BON 



Marfi, was elecEled to the papal fee in Auguil CoS ; and 

 havi;ig obcained trorn Pliocas the grant of tlie pantheon, con- 

 verted it into a chnrch, dedicating it to the J\'[other of God 

 and the ChriRian Martyrs. He held a council at Rome to 

 fettle fome affairs of the Englifli church, at which Mellitus, 

 the firll bifliop of London, is faid, by Bede, to have at- 

 tended ; but the afts of this council, and fome pieces afcrib- 

 ed to Boniface, are thought to be fpuriuus. He died in 

 615, and was fainted. 



7jo/;//a-cV.,anative of Campania, and a prefliyter of the Ro- 

 man church, fucceeded Deufdedit in December 619. In 

 624 he fent the pall to Juftus, the fucceffor of Mellitus in 

 the fee of Canterbury, and interefted himfelf in the propa- 

 gation of Chriftianity in Britain, by fending letters and pre- 

 fents to Edwin the king of Northumberland, and alfo to 

 his queen Edelbcrg, filler of Eadbild king of Kent, who, 

 having alTumed the Chriltian proteffion, was allowed by her 

 marriage articles the free exercife of it. He died in Octo- 

 ber 62 5. Some decretal epilUes, relating to matters of fmall 

 importance, are afcribed to him. According to Mofheim 

 (Ecc. Hill. vol. ii. p. iS^), this Boniface enafted tliat in- 

 famous law, by which the churches became places of refuge 

 to all who fled thither for proteftion ; a law which procured 

 a fort of impunity to the moll enormous crimes, and gave 

 a loofe rein to the licentioufnefs of the moll abandoned pro- 

 fligates. 



Boniface VI., was a Roman of infamous charafter, and 

 fucceeded Formofus in 896. Baronius (ad Ann. 897.) will 

 not allow him a place among the popes. He died foon after 

 his election. 



BonifaceVW., denominated " Anti-pope," was a deacon of 

 the Roman church, of the name of Franco, and advanced to 

 the papal chair in 975, upon the death of Beneditl VI. to 

 whofe murder he is faid to have contributed. Soon after his 

 election he wasconftrained by an adverfe party to leave Rome, 

 and to fly toConllantinople; but he carried with him the trea- 

 fures of St. Peter. Gerbert ftyles him " of all monfters of 

 wickednefs the mod wicked." Upon the death of the em- 

 peror Otho II. in 984, he returned to Rome, and occupied 

 the fee in the room of John XIV. whom he difplaced, ini- 

 prifoned, and put to death. Franco died in 985 ; and he had 

 rendered himlelf fo odious by his tyrannical conduft, that his 

 corpfe was treated with the utmoil indignity, and dragged 

 naked through the Ilreets. 



Boniface VIII., a native of Anagni, and a defcendant of 

 the noble family of Cajetani, was employed by popes Mar- 

 tin IV. and Nicholas IV. in feveral important legations, 

 and fucceeded pope CelelUne V. whom he artfully perfuaded 

 torefign, in December 1294. The bea;inning of the follow- 

 ing year he was enthroned at Rome with great folemnity 

 and parade ; in the proceflion from St. Peter's, where he was 

 confecrated and crowned, to the Lateran, for the purpofe 

 of being inthroned, he was mounted on a white horfe, richly 

 caparifoned, with the crown on his head, whilll the king 

 of Apulia h.eld the bridle in his right hand, and the king 

 of Hungary in the left, both on foot. His fubfequent con- 

 duct correfponded to the haughty grandeur of his inflalla- 

 tion. In order to lecure himfelf agalnll any future trouble 

 from Celeftine, he confined him in prlfon at Anagni, where 

 he died. Failing to mediate a peace between James king of 

 Arragon, and Charles II. king of Sicily, he formed an al- 

 liance againll Frederic of Arragon, whom the Sicilians had 

 made then- king, and proceeded to excommunicate him and all 

 his adherents ; but he was at length obliged to confirm him 

 in his dominions. His next meafure was that of humbling 

 the family of Colonna, two cardinals of which had oppofed 

 his clcdion ; for this purpofci after having declared the 



BON 



whole family infamous by a public decree, confifcatinjr their 

 eftates, and excommunicating all who countenanced or pro- 

 tefltd them, he ordered a crufade to be preached a"ainll 

 them and their friends, demohlhed their houfes and calllcs, 

 and obliged them to feek fnclter in foreign countries ; and 

 he moreover punidied with utter demolition the city of Prx- 

 nelle, for its attachment to them. To Boniface is com- 

 monly afcribed the inllitution of the jubilee in 1300. See 

 JusiLEE. In his attempt to mediate a peace between Phi- 

 lip the Fair king of France, and Edward I. king of Eng- 

 land, he was charged with partiality to the latter, fo that 

 Philip could be prevailed on merely to agree upon a truce ; 

 and his enmity againll Boniface, which was fmothered for 

 fome time, at length broke out into a flame. Philip, with 

 a view of fupporting the war againll England, prohibited the 

 exportation of any gold or filver from the kingdom without 

 his permiilion ; and Boniface, appri/.ed that this order was 

 levelled againll the fee of Rome, iifucd a bull, forbidding 

 lecular princes to cxaCl, and the clergy to pay, any fums 

 from the ecclefiallical revenues, without his approbation. 

 The animolity between the pope and the French potentate 

 was increaled by the arrogance with which a legate from 

 Rome delivered the pope's meffage, enjoining the king of 

 France, in common with other Chriftian princes, to aid the 

 king of Tartary in a war againll the Saracens, and by the fub- 

 fequent arrcll of the legate. Boniface, much enraged, dif- 

 patched a nuncio to demand his releafe; and in cafe of re- 

 fufal, threatened to declare the kingdom devolved to the' 

 holy fee, to abfolve his fubjefts from their allegiance, and 

 to fummon all the Galilean bifliops to Rome. The king 

 refented this violent proceeding, renewed the prohibition 

 againft carrying money out of the kingdom, and forbade his 

 ecclefiallics on any pretence to vifit Rome. In thefe holliLe 

 meafures the king was fupported by the Hates of the nation, 

 which appealed to a general council, and Boniface prepred 

 to fulminate adecree of excommunication and forfeiture of his 

 crown againll Philip. Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna were 

 fent, on this occafion, into Italy to excite the perfecuted 

 Ghibelline<; againll the pope, who was then at his palace 

 in Anagni. They fecretly approached it with a body of 

 troops, and made themfelves mailers of the perfon of Boni- 

 face and all his treafures. During the three days of his con- 

 finement the pope was treated with great indignity, particu- 

 larly by Colonna. At length the people of Anagni, recover- 

 ing from their conllernation, refcued the pope from his cap- 

 tivity ; who returned to Rome, where he was feized with a 

 fever, which terminated his life in Oftober 1303. He was 

 buried at St. Peter's in a grand maufoleum, which he had 

 eredled for himfelf. Although Boniface has been jufl.ly 

 extolled for his learning, intrepidity, and experience in pub- 

 lic affairs, and for his patronage of literature ; he was arro- 

 gant and overbearing, ambitious, crafty, and violent, and 

 avaricious to fuch a degree, that he was intent upon accumu- 

 lating riches to exalt the church and aggrandize his own re- 

 lations. He was the author of feveral works, fuch as epillles 

 and decrees, two difcourfes on the canonization of Lewis IX. 

 of France, called St. Lewis ; two famous prayers, one to our 

 Saviour, and the other to the Virgin. He alfo caufed to be 

 publilhed the fixth book of the decretals, and wrote a treatife 

 entitled " De regulis juris." 



Boniface IX., a native of Naples, defcended from a noble 

 family in reduced circumllanccs, whofe name was Peter Tho- 

 macelli, was more dilUnguilhed by his prudence andaddrefs 

 than for his profound and extenfive learning, and waselefted 

 pope at Rome upon the death of Urban VI. in 1389. The 

 greatell part of his pontificate was devoted to negotiations 

 with his rivals at Avignon, Clement V XL and Benedid XIII. 



in 



