JOHN. 



lavage fenfencs was carried into execution without mercy. 

 The cruelty of John was condemned by his warmed adhe- 

 rents, who did not fcruple to declare that by it lie had ren- 

 dered himfelf utterly unworthy of the papal dignity, and 

 thst his deeds proved him to be the predidled anti-chrift. 

 They even revtred thefe viftims as martyrs to the truth, 

 pavinjj religious veneration to their bones and allies. He 

 was next uuolved in the difpiite whether Clirill and his 

 apollles ever poflTelTed any property or dominion, either in 

 common or pcrfonally. Tlie diicuffions on this queilion 

 were violent and bitter, and thofe wlio maintained tlie ne- 

 gative fide of the queilion paid for their temerity by tlie 

 moH excruciating fuffcrings inflicled on them. John was 

 now engaged in a difpute with Lewis of Bavaria, who, as 

 the reward of his victory over Frederic of Audria, claimed 

 the Imperial crown as his right. John, alarmed at his 

 alTurance, inrtantly excommunicated him, and forbade all 

 the fubjefts of the empire, on pen;dty of the fame fentence, 

 to acknowledge him for king, or obey him as fuch. From 

 this fentence the monareh appealed to a general council, and 

 publifhed a manifefto againll his holinefs, defcribing him as 

 one who trampled on all laws, human and divine, to gratify 

 his ambition or avarice ; as a ravenous wolf, iieecing and 

 devouring the fiock committed to his care ; and, as an avowed 

 heretic, in condemning aS herefy the doftrine concerning tiie 

 poverty of Chrill. John died after a uiofl turbulent ponti- 

 ficate, in the year 1334, at the great age of ninety years. 

 Notwitii landing his various afts, which have been but merely 

 referi-ed to, he found biographers to praife his good deeds, 

 forgetting thofe which were of a contrary defcription. 

 They faid he was a innn of learning, and an cncourager of 

 the leariied. The liiitorian has held him up as ambitious, 

 arrogant, cruel, and avaricious. He is fuppofed to have 

 been the perfon who invented the " Annates," obliging 

 every clergyman, preferred to a benefice, to pay into the 

 apoltolic chanibt-i- one year's income before he took pofTeffion 

 of it. He died immer.fely rich, and was known in the lite- 

 rary world as author of feveral treatifes : one " On the 

 Contempt of the World :" one " On the Tranfmutation of 

 Metals," and twenty-two Conftitutions which he ordered to 

 te called " Extravagantes." Many of his bulls and letters 

 are likewife extant. He is faid alfo to have been author of 

 feveral treatifes on medicine, which led fome of his bio- 

 graphers to fay he was better fitted for a phyfician than a 

 pope. He is faid by Walther to have written, among other 

 things, a treatife on mufic, ffiiiic Sguticam ; but no fuch 

 trealife is enumerated in the lift of his works by Baronius or 

 Fabrieius. This pontiff, however, feems to have interelled 

 himfelf very much about ecclcfiallical mufic. The attempts 

 at difcant, or extemporaneous counterpoint, were thought 

 fo licentious in his time, that he prohibited tl.e ufe of it in 

 the church by a bull in 1322. There is, however, at the 

 end of it this favourable clauCe : " It is not our intention 

 wholly to prevent the ufe of concords in tlie facred fervice, 

 particularly on great feftivr/ls, provided the ecclefiaflical 

 chant or plain-fong be carefully preferved. The Abbe Le- 

 boeuf obferves, that thofe who drew up this bull, which is 

 inferted in the body of canon laws, erroneoufly confined 

 difcant to fourths, fifi.ins, and eighths, from the perufal of 

 ancient authors on tlic fubjeft of mufic, particularly CafTio- 

 dorus, where they had found the following definition ; 

 " Symphonia eft temperamentum fonitus gravis ad acutum, 

 Tcl acuti ad gravem, modulamen efficiens, five in voce, five 

 in percuflione, five in flatu. Symphonise funt fex : prima, 

 diatefiaron : fccunda, diapente : teriia, diapafon. Quarta, 

 diapafoQ et diatelFeron : quinta, diapafon et diapente ; fexta, 

 diaoafon et diapafon."—" Svmphony, or mufic in confo- 

 Voi.XlX. 



nance, is the mixing graire founds with acute, or acute with 

 grave, either in finging or playing upon iliinged or wind 

 inftruments. Symphonic concords are fix ; the fourth, fiftli, 

 and eighth, witii their oftavcs. It is hardly poflib'e to read 

 this palTage, and not give up the contelt concerning ancient 

 counterpoint, or at leal! reduce it to the meagre kind of 

 which Padre Martini has framed an example in his Storia 

 Mufica. 



John XXII. or XXIII. pope, formerly known by the 

 name of Bahhafar-Cofla, was a native of Naples, and bcing^ 

 defcended from a noble and we.ilthy family, he enjoyed the 

 advantages of an excellent education at Bologna, where he 

 took his degrees, and from thence he fct out to Rome, 

 anticipating the honours that feemed to b" rcferved for him, 

 for on being allied by fome of kis friends whither he wa$ 

 going, he rephed " to the popedom." Scarcely hnd he 

 arrived at this great city, when he was made chamberlain to 

 pope Boniface JX. who, in 1402, promoted him to the purple. 

 He took an aftive part in the depofition of Gregory XII. 

 and exerted all his talents, influence, and property to fecure 

 the cleclion of Alexander V. Soon after that pontiff'* 

 eleftion the plague obliged him to quit Pifa, and lie was pre- 

 vailed upon by cardinal Coffa to pay a vifit to Bologna. 

 Here he found means to detain the pope, under various 

 pretences, till his hulinefs fell dangcroullv ill, and his com- 

 plaints proved fatal to hiui. The fubjeft of our prefent article 

 has lain under the heavy charge of caufing him to be pni- 

 foned by iiis phyficians : he was, however, clcded his i'Oc- 

 ceflbr, and from the title of cardinal CofTa he affumed the 

 name of John XXIII. On the very day tliat lie was raifed 

 to this high dignity in the church, he wrote to all ChrilUan 

 princes, acquainting them of his promotion, and exhorting 

 them to fupport his claims agamft the prctenfions of thofe 

 wlio had been condemned and depofed by the church univcr- 

 fal. One of the earlicft objcfts of John's adminiftration 

 was to raife a fund to fupport the claims of his friend Lewis 

 of Anjou, in oppofitiou to thofe of his inveterate enemy, 

 Ladillaus, to the pofTeffion of the kingdom of Naples. 

 In his progrcfs he folemnly excommunicated Ladillaus, and 

 then ordered a crufade to be preached againll him all over 

 Clirillendom. By the bull iffued on this occafion, all were 

 exhorted to take the crofs and engage in this holy war ; 

 and to all who lliould embark in it, the fame indulgences 

 were granted as to thofe who went to the conqueif of the 

 Holy Land. In a fiiort time peace was reilorcd ; this was 

 effefted by John's taking off the excommunication from 

 Ladillaus, who, in return, agreed to abandon the caufe of 

 Gregory, whom he had hitherto vindicated as the true pope. 

 After the reftoration of tranquillity, John n;ade a promotion 

 of fourteen cardinals, and lummoned all tlie prelates of the 

 church to attend a general council at Rome. At this 

 council few bifhops were prefent, its proceedings were, 

 probably, unimportant, except in this, that it condemned 

 the doctrine of WickliiF, and ordered his works to be com- 

 mitted to the flames. Ladifiaus took the firll opportunity 

 of attacking pope John : the pontiff appealed to all Chriltian 

 princes, exhorting them to appoint a geneial council to put 

 a flop to the reigning evils, and to unite the whole church 

 under one head. The choice of the place was left to the 

 emperor, who fixed on Couflancc. Here the council wai 

 opened on the ill of November 1414. After many feflious 

 a lilt of accufations againll the pope was read, containing 

 fevenly articles, fome of which, however, were too fcanda- 

 loiis even to be gone into : the otheri related to the pope's 

 fimony and tyranny ; and to the means which he took of 

 amafCng immenfe riches. After thefe artiides, and the de- 

 pofitions ill fupport of them, were read and examined, the 

 X X council 



