Pope Sixtus IV

“ That the pope himself was guiltless of any share in that atrocious deed is beyond dispute; but it is deeply to be regretted that his name plays a part in the history of this conspiracy. Sixtus was far from bhnd to the Turkish peril, but here also he was hampered by the indifference of the secular powers. Again, the close of his reign was marked by the wars against Ferrara and Naples, and subsequently against Venice and the Colonnas; and these drove the question of a crusade completely into the background. ”

“ Sixtus V saw this accomplished in his lifetime, for his devotion to the Pope, who, like himself, had begun life as a friar, and who had made him cardinal and stood his friend in trouble, never wavered nor grew cold. Historians have dwelt much upon Sixtus V's parsimony. Economy was said to be his favorite virtue. ”

“ On March 25th he denounced Sixtus IV. during service in the cathedral and solemnly proclaimed a Council. On July 20th he cited the Pope thus: “Francesco of Savona, son of the devil, you entered your Office not through the door, but through the window of simony. You are of your father the devil and labour to do your father’s will.” Sixtus excommunicated him and laid Basel under an interdict, of which no notice was taken. He was both angry and alarmed as he suspected the Emperor of secretly abetting the Archbishop, while Milan and Florence sent envoys to see how matters stood. ”

“ It often happens, that one is chosen pope, of whom nobody thought before; and this comes to pass, when the cardinals are tired out by so many intrigues, and are glad to get out of the conclave. It is also observed, that a pope often proves quite another man, when he comes to sit in the chair, than that he was before, when only a cardinal.
Ever since the time of Pope Sixtus IV., that is, since the year 1471, the popes have made it their business to enrich their families out of the Church revenues, of which there are very remarkable instances. ”

“ Christendom beheld in Sixtus the spectacle of a Pope who trafficked in the bodies of his subjects, and the holy things of God, to squander basely-gotten gold upon abandoned minions. The peace of Italy was destroyed by desolating wars in the advancement of the same worthless favourites. Sixtus destroyed to annex Ferrara to the dominions of Girolamo Riario. ”

“ A moment's consideration of the mode in which Sixtus and his son, or nephew, Girolamo, worked in concert and pulled together during the whole of his papacy for the founding and advancement of the family greatness, and a little reflection on the perfect confidence and community of aims and wishes existing between them, will add all the weight which extreme probability can give to the opinion that the Pope was one of the conspirators. ”

“ In that year, 1484, Pope Sixtus died. The election of his successor, Innocent VIII. destroyed the hopes of honest men. For the new Pope no longer disguised his children under the appellation of nephews, but openly acknowledged them as his sons, conferring on them the title of princes.
We may imagine the storms of emotion excited in the soul of Savonarola. Fortunately, he was sent to preach Lenten sermons at San Gimignano, the "City of the Grey Towers" in the Siennese hills. Here he found his true vocation. ”

“ So much equity and mental breadth on the pope’s part was better suited for the republic of Venice than for the King of Spain. “We have but one desire,” wrote the Doge Cicogna to Badoero, his ambassador at Rome, “and that is to keep the European peace. We cannot believe that Sixtus V., that great pontiff, is untrue to his charge, which is to ward off from the Christian world the dangers that threaten it; in imitation of Him whom he represents on earth, he will show mercy, and not proceed to acts which would drive the King of France to despair.” ”

“ In the biography of common men, who are swayed by changing currents of passion and circumstance, it would be vain to attempt to explain actions and reconcile inconsistencies, as we have done here, by viewing all their doings, and all the phases of their character, with reference to a leading principle. But Sixtus was governed from his birth by one great thought, though fully developed only by the force of events—a thought as obvious in the hog-boy of Ancona, or the drudge of the Cordeliers, as in the monk Montalto, the inquisitor, the cardinal, and the pope. ”

“ The Romans murmured strangely, against this greediness of the Pope and his kindred, and so much the more, because that they had not yet been accustomed to see a Popes passion; for his kindred make him rob and plunder the Church. They wondred what example Sixtus could have for his proceedings, for none of his predecessours had hitherto shewed so little moderation, but in providing for their kindred, had kept some measures. Neither could his education furnish him with this ambition and covetousness ”

“ There is no doubt, but that under this Pope the Church received much more benefit than damage; for the Nipotismo having no Power, could not be otherwise than good and innocent; and the Pope himself was so wise and vertuous a Prince, that there were few Miscarriages in his time; if we except that only occasion, in which Sixtus, by his too hasty Excommunication of King Henry the Third of France, brought the Church in danger of losing for ever so noble and flourishing a part of Christendom ”

“ He ordered that a friar who had made an image of the Madonna, to work some of those miracles which have been at all times so common, to be whipped from one end of the Corso to the other. Even a Franciscan monk was publicly hanged, and a priest who had systematically disseminated false and scandalous news had his tongue and hands cut off. When people quarrelled in the streets the spectators cried out, "Remember Sixtus the Fifth reigns"; and as the Moslem mothers used to terrify their babes with the name of Richard, Roman mothers silenced their children with the whisper, "Hush Sixtus is coming!" ”

“ Probably a great many picturesque dwellings perished in the destruction of those centres of rebellion, which recall to us so vividly the scenes in which Rienzi the tribune fluttered through his little day, and which were continually filled with the rustle and tumult of an abounding populace. We cannot be so grateful to King Ferdinand, or so full of praise for this portion of the work of Pope Sixtus, as were his contemporaries, though no doubt it gave to us almost all the leading thoroughfares we know. ”

“ To restrain the Venetians the union of all the others was necessary, as it was for the defence of Ferrara; and to keep down the Pope they made use of the barons of Rome, who, being divided into two factions, Orsini and Colonnesi, had always a pretext for disorder, and, standing with arms in their hands under the eyes of the Pontiff, kept the pontificate weak and powerless. And although there might arise sometimes a courageous pope, such as Sixtus, yet neither fortune nor wisdom could rid him of these annoyances. And the short life of a pope is also a cause of weakness ”

“ Another order of man now succeeded these remarkable personages, the first of the line of purely secular princes, men of the world, splendid, unprincipled, and more or less vicious, although in this case it is once more a peasant, without so much as a surname, Sixtus IV., who takes his place in the scene, and who has left his name more conspicuously than any of his predecessors upon the later records of Rome. So far as the reader is concerned, the inscription at the end of the life of Pope Paul is a more melancholy one than anything that concerns that Pope. ”

“ Some writers have maintained that this sudden elevation of the most recent member of the Sacred College was due to bribery in the conclave, whilst the apologists of Sixtus affirm it was due to the friendship of the powerful and upright Cardinal Bessarion, and explain that the pope, having been brought up in a mendicant order, was inexperienced and did not appreciate the liberality of his donations after his election. There is no doubt that the expenditures of his pontificate were prodigal. Sixtus sent Cardinal Caraffa with a fleet against the Turks, but the expedition was unsuccessful. ”

“ Any one may theoretically be elected Pope. He need not be a cardinal, nor even a priest. He need not be an Italian. Not a few persons of ignoble birth and of mean antecedents have been elected to the Papacy, which they have illustrated by their virtues or their learning. Sixtus V., 1585-1595, was a swineherd in his youth, and he repeatedly affirmed the fact when he was Pope. ”

“ The "brief" only tended to knit the bonds of association closer between Lorenzo and the "City of the Flower," while the humanists to a man rallied round their patron. Even the choleric Filelfo, now a very old man, who had been on anything but friendly terms with the Medici, addressed two bitter satires to Sixtus, in which the Pope was styled the real aggressor, while the great humanist offered to write a history of the whole transaction, that posterity might know the true facts. The only power which gave its adhesion to Sixtus was Naples, while Venice, Ferrara, and Milan declared for Florence. ”

“ Young blood—young blood! Once I was young myself. But young blood must pay. I am your father confessor. Now, proceed. (This may be useful—better, better, better!) "
And with a wholly different air of interest, the Pope poured himself a glass of the rich wine and leaned back, contemplating the young man now with a sort of paternal kindliness. The thought that he had certain peccadillos to confess was a relish to the rich Sicilian vintage, and created, as it were, a common interest between them. For the first time Pope Sixtus felt thoroughly at ease with his guest. ”

“ When it was found that Henry of Navarre would not be cajoled into abandoning any portion of his rightful claim to the whole realm, the League and Philip induced Sixtus V. to fulminate his famous bull (September 1585) excommunicating him, his cousin Condé, “and the whole of this bastard and detestable race of Bourbon.” They and theirs were to be deprived of all their principalities for ever, and the excommunication extended to all their adherents. Henry’s reply was as{227} violent as the provocation. “The man who calls himself Pope Sixtus is himself a liar and a heretic.” ”

“ If the Nephews of other Popes become rich, it is by the abuse they make of that Authority which they usurp in the Pope’s Name. But it was not so with the Nipotismo of Sixtus; for he never gave blindly, but with his eyes open, and discreetly: And if there were any Error committed in their growing rich, it was the Pope that was the Author of it, and not they, who were meerly passive, and did but receive their Uncles Liberalities. ”

“ Only a man of extraordinary energy and decision of character could have surmounted it. Sixtus V. has been called pitiless from the terrible punishments he inflicted for apparently trivial offences, but he was personally humane, for at the murder of his nephew he was the first to entreat the pope (Sixtus being at that time Cardinal Montalto) to drop his investigations, and when he had cleared the Roman States of brigandage, he endeavored to conciliate the nobles. ”

“ The feuds of the Gaetani, the Colonna, and other old families were similarly trodden out, or healed by marriages with grand-nieces of the Pope, and Italy became more sober and [Pg 339] more prosperous than it had been for ages. Unhappily, the reform died with Sixtus and anarchy returned.
This campaign occupied a few years, but it had no sooner been launched than Sixtus produced other of the plans he had prepared in his secluded palace. I have shown how deeply the corruption of the College of Cardinals affected the religious history of Europe, and Sixtus began very quickly to reform it. ”

“ The only one of the four “nephews” of Sixtus—and to this one was imputed no nearer kinship—who was destined to make any lasting mark in history was Giuliano della Rovere. He was raised by his uncle to the purple with the title of San Pietro in Vincoli, and thirty-two years later he was to become Pope (as Julius II) . Of him we shall hear much in the course of this story.
Under the pontificate of Sixtus IV the position and influence of Cardinal Roderigo were greatly increased, for once again the Spanish Cardinal had made the most of his opportunities. ”

“ This bull is a confirmation by Pope Sixtus IV. of the bulls Romanus pontifex ( 1455) [1] and Inter caetera ( 1456) , [2] sanctioning Portugal's claims to exclusive rights in Guinea; and it also includes an important new concession, since it confirms that article in the recently ratified treaty of Alcaçovas [3] whereby the sovereigns of Castile promised not to disturb Portugal in Guinea or in certain of the Atlantic islands or in Morocco. The weight of papal authority was thus brought to bear against any attempt on the part of Castile to evade her agreement. ”

“ Lives of Sixtus are numerous: Cicarella’s, in Platina, De vitis pontiff. Rom., is by a contemporary of the pope, but nevertheless of slight importance; Leti's Vita di Sisto V (Amsterdam, 1693, translated into English by Farneworth, 1779) is a caricature, full of absurd tales, utterly untrustworthy, wanting even the saving merit of style; Tempesti’s Storia della vita e geste di Sisto Quinto (Rome, 1754–1755) is valuable for the large use it makes of the original sources, but lacks perspective and is warped by the author's blind admiration for his subject ”