- 



PIUS III. 



PIDS v. 



other feudal boron*, and he iroa successful. By a hull ad.!resed to 

 the universities of Paris and of Cologne, Pius condemned his own 

 writing! in defence of the Council of Basel, concluding with these 

 word* : " Believe what I. an old man, now aay to you, and not what 

 I wroto when I wa young ; believe the pontiff rather than the private 

 individual ; reject ./Eneas Sylvius, and accept Piu* II.'* In several of 

 bis letters to his friends also, and especially to Pietro di Noceto, he 

 expresses sorrow for his juvenile weaknesses, for he had onco been too 

 fond of the fair sex, and had even written accounts of some of his 

 amorous adventures, and of those of other persons, which are found 

 among his ' Epistles.' 



A vacancy having occurred in the archiepisoopal see of Mainz, two 

 candidates appeared for it Adolpb, count of Nassau, and Dietrich of 

 Isemberg. The latter had the majority of votes, but PiiiR, who by 

 the concordat hod the right of deciding in cases of contested elections, 

 refused to confirm the choice of Dietrich unless he engaged not to 

 assert the supremacy of a general council, not to convoke of his own 

 authority an imperial dirt, and further to pay to Rome double the 

 sum fixed for the mounted, or first fruits. Dietrich demurred to the 

 first two conditions, and positively refused to accede to the last ; and 

 as proceedings were instituted against him in the apostolic court, he 

 appealed to the next general council. Pius declared such appeals to 

 be heretical, and excommunicated and deposed him, appointing Adolph 

 of Nassau in his place. The emperor acknowledged Adolpb, but 

 Dietrich being supported by the Count Palatine and the Elector of 

 Bavaria, a war ensued which, after much mischief, ended in the 

 submission of Dietrich. Those who remembered the sentiments of 

 Piccolomiui when imperial secretary, and especially his letter ('Epistola 

 25 ') to the papal nuncio John Carvaia, concerning the supremacy of 

 the council, were inclined to think that change of station had, in him 

 as well as in most men, produced a corresponding change of opinions. 

 Pius took also the pains to write a long letter to Sultan Mohammed II., 

 to convince him of the errors of Islamism, and to induce him to turn 

 Christian. 



In the year 1464 an armament intended against the Turks was 

 directed to assemble at Aucona, and soldiers began to repair thither 

 from various parts. Matthias, king of Hungary, and Charles, duke of 

 Burgundy, had promised to be of the expedition. The Venetians also 

 had promised the use of their fleet to forward the troops across the 

 Adriatic into Albania. Pius II. set off from Home for Ancona, but on 

 arriving there he found that the soldiers were in want of arms, clothes, 

 and provisions ; the foreign princes did not come; and instead of the 

 Venetian fleet, only a few galleys made their appearance. The aged 

 and disappointed pontiff fell ill, and on the 14th of August he expired, 

 after having taken leave of his cardinals and begged forgiveness if he 

 had erred in the government of the Church. Ue was generally 

 regretted, especially throughout Italy. He was succeeded by Paul II. 

 Pius II. before his death raised his native town, Corsignono, to the 

 rank of a bishop's see, and gave it the name of Pienza, by which it is 

 now known. 



As a learned man and a writer he is best known under the name of 

 ./Eneas Sylvius, the most important part of his career being passed 

 before he was elected pope. He was one of the first historians of his 

 age, a geographer, a scholar, a statesman, and a divine. Ue was also 

 great traveller by sea and by laud ; ho lived many years in Germany, 

 he repeatedly visited France, went to Great Britain and as far as 

 Scotland, and to Hungary. His biographer Campanus, bishop of 

 Arezzo, speaks at length of his peregrinations, and his diligence in 

 informing himself of everything worth notice in the countries which 

 ho visited. His principal works, besides those already mentioned, 

 are : 1, ' Cosmographia, vel de Mundo Uuiverso Historiarum,' liber i 

 (a second book treats especially of Europe and its contemporary 

 history); 2, 'In Autonii Psnormitm de Dictis et Factis Alphonsi 

 Arragonum Regis, libris quatuor, Commentaria;' 3, 'Epitome supra 

 Decades Flavii Blondi Forliviensis, ab inclinations Imperil usque ad 

 tempora Johannis XXIII., Pont Max.,' in 10 books; 4, 'Historia 

 Gothic*, 1 published first at Leipzig in 1730; S, 'A Treatise on the 

 Education of Children, with Rules of Grammar and Rhetoric;' 6, 

 lastly, bis numerous ' Epistle-,' which contain much varied information. 

 A collection of his works was published at Basel, ' .-Encoo Sylvii Picco- 

 lomiui Senensis Opera quo extant,' fol., 1551 ; but this edition does 

 not include all. Domenioo de lioietti has published a catalogue of 

 all his works and their various editions, and also of his biographers 

 and commentators, ' Scrie di Edizioni delle Optra di Pio II., o da lui 

 intitolate,' Trieste, 1880. Biographies of Pius IL by Platina and 

 Campanus srs annexed to the Basel edition of his works, but a much 

 moro ample biography is found in the ' Commentaries ' published at 

 Frankfort, 1014, under the name of John Qobeltinus, his secretary, 

 but which ore known to have been written by himself or under his 

 dictation. pji II., Pont. Max., Commeutarii R.-rum Memorabilium 

 qua Temporibus sols contigerunt,' libr. xiL, with a continuation by 

 bis intimate friend James Ammanato, cardinal of Pavia, who had, at 

 his de*ire, assumed the name of PiccolominL 



PIUS III., CARDINAL FRAXCKSCO TODUCHIXI PICCOLOMIXI of Siena 

 descended from a sinter of Pius II., was elected pope in 1503, after the 

 death of Alexander VI., and died himself in leas than a month after 



i.ii ;. tin. 

 PIUS IV., GIOVAHJH Aaoiu) MBDICI, or MiDicmxi, of Milan, not 



of the great Florentine family of Medici, succeeded Paul IV. in 1560. 

 He made bis nephew Charles Borromeo a cardinal, who afterwards 

 became celebrated as Archbishop of Milan. He instituted proceedings 

 against the nephews of the late pope, Cardinal Carlo Carafla, and his 

 brother the Duke of Paliano, who were accused of various crimes, 

 which were said to be proved against them, and both were executed. 

 But in the succeeding pontificate of Pius V., the proceedings being 

 revised, the two brothers Carafla were declared to have been unjustly 

 condemned. At Easter, 1561, Pins re-assembled the Council of Trent, 

 which had been prorogued under Paul III. He was particularly intent 

 upon checking the spread of heresy, which had taken root iu several 

 parts of Italy, besides the valleys of Piedmont, and especially in some 

 districts of Calabria. The Spanish viceroy of Naples sent his troops, 

 assisted by an inquisitor and a number of monks, to exterminate by 

 fire and sword the heretics of Calabria. Emmanuel Philibert, duke of 

 Savoy, after attacking with on armed force the Valdenses, who made 

 a gallant resistance, agreed to allow them the exerciee of their religion 

 within their own districts, subject to certain regulations. The quarrels 

 between the Catholics and Protestants, in France, were moro difficult 

 to settle. Some of the French Catholic prelates, among others Monluc, 

 bishop of Valence, and the Cardinal of Lorraine, recommended large 

 concessions to be made to the Protestants with the hope of reconciling 

 them to the Church, and Queen Catherine de' Medici wrote to the pope 

 to that effect. The pope referred the matter to the council, and in the 

 meantime Catherine published the edict of pacification, in January 1562, 

 which allowed the Protestants liberty of conscience, and leave to perform 

 their worship in country places, but not within walled towns. 



The prelates sent by France to the Council of Trent, and several 

 councillors of the parliament of Paris who were also ordered to attend 

 in the name of the king, spoke loudly of the necessity of an extensive 

 reform in the Church, and seemed disposed to render the bishops more 

 independent of the see of Rome. The Cardinal of Lorraine was of 

 opinion that the mass and other offices should be performed iu the 

 vulgar or popular language of each country ; but the Italian prelat s, 

 and Lainez, general of the Jesuits, supported the maintenance of the 

 established form of worship, as well as of the papal authority iu all iU 

 existing plenitude. The discussions grew warm, and it was only in 

 the following year, 1563, that the two parties came to an understanding. 

 The council terminated iu sittings in December of that year, and the 

 pope confirmed its decrees by a bull. This was the principal event 

 of the lifo of Pius IV. He died in December, 1565. His disposition 

 was generous ; and he embellished Rome ; but he was guilty of the 

 common fault of nepotism. 



PIUS V., CARDINAL MICHELE GHISUERI, a native of Alessandria in 

 Piedmont, and a Dominican monk, succeeded Pius IV. iu 1566. He 

 had distinguished himself by his zeal in support of the Inquisition, of 

 which tribunal he was one of the leading members. At the same 

 time he was austere in his morals, and wished to enforce a strict 

 discipline among the clergy, and especially the monks and nuns, more 

 than fifty thousand of whom are said to have been at that time living 

 and strolling about Italy out of their respective convents, regardless of 

 any of the obligations enjoined by their order. (Botta, 'Storia d' 

 Italia,' b. xii.) There was also a monastic order in Lombardy called 

 the ' Umiliati,' possessed of considerable wealth, the heads of which 

 led openly a most dissolute life, and even kept bravoes, or hired 

 amssiiinfi, to execute their mandates. Charles Borromeo, archbishop 

 of Milan, who endeavoured to check these atrocities, was shot at by 

 one of the monks while at prayers iu his oratory. The boll how- 

 ever only grazed the skin : the assassin was token, and revealed his 

 employers; and several preposti, or superiors of convents of the 

 Umiliati, were executed. Pius V., having examined 'the whole affair, 

 suppressed the order, and gave their property to the Jesuits and other 

 criers. 



Pius V. enforced the authority of the Inquisition over all Italy. 

 There were at that time in several towns, especially in Tuscany, some 

 scholars and other men of learning who advocated tho doctrines of 

 the Reformation. Some kdies also of high rank, who enjoyed a 

 reputation for learning, such as Vittoria Colonna, Giulia Goiizoga, and 

 Margaret, the wife of Emmanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, were sus- 

 pected of a similar bias. Pius demanded of Cosmo, duke of Florence, 

 the person of Cornesecchi, a Florentine nobleman who made a public 

 profession of opinions considered as heretical ; being given up to the 

 Inquisition, he was put to death at Rome. The same happened to 

 Palearius, Bartocci, and Giulio Zanetti ; the last, who was at Padua, 

 being given up to the pope by the Venetian senate, on the plea that 

 he was a native of Fano and a subject of the Papul State. Numerous 

 informers were kept by the Inquisition in every town of Italy ; and 

 such was the terror produced by these severities, that the University 

 of Pisa became almost deserted both by teachers and students. The 

 pope also enforced the strict observance of the index of forbidden 

 books, and enacted severe penalties against thoso who printed or 

 introduced or kept such books. The printing-presses of Italy, those 

 of Giunti of Florence, and others, declined greatly in consequence, 

 and many printers emigrated to Switzerland or Germany. Pius V. 

 enforced the canons against those priests who kept concubines ; but 

 instead of leaving to the civil magistrates the repression of this abuse, 

 he insisted upon the bishops acting both as magistrates and judges, 

 by means of armed men attached to their episcopal courts, and of 



