corresponded with his shameless behaviour at the commencement of his pontificate; and he died, lamented by none, in 1555, having held the papal see about five years. His successor was Marcellus II., who died within a month of his consecration.

Cardinal Caraffa, who took the name of Paul IV., was the next occupant of the papal throne. The Roman courtiers, from the known austerity of his character, anticipated a severe and violent pontificate. Paul, however, began his government by ordering his coronation to be conducted with greater pomp and ceremony than usual, and, when he was asked in what manner he chose to live, he haughtily replied, 'as becomes a great prince.' He used great pomp in his first consistory, when he allowed audience to the ambassadors of Mary, queen of England, who came to tender her obedience to the papal see, on which occasion he gave the title of a kingdom to Ireland. He maintained, with undiminished rigor, the pretensions of the church of Rome. When Sir Edward Rarne notified the accession of Elizabeth to this pope, he answered that England was held in fee of the apostolic see-that the queen could not succeed, being illegitimate-and that she was presumptuous, in assuming the crown; but that if she renounced her pretensions and, submitted her case entirely to him, he would do every thing, which, without his consent, could not be done consistently. He never talked,' says Father Paul, 'with ambassadors, without thundering in their ears that he was superior to all princes; that he would admit none of them on a footing of familiarity with himself; that it was in his power to change kingdoms, and that he was the successor of those who deposed kings and emperors.' Paul finally perfectly organized the inquisition.

Shortly after the pope was very desirous of convincing the world that he had sincerely at heart a correction of abuses; and with this view ordered all bishops to proceed to their own dioceses, and all who had embraced a monastic life to return to their monasteries. It was now almost too late, however, to act upon a new course of practice, and Paul was unable to remedy these evils, as he died in August 1559 in the eighty-fourth year of his age, after a pontifi

cate of little more than four years. Pius IV., whose original name was John Angelo Di Medici, was chosen to succeed Paul, after a delay of more than four months. Soon after his accession he despatched a nuncio to England with secret instructions and a conciliatory letter; offering to annul the sentence against the marriage of Elizabeth's mother, to allow the use of the cup to the English, and to confirm the English liturgy: but Elizabeth had already decided on her course; and the nuncio was informed that he could not be permitted to set foot in England. Pius now issued a bull for reassembling of the council at Trent, which met in January 1562. Attempts were soon made to abridge the authority of the pope, which created in his holiness perpetual anxiety, and he was on the point of suddenly dissolving the assembly. In 1563 it was brought to an end, but not until decrees were passed, designed as an acknowledgment of the subordina tion of the council to the holy see. When information of the dissolution of the council was brought to Pius, he received it with great joy, and ordained a solemn thanksgiving on the occasion; and, in a very short time, he published a bull of confirmation, requiring all the prelates and princes to receive and enforce the decrees of the council, prohibiting persons from writing any explication or commentary of them; and commanding the catholics every where to have recourse, in all doubtful cases, to, the apostolic

see.

Pius IV. died in 1565, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, and after a pontificate of nearly six years. The news of the fact was received, it is said, with great joy by the Roman people on account of the severity and oppression of his goverment. His successor was cardinal Ghislieri, who took the title of Pius V., early displayed great zeal and diligence in promoting a reformation in the manner and morals of all ranks. He exhibited, however, a furious zeal against the Protestants, by persecuting them with the same savage severity which rendered him odious in his former character of inquisitor. He also incited Philip II: to attempt by war and massacre their extermination; and induced him to intrust the expedition designed for this purpose to the ferocious duke of Alva. In 1568 Pius published his famous bull, entitled In Canâ Domini, which it was usual to publish at Rome on Maundy Thursday every year, till it was suppressed by pope Clement XIV. By this bull anathemas were pronounced against such persons as should appeal to general councils from the decrees of the popes; and against those princes who should impose restraints on ecclesiastical jurisdiction or exact contributions from the clergy. It was, however, never received in any kingdom out of Italy. He also issued a bull of excommunication against Elizabeth, queen of England, absolving her subjects from their allegiance. declare her, out of the fulness of the apostolic power, to be a heretic, and a favorer of heretics: he said, we moreover declare her to be deprived of her pretended title to the kingdom aforesaid, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege whatsoever; and also the nobility, subjects, and people of the said kingdom, and all who have in

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