A 818,170
MEDIAEVAL
CHRISTIANITY
AND
SACRED ART
1850-1500
VOL. II.
0.1. HEMANS
BR
874
H49

3
│.
FROM THE LIBRARY OF
ROBERT MARK WENLEY
PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
1896
19 29
GIFT OF HIS CHILDREN
TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
THт Bicknell del ob sc
1938
Prudenten
A HISTORY

OF
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY
AND ART IN ITALY.
VOL. II.
1
4

3
#
Recently published by the same Author,
A HISTORY OF ANCIENT
CHRISTIANITY
AND SACRED ART IN ITALY,
Crown 8vo. cloth, 7s 6d.
A HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIANITY
AND SACRED ART IN ITALY,
A.D. 900-1350.
VOL. I.
Crown 8vo. cloth, 7s 6d.
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, LONDON AND Edinburgii.
A HISTORY
OF
MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIANITY
AND
SACRED ART,
IN ITALY FROM 1350 TO 1400,
IN ROME FROM 1350 TO 1500.
BY
CHARLES ISIDORE HEMANS.
VOL. II.

E
PUR SI
MUOVE
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;
AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
GOODBAN, FLORENCE.
PIALE, ROME.
1872.
LONDON:
G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, MAIDEN LANE,
COVENT Garden.
2-24-39 J. A.
1-13-39
PREFACE.
In the present volume is completed, so far at
least as Rome and the Papacy are considered, my
attempt to supply a historic sketch of the rise and
vicissitudes of the Christian Church in Italy down to
the last year of the fifteenth century. With that
period, however, so vast a field, illumined by ever-
productive genius and marked by extraordinary ener-
gies, opens before me, that I have found it necessary
to extend the treatment of my subject beyond the
limits at first proposed to myself, and undertake to
prepare another small volume by way of Appendix to
the present. The general aspects of religious life during
that century in the Italian cities and regions have yet
to be considered as entering into my theme; for I have
here confined my attention mainly to Rome as the
centre, and to the Supreme Pontificate as the chief re-
presentative, while scarcely glancing at the movements
impelled by, or affecting, the religious principle and
interest elsewhere in the course of the eventful epoch
from A. D. 1400 to 1500. With such a subject before me
as the Italian Church and Italian Art during the whole
of that century-and seeing that the last should be the
most important section of the work commenced by me
vi
PREFACE.
some years ago-it will be apparent to the reader that
nothing like an adequate treatment can be supplied,
even with the means at my disposal, in the compass of
the few hundred pages here dedicated to it. I have
desired to consider the Fine Arts of this country in their
connexion with other expressions of thought, feeling,
and faith, with the institutions, the literature, and wor-
ship of the land where their triumphs have been so
illustrious. Strictly speaking, I may submit this volume
to my readers as the completion of my undertaking with
reference to the first fourteen centuries, but the com-
mencement only of that part which refers to the fifteenth
century of Christian civilization south of the Alps.
C. I. H.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY (1350 to 1370)
CHAPTER II.
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY (1370 to 1399)
CHAPTER III.
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY; GENERAL RETROSPECT
CHAPTER IV.
MONUMENTS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY: ROME, NAPLES,
and SOUTHERN ITALY
CHAPTER V.
MONUMENTS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY: FLORENCE and
CENTRAL ITALY
CHAPTER VI.
MONUMENTS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY: NORTHERN
ITALY, VENICE, PADUA, MILAN, and LOMBARdic Cities,
BOLOGNA
PAGE
1
50
110
187
249
327
CHAPTER VII.
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY (1400 to 1447)
417
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY (1447 to 1500)
497
CHAPTER IX.
MONUMENTS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY: ROME
593
APPENDIX
646
INDEX
657
ERRATA.
Page 207, for Innocent VIII. read Innocent VII.
"1
302, for S. Mark, read S. Luke.
CHAPTER I.
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY: 1350 TO 1370.
DEVOTIONAL excitements, a fervour of re-awakened piety
and zeal, the thronging of multitudes from all parts of
western Europe to the City regarded as the centre of
spiritual benefits-while that sacred City was at the same
time a prey to anarchy and social disorder—such were the
salient features of the picture presented by Italy and
Rome at the period when this narrative begins. The
Jubilee, instituted by Boniface VIII. for the first year of
each century, had been appointed for the fiftieth year by
Clement VI., in conformity with the urgent entreaties of
the Romans, conveyed to Avignon by an embassy in which
the two chief speakers were Petrarch and Cola di Rienzo.
Pope Clement had yielded to the eloquently expressed
desire of his Italian subjects, represented by two such able
orators, and had granted a second Jubilee for each century, in
consideration of the shortness of human life and the desir-
ableness that each generation of mankind in Christendom
might receive the chance, at least, of benefiting by the
treasures of the Church, unlocked for the welfare of souls
at that holy season.* Matteo Villani, our best authority
* The Bull of Pope Clement for this Jubilee assures the pilgrims who
might die on their journey of eternal life, if their sins had been confessed;
and commands the angels to escort their souls from Purgatory into
B
2
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
#
for this celebration in 1350, tells of the discipline and order,
the patience and good humour maintained among the pil-
grims on their toilsome journey, begun in an unusually
severe winter, along wretched roads, where such inns as
then existed were far from sufficient to accommodate the
ever-increasing crowd. The Germans and Hungarians,
better able to endure cold than others, used to spend the
nights in the fields, sleeping in the midst of circles of fire.
After the caravans had entered the Roman States they
were frequently attacked by brigands, who, not contented
with robbery, sometimes murdered their victims. But
here, too, were made benevolent exertions on behalf of the
pilgrims, and respectable natives of those provinces kept
guard along the highways by night. The pilgrims them-
selves administered summary justice on the criminals they
were able to seize. When they left inns, where the host
had had no time to keep accounts, they used to place the
sum due on the table, and none (we are assured) would
touch that money before it came into the proper hands.
Ill did the conduct of the Romans correspond to this
piety, so laudably united with honesty and good faith!
The police of the city was bad as possible. The market-
prices were arbitrarily fixed by those interested; articles
Paradise: "Item concedimus quod si veré confessus in via moriatur,
ab omnibus peccatis suis sit immunis et penitus absolutus. Et nihi-
lominus prorsùs mandamus Angelis Paradisi quatenus animam illius
à Purgatorio penitus absolutum in Paradisi gloriam introducant." Not
only monks, but nuns are urged to undertake this pilgrimage; the latter,
however, only with consent from their superiors, whilst those who
remain in their convents are enjoined to say the whole Psalter for their
wayfaring sisters. The Churches where the indulgence was to be
obtained, in Rome, were S. Peter's, the Lateran, and the Ostian
(S. Paul's) basilica. Villani tells us that all the pilgrims offered money,
according to their means (chi poco, e chi assai, come gli parea), every
time they went for the prescribed devotions to those basilicas.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
3
of food were monopolized; the only accommodation the
strangers obtained in houses where they lodged was a
wretched bed; food for themselves and their horses had
to be sought elsewhere.* A Cardinal Legate, sent for the
occasion from Avignon, could win neither respect nor
obedience, though he kept up a degree of pomp and exer-
cised an authority not less than might have satisfied the
spiritual and temporal Sovereign himself. He resided at
the Vatican; sat in judgment over all causes, ecclesiasti-
cal and civil; distributed offices and dignities; published
indulgences, threatened penalties; celebrated pontifical
High Mass with not less splendour than did the Pope;
and when he rode from his palace to churches, his passage
was proclaimed by sound of silver trumpets. One day
when he went with his usual retinue to S. Paul's basilica,
he was shot at with the arrows of a cross-bow from a paltry
house, and one of two arrows, thus aimed at him, pierced
his hat. His attendants rushed into the house, found the
cross-bow, but not one of the inmates, who had escaped by
a back-door or window. The terrified Cardinal was little
consoled by the only punishment that could be inflicted—
the instant demolishing of that deserted house. On an-
other occasion some scuffle occurred between his servants.
and the people, who were crowding into the court of his
palace to see a camel,-the curiosity he had brought with
him from France. From a trifle this disturbance rose into
furious tumult; the inhabitants of the Borgo quarter armed
* “The Romans, in order to profit irregularly, whilst they were able
to afford everything in abundance and at cheap price to the pilgrims,
kept up the dearness of bread, and wine, and meat for the whole
year; and prevented the merchants from importing either foreign wine,
or corn, or oats, so that they (the citizens) might sell their own provi-
sions dearer.”—M. Fillani, Cronica, c. Ivi.
B 2
4
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
in revolt, ready to attack the Vatican. They were finally
pacified by the firmness and influence of the Commendator
of the S. Spirito Hospital; and the Legate, witnessing this
scene from a balcony, made the remark, natural enough,
"that the Romans themselves were to blame for the pro-
longed absence of their Pontiffs;" also, that "the poorest
parish priest at Avignon was more to be envied than the
greatest prelate at Rome." That Cardinal, named Ceccano,
soon left for Naples, and died, on his journey thither, at a
village near S. Germano. His body was brought to Rome
in a coffin slung on the back of a mule, and thrown into
the vault of his family-chapel at S. Peter's, without funeral
rites or attendant mourners.
We read of the intense eagerness and dangerous
pressure of multitudes at the Roman basilicas. Every
Sunday and festival the "Volto Santo" used to be
exhibited at S. Peter's, and on those occasions not a few
—sometimes so many as twelve-persons at a time were
left dead, trampled under the feet of thousands, at the
doors. The number of pilgrims (if we may accept Villani's
report) exceeded that which had filled Rome in 1300:
throughout Lent and Easter-week, 1,200,000; at the fes-
tivals of Ascension and Pentecost, 800,000; and during the
rest of the year, 200,000. Among the devout throng came
Petrarch-his third visit here, assuredly less pleasant to
himself than his former sojourns at Rome, for all his friends
of the Colonna house were no more; and it is probable that
the melancholy impressions he now received may have been
uppermost in his mind when he urged on Pope Urban V.
the duty of restoring the Holy See to its proper centre,
representing the unhappy conditions of this City as result-
ing from the injuries caused by the pontifical exile. Cola
di Rienzo also came, probably incognito, but discovered
before long; and the Cardinal Legate suspected him (with-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
5
out any proof), of the attempt against his life above-men-
tioned. The Legate denounced Rienzo to the Pope, while
thus unjustly accusing him; and it is probable that this
led the ex-tribune to leave Rome and Italy, in order to
seek that protection from the German King, Charles IV,
which resulted in his betrayal to pontific authorities and
imprisonment at Avignon. There were great personages
who desired the indulgences without the pilgrimage of the
Jubilee year; but Clement VI. refused the exceptional
favour, even, in one instance, to royalty, when a King of
Cyprus applied. At last, however, he yielded so far as to
allow an Archbishop of Bari to extend those spiritual
benefits with dispensation to thirty individuals who, not
having visited Rome, were ready to advance sums, at the
disposal of the Pope, for charitable or pious objects, and
equivalent to the costs of such a journey. Towards the
end of the year, when the period for obtaining indulgences
was abridged, tumults broke out at Rome; the large profits,
gained from the pilgrims, only stimulated the avarice and
perhaps excited the restless spirit of the turbulent citizens.
The two senators then in office, a Colonna and an Orsini,
were powerless to still the tempest. The Vicar of the
Pope, Ponzio, Bishop of Orvieto, who had garrisoned the
Capitol in his Sovereign's name, was opposed by the
Colonnas and their faction. Jacopo Savelli made himself
master by force of the public palace on that hill, while
Stefanello Colonna seized the adjacent tower of the Conti.
General anarchy ensued; the streets were filled with a
lawless mob; brigands and robbers committed outrages at
the gates. At last, on the day after Christmas, 1351, a re-
action against the aristocratic ascendancy ensued. An
esteemed citizen, named Giovanni di Cerroni, was urged to
accept the office of chief magistrate. Savelli was compelled,
or found it prudent, to give up the Capitoline palace; and
6
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Cerroni was elected Rector and Serator by unanimous
votes of the people on the Capitol.
The Papal Vicar ratified this choice after the Senator had
sworn fealty to the Pontiff. For a time, Cerroni's authority
was efficiently enforced and obeyed. In the spring of 1352,
an expedition against Viterbo and the turbulent Del Vico,
lord of that city, was undertaken, but without success; and
this discomfiture injured the credit of Cerroni. He re-
solved to retire from office. The struggle between those
who supported and those who opposed him gave rise to
combat and bloodshed. The Senator fled to the Abruzzi
mountains. The people elected two other Senators, Ste-
fanello Colonna and Bertoldo Orsini, and no Papal ratifica-
tion was sought for. It appears that the Bishop of Orvieto
threatened the ban of the Church against these unautho-
rized magistrates, but that his menaces were disregarded.
The contributions from the devout pilgrims were absorbed
by the hiring of troops in a war for the restoration of Papal
government in Romagna, and other provinces lost by the
Holy See. The Archbishop of Milan, the Pepoli and Este,
lords of Bologna and Ferrara, and Mastino della Scala, lord
of Verona, supplied money or troops, or both, for this
campaign in behalf of the enfeebled sovereignty of the
Popes, whose absence at Avignon had well-nigh cost the
total loss of their States in Italy. The political condition
of the States nominally pertaining to the Church displayed
signs and portents of dissolution. The origin of the tem-
poral power of the Popes, in the VIII. century, was, strictly
speaking, popular, and in the highest degree honourable to
the Supreme Priests who had been led from the altar to the
throne, and urged to wield the sceptre, as well as the
crozier, by the respectful persuasion of their fellow-citizens.
But subsequent donations from Princes, and the arbitrary
bestowal of cities and provinces on the tiara, had founded
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
7
a fabric wanting the elements of genuine strength, though
indeed destined for long endurance. In 1375, eighty
towns and fortified places threw off their allegiance to the
Pope, in the course of a few days. The means used for re-
covering lost possessions by the agents of the Pontificate, in
this century, were sometimes more compromising than
defeat. Cardinals were seen at the head of armies, which
they led to the siege and sack of cities, and in some in-
stances allowed to commit every outrage that disgraced war-
fare in the Middle Ages. The carnage at Cesena, ordered
(or at least sanctioned) by the Cardinal of Geneva-which
we shall have to notice farther in these pages—is a horror-
striking example of the contradiction between the princi-
ples of the Church and the acts of pontifical government.
Benedict XII, assuming the right to administer the
Imperial States during the vacancy of the German throne,
affected to bestow on the Lombardic princes the terri-
tories they had already reduced under their sway. In
return the Bavarian Louis, Emperor elect, but never
recognised as such by the Popes, retaliated by sanctioning
the occupation of provinces and cities, lawfully pertaining to
the Holy See, by numerous usurpers, whose authority had
thus the pretence of imperial ratification. The Malatestas
became recognised lords of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano; the
Polenta family of Ravenna; the Montefeltro of Urbino; the
Ordelaffi of Forli and Cesena; the Gabrielli of Gubbio;
the Alidosi of Imola. Gentile da Fabriano obtained almost
independent sway at Camerino: Buonconti de' Monaldeschi
held undisputed lordship over Orvieto after he had caused
two colleagues to be put to death. Bologna, the city next
in importance and grandeur to Rome, was effectually ruled
over by Taddeo de' Pepoli, though he satisfied himself with
the title of Vicar of the Church, and was pledged to an
annual tribute of 8000 lire. At Faenza resided a Papal
8
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
Governor, with the rank of Count of Romagna; but the
occupant of this office, Hector de Durfort, a relative of
Clement VI., was obliged to share his authority with the
Manfredi, the principal family of the place; and in 1350
the French Count was violently expelled from Faenza by
Francesco Ordelaffi, lord of Cesena, and another Manfredi,
lord of Forli. It was this provocation that induced Pope
Clement to undertake the war, which begun with an ex-
pedition, commanded by the same Durfort, against Faenza
-May, 1351. The Pepoli and the Alidosi sided with the
pontific leaders. But the Count of Romagna suspected the
fidelity of Giovanni de' Pepoli (son of the lately deceased
Taddeo), and caused him to be treacherously arrested. He
was soon released, owing to a revolt among the discon-
tented and ill-paid troops under the Count's command.
Such ill-advised proceeding naturally made an enemy of
one disposed to be a powerful friend. Giovanni de' Pepoli
soon afterwards sold Bologna with its province for 200,000
gold florins to the Archbishop Visconti, now absolute lord.
of Milan. The general decline of ecclesiastical govern-
ment, under the Avignonese Popes, is noticed in language
and tone almost comic by a chronicler of Arezzo in his
metrical history of that city, extending from 1310 to 1384.
He supposes himself a father thus addressing his son:
Dimmi, figluol, s'avesse mai creduto
Ch'l gran poter ch'avia la Chiesa Santa,
Fosse in si breve tempo caduto?
De la Marca, Romagna, tutto quanta,
Del Ducato Perosgia, e Patrimonio
Si subito la Chiesa se ha smanta.
The conditions of Rome at this period have been, perhaps,
represented in colours of exaggerated gloom. Contem-
porary writers indeed accord in depicting dismal realities,
the consequences of licentious violence, unstable govern-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
9
ment, unchecked crimes and outrages. An able historian,
whose works throw light on many medieval pictures, Von
Reumont, rejects the tradition that the Roman population
had sunk so low as 17,000 during the absence of the Popes;
and we must agree with him if the statement can be ad-
mitted, that when Henry VII. visited this city in 1312, the
one region which alone adhered to him, whilst other civic
wards opposed him, could supply 10,000 combatants; that
(as also stated by chroniclers), fifty years later, the people,
apart from the Barons and their factions, could bring
22,000 armed men into the field. (?) The total number of
Clergy in Rome, about this period, was 758 of the secular,
317 of the regular order; the nuns, 471; and the hos-
pitalers, devoted to the care of the sick, 97. The churches,
all included, were 424, among which eleven ranked as
basilicas, 252 as parochial; 20, formerly privileged as abba-
tial, having passed into other hands or lost their privileges;
and 44 churches are described as either ruinous or shut up
and totally neglected.*
In the spring of 1353, the high prices of grain were the
provocation or pretext of a revolt. Two Senators, an
Orsini and a Colonna, then in office, became the mark for
popular fury, and examples of the hard fate of those who
attempted to control these turbulent citizens. With the
customary cry, "Popolo, Popolo !" a multitude rushed to the
Capitol, and threw stones at the windows of the palace where
those officials then were. Colonna escaped, assuming mean
disguise, and causing himself to be let down by a cord from
a back window. Bertoldo Orsini, less fortunate though
more courageous, appeared in armour amidst the angry
crowd, and descended the stairs of the Capitoline hill,
hoping to mount his horse and fly. Before he could pro-
* These statistics are given more at full by Von Reumont; and I have
inserted them in the volume of which the present forms a sequel, p. 535.
10
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ceed far he was struck by stones, obliged to turn back, and,
while attempting to regain the palace, fell before an image
of the Madonna, under the shower of stones which inflicted
the death he met in silence. The Capitoline palace was
seized by the armed people, who drove away the retainers.
of the patrician Senators. Presently was elected by popular
acclamation an experienced citizen named Francesco
Baroncelli, who had been senatorial secretary, and was now
installed as Tribune. A multitude escorted him to the
Capitol with the banners of the city, of the Caporioni, and
also one displaying the image of the Virgin. He exercised
his office well and vigorously, though but for a brief period,
and was never recognised by the Pope.
Before proceeding farther we may consider the peculia-
rities of the municipal system in Rome during the absence.
of the Popes. The Senator, who, according to recognised
rights, was nominated by the Pope, or by his Legate, held
chief authority, was the highest administrator of justice,
and from the year 1358 united to his office that of Captain
of the People. From the same date it was invariably re-
quired that he should be a stranger, i. e. an Italian not of
Roman birth, nor related to any of the great Roman
families. His office was originally shared by two persons
(like the Consulate of old), and held for one year; later it
was held but by one at a time, and for only half a year.
The two Senators associated together, for one year, received
3000 gold florins each. In 1340 the same salary was
settled on them for the period now limited to six months of
office. This appointment was afterwards reduced to 1800,
and finally to 1500 gold florins. The six Judges of the
Capitol," Judices Palatini," were the assessors of the Se-
nator. Five Notaries, two Sergeants, each with four as-
sistants and eight servants, who wore a fantastic striped
livery, swelled the retinue of the Senator. From 1358 he
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
11
was also assisted by a board of "Riformatori," seven in
number. Next in honour, and by many degrees superior
in authority, were the "Caporioni," thirteen magistrates,
who had command over troops, had power over life and
death, and represented the civic "Rioni” (or wards) of the
same number. Their Prior, or president, was elected among
themselves. They are said to have been constituted as a
privileged magistracy, A.D. 958, in the time of Pope John
XII.; but were called Decurions in earlier ages, probably
till 1370, when they acquired a new name-"Banderesi”.
the origin of which is thus accounted for: in that year
the Florentines, suspecting the Legate of Bologna of hostile
co-operation with the citizens of Prato against their Re-
public, endeavoured to excite revolt in the cities lately re-
subjected to the Papacy by another Legate's exertions. For
this purpose they sent to each of those cities certain banners
with the word "Libertas" inscribed in gold letters.* The
symbol was received by the Romans with enthusiastic joy ;
and such banners were distributed to each of the thirteen
wards, and hung before the houses of the Decurions. Hence
those magistrates took their new title. Their attributions
were subsequently developed: they were charged with the
preservation of public order, the suppression of tumults, and
the guarding, or general police, of the city; and they had
under their command a civic militia, 3000 strong. Essen-
tially democratic was the principle of this constitution, not-
withstanding the fact that Rome submitted, theoretically,
to despotic sovereigns. Before laws and edicts proposed by
the Senator could have force, or be formally published, the
people were summoned to the Capitol by herald and sound
* A shield with that inscription appears amidst the painted heraldry
under the machicolations of the grand old Palazzo della Signoria at
Florence.
12
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of bell, to give their suffrages by vote. They were repre-
sented by two Councils, one general, one special; the
former composed of various classes, and of members chosen
by lot; the latter invested with greater authority, and
formed, it seems, of persons who held other appointments,
as the seven (C
Riformatori," all entitled to sit in that
Council.
A senatorial procession in these times was one of those
mediæval pageants that might figure on the page of historic
romance; and it seems that the shows of outward pomp
were especially desired in Rome, where they formed singu-
lar contrast to the severe simplicity of antique manners
and observances in that City of the Seven Hills. Escorted
by many officials, and followed by pages, sergeants,
trumpeters, mounted guards, came the Senator riding on a
white palfrey caparisoned in crimson velvet, with fringes
and tassels of silk and gold; that high functionary himself
attired in a long robe of crimson velvet fastened with
gold buttons, doublet of gold brocade curiously plaited
and lined with ermine, mantelet (or cape) of ermine, scarlet
hose, ducal cap of gold brocade lined with ermine, and
shoes of red velvet with gold buckles; white doe-skin
gloves with gold embroidery; on his fingers three gold rings,
set with a diamond, a ruby, and an emerald; in his hand
gold wand, with ball and cross at the summit. The Bande-
resi appeared in robes of crimson velvet with short sleeves,
lined with blue silk and embroidered with gold, doublet
of purple satin, ducal caps of crimson velvet, hoses with
one leg scarlet, the other red and yellow, red velvet shoes,
and a white wand in the hand; the Prior distinguished by
a robe called laticlave, of purple velvet, lined with ermine;
all riding on horses whose trappings were of green velvet,
embroidered with silver and gold, with tassels and fringes
also golden. Six pages, bearing banners, preceded them.
a
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
13
The Judges of the Capitoline Court came in long robes,
silk and velvet, of graver hue; besides pages, trumpeters,
minor officials, came fifty armed men on horseback; and the
procession was completed by two bands of musicians, in all
sixteen persons, eight of whom sang, and eight played on
instruments.*
The Banderesi merged at last into the " Caporioni," of the
same number, who continued to represent the thirteen
wards. Even in modern times, and under the fully de-
veloped absolutism of the Popes, these officials retained a
remnant and shadow of their ancient attributions. During
the vacancy of the throne, they enrolled troops, became
responsible for public safety; and when informed of the
Pontiff's decease, that Caporioni in whose ward was situated.
the public prisons, went with banners and guards, and beat
of drum, to liberate the captives, according to the some-
what perilous precedents of clemency on those occasions.
During the period of "Sede Vacante," each Caporioni had
the banner of his ward floating before his official residence.
No Roman citizen could be a "Judex Palatinus," or
assessor of the Senator; but the post of Senatorial Secre-
tary was usually held by a Roman of respectability, some-
times of the minor patrician class. In 1380, we find a
painter and a notary among the Banderesi, while four of
the second-class nobility held office among their counsel-
lors.
The year 1362 proved stormy in Rome. The Senator,
* See for all these and many more particulars of costume, " Order and
Magnificence of the Roman Magistrates in the time the Pontific Court
was at Avignon," edited from a Vatican MS. by Muratori, "Antiq.
Ital. Med." Disser. 29, 1. 33. It should be added that, according to other
traditions, the Decurions took the title of Banderesi so early as 1262, in
the time of Urban IV. Their original designation was derived from
Decuria," a civic region.
**
J
14
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Cancelliere (of a well-known Pistoian house) was driven
away; his office being abolished, and all the aristocratic fami-
lies alike expelled. One Lello Pocadota, a shoemaker, was
chosen to act as chief magistrate, with the seven Riforma-
tori as his assessors. But these nominations did not last
long. Several exiles joined a company of disbanded soldiers,
Italians and Germans, called " Compagnia del Cappelletto,"
from their standard, a cap at the point of a lance. After
laying waste the territory of Arezzo, these adventurers
entered the province of the Patrimony. Panic prevailed in
Rome, where it was feared they might venture to attack the
city itself. Foreign soldiers, Germans and Hungarians,
were recruited to assist the civic militia; and a force of
22,000 is said, (probably with exaggeration), to have been
under arms within the walls. The marauders, however,
did not approach nearer; but the effect of this alarm was
such that the revolutionized system came to an end; Lello
Pocadota, erroneously reported to have been slain in a
skirmish, actually disappeared; the citizens submitted to
the Pope, only making the condition that the Legate Albor-
noz should have no more control over them.
in 1361, Hugo de Lusignan, titular King of Cyprus, was
appointed Senator by Innocent VI. The Pope's brief to the
Roman magistrates, on this occasion, contains the following
details, but too well confirmed by other testimony: "In
your city, justice is subverted; concord banished; domestic
hostilities lead to continual tumults, the violence of which
is daily increasing." In another brief, of earlier date, from
Clement VI., is noticed the neglect of religious rites and
the abandonment of Rome's churches. The same Pontiff,
who sent 14,000 gold florins for public works, and other
things requisite in this capital, complains that S. Maria
Nuova, the church he assigned to the Olivetan monks, who
still officiate there, was neglected by the two canons alone
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
15
left of the dispersed chapter, and that those who had charge
of that sacred building, now no longer a place of worship,
were reprobates, "guilty of murder and other crimes.”
In an address of the Roman magistrates to Gregory XI.,
urging him to settle with his Court in their city, they
represented that "the cardinalitial churches are aban-
doned by those who receive their titles and honours from
them; are left so desolate as to be without roofs and doors;
their walls dilapidated; their interiors open to flocks and
herds, which often stray in for pasture up to their very
altars!" Such was the state of the Lateran, after having
been twice on fire in this century, when Petrarch saw it in
1350. That writer reprobates the Vandalism of those who
used to demolish Rome's antique edifices for the sake of
selling their marbles. "After (he says) overthrowing the
triumphal arches, from which, perhaps, they had already
torn down the statues of their ancestors, they have not
been ashamed to traffic with the relics of antiquity for the
sake of a miserable gain, and for their own dishonour."*
* Petrarch infers that many such classic spoils went to adorn new
buildings at Naples: "De vestris marmoreis columnis, de liminibus
templorum―desidiosa Neapolis adornatur." The poet's fine Canzone,
Spirito gentil," addressed to Rienzo, describes the manner in which
sacred edifices were habitually profaned at Rome. He supposes the
Saints to look down with sorrow from their celestial abode on such pro-
fanation of their earthly temples :
E se cosa di qua nel ciel si cura,
L'anime che lassù son cittadine,
Ed hanno i corpi abbandonati in terra,
Del lungo odio civil ti pregan fine,
Per cui la gente ben non s'assecura,
Onde 'l cammin a' lor tetti si serra,
Che fur giá si devoti, ed ora in guerra
Quasi spelonca di ladron son fatti,
Tal ch'a' buon solamente uscio si chiude:
E trú gli altari, e tra le statue ignude
1.6
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Those classical monuments which still stood erect, however
decayed, were in great part buried under ground, or con-
cealed by other buildings; and the strange mistakes of the
learned Petrarch himself as to their origin or character,
lead us to conclude that the epigraphs, still distinctly legible.
on their fronts, must at this time have been concealed by
the barbaric fortresses, or other enormities in brickwork,
thrown up against or around them-as were undoubtedly
the arches of Titus and Severus, and the quadruple arch-
way
of Janus, on which structures some remnants of pon-
derous brick towers were to be seen in modern times. The
Mausoleum of Augustus, long held as a fortress by the
Colonnas, was now dismantled. The theatre of Marcellus
was in like manner held and defended by the Savelli. The
Forum and Capitol were encumbered by grim fortresses,
which looked down in stern defiance, whilst they announced
the prevalent contempt for classical antiquity. The
Thermæ were probably less injured than other antique
structures, because less suitable for purposes of fortifica-
tion. The Colosseum, fortified and held by one baronial
family after another, was better cared for since it had passed
under the jurisdiction of the magistrates. Henry VII.,
during his stay here (1312), compelled the Annibaldeschi,
its then owners, to abandon the castle they had built
within its walls. In 1349 these and other ruins were
much injured by earthquake, and the scattered material
thus thrown down at the amphitheatre was offered for
sale. About the same time it was that the chief baronial
families began to use that ruined amphitheatre as the
common quarry for the travertine or brick they wanted for
Ogn' impresa crudel par che si tratti.
Deh quanto diversi atti !
Ne' senza squillo s'incomincia assalto,
Che per Dio ringraziar fur poste in alto.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
17
their own buildings; but this practice was probably
checked, owing to the cession made by the magistrates of
the ground-floor arcades as wards for the Lateran hospital
of S. John.
We must conclude that the Rome of the XIV. century
presented nothing like the architectural style, character,
or grouping of the scene now before us, save at the
centres most distinguished by classical antiquities. Not
one inhabitable building, palace, castle, or monastery then
stood in the same condition as at this day; still less any
street or public place. Even among churches the few then
characterized by the same leading features, in their prin-
cipal masses at least, as at present, may be counted in a
single line: S. Maria in Trastevere, Aracoeli on the Capitol,
S. Stefano Rotundo, S. Sabina and S. Sabba on the Aven-
tine, and the extramural S. Lorenzo. Eight churches are
said to have been built in Rome during this century; but
I believe we cannot make out this number without in-
cluding the restorations, more or less complete, of those
injured by fire or otherwise reduced to ruin. And the
Campagna-now in desolate solitude, monotonous, but so
impressive in its harmony with the memories of the
"Niobe of Nations"-the Campagna was in those times
devastated by frequent war, disturbed by military tumult,
and overspread by a gloom different indeed, as to cause
and effects, from the silent melancholy which there reigns
at the present day. Petrarch best describes such realities
in a letter to his friend Giovanni Colonna, written from
the castle of another friend, Orso, Count d'Anguillara, at
Capranica, where the writer took refuge, was indeed under
the necessity of remaining, for many days, owing to the
feud between the Orsini and Colonna, which then spread
terror and tumult over this region, and prevented his pro-
C
18
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ceeding on the last stage of his journey to Rome in 1336-
Petrarch's first visit to this capital.*
The French Popes, and their Court at Avignon, cannot
be passed over in our review of the state of Italy during
the period of the so-called Babylonian Exile-that desertion
of their see by the Pontiffs which Muratori considers as,
together with the incessant wars during this time, the
principal cause of "the general corruption of morals then
prevailing throughout Italy." (Annali, an. 1373.) That
ecclesiastical Court on the banks of the Rhone was a source
of scandals; the growing and long-permitted abuses within
its sphere were an offence to conscience, an opprobrium to
the Christianity of the age. Illustrious writers denounced
and deplored; saintly men and women threatened the
wrath of God against these patent evils. Not, however,
that the personal character of the crowned High Priests
who sat at Avignon was generally reprehensible. On the
contrary, there were, among the seven who reigned in France
"Peace alone is banished from these regions, whether through the
guilt of the people, through a decree of Heaven, or the wrath of Fate
and evil influences of the stars, I know not. The shepherd keeps watch
by his flock in arms, less anxious to defend them against wolves than
against robbers. The husbandman, wearing a cuirass, drives his oxen
to labour with a spear instead of a goad. The fowler covers himself
with a shield as he draws his nets; the fisherman fastens his bait to a
lance. Water is drawn from the deep wells in a rusty casque instead
of a pail. In a word, every man here is armed at all times. At night
one hears from the walls the challenge of the sentinel and the cry to
arms. There is no safety, no word of peace, no impulse of humanity
for the inhabitants of this region: all breathes war, enmity, and pas-
sionate hate. Here have I been staying, half with half against my will,
for sixteen days; and whilst the soldiery are hastening, summoned by
the din of trumpets, to battle, I roam over the hills in solitude. All
wonder to see me unarmed and heedless, as much as I wonder at their
continual agitations.”
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
19
over the Church, men of sanctified life, against whose
morals and example contemporary biographers bring no
charge. We possess several histories of them by writers
of their time, no doubt trustworthy; seven of John XXII.,
eight of Benedict XII., six of Clement VI., four of Urban
V. (vi. Baluze.) The two Villani are indeed less favourable
witnesses as to the conduct and character of some among
these Pontiffs. Matteo says of Clement VI. that “he filled
the Church with Cardinals, his own relatives, some of whom
were so young and addicted to such disreputable courses
that the consequences were most abominable.”
Yet an-
other chronicler calls the same Pope, "a model of modesty
and exemplar of piety."
As to his unfortunate choice of Cardinals, the Augustinian
Luigi Marsigli declares that they were " avaricious, disso-
lute, importunate, and shameless Limousins"-being in the
plurality, if not all, natives of that province. At Avignon
was introduced the system of the reservation of bishoprics
and benefices; also that of "commenda," or bestowal of
abbacies and other preferments upon clerics not bound to
residence, sometimes even upon laymen, who naturally cared
for nothing but the revenues they were thus entitled to.
The "Annates," originally limited to the smaller bene-
fices, were extended by John XXII. to all preferments the
disposal of which was claimed by the Holy See, thus being
imposed a tax from every vacant post in the Church for the
benefit of the Papacy. Spiritual supremacy became a vast
and complicated scheme for financial aggrandisement! The
nomination of bishops and abbots was taken from the
Chapters, and appropriated by the Popes. The issue of com-
mendatory letters for future appointment to benefices not
yet vacant, by Papal behest, was carried to the utmost
extent The creating of new bishoprics led to a general
breaking up of the ancient dioceses; and the transfer of
C 2
20
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
prelates from one see to another became more and more
frequent. A new source of revenue, which promised to
be inexhaustible, was opened by the exacting of tithes
on ecclesiastical property in different countries for the
benefit of the Holy See, and often for the furtherance of
purely mundane interests, especially for the wars the
Pontiffs were so frequently engaged in. Not only were
reserves and expectatives continually multiplied, but the
same benefice was sometimes bestowed on different persons,
as each in succession offered a higher price for it. Cardinals
attached to the Curia were now allowed to hold bishoprics,
in whatever country, without obligation of residence; and
the accumulation of pluralities reached a climax, one ex-
ample of which we have in the case of the nephew of
Clement VI., who became Pope as Gregory XI. Made
Cardinal by his uncle at the age of seventeen, he held at
the same time preferment as Archdeacon of three cathedral
churches (Canterbury among the rest), Canon of two
chapters, and Provost of another church, yet never re-
ceived priest's orders till after his election to the Papacy!*
The French Pontiffs could not emancipate themselves from
thraldom to the French crown; and vacant mitres, in that
country, had to be bestowed according to royal, rather than
Papal, preference. We are not surprised to find the heroic
but simple-minded Catherine of Siena admonishing Gregory
XI. that the stench of corruptions in the Curia had reached
her even at her native town among the Tuscan mountains;
for that Saint believed herself possessed of the unenviable.
faculty of discerning the existence of vices by their offen-
"The Roman Court became the universal head of all authorities and
institutions in the Church. The inevitable consequence was to cripple
the pastoral administration, whether parochial or diocesan, and intro-
duce a general state of religious disease and decay; bishops and parish
priests withdrawing more and more from their pastoral charges."-
JANUS.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
21
sive smell!
Dante declared that while worthless Pontiffs
sat in the chair of S. Peter, that throne was vacant in
the sight of God! and Petrarch saw in the Papal residence
on the Rhone the mystic Babylon of the Apocalypse:-
L'avara Babilonia ha colmo 'l sacco
D'ira di Dio, e di vizi empi e rei,
Tanto che scoppia; ed ha fatti suoi Dei,
Non Giove e Palla, ma Venere e Bacco!
Terrible is the chastisement inflicted by the never-for-
gotten denunciations of Genius; and vain was the effort of
Pope Pius V. to stifle the testimony of that Poet by order-
ing the suppression of the Sonnets against Avignon in
future editions of his works.
Such scandals in the Church had their natural effect in
the intellectual and political spheres. Long maintained
ecclesiastical immunities were now encroached on ;
the pre-
rogatives of the privileged caste began to be interfered with.
At Florence, the clergy were subjected to the same taxa-
tion, and made amenable to the same tribunals as the
laity. At Genoa, ecclesiastics were excluded from all
public employments. At Venice, the regular clergy were
required to take part in the defence of the State during the
war of that republic with the Genoese; and those able-
bodied monks who refused to take arms in the cause were
expelled. At Turin was passed a statute to check "the
iniquity, pride, and immoderate avarice of the clergy.'
(Super iniquitate, superbia et immoderata avaritia cleri et
presbyterorum.) At Pistoia, it was decreed that eccle-
siastics should forfeit all claim on family-property, and
could only apply to their kindred for assistance in the way
of charitable succour. At Perugia, an official was appointed
(1319) expressly to watch over the conduct of the clergy;
and it was proposed that no letters should be forwarded to
the Pope, not even by the bishop of the diocese, without
the municipal seal being affixed.
22
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
After the death of Clement VI., was elected Stephen
d'Albert of Limoges, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, who took
the name of Innocent VI. (1352-62). During the inter-
regnum the Cardinals passed a regulation to which all
pledged themselves by oath-though some added the con-
dition "if conformable to law"-obliging the new Pope
and all his successors neither to create, depose, nor subject
to censures any Cardinal without consent of at least two-
thirds of the Sacred College; never to alienate or bestow
as a fief, under condition of tribute, any city, castle, or
territory of the Holy See, without similar consent from
that cardinalitial body; to cede to the Cardinals one half
of the revenues, taxes, &c. accruing to the Roman Church
-other less important obligations being included in the
prospective arrangements here prescribed. The elected,
one of those Cardinals who had only signed conditionally,
abolished this entire regulation by bull, the year after he
had been raised to the Papal throne. Innocent VI. was an
exemplary man, of austerely devout life, and always
animated by pure intentions; not learned or particularly
enlightened, indeed, if we may judge from the fact that he
suspected Petrarch of practising the black art, because
knowing him to be an enthusiastic admirer of Virgil!
"Whatever the cause (says the innocent poet himself), it
is certain that he affirmed I was a magician, nor was
ashamed to adduce, as proof thereof, that I had read and
continued to read Virgil."-(Lettere Senile IV-Le Mon-
nier edition.) He energetically undertook the task of
cleansing the Augæan stable of abuses by which the
Church was compromised and the Curia disgraced.
Scarcely had he been crowned when he enjoined on all
bishops and beneficed clergy, then in his court, to return to
their dioceses and parishes under pain of excommunication.
He suspended an immense number of reserves, commendas,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
23
and expectatives granted by Clement VI.; retrenched the
expenses of his palace and domestics; endeavoured also to
check the excessive luxuries of the Cardinals. Economical
and self-denying in his private life, he was liberal in the
furtherance of political undertakings and public works.
He caused Avignon, hitherto an open city, to be sur-
rounded by strong walls, with moats, including space suffi-
cient for new buildings, gardens, orchards, &c. He spent
enormous sums (pecunias infinitas) for the recovery by
armed force of the States lost to the Pontificate. In 1353
he appointed as Legate for the Papal States, an individual
well chosen for the arduous task of re-subjecting, whether
by force or policy, the many cities and provinces which had
cast off their allegiance to the Holy See-Gil Alvarez
Carillo Albornoz, a Spaniard descended from the Kings of
Aragon and Leon. While still young, this person had been
raised (1337) to the Archbishopric of Toledo, and had, even
in that capacity, distinguished himself as a warrior in the
campaigns against the Moors. After the great victory of the
Christians over the Moslems, on the field of Tarifa (1340),
Alfonso XI. of Castille desired to receive knighthood
from the hands of this warlike Prelate. Under the reign
of Peter the Cruel, Albornoz had been obliged to quit
Spain, and repaired to Avignon, where his talents were soon
recognised, being rewarded by the Cardinal's hat in 1350.
Whilst in Italy he was, we are assured, either loved or
feared wherever known. Besides indefatigable energies,
he did not want the more attractive qualities of magnani-
mity, learning, affability. Unblemished in moral life, he
seems a perfect type of the warrior and statesman-priest
of the XIV century, in whom the union of essentially op-
posed and apparently irreconcilable professions and func-
tions, the most singular contrast between individual pro-
*
24
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
clivities and the sacred career chosen, gave no offence to
the religious feeling of the age.
*
The Legate was either accompanied, or soon followed, on
his journey from France to Italy by another celebrated
person whom we have lost sight of since his mysterious
appearance at Rome during the Jubilee of 1350-Cola di
Rienzo. The former Tribune had been, after hospitable
entertainment for a time at the Court of Charles IV. at
Prague, delivered up, as suspected of heresy, to the Arch-
bishop of that See; and after several months of close con-
finement in the Bohemian fortress of Raudvitz, been finally
consigned to Papal authorities, and led into Avignon
(July, 1352), a captive, on foot, guarded by two archers,
though not chained.† Soon afterwards he was brought to
trial for heresy, before commissioners nominated by the
Pope. Petrarch appealed earnestly to the Romans on
behalf of one to whom they owed so much-"Your former
Tribune, now a prisoner in a foreign land, and obliged to
defend his cause in chains like a thief or traitor-the man
whose counsels and acts once filled not only Rome, but
all Italy, with joyful hopes." Rienzo was found guilty,
and confined in a tower of the Papal palace. But Clement
VI. was too enlightened, and too much a man of the world
to treat such an illustrious captive with insulting harsh-
ness. He allowed him the solace of books, the Scriptures,
and his favourite historian, Titus Livius; and after a time
released him from confinement, though not giving him
* A writer, edited by Baluze, says of him: "In factis armorum, non
omissa pontificali decentiâ, doctus et expertus."
+ The contemporary biography, edited by Muratori, and with ample
annotations by Zefferino Re, in a later edition, says that Rienzo was
absolved and appointed Senator of Rome by the Pope in July, 1353, and
that he quitted Avignon together with Albornoz in the next month,
Von Reumont ("Geschichte der Stadt Rom") supposes that he followed
the Legate into Italy, and joined him at Montefiascone.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
25
!
permission to quit Avignon, where he still remained under
certain restraints. Innocent VI. not only absolved this
distinguished exile from all ecclesiastical censures, but
appointed him Senator of Rome, and announced to the
people of that city, in a brief, 16th September, 1353, the
delivery of "their fellow-citizen, the knight and nobleman,
Cola di Rienzo;" enjoining on them to receive him with
good will, and strenuously co-operate with him for the
rescue of their city from its deeply-fallen fortunes, opposing
firm resistance to domestic and foreign foes.
Albornoz was received with honours in Lombardy; but
when he reached Bologna, he found the gates shut against
him. In the (nominally) Ecclesiastical States he found, be-
sides Rome, but two insignificant towns, Montefiascone, near
Viterbo, and Montefalco, in the Spoleto province, still loyal to
the Papacy and unoccupied by usurpers. A deputation from
the Romans, which greeted him at Montefiascone, bore the
voluntary submission of that people to the Papal sovereignty,
and invited the Legate to come among them as their patron
and as recognised representative of the Pontiff; at the
same time offering to assist him in arms against Giovanni di
Vico, lord of Viterbo, who had made himself master of
almost the entire province of the Patrimony, and also of Terni,
Narni, and Orvieto. The Romans had recently overthrown
the ephemeral authority entrusted by the popular voice to
their new tribune, Baroncelli, who was assassinated. Albor-
noz published the ban of the Church against Di Vico, and
all other usurpers of her temporal dominions. That anta-
gonist offered terms of peace, but soon violated the engage-
ments made with the Legate; and the latter proceeded to
declare his forfeiture of the cities he had possessed, Viterbo
and Toscanella. Di Vico took refuge in Orvieto. The
Legate besieged that rock-built town, so singularly fortified
by nature, and was soon successful, for the haughty enemy
26
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of the Pope deemed it prudent to submit, surrendered the
city, and threw himself at the feet of Albornoz, craving
forgiveness. His example was soon followed by Gentile
da Migliano, lord of Fermo, who spontaneously gave up
that city in an interview with the Legate at Foligno-
another town already re-subjected to the tiara. The ex-
ruler of Fermo was appointed Gonfaloniere of the Church
in reward of his submission. Next was undertaken the
siege of Viterbo, which lasted about two months (May and
June, 1354). It was whilst the pontifical army was before
those walls that the Roman troops marched to assist there;
and Roman deputies came to request that Rienzo, who had
fought gallantly before Toscanello and Viterbo, should at
once assume the authority conferred on him as Senator.
The Legate refused to supply the money requisite for
Rienzo's return and instalment in his new office; but suf-
ficient means were obtained by a loan from the brothers
of the famous Condottiere, Fra Moriale, at Perugia, whither
Rienzo went after leaving the camp before Viterbo. Es-
corted by the soldiery hired for his service, the Senator set
out from Perugia, and entered Rome on the 1st of August,
1354. He was received with the utmost enthusiasm, and
all those honours of festivity which Roman citizens so well
understand the art of preparing in gorgeous and picturesque
forms. He entered on the exercise of his office a changed
man in many respects, less affable in manners, more prone to
severities, but still full of energy, and bent on high objects.
Determined, as in the days of his tribunate, to put down the
licentious and lawless insolence of the barons, he attacked the
Colonnas in their chief stronghold, the castle of Palestrina,
which still stands in grim decay on the steep hill-side above
the classic Præneste; but was forced to abandon this enter-
prise for want of sufficient troops. The finances of the Senator
were far from adequate for his numerous and bold' under-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
27
takings. He imposed a tax on wine and salt; and this, a
burden felt most by the poorest, prepared the way for the
ruin of Rienzo.
Walter di Montreal, a Provençal knight of S. John
(whose name was Italianized into Fra Moriale), had gone
through the career of a gallant adventurer in the Neapo-
litan kingdom, and, after being banished from thence by
Louis of Anjou, tried his fortune in the Roman States,
where continual warfare offered an opening to his restless
ambition. He allied himself with Giovanni di Vico, and,
having promised pay to all recruits, soon found himself at
the head of between 3000 and 4000 volunteers thus col-
lected for whatever service, to the manifest peril of the
regions they swept over. Unfortunately for himself, Mont-
real ventured into Rome whilst Rienzo still held the reins
of government, and where his two brothers resided at the
time, themselves on good terms with the Senator.
It was
reported to the latter that Montreal had threatened his life.
This redoubted Condottiere was immediately arrested,
brought to trial, tortured, sentenced to the death of a
malefactor. Bribes, threats, entreaties were tried by him
in vain. The proud adventurer could not at first believe
that the base-born Rienzo would dare to send him, a cheva-
lier, rich, dreaded, powerful, to die on the scaffold; but
when his fate became certain, he gave signs of repentance,
kissed the block, and exclaimed, "God save thee, sacred
Justice!" His own and his contemporaries' estimate of his
character serves to illustrate the moral feeling of the day.
One writer compares him to Julius Cæsar, and the biogra-
pher of Rienzo says that "all Italy resounded to the fame
of his virtues and glory." His own parting words, addressed
to his brothers, express his complacence at the retrospect
of a career neither better nor worse than that of other
soldiers of fortune at this epoch: "I beg you to love each
28
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
!
1
other, and to be valorous before the world, as I have been,
who have forced Apulia, Tuscany, and the Marches to show
me submission!" By his death, as the above-named biogra-
pher informs us, "all Rome was troubled." The Italian
princes approved of this execution, but the Romans im-
puted to Rienzo the selfish desire of appropriating the
wealth of Montreal, which was indeed great, for he
left 100,000 gold florins, of which 60,000 are said
to have been confiscated by the Pope. If the Sena-
tor secured any share of this ill-gotten treasure, it was
not certainly the maximum. Montreal's execution was
soon followed by another far less justifiable, and still more
injurious to the popularity of Rienzo-that of Pandolfo di
Guido, a generally esteemed and influential citizen, who
could only be accused on mere suspicion of a design to raise
himself into power as the rival of, or successor to, the
Senator.
At last the once-idolized "Tribune,"—such he was still
popularly styled-became hated or feared by the fickle
multitude, who (says his biographer) "did not dare to
speak, so much did they dread the Tribune, even as a
Demon !" Innocent VI. sent him the confirmation by
brief (9th September) of his senatorial appointment, to-
gether with wise and benevolent counsels as to the con-
duct of municipal government. A month after the date of
this document, the Senator was awakened in his chamber, in
the Capitoline palace, by tumult and menacing cries, first
heard at an early hour, and becoming more vehement as the
day advanced. A multitude had assembled before that
palace, throwing stones, and shouting: "Death to the
traitor, Cola di Rienzo, who has imposed the taxes." He
rose, armed himself as a knight with cuirass and crested
helm; took the Gonfalone, or standard of the Roman
people in his hand, and thus showed himself on the balcony.
SACRED ART IN ITALY,
29
The shouts, the execrations were redoubled. In vain did
Rienzo make signs to indicate his wish to speak; in vain did
he raise the cry, all unheard, of “Viva il popolo," whilst he
displayed the Papal diploma, written in gold letters.* The
troops of the rioni joined the throng on the Capitol, and the
onset became still more formidable. Darts, as well as stones,
were now hurled against the Senator as he stood, calmly
dauntless, on the balcony. An arrow wounded him in the
hand. The gates of the palace were fired; the flames burst
in; the roofing fell; the great staircase came down with a
crash; and at this crisis Rienzo found himself almost de-
serted in that burning pile; his guards, officers, notaries,
servants, had fled, or remained absent from their posts all that
morning; three persons alone, one a relative, were still in
the building with him. He hesitated between two alterna-
tives—either to come out, armed as he was, and force his
way through the crowd with his sword, or to escape in dis-
guise. Unfortunately he chose the latter, the less noble ex-
pedient; laid aside his armour, blackened his face, cut off
his beard, wrapt himself in a coarse peasant's cloak, placed
a mattress on his head for protection from the fire, and
caused himself to be let down by a table-cloth from a back
window above the prisons, the key of which he took with him,
for there were prisoners whose escape he desired to prevent
even at that moment. In this disguise he passed through
one of the burning doors, adding his voice to the cries of
the angry crowd against himself. His treacherous relative
appeared on the balcony, and signified by dumb show the
fact of his escape. At the outer door, just as he was
quitting the vestibule of the palace, he was stopped: Non
gire, dove vai? ("Move not; whither are you going?")
said some unwashed artificer. The people pressed around
him, and tore off his disguise. His gilt bracelets (a patri-
* Confirmatory of his senatorial office.
་
30
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
cian ornament then in fashion) sufficed to betray him; and
there he stood in the costume of a Roman baron, with
doublet of green silk and purple hose. At first no insult
was offered to him; he was led by the arms, unmolested,
down the stairs of the Capitoline hill to the sculptured lion
at its base, the fatal spot where sentence of death used to
be read and inflicted-where those condemned by Rienzo
himself had met the fate of criminals at the block. For
nearly an hour did the destined victim remain, silent and
passive, seated on the lion's back, his arms folded, his glance
directed now to one side, now to the other, amidst the
eagerly-gazing crowd. We may suppose that the dignity
of his aspect combined with the remembrances of an illus-
trious past to overawe the fierce multitude. At last an
artisan seized a sword, and wounded him, perhaps mortally.
The work of butchery was soon finished. No word nor
groan was heard from Rienzo after that first death-blow,
which probably killed him on the spot. The mangled.
corpse was dragged by a rope through the streets, amidst
the brutal insults of the mob, as far as the church of S.
Marcello, on the modern Corso. There it was hung up by
the feet to a balcony; and thus left exposed, for a night
and two days, to be pelted by the boys who passed below.
At last the Colonnas ordered it to be taken to the Mauso-
leum of Augustus, their now dismantled fortress. Either
within the rotunda of that imperial tomb, or in the area
before it, called "Campo dell' Austa," the Jews, to whom
the grim task had been assigned-all of that community in
Rome, it is said-assembled to burn those poor remains on
a fire of dried thistles. The ashes were scattered to the
winds; not one relic was left of the once idolized Tribune
and Senator, not one Christian rite celebrated over his
bier! Thus perished Cola di Rienzo seven years after his
first appearance on the political stage, and but nine weeks
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
31
after his second elevation to power and eminence! His per-
sonal property was confiscated. Among his effects was
found, in his bedroom, a polished steel mirror, covered
with strange figures and characters, which he had used
for magical purposes-for invoking spirits, as supposed,
and especially some hobgoblin of medieval fantasy called
“Fiorone”—so his quaint biographer informs us (costringeva
lo spirito di Fiorone).
Greatness of ideas, elevation of purpose, and a high sense
of justice, distinguish Rienzo above the level of vulgarly
ambitious demagogues. He embodied notions as to the
destinies of Rome, which were, no doubt, shared by many
of her citizens—the cherished tradition of a supremacy sup-
posed to be indefeasible. "Ils ont pris les souvenirs pour
des espérances," is finely said by Madame de Stael in
reference to him and others like-minded with him. His
laws (the temper of the times being considered) were sin-
gularly enlightened. Almost his first public act (1348) was
to constitute a species of representative assembly; and a
letter is extant, in which he summons the people of Viterbo
to send two elected deputies, their spokesmen, to that par-
liament. He was the first legislator to abolish the Vandal
practice, so common in earlier ages, of demolishing the
houses and castles of those struck by sentence of the law,
as part of the penalty required by justice. A devout
Catholic, he claimed, and no doubt believed in, something
mystic and divine in his vocation and destiny. Petrarch
commends the piety with which he received the Holy Com-
munion every day. And it is remarkable that he neither
adopted nor sanctioned such theories or maxims as have
been current in later times against the temporal power of
the Popes. Notwithstanding the Avignon exile, and all its
evil effects to Rome and to the Church, he still shared the
conviction that the headship of Catholicism reflected the
32
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
་
greatest glory on the capital of ancient Empire, elected as
seat of that supremacy.
Cardinal Albornoz, aided by the Marquis Francesco
d'Este of Ferrara and by Ridolfo di Varano, lord of Came-
rino, continued vigorously and successfully to prosecute his
task of resubjecting the cities and provinces severed from
the Papal States—or rather, in fact, of reconstituting a
government completely dissolved in those parts. In 1355,
an attempt was made to resist his conquering career by a
league in which the parties were Malatesta, lord of Rimini,
the Ordelaffi, lords of Forli, and Gentile da Migliano, who
had broken the peace already stipulated, and made himself
again master of Fermo. But the genius of Albornoz over-
came all these obstacles. He laid siege to Rimini, where
Galeotto Malatesta finally surrendered; and at the same time
was recovered Ancona, which also had been held by the
Malatesta family. The latter were still allowed to retain
authority, as Vicars and tributaries of the Church, over
Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Fossombrone. The Polenta family,
lords of Ravenna and Cervia, soon afterwards submitted
under like terms. The Trinci family, who held Foligno and
Fabriano, and had long defied the Legate, at last yielded,
consenting to become alike dependents, bound to pay annual
census to Rome. By the year 1356 Albornoz had recovered
for the Pope the entire Patrimony, the Spoleto Duchy, and
the Anconitan Marches, besides many districts of Romagna.
Soon after Rienzo's death he entered Rome, took measures
for the restoration of order and peace, instituted something
like a prosecution for the punishment of the Senator's
murderers (who, however, escaped with impunity), and
appointed, as successor in that office, Guido di Patrizi, a
nobleman of Siena. The crusade published by the Legate
against the Ordelaffi family and Manfredi, who still held
Forli and Faenza, was supported by ample contributions
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
33
F
in money. Faenza was besieged, and entered by the
Legate in triumph, 17th November, 1356. In the next
year Albornoz was recalled, perhaps owing to some intrigue
against him at Avignon, and another person, strangely
chosen for such responsible post, was sent to succeed to him
in office and command-an abbot of Clugni, who (says
Muratori)" knew better how to say his Breviary than to
direct military enterprises." This new Legate seems to
have felt his inefficiency, and Albornoz was entreated to
delay his departure. The Cardinal summoned a Parlia-
ment at Fano, to address his farewell counsels to the
representatives of cities, on whom he enjoined fidelity to
the Papal throne. At this juncture came intelligence of a
popular movement at Cesena, then besieged by the legatine
troops, one party within its walls being adverse to the
Ordelaffi and favourable to the pontific cause. Albornoz
hastened to avail himself of the opportunity for conquest;
took possession of Cesena, but had to encounter vigorous
resistance from a heroic woman, Cia, wife of Francesco
degli Ordelaffi, who defended the citadel after the city
itself had been occupied by the assailants, nor would yield
till the donjon-keep had been reduced to ruin-then
only could Cia and her children be made prisoners. Al-
bornoz laid siege also to Forli, and before his departure
made a league, offensive and defensive, against the Vis-
conti-having penetration to perceive that the power and
ambition of that family threatened the greatest danger to
the Papal cause. The Este, the Doge of Genoa, the Mar-
quis of Montferrato, the Beccaria of Padua, and Visconti
da Oleggio, now almost independent master of Bologna, were
parties to that league. When the Cardinal appeared at
Avignon he was accompanied by Malatesta of Rimini, the
former antagonist, but now reconciled ally and vassal of
the Papacy. In the course of the next year Albornoz was
D
34
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
reinstated in the office of Legate, and resumed his task of
conquest. He again directed the siege of Forli, and before
long took possession of that city, after Ordelaffi had capi-
tulated and been allowed to retain dominion over two other
towns, Forlimpopoli and Castrocaro. At Ravenna the
recognised ruler, Bernardino da Polenta, a cruel and
voluptuous tyrant, was about this time succeeded by his
son Guido, who applied to the Legate for the ratification
of his authority as vicar and tributary of the Holy See.
All Romagna was now subjected to the Church. The petty
despots who had usurped the Ecclesiastical States offered
more or less resistance, but were speedily subdued, because
supported by no vigorous or organized popular efforts.
Their struggles had been actuated by selfish ambition; they
fought not for the emancipation of a people, but for their
own interests; and it is evident throughout this war that a
general antipathy against ecclesiastical rule was not the
inspiring motive which had led to it, or influenced the
populations alternately withdrawn from and subjected to
the power of the tiara.
Bologna alone was still held by a petty despot able to
defy the Legate, and to subject the city to his tyrannical
sway-Giovanni Visconti da Oleggio, an illegitimate son of
the famous Archbishop of Milan. In 1350 Bologna was
basely sold to that powerful Prelate for 200,000 gold florins
by Giovanni Pepoli, who had leagued with the pontific cause,
but, notwithstanding, had been treacherously made pri-
soner, together with numerous attendants and 200 mounted
soldiers, by the Count of Romagna in his camp, where
Pepoli had presented himself for amicable conference. The
Pope laid the Milanese States under interdict, and cited
the Archbishop Visconti to Avignon. The latter declared
himself ready to obey the summons, and meantime ordered
lodgings to be prepared in that city for himself and for
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
35
his servants, also for 12,000 horse and 6000 foot soldiers.
Clement VI. thought best to dispense with so formidable a
visit, intimated to the Archbishop that he need not take
the trouble of coming, and even paid on his behalf 40,000
florins towards the expense of those alarming prepara-
tions. The contest was settled by pecuniary transaction;
and the investiture of Bologna for ten years was bestowed
on the lord of Milan at the price of 100,000 gold florins.
One of his nephews was deputed by the Archbishop to
govern there; and after the death of the latter, the prelate's
son, Giovanni, above named, entered on the same post, which
he abused by tyranny, but had the means to maintain
against the armed opposition of Bernabo Visconti, his
cousin. A long struggle ensued, with desolating warfare,
which drew down every kind of suffering on the inhabitants
of the environs. The Count of Romagna, as well as the
Visconti, led armies against Bologna, and laid waste its
territory. On one occasion, when the city was taken and
held for a time by the Count, that leader is said by a
chronicler of the period to have actually destroyed Bologna
[destruxit Bononiam usque ad portas]; but this may be
understood with reference to the fortifications alone. At
last Giovanni da Oleggio became unable to resist longer
against his various foes, and ceded that city to the Legate,
who entered at the head of his troops, March 1360. But,
instead of bringing peace, this surrender only provoked a
renewal of war. Bernabo Visconti now commenced a con-
test with the Legate for possession, and the often devas-
tated environs of Bologna were the theatre of their strug-
gles. Every imaginable atrocity and licence were committed,
both in this and the neighbouring Modenese territories, by
the Hungarian archers, some 5000 strong, a contingent
sent by the king of that country to fight under the legatine
standard. The last success of the energetic Albornoz was
D 2
*36
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
•
the taking of Assisi, 1367 (the last year of his active life),
soon after that town had emancipated itself from the sway
of Perugia, its more powerful neighbour.
As usual, the war waged for the temporal interests of
the Papacy, cruel as were any other contests of the time,
was backed by all the threats and supported by all the
thunders of spiritual supremacy.
Ecclesiastical agents
enriched themselves by the traffic in dispensations, which
were declared, or believed to be, sufficient for release from
every bond, absolution from every sin. Plenary indul-
gences rewarded those who contributed either by pecuniary
or military aid; and for some time the average received by
the Legate every day was said to be from 1000 to 1200
gold florins-perhaps an exaggerating, but still very signi-
ficant report.
In the October of 1354, Charles IV., Emperor elect,
entered Italy, and (3rd November) arrived at Pavia, invited
by the Lombardic cities, being himself eager to obtain the
imperial crown at Rome. He travelled with the insigni-
ficant escort of 200 mounted men, and Matteo Villani says
he appeared like a merchant in haste to arrive in time for
a fair! The Lombardic league had expected to secure his
assistance in opposing the ever-encroaching power of the
Visconti. The allies were disappointed. Charles was bribed
into alliance with that family by the splendid gifts, with the
promise of the iron crown of Italy, sent to welcome him on
his approach. His avarice, weakness, and the want of
dignity with which he submitted to insults from the free
Italian cities, drew down general contempt; yet all the
illusions as to the quasi-divine prerogatives and boundless
rights of the imperial sovereignty seem to have still occu-
pied many minds, in the sense that they are eloquently
expressed by Petrarch, who hailed this advent as fraught
with happy and glorious promises for his country. At
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
37
1
Milan the German was magnificently entertained by Ber-
nabo and Gian Galeazzo Visconti, nephews of the lately
deceased archbishop; and the then occupant of the Metro-
politan See placed the iron crown on his head, with the
usual splendours of ceremonial, at the S. Ambrose basilica.
The Visconti supplied a retinue of men-at-arms to escort
Charles, with fitting honours, to Rome. He set out from
Siena for that journey on the 28th March, 1355, his retinue
now consisting of 4000 Italians and Germans. He had
made the humiliating promise to the Pope not to pass a
single night in Rome after his state entry and coronation!
On the way he was refused admission into the gates of
Viterbo, and had to proceed, with all his company, to
Sutri before rest or refreshment could be enjoyed. He
evaded the precise fulfilment of his promise by entering
Rome, at first, incognito; and, though the representatives
of the city had come out to meet him a mile beyond the
gates, he left the highway to reach, unperceived, the Porta
Pertusa, near the Vatican, where he entered, unnoticed
and unknown, thence proceeding to the residence of the
Canons of S. Peter's, who gave him lodging. At midnight he
visited that church, where was shown to him by the Cardinal
Bishop of Ostia (who had made his entry publicly the
same day) that relic so much revered, the Veronica, or
"Volto Santo." The morrow being Good Friday, the pious
Emperor-elect went on foot, still incognito, to S. Paul's,
the Lateran, and S. Maria Maggiore, fasting and praying,
and venerating all the relics in those churches. That night
he passed in the monastery of S. Prossede, where, of
course, he did not fail to pay honour to the Holy Column.
Next day he entered the Vatican palace, dined there, and
received the Senators with the other chief magistrates.
On Easter Sunday (5th April) he was crowned, together
with his young bride, Anna, by the Cardinal Bishop of
38
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
Ostia, after having first left and then re-entered the city
by the Porta Castello, the Senators leading his horse from
that gate to the stairs before S. Peter's. At the Pontifical
High Mass the Emperor served as Deacon. After the
coronation he rode in state to the Lateran, distinguished
citizens leading his horse and that of the Empress, others
holding a canopy over their heads. Money was thrown to
the people during this procession. After a devotional
visit to the Lateran Church, was held a banquet in the
adjacent palace, so long left deserted and in part ruinous.
Conformably with his promise, Charles had scarce time to
finish his meal, when it was necessary to quit Rome, and
the cavalcade proceeded to S. Lorenzo beyond the walls,
in the cloister adjoining which church the Emperor and
Empress passed the night, and, next day, gave a banquet
to the representatives of the Roman people. The day
after, they went to Tivoli, but could not remain there long,
owing to the want of pecuniary means, and the difficulty
of obtaining provisions; also to the tumults which arose
among the dissatisfied and probably ill-paid troops at that
little town, the inconveniences of which in the XIV. cen-
tury may be imagined from what it is now.
This was almost the first instance of an imperial corona-
tion at Rome attended by no bloodshed, or contest between
German troops and Italian citizens.
At Siena the Emperor was besieged in the palace where
he lodged, and obliged to accept the conditions of imme-
diately quitting the city, after 20,000 florins had been
paid down for his urgent expenses. At Cremona and
Bergamo he was forced to wait two hours before being
allowed to enter the gates, nor could do so, at last, with
more than one-third of his retinue, after all had laid
down their arms. At Florence the magistrates took
oath of fealty to him, and advanced 100,000 florins, with
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
39
1
promise of 4000 florins per annum to this imperial men-
dicant, as ransom for the regalia in the states of their
Republic. They stipulated that their laws and statutes
should be confirmed by the sanction they seem to have
deemed of such importance; but added the humiliating
requirement that Charles IV. should not even enter Flo-
rence or any other walled city in its territories! The
indignity to imperial rank in the conditions imposed by
the Pope that he should quit Rome immediately after the
coronation, was felt by others, if not by Charles himself.
“Oh, day of opprobrium (exclaims Petrarch), oh, insup-
portable oath! The Pope, who has renounced Rome, does
not wish that others should remain there!" One Italian
Prince, the Marquis of Montferrato, was glad to obtain
from Charles IV. the sanction of the authority he had
already exercised over Turin, Susa, Ivrea, and Alessandria.
Innocent VI. was succeeded by a Benedictine Abbot,
Guillaume de Grimoard, who, not being Cardinal, had no
place in the conclave where he was elected, and took the
name of Urban V. (1362-70). He was a truly religious, con-
scientious and virtuous man, one of the best among Popes,
and certainly the most respectable among sovereigns of his
time. It is said that he had in early life desired above all
things to see the restoration of the Pontificate to Rome, and
formed the resolution to effect that object should it ever
be in his power to accomplish what was so important for
the Church. In the same year, before the death of Inno-
cent VI, Avignon had been disturbed by a lawless invasion,
which might have convinced the French Pontiffs that they
were not secure even in their fortified retreat on the
Rhone. The so-called "Great Company," a horde of mer-
cenaries, English, French, Normans, and Spaniards, led by
the famous Breton Captain, Bertrand du Guesclin, entered
that territory, on their march to fight against the Moors in
Spain. They affected the vocation of Crusaders, and in
40
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
·
that character demanded from the Pope a subsidy of
200,000 florins, as well as absolution from their sins. The
latter boon was unhesitatingly granted, the former de-
murred to; but it was finally deemed best to comply with
this also, and the sum was presented. When, however,
De Guesclin learned that it had been pressed by taxation
out of the citizens of Avignon, he refused it, protesting his
desire to obtain payment, not from the necessitous people,
but from the well-filled coffers of the Papacy. This demand
of the scrupulous invader was actually satisfied, and the
same amount (it is said), supplied from other sources, paid
down to him-but how ascertain the reality of the substi-
tute in such a case?
The pontificate of Urban V. proved eventful for Italy and
beneficial to the interests of the Church. He felt that by
the abandonment of their ancient seat the Popes had en-
feebled their influence and betrayed their trust; and he
was anxious to rescue the Holy See from compromising
subjection to the crown of France.* He intimated his in-
tention to the Romans, to the German Emperor, and to
Charles V. the French King. The latter sent Nicholas
D'Orême (his former preceptor) to dissuade Urban; and
in full Consistory this envoy made a speech against the
projected removal, on a text strangely chosen from the
legend of the vision of the Saviour to S. Peter, when that
* In June, 1366, Petrarch addressed to the Pope, from Venice, the letter,
often quoted, which represents so vividly the miseries of Rome, caused by
the absence and neglect of her supreme pastors: "With what heart, Holy
Father-forgive the boldness of my zeal-with what heart canst thou
sleep under the gilded ceilings of thy chambers on the banks of the
Rhone, whilst the Lateran is lying low, the mother of all Churches left
roofless, abandoned to the winds and inclemencies of seasons ; whilst the
sanctuaries of S. Peter and S. Paul are tottering in decay, and what
once were temples of Apostles lying ruinous, formless heaps of stone,
which might truly draw tears from hearts of stone ?"
?
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
41
Apostle fled from his prison at Rome, and was encountered
by the Divine Being on the Appian Way-"Domine quo
vadis?" The French Cardinals added their remonstrances:
France, more peaceful and better governed than Italy, was
the suitable seat of the supreme Pontificate; Avignon was
a more holy city than Rome; even Julius Cæsar had called
this land "most religious;" and the Druids had estab-
lished a religious system there before the birth of Chris-
tianity—such the precious arguments adduced! Urban
answered by giving directions for speedy departure; sent
his Chancellor to Rome to prepare the Vatican Palace for
residence, and gave orders to Cardinal Albornoz to put in
order for his reception the castle built by that Legate at
Viterbo--a still imposing edifice, though altered and applied
to other uses, which stands on an ample piazza near the
gate leading to the Florence road from that town. On
the 30th April, 1367, Urban, with several Cardinals and
many other ecclesiastics, quitted Avignon; on the 17th
May they embarked at Marseilles in twenty-five galleys
furnished by the Queen of Naples, by the Republics of
Pisa, Venice, Genoa, and Lucca. The travellers landed at
several ports, Toulon, Villafranca, Albenga, Genoa, Piom-
bino, Portovenere, before arriving at the last on their
voyage, Corneto. At Genoa, more than a thousand per-
sons, all in white vestments, formed a procession accom-
panying the Pope as he rode through the streets, ponti-
fically vested, his horse led by the Doge and the Podesta
of Pisa. On the coast, below the heights crowned by the
old towers of Corneto, silken tents, decked with garlands
of evergreen, were erected, and an altar in the midst,
under a rich pavilion, was prepared for mass, which the Pope
celebrated before he mounted his horse to ride to that city.
There the travellers arrived on the 3rd June, and lodged
in the Franciscan convent, where deputies from the Roman
42
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
people came to welcome their yet unknown Sovereign, and
offer to him the keys of their city and of the S. Angelo
Castle, also a more significant donation, which they deemed it
in their power to bestow-the absolute dominion over their
city and commonwealth. After three days' rest at Corneto,
the Pope travelled by Toscanella to Viterbo, where he ar-
rived on the 9th June. There he was received with popular
rejoicings and every suitable honour; but his prolonged
sojourn was overclouded by more than one disaster. On
the 24th August, Cardinal Albornoz died in that city of the
fever which had long consumed him, and prevented him
from meeting the Pope at Corneto. On one occasion Urban
V. asked this talented and most energetic man, who
had held the legatine office for fourteen years, to give
account of the large sums entrusted to him. He replied by
directing his Holiness's attention, from the window of the
palace where both stood, to a waggon now driven into the
court of that building, completely laden with the keys of
the cities he had re-subjected to the tiara. "There (he said)
is my reckoning!" on which the Pontiff embraced him,
more than satisfied. A chronicler of Perugia says cor-
rectly, that "the Spanish Cardinal was a noble lord, and
of a truly great soul"-that he had pacified and reduced
to order the Romagna provinces, where, after his death," all
took arms again without scruple." He left a monument of
his abilities as a statesman in the constitution he drew up
for the reconquered cities, which continued to be their
norma of government for centuries subsequent. His body
was laid in the Franciscan basilica at Assisi, but trans-
ferred, in 1371, to his own cathedral at Toledo ;
and on
that occasion Gregory XI. granted indulgences to all who
attended the funeral convoy on its way from Umbria to
Spain.
On the 5th September broke out a tumult at Viterbo,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
43
originating in a mere trifle, a quarrel between the servants
of Cardinals and some citizens who were washing a dog at
a fountain. The populace took arms, and raised cries of
"Death to the Church! Long life to the people!" The
movement soon assumed the proportions of formidable
revolt. The Pope fled from the episcopal palace, his resi-
dence hitherto, and took refuge in the castle. For six days
he and the Cardinals with him sustained a siege in that
fortress. At last came armed assistance from other towns,
Corneto, Montefiascone, and Orvieto. The Count de Monte-
marte, an Orvietan, quelled the rioters by his timely inter-
position with soldiery. And soon the populace, struck with
remorse, appeared penitent, and entreating pardon before
the Pontiff, giving up their weapons and the chains with
which they had barricaded the streets. Of their own accord
they hanged the most culpable rioters before the doors of
the Cardinals who had been insulted; and it was ordered
that all the lofty brick towers in the city should be levelled
to the height of the house-tops-no doubt far below their
original altitude. This revolt made a most painful impres-.
sion on the mind of Urban V. He observed that it was
"the beginning of the troubles and severe trials awaiting
the Church;" and it is supposed that the resolution to
return to Avignon was formed by him in consequence.
*
On the 16th October a numerous and splendid cavalcade
left Viterbo, in the early morning, for Rome. The Mar-
quis Nicholas d'Este, who had arrived on the 14th from
Ferrara, opened the procession with 700 mounted and 2000
foot soldiers, all in rich uniform, commanded by one of the
Malatesta family; next rode eleven Cardinals with their
chaplains and domestics; the Pope followed on a palfrey,
his bridle held (as they entered Rome) by Amadeus IV.
the Count of Savoy, known on the historic page as Conte
<<
* Von Reumont," Geschichte der Stadt Rom," B. VI. section ii.
44
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Verde;" behind His Holiness came Ridolfo di Camerino,
holding over his head the sacred vexillum of the Church;
Galeotto Malatesta followed, with 200 horse; and the rear
of the procession was formed by Archbishops, Bishops,
Abbots, monks, and other ecclesiastics; servants and
guards—in all, 2000 persons. At a church, a mile from the
city, they were met by the Emperor Charles IV. who had
visited Urban at Viterbo, and preceded him to Rome,
arriving there five days previously. From that spot he
shared with the Conte Verde the task of leading the Pon-
tiff's palfrey till they reached the stairs before S. Peter's.
On the piazza before the Vatican all alighted; the Count
Amadeus gave the accolade of knighthood to twelve
nobles present; the Pope entered the Church, knelt at the
Apostle's tomb, and shed tears as he recited the appro-
priate psalm: "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and
wept." After granting indulgences from his throne in the
basilica, Urban entered the Vatican palace, thenceforth
preferred for pontific residence to the long silent and
still perhaps ruinous Lateran. On the vigil of All Saints
Urban celebrated high Mass at the chief altar of S. Peter's,
where that rite had not been witnessed since the time of
Boniface VIII. Next day took place the renewed coro-
nation of the Emperor, together with his fourth wife,
Isabella, who were crowned in the same church by the Pope.
A few days afterwards was celebrated the solemn installation
of Pope Urban at the Lateran, according to antecedent
observances at that cathedral-church of the Pontificate;
and for this occasion it was necessary to clear away accu-
mulated ruins along the path followed by the procession, for
the passage from the Colosseum to the S. Clemente church.
In the following year arrived another Emperor, John
Palæologus, now on a progress through Europe with the
object of obtaining aid against the ever-encroaching and
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
45
overwhelming power of the Turks. This Potentate did
not hesitate to abjure all those doctrines of the Greek
Church condemned by Rome, and to recognise the Papal
Supremacy in an emphatic profession of faith received by
four Cardinals at the church of S. Spirito, and read by him
from a document drawn up in Greek and Latin, with a
golden seal appended. A few days afterwards (12th Octo-
ber, 1369), this act was more solemnly repeated. The
Pope, on a throne surrounded by Cardinals and Prelates,
received the Emperor at the summit of the stairs before
S. Peter's. Palæologus knelt, kissed the foot and hand of
Urban, who then embraced him, and led him into the
basilica, whilst the Te Deum was chanted by all present.
The profession of faith was renewed at the high altar
during the pontifical Mass; but neither this pompously
celebrated conversion, nor all his entreaties and compacts,
availed to protect the Greek Autocrat from the miserable
series of humiliations and defeats which were awaiting him.
He left Rome after an unprofitable stay prolonged for
some months. Another sovereign, the beautiful Joanna of
Naples, visited Urban V. not long afterwards, and came with
all the splendours of her luxurious court, a train of barons
and knights clad in silk and gold, so numerous indeed
that it was difficult for all to find lodgings. Urban re-
ceived the Queen at the entrance to S. Peter's; and on
the fourth Sunday of Lent presented her with the Golden
Rose, annually blessed by the Popes before the High Mass
in their chapel on that day. Not a little sarcasm was ex-
cited among the Romans by the devout eagerness of these
Neapolitan visitors to obtain indulgences-just as would be
the case at the present day.
The last years preceding the pontifical restoration had
been marked by troubles, though not so serious or tragic as
others of recent occurrence in Rome. In 1363 the Sena-
46
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
F
tors had been driven away, and all authority vested for
some months in the Riformatori. After another period
of senatorial office, that magistracy had been suspended
for almost a whole year (1365-6). In 1362 a warfare,
insignificant indeed, was carried on between the Romans
and their neighbours of Velletri. A series of invasions
followed, spreading terror and tumult over the waste Cam-
pagna. Two adventurers, the Englishman John Hawk-
wood, and the German Baumgarten, led into that district
their bands of mercenary soldiers, the refuse of armies no
longer in the pay of any government; and for the winter
of 1364-5 the Germans, fierce marauders like the rest of
such disbanded troops, took up their head-quarters at
Sutri.
Within the walls of Rome prevailed comparative tran-
quillity; and the Pope was able to accomplish certain re-
forms of the municipal system without any violent opposition.
The Riformatori henceforth disappear. Urban restored
another body, the "Conservatores," or assessors of the
Senator, who had existed in the earlier part of this century,
three in number, served by twelve subordinate officials ;;
the special attributes of these Conservatores being to pre-
side over the civic finances, the guilds, the prisons, aque-
ducts, the repair of churches, public buildings, and walls,
&c. Another council, invested with some authority, was
brought into being, but not, it seems, for long duration,
by Urban's influence. The Senator was desired to sum-
mon the people, and, in co-operation with the Banderesi,
elect four experienced persons out of each "Rione," as a
board for deliberating and voting on future questions of
civic interest.
Far less pacific was the state of the provinces, and at
the favourite summer residence of Urban V., Montefiascone,
troubles awaited him. The citizens of Perugia had shown
¿
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
47
་
an independent spirit, loath to recognise the absolute sway
of the Papacy; and the Baglioni family, who, with their
partisans, supported the Pontifical interest in that city, had
been deprived of all power, shortly before an open revolt
against the government of the Church. The Perugians
had positively refused to recognise the Papal sovereignty
when summoned by Urban to do so. In the spring of
1368, Perugia commenced war against the Pontiff; and
whilst he was at Montefiascone sent its forces against that
small but well-fortified town, beneath whose walls 4000
horse were seen scouring the environs, and within whose
gates the missiles of that besieging force from time to time
fell. The Pope found himself in personal danger. He
was rescued at last by the interposition of the same Count
di Montemarte of Orvieto, who had proved so efficient a
protector against the violence of the Viterbese. With
comparatively few troops, the Count defeated and drove
away the Perugian force, who left that neighbourhood and
the entire district of Orvieto, bordering on that of Monte-
fiascone, in the most dreary desolation.
Urban V. possessed virtues which commanded respect,
and gave an example of piety which touched the hearts of
those around him. But he wanted the courage of con-
stancy. Influenced either by his fears or affections, by the
remembrance of what he had suffered during his stay in
Italy, or his attachment to his country and to the Cardinals
of that country, who ceased not to urge his return, he at
last resolved on that step, the announcement of which,
made at Montefiascone in the summer of 1370, with inti-
mation to his court to prepare for the journey in two
months, excited distress and astonishment. Deputies from
Rome came to entreat him to abandon such purpose, and
return to his metropolis; he answered that he trusted in
the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A saintly matron,
48
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
STIA
Brigida of Sweden, who had obtained from him the sanc-
tion of a religious society founded by herself, came to warn
him of the Divine displeasure, declaring that it had been
revealed to her by the Blessed Virgin, that, should Urban
return to Avignon, the wrath of Heaven against him would
be speedily manifested by the death of the erring Pontiff.
Remonstrances were in vain; the pretext alleged to the
world was the Pope's desire to intercede as peacemaker
between France and England, the long wars between which
countries had broken out anew and with redoubled
violence; Charles V. having announced to the States Gene-
ral at Paris (9th May, 1369) the rupture, after a truce of brief
duration, with Edward III; and from this time till the armis-
tice of 1375, hostilities were incessant, their course being
marked by a great misfortune to the English, the death of
the Black Prince. On the 7th September, 1370, Urban V.
and his attendants embarked at Corneto in thirty-four
galleys supplied by France, Aragon, and Naples-three
years and three months after this Pontiff had disembarked
on the same coast where he first trod Italian soil. The tra-
vellers reached Avignon on the 24th of September. On
the 19th December following, Urban died, in his sixty-
first year, not at the Papal palace but in the house of his
brother at that city; having desired, when he felt the
approach of death, to be carried to that house, and laid on
a humble couch, in his Benedictine habit, within a chamber
open to every visitor, where all classes, clergy and laity,
might witness the last scene, and look on the Supreme
Pastor at the moment which levels all earthly distinctions.
Petrarch wrote to this Pontiff with severe but sad re-
proaches for the desertion of his See. Yet the great poet
believed in the miracles ascribed to Urban after his death
for his memory was cherished as that of a saint. Waxen
images hung over his tomb at S. Victor, and the church of
;
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
49
the Abbey he had governed at Marseilles, attesting the
miraculous cures wrought through his intercession !
Scarcely, says a chronicler of the time, "was there a
church in any important city of the world where the image
of Urban was not painted, and honoured with vigils and
oblations." De Sade states that eighty-two of his supposed
miracles were found to be authentic, when subjected to
formal tests, according to a MS. record thereof in the Vati-
can.
We may prefer to dwell on the substantial benefits
secured to the Church by this virtuous, if not altogether
blameless, Pontiff. He exerted himself to extirpate simony
and pluralities, and in a “constitution," (Horribilis) de-
nounces particularly the latter abuse. One of the reforms
he laboured to effect in Italy and other countries was that
of monastic discipline, now woefully declined. At Monte
Cassino, which had become a deplorable example of dere-
liction from the high standard, he restored the abbatial
office, together with the genuine Benedictine observance.
Notwithstanding all prohibitions against the multiplication
of religious orders, he approved the rules of two such socie-
ties, newly founded, the Jesuati, originated by S. Gio-
vanni Colombini of Siena, and the Congregation of S.
Salvator, formed by the Swedish saint, Brigida, whose pro-
phetic warnings we have seen fulfilled in the death of
Urban V.
E
50
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
•
CHAPTER II.
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY-1370 TO 1399.
THE SUCCESSOR to Urban V., elected at Avignon on the
30th December, 1370, was Pierre Roger, lord of Beaufort
in Anjou, and Cardinal Deacon, who took the name of
Gregory XI. Froissart tells us he had made a vow in his
youth to restore the Holy See to Rome, should it ever be
in his power to accomplish a step so important. The
Romans, loyally disposed towards him, sent an embassy,
soon after his election, to offer to him, for the term of his
life, and in his private, not public or hierarchic, capacity,
the dominion over their city. Other embassies, which
reached Avignon from Rome in 1374, urged the immediate
restoration of the Pontificate to its proper seat, and repre-
sented to Gregory the probabilities even of another schism
-the raising up, namely, of an Anti-Pope-should the See
of S. Peter be longer abandoned by those hitherto, though
at a distance, considered its legitimate occupants.
The Abbot of Monte Cassino was ready to accept the prof-
fered tiara. Gregory, aware of the dangers which beset
his temporal sovereignty, made a league with the Estes, the
Marquis of Montferrato, and other Italian princes, against
the Visconti, both of whom, Bernabo and Galeazzo, he
excommunicated. One clause in the Papal sentence against
that powerful family imported the prohibition to contract.
matrimony with any individual of the Visconti_house.*
*This excommunication was inserted in the Bull, "In Coena Domini."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
51
Tithes, for the expenses of the projected war, were imposed
on the clergy of England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Hungary, and Poland. The Visconti, on their part,
strengthened themselves by a league with Florence and
the Neapolitan crown. Occasion soon occurred for the
Florentines to avenge themselves on the Pontific govern-
ment, suspected of practices injurious to their immediate
interests. A French Cardinal, who acted as Legate at
Bologna, was believed to have encouraged the lawless
designs of the English adventurer Hawkwood against
Prato, a town the industrious neighbour of Florence, and
subject to the same republic. The complicity of the Legate
in a secret treaty for the occupation of Prato seems cer-
tain. Hawkwood and his mercenary troops were, however,
bought off by payment and by promises to that leader of
annual subsidies from Florence. A revolt, for which the
Papal States were ripe, was now excited and supported by
the Florentines, who sent a banner, with the inspiring
device, "Libertas," round the cities on the banks of the
Tiber and among the mountains of Umbria. Citta di Cas-
tello was first to set the example (November, 1375);
Viterbo, Montefiascone, Narni, followed. The Cardinal at
Bologna was deprived of authority; his palace invaded and
sacked; he himself compelled to fly in disguise to Ferrara,
with which city he was suspected of holding treasonable
correspondence, for a projected sale of Bologna to the Este
house. Perugia, impatient of the government tyrannically
exercised by a French Abbot as Papal Vicar, emancipated
herself at once. Assisi, Spoleto, Gubbio, Urbino, Ravenna
alike revolted. In the course of a few days, eighty places,
cities, fortified villages and castles included, had cast off
their allegiance to the tiara. "It seemed (says Muratori)
that all the populations, even of the smallest towns, were
bent on gaining indulgences by rebelling against the Pope,
!
E 2
52
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Thus were the fruits of Al-
their lawful sovereign!"*
bornoz' brilliant victories instantly lost to the Church! In
several cities, the aristocratic dominions cast down by that
warlike Legate were again set up: the potent families
again obeyed. Forli now submitted to the Ordelaffi;
Macerata and Camerino recognised Rodolfo de Varano as
their lord. At Faenza, a movement for placing the city
under the lordship of Astorre de' Manfredi was checked by
the arms of Hawkwood and his fierce mercenaries, sent
thither by the Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, who held also
rank and office as Count of Romagna, in the Pontific cause.
A general sack of that ill-fated city ensued; about three
hundred victims (mostly children) were put to the sword;
three hundred of the principal citizens were made captives;
and about eleven hundred more, of both sexes, driven into
exile.†
.
Meantime, the Pope, personally blameless for the atroci-
ties committed in his name, used the thunders of the
Church against Florence, in his eyes most culpable. In
solemn consistory (31st March, 1376) that city was laid
under interdict; and about a month afterwards divine
* "Gregory XI. was a good Pope; but the Ultramontane officials sent
by him to govern in Italy were not good men. All were eager to
devour the revenues of the Pontifical Camera, and to extort money by
whatever means, whilst careless of administering justice. Thus did the
Pastors of the Church (as they were called) win not only discredit, but
disapproval and hatred, from all-nor was there any remedy against the
flood of disasters.”—Muratori, Annali, an. MCCCLXXV.
†Tutta la citta con nudita crudeltá fu interamente data a sacco,
e vi restarano trucidate circa 300 persone, massimamente fanciulli.
L'iniquo Inglesi col protesto che meditassero ribellione, 300 de' princi-
pali cittadini cacció in prigione; spinse fuor di citta gli altri (erano
circa 11,000 persone dell' uno e dell' altro sesso) con ritener solamente
quelle donne, che piacquero a lui ed ai suoi." Such Muratori's narrative,
which I prefer quoting in the original Italian, Annali, MCCCLXXVI.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
53
worship was suspended in its churches. All intercourse of
whatever description, and all commerce with the Floren-
tines were forbidden. Their property, of every kind, was to
be confiscated. Their persons might be seized, and reduced
to slavery, by whomsoever in whatever country, without
law or mercy for the reprobate people. Many availed
themselves of this license to pillage and confiscate. Flo-
rentine banks were despoiled; and several natives of that
doomed city, settled in Avignon or other towns of different
countries, were compelled to return to their homes after
suffering ruinous injury, loss of means and position.*
This example of the exercise of Pontific power, at a
period of comparatively advanced civilization, is the more
strikingly illustrative of the tendencies peculiar to hier-
archic absolutism, because proceeding, not from a sternly
ambitious or worldly-minded, but from a pious, estimable,
and self-devoting man, well entitled to the reverence and
affection he won from his contemporaries!
Genoa and Pisa were, soon afterwards, laid under inter-
dict for the sole offence of not expelling all Florentines
from their gates. At this emergency it was that Gregory,
moved by many entreaties, and among others by those of
an extraordinary woman, to be farther mentioned in these
pages, Catherine of Siena, determined at last to satisfy
* A compendium of the proceeding is thus supplied by one of the
contemporary biographers of Gregory XI. :-"Ne aliquis eis vel eorum
alicui participaret loquendo, comedendo, bibendo, emendo, vendendo, aut
alias quovis modo, daret consilium, auxilium, vel favorem directé vel
indirecté. . . . . Mandavit quod panni aut aliae merces quæcunque per
eos aut in eorum territorio facta sive titulo emptionis, sive donationis,
aut alias qualitercunque ad usum aliquorum nullatenus cederent aut
reciperentur nisi in quantum hoc ad eorum damnum seu jucturam cedere
posset. Confiscavit nihilominus omnia eorum bona tam mobilia quam
immobilia ubicunque consisterent. Personas insuper eorum cupientium
suas fieri, fieri ordinavit.”—v. Baluze, Prima Vita Greg. XI.
54
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
F
the desire of Italy and the Church by restoring the Holy
See to Rome.
He left Avignon on the 13th September, 1376, and em-
barked with thirteen Cardinals and several prelates at
Marseilles, on galleys supplied by the Queen of Naples,
the Pisans and Genoese, 2nd October.* The voyage was
tempestuous; some of the ships were wrecked on the Tus-
can Maremma coast. One prelate, the Bishop of Luni, was
drowned; and one of the Cardinals died of suffering and
fatigue at Pisa, where it had been necessary to leave him.
At Genoa the travellers were obliged to remain, owing to
stress of weather, from the 18th to the 29th October. Cha-
racteristic of the manners of the time were some of the
hospitalities offered to the distinguished travellers. At the
port of Pisa, (one writer says, at Livorno) the magistrates
made presents in substantial kind-calves, lambs, loaves,
wine, and other good things for his Holiness; also for each of
the Cardinals, two barrels of wine (described as Greek wine
and claret), two calves, two sheep, and four sacks of bread.
The voyagers stopped at several other ports. The fortified
Orbitello, on the low sea-coast between lakes of salt water,
* We fortunately possess a most curious metrical narrative of this jour-
ney by one of the prelates of the party, Peter Amelius of Brenac, an
Augustinian, and Bishop of Senigallia, whose Itinerarium Gregorii XI.
is edited by Muratori (Rer. Ital Script. T. iii. p. 11.) He begins with
an invocation to the Virgin as "Maris Stella ;" and frequently rebukes
the turbulent ocean for not submitting in peace to the Lord of the
world. Indeed the doctrine of Papal Infallibility is anticipated here,
with the superadded attribution of almost absolute Divinity to the person
of the Pontiff :
"Cur a tuo mundique Principi non vis dominari?
Dominus seculi est, quem tu vehis, cui te oportet humiliari.
*
Tempus esset, ut, mare, tuum Dominum cognosceres, illique obediens,
DEUS in terris est, quem utero tuleris," &c.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
55
was passed by on foot, after they had landed near, soon to re-
embark at Porto Ercole, the Portus Herculis of the ancients.*
Sailing by night under the mountain promontory of Argen-
taro, which shelters both Orbitello and that small sea-port,
they saw its swelling acclivities rise distinct, illuminated by
countless torchlights, against the darkness-for even the
lesolate Maremma gave tokens of rejoicing at the restora-
vion of the Holy See. On the 6th December they landed
at the haven below Corneto, and thence rode up to that
castellated town, once defended by one hundred towers,
but now little noticeable save for the picturesque gloom
of its old palaces and solitary streets! Here they passed
five weeks, the Pontiff and several (if not all) of his suite
being lodged in a Franciscan convent, where they celebrated
Christmas. Treaties were, meantime, concluded with the
Roman citizens, as stipulated and drawn up by three Car-
dinals empowered so to act. The Pope was to enjoy un-
limited authority (plenum et liberum Urbis dominium)
over Rome from the moment of his landing at Ostia.
About midnight, 13th January, all re-embarked at the
haven of Corneto, and about noon, next day, the ships
were at anchor before Ostia--not then, as now, a desolate
and pestilential coast, but for this occasion animated by
the concourse and jubilation of multitudes, who had come
from Rome to greet their yet unknown Pontiff with ex-
ulting demonstrations. After sunset were heard choral
songs from groups assembled by torchlight. On the fol-
lowing night, after a religious service, the travellers pro-
ceeded up the Tiber; and when the galleys approached the
extramural basilica of S. Paul's they found the river's
banks covered with throngs of spectators, ready to pay
*"Non enim decuit Papam in Orbitello parvulo cum tanta acie re-
manere;
Calcato mare parvulo, pedester progreditur Pastor cum suo baculo."

56
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the same honours of loyal welcome to the Pope. He did not
land until the morning of the 17th January. After first
attending mass, celebrated by the poetic Bishop of Senigallia.
in that basilica, and afterwards visiting the Benedictine
monastery which adjoins it, Gregory desired to set out on
his triumphal progress to Rome. A troop of chosen horse-
men escorted his Holiness; twelve Cardinals rode beside him;
the Grand Master of Rhodes carried the sacred banner of the
Church before him. The Senators, the Banderesi, the Coun
sellors, all vested in silk, the nobility in their full pomp,
the military, and a thousand comedians all dressed in white,
swelled the train; the players taking the part of strenuous
vocalists, singing and applauding the whole way.* From S.
Paul's to the Ostian gate, the road was lined with decora
tions of foliage, evergreens, &c. At that towered gateway,
the procession was met by "innumerable prelates," in full
pontificals, and all the Roman clergy, alike in sacred vest-
ments, carrying wax torches and religious insignia. The
imperial banners as well as those of the "Rioni” floated
over the moving multitude; the clang of trumpets, the
harmonies of almost all known instruments, and the pealing
of all the church-bells united in joyous accord. At the
gates the Senator presented the keys of the city to his
Holiness; and as the cavalcade passed through the crowded
streets, women (many of whom wept for joy) strewed
flowers from the house-tops, while old and young raised
* "Egrediente summo Pontifice sancti Pauli palatium, affuerunt
mille histriones.
Progrediente Præsule ante chorizabunt, induti omnes panno albo,
manibus plaudentes."
We cannot suppose that these "comedians," pertained to a class higher
than that of the mime, mountebank, or court jester. Petrarch places
the histrionic exhibitors of his time on the same level with the basest
parasites: "Una est histrionum atque parasitorum lex, utrique blanditiis
armati, post fortunam eunt." (De Remed. utriusq. Fortunæ, 1. 1, Dial. 28.)
†Tintinnabula cum omni genere musicorum."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
57
the cry, Vivat Dominus!* Never had Rome beheld such a
Pontific triumph! Though they had entered in the early
morning, the travellers did not arrrive before S. Peter's
till the hour of Complines, after Vespers. The whole city
was by that time illuminated, but most brilliant was the
display on the piazza of the Vatican, also on the front and in
the interior of the great basilica, whose nave and aisles were
suffused with light from 8000 gold and silver lamps during
the act of thanksgiving now performed at the Apostle's
shrine. Late was the hour when the weary Pontiff and
his suite sat down to a banquet served on dishes set with
gems, in a brightly illumined hall of the Vatican-hence-
forth the chosen residence and privileged home of the Pon-
tifical Curia.
The sequel in the history of Gregory XI. failed to cor-
respond to the bright promises apparently conveyed in
this burst of enthusiastic loyalty. He did not succeed in
his attempt to limit the authority of the Banderesi, and
the republican institutions of civic government were main-
tained after as before the restoration of the Holy See.
Some few weeks after the Pope's arrival occurred a scene of
bloodshed and savage license at Cesena, which left a dark
stain on the memory of the Cardinal Robert, brother to
the Count of Geneva, whose title he inherited, and was the
last to bear. He had been sent into the Papal States at
the head of a force of Bretons, from Avignon, and had
taken up his residence at Cesena. The Bretons made
themselves hateful by their violence and rapacity. A
quarrel arose, caused by the attempt of one of those
soldiers to take by force the meat from a butcher's stall;
the populace took arms against the foreign garrison, and
more than 300 Bretons were slain. The Cardinal sum-
* "Iste est Dominus quem speravimus-vivet Papa," as the Bishop
of Senigallia paraphrases these acclamations.
58
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
moned the English mercenaries, with Hawkwood, their
leader, from Faenza, where they were then quartered,
promising to them remission of all their sins, and offering
them all the spoils and booty of Cesena as compensation
for the services, or rather vengeance, he desired. Another
captain in the service of the Church, Count Alberico di
Barbiano, arrived with 200 lances to co-operate and share
those rewards. A general massacre and pillage began;
and it was in vain that the citizens defended themselves
against overwhelming numbers. No age, sex, nor condition
was spared; infants were slain in the cradle; children
dashed against the pavement; pregnant women horribly
put to the sword; nuns subjected to brutal outrage in
their convents. Hawkwood indeed exerted himself to save
the weaker sex, and sent about a thousand women, under
military escort, to Rimini, where they arrived safe. At
least 3000 citizens were massacred, and about 8000, in
utter destitution, found their way, begging on the road, to
Cervia or Rimini. In the "Cronaca Riminese,” edited
by Muratori, we read that all the monks and nuns in
Cesena were slain, after being despoiled of their property;
that more than 1000 children were among the victims;
and that on the 25th of April not a living citizen was left
in that town; nor any victuals, grain, wine, or oil, to be
had-except, of course, what the brutal soldiery now
enjoyed. After this tragedy the Cardinal set out for
Ferrara, leaving the desolated Cesena in the power of
Hawkwood and his troops. The Cardinal of Geneva (as
he was styled) may have been less guilty in this transac-
tion than contemporaries supposed. He had previously
given proofs of humanity in his career as a leader of
armies; and the circumstance of his subsequent election as
an Antipope exposed him inevitably to the attack, perhaps
to the calumnies, of the party adhering to his legitimately
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
59
elected rival in the Pontificate. The mercenary troops
who had thus preyed on Cesena, and shortly before on
Faenza alike, demanded the pay which that Cardinal
Legate could not supply. In order to obtain it he deliber-
ately sold Faenza for 40,000 gold florins to the Marquis
Nicolo d'Este of Ferrara. Soon after this, however, that
city passed under the power of its former lord, Astorre
Manfredi, who, aided by Bernabo Visconti, and the
Florentines, effected entrance by night through a sewer,
was again recognised as lord of Faenza, and thus baffled
the plans of the mortified Legate.
The Pope, whose disposition was pacific, desired at last
to conciliate by treaty, or concessions, those whom he had
so sternly anathematized, the now irreconcilable Floren-
tines. But the terms he proposed by embassy were re-
jected; both at Pisa and Florence the interdict, submitted
to for a time, was set at nought, and priests were compelled
to officiate in all the churches as usual. This drew down
on both cities a renewal of the disregarded spiritual fulmi-
nations.
The Florentines farther injured the material forces of
the Holy See by winning over from its service to their own
the redoubtable Hawkwood, whom they engaged to com-
mand their army with the large stipend of 250,000 florins
a-year. The loss of Faenza was soon more than compen-
sated for by the recovery of Bologna, and through pacific
means; the citizens entering into treaty with the Pontiff,
and agreeing to recognise his sovereignty on the condition
of retaining for five years their independent municipal
administration, whilst paying annual tribute of 10,000 gold
florins to Rome. Bolsena, on its beautiful lake, another of
the many towns lost to the Tiara, was recovered by a singular
contrivance, but at a cost fatally compromising to the win-
ning side. The Franciscan friars, whose couvent stood near
60
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the walls, introduced by night a company of Breton soldiers,
who soon became masters of the place, but disgraced the
advantage obtained for the Pope by a general pillage and
massacre, putting to the sword about five hundred inhabit-
ants of both sexes..
Gregory, disheartened by the difficulties of government,
and the continued turbulence of the Romans, thought of
returning to Avignon, as the French Cardinals ceased not
to urge for their own interests. He did not live to take
that step. Whilst at Anagni, during the last summer of
his life,* he addressed a brief to the Bishop of London, en-
joining on him to proceed against the heretical Wickliff.
In the February of 1378, this Pontiff's enfeebled health
began to sink under a chronic malady, and when scarcely
* His journey to Anagni is almost as circumstantially described as
that from Avignon by our friend the Augustinian bishop. On his way
from S. Peter's to S. Maria Maggiore, where the Pope celebrated
High Mass, (thence going to the Lateran for the night), he was accom-
panied by a stately procession, all the clergy, the principal nobles, the
Senators, and recently created "Conservatores;" also the indispensable
histriones," with musicians and jugglers, whose presence even the
gravity of the Papal Curia admitted no less than did the Courts of secular
princes in these times :-
In exitu Palatii Sancti Petri adfuit Senator cum concivibus nobilibus :
Histriones, Joculatoresque erant innumerabiles, qui præibant, etiam et
Musici ;
Rectores Urbis et Sacrae Societatis tripudiabant, omnes Clerici et Laici;
Conservatores antecedebant omnes, induti loricis.
The picturesque and high-situated town of Anagni, rarely visited by
tourists, though well deserving to be so, is complimented by the poet:-
Vale, mons et regio temperata, multum grata cum tuo aspectu!
On this journey the whole party stopped for two days at the monastery
of Grottaferrata, on the way to which one of the Pope's retinue was
robbed by brigands.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
61
forty-seven years of age, he expired on the 27th March fol-
lowing. He was buried at S. Maria Nuova, between the
Forum and the Colosseum, the church of which he had been
Cardinal Deacon, and where the Roman magistracy (in
1584) erected a monument to him, with a relief represent-
ing his triumphal ingress into Rome. He had provided by
his last testament that the election of his successor might
be lawfully made in whatever city, and with less than the
required majority of two-thirds, in case the full number of
Cardinals should not be able to assemble. His pontificate,
troubled as it was, proved in some respects glorious, and
honourable to the credit of the sacred throne he filled. He
worthily sustained the part of a peace-maker and umpire
between contending powers. His efforts to conciliate France
and England were vigorous, persistent, but thwarted by the
policy of implacable hostilities under our Edward III. and
his successive opponents on the French throne. Gregory
brought about peace between Castile and Aragon, after
having reconciled the King of the former country with that
of Navarre, and received from the Aragonese King the de-
claration which made his crown tributary to the Holy See
for the possession of Sardinia and Corsica. Certain un-
justly severe articles in the Aragonese code of laws were
modified according to this Pontiff's counsels. Sicily was
relieved from an interdict, after the King, Frederick III.,
had agreed (in 1371) to pay tribute for that island, in the
amount of 1500 gold florins a-year, to the Neapolitan crown,
and to take thenceforth the title of "King of Trinacria."
Joanna of Naples promised, after this, to obtain through
her influence at the Curia the removal of the interdict,
which the Sicilians had not set at nought; and that Queen
herself renewed the vow of homage and fidelity to the Pope
in the cathedral of her capital city on the 4th January,
1372. A bull, issued by Gregory in the March of 1375,
62
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
commanded all prelates, abbots, and heads of Religious
Orders, with exception of the Cardinals, Legates, and Nun-
cios who held offices at his own or other courts, and the
four Patriarchs whose sees were occupied by infidels, to
return to their dioceses and monasteries for permanent
residence in those spheres of their respective duties.
Once under this pontificate, twice in the course of this half
century, had the Papal Government been almost dissolved
-completely so, indeed, beyond the city and immediate
environs of Rome. Yet Gregory XI. had only to show him-
self in Italy, and he was received like an angel from heaven!
The best and worst qualities of such Government were
manifested under his sway; inherent weakness, betrayal,
and unworthy vicegerency by its own officials, but withal
a certain self-regenerating power, a virtue and energy suffi-
cient to command esteem. An administration in the hands
of priests had become hateful, owing to individual vices,
but also proved itself capable of winning and deserving
love.
The Conclave which had now to elect a Pope was the first
ever held in the Vatican palace, where sixteen Cardinals,
eleven of whom were French, assembled on the 7th of
April, 1378. The Roman magistrates appointed officials to
administer justice and ensure safety to the sacred College
and to all of the Pontific court during the vacancy.
They placed strong guards in the purlieus of S. Peter's;
and took the precaution of erecting a marble block, with
an axe laid beside it, on the piazza before that church,
causing proclamation to be made three times a day that
instant death should be the punishment for any injury to
the ecclesiastical dignitaries. Nevertheless the Conclave
which ensued was most stormy; and the election was accom-
plished amidst such terrors and precipitation as drew down
evils upon the future, affording pretext for the most dis-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
63
An
astrous schism that ever afflicted the Roman Church.
armed multitude entered the palace together with the
Cardinals, and forty of these intruders contrived to remain
after the rest had been got rid of, and the doors shut for
the night. The Bishop of Marseilles, charged with the
guardianship of the Conclave, entertained them at a hospi-
table banquet, and at last, after eating and drinking their
fill, they were induced by their own superiors to quit the
palace at the third hour of night. The Borgo quarter
round S. Peter's was crowded with citizens and peasants,
attracted by curiosity to see what was to ensue, just as
Compagna peasants of our own time flock into this city
for the great religious ceremonies; and all that night the
eating houses and wine-shops near the Vatican were filled
by noisy customers. The general, and certainly not un-
reasonable demand, was that the new Pontiff should be a
Roman, or at least an Italian. The Cardinals refused to
treat with the people on this subject, and declared that if
forced to elect an Italian, or whomsoever else, such
nominee would not be recognised as legitimate Pope.
During the night and the whole of the next morning
the Vatican was surrounded by menacing throngs, who
urged their demand with vehement cries: Romano lo volemo,
lo Papa Romano lo volemo! Two deputies of the people,
admitted into the sacred precincts, represented to the
Cardinals that their lives would be in danger unless the
popular desire were complied with. They answered with
dignity, asserting their right to perfect freedom of action;
but promised that the election should be speedily accom-
plished. The tumult increased. Furious shouts, heard in
the penetralia of the palace, threatened that all the Cardi-
nals should be cut to pieces unless a Roman, or at least
an Italian, became Pope. A Cardinal who appeared at a
window to parley, was exposed to the terrors of a reception
64
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
only confirmatory of those threats. Three other Cardinals
(the Deans of the three Orders, namely, Bishops, Priests,
and Deacons) then showed themselves at the window, and
intimated the promise that the Pontiff should certainly be
an Italian. The election proceeded with the usual formal-
ities; and after a struggle between two parties, the votes
concurred, almost unanimously, in favour of an individual
not belonging to the sacred College, and therefore not pre-
sent in the Conclave, Bartolomeo Prignani, a Neapolitan,
recently raised to the See of Bari, the first who held in the
Curia the office of "Regent of the Apostolic Chancery," *
and the last ever elected to the Papacy without being pre-
viously Cardinal. The event was announced to the people
from a window by the Cardinal of S. Peter's (as the Arch-
priest of that basilica was styled); but the multitude
around the palace, perhaps not hearing his words, supposed
that he himself was the elect, greeted him with shouts and
cries of "Viva San Pietro!" and began to disperse. They
proceeded to act in a manner curiously characteristic of
the social state of Rome, and of law as enforced there-
namely, to invade and pillage the house of that aged
Cardinal, named Tebaldeschi, whom they erroneously
believed to be Pope. And, strange to say, this usage has
been exemplified, indeed tolerated, on like occasions at
periods much more modern than the XIV. century! As
soon as the Archbishop of Bari heard of the election above
narrated, he hastened to remove his books and other pro-
perty to a safe place, "lest (says his secretary) on the
rumour arising that he had been elected Pope, the Romans,
as they were wont, should break into his lodgings, to despoil
* A substitute, or representative, of the Vice-Chancellor of the
Church, one of the highest offices, always held by a Cardinal. Prignani,
though Archbishop of Bari, had never even visited his metropolitan
See.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
65
!
him of his books and other things." Meantime the weary
Cardinals, taking advantage of an interval of tranquillity,
sat down to a comfortless dinner (miserrimo prandio, as
one chronicler describes), but were soon disturbed by yet
more menacing tumult. The doors of the palace being
still shut and guarded, the people returned, suspecting
that they had been deceived by a false report; the Vatican
was again surrounded, and many forced their way into the
Conclave. In extreme alarm some Cardinals fled through
a gap in the wall (probably prepared for such emergency
of danger), but they were brought back by force; others,
however, succeeded in escaping by different doors to the
S. Angelo castle, some to more distant places of refuge,
Zagarolo, and other fortified towns on the Campagna. The
Vatican was in part sacked, and the cellars were reached
by the invading populace, who drank their fill of the choice
wines there deposited.* The fumes of intoxication now
augmented the frenzy of excitement and rage. Accord-
ing to one account (and we have several by contempo-
raries) of these events, the Cardinals in their extreme
terror forced, or persuaded, one of their colleagues, the
Archpriest of S. Peter's, to assume a false character, and
appear pontifically vested before the crowd who had broken
in. That aged Cardinal was tumultuously led to the altar
of the chapel, and overwhelmed with the homage eagerly
offered to him by the people, till, compelled probably by
pain, as his hands were swollen with gout, he protested
that he was not entitled to this, that he was not the elect
one. He was unheard or disregarded; those deceived could
not be as easily undeceived. Meantime the Archbishop
* «Sitibundi et sitientes, volentes bibere de bono vino Papali, aperu-
erunt cellarium Domini Papae, in quo erant vina Gracca, Garnaria,
Malvoisia, et diversa alia vina bona."-Thomas de Acerno, apud Mura-
tori, I. iii.
F
66
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of Bari, who, without being informed of what was in store
for him, had been privately summoned to the palace, con-
trived to keep his election unknown to, and his person un-
observed by, the people, and remained for the night, almost
alone, in the Conclave. The next morning (9th April) he
sent to announce his election to the Senators and Magis-
trates. They hastened to the Vatican, ready to do him
homage as Pope; but he desired to wait till six Cardinals,
who had taken refuge in the castle, could return with the
safety guaranteed by the Senator. Eleven of the Cardinals
reassembled about the hour of vespers, and at last in peace;
but it seems that this day's evening did not pass with-
out tumult in the city, owing to a mistake between the
archiepiscopal title of the new Pope, and the name, Jean de
Bar, that of a French Chamberlain of Gregory XI, in
bad repute, whom report had represented as the elect.
Urban VI (the name assumed by the real Pope) now re-
ceived the usual homage, was placed in the chair of S.
Peter, and gave his blessing to the people, sprinkling them
with holy water, from the portico of the Vatican basilica.
On the 18th April (Easter Sunday) he was crowned before
the gates of S. Peter's,* and on the same day went with
great pomp, attended by all the Cardinals, prelates, nobles,
magistrates and officers, to take possession of the Lateran
basilica.
In the first Consistory held by him, a few days after
these ceremonies, Urban severely upbraided the Cardinals
for their worldly and luxurious living;† declared his reso-
* The coronations of Popes took place in front of the church, visible
to the multitude, before the new S. Peter's was built. The installations at
the Lateran were usually the most splendid of these inaugural rites.
"The greater number of them (the Cardinals) kept each a hun-
dred horses, and had ten or twelve bishops and barons (in their suite);
they all possessed great churches as well as hospices; and they moreover
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
67
lution to put a stop to such scandals; required that each
Cardinal and prelate should be contented with a single
benefice, and moreover with a single dish at meals, at which
latter requirement the Cardinals (almost all French, as we
have seen) were grievously displeased.* The Pope him-
self gave example of this abstemious diet, even when he
entertained his dissatisfied guests to such scanty banquets.
Among his first acts of foreign policy was the confirma-
tion of the election of Wenceslaus, son of Charles IV., to
the Empire-the consent of the Holy See being still deemed
requisite in such cases. Another act was the acceptance of
a treaty with Florence, by which that Republic obtained
relief from the anathemas thundered against it by Gregory
XI., whilst pledging itself to the payment of large sums,
70,000 florins in that year, and 180,000 in the course of
four years, for the expenses of the war carried on by Rome.
"This enlightened Republic (observes Milman) trem-
bled under ecclesiastical censures even from a Pope of
doubtful title."
The antecedents of Urban VI. had been a personal pro-
test against the corruptions of the time; modest, austere,
studious, as his private life is described by Theodore de Niem,
his secretary, who tells us that "he never went abroad with
more than one servant and two mules;" and that he, the
same secretary, used every night to read the Scriptures to
him, after he had laid down on his bed, till he fell asleep.
But this pontiff presents an example of the deteriorat-
ing effects of power and irresponsibility on character. The
modest and virtuous prelate became an irascible, hard-
hearted, and cruelly vindictive Pope. His treatment of
led wicked and licentious lives."-Cronica Riminese in Muratori, Rer.
It. Script. T. xv.
*"De quo scandalizati fuerunt nimium Domini Cardinales,” says a
chronicler edited by Muratori.
1
68
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
S
the Cardinals, whom he insulted rather than admonished,
soon provoked the opposition which assumed alarming pro-
portions, and led to a schism disastrous to the whole Church.
Thirteen of their number (twelve French and one Spaniard)
withdrew to Anagni,* and there, having procured troops
from Viterbo to protect them against violence, drew up a
protest, requiring Urban VI. to abdicate, declaring his
election to have been compulsory, and therefore invalid;
and threatening him with canonical penalties unless he
should comply with their mandate. On the 9th August
(1378) they passed sentence of deposition against him.
From Anagni they went to Fondi, where they had a power-
ful protector in Onorato Gaetani, Count and feudal lord
of that place. Thither they invited three Italian Cardinals,
who had accompanied Urban VI. to Tivoli; and to whom
they held out the bait of promising for each the Papal tiara
at the new election they meditated. The Italian Cardinals
came, but did not, according to some writers, approve of
their counsels. On the 21st September was held a Con-
clave in the Gaetani palace at Fondi; and the Cardinal
of Geneva, whose acts as Legate had been notorious, was
elected Pope. He took the name of Clement VII., and
was crowned in the Fondi cathedral on the 31st Octo-
ber; the tiara and pontific jewels having been brought
from the Castle of S. Angelo. In the sacristy of that
cathedral is kept a marble throne, adorned with mosaics,
but much mutilated, said to be that on which the Antipope
was inauspiciously installed; and the ruins of the Gaetani
palace, still conspicuous at Fondi, are popularly called,
palazzo del Papa."+
* Muratori says their number was twelve in all.
Von Reumont informs us that this cathedral and the episcopal chair
in question suffered from Saracenic outrages on the occasion of a raid
against Fondi by Chiareddin Barbarossa, 1534, with the object of carry-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
69
Clement was at once recognised by the Neapolitan Queen,
and subsequently by France, Spain, Saxony, Scotland, and
Cyprus. But those very Cardinals who elected him, had
voted for, and during several weeks treated Urban as legi-
timate Pope. They had written to Princes, announcing
his election as such. The Cardinal, who now became his
rival, had himself written in that sense to the king of Eng-
land, Richard II.; and the six French Cardinals at Avignon,
to whom tidings of the new election were sent, refused at
first to recognise Clement, whilst they reprobated the
authors of the schism.*
Joanna of Naples was at first favourably disposed towards
Urban, a born subject of her crown; and her capital was
illuminated for several nights in honour of his election,
She received his envoys with honour, and sent them back
laden with presents for the Pope: 40,000 ducats in ready
money, and shiploads of wine, corn, salt meats, cheese-
“vina et blada, ac carnes salsas, et caseos per mare in navi-
giis, in magnis quantitatibus," says Theodore de Niem.
The Queen's fourth husband, Otho of Brunswick, Prince of
ing away, as a prize for the Sultan, the beautiful Julia Gonzaga, wife of
Vespasiano Colonna, Count of Fondi, after the Gaetani had lost that place
and title. The fair lady fled from her castle to the mountains on the
night of this attack, and Barbarossa could only vent his rage against
defenceless citizens, or senseless stones. Over the entrance to the cathe-
dral is a lunette of one of the Gaetani family kneeling before the Virgin.
Fondi is now a wild and savage-looking town.
"O wicked servants (they answered, addressing the Cardinals at
Fondi)-ye shall be condemned out of your own mouth! Ye say that
a fierce multitude of armed men surrounded your Conclave, with terrible
and mortal threats, to force you to elect an Italian or a Roman, yet with-
out limiting your choice to any one person in particular. It is there-
fore manifest, as to the person whom ye own to have elected, that ye
chose him freely and not under violence. The election of that person we
hold, and shall firmly hold, to have been canonically accomplished."
WALSINGHAM, in Richard, an. 1378.
70
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Tarentum, offered his respects to the Pontiff in person,
having arrived at Rome shortly after his election.* The
sullen pride of Urban offended the Prince; and the histo-
rian above-cited describes a scene at a banquet, when Otho,
kneeling before the Pope, offered him a cup of wine, which
he delayed to receive till rebuked by a Cardinal for such
ungracious haughtiness. Otho's efforts to make peace
between Urban and the rebellious Cardinals were sternly
repulsed; and he remarked that such a Pontiff would prove
the ruin of many; that he should rather be called “Tur-
banus" than Urbanus. It was probably his conduct to her
husband, which alienated Joanna from his cause; and on
hearing that she supported the schismatic Cardinals, the
furious Pope declared he would send her to spin wool.
in the convent of S. Chiara at Naples.
After finding himself deserted by almost all the Cardinals,
he created twenty-six others, and would have given the
Cardinalitial rank to twenty-nine at once, but that three
refused the now somewhat perilous honours. The Anti-
pope meantime projected an attempt to expel his rival by
armed force from Rome; and sent the Bretons, still in his
pay, to devastate the Campagna, and effect the occupation
of the city. The towns of the Comarca were divided
between the two claimants. Terracina, Anagni, Veroli
declared for Clement; Altari and Ferentino for Urban.
The Count of Fondi made war against his own relatives on
behalf of the Antipope; took by force from his brother the
picturesque and strong-built town of Sermoneta; and from
his cousins the high-placed Norma, on the mountain oppo-
site to Sermoneta, also the now ruined Ninfa on the plain
below. The Orsini faction, opposed by Francesco di Vico.
* According to Muratori, the Queen's substantial gifts were presented
by Otho, not by the envoys.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
71
་
of Viterbo, began the usual interchange of raids and depre-
dations on the mournful Campagna. The Bretons, after
encamping under the Alban hills, and devastating the sur-
rounding district, attempted to approach Rome by the
Salarian bridge over the Anio. There meeting with resist-
ance, they slew, and threw into the river many soldiers of the
guard on duty. This being reported in the city, a multitude
marched, tumultuously and without order, out of the gates
against the invaders. An action took place at that bridge
fatal in result to the Romans, and at least eighty (according
to some writers a much greater number) of their militia were
left dead on the Anio banks-" slaughtered like cattle at the
shambles," says Theodore de Niem. When this disaster
was known in the city, not only wailing and panic, but
tumult and indignation prevailed. The popular hatred
broke out more violently than before (though already mani-
fested in similar scenes during this contest) against the
prelates and "curiales," or courtiers of the Vatican,
Their
especially against the foreigners in such office.
houses were broken into, their goods despoiled; their per-
sons seized and thrown into prison, where many remained
several months. Women reviled and spat at the foreign
bishops in the streets-such, the odium drawn down upon
the ecclesiastical court by Pope and Antipope! At last
the Bretons, informed by their spies of a meeting of prin-
cipal citizens on the Capitol, for consultation at this
emergency, seized the opportunity of effecting entrance by
the Lateran gate. A mounted company with lances, thus
* There are great discrepancies in the accounts of that action at the
bridge over the Anio; some writers reporting the numbers slain as 300,
others as 200; the minimum, 80, seems more credible, if the slaughter
on one side alone be considered. A recent invasion, 1867, induced the
Pontific officers to order the blowing up of the ancient bridge in question,
as it was feared that Garibaldi's volunteers might approach Rome by
the Salarian Way, which crosses it.
72
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
entering, rode straight to the Capitol, and reached it as
the counsellors were dispersing. The citizens took arms,
and a tumultuous combat ensued, in which the horsemen
with their lances had naturally the advantage, and about
two hundred Romans were slain on the piazza of the
Capitol. But the Bretons, instead of following up their
victory, and occupying the city for the Antipope, at once
retreated, fearing perhaps the aggregate force which might
have been arrayed against them.
The S. Angelo castle was held by a French captain,
Pierre de Rostaing, with a garrison; he had never given
up that fortress, as required, to Urban VI., and now
defended it for the Antipope. From that gloomy fortress
descended showers of darts and bolts; and presently began
a bombardment, spreading conflagration, ruin, and death
around the castellated mausoleum.† A circle of warfare,
at the same time, environed Rome; the Orsini and Onorato
Gaetani had led their forces to the siege; and the S. Agnes
gateway (Porta Pia) was attacked during almost a whole
month by Raynaldo, one of the Orsini brothers. The
cattle and flocks, driven to the city for the sustenance of
the unfortunate people, were seized by the assailants; and
only the fields and vineyards nearest to the walls could be
utilized for obtaining other food. At last the Romans had
strength to open a systematic assault on the castle of S.
* After the death of Gregory XI. this chatelain inquired of the French
Cardinals at Avignon whether he should consign the castle to that Pope's
successor. They replied that it was manifestly his duty to do so, and
that they doubted not that their colleagues in Rome would be of the
same opinion. But the other Cardinals secretly intimated to Rostaing
that he was not to give up that fortress to Urban VI., who, consequently,
could not be completely master of the city.
"Guerram movit cum sagittis et bombardis ad ipsam Urbem vehe-
mentissime sagittando; multas cum eisdem bombardis, seu pixidibus
æneis, domos concussit."-Theod. à Niem, Historia.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
73
Angelo. That fortress was besieged for the greater part of
a year, and at last taken, 29th April, 1379.* The victors
applied themselves strenuously to the task of demolition,
intending utterly to destroy the imperial Mausoleum.
The quadrangular basement was reduced to the state of
ruin in which we now see it; all the marble incrustations
were stript off; but the massive travertine structure of the
huge rotunda resisted, in the lower part at least, all the
efforts of the assailants, and was left to defy time and
violence as it does at the present day. It stood in gaping
ruin and desolate solitude, like the colossal tombs on the
Appian Way, till restored in brickwork by Boniface IX.,
finally rising again into strategic importance, with buildings
strengthened and enlarged by the works of Alexander VI.
and Paul III. Theodore of Niem describes vast corri-
dors extending far below the central tower, lined with good
brickwork, and spacious enough for two riders or five
pedestrians to advance abreast along their dark ways;
subterraneans unknown to modern research, and probably
formed for retreat or escape when the tomb was first con-
verted into a fortress. The first writer who mentions this
building subsequently to the siege and attempted demo-
lition, is Benvenuto di Rambaldi, the commentator of
Dante. He describes it, in the year 1389, as "destroyed
and laid prostrate"-a manifest exaggeration.†
The Antipope who, as we have seen, obtained support
and recognition from Queen Joanna and her fourth hus-
band, Otho, who had been present at his coronation, was
invited by the Queen to Naples, and escorted thither from
Fondi by troops sent for the purpose. At Naples he was
entertained in the royal residence, that gloomy Castel dell'
* "That fortress" (says Muratori) "was constrained to surrender
either by famine, or more probably by payment."
+"Istud sumptuosum opus destructum et prostratum est.”
74
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Uovo, which looks like a mass of solid rock rising out of
the sea, and was then united only by a bridge with the
mainland. Here Clement received devout homage from
Joanna, her husband, the barons, knights, and also ladies
of the court. But disturbance broke out in the city after
the arrival of this unpopular guest-for such he was to the
Neapolitans, whose religious instinct, naturally strong, in
this case guided them right, and determined their opposi-
tion to a pretender, the invalidity of whose claims they
could understand. The popular voice declared against un-
dertaking war, or submitting to any national sacrifice for
the cause of an Antipope; and Joanna was obliged to
yield for the sake of her own and of Clement's safety. She
dismissed her guest, who returned to Fondi,* and who, soon
afterwards, accompanied by the Queen and by the Cardinals
of his party, embarked in three galleys for Marseilles,
whence he proceeded to Avignon, henceforth the seat of
the Antipopes during a schism of forty years' duration.
Urban, after taking refuge from the political tempest at
Tivoli, returned to Rome, and passed, barefooted, in peni-
tential procession through the streets to S. Peter's.
Far from peaceful, however, was his life at Rome during
the rest of this and the first months of the following year.
At one crisis of danger he met his fierce adversaries with a
commanding dignity which evinced the worthier elements in
his character, and reminds of the conduct of Boniface VIII.
before his persecutors at Anagni. A passionate revolt
broke out among the people, how immediately provoked
we cannot learn. The insurgents entered the Vatican
palace with tumult and violence. Urban received them
* Collenuccio states that the Queen and Clement embarked from the
castle at Naples for Marseilles, without separating before that voyage;
but earlier writers mention the Antipope's return to Fondi, and em-
barkation at Gaeta.
1
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
ACRI
75
seated on his throne, in pontific vestments, the tiara on
his head, the crucifix in his hand. "Whom seek ye?” he
asked of the crowd. At which words, answered by none,
they shrank back awe-struck, and without attempting
farther outrage, quitted the chamber and palace at once!
Soon after the taking of the S. Angelo castle, during the
siege of which he could not reside at the Vatican, Urban pub-
lished a crusade against the Neapolitan Queen, denouncing
her as schismatic, heretical, unworthy to reign, and offering
her crown to Charles, Duke of Durazzo, a descendant of
King Robert, and nephew of the Queen, who, being childless,
had recently adopted as her heir Louis of Anjou, brother
to the French king, Charles V. Urban laid his plans with
fatal success, and sowed the seeds of future evil, to fructify
in a long series of civil wars, invasions, and incalculable
sorrows to the Neapolitan kingdom. The demons of Dis-
cord and Slaughter may be said to have obeyed the sum-
mons of this Pope. The conditions he dictated for the
acceptance of the offered crown were,-that it was to be
held as a dependency of the Papacy, and that the Prince-
dom of Capua and the Duchy of Amalfi were to be con-
ferred on his nephew, Francesco de Prignano, called
Butillo,--to all which Charles of Durazzo assented. That
Prince arrived in Rome from Hungary, where he had
received Urban's propositions, in November, 1380,* and
was received with all possible honours; first created Gonfa-
loniere (or standard-bearer) of the Church and Senator of
Rome. Finally, after taking the oath of fealty to the Holy
See for his prospective kingdom under the same conditions as
did Charles of Anjou in 1265, he was crowned by Urban's
hand at S. Peter's on the Feast of Pentecost, 2nd June,
* The crown had been first offered to Louis, King of Hungary, now
an aged man, the cousin of Charles of Durazzo, and brother to the un-
fortunate Prince Andrea, first husband of Queen Joanna.
76
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
.
1381. Charles III. of Jerusalem and Sicily, as he was now
styled, had need of money for the invasion of his new
states, and Urban did not scruple to seize or pledge the
sacred ornaments and images in churches, to despoil altars
of their sacramental vessels, their gold or silver crosses, for
the expenses of this "Crusade;" about 80,000 gold florins
being thus amassed and presented to Charles. More than
the usual indulgences were promised to all who would take
arms in this war; and it was this spiritual bounty for
temporal ends which suggested to Froissart the observa-
tion that "military men do not live upon pardons, but
hold them in slight esteem till the hour of death." Tithes
were imposed on all benefices in England for the same
cause, and a Bishop of Norwich (Henry Spencer) was
appointed leader of the crusading forces from that country.
The revenues of all vacant benefices were reserved to him-
self by the Pope, who, not contented with this, ordered
the estates and property of churches and monasteries in
Rome to be sold to citizens, who purchased enough to yield
more than 80,000 gold florins for the Pontific treasury.
Shortly afterwards Urban commissioned two Cardinals to
pledge or alienate the moveable and immoveable property
of many other churches, notwithstanding the opposition
made by Bishops or Chapters, who had a right to reclaim
against such proceedings. Similar means were used, and
with the same unscrupulous rapacity, by the Antipope, in
France, to supply funds for the war in the Anjou cause.
"The cause of God was alleged by both alike (says Mura-
* "Aureos et argenteos calices, cruces, et alia pretiosa jocalia Eccle-
siarum et monasteriorum in magno numero et valore distrahendo et
alienando, necnon multas imagines Sanctorum etiam argenteas tunc
conflando in monetam reduci fecit, et pecunias quæ exinde pervenerunt
ipsi regi Carolo pro solvendis stipendiis suo exercitu assignando.”—
Theod. de Niem, 1. I, c. xxii.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
77
F
+
1
tori), while both were guided by the same counsellor,
Ambition."
Pope Urban pronounced at S. Peter's an eulogium on
the king, fastened a red cross on his breast, and placed
a gilt battle-axe in his hand-to confirm by symbolism
his character as a veritable "Crusader."
"Crusader." On the same
evening (8th June, 1381) Charles left Rome with a
splendid retinue of nobles, knights, pages, and about
300 lances; all the Cardinals accompanying him to the
Ostian gate, and there taking leave, while they actually
knelt before this favourite of Fortune and the Pope. With
about 1500 horse, and a much greater number of foot
soldiery, that Prince invaded the Neapolitan States, and
having arrived in the capital on the 17th July, besieged
the Castel Nuovo, where the queen had taken refuge, un-
able to maintain more than a brief and feeble resistance.
Her imprisonment and tragic fate, her death by assassina-
tion (22nd May, 1882), are well known. Urban's vengeance
was complete!
(C
Meantime the Antipope, not less active than his rival,
crowned Louis of Anjou at Avignon, conferred on him also
the office of Standard-bearer of the Church, and furnished
for the expenses of the counter-invasion all he could offer,
—a great deal more indeed—namely, another kingdom to
comprise the principal provinces of the Pontific States,
under the name
Kingdom of Adria,"* for this rival
claimant of the disputed sovereignty. Louis set out for
Southern Italy soon afterwards. On his approach, Urban,
fearing for the safety of his person and capital, offered the
same indulgences as those of the Crusade to all who would
bear arms in his defence during four months. But the
danger was imaginary. Louis never appeared before.
* The authenticity of the Bull, in which this strange offer is made by
Clement to Louis, has been questioned.
78
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
1
Rome's walls, pursuing his march along the mountains
and through the towns nearer to the Adriatic coast. Con-
trary to the advice of several Cardinals, Urban determined.
to visit that kingdom, now ruled by, and generally sub-
jected to, the successful claimant, but far indeed from being
peaceful or well-governed. Charles met his guest near
Aversa, and, alighting from his horse, acted as groom to
the Pontiff, walking beside him till they entered that town.
At the spot where the meeting took place some delay
necessarily occurred; many peasants crowded around the
Pope, all eager to kiss his foot, but before they did so
prostrating and three times kissing the ground-so like
what the superstitious peasantry of those parts would do
at the present day, that the anecdote (see Theodore de
Niem) is worth preserving. It soon became evident that
no cordial friendship existed between the King and Pontiff.
At Aversa the Pope, after being first lodged in the epis-
copal palace, was led thence by night, almost with violence,
to the castle, and there detained three days like a state pri-
soner. At Naples he made his entry together with the
king, and was received by all the clergy as well as by the
people, eager to see him pass, with the greatest honour.
The Castel Nuovo, the royal residence of the Anjous, was
his lodging. He here published the crusade against Louis,
who had led his forces into Apulia. The king is said by
some writers to have renewed, by others to have demurred
to his promise of constituting an independent Duchy in his
own States for the benefit of the Pope's nephew.* That
individual soon disgraced himself by a crime against the
person of a professed nun, a noble lady, whom he carried
* “The author of the Giornali Napoletani writes that the King pro-
mised anew, and confirmed the promise already made, to bestow on the
Pope's nephew the principality of Capua, the Duchy of Amalfi, Nocera,
Scafati, and other towns."-Muratori, Annali, an. 1383.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
79
were
away from the convent of S. Salvatore, and detained for
some days at his lodging-a monstrous sacrilege against the
Church, and especially odious in the eyes of the devout
Neapolitans. He was cited before the tribunal of the
King, and, not appearing, condemned to capital punishment.
His uncle excused him on the plea of his youth-the juve-
nile offender being in his fortieth or forty-first year; and
Urban contrived so efficiently to protect, that the sentence
and all legal proceedings against him were nullified. The
revenues of his Duchy, 70,000 gold florins per annum,
secured to Francesco Prignano, who, for a short time,
held all the possessions the Pope had claimed for him, but
lost everything after Urban's death, and came to a misera-
able end, perishing with all his family by shipwreck on a
voyage to Venice. The final rupture between Charles and
Urban is said to have been hastened by the freedom with
which the latter (now animated by good intentions indeed)
advised the former to lighten the burden of taxes felt dis-
tressfully by his subjects-to which Charles replied that a
Pontiff should attend to ecclesiastical affairs, not to those
of kings or their ministers. Urban, treated and guarded
rather as a prisoner than a guest in the great castle, ob-
tained at last the liberty to reside in the archiepiscopal
palace instead. The semblance of a reconciliation was
brought about after this; and on his next visit to the King
the Pope entered the royal chambers under a canopy of
gold tissue, and was received by his Majesty with prostra-
tion before him and the homage of kissing his foot. Charles
promised him 5000 gold scudi per annum, on condition of
his abstaining from all interference in the administration
of the realm. On New Year's Day, 1384, Urban celebrated
high Mass in the Naples cathedral; blessed the standard of
the Crusade, and bestowed it upon the King, as Captain
General of the Church; after this excomunicating the
80
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Anjou Duke Louis. Plenary indulgence was again pro-
mised to all combatants in the cause of the Durazzo against
the Anjou house. After Charles had marched with his
army into Apulia for this war, Urban also left Naples, and
went to Nocera, one of the towns now held by his nephew.
He was here apprised by the Cardinal Orsino of a plot, in
which six (Theodore de Niem says five) Cardinals and the
Bishop of Aquila were said to be accomplices, for seizing
the Pope's person and causing him to be arraigned as here-
tical; among the accused being the Cardinal Archbishops
of Taranto and Corfu, a Franciscan Cardinal who had for-
merly been Archbishop of Genoa, and the Bishop of Lon-
don-"all (says Muratori) among the most learned and
conspicuous persons of the Sacred College." They were
arrested and thrown into prison, loaded with chains, the
night before the attempt was, according to their accusers, to
have been carried out. In the castle of Nocera, where the
Pope resided, they were examined by the "question," and
every such torture as the legalised atrocity of the time could
apply was suffered by these unfortunate victims, all of
whom declared their innocence, except the Bishop of
Aquila, who once confessed, but retracted so soon as re-
lieved from agony. Theodore de Niem was one of those
charged to preside, and from him (an eye-witness on seve-
ral occasions) we have the sickening details of these ghastly
scenes in the castle, besides report of the remorseless persis-
tence of the Pope, who rejected the intercessions of the
King, and sternly repulsed his own attendants when they
ventured, with tears and entreaties, to appeal on behalf of
the unhappy Cardinals. Whilst a Venetian Cardinal was
being tortured, Urban walked in the garden overlooked by
• “Quanta plura dixi (says Theodore of his own vain efforts in the
cause of mercy) tanto magis ipse irascebatur, et facta cst facies ejus
tandem prae iracundia quasi lampas ardens."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
81
the window of the room to which the captives used to be led for
the "question"; and there recited his breviary in a loud voice,
thus to remind the executioners of his presence and stimu-
late them to their task! Perhaps the worst accusation ever
brought against Urban VI. was that wrung by anguish, almost
without intent, certainly without power to injure him, from
one of his victims, the Cardinal de Sangro, who owned the
judgment of God in his terrible sufferings, not more, he said,
than he deserved for the wrongs he had inflicted when acting
as Legate in that kingdom, sparing neither Archbishops,
Bishops, Abbots, nor priests, because he hoped thus to please
his master! * No proof whatever of the actual guilt of
these Cardinals is on record. The Pope, seizing the pre-
text for a final rupture with the King, now imputed to
Charles III. participation in, or instigation of, the supposed
plot. He solemnly excommunicated the King and his Queen
Margarita, declared that they had forfeited the crown, and
laid Naples under interdict. He summoned Charles to appear
before his tribunal, to which his Majesty answered that he
would come in arms. The Neapolitan clergy were forbidden
to observe the interdict, and penalties were threatened to
those who should pay any heed to it. Presently the Grand
Constable of the realm, Alberigo da Barbiano, who had for-
merly served the Pope, appeared with an army before
Nocera. That town (or probably the castle alone) was
besieged from the beginning of February till about the
middle of August, 1385, during which period the Pope
daily appeared at a window, and with sound of bell and
burning torch, four times pronounced anathema and curse
against his enemies, throwing down the torch at the climac-
* The Neapolitan and Italian clergy had been persecuted by Urban's
agents for their supposed attachment to the cause of the Antipope'; the
Cardinal de Sangro was active in carrying out these proceedings against
them by destitution, confiscation, and torture.
G
82
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
teric words. The Constable answered by publishing to the
sound of trumpet the price, 10,000 gold florins, set on
Urban's head, and offered to whomsoever should deliver
him up, alive or otherwise. Whilst the siege lasted, the
captive Cardinals (their prison, we are told, was a dry cis-
tern of the castle) were frequently tortured, but persisted
in protesting their innocence, and were sent back to suffer
cold, hunger, and thirst, besides the sharper pangs so often
endured by them. Theodore, who was obliged to attend,
with the Pope's nephew and other assessors, could not
always endure the scenes in the torture-room, and sought
excuse for escaping. On the 5th July, an effort was
made to rescue the Pope. Raimondello Orsino, arriving
with troops, attacked the besieging army, and effected
entrance with his soldiers into the castle. When reco-
vered from a wound received in the encounter, he left,
after 10,000 gold florins had been paid down by the Pope.
for his deliverance, and marching with his forces into Cala-
bria, obtained efficient co-operation from the Count di
Sanseverino. The latter soon appeared at the head of
3000 horse before Nocera, and at once succeeded in his
gallant intervention, discomfited the assailants, and set free
the Pope, who, on the 8th August, quitted the Nocera
castle, escorted by his valiant protectors, and leading with
him in bondage the accused Cardinals. Theodore de
Niem states, what we may reject as an incredible atrocity,
of which even Urban VI. would scarcely have been capable:
that, because the Bishop of Aquila was too much enfeebled
by suffering to keep pace on horseback with the rest,
Urban ordered the guards to kill him on the spot, and
leave his corpse on the roadside! *
The travellers pro-
* No other historian of the time mentions this; and the secretary,
who was present at the tortures, does not speak as an eye-witness of
that journey, not having been of the party.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
83
ceeded by mountain paths to Benevento, where the Pope
had the usual honours paid to him, and lodged in the
picturesque castle on a plateau at the upper end of that
city. Thence he pursued his journey to Bari; and from
that port, or from some point of the coast nearer to Trani,
sailed with his attendants and prisoners in ten galleys pro-
vided (not without a high price charged) by the Genoese,
for the capital of that Republic. Landing at Messina,
Urban there published once more the anathemas and sen-
tence of deposition against Charles III. At Corneto he
pledged that city, and made its inhabitants hostages, to the
Genoese for the payment of his debts. At the port of
Pisa, where was another sojourn on this voyage, Pietro
Gambacorti, lord of that city, came to do honour to the
Pontiff, and at the same time to intercede for his prisoners.
The Pope ordered them to be brought before him: squalid,
hirsute, emaciated, their scanty garments hanging loose
round their wasted persons, they came to hear themselves
fiercely reproached for their crime; they protested their
innocence, and summoned Urban to answer before the
judgment-seat of God for their wrongs, at which the Pope
grew furious, commanded them to be taken back to the
ships, and declared to Gambacorti that they were wretches
unworthy of compassion! On the 23rd September the
galleys arrived at Genoa, where Urban resided during
the rest of the year in a convent of the Knights of
S. John. Whilst here he felt the consequences of the
impression made by his cruelties. Even in those times the
reputed Vicar of Christ could not so far defy public opinion
or moral feeling as to drag about in chains the tortured
captives,-who followed him into Genoa, with bare heads
and bare feet, riding on mean animals-even an Urban VI.,
in the midst of external honours and ecclesiastical pomps,
could not display this spectacle without exciting reproba-
G 2
84
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
it
tion to be embodied, sooner or later, in avenging deeds or
irreconcilable animosities. The convent, S. Giovanni di
Pré, where he lodged, was assailed by an angry people, and
though they were repulsed, the Pope's servants fell into
rude hands. Plans for the rescue of the prisoners were
made in the city, and it was even believed that Urban's
life might be taken away by poison. The fate of the Car-
dinals, one of whom, Da Cagorno, had been the revered
pastor of the Genoese See, was only accelerated. They
mysteriously disappeared from their dungeon, either
strangled, their bodies being destroyed by quicklime in a
pit under the stables, or (as Platina states) tied up in sacks
and thrown into the sea. Five were the victims put to
death without form of trial at Genoa ; but one, the English-
man, Adam Eston, styled on his tomb perpetual administra-
tor of the diocese of London, who was not even accused
of more than cognisance of the supposed conspiracy, was
spared, on the intercession of his sovereign, Richard II.
Even so far as London had travelled the report of those
cruelties which incited the English King to an effort for
the rescue of a subject from the "unrelenting fangs" of
Urban VI. Cardinal Eston, degraded from his rank, and
utterly impoverished, was able to leave Italy, but still
under durance, and guarded by a French cleric of the pon-
tifical "Camera."*
The rumour of another invasion of the Neapolitan States
by the young Louis, son of the Anjou Duke, rival of
Charles III.-Louis I. having died of his wounds in Apulia
alarmed the Pope so much as to induce him to quit
Genoa in the December of this year. He travelled to
* He was restored to honours by Boniface IX., and died at Rome
1397. One Cardinal, who was at Genoa at this time, deserted Urban on
account of these atrocities, and publicly burned the red hat, received from
him, on a piazza at Pavia. He afterwards received another from the
Antipope.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
85
Lucca, and there remained till the following September,
1387. At the Christmas celebrations in the grand old
cathedral, he introduced a usage which has since held its
place among the spectacular pomps of the Roman Church,
still contributing to the symbolism and significance of the
august pontific rites at the Vatican on the night and morn-
ing of the Nativity: the blessing, namely, of the Sword
and Cap (gladium et pileum, or ensis et gaterus-italicé,
stocco e berrettone)-destined as a gift to some prince, or
valiant captain, distinguished by signal services to the
Church or the Holy See. The intent is to substitute such
donations for the more ancient practice of presenting the
"Standard of S. Peter," embroidered or painted with the
image of that Apostle and the pontific keys, to some alike
meritorious champion. Urban VI. blessed the sword and cap,
now for the first time so used, at the midnight High Mass,
and at once bestowed them on Forteguerri, Gonfaloniere
of the Lucchese Republic, who had served as Subdeacon,
chanting the Epistle, at that same rite.*
* The prayer with which this blessing is given, holy water and in-
cense being used, supplies the best exposition of the significance ascribed
to the objects-though the sword only is here contemplated: "Benedicere
digneris quaesumus, Domine Jesu Christi, hunc ensem in defensionem
S. Romanæ Ecclesiæ, et Christianæ Reipublicæ, ordinatum nostræ
benedictionis officio ad vindictum malefactorum, laudem vero bonorum;
ut per eum, qui te inspirante illo accingitur, vim æquitatis exerceas,
molemque iniquitatis potenter evertas, et sanctam Ecclesiam tuam,
ejusque fideles, quos ut pretioso tuo sanguine redimeres hodie in terris
descendere et carnem nostram sumere dignatus es, ab omni periculo
protegas atque defendas, et famulum tuum, qui hoc gladio in tuo nomine
armatus erit, pietatis tuæ firma custodia munias, illæsumque custodias;
Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus,
per omnia secula seculorum." Those instances of the bestowal of the
sword and cap, which fall within the period contemplated in this volume,
serve so far to indicate an historic bias of the Papacy, that I may
here enumerate them. The donation was made, after the first instance
86
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
The sword and cap are in our time blessed by the Pope
in the sacristy of the Sistine Chapel, before matins on that
sacred night, or at S. Maria Maggiore when his Holiness
celebrates the midnight mass there; and both objects are
above mentioned, by John XXIII. to the Emperor Sigismund at Con-
stance, during the sessions of the Council fatal to that Pontiff, in 1414;
by Martin V. to the Dauphin, son of Charles VI., 1419; by Eugenius
IV., at Florence, to the "Signoria" of that Republic, through the hands
of the Gonfaloniere Minerbetti, 1434; by Nicholas V. to Albert of
Austria, brother of the Emperor Frederick III., 1456; also to Ludovico.
Bentivoglio, Senator of Bologna, through means of the Cardinal Legate
Bessarion; by Calixtus III. to Henry IV. of Castile, after his victories
over the Moors, 1457; by Pius III., from Mantua, to Frederick III.,
1459; to Albert, Marquis of Brandenburg, 1460; to Louis XI., with
exhortations to join the Crusade against the Turks, 1461; to Philip,
Duke of Burgundy, 1461; and to Cristoforo Moro, Doge of Venice,
1464, (the principal, if not sole object of these favours being the promo-
tion of the cause enthusiastically embraced by that energetic Pope—the
delivery of Constantinople from Moslem sway); by Paul II. to the
same Emperor Frederick, at Rome, 1468, and to Matthias Corvinus,
King of Hungary, 1471; by Sixtus IV., to Filiberto I., Duke of Savoy,
1474; to Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, 1477; to Edward IV. of England,
1477; by Innocent VIII. to Francis, Prince of Aragon, son of the Nea-
politan king, Ferdinand I., 1484; and to Giovan Giacomo Trivulzio,
the Milanese general of the pontific army, 1488; by Alexander VI. to
the Landgrave of Hesse, 1492; to the Prince, afterwards King Ferdi-
nand II. of Naples, 1493; to the Archduke Philip of Austria, father of
Charles V., 1497; and to Louis XII. of France, 1499. The instances
in which the donation has been made to Sovereigns of the British Isle,
besides that given in the above list, were the following: by Julius II. to
Henry VII., 1505; by Leo X. to Henry VIII., at the same time that
the title "Defender of the Faith" was conferred upon him, 1515; also to
James V. of Scotland, 1514; by Paul III. to the same James V., with
admonitions to protect the Catholic faith and people from the persecutions
of Henry VIII., 1537; by Julius III. to Philip II. of Spain, the Consort
of Mary of England, at the same time that the symbol of the Golden
Rose was sent for that Queen, through Cardinal Pole, 1555. The last
donation was by Leo XII., 1825, to the Duke d'Angouleme, soon after
his expedition to put down the constitutional party in Spain, and restore
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
87
supported by a mace-bearer, at the epistle-side of the altar
during the ensuing rites, as is the case also on the next morn-
ing, when they again appear in the superb procession before
and after the Papal High Mass at S. Peter's. The sword is a
huge two-handed weapon, with golden pummel; the cap
like those formerly worn by Sovereign Dukes (but much
too large for any human head), of crimson velvet and car-
mine, adorned with pearls, and with the figure of a dove in
silver filigree on the front; this broad-brimmed head-piece
being far less graceful than gorgeous. Liturgie writers
find a mystic origin for the observance in the vision of
Judas Maccabeus, when he beheld, on the night before he
was to combat against Nicanor, Governor of Judea under
King Demetrius, an apparition he himself describes-the
late High Priest Onias in act of interceding for the Israel-
ites, and the Prophet Jeremiah, who presented to him a
golden sword, with words of inspiring import.*
From Lucca the Pope went to Perugia, whose citizens:
were now loyally disposed towards him, notwithstanding
their frequent revolts against pontific sway. He made his
the absolute government of Ferdinand VII. For this complimentary
offering the Pope blessed the sword and cap a second time, on the 3rd
May, and sent a special Ablegate to confer them on the Duke at Paris.
Since then these objects have been but once renewed.
* "And this was his vision: That Onias, who had been high priest,
a virtuous and good man, reverend in conversation, gentle in condition,
well spoken of, and exercised from a child in all points of virtue, holding
up his hands, prayed for the whole body of the Jews. This done, in
like manner there appeared a man with grey hairs, and exceeding
glorious, who was of a wonderful and excellent majesty. Then Onias
answered, saying, This is a lover of the brethren, who prayeth much for
the people and for the holy city, to wit, Jeremias the Prophet of God.
Whereupon Jeremias, holding forth his right hand, gave to Judas a
sword of gold, and in giving it spake thus: Take this holy sword, a
gift from God, with the which thou shalt wound the adversaries."
Maccabees II., c. XV. 12—16.
88
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
entry accompanied by eleven Cardinals, and an escort of
more than 500 horse. A few days afterwards he pub-
lished, on the principal piazza, the crusade and ban of the
Church, with the usual symbolism of burning and extin-
guished tapers, against Spoleto and Orvieto, cities at this
time in revolt against his government, and of which the
latter, especially, was disturbed by internal discords. A
successful intervention for the pontific cause was effected
in those districts by the two Orsini and the same Count di
Sanseverino who had rescued Urban at Nocera. The
environs of the Lake of Bolsena were mercilessly devas-
tated; harvests destroyed, herds and flocks driven away by
the troops there combating for the Pope.
Charles III was assassinated (1386) in Hungary, whither
he had gone to claim the crown after the death of his
cousin, King Louis. The succession of his son Ladislaus, a
child ten years old, to the Italian kingdom was disputed ;
and his widow, nominally Queen Regent, was obliged to
fly with her two children from the Castello d'Uovo to the
fortress of Gaeta. Urban boldly put forth the claim that
the Neapolitan kingdom had devolved on the Holy See;
and formed the project of obtaining it by conquest, pro-
bably with intent of bestowing the crown deemed vacant
on his nephew. It was in vain that the widowed Queen
sought to mollify his heart by releasing Francesco Prignano
from imprisonment, and sending him to entreat the pontific
protection for her children and herself, or at least to allow
ecclesiastical sepulture to the remains of her murdered
husband. The Pope, without either army or money suffi-
cient for accomplishing his ambitious project, required all
the bishops of his obedience (namely, those who did not
recognise the Antipope) to enjoin on their people the
sacred duty of co-operating in arms, or by payment, with
the war in his interest. These efforts were unsuccessful;
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
89
but Urban had means to hire a not inconsiderable force in
Tuscany and among the disbanded English mercenaries,
who offered their services under a captain of the same
country. Escorted by these troops he left Perugia, bent
upon the Neapolitan invasion; but had not travelled more
than ten miles when he fell from his mule, and suffered
such injuries, being of unwieldy corpulent person, as dis-
abled him from riding farther, and probably hastened his
death. He proceeded, however, in a vehicle of some sort.
At Narni his soldiers began to manifest discontent, and it
is said that as many as 3000, the most efficient because
mounted men, there deserted, leaving not more than 800 in
his service for the rest of the disastrous journey. Urban
did not wish to repair to Rome, but to reach Ferentino by
way of Tivoli, at which town he was waited on by a depu-
tation of Romans, with the request that he would imme-
diately return to the capital, which had not seen him for
about five years. Disregarding this prayer, he proceeded
to Ferentino, where the remaining troops, whom he could
not pay, followed the example of their comrades, and
disbanded. According to some chroniclers, however, this
desertion was not the act alike of all those mercenaries; a
certain number remained; but as the Romans refused to
admit them within their city, the Pope sent them to make
war in the revolted Orvieto district. Urban was, at all
events, obliged to abandon his projects of conquest, and
return to Rome, however unwillingly. He is said to have
been warned by a holy hermit to take this step; and
another legend records a vision of S. Peter, in form like
the bronze statue of the Apostle in his great basilica, seen
hovering in air, and preceding the Pope on his Rome-ward
journey—which Urban commanded his attendants to keep
secret, as they did till the marvel was made public, after
his death, by his confessor. Farther troubles awaited the
!
!
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Pope after his ingress, amidst customary honours, into
his long-deserted metropolis. Disturbances had occurred
during his absence. A prefect of the city, named Angelo,
had been murdered by the populace and by some of the
pontifical soldiers, not at Rome but at Viterbo; and
Theodore di Niem tells us that the homicides tore him
to pieces, actually made sausages of his flesh, and eat it!
The Banderesi and Conservators clung to their special
privileges, and refused to recognise as Senator a Genoese
appointed by the Pope, for which he excommunicated
them. Those offenders presented themselves in garb of
penitence, with cords round their necks, to supplicate
forgiveness. They were absolved, and an expedient, some-
what singularly adopted to pacify the discontented citizens,
was the anticipation of the Jubilee Year, according to
decree now passed by Urban, that such sacred celebrations
should be thenceforth held every thirty-third year, in
remembrance of the age of the Saviour in His life upon
earth. On the 18th October, 1389, Urban VI. died, in his
seventy-second year, and, as supposed by several historians,
of poison, though the Cardinals who announced the event
in letters to princes, assign natural causes. One chronicler
of the time denounces him as "a cruel, scandalous, and
very bad man" (vir pessimus, crudelis, et scandalosus); but
the Florentine historian, Ammirato, undertakes to justify
him on the ground of manifest necessity for severe
measures amidst the then embarrassing circumstances of
the Pontificate.
On the 2nd November the fourteen Cardinals, now in
Rome, elected to the vacant throne Pietro Tomacelli, called
from his birth-place the Cardinal of Naples, who hence-
forth becomes known to history as Boniface IX. (1389-1404).
On the 9th of the same month he was crowned, according
to antecedents, on a loggia of woodwork, gorgeous with
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
91
up
draperies, erected on the summit of the stairs before S.
Peter's; and immediately afterwards the whole retinue of
ecclesiastics and other dignitaries present rode to the
Lateran for the ceremonial installation of the new Pope in
that primordial basilica, from which he returned to take
his residence in the Vatican the same day. Boniface IX.
was of a noble but impoverished Neapolitan family, had been
respectable in his private life, but showed incapacities for
the high position he was now called to, which are curiously
particularized by the Dutch historian. He was ignorant
of the usages of the Curia, unable either to write in
suitable style or to chant at the altar in just cadence; and
his indiscretion in signing documents, which probably he
did not understand, led to strange confusion.* At the
ensuing Christmas he opened the Jubilee Year (1390),
conformably to the innovating decree of Urban VI.; the
holy epoch commencing at the Vespers of the Nativity, to
be closed on the same occasion in the year subsequent.
The times were unfavourable. No pilgrims arrived from
the countries where Clement was recognised as Pope; but
many continued to travel Rome-ward throughout the year
(innumerabiles peregrini toto isto anno, says the contempo-
rary above-quoted) from Germany, Hungary, Bohemia,
Northern Italy, and some also from England. Among
other Italian magnates came the Marquis Alberto d'Este,
accompanied by 400 knights, besides many other attendants,
all in penitential garb, with black banners and pennons
floating from black lances. At a distance of a mile from
the city they were met by five Cardinals and the Grand
Master of the Knights of Jerusalem; and on the morrow
the Marquis and his principal companions dined with the
* "Scribendi atque canendi imperitus-ignoravit gravitatem pontifi-
calis officii, et adeo supplicationes sibi porrectas indiscreté signavit.”-
Theod. a Niem.
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
Pope, who granted all the graces demanded of him; con-
doned to Alberto the arrears of census claimed by the Holy
See for Ferrara, and legitimated his natural son, who suc-
ceeded him as Nicholas III. The tribute to which the Esti
had pledged themselves was 10,000 gold florins per annum,
as well as the maintenance of one hundred mounted men
for the service of the Papacy, at whatever period such
military aid might be desired. On the fourth Sunday of
Lent, the Pope bestowed the Golden Rose, blessed by him
in the rites of that day, on the Marquis, and granted the
privilege of constituting the public schools of Ferrara as a
University under pontific patronage. This pious Marquis
Alberto, who had succeeded his brother Nicholas II. in
1388, had, soon after his occupation of the dependent
throne, been disturbed by a conspiracy in which his nephew,
Obizzo, was compromised; this being detected and baffled,
not only were the accomplices severely punished, but Obizzo
and his mother with him were beheaded by the uncle's
order!*
Other princes sent envoys to obtain from the Pontiff the
spiritual benefits without the pilgrimage of the Holy Year.
Richard II. of England and John I. of Portugal were
expressly privileged to secure the indulgence on condition
of certain pious observances, without leaving their states.
The inhabitants of certain German cities received the
general permission to substitute devotional visits to
churches, and offerings for the restoration of Roman ba-
silicas, as means for securing that indulgence in its pleni-
tude. Copious contributions flowed in; and though much
* The object of the conspirators, who were gentlemen (Signori) of
Florence and Padua, was to assassinate Alberto and raise Obizzo, called
O bizzone, the son of Aldobrandino III., eldest of three brothers who
successively ruled at Ferrara to the place of that uncle who visited the
offence so remorselessly on his near relatives.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
93
was applied to the requisite church-repairs, it is stated that
much also passed into the hands of the Pope and his officials
for other uses; much (as we shall see) went to defray the
costs of the war carried on by Ladislaus against the Anjou
Louis. This Jubilee Year is marked by portentous signs
of corruption in the Latin Church, and of a decline from
the originally exalted character of the Roman Pontificate.
Boniface IX., not content with the regularly supplied
offerings, sent questors over different countries to sell the
indulgence at the presumed cost of the journey to Rome,
a transaction inevitably leading to such abuses as were the
actual result. In some kingdoms, and even in single pro-
vinces, more than 100,000 florins were extorted by these
emissaries, who thus enriched themselves, were able to
travel with retinues of servants and horses, and were
accused of having offered for payment not only the canonical
indulgence, but absolute remission of sins without the con-
dition of repentance !* Many of them came to evil end.
Some were driven to suicide by fear of the popular rage
against them; or, being unable to give account of their
stewardship, were detained long in prison after their return
to Rome. Some fell into diverse heresies-never (it seems)
to be converted.+
:
* "Omnia peccata, etiam sine pœnitentia ipsis confitentibus relaxa-
verunt, super quibuslibet irregularitatibus dispensarunt interventu
pecuniæ."-Theod. a Niem. 1. I. c. 68.
† Chaucer, living at this time, may have had these very proceedings
in his mind when he delineated with such humour the character and
proceedings of the "Pardoner” in his Prologue to the Canterbury
Tales:-
A gentil Pardoner,
That streyt was comen from the Court of Rome.
Of his craft fro Berwyk unto Ware
Ne was ther such another pardoner.
Wel cowde he rede a lessoun or a storye,
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
In the general eagerness to obtain this indulgence of the
Jubilee without the pilgrimage originally prescribed, we
see a sign and consequence of declining faith in that
localized concentration of spiritual benefits hitherto claimed,
and with such extraordinary success, for the sole city of
Rome!
For about seven years of his pontificate, Boniface IX.
stood in awe of certain Cardinals, whose higher sense of
ecclesiastical proprieties would have led them to oppose the
course he meditated on adopting, and to which his worldly
spirit inclined him. Simony in its worst form, rapacious,
shameless, ignoble was organized by this Pope. To him is
ascribed the final development and perpetuation of " An-
nates," which, though of earlier origin, had been first im-
posed as a heavy tax on bishoprics and benefices by John
XXII. All the European nations recognising Boniface as
legitimate Pope submitted to this augmented exaction,
except England, where, however, it was finally agreed
that "first-fruits" should be paid to the Apostolic "Camera"
in Rome by those appointed to bishoprics, though not for
other church preferments.
Edward II. of England obtained from Clement V. the
tithes of all church-property in his states for two years,
under pretext of a crusade never undertaken by that king.
To indemnify themselves for this, the English bishops de-
manded the revenues of all the benefices left vacant in their
respective dioceses during one year. Their request (says
a zealous encomiast of the Papacy) "redounded to their
But altherbest he sang an offertorie;
Ful wel wist he when that song was songe,
He moste preche, and wel affyle his tunge,
To wynne silver, as he right wel cowde;
Therefore he sung ful mericly and lowde.
Z.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
95
disadvantage; for the Pope founded upon this the system
of Annates" (Moroni, "Dizionario di Erudizione Storico-
Ecclesiastico.") John XXII. was comparatively moderate,
exacting only the first-fruits of the less important benefices
during three years. But it was the sinister distinction of
Boniface IX. to set the example of an undisguised avarice,
which aimed at reducing the agency of the Roman Curia
into a vast mechanism for aggrandisement at the expense
of Latin Christendom! The last degradation of the high
ideal of the supreme Pontificate, personified and vindicated,
for the glory of S. Peter's throne, by so many great and
holy 'men, was due to the covetousness of this Neapolitan
Pope.* He sent his emissaries over Italy to inquire about
the health of those who held rich livings; and if any such
incumbents were found to be sick or weak, their deaths
were reported, and their benefices put up to sale, at Rome.
The Pope himself frequently sold the same living two or
three times; and during a visitation of pestilence (1399)
the same benefice was sometimes sold to several persons
the course of one week, as purchaser after purchaser died
off. To the last bidder used to be granted the graces
styled "preference" (anteferre); but this was superseded
by the higher favours designated as "prerogative of pre-
ference" (prærogativa antelationis)-price of the former,
twenty-five; of the latter, fifty florins. All preferments
in Rome were made venal; and if the Pope could not
in
* "At once to indulge, palliate, and establish this simony, he substi-
tuted as a permanent tax the Annates, or First-fruits of every bishopric
and rich abbey, calculated on a new scale, triple that in which they stood
before in the Papal books. This was to be paid in advance by the candi-
dates for promotion, some of whom never got possession of the benefice.
Mansi has proved against Raynaldus, that Boniface, if not the inventor
of the Annates, first made them a perpetual burden."-Milman, “His-
tory of Latin Christianity." B. xiii.
T
96
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
obtain ready money, he did not refuse payment in kind—
sheep, oxen, horses, swine, or grain. He would sign no
supplication for whatever object, or from petitioners how-
ever poor (Cardinals alone excepted), without the fee of a
gold florin for each individual concerned, or named therein.
Even the dying were not left at peace in this city, when
anything could be extorted on account of the offices they
had held; their money, books, clothes, vessels used to be
seized by the bailiffs of the Pope, who is compared, not un-
justly, by Theodore de Niem, to "a raven gasping for its
prey !”
He issued, in his seventh year, a regulation
obliging such bishops and abbots as could not pay imme-
diately for their letters of induction, to resign their offices
till the debt could be fully discharged; and thus were high
dignitaries liable to be for a time degraded, the prelate to
forfeit his mitre, the abbot to be driven from his monastery,
till their money reached that absorbing gulf, the pontific
treasury-irregularities that caused great scandal, and of
fended the conscience of the faithful, as we can well believe,
conformably with the statements of the writer so often
quoted above, who tells us moreover that "nothing, how-
ever unjust or absurd, but could be obtained for money at
the Curia" under this Pontificate.* Friars purchased dis-
pensations to quit their convents, and hold livings as secular
priests, or sometimes to enter less suitable careers, as sol-
diers in the pontific army. Rome was overrun by these
fugitives from the cloister; but the last extreme of scandal
was given in higher places of the Church, when persons of
the worst, or basest, antecedents, contrived to obtain the
venal mitres procurable at the centre of corruptions; and
we are told that pantomime actors, buffoons, frequenters of
* "Nec potuit adeo quid injustum aut absurdum postulari, quod non
concederetur intercedente symoniaco pacto."-Theod. à Nicm. L. ir.
c. 12.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
97
the taverns, etc., were allowed thus to degrade the episcopal
dignity without any previously-exacted penances or canon-
ical satisfaction.* The atmosphere around the Papal
throne became what such influences naturally made it.
The "Curiales" learnt the trick from their master: all, from
highest to lowest, were versed in the ways of simony and
usury, which it became a fashion to deem justifiable. That
the Pope could not err in such matters, was now a byword
among these courtiers of the Vatican. Even the sanctuary
was profaned by the dominant spirit of worldliness; and
while prelates were celebrating High Mass before the
Pope, his Holiness used to call his secretaries around his
throne for inquiring on the subject uppermost in his mind,
the receipts into his coffers! The last insult against the
majesty of Ritual was thus exemplified by the Head of the
Church! An anecdote of Boniface's death-bed is sufficiently
characteristic to be credible; being asked how he felt, he
answered, “I should be quite well if I had money !”
Another means by which the revenues of the Papacy were
greatly augmented, was the bestowal, or conceding, of
Vicariates, for annual payment of tribute, on several potent
families who had already obtained almost sovereign sway in
cities of the nominally Pontific states. Thus were the
Malatesti, the Este, the Ordelaffi, the Alidosi and Manfredi
families recognised as reigning Princes, on condition of the
census by which they in their turn recognised the suze-
rainty of the Pope. The city of Aquila voluntarily gave
itself to the Pontific government after the death by assassi-
nation of Rinaldo Orsino, its ruler. Spoleto, which had
been usurpingly occupied by the same Orsino, and after his
* Scandals that might seem incredible, but for the distinct statements
of the same Theodore, who tells us that there were among these bishops
appointed under Boniface IX., "scurræ, histriones, aut discoli," and goes
on to describe their antecedents.
H
་
98
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
death by his heirs, was recovered for Boniface IX., though
its castle was still defended for the Antipope Clement.
Viterbo fell (1392) under the lawless sway of Sciarra di
Vico, who entered with armed force, massacred two hundred
citizens, and drove away the rest of those resisting; but
that capital of the " Patrimony" province was, after a time,
resubjected to the tiara. The Pope bestowed the lordship
of Orvieto on his brother, Giannello Tomacelli, who was at
first well received there, but soon compelled to give place
to the Condottiere, Biordo di Michelotti, whom the citizens
invited to assume military and civil authority over them.
Another of the Pope's brothers, Andrea, appointed by him.
Governor of the Anconitan Marches, was defeated in battle
and made prisoner by Gentili de Varano, lord of Camerino.
After paying the required ransom, Boniface recognised this
successful antagonist as Vicar of the Holy See over a re-
gion extending from the eastern limits of the Spoleto
Duchy to the Adriatic.
Perugia was at this time distracted by civil wars; whilst
the surrounding territory was laid waste, the city had to
endure a siege, being invested by an irregular army of mer-
cenaries and returning exiles, led by Biordo di Michelotti.
The magistrates, after all other efforts had failed, applied
to the Pontiff for protection, and invited him to reside
within their walls. Boniface, being far from satisfied with
his circumstances at Rome, and greatly irritated against
the too powerful Banderesi, complied with this request, on
condition that all the fortresses belonging to Perugia should
be given up to him. He set out from Rome (17th Octo-
ber, 1392) with twelve Cardinals, and a retinue consisting
in all of one thousand persons. They were welcomed with
splendid festivities at Perugia, and lodged in the palace of
the Podesta; the Pope, however, being subsequently a
guest at the great Benedictine monastery of S. Pietro,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
99
1
which he caused to be fortified. For a time his efforts to
reconcile the two rival factions, headed by the Beccarini
and Raspanti families, were successful: but tumult and
party strife returned, the ever-recurring evils of Italian
civic society in these ages. In the summer of 1393 a scene
was witnessed by the Dutch secretary, whose description I
translate from his own words: "At the beginning of Au-
gust, about the dinner hour, I who was then living in the
neighbourhood of Pope Boniface's palace, saw many of the
Raspanti suddenly rush into the piazza before that resi-
dence, and there at once attack and cruelly put to death
the Beccarini whom they encountered. Perhaps one hun-
dred perished on that day; among them being many sol-
diers, many doctors of law, and other eminent citizens.
This invasion and slaughter lasted some days." (Hist. 1. ii.
c. 15.) The Pope left Perugia by night for Assisi, and re-
fused, when urged by a deputation, to return thither.
Soon afterwards the impatient exiles, about 500, entered
Perugia under the leadership of Biordo, who now secured
the local sway, making himself absolute lord of that city,
and thence extending his dominion over Spello, Nocera,
Citta di Pieve, Lodi, Orvieto, and finally over Assisi also,
after the Pope's departure from thence. Boniface, after a
time, recognised the authority of this adventurer, with the
usual bestowal of a vicariate and requirement of a census
to Rome. Biordo di Michelotti exercised his office with some
ability and prudence during about four years, at the end of
which period his career was cut short by a violent death.
The abbot of the S. Pietro monastery, whom he had trusted
as a friend, hired the assassins, and accompanied them
to the palace of this now dreaded captain. Biordo, roused
from his sleep by knocking at his door, opened so soon as
he heard the voice of the abbot, greeted and embraced the
treacherous friend, who had come to have him put to death
100
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
in his presence. After witnessing that deliberate murder,
the abbot fled to the Pope, who received him with honours;
and it was probably this very compromising conduct on the
part of Boniface, which led to the dark imputation (never
perhaps so distinctly brought against a Roman Pontiff)
that he had himself ordered the assassination of Biordo.* *
That crime was avenged by the victim's brother, Ceccolino
di Michelotti, who put to death certain of the abbot's re-
lations, burnt down several houses belonging to him, and
sacked his wealthy monastery. Ceccolino obtained a lord-
ship almost like that of his brother at Perugia. The Pope
endeavoured to recover that city by violent means, and
gave the command of his troops, mustered for this under-
taking, to Ugolini Trinci, lord of Foligno. Gian Galeazzo
Visconti, recently created Duke of Milan by act of Wen-
ceslaus, the German Emperor, or (more properly speaking)
King of the Romans, had obtained possession of Pisa, and
now aimed at extending his sceptre not only over Perugia,
but also over Bologna, a city he greatly desired to annex
to his increasing territories. The Florentines, alarmed at
the rapid successes of the Visconti, sent their general,
Hawkwood, with a corps of soldiery, for the defence of
Bologna, whilst the Pope laid his plans for the re-subjec-
* Theodore de Niem brings this charge circumstantially against the
Pope: "Ad alias(i.e. other expedients) se convertit, per quos Biordum dolo
interfici procuraverat, prout statim factum fuit," &c. Muratori, treating
the accusation as rumour only, neither endorses nor refutes it:
"In this
year (he says) Biordo of Perugia, who had been actual lord of that city,
was killed by the abbot of S. Peter's; and it was believed by order of
the Pope. But the Pope did not by this means recover Perugia." On
which the ecclesiastical editor of the Annali (Catalani, Rome, 1787),
observes in a note: "Nothing more natural than that such a report
should be spread with reference to the death inflicted on a usurper of
the dominion of a city pertaining to the Holy See !"
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
101
tion of Perugia. But that Umbrian city anticipated the
designs of the Milanese Duke, and liberated itself from
the onset of the Pontific forces by voluntarily submit-
ting to Gian Galeazzo in the year 1400. The Bolognese
gallantly opposed the forces of Visconti, and two inva-
sions of their territory (1390) resulted in failure to the
aggressors.
In 1394 was published a Crusade in the Neapolitan
States for the cause of Ladislaus, in opposition to a new
rival claimant of the crown, Louis, son of the Anjou Duke
of the same name, who had fought against Charles III., and
had died of a wound in 1384. Another coronation by the
Antipope Clement, at Avignon (1389), had consecrated the
title of this pretender as Louis II., King of Jerusalem and
Sicily. Boniface remitted, in favour of Ladislaus, the census
of 800,000 gold florins due to the Holy See from the Nea-
politan (then called the Sicilian) kingdom; and at the same
time conceded to that monarch for three years all the
tithes in his southern states. This was on the occasion
when Ladislaus was crowned as king of Hungary, by a
Cardinal deputed by the Pope, in 1403.
We must go back to the events of the year 1392 in order
fully to estimate the relations between that king and the
Pontiff, and the exceptional favours which Boniface IX. did
not hesitate in his case to grant. Ladislaus had, in his
fourteenth year, been wedded at Gaeta to Constance,
daughter of Manfredi di Chiaramonte, one of the wealthiest
Sicilian nobles, a marriage probably arranged by his mother,
Queen Margaret, for the sake of the ample dowry of the
bride, much wanted by the young king. In 1392 Ladislaus
visited Rome, bent on obtaining two favours: money and
troops for the war against Louis, and a divorce from his
lawful wife. He alleged that he had been constrained to
contract marriage when under age and not fully responsi-
102
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ble. The divorce, as well as the subvention for the war,
was granted. A Cardinal was deputed to take off the ring,
in presence of the Bishop of Gaeta, from the hand of the
unfortunate Princess, who, deprived of all royal insignia,
had to retire into the obscurity of private life. In 1394
the king gave her in marriage to Andrea da Capua, after-
wards Count di Altavilla; and a scene occurred at this
wedding which excited sympathy for the sorrowful bride.
At Gaeta, where the ceremony took place, as the newly-
married pair were riding through the town, Costanza,
weeping bitterly, told her second husband that " he ought
to deem himself the most fortunate man in the world, since
he had the Queen, wife of King Ladislaus, for his love and
concubine!”—which words, we read in the Giornali Napoli-
tani, caused much pity and displeasure among all,-namely,
the people who heard them.*
Most true it is that the Roman Pontiffs have repeatedly
braved the displeasure of the greatest potentates by main-
taining the sanctity of the marriage-tie, and sacrificed
every worldly consideration to the duty of protecting the
injured wife, or denouncing and curbing the licentiousness
of royal adulterers. But history cannot pass over the
examples of an opposite course pursued to their discredit
* The chronicle, in quaint Italian (Neapolitan dialect), edited by Mu-
ratori, and extending from 1266 to 1478, gives a somewhat different
account of this transaction from that which Muratori himself accepts as
authentic. According to the Giornali, Ladislaus behaved so cruelly to
his wife that she herself desired the divorce, or at least a legal separa-
tion. The king, we here read, turned her out of his house; obliged her
to live in poverty with her governess and two maid servants she had
brought with her from Sicily. "She determined to send King Ladis--
laus to the Pope for the dispensation to separate from him;" but the
sequel to the history seems irreconcilable with this naïve statement.
The same writer tells of Costanza's persistence in styling herself the
wife of Ladislaus long after her divorce.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
103
1
by worldly-minded Popes, and displaying the fatal con-
sequences of alliance with the great of earth, the cor-
rupting effects of temporal power over sacerdotal supre-
macy!
Theodore de Niem tells us that Boniface, whilst resident
at Assisi, sold the entire city of Riga, for 15,000 gold
florins, to the Teutonic Knights, though the local lordship by
right pertained to its Archbishop, who, with all his chapter,
protested against this transaction.* It was during this
sojourn at Assisi that the Pope received a deputation from
the Romans, begging him to return to his metropolis, which
had not seen him for so long a time. He seems to have
been reluctant to trust himself among those citizens, and
required that a treaty should be drawn up at Rome for the
securing of his own and the pontific interests generally.
In August, 1393, the terms were agreed to in conference
on the Capitol; a Cardinal and the Abbot of S. Paul's
representing the Pope; the Conservators, the Banderesi
and Counsellors acting for the Roman people, 136 nota-
bilities, from the several "rioni," being witnesses. It was
stipulated that the Senator should be appointed by the
Pope, and salaried out of the treasury of the Camera; that
the three Conservators should exercise senatorial power
during the vacancy of that office, but should take oath of
fealty to the Pope; that the civic authorities should have
* In the Art de Vérifier les Dates we read a different statement: that
the cathedral clergy of Riga were required only to adhere to the religious
rule of the Teutonic Knights, and to depend on the Grand Master of
Livonia for investiture of ecclesiastical dignities and prebends. That
city, founded by Albert, third Bishop of Livonia, about A.D. 1200, was
subjected after a long siege to the above named Knights in 1330. In
1366 it was so far restored to the jurisdiction of its Archbishops that the
Grand Master held military command alone, with the right of occupying
the fortresses, leaving all else to the prelatic authority.
1
104
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
no jurisdiction over ecclesiastics, or over the Pontific Court
and household; that the Pope, the Cardinals and religious
communities, should be exempt from all public burdens
and taxes, &c. Boniface farther required that a solemn
embassy should be sent to invite him to return, with a
thousand mounted men for his escort; and that 10,000
florins should be advanced for his immediate expenses. All
was granted by the Roman magistrates except that full
amount of the subvention, which they reduced to 6000
florins. In September, 1393, Boniface re-entered Rome
with his numerous retinue. His sojourn at the Vatican
was soon disturbed by conspiracies of threatening aspect.
though not sufficiently vigorous to shake the throne of that
temporal power which was now entering another phase,
fortunate for the Papacy.
The Colonna family, whom we have not seen for some
years on the political stage at Rome, still held their strong
castle at Palestrina, alternately tendering military service.
to the Roman magistrates (as during the absence of the
Pope at Perugia) and to the Florentine Republic, in whose
wars in the Milanese States they had fought with 200
lances under their own banner. Boniface had accused
them of disaffection or treason against the Church. They
vindicated themselves in a public manifesto. The three
brothers, now representing this powerful family, were the
sons of Stefano, who (ob. 1360) had been mainly instru-
mental in the overthrow of Rienzo's government. They
now allied themselves with Onorato Gaetani, Count of
Fondi, the hitherto irreconcilable foe of the Pope and sup-
porter of the Antipope. Gaetani was suspected of carrying
on intrigues with certain Roman nobles for the depression
of the power, and even for laying snares against the life, of
Boniface. A revolt was attempted in the July of 1394, but
without any success. In the November ensuing it broke
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
105
out with more vigour and tremendous impetus.* The in-
surgents attacked the Vatican; the Pope's life was in
danger. Fortunately a potent ally was at hand-no other
than King Ladislaus, who had sailed up the Tiber with his
gallies, anxious again to obtain arms and money from the
Pope for the war against his rival, Louis, who had now
possession of Naples. Ladislaus interposed in time to pro-
tect the Pontiff's person and residence; and before he left,
which was within a few days, effected a seeming reconcilia-
tion between the Vatican and its subjects.
The Pope now caused the Capitoline palace, left in ruin
since the time of Rienzo, to be not only restored but forti-
fied. This excited murmurs; it was objected that that
classic seat of municipal government in Rome should be
appropriated as hitherto, not for any purposes of defence
or attack. At these, and at the subsequently undertaken
works for restoring the S. Angelo fortress, many poor
priests laboured like common journeymen, carrying stones
and mortar, hoping thus to deserve letters of " grace,"
without payment, from Boniface; which few obtained—
Quod pauci eorum consecuti fuerunt," says the Dutch
Secretary.
66
Again, in 1397, were the tranquillity and safety of the
Pope endangered; but this time the conspirators were
soon discovered and punished. Thirteen citizens, in whose
houses had been found the banners of Onorato Gaetani, as
well as those of the Banderesi, were seized and put to
death. The above-named Count and the Colonna brothers,
after this last attempt, sought peace with the authorities
at Rome. Gaetani promised to keep truce for one year;
and the Colonnas, to whom the Chancellor of the Roman
It is not quite clear whether two revolts or only one occurred
at Rome, attended with such incidents, in the course of that year,
106
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Church was sent for negotiation, bound themselves to sub-
mit to the Pontiff, and to make no alliance for hostilities
against the Church (i.e. the Papacy) during three years-a
singular testimony to the temper of the times and to the
precarious condition of the Pontificate! Boniface, weary,
as we may suppose, of his danger-beset life at the Vatican,
left Rome soon afterwards, and settled first at Perugia,
subsequently at Assisi. The former city had submitted to
his sovereignty after the redoubted Biordo had been re-
cognised by him as Vicar of the Church. Assisi had been
treacherously entered with forces, and occupied by Biordo,
1394. About the same time Narni and Todi had been
seized by Pandolfo Malatesta; the territories of Spoleto
and Terni were laid waste by the same leader. In 1396
almost the whole of Umbria and the Patrimony (the Viterbo
province) were lost by the Pontificate.
Before long, however, the enfeebled temporal power was
signally revived through the efforts of a Pope, who, what-
ever his vices, did not want energy or courage. Whilst at
Perugia, Boniface won over to his interest the long-alienated
Ancona, an important place which had been under the in-
fluence of the Anjou party, and had declared for the Anti-
pope. Bologna also was ingratiated by the large conces-
sions Boniface had the prudence to make, all indeed that
could be claimed, for that city's privileges. The towns of the
Marches were ready to acknowledge his sovereignty so soon
as he recognised the dominion of the petty Princes who
already exercised lordship within their walls, and who did
not refuse the annual tribute exacted for its ratification by
pontific authority. Bertinoro was sold by the Pope to the
formidable Malatesta for 22,000 gold florins. Viterbo was
at last recovered by armed force, and the lawless Sciarra di
Vico compelled to throw himself on the mercy of the sove-
reign he had rebelled against. Orvieto, Todi, Nocera,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
107
Spello, Assisi were again subject to the tiara when Boniface
made his second sojourn in Umbria. Whilst at Assisi the
Pope was urged by a deputation to return to Rome. The
Jubilee year, 1400, was approaching. His presence could
not be spared in the ecclesiastical metropolis. He would
not comply unless under his own conditions; the Senator,
a post long vacant, should be appointed by himself; the
Banderesi should be deprived of power; a large sum should
be paid down for his immediate use. To all these terms
the Roman magistrates consented; and Boniface re-entered
the Vatican in the spring of 1398. Soon after his arrival
he nominated as Senator Malasta de' Malatesti, lord of
Cesena; and his next proceeding was solemnly to anathe-
matize the Count of Fondi.
The Kings of France, England, Aragon and Castile
exerted themselves to put a stop to the schism which had
so long scandalized Europe, and to secure the recognition
of the same Pope by the entire Latin Church. The Paris
University proposed three methods for attaining this object:
that both claimants should abdicate with consent of the
Cardinals on each side; that a compromise should be
accepted, both submitting to the decision of arbiters
named by themselves, or by others; that a General Council
should be convoked, and everything left to its supreme
decisions. Charles VI. ordered the letters of the Univer-
sity to be translated into French and published. The
Cardinals in "the obedience" (as the phrase was) of
Clement VII. at Avignon, agreed to accept the project,
and communicated their common resolution to that Anti-
pope. It excited such rage and mortification that the shock
proved fatal to his life. He died of apoplexy, 16th Sep-
tember, 1394, leaving 300,000 gold ducats in his coffers.
Unfortunately for the interests and honour of the Church,
the same Cardinals, twelve days afterwards, elected a suc-
108
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
F
cessor to perpetuate the schism,-Pedro de Luna, a native
of Aragon, who took the name of Benedict XIII. In the
conclave all pledged themselves by oath to make every
effort for restoring unity and peace, also to resign the Pon-
tificate, each Cardinal promising for himself, in case that
step should best promote the desirable end. In 1396 the
French King and Prelates, as well as the Parisian Univer-
sity, abandoned the cause of the Antipope; and Charles
VI. went so far as to order one of his marshals to besiege-
the Pontific palace at Avignon, which Benedict had fortified
and provisioned. During the whole winter of 1398 the
siege was sustained, with unyielding courage, by the daunt-
less old man, who showed his determination never to let
go the power, or semblance of power, he prized more than
anything else. Several embassies sent to Boniface, with
proposals for compromise or concession, failed to make any
impression on him. He addressed his rival, Clement, as
a son of Belial;" but adopted milder terms in other letters
conveyed by two Carthusian monks, whom the Antipope
imprisoned. The proposal of a Council was most unaccept-
able to Boniface. "Some perverse and impious men (he-
wrote), trusting in the arm of flesh against the might of
the Lord, confide in a Council for the suppression of the
schism. O fatal and damnable impiety !"
Before the end of this century Boniface IX. found him-
self in a more favourable position, with regard to temporal-
ities, than any of his predecessors had yet done. The in-
fluential Banderesi were suppressed; almost all the muni-
cipal privileges and rights of the Romans were absorbed
into the Pontific attributes. No Pope had yet exercised
the sovereign power so free from control in the metropolis.
and in the “ Patrimony.”* As for more distant towns and
*"Nec fuit ante eum quisquam Romanorum Pontificum qui talem
potestatem temporalem Romæ et patrimonio S. Petri exercuisse legi-
tur."- Gobelinus, p. 316.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
109
provinces, the lightly-imposed burden of an annual census
in return for independent rights of office, conceded to
magistrates or magnates, proved an efficacious system for
propping up the fabric of Papal Government, essentially
feeble, though seemingly prosperous and splendid.
1
110
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
CHAPTER III.
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY: GENERAL RETROSPECT.
THE political history of Italy is not the subject under-
taken in this volume; but those acts of governments and
authorities which serve to display the relations between the
spiritual and temporal power, or the influence exercised
by the Church upon rulers, may be suitably noticed here.
As the progressive movements of Art enter also into my
theme, the characteristics of the institutions under which
art-schools flourished in this land may also be considered,
with a view to the better appreciating of the phases through
which they passed. The history of the Latin Church has
its centre at Rome; that of Italian Christianity, a subject
demanding much research and various illustration, is what
I desire to glance at, and to present, though but as a sketch,
in these pages.
One Italian State, whose fortunes are intimately allied
with those of the Papacy, the Neapolitan, or, as it was ori-
ginally called, Sicilian Kingdom, has been frequently re-
ferred to in this and in a preceding volume. The claims of
the Popes to a suzerainty over that kingdom date from the
treaty between Innocent II. and Ruggero II., drawn up
at Benevento, 1139, by which the former recognized the
sovereign rights of the latter, and the Norman prince bound
himself and his successors to an annual tribute in token of
fidelity and gratitude towards the Holy See. In virtue of
this stipulation, the Pontiffs were long considered, what
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
111
they claimed to be, lords paramount over both the conti-
nental and insular States; and the severance of Sicily, after
its revolt against the Anjou government, made no difference
in either the theory, or exercise, of spiritual supremacy at
Rome. The tribute of the chinea, or white palfrey, with a
certain sum of money, continued for many centuries to be
offered by an embassy of the Neapolitan crown to his
Holiness on the vigil of S. Peter's day, till it was for the
first time withheld, in 1788, by the reforming ministers of
Ferdinand IV., on which occasion Pius VI. made the pro-
test thenceforth annually renewed against this failure of
obligations towards the supreme Pontificate, up to our
own time, when at last, not many years ago, Pius IX. had
the good sense to leave both tribute and protest in oblivion.*
The XIVth century was tragically eventful in the Neapolitan
kingdom. In 1343 the beautiful Joanna, when scarcely
sixteen years old, succeeded to her grandfather Robert,
called "the Wise," she being already married to her cousin,
somewhat younger than herself, Andrea, son of Canrobert,
King of Hungary-the unfortunate Prince who was mur-
* "In 1788 the presentation of the chinea to the Pontific throne,
which used annually to be made on the 28th June, in the name of the
King of Naples, did not take place, to the great astonishment of the
Court of Rome and the Roman people. The suppression of such homage
gave occasion to a discourse by the Pope in the basilica of S. Peter, after
the first Vespers for that Apostle's festival. On the next day the Trea-
surer-General read in public, before the Pope, the Cardinals, and Court,
a formal protest, which the Pontiff declared he must confirm in every
point. The King of Naples, though suppressing the offering of the
chinea, had sent nevertheless the sum of 7155 gold scudi; which it was
customary to present at the same time to the Apostolic Camera. This
was refused: the King protested against the refusal, and against the
motive which had incited it; declaring that the sum annually sent in his
name was an offering of piety and devotion towards the Apostles SS.
Peter and Paul, but not a tribute."—Art. de Vérifier les Dates.
112
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
dered at the threshold of the Queen's chamber in the palace.
at Aversa, on the night of the 20th August, 1345; a crime
the complicity in which was generally imputed to Joanna,
who took no steps to bring the guilty to justice.* The
Pope alone, acting as suzerain of the realm, charged the
Grand Justiciary to investigate; and hence the punishment
of several, among them a woman who was the confidant of
the Queen, by death in the flames after dreadful tortures.
With the avowed object of avenging his brother's death,
King Louis of Hungary invaded the Neapolitan States in
1347. Pope Clement VI. endeavoured to induce the King
to defer the cause to his own tribunal, instead of invading
Joanna's States; and at Avignon, where the Queen pleaded
in person before the Consistory, Clement, in concert with
his Cardinals, declared her innocent. The Hungarian
Louis, victorious almost without striking a blow, desired,
when at Aversa, to be led to the spot of his brother's
murder; arriving there, amidst the nobles of the realm who
had honourably received him, he sternly reproached Duke
Charles of Durazzo with the guilt of that crime, commanded
him to be instantly put to death, and thrown from the bal-
cony into the garden below, as had been the murdered
Andrea. Joanna, already married to a second husband,
Prince Louis of Taranto, fled before the invasion to her
States in Provence, and in the same year sold Avignon for
80,000 gold florins to the Pope. Her Italian subjects soon
desired to see her again on the throne, and sent envoys to
hasten her return. She and the Prince Louis arrived at
Naples with ten Genoese galleys (August, 1348), and were
* Cesare Cantu concludes that Joanna, if she did not consent to it, at
least offered no opposition to the murder. Sismondi pronounces her
guilty. Hallam acquits her of the charge of dissolute conduct, and has
strong doubts as to her complicity in that assassination.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
113
received with pompous honours after they had landed near
the Carmine Castle. The Hungarian king had remained
only three months; but had left a force of 12,000 to main-
tain his conquests, and a garrison, commanded by his
brother, in the Castello Nuovo at Naples. That strong
fortress was soon surrendered after being invested by sea
and land, and 30,000 florins were paid down by the foreign
commander. The Hungarians still occupied the immense
castle built by Frederick II. at Lucera, which had been
besieged by Prince Louis, but relieved by Conrad Lupus, a
German general of the invading army, who fought his way
into that stronghold, and repelled the assailants.* A battle
near Aversa proved most disastrous to the Neapolitans,
many of whom, among the highest nobility and wealthiest
citizens, were made prisoners. Notwithstanding these
advantages, the King of Hungary soon agreed to abandon
his conquests, and accept the terms of a treaty proposed by
a Papal Legate. The payment of 120,000 ducats to the
German officers of the Hungarian army sufficed to free the
States from those invaders.
The ruin of Joanna was brought about (as we have seen)
through the hostile intrigues of Urban VI., provoked by her
adherence to the cause of the Antipope. After she had
been forced to surrender the Castello Nuovo to her nephew
Charles of Durazzo,† she was assassinated by his order in
the Castle of Muro, which stands amidst wild and mourn-
ful scenery above the town of that name, between Naples
and Melfi. Charles had at first treated her respectfully
and humanely; but the cruel counsels of King Louis in-
* Now imposing in ruin, that castle occupies a wide plateau near the
city of Lucera.
† Nephew to the Duke of Durazzo, who was put to death by King
Louis, and great-grandson of Charles II. of Naples.
I
114
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
duced him thus to sacrifice her, 1382.* Charles III., first the
favourite and afterwards the excommunicated foe of Urban
IV., was himself assassinated (1386) in Hungary, whither
he had gone to claim the throne, three years after Louis's
death, and in which country he had been actually crowned
as King, though Maria, the late King's daughter, had been
already recognised as Queen. The treacherous murder of
this Prince, who for a short time united the Neapolitan
and Hungarian crowns, was contrived by the mother of
that Queen. Louis, Duke of Anjou, the nominal heir
to Joanna, endeavoured to make good his right of suc-
cession by armed force. After a crushing defeat of his
army near Barletta, he fled, wounded, to Bari, and died
(1384) either from loss of blood, or grief, or both causes
combined, at Bisceglie, a pleasant little town on the same.
Adriatic coast, whither he had been carried from the
picturesque old castle, still conspicuous at Bari. The in-
heritance of his claims, and of his contest with more fortu-
nate rivals, passed to his youthful son, who was crowned by
the Antipope as Louis II. of Jerusalem and Sicily. A
Crusade published against the latter by Urban VI. had no
effect; but he met with resistance gallantly maintained by
Otho of Brunswick, the fourth husband of Joanna, and by
the Count di Sanseverino. Naples was the first city in the
States to receive Louis II. with royal honours; and soon
after his arrival there, a Parliament was held in the church
of S. Chiara, where a contingent of 1000 armed men and
ten galleys were voted for him by the Barons. The widow
of Charles III., meantime, asserted the rights of her son
* "Charles treated her at first with honour, but, hearing the report
that she regarded him as a robber, and was continually soliciting Louis
of Anjou to arm against him, he caused her to be strangled." (Cesare
Cantu, Storia degli Italiani.) Giannone does not hesitate to call her
"the wisest Queen who ever sat on a royal throne !" Her remains were
brought to Naples unhonoured, and obscurely interred at S. Chiara with-
out a stone or epitaph to record her fate.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
115
Ladislaus, and took refuge with her two young children in
the castle of Gaeta, the only strong place in the kingdom
where she found support. Boniface IX. from the first re-
cognised the title of Ladislaus, and deputed a Cardinal,
Acciaiuolo, to crown the boy-king at Gaeta, 1389. The
struggle between the sons of Charles III. and Louis I.
continued till the year 1410.
We may now consider the ecclesiastical affairs of this
kingdom, or at least, of its capital. The See of Naples,
said to have been founded by S. Peter, A.D. 44, obtained its
first Archbishop (as Ughelli states) from Constantinople,
a Greek named Nicetas being appointed to that rank by
the Byzantine Patriarch, A.D. 962. According to Baronius
this See became metropolitan in 968; and some writers
deny that it was ever attached to, or dependent on, the
Greek Church. Giannone (a very learned writer) states
positively that Naples was for a certain time an archiepis-
copal, though not metropolitan, See, under the Byzantine
Patriarchate. Archbishops without suffragans, and with the
mere honorary title of "Metropolitans," were at one time
numerous in this kingdom-such anomaly in the Church
being of Greek origin. In chronologic order Capua comes
first, Bevenuto next among Neapolitan Archbishoprics ;
and the Prelate of the latter See was among all the most
distinguished; he wore a mitre with a golden diadem, like
the original form of the Papal crown; when he made his
visitations he was preceded by the consecrated Host, borne
before him with the same pomp as in the journeys of the
Roman Pontiffs; and he used a leaden seal like that of the
Papacy. It is certain that the Greek rite, whether intro-
duced before or after the schism of Photius in the IX.
century, continued long prominent in public worship at Na-
ples; and till the XIII. century this city contained six paro-
chial churches for Greeks, the clergy of which used on cer-
I 2
116
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
tain high days to officiate at the cathedral, chanting in choir
and walking in processions with the capitular clergy,
each of the two bodies singing or reciting hymns and
psalms in their own languages. Pius IV. imposed on all
the clergy of the kingdom the duty of obedience to the
Latin Episcopate exclusively, whilst sanctioning the differ-
ence of rites (v. Ughelli, Italia Sacra, t. VI.) About the
middle of the XIV. century, this metropolitan See was
occupied by Giovanni Orsini, an able prelate, who drew
up sixty-four "constitutions," ratified by Pope Clement
VI., for the reform of discipline, &c., among his clergy; and
who first caused all the usages, ceremonies, and privileges.
of the Neapolitan Church to be recorded in a compila-
tion of documents. The prelate appointed to this See by
Urban V. was deposed by Urban VI. because he had taken
the part of the Antipope; and his successor, named by the
latter Pope Urban, was thrown into prison under Queen
Joanna. After he had been reinstated, under another go-
vernment, this same prelate's title was disputed by a
nominee of the Antipope who sat at Avignon; and thus did
the schism in the Papacy extend its evil effects, more or
less, over the general conditions of the hierarchic body in
the Latin world.
The moral aspects of Naples are depicted in dark colours
by the writers of this century. Petrarch describes what
he had witnessed-public amusements as cruel, with sacri-
fice of human life as wantonly remorseless as those of the
gladiatorial arena in Pagan Rome, were exhibited before the
fair young Queen, who, with her still younger husband,
could attend and take pleasure in such anti-christian
spectacles! The great Poet seems to have repaired to the
spot, near the place called Carbonaria. outside the city-
gates, without knowing what the entertainment was to be
which attracted thither Joanna, the Prince Andrea, all the
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
117
Neapolitan army, and a multitude of citizens. Combatants
appeared in the lists, and presently a handsome young
man (formosissimus adolescens) fell, pierced by a sword with
his death wound; there was a burst of applause at this
sight; but the indignant Petrarch rode away at full speed
rather than wait for the rest; this homicidal display being,
as evident from his report, in the open air.*
The Swedish
Saint, Brigida, appealed to the Archbishop of Naples
against evils she had found prevailing in that city: the
purchase of Pagan and Moslem slaves, the neglect by their
masters to have those slaves converted, or to have them, if
already baptized, instructed in the faith; the infamy to
which many of those unfortunates were consigned, being
sold, or exposed, for public prostitution, or kept for such
purposes in the houses of masters who traded upon their dis-
honour;
while other Neapolitan owners treated their slaves
with such cruelty as to drive them to despair or suicide.
Theodore de Niem gives a description on the whole favour-
able of the brilliant Parthenope, dwelling on the splendours
of the scene, the agreeable aspect and sociable habits of the
people, the luxurious fertility of the soil, &c. But he adds
the gloomiest particulars of crime and outrage; telling
that at night thieves and bandits went about the streets in
troops, broke into houses for robbery with violence,
attacked and despoiled passengers, and, not contented with
plunder, slew their captives or threw them alive into wells,
besides committing other horrid crimes.†
At the close of this century a sovereign power was seated,
* "Tartareum spectaculum effugi-spectatorum saevitiam et lusorum
infamiam identidem accusans.' Famil. Epist. 1. v, Ep. 6.
† "Multi intrinsecus raptores et fures, qui nocturno tempore per
turmas congregati, domorum ostia vi frangunt, et bona surripiunt, et
obviantes eis casu capiunt et spoliant, et aliquando interficiunt, aut vivos
ad puteos projiciunt, et alia multa horrenda committunt; et isti Mal-
rasini à vulgaribus nuncupantur." Hist. I. II, xxii.
་
}
118
MEDIEVAL CHRISTÍANTY AND
:
apparently on firm foundations, at Milan, with prospects that
flattered the highest hopes of an ambition aiming at nothing
less than royal dominion over all Italy. The princedom of
the Visconti was first vested in the person of an Archbishop
of that see, Ottone, who became both temporal and
spiritual lord of Milan in 1277, when he solemnly took
possession of the power conferred upon him after he had
defeated the adverse faction of the Della Torre (or Torriani)
family, previously dominant here; the Prelate having
placed himself at the head of a force of exiled citizens,
and gallantly won the field against his opponents. He
was succeeded by his nephew Matteo Visconti, who had
been his representative in temporal government, and had
been appointed Vicar of the Empire in Lombardy by the
Emperor Wenceslaus. Galeazzo Visconti,the son of Matteo,
who succeeded his father in 1322, was compelled by
a faction to quit Milan, but soon returned, to be proclaimed
Captain and Lord of that city. A warlike Legate deprived
him of the city of Piacenza, which now submitted to the
Pope; and in 1323 Milan was besieged by an army sent
by the Legate against it, but repulsed after a month of
hostilities. The Emperor Louis bestowed on Galeazzo the
Vicariate, or Signoria, of Milan, Lodi, Vercelli, and Pavia;
but soon afterwards this Visconti fell into disgrace with
Louis, who ordered him and his brothers, Luchino and
Giovanni, to be thrown into a dungeon at Monza. Their
liberation was obtained, after long confinement, through
the intercession of Castruccio Castracane, and other Ghi-
belline magnates, who threatened to abandon that excom-
municated Emperor, unless the Visconti were set free.
Azzone, the son of Galeazzo, obtained from that Emperor
the title of "Vicar of the Empire at Milan," by payment
of 25,000 gold florins, and from his own subjects, by
unanimous votes, the perpetual lordship over that city, in
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
119
which election the Milanese were soon imitated by Ber-
gamo, Piacenza, Cremona and Brescia. About the same time,
ambassadors from Pavia, Vercelli, and Novara bore to him
the announcement of the voluntary submission of all those
cities; and Parma elected him as its lord in the munici-
pal council. His uncle Marco, and his cousin Lodrisio
conspired against this most prosperous (hitherto) of
the Visconti house, and obtained money from Mastino
della Scala to carry on an unnatural war against Ga-
leazzo. They hired the German soldiery left by Louis
åt Vicenza, and led them into the Lombardic plains to de-
vastate and despoil. Milan itself was threatened. The
citizens rose in a mass, seized whatever arms were at hand,
and led by Azzone and Luchino, marched against the half-
barbarous foes, whom they encountered at Parabiagio.
There ensued a battle (21st February, 1339), the most san-
guinary known in medieval Italy before the invasion by
Charles VIII. Luchino was taken prisoner; the Milanese
were almost defeated, when a reserve of Savoyards rushed
upon the Germans, now only bent on plunder, and turned
the tide of victory against them. The battle of Parabiagio
was long remembered in popular tradition, and placed on
a par with those of Legnano and Alessandria. It was said
that S. Ambrose had been seen in air on a phantom steed,
chastising the invaders with a scourge; and hence that
Saint used to be depicted, also represented on coins, in
such action. A mass was introduced into the Ambrosian
liturgy commemorative of this victory, and ascribing it to
that celestial patron.*
*The "Preface" thus alludes to the event with thanksgiving: O felix
victoria, o beata victoria, quomodo fuisti pro Mediolanensibus valde
bona, magis gratia quam viribus acquisita. Nam qui predum perni-
tiemque minabantur, facti sunt mortui, preda victoriæ triumphalis.
Et ideo cum Angelis et Archangelis, etc.
Ї
120
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
After the beneficent domination of Azzone, great indeed
was the contrast in the character and acts of his uncle and
successor, Luchino (1339), against whom was formed the
conspiracy, headed by Francesco di Posterla, and so nearly
successful that he could only save himself and his family
by flight to Avignon. After his return, not only Posterla
and his accomplices, but his innocent wife and young chil
dren, also perished on the scaffold.* Luchino was thence-
forth guarded by two enormous mastiffs, trained to seize
and throw down, to worry or rend every person who gave
the slightest offence or umbrage to their scarcely less
savage master. There is, however, a brighter side in the
character and doings even of this hated Prince.
He pro-
tected the poor, and dispensed them from military service.
During a famine he maintained 40,000 sufferers by his
daily charities. He gave facile audience to all; appointed
a Podesta expressly for clearing the streets of robbers, and
forbade the Vandalic practice of demolishing the houses of
those struck by sentence of law as rebels. He raised many
sumptuous buildings; wrote (or attempted) verses, and won
the too liberally bestowed praises of Petrarch. His death is
"Two or three infants," as Cesare Cantu describes, were put to
death on the scaffold, besides the virtuous wife of Francesco, Margarita
(of the Fieschi family), whom Luchino hated because she had refused to
listen to his licentious passion-see the interesting, but painful historic
romance," Margherita Posterla," by Cantu. The Posterla family dis-
appear after this tragedy. They had possessed thirty-five estates, and
almost the whole district of Milan called "Quartiere di Porta Ticinese.”
On a certain day they used to prepare a pageant, which passed through
several streets to the cathedral: a wooden horse, drawn by porters, and
filled with men, who issued forth when this enchanted steed was made to
open its flanks, before the metropolitan church, to which these envoys
bore the rich offerings of the Posterla family. The day's entertainment
closed with good cheer provided for all the numerous clients and depen-
dents of that house; a plentiful banquet being served in the various
halls and courts of the patron's palace.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
121
said to have been caused by poison administered by his wife,
whose licentious conduct he had been one of the last to
discover, and who thus anticipated that vengeance, dire and
sanguinary, which she had reason to apprehend. Luchino
and his brother Giovanni, after adhering to the Emperor
Louis for a time, renounced his cause, and became recon-
ciled to the Pope. They conjointly promised 50,000 gold
florins to Benedict XII. as indemnity for injuries offered
to Legates and Nuncios. They owned-remarkable avowal
from these haughty Princes !—that they held their States
in dependence on the Holy See, and that the Pontiff had a
right to administer the Empire during the vacancy of the
German throne. It was enjoined on them as penance, to
found two chapels for daily masses by two salaried priests,
and on the festival of S. Benedict to give bread to 12,000
poor persons.
The above-named Giovanni, an illustrious personage, suc-
ceeded his brother, 1349, in the lordship over Milan, and
again united the temporal with the spiritual-at Novara
first, where, being Bishop of that See, he treacherously
usurped the civil government, 1333, and finally at Milan,
of which he became Archbishop in 1342. His dominion
was submitted to with good will; and many other cities,
either from policy or preference, elected him as their
lord. This Prelate-Prince boldly maintained his rights
against the Pope, and refused, with sword and crozier in
his hands before the altar, to make the required cession
of either power represented by those symbols.* He was
the friend of Petrarch; he patronized learning, and loved
literature. Four professors of liberal arts and sciences,
with two theologians, were commissioned by him to draw
up a comment on Dante. After his death, 1354, the States
* See preceding volume, p. 513.
!
122
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
were divided into three equal portions under his nephews,
Matteo, Bernabo, and Galeazzo, the first of whom died in
1355, leaving the two others to rule conjointly. Milan and
Genoa were the capitals possessed alike by both. Bologna
was also held by them in defiance of the Pope, who had
ceded it to the Archbishop Giovanni for tribute during the
limited period of ten years ;* and Pavia, after being twice
besieged, was compelled by famine and pestilence to sur-
render to the Visconti. That city became the portion of
Galeazzo, who built its strong fortress, and founded here
the University, also a valuable library, he being influenced
for the bestowal of such intellectual benefits, it is said, by
Petrarch, who was his honoured guest, and who extols the
magnificence of the palace, amidst a park fifteen miles in
circuit, built by him at the same city. Yet it was this
Galeazzo who invented the horrors of the quaresima, or
torture of forty days, as punishment for those suspected of
treason against him during the war of the League, 1362-3 ;
the victim being allowed to repose every other day after a
day of agonies, and at last broken on the wheel, after his
flesh had been torn by hooks, one eye plucked out, and
both hands and both feet cut off. On the other hand we see
in this tyrant an example of ascetic devoteeism and open-
handed alms-giving, side by side with inhuman atrocities
one of those contradictions which potent Catholicism could
force from the most cruel or inspire the most hard-hearted of
men to display, as it were, in evidence against their own
darker nature. Galeazzo would fast during a third part of
the year; he supported ten chapels, and annually distributed
in alms 2531 sequins, 212 bushels of grain and 12 large
measures of wine.
Bernabo Visconti was one of those monsters who seem
* In 1355 Bologna was seized, and detached from their dominion, by
Giovanni Visconti da Oleggio.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
123
raised up as a warning against the evils of irresponsible
power, and the withering effects of despotism, alike on
those who exercise and those who suffer it.
He pro-
hibited all citizens to go out at night, for whatever object,
under pain of the amputation of one foot; ordered that
whoever named a Guelf or Ghibelline, should have his
tongue cut out; punished with death by torture the offence
of killing any animal reserved for his own pleasures of the
chace ; and created a court of justice for prosecuting all who
during five years had slain, or at any table eaten of, a wild
boar; the offenders, who could not pay an exorbitant fine,
to be strangled by the executioner-which death more than
a hundred suffered for this fictitious crime under Bernabo's
reign. He allowed no judge to receive his salary till he
had sent to the headsman's block at least one victim for
the offence of killing a partridge. Some of his atrocities.
are too sickening to be narrated. On one occasion he ob-
liged the Podesta to tear out the tongue of a delinquent
with his own hand. Meeting a funeral, and hearing that the
priest demurred to perform the ceremony before receiving
an undue fee, he ordered that priest to be buried alive with
the dead. He extorted more than 300,000 gold florins from
the clergy in taxation for the costs of the war against
Bologna. Well known is the story of his meeting the
Papal Legate on a bridge over the Lambro, and offering to
the two ecclesiastics (that Legate and a companion), who
were charged with a bull of excommunication to be pub-
lished against him, their choice whether to eat or drink; the
terrified priests choosing the former, well understanding
what was implied in the latter alternative; and on this
Bernabo compelled them to eat up the parchment and
leaden seals of the Papal document! That Legate, who
brought the bull of Innocent VI., afterwards became Pope,
as Urban V., and (as one may infer) did not forget the
124
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
tyrannies or dangerously defiant power of Bernabo
Visconti. Another Papal emissary, who published the bull
of a Crusade against Forli, was roasted to death in an iron.
vessel; and two friars, who had the courage to reproach
Bernabo for this atrocity, were burned alive; as were also
certain nuns, together with a Vicar-General who had
refused to punish them at the tyrant's bidding. The Arch-
bishop of Milan was summoned before him for having
declined to ordain a monk at his desire, and was forced
to kneel, whilst Bernabo howled into his ear: "Dost thou
not know, wretch, that I am pope and emperor and lord in
all my dominions, and that God Himself could do nothing
here contrary to my will?" Yet, with another of the con-
tradictions frequently exemplified in these times, the
tyrant of Milan could be devout and charitable; fasted
strictly, founded churches, monasteries, and benefices.
When a holy Carmelite, the Beato Pierre Thomas (who
became Archbishop of Candia) appeared before him as
envoy of the Pope, together with ambassadors from the
Kings of France and Cyprus, sent to propose terms of peace,
the eloquence of the Carmelite so affected him that he said,
with a deep sigh: "I am resolved; I desire peace with the
Church, and will henceforth be submissive and faithful to
her "—this, after the other spokesmen had failed to make
any impression on him.
Gian Galeazzo, son of Galeazzo, lord of Pavia, suc-
ceeded to the dominions of his father, and purchased from
the Emperor Wenceslaus the title of Imperial Vicar in
Lombardy. Bernabo considered him a harmless devotee,
and as he had no children, formed (according to some
historians) a design against his life for the sake of his
inheritance. The nephew anticipated the uncle's treachery.
Feigning the intent of a pious pilgrimage to the sucro
monte of Varese, Galeazzo requested an interview with
!
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
125
Bernabo on his route to that sanctuary. They met near
Milan, and the nephew had no sooner embraced his uncle
than he ordered him, with his two sons and the others of
his suite, to be arrested and led to the castle of Trezzo,
rebuilt with great strength by Bernabo himself. A
A prose-
cution, not for his notorious crimes, but for sorcery and
incantations was instituted against him; and this tyrant
died in his prison, supposed to have been poisoned, about
eight months afterwards, 1385. "With great devotion and
many tears," says Corio, the historian of Milan, "he
received the Divine Sacraments, continually imploring his
Creator to pardon his passed sins, and incessantly repeating,
till his soul had quitted his body, the words (of the 51st
Psalm) Cor meum contritum et humiliatum, Deus meus, non
despicias! After his death, in his sixty-sixth year,
700,000 gold florins in coin, and seven cars full of silver in
ingots and vessels were found in his treasury.
Gian Galeazzo now became sole lord of the Milanese
states. The most illustrious and the most munificent of
the Visconti house was a liberal patron of arts and letters,
and though not personally warlike, of vast ambition. In
1395 he obtained from the Emperor Wenceslaus, the title
of Duke of Milan,-not, however, without payment,
-100,000 florins, for such imperial favour; and in the
next year another diploma from that monarch bestowed on
him the sovereign power over almost all the Lombardic
cities dependent on the German empire. Forty-six towns
were subject to this Visconti, who purchased Pisa, 1399,
from its former lord, Gherardo di Appiano, now contented
to reserve to himself Piombino and the island of Elba.
Shortly afterwards, Perugia voluntarily accepted the sway
of the Visconti, rejecting that of the Pope; and still more
fatal to the Pontific interests was the loss of Bologna, which
submitted to the sovereign Duke after he had won a vic-
126
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
tory over the allied Florentines and Bolognese, the latter
led by Giovanni Bentilvoglio, who was put to death by his
own soldiers after the defeat.
Gian Galeazzo was the first Italian Prince who
thoroughly systematised the administration of his States;
the first to collect public documents and governmental acts
in archives. He founded an Academy of Fine Arts, and
another library attached to the University founded by his
father, at Pavia, whither he invited the most celebrated men
of the time to teach from professors' chairs. The other
University at Piacenza was renovated by him. Among his
numerous public works, for utilitarian as well as religious
and intellectual interests, two especially claim notice in
these pages, and were both of pre-eminent magnificence:
the glorious Duomo of Milan, and the Certosa of Pavia.
The annals of the great archbishopric of Milan during
this century display the gradual consolidation of the Papal
dominion over that once independent see. In 1308 the
Chapter elected a Canon of their metropolitan church,
Gastone Torriani, to the vacant throne; and it was this
prelate who, after being imprisoned by his relative, Guido
Torriani, crowned Henry VII. as King of Italy in 1311.
Pope John XXII. transferred Gastone to the patriarchate
of Aquileia, and the Chapter proceeded to elect Giovanni
Visconti, reassuming on this occasion their right of inde-
pendent election. But the Pope set this at naught, and of
his own authority nominated another priest, a minor
conventual, as Archbishop. Matteo Visconti opposed this
election, and would not allow Fra Aicardo, the nominee of
the Pope, to enter Milan; hence the aggravated discords
between the Papal and Visconti courts, during which
John XXII. issued (1322) a brief for the reservation to the
Holy See of all the archbishoprics and bishoprics within
the patriarchate of Aquileia, the provinces of Milan and
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
127
Ravenna. Matteo died before the reconciliation with the
Pontificate, which was effected in the time of Azzone Vis-
conti, 1329. Giovanni, the nominee of the Chapter, was
appointed, not Archbishop of Milan, but Bishop of
Novara by the same Pope John. Fra Aicardo, though not
yet able to take possession of the higher dignity, secured
the administration of the Milanese archdiocese, with a
pension of 1500 florins. In the Pontificate of Benedict XII.
complete accord was established between the Holy See and
the Visconti house; and Aicardo was allowed to make his
solemn ingress into Milan as recognised Archbishop, 1339.
After his death, in the same year, the Chapter again elected
Giovanni Visconti, but the Pope again refused to confirm
or recognise him. This state of antagonism between the
Papacy and the Milanese clergy continued till 1342, when
Clement VI. of his own authority, while ignoring the two
previous elections, declared that Prelate, who played so
conspicuous a part in his time, to be the legitimate succes-
sor of S. Ambrose.
The relations between Venice and the Papacy during this
period afford proofs of the ascendancy of the spiritual
power, even in temporal things, and while its seat was
distant from the Italian shores. In this page of Italian
history we also see the still vital, however enfeebled, spirit
of crusading enterprise, and the efforts of the Pope to
quicken it for renewed exertions. The taking of Ferrara
by the Venetians (1309) has been mentioned in a preceding
volume. Folco d'Este, a natural son of the late Marquis
Azzone (ob. 1308), who had left the inheritance to him, was
disturbed in his government by his two uncles, sole legiti-
mate representatives of that house. Those brothers had
recourse to the Papal protection for the furtherance of their
cause, and Clement V. promised to befriend them on condi-
tion of their recognising the immediate dependence of Fer-
128
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
rara on the Holy See. Folco offered the cession of Ferrara
to Venice-his expedient for safety. The Venetians disre-
garded alike the rights of the Estiand the claims of the Pope.
After two successful engagements in arms, they compelled
the Ferrarese to sue for peace and to receive the Podesta
appointed by the Republic. Clement excommunicated all
the Venetians with tremendous anathemas, declaring that
their property might be confiscated, and their persons re-
duced to slavery in whatever country and by whomsoever,
by all, in short, who could so act against them! Such was
the purport of the bull which Muratori considers "the most
terrible and unjust ever heard of." A crusade was pub-
lished against Venice, and with success. A formidable
army was soon raised, and led by a Cardinal Legate against
the occupants of Ferrara, who, after a defeat in a decisive
battle fought on the 28th of August, 1307, were obliged to
abandon their conquest. Pope Clement, acting as lord
paramount, bestowed the vicariate of Ferrara on King
Robert of Naples, regardless of all engagements made
with Francesco, the elder of the brothers representing the
Este house. The Venetian general, Giovanni Soranzo,
who had commanded the Republican forces in that war,
was elected Doge, 1312. In his time the "Signoria
sought absolution and reconciliation with the Pope. Not till
the January of 1323 was a Venetian envoy admitted, after
many entreaties and humiliations, to receive the implored
forgiveness from John XXII. at Avignon. The Republic
had paid 100,000 gold florins into the Papal treasury; and
its envoy had to submit to degrading ceremonies, the en-
durance of which seems contrary to the genius of Italian
Republicanism even at this age. He had a collar put round
his neck, with a cord attached to it, and was thus led (dog-
wise) by the Grand Penitentiary, who held one end of this
""
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
129
cord, into the Papal presence, humbly to beg for the par-
don which Pope John at last deigned to grant.* Soon
after the election of an illustrious Doge, Andrea Dandolo
(1343), Venice, yielding to the solicitations of Clement VI.,
leagued with the King of Cyprus and the Knights of
Rhodes against the Turks, and in the November of that
year a fleet of those allies appeared before the island of
Negropont, then attacked by Turkish galleys, which preci-
pitously retreated. In the September of 1344 the united
fleets of Venice and the Pope-for at this period the Pon-
tificate had naval forces at its disposal-sailed for Smyrna,
and, on the 28th October, that city was victoriously occu-
pied by these Italian crusaders. In the January of the
next year, Morbassan, a Turkish general, marched by land
to attack the Christians in their new possession, but was
signally defeated in a sortie from the gates. The allies,
however, sustained great loss, on this occasion, before the
walls of Smyrna; for while they were bent on plundering
the Turkish camp, Morbassan returned to the charge,
made great slaughter, and compelled his opponents to
retreat, with disorder, into the city. Among the slain were
the Venetian and Pontific generals, and the Pope's Legate,
whose body was found with sword and helm on the field.
In the year following, the allies were obliged to make peace
with the Turks, and abandon Smyrna to their power.
Again was a crusade against the Moslem attempted in
this century, but with most disappointing results to the
Christians. In 1386, Alexandria was taken by the united
* Considering what Venice then was, we might quote the indignant
lines of Wordsworth, referring to the humiliations of English Kings before
Papal envoys:-
"The spears that line
Baronial halls, the opprobrious insult feel,
And angry ocean roars a vain appeal !”
K
130
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
;
forces of the Venetians, the King of Cyprus, and the Grand
Master of Rhodes. Urban VI. had induced Venice, whose
main object was to promote commercial interests in the
East, to join this ill-advised enterprise. The Egyptian fleet
was burnt; but after Alexandria had been held by the con-
querors only four days, they deemed it prudent to retreat
before the arrival of the Sultan, who was approaching with
a large armament. Without securing any advantage save
the booty with which they were laden, these "crusaders "
left hatred against the Christian name in Egypt. All of
that faith in Alexandria were imprisoned; their mer-
chandise was confiscated, their banks were broken up; and
Venice, too late aware of the imprudence of this invasion,
contrived to persuade, or rather, bribe the Sultan into
regarding her Republic as an unconcerned party; and admit-
ting her mediation for the arrangement of a treaty with the
King of Cyprus. A sign of the times, still more remark-
able than this inglorious decline of crusading heroism,
is the change in the temper of the Supreme Pontiffs them-
selves with respect to such nominally religious warfare.
We have seen John XXII. exert himself to dissuade the
kings of France and England, Philip V. and Edward II.,
from the fulfilment of vows rashly taken for enterprises
in no manner imposed by the duty or interests of either.
The ecclesiastical affairs of Venice may also be noticed
here. The primitive See, on the island called Olivolo,
changed its name into that of "Castellanus," after that
islet itself, with the cathedral upon it, had become desig-
nated as "Castello," about the date A.D. 1074. Another
title given to the Bishop of this See was "Rivoaltensis," or
Bishop of Rialto; also known by the lugubrious epithet,
"Bishop of the Dead," because his principal revenue was
derived from a tithe on the property of those who died
within his island-diocese. It was a Bishop of this See,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
131
named Jacopo Albertini, who, with other mitred assistants,
crowned the Bavarian Louis at Milan, 1327, and took part
at Rome both in the ceremony of his second coronation, and
in the futile election of a friar, who was his creature, to the
vain honours of an Antipope. John XXII. excommuni-
cated and degraded that offending prelate, the sentence
against whom was published in his own cathedral. In
1329 Angelo Delfino, appointed to this see by the Pope,
carried out some excellent reforms, and obliged the bene-
ficed clergy of Venice to observe the duties they had
neglected—namely, residence on their cures, and attend-
ance at office in their churches. After the dreadful visita-
tion of pestilence in 1348-9, the question of the "mor-
tuary tithes ", originally assigned on such a singular system
to the episcopal mensa at Venice, was violently agitated
between the State and the Clergy, who made themselves
extremely unpopular by their exorbitant claims after such
a crisis of public calamity, during which the frequency of
deaths afforded them pretexts for exacting sometimes a
tithe of the property of three persons in the same family.
The government offered them compensation in the amount
of 12,000 gold ducats for all retrospective claims, and 7000
gold ducats annually for the future. This compromise was
accepted under sanction of the Pope; but a few months
afterwards these Venetian priests bethought themselves
that, the number of deaths having been so great during the
plague, their gains ought to be calculated at a much higher
amount. "Fishers of fish, and not of men," as Mrs.
Browning says, the shepherds of this Israel seemed bent
on despoiling instead of feeding their flocks! They
appealed to the senate and to the Pope: the compromise
was eventually annulled, and instead of twelve thousand,
28,000 gold ducats were voted for them, with full recogni-
tion of all the rights they claimed for the future. It is
K 2
132
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
satisfactory to find that this unworthy litigation was at last
terminated by the act of an estimable prelate, Giovanni
Piacentini, who announced (1377), that he would not
maintain the pretensions of his worldly-minded clergy, but
would leave the question to the wisdom of government.
In consequence, the "Signoria" assigned 5,500 ducats
per annum to the Venetian Church, to be divided between
the Bishop, the clergy, the poor, and the expenses of church
repairs, &c. The above-named prelate, unfortunately for
himself, sided with the Antipope against Urban VI., and
was obliged to leave Venice, though he continued for at
least a year to enjoy the revenues of the mensa.
He was
created Cardinal by the Antipope Clement. The first Car-
dinal seen (or, at least, resident) at Venice, was Luigi
Donato, one of the five assassinated in the dungeon of S.
Giovanni di Pré, at Genoa, by Pope Urban's order. A
remarkable law was passed at Venice in 1347, which, citing
an earlier statute, forbade the bequeathing of immovable
property for the suffrage of souls (i.e. requiem masses), or
other pious works, unless for a period limited to ten years;
and which law provided that thenceforth no bequests should
be made for the founding of churches or monasteries
(already superabundant), save with consent of six council-
lors, of thirty-five members, and three chiefs of the
Quarantii, and three-fourths of the Grand Council.
Turning to the Florentine Republic, we find little to
notice in the ecclesiastical sphere amidst the stirring events
and rapidly succeeding vicissitudes of this XIV. century,
except the intrigues by which the Cardinal Legate of
Bologna endeavoured to separate Prato from Florence,
and induced the adventurer Hawkwood, with his dreaded
"English Company" of mercenaries, to invade its territory,
and attempt the occupation of that town; the retaliation
of the Republic by instigating revolt in the Papal States,
1
* SACRED ART IN ITALY.
133
་
1
imposing taxes on the clergy, and selling their property,
and, on the other hand, the penalties inflicted by Gregory
XI.in the interdict, 1375, which was not withdrawn till 1378,
on condition of the payment, exacted by Urban VI., of
250,000 florins for the expenses of the war carried on by
the Pontific troops in a league against Florence. After
being for a time submitted to, that interdict was set at
naught by the Florentines; and the local clergy were com-
manded to celebrate masses as usual. Similarly dauntless
was the conduct of the "Signoria" in defying and rendering
void the triple interdict published against Florence by
a Legate sent thither by Benedict XI., in 1304. When,
in 1306, the Cardinal-Legate, Orsino, was driven by popular
revolt with bloodshed from Bologna, and intimated to the
Florentines his wish to visit their city in order to free it
from the weight of ecclesiastical censures, he was answered
that Florence did not require his services, and that he need
not trouble himself about the removal of the interdict.*
The bishops (not yet archbishops) of this See obtained,
1364, the rank of princes of the Holy Roman Empire,
conferred first on the Bishop Pietro Corsini by Charles
IV. An ancient usage, the origin of which is referred to
the XI. century, at the ceremonial of the installation of
every new prelate, is said to have assumed a definite form
about 1385—the symbolic espousals between the newly-
consecrated pastor and the Benedictine abbess of S. Piero
Maggiore. After the Bishop had made his public ingress
into the city, received by the chief magistrates and all the
clergy, entering with a long-drawn procession, and himself
riding on a mule (or palfrey) under a canopy supported
by four guardians, or custodi, of the cathedral-church, who
appeared with leafy crowns on their heads-he passed
* Other ecclesiastical affairs in Florence, during this century, are
noticed in the preceding volume, p. 552-4.
134
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
to the church of that monastery. On his arrival, being re-
ceived by the prior and other priests with lights and in-
cense, and having first prayed before the altar, he was led to
an ornamented tribune, or raised platform, where the abbess
was ready with all her nuns to welcome him. There he
took his seat on a richly-draped throne, the abbess sitting
opposite to him on a throne hung with green velvet, each
under a canopy of cloth-of-gold. Presently the abbess
rose, knelt before the bishop, who caused her to sit at his
right hand, and placed on her finger a gold ring set with
three gems, a diamond, a sapphire, and another precious
stone-signifying the union of the new pastor with the
Florentine Church-the abbess's hand being held the while
either by her own relations or by the oldest man in the
parish. The Reverend Mother then returned her thanks,
warmly recommended the Florentine Church and her own
monastery to the new pastor, kissed his hand, and received
his benediction. All her nuns next went up to the throne
successively, to kiss the hand and be blessed. The bishop
finally gave benediction to the people present, granted an
indulgence, and passed to a hall of the monastery, where he
dined with the abbess, the other guests being four canons,
the prior, the episcopal chaplains, and the cathedral-
guardians. That night the bishop slept under the same
roof, and the next morning proceeded first to the cathedral,
thence to the baptistery, for two other solemn installations.
Arrived at his palace, he received the present, now sent by
the Benedictine abbess, of the gorgeous couch, hung with
costly draperies, on which he had passed the night.*
* See Richa, “Chiese Fiorentine." The church and monastery here
named no longer exist. That olden ceremony gradually vanished, even
before the sacred building in which it had been held. First were abolished
the banquet and the usage of the bishop's lodging for the night under the
same roof with the nuns; the observances in the church being alone
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
135
Up to the year 1341 the election of the Bishops of
Florence was, by immemorial privilege, the free act of the
canonical chapter, hitherto undisturbed in such exercise of
their rights. The tactics through which this appointment
was usurped (can we use any milder term ?) by the Papacy,
are thus narrated by an uncompromising advocate of all
Popes and all proceedings of the Curia:-
“The election of their own bishop was the immemorial
privilege of the canons of the cathedral of Florence, with
approbation of the elect dependent on the Popes, till the
time of Clement VI. But in 1341 the canons, having
elected in the sacristy of their cathedral the prior Filippo
d'Antella as successor to the Bishop Silvestri, nominated
afterwards two deputies to be sent to Benedict XII. for the
pontific approval. They (the deputies) found that Pontiff
dead, and Clement VI. created in his place, who now elected
by bull Fra Angelo Acciaiuoli to the bishopric of Florence,
declaring the election of Antella null, and for ever taking
away from the chapter the privilege of electing their own
pastor. In the sequel the Florentine Republic began the
practice of supplicating the Pope, by means of its ambas-
sadors at Rome, to appoint persons of the same country
and in every respect worthy."-(Moroni, Dizion. di Erudi-
zione Eccles. vol. xxv. p. 45-6.)
In Sicily we find the Popes still persisting in traditionary
hostilities against the freedom and dearly purchased rights
of a gallant people, still endeavouring to force that people
into subjection to a hated dynasty, and bring back the days
of the Anjou rule over the island, which could not forget
retained. After a time these also fell into disuse, and were finally
suppressed by Gregory XIII., the last such mystic espousals having been
celebrated between the Archbishop Altoviti, appointed to this See in
1548, and the Abbess Suor Brigida Albizi. S. Piero Maggiore was
reduced to ruin in 1783.
+
136
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
all it had suffered under, or all it had done to liberate itself
from, that yoke. Boniface VIII. had so far succeeded in
such policy, injurious indeed to the higher interests of the
Pontificate, as to win the submission implied in an annual
tribute of 15,000 gold florins, promised by the brave young
king Frederick I. (or II.) to the Holy See, after the treaty
with the Neapolitan crown by which it was stipulated that
he should marry a daughter of Charles II., and retain the
Sicilian kingdom for life, but leave it after his death to
the Anjou Charles, and his descendants. Twelve years
afterwards (1314), Frederick dropped the title of "King of
Trinacria," which he had been required to assume, took
that of "King of Sicily," and recommenced the war with
the Neapolitans, who had besieged Trapani. The issues of
that war were favourable, on the whole, to the Sicilians;
and in 1321 Frederick caused his youthful son, Peter, to
be crowned at Palermo. In that year John XII. laid the
whole island under an interdict, which had, indeed, been
provoked by the king, who, to meet the expenses of war,
had confiscated the property of the Sicilian Church. Louis,
who succeeded at the age of four years to his father,
Peter II., under the regency of his uncle, 1342, was crowned
at Palermo by a Greek bishop, no Sicilian prelate consent-
ing to take part in the ceremonies on account of the inter-
dict. After the death of King Robert of Naples, the
Regent of Sicily and the Queen Mother deemed the oppor-
tunity had come for seeking reconciliation with the Pope.
Their envoys were coldly received by Clement VI., who
declared that Sicily could only hope for peace through
submission to Queen Joanna. In proof of his displeasure
that Pontiff reserved to himself, by bulls, the nomination
during two years to all the bishoprics, abbacies, and other
benefices, excepting those of revenue less than fifty florins,
in that island. We need not comment upon this strange
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
137
manifestation of pontific indignation! The government of
Naples was solicited by Clement to undertake another
invasion of Sicily, and complied. But after an army had
disembarked near Messina, and devastated the environs, the
approach of forces, sent by the Regent, compelled the in-
vaders to an inglorious retreat. When adversity came to
Queen Joanna, and her states also were invaded, she sought
the mediation of the Pope to obtain peace with the Sicilian
crown, and at last accepted the terms of a treaty, concluded
in 1347 without the consent of Clement, who, however,
took no steps to oppose it. Louis was to retain the
crown of Sicily undisturbed, and to pay annually, on
S. Peter's day, the tribute to the Holy See of 3000
gold ounces,* deducted from the census which the
Neapolitan sovereigns paid to the same pontific throne.
The King of Sicily was bound, in case of attack against the
continental kingdom, to supply aid with fifteen ships, and
the Queen of Naples renounced all her claims on that
island as well as on the isles adjacent. Under the reign of
Frederick II. (or III.), brother and successor to Louis,
Sicily was again agitated by rival claims of parties divided
between the interests of the Anjou and Aragonese dynas-
ties. Messina and the castle of Martagritone were ceded
to Louis of Taranto, the husband of Joanna, and the
Queen and Prince made their entry into that city as
sovereigns (December 1356), promising to prefer Messina
as future capital of the island-kingdom. That city, how-
ever, was retaken for the young king Frederick, principally
through aid of the powerful Clermont family and of Artale
d'Alagone, an experienced naval officer, who expelled the
Neapolitans from the town and citadel.
Previous to the re-conquest of Messina and Palermo
* 15,000 gold florins.
138
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
(1365), the Neapolitans had been completely baffled in their
attempt to terminate the war, by a decisive blow, with the
capture of Catania, which they invested by sea and land.
Artale d'Alagone dispersed their fleet, and the troops com-
manded by the Grand Seneschal at once raised the siege,
but could not effect a retreat without being pursued by the
garrison and resolute citizens of Catania; more than two
thousand of the Seneschal's army being slain, many pri-
soners and all the baggage of the camp remaining in the
hands of the Sicilians. The other cities of the island, after
the taking of Messina, returned one by one under the
dominion of King Frederick.
In 1372 both the Courts of Naples and Sicily desired
peace. Two Franciscan friars were the appointed negotia-
tors, and it was agreed that the King should recognise his
tenure of Sicily as a fief under Queen Joanna, pledging
himself to an annual census, 15,000 gold florins; and that
he should be contented with the title, "King of Trinacria,”
leaving to the Neapolitan sovereign that of King of Sicily.
This was fully approved by Gregory XI. It had been
further stipulated that Frederick II. should repair to Rome
and do homage in person to the Pope. His objections to
absenting himself from his states were, however, admitted;
the journey to Rome was dispensed with; and after the
treaty had been ratified by the Bishop of Sarlat in the
name of the Pontiff, Frederick did homage to the Pope for
his kingdom at Messina (1374) in the hands of the same
prelate. On the same day he wedded a niece of Prince Louis
of Taranto, and in 1375 was crowned by the Bishop of
Sarlat with permission of the Pope.*
Muratori, Annali, gives different date for the death of Frederick II.
and succession of his daughter Maria, as A.D. 1372. I have followed the
Art de Vérifier les Dates, which gives for those events the year 1377;
for the death of Maria, who was succeeded by her husband and cousin-
german, Martin of Aragon, 1402.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
139
The sense of sin and misery, compunction for the first
and pity for the second of those universal ills, may be said
to have predominated throughout the Middle Ages. It
was not till comparatively modern times that the dignity
and self-responsibility of Man began to possess his
thoughts. In the last year of this century the feeling of
profound sorrow for sin found vent in a movement which
aroused the attention of the Christian world, and extended
over almost the whole of western Europe. The “ White
Penitents" commenced their doleful pilgrimage from land
to land, from city to city, joined by multitudes of both
sexes and all classes, clad in long white habits with hoods.
covering the face so as to leave the eyes only visible; the
women distinguished by a red cross; all, as they advanced,
reciting or singing orisons and hymns, the Stabat Mater,
the Miserere-psalm, &c. According to some writers, this
movement originated in Ireland; thence passed to Eng-
land; thence through France, crossing Alps and Apennines,
and spreading with mournful enthusiasm over northern and
central Italy. At Genoa 5000 arrived in such guise,
and were led by the aged Archbishop, himself on horseback,
to visit churches, cemeteries, shrines, during nine days.
From Lucca 3000 set out, notwithstanding the veto of the
magistrates, for Pistoja, where they were joined by 4000
more, and thence passed on through Prato to Florence.
There the devout multitude swelled to 40,000; and as
many as 20,000 were led, in one long-drawn procession, by
the Bishop of Fiesole to visit the holy places. At Parma
the pilgrims on foot were followed by forty cars contain-
ing the infirm and feeble, women and children. From
thence 7000 set out, preceded by pious confraternities
with their standards and led by the bishop of that diocese.
At Venice the authorities refused to admit them; but at
Ferrara the Marquis d'Este treated them with honour.
•
140
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
+
Whatever the fanaticism of this "revival," it is certain
that the fruits of good works, alms to the poor, reconcilia-
tion of enemies, restitution of what had been unlawfully
taken, were abundantly borne by it. Platina gives the
following account of it, received from his father, an eye-
witness :-
"The year before the jubilee, there came from the Alps
into Italy a certain priest with a great company of men
after him. This priest went about clad in white, and
showed so much modesty in his countenance and words
that all men held him as a saint. Having reached Italy,
he soon attracted an immense number of men and women
by this new superstitious observance. All, without dis-
tinction, whether rustic or civil, masters or servants, vested
in white, followed him like flocks of sheep; and wherever
they came to pass the night they slept on the bare ground.
They eat together publicly in the cities, where the people
vied with each other in bringing them food, as if offering
sacrifice. The priest went in front with a crucifix in his
hand, which, it was said, frequently shed tears for the sins
of men; and every time that this" (the weeping of the
crucifix) "occurred, all cried Misericordia! As they pro-
ceeded, pursuing their journey, they sang the praises of
Our Lady, and other hymns such as were suitable for them;
and this also they did whenever they stopped at any place.
That priest led them through Lombardy, Romagna, by the
Marshes and through Tuscany, everywhere gaining such
repute for sanctity, that not only the rude and credulous
populace, but princes also, and the Visconti in the cities
were easily persuaded to do as he said and desired.* At
Viterbo, arriving with the great multitude after him, he
* In this somewhat obscure passage, the "Visconti" might be under-
stood as the family so named, or as different magnates of the rank so
designated.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
141
stopt, weary of the journey, before going on, as he said
they ought, to Rome for pilgrimage to the holy places.
Boniface IX., who suspected that there was fraud in this,
and that the priest hoped to be made Pope through favour
of the people who followed him, and by means of this
superstition, sent soldiers to Viterbo, who arrested and
brought him to the Pope. Some write that the priest was
tortured, and confessed his deceptions, and that for this he
was punished in the flames, being burnt alive. Others say
no fraud whatever was found in this poor priest, but that
the Pope caused such report to be circulated in order to
suppress the other report that he had ordered him to be put
to death out of envy."* Victorelli (annotator of Ciaconius)
states plainly that the unfortunate priest "suffered the
punishment he deserved, being burnt in the fire."
Heresies, or what were condemned as such, and boldly
novel speculations, another sign of agitation and excite-
ment in the public mind, rose up, a plentiful crop, during
this perturbed century. A set of vagabond and idle
* Compare this with the account by Corio of the movement in Lom-
bardy :-" An immense number of persons, of all classes, high and low,
women, youths, and maidens, came bare-footed, and covered from head
to foot with white sheets, which left scarcely more than the forehead
visible. All the inhabitants of the towns and villages assembled around
them, and continued for eight days to visit three churches in each town,
causing many masses to be celebrated in one or other church. Wherever
they came to a cross on the wayside, they fell prostrate, crying three
times Misericordia !—chanting also the Pater Noster and Ave, besides
other canticles composed by S. Bernard. The people, after returning
to their native places, dispersed, and arriving home, exhorted the other
inhabitants to assume the same habit-so that sometimes 1000, some-
times 1500 assembled in one place. An infinite number of reconcilia-
tions (infinite concordie), and distributing of alms occurred, and many
were led to true repentance." Corio, the historian of Milan, flourished
at a period (1459-1519) not far remote from the events he thus
describes.
#
142
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
friars, whom the simple-minded Pope Celestine V. had
permitted to lead the life of independent hermits, with-
out following a rule or obeying a superior, but whom
Boniface VIII. had wisely disapproved of, formed them-
selves into communities in Sicily, where they began to de-
claim against the Church and her rulers. A Franciscan of
Bezier, named Jean Olive, who had joined them, proclaimed
the Roman Church to be the mystic Babylon foretold in
the Apocalypse, and prophesied her ruin, with the birth of
another, a new and holier Institution, to succeed to her
-this Church of the Future being destined to develop into
glorious life under the celestial auspices of S. Francis. A
book produced by him in support of these theories and
dreamy hopes was received by the Franciscan "Fraticelli,"
as a fifth gospel. Those hermits at last elected a Father
General, and proposed even to raise up another Antipope.
They went so far as to declare that all the Sacraments of
the Church were invalid, because administered by priests
without true jurisdiction or lawful authority! Similar
notions were maintained by a sect which sprung up in Ger-
many favoured by the Emperor Louis, and who eventually
merged into the communities of Begards and Beguines,
condemned by the Council of Vienne. The Lollards, who
took their name from Walther Lollard, a teacher appearing
first about A.D. 1315, rejected all the Sacraments as well
as ceremonies of Catholicism, condemned the belief in the
intercession of saints, and admitted the indulgent notion
that even the devils might eventually be saved. It
is said that in Austria and Bohemia these votaries
numbered more than 80,000. In the time of Gregory
XI. two Franciscans were commanded to retract, or
bury in silence, under pain of excommunication, the
theory they had advanced that the Real Presence might
be withdrawn from the holy Eucharist in case the conse-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
143
crated species should fall into any foul place, or be devoured
by a brute. The Pope deputed a cardinal to examine this
doctrine-and such was the condemnatory decision. In
1357 Richard Fitz Ralph, Chancellor of Oxford and Arch-
bishop of Armagh, travelled to Avignon to maintain the
charges brought forward in his writings against the mendi-
cant friars, whose dependence on alms, or religious mendi-
cancy, he considered to be founded on an erroneous prin-
ciple, neither conformable with the teaching of Christ nor
with the true sense of the rule of S. Francis. He complained
before the Pope of the encroachments of those friars in the
sphere of jurisdiction proper to bishops and parish priests.
In northern Italy the progress of the Valdese sect,
which at this period began to extend ramifications from
the subalpine valleys, alarmed the Church, and called
forth denunciations from the Popes. The name of these
mediæval Protestants is derived (by some writers) from
Peter Waldo (or Vaud) of Lyons, who began in the XII.
century to teach doctrines that were condemned by the
Council of Verona, 1184, and by the fourth General Council
of Lateran, 1215. Others derive the name from "vallée" or
"Vaudois "—inhabitants of valleys. In 1316 Clement V.
complained of the progress of these heretics in Italy, and
principally among the Alpine regions, where they held
public assemblies attended by numbers, rebellious against
the authority of the Church, put to death the chief priest
of a parish, and threatened the life of an Inquisitor.
Gregory XI. published a brief against them, and ordered
the burning of heretical books, which, it appears from that
document, were now frequently produced in the vulgar
tongue.* Rinaldi (Annali Ecclesiastici) derives the Valdese
sect from the Albigenses of southern France; and some
* "Ut faciant comburi quosdam libros sermonum hæreticorum, pro
majori parte in vulgari scriptos."
144
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
writers suppose that, after the exterminating crusades
against those dissidents (1209-30), a residue of them fled
into Aragon, Savoy, and Piedmont.* In Spain they found
no toleration. Seeking refuge, about the middle of the
XIV. century, in Calabria and Apulia, they were sup-
pressed or expelled thence. But in the Alpine valleys of
western Piedmont they found home and shelter; there
majestic Nature might be expected to extend over them her
mantle of protection; and there eventually they developed
into a Church in communion with their co-religionists of
other lands, and were finally recognised by the State—not
indeed till after many persecutions and perfidious violations.
of promises and guarantees held out to them, from time to
time, by the vacillating Court of Turin.†
·
In 1385 a jurisconsult, named Bartolini, brought out
at Piacenza a series of questions, or theses, as to the
duties of the clergy in case the Roman Pontiff should prove
stubborn against the counsels of the Cardinals, regardless
of the true interests of the Church, and therefore unfit to
govern; concluding that, in such case, curators might be
appointed, to whose advice the Pope should be obliged to
* "Then followed the Waldensian bands, whom Hate
In vain endeavours to exterminate,
Whom Obloquy pursues with hideous bark :
But they desist not;—and the sacred fire,
Rekindled thus, from dens and savage woods
Moves, handed on with never-ceasing care,
Through courts, through camps, o'er limitary floods ;
Nor lacks this sea-girt Isle a timely share
Of the new flame, not suffered to expire."-Wordsworth.
† See Milton's Sonnet, "On the late Massacre in Piedmont, 1655."
Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept the truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones,
Forget not," &c.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
145
1
conform in all matters of ecclesiastical administration, &c.
This evidently alludes to the situation of the Papacy under
Urban VI., and the evil results of the obstinate temper
displayed by him.
Though my object is to consider the state of Religion and
Art in Italy alone, I may notice coincidences of opinion
manifested about the same time in different countries. In
Germany were raised complaints against the ambition,
avarice, and worldliness of Popes and Cardinals; and some
hazarded the assertion that the Roman Church had for-
feited the keys of S. Peter since she had acquired temporal
power, for which a Dominican inquisitor, named Schadland,
condemned many to death at the stake, as he himself
reports (Dupin, "Auteurs Ecclésiastiques "). In 1368 an
Archbishop of Canterbury deemed it necessary to denounce
forty theses which had been maintained by different persons
within his province-among others, that the Blessed Virgin
and other saints might have fallen into sin; that none are
eternally lost for original sin alone; that even demons may
eventually, through mercy and repentance, be saved—the
frequent appearance of which benevolent doctrine is
remarkable. Wickliffe was one of an embassy sent by Ed-
ward III. to negotiate with the Pope in 1376, and after his
return to England put forth his most boldly-defended pro-
positions against Papal prerogatives, &c. A council at Lon-
don condemned twenty-four of those propositions in 1382.
A feeling of sorrow for the general corruption of the
time-sorrow profoundly felt and indignant, yet softened
and illumined by religious hope-speaks in the writings,
both prose and verse, of Petrarch, who considers that no
historic epoch was ever so darkened by crime and depravity
as that in which he lived.* He invokes the Saviour of the
* Quicquid historicorum labor, quicquid tragœdiarum gemitus in
nostram pertulit notitiam, minus fuit quam quod oculis videmus. Quod
L
146
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
world to interpose for the rescue of lost Humanity.
In his poems he mourns over the intellectual sloth
and eclipse of mental light which were the result of
licentious manners. * In the Latin letters of Coluccio
Salutati† the conduct of the Popes is as severely blamed
as in the verse of Dante. Salutati protests against the
relentless spirit with which Gregory XI. prosecuted war
against the Florentines after they had desired reconcilia-
tion and the removal of the interdict. Addressing the
magistrates of Rome (21st September, 1377), he brands
with reprobation the anti-national character and aims of
Papal policy at this time, and arrives at the conclusion, so
often expressed by later writers, that the temporal power
of the Holy See and the expedients adopted for its support,
had been the ruin of Italy.‡ He deems that the war car-
apud illos cothurno dignum scelus erat, apud nos jam veniale peccatum
est. Iratus est mundo Deus, nec immerito; patientiam potius tantam
miror.
De hinc crebró ad Eum, quem in deliciis crucifixum
habeo, versus moesta voce, atque oculis humantibus exclamo, Jesu bone,
et nimium mansuete, quid hoc est ? Exurge, quare obdormis ? Ex-
urge, et ne repellas in finem ; quare faciem tuam avertis ? Protector
noster aspice. Deus, vide quid patimur et unde-vide et vindica!
(Epist. sine titulo, V., VI.)
* La gola e 'l sonno, e l'oziose piume
Hanno del mondo ogni vertú sbandita,
Ond' é dal corso suo quasi smarrita
Nostra natura, vinta dal costume, &c.
See also the celebrated Canzone, "Spirto gentil," &c.
and that beginning—
Italia mia, benché 'I parlar sia indarno.
† Lived from 1330 to 1406; Chancellor of the Florentine Republic,
1375.
‡ Benedict XII., in the first Consistory held by him (1334), declared
that, at least during his Pontificate, neither the Roman Church nor any
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
147
ried on against Christians under the standard of the Keys,
and for the defence of the temporal interests of the supreme
priesthood, had proved the greatest of all scandals to the
Church.*
*
The "Mystery Play," founded on sacred subjects, and
usually performed in churches, had made its appearance in
Italian cities at least as early as the XII. century. In
Rome all literature was at the lowest ebb during the epoch
here in question; but it was in the second half of the XIV.
century that such form of the acted Drama was introduced
here also, and that the "Passion and Resurrection” began
to be represented on a stage in the classical arena of the
Colosseum, every Good Friday. The most ancient of the
pious confraternities in this city, called that of the Gonfa-
lone (or Standard), from their religious symbol, a banner
with a blue and red cross upon it, and which had origin in
1264, dedicated its cares to the object of redeeming Chris-
tians from slavery. By this sodality was introduced the
"Mystery" performance above-named. On the evening of
other should defend its rights by the sword, or make war against any one;
and this he decreed (decrevit et statuit) as a question of principle.
•
* "Videtis dispositionem summi Pontificis, qui totis conatibus,
omnique modo procurat desolationem Italiæ, ipsamque magis vult
bellorum turbine conquassari, quam pacis, et concordiæ desideratissimo
munere reformari; et pacem ore prædicans, solum bellicas vastationes
animo meditatur. O nefas, nullis temporibus subticendum! Regis
pacifici Vicarius, coeli Claviger, Petrique successor
bellum
ardentissimé contra fideles, et devotos Ecclesiæ gerit, nec veretur contra
Jesu Christi instituta pacem toties petitam humiliter, in duritia miṛabili,
denegare." (Ep. lvii.) See also his very valuable letter to the Marquis
of Brandenburg (Ep. li.) on the schism of the Antipopes, its fatal con-
sequences, and the best means recommendable for suppressing it. He
advises that the Cardinals of both sides should meet to confer together;
that, with their consent, and in obedience to their injunctions, both Popes
should abdicate, and another be elected by the Cardinals. This writer's
style is dignified; his temper serious and religious.
L 2
148
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
that solemn day, shortly before sunset, they went in pro-
cession, with chant of litanies, &c., to the ancient amphi-
theatre; there they sung hymns, chanted psalms, and gave
themselves the discipline, or scourging; finally entertained,
or edified, the public with that tragedy on the most awful of
subjects; the brethren themselves acting on a stage fitted
up at the platform-summit of a chapel within one of the
arcades on the southern side. As developed into its final
form, this Mystery Play was in rhyming octaves with lyric
chorus, probably sung to instrumental music. That sin-
gular celebration on Good Friday was kept up, and no
doubt very popular, in the capital of the Church till 1540
and then only abolished, it is said, on account of the pro-
gress of decay, by which the spot appropriated had become
encumbered. The chapel vanished in 1815, although rebuilt
in 1622.* At last arose the poetic Drama, distinct from the
"Mysteries" and "Moralities" of the medieval stage; and
this emancipation from the immediate control of the all-in-
fluencing Church nearly coincides with the period when art
also began to withdraw from the strictly devotional sphere.
The first historic tragedies supplied by an Italian pen were
those of Albertino Mussato, a native of Padua (1260—1330),
who was the author of various Latin prose works, also his-
torical: the Historia Augusta, comprising the life and period
of the Emperor Henry VII., and the Historia de gestis
Italicorum, besides elegies and epistles. He composed two
tragedies in Latin verse and prose, both with chorus, and
intended to be on the model of Seneca: Achilleis, in which
the chief characters are Paris, Helen, and Hecuba; and
Eccerinis, founded on the history of the ferocious tyrant,
Ezzelino Romano, lord of Verona and Padua. The last-
* Called S. Maria de Metrio, but prior to the XIV. century known
by another name (v. Von Reumont, Geschichte d. Stadt Rom.)
•
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
149
named, by far the most powerful, is distinguished by ingenious
unravelling of the tragic plot, some contrast of character,
and management of situations-though remote indeed from
all modern standards of dramatic excellence. It opens with a
scene of ghastly confidences-not limited by any delicacy-
between Adheleita, the Countess di Romano, and her two
sons, Ezzelinus and Albericus, the import of her disclosures.
leading them to exult with horrid joy on learning that they
are the offspring of a being greater than the God who
was father to Romulus and Remus. A thrillingly awful
soliloquy is reported, not declaimed, in a dark chamber of
the Romano castle, where Ezzelinus avows his denial of
Christ, his hatred of the Cross, and invokes Lucifer, his
father, together with Proserpine, the Furies, and all infer-
nal spirits, to fill his soul with wrath, hatred, and remorse-
less obduracy, that he may become a scourge to mankind,
and prove the worthy son of his demon-sire:
Annue, Satan! et filium talem proba!"
Contrast and effect of situation are well sustained in
another scene, where a friar, Lucas, upbraids the tyrant for
his enormous crimes, endeavours to waken the fear of God's
wrath in his hardened soul, and to touch the springs of
repentance. In curious conformity with the theological
piety of the times, Ezzelino baffles all these good efforts,
and silences the courageous admonitor by accepting at
once that good friar's conclusions; admitting a religious
view of his own deserts and destinies, and declaring himself
to be the chosen of Heaven, like Saul, Nebuchadnezzar,
Pharaoh, and Nero, for the punishment of the human race!
How could any father-confessor deal with such a penitent?
In parts of this grim tragedy the author lays aside the
dramatic, interrupts his dialogue, and at once passes from
the scene with interlocutors to the plain narrative in blank
verse. The Achilleis, less remarkable than the other piece,
150
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
concludes with a profession of absolutely fatalistic princi-
ples, put into the mouth of Helen's lover :
"Non ipse Deus mutare potest
Quidquid fatis nectitur altis."
("Not even Deity can alter that which has been decreed by the
supreme Fates.")
I have noticed the intellectual sterility in the Papal me-
tropolis, where Petrarch found only one person, Gio-
vanni Colonna, learned in regard to the local antiquities.
Almost total eclipse may be predicated as the state of
literature at that centre during this period. The studies of
Canon and Civil Law followed the Curia to Avignon. Some
attention was paid by the French Pontiffs there to the in-
terests of the University founded by Boniface VIII, at
Rome. Clement V. ordered that the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic,
and Chaldee languages should be taught at Rome, Paris,
Oxford, Salamanca, and Bologna. John XXII. author-
ized his Vicar at Rome to appoint professors and doctors at
that University; and in presence of the same Vicar the
candidates for degrees had to be examined by members of
the faculty, whose science they had pursued. None could
receive the doctor's degree at that Roman institution, called
the "Sapienza," until after four years' study of Canon,
three of Civil Law, and two years, one at Rome, of public
teaching in those sciences. The Sapienza University had
become totally extinct before the restoration of the Holy
See by Gregory XI., as proved from the terms of the bull
of Eugenius IV. ordering it to be resuscitated, 1432-
totally suppressed, owing to the evil of the times, and the
schism in the Church"-as that Pontiff says of it. Even in
the class of literature aiming at the historic, or some-
thing more than the mere chronicle, the sole work produced
at Rome during the years near the middle of this century,
(6
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
151
1
!
was the Life of Cola di Rienzo, written first in Latin, and
translated into Italian-" that the common people might
find it useful," by an author who had studied at Bologna,
and who intended to write the life of Dante also. He was
engaged on his extant work in 1358. A short treatise, “Of
certain remarkable things in the City of Rome,” extant in
MS., probably dates from the earlier period of the schism,
and seems to aim at teaching their political rights to the
citizens, for whose benefit the author laboured.*
In a provincial town of the Papal States, Foligno, appeared
a writer whose poetic works won him distinction. Federigo
Frezzi, a Dominican, who became bishop of that diocese,
and died at Constance, 1416, after taking part in the dis-
cussions of the Council, composed, probably between 1380
and 1400, his "Quadriregio," or the "Four Realms," the
first epic poem in the language produced since the "Divina
Commedia." This now almost forgotten work went through
six editions between 1481 and 1511; the first having been
printed at Perugia. It displays the increasing tendency to
ally classical with Christian imagery, and bring the thought
of Paganism into harmony with that of Catholicism. The
poet is privileged, like Dante, to visit the realms of the in-
visible world; but, instead of being accompanied by a Virgil
or a Beatrice, is at the outset of his mysterious journey led
by no more respectable guide than the Pagan Cupid! The
first region into which he is introduced is that of Diana, his
first experiences of spirit-life being thus strangely remote
from all that is believed and anticipated by the orthodox
Church! From the kingdom of Temperance he is led by
personified Humility to the paradise of Fortitude, the
loveliest spot under Heaven, where he finds a singularly
* Von Reumont, Geschichte, v. II.; Gregorovius, Stadt. Rom im
Mittelalter.
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
assorted company, Christians and Heathens, mythological
and historic personages: Mars (a great giant), Hector,
Æneas, Romulus, Alexander, Cato, King Arthur, (il Re
Artus), Charlemagne, Godfrey de Bouillon-herein being
manifest the gradually enlarged indulgence of religious
thought, which refused to admit the absolutely lost
state of Pagan Heroes in the invisible life. Next, the
poet proceeds to the realms of Minerva and Venus;
thence to that of Satan, where instead of finding the rea-
lities of those monstrous imaginings made popular by
mediæval art, he sees at first a King of Terrors transcend-
ently beautiful, though of formidably colossal proportions,
being in height no less than three miles! The illusion is
dispelled by Minerva, who enables him to behold through
her crystal shield the real semblance, hidden beneath that
deceitful mask-hideous and appalling, a giant with serpent
hair and scorpion-tail, dragons coiled round his head instead
of the three crowns, which the archfiend seemed to wear.
The spell is broken; but the idea of the possibility of
beauty being assumed by the Evil One is singularly opposed
to earlier notions. Our Poet next visits the Limbo of
unbaptized infants, and the Elysian Fields, where vir-
tuous Pagans enjoy an immortality of negative happi-
ness, or at least a sunshine of calm content though
actually within the limits of the infernal region. The ter-
restrial Paradise is approached under the guidance of
Minerva; but not found accessible, for its gates are still
guarded by the Angel with the fiery sword—and this idea
of an outside view of that Eden, attainable under the
auspices of personified Wisdom (the goddess of antiquity),
is in marked contrast to the feeling and thought of earlier
Christian times. Here, at the threshold of Paradise, the
Poet is met by a more venerable guide, no other than S.
Paul, who conducts him from those lower regions, the mytho-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
153
logical, shadowy, and infernal, to the true Heaven of bliss
and glory, passing successively through its different spheres,
till they reach the highest empyrean, at the radiant limit
of which Heaven of Heavens the Apostle consigns him to
the care of Angels, who guide him to an aerial height
whence a distant glimpse of the beatific vision is attained;
and here, very properly, the poem ends; the privileged
wanderer is conducted back to earth. Various allusions to
the public characters, the manners and morals of the age,
are interspersed over these pages. On entering the infer-
nal realm, the Poet appeals to God against the iniquities
and vices then prevalent. Led before the throne of For-
tune, he beholds a matron, beautiful and richly clad as seen
in front, but bald, unattractive, and in weeds of widowhood
as seen from behind. She is turning seven wheels, on the
spokes of which are the great and powerful of the time,
human beings destined to prove the inevitable gyrations :
Bernabo Visconti, and his more favoured successor
Galeazzo; Cola di Rienzo, Joanna of Naples, and the
Scaligeri of Verona, not too severely designated as "No-
velli Caini”-new Cains. The punishment of the damned
is described conformably with gross medieval notions.
The Temple of the Church is beheld in its resplendence :
built up with the glorified bodies of saints, whose hair is
of gold, their cheeks being of coral.* On the walls of
this edifice is inscribed the Apostles' Creed, a metrical
paraphrase of which is given with an additional clause pro-
fessing belief in transubstantiation. The perfection of the
Christian character is declared to consist in the reference
of all to, and centering of all in, the Supreme Being, "from
* Mai Policleto né musaico arte,
Ne anco Giotto fi cotal lavoro,
Qual era quel di quelle membre sparte-
almost the sole allusion to art or artists in this pocm.
:
154
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
whom sacred Scripture derives authority." The terza
rima of this poem is generally vigorous, and flows with
pleasing cadence.
It would be beyond my limits even to glance over the
range of literary activities, so luxuriantly productive and
vigorous, in the Italy of this age. One work of the devo-
tional class, a standard and model of its kind, which I may
mention, is the "Specchio della vera Penitenza”—Mirror
of true Repentance, by Jacopo Passavanti. Its author was
of a noble Florentine family; entered the Dominican Order
at the age of thirteen; was sent by his superiors to study at
Paris; taught theology at Rome, Pisa, and Siena; held suc-
cessively the office of prior at different Dominican convents;
was appointed diocesan Vicar by the Bishop of Florence;
and died in that city, at his convent of S. Maria Novella,
aged about fifty-five, 1357. His "Specchio" is indeed a
"mirror" of the religious feeling of his time, and exercises
a mysterious fascination. Reading this book, we seem to
wander through moonlit forests or the dim aisles of Gothic
cathedrals, communing with the sainted dead, and also with
the lost and guilty-hearing voices of solemn consolation
or awful warning from the "undiscovered country." All
limits between the visible and invisible disappear; the
intense realities of immortal life cast into shade the tran-
sient things of the material and present. Among the many
stories of the supernatural, told with simplicity which
enhances their effect, in these pages, is one that may be
here translated:
(6
It is read that at Matiscona (Macon), there lived a cer-
tain Count, who was rebellious in pride against God, and
pitiless towards his neighbour; and being in high estate
with lordship and much wealth, strong and of sound body,
he thought not of death, nor remembered that the things of
this world would ever fail him. One day, whilst he sat in
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
155
his own palace, surrounded by many cavaliers, pages, and
many honourable citizens who were feasting with him at
Easter, there suddenly appeared an unknown man on a tall
steed, who entered the gates of the palace without saying
a word to any one, and riding up to where the Count sat,
said to him, 'Rise, and follow me!' He, terrified and
trembling, got up, and followed that stranger, to whom none
had dared to speak. When they came to the gate of the
palace, that rider commanded the Count to mount a horse,
which there stood ready, saddled and bridled; and taking
the reins, and drawing him after his own horse, galloped
away at speed, leading the Count through the air, all in the
city beholding, whilst he (the Count) shrieked, and cried
out mournfully, 'Help me, good people!' And thus be-
wailing and crying out, he vanished from the sight of men,
and went to take his place for ever and ever with the
demons in Hell." More consoling is the story of the stu-
dent at Paris, who desired to confess his sins, but was so
overcome with shame and horror that he could not speak :
his father-confessor bade him write out the dread catalogue ;
having done this, he tried to read it in the confessional, but
neither could he utter that list. The father, who was Prior
of S. Victor, took the writing from him, "and reading of
those great and shameful sins, not knowing of himself what
penance he ought to impose, demanded permission from
the student to speak about them with his Abbot, who was
a learned man. This was granted; he gave the paper on
which were written all those sins to the Abbot, but he,
when opening it, found blank paper on which was nothing
written. And the Abbot said to the Prior, 'What am I to
read? for as to this paper which you have given me, there is
not one letter traced upon it.' The Prior, seeing that it
was really so, answered, 'Of a truth, father, the sins of the
student were all written, and I did read them, on this paper;
iP
156
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
but in what I now behold it is evident that the merciful
God has pleased to make manifest the virtue of contrition,
and how He has accepted that of this young man, remitting
to him all his sins.'"
Boccaccio's Latin work, De Casibus Virorum illustr.-on
the fate of illustrious persons, shows the tendency, prevalent
at this time, to dwell for moral or religious edification on
extraordinary examples of calamity, or startling reverses of
fortune, and those chastisements of guilt which thoughtful
minds regarded as signal proofs of a Providence on earth.
His narration of the tragic fate of the Templars may be
deemed historic and trustworthy, because set down from
the report of his father, who had been an eye-witness to
those scenes of horror at Paris.
Boccaccio's famous story of the conversion of the Jew
at Rome, in spite of all the evil realities he finds there,
contains not only malicious sarcasm and severe protest
against corruption, but also the testimony to the manifesta-
tion of a Providence in the Church: "I have seen (says this
singular proselyte) that at Rome there is no piety, no devo-
tion, no good work practised among the priestly class; that
avarice, gluttony, fraud, envy, profligacy, and things if pos-
sible still worse, were all in favour there; and that this
place is rather the workshop of the Devil than the temple
of God. It seemed to me that the sovereign Pastor and
those who surround him were doing all they could to destroy
Christianity. Yet I saw that, notwithstanding all this,
Christianity is prosperous and increasing; that it is daily
rising and developing. I have therefore concluded that
your religion is true, seeing that the Court of Rome and
the Cardinals are unable to destroy it; and I have been
brought to the conviction that, instead of those men who
ought to be its chief support, but in reality are authors of the
greatest injury thereto, it must be the Holy Spirit Himself,
}
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
157
the very hand of God which maintains Christianity. Let us
go therefore to the church, and there, according to the usage
of your holy faith, let me be baptized as soon as possible."
Among curiosities of literature belonging to this period is
one that might be deemed blasphemous but for the internal
evidences of grave good faith and orthodox intent, among
the legal writings of Bartolo, a celebrated jurisconsult, who
reports, as an event of the law courts, a trial in which Satan
appears before the Saviour of the world as accuser of the
Human race, and demanding his right to rule over and dis-
pose of all mortal beings; but is finally defeated by the
subtle arguments and moving appeals of the Virgin Mary!
The date of this procedure is Good Friday, 1311. After
listening to plaintiff and defendant, the Saviour commands
Gabriel to sound his golden trumpet and cite both Mary,
"the Advocate of the Human Race," and Satan," the Pro-
curator of Iniquity," to hear judgment on the ensuing
Easter Sunday. On that festival they appear before the
Divine throne, and the Judge, after long preamble, declares
that He absolves mankind, rejects the plea of the Demon
Procurator, and condemns him to eternal penalties. The
minutes of the trial are drawn up by " John the Evangelist,
notary of our Lord Jesus Christ, and secretary of the
Curia." Finally, all the angels render thanks and praise
to the blessed Mother, invoking her with the anthem, Salve
Regina, Mater misericordia! vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra,
salve! In these times of popular credulity the voice of
*
* Tractatus quæstionis ventitatæ coram Domino nostro J. C. inter
Virginem Mariam ex una parte, et Diabolem ex altra parte. The
theological idea pervading this curious composition ascribes an absolute
celestial queenhood to Mary, who makes her appearance before the
throne escorted by a multitude of Angels, singing with loud voices :
Ave Regina cœlorum! Its author was a native of Sassoferrato, born in
1313, became professor of law at Padua, and obtained from the Emperor
158
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
the pulpit was sometimes raised to condemn the supersti-
tious reliance on things external and material. An
energetic friar, Giordano di Rivalta, whose preaching at
Florence, in 1309, drew crowds to the Dominican church of
S. Maria Novella, reminded his hearers that pilgrimages
were of no avail, and even mischievous, unless accompanied
by the practice of a virtuous life. "Such roaming about,"
he said, "I deem of no use, and should recommend to few
persons-to those few, but seldom; for on those journeys
mẹn fall into sin and are exposed to many perils. Diverse
scandals occur, and patience fails. People often quarrel,
and are angered against each other, or with the host at the
inns; and sometimes homicides, frauds, immoralities are
committed the last very often; and thus do they (the
pilgrims) fall into mortal sin.” * Almost all evils that ever
desolated the Church, or discredited the ecclesiastical order,
rose to a climax in this century. In many places the
clergy were addicted to drunkenness; wine-shops and
gambling-tables were set up in the sacred buildings, or on
their premises; the sacraments, pardons, dispensations,
were publicly sold. The spirit of the world had crept into
the cloister. Nuns went about in public, to the peril of
their reputation if not of their virtue. At Monte Cassino
the monks retained and enjoyed private fortunes; or,
securing rich benefices from their Abbot, deserted their
Benedictine retreat to live, like the secular clergy, on the
revenues of such lucrative posts.
Charles IV. various privileges for the nascent University of Pisa. His
extant works fill a folio volume, and comprise, besides judicial orations,
treatises on the Guelphs and Ghibellines, on the Republic and.
Tyranny.
* "Fanno micidio ed inganni e fornicazioni; e di questo si fa assai, e
caggiono in peccato mortale."-Cantu, Storia degli Italiani, v. ii.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
159
1
Benedict 'XII., laudably bent on eradicating abuses,
offered to the Cardinals at Avignon an aggregate income
of 100,000 gold florins, and also one half of the revenues of
the Papal States, on condition of their renouncing plurali-
ties for ever. They refused, preferring to hold fast the
emoluments which were the fruit of that system so often
reprobated.
The prosecutions against sorcery were now rising into
portentous prominence, with aggravated severities. In an
evil hour for humanity, Pope John XXII. put forth a bull
(1322) commanding that all who meddled with the black
art should be punished as heretics, though not with con-
fiscation of property. The above-named jurist, Bartolo,
decided, about the year 1350, that death by fire was the
suitable punishment for such offenders. "This," says the
author of the "Pope and the Council," "inaugurated the
regular burning of witches." In that fatal document, so
fraught with tragic results to suffering and feeble beings,
the Pope laments that, "many persons, to our great afflic-
tion, desert the light of truth, and, being Christians only in
name, are so far enveloped in the mists of error as to make
alliance with Death and compact with Hell; adoring and
offering sacrifice to demons, manufacturing images, rings,
vials, mirrors, and other objects in which to confine, or cir-
cumscribe, Devils; demanding and obtaining answers from
such, imploring from them the gratification of their
depraved desires, and in return for infamous favours,
offering to them (the Demons) infamous servitude. Oh,
grief to narrate! This pestilence is spreading beyond
limits, and infecting all the flock of Christ!" In 1363, a
native of Piedmont was fined forty florins for having caused
a shower of hail by incantations from a conjuring book!
In 1386, two inhabitants of an Italian valley had to pay
one hundred and twenty gold solidi for merely confiding in
160
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
a charm to cure their flocks of disease. This onset against
imaginary evils had already commenced in distant countries.
In 1330, a Council at Lambeth ordered that sorcerers,
perjured persons, and incendiarists should be publicly ex-
communicated four times every year in the English
churches. The only complete emancipation of mind from the
follies of belief in witchcraft, and the only efficient suppres-
sion of the dreadful cruelties inflicted on those accused of
it, were secured by the slowly-attained conviction that such
a crime is impossible.*
The belief in astrology was kept alive not only through
ignorance and imposture, but by erudite speculation
and academic pedantry-evidently favoured by deep-rooted
tendencies or propensities of the imaginative cast. Cecco
d'Ascoli professed that science publicly at Bologna; but
was finally burnt at the stake in Florence (1327) for pro-
positions savouring of heresy, e. g. that there existed in the
upper spheres generations of malignant spirits, who could
be constrained to perform marvellous things through irre-
sistible spells; that men might be born under such constel-
lations as would compel them to commit sin, &c. Whilst
Petrarch was reciting in the cathedral of Milan an in-
augural oration for the nephews and successors of the
Prince Archbishop, Giovanni Visconti, the court-astronomer
interrupted that speech, because he had calculated that
the moment of the most benign conjunction of the planets
had just arrived. The very first sentence in the
"De-
camerone” implies, and seems to justify, astrologic theories.
The still popular superstitions of darker character, the
notion of the direct interference of evil spirits through the
* See Lecky's "History of Rationalism" for a masterly treatment of
this subject—the growth, results, and gradual decline of the belief in
sorcery.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
161
:
phenomena of nature, and their share in the punishment of
man by such agency, is illustrated in the following wild
legend reported, with apparent faith, by Villani (Storie
Fiorentine, c. 33), after mentioning an extraordinary and
disastrous inundation of the Arno:-"The night in which the
said deluge commenced, a holy recluse, whilst at prayer in his
solitary hermitage above the abbey of Vallombrosa, heard
a terrible tumult, and beheld the visible forms of demons
in the semblance of a troop of armed knights, who galloped
furiously along. Hearing and seeing this, the hermit made
the holy sign of the cross, went to the little door of his cell,
and then saw that the multitude of horsemen were dreadful
and black in visage; and conjuring one of them in the
name of God to tell him what this portent signified, was
answered: We are going to submerge the city of Florence on
account of its sins, if God will permit us so to do. And this
I, who write, had from the Abbot of Vallombrosa, a religious
man worthy to be trusted, who learnt it by inquiry from
the said hermit."
It is well to turn from the darker to the brighter aspects,
and to consider those evidences of noble life and vital
energies in which the spirit of Catholicism asserted its
divine origin, proclaiming its mission to sanctify, its power
to strengthen and console. That plant, destined for per-
petual growth, ceased not to bear fruit wherever its
majestic branches cast their refreshing shade. The prin-
ciples and passions of the world, and the weakness of
humanity are found, it is true, there as elsewhere. We
discover no sign of infallibility, no inerrable body or in-
dividual, but heart-consoling proofs are before us of an
indefectible loyalty to the essential and universal in the
truths and morals of Christian origin. The abuse of excom-
munications was checked by the prohibition to pass any
such sentences where pecuniary interests alone were con-
M
162
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
cerned. The evils which had invaded the cloister were
provided against by the requirement of the age of fifteen
for monastic profession, and of a novitiate of at least a
year before the final vows; also by the prohibition to exact
any payment from the novice or postulant. The same
immunities claimed for the clergy and their property were
extended to the most miserable among sufferers from
disease, the lepers in the lazar-house. The power of the
Church to subdue the proud and humiliate aristocratic
sinners, for the benefit of their guilt-stained souls, is strik-
ingly exemplified in the penance imposed by the Pope
(1339) on Alberto and Mastino della Scala for the murder
of their cousin, the Bishop of Verona, whose blood both
brothers were accused of being alike responsible for shed-
ding. Eight days after the absolution bestowed by the Pope's
representative, the brothers were to walk bare-headed, and
clad in nothing but their shirts, each holding a wax taper
weighing six pounds, from the city gate to the cathedral, a
hundred other tapers of like weight being borne before
them; in the cathedral they were to attend High Mass,
and afterwards beg pardon of all the Canons. In the
course of the following six months they were to present
to that cathedral a silver image, weight 30 marcs, of the
Blessed Virgin, and ten silver lamps, each three marcs in
weight. In the course of the year they were to found in
the same church six chaplaincies, each endowed with
twenty gold florins per annum. On the anniversary of the
day that murder was committed each brother was to feed
and clothe twenty poor persons. If a general crusade
should be undertaken during their lifetime, they were to
send twenty mounted warriors to Palestine, and maintain
them there for one year. If they should not live to
see such wars for the rescue of the Holy Land, they were
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
163
to charge their heirs to fulfil that obligation when the said
crusade should occur.
*
In public worship the increasing regards for the Virgin
Mother appear in the regulations of Gregory XI., that a
vigil with fasting should precede the festival of her nati-
vity. The Invention (i. e. discovery) and Exaltation of
the Cross were celebrated with increased solemnity by
that Pope's order. Urban VI. instituted a festival of the
"Visitation" of the Madonna; decreed that the Corpus
Domini festival should be celebrated, notwithstanding in-
terdicts, in all countries, and accorded a hundred days' in-
dulgence to all who accompanied the Viaticum from the
church to the house of the sick communicant and back
again.
The Ritual of the Latin Church has been no more dis-
tinguished by immutability than her doctrines and dis-
cipline. A grand expression of the devotional feeling
deeply rooted in the human heart, those majestic rites
were the growth of ages, the product of enthusiasm, senti-
ment, and art. If the Reformation could have been accom-
plished without any change in that fair and stately fabric
of external worship, save the excision of unbecoming
adjuncts or superstitious and puerile superfluities, the
results would perhaps have been happier for the religious
* Rohrbacher, "Ecclesiastical History."-Muratori (Annali) nar-
rates the circumstances of the murder so as to represent Mastino alone as
the immediate author of it, not mentioning even the presence of Alberto.
"Such was the furious spirit of Mastino at this time," (namely, in 1338,
after many disasters to his political interests), " that whilst he was riding
through Verona on the 27th April, with Azzo da Coreggio, chancing to
meet Bartolomeo della Scala, Bishop of that city, and urged by mere
suspicion that he had been conspiring against him, as the Bishop of
Vicenza had actually done, he (Mastino) drew his sword, and with his
own hand slew him. For this crime Benedict XII. proceeded against
him with the most rigorous censures."
M 2
164
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
interests and concord of Christendom. In some respects,
however, this worship, beautiful and deeply significant as
it still is, has degenerated from its own highest standard.
Reviewing it, as shown by liturgical writers to have once
been, we perceive a gradual departure from the patriarchal
dignity and venerable graciousness which characterized it
of old. On the one hand, it is a development, unlike in-
deed, yet still true to, the norma of the primitive Church ;
on the other, an offspring and expression of the temporal
power and grandeur of the Holy See. Influences whose
effect is to unspiritualize, have not exalted but degraded ;
and the introduction of the pomp and etiquette of the
Papal Court into the sanctuary, is the profanation of Catholic
worship. No religious ceremonies can have their desirable
effect on the mind, unless they correspond to a sense of
the infinite and celestial; failing in this, they are but a
mask for earthly vanities.*
The manner in which the Roman Pontiffs presented
themselves to their people in former times was more
paternal and familiar, therefore more apostolic, than the
ostentatious reserve and environment of half-military, half-
prelatic state into which they have since withdrawn. We
cannot suppose the Papal High Mass in the XIV. century
to have been, as at the present day, the least devotional,
with respect to the comportment of those attending-
we cannot say worshipping-among all great ecclesiastical
celebrations at Rome.
* "Il n'est pas vrai (says Madame de Stael) que la religion protestante
soit dépourvue de poésie, parceque les pratiques du culte y ont moins
d'éclat que dans la religion catholique. Des cérémonies plus ou moins
bien exécutées, selon la richesse des villes et la magnificence des
édifices, ne sauraient être la cause principale de l'impression que produit
le service divin; ce sont ses rapports avec nos sentiments intérieurs qui
nous émeuvent, rapports qui peuvent exister dans la simplicité comme
dans la pompe."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
165
What, we may ask, were formerly the observances of
the season pre-eminent for ritual splendour and attractions
at this centre? The Holy Week and Easter were, in many
particulars, very different from the present norma of their
celebration in S. Peter's and the Sistine chapel. On Palm
Sunday the Pope himself sung the High Mass, instead of
merely "assisting," as he does now; and in the palm-bear-
ing procession he was not carried on a portative throne,
but walked under a canopy, supported by four noblemen,
to a window or arch of the portico, from which he threw
down the blessed palms, or olive branches, among the people.
On Holy Thursday he washed the feet of twelve sub-
deacons, and gave to each two solidi. If, however, a
Patriarch had to officiate instead of the Pope, that dignitary
would wash the feet of twelve veritably poor men in the
appointed chapel. The Pontiff himself preached, among
his other duties, on that Thursday; and besides the blessing
of the sacramental oils, a singular observance took place at
the Lateran, manifesting the intent to appropriate some-
thing of the ancient Jewish together with the Christian
ritual. During the sermon certain Cardinal Deacons re-
moved the mensa and front of the high altar, so as to allow
ingress into an ancient sanctuary, where was deposited a
glass vessel containing a small golden vase, the latter con-
taining a precious gem, within which was set a relic
believed to be the real Blood of the Redeemer. This
ampolla was taken from its place and exhibited to the
people by the Pope, who, on this sole occasion annually,
entered into the thrice-sacred penetralia, there completed
the ceremonies of the Mass, and incensed the Eucharistic
species-" according (says one writer) to the rite of the
Ancient Testament, which permitted to the High Priest
alone, and but once a year, the ingress into the Sancta
Sanctorum." The affecting and impressive usage of
166
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
J-
publicly reconciling penitents to the Church, after long
penances publicly performed, on this day, was kept up at
least during the first half of this century. Three (in some
churches four, in others five) masses were performed by
the same celebrant, the first adapted to the occasion of
reconciling those who had not been allowed even to attend
sacred rites, but been required to do penance outside of
the church, since the previous Ash Wednesday. They now
made their appearance clad in sackcloth, bare-footed, their
heads strewn with ashes; a deacon presented them to the
Pope; an archdeacon prayed him to accept and obtain for
them, through his prayers, restitution to the Divine favour.
(Redintegra in eis, apostolice Pontifex, quicquid, Diabolo
suadente, corruptum est, et orationum tuarum patrocinantibus
meritis per divinæ reconciliationis gratiam fac hominem proxi-
mum Deo, &c.) At the gates of the church the Pontiff absolved
them with various prayers and antiphons; all the bells
were rung for the last time till the ensuing Saturday; and
the penitents thenceforth took their place among worship-
pers, admitted to the same spiritual privileges. (Maringola,
Antiquit. Christian. Institutiones; and the Ordo of Gae-
tani in Mabillon.) On that Thursday in Holy Week the
Pontiff gave largess, in the chapel of S. Sylvester at the
Lateran, to the Cardinals and Prelates, who, kneeling
before him, severally received a sum of money in the mitre
held in the hand, the money being first presented to the
Pope by a chamberlain in a silver spoon. After this, his
Holiness entertained the Cardinals and any sovereign
Prince who might be in Rome, at a grand banquet, he him-
self being seated at a table higher than the rest, with large
vessels of silver and gold before him. The first noblemen
present in the Curia served the Pope to the first dish, and
afterwards served the Cardinals alike, acting as carvers,
waiters, cupbearers, during the whole time of this banquet,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
167
at which the ecclesiastical dignitaries sat in their sacred vest-
ments, and with mitres on; the Pope sat vested in crimson
(mantum rubeum.) If a King were present, he served the
Pope to the first dish, before taking his seat at table between
the two senior Cardinal Deacons. All the Court Chaplains
were entertained splendidly that day by the Chief Cham-
berlain. No woman, not even an Empress or Queen, could
dine with the Pope. On the Friday, Saturday, and Easter
Sunday, the Papal benediction was twice given to the as-
sembled people from a window or loggia. On the first of
those days, Good Friday, the procession with lights and
incense, in which the Pontiff walked to the illuminated
shrine, where the Host had been reserved since the previous
day, was developed into the form in which it has been since
retained, after the ceremony of the Adoration of the Cross,
in this century, and by John XXII.; though the origin of
that usage, the reservation of the holy Eucharist in one
kind for the " Mass of the Presanctified," in which there is
no consecration, on Good Friday,—is known to be far more
ancient.* On Holy Saturday the Pope frequently ordained
the candidates for major and minor Orders, or consecrated
new Cardinals, instead of leaving those long offices, as at
present, to the Cardinal Vicar.† On Easter Sunday, he rode
* It is mentioned in the Sacramentary of S. Gregory, though without
the accompanying solemnities later introduced; as is also that pathetic
observance called the Adoration of the Cross. In ancient times the Pope
and all the Clergy walked bare-footed, and reciting the seven penitential
psalms, to the S. Croce basilica on this day; and multitudes of pious
people used to visit the principal churches, walking through Rome's
streets bare-footed. `The communion, now withheld, used to be given to
all who desired on that most solemn anniversary, which is no longer
even honoured by the suspense of ordinary business in Rome-kept as a
day of devotion, but not of precept.
† The striking of the new fire from flint on this day and the blessing
of that element afterwards, used to take place every day in several
churches; in others, every Saturday. The beautiful formula for the
168
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
in procession, vested pontifically, and wearing the tiara,
to S. Maria Maggiore, and on the way was met by a cleric
(the Scriniarius, which we may translate, "Master of the
Rolls"), who, after asking for his blessing, informed his Holi-
ness that on the Saturday previous so many persons, males
and females, had been baptized at S. Maria Maggiore-the
Pope answering, "Deo gratias." Approaching the high
altar of the basilica with processional pomp, in which hist
Holiness walked under a canopy, he received a reed with a
lighted taper at the end, and set fire to flax placed on the
capitals of certain columns in the chancel-probably an in-
tended memento of the transitoriness of all earthly state
and splendours, like the similar usage still kept up at the
Papal Coronation with the thrice-chanted formula, "Sic
transit gloria mundi." At the Pontific rites, on this supreme
festival, all of whatever degree, clerics and laics, high and
low, rich and poor, might receive communion, and in both
kinds, from the hands of the Pope, assisted by a Cardinal
Deacon.* The butlers of the Papal palace were ordered to
supply three or four quarts of the choicest wine (vini puri
et optimi) for this general Communion, without the mutila-
tion of that holiest of Sacraments by which the Roman
blessing of the Paschal candle has been attributed to Pope Zosimus
(417-418), by some writers to still earlier origin. Martene (De Antiq.
Ecclesia Disciplina) considers that, in all probability, S. Augustine com-
posed the Exultet—that formula of benediction which, though not in
metre, has characteristics of the noblest poetry.
* "Omnis homo cujuscumque conditionis et status existat, qui sit vere
confessus et vere pœnitus corde contritus, plebani vel alterius majoris—
hodie potest recipere Corpus Christi de manibus Papæ.-Diaconus re-
manet in altare tenendo cum manu sinistra calicem et cum manu dextra
fistulum, cum qua dat ad bibendum omnibus qui communicaverint de
manu Papæ de Christi Sauguine, dicendo cuilibet, Sanguis Domini
nostri Jesu Christi, &c." (P. Amelius, Ordo Roman.) It appears from
this that the consecrated Host was given by the Pope, the sacramental
wine by the assistant Cardinal Deacon, to all communicants-probably
to save fatigue to his Holiness.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
169
Church has since so compromised herself in the eyes of
myriads of Christians. Finally, the Pontiff passed with a
splendid procession to the portico or loggia for the benedic-
tion,-described with full details, though nothing is said by
writers of this period about the portative throne or flabella
-those fans of ostrich feathers with peacocks' eyes, the
use of which for the natural purpose of chasing flies from
the chalice, and cooling the air around the altar, was dis-
continued, it seems, in this century.* On Easter Sunday
the Clerics of "Camera," the Penitentiaries of the Vatican,
and even the Acolytes, all dined with the Pope. Hospitali-
ties on a smaller scale were offered before the vespers of
that sacred day. All who had eminent places in the sanc-
tuary went from S. Peter's to the neighbouring church of
S. Andrea ad Crucem (no longer extant), where, after sing-
ing certain antiphons, they were invited by a lay official to
an adjacent chamber, and there helped three times to wine
of three different kinds-the first Greek, the second called
pactisis, the third procoma or procovia. (Galletti, Del Pri-
micerio della Santa Sede.) Other manifestations of the
bountiful spirit of the medieval Church were interwoven
with the complicated rites of the installation of new Popes
at the Lateran. His Holiness was seated successively on
two antique porphyry chairs, and girt with a zone of red
silk, from which hung a purple silk purse, containing musk
and twelve precious stones cut like seals (cum sigillis.)
Three times he threw silver coins (denarii) among the
people, reciting the text: Dispersit, dedit pauperibus;
justitia ejus manet in sæculum sæculi.
* “L'usage du flabellum subsiste encore chez les Grecs et les Armé-
niens; il a disparu de l'Eglise Romaine des le quatorzième siècle,
c'est-à-dire depuis l'époque de la suppressiou de la communion sous les
deux espèces, et n'a été conservé que par le souverain pontife qui fait
porter devant lui deux grands éventails en plumes de paon dans les
solennités.”—Martigny, Diction. des Antiq. Chrétiennes.
170
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Turning now to the penitential season-and penances
were in these times a reality, in which pontiffs and paupers
alike performed their part-we shall see the successor of
S. Peter walking barefooted on Ash Wednesday from S.
Anastasia (below the north-west angle of the Palatine),
where he had received and given the ashes strewn on the
head, first to S. Maria in Cosmedin, under the Aventine,
and thence to S. Sabina on the steep summit of that mount,
at both which churches the "Stations" were held (as they
are still) on the first day of Lent. On the fourth Sunday
of that fasting-season, the Pope blessed in the sacristy of
his chapel the Golden Rose (a usage still kept up); and,
carrying that symbol in his hand, rode from the Lateran
Palace to S. Croce, where he celebrated mass and preached,
still holding the precious Rose in his hand, and usually
descanting on its mystic significance in his sermon.*
Returning on horseback to his palace, he immediately
bestowed the Rose either on the noblest person present or
on any other individual as he might please; first saying a
few words on the religious value of the symbol, and after
its bestowal receiving homage from the favoured person,
who knelt and kissed his foot-as even royalty would be
required to do after being honoured by that gift of the
Rose (osculatur pedem Papæ, dato etiam quod esset rex).
Most curious among the observances of Holy Thursday
was one which has been expunged from the rubrics for that
day: the public and general excommunication of heretics
and heinous offenders-the processus, as it was called, which
took place three times in the year—namely, in the Holy
Week, on Ascension Day, and on the Feast of the Dedica-
Precious, according to liturgical writers, for three properties,—
"Quæ habet colorem gaudiosum, odorem confortativum, aspectum læti-
ficum." For the origin of the Golden Rose and its symbolism, see pre-
ceding volume, p. 130.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
171
cation of S. Peter's. The Pope, all the Cardinals and
Prelates, assembled in S. Peter's or the Lateran, where
His Holiness, in crimson vestments, and wearing a mitre
studded with pearls, ascended a platform, and after receiv-
ing homage, as usual, from all those dignitaries, said some
words in the vulgar tongue (in vulgari) on the subject of
the anathemas about to be passed. The processus was read
aloud in Latin by a Chaplain; afterwards was translated,
either in its totality or substance, by a Cardinal Deacon in
white vestments, and with mitred head. The Pope usually
preached, after this, from a pulpit, where a Bishop and two
Deacons attended him, and in this longer discourse declared
that he approved and ratified those anathemas. At the
end of his sermon he threw down several burning torches
to be extinguished on the pavement; the Cardinals each
threw down a single torch; all this passing in silence, to
which succeeded a discordant peal of bells rung without
harmony or order. The ministering Deacon then took off
his mitre and chanted the "confiteor;" the Pope again
addressed the people in a few words, setting forth the
clemency of the Church to the obedient and her just
severity to the incredulous and obdurate, after which he
closed the rites with his benediction and the granting of
an indulgence. The common processus, never omitted, was
launched against heretics, pirates, the forgers of bulls,
those who held forbidden traffic with Saracens, rulers who
imposed new taxes, and those who impeded travellers on
their way to Rome. The famous bull, In Cana Domini,
was produced, to be read on this Thursday, as drawn up in
its broader outlines and general bearings, by Gregory XI.,
1372; afterwards renewed by Gregory XII., 1411, and
amplified by Pius V., 1568. It was finally suppressed by
Clement XIV., not long after its publication had been
prohibited (1768) in France, Spain, the Neapolitan States,
172
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
E
and Parma, in consequence of the dissensions between
those Governments and that Pope's predecessor, Clement
XIII.
The association of charities with devotions is one of
the general characteristics of the Roman Church, and
among the best results that spring from her ritualistic
practice. After the Requiem High Mass annually cele-
brated by the Pope for the souls of his predecessors and of
all Cardinals, he used to feed two hundred poor persons,
and each Cardinal to extend the same charity to twenty-
five paupers. Alexander IV. ordered that, after the death
of the Pope, each Cardinal should celebrate a Requiem
Mass, and feed fifty poor persons; that after the death of
every Cardinal, the Pope, and all others of the sacred
college, should perform the same rites for the departed
soul; the Pontiff feed two hundred, the Cardinals each
twenty-five paupers. Oblations, of various kinds, were
still offered at the altar, or at the Papal throne, during
this century; and those gifts brought by pious persons on
festivals were a perquisite of the Chaplains of " Camera,"
excepting the bread and wine so offered, which pertained
to the acolytes.
Not only the hospitalities of the table, but the edifica-
tions of the pulpit, have been, the latter to great extent,
the former totally, dropped by the modern practice of the
Curia-except, indeed, the symbolic banquet to the thirteen
deacons, who are waited on by the Pope on Holy Thursday.
Popes used to preach on several occasions in old times;
Cardinals very often in the Papal and the popular presence.
Gradually that task was assigned to abbots and prelates
rather than to others still higher; but the sermon before
the Pontiff, his Court, and the assembled people, seems to
have been at least tenfold more frequent in the XIV.
than it is in the XIX. century. Alike has the disinte-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
173
i
grating process been manifest in the range of other religious
duties discharged by the crowned High Priests. For one
High Mass celebrated by them in modern times, there were
about twelve occasions when they so officiated in public
formerly. They familiarly showed themselves as fathers
and chief pastors among their people, without being re-
quired to undergo those fatigues of cumbrous ceremonial,
on account of which, and in consideration for infirmities or
old age, it has been deemed necessary to limit such public
solemnities at the altar to but three Papal High Masses in
the year!* The Avignon exile, among its other sinister
consequences, led to the withdrawal of pontific rites and
Papal personality into the narrow limits of palace-chapels,
instead of the stately basilica or cathedral. The castellated
palace at Avignon, commenced by Benedict XII., and
finished by Urban V., was the first scene of those restricted
celebrations before court-circles; and Urban V., during his
sojourn of three years in Italy, is supposed to have been
the first Pope to introduce at Rome the " Cappella Papale"
at the Vatican, instead of the ceremonial on a grander
scale and in a more spacious arena.†
Apart from the solemnities of the sanctuary, there were
the genial and pleasant festivities of popular origin and
observance, common to every old city and almost every
village of this land, in which the religious sentiment also
expressed itself, and the happy facility with which Catho-
licism unites and harmonises devotion with innocent
amusement, was most picturesquely displayed. At Milan,
* For the ritual of the XIV. century, see the Ordo Romanus com-
piled by Cardinal Jacopo Gaetani, nephew to Boniface VIII.; and
another Ordo ascribed to Peter Amelius, the Bishop of Senigallia,
whose Latin poem on the journey of Gregory XI. is above referred to;
both edited by Mabillon, Museum Italicum.
† Moroni, Dizionario, v. iii., “Origine delle Cappelle Papali."
174
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
i
all the dependant comuni* were required to send their
representatives, with the local standard, on the festival of
the birth of Mary (8th September); and on the festival of
S. Ambrose (7th December) was presented at the altar of
that Saint, in his venerable basilica, an enormous offering
of flowers, herbs, ripe grapes, and vine-branches, all in
wax-work. The statutes of Modena prescribed that on
the festival of S. Geminiano one member of every family
in the State should repair to that city with a wax-torch for
offering, and remain there till the next morning; and that
every comune governed by its own magistrates should send
its banner, followed by the men of the town or village, for
the same anniversary, to the capital. At Ferrara, every
subject of the State with a fortune above one hundred lire
was required to offer a wax-taper on the morning of the
vigil of S. George's day. At Monte Catino, near Pistoja,
the church-bells were rung by the women during the whole
of S. Mark's day, in commemoration of the recovery of
the civic liberties on the same festival, whilst the clergy
went in procession, chanting litanies, to the parish-church
of Nievole, in the valley below that little town high on the
romantic Apennines. In the same town prevailed the
usage of blessing the flesh of lambs and baskets full of
bread, by the celebrating priest, on the morning of Easter,
and of generously distributing those viands to all who
desired a share in them during the same sacred day.† The
splendid and various celebrations and amusements for S.
John's day at Florence are well known, having been main-
tained, at least in many of their attractive forms, till our
own time, nor finally suppressed till after the fall of the
* « Commonwealth" is, I believe, the best rendering of this term, as
adopted by Mr. Trollope in his admirable and most interesting History
of Florence.
† Cantu, Storia degli Italiani, c. cxxiii.
.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
175
grand-ducal government.* S. Peter at Rome, S. Januarius
at Naples, S. Rosalia at Palermo, are still honoured with
almost undiminished splendours of olden usage. The gay
and gorgeous festivities of Venice, associated with, even if
not emanating from, religious observances, were kept up in
all their genial and glowing liveliness till the fall of that
Republic. During the last century, at least, those brilliant
scenes used to be enacted according to ancient precedents
in the fair Adriatic city. On Ascension Day, the Doge,
with all the pomp and attendance of his office, threw the
ring, for the espousals of the sea, from the gilded bucentaur
into the waters off the Lido; and on the same day went
with the whole personnel of State for the magnificent cele-
brations, to the church of S. Sebastian. A fair in the S.
Mark's piazza, continued for fifteen days after that festival,
was made the occasion of a second Carnival with the mas-
querading gaieties of a pleasure-loving people. For the
picture of Venice, its public and private life in the XVIII.
century, the writings of Gasparo Gozzi (1713-86) supply
all we can desire.
In worship and ritual we learn the sentiment of Catho-
licism; in the lives of saints, the effects of its teaching.
The purifying and consoling influences of an all-dominant
religion are apparent in many passages of Italian Hagio-
graphy; but in some instances we perceive the signs of
perverted notions and misguided piety—
Pain, mixed with pity, in our bosoms rise-
as we consider some of these extraordinary histories of
individual life.
Conspicuous in ecclesiastical and political history is the
young girl, daughter of a dyer at Siena, and without any
* These I have described in a former volume-" Catholic Italy,"
v. 11.
176
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
"
I
:
•
education but what she gave herself, who died at Rome in
her thirty-third year, 1380, and was canonized by Pius II.,
1461. Fervid devotion, the spirit of self-sacrifice, strength
of will, and the sense of a mystic vocation exalted her into
a veritable hero of the Church. Yet, with all that excites
love and reverence in her character, there is not, I believe,
any written life of a virtuous or superior person so painful
to read as that of S. Catherine of Siena. To assume that
self-inflicted and arbitrary suffering is the best means of
effecting the elevation of our being and promoting the soul's
alliance with the Infinite, is to distort the ideal of religious
vocation; and it is injurious to the majesty of God to
suppose that He desires from us any service which does
not conduce to our own perfectionment. A morbid ex-
aggeration of the ascetic theory characterises the whole
life of this saint; and it is difficult to sever the credible
reality from the mists of colouring legend by which most
passages of her history are surrounded. We possess a very
curious memoir of her by her father confessor, Padre
Raimondo da Capua, a learned Dominican. Many parti-
culars in his pages lead us to suppose that she was epilep-
tic, or under continual hallucinations, believing as realities.
things that were the offspring of imagination, and intending
to observe mortifications beyond all human endurance.
We are told that she had frequent and intimate conversa-
tions with Christ in person, and that, on one of those
mysterious visits, He accepted her, from the Virgin Mother,
as His spouse, in presence of Mary, S. John the Evangelist,
S. Paul, S. Dominick, and King David, who played upon
his harp to celebrate the event; that, while in extasy. after
communion, at Pisa, she beheld the Saviour on the cross,
and received (like S. Francis) the stigmas inflicted on her
person by rays of light from the Crucified, but which
mysterious wounds remained, like the jewelled ring given
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
177
!
to her by the Divine spouse, invisible to all save herself!*
We are told that she abstained from all food, except the
holy Eucharist, during several years, after for some years
living on raw herbs alone, and had so completely van,
quished sleep that half-an-hour of that refreshment sufficed
for her during two days and nights; that she wore an iron
chain round her body, which actually forced its way into
her tortured flesh, causing continual and exhausting per-
spirations, nor ever removed till she lay on her deathbed;
also that she used to scourge herself till the blood flowed
down to her feet three times every day, each time for an
hour and a half; the first of those penances for her own
sins, the second for all the living, the third for souls in
purgatory. The theological idea implied in this, the
saint's own theory as to the efficaciousness of her penances,
need not be criticized here. Does it promise the fruit of
Christian humility? In early childhood she made a vow
of celibacy, after having beheld, as she thought, a vision of
Christ in glory amidst apostles and angels hovering over
* Cesare Cantu, hesitating between belief and rational doubt, says :
"Christ in a vision offered to her the choice between a crown of gold
and a crown of thorns; and because she took the latter and pressed it
down upon her head, desiring to resemble Him, He gave her His own
side to suck. On another occasion He exchanged her heart with His own.
Such and other marvels are narrated to us by her [confessor, Raimondo
di Capua, who long doubted whether these were not hallucinations of
devout fantasy, till the time when he saw the youthful countenance of
Catherine transform itself into that of the Redeemer Himself!"-Storia
degli Italiani, c. cxvii.
+ The Bull of canonization adopts statements somewhat less incredi-
ble that she once abstained from all food (except the sacramental)
between Ash Wednesday and Ascension Day; and during eight years
lived upon
the juice of herbs, taken in small quantities daily; that she
slept rarely more than two in the twenty-four hours, &c. Pius II. pays
her this tribute of respect, eloquent in its brief simplicity, that "no one
ever approached her without coming wiser and better from her presence."
N
178
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the Dominican church at Siena.* Instead of quietly
attending to home duties, she would rush into the street
whenever she saw a Dominican friar pass, and kiss the
ground trod by his footsteps. In her eighteenth year she
joined the Order of Dominican Tertiaries, called “Sisters
of Penitence," but still continued under her parents' roof,
as those sisters were not bound by perpetual vows, nor
strictly cloistered. Hence does S. Catherine always appear
in art as a Dominican nun. For three years after taking
that step she never spoke except to confess. She scrupled
not to deceive her mother when that good woman endea-
voured to check her suicidal austerities. She undertook
to do all the work of the meanest servant; but fell into
extasies when her duty was to attend to the kitchen, and
thus left the dinner to spoil. How refreshing to turn to
the opposite view of Christian duties, uttered by a poet who
was no superficial theologian:
"The trivial round, the common task
Will furnish all we ought to ask:
Room to deny ourselves; a road
To bring us daily nearer God !"
Yet, on the other hand, there were energies of good and
an enthusiasm of self-devotedness that form the glory and
beauty of Catherine's life. Her attendance at the sick
bed and in hospitals was unwearied; her gentle eloquence
was exerted for the conversion of the most obdurate sin-
* The vision was nothing but the reflection of such pictures as were
common in this century: "Christ seated on an imperial throne, pontifi-
cally vested, and with the (Papal) tiara on His head.-He graciously
smiled, and blessed her with the sign of the cross "—precisely the cos-
tume and attitude of many such representations. Raimondo tells us
that she saw this when six years old, and made the vow of perpetual
virginity in her seventh year!
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
179
ners. Two malefactors, sentenced to dreadful death on the
scaffold, were led by her to heart felt repentance. The Pope
at Avignon, hearing of her extraordinary influences, ap-
pointed three Dominicans expressly to act as confessors, at
Siena, to those whom she had led into the ways of piety and
virtue. The most interesting event in her life is her mission
to the Papal Court, and her appearance at Avignon as
accredited ambassadress of the Florentine Republic—she a
woman who had not learnt to read or write till about her
twenty-fifth year! The Florentine magistrates invited her
from Siena, and received her in their city as a public bene-
factress. They desired to send her to the Papal Court for
the object of pacifying Gregory XI., after the interdict had
been fulminated by him against their state; and it seems
that these grave officials confided for a time in enthusiasm
and piety, as more efficient for acting on the spirit of
the age, than diplomatic sagacity or Italian astuteness.
She undertook the mission with fearless simplicity; and
arrived at Avignon in June, 1376, preceded by her
father confessor, who acted as interpreter, rendering her
Italian into Latin, in Consistory and before the Pope.
Gregory XI. treated her with much honour; consigned
her to the hospitable care of his sister, a noble lady, and
listened to her with the greatest attention. "That thou
mayest clearly see (he said) how much I desire peace, I
will confide it solely to thy hands, so that thou seest the
honour of the Church is committed to thee." The Floren-
tines did not keep their promise by sending envoys to
ratify all that Catherine had proposed or counselled. The
representatives whom they did depute arrived at Avignon
without any mandate, as they declared, to listen to, or be
guided by, Catherine. Her mission was a failure in its
political character; not so with respect to another object
she had still more at heart-the restoration of the P. ne
:.
N 2
180
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANTY AND
tificate to Rome. Froissart says, "Nothing so much
moved Urban," (a mistake for Gregory XI.) "to settle in
Rome, as the arguments of S. Catherine." Her letters to
the Pope bear on the same topic, and fearlessly appeal to
his conscience against that prolonged desertion of their
See by the chief Pastors. From Avignon she returned to
Florence, where she found another party and other views,
unfavourable to peace with the Pontiff, prevalent in that
centre of political vicissitudes. Her life was in danger; for
all those who counselled the now unpopular peace had been
banished. The people threatened to burn the house where
she lodged. After she had been driven to seek refuge else-
where, they came with swords and clubs to kill her. She
presented herself, kneeling calmly before them, and said to
an assassin who advanced from the throng to strike her:
"I am Catherine. Do what the Lord may permit you; but
in the name of the Omnipotent I command you to do no
harm to these with me. I am ready to suffer for Christ and
His Church. Should I fly after finding what I have most
of all desired? I offer myself a victim to my eternal
Spouse!" The assassin shrunk back abashed and awe-struck;
the crowd dispersed without doing injury to Catherine.
Her further stay at Florence was dangerous, but she would
not leave till the peace had been brought about. She finally
settled at Rome on the invitation of Gregory XI., after his
arrival. There she found herself during the troubles that
ensued after the election of Urban VI. Her biographer
tells us that Urban was induced by her advice to go bare-
footed in procession to S. Peter's, after the faction of the
Antipope had been so far suppressed as to leave that basi-
lica under legal power; also, that the castle of S. Angelo was
recovered for Urban VI., and the schismatic defendants,
who held it for Clement VII., defeated and slain on the day
of Catherine's death - which victory he seems to ascribe to
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
181
her prayers. S. Catherine has left 364 extant letters; three
addressed to Gregory XI., nine to Urban VI., others to
Joanna of Naples, Charles V. of France, Cardinals, prelates,
monks, laymen. Her other extant writings consist of four
treatises (in old editions, divided into six) on Discretion,
Prayer, Divine Providence, Obedience-all dictated, we are
told, while she was in ecstasy, and generally in the form of
dialogue between the Deity and the Saint. These throw
some light on ecclesiastical manners, and still more on
abuses. It is incredible that such infamies as we here read
of could have occurred to a mind of stainless purity, unless
glaringly and frequently forced on its attention. There is
not, that I am aware, any document of accusations so crush-
ing, any picture of the corruptions of the Church at this
time so appalling, as the testimony thus supplied by a gentle
and
pure-minded
young woman.-(See her Life and Works,
edited by Girolamo Gigli, Siena, 1707.) Shortly before
her last illness, she thought she saw, whilst praying at S.
Peter's, the bark of the Church placed entirely upon her
shoulders, and crushing her to earth with its mysterious
weight; hence she had the presentiment that she was to die
for the Church (pro Ecclesia mori deberet); but this vision
illustrates nothing so much as her own morbidly-exalted
idea of her sacred vocation.
Another woman of fervent piety and great energies, who
contributed by her influence to the restoration of the
Papal residence at Rome, was Brigida (1302-'73) the
Swedish saint, daughter of a prince of royal blood and de-
scendant of the Gothic Kings, who, after she had become a
widow, and had founded a monastery for nuns in Sweden,
travelled to Rome, where, arriving in 1346, she passed fifteen
years. From the period of her widowhood, she had devoted
herself entirely to religious practices and charities, renounc-
ing all the advantages of wealth and station. From Rome
182
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
she made a pilgrimage to Palestine; thence returned to the
same city, where she died, and was buried at S. Lorenzo in
Panisperna, a church of the Clarisse nuns. Her remains
were afterwards transferred to her monastery, Wartzsten,
in Sweden, by the care of her pious daughter, Catherine,
who had joined her in Rome. Her extant "Revelations"
were written by order of her confessor, a Prior who accom-
panied her to Jerusalem, and who, together with a Doctor
of Theology, translated them into Latin, in eight books. The
Bishop of Jaen, a friend of Brigida, who himself had some
share in the compiling of this work, was commissioned by
the Pope to examine her writings; as was also, in the next
century, the famous Cardinal Torquemada, who was deputed
to this task by the Council of Basle, and pronounced the
"Revelations" to be genuine. These writings, for which
such high authority is claimed, and which are fully approved
by Benedict XIV. in his “De Canonizatione" (1. 11, c. xxxii),
maintain the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and
the fact of the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.
The reflections on the depraved state of Rome, and the
Saint's denunciations on that subject, exposed her to the
popular fury during her residence there. She was called a
witch and an impostor, threatened with death in the flames,
insulted and mocked at when she went abroad.
Her
daughter Catherine, who was also the widow of a Swedish
nobleman, and accompanied her mother to Palestine, be-
came a nun, and finally abbess, in the monastery to which
she had borne that parent's remains. She too was canonized
(ob. 1381). Among the visions believed to have been
vouchsafed from Divine sources to Brigida was one she
thus narrated, desiring it should be made known to Gre-
gory XI. through the Count di Nola, whom that Pope had
sent to consult her :-She beheld the Saviour on a radiant
throne, amidst a multitude of saints and angels, and at
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
183
the foot of the throne, but distant, one vested as a bishop,
to whom the Lord of lords thus spoke-"Listen, Pope
Gregory XI., to the words I utter. Why dost thou so hate
me? Why is thy audacity so great, and thy presumption
against me so insupportable? Why does thy worldly court
ruin my court which is in Heaven? Thou, in thy pride,
despoilest me of my flocks; thou dost rob, extort, and
unjustly seize the property of the Church, which by right
is mine, to bestow it upon thy temporal favourites. Thou
also takest unjustly to thyself the portion of the poor, to
distribute it shamelessly among thy friends, who are already
rich. Why dost thou permit such pride, such insatiable
cupidity and execrable luxury to prevail at thy court, as
well as the foulest abyss of detestable simony? Almost
all who go to thy court are sent, through thy means, to the
Gehenna of fire, because thou considerest not what belongs
to this my court, though thou art prelate and pastor of all
my sheep. All this is thy fault, because thou dost not
deliberate or discern what should be done and corrected
for the spiritual good of all. Although I might justly
condemn, I warn thee in mercy; and for the welfare of
thy soul admonish thee to hasten to Rome, thy proper
place, so soon as thou shalt be able. Delay no longer, but
go thither!"
The canonization of S. Brigida, 1391, was the first cele-
brated (by Boniface IX.) in the chapel of the Vatican palace,
which for this occasion was decorated with myrtle-boughs
and draperies, and illuminated by 86 wax-torches. The
Pope, the Cardinals, prelates, and Roman nobles, passed in
procession along the principal chapel to another, returning
in the same order. Among the observances was the offer-
ing at the Papal throne of not merely wax-tapers, birds in
gilt cages, barrels of wine and loaves of bread, the dona-
tions of mystic meaning still made at such solemnities,
184
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
but, conformably with the scale of ecclesiastical hospitalities
at this time, a heifer, 24 capons, 24 doves, and 24 fowls,
also a golden pitcher of the value of 10 ducats.
Another beatified person, Pietro Petronio, a Carthusian
monk, of Siena (ob. 1361), had also "Revelations," in which
he believed that the realities of the invisible, Heaven, Hell,
and Purgatory, had been displayed to him. Nothing that
he wrote is, I believe, extant; but his example is noticeable
from its association with the history of Boccaccio's career,
and the change wrought in him "who formed the Tuscan's
Syren tongue," through his posthumous influence.
He
(the Beato Pietro) claimed a preternatural knowledge of
the inner life of souls; and communications were made by
his desire, after his death, to Boccaccio, through another
Carthusian monk, which convinced the great writer that
the holy man had known the secrets of his soul, and which
wrought that effect, resulting in change of life and corres-
pondent amelioration in the tone of his writings, such as
called for the congratulations of Petrarch, but also his
well-argued remonstrances against the excess of unreason-
ing zeal, and the unwise purpose of abandoning literature
because literary talents had been misused.*
The Beato Giovanni Colombini (ob. 1367) had been a
wealthy merchant of Siena, and held high office among
the magistrates of that city. The account of his conver-
sion from a worldly to a religious life is interesting. One
day he came home impatient for his dinner, and scolded
his wife because it was not ready. She begged him to be
patient and serene, handing to him a book which she advised
him to read whilst she ordered things in the kitchen.
threw down the book in a passion, but soon became molli-
He
See the letter, a model for good advice to literary men, 1. I, ep. v.
Senili; and the Sonnets: "Amor piangeva, ed io con lui talvolta," &c.
"Più di me lieta non si vede a terra," &c.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
185
4
fied, found that second thoughts were best, and began to read
the "Lives of Saints," his good wife's favourite study. The
life of S. Mary of Egypt, that great sinner who became
a model of eremite penance in the desert, so impressed him
that he did not want to lay aside the book when dinner at
last came.* Thenceforth he showed himself a changed man,
gave most of his fortune to the poor, dedicated himself to
the care of the sick and pilgrims, collected followers who
practised the same degree of self-denying charities; and
finally went so far as to divest himself of all he possessed,
leading thenceforth a life of actual mendicancy. There is
a legend of his having brought home a leper, and laid him
on his wife's bed, out of which it was found, next morning,
that the miserable sufferer had vanished, and all were
convinced that Christ Himself had appeared thus to test His
servant's charity! The pious mendicant was banished from
Siena as a nuisance, but soon recalled by the magistrates
to resume his course of devoted care for the sick and other
laborious duties. On the arrival of Urban V. at Corneto,
Giovanni and sixty of his followers went to pay homage to
that Pope, and obtain his approval of the religious order
they wished to constitute. They presented themselves
before Urban, all with garlands of olive leaves on their
heads, and followed him from Corneto to Viterbo, where
the Pope stayed before proceeding to Rome. He approved
of the new fraternity, and the brethren adopted the rules
of S. Augustine under the patronage of S. Jerome, their cos-
tume being a white habit and cowl, with a chestnut-coloured
mantle. They were first called, perhaps from popular
rather than from their own choice, Jesuati," because they
(C
* This scene, which might happen any day in an Italian bourgeois
family, provided that a pious woman were the mistress, is vividly de-
scribed in the life of the Beato, written about a century later by Fea
Belcari.
186
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
had the Holy Name constantly on their lips. For about
two centuries the members of this Order were occupied
principally in their pharmacies, distributing medicines
gratuitous to the poor, or in hospitals, nursing the sick.
It was not till 1606 that they were authorized, through act
of Paul V., to receive ordination; and from that time they
began to be called Apostolic Clerics. In the course of
that century their credit declined, their observance proved
lax; and at last, in 1668, Clement IX. yielded to the
solicitations of Venice, and suppressed an institution no
longer true to its high calling. Its confiscated property
was used for the necessities of a war against the Turks in
Candia.
Other holy men and women, of whose private life very
little is known, flourished during this period; and several
illustrious Saints appeared in Italy in the XIV.-though it
is rather to the XV. century that their careers belong.
One, who met with a violent death in the middle of this
century, was the Patriarch of Aquileja (born 1280) known
as the Beato Bertrando-a model of devotedness to epis-
copal duties, like those venerable prelates who illumine
the history of the primitive Church. He is said to have
taken S. Thomas à Becket as his model--and his fate proved
similar to that of the English Prelate. He daily fed and
waited on twelve poor men; and in time of famine daily
maintained 2000, thus rescued from starving. Travelling
through his patriarchate, to discharge ecclesiastical duties
in the several churches, during Lent, he would journey all
day and all night for the sake of arriving in time to recon-
cile public penitents on the days appointed-a circumstance
which illustrates the history and character of Ritual during
this age. That virtuous Pastor was calumniated, persecuted,
attacked, and at last murdered by some soldiers serving
the Count di Goritz, in Friuli, on his return from Padua,
1350. (Rohrbacher, “Ecclesiastical History.")
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
187
CHAPTER IV.
MONUMENTS OF THE XIV. CENTURY.
ROME.
IN the Lateran Basilica, that primordial cathedral of
Rome, styled "the Mother and Head of all the churches on
earth," and which, in olden times, had the distinction of
being ever open, day and night—one cannot call to mind
the high memories of the scene-the acts and legends of
Constantine and S. Sylvester, the five Ecumenical Councils,
the solemn installations of S. Peter's successors-without a
sense of indignation at the modern disguise of frigid magni-
ficence and meaningless architecture by which sacred anti-
quity is here concealed. It is now alike difficult to discern
any vestige, save in the superb canopy over the high altar,
the semicircular aisle behind the tribune, and the mosaics
on the apsidal vault, either of the church of Constantine,
rebuilt in the X. century, or of that twice restored after
destructive fires in the XIV. But in one of the modernized
aisles is fortunately preserved a relic of art, from among the
many lost, one with which we might suitably begin our
study of the Christian monuments belonging to the period
here considered, in Rome :-the portrait, namely, by Giotto,
of Boniface VIII. in act of blessing the people whilst a
young cleric reads the bull of the Jubilee appointed for the
year 1300; the site represented being either a loggia, used
for the Papal benediction, above the portico added to the
Lateran buildings by the same Pope, or, as Padre Tosti in-
fers (see his valuable work on the "Life and Times" of Boni-
face VIII.), the interior of S. Peter's, on the occasion when,
after preaching to a great congregation, that energetic
188
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Pontiff caused the bull to be read from the richly draped
ambon, whence he had delivered his sermon. I have already
noticed this picture, the only one preserved from the several
frescoes with which the same artist adorned that Gothic
portico; but I am induced again to mention it here.* A note
of preparation, a signal for the opening of the historic
drama, in which the Papacy and other European powers
acted their part, whether friendly or hostile towards each
other, during this eventful age, all this seems implied in
Giotto's portrait of the Pope, so cruelly persecuted by
Philip le Bel, so sternly denounced by Dante!
After considering the perpetual troubles and general
demoralization of Rome in the XIV. century, we cannot be
surprised to find that little was accomplished here in the
walks of art and public monuments. The creative power
which works in those spheres requires a pure and serene
atmosphere-though able indeed to assert itself amidst the
most untoward circumstances. Elsewhere in Italy were
founded, or rising to completeness, during this period, the
most majestic temples of worship, or other stately edifices
for civic use: the Cathedrals of Florence, Milan, Siena,
Orvieto, S. Petronio at Bologna, the Certosa at Pavia. But
in the ecclesiastical metropolis little remains to attest ener-
gies or inspirations during the time that French Popes sat
at Avignon, or their Italian successors, Urban and Boni-
face, exercised an uneasy sway at this centre.
* Vide preceding Vol. p. 533.-The picture was placed in the cloisters
after the destruction of the loggia, and finally removed to the aisle where
we now see it, by order of the Gaetani family, in 1786. It is sup-
posed to have suffered by retouching, if not alteration. The German
critics regard the two attendants on the Pope as Cardinals-for which
dignity they seem too young. The background, now painted blue, must
have been entirely changed, if the locality be a church-interior, and not
the loggia exterior to the Lateran.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
189
There is a scene that suggests meditation on the great
lessons of Christian and Ecclesiastical History: the so-called
Grotte Vaticane, or crypt of S. Peter's, where we tread the
pavement of the ancient church, and are surrounded by
almost all the relics, still extant, of ages anterior to the
XVI. century, within the walls of this great basilica. For
the festival of SS. Peter and Paul, these subterranean aisles
are opened to the public, and illuminated; and when we
traverse them by dim taper-light in silence interrupted at
intervals by the exulting strains of solemn vespers from the
choir of the gorgeous modern church above-sounds that
descend with subdued effect into these monumental retreats
-the contrasted objects and memories, here present to eye
and mind, acquire an absorbing interest. The bright and
dark aspects of the great historic Pontificate are here en-
graved in the records of the Dead. We are reminded of all
the exaggerations of sacerdotal claims and abuses of spiritual
power;
but also of the evidences to a high vocation for the
benefit of mankind and for the promoting of Christian
civilization, manifest in the lives and acts, in the personal
sanctity and heroic exertions of so many among the crowned
successors of S. Peter.
The objects in this crypt of date within the first half of
the XIV. century, have been elsewhere noticed.* The
* The monument of Boniface VIII., ascribed to Arnolfo del Cambio,
formerly adorned with a mosaic of the Virgin and Child, and the Pope
kneeling before them, thus presented by SS. Peter and Paul; the half-
length statues of Boniface VIII. and Benedict XII., the former by
Andrea Pisano, the latter (originally painted red) by Paolo di Siena; the
mosaic of an angel, ascribed to Giotto; the panel pictures of SS. Peter
and Paul, over the shrine or "confessional" under the high altar,-
school of Giotto; the Madonna, called “della boccie," by Simone di
Martino, an altar-piece so designated from the legend that, whilst it
hung in the portico of the ancient church, it was accidentally struck by
a ball some youths were playing with, and shed blood, which flowed in
190
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
first among the Papal monuments here seen, which enters
within my present limits, is that of Urban VI., a sar-
cophagus with recumbent effigy and a small relief of S.
Peter bestowing the keys on the kneeling Pope; the life-
size effigy wearing the tiara of a single diadem, the figure
in relief having the triple crown, which also appears, over
the Pontiff's device and motto, on the basement of the flank-
ing columns. Seeing that the statue is somewhat longer
than the urn on which it lies, and that its countenance has
no likeness to that of the smaller figure, critics infer that
the former does not belong to this tomb, and that the latter
alone is the genuine portrait of the hard-souled Urban,
who (as Rinaldi states) was first interred under the chapel
of S. Andrew, afterwards removed to a more stately tomb
in S. Peter's. That monument was mutilated on occasion
of its removal during the works for the new building in
the XVI. century, and thus lost its Gothic ornamentations,
lions and twisted colonnettes, which now stand behind a
seated statue of S. Peter in another part of this crypt.
Curiously compounded of the classical and medieval is
that same sculpture; the figure of the apostle, which
resembles the Roman consular statues, being antique, the
head of the XIII. century, the hands more modern. Its
original place was in the portico of the ancient church.
With the mosaics of John VII. and those from the tomb
of Otho II. it serves to connect the present and the past
in this subterranean sanctuary.* In all the funereal
five drops from the pictured face on certain slabs of marble, still pre-
served and said to bear traces of that miraculous bleeding!" Mediæval
Christianity, &c.," v. 535; Barbier de Montault, "Les Souterrains de
S. Pierre."
The mosaics now before us are but a fragment of those, eleven
subjects in all, ordered by John VII., A.D. 706; another remnant of the
series being now in the sacristy of S. Maria in Cosmedin. Those formerly
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
191
sculptures here before us we see the same general treat-
ment, most suitable indeed to the solemnity of the tomb :
the deceased being represented in a recumbent effigy, as in
profound repose which partakes both of death and sleep,
with a few sculptured accessories, sacred groups or symbols,
subordinate to the principal figure. A monument to a
Polish bishop, Maffiolus, (ob. 1396), is a good example of
this style. That of the Cardinal Francesco Tebaldeschi, one of
those of the sacred college who proved faithful to Urban
VI., is the latest monument, of date within this century, in
any Roman church. Nothing could be worse than the
arrangement, or rather the pellmell confusion, in which the
monuments and art-relics of the ancient church are thrown
together in this crypt. One curious record, kept here as
documentary accusation against those who built the new
S. Peter's, is a tablet with its epigraph, informing us that,
in 1543, Niccolo Acciaiolo rescued a picture of the Madonna
by Giotto from being thrown away among the rubbish of
the demolished buildings-instinctu pietatis-ex hujus
templi ruinis disjectum !*
above the tomb of Otho II. (ob. 983) are now set into a wall distinct
from the imperial sarcophagus, which still remains in another part of
this crypt. We may form some faint idea, from a copy painted on these
walls, of the mosaic placed by Innocent III. on the apse of the ancient
S. Peter's with that Pope's portrait introduced in a sacred group com-
prising the Saviour in benediction, SS. Peter and Paul, the Church
personified as a crowned matron, and the Lamb of God.
* The celebrated mosaic of the "Navicella," or Christ walking the
waters in the tempest, from Giotto's design, now in the atrium of S.
Peter's, does not enter into my present limits, having been ordered by
Cardinal Stefaneschi, nephew to Boniface VIII., in 1298. I may add
to the notice of it previously supplied, that it has been so frequently
retouched, as well as moved from place to place, that it can scarcely be
deemed the composition of Giotto in its present state; and Lanzi con-
siders that, altered as it is, it can no longer be classed among his genuine
192
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
On the night of the 5th May, 1308, the Lateran basilica
was almost destroyed by fire. The restoration, ordered by
Clement V., was carried out with zeal and munificence;
large sums were sent from Avignon and other cities; and
in Rome persons of every class gave their labours gratui-
tously, not indeed without the reward of Papal indulgences
for the meritorious task. Another conflagration in 1360
proved almost equally fatal. The entire roofing fell in, and
overthrew the granite columns between the nave and aisles,
but the smaller verde antico columns of those four aisles were
saved. The patriarchium (Papal palace) was also reduced
to ruins; and in this state, roofless and desolate, did Rome's
primordial basilica remain, as seen by Petrarch, for about
four years. Urban V. ordered in 1364 the second restora-
tion, which was commenced before that Pope's arrival in
Rome, and with intent of preserving the ancient architec-
tonic forms, though the style of that century naturally
prevailed at last. An architect of Siena, Giovanni di
Stefano, was general director of the works. Of his design
is the splendid Gothic canopy with a tabernacle for relics,
which rises above the high altar. In this tabernacle, com-
pleted 1369, did Urban V. with his own hands deposit the
skulls of SS. Peter and Paul, transferred by him with
much pomp, and a procession attended by all the Roman
works. The four Prophets who appear in air above the tempest-tossed
bark, and the fisherman with rod and line, in the foreground, are entirely
modern. The head of a mitred bishop just emerging from the waves,
near the principal figure, is an absurd addition by some unknown hand.
Giotto's work may be better appreciated from the coloured cartoon in
the principal Capuchin Church at Rome, executed before the original
was for the last time retouched and altered in the XVII. century. The
nobly conceived figure of the Saviour is, fortunately, preserved with its
grand characteristics; and the Demons blowing the tempest out of long
trumpets are, at all events, of Giotto's imagining.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
193
clergy, from the "Sancta Sanctorum" chapel in the
adjacent palace. Those relics were set in protomes (half-
length statues) of the two Apostles in silver, with gilt heads
and figures adorned with enamel and gems of the value of
1200 marks, among the precious decorations being seen two
lilies of pearls presented by Charles V. of France.* Forty-
one lamps burnt perpetually before these relics, and the
entire value of the jewelled settings was estimated as
50,000 scudi. Near the angles of the canopy stood the four
magnificent columns of gilt bronze fluted, which now flank
the altar of the Holy Sacrament. The reliquaries disap-
peared during the occupation of Rome by the French in
the last years of the last century; but were soon replaced
by others of almost equal value, the offering of the Duchess
di Villa Hermosa, a pious Italian lady; and in 1804 the
Apostles' skulls-I need not stop to consider the proofs of
their authenticity-were restored to their tabernacle, in
their new settings, by Pius VII. The high altar and its
superb canopy alone remain, in the actual church, to
remind us of the virtuous Urban V., of Petrarch's eloquent
*The silver statues were wrought by a goldsmith named Giovanni
Bartoli, of Siena.-See Agincourt, Sculptures, plate xxxvii. Under the
bust of S. Paul were the lines
Cedit Apostolicus Princeps, tibi Paule, vocaris
Nam dextrae natus, vas, tuba clara Dei.
In that Apostle's hands were held a sword and an open book. S. Peter
wore the triple crown, held the keys in one hand, and raised the other to
bless.
† According to one tradition, these were brought to Rome by Titus
among the spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem; according to another,
they were brought from that city by the Empress Helena, and are filled
with earth from the Holy Land. The columns and the sacred vessels
from the Temple are mentioned in an inscription with Gothic letters
of mosaic, placed in the Lateran by Nicholas IV., and still seen here,
informing us that all those relics are preserved in this basilica.
•
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194
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
appeals to him, and of the temporary restoration of the Pon-
tificate to Rome through his means. Rising almost to the
coffered ceiling of the transepts, that lofty structure, with
its rich Gothic details, seems strangely out of keeping with
the modern architecture around. The profuse gilding was
added probably in a restoration ordered for the Jubilee
year 1650; and the whole was again restored by Pius IX.,
1851. Along the arcade-tracery of the lowest storey we see,
among various armorial shields, those of Urban V., of the
French King Charles V., and of the arch-priest of this
basilica who became Pope as Gregory XI. Above the
supporting granite columns are several statuettes of saints
under Gothic canopies; on the triangular tympana, at each
side, is a half-length relief of the Saviour; which sculptures,
as well as the reliefs of SS. Peter and Paul on the altar-
front, are of inferior style, the forms stunted, and heads
feeble. Along the upper storey are twelve panel-pictures
by Berna di Siena, an artist who cannot be appreciated
from his works here before us, all which have been re-
touched.* Their subjects are, the Crucifixion, with four
Apostles; Christ feeding His flock with ears of corn (a
mystic and original conception), and the four Doctors of
the Latin Church; the Annunciation and Coronation of
the Blessed Virgin, with SS. Catherine of Egypt, and
Anthony the Hermit; the Madonna and Child attended
by angels and a kneeling prelate (probably the Cardinal
Archpriest, who became Pope Gregory XI.), with SS. John
the Evangelist and Stephen, SS. John the Baptist and
Laurence. The Coronation is treated according to earlier
devotional art-traditions, the Divine Son, not the Eternal
Father, being in act of crowning the glorified Mother;
* This Sienese artist died about 1381-see his life by Vasari, who
does not even mention his paintings here. No Roman artist is known to
have been engaged in the restorations of the ancient Lateran.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
195
while in the Annunciation-picture we recognise ideas of
later origin, the Father, with attributes of old age, being
represented hovering above the group of Mary and the
Angel. Other remnants of the ancient Lateran are pre-
served; and it may please the imagination, though not the
eye, to know (as we are assured is the fact), that much
even of the buildings of the X. century is extant, im-
mured in modern masonry, as are no doubt the columns of
the XIV. century, set within the heavy pilasters of the
present church. The small columns, twenty-four of verde
antico (or rather verde mischio), from the ruined aisles,
now flank the niches where colossal statues of the Apostles
were placed by Clement XI. ; and as the shafts are not more
than eleven feet high, we must infer that those aisles of
the ancient church were comparatively low, under roofing
that sloped from the attics of the nave. The earliest sculp-
tures still seen here are: the monument of Cardinal Riccardo
Annibaldeschi, who died at Lyons during the sessions of the
General Council, 1274; that of a Milanese Count, Gus-
tiano, also Cardinal, ob. 1289; the kneeling statue of a
Pope, probably Nicholas IV., rude and almost grotesque
in character, now in the semicircular corridor, sole remnant
preserved entire of the X. century buildings, behind the
tribune ; and the monument to Cardinal Gherardo Blancus,
ob. 1302, with effigy incised on the flat surface, now placed
vertically near the entrance to the southern aisle. The
grandly-characterized mosaics of the apse (1290) I have
elsewhere described. In the beautiful but neglected cloisters
(XIII. century) are deposited several architectural and
sculptured relics of the earlier, and also of the XV. century
church: the ruinous episcopal throne and Paschal cande-
labrum, Gothic tympana with wheel windows, one bearing
the name of a member of the well-known Cosmati family,
Mgr. Deodatus fecit hoc op. Here, too, are other objects of
o 2
196
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
imaginary importance: a porphyry slab between two half-
columns, said to be the stone on which the soldiers cast
lots for the garments of Christ; a species of ædicula, with
marble columns, said to be the measure of His stature; a
marble puteal between granite columns, said to be the
well where He conversed with the Samaritan woman-but
evidently, from the crosses and other relief ornaments
upon it, of Christian mediaval origin.
Urban V. was active and munificent in the restoring and
embellishing of churches. The Ostian basilica, which he
found roofless, alike with the Lateran, was repaired by his
order; and many other Roman churches, deprived of the
requisites for worship during the desolate, and to Rome
most disastrous period of the "Avignon Exile," were sup-
plied by him with sacramental vessels, office-books, orna-
ments, &c. He recovered from the Franciscan basilica of
Assisi many sacred treasures, vessels and relics, deposited
there for safety by Boniface VIII.
His successor, Gregory XI., did more for the advantage
of Rome and the Italian Church, but is less known through
monumental records save those of modern origin: the con-
ventional wall-painting by Vasari, representing his arrival in
this city, among the other pictured fasti of the Papacy on
the walls of the Sala Regia at the Vatican, and the monu-
ment to this Pope, with indifferent sculptures by Olivieri,
raised in 1584, by order of the Senate, over his tomb at
S. Maria Nuova near the Forum. The only building we
can associate with the memory of his eventful pontificate
is the lofty Campanile with a spire-a rare object in Rome
-which finely groups with the twin cupolas of S. Maria
Maggiore, though somewhat injured by modern repairs. In
1372 he ordered a French Abbot to send to Rome a com-
petent architect for the rebuilding of the now ruinous
tower of that basilica; and in the January of the next
•
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
197
year, authorized his Vicar in this city to obtain from his
Nuncio 3000 gold florins for this and other public works.
at Rome. The spire which surmounts the S. Maria Mag-
giore campanile bears the date 1376-anterior therefore
to the triumphal ingress of Gregory XI. in the January of
the next year. It serves to remind us, however, of that
event, so fraught with consequences to ecclesiastical and
political interest; and now also of another, different in-
deed in its results as affecting the temporal power of the
Pope-for it was from that conspicuous spire that the
white flag announced the surrender of Rome to a be-
sieging army on the morning of the 20th September, 1870.
A marble portal in Gothic style, with lions guarding the
entrance, was erected by Gregory XI. before the Lateran.
It has disappeared; but the marble lions are still extant,
and now beside the fountain on the Piazza de' Termini, near
the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian. The sculptures of
the XIV. century in Roman churches but feebly represent
the power and luxuriance of Italian art at that period.
At S. Maria in Trastevere, a grand old basilica, notwith-
standing all the alterations of modern date, we see two
examples among the best of the art-works produced here
within this epoch; the sculptured chapel and tomb which
perpetuate the memory of a French Cardinal of royal
blood, Philip d'Alençon.* The chapel, dedicated by him
Philip d'Alençon was Archbishop of Rouen when he incurred the
displeasure of the French King, his cousin, and in consequence left
France. He was well received at Rome by Urban VI., who made him
Cardinal Bishop of Sabina, and also bestowed on him in commenda the
Patriarchate of Aquileja. The Princes of Friuli and the citizens of
Udine opposed that latter appointment, not desiring that so high an
office should sink into a mere endowment for an absent Cardinal. A
war of six years duration, which Urban VI. had the good sense to dis-
approve, was carried on, but fruitlessly, for the claimant to the Patri-
archate, by Charles VI. (now reconciled to his cousin), and by Francesco
198
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
to the apostles Philip and James, formerly stood isolated,
but is now placed against the wall of a transept, with
detriment, probably, to its effect. It is elaborately archi-
tectonic, with rich but heavy Gothic details, columns,
acute-arched canopy, numerous statuettes, and a relief
of the Assumption of the Virgin with five figures repre-
sented as spectators of the event, among whom one, who is
kneeling, may be intended for Alençon, another for S.
Philip, while a King and a mitred prelate may be recog-
nised as S. Louis and S. Denis, the Protectors of France.
A picture above the altar, more modern than the sculptures,
but also mediæval, of the crucifixion of that Apostle, with
the figure of the Cardinal in the foreground, is now so
blackened by time as to be scarcely discernible. Near this
chapel stands the monument of Alençon, which has no
Gothic details, and cannot be ascribed to the same artist;
some critics (Nibby, Roma Antica e Moderna) assuming it
to be a work of Paolo Romano, and of date within the XV.
century. It bears a recumbent effigy of the deceased, and
a relief of the funeral of the Virgin, in which is mystically
introduced the figure of the Saviour receiving the soul, ast
an infant, into His arms; the Apostles standing around
the bier, together with Angels who hold large tapers and
a censer. The quaint epitaph informs us, in the last two
lines, why such subject was chosen for the sculptures on
this tomb-namely, because Alençon died (1397) on the
day of the "transit" of Mary :
Carrara, lord of Padua, who assisted Alençon in arms. At last, as that
Cardinal deserted Urban to espouse the cause of the Antipope, he was
deprived by the former both of his episcopal rank and of the Cardinal's
hat. Boniface IX. restored him to all he had lost, and made him Cardinal
Bishop of Ostia. He died at Rcme, and, it is said, in esteem for sanctity:
E vita excessit Romæ magnæ sanctitatis opinione (Ciaconius, Vitæ et
Regesta Pontif. E.S.R.E. Cardinalium.)
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
199
Anno milleno cum C quater, sed abde I. ter,
Occubuit qua luce Dei pia Virgoque mater.
In another Transtiberine church, S. Cecilia, where the
festival of that Saint attracts so much by beautiful music
and splendour, stands a monument interesting to the Eng-
lish visitor, that of Cardinal Adam Eston, administrator of
the diocese of London, and one of the victims of the fierce
suspicion of Urban VI., from whose implacable wrath he
was, however, rescued by the intercession of his king,
Richard II.* On a sarcophagus adorned with spiral colon-
nettes, foliate crosses and armorial shields, lies the effigy, in
treatment somewhat hard, and in outlines heavy, but with
countenance marked by a grave individuality that gives the
idea of portrait truthfulness. Another monument to a con-
spicuous Cardinal, at Aracoeli on the Capitol, is so singular
that, though of date external to my present limits, I may
mention it here—that, namely, of Cardinal Matteo d'Acqua-
sparta (ob. 1302) at the end of a transept in the principal
Franciscan church. It has a recumbent effigy on a lofty
basement adorned with mosaic (now lost), a high Gothic
canopy, and a wall-painting of the Virgin and Child with
two Saints, one of whom (S. Francis ?) presents the kneel-
* “ Adam Anglo, tt. (tituli) S. Cecilia, Presbyter, Episcopatus Lon-
dinensis perpetuo administratori, integritate, doctrinâ et religione praes-
tante," -so runs his epitaph. He was a Benedictine and professor of
Theology at Oxford; also taught Greek and Hebrew, of which
languages he was thoroughly master. Ciaconius gives a list of 22
works produced by him, some serving for the study of Hebrew, and
one written in Greek. He also composed the Office for the Visitation
of the Blessed Virgin, a festival instituted by Urban VI., as intercession
for the Divine protection against the schism of the Antipapacy.
"Almost all English authors (says Ciaconius) who have mentioned
Adam, report that Urban, when near the hour of death, attested
his innocence, and felt violent remorse for the wrong done to him."
He was restored to all his honours by Boniface IX. and died at Rome,
absent from the See where he was not, apparently, a frequent resident.
200
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ing Cardinal; but not a word, by way of epitaph, tells us
the history of the deceased. This Cardinal, a Franciscan
and Father-General of that Order, 1287, was sent on
various legations by Boniface VIII., and finally to Florence
with the mission of reconciling the violent Bianchi and Neri
factions. He totally failed in this, was threatened with
death by seditious conspirators, and fulminated against
Florence the excommunication, with the interdict, before
his departure. Dante (Paradiso, Canto XII.) puts into the
mouth of S. Bonaventura the following allusion to him:-
Ma non fia da Casal, nè d'Aquasparta,
Là onde vegnon tali alla Scrittura,
Ch' uno la fugge, e l'altro la coarta―
meaning that the truly good Franciscans could not be like
those from Casale (an ancient city of Piedmont), and
Acquasparta (in the diocese of Todi), of whom one evaded
the rigour of S. Francis's rule, and the other (Cardinal
Matteo) exceeded it by his severities. Leandro Alberti
(Descrizione d'Italia), commends, however, another aspect
of Matteo's character, styling him as " uomo letterato, come
dai commentarii da lui fatti sopra le sentenze (i. e. of Peter
Lombardus) conoscere si puo."
In Mosaic, this period was more productive at Rome than
in other forms of art, and what remains is distinguished by
a better character than are other contemporary works here
extant. The mosaics from Cavallini's designs have beauty
and vigour of conception. Before particularizing them, I
may notice another specimen of this art, as to which little is
known: the remnant, namely, of a great composition on the
apse of S. Crisogono, representing the Virgin and Child on
a gorgeous throne, with S. James the elder and S. Chryso-
gonus attired as a youthful warrior of antiquity, that saint
having been a Roman patrician, who suffered martyrdom
under Diocletian, A.D. 303. In 1128, his church, first men-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
201
tioned in the acts of a Council held by Pope Symmachus,
A.D. 499, was rebuilt by the Cardinal Titular, De Crema;
but the mutilated mosaic now seen there cannot be of so
early a date, for it displays the influences of the Giotto
school, and a freedom far from attained in the XII. century.
The only Roman artist of the period here in question who
has left an enduring reputation, was Pietro Cavallini, de-
ceased about 1364, and at the age of eighty-five according
to Vasari. That biographer speaks highly both of his moral
and artistic qualities, his habitual piety and charities, at-
tested as is his industry by the tradition which assures us
that he left 1300 finished pictures. He was the pupil of
Giotto, and assisted him in the great mosaic of the "Navi-
cella." Several Roman churches-Aracoeli, S. Cecilia, S.
Maria in Trastevere, &c.—were adorned by his pencil; but
few of his paintings on their walls have been preserved. For
S. Paul's basilica, he designed the mosaics of the façade,
ordered by the Abbot in the time of John XXII. and saved
from the fire in 1823, but subsequently moved into the tran-
septs. Vasari ascribes to him, and highly commends,the wall-
paintings round the ancient chapter-house of the S. Paul's
monastery, also left uninjured by the fire, but so retouched
that, as we now see them, little can be considered the
artist's original work :-subjects,the Crucifixion with several
figures and angels mourning around the cross, the twelve
Apostles with scrolls, and other saints ranged in formal
rows, as in old mosaics; the four Evangelic emblems above.
The type of the Crucified is almost feminine, and the feet
are fastened by two nails, conformably to the older treat-
ment. Vasari says that the artist, "engaged on certain
works in fresco in the chapter-house of the first cloister
(at S. Paul's), so much exerted himself therein, that he
obtained from persons of good judgment the repute of a
most excellent master; and was therefore so much favoured
ง
202
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
by the prelates that they secured to him the order for (paint-
ing) the façade of S. Peter's, on the inner side between the
windows." In the S. Paolo basilica is a life-size wooden
Crucifix ascribed to him, the same before which S. Brigida
and S. Francesca Romana used to pray, and which is said to
have bowed its head, or spoken, in answer to the prayers of
the latter.* In the above-named Transtiberine church of
S. Maria, is a fine series of mosaics on the apse designed by
Cavallini, besides the portrait of the donator, Bertoldo
Stefaneschi, in a violet mantle, on his knees before the
Virgin and Child, with SS. Peter and Paul standing near,
the former apostle presenting him to the sacred group,
whose figures are placed within a medallion. The mosaic
series on the ancient apse, beneath the larger composition
in the same form of art (XII. century), which occupies the
vault above, illustrates the history of Mary-her birth, the
Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration by the Magi, the
Presentation in the Temple, the transit, or rather funeral,
in which last scene the Saviour appears in an elliptic nim-
bus, between two bright-winged angels, receiving the
soul, in form of a new-born infant-the same mystic idea as
is embodied in the relief on the tomb of Cardinal Alençon,
* A statue by Carlo Maderno of that saintly matron, on her knees,
commemorates her devotions in the chapel where that crucifix hangs
over the altar.
†The date 1290 has been assigned to these mosaics, or to the order
for their execution by the artist. But, according to Vasari, Cavallini
would then have been only eleven years old. Stefaneschi was major-
domo to Nicholas IV., who died in 1292; but he may have survived that
Pope for many years before he commissioned the works at this church.
Under the mosaic of his presentation to the Virgin and Child is the
name Bertold. Filius Pet. with the metrical lines :-
Virgo Deum complexa sinu servando pudorem
Virginum, matris fundans per sæcula nomen,
Respice compunctos animos miserata tuorom.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
203
1
but with more imagination and grace by Cavallini. The
architecture accessorially introduced in this series, is semi-
Gothic. The type of Mary's figure is distinguished by
matron-dignity, without that queenly grandeur given to her
by later art, as also in the great mosaics of the XII. century
before us on this apsidal vault, where she is seated on the
same throne with the Divine Son. Of the many wall-paint-
ings by Cavallini in this church, only two remain, now
placed in the portico, and, I am sorry to see, for at least the
second time retouched during the recent works of restora-
tion and embellishment carried out, with much expense
and splendour, at this Trasteverine basilica. Both those
pictures represent the Annunciation; and in one instance
the Divine Infant appears with a cross in His hand, and
preceded by the Dove descending from the bosom of the
visible Almighty Father towards the person of Mary. An
accessorial figure, in the other picture of the same subject,
stands crowned as a King, holding a sword and banner with
a cross. This is described in the "Beschreibung der Stadt
Rom," as "a bishop seated near Mary with a banner in
his hand, probably representing (Pope) S. Calixtus as
founder of this church"-from which particulars we must
infer that the figure has been totally changed since the
German savans compiled their admirable work on Rome.
Other figures of devotees are introduced in both pictures. All
Cavallini's paintings at Ara Coeli have disappeared, as have
also those by Giottino in the same church on the Capitol.*
* In the apse, Cavallini painted the well-known subject of the vision
of the Virgin and Child displayed and interpreted to Augustus by the
Tiburtine Sibyl on the site, according to legend, of this church. A
picture of S. Louis (of Anjou ?) on a pilaster of the choir, by the same
hand, was extant till the XVI. century. On one of the columns of the
nave is still seen a large figure of a Saint, that might be referred to the
XIV. This great Franciscan church, though modernized, still retains a
grand and olden character.
204
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
The only valuable collection of medieval paintings in any
public gallery at Rome, is that which fills the glazed cabinets
of a hall of the Vatican library, and was finally completed, as
we see it, in 1837. Of all art collections in this city, it is the
worst arranged, and the most inconveniently exhibited;
the visitor being habitually sacrificed to the whims or in-
dolence of the custodi, so that one may frequent this
gallery ever so often without ever thoroughly seeing its
contents. Among them are twenty-five panel-pictures of
dates within the XIV. century, mostly of the Florentine
and Sienese schools. In the first cabinet: the Betrayal of
Christ, the Raising of Lazarus, the Crucifixion with the
Eternal Father enthroned above the cross, and in act of
showing the Son to those Saints who have most meditated
upon His Passion. The legend of S. Stephen, and of the
translation of his relics to Rome, is united with that of
less known Saints, and of the Nicodemus mentioned in
the Gospels; and the last picture of this series (2nd
cabinet) shows us the faithful praying at the tomb where
SS. Stephen and Laurence repose together at the S. Lorenzo
basilica. We must refer to the " Legenda Aurea" for
the explanation of one mystical subject here treated: S.
Gamaliel (we there read) appeared to the priest S. Lucian,
touched him with a golden wand, and showed to him three
vases of gold with one of silver. "One of the gold vases
was filled with red roses; the two others with white roses;
the silver vase was full of saffron. And Gamaliel said, These
vases are our tombs, and these flowers are our relics. The
vase of red roses indicates Stephen, the only one of us
who has merited the crown of martyrdom. The two full of
white roses indicate Nicodemus and myself, who have per-
severed in sincerity of heart and in the worship of Christ
Jesus. The vase of silver filled with saffron is the emblem
of my son Abibas, who ever preserved his virginal purity,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
205
and quitted this world without stain."
The life of S. John
the Evangelist is represented in three pictures: one of his
assumption, received into Paradise by the Saviour -- a
legend perhaps quite as popular at one period as that
which, in defiance of history, ascribed the same preter-
natural privilege to Mary. A series, illustrating the
Passion, comprises the figure of the Deity in benediction,
and the Evangelists with the heads of their mystic emblems,
three of them having consequently the animal blended with
the human form. A triptych (7th cabinet) of the
Madonna and Child, S. Michael and the Dragon, S. Ursula
with palm and banner, bears the inscribed name and date,
Alegritus Nutii me pinxit A. MCCCLXV.
The Assump-
tion of the Virgin (referred to the latter years of this
century) is an early example of the treatment of that
favourite subject, in which the Saviour is introduced, with
four crimson wings, descending from Heaven and raising
from the tomb, by the hand, His Mother about to be glori-
fied; S. Thomas, among the other Apostles, holding the
girdle received as pledge of her ascent.
One might desire to see some record of that extra-
ordinary woman, S. Catherine of Siena, in this city where
her influence was beneficially exerted, and where the
Papal residence was restored through means to which her
eloquence and sanctity contributed. Her remains lie at
the chief Dominican church, S. Maria sopra Minerva,
under the high altar, where is a recumbent coloured statue
of her, visible by the light of ever-burning lamps through
the arcades at that Gothic altar's front. In a hall entered
from the sacristy stands, isolated, the chamber in which
she died, which was tranferred in toto, 1637, by order of
a Cardinal Barberini, from the not-distant house where she
resided during her stay in Rome. More interesting would
it be if this chamber, instead of being metamorphosed into
206
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
•
a splendid chapel of XVII. century style, were preserved
in the rude simplicity which we may believe must have
surrounded its saintly inmate when living and dying, 1380,
within its walls. The body of S. Catherine received extra-
ordinary honours when S. Maria sopra Minerva was
reopened, 4th August, 1855, after a restoration to the
original Gothic type carried out with much splendour, and
commenced in 1848, but long suspended owing to political
troubles. The new high altar having been consecrated,
and the first Mass celebrated on it by His Holiness the
Pope, those relics were transferred from the chapel of the
Rosary and borne through the streets in a silver urn on
a bier hung with crimson velvet, supported by four bishops,
under a canopy garlanded with flowers, all the Regular
Clergy, collegiate chapters, theological students, and ladies
in white, the sisterhood of Dominican Tertiaries, walking in
the long procession-pomps that affectingly contrast with
the lowly station and austere life of Her for whose honour
they were intended!
I have elsewhere noticed the wall-paintings, probably
late works of the XIV. century, on the ancient apse of
another Dominican church, S. Sisto on the Appian Way;
their subjects from the Gospel, with figures of S. Paul, S.
John Baptist, S. Dominic, &c. They had been long forgot-
ten and out of sight, till discovered and made visible in
works ordered by the estimable Father Prior (Mullooly) of
S. Clemente, to which Dominican convent S. Sisto, whose
cloisters have long been deserted on account of malaria,
belongs.
The broad staircase of 124 steps which leads up to the
façade of Aracoeli, and which used to be ascended by the
devout on their knees, is a record of that terrible visita-
tion of plague in 1348, which, while raging at Florence,
suggested to Boccaccio the descriptive passages and local
!
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
207
features introduced in a never-to-be-forgotten work of fic-
tion. That staircase was built in the same year with marble
from the temple of Quirinus, and at a cost defrayed by
offerings to the shrine of the Madonna, after her picture
ascribed to S. Luke, and still over the high altar of this
church, had been carried in procession during the extraordi-
nary devotions ordered for prayer to deliver Rome from
the common calamity. A contemporary inscription in Gothic
letters, near the chief door of the church, tells us that this
staircase was commenced 25th October, 1348, by the "Ma-
gister" Lorenzo Simeone Andreozzi. In the same year '48,
was rebuilt the Lateran hospital, one marble gate of which,
with reliefs of the head of the Saviour between candelabra
and the Lamb with a banner, remains to remind us, both by
its sculptured ornaments and epigraph, of that date.
One regrets not to be able to associate the memory of
Cola di Rienzo with any edifice still erect on the site of his
installation, his official residence, and his tragic death. The
fortifications raised by Boniface IX., 1394, when he restored
the Capitoline palace desolated by fire on the last day of
the Tribune's life, still in part remain, and are conspicuous
on the eastern side, with that Pontiff's armorial shield in
different places: but the actual palace is, for the rest, mo-
dern, and utterly without architectural dignity, except in
those stupendous structures of the Tabularium, sole monu-
ment of Republican Rome in sight from the Forum, above
which the later buildings rise. Some years after Boniface's
restorations, it was stipulated in a Convention between
Innocent VIII. and the Roman people, that the buildings
should be reduced to the uses and character, not of a castle
but a tribunal of justice ;* and other works, instituted for
this object early in the XV. century, were completed under
* "Capitolium reducatur et reduci debeat ad formam palatii et loci
communis judicii."
208
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the pontificate of Martin V. The staircase, like an inclin-
ing plane, by which we ascend from the northern side, was
made from a design by Buonarotti in the time of Paul III.
for the occasion of the state ingress of Charles V., 1536;
and the two Egyptian lions of black granite, which flank
that ascent, were not placed where we see them till later in
the same century, 1560. The colossal statues of Castor and
Pollux, with their steeds, the sculptured trophies misnamed
"trofei di Mario" (after Marius), the statues of the two
Constantines, and the far more celebrated equestrian
bronze of Marcus Aurelius, all found their way to their pre-
sent places on the Capitoline summit in comparatively
modern times. The dusky towers of Boniface IX. with their
plain cornice-work of marble brackets, common to mediæval
Italian architecture, still conspicuous on the east, and trace-
able on the western side, alone remind us of that Capitoline
palace, which was the scene of a great and brilliant, but
tragically frustrated effort to revive the genius and powers
of Republican Rome.
Though I propose to limit myself to the monuments and
art which are of Christian origin, it seems not altogether
foreign to my theme to refer to the relics of the Religion
and Civilization that have passed away, while Rome, her
antiquities and public works, are dwelt upon in these pages ;
and the manner in which the proceedings of the Papacy, or
the social conditions produced under its immediate influ-
ence affected the fate, accelerating or arresting the decay,
of those local monuments, pertains to the collateral walks
of the History I am considering. A terrible earthquake,
felt at Rome on the 10th September, 1349, is described in
impressive language by Petrarch,* and mentioned by all
* Ecce Roma ipsa insolito tremore concussa est, tam graviter, ut ab
eadem urbe condita supra duo annorum millia tale nihil acciderit. Ceci-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
209
writers on Roman antiquity as having greatly injured some
of the most memorable among classic ruins at this centre.
It also overthrew the columns of the portico, and damaged
the campanile of the Ostian basilica; it commenced the work
of ruin, completed by the fire, at the Lateran, and destroyed
the upper part of the Conti fortress built for his relations
by Innocent III., and now represented only by a huge
truncate tower in grim decay. The immense arcades of the
Constantinian basilica, between the Forum and the Colos-
seum, were shattered, though they could hardly have been
destroyed, by those shocks of nature.
In this century the Circus Maximus, after being for a
time held by the Frangipani family, was abandoned and
left to sink into decay, its material being appropriated like
the stones of a common quarry by the baronial or other
families. The theatre of Pompey, fortified about the end
of the XI. century by the Pierleoni family, and inherited
from them by the Savelli, was now the principal residence of
the latter; and their buildings, as in the masonry filling the
ancient arcades, may be recognised on the dusky exterior.
The Orsini built a castle among the ruins of the theatre of
Pompey, where Petrarch saw in his time but one arch still
erect! And I am sorry to add that the entire aggregate
of splendid edifices founded by Pompey,-temples, theatre,
portico, and that curia where "great Cæsar fell” beneath
the
dread statue yet existent, in
The austerest form of naked majesty,—
dit ædificiorum veterum neglecta civibus stupenda peregrinis moles. Tur-
ris illa toto orbe unica, quæ Comitum dicebatur, ingentibus rimis laxata
dissiluit. Denique ut iræ cœlestis argumenta non desint multorum species
templorum atque in primis Paolo Apostolo dicatae ædis bona pars humi
collapsa, et Lateranensis ecclesiæ dejectus apex jubilæi ardorem gelido
horrore contristant. Cum Petro mitius est actum, &c.-(1. x, Epist. II.)
P
210
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
+
are now alike reduced not only to ruin, but, in obscure
decay, buried underground and invisible !
It is with a feeling of melancholy that we conclude our
studies of the period here considered at Rome; for the
foot-prints left by its life betray retrogression rather than
progress at this supreme centre. More encouraging signs,
and worthier fruits of civilization and energies will meet
us, however, elsewhere; and the extended knowledge of
Italian monuments will correct the impression received at
a city where the classically antique was continually exposed
to vicissitudes which deepen the gloom of the social
picture. Still increasing proofs of unthinking neglect,
and more inexcusable examples of wanton injury or delibe-
rate spoliation meet us as we descend the historic stream:
and so long as the attention is fixed upon the Capital of
the Seven Hills a mournful sentiment is awakened by much
that strikes the eye and mind here. Yet on those Hills
we perceive also the working of a spirit which, though
antagonistic to the magnificent Past, has yet a certain
stamp of nobleness; for its aim was to appropriate and
consecrate the relics of Heathenism, that all might be
subservient to the triumphs of the Cross. Of this we
have the most significant example in the obelisks sur-
mounted by that sign of Redemption, the most striking
expression in the lines inscribed by Sixtus V. beneath one
of those restored emblems of mysterious Egypt, on the
basement, namely, of the obelisk before the Vatican:
Christus vincit. Christus regnat. Christus imperat. Christus
ab omni malo plebem suam defendat. Ecce Crux Domini.
Fugite partes adversa. Vicit Leo de Tribu Juda.
NAPLES AND SOUTHERN ITALY.
From Rome we may turn to Naples. The first Bishop of
that see is said to have been Asprenus, who was converted
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
211
and consecrated by S. Peter; but the first permanent cathe-
dral is ascribed to Constantine. In the house of a matron
named Candida, said to have been a convert of the Apostle
at the same time as S. Asprenus, that primitive pastor is
supposed to have consecrated the first oratory for Neapoli-
tan Christians, and which is still seen, being now a crypt,
narrow, dark, and vaulted, below the Franciscan church of
S. Pietro ad Aram. Under its altar lies the body of S.
Candida, and on one side is the mouth of a deep well, whose
waters are believed to possess preternaturally healing
virtues. From this crypt opens a small chamber said to
pertain to the same house of the Christian matron, and
evidently antique, as its construction shows. Modern paint-
ings and ornaments have made the oratory look as modern
as possible; and in this (supposed) earliest sanctuary of
the true worship at Naples we are greeted by examples of
the characteristically bad Neapolitan taste. In the basilica
of S. Restituta, which adjoins the actual cathedral, is a
mosaic of the Madonna, with jewelled crown and cruciform
sceptre, the Child, who is blessing, on her knees, and beside
her two saints, Januarius with the model of a church, and
Restituta with an open book in her hand-an art-work re-
stored in the XIV. century, and said to have been placed
by S. Asprenus in that primitive chapel founded by him;
but we may conclude it to be a copy, probably from an
original painting, not a mosaic, of less early date. Conform-
ably with the legend, this is still called the "Madonna del
Principio;" and the high antiquity claimed for Madonna-
worship at Naples, is amusingly attested by the name given
to three places (narrow streets, &c.) in that city—“ Di
Maria ante sæcula." The Constantinian basilica, or first
cathedral, was renewed (or rebuilt) by S. Severus, bishop
of Naples, A.D. 367; and again by S. Stephen, bishop, A.D.
498; after which, though dedicated to the Saviour, it be-
P 2
212
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
came commonly called " Stephania." A bishop John
(536-556) restored its apse after a fire; and the whole church
is said to have been rebuilt, after another more disastrous
conflagration, in 790. The same bishop John built a church,
S. Lorenzo, entirely of marble. His predecessor, S. Pom-
ponius, built another, as desired by the Virgin in a dream,
and dedicated to her as S. Maria Major, on the spot which
had been haunted by a demon in the form of a swine; the
remedy of course proving efficacious, the purified spot
being thenceforth delivered from the obnoxious fiend.
Hence the annual usage of throwing down a pig from
the tower of the cathedral, but which some sensible prelate
of this See had abolished before the time of Ughelli,—see his
"Italia Sacra," t. iv., where is mentioned a monument of
the legend and practice in the form of sculptured swine on
one side of the same cathedral tower. Many particulars
lead us to infer that, in early ages, wealth and splendour
pertained to the clergy and characterized the worship of
Naples. We read of an altar, its canopy and the support-
ing columns all plated with silver, in the church of S. John
Baptist, built in the VI. century; of golden and jewelled
sacramental vessels, and altar-fronts encrusted with gold
and gems, presented to the cathedral and other churches
by the Bishop Stephen, who, having been Duke and Consul
of Naples, was raised to the See by popular election, a.d.
764. The front of the church of S. Peter, built by him,
was adorned with paintings of the first six General Councils.
Paschal, his immediate successor, who had also been a lay-
man up to the time of his election (alike popular), followed
his example in munificence. The first sovereign who em-
bellished the city with public works, and who built the
church of S. Augustin, was William II. styled "the
Good," 1166-1189.
Naples, says Ughelli, might well be called "Mariana
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
213
I
•
Civitas," seeing that she had no fewer than 120 churches
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, besides 200 others at the
time that author wrote. The number of patron saints,
elected from age to age, was then (1659) upwards of twenty-
five;* the number of monasteries and convents for men, one
hundred; for women, twenty-eight, besides twenty-one pie
domus, religious and charitable retreats for that sex; the
pious confraternities being upwards of a hundred.†
Neapolitan art has had comparatively little influence or
repute in modern times. The different phases through
which it has passed may, however, be followed with in-
terest; for they convey a moral meaning in their proof of
the deteriorating effects to the character of art from such
forms and principles of government as have prevailed in
this kingdom. The sumptuous, the elaborate, the splendid
are preferred to noble simplicity and chastened dignity.
Even the solemnity of Death is disturbed by the glare of
Courts; and palace pomps, with trains of obsequious cour-
tiers, still attend the royal personages in effigy over the
tomb. In one instance even a prince who never reigned,
Duke Charles of Calabria, son of King Robert, is attended,
in the relief on his sarcophagus, by satellites who all kneel
to him! The characteristic composition of the funereal
monuments at Naples (and almost all art-works here, of the
XIV. century, belong to that class) may be described in
* S. Thomas Aquinas, elected (so to say) in the XVII. century;
and later, SS. Andrea di Avellino, Dominic, Francesco di Paola, Gae-
tano, Francis Xavier, &c.
"In Naples the religious establishments for both sexes, which in
1786 amounted to two hundred, are now (1848) reduced to thirty-eight
convents of monks, and twenty-two monasteries of nuns, besides several
conservatories."-Moroni, Dizionario, Article "Napoli."
Sixty-six monastic and other communities in this city have been sup-
pressed since the recent change of government.
214
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
i
1
few words: the elevation is of three, sometimes four
stories; the effigy of the deceased lies on a sarcophagus sup-
ported by statuettes of personified Virtues; at the fondo
above, and often on the sarcophagus-front are relievi of
saints, scriptural subjects, or others (such as I have alluded
to) referring to the deceased, his actions or honours; above.
rises a marble canopy with acute or round-arched apex ;
and sometimes we see angels drawing aside curtains, as
if to display the dead on the funeral couch. In not a
few instances the effigy is in low relief, and placed ver-
tically against the wall; sometimes we see two effigies, one
a statue, one a relief so placed, of the same person. Such
disposal of sculptured figures, seemingly intended for the
horizontal position, is unpleasing. Colour and gilding are
profusely used, though now generally faded; and this
preference for gorgeous decoration increases, with advanc-
ing time, to the detriment of purity in Neapolitan monu-
mental art-which does not fail, however, to be historically
important, and in many examples imposing, even beautiful.
The Hohenstaufen dynasty, from the Emperor Henry
VI., crowned at Palermo A.D. 119, to Manfred, the last
there crowned as King of Sicily in 1258, and slain at
Benevento in 1266, left more traces of their sway, in the
artistic and monumental range, in their insular than their
continental states. But a rich efflorescence of genius and
a generosity of royal encouragement light up the troubled
vicissitudes of this kingdom under the Anjou Princes, whose
power crushed out and succeeded to the Hohenstaufen.
Charles I. (1266-'85) and Charles II. (1285-1309) founded
churches and loved splendours. Robert and his Queen,
Sancia of Aragon, were impelled by piety to do much for
the increasing and adorning of sacred edifices; and that
King, by the advice of Boccaccio, summoned Giotto to
Naples expressly for the task of painting the walls of S.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
215
Chiara, a church with a convent for Franciscan nuns,
consecrated with great pomp, 1340, and chosen as the
place of royal sepulture.
Collenuccio gives a long list of the churches founded by
that King, and in many instances by the desire of his Queen,
not only at Naples, but in Provence, and one at Jerusalem.
Till the time of Robert, styled "The Wise" (1309-43),
the Anjou rulers won little affection or loyalty from their
Italian subjects. The grandson of Charles I., was pious,
munificent, and, for his time, learned, being the friend and
enthusiastic admirer of Petrarch. To the Anjou princes,
who reigned between the latter years of the XIII. and
middle of the next century, is due the introduction of the
French Gothic architecture, and of much that tended to
refine taste and promote artistic movement at Naples.
Churches which still rank conspicuous were founded by
them; and their monuments are still the most interesting
objects within those sacred buildings. I may particularise
the cathedral, commenced from the designs of the first
Masuccio, under Charles I., in 1272; S. Lorenzo, founded
by the same king to commemorate his victory over Manfred
at Benevento, 1266; S. Domenico, founded by Charles II.,
1285, and designed by the same Masuccio; also S. Chiara,
the church of royal sepulture, founded by King Robert,
1310, with the architecture of the second Masuccio. The
long reign of the beautiful and unfortunate Joanna I.,
(1343-82), and the short one of her successor, who caused
her to be assassinated, Charles of Durazzo-himself cut off
by violent death, 1386-left little in the artistic or monu-
mental range except the Gothic church of S. Giovanni
Carbonaro, the "Incoronata," or capella regis, of King
Robert, amplified into a church to commemorate the second
marriage of Joanna (?) within its walls; and also several
sculptured tombs of royal personages. The stormy period
216
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of King Ladislaus (1386-1414), is brought to mind only by
the anomalous and complex, but magnificent, monument
raised to him in the above-named S. Giovanni (a church
which he restored or rebuilt in 1400), by his sister and
successor, Joanna II. Besides this masterpiece of its
artist, Andrea Ciccione, there is little else to remind us of
that licentious queen except some examples of the florid
Gothic, carried to its richest development at Naples in the
XV. century: for instance, the portal of a small church
adjoining a larger one, both dedicated to S. John, the work
of the architect Antonio Baboccio, 1415; the same who
designed the superb portal of the "Duomo " for the façade
renewed in 1407. A tragic record of Joanna's reign is the
monument at S. Giovanni Carbonaro of her long-potent
favourite, the Grand Seneschal Sergianni Caracciolo,
who was assassinated 1432; another work by Ciccionę, who
represents the Seneschal standing erect with a dagger in
his hand.
Alfonso of Aragon, the successor of Joanna II., completed
the sternly picturesque Castel Nuovo, begun by Charles I.
in 1283. After his death (1458) was raised to his memory
(1470) the triumphal arch unsuitably wedged in between
two huge towers of that fortress; and, though as ill-placed
as possible, a striking example of the Renaissance architec-
ture and sculpture of that century. After the overthrow
of the Aragonese dynasty in the person of the ill-used
Frederick II. (1501) came the period of the Spanish Vice-
roys, marked, in the monumental sphere, by the worst pos-
sible taste and almost every outrage against just principles.
of art. The Aragonese period had been illustrated by the
brightest stars of the Neapolitan school: in sculpture,
Andrea Ciccione and Giovanni Merliano da Nola (1478-
1559); in painting, Agnolo Franco (ob. 1445), Nicola del
Fiore (1444), and Antonio Solario, called lo Zingaro (1455).
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
217
Even under the Spanish government, contemporaneous
energies in this local school were attested by the finest
works of the sculptor known as "Giovanni da Nola," also
by the paintings of Andrea Sabbatini, a pupil of Raffaello,
and only to be appreciated at Naples; and in the XVII.
century by those of Corenzio, Ribera, Stanzione (called the
Guido of this city), and Salvator Rosa. The vandalism of
Spanish officials, dealing with medieval art-monuments,
was on a par with the frightful vulgarity of the works they
ordered. One of them caused the frescoes by Giotto in S.
Chiara Scriptural subjects, and several from the Apo-
calypse, treated, it is said, according to suggestions of
Dante-to be covered with whitewash, because they made
that church-interior look gloomy! A faded group of the
Pietà, and a Madonna head, over an altar, alone remain
visible on those walls; and it would be well if means were
taken to rescue the other paintings, still probably extant,
however damaged, of the same valuable series. In the
same church the splendid monument of King Robert,
designed, while he yet lived, by Masuccio II., but not
finished till 1350, is almost concealed behind the barocco
ornaments of a high altar set up in the last century; and
it is only by ascending a scaffold that one can obtain any
idea of the character or elaboration of that extraordinary
work. In a hall once belonging to the S. Chiara convent,
but now used as a furniture shop, is an admirable fresco,
ascribed to Giotto, of the Saviour in glory amidst saints,
with another saintly group below, and baskets of loaves in
the foreground-probably a mystic representation of the
almsgiving of the Franciscan Order (to whom this convent
still belongs), as pre-figured by the miracle of loaves and
fishes. Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle were, I believe,
the first writers to make known the existence of this long-
forgotten picture. In order to see it, I had to climb up a
218
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ladder to a rickety scaffold, after the good man of the shop
had swept away ever so much piled-up furniture for my bene-
fit. S. Lorenzo, built from the Gothic designs of Maglione,
a pupil of Nicola Pisano, has been wretchedly modernised.
Its finest feature still preserved, and one rarely seen in
Italian church-architecture, is a chevet consisting of seven
chapels concentrically disposed beyond the tribune, five of
which are cut off by partition-walls, left almost ruinous, and
so dark that their contents can scarcely be seen, while one
is encumbered with the mutilated statues of warriors,
thrown on the floor from their outraged tombs! I cannot
say much for another modernisation, intended to be in har-
mony with the original Gothic, at S. Domenico, a church of
imposing aspect, and most rich in monumental sculptures
of the XIV. and XV. centuries. It was re-decorated, in
almost every part, 1850-3, with a profusion of colour and
gilding detrimental to the severe majesty of the prevailing
style.
There are few remains of primitive Christian art at
Naples; none at present in satisfactory conditions. The
circular baptistry adjoining S. Restituta (a separate basilica,
entered from the cathedral, but much more ancient than
that Anjou edifice) has a dome covered with mosaics, feebly
restored in painting; some figures of saints in white robes,
offering crowns, remind of the Roman and Ravenna mosaic
works; others being apparently much later—perhaps XII.
century. All are faded; and the building, no longer used,
is left in woeful disorder and squalor. An inscription under
its dome informs us that this baptistery was founded by
Constantine, A.D. 343, and consecrated by S. Sylvester.
That emperor died A.D 337! It is possible that its origin
may have been coeval with that of the ancient Neapolitan
"Duomo," called from its founder Stephania.
The catacombs of San Gennaro have not been explored
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
219
to their full extent, nor for many years worked with a view
to discovery. They are said to have been re-opened in the
XI. century (?), after being long forgotten, and are entered
from an oratory in which the body of S. Januarius was laid
in the III. century. That primitive chapel, excavated in
the volcanic tufa, retains its ancient altar (hidden within a
modern one), as well as the saint's episcopal chair, also cut
out of the solid tufa. There are three stories of corridors;
the lowest being filled with soil and with bones of victims
of the plague which visited Naples 1656. On the highest
story we enter a spacious church, with pilasters and flattened
roof, all alike excavated. Few paintings are seen in any
part of the hypogeum to which the visitor is guided: the
most remarkable being a figure of the Saviour blessing (of
youthful aspect, but not like the earliest type), the Ma-
donna, a veiled matron, on the archivolt above, and the
heads alone of SS. Peter and Paul, whose figures are lost.
After reading published reports of these catacombs, one
is disappointed with their realities; and I could recognise
no indication of antiquity higher than the 7th or 8th cen-
tury. The inscriptions, which are all Christian, have been
placed in the epigraphic collection at the National Mu-
seum.
In the compartment of early Christian art at that Mu-
seum, are three frescoes from these catacombs, supposed of
dates within the VI. century, and apparently belonging to
a large composition, of the sacred Agape, or banquet united
with sacramental rites.
The suppression of monasteries has led to the closing or
secularising of several churches at Naples, and to the trans-
fer of art-works from their walls to that great Museum, where
they can be seen to more advantage. S. Martino, the gorgeous
Carthusian church on the height of S. Elmo, is placed
on the footing of a public museum, and no longer appro-
220
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
priated for any religious uses.
Neither Mass nor Vespers
send their incense any more from its marble altars and splen-
didly inlaid chapels. A soldier conducts visitors over the
sacred premises; and the few monks, still allowed to inhabit
here, are banished to a retreat where they celebrate their wor-
ship in a private oratory. The great monastery of S. Seve-
rino, suppressed by the French in 1797, and after the resto-
ration inhabited, for some years anterior to 1860, by only
eight or nine Benedictine monks-the principal part being
then occupied as a marine college-is now converted into
the Archivio of the State, a well classified collection open
to students for three hours daily. Not one, indeed, of the
340 churches and chapels in Naples has, that I am aware,
recently suffered through any alteration to be regretted
from the æsthetic, if from the devotional, point of view.
Many altar-pieces, &c. have been removed, but to be placed
where they are much better seen, in the National Museum
-as the finely truthful picture of S. Jerome in his Study,
by Van Eyck, painted for the monks of S. Lorenzo; the
beautiful group by Lo Zingaro, comprising his own portrait
and that of the fair wife, to win whom he abandoned the
trade of a tinker for the nobler career in which he excelled;
a triptych by Luca Cranach (from S. Martino) of the Ado-
ration of the Magi, comprising in its group portraits of
Charles II., Robert the Wise, and his only son, Charles
Duke of Calabria; also a very curious altar-piece presented
by Joanna II. to S. Giovanni Carbonaro (removed from
that church), with numerous figures in alabaster alto-re-
lievo, divided into seven compartments, illustrating the
Passion and Resurrection-many details gilt and some
coloured; the general design clumsy, some parts grotesque,
but the whole most valuable as a specimen of the phase of
local art early in the XV. century. From the cloisters of
S. Lorenzo has been removed (where to be re-erected, I am
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
221
not certain) the monument to the Admiral Ludovico Alde-
moresco (ob. 1414), by Antonio Baboccio, an elaborate but
over-crowded work, well exemplifying the imaginative
powers and style of that sculptor and architect.
Neapolitan Art had its birth almost contemporaneously
with that of central Italy, which so far surpassed it. At
the origin, it was, like the Tuscan and Sienese, earnestly
religious, though less mystic and refined. The deterio-
ration in its devotional character, which we perceive as
centuries pass by, may proceed from moral causes, the in-
quiry into which leads us far along other walks, the range
of social and ecclesiastical interests or influences. Observ-
ing the signs of superstition and vulgarized taste in Nea-
politan churches, we are not surprised to find that high
art has withered in such an atmosphere; and it is not un-
natural that the nobler presentment of sacred subjects
should be disregarded where the popular feeling demands,
and priestly authorities permit, the profaning of the sanc-
tuary by such painted dolls as would be scarcely admis-
sible in a wax-work show at a village fair. In one much
frequented church at Naples, S. Maria della Sanitá, I have
counted fourteen of these tawdry idols set up in glass cases,
and surrounded with an accumulation of the usual ugly
ex-votoes hung to walls and pilasters. The last degree of
abuse involves the preference for what is low and trivial;
and it is remarkable that the potent Church which has
systematically adopted, and indeed worthily inspired, the
agencies of Art, should on one hand have become responsi-
ble for its ruin !
Tommaso degli Stefani (1230-1310), a contemporary of
Cimabue, is considered the founder of the local school at
Naples; though national writers assert that the earliest
art here known maintained its light burning even through
darkest ages. They adduce, in proof, several archaic Ma-
222
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
donna-pictures still venerated in churches, and attributable
to masters who flourished before the XIII. century. The
above-named Stefani was much employed by Charles II,
also by the principal families in this capital; and one writer
tells a story in his honour similar to that of Cimabue's
Madonna, and its triumphant transfer from his studio to
S. Maria Novella at Florence-whence the name given to a
street, "Borgo Allegri." His best extant work is the fresco
series, much faded, illustrating the Passion, in the Minu-
toli chapel at the cathedral. The most eminent pupil of
Stefani was Filippo Tesauro (1260-1320), whose most
admired paintings illustrated the life of S. Nicholas on the
walls of the S. Restituta basilica,-mentioned by Lanzi as
the artist's sole extant work in that writer's time, though a
Virgin and Child with four Saints, now in the National
Museum, is commonly attributed to him. When Giotto
was invited to Naples by King Robert (about 1325), Maestro
Simone (ob. 1346), became his friend and assistant in the
works here undertaken by the Tuscan artist; and Simone
imitated both him and Tesauro so well as to be considered
by some the pupil of the former, by others that of the
latter. After Giotto's departure from Naples, Simone rose
into higher repute, being frequently engaged to adorn
churches by King Robert or his Queen. His earliest extant
work is believed to be the Madonna and Child in the chapel
of S. Thomas Aquinas at S. Domenico Maggiore. Gennaro
di Cola (1320-'70), studied under Maestro Simone, and is
supposed to have executed the frescoes representing events
in the life of Joanna I. on the walls of a chapel at the In-
coronata church, which she founded; paintings which are
now almost invisible, though others on the vault, scenes
from the life of the Madonna, are better preserved.
Maestro Stefanone (1320-'90) was another pupil of the same
Simone, and in style much resembled his fellow-student
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
223
Gennaro. Both were frequently engaged together, as in
the paintings illustrative of the life of the Anjou saint
Louis, bishop of Toulouse, begun by Stefanone, and finished
by the joint labours of the two maestri, at S. Lorenzo.*
Simone's son, Francesco, was also among his pupils; and to
him Lanzi attributes the Madonna in chiaroscuro, which he
calls "lodatissima," at S. Chiara, among the few wall-paint-
ings there saved from the whitewash preferred to art-adorn-
ments by the Spanish officials. Francesco had a scholar,
Nicola Antonio, or Colantonio del Fiore (1350-1444), who
surpassed him, and is said to have painted in oils so
early as 1371; but little is known of him through any ex-
tant works, and one writer Di Dominici (" Vite de' Pittori,
Scultori, e Architetti Napolitani") doubts whether certain
paintings ascribed to him may not be the works of Maestro
Simone-thus tacitly confessing that Neapolitan painting
had made but slight progress in the course of about a cen-
tury. The fact, however, of the well directed abilities and
merited fame of Del Fiore is not doubted. The greatest
master of this school, up to his time, was Antonio Solario,
called "Lo Zingaro " (1382-1455). I have mentioned the
romantic story of his love for Colantonio's daughter, and
his abandoning his first trade of itinerant tinker to study
art and win its laurels, for the ulterior object of winning
the fair bride, who made him happy in married life. The
dates in his career determine his place among the masters
of the XV. rather than the previous century. One is
fully convinced of his rapid advance beyond competitors
when one looks at the large picture removed from S. An-
tonio Abbate (a now-closed church) to the Museum; but,
* Lanzi observes, "the superior talent, resolution, and boldness of
touch, giving a vivacity to his figures," in Stefanone, whom he sets
much higher than Gennaro di Cola.
224
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
i
F
}
1
seeing that, among the other portraits there introduced,
the Blessed Virgin on her throne is the likeness of Queen
Joanna II., such departure from the high ideal, therein
betrayed, is ominous for the future of sacred art at Naples.
Architecture and sculpture rose almost simultaneously,
and in some instances through the energies of the same in-
dividual genius, at Naples. The first celebrated sculptor
here engaged, was a contemporary of the earliest known
painter of this local school. Masuccio, the first of that
name, (1230-1306) built S. Giovanni Maggiore (reduced to
its present form in 1685) and S. Domenico Maggiore, which
still possesses grandeur, notwithstanding its modern orna-
mentation; also finished what Giovanni Pisano had begun,
the church of S. Maria la Nuova, and the castle for royal
residence called "Nuova," the great Pisan artist having
been invited to Naples by Charles I. and begun the impos-
ing towers of that royal castle, 1283. Masuccio had studied
in Rome, and there made his first attempts as a sculptor of
relievi, imitated from the antique, before being engaged on
any public building at Naples, whither he returned soon
after the throne had been mounted by the Anjou Charles I.
Giovanni Pisano, before leaving Naples, assigned to him the
completing of his own tasks; and the king was so much
impressed by Masuccio's work, that he commissioned him
to build the new cathedral, himself choosing one out of seve-
ral designs prepared. Pietro degli Stefani, a sculptor who
had been engaged together with Masuccio in exercising his
art for the new cathedral, and some of whose designs—as a
Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John-were executed
by Masuccio himself for their place in that church, had a
son known as Masuccio the second (1291-1388), from the
artist who was his godfather, and became his master. He
also studied at Rome, and returned to Naples, 1318, when
requested by King Robert to complete the church of
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
225
4
S. Chiara, begun by a foreign artist, with whose perform-
ance the Neapolitan was so little pleased, that he almost
swept it away, raising his own architecture on the site.
The campanile which he built beside this church, is pro-
nounced by Milizia (“Vite degli Architetti") to be his
most admirable performance; it was designed with the five
classic orders, but had only been carried up to the third (or
second) when the building was interrupted, probably on
account of the death of King Robert, nor has it ever been
finished as the architect proposed. The now admired and
successful Masuccio built also the monastery of S. Chiara,
and another with its church, S. Croce, of the Doric order
(so soon did he emancipate himself from the Gothic) by
desire of the pious Queen Sancia, who there took the veil
and spent the last years of her life as a Franciscan nun,
after becoming a widow. The same artist executed many
of the noblest monuments in Neapolitan churches, and
built the original Certosa (S. Martino), S. Giovanni a Car-
bonara, and S. Angelo a Nilo, his last work, finished just
before his death. He also completed S. Lorenzo, begun by
the first Masuccio, and the S. Elmo Castle, entirely his own
work, though as it now stands scarcely in any part more
ancient than the XVI. century;-S. Martino, that forms
so conspicuous an object near it, being a restoration of still
later date. Andrea Ciccione, a scholar of the second
Masuccio, united like him the genius and practice of sculp-
ture and architecture; but as he lived till 1455, his career
belongs rather to a later period than to that here consi-
dered. The Gothic style seems to have been gradually set
aside in the latter years of the XIV. century; and the
Roman studies of the two Masuccios may have created a
predilection for the classicism which the second embodied in
some of his latest undertaken buildings. Could we evoke
before the mind's eye the Naples of this century, untouched
226
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
by the hands of modern restorers, uninjured by the tastes
prevailing under Spanish and Bourbonic sway, we should,
I believe, behold a spectacle far more ennobled than is the
actual city, by the grandeur and opulence of Art under Ca-
tholic influences-undegraded by superstition and triviality.
I may ask the reader to accompany me to those churches
only at Naples, where the dead repose beneath such monu-
ments as throw solemnity even over the ecclesiastical archi-
tecture, disfigured or vulgarized by the most tasteless deco-
ration, most conspicuous in this city. A splendid porch of
florid Gothic arrests attention before we enter the cathe-
dral (episcopio, as it is here called); but there could be no
example of wider departure from the character or sentiment
of the pointed style, though the acute arch be still retained,
than the interior of this church, modernized, as we see it,
first in 1788, and finally in 1837. Its adornments, its
pomps, and its worship, are stamped with characteristics of
modern Italian Catholicism. Among objects of XIV. cen-
tury Art still recognisable, though not unaltered, are the
architectural details of a few lateral chapels, and some
monuments, especially that of Innocent IV., who died at
Naples, 1254; this memorial having been erected, according
to some writers, soon after that date, first in S. Restituta,
afterwards removed from that contiguous church to the
new cathedral of the Anjou Kings, 1313, and finally to its
present place, after being damaged by earthquake, 1446;
or else, as other writers state, erected in 1313, and from
designs of the artist, Pietro Stefano, no longer living at
that later date.* In the Gothic chapel of the Minutoli
* The epitaph gives this Pope the praise due to more virtues than
History can fully credit him for; and winds up with an indecorous insult
to the heroic and high-minded, however erring Prince, Frederick II., so
often excommunicated by Innocent IV.:
Monia direxit, rite sibi credita rexit,
Stravit inimicum Christi, colubrem Fredericum.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
227
family, we see the frescoes by Tommaso, brother to the
same Pietro, illustrating the scenes of the Passion, now
much injured by time or damp. In the nave, we must stop
to admire the marble canopy of the archiepiscopal throne,
graceful in design, majestic in effect, with torse columns
supporting the Gothic arches-altogether, a work scarcely
surpassed, if equalled, by any architectural example of its
class in Italian churches. We must regret the destruction
of the fresco-series commenced by Maestro Simone, and
finished by Gennaro di Cola, illustrating the life of the
Anjou Saint, Louis bishop of Toulouse, brother to King
Robert, in a chapel where those paintings were undertaken
by the King's order, and completed by order of Joanna;
Louis having been canonized sixteen years after his death,
during his royal brother's lifetime.
Nothing could more glaringly make manifest the depraved
taste for ecclesiastical decoration at Naples than the
manner in which the building of Masuccio has been sacri-
ficed, and sacred antiquity travestied by modern ornament
at S. Chiara, disguised, as we see it, to please the Clarisse
nuns, and at the cost of 200,000 ducats, in 1752. The
memory of the devout and learned King Robert, of his
pious Queen, and of the sojourn of Petrarch and Boccaccio
on the Parthenopeian shores, still haunts the sacred build-
ing, where so much has been done to efface the vestiges and
character of that epoch. On each side of the majestic, but
unfinished, campanile, is a Gothic epigraph in Latin verse,
Near this tomb is a plain pavement-slab, to the murdered Andrea,
whose body was brought from Aversa, and interred here at the expense
of a canon of this cathedral; and a more modern epitaph, placed by
the Archbishop Pignatelli, in 1733, thus severely imputes to Joanna I.
the guilt of more than complicity in the young King's death : Andrea
Caroli Marti Pannoniæ Regis F. Neapolitanor. Regi, Joannæ Uxoris
dolo et lequeo necato.
Q 2
228
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
supplying comment to the annals of this church, founded
1310, and finished 1328: one inscription recording its
foundation, by Robert and Sancia; another, the ample in-
dulgences attached to this church by John XXII; another,
the consecration (1340), by ten bishops and archbishops;
another, the illustrious persons present at that rite.*
Among other historic proceedings enacted within this
church, is one that well displays the fierce antagonism be-
tween Pope and Antipope, while S. Peter's throne was dis-
puted by the rival claims of Urban VI. and Clement VII.
The Cardinal Legate, De Sangro, obliged two other Cardi-
nals, the bishop of Teate, and a Benedictine Abbot, in
presence of the King and barons assembled within these
walls, to solemnly renounce the cause of Clement, declare
Urban to be sole legitimate occupant of the Papal chair, and
with their hands burn the red hats, the episcopal pallium,
and abbatial cowl they had respectively received from
Clement, whilst recognizing him as Pope. We have seen
how that Cardinal Legate was rewarded with torture and
strangulation in a dungeon by his tiara-crowned master!
Entering S. Chiara, we obtain an imperfect view, behind a
barocco high altar, of the monument of King Robert-one
of the most lofty and imposing, though not most beautiful
among mediæval tombs in Italy. After the architect and
sculptor, Masuccio the second, had executed for this church
the monument of the King's only son, Charles Duke of
Calabria, the bereaved father was so much pleased with the
artist's work that he ordered him to prepare a model for his,
* Rex et Regina stant hic multis societi;
Ungariæ Regis generosa stirpe creatus,
Conspicit Andreas, Calabrorum Dux veneratus ;
Dux pia, Dux magna, Cansors huicq. Joanna,
Neptis Regalis; sociat soror et ipsa Maria, &c.—
in which Latinity the use of "dux," as feminine, is noticeable.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
229
•
the King's own tomb, with design similar to the architec-
tonic altar of the Minutoli chapel, by the first Masuccio, in
the cathedral. When the model was shown to Robert, he
only objected that it was too splendid for a humble-minded
Christian Prince, as this Anjou monarch unquestionably
was. His grand-daughter Joanna, having succeeded to
him, was not a woman to be swayed by such modest scruples;.
and Masuccio's design was consequently carried out : rising
in four storys, with a profusion of statues and reliefs,
gilding in many parts, and also (probably) colour, though
this has faded: numerous allegoric figures of Virtues sup-
port or flank the architectonic masses, ten such statuettes
standing under Gothic canopies along pilasters; the King
is shown to us in four portrait sculptures-at the highest
story, seated and crowned, in royal state; in a relievo, with
his Queen and five other persons (relatives ?) mourning ; in
a smaller relievo, as presented by patron Saints to the Virgin
and Child; again, in a statue in the round, recumbent as in
death, with crown and sceptre, but in the humble garb of a
Franciscan, which he assumed, making the regular profes-
sion of a friar of S. Francis, before the Father General of
that Order, eighteen days before his death, at the Castello
Nuovo. On the tympanum of the canopy is a relief of the
Saviour with angels. The epitaph, expressive in brevity—
Cernite Robertum regem virtute refertum-is attributed to
Petrarch.
Near this monument, in a dimly-lighted transept, stands
the other, the first wrought for this church by the same
artist-to Charles the Illustrious, Duke of Calabria, who
died at the age of thirty (1328), and is represented in a
recumbent statue under a Gothic canopy, with a relief of
the Virgin and Child, and two female Saints, columns rest-
ing on couchant lions, and statuettes of Justice, Fortitude,
Clemency, Prudence; another relievo on the sarcophagus
!
230
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
showing us the Duke enthroned with barons on one side,
ministers on the other, all those in front kneeling to him,
and the symbols of a wolf and a lamb, drinking from the
same vessel, at the feet of Charles, who supports his sceptre
on that vessel—to signify (v. Collenuccio, "Compendio di
Storia Napolitana") the peace and justice enjoyed under the
sway of this Prince, while he held the reins of government
as Vicar during his father's absence.* King Robert founded
a chapel at Jerusalem expressly for the celebration of
masses on behalf of the soul of his prematurely lost son and
heir.
Among other royal monuments here are those of Mary
de Valois, wife of the same Duke Charles;† of Mary, his
second daughter (ob. 1366), Duchess of Durazzo by her
* In this epitaph he is styled : Justitiæ præcipuus Zelator et cultor, ac
Reipublicæ strenuus Defensor; and said to have died, catholicé receptis
sacrosanctæ Ecclesiæ omnibus Sacramentis.
†The coarse ferocity of the manners of the time may be inferred from
the story (v. Collenuccio) of this lady's second marriage and widowhood.
Count del Balzo d'Avellino was determined to obtain her hand for his
eldest son, and whilst the Duchess was residing in the Castel dell' Uovo,
visited her there with his two sons and many armed retainers, under
pretext of taking leave before his departure for Provence. There and
then did he force her to wed his son Robert-and what took place at his
bidding, in his presence, immediately afterwards, cannot be narrated.
The Count then compelled the Duchess to leave the castle, and embark
with him and his party for France. At Gaeta, where his galley was
delayed in the harbour, King Louis, the second husband of Joanna, in-
formed of what had passed, came on board, severely reproached Del
Balzo for his political treacheries, as well as for his treatment of the
Queen's sister, ordered him to be put to death, and sent back the injured
lady, with the two sons of the Count, both prisoners, to Naples. Two
years afterwards (1352) the nominal wife entered the chamber where
Robert del Balzo was confined in the Castel Nuovo, and, after violently
upbraiding him, ordered her attendants to assassinate him in her pre-
sence, and throw his body into the sea. The corpse fell on the strand
under the castle walls, where it was left for some time before being at
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
231
first marriage with the Duke Charles, put to death by the
King of Hungary for supposed complicity in the murder
of Andrea, and by her third marriage with Philip of
Taranto, titular Empress of Constantinople, that shadowy
title to the Greek empire having been first assumed in the
Anjou family by Philip, Prince of Achaia and Taranto,
son of Charles II., in virtue of his marriage with a daughter
of Charles de Valois, who himself derived it from his wife,
Catherine de Courtenai, daughter of the last titular Emperor
of the Latin line once ruling in the East.* On another
monument, to Agnes and Clementine, daughters of the
Duchess Mary of Durazzo, the elder is also styled Empress
of Constantinople, in virtue of her second marriage with
last interred. Joanna and Louis, who were residing at the castle, but
absent on that day, were supposed to have consented to the deed, though
they affected displeasure against the Duchess who had thus avenged
herself. In her epitaph this lady is styled, Illustris Domina Maria de
Francia, Imperatrix Constantinopolitana, Ducissa Duracii.
* This is the monument erroneously supposed to be that of Joanna I.,
whose body, we are distinctly told, was entombed, after being left for
three days above ground, at S. Chiara, without honours, either funeral
or sepulchral. Celano ("Notizie del Bello, dell' Antico e del curioso
della Citta di Napoli," 1692) rejects as apocryphal the epitaph said to
have been placed on her reputed tomb, one part by permission of her
successor, Charles III., but the rest added later, as follows:
Inclyta Parthenopes jacet hic Regina Joanna
Prima, prius felix, mox miseranda nimis,
Quem Carolo genitam, multavit Carolus alter,
Qua morte illa virum sustulit ante suum.
De Dominici admits this as authentic, but owns that before his time it
had been erased; and, in fact, no epitaph is now seen on the monument in
question. The other writer, Celano, states that the body of Joanna was
privately removed from S. Chiara to the town of S. Angelo on Monte
Gargano, and there laid in the church of S. Francesco, founded by that
queen, where it was honoured by a monument with her effigy, and the
sole inscription, R. J. I can find no notice of such a monument as still
extant.
232
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Giacomo del Balzo, Prince of Taranto. The recumbent
effigies on these tombs, with exception of that of the
Duchess Mary, are stiff and heavy in character; the
draperies like mummy-swathings. Among the relievi (very
unequal) of sacred subjects accessorially introduced, the
Madonna and Child with saints are most frequently seen; in
rarer instances the Crucifixion, and the Dead Christ with
mourners.* Among other noticeable monuments in this
church, and of the same century, are two in a lateral
chapel, erected to a knight and lady of the Baucia family,
who both died 1370, and are represented as well by recum-
bent effigies as in relievi, and surrounded by their friends
or relatives—the lady with a lapdog on her knees, the
knight with a falcon on his wrist. This expresses the
antique feeling, which looks backwards rather than for-
wards in selecting the imagery on the tomb. The large
convent adjoining S. Chiara was built by Masuccio for both
nuns and friars of the Franciscan Order, here inhabiting
distinct premises, after the sisterhood in Queen Sancia's
convent of S. Croce had become too numerous for that
building to accommodate them. In the refectory of the
friars is a large fresco, attributed to Maestro Simone, now
faded and sombre in colouring: the Saviour on a rich gothic
throne, attended by the Blessed Virgin and S. John the
Evangelist, with SS. Francis, Anthony, Louis of Toulouse,
who present to Him King Robert, his Queen, his son Duke
I have given the hitherto-received theory as to the artists of the
S. Chiara monuments; but an authority to be deferred to, Mr. Perkins,
pointing out six distinct styles in the Angevine tombs here, assumes that
the second Masuccio was not engaged on any of them, and attributes the
monument of King Robert to two Florentine sculptors, known to us
only as Sancio and Giovanni. De Dominici gives the fullest particulars
respecting King Robert's monument, as a work of the second Masuccio;
so also respecting that of Duke Charles.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
233
Charles, and the wife of the latter, Mary de Valois. The
nuns at S. Chiara once numbered 300; and though not so
many when Celano wrote his “ Notizie," continued to
average about 200, without counting the friars, their imme-
diate neighbours. When I visited the place in the summer
of 1870, three communities of Clarisse nuns, in all 150, and
a few Franciscan friars were located here, through the
toleration extended to those preferring the cloistral life
The
now abolished according to the letter of the law.
chill, dim-lit, refectory, where I found a frugal supper
served for the friars, and where one of them conversed
with me in a melancholy tone, seemed to indicate the
change since the time of the good King Robert.
S. Domenico Maggiore adjoins the convent where S. Thomas
Aquinas resided when (1272) he taught in the University
then established within these walls, receiving as salary from
Charles I. of Anjou, one ounce of gold (about 20 shillings)
monthly-but where not a single Dominican friar now re-
mains.* This church, still more than S. Chiara, is a museum
of mediæval monuments, and also rich in later art, for here
are several works by the greatest of Neapolitan sculptors,
Giovanni Merliano, called, from his birthplace, Giovanni da
Nola, 1478-1559. The prevailing features in the monu-
ments of the XIV. century here seen, are such as distin-
guish almost all the funereal art of this school and period:
the architectonic details usually Gothic; the deceased
appearing in repose between the states of sleep and death;
sometimes angels drawing aside curtains under the over-
shadowing canopy; the portrait statue, laid on the sarco-
*The church was originally dedicated to S. Mary Magdalene, and
founded by Charles II. in fulfilment of a vow made during his long cap
tivity in Aragon; that Prince having fallen into the power of the
Spaniards during the war caused by the massacre of the Sicilian Vespers.
S. Domenico has passed through many changes since.
234
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
phagus, being at times superseded, or accompanied, by
another effigy in low relief, placed perpendicular, with un-
pleasing effect, against the wall or other surface. Such is the
treatment in the otherwise ine monuments of Archbishop
Brancaccio (ob. 1341), and of Joanna Brancaccio (1358),
whose effigy is crowned and robed like a queen; also in that
of two Counts di Aquino (1342, 1357), both thus represented
in relief figures perpendicularly placed. That of Giovanni
d'Aquino (ob. 1345), is a work of the second Masuccio, and
surmounted by wall-paintings from the pencil of Maestro
Simone-the Virgin and Child with SS. John Baptist and
Anthony the Abbot; above, in lunettes, the Deity and
Virgin Annunciate, placed too high to be well seen. In a
transept, is the monument, (or rather sculptured memorial)
of Bertrando del Balzo, by the same Masuccio, representing
the deceased with other persons, who all kneel to him (!);
and in the other transept, alike ill-placed, a similar memo-
rial to the younger sons of Charles II., Philip Prince of
Taranto (ob. 1332), and Giovanni Duke of Durazzo (ob.
1335), both here distinguished by being seated among several
standing figures. Other noticeable tombs of this period
have been transferred from different parts of the church to
a passage once included in the main building, but now cut
off from it, and communicating between a transept and a
side entrance. In the splendid chapel of the " Crocifisso"
(rather indeed a separate church, entered from the nave of
S. Domenico), we see the Crucifix which is said to have
spoken to S. Thomas Aquinas, whilst he was engaged on his
famous work, the Summa Theologia-the picture (for such
it is, and by Tommaso di Stefano) having sent forth a voice
which said: “ Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma; quam ergo mer-
cedem recipies?" to which the 'Angelic Doctor' replied,
“Non aliam nisi te!" This specimen of early art is now
too much blackened by time, and concealed by gilt halos on
tt
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
235
the three heads---Mary and S. John being seen beside the
Cross-for criticism to be attempted. In the chapel of
S. Thomas Aquinas, entered from that of the Crocifisso, is
a Madonna and Child by Maestro Simone, of graceful and
pleasing character, notwithstanding much quaintness; and
in another of these side chapels, the same artist's earliest
extant picture, the "Madonna della Rosa," with the Child
taking milk at her breast; the Mother of that mild, delicate
and youthful type, which becomes traditionary in the later
treatment-opposed to the earlier-of this subject.
The architecture of the two Masuccios has been as much
defaced at S. Lorenzo as elsewhere; and the studious elimi-
nating of the earlier style from this modernized church, may
be taken as the measure of distance between the mediæval
and modern Catholicism of Naples. It is only in the
neglected and almost ruinous chapels behind the tribune
that we can picture to ourselves the true character of the
olden edifice.* And here, in dim-lit obscurity, we see some
monuments well worthy of better fate: the most lament-
ably mutilated and badly-lighted, that of the Duke Charles
of Durazzo, put to death (1348) for the murder of Andrea,
by order of King Louis of Hungary; this, and the memorial
to the infant daughter of the same Duke, which stands near,
being attributed to the second Masuccio. In another chapel
are two better preserved monuments-one to Robert Count
d'Artois and his wife, Joanna of Durazzo, Countess d'Eu,
* Celano tells us that this most memorable portion of the church was
in the same condition in 1692, as at present: the chapels converted
into lumber-rooms by the Franciscan friars, "the monuments neglected
and almost ruinous." That writer mentions the numerous classic columns
of Greek marble in different parts of this building, which were supposed
to be remnants of the ancient municipal palace on the site of S. Lorenzo,
demolished to give place for this church, and (as suspected) with intent,
on the part of the first Anjou King, to suppress the liberties and forms
of civic government, which had its official centre in that palace.
236
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
who both died of poison on the same day, 1387-victims, as
believed, of political jealousy, excited by their ambition to
ascend the royal throne; another, to Catherine of Austria,
(ob. 1323), first wife of the Duke Charles, whose tomb is
at S. Chiara. The latter, the Duchess Catherine's monu-
ment, was the first work of its class executed by the same
Masuccio, and greatly admired at the time: the recumbent
statue lies under a canopy, on the tympanum of which is a
relievo of Christ in the tomb and the two Maries; the sup-
porting pilasters rest on couchant lions; the architectural
design being Gothic.
Another art-work of the XIV. century in this church, is
a picture by Maestro Simone of the coronation of King
Robert by his brother, the canonized Louis. The King
himself ordered this memorial of the event; and we here
see, no doubt in authentic portraiture, S. Louis seated, in
full pontificals, with a splendid crozier in one hand, and
Robert, on much smaller scale, kneeling before him while
he, the saint, places the crown on his head without bend-
ing towards, or apparently paying any attention to, him.
S. Louis was a Franciscan before becoming a bishop; and
this subordinating, in art-presentment, of the king to the
mendicant friar, serves to illustrate the religious feeling of
the times.* Not one of that religious order is now left in
their former home at the S. Lorenzo convent, from the
cloisters of which we enter a chapter-house, still preserved,
in the olden and beautiful style of medieval building.
A large showy church, in the most gorgeous modern
* De Dominici mentions another picture in this church by the same
Maestro, of S. Anthony of Padua, deemed marvellous, and "to this day
held in great veneration by the faithful.". The new authorities desired
to remove the altar-piece of the Coronation, but found it to be legal
property attached to S. Lorenzo, and had consequently to satisfy them-
selves with a copy from Simone's original.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
237
Italian style, built, as we see it, in 1620, represents that of
the Franciscan convent founded by Queen Mary, daughter
of Stephen, King of Hungary, wife of Charles II., and
mother to King Robert, who herself retired to this sanc-
tuary and died within its walls, 1323. The nuns, forty at
the time of their recent dispersal, were all of noble birth;
not one of them remains in the immense buildings, now
appropriated partly as a Criminal Court, partly as prisons.
Remembering late revelations of the interior life of a
Neapolitan monastery for women, I looked without regret
on such an example of the fatal blow to the system at this
retreat of aristocratic devotions.* The foundress of S.
Maria Donna Regina is brought before our minds by one of
the most beautiful monuments of the period, executed by
Masuccio the second, in the same year as that of the
Austrian Duchess Catherine. It stands in the Comuni-
chino, a hall for the communion of the nuns, with a grating
that opens on the church, near the high altar-accessible,
since the suppression, to all visitors. The pointed style is
here appropriately treated; under a gothic canopy lies a
beautiful statue of the Queen; a relief of SS. Peter and
Paul occupies the recess above; the Virgin and Child with
two saints are represented at the summit of the canopy;
other relievi adorn the sarcophagus, and angels, with
symbols of virtues, support the whole. There is a chas-
tened solemnity, a dignified repose, truly admirable in this
art-work.t
Abandoned to cold neglect, sombre, damp, and disfigured
by wretched modern ornaments, stands the church origi-
nally dedicated to the "Corona di Cristo," subsequently
* The “Misteri del Chiostro Napolitano," by the Signora Carac-
ciolo.
† Mr. Perkins attributes it to Tino da Camaino, a pupil of Giovanni
Pisano, and one of the sculptors much engaged at Naples. He flourished
1315-36.
238
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
called S. Maria Incoronata, and now known as simply
L'Incoronata. Historic memories and the splendours of
art should have secured better usage for this doubly con-
secrated building, founded by Joanna I., either to comme-
morate her second marriage with Louis of Taranto, or (as
seems more probable) her coronation (1351) together with
that Prince, performed by a Papal Legate on a stage
erected against the palace formerly on this site, which
building the Queen converted into a church. Such the
actual edifice does not seem to be, having nothing ecclesi-
astical on the exterior; in the interior, nothing of the
original Gothic, except the ribbed vaulting, the apse, and
a chapel at one end. The monks of a great religious order
were mainly responsible for the damage here suffered; and
by the end of the XVII. century the wall-paintings, here
numerous and most precious, were almost ruined through
the Vandalic attempt to scrape off all the ultramarine blue,
as well as through damp, "which (says Celano) had pene-
trated the walls, the monks having taken no pains to keep
them dry." The building was at that time utilized by the
Carthusian monks (its then owners) as a monastic hospice
and residence for chaplains in the upper part, as a wine-
cellar in the lower; and a deep foss cut between the outer
walls and the street, by way of protection to the building,
was used as a timber yard, where that article was sold for
the Carthusian proprietors. It is supposed that the original
edifice was a tribunal of justice, or court house, into which
was incorporated the ancient capella regis, where the royal
marriage had been celebrated, when the building was con-
verted into a church. According to some writers, however,
the whole was built from the foundations, excepting only
that chapel, by the Queen's orders; and Collenuccio states,
perhaps more credibly, that the original edifice was a
palace built by Charles II., on the site of the ancient
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
239
Court-house, and which had become the property of the
Princes of Taranto before the marriage of Louis with the
Queen. In commemoration of that event an annual fête
was appointed, which used to be celebrated with jousts, &c.,
in the street before the "Incoronata" church. Joanna
also founded and amply endowed a hospice contiguous to
the new church, for the above-named monks of S. Martino.
It is certain that the capella regis was adorned with paint-
ings by Giotto, who could not, however (as Neapolitan
writers ignorantly state), have represented on those walls
the nuptials of Joanna, which took place eleven years after
his death, namely, 1346. Celano says, that in his time a
few remains of frescoes, which he attributes to Giotto,
were seen here-some figures on the vault, and certain
heads, among them a portrait of Joanna, near the chapel
of the "Crocifisso." We must ascend an organ-loft to see
the much damaged frescoes on a vault, which are ascribed
to pupils of Giotto, and may be supposed to comprise some
portions of that great artist's work, if this be indeed the
chapel older than the time of that Queen's reign. Criti-
cism, however, both from Italian and English writers, now
decides against the opinion which formerly gave these
paintings to Giotto, whose style they remind us of, and
whose reputation would not be prejudiced by them. The
Seven Sacraments are the principal subjects here treated.
Matrimony is the historic scene of the nuptials of Joanna
and Louis; the brilliant group of courtiers in attendance,
and the handsome figure of the bridegroom well preserved,
that of the bride unfortunately effaced in the upper part.
In Holy Orders we see the consecration of the saintly
Louis, King Robert's brother, by Boniface VIII. In Ex-
treme Unction, the death-bed (as supposed) of Louis of
Taranto. In Penance, the act of confessing under a
portico, the penitent kneeling before the priest, as is the
240
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
custom to this day, at least with males at confession, in
Naples; other penitents, in the dark costume of some
pious fraternity, submitting to the scourge. Corresponding
to the picture of the Communion (one of those least in-
jured) is the institution of the Holy Eucharist; the Saviour
standing among the Apostles, and of larger scale than are
their figures. The Triumph of Religion, an allegory, in
which King Robert and his son, the Duke of Calabria, are
introduced, clad in purple robes, and holding banners, is
one of the subjects least intelligible in the present state of
that picture. Altogether, this series, though so little
spared by time, and so much injured through neglect,
forms an interesting illustration of manners, costumes, and
ceremonies in the XIV. century. In the Gothic chapel at
the opposite end of this church, are frescoes by Gennaro
di Cola, said to represent scenes from the life of Queen
Joanna, her marriage (the subject represented on the vault)
and the homage paid to her by the Carthusians for the
bestowal of the hospice here founded and endowed by her.
These I could not recognize, nor indeed any other intelli-
gible grouping in the now deplorable decay of Gennaro's
works; but in the spaces beside the entrance to this
chapel, S. Martin dividing his cloak with the beggar, and
S. George subduing the Dragon, by the same artist, are
still discernible. So also are the scenes from the life of the
Virgin, on the vault; as well as a Madonna and Child
under the organ-loft, alike ascribed to Gennaro di Cola.
In the sacristy is a Crucifixion by Maestro Simone, who
painted on the wall behind the high altar of this church
the Dead Christ, several saints and angels, with the instru-
ments of the Passion-now totally perished.
Other works of the early Neapolitan school are scattered
over different churches, and deserving of notice. By the
first Masuccio, the monument of Jacopo di Costanzo (ob.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
241
1234) in the cathedral, and a wooden Crucifix in the
Caracciolo chapel at the same church. By Pietro di
Stefano: three wooden Crucifixes, one in 'S. Restituta,
another in S. Gregorio Armeno, and another in the Car-
mine church-this last having, it is believed, bowed its
head to avoid being struck by a cannon ball when Naples
was besieged by Alfonso of Aragon, 1436. By Tommaso
di Stefano: SS. Andrew and Michael in the sacristy of
S. Angelo a Nilo, and another picture of S. Michael the
Archangel — attributed, however, to Marco da Siena by
some writers-over the high altar of that church. By
Colantonio del Fiore: a lunette fresco (now imperfectly
seen under glass), over the outer door of the same S.
Angelo, representing the founder, Cardinal Brancaccio,
kneeling before the Virgin and Child, with his patron
saints, Michael and another. In the SS. Annunziata,
founded by Queen Sancia, 1343, was formerly a Madonna
picture by Pietro di Stefano over the high altar; but that
church was burnt down, 1757, before the present edifice,
modern in style and splendour, arose in its place, 1782.
We must regret the disappearance of another church and
convent founded by the same pious Queen, and of her
monument with it-S. Croce, where Sancia used occasion-
ally to retire from the pomps of the Court, and pass a season
in meditation and prayer with the Clarisse nuns, and where
she herself took the veil with vows after she had become a
widow. The architecture, by the second Masuccio, was
Doric-another example of the early abandonment of the
mediæval style at Naples.
Other historic monuments of this and of a somewhat
later period-the beginning of the XV. century-are to be
seen, and well preserved, in the church of a famous and
still frequented place of pilgrimage, Monte Vergine, on an
Apennine height, amidst grandly romantic scenery, near
R
242
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Avellino in the province of Principato Ulteriore. A
classical and, at the same time, romantic origin for that
name is assigned, without reference to the intelligible
intent of honouring the Virgin Mother. The mountain
was anciently called mons sacra," on account of a temple
of Cybele which stood on it, and attracted the thronging
devotees of heathen superstition; and that name was sub-
sequently changed to "Virgilianus," because Virgil once
resided at the temple, in order to consult at leisure the
oracle from which he hoped for inspirations! The impres-
sion made by the famous "Pollio " may have given rise to
this legend of the great poet. The sanctuary was founded,
A.D. 1119, by Guglielmo, a nobleman of Vercelli, who,
in returning from a pilgrimage to Compostella, intended
to set out from southern Italy for Palestine, but, after
spending some time with a holy man, S. Giovanni di
Matera, in Apulia, was induced to establish himself as a
hermit on this mountain, because convinced that he had
here beheld the Saviour of the world in a vision, and been
commanded by Him to build a church, and found a com-
munity of Cœnobites on the spot. A few humble cells
arose, to be in time superseded by a spacious monastery;
and numerous followers placed themselves under the direc-
tion of the pilgrim from Vercelli, who died, 1142, in
another of the several cloisters founded by him in different
parts of Italy and Sicily. Under the government of his
third successor in the headship of the new order, the Beato
Roberto, the Benedictine rule was adopted by these monks,
with approval of Alexander III., who canonized their
founder. The church of Monte Vergine was rebuilt on
larger scale by the Beato Roberto, about 1180, and conse-
crated by Lucius III. How many other restorations have
been carried out here, may be conjectured from the present
modern style of architecture. One of the Madonna pic-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
243
tures, ascribed to S. Luke, and said by tradition to have
been brought from Constantinople by Baldwin II., the last
Latin emperor of the East, when he fled before the vic-
torious entry of Michael Palæologus into the Greek
capital, 1261-but which picture was, more probably, ex-
ecuted by order of Frederick II., about 1220—having been
bestowed on this sanctuary, proved a source of great attrac-
tions to the devout.* Hence the pilgrimage at Pentecost
to Monte Vergine, still joined in by multitudes of different,
but especially the lower, classes from Naples and other
cities far and near. The abbots of this monastery obtained
episcopal powers and privileges; but for some years sub-
sequently to 1440 their office was "in commenda,” i. e.,
held by dignitaries not bound to residence, or necessarily
belonging to any religious order.
A Cardinal of royal blood, Giovanni, son of Ferdinand I.,
the Aragonese King of Naples, and one of the titulars who
held this abbacy on such terms, discovered under the high
altar of the monastic church, 1480, the body of S. Januarius,
transferred hither from Benevento, in 1156; and that Car-
dinal's successor in the abbacy, Cardinal Caraffa, obtained
permission from Alexander VI. to remove those revered
relics (1497) to the cathedral of Naples, since which pro-
ceeding the "miracle" of the Liquefaction has triennially
excited the impatience, the tumults, and the raptures of
devout believers in it.
* The figure, not belonging to the head of this picture, is said to have
been painted by Montano d'Arezzo, by order of Prince Philip d'Anjou,
son of Charles II. According to Moroni (Dizionario) it was bestowed
on the monks by Catherine de Valois, a descendant of Baldwin II. and
wife of the same Prince Philip. It is a colossal and very ugly Madonna,
compared with which Cimabue's, at Florence, is loveliness itself; this
of Monte Vergine being half concealed by appended ornaments and
heavy crowns, three on the mother's, one on the child's head-barbarous
art disfigured by superstition!
R 2
244
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
The situation of Monte Vergine on a wide plateau shel-
tered by precipices and dark pine-groves, overlooking the
rocky descent that plunges into the solemn depths of an
Apennine glen, is in the highest degree picturesque. The
extensive buildings, seen from without, are only remarkable
for a quaint and massive simplicity that seems to promise
both the prosperities and enduring life of an olden institu-
tion. Passing through a ponderous gateway under a pointed
arch, we enter a long corridor with Gothic vaulting, and
thus reach the church through a portal in the same style;
but the Gothic (in which probably the whole was originally
built) has been banished from the interior-a large, mo-
dernized temple with showy ornaments according to the
usual examples of taste and type in these southern pro-
vinces. Some fine mediæval tombs alone remind us of the
far-distant Past, and of the Arts which added lustre to those
times. Among these is the monument of Louis of Taranto,
crowned after his marriage with Joanna, and deceased at the
age of forty-two, 1362; also that of his mother Catherine de
Valois, titular Empress of Constantinople-both which me-
morials were unfortunately damaged by earthquake, and
subsequently restored, with more or less deterioration from
their original character. Interesting also is the monument of
Caterina Filingiera, Countess of Avellino, wife of the Grand
Seneschal Caracciola who was assassinated, 1432-with
recumbent effigy in nun-like dress, angels drawing aside
curtains, a relievo of Christ in the tomb, four statuettes of
Virtues as supporters, and a Gothic canopy, at the summit.
of which are statuettes of the Virgin and Child with two
Saints-the sculptures, severally considered, inferior, but
the composition fine, the effect impressive. Near this are
two other good monuments with low relief effigies of armed
knights, each bearing the name, Berteradus Vicecomes, and
one with epitaph dated 1335. In a chapel of a transept is
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
245
a nameless monument, without a line engraved, or other
sculpture placed upon it, except the statue of a lady, with
her feet resting on a little dog-her countenance, in that
affecting repose of dreamless slumber usually represented
in such funereal sculptures of former time, one of the most
beautiful and exquisitely finished I have ever seen in a
medieval art-work of this class. Here, too, are the monu-
ments of the Prince Giovanni of Morea, a son of Charles II.,
among the benefactors of this monastery, and of Bartolom-
meo da Capua, a learned man, held in high esteem by that
King, and his successor, Robert. The Prince of Morea is said
to have presented the majestic altar canopy of white marble
in different storeys, with columns diminishing towards
the summit, those of the lowest storey hexagonal, inlaid with
rich intarsio, and resting on lions; this having formerly
stood over the high altar, with marble ambones in similar
style, for the Gospel and Epistle, placed laterally to it. The
ambones have disappeared; and the canopy has been re-
moved to a chapel at the end of the right aisle.
About thirty of the community of white-robed Benedic-
tines inhabited the Monte Vergine cloisters at the time of
the recent suppression. Since the law against monastic
societies has been enforced, only two monks have been
resident continuously on these premises, which seem capable
of accommodating at least two hundred; and those two soli-
tary guardians remain here but twenty-four hours, succes-
sively taking their turns for this duty, and ascending to the
sanctuary from another establishment of the Order, a large
octagonal building of the last century, called "Loreto,"
where five Benedictines of the Monte Vergine congregation.
still reside together with their mitred abbot. The "Loreto"
establishment contains a most valuable collection of codes,
comprising 18,000 parchments, many diplomas, deeds, gifts,
privileges, &c. conferred on the Order, 300 Papal bulls, and
246
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
200 MSS. relating to medieval Italian history. These truly
precious Archives are now consigned to the care of the
monks as a recognized branch of the Archivio Generale at
Naples.
The pilgrimage to Monte Vergine, at Pentecost, affords
one of the best occasions for studying the varieties of phy-
siognomy and peasant-costume in southern Italy. I ascended
the mountain, starting before sunrise on that day (1870)
from the wild little town of Marcogliano at the base. The
path is steep and difficult, a rocky zigzag, the whole way;
and the sun had risen long before I came in sight of the
sacred buildings. One procession of pilgrims was ascend-
ing, another (betimes at their devotions) descending; and
this meeting of two streams, amidst so much excitement and
eagerness, increased fatigue by the obstacles opposed to
progress. Notwithstanding such difficulties, almost the
whole multitude, men and women, were on foot, perhaps
one out of a hundred riding, and several, even respectably
dressed people, walking bare-footed. A Neapolitan lady
and gentleman, whose acquaintance I made on the way, told
me that they were performing the pilgrimage on foot because
the lady had made a vow thus to visit Monte Vergine. All
returning from the sanctuary bore with them some devout
trophy or memorial; little coloured prints from the Greek
Madonna hung to branches of trees, boughs of a fir tree,
common on these mountains, called L' Albero della Madonna
(the Madonna's tree), rosaries of hazel-nuts worn as neck-
laces or watch-chains; many eagerly possess themselves of
chips of rocks from a cavern, on the ascent, called Sedia
della Madonna, where is a recess in which the Blessed
Virgin is said to have appeared-or (as is not improbable)
the ancient picture of her, now in the church, to have been
originally placed. Here an obliging peasant bestowed upon
me, unsolicited, a piece of that sacred rock, knocked off by
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
217
his strong hands. All, high and low, pressed forward to
make their offerings, either tapers or ready money, before
the famous image of Mary, near whose altar a priest sat
at a table as Receiver General. My Neapolitan acquaint-
ance told me he had seen between 500 and 600 francs
offered during the few minutes he had stood beside that
table, and that the average annual receipts here might be.
estimated as 30,000 francs.* Neapolitans of the artisan-
class will lay by their savings weekly for this pilgrimage;
and when the time arrives, club together in parties of four-
teen or fifteen, hiring vehicles, and incurring the accumula-
tive expense of 30 or 40 ducats on a journey which may last
five or six days; as they sometimes visit another sanctuary,
the "Madonna dell' Arco" (at the foot of Vesuvius), and
Portici, usually winding up with a festa at Nola, which begins
on the evening of Whit Sunday, before the return to Naples.
Constitutional government had been established in these
States, the ancient Church had been open to attack, and all
religious Orders placed under ban, Protestantism had
declared itself through an Italian medium from the pulpit
and the press, theological doctrines had been impugned and
theological dissent allowed free utterance, for about ten
years before I saw the pilgrimage to Monte Vergine; and
yet such the proof of the firm hold retained by Catholicism,
* In the XVI. century, the offerings at Pentecost alone used to amount
to 500 scudi, or more-all spent, we are assured, in the repairs and deco-
rations of the sanctuary. It is forbidden either to partake of, or bring.
any species of animal food within the sacred premises, and in a radius of
about 500 paces around. We are told that the infringement of this pro-
hibition has drawn down repeated and terrible chastisements, maladies,
natural phenomena, &c. In 1611, the foresteria of the monastery was
burnt down when full of pilgrims, and more than 400 lives were lost
-this believed to be the manifest wrath of Heaven, because certain
Neapolitans had eaten meat within those walls!
248
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
and the fascinations to the popular mind of a system that
appeals to imagination and wonderfully contrives to blend
pleasure with devotion, afforded by the still unchanged,
picturesque, at once impressive and amusing realities of
this pre-eminently attractive observance in the year I wit-
nessed it.*
* See Tommaso Costo, "Istoria dell' Origine del sagratissimo luogo di
Montevergine." (Venice, 1591), one of the most curious documents for
the history of (Christian) superstition and image-worship that I am
acquainted with,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
249
CHAPTER V.
MONUMENTS OF THE XIV. CENTURY-continued.
FLORENCE AND CENTRAL ITALY.
MORE striking proof could scarcely be afforded by mate-
rial and outward things of the superior effects resulting
from free as compared with those from despotic institutions,
than that presented by the contrasted monuments and art
of Rome and Florence in the middle ages. The Tuscan
city was agitated throughout almost the whole of the period
here considered by civic or foreign strife, political vicissi-
tudes, struggles of faction; yet a principle of liberty, a dig-
nity of independence are continually manifest in the annals
of the small State, which ceased not to make good its title to
a high position among the powers that have influenced the
civilized world. Rome taught respect for consecrated au-
thority; Florence, respect for the rights of humanity. The
territories of the latter were increasing throughout the
XIV. century with a rapidity which announced a vigorous
life, a high destination. She now acquired dominion by con-
quest, concession or purchase, over Pistoja, Prato, Arezzo,
Lucca, Colle, S. Gimignano, Bibbiena, S. Miniato.
At this period her revenues, 320,000 gold florins per
annum, exceeded those of the Kings of Naples, Sicily, and
Aragon.* The city, divided into fifty-seven parishes, con-
* The ducat and the florin, the former named from the Dukes of
Milan, the latter from the Republic of Florence, were the first gold pieces
used in Italy, perhaps in the Latin world, after the fall of the ancient
250
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
E.
tained 110 churches (those in the suburbs included) among
which five belonged to monks, twenty-two to friars, twenty-
four to nuns. * The "Umiliati" friars, first settled here in
1239, brought to perfection the cloth manufacture, which
produced annually an amount valued as 1,200,000 gold
florins, and provided work for more than 30,000 persons.
In 1312 Florence was beleaguered by the Emperor Henry
VII., who could neither enter her gates nor obtain a single
success during the month he remained with his army en-
camped in the plain of S. Salvi (beyond the Porta S. Croce),
laying waste the environs with inglorious vindictiveness.
In 1313 the Signoria (or civic government) was given by
free act of the citizens to King Robert of Naples, to be
held during five years; and in 1325 alike bestowed on the
Duke of Calabria, that monarch's son. In 1315 the Flo-
rentines and their Guelfic allies suffered a crushing defeat
in contest with forces commanded by Uguccione della Fag-
giuola, Captain of the Pisans (the Ghibelline rivals of
Florence) at Montecatini, where the loss was 3000 slain
and 1500 made prisoners on the Guelfic side. In 1325, Cas-
truccio Castracane, lord of Lucca, ravaged the environs of
Florence, after occupying Pistoja and Prato; “sparing nei-
ther churches nor monasteries, and causing destruction to a
vast quantity of noble works of painting, which had begun
to flourish marvellously in those days"—so far Ammirato
(1. vi.), who adds that "the territory around Florence was at
this time profusely adorned with such works." In 1343, the
insolent tyranny of a foreign master, Walter de Brienne,
titular Duke of Athens, whom the Florentines had first
Empire. Gibbon concludes they may be compared in weight and value
to one third of the English guinea.
* The cloisters of the first class were occupied by 80; of the second
by several hundreds not exactly numbered; of the third, by 500 in this
century-see Villani.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
251
elected "Captain and Conservator of the people," and
finally appointed "Signore" of their city for life (8th Sep-
tember, 1342), led to the revolt which compelled him to
abdicate on S. Anne's day, 26th July, and soon afterwards
to fly, with safety guaranteed for his worthless life. It is
to be noted that this tyrant of a few months attempted to
win the popular favour by flatteries and vanities, pomps,
spectacles, novelties in dress, licensed profligacy in manners.
The revolt of the "Ciompi,"* 1378, was the most terrible
outbreak of popular violence and outrage which Florence
had yet suffered. It had been provoked by abuses of
power on the part of the Captains in the Guelfic interest,
called "Capitani di Parte Guelfo." The sacking of
palaces, the burning of houses and convents, the seizure by
the mob of the communal palace (Palazzo della Signoria),
ensued. The magistrates were forced to resign, and in the
result was adopted a new form of government. Michele di
Lando, a wool-comber, was elected Gonfaloniere of the
People," but deposed and unjustly exiled in 1382. Two
Arti (or guilds) were added to the twenty-one already ex-
isting; and it was decreed that thenceforth the nine chief
magistrates called "Priori," should be appointed four from
the major, and five from the minor Arti. Previously, and
soon after the deposition of Walter de Brienne, the govern-
ment had been reformed on those essentially democratic
principles which had long their highest expression and
fullest accomplishment at Florence; the nobles were com-
pelled to retire from office (September 1343), the supreme
authority was vested in twelve Priors, sixteen Gonfalo-
nieri of Companies, and a Gonfaloniere of Justice, assisted
by a council of seventy-five for each of the quarters (S.
* Used in the sense both of carder, or wool comber, and mean fellow,
one of the mobh, &c.
252
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Spirito, S. Piero Scheraggio, S. Maria Novella, and S.
Giovanni), into which the city was now divided-each of
those quarters having nine standards with their respective
emblems-hence the picturesquely varied heraldry of the
“Etrurian Athens," so conspicuous to this day among the
ornaments of her embattled palaces. The noble motto
Libertas,” on one of the escutcheons painted under the
battlements of the grand old palace of the Signoria, was
granted by the States to the "Otto di Guerra,” a magis-
tracy created in 1376, soon after the city had been placed
under interdict by Gregory XI. in consequence of the
league with Bernabo Visconti of Milan against the Pontific
Government. It was on this occasion that the clergy
were commanded to reopen the churches, and celebrate
masses notwithstanding the Papal anathemas. In 1348
Florence was visited by the tremendous natural calamity
of that plague which, in the same year, desolated all
other Tuscan, and almost all other Italian cities; the mor-
tality here being at the average of 600 per diem ; and after
this pestilence had raged from March to September, the
population was diminished by three-fifths. In consequence
of the decreased number of sculptors and architects, among
whom had been many victims, the magistrates wisely or-
dered that thenceforth maestri of other states and cities
should enjoy the same privileges as natives in the exercise
of the Fine Arts. A fraternity of painters, placed under the
protection of S. Luke, was founded here in 1350; they met
for devotions in their oratory, and pledged themselves to
mutual assistance and support. Thus in an age of con-
tinual strife, did Art supply a principle and bond of union.*
In 1353 were ordered paintings and other embellishments
*See Ranalli," Storia delle Belle Arti in Italia," an interesting and
spirited work.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
253
in the stern old palace of the Podesta, built about 1250,
and now known as the "Pretorio." In 1360 were re-
sumed, after long suspense, the works of the glorious
Duomo," which was vaulted over about four years after-
wards. In 1396 the magistrates ordered monuments to
Dante, Petrarch, Accursio, and Boccaccio, to be erected in
that cathedral—and had their decree been faithfully obeyed,
England's poet would not have needed to ask at S.
Croce:-
66
Where repose the all Etruscan three,
Dante, and Petrarch, and, scarce less than they,
The Bard of prose, creative spirit, he
Of the hundred tales of love?"
The subsequent history of Florence's cathedral falls within
a later period. In 1376 was erected the beautiful Loggia,
long misnamed "De' Lanzi," from the myrmidons of des-
potism, Lanzknechts, German or Swiss troops, hired by
Cosimo I. who chanced to have a guard house near it.
The project had been mooted so early as 1356, but the
buildings were not actually undertaken till 1376, eight
years after the death of Orcagna, long supposed to have
been the architect. It is shewn clearly (v. Milanesi's
Notes to Vasari) that Andrea di Cione could not have pre-
pared designs for this edifice, the locality for which had
not been chosen, nor the houses to be destroyed on the
site yet purchased, till just before the commencement of
the works. Modern research has proved that the real
architects were another Cione, with the baptismal name of
Benci, not of the Orcagna (Andrea's) family, and Simone
Talenti, two esteemed artists who had been much en-
gaged both by the magistrates and by the "Opera” (Board
of Works) of the cathedral; Benci, who had been associated
with Fioravanti in the building of Or San Michele, being
at this time capo-maestro (chief architect) to the “Opera.”
254
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
In that noble Loggia we see an early example of the re-
turn to the classical type, with the round instead of the
acute arch, after the comparatively long prevalence of the
so-called Gothic in central Italy. The piazza, of which that
portico forms the glory and the grace, was enlarged to its
present dimensions, as requisite for the full assemblage of
the popular comitia, in 1356; and the palace of the Sig-
noria (now "Palazzo Vecchio "), was first isolated as we
see it by order of the Duke of Athens, who resided there
after he had been appointed perpetual dictator, and there
suffered the last humiliation of his evil career in that
abused office.
I may glance at the history of Art in Florence during
the second half of the XIV. century.
Vasari mentions by name, but without giving any parti-
culars as to their works or career, fourteen painters who
flourished at Florence in this century, and all of whom
held certain posts in the municipal government. Lanzi
tells us that he had ascertained the existence of about a
hundred Florentine artists belonging to this period, but of
whom he could obtain no other information than names,
dates, professions (whether painters or sculptors), and places
of interment. Among painters, those still to be appre-
ciated through their extant works were worthy of the
school of Giotto, though new ideas and a new class of sub-
jects appear in the creations of the age immediately follow-
ing after that master's death. Stefano, a grandson of Giotto
by one of his daughters (1301-50), is said to have far sur-
passed his illustrious ancestor; but his works in Florence,
Rome and elsewhere, have all perished (v. Lanzi), except a
Madonna in the Campo Santo at Pisa, of grand style,
though now injured by retouching. Tommaso, known as
Giottino (1324-68 ?) is said by some writers to have been
the grandson, by others, the great-grandson of Giotto, and
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
255
son of the above-named Stefano. The highest praise is
bestowed on him by those better qualified to appreciate him,
than are we of the present day, when but few of his un-
doubtedly authentic works remain to attest his genius,
which was, beyond question, great. Rosini designates as
his extant master-piece the Vision of the Madonna to S.
Bernard, now in the Belle Arti Academy. His frescoes
illustrating the legend of Constantine and Pope S. Sylvester,
at S. Croce, are masterly in expression and dramatic effect;
and in the Art-History by Crowe and Cavalcaselle his "De-
position from the Cross," now in the Uffizi, is eulogized as
surpassing all paintings of the same period, and indeed all
those of the XIV. century. Taddeo Gaddi (born 1300,
living in 1352) was the most intimate, the favoured, and
perhaps most admired among Giotto's pupils. The frescoes
in the chapel degli Spagnuoli at S. Maria Novella are no
longer (as formerly) attributed to him; but we may appre-
ciate him from those at S. Croce, where, both in the church
and convent,* remain, well preserved, several paintings that
display his skill and imagination. The most admired pupils
of Taddeo were Giovanni di Milano (flourishing 1365-
other dates uncertain), who certainly surpassed his master,
and Jacopo Landini, called "del Casentino" (ob. 1380),
who painted several frescoes at Or San Michele, among
others the majestic Evangelists on the blue ground of the
vault, lately rescued from whitewash.+ When Taddeo
Gaddi was on his deathbed, he recommended to those two
distinguished pupils his youthful sons, both of whom had
studied painting under their father-Giovanni, early de-
ceased, and Angiolo, who died at the age of sixty-three,
1396. The latter was contented to imitate the manner of
Vide "Medieval Christianity," &c. p. 585.
† Vide same volume, p. 551.
256
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Giotto and of his father, and did not promote any higher
development of the Florentine school, though he main-
tained its just traditions. He spent much time at Venice,
and is said to have been influential in forming the style of
an artist there studying, Stefano da Verona, as well as that
of his fellow-citizen at Florence, Cennino Cennini, much
praised by Vasari for his colouring, who lived till 1437.
Antonio Veneziano (1310-84) was, according to Vasari, a
native of Venice, but according to others, a Florentine, and
the pupil of Angiolo Gaddi-his surname having been
given to him because he resided long at Venice, being
there engaged in the Ducal palace. To him are now attri-
buted the frescoes (formerly given to Taddeo Gaddi) on the
vault of the Spagnuoli chapel above mentioned: Christ
walking the waters and met by S. Peter, the Resurrection,
the Ascension, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit; which,
if not beautiful, are interesting and characteristic of the
ideas prevalent in the art-schools of the time. Gherardo
Starnina (or Starna, 1354-1408?) was probably a pupil of
Antonio Veneziano, and is said to have been greatly im-
proved, in manners and temper, if not in art, by long sojourn
in Spain. Lanzi calls him " a master of the gay style,"
gay, we may conclude, in the sense of vivacity or brilliancy.
His many wall-paintings extant, as those lately discovered
in a chapel at S. Croce, assert for him a prominent place.
Highest of all are the honours due to the name of Cione;
and among members of that family who left enduring repu-
tation, one must be reverentially classed with the greatest
of the great, wherever Italian art is known, and by all
capable of appreciating exalted Genius. Four brothers of
this family (not that of the architect Benci, who bore the
same name,) were dedicated to different artistic walks :
Leonardo, known as Nardo (ob. 1365), and also Jacopo, to
painting; Matteo, to some lower walk of sculpture; and
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
257
Andrea, to painting, sculpture, and architecture together,
in all of which his success was resplendent. From his addi-
tional name of Arcagnolo, he became known by the abridg-
ment Orcagna (or Orgagna.) He studied under Andrea
Pisano; but his first recorded works were not in that great
master's art. His progress in painting led to his engage-
ment with his brother for adorning the tribune of S. Maria
Novella with frescoes illustrating the life of the Blessed
Virgin; a series which soon perished through damp pene-
trating the broken roof. When Ghirlandajo painted similar
subjects, the history of Mary and S. John the Baptist, on
the same walls, he is said to have availed himself of much in
the lost compositions by Andrea and Nardo di Cione—“ si
servi assai (says Vasari) dell'invenzioni che v'erano dell'
Orgagna." The brothers were soon afterwards occupied in
the Strozzi chapel of the same church, where they painted
the Last Judgment, Paradise, and Hell,-for the last sub-
ject taking suggestions from Dante, of whose poem we are
told that Andrea was "studiosissimo." A panel-picture in
distemper, over the altar there, has an inscription with the
name "Andreas Cionis de Florentia," and the date 1357.
Vasari, after a long eulogistic description of the frescoes in
the Pisan Campo Santo, which he attributes to Andrea, but
which the best critics now incline to believe were painted
by Pietro Lorenzetti, tells us that the son of Cione painted
a series similar in subjects and equal in merit—the Last
Judgment and the Triumph of Death-at S. Croce. Those
paintings were spoilt by retouching, in 1530, and have since
that date totally perished. After Andrea had applied him-
self to architecture, the first work undoubtedly attributable
to him, and in which he exercised his magnificent powers.
as sculptor and architect at once, is the celebrated taber-
nacle at Or San Michele, on which the date 1359 is read
after his name. Vasari mentions his talents, or at least
S
258
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
taste, for poetry also: that "he delighted in his old age to
write verses and other poems"-which, however, time has
not spared. He did not live till the date given by that
biographer, 1389, but till about 1368, in which year it is
certain that he was prevented by his last illness from finish-
ing a panel picture undertaken for the Consuls of a Guild.·
The best known scholars of Orcagna were Bernardo Nello
and Giovanni Falcone, both of Pisa, Tommaso di Marco, a
Florentine, and, most distinguished for powers well attested
by his known works, Francesco Traini, another Pisan.
Entering that singular church, with exterior so little like.
a mediæval church, though indeed beautiful and magnifi-
cent with the splendours of art-Or San Michele (a name
abridged from "orte," garden, of S. Michael), we cannot at
first distinguish in the dim light that streams through the
tinted glass of tracery-laden windows, the exquisite sculp-
tures or delicately ornate architecture of the marvellous
tabernacle whose dome and pinnacles almost touch the
vaulted roof-that most celebrated work of Orcagna,
finished in 1359, and serving to enshrine a much revered
Madonna picture over an ever-illumined altar. The artist
was allowed to plan and execute his work without restric-
tion of any kind, after he had presented several designs for
the choice finally made by appointed judges. It is said
that 96,000 gold florins were spent on this tabernacle, and
(as seems probable) on the whole undertaking by which the
building was reduced to its present condition; that amount
having been supplied in offerings at the shrine of this Ma-
donna, during the visitation of plague, 1348.* Andrea
* In the first edition of Vasari's Lives, the amount spent on the taber-
nacle is stated as 86,000, gold florins. It seems probable that the
larger sum, 96,000 florins (equal to about 300,000 francs), sufficed for
the costs of the entire undertaking, by which the market-place, the
loggia and magazine, which was built over the arcades, 1284-1290, were
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
259
engaged his brother Nardo to assist him in the relief
sculptures, and also several artists of intaglio for the ela-
borate ornato details. After the several pieces had been
finished, the whole was erected, the parts being fastened
together with metal clamps so compactly that the beautiful
work, architecture and sculptures combined, appears as if
wrought out of a single block of white marble-fairest
among offerings of Genius to record the tender devotion, the
faith and fervour of pious feeling directed towards the Queen
of Heaven and Mother of Mercies. No such complete illus-
tration of the historic and legendary life of Mary had yet.
been produced by plastic art. On octagonal panels are repre-
sented, in delicate yet vigorous relief, her birth, her presenta-
tion as a child to the high priest, who receives her on the steps
of the Temple; her Espousals, with the since oft-repeated
episode of the disappointed suitors breaking their wands,
""
converted into a church. This ancient building was destroyed by fire
in 1304. The new one was commenced in 1337, all the magistrates of
Florence being present at the laying of the first stone. Sundry taxes
were imposed for defraying the costs, and it was decreed that each "arte
should have its assigned pilaster, and cause to be painted thereon the
effigy of its patron saint. Taddeo Gaddi is said to have been the first
architect, but did not live to see the building completed. The closing
of the arcades was not projected apparently till 1348, when the sodality
of S. Michele had become enriched by pious bequests during the visitation
of plague. After the death of Gaddi, the architects engaged were Benci
di Cione and Neri di Fioravanti, till 1372, after which date the works
were suspended till 1378; finally resumed under the architect Simone
di Talenti. The paintings on the vault, recently discovered, were com-
menced in 1350 by Jacopo Landini, by whom are also many of the pic-
tures of saints on the interior pilasters.
"Attese con il suo fratello a condurre tutte le figure dell' opera,"
says Vasari; who makes repeatedly the mistake of describing Nardo di
Cione as a sculptor. As the latter is known to have been a painter,
we must suppose that his sole assistance was limited to some share in
the designs for the relievi sculptured by his brother.
$ 2
260
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
while that of Joseph is miraculously blossoming; the An-
nunciation, the Angel kneeling before the destined Mother
of the incarnate God; the Nativity; the Adoration of the
Magi; and the announcement of her proximate death made
to the bereaved, but ever serene, Mother, by an Angel who
bears a palm-branch, which (according to the poetic legend)
was left by the celestial visitant, to be laid on the bier of
Mary, and finally carried to the grave whence her glorified
body was to be raised together with her stainless soul. At
the rear of the tabernacle are the most complicated and
largest sculptures; the transit or funeral, and the heavenly
coronation of the Virgin. Around the bier on which her
body lies in the touching dignity of sanctified death, are
assembled the mourning Apostles, among whom appears
the Saviour Himself, blessing with one hand that lifeless.
mould of the unspotted soul, which, in form of a new-born
infant, He clasps at the same time to His Almighty
bosom. Among accessorial figures are a deacon with a
censer, and a portrait of the artist, as an apostle, “old as
he then was, with shaven beard, a hood muffled round his
head, and with visage flat and full"-(v. Vasari); also a
man, evidently a portrait, with a broad-brimmed hat or
helmet, like that worn in Byzantine costume. Above this
solemn scene is the Assumption of Mary, who rises within
an elliptical nimbus, borne by floating angels, while she
lets down her girdle to S. Thomas, represented below,
kneeling, with well-expressed eagerness, to receive that
pledge of the supernatural and invisible event he had cha-
racteristically doubted. The countenance of Mary, far
from expressing exultation or rapture, is grave, even sad,
in its matronly aspect. Besides these we see other smaller
reliefs, on hexagonal panels, of Faith with the chalice and
paten, Hope extending her eager arms towards a crown that
hangs in view, and Charity giving suck to an infant, and
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
261
holding a flame in her right hand, with a crown on her
head. On smaller hexagons are half-length figures of
other personified virtues, Prudence, Humility, Chastity,
Docility; also several Prophets; and along the cornices,
statuettes of other prophets and apostles, each with a
scroll. On each side of the marble framework, within which
the holy picture is kept under a veil only removed for de-
votional regards, are relief figures of Angels, who either
play on musical instruments, or scatter flowers in exulting
homage to the "Regina Angelorum;" divinely graceful
and brightly joyous creatures, like a living sunshine from
Paradise. Below the large composition of the Transit is
the epigraph: Andreas Cionis Pictor Florentinus Oratorii
Archimagister Extitit Hujus, MCCCLIX.-corroborative of
Vasari's statement that this great artist used to qualify
himself as a painter on his sculptured, as a sculptor on his
pictorial works.
In a poem by Sacchetti, "On the Tabernacle of Or San
Michele," the work of Andrea is thus eulogized after an
invocation to the Virgin:
Ajutami ancor per quell' ostacolo
Ch' io ho fatto son tredice anni al tabernacolo}
Che passa di bellezza, s'io ben recolo,
Tutti gli altri che son dentro del secolo.
Con grandissima fede ogni tua storia
S'é' fatta la' per dimostrar la gloria,
Li miracoli tuoi, &c.*
* According to admitted dates in the legend here so nobly illustrated,
the Blessed Virgin was consigned to the care of the High Priest, to be
educated in the Temple (thus converted by imagination into a convent, or
at least supplied with such an adjunct) at the age of three; she there
passed eleven years, and was espoused to Joseph at the age of
fourteen; she received the announcement from the angel four months
subsequently; and gave birth to Christ at the age of fifteen. Benedict
XIII. concludes that she died in her seventy-second year; but as to the
duration of her life, theologians have widely differed
262
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
++
+
The Madonna picture enshrined in this tabernacle has
been the subject, and is indeed worthy, of much critical in-
vestigation-see a learned article by Signor Milanesi in the
Nuova Antologia, September 1870. The primitive picture
on a pilaster of the market-place, which the popular notion
assumed to be miraculous, though Dominican and Francis-
can friars are said to have agreed to the contrary, must have
perished, together with the loggia, in the fire kindled by
the ferocious Neri degli Abati, prior of S. Piero Scheraggio,
which, beginning at a house near this spot, destroyed 1700
palaces, towers and houses, 1304. The second Madonna,
which replaced the lost one, when the loggia was restored
in 1308, is supposed to have been painted by Ugolino da
Siena, and is represented in a miniature on a code contain-
ing the register of prices at the corn-market, now in the
Laurentian library. The third, which that miniature does
not resemble, is the actual picture, by Bernardo Daddi, an
artist long almost forgotten, and only two other works by
whom can be identified in Florence-one in the Ognissanti
convent, another (a Virgin and Child with Saints, his name,
and the date 1332) at the Accademia. In few art-works of
the XIV. century do we see an ideal of the blessed Mother's
form so distinguished by serious sweetness and gentle, yet
matronly loveliness as in this picture, which is uncovered
every Saturday evening for devotions in her honour. The
scale is colossal. The features of Mary have a mature
character, combined with delicate regularity; the costume
of both Mother and Child is simple, but the effect somewhat
spoiled by gilt halos and ex-voto offerings. The Child is not
seated, but supported in the Mother's arms, and holds a
bulfinch in His hand. At each side are four adoring angels;
their beautifully earnest and youthful faces seen in profile;
the two in front with diadems in their fair hair.
Agnolo Gaddi became the head of a school of painting,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
263
which was surpassed by the Cione family and their pupils.
The most remarkable work by Agnolo at Florence is the
fresco series in the choir of S. Croce, illustrating the legend
of the True Cross. And the choice of such a subject re-
minds us that we have now to consider a new phase in the
productiveness of art. Previously the biblical and evan-
gelical sufficed for the entire range of artistic creation;
next appeared the hagiographic class, the lives of saints or
legends founded on known facts; finally, the more imagi-
native class, sometimes in defiance of history, and not even
connected, or only incidentally linked, with the careers of
persons known to have existed-as exemplified in this pic-
torial poem on the True Cross, where the story of that relic
is linked with a chain of romantic incident beyond the
grasp of historic inquiry; also in another theme illustrated
by the same painter, the "Sacra Cintura," or girdle of the
Blessed Virgin.
The legend of the Cross is as follows-the chief source,
from which I only attempt to draw the briefest abstract,
being the "Legenda Aurea" of Jacopo de Voragine :--
Adam, one day, weary of his labour in the fields, bade his
son Seth go to the garden of Eden, the path to which he
might find by the footsteps, where grass had never grown,
left by his unhappy parents when they journeyed as exiles
from that blissful home; and there, as his father enjoined
on him, to beg of the Angel who guarded the tree of life to
grant some of the oil of mercy promised by God when He
thrust out the guilty pair from Paradise. Seth did as he
was desired, and found the pathway; but the Angel an-
swered that the healing oil could only be granted after
5500 years had passed since the expulsion. Instead there-
of, however, he gave Seth three seeds, believed to be those
of the tree whose fruit Adam and Eve had disobediently
eaten, and bade him place them under the tongue of his
264
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
father after his death, which should happen on the third
day subsequent to his son's return. So did it come to
pass; Adam died that day, and was buried in the valley of
Hebron, with the three seeds under his tongue. Out of
his tomb presently sprung three saplings, which soon united
into one goodly tree-symbolical of the Three Persons in
One God. This tree was found by Moses; it was this
which turned the bitter waters of Marah sweet; and it was
with a wand from this that Moses struck the rock for the
second time. The tree was again found by David, who
brought it to Jerusalem, planted it in his garden, and built
a wall around it. There it flourished, till Solomon ordered
it to be cut down for making one of the beams of the
Temple; but the workmen, in spite of all efforts, could not
make it fit into its destined place, and it was therefore
thrown aside, and thenceforth left long neglected. A woman,
Sibylla by name (the Hebrew Church ?), chanced to sit upon
it; suddenly her clothes took fire, and she rose up, and
prophesied that that tree would prove fatal to the Jewish
nation. Those who heard her threw the tree into a stream;
but the wood rose to the surface and formed a natural
bridge. The Queen of Sheba, when she came to visit
Solomon, was about to cross this bridge, when a vision of
its future destination appeared to her, and, thus enlightened,
she told Solomon that on that wood One should hang, the
destined Saviour of Adam and all his posterity. And the wise
king took the tree (or rather beam), covered it with gold
and silver, and placed it over the gate of the Temple, where
it remained till the wicked king Abijah, son of Rehoboam,
stript off the precious metals, and, to conceal his thefts,
ordered the beam to be buried in earth. Many years after-
wards, all these events being forgotten, a well was dug over
the spot where that object lay, and the waters were found to
have healing virtues: it was the pool of Bethesda which
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
265
had this mysterious origin. When the time came for the
Lord of Life to suffer death, the wood arose to the surface
of that pool, and the Jews, seeing that it was fit for their
purpose, took it and fashioned from it the cross. In the
time of Constantine, that Emperor's mother made a pil-
grimage to Jerusalem, expressly for obtaining the True
Cross and other relics of the Passion. A council of wise
Jews, whom she assembled in her palace for obtaining the
intelligence she sought, endeavoured to thwart her; but
she found the three crosses at last, and also the nails, under
the temple built by Hadrian to Venus, in mockery of the
Christians, on Mount Calvary. Judas, the son of a pro-
phet, whom the wise men had designated as able to inform
the Empress, at first refused, but at last led her to this site,
after he had for six days been left in a dry well to suffer
starvation by Helena's order. The three crosses were all
alike; that of Christ was discovered when, as suggested by
the Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem, the body of a man, whose
funeral procession chanced to pass, was laid on all succes-
sively, and became reanimated so soon as it touched the
holy tree. Helena divided the relic into halves; one half
she left at Jerusalem; the other she brought to Constanti-
nople for her imperial son, who subdivided it, placed part
in the hand of a statue of himself, and sent the rest to
Rome, where a church, S. Croce in Girusalemme, was
built expressly for depositing it. In the year 614 Chosroes,
King of Persia, invaded Palestine, conquered all its pro-
vinces, and carried away that precious relic from Jerusalem.
The Emperor Heraclius vindicated the honour of the Chris-
tian cause, reconquered Palestine, and invaded Persia, soon
after which Chosroes was deposed and put to death by his
own son; but the legend makes him die by the hand of
Heraclius, after the two monarchs had fought in single com-
bat; and because the defeated Persian refused to be bap
266
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
tized, the Greek cut off his head. Heraclius brought back
the cross to Jerusalem; he approached in royal state, on
horseback, amidst attendants, but found the entrance barred
to him, the gates preternaturally built up. In his dilemma
an angel appeared, and reminded him that not thus had the
King of Heaven entered the gates of that city. Then the
Emperor shed tears, took off his crown, bared his feet, and
laid aside all his robes, even to his shirt. The passage now
opened before him; and thus did he restore that holiest
relic, placing it over an altar. Gaddi's frescoes on this sub-
ject have been sadly damaged, and are in many parts
almost invisible. The scene of the Emperor's progress with
the recovered cross to Jerusalem, and that where the
patients are gathered round the pool of Bethesda, may be
signalized among the series.*
Another of those art-works which may be called monu-
mental, and which indicate moral phases in the history of
mind, is the series of frescoes by the Cione brothers; the
Last Judgment, Paradise and Hell, in the Strozzi chapel at
S. Maria Novella. The ideal of the Redeemer's aspect, here
before us, is noble and beautiful; the arrangement of
groups, those, namely, of the blessed, is hierarchic; the tor-
tures of the lost are purely physical; and these hideous
details, as well as the triple-headed monster, devouring a
victim with each of his leonine mouths-the Satan in the
centre of his infernal realm,-display the manifest influences.
of Dante. The last exaggeration of the worship of Mary
is manifested in the honours assigned to her in the "Para-
diso," where she is seated beside the Saviour as, to all
appearance, His equal, alike exalted above the choirs of
Angels, Prophets, Apostles; but in the Judgment, her
* As particularized by Mrs. Jameson, who gives an interesting ab-
stract of this legend. See also the work commenced by her, and com-
pleted by Lady Eastlake, "Ilistory of our Lord in Art.”
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
267
place is more appropriately chosen, far below the Almighty
and Son, and kneeling in the act of intercession for sinful
humanity. The angels are most graceful, and even the
sorrow of the women, among the lost ones, preserves calm-
ness. Later art prefers nudity for the persons of those
rising to judgment on the last day; but here we see earthly
distinctions indicated in the costumes and insignia of the
reanimated dead-externals that serve to imply a certain
proportion between their reward or punishment, and the
discharge or neglect of the duties and responsibilities
proper to their several stations in life. The altar-piece in
this chapel by Andrea di Cione (1357) is a fine example of
his manner: Christ, enthroned among saints, is giving the
keys to S. Peter, and a book to S. Dominick. On the pre-
della is the legend of the contest between S. Michael and
the Demons for the soul of the Emperor Henry II., whose
deeds are weighed in a pair of scales by the Archangel, and
who is at last saved by the interposition of S. Laurence, to
whose churches he had been liberal.* Among accessorial
wall-paintings here, the Saints and Doctors, especially the
S. Dominick, on pilasters, are finely individualized. An-
other note-worthy picture by Orcagna is the S. Zanobi
blessing, with SS. Eugenius and Crescentius, and two
miracles of the sainted bishop on the predella, now hung
against a pilaster in the cathedral.
S. Croce is a veritable sacred museum both of earlier and
later Catholic art. The most valuable ancient frescoes in
the lateral chapels are of dates anterior to the period here.
* A more complete illustration of this curious legend-the moral of
which sets forth the extremely easy conditions of eternal salvation
offered to devout royalty-is seen in the quaint wall-paintings of the
XIII. century, all retouched a few years ago, in the atrium of the Roman
basilica, S. Lorenzo beyond the walls; described in the volume to which
the present is a sequel, p. 429.
•
.
268
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
considered. We may enter the Rinuccini chapel from the
great sacristy (itself like an art-adorned and stately church),
to observe the complicated composition formerly attributed
to Taddeo Gaddi, but now to Giovanni di Milano, illustrat-
ing the lives and legends of the Blessed Virgin and Mary
Magdalen. Many of these frescoes are admirable, dramatic,
truthful; and I might particularize the meeting between
the Virgin's parents before her birth, the Raising of Laza-
rus (though somewhat fantastic), and the scene on the deso-
late island, where the pious Prince of Marseilles, converted
by Mary Magdalen and Martha, finds the wife whom he
mourned as dead, and the infant he had left with her in
despair, still living, on his voyage back from Palestine—the
pilgrimage on which the Prince's wife had born her child,
and died, or seemed to die at sea, though both were destined
to survive, for the husband and father's consolation, through
the powerful intercession of the sister Saints.* Not long
ago were rescued from whitewash the frescoes attributed to
Starnina in the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, also at
S. Croce, lamentably damaged; the few that can still be
discerned (at least in the state in which I saw them) being
the four Evangelists and four Doctors on the vault, and on
age
* The legend of Magdalen, Martha, and Lazarus, describes their
voyage to Marseilles in a bark guided by invisible hands, and into which
the persecuting Jews had put them, intending their destruction; their
preaching and the conversions they wrought at Marseilles; the pilgrim-
of the Prince who, after embracing the faith, desired to know S.
Peter, and to visit the holy places in Jerusalem; the rescue of his wife, and
of the child abandoned by him, with its dead mother, on the island, because
deprived of sustenance by that mother's death at sea; the final conver-
sion of the entire province of Marseilles, and the retirement of Mary to
a desert where she passed thirty years in austerities and extasies, daily
visited by angels, and daily raised by them from earth so far heavenward
as to hear the songs of the blessed in Paradise. (v. Il Libro di Lazero, e
Martha e Magdalena, XV. century.)
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
269
་
the walls the Baptism of Christ, the vision of the woman
and child saved from the dragon in the Apocalypse: and,
from the legend of S. Nicholas, the resuscitation of the three
children who had been killed and pickled, to be served up
as food, by the wicked host of an inn where the holy
The talent of Gerini
bishop arrived in time to save them.
(an able artist of this period) may be estimated from two
wall paintings of the Crucifixion in the sacristies of S. Croce
and the Ognissanti church; that in the latter place, where
two monks stand beside the cross, together with Mary and
S. John, and Angels are collecting the blood in chalices,
the Divine Victim being apparently dead, a powerful and
pathetic presentment of the subject. From the sacristy of
the Carmine church we enter a chapel surrounded by fres-
coes long hidden under whitewash, representing the legend
of S. Cecilia in several scenes, and attributed to Spinello
Spinelli of Arezzo (1308-1400), by no means among hist
best works, if indeed by his hand; and far surpassed by
other wall-paintings, undoubtedly of this master: the life
and legend of S. Benedict in the sacristy of S. Miniato-a
series curiously illustrative of medieval ideas as well as of
the idealized biography of that great Saint. The notion of
the continual intervention of fiends, to thwart or counteract
the purposes and influences of holy men, is, we may say,
the key-note to the whole conception of the theme here
undertaken.
The genius of sculpture at this period, in the Tuscan
School, is indeed luminously asserted by Andrea di Cione;
but besides his above-mentioned works, there are compara-
tively few at Florence, of date between 1350 and 1400, that
can vie with the magnificent performances of this school
earlier in the same century. Exception must be made in
favour of the group of the Virgin and Child, with two
angels, finished in 1361 by Alberto di Arnoldo, one of the
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
architects of the Duomo. This is now visible from the street,
over the altar of the Gothic chapel in the Bigallo hospi-
tal; a majestic ideal of Mary, who is not only regal, but
almost severe in the dignity here distinguishing her.
Another sculpture of superior merit is the series of relievi
round the hexagonal font in the baptistery, representing
six administrations of the sacrament, attributed to Andrea
Pisano, but which must be by a later artist, if the date here
inscribed, 1370, refer to the sculptures, and not to the time
when this beautiful font was presented by the Consols of
one of the "Arti.”* Grandeur and suitable expression
distinguish the colossal relievi of six personified Virtues, all
seated, on the attic of the Loggia, still called (though
erroneously) after Orcagna: they are supplied with large
solemn wings; Fortitude holds a club and shield; Hope
has her arms raised towards a crown; Faith holds the
cross and chalice; Charity (as on Orcagna's tabernacle)
holds a flame whilst she gives suck to an infant; the others
have their usual emblems. The designs for all these figures.
were made by Angiolo Gaddi in 1382. The Faith, Hope,
and Charity, were executed by Jacopo di Piero; the For-
titude and Temperance by Giovanni Fetti; the Justice is
the work of Giovanni d'Ambrogio. In the cathedral is a
statue, sculptured about 1384, by Niccolo Lamberti, known
as Niccolo di Piero, of Arezzo, who lived till rather late in
the next century-the S. Mark, namely, one of the four
Evangelists originally placed near the chief entrance on
the façade, but now in four chapels lateral to the tribune,
so dimly lighted that none of these statues can be seen in a
manner satisfactory. By the same Aretine artist is a group
* Explained by the epigraphs below the several subjects: Sacerdos
baptizat pueros; Christus baptizat Apostolos; Christus baptizat Jo-
hannem; Johannes baptizat Christum; Johannes baptizat populum;
Sylvester baptizat Constantinum.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
271
of statuette size, the Annunciation, over the pinnacle of
one of the canopies, now occupied by noble sculptures,
exterior to Or San Michele. It is difficult to coincide
with Vasari in his exalted praises of this work by Niccolo
Lamberti.
In the Carmine church we are reminded of one of those
holy men who vindicate the honour of Italian Catholicism,
and who cannot be forgotten in the ecclesiastical history of
this period at Florence. A splendid chapel in that church
is adorned with reliefs by Foggini, admirable for spirited
design and finish, though with the usual faults of the seven-
teenth century school, the subjects taken from the life of a
sainted Bishop: his first mass, his ascent to heaven, his
appearance, hovering above the battle-field, to secure victory
to the Florentines in war with the Milanese. Andrea Cor-
sini (1302-1373) of patrician birth, entered the Carmelite
order in early life, completed his studies at Avignon, and
was elected Bishop of Fiesole, 1360. In that office he set
an example of self-devoting zeal and ascetic piety. His
impressive eloquence as a preacher, obtained for him the
title of "the second Apostle of his native place." Sent as
Legate to Bologna by Urban V., at a time when that city
was agitated by a faction in the interest of the Visconti,
he was persecuted, insulted, imprisoned, but at last suc-
ceeded in reconciling antagonists, and inducing them to
make peace, after he had assembled them in a church.*
Long after his death, the magistrates had recourse to his
prayers when the state was invaded (1440) by Nicolo Pic-
cinino at the head of the troops of Filippo Maria Visconti.
It was said, while the panic or excitement of war was at its
height in Florence, that a noble youth of this city twice
saw the holy Bishop issue from his tomb in the Carmine,
* Prezzolini, "Storia Religiosa del Popolo Fiorentino.”
272
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
and glide into the nave to pray before a crucifix hung to a
pilaster; that on the second occasion the phantom had spoken
to the awe-struck youth, enjoining on him to assure the
local authorities that the God of Hosts, who had delivered
Israel from Pharaoh, would not fail at this emergency to
protect a people faithful to Him as were the truly Catholic
Florentines (who, we must remember, were then of the
Guelfic party, and in strict alliance with the Pope), and
would cause the invader to be discomfited; that they (the
Florentines) should join battle on S. Peter's day following,
certain of victory through the intercession of celestial
patrons. The battle of Anghiari was fought on the 29th
June, 1440, and the Milanese under Piccinino were totally
routed by the Tuscan forces commanded by Michelotto
Attendolo. Solemn thanksgivings were offered in the Car-
mine, Pope Eugenius IV. (then resident in Florence) and
all the magistrates attending; and during these ceremonies
the body of Andrea Corsini-not yet canonized-lay ex-
posed on a rich catafalque in the nave. *
In the immediate environs of the late Italian capital, we
find much that tells of the genius of the XIV. century. A
few miles from the gates, on the northern side, stands the
picturesque Certosa, which, on the isolated height of Mon-
taguto, amidst the fertile valley watered by the Emo, looks
like a neat village clustering around its mother church, and
sheltered by the lofty walls of a Gothic palace. It was
founded, 1341, by Niccolo Acciajusli, a Florentine patrician,
who obtained high office in the Neapolitan kingdom, and was
Seneschal to Queen Joanna. The architecture of this build-
ing is generally attributed to Orcagna, though Vasari de-
scribes it as designed by different masters, the contempo-
* Richa," Chiese Fiorentine." It was in 1629 that Bishop Corsini
was canonized by Urban VIII.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
273
·
raries of Andrea Cione. No architect is named in the letters
of the Seneschal to his brother Jacopo, referring to this foun-
dation (v. Gayet, " Carteggio inedito," &c.) Ricci observes
("Storia dell' Architettura ") that the building has "passed
through so many and such different phases since the period
of its construction, that it is impossible to distinguish in it
any clear traces of its ancient character." The Seneschal
founded also on these premises a college where fifty stu-
dents were to be maintained, and to be instructed in Theo-
logy, Philosophy, Canon Law, by three professors of the
monastic Order; but, whatever the obstacles, this excel-
lent institution, though endowed and supplied with a library,
was never brought into activity, and the buildings remain
an unfinished pile of semi-Gothic architecture, majestic in
premature decay, though long appropriated to vulgar uses.
Two chapels arose, adjoining and opening on the original
buildings, in 1388 and 1391; and in 1394 the whole edifice.
was consecrated, under dedication to S. Laurence, by the
Florentine bishop. Soon afterwards another chapel, in
form of a Greek cross, and like a distinct church, was
founded by Cardinal Acciajuoli, Vice-Chancellor of Rome,
and for a time Regent of Naples during the minority of
Ladislaus. No fewer than 112 artists were engaged on
these premises during five successive centuries; but the
sanctuary, once so richly endowed with wealth, artistic and
other, has been several times despoiled. In 1799, silver
ornaments, images, &c. of the weight of 580lbs. were re-
moved from the Chapel of Relics to be melted down in the
Florentine mint; and in 1808, as many as 508 pictures,
besides other art-works, were carried away from this for-
lorn Certosa. At the time of the suppression under French
sway, this establishment possessed eighty-three farms and
estates, valued by the commissioners sent to investigate at
4,600,000 francs. The bounteous stream of monastic cha-
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274
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
The poor
rities was commensurate to those ample means.
were daily relieved at these gates; and every year a hun-
dred of those in need were clothed out of a fund at the
disposal of the monks. When the recent law against
monasteries was enforced, these monks held not more than
five farms, besides the grounds amidst which their build-
ings stood, and were a community of about thirty persons.
Among the paintings still left in the Certosa, one of the
most beautiful is also one of the earliest: the Holy Trinity,
a panel-picture ascribed to Giotto (but perhaps of a more
advanced school), conceived as that subject often is in the
XIV and XV centuries: the Father and Son of the same
age and almost identical in type; the First Person sup-
porting the Second, who is seen on the cross; the Dove
hovering between them. In a spacious crypt is the monu-
ment of Acciajouli, attributed to Orcagna, and certainly
worthy of that great artist. The Seneschal died at Naples,
aged fifty-six, 1366. His effigy, full armed, and with coun-
tenance finely individual, is laid on a lofty couch under a
rich marble canopy: the effect enhanced by its partial con-
cealment behind the colonnettes of a graceful arcade car-
ried along the summit of the sarcophagus. In the epitaph
occurs the singular phrase, “liber, Olympum mente petit ;”
and under a sculptured escutcheon, the motto, “Contempsit
omnia ille que mortem prius."* On the pavement near are
*The life of Niccolo Acciajuoli, in Latin, by Matteo Palmieri, is
edited by Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script. T. xiii. It presents a model of
the haughty virtues, the munificent piety, and impetuous but devout
spirit of the age; and one looks with interest on his sculptured form and
finely expressive head, when remembering the acts of his career. He
was instrumental in bringing about the marriage of Queen Joanna with
Louis of Taranto, Acciajuoli having been guardian to the widowed Prin-
cess of Taranto's children. He proved one of the most valiant partisans
of the Queen in defending the Anjou dynasty against the hostilities of
the King of Hungary. He founded churches and monasteries in various
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
275
the horizontal tombs with low-relief effigies, remarkable
for costume,* of the father, of the son, and the sister of the
Seneschal, the first having been vicar of King Robert at
Prato; the third, Lassa, married to one of the Buondel-
monte family; the second, Lorenzo, a young man who died
before his father, and was interred here with such pomp,
that the funeral convoy, rites, &c. involved a cost (v. Vil-
lari) of 5000 gold florins.
The foresteria of this monastery afforded hospitality to
two exiled Popes in like misfortune, and alike the victims
of French invasion: to Pius VI. during ten months (1798-
1799) and to Pius VII. for a single night (1809); see the
affecting narrative of the latter Pontiff's trials by Cardinal
Pacca.
A few miles from the Certosa, high among the cultured
hills, we reach the village of L'Impruneta, with a large
church famous among sanctuaries of the Madonna, because
containing a revered picture which used, at great emergen-
cies, to be brought with much processional pomp into
Florence. This hangs over an altar of silver covered with
lands, one monastery for twelve inmates in Greece; ordered the celebra-
tion of annual rites and "immense largess of alms" for the souls of his
father and mother; made provision for having one hundred poor per-
sons annually clothed; bestowed on the Certosa of his foundation sacer-
dotal vestments of silk and gold, sacramental vessels of solid gold and
silver, also altar pallia adorned with needlework and gold, pearls and
gems. During his last illness he engaged priests to say thirty masses for
his benefit every day, and ordered twelve poor to be daily fed, besides
the alms of a silver coin for each. In his testament he provided that a
hundred masses should be celebrated for his soul daily during the first
year after his death, with a perpetual alms-giving in prescribed amount.
Requiescat in pace!
* The splendours of toilet in which the pious Seneschal indulged, are
described by Palmieri, "Diebus vero festis et in solemnitatibus ac pompis
publicis vestem inducbat sericam, duplice pluma, auroque intextam, et
coloribus interdum variis et bis tinctam.”
.
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
relievi, the costly offering of some Medici Grand Duke.*
Neither that Madonna nor her altar need be noticed here
and we may pass at once into the presence of a much more
precious art-work, originally placed over the high altar of
this church, but now unsuitably banished to the sacristy:
a panel picture, in a splendid Gothic frame, divided into
twenty-eight compartments and three storys, with sur-
mounting pinnacles; in the centre the Virgin and Child
with adoring angels; laterally, the twelve Apostles; in the
upper part, the life of Mary from her birth to her as-
sumption; on the chief pinnacle, her coronation; and on
the predella, the legend of Joachim and Anna; numerous
miniature figures of saints filling the subordinate spaces.
A devotional inscription at the basement gives the date
1374, but no artist's name. That of Giovanni di Milano is
conjectured, the evidences of style and execution being the
sole foundation on which to build in this case; and the
opulence of imagination, the feeling and power manifest in
this elaborate picture, entitle it to rank high among master-
pieces of the period indicated. It may class with Orca-
gna's tabernacle as proof of the complete acceptance and
eminent popularity of the legendary, as well as historic,
traditions respecting the Virgin Mother.
The Cathedral of Prato, which was rebuilt and enlarged
* "To this Mother of God (says Segni, v. i. 1. 1.) our city (Florence)
has never publicly applied in vain, at whatever extremity of distress.
It is no slight or vain thing I am here affirming; for in time of drought
she has ever sent rain; in periods of flood she has brought back fine
weather for us; from pestilence she has withdrawn the poison; and for
every most grievous ill she has found the appropriate remedy.”
Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle assign this picture to the school of
Niccolo and Lorenzo Gerini, father and son, paintings by the latter of
whom we have seen at Florence. The date seemed to me clear; but
those able writers and critics report it as doubtful, giving the end of the
inscription thus: Anno Domini millesimo, CCCLXX . . . V.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
277
from the designs of Giovanni Pisano, 1312-1356, contains a
beautiful chapel built to receive the most famous relic in
this church, the sacro cingolo, or sacra cintura, supposed to
be the girdle of the Madonna, the same which she bestowed,
before ascending to heaven, on the incredulous S. Thomas.
According to the legend, this object passed into the hands.
of a Greek priest, who gave it as sole dowry to his daughter
on her marriage with a merchant of Prato-then, as now,
an industrious little town-about A.D. 1141. That mer-
chant, whose name was Michele di Dagomari, after he had
finished his commercial expedition in the East, brought the
relic with his bride to his native place. Every night he
used to place the holy girdle in a coffer under his bed; but
sadly was his rest disturbed by this proximity, for, invari-
ably as he made such arrangement, he found himself re-
moved from his bed and laid on the floor by invisible (of
course angelic) hands! On his death-bed he bequeathed
the relic to a parish-priest of Prato, on condition that it
should ever be kept in that city. It was carried with due
honours to the cathedral, and there, after a sacrilegious
attempt to steal it, was enshrined, 1395, in a splendid
chapel built to receive this treasure.* About 1365-1367,
the legend of the girdle, and scenes from the history of the
Blessed Virgin and her parents were painted on the walls
of this church, the former (if not all) by Agnolo Gaddi.
In this instance, as in the illustration by the same master
of the legend of the True Cross, we see exemplified the
widening range gradually opened for Art by devout ìmagi-
*" In process of time, this illustrious relic having been carried to Con-
stantinople, the office of the Cintura of the Blessed Virgin began to he
celebrated in the Greek calendar on the 21st August, and its translation
on the 2nd July. S. Augustine, and his mother, S. Monica, were most
devout towards it (the girdle); and on that account were instituted, in
the churches of Augustinian Religious, the Congregations of the Girdle.”
—(Moroni, “ Dizionario," article Cintura.)
278
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
nation through the admission of subjects neither associated
with biography nor resting on any historical basis. The
series illustrating the legend of the Girdle, comprises the
marriage of the merchant, and the transfer of that sacred
object to his hands by his father-in-law; the arrival of the
happy pair at Prato, which (with amusing artistic license)
is here converted into a sea-port town; the angels re-
moving the merchant from his bed; Michele's death, and
the procession of the relic to the cathedral. The scenes
from the life of Mary comprise the meeting of Joachim and
Anna before her birth, that event itself, the Virgin's recep-
tion by the High Priest in the Temple, her Espousals,
Assumption, and Coronation, with the episode of the
bestowal of the Girdle on S. Thomas; also, by the same
artist, the Saviour blessing, in a lunette; the twelve Apostles
on a vault, the four Doctors and four Evangelists. It is
not certain that all these paintings are by Agnolo Gaddi ;
and modern critics refer the principal scenes from the legend
of Mary to Gherardo Starnina; the continuation of the
series on these walls, including two storie of S. Stephen-
his appearance before the Sanhedrim and his martyrdom-to
Antonio Vite; the allegoric figures of Virtue, on the vault,
to the same artist, who probably lived till about 1428.
Whatever be the authorship, the scenes from the legend
of Joachim and Anna, and several of those forming a sequel,
are fine compositions, in the style of the later Giottesque
school; those attributable to Antonio Vite being inferior.*
All are surpassed by the other frescoes in the choir of this
cathedral, the work of Filippo Lippi, which belong to a
later period.
* "Of all these frescoes, three, namely, the marriage of the Virgin,
the stoning of Stephen, and the wail over his body, the whole of the
painted frames and medallions, are by a rude painter, of the rise of the
15th century." -Crowe and Cavalcaselle, "History of Painting in Italy,"
vol. 1, chap. xxiii.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
279
The Prato Duomo is of some importance in the history
of Italian architecture; its campanile, built by Niccolo di
Cecco, is imposing; its façade is of an earlier Tuscan style
than the date, 1356, might lead one to expect. The de-
signs of Giovanni Pisano were strictly carried out, though
he did not live to see this edifice completed.
The sacra cintola is still exhibited on solemn occasions
by the Bishop of Pistoja and Prato from a beautiful sculp-
tured pulpit, the work of Donatello, at an angle of the
façade of this cathedral. How learned and pious eccle-
siastics, the mitred pastors and doctors of the Church, can
give their sanction to the belief and devotion directed
towards such objects, it is indeed difficult to explain, or
account for charitably. One enlightened Prelate, Scipione
de' Ricci, bishop of the united dioceses above named, had
intelligence to perceive and courage to oppose the rankling
evil. But his attempts to repress superstitious practices
and bring about a disciplinary reform within his ecclesias-
tical sphere, were premature, unsupported by popular feel-
ing, opposed by ignorance, reprobated by high authorities,
and therefore transitory. The mere report that he intended
to remove the relic in question with its altar, gave rise to
a tumult (1787), which assumed formidable aspects, and
called for the intervention of troops from Florence. The
"Pratesi" populace rose, furious and fanatical, armed with
hatchets and clubs; took possession of, and guarded for a
whole night, the shrine of their Palladium, burnt the epis-
copal throne and escutcheon, also the registers and devo-
tional books published with their bishop's sanction, and
disinterred certain spurious relics which he had wisely
ordered to be buried. In the event, all the reforming mea-
sures of Ricci were condemned by Rome, and totally can-
celled. The loss of his mitre, and retirement into obscurity
were the rewards assigned to the virtuous Prelate who had
280
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
attempted more than his age was ready to appreciate, or
his people to understand.*
may
The medieval sculptures and fine old churches which
induce us to linger in one of the pleasantest among the less
frequented Italian cities, Pistoja, pertain mostly to the
13th and earlier years of the next century. What falls
within the limits of my present theme is less interesting-
for instance, an archaic and clumsy statue of S. Paul
(1350) on the front of the church dedicated to that Apostle;
and in the chapter-house of S. Francesco, a series of frescoes
begun by Puccio Capanna and finished by Antonio Vite,
the Pistojan artist of the latter half of this century, whose
works we have seen at Prato. To this same Antonio are
attributed some of the paintings at S. Antonio Abate, a
church now desecrated and reduced to a private house, on
the Piazza S. Dominico, where the Saviour in glory, the
creation of Adam and Eve, scenes from the Evangelic his-
tory, and from the legend of S. Anthony, are feeble works,
probably by different hands, and of about the same period.
I have elsewhere noticed the magnificent specimen of metal-
lurgy-the altar and tabernacle of S. James, entirely of
silver and adorned with a multitude of relievi and statuettes
-which, forming the special treasure of the cathedral, was
begun by Jacopo Ognabene, a Pistojan goldsmith, in 1316,
and finished through the labours of several renowned
sculptors, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello, in the
* A Synod convoked by Bishop Ricci at Pistoja, 1786, passed decrees
and enunciated principles which called down severe reproach from the
Vatican, Pius VI. in 1794, condemned five of the synodal propositions
as heretical, seventy others as schismatical, scandalous, dangerous. Yet
that Pontiff was, undoubtedly, a man of cultivated mind and pure life,
with good intentions. The fate reserved for those
"Who wage contention with their time's decay-”
is exempliñed, with a mournful lesson, in the history of Scipione de'
Ricci.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
281
XV century. The Communal Palace of this city, founded
1294, and developed into its present form 1395, is a charac-
teristic example of the medieval civic architecture of Italy,
and one of many buildings that seem like types of the
haughty defiant temper of those municipal governments
whose annals present the romantic aspect of Italian history.
In one of its vast halls we see the chiselled and beautifully
inlaid fronts of the ancient ambones of the cathedral, which
were found, some years ago, buried below the modern
pavement of that church. The " Pretorio," formerly palace
of the Podesta (1366-1377), opposite to the other official
palace, is alike characterized by gloomy grandeur, its cor-
tile with each of the four sides occupied by a single arch-
way of a ponderous portico, the walls above which are
covered with the painted heraldic shields of Prætors and
Podestas.
The town of S. Gemignano, conspicuous for its lofty
medieval towers, visible long before we approach its walls,
is like an abstract of the Italian Middle Ages, scarcely
breathed upon by the spirit of innovation or improvement.
It once contained, with a population of only about 2000,
no fewer than thirty-six churches, several of which now stand
in ruins, and twenty-two convents, all now suppressed
except those of certain nuns and one of Capuchin friars.
Its high dusky towers were formerly twenty-five, but are
now reduced to thirteen in number. By moonlight its
* I have purposely omitted all reference to another work of the same
class, the silver dos ale (reredos) of S. John the Baptist, which is placed
over the altar of the Florence Baptistery for that Saint's festival-because
this superb piece of metallurgy, though commenced in 1366, was not
finished till 1480, and, alike with the Pistojan shrine, by the united
labours of almost all the sculptors most distinguished in the intermediate
period. Such works are generally appropriated in the Italian Church to
the honours of Saints revered as local Patrons.
282
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
quaint narrow streets crossed by ponderous arches, and
massive buildings of dark brickwork have an effect abso-
lutely awe-striking. In the large collegiate church we see
the most important paintings by Berna di Siena, who is little
known out of Tuscany, and whose labours in this church
were interupted by his death, 1380, caused by a fall from
the scaffold where he was at work; after which event the
series, twenty pictures in all, was finished by his scholar
Giovanni d'Asciano. A vigorous treatment, but no highly re-
fined or profound feeling, distinguishes these pictures, which
illustrate the principal events of the New Testament down
to the Crucifixion-this last left incomplete owing to Berna's
death. On the opposite wall is a corresponding series
of Old Testament subjects, by Bartolo Fredi, a Siennese
(born about 1330, died 1410), who executed these frescoes in
1356.* In the scenes of the Creation the Deity is repre-
sented as God the Son, conformably with the more spiritual
as well as orthodox, conception generally admitted by
earlier, but unfortunately forgotten by later Art. The
first of these subjects, which may be described as the evoking
of order out of chaos, is most curiously treated: the Creator,
attired in long robes and holding a sceptre, is seated,
tranquilly omnipotent, before an immense blue disk divided
into many concentric circles, within which are the heavenly
bodies, the starry firmament, and in the centre of which
is the earth, a chaotic uninhabitable globe, compared to
which all other orbs, suns and systems, are diminutive and
subordinate. A much greater artist, Taddeo Bartoli,
erroneously supposed to have been the son of Fredi, painted
on these walls a Paradise" and "Inferno," much damaged,
* Vasari gives the inscription with his name and that date, formerly
here, but now absent. There are twenty-four pieces in this series, but
the last is almost effaced: the last visible being a scene from the story
of Job. These frescoes were restored, 1745, by a Florentine artist.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
283
the latter picture, in which Lucifer occupies the upper space,
being one of those hideously offensive embodiments of the
medieval notion respecting eternal punishment which calls
forth just reproof from the learned historian of this town,
Canon Pecori, who is indignant at the indecencies here
admitted.* One cannot doubt that the familiar exhibition of
such horrors of torture and demoniac monstrosity had the
effect of hardening the heart, and may have added to the
ranks of the reprobate rather than to those of the blessed.
The fiercest persecutions against heresy, and the most cruel
modes of inflicting pain and death in judicial procedure
were practised at the time such representations prevailed
among art subjects and on church walls. Other paintings
by Taddeo Bartoli, figures of Prophets and Apostles, are in
the collegiate church; also in the great hall of the Palazzo
Pubblico, in this town, S. Geminianus blessing with a model
of the same town in his hand, and four storie from his life
on lateral panels.† At S. Agostino are some frescoes by
Bartolo Fredi, lately rescued from whitewash the Birth
and Transit of the Virgin, with the usual introduction of
:
* The inscription beneath, Thadeus Bartoli de Senis pinxit hāc capellā
has a date which has been read 1393, but seems doubtful. This artist,
the first representative of the school which flourished at Siena in the latter
years of the XIV and earlier of the next century, was born about
1362, at that city, being the son of Bartolo di Mino, a barber; and died
1422.
† S. Geminianus was bishop of Modena, about A.D. 450, and is Patron
Saint of that city. The Tuscan town is said to have been called after
him in consequence of its delivery from Attila by a radiant vision of the
holy Prelate above one of its gates, at sight of which the fierce con-
queror and his Huns retreated in dismay; or else to have been so named,
when placed under that Saint's protection, by Narses after a relic of
Geminianus had been brought hither from Modena. The original name
was Sylvia, from the founder Sylvius, a Roman patrician who was con-
cerned in the conspiracy of Catiline.-Pecori, "Storia di S. Gimignano.”
284
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the Saviour receiving the Soul in form of an infant. The
only sculpture of this period at S. Gimignano is a relief of
the Baptism of Christ, angels attending and a hand issuing
from clouds, to indicate the presence of the Father, on the
font of the collegiate church-the sole known work by its
artist, Giovanni Cecchi of Siena. dated 1379.
Ever since the revival of sculpture in the XIII century
at Pisa, that city continued to be a centre of attractions,
though no native school of celebrity in painting appeared
there. Artists were engaged to adorn the Campo Santo so
early as the year 1299; and we read of one Nuccerus who
painted a Madonna and Child over one of the gates of that
cemetery in 1301. But the record-books mention no other
pictorial works within its walls till 1370, when six artists
were engaged here, one a Pisan named Pietro di Cecco,
several altar-pieces by whom are extant. The majestic and
graceful architecture of the Campo Santo accords with the
dedication and memories of the spot. Here we feel at once
the spells of genius and the solemnity of hallowed ground
-fit home of the illustrious dead—
Dov' é silenzio e tenebre
La gloria che passò.*
He who has lingered alone and by twilight under these lofty
arcades, when the paintings on the storied walls become
like dim-seen phantoms hovering around the sculptured
tombs, will not forget the impressions of the hour and
scene.
Many errors respecting the origin of the frescoes on these
walls have been corrected by recent research. The subjects.
from the Genesis, and the Crucifixion, Resurrection and
Ascension, formerly ascribed to Buffalmacco, are now attri-
buted to a comparatively obscure painter and mosaist of
* Manzoni," Cinque Maggio."
3
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
285
Orvieto, Pietro di Puccio, employed here in 1390. The
subjects from the history of Job (much damaged), which
all critics used to assign to Giotto, are shown from entries
in the register to be by Francesco da Volterra, commenced
in 1371 by that long almost forgotten artist who is first
mentioned under date 1346, when he executed an altar-
piece for the Duomo. The much faded but still very inter-
esting storie of the Beato Ranieri are now known to be
by Andrea of Florence, who commenced this series in 1377,
and Antonio Veneziano, who completed it in 1386; another
artist, Bernabo da Modena, having been employed to con-
tinue the unfinished work in 1380. Priority of date may
be assigned, among all the frescoes here, to the highly
curious illustration of eremite life, (a complete pictorial
chapter of primitive Church History) by the Lorenzetti
brothers of Siena, the best known of whom, Pietro, lived
from 1311 to 1355. To the same artists are now attributed
on good grounds the celebrated paintings of the Triumph
of Death, Resurrection, Inferno, and Last Judgment, un-
hesitatingly given by Vasari to Orcagna* and his brother
an error repeated by numerous writers and critics up to
recent time. In the personification of Death as a spectral
old woman with long bat-wings, and claws for nails, we
recognise the idea of Petrarch.† In the colossal Satan,
* "All these paintings which Vasari attributes to Orcagna, but of
which Ghiberti says nothing in his notice of that artist, are with better
reason assigned by modern critics to other masters, seeing that they
exhibit the Siennese rather than the Florentine style. It is therefore
concluded that they should be attributed to Pietro Lorenzetti, who
painted the contiguous picture of the Anchorites, and to his brother
Ambrogio."-(Gaetano Milanesi, Annotations to Vasari.)
† Vidi un insegna oscura e trista,
Ed una donna involta in veste negra
Con un furor qual io non so se mai
Al tempo de' giganti fosse in Flegra.
"Trionfo della Morte."
286
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
whose body is a fiery furnace for consuming souls, and in
the demons armed with bill-hooks, we perceive the influ-
ences of Dante.*
The Hell is a rocky abyss divided into
four circles, all of which, except the highest part, was re-
touched in 1379; and the whole composition, Rosini tells
us, was restored in 1530. The episode of the hunting
party coming in sight of three open tombs where lie the
bodies of as many kings in different stages of decay, is said
to have been suggested by a popular legend; and the more
prominent figures, three princes on horseback, are supposed
portraits of the Emperors Frederick I. and Louis the
Bavarian, and Ugoccione della Faggiuola, lord of Pisa and
Lucca. In the neighbouring group of a gay party seated
under a grove, and whiling away the time with music and
converse, the cavalier with a falcon on his wrist, is said to
be a portrait of Castruccio Castracani, lord, and finally
Duke of Lucca, 1327. The spectre Death is about to strike
down her victims among the votaries of pleasure, whilst she
turns away from many poor wretches, the old, the sick and
miserable, who in vain invoke her for release from burden-
some existence. The aged hermit, who has led the hunt-
• What that influence became before the end of the same century in
which the poet was proscribed and outlawed by his fellow-citizens, is
apparent. In 1373 was founded at Florence a cathedra for the explana-
tion and commentary of the Divina Commedia in the church of S. Stefano;
the new professorship being first given to Boccaccio, after him to Filippo
Villani and Francesco Filelfo. Bologna was the first city to follow this
example by founding a Dantesque lectureship in 1375; and Benvenuto
da Imola there began the course of public comments on the Poem more
multiplied in MS. during this century than any other work.
†The doleful and unanswered prayer of the latter is expressed in
the lines here read
Da che prosperitade ci ha lasciati,
O Morte, medicina di ogni pena,
Deh vieni a dare a noi l'ultima cena.
This quaint usage of explaining the moral of a picture, or the senti-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
287
ing party to the spot where the ghastly spectacle awaits
them, is Macarius of Egypt, a patriot of the anchorite life
in the IV century, 301-391. In the background are other
hermits pursuing the even tenor of their pious existence
among deserts and mountains; and on the loftiest height is
seen a terrific vision, revealed to their spiritualized gaze, of
the souls of wicked men hurled by demons into a volcano.*
The obvious moral of this picture is: the superiority of the
contemplative over the active life, and the wisdom of those
who prepare for death in religious solitude, contrasted with
the folly and perils of the career of those absorbed in
pleasure or worldly solicitude; a lesson still insisted on by
the Catholic Church, and no doubt resting on a principle
profoundly true, however misapplied or exaggerated in
practice by enthusiasm.† There is much originality and
awe-inspiring grandeur, much also that betrays supersti-
tious tendencies and innovations in the picture of the Last
Judgment. The Saviour and His earthly Mother are seated
beside each other on a rainbow, each within an elliptical
nimbus, and though His action is that of wrathful command,
hers that of lovely deference to Him, each appear alike to
participate in Divine honours, and to be engaged in the
dread task of judging a guilty world. He as the Supreme
Arbiter, she as the celestial Assessor! There could be no
ments of those represented, by inscriptions on the same surface, was
especially practised, and perhaps rendered popular, by Buffalmacco.
* Conformably with the notion long prevalent that the craters of
volcanoes were ingresses of Hell, and that holy men had frequently seen
souls precipitated, immediately after death, into those fiery abysses.
(v. Maury," La Magie et l'Astrologie.")
↑ Chorea casta Virginum,
Et quos eremus incolas
Transmisit astris Cœlitum
Locate nos in sedibus.
Hymn for All Saints' Day.
288
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
more conspicuous example than this of the daring supersti-
tion which, interpolating the revealed doctrine, elevates a
mortal woman to a rank of implied parity with the Second
Person of the Godhead! In earlier art Mary has no place
whatever in this tremendous scene.* Singularly fine is the
group of Archangels in the centre of the composition: the
Michael in shining armour, erect, calm and powerful, holds
forth two scrolls inscribed with the words of welcome and
repulse from the Eternal Judge: "Come, ye blessed of my
Father-Depart from me, ye accursed." On each side are
subordinate angels poised in air and blowing trumpets, with
action that indicates the thrilling force of the death-
awakening sound; below is the Archangel Raphael, one of
the Seven continually before the throne of God, but now
cowering down and partially hiding his face with one hand,
as unable to endure what is prepared for man-his sympa-
thies with suffering Humanity thus pathetically expressed
at the awful climax. The other angels engaged in assign-
ing their several posts to those rising from the tombs, are
grand and graceful warriors, with princely dignity discharg-
ing a task that excites no human emotion in their passion-
less souls. The angels bearing the instruments of the
Passion, who hover on the highest plane of the picture,
present perhaps the earliest example of such a group, after-
wards almost obligatory, and almost invariably introduced,
in the illustration of this scene. It conforms with the specu-
lations of S. Thomas Aquinas-that Christ the Judge shall
not only display the marks of His wounds, but the signs and
* Even in this century the religions sentiment revolted against such
undue exaltation of Mary; and her place in the Judgment scene became
consequently lower, though still honoured and conspicuous, usually on a
level with the Apostles, and opposite to S. John the Baptist. I know
of no instance in which the deification of the Virgin Mother is carried
so far by art as in this picture at the Pisan Campo Santo.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
289
proofs of His most reproachful (exprobatissima) death. In
the anticipation of the last day, the use of the trumpet as a
material means of awakening the dead, and the ministry of
angels for collecting and preparing the scattered dust
about to be revivified, are also among the ideas supported
by that great theologian, and admitted by Art in strict ac-
ceptance of his teaching.*
The Last Judgment became popular, and was prescribed
by the Church to artists after the general expectation of
the end of the world, as a catastrophe predestined for the
10th century, had been refuted by the event. It had been
believed that a thousand years was the term fixed by Divine
decree for the new dispensation under the Gospel, and for
the struggle between revealed Light and heathen Darkness;
after which, in the year 1000, was to begin the reign of
Christ on earth. This illusion having been dispelled, it was
natural that a reaction of indifferentism or scepticism
should ensue; most natural that the Church should call in
every suitable aid for reminding that the indefinably distant
was not the less certain, the impalpable not the less real.
But Art may be said to have made its greatest failure and
most betrayed its weakness by the attempt to grapple with
the sublimity of such a theme. In almost every instance,
the Christ in Judgment, whether painter or sculptor pre-
sent His form to us, is an embodiment utterly unworthy,
and opposed to every high ideal founded on His own gracious
promises and awful prophecies. He is kingly, wrathful,
*«Tuba erit aliquod signum corporale datum a Christo ad nostram
resurrectionem, quod potest esse multiplex, et habebit efficaciam instru-
mentalem a Christo ad resuscitandum, ex hoc quod proferitur a Deo.—
Deus.... utiter ministerio Angelorum, v. g. ut colligant et præparent
cineres, licet Deus immediaté sine ministerio Angelorum uniet animam
corpori, et glorificabit."-Supplement. Summæ D. Thomæ : lxxvi.
2, 3.
U
290
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
and severely resolved, or mournful at the moment of sen-
tencing the guilty; alike removed from divine impartiality
and compassion. He is metamorphosed into an earthly
potentate, crowned and mighty among men, but infinitely
below the eternal and serene majesty of God.
A fourth subject, the Paradise, is said to have been de-
signed by the artist of the paintings long attributed to
Orcagna, in order to complete the series illustrative of the
"Quatuor Novissima," or "Four Last Things,"-Death,
Judgment, Heaven and Hell-habitually proposed to the
meditations of the faithful.
The legend of the Beato Ranieri, Patron Saint of Pisa,
though never canonized by the Church, is so vague that one
might question his very existence but for the ascertained
fact that the body of a Pisan citizen of that name, and of
the patrician family, Degli Scaccieri, who died in 1161, was
laid with much honour in the Duomo, and that the popular
voice raised him to the place, still assigned to the Beato, of
celestial Protector to his native city.* The events of his
traditional life are best declared by simply stating the sub-
jects in the series of frescoes here illustrating it. A gay
youth, among gay companions of both sexes, he sees a holy
man, the Beato Alberto Leccapecore, passing by and fol
lowed by an admiring throng; a woman says to him: "Be-
hold the Angel of the Lord, who passes this way! Why do
not
you follow him like the rest ?" Ranieri does follow as
far as the gate of a convent, S. Vito, where Alberto dwelt:
there he kneels, struck with repentance, before the holy
monk, whom he entreats to pray for the guidance of his
erring soul into the right path. "If thou, Ranieri (answered
*In the 17th century, Vittoria della Rovere, consort of the Grand Duke
Ferdinand II., and her niece the Electress Palatine, caused the body of
the B. Ranieri to be clad in a pilgrim's habit of gold tissue, and the head
adorned with a precious diadem.-Morrona, "Pisa Illustrata."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
291
Alberto) shouldst serve God as thou hast served the world,
blessed wouldst thou be!" On this the Holy Spirit, in
form of a dove, visible perhaps to the beatified gaze alone,
descended amidst radiance and rested on Ranieri's head;
the Pilgrim is on his voyage to the Holy Land, and the
sailors, at his bidding, throw their freight into the sea, on
account of the bad odour perceived in it-probably because
the merchandise thus rejected had been acquired by evil
means; the Saviour appears on the land to which the Pisan
vessel is sailing; Ranieri, in Palestine, distributes alms and
assumes the habit of a pilgrim; he makes vows before the
Blessed Virgin, herself visible on a throne surrounded by
angels, with the crescent moon at her feet, and a star on
her right shoulder-emblems of her Immaculate Concep-
tion; various temptations, to which Ranieri is exposed by
the Demon, who appears in hideous form, and throws a
stone at him whilst he is praying; Ranieri is favoured on
Mount Tabor with a vision of the Saviour between Moses
and Elias, as at the Transfiguration; Ranieri, probably after
his return from Palestine, asks for admission at the gate of
a monastery, and distributes miraculous alms. The above
are the storie erroneously attributed by Vasari to Simone di
Martino; but in reality works of Andrea di Firenze. The
subsequent scenes from the same life are by Antonio Vene-
ziano-much injured, and in many parts effaced, but still
justifying a high opinion of that artist: Ranieri sails from
Joppa for his return to Pisa; having landed at Messina, he
works a miracle by separating water from the wine served
by a dishonest innkeeper, and shows the discomfited host a
devil, in form of a winged tiger cat, seated on the cask of
the liquor so basely adulterated! The Canons of Pisa
entertain Ranieri at a banquet-the architecture of that
city being represented, with some attempt at perspective, in
the background; the death of the Beate, whose soul is
U 2
292
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
seen borne by angels to Heaven; his funeral procession,
and the solemn exposure of his body in the Duomo ; miracles
wrought by him after death-the healing from various dis-
eases, one among those cured being an Archbishop of Pisa,
and the rescue of a ship from a tempest. The almost
unknown Pilgrim becomes an almost omnipotent Protec-
tor!*
Among the frescoes on these walls, one attributed to
Pietro di Puccio, an inferior artist, mystically sets forth.
the origin of the universe and its dependence upon the
Almighty Creator. A colossal figure of Deity, with the
aspect proper to the Second Person, supports an immense.
disk containing numerous concentric circles, with figures,
emblems, inscriptions: first in order, the nine Angelic Hie-
rarchies; next, the three Heavens-the first (empyreal)
without sign or symbol, the second (crystalline) with the
signs of the Zodiac, the third (the firmament) with the
starry host; internal to these, a succession of other circles
enclosing at the centre a miniature view of the three known
continents. At the angles below are the two illustrious
Doctors, severally representatives of the theological mind
of ages, S. Augustine and S. Thomas Aquinas.† Next are
• Rosini (“Storia della Pittura Italiana") praises the funeral-scene as
the "most noble, simple and beautiful" among all these pictures. The
architecture is carefully studied from the Pisan buildings; the foremost
church being S. Vito (destroyed about the time of the artist's engage-
ment here); the next, the cathedral with the front removed so as to
show the interior.
† Not easily legible is the sonnet, probably by the artist, underneath
this picture, and beginning
Voi che avvisate questa dipintura-
the last lines expressing the meaning and moral of the composition
thus:-
Levate gli acchi del vostro intelletto
Considerando quanto e' ordinato
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
293
the subjects from the Genesis: the Creation of Eve, the Fall
and Expulsion, &c. About 1391, Spinello Aretino painted.
the series illustrating the lives of S. Ephesus and S. Potitus,
martyrs who suffered the same death, though not at the
same time, near Cagliari. The body of Ephesus, decapi-
tated A.D. 303, was secretly interred by the Christians near
the spot where that of Potitus had been laid several years
previously, and both were eventually transported from
Sardinia to Pisa. The subjects of the paintings are as fol-
lows: Ephesus presented by his mother at Antioch to
Diocletian, who admits the youth into his service, and pro-
motes him to military rank; Ephesus about to march on an
expedition against the Christians in Sardinia, when the
Saviour appears to him, and commands him not to per-
secute those in whom He Himself suffers; S. Michael
appearing to him, as he is about to alight from his horse,
and giving him a banner with the cross of Pisa to do battle
on the side of the Christians against the Heathens; Ephesus
cited before the Prætor of Sardinia, and condemned to suffer
in a fiery furnace, from which he escapes unhurt, while the
executioners are burnt to death; the martyr finally meets
death by the axe. The pictures of the story of S. Potitus
have perished, except the decapitation and the transfer of
that saint's body from Sardinia to Italy.
The most beautiful among all the paintings here, those by
Benozzo Gozzoli, do not enter into the limits of my present
theme. In those works we perceive progress not in power
Lo mondo universale, e con affetto
Lodate Lui, che l' ha si ben creato,
Pensate di passare a tal diletto
Tra gli Angeli, dov' e' ciascun Beato.
Per questo modo si vede la gloria,
Lo basso, e il mezzo, e l' alto in questa storia.
See Da Morrona for the whole of this sonnet.
294
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
and knowledge alone, but in ideas and conceptions. What is
left to us of earlier art in the Campo Santo affords evidence
of the sway of the ascetic religious feeling during a later
phase of the dominion long exclusively exercised by the
Church over artistic-creations. Subsequently the spell
begins to be feebler; other influences intervene, other
thoughts and imaginings assert their right to find utterance.
In the Dominican church, S. Caterina, a fine example of
Pisan architecture completed 1352, is a picture by Fran-
cesco Traini, the Glorification of S. Thomas Aquinas, which
forms not only a record of that great theologian's supreme
distinction; but also of the mind and tendencies of me-
diæval Catholicism. We see a similar apotheosis of the
"Angelic Doctor" in the Spagnuoli chapel at Florence, and
in the principal Dominican church at Rome. That from
Traini's pencil stands midway in date between the two, and
is the most finely conceived of all. On the highest plane
of this picture is the Saviour in glory; from His lips issue
rays that illumine the four Evangelists, Moses and S. Paul;
from them passing to S. Thomas, who is seated with five
volumes, his writings, on his knees, and the holy Scriptures
in his hand, open at the text: Veritatem meditabitur guttur
meum, et labia mea detestabuntur iniquitatem. From the
Saint's writings the rays proceed first to Plato and Aris-
totle, who offer their respective works, the "Timæus" and
the "Ethics;" from thence to several theologians, cardinals
and monks, one of this group being, by alteration of the
head, converted into a portrait of Urban VI. The figure of
S. Thomas is severely dignified. The Greek Philosophers
are like Oriental Prophets, with nothing classical in cos-
tume or type. The moral of this highly significant picture
seems to be-that all ancient theological science, and indeed
all true Philosophy were concentrated in the author of the
Summa," and from his intellect communicated to the
66.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
295
greatest doctors who came after him, with the retrospective
accord even of those profound minds not illuminated by
direct Revelation.* Near this picture is the pulpit in which
S. Thomas used to preach when resident in the S. Cate-
rina convent. Another remarkable altar-piece by Traini,
formerly in this church, S. Dominick with six lateral storie
of his life, has been removed and divided: the central panel,
S. Dominick (of benign and noble aspect) and the Saviour
blessing in a pinnacle above, being now in the Accademia;
the six lateral panels, in the Seminary of Pisa. Near the
principal entrance to S. Caterina stands the imposing,
though feebly executed, monument of an Archbishop,
Simone Salteretti (ob. 1352), with canopy, relievi and
statues, well representing the style, but not the higher
abilities, of the period.
At the convent of S. Francesco, we enter the Sardi and
Campigli chapel, communicating with what was once the
sacristry, but is now the sole place of worship left to the
*Thomas, son of the Count d'Aquino and Sora, was born, 1226, at the
town from which his house took the former title, Aquino in the Terra di
Lavoro: he received his first education at Monte Cassino; afterwards
studied at the University of Naples, and completed his course at Paris.
He entered the Dominican Order at the age of seventeen; and died at the
Cistercian abbey of Fossanova, in the Terracina diocese, 1274, being de-
tained there by illness on his way to Lyons for the General Council con-
voked by Gregory X. During somewhat more than a year before his
death, he never desired either to speak or write on theological themes, and
renounced all studies in order to dedicate himself to the thought of the
Invisible and Infinite-such the moral attitude of this greatest theo-
logical thinker of the Middle Ages when on the threshold of Eternity. He
refused all ecclesiastical honours, among others the archbishopric of
Naples offered to him by several Popes. He was canonized by John
XXII. 1313; declared a Doctor of the Church by Pius V., 1567. His
appropriate emblems are-a star on the breast, a dove at the ear, or on
one shoulder, rays emanating from a book in his hand, the sacred Host
and chalice.
296
MEDIEVAÈ CHRISTIANITY ÁND
few lingering friars of a suppressed Order. This chapel was
founded, 1395, by a lady of the Sardi family, the wife of
Andrea da' Campigli, and was adorned in 1397 by the pencil
of Taddeo Bartoli, as the extant lines on a pilaster inform
us. Though much damaged, the paintings evince power,
imagination, and refined feeling. They represent the last
scenes in the life, or rather legend, of the Blessed Virgin,
ending with her funeral and assumption; also, (apart from
that series) the annunciation. One among these pictures is
especially interesting and impressive, also a new subject
admitted within the cycle of the legendary art that refers to
Mary. Under a portico of light and graceful architec-
ture, the Mother, in nun-like dress, is seated amidst the
twelve Apostles, some of whom stand, others sit on a low
form, the other Maries of the New Testament standing on
one side; S. John, the youngest Apostle, with expression of
reverential tenderness, approaching the Virgin, who takes
both his hands in hers. At the extremity of the group
another person, of Apostolic type, seems just entering, with
one knee bent, at the threshold of the portico, and a vener-
able figure, of similar aspect, descends from above, in finely
poised action, floating through air towards the place where
the Mother sits; above are two other persons, alike
descending in slow flight towards that sacred group, so
earnestly absorbed by a prevailing interest that only three
of the Apostles seem conscious of this mysterious apparition.
There are two subjects which might suit this beautifully
imagined picture: the valedictory reception of the Twelve
by Mary, before they disperse for their several missions to
evangelize; or (and this seems to me more probably in-
tended) the last farewell of all the Apostles and that
Blessed One after the Angel had given warning of her proxi-
mate death—with which scene, an affecting amplification of
the legend, the presence of those mysterious beings, who
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
297
return from the invisible to the visible world, would accord
if we suppose the flying figures to be Prophets, or other
departed Saints, allowed to reappear on earth in order to
welcome the summoned One to the spirit land. A solemn
and subdued sentiment pervades this picture; and we feel
that His promise, who said: "Peace I leave with you; my
peace I give unto you," is assuredly theirs, the divinely pri-
vileged company here before us. In the transit of Mary
is the usual introduction of the Saviour with the Soul in
form of an infant; beautiful angels with tapers terminating
the group at each side. At the funeral of Mary all the
Apostles are present, a rocky landscape forming the back-
ground; this, and the contiguous picture of the Assump-
tion, being lamentably injured. On other parts of the
chapel walls are finely treated figures of S. John the Baptist,
S. Andrew, and the Virgin Saints, Agnes, Catherine, Clara,
Apollonia, Lucia; on the vaults, the Four Doctors and as
many Prophets.
The ancient church of S. Francesco is now used as a
magazine and kayloft for a cavalry-regiment; and we can
no longer discern the frescoes attributed to Taddeo Gaddi
on the choir-vault. In the chapter-house, however (called
capitolo di S. Bonaventura”) remain the wall-paintings
by Niccolo di Pietro, otherwise known as Piero Gerini,
and father of Lorenzo Gerini-his largest and most import-
ant work, dated, in an extant inscription, 1392.* These
represent the cycle of the Passion from the Lord's Supper
to the Ascension, including the betrayal, or the bribery of
Judas; near the entrance, S. John Baptist and S. Lau-
* The original mutilated, but thus restored by Lasinio: Nicolaus
Petri de Florentia depinsit an. D. MCCCLXXXXII. It was the same
Lasinio who retouched these frescoes, formerly more or less injured, in
1824.
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
rence. In the Last Supper the artist has unfortunately
imitated his model, Giotto, by making S. John fast asleep,
as he leans over the table beside the Divine Master. In
the Crucifixion, largest of these pictures, the two thieves.
are seen on their crosses, with the episode (which hardly
appears before this century) of the angels and demons
receiving the souls of the penitent and impenitent. In the
Resurrection the Saviour, calmly majestic, with a red-cross
banner in the left hand and raising the other hand to
bless, steps out of an open sarcophagus-an unhistorical,
but henceforth commonly admitted detail.* The Deposi-
tion and the "Noli me tangere" are treated with some
power. In the Ascension, a crown and sceptre are given
to the heavenward-rising Lord, as symbols of His divine
royalty. The countenance of the Christ is sombre and
sullen, except in the last, and also in the Resurrection pic-
ture where the artist rises to the height of his subject.
Altogether, this series is valuable as presenting the hence-
forth traditionary and prescribed treatment of the principal
scenes in the Gospel History.
At Cortona we see, in the church of S. Dominico, a pic-
ture deemed the most important work by Lorenzo Gerini
-a richly framed " ancona,"-with predella, comprising
several subjects, the Madonna with four Saints, her corona-
tion and assumption; the Crucifixion above; this altar-
piece having been removed from S. Marco at Florence, in
1438, and presented by Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici to
* Manifestly unhistoric is the circumstance, represented by countless
artists in this scene, of the sleep of the soldiers around the tomb. They
should be all watching; for it was the falsehood insinuated by the Jews
whence sprung the report that the sacred body had been stolen away by
night, whilst those guards slept. By emerging from the tomb amidst the
watchful soldiery, the Divine Being more manifestly asserts His glorious
powers, and Art obtains a field for nobler efforts.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
299
the Dominicans of Cortona," for the benefit of their own
and their forefathers' souls.'
""*
Arezzo, though deprived of many art-treasures formerly
within its walls, still contains valuable examples of its local
school; and a gallery, formed not long ago, in one of the
suppressed monasteries, "La Badia," now affords oppor-
tunities for estimating the capacities, and observing the
several phases, of Aretine Art. Spinello Spinelli and his
son, Parri, cannot be appreciated till we have seen their
works in their native city. Among memorable paintings
by the former is one in a recess on the front of the SS.
Trinita church: the Eternal Father supporting the Son,
who appears as dead, on the Cross; the Dove issuing from
the bosom of the First to the head of the Second Person;
both Father and Son of essentially the same type, in cha-
racter benignly noble, without any attempt at indicating
the distinctions of human relationship, such as later Art has
but too boldly introduced, thereby embodying an idea, which,
opposed to every spiritual conception of the Triune Deity,
is in fact nothing else than Tritheism. Other noticeable
works by Spinelli are a Crucifixion and Apostles at S.
Domenico, and an Annunciation on the outside of L'Annun-
ziata, both churches at Arezzo. That artist's famous pic-
ture of the Defeat of the Rebel Angels has, unfortunately,
all but perished with the church, S. Angelo, which it adorned.
A house, let out in miserable lodgings, amidst gardens on
the outskirts of the city, now occupies the site, and includes
part of the walls, of that church. Here I saw, in a room
used as the workshop of a poor artisan, some vestiges of
figures mostly cut in two by the flooring of the room above;
* The painter's name, Laurentius Nicholaus, is inscribed, and followed
by the record : "Chosimo e Lorenzo di Medici da Firenze año data
chuesta pictura frati di Sco Dominicho de Osservanza da Chortona per
l'anima loro e di loro passati, MCCCCXXXX.”
300
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
and one of the lodgers told me that other fragments, figures
of diavoli, had been removed from these walls, and sold to
some stranger. The vicinity of S. Angelo was called, "Con-
trada dei Diavoli," from the lost picture, in which Demons
were so conspicuous, and in which was introduced that
figure of Satan, said (v. Vasari) to have haunted the artist
till the horrors of his own conception caused, or accelerated,
his death. I ascertained the existence of some other rem-
nants of this work in the warehouse of a furniture-maker;
and, visiting that place, saw a fragmentary group of Angels
and Demons combating; the former in plate-armour and
wielding swords; the latter, nondescript monsters with bat-
wings and eagle's talons-the whole composition confused
and bewildering.
Berna di Siena was engaged much at Arezzo in 1369, and
executed several frescoes in the cathedral, of which but
one remains: a Crucifixion under a Gothic canopy; beside
the cross Mary, S. John, S. Francis, and the Archangel
Michael; kneeling below, the donator, in complete armour,
Guccione Tarlati, one of a powerful family for a time supreme
at Arezzo. This struck me as the finest of that Sienese
artist's extant works. Among the paintings by him which
have perished, was one, at S. Agostino, on a subject afford-
ing testimony to the increasing belief in demoniac agencies
and the growth of a Mythology for which the Christian reli-
gion is not responsible-the story, namely, of a youth, one
Marino, who sold his immortal soul to the Devil for base
lucre, but was ultimately saved by the intervention of S.
James the Apostle, though the Demon, "hideous to a
miracle," displayed a written agreement to make good his
claim when the poor guilty soul threw itself on the Apostle's
power and mercy in the other world. The same story was
illustrated by Berna in a picture at S. Spirito, Florence,
destroyed by the burning of that church in 1470.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
301
Such sculptures as we see at Arezzo of earlier period
than that to which I now refer, throw into shade the pro-
ductions of the same art within the latter half of this cen-
tury. There are, however, good qualities in the works of
the Niccolo Aretino (or Niccolo di Piero), some statues by
whom are seen at Florence. His finest sculptures at his
native place are on the façade of the "Misericordia," or
"Fraternità," the former hospital and offices of a pious
sodality, which building now contains a museum and public
library. That Institution, dedicated to charities, became
enriched by bequests during the visitation of plague; and
in 1383 applied its wealth to the purpose of constructing a
new façade, in florid Gothic style, for its official residence.
Niccolo was engaged to adorn this building, now one of the
most conspicuous and observable at Arezzo. Above the
portal, he represented a large relievo, the Madonna del
Soccorso, attended by angels who hold back her long mantle
so as to display the many citizens, figures of smaller scale,
kneeling at her feet-a favourite popular aspect of the
Virgin Mother in Aretine Art.* Below, and laterally to
this principal group, are the local Patrons, St. Laurentinus
and Preguntinus; also statues of S. Gregory the Great, and
S. Donatus, principal Protector and Martyr-bishop of this
city, who suffered A.D. 361. By the same Niccolo is a terra-
* It became alike popular eventually in other Italian schools and loca-
lities. In her character of supreme Protectress to cities and states, the
Virgin Mother, thus presented in painting or sculpture, bears silent
witness to the deepening religious feeling which turned to Her as the
centre of a devotional system. Mystic Theology had so far banished the
Christ, Creator and Judge, to dim and awful distance that He, the still
recognized Mediator of Salvation, became almost forgotten in popular
regards, or rather the object of fear than of faith working through love;
whilst Mary was the tenderly reverenced and universally trusted Media-
trix of Intercession-the "Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra," as Roman
Catholic devotions still address her.
302
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
cotta relief-a work of his early youth, the Virgin and
Child, Angels, and the two last named Saints, over a lateral
door of the cathedral. Also, another of his early works,
S. Mark seated, with his emblem the winged ox, in an
arched recess on the façade of that church-the last sadly
mutilated, but still distinguished by dignity of forms. Other
less important sculptures of this School and period are:
some small relievi of the history of the companion-martyrs,
Laurentinus and Preguntinus over the door of a chapel
dedicated to the former; and around the doorway of the
Annunziata, relievi of Christ and the four Evangelists, each
with the head of his emblem, three having consequently the
animal combined with the human form-an unpleasing
anomaly not often admitted in Art, though in one instance
so late as the XV. century—in a picture by Fra Angelico,
now at the Florence Accademia.
In this century Arezzo attained the apex of the prosperity,
and also suffered the severest visitations known to its me-
diæval experiences. The famous bishop, Guido Tarlati di
Pietramala, whose stately tomb we admire in the cathedral,
founded the dominion of that family, and having made him-
self lord of Arezzo, secured various material benefits, forti-
fied and embellished the city during the time he held power.
After his death, in 1328, dissensions and factious struggles
ensued. In 1380 this city was delivered up by two families,
the Rostoli and Albergotti, to Charles of Durazzo, then on
his way, with an Hungarian army, to the invasion of the
Neapolitan States. In 1384, the Tarlati and other exiled
Ghibellines conspired to withdraw the city from the domi-
nion of the Durazzo prince, now King of Naples ; and in the
September of 1381, Arezzo was taken by escalade and given
up to pillage by the Sieur de Coucy, Captain of the troops of
the Anjou Louis, who disputed the Neapolitan crown with
Charles III. The Fiorentines, jealous of this occupation.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
303
by foreigners, sent an army to besiege the French, who
were still opposed by the troops of the King, in the castle
of this city; and Coucy had recourse to the expedient of
selling Arezzo to the Florentines for 50,000 gold florins,
after having already promised it for 20,000 to Siena. On
the 20th November, 1384, the city, and a few days after-
wards the fortress, passed under the dominion of the
Republic now most potent among Tuscan states.
At Siena the art-activities of the period here in question
were less important than in the earlier half of the cen-
tury, though the works for the rebuilding of the beautiful
cathedral were still in progress. A moral degeneration
seems to have prevailed in the Art circles of Siena at this
period, though one star of luminous distinction arose with
Taddeo Bartoli, whose works here seen date subsequently
to 1400. Towards the close of the XIVth century several
Siennese painters were involved in democratic movements
or factious strife; some were guilty of political crimes.
One, named Galgano, presided at the execution of nineteen
persons unjustly put to death, and was several times elected
Captain of the People. This truculent artist received pay-
ment in 1384 for twenty-six standards, painted (we may
conclude) with political emblems or allegories; but not one
sacred subject is known to have been attempted by his
hand. The most remarkable paintings of this period, though
not by a native master, to be seen at Siena, are in a hall,
“Sala de' Priori,” of the "Palazzo Comunale” (or pubblico),
where Spinello Aretino, assisted by Martino de Siena,
executed (1380-1400) the "frescoes" illustrating the gesta
of Pope Alexander III. (1159-81), especially the contest
between that energetic Pontiff and the Emperor Frede-
rick I., the most formidable but finally self-submitting
adversary of the Holy See. As that Pope (Rolando Bandi-
nelli) was of Siennese birth, and a man of great qualities,
304
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
who sustained his trials and discharged his duties with un-
failing constancy and nobleness, the desire on the part of
his fellow-citizens to perpetuate and honour his memory
among themselves, is indeed to their credit. The eventful
history is here delineated with much dramatic power, how-
ever quaint, and in some details incorrect, may be the
presentment of the subject in these historical pictures.
Among the scenes remarkable for able treatment are the
coronations of the Pope and of the Antipope raised up by
Frederick; the homage paid by "Barbarossa" to that crea-
ture of his own making-the Antipope, represented as a
white-vested monk, evidently perplexed and alarmed at
finding himself brought from his quiet cell for unenviable
and dangerous honours; the siege of Rome by Frederick
with his German army, and the escape of Alexander,
disguised as a monk, from the beleaguered walls; the sub-
mission of the Emperor to the Pope at Venice—in which
subject is perpetuated the long-received tradition, incorrect
and discordant with the known character of Alexander III,
that the Pontiff actually trampled on the neck of the pros-
trate potentate before he would give him absolution: Bar-
barossa is here lying at full length on his back, though still
wearing his crown and imperial robes, whilst, with absurdly
unnatural action, the enthroned Pope places one foot on
his shoulder! Lastly, may be noticed the scene of the
Council at Venice, where the reconciled antagonists are
seated amicably beside each other. Such a work announces a
new tendency of Art. The argument, though ecclesiastical,
is neither scriptural nor religious; and this early example
of painting which attempts the epic delineation of an
entire career, independent of the inspirations of Theology
and dictates of the Church, indicates the desire to infringe
limits long scrupulously observed, to escape from trammels
long piously submitted to.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
305
Another new form in the Art now active at Siena, is the
celebrated intarsio and "commesso" work on the pavement
of the Duomo, long erroneously supposed to have been
begun by Duccio, but in its oldest portions not dating before
1369, the year when it is first mentioned in the record
books. Duccio died in 1339. The intarsio work here
before us, in the nave of the church, was not begun till
1372; the Wheel of Fortune, and the figures of Temperance
and Prudence, were finished about 1380: and the other
compositions, scriptural and allegorical, on this unique
pavement, were executed during the XV. and earlier years
of the XVI. century. In the public library of Siena are
preserved the letters of a certain Lombardelli, written in
1588 to the archiepiscopal Vicar of this diocese, complain-
ing very seriously of things seen in this pavement, as well
as of popular practices kept up around the Duomo, which
scandalized that respectable gentleman: e.g. the vases in-
scribed mel and fel in the intarsio at the summit of the
outer stairs; the rosary in the hand of the Pharisee at
prayer, in the design illustrating the well-known parable ;
the figures of Socrates and Crates throwing his treasures.
into the sea; those of Fortune and the Seven Ages-all
alike profane to orthodox eyes.
The deeply religious feeling and spiritual tendencies of
the Umbrian School had scarcely given signs of life in
such works as had been produced before the period here
considered, nor did such signs appear before the end of this
century. We must return to the pleasant regions, where
loveliness and grandeur unite in the scenery of the valleys
watered by the Tiber, the Nar, and the Velino, in order to
appreciate the high merits of the local Art in its maturer
existence. But even at its dim and feebly flowing source,
the stream destined to expand so magnificently may detain
the pilgrim step, and command reverential interest.
X
We
306
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
may begin our study of the Art in question, in its earliest
and comparatively obscure efforts, at "Perugia Turrena,"
which, in the middle of this century, was not only an inde-
pendent city, but the seat of a republican government,
extending its sway over many towns of medieval impor-
tance, Spoleto, Foligno, Assisi, Gubbio, Cittá di Castello,
&c. About 1366 was built the new cincture of walls,
which, after being enlarged by the formidable Braccio
Fortebracci, lord of Perugia in the next century, measured
five miles in circuit; and the stately city made good her
claim to the title of "the towered" by forty-two battle-
mented structures, conspicuous in the aspect she presented
on her commanding height-but of which only three re-
main at this day in their original altitude, though efforts
were made in the XV. century to preserve them from ruin,
even by penal enactments.* It was the usage to defend
the ingress to the narrow streets, still so picturesquely
irregular and mediæval-looking, by massive chains, the
hooks for fastening which are seen at this day in many
places; and when all these barriers were removed, in 1590,
it was found that the total value of the iron so used, might
be estimated at 10,000 gold scudi.
The earliest paintings, with ascertainable date, at Perugia
are a large Crucifixion in the Pinacotheca, and a Madonna
and Child in a chapel occupying a part of the portico of
the ancient Podesta Palace. Margaritone di Arezzo, the
artist of the former picture, has left the date, 1272,† on
this grim and ghastly composition, in which, besides the
Crucified, are introduced the figures of the Deity blessing,
the Virgin between two angels; the Magdalen, S. John,
and S. Francis kneeling below the cross. The Madonna
* Sixtus IV. prohibited the demolition of the towers of Perugia
under penalty of 50 ducats.
† Anno Domini MCCLXXII. T.P.R. Gregorii PP.X.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
307
picture is one of those called "Maestá," and, in this instance,
"Maestá delle Volte," from the circumstance of its being
painted under the vault of a portico before the Podesta's
Palace, which was reduced to ruin by two fires (1329-1534),
though that sacred picture, together with a remnant of the
portico itself, is still extant; the Madonna, said to have
been painted by order of the Magistrates in 1297, being now
enclosed within a chapel, and provided with an altar. In
this instance we see the earlier adopted type of the Virgin
Mother's aspect, neither youthful nor distinguished by
loveliness, but of a certain severe and matron dignity.
Both Mother and Child are richly dressed, the former in
robes of embroidered gold tissue. The attendant angels
are modern. Other art-works at Perugia of the period here
in question, may be briefly enumerated. In the singular
church of S. Angelo, long supposed to be a Pagan temple,
but now recognised by antiquaries as a building originally
destined for Christian worship, probably of the V. or
VI. century, we see some rudely executed frescoes: three
female saints, one the Veronica, with her miraculously
impressed handkerchief, the head upon which is colossal;
also over the high altar, a Madonna with angels. At S.
Fiorenzo, a church founded in the VIII. century, but for the
most part rebuilt, 1491-1515, are some remnants of wall-
paintings-the Saviour in an elliptic nimbus, amidst angels
and several saints, the heads alone of several figures rescued
*
* It is still referred to a heathen origin, and conjectured to have been
a temple of Vesta, in the useful "Guida di Perugia," by Count Battista
Rossi Scotti, published in 1867. That writer mentions the tradition that
eight Barons, companions in arms of the renowned Orlando, who died
and were buried at Perugia, raised this church in the form of the tent
of that doughty champion, and dedicated it to S. Michael. Their graves,
we may infer, should be sought for within these walls; but the church
has suffered much from modern alteration.
X 2
308
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
¦
i
from whitewash-on the vault of what once formed a tran-
sept, but is now cut off from the modernized and dimi-
nished church. At S. Agata, a church of good architectural
features in the pointed style, recent repairs have brought
to light several frescoes which probably occupied the entire
surface of the walls-figures of Saints standing under
Gothic arches, divided by columns, alike belonging to the
painted decoration-some evidently of very early, others
of a later phase in Umbrian Art; a S. Agatha, distin-
guished by the beauty of the head, referrible to some
period in the XV. century; while an earlier school is
recognised in a fantastic representation of the Holy
Trinity with three heads, or rather three faces, two in
profile, to a single head and body-the aspect stern,
the features strongly marked. Such offensive concep-
tions of this mysterious subject, now forbidden by au-
thoritative decree from Rome, are seen in two other
examples at Perugia, both probably of date within the
XIV, or first years of the next century. One is in the now
desecrated church of S. Crispino, attached to a hospital
also suppressed, and on the walls of which are, besides that
monstrous representation of the Triune Deity, a Cruci-
fixion, Christ standing in the tomb, and a Madonna
crowned by angels. The other is in the crypt below the
oratory of the Confraternita di S Agostino: the Deity
being here depicted with three faces and a single head, in the
act of blessing, and holding a book open at the text, in
Gothic letters: Ego sum Via, Veritas et Vita.* At a
short distance beyond one of the gates of Perugia, the
castellated Porta S. Angelo, stands the small church of a
long suppressed monastery, S. Matteo, now open for
* A similar picture, with such presentment of the subject, of dates
early in the XV. century, is in the rural church of S. Cristoforo, near
Passignano on the Lake of Thrasymene.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
309
worship but one day in the year, S. Matthew's festival; and
here, on the walls of an interior not without good features
of the least ornate Gothic, are some frescoes that may
be classed among the primitive attempts of the local school,
but recently rescued from whitewash: one, a group too
much damaged for the determining of its subject, with
the date inscribed 1348; the subjects recognisable, S.
Matthew, S. Michael subduing the Demon, S. Sylvester
charming the Dragon, S. Galgano on horseback; and, behind
the altar, Christ blessing, S. Bartholomew, S. Francis, and
the Madonna and Child-the latter reminding one, though
not pleasingly, of Cimabue. Among pictures of early date
removed from suppressed convents to the Pinacotheca now
an important and most interesting centre for the study of
the Umbrian School, are several frescoes detached from the
walls of S. Giuliana, representing the horrid tortures
endured by that virgin martyr, and also (of more advanced
art) an uncommon subject, which might be described as
Christ receiving His earthly Mother into beatitude, not
crowning or admitting her to like honours with His own,
but apparently holding high converse with her, both being
seated upon clouds opposite to each other, while the two
SS. John, the Baptist and Apostle, are seen on earth, each
with a book, below that celestial vision. May not this be
an incipient conception of what was finally developed into
the formal and triumphant coronation of the Virgin by the
Divine Son, subsequently by the Eternal Father, and (the
latest phase) by both Persons of the Godhead conjointly?
I can only mention the supposable existence of medieval
paintings on the now whitewashed walls of another monastic
church, about a mile from Perugia, S. Bevignate, built (or
rebuilt) by the Templars in the year 1300, and, after the
extinction of that order, possessed by the Knights of S.
John, who handed it over, 1324, to a Perugian merchant
310
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
and his wife, by whom it was finally conceded to a com-
munity of nuns. It is now held, and bestowed in commen-
dam, as a simple benefice, by the Apostolic Camera of
Rome; but is rarely opened for public worship. Its old
tower is truncated; its lancet windows and a side portal
with clustering columns are walled up; its interior, a
single nave without colonnades, under a high-hung vault, ist
badly modernized; but there is still an imposing effect, a
picturesqueness of desolation in this long silent church.
Its architecture in dusky stone work is a noticeable
example of the Italian Gothic in its utmost simplicity and
sternly massive character. The deserted, though still
habitable, monastery, with large vaulted rooms, now in part
used as a granary, and commanding beautiful views from
the windows, seems a mournful memorial of what such
institutions once were in contrast to what they have now
become-fallen and impoverished, or abandoned and dis-
owned !*
The earliest Christian sculptures at Perugia are some
curiously archaic relievi round the portal of S. Costanzo, an
extramural church on the site where the martyred bishop of
this see, Constans, was decapitated A.D. 165. Here we see,
in rudest execution, the Saviour as a youth, seated on a rain-
bow, the Four Evangelic Emblems, and a more pleasingly
treated ornato, with birds and fantastic animals amidst
foliage. A transition of several centuries brings us to the
sculptures, not without dignity and character, around the
chief portals of the majestic Palazzo Comunale, whose
Gothic architecture, much marred in the time of the Pon-
tific Delegates resident here, has lately been restored with
S. Bevignate was a hermit, who is said to have inhabited a solitary
cell on this site about the middle of the 13th century, and was canonized,
at the request of the Perugian magistrates, 1277. His body lies in a
narrow dark crypt below the high altar of this church.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
311
intelligence. To the latter half of this century may be
referred the statues on the tympanum of its round-arched
doorway, SS. Lawrence, Herculanus, and Louis of Anjou,
three patron saints of Perugia; also the relievi of allegoric
subjects on the flanking pilasters, Humility and Pride,
Magnanimity and Avarice, Fertility and Abundance, &c.
This strikingly picturesque palace is supposed to have been
built from the designs of a Benedictine monk, Fra Bevig-
nate, who held the office of public architect in this city.
The buildings are first mentioned under date 1296; they
were finished so far as to be habitable and occupied by
official persons, in 1353, though not completed in all parts
till 1429.
At Assisi the historic fact manifest on all sides, is the
rapidly attained ascendancy of the Mendicant Orders through
the force of their protest, backed by the example of en-
thusiastic self-denial, against the luxury and worldliness
which had invaded the higher regions of the Church, the
prelatic palaces and magnificent monasteries, long before
S. Francis and S. Dominick appeared on their mission of
renovating, denouncing, and purifying. A remarkable cir-
cumstance in the records of the great basilica above the
tomb of S. Francis, is the almost unprecedented rapidity
with which both the upper and lower church were built
(1228-1232), thanks to the zealous exertions of Fra Elia,
the first Father General of the Order after the death of the
saintly founder, and also to the liberal contributions of
benefactors, among whom one of the most munificent was
the Emperor Frederick II.* It was in gratitude to that
potentate that the imperial eagle was placed, where it is
* Jacopo, or Lapo, who has been called a German, but may have been
(as Cicognaro supposes) an Italian of one of the northern provinces, was
sent by the Emperor, at the instance of Fra Elia, to design and superin-
tend the buildings.
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
still conspicuous, among the symbolic sculptures of the
principal façade. Not, however, till the later half of the
XIV. century did this venerable church attain its matured
beauty through the wealth of artistic adornment, which,
though commenced by Cimabue and his immediate pupils,
received its most numerous additions from the school of
Giotto, flourishing between 1350 and 1400. I have else-
where noticed the different theories as to the authorship of
the frescoes in the upper church; and the works of Giotto
do not fall within the limits of my present theme. I may
now more particularly dwell on the works of a great artist,
far less generally known, and represented by few extant
creations of his genius, Tommaso di Stefano, called Giottino,
who was born in 1324, and certainly living in 1368. In
his paintings we see the emancipation of Art from cum-
brous tradition and gloomy asceticism. The wall-pictures
ascribed to him (though not, indeed, without dissentient
voices) in the lower church at Assisi, are: the Coronation
of the Blessed Virgin, within an arched recess at the left
of the nave; and, on the archivolt above this, subjects from
the life of S. Stanislaus, a Polish bishop, who was canonized
in this church by Innocent IV., 1253.* In the Magdalene
chapel, founded about 1330 by a bishop of Assisi, are
frescoes illustrating the history of Mary and Martha, which
Vasari attributes to Buffalmacco; other critics (with much
more apparent correctness) to Giottino. Worthy of that
artist, and certainly maintaining the reputation founded on
his known works, are such pictures, in this interesting
* In an official report drawn up by a committee appointed to inspect
this basilica and its contents, in January 1863, these frescoes are attributed
to Taddeo Gaddi. They are not comprised in the works assignable to
Giottino, according to other critics, whose sentence is authoritative; but
are given to that artist in the "Guida" published at this city, 1869.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
313
series, as the Raising of Lazarus, the "Noli me tangere,"
and the larger groups of the bishop Pantani (founder of
this chapel) kneeling before S. Rufinus (the first bishop of
Assisi, martyred A.D. 238), and of S. Rufinus himself kneeling
before Mary Magdalene. Here we see also the legendary
class of subjects: the converted Prince of Marseilles, and his
wife and child rescued from death on the desolate island,*
In the former chapter-house of the convent, a Crucifixion
with numerous figures may, I believe, be assigned without
doubt to Giottino,† and seems to me the noblest illustra-
tion of the subject hitherto produced by medieval art—an
example of the idealizing treatment, which, while it softens
the tragic horror, brings into relief the solemn significance
and mighty religious results of the event depicted. Angels
are floating round the cross; at its foot are kneeling
S. Francis and S. Clara; beside it stand, together with
the apostles SS. Peter, Paul, and John, the Blessed Virgin,
and two other favourite representatives of the Franciscan
Order, S. Anthony of Padua and S. Louis of Anjou.
Another example of this ideal treatment of the Crucifixion,
giving to the event the character rather of a tragic triumph
than a sacrifice, and with complicated grouping that implies
the adoring acquiescence of nations in the worship and
faith of the Divine Victim, is before us in the great picture,
the masterpiece of Pietro Cavallini, in the south transept
of the lower church, ordered, 1342, by Walter de Brienne,
Duke of Athens and Tyrant of Florence, whose portrait is
here introduced as a warrior on a white steed, with a gilt
halo (certainly not the intended emblem of sanctity), his
* The report of the Commissioners considers these paintings as "pro-
bably" by Taddeo Gaddi. They seemed to me far beyond that master's
capabilities.
† It is so in the report of the Committee.
•
314
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
handsome face seen in profile, and devoutly upturned
towards the Crucified. To Giottino are given, on good
authority, the illustrations of the life of S. Nicholas, and
twelve figures of saints in the chapel of the Holy Sacra-
ment; among the subjects from the former saint's history,
his intervention to save the lives of three citizens of Myra
condemned to death by the axe, and his appearance in a
vision to the Emperor, attesting their innocence. Some
critics attribute to Taddeo Gaddi several paintings on New
Testament subjects in the north transept; they seem of
more advanced art, and characterized by more poetic deli-
cacy than that master's works display. Particularly
beautiful, and full of refined feeling, are the Visitation, the
Christ disputing in the Temple, the Adoration of the Magi;
and, above all, distinguished by quiet grace and tender
sentiment, a picture of an uncommon subject, Mary and
Joseph leading away the Divine Child from the Temple
after the so-called "dispute" with the doctors.
An historically interesting picture is seen in the chapel
of S. Catherine, founded by the famous Cardinal Albornoz
-that warlike Legate and able politician (a portrait, as we
may suppose) kneeling before a sainted Pope, believed to
be S. Clement; the walls being adorned with frescoes by
the same artist, Pace di Faenza, on the legendary life of
the Virgin Martyr of Alexandria, besides other accessorial
figures of saints.
The church of S. Chiara, which ranks also as a basilica,
and is remarkable for imposing effect with simplicity of
design, also for the magnificent wheel-window, like a glori-
ous star on its front, was completed between 1257-1260 by
Filippo da Campello, who succeeded Lapo as architect of
the Franciscan Basilica. Among the finest extant works
of Giottino are the frescoes on the vault above its high
altar eight Virgin Saints standing in pairs, two under
F
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
315
each of the four arches of a painted portico or loggia; the
Saviour, seen as if hovering in air above each group, and
angels, of smaller scale than those sainted Heroines, kneel-
ing beside them. This composition not only illustrates the
memory of the gentle Saints themselves, but the glorifica-
tion of woman through the teaching and practice of the
Catholic Church. It is an early example of the class of
paintings, subsequently so much more common and popular,
in which sainted females appear not in any historical
action or association, but in an abstract character sur-
rounded by a celestial atmosphere-not merely as exam-
ples, but as patronesses and powers. The other frescoes
by the same artist, in a transept of this church, are almost
lost. The only subjects now intelligible, in a series cover-
ing large surfaces, are: the translation of the body of S.
Clara (1260) from her convent, S. Damiano, where she
died, to this church, and the consecration of the basilica
(formerly dedicated to S. George but now to S. Clara) by
Pope Clement IV. 1265. The other much damaged paint-
ings, which it is vain to attempt to appreciate, are
described by Rio as a miracle of S. Clara, the resuscita-
tion, namely, of a dead infant, with a group of women
around, and the same Saint ascending to Heaven. That
last the artist was obliged to leave unfinished, owing to his
enfeebled health. In one of the lateral chapels we see a
life-size portrait of S. Clara, with eight small storie from
her life, ascribed to Cimabue, but apparently either re-
painted or by a later artist; though indeed so full of
character accordant with what we know of this energetic
woman, that we may regard it as at least a traditionary like-
ness. The body of that Saint, who died, aged fifty-nine,
1253, was found under the high altar of this church in the
September of 1850; and may now be seen, through a
grated window, laid in a rich shrine within a chamber
1
J
1
316
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
*
At the same time we obtain
accessible only to the nuns.
an unsatisfactory glimpse of some frescoes, said to be of
the XIV. century, on the walls of the sacred penetralia.
The Crucifix which spoke to S. Francis, from the old
church of S. Damiano, hangs in the same chamber. Among
other frescoes which may be referred to the century here
in question, is one representing that miraculous incident-
the Crucifix commanding S. Francis to repair His Church
(the Institution, not the particular building, as the Saint at
first understood)—in the same dim and primitive-looking
church, S. Damiano, on the hill-side below Assisi. In the
Benedictine church of S. Pietro, which has good features.
of the earlier Italian Gothic, and a fine façade of date 1268,
some faded fragments of the fresco-painting by which, we
may suppose, its walls were once covered, may be of about
the same period as the afore-named picture. Undoubtedly
the oldest paintings at Assisi are those (but a slight rem-
nant) in the crypt of the cathedral-the most ancient
place of Christian worship here, and long anterior to the
original Duomo built by the Bishop Ugone between 1036-
* Soon after this discovery of this revered relic was commenced the
construction of a splendid "confessional," or crypt, underneath the
high altar, and surrounding the rocky bed in which the Saint's body
was originally laid, and where it is to be eventually replaced. The local
circumstances, and the mode of enclosing the saintly tomb within a
chapel over whose altar the body reposes, are the counterpart of what is
seen in the gorgeous modern chapel forming the third and lowermost
story of the Franciscan basilica. But the design adopted at S. Chiara
is different-highly ornate Italian Gothic with profuse incrustation in
marbles and scagliuola. When I last visited Assisi in the summer of
1869, I found that these works for the crypt-chapel had been long in sus-
pense, owing to want of funds. At an early stage of this undertaking
a collection, speedily set on foot, soon produced 4,800 Roman scudi, of
which 600 were contributed by the Pope. Of two architectural designs
prepared, that by a Canon of Assisi named Morichelli, was preferred hy
the Roman Academy of S. Luke.
$
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
317
1059;—also those, a Madonna and Child, alone left in the
crypt of S. Maria Maggiore, a church of the XII. century,
which for a time ranked as this city's cathedral.
Since the suppression of monasteries, twelve friars
(priests and lay-brothers) have been allowed to reside in
the immense convent attached to the Franciscan basilica,
as officiating clergy for the church and guardians of the
premises. For the maintenance of this famous sanctuary
a revenue of 12,000 francs per annum is assigned: and in
the August of '69 was promised an additional subvention
of 20,000 francs for repairs. The Commissioners, in '63,
judiciously recommended the removal of all the wretched
modern adjuncts and tinsel adornments, tawdry gilt wood-
work and barocco altar-mountings, by which the friars had
contrived to conceal in part several inestimably precious
paintings-as, for instance, the Crucifixion by Cavallini-
and to detract almost as much as possible from the
solemnity of architectural effects. The silent convent, its
long corridors and countless unfurnished cells, now present
a melancholy scene. Its library is but a wreck, though still
containing a collection of some value; and of the illumi-
nated choir-books, a once precious and numerous set, the
two alone left have been furtively deprived of all, except
one, of the miniatures adorning them!-the painted borders.
still, however, remaining to enhance our regret for what is
lost. It is projected to unite all the monastic libraries of
this province in one great collection on these premises—
nor could a more appropriate locality be chosen. Such a
new consecration would well instal the genius of Science
and Learning in the former retreat of Piety.
Few tourists make any sojourn at Foligno, a quiet city
in the midst of a beautiful and fertile valley, on the heights
around which stand so many other towns whose names
have become classical in art-history. There is a charm in
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the landscape around, and a quaint picturesqueness in the
level city, with its numerous church-towers and decayed
fortifications-a harmony in the spirit of the scene-which
will be remembered with pleasure by those who have
stayed long enough for any distinct recollections of Foligno.
From an early medieval period this city, the "Fulginium,"
mentioned as a Roman municipium by Cicero (Pro Lucio
Vareno), maintained republican principles and forms of
government; but in 1305 the Trinci family, descended
from Hildebrand, who was Duke of Spoleto in the eighth
century, obtained the lordship over their native city, which
they continued to rule over, assuming the title of "Vicars
of the Pope," for one hundred and thirty-four years. The
last representative of that house in its quasi-sovereign
capacity, Corrado Trinci, brought down upon himself by
intolerable abuse of power a shock, through popular revolt,
that weakened the foundations of his sway; and in his
person the Trinci dynasty (if so it may be called) was
finally overthrown, deprived for ever of the lordship of
Foligno, by the Papal Legate of martial renown, Cardinal
Giovanni Vitelleschi. From that time forth the city and
territory remained under the immediate dominion of the
Holy See; though many municipal privileges and an almost
independent magistracy were among benefits still enjoyed
here under pontific government.
The See of Foligno is said to have been founded by
S. Chryspolitus, a disciple of S. Peter, A.D. 58, and the first
Christian oratory here is believed to be still extant, com-
prised within the buildings of a very ancient church,
S. Maria infra Portas, which originally ranked as the
cathedral. S. Felicianus, a bishop who was elected to this
See by the free suffrages of the clergy and people, A.D. 197,
and who suffered martyrdom at the age of ninety-two,
under the Emperor Decius, A.D. 251, is said to have conse-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
319
:
crated for Christian worship a temple of Pallas, which,
after this city had been devastated by the Longobard
invaders in the eighth century, was rebuilt on larger scale,
subsequently restored and embellished in the XII. and
XIII. centuries, and finally reduced to its present form
from the designs of Vanvitelli, with a cupola of somewhat
earlier date-the third raised in Italy, and attributed,
though not beyond doubt, to Bramante. The façade still
retains its original architecture, as erected in 1201 by the
bishop Anselmo Atti; its fine wheel window has been.
destroyed, to give place to a useless and unornamental
loggia; but the curiously archaic sculptures around the
portal, the signs of the zodiac, the four Evangelic Emblems,
and relief busts of saints, attest the character of that art
in what may be called its medieval infancy. A crypt,
divided into two aisles by massive columns under a depressed
vaulting, is, no doubt, the most ancient part of this note-
worthy cathedral. In the tower we may visit a small dark
chamber which was the retreat, during several years, of the
Beato Pietro Crisci, a saint of this city (1243-1323), who
early appears in Umbrian art, known by his eremite cos-
tume with bare arms and feet, and sometimes represented
in prayer whilst gazing undazzled on the sun, according to
the legend of his being favoured with a vision of the Saviour
in the disk of the luminous orb, which he was preter-
naturally enabled thus to contemplate; an apparent remi-
niscence of the Apollo and Mithraic worship, blent with
the Catholic mysticism of the middle ages. In that gloomy
cell of the cathedral-tower are a few faded frescoes: the
Crucifixion, the Agony in the Garden, and, in a recess
where the holy man used to sleep on a bed of stone, a
Madonna and Child-little noticeable save for the suppos-
able date, which may be referred to some year not long after
the recluse's death.
320
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
The primitive chapel at S. Maria infra Porta is said
to have been originally a temple of Diana, consecrated
A.D. 58 as a Christian oratory, in which S. Peter and
S. Paul celebrated mass while they were guests at Foligno,
The wall behind the
on a progress through Umbria.*
altar of this chapel has been covered with paintings, of
which the sole portion left entire is a colossal half-length
of Christ blessing between SS. Peter and Paul, who each
hold books with jewelled binding, and two of the Evangelic
Emblems, the style of these paintings, and especially the
severe character, as well as sallow complexion, of the
Saviour's head, reminding of the mosaics in Roman basilicas,
and consequently of an antiquity much higher than the
period I am now considering. In a recess on one side of
this chapel, where was formerly placed the stone said to
have served the Apostles as an altar, is a Madonna and
Child, probably about as ancient as the other pictures;
and in the recess of a deeply splayed window, an Ecce
Homo, with a six-winged Seraph beside the Divine Victim
-of somewhat later art. The entire walls and pilasters
of this church have been covered with frescoes, now in the
plurality concealed under whitewash, though many are still
visible—some to be recognized as inferior works of the
XIV. century; others as later, and by masters of evident
* The Apostles were entertained, it is believed, by a family still repre-
sented, and now bearing the name of Villa, at a small town in this
neighbourhood. It is moreover believed to this day, and not exclusively
by the less educated citizens of Foligno, as I understand, that, in grati-
tude for the hospitalities received, those Apostles conferred on the same
family the hereditary gift of healing from the malady of sciatica by a
touch, which miraculous power is still occasionally manifested, with in-
fallible effects, by members of that otherwise obscure house !—v. “La
Rosa dell' Umbria," an interesting volume for local intelligence, and
something more than the mere guide-book, by Giuseppe Bragazzi,
Foligno, 1864.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
321
power. I shall have occasion again to notice this memor-
able church, which contains so many art-works of different
degrees of merit, and ranging apparently over several
centuries.
The newly formed collection of pictures from suppressed
convents in the "Betlemme," a desecrated church of
Foligno, should be visited in order to acquaint oneself with
the phases of the Umbrian School here represented. Some
display the infancy, others the matured life of this local
Art. To the earlier period belong the colossal figures of
the four Evangelists, each with his mystic emblem, and
seated before a clumsy table; a colossal Madonna of severe
and forbidding aspect, and a picture (not without solemnity)
of the Holy Trinity, the Father and Son with the same
traditional types, the Second Person hanging to the cross,
which the First Person supports, while the Dove issues
from His bosom towards the head of the Crucified; two
adoring Seraphs and Saints standing beside the elliptic
nimbus which surrounds the Almighty Three.
Such con-
ception of the subject begins first to appear, and seems to
have become eminently popular, in the second half of the
XIV. century; and in later ages every encouragement was
given to this species of anthropomorphism, which degrades
the ideal and leads astray the imagination directed towards
the Infinite.*
By special privilege, and with a written order from the
"Priore dei Canonici" of the cathedral, I was enabled to
visit the interior of a once celebrated monastery of nuns
at Foligno, S. Anna, founded by the Beata Angelina,
* The feeling of the early Church was adverse to such representations,
and authoritative voices anticipatively condemned them. S. John
Damascene determines that the form of Deity should never be intro-
duced by Art save under the recognisable aspect of the Incarnate Son :
Dei, qui est incorporeus, invisibilis—imago nulla fieri potest.
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Countess di Marciano, a patrician lady of this city, in the
XIV. century; for the church of which Raffaele painted
the exquisite altar piece now in the Vatican, and known as
the Madonna di Foligno. Since the suppression, this
cloister has been inhabited by all the nuns in Foligno, still
allowed, by merciful exemption from the law, to remain in
the religious state they prefer; and two communities
under different rules, Augustinian and Franciscan, in all
about sixty persons, were inmates of these premises at the
time I visited them; the two sisterhoods meeting only in
choir and in the refectory, otherwise living apart, and ob-
serving their respective rules under different superiors.
We were received, (my companion being the gentleman
who had kindly obtained for me the requisite permission,)
by the Mother Superior of the Clarisse Nuns, a venerable
lady of mild and dignified manners, who, attended by
another elderly sister, accompanied us over every part of
the premises where any art-works are seen, and showed
anxiety to make our visit as satisfactory as possible. This
establishment is enriched by artists of the Umbrian School,
paintings by many of whom, and of the best period, adorn
the walls of oratories, corridors and refectory. The nuns
could not give positive information as to the authorship of
these paintings, some of which seemed attributable, if not
to the actual pencils at least to the immediate pupils of
Pinturicchio and Lo Spagna. Four large frescoes in the
refectory are vaguely attributed to Mezastris, but are not
characterized by all the refinement and power of that
master-though reminding of his manner. Evidently of a
period within the limits of my present subject, are some
frescoes in a dark vaulted chapel, or crypt, far below the
level of the other buildings, where the Beata Angelina
used to spend long hours in prayer and to pass nights
sleeping on the stone floor, in a recess, near a small altar.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
323
In this grave-like oratory we see paintings of some value,
only visible by taper light, and more impressive amidst
such mysterious gloom: a Madonna, perhaps an early
Byzantine work, disfigured by modern bedizenments; a
Crucifixion with the usual grouping round the Cross, and
angels collecting the sacred blood, which altar piece seems
worthy of some artist distinguished among those who were
immediate followers of Giotto; and another picture whose
subject the nuns could not explain, but which I conjectured
to be the Virgin in her childhood, nourished by Angels
whilst she dwelt under care of the High Priest in the
Temple. A young girl is kneeling before an altar; above
appears a hand, emerging from clouds to bless her, and an
Angel is descending towards her, with a vase and some
object, wrapt in a cloth, held in his hands.
We shall have to resume our wanderings in Umbria, and
shall find much more to observe in its old towns and
picturesque villages when the genius of the XV. century
becomes the object of our studies. Before quitting this
region for the present, we may notice other paintings of
the school, and some perhaps by the earliest followers of
Giotto, scattered over venerable churches in towns, or on
solitary spots, scarcely known to the tourist world. At
Trevi, we find in the Gothic church of S. Francesco,
a multitude of wall-paintings, Madonnas and Saints, some
of the rudest, others of superior character.
And in an
abandoned (though not desecrated) church, in the valley
below that mountainous town, S. Maria di Pietra Rossa, a
still more curiously overcrowded and unsystematic series of
frescoes, covering both the inner walls and those sheltered
by a portico on the outside; the Madonna and Child being
repeated in at least twenty instances; some of these quaint
pictures having inscriptions with dates in the XV. century,
others (to judge from style) being at least a century older;
Y 2
324
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY `AND
all so disposed without attempt at unity or coherence, as to
remind us of the impulsive, unthinking devotion which
heaps up its votive offerings in defiance of taste and regard-
less of effect. At Montefalco, far seen on its mountain
summit above the valley of Foligno-and a little town
most rich in the art of the XV. century-we have at
present to notice only the artistic contents of a single church,
S. Francesco, where (passing over its most precious pictures
by Bennozzo Gozzoli in the choir) we have to observe,
among a multitude of other wall-paintings, those which
display the character of the later Giottesque school, a
Crucifixion with SS. Francis and Clara, and four scenes
from the life of S. Anthony. At Spoleto are seen a few
indifferent paintings of this period in S. Dominico, and in
the now desecrated Madonna della Stella. Near the
strikingly picturesque little town of Spello we may visit the
ruinous and roofless church of the SS. Trinita, on whose walls
are several Madonnas, and two Crucifixions, which we may
hesitate to refer either to so early a date as the XIV., or
to any other within the XV. century. And similar doubts
may be felt as to the wall-paintings, intelligible though
much damaged, in the deserted church of S. Claudio, a
still beautiful building on the high road below that town.
At Terni, the church of S. Francesco, attached to a convent
formerly the seat of the Inquisition, but now a college for
the education and maintenance of about forty boys, contains
a Gothic chapel whose walls are covered with curious and
interesting frescoes, the Last Judgment, Hell, and Purga-
tory, conceived in a manner that announces the Dantesque
influence, and with date, but no name of artist, in the
inscription: Haec est capella heredu di Giovanni di Para-
disi di Interane (Interamna) f(ecit) A.D. MCCCL.
Critics assign these paintings to some otherwise unknown
imitator of Giotto. It is observable that, amidst the com-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
325
I
plicated grouping of the Judgment, S. Francis, not the
Blessed Virgin, is the most conspicuous of subordinate
figures. A tablet set into the wall near the entrance of
this chapel, informs us that through the fault and ignorance
of the frati this most noteworthy part of the mediæval
building had been long shut up and neglected, but that it.
was at last re-opened and restored under the government
of Victor Emannuel, in 1861. As I have observed, the
first efforts of the local school in Umbria bear little promise
of a future that proved so nobly inspired, and magnificently
productive. The few sculptures of about the same period
as the other art above noticed, are characterized by rather
more vigour and unartificial dignity. Besides the statues
and relievi on the front of the public palace at Perugia,
we have to notice a sculptured pulpit in the upper church of
the Franciscan sanctuary at Assisi-statuette-reliefs of
SS. Francis, Anthony of Padua, and Louis of Anjou, pro-
jecting from the orator's tribune; also at Citta di Castello
the bassi relievi round the lateral door of the cathedral:
Mercy and Humanity, dignified figures, holding the stems
of vine trees amidst whose interlacing branches are smaller
reliefs of scriptural and allegoric subjects. In the provinces
subject to the Papal tiara the conditions of Art were inferior
indeed compared with those manifest, in this same epoch,
at other Italian centres. And this phenomenon of
characteristic sterility, while it may be explained by the
disastrous circumstances in which those provinces were left
during the absence of the Pontific sovereigns, bears testi-
mony to the weakness, the incapacity, and backwardness of
that government.
NOTE TO PAGE 268.
Having been able to revisit Florence since writing the above, I can
now more fully describe the frescoes in the chapel of the Holy Sacrament at
326
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
•
S. Croce, brought to light through works initiated about two years ago,
and by the Franciscan friars themselves, six of whose once large
community are left in this convent. The paintings in question are by
Starnina and Agnolo Gaddi ; the leading subjects, from the lives of the
two SS. John, one of the visions of the Apocalypse being introduced in
the scenes from the Evangelist's history; also, various miracles of S.
Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, though more generally known as the Saint of
Bari, where his remains repose. On the flat pilasters are several
Franciscan Saints; on the vault, the four Doctors and Evangelists, all
entirely repainted. The high altar of this church has been renewed in
style accordant with the original architecture, and a rich Gothic altar-
piece placed above it, made up of different panel pictures, attributed in
part to Taddeo Gaddi, which had been dispersed and divided between
the S. Croce convent and the Uffizi gallery, till thus judiciously
appropriated.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
327
CHAPTER VI.
NORTHERN ITALY.-VENICE.
AMONG all Italian cities Venice is the one which makes
the deepest impression at a first glance. She seems built
in poetry, whilst others are the prose of construction. A
glow of the Romantic, a light and colouring all her own.
invest this unique metropolis, whose highways are the ever-
lasting sea. Though there are gay and brilliant centres,
the prevailing local aspect has a melancholy fascination,
which is both historic and picturesque. We know little
of this wondrous city, unless our experiences have extended
far beyond the S. Mark's piazza, the "Riva" and the Grand
Canal; unless we have made the voyage through the mazy
labyrinth of watery ways, where the silence is only broken
by the plash of oars, or the shrill cries of the gondolieri,
where the depth of shadow is but fitfully dispelled by sun-
light or moonbeam. In these obscure regions signs of decay
and faded magnificence meet the eye on all sides; vast
gloomy palaces, whose sculptured windows seem to have
been shuttered for years, and their thresholds to have been
only approached by the weltering wave since the aristo-
cratic owners passed away; abodes of poverty succeeding
to those of wealth; the tokens of a strange contrast between
the Past and Present are around us. In the architecture
here so singularly varied, we may trace the stages of tran-
sition from the noblest dignity of the Medieval to the most
tasteless pomp of the Renaissance; yet, notwithstanding
all these oppositions, there is a certain grave harmony in
the general effect. We are reminded by the Oriental
features so conspicuous, and with details exquisitely beau-
328
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
tiful, of the conquest of Constantinople by the thirteenth
century Crusaders, the "blind old Dandolo," and the Latin
Empire of the East. Amidst islands occupied only by
dwellings of the humbler sort, clustering round old churches.
with high square towers, we think of the primitive settle-
ments founded by those fugitives from Aquileja, Altinum,
and Padua, who here sought refuge from barbaric invaders in
the fifth century. Amidst contrasts of splendour and decay,
are found sea-girt solitudes where those who are weary of
the world, who would "seek a refuge from their hopes
betrayed," might abandon themselves to an almost eremite
isolation amidst the lagoons of Venice.
This city, the external and material, had scarcely begun
to assume its present aspects before the XV. century—
excepting indeed in one class of public buildings, the sacred
and ecclesiastical. In the latter, the beautiful though
often anomalous characteristics so strongly marked at the
present day, and which render the Mediæval churches of
Venice so interesting, were not earlier developed than
during the XV. and the previous century. Even the
S. Mark's basilica did not till within the latter period—
the century here considered-receive the varied incrusta-
tion of marbles and sculptures on its façade, or its crown-
ing decoration of pinnacles, canopies and statues along the
summit, or the gracefully sculptured borders round the
ogive arches surmounting the semi-circular archivolts of
the upper story—all which adjuncts are wanting in the
earliest authentic picture of this marvellous church, the
mosaic, namely, over the first of the five portals, on the left,
representing the arrival of the procession with S. Mark's
body, for the enshrining of those precious relics in the
rebuilt church of the XI. century.* None of the stately
*The date of this mosaic is uncertain, but the introduction of the
four bronze horses, in their actual place on the façade, shows that it
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
329
1
I
edifices around the piazza which expands into a scene of
pre-eminently picturesque magnificence before this cathe-
dral, existed prior to the latter years of the XV. century ;
nor was that great area paved till 1260, though already
the chosen scene for tourneys, pomps, and all most attrac-
tive spectacles. At the period here in question, Venice
contained about a hundred churches, ninety of which are
said to have been older than the renewed S. Mark's; but
among the palaces now noticeable for their Oriental,
Mediæval, or Renaissance architecture, only three had
origin in the XIV. century; five being of the XII. ; and
thirteen were built in the XV. century. * To that latter
period, and in no past (as seems well established by local
writers) must be ascribed, all that is most ancient, imposing
and characteristic in the Ducal Palace as it now stands.
The period of nascent activity in Art, which I have to
consider, was one of stern trials and disasters, but also
great successes, to the Adriatic Republic; Andrea Dandolo,
Doge at the opening of this half-century, the historian
cannot be anterior to 1205, when those famous bronzes were brought
from Constantinople. Trustworthy writers assume that it represents the
church as it appeared at the beginning of the XIV. century; and the
comparative correctness of drawing seems scarcely referrible to an
earlier time. We have another representation, alike authentic, and the
first which shows us S. Mark's almost as it now stands the picture by
Gentile Bellini, dated 1496, and now at the Accademia, of a procession
with the relic of the True Cross; the cathedral being there seen in its
present form, with the sole difference that only one of the mosaics now
on its front is introduced-that alluded to, which shows us the more
ancient simplicity of its architecture.
* Salvatico," Architettura e Scultura di Venezia."-That many other
residences as old as the XIV. century still stand, and in habitable condi-
tion, in Venice, is not to be questioned-among these, the house on the
Riva dei Schiavoni, anciently the Palazzo Molin, which was presented
by the Republic to Petrarch, 1363, and has never been modernized,
though the ground floor now serves for shops.
330
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of his country and the friend of Petrarch, ordered the first
compilation of Venetian laws, a Digest in eighty-four
chapters, which were translated into the local dialect soon
after the Latin edition had been completed. Almost
immediately after the inauspicious election of the next
Doge, Marino Faliero (or Marin Falier), the Venetian
fleet was destroyed (1354) by the Genoese; under the
dukedom of Giovanni Delfino, the Republic lost Dalmatia
and Croatia, ceded (1358) to King Louis of Hungary.
Whilst Andrea Contarini sat on the ducal throne (1367-81),
Hungary, Naples, Genoa, Verona, and Padua were leagued
against Venice. A signal victory over the Genoese at sea
was won by Vittore Pisani, near Porto d'Anzio, 1378; but
in the next year reverses came; the fleet under the same
heroic leader was almost totally destroyed near Pola;
Venice was blockaded by sea, and her states were invaded
by land. Chioggia, the key to the lagoons, was besieged,
taken and garrisoned by the Genoese, 1379. The very
existence of the Republic and her sea-girt capital was
imperilled; and some suggested a transfer of the seat of
government to Candia. But heroic efforts were made
great sacrifices from citizens of every class were volun-
teered. Thrilling words, addressed to the people within
the walls of S. Mark's, were answered by the declaration
of the unanimous resolve to resist to the last and at what-
ever disadvantage. There is no episode in Italian History
more striking or inspiring than this crisis to Venetian
destinies, and the victorious courage with which it was
sustained. The result showed that the cause of a nationality
need never be despaired of when virtue and magnanimity
abound in the breasts of those who defend their hearths
and altars.* The Genoese were expelled from Chioggia,
* No more thrilling description of a great political crisis can be
found, I believe, in any modern historian, than that by Romanin, (Storia
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
331
but the Republic had to accept (1380) disadvantageous
conditions of peace. Venice, however, had vitality suffi-
cient to recover her high position. Under the dukedom of
Antonio Venier (1382-1400) she acquired, or rather re-
covered, Corfu, and obtained possession of Durazzo, Argos,
Scutari, Napoli in Roumania; and during the first year of
the opening century, 1400, Verona, Vicenza, Rovigo,
Belluno, Feltre, and her long formidable opponent, Padua,
wrested from the extinct dynasty of the Da Carrara princes,
became subject to Venice. I do not undertake to write a
history of this Republic; but may observe the coincidence
of dates between these efforts of a progressive political life
and the growth of monumental art, the contributions to the
magnificence of a great city, and to the majestic beauty
of her temples-the developments of genius. S. Mark's
attained its present character, and may be supposed to have
presented its memorable façade, as it now rises in Oriental
pomp before us, by the year 1344. The renewal of the
Ducal Palace was first proposed by the Senate in 1301, and
commenced 1309; the hall of the Major Council being
finished conformably to decree passed in 1340. The two
churches ranking next to S. Mark's in grandeur and historic
importance, were both progressing in this century, both
having been founded in the century previous.
SS.
Giovanni a Paolo, commenced by the Dominicans pro-
bably before the year 1246, though not consecrated till
1430, was more rapidly carried forward to architectural
completeness after the Major Council had, in 1390, assigned
the subsidy of 10,000 ducats out of a fund bequeathed for
documentata di Venezia) of the scenes that took place at Venice after
the fall of Chioggia, the liberation of the unjustly imprisoned Vittore
Pisano, the aggregate efforts and high-hearted enthusiasm by which
the rulers and citizens proved themselves equal to the demands of an
overwhelming danger, an extreme emergency.—See I. VIII., c. v. of
that Venetian writer's History.
332
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
charitable purposes, to these works. S. Maria Gloriosa, or
the "Frari” church, founded 1250 by the Friars Minor
of S. Francis, who had become settled in Venice, at a small
abbey conceded to them by the Benedictines, twenty-three
years previously, was not consecrated till 1492; but the
dates on its monuments allow us to regard it as a building
of the XIV. as well as the succeeding century.
The spirit with which Venice accepted the teaching and
submitted to the authority of Rome, forms one of the most
interesting subjects for investigation in her annals. She
solved in practice the problem of a well-balanced accord
between medieval Catholicism and a haughtily maintained
political independence. She cherished orthodoxy, and
embodied the religious sentiment in forms so superb that
we may suppose the Catholic worship and fêtes to have
been, during these ages, more imposing at Venice than any-
where on this side of the Alps. She defied Papal anathemas,
yet recognised and stipendiaried the Inquisitors against
Heresy. In an estimate for ordinary expenses of Govern-
ment, at this time, we find the amount of 6600 lire per
month, drawn from the public revenues; and among the
charges to which this was applied, a distribution of alms at
Christmas and Easter, and a tribute to the Patriarch of
Aquileja; also a subvention stipulated for the Inquisitors.
In the treaty of peace after the war of 1379, the Republic
pledges herself to co-operate with the Genoese at Con-
stantinople for reconciling the Emperor Calojanni with his
rebellious son Andronicus, and if the Greek autocrat should
persist in refusing adhesion to the Catholic Church, to unite
in the effort of compelling him to accept the sole orthodox
system and authority-" quod ipsorum viribus et potentiâ
mediante, ad fidem Catholicam Deo propitio convertatur."
The clergy were always honoured and respectfully treated
at Venice, but ever kept under the strictest vigilance, and
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
333
i
amenable to the common law in all that concerned things
temporal.* Though originally admitted to all employments,
and frequently entrusted with important embassies, they
were, in the course of time, excluded from every office under
Government, and from all counsels in which there was
reason to dread the consequences of their influence at home
or relations abroad. Yet on the other hand was manifested
the desire to unite the sanctities of worship with the
triumphs of patriotism and the memories of political suc-
cess on every possible occasion. Two annual festivities
were appointed in this century for commemorating the
rescue of the State from dangers through treason. On S.
Vitus' day, 15th June, the Doge and magistrates attended
solemn rites at the church of that Saint in thanksgiving
for the deliverance of the body politic from a conspiracy
which broke out with armed violence in 1310—that, namely,
headed by Bajamonte Tiepolo and Marco Querini, against
the government of the Doge Gradenigo, and which led to
the precautionary institution of a powerful body in the
State, the Council of Ten, originally appointed for only
two months, but, after being prorogued from one bi-mistral
period to another, constituted first for five, next for ten
years, and finally rendered permanent, though each member
Significant was the absence of ecclesiastical co-operation at the
coronation of the Doge. At the summit of the grand staircase in the
court of the palace, the Ducal cap was placed on his head by the Junior
Counsellor with the formula, Accipe Coronam ducalem Ducatus Vene-
tiarum. Symbolism is, in this instance, an index to the growth of
power and prosperity. The original cap bestowed as the badge of the
Venetian sovereignty was of red velvet, and in form somewhat like the
Papal tiara. What its shape eventually became we know from Titian's
portraits; and we are told it was in 1249 that a golden circlet was first
added to it; that in 1361 the Doge Lorenzi Celsi adorned its front with
a golden and jewelled cross; and in 1473 a head-piece entirely of gold
was first assumed by the Doge Niccolo Marcello.
334
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
had to retire after two years. On S. Isidore's day, 16th
April, the Doge and "Signoria" attended High Mass and a
procession at S. Mark's in commemoration of the frustrat-
ing of that strangest conspiracy in which the chief criminal
was he who wore the ducal crown, Marino Faliero. The fête
of the "Maries," or the "Brides of Venice," held on the 2nd
February at S. Maria Formosa, was among all the most
costly; and certain contrade (civic wards) were every year
chosen by lot to defray its expenses. In 1361 the two con-
trade to which the lot had fallen were required to contri-
bute respectively 190,010 and 103,060 lire for these costs
of festivity.* One would not suppose that the excesses of
superstition could have found a favourable atmosphere
here; yet one annual celebration had origin in a legend,
immortalized by the pencil, and of character so wildly
fantastic as to convince us that Venice was in no way
exempt from the leaven of credulity or mediæval mysticism.
On the 15th February, 1340, this city was visited by a
tremendous inundation of the sea, whose waters rose higher
by three cubits than had ever been known before. In the
* The popular festivities on this occasion, which lasted eight days,
degenerated into such a species of saturnalia that, soon after the great
war above mentioned, they were suppressed (1379); but the religious
observances long remained. The Doge failed not to visit the appointed
church on the 2nd February, and received from the parish, through the
hands of its rector, two hats of gilt straw, two flasks of Malvasia wine,
and two oranges. It was the valour of the artisans of that district which
mainly conduced to the rescue of the young brides carried away by
pirates, A.D. 994. The gallant volunteers asked of the Doge, as sole recom-
pense, that he should annually visit their church on that day.
"What
if it should rain ?" asked Pietro Candiano, who then wore the ducal
cap. "We will give you hats to cover your head,” was the answer.
"What if we should be thirsty?" "We will give you something to
drink," was the promise of the honest artisans, officially fulfilled in those
prescribed offerings on the 2nd of every February.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
335
dark stormy night a poor fisherman, who was seeking refuge
for himself and his boat near the S. Mark piazzetta, was
accosted by a dignified stranger, who promised good fare
for being rowed to the opposite island, S. Giorgio Maggiore,
where now stands the great Benedictine church so named.
The fisherman reluctantly complied. Having landed his
passenger on that island, another stranger there appeared,
and desired to be rowed to S. Nicolo, on the Lido, a much
longer voyage across the lagoon eastward; arrived there,
they found another stranger, of venerable aspect, who
desired to be rowed back to the city, and to the landing-
place nearest S. Mark's. The fisherman complied, being
impressed with something more than common in the appear-
ance and manner of each of these three strangers. When
the third had landed near S. Mark's, he gave to the poor
man a gold ring, desiring him to present this to the Doge,
and tell him that the Patron Saints of Venice-S. Mark, S.
Nicholas, and S. George-had interposed to save the city
from destruction, and had submerged a ship manned by
Demons, which was sailing, tempest-tossed, across the
Adriatic, bringing ruin to Venice. The fisherman of course
told his story, and presented the ring, which was found to
be the identical one recently stolen from the treasury in S.
Mark's basilica. For a long time an annual solemnity was
held, commemorative of this vision, or divine interposition,
which met with general and unquestioning belief.* As
* Paris Bordone's picture of the Doge, amidst the Senate and magis-
trates, receiving the ring from the fisherman (now in the Accademia), is
beyond all praise. Giorgione's picture (in the same gallery) of the
voyage of the three Saints represents them all in the fisherman's bark
together, and in sight of the Demon galley which approaches, with all
sails set, amidst storm and darkness; this being apparently founded
on a version of the story somewhat different from the above. San-
sovino, Venezia descritta, narrates this legend briefly, but with bonû
336
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
undoubting a belief, still attested by the legend in the book
held by the symbolic lion,-Pax tibi Marce, Evangelista
meus,- -seems to have been accorded to the legend of the
appearance of the living S. Mark, and his encounter
with an angel, who saluted him in those words, on the island
where now stands the church of S. Francesco della Vigna,
and where the Apostle is said to have landed, taking refuge
from tempest, on his voyage returning from Aquileja.
Worthier fruits of Christian civilization were borne by
Venice, even earlier than the age here referred to. By this
time the city possessed hospitals and asylums for orphans.
and destitute children, for female paupers and penitents,
for foundlings, and invalid sailors. No where were charitable
institutions better provided for at this period; no where
were the evils of professional mendicancy more efficiently
checked; the really indigent being sent out of the city to
establishments on distant islands, where food and shelter at
least could be secured. Most humanely was it provided
that a special magistracy should be charged with the
protection of children of both sexes employed in factories.
Besides other protection, by armed force, of public safety in
canals and streets, there was a local police, unique, I
believe, and without parallel in any other capital of
mediæval Europe, and the appointment of which affords.
signal proof of regard for justice; this body being charged
to act as guides to strangers and pilgrims, and to direct
them to the places where lodging might be had, or neces-
saries purchased, at reasonable price. The artisan classes.
were enrolled here, as at Florence and elsewhere, in “Arti;”
but the admission of strangers into those sodalities was
fide acceptance of its historic correctness: "At this time (he says)
occurred the famous miracle of S. Mark, S. George, and S. Nicholas,
who saved the city from a terrific and horrid disaster threatening its
ruin by inundation."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
337
facilitated, and the advantages offered induced many to
seek the privilege. Even slaves could be admitted into
these guilds, for that unhappy class were treated better at
Venice, as local historians show, than in most other States
where the iniquitous traffic in human beings was tolerated.
On the whole, we may fairly admit the evidence abun-
dantly adduced by native writers, in support of the
assertion that civilization was more advanced, and justice
more impartially administered, the general welfare more
efficiently guaranteed by wise laws, and beneficent institu-
tions at Venice than in most other European, than in any
other Italian capitals, during the Middle Ages.
Amidst such circumstances and from such antecedents
we might expect a munificent encouragement of Art, and
the desire to see its splendours developed, especially when
applicable to sacred and public, or political, purposes. Nor
shall we find ourselves mistaken in anticipating as much
at Venice. At this early period, however, the artistic
genius was but at the dawn of its day in the ocean city.
In painting appears scarcely any indication of the qualities
for which the local school became eventually distinguished.
The origin of Venetian art is referred to Byzantine sources;
and the first models, for the painter at least, were supplied
in the mosaics of the eleventh century, at S. Mark's, mostly
by Greek artists invited by the Doge Selvo, about 1070,
to adorn that temple of the Patron Saint. Later introduced
Greek art-works, paintings, statues, reliefs, imported from
Constantinople after the conquest in 1204, continued to
maintain the traditions and taste naturally determined by
such examples in a city not yet possessing a school of her
own. The prevailing Oriental influence was first checked,
or counteracted, by Gentile da Fabriano in the earlicr
years of the XV. century; a pupil of that gifted master,
Jacopo Bellini, transmitting to his sons, Gentile (1421-1501)
Z
338
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
and Giovanni (1426-1516), the knowledge which availed
them in the pursuit of their father's art, and in carrying it
to such excellence as shed a glory round their family
name.
There is not much to interest deeply in the pictorial
art produced here before the close of this century; and as
my object is to dwell rather on ideas and tendencies than
on the particular qualities of masters or schools, I need but
cursorily notice the extant paintings of this comparatively
early period. The ablest Venetian painter of this time
was Semitecolo, who lived till 1400; and whose earliest
extant work is a Coronation of the Virgin (date 1351) at
the Accademia; his latest, and perhaps best, an altar-piece
(1369), now in the library of the chapter-house of the
Canons at Padua. A Gothic ancona, in many compart-
ments, at the Accademia, has the inscription under the
central panel, Stefan Plebanus Sanctæ Agnetis, with the
date 1380, the subject here represented being like the
above-named—the Saviour placing the crown on Mary's
head. In the other compartments are scenes from the life
of Christ, and four from that of S. Francis, all by Semite-
colo. That artist has treated some of these subjects with
more historic correctness than later and superior masters
did after him. In the Baptism scene he represents the
Saviour standing up to His breast in the river, whilst S.
John pours water over His head. In the Last Supper the
beloved Disciple is not asleep, though leaning on the bosom
of the Divine Master. In the Resurrection the soldiers
are, with a usual error, represented as sleeping beside the
tomb. Other pictures in the same gallery, with the names
of Lorenzo Veneziano, Francesco Bissolo, Jacopo da
Valesa, dated within the XIV. century, have little to
claim attention. In the Civic Museum at the Correr
Palace is another collection, comprising pictures of the
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
339
least developed as well as of the highest phase. What
pertains to the earlier Venetian school, among these, seems
only valuable in a relative way and in historic association.
One of the earliest paintings at Venice with ascertainable
date is in the sacristy of the gorgeous modern church, S.
Maria della Salute, and represents the Doge Francesco
Dandolo (1328-39), with his consort, presented to the
Virgin and Child by their Patron Saints. At the rear of
the high altar of S. Mark's hangs a panel picture, with
two orders of distinct subjects,-Christ standing in the
tomb, the Virgin, SS. Peter, Mark, Luke, Nicholas, Theo-
dore; and below, the history of the transfer of S. Mark's
body from Alexandria to Venice, inscribed with the names
of "Magister Paulus" and his sons Luca and Giovanni,
also the date 1345; but as this picture has been entirely
repainted, the composition alone, in its actual state,
belongs to the medieval period. A chapel at S. Mark's
was founded, 1350, by the Doge Andrea Dandolo, and
completed 1955, under his successor Giovanni Gradenigo,
for enshrining the body of S. Isidore, brought from Scio to
Venice in 1125. The mosaics, which cover the vault and
two lunettes underneath it, at the opposite ends of this
chapel, announce the first stage of emancipation from
ancient trammels, and a return to classical traditions, with
a certain degree of truthfulness. They represent the mar-
tyrdom of the Saint through various tortures till he is
finally beheaded; the subduing by the sign of the Cross of a
Demon, a black winged monster, who stands discomfited
before the Saint; the Baptism of a Princess; the arrival of
the Doge Domenico Michiel at Scio; the discovery of the
body of the Saint, and its removal from a stately tomb on
that island; the shipment and transport of those relics to
Venice; on the two lunettes, the Saviour between Saints,
the Apostle Mark, Isidore, and others. The shrine of S.
z 2
340
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Isidore, over the altar of this chapel, is a noticeable work
of its period, (about 1350), not approaching the high merits
of contemporary Tuscan sculpture, but impressive and well
conceived: the effigy of the Saint, in secular costume, is
laid on a sarcophagus, above which stands an Angel with.
a censer, and on the front are statuette-relievi of SS. Mark,
Isidore, and John the Baptist; also two small historic
relievi of the Saint's martyrdom-he is dragged at the tail of
a horse, on which rides an executioner, and decapitated,-the
subjects of compositions among the mosaics; the shrine
being surmounted by a deeply recessed arch, adorned with
reliefs of foliate ornato, and animals combating, in mediæval
style; two other statuettes of Virtues are placed external
to this arched recess. The dim light, here admitted, adds
solemnity to this saintly shrine. Some of the mosaics in
the Baptistery of S. Mark's, though not all, nor indeed the
plurality among those on its vaulted roof, are of about the
same date, having been ordered by the same Doge Dandolo,
who spent large sums on this chapel, in which he desired to
be interred. In their aggregate, the mosaics of this cathe-
dral display the whole history of that art, applied to reli-
gious purposes, from the XI. to the XVIII. century; and
the contrasts here before us between the mystical and
conventional, the ascetic and the boldly imaginative treat-
ment, are most curious.
Continuing to consider the Sculpture of this period, we
find that Art more developed and attended with more
promise than is the case with contemporary painting at
Venice. The finest statuary of date within this epoch is
at S. Mark's. On the architrave of a marble screen, or
rood-loft, dividing the tribune from the nave, and at each
side of a metallic Crucifix are seven statues, the Apostles,
to whose company of twelve S. Paul adds the thirteenth,
with the Virgin Mother; the names of the artists, Pietro
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
341
Paolo and Jacobello, surnamed Dalle Masegne, being
inscribed with the date 1394.* Dignity and intellectual
character distinguish these figures; the heads have well-
marked individuality; that of S. Paul is finely philoso-
phical; the Madonna, unlike conventional conceptions of
this subject, is self-possessed, self-reliant, though sorrow-
ing; the S. John, opposite to her on the other side of the
cross, overcome by grief. The figure of the Crucified, and
the Evangelic emblems at the extremities of the metal
cross, are of silver; the artist's name, with the date 1394,
being also preserved.† Little is known of the Masegne
brothers, except the fact that they were pupils of Agostino
and Agnolo da Siena, and that Jacobello had a son named
Paolo, who followed the calling and imitated the style of his
father at Venice. Similarly placed statues on the archi-
traves of two other marble screens before chapels, lateral
to the tribune of S. Mark's, may be attributed to the same
brothers, for they are alike distinguished by dignified forms
and expression. At the centre of each architrave is a
Madonna and Child, and beside this group are, on the
screen before the chapel of S. Clement, SS. Christina,
Clara, Catherine of Alexandria, and Agnes; on that before
the chapel of S. Peter, SS. Mary Magdalene, Cecilia,
Helena, and Margaret; an inscription below the latter
sculptures containing the name of the Doge, Antonio
Venier, and the date 1397. Other sculptures in this cathe-
dral show the Pisan influence, as well as a felicitous power
to appropriate the refinement and feeling which distinguish
that School. In a chapel off the left aisle we see a sculp-
tured altar-piece, pre-eminently beautiful: the Virgin and
* MCCCXCIII. hoc opus erectum fuit tempore excelsi Domini
Antonii Venerii Dei gratiâ Ducis Venetiarum.-Jacobellus et Petrus
Paulus Fratres de Venetis fecerunt hoc opus.
† Jacobus Magistri Marci Benato de Venetiis fecit.
342
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
.
!
Child, each wearing a gilt crown, and two Apostles, under
acute-arched canopies with florid ornato; the serene love-
liness and calm dignity of the Mother, as also her action of
clasping the Infant to her bosom, yet at the same time
allowing His figure to be fully seen,-she being conscious
of the devotional regards directed towards Him-alike
remind us of the great Tuscan masters. The chapel was
founded in 1430; but some critics conclude (with Cicog-
nara) that these sculptures are of earlier date, and prior to
the opening of that century. We may infer that the Madonna
statue here before us became a favourite type at Venice,
for we see in this city two almost exact copies of it in sculp-
tures not probably of a much later origin-one against
the wall of the south transept at S. Mark's, the other on
the monument of the Doge Antonio Venier (ob. 1400) at
SS. Giovanni e Paolo. As was natural, under such political
institutions, and with such public spirit as prevailed here,
monumental sculpture was first to obtain imposing promi-
nence at Venice. The desire to enhance the honours of the
illustrious dead and to add to the splendour of the temple
by the beauty or pomp of their sculptured records, proved
eventually, as is but too apparent, detrimental to the higher
and purer qualities, and almost eliminated the spiritual
element from this class of Art-works at Venice. Becoming
inore and more political, less and less religious, these monu-
ments at last sink into the depths of bad taste, or (as we
might also say) rise to the height of egotistic vanity and
florid ostentation. A severer feeling and style prevailed in
the XIV. century; and among examples of such higher
qualities, I may mention the monument of the Doge Andrea
Dandolo, above referred to, in the S. Mark's Baptistery:
the conception superior to the execution; angels drawing
aside curtains to display the effigy laid on a funeral couch
(the accessory first introduced by the Tuscan school);
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
343
statuettes of saints, small relievi on the sarcophagus-front,*
and a horizontal canopy above. A good example of the
utmost simplicity of treatment is the horizontal tomb (now
set upright) at S. Giorgio Maggiore, of a bishop of Castello,
the ancient title of the Venetian See, who died 1381, and
is here represented in monastic costume, with gaze fixed on
a book, the mitre and crozier beside him as symbols. Other
monuments of the earlier and archaic class, some with rude
reliefs of sacred subjects, others with the effigy merely
incised, are in the museum (now but a remnant of its former
contents) in the Patriarchal Seminary.
The two great churches built for Dominicans and Fran-
ciscans, SS. Giovanni e Paolo and S. Maria Gloriosa, or the
Frari, are noble examples of the Mediæval style, here
apprehended and carried out with a harmony not often
attained in Italian architecture. An expansive and aerial
majesty distinguish both buildings; and though the monu-
ments in them are somewhat over-crowded, whilst presenting
the utmost possible contrasts of style, there is much to fasci-
nate and impress in such a concentration of historic memo-
ries here pervading the sacred precincts. It seems the
sublime accord of the spirit of Patriotism with the spirit of
Piety; and we tread these majestic aisles with renewed
reverence for the vocation and nobly accomplished destiny of
the Adriatic Queen, so potent in medieval Europe. SS.
Giovanni e Paolo, especially, is the Westminster Abbey and
Santa Croce of Venice, containing forty-six monuments to
the illustrious, or at least conspicuous, of ages passed.
Among such works admirable for the higher artistic cha-
racter, I may mention the monument, near the high altar, to
the Doge Michiel Morosini, who died of the plague, 1382,
• Reliefs of S. John in the cauldron of boiling oil, and the crucifixion of
S. Andrew. The epitaph written by Petrarch has not been engraved on
this tomb.
344
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
}
2
but a few months after his election: a Gothic canopy, with
a statuette of the Archangel Michael at the apex, and a
picture of the Crucifixion on the fondo beneath, overshadows
the funeral couch, on which lies the effigy with finely
marked countenance seen in distinct profile; statuettes of
Saints and Virtues filling three orders of niches on the
facettes of pilasters at each side, and two other Saints
keeping watch, as it were, beside the dead. Opposite, in
the same tribune, stands the contrasted, but also impressive
monument of the Doge Marco Cornaro (ob. 1368), with the
effigy on an inclining plane so as to be brought better into
view; no canopy, but statues of the Virgin and Child with
four Apostles in acute-arched niches, at higher level, forming
another order in the composition. Over a door in a
transept is the high placed monument of the Doge Antonio
Veniero (ob. 1400), the effigy, reclining on the tomb,
scarcely visible; though we distinctly see the accessorial
sculptures, statuettes of Saints on the sarcophagus front, the
Virgin and Child with two Apostles above the image of the
dead. Near this stands the monument to the wife and
daughter of the same Doge, without any effigy, but a relief
of the Virgin and Child and two Apostles under a richly
moulded acute-arched canopy which surmounts the modest
tomb-its character different, and with more of the early
mediæval feeling than the memorial of the husband and
father. That ducal monument, is, as its style announces,
a work of the school founded by the Masegne brothers.
All the above-noticed are examples of the higher and
religious conception in monumental art; of an ideal so
carried out as to remind us less of the state or station
than of the virtues of the deceased, less of the mortal than
the immortal life.
Our studies of the Art of this period at Venice would be
incomplete indeed if failing to comprise any notice of two
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
345
most interesting and original series of compositions: the
sculptured archivolts, at least the two outer ones, over the
chief portal of S. Mark's, and the capitals of the ground
floor arcade along two sides of the Ducal Palace. The
arguments and evidence adduced by recent writers convince
me that both those series must be referred to the XV.
century, and are, as those writers infer, by the same artist,
or from designs by the same hand. It seems clearly
established that the façade of that basilica was finished, in
its present richly ornate and oriental character, during the
first half of the XIV. century, to which period belong,
apparently, the fantastic and almost grotesque reliefs-
groups of little men, animals and birds, combating amidst
foliate ornato, along the inner archivolt immediately above
the chief entrance. But the relievi on the two outer and
ampler arches are far superior both as to conception and
finish; their subjects, the Saviour blessing, half-figures
of Prophets amidst luxuriant foliage, and the Divine Lamb
surrounded by thirteen illustrations of artisan labours, with
one other figure of the mystical class.* Selvatico, one of the
most learned writers on Venetian art and monuments, con-
cludes (I believe justly) that these very original sculptures
must be given to the same hand as the storied capitals of the
palace. The latter have long been attributed, and are still so
in popular report, to Filippo Calendario, an accomplice in
the Faliero conspiracy, who, with others found guilty, was
* The last, the lowest on the left hand, represents a man in long vest-
ments, seated, leaning on crutches, and with a comical look of mortification
putting one finger into his mouth. The satirical is, no doubt, intended in
this curious subject. It would be pleasant to admit the notion (perhaps
too far-fetched) of the historian Zanotto (Storia della Repubblica di
Venezia) respecting a purpose to imply the reprobation of, and contempt
for, the vain science of Astrology, proscribed by the sage magistrates
who directed the artist's inventiveness in this instance !
346
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
hanged from a window of this palace the night before that
treasonable plot was to have been carried to effect. The
ancient residence for the head of the Venetian State was
built by the Doge, Agnello Participazio, about A.D. 900.
It was injured, but not (as often said) totally destroyed by
the fire kindled in the revolt against the hated Doge, Can-
diano IV, who lost his life amidst the fierce onset, Aa.d. 976;
and the original church of S. Mark was at the same time,
if not destroyed, reduced to ruin. Pietro Orseolo II, elected
Doge in 991, did much to repair the Ducal palace, and the
Emperor Otho III, a guest here towards the end of that
century, is recorded to have praised the beauty or splendour
of the edifice. As I have stated, a more systematic reno-
vation was proposed in 1301 and commenced in 1309; the
directing architect being Pietro Baseggio, who died before
the year 1354, and entrusted the execution of his plans to
his successor in the same post, Filippo Calendario, con-
nected with him by marriage. For a time all the works
were directed by the latter; and Cicognara attributes to him
those memorable sculptures on the capitals which announce
a new tendency and a newly-opened field for this art.
They illustrate, with singular ingenuity and fantasy, the
themes of Science, the schools of Philosophy, the labours
and ordinary life of man, religious ideas and political prin-
ciples. I believe that Calendario's claims to the credit
of originating them must be absolutely set aside. Ten
years after his tragic death, the Doge, Marco Cornaro,
ordered the interior of this building to be adorned with
portraits of all who had filled the Ducal throne, and with
illustrations of two lives historically interwoven together, as
is well known, those of Alexander III. and the Emperor
Frederick I.
It is assumed that the Ducal Palace of the XIV. century
no longer exists; that no part of the actual building dates
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
347
earlier than 1424. In that year it was ordered by deli-
beration of the Senate that the ancient façades of this
residence, the yet extant palace of the tenth century,
should, seeing their then dilapidated condition, be taken
down and rebuilt. During the long reign of the unhappy
Francesco Foscari (1423-'57), the works of the new palace
continued; the project having been first made by the pre-
decessor of that Doge, Tommaso Mocenigo, who braved the
law rigorously prohibiting, under penalty of a fine of 1000
ducats, the mere proposal for such an undertaking. Mo-
cenigo counselled the desirable works, paid the fine, and
on the 27th September, 1422, was passed the decree for the
rebuilding of the palace. It is possible that parts of the
interior of the older edifice may have been preserved; but
such must have perished, the whole structure, except the
outer walls, having been destroyed by conflagrations.*
Eventually this historic palace was reduced to its present
form and plan, with respect at least to the renewed interior,
on the suggestion and from the designs of Antonio da
Ponte, almost the only one of a board of fifteen architects,
constituted for the emergency, who counselled the preser-
vation of all that remained, without change of a single detail
in this nobly characteristic building. The sculptures on
the afore-mentioned capitals are now attributed by the more
learned critics to Bartolomeo and Pantaleone Bon; and as
to Filippo Calendario, it is agreed that though his appoint-
ment as director of the works at this palace after the death
of Baseggio pre-supposes high repute in his capacity of
* Sansovino tells us that, in 1477," a great part of the Ducal Palace
was consumed in one night." In 1574 three of the halls of state were
destroyed by fire, as was that of the Grand Council, with that "dello
Scrutinio," in which were designated the forty-one electors of the Doge
in 1577.
1
348
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
architect,* no extant performance either in that art or in
sculpture can be attributed to him.
Other sculptures of the XIV. century, scattered over
Venice, may assist us in forming an estimate of the earlier
art at this centre, and bringing before the mind's eye the
picture, somewhat rugged and sombre compared with
present realities, of this city at the period in question. We
have to remember that the Venice of that time had no
Rialto (as it now stands), or Bridge of Sighs; and that the
Ducal Palace in which Marino Faliero was beheaded eight
months after he had been elected Doge, no longer exists.
The chronology of public works shows us that the progress
in splendour and embellishment of every description was
wonderfully rapid in this "glorious City of the Sea," and
that the XV. century was the golden age as well of her
artistic beauty as her political power.
Among monuments of earlier date, besides those above
mentioned, are two in the Frari church distinguished by
the severe simplicity so far departed from in later ages;
one, that of a German Knight, named Arnold (ob. 1300),
presenting the earliest example here seen of the recumbent
effigy on the tomb. Next in date is another similarly
treated, in the same chapel of that church, to Duccio degli
Alberti (ob. 1336), Florentine Ambassador to this Republic,
whose effigy in armour lies under a Gothic canopy sculp-
tured with the symbolism of the Holy Lamb and the Lily
of the Tuscan State. A Madonna statue, on a pinnacle of
the façade of the Frari church, is ascribed by Cicognara to
Niccolo Pisano; but by later critics to the Masegne brothers.
Less intrinsically valuable, but curious, is a relief of the
Virgin and Child with angels, an early example of affected
<<
* An old Venetian chronicler describes him as an architect who was
a man most astute, and who was much in favour with the Signoria—
molto ben voggiudo (voluto) dalla Signoria."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
349
mannerism, and originally painted all over in brightest
tints, the hair being gilt, in the recently restored church of
S. Maria dell' Orto. This is the work of the sculptor
Giovanni de Sanctis, whose monument, a horizontal tomb-
stone with an effigy in the lowest relief, (ob. 1390), is in the
sacristy of the same church.*
Perhaps there is no parallel instance of important and
really beneficial results secured through possession of a
revered relic to such a degree as Venetian annals attest.
The shrine where the body of S. Mark was laid in the year
831, became to national feeling as it were the Palladium and
Oracle of the Republic, which so bravely strove for and
gallantly maintained her high position. The watchword
"Viva San Marco !" was not one of fanaticism, nor sub-
servient to superstitious purposes; it was the war-cry of the
patriot and the stimulus to heroic effort. Such records of
the popular devotion towards the Saint as here meet the
eye, especially in the countless texts inscribed on the gilt
walls and domes of his basilica, seem to indicate little less
than the attribution of Divine honours to him; but it is a
* Scarcely above the barbaric are the relievi near the entrance to
the Belle Arti Academy (formerly the convent of La Carita): the Virgin
enthroned, with the Child, who is receiving homage from kneeling
devotees (dated 1345); also S. Leonardo and S. Christopher, 1377. On
the now solitary island between Murano and Torcello, called Mazzorbo,
which once had many cloisters and five parish churches, stands a single
dilapidated church over the entrance to which is a relief, very archaic,
and far from beautiful, of the espousals of S. Catherine, the earliest ex-
ample of that mystic subject in Art that I have seen, this being dated, in
a Gothic inscription, 1368; the Christ, seated on a throne and holding
a book with the words "Ego sum lux mundi" on the open page, places
a ring on the hand of S. Catherine, who, crowned and in rich array,
kneels before Him, together with two other tiny figures, one of whom
holds a crozier; two little angels floating above.
Two episcopal
monuments in the grand old cathedral of Torcello are noticeable; the
effigy on one in low relief, that on the other, merely incised.
350
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
distinction of medieval Catholicism that even the misappre-
hension of its doctrines, and the errors of enthusiastic zeal
in the interpreting of its principles, proved sometimes pro-
ductive rather of good than evil.*
PADUA.
At Padua, as at Asisi, a great sanctuary containing the
shrine of a pre-eminently popular Saint, formed an attrac-
tion to genius as well as piety, and became a focus of wealth
unappreciable. The period during which medieval Art
produced its noblest works here, coincides with that of the
dominion of the Da Carrara family, who, though their
reigns were troubled, and in some instances their reputation
stained by darkest crimes, did much to promote intellectual
interests.
In 1318 the Republican government was suppressed at
this city, when Giacomo da Carrara, after being led from
the Senate-house and presented to the people by his
partisans, was accepted with acclamations as lord of Padua
* The history of the transport of the body of S. Mark from Alexandria
to Venice is narrated in the Chronicle by Andrea Dandolo with all due
acceptance of the miraculous; and that writer mentions the appearance
of the Angel to the living Apostle whilst he was sailing across the
lagoons on his way from Aquileja, where he had founded a church and
bishopric, back to Rome; the Angel pointing out to him the destined
site of Venice, prophesying the brilliant future of that city, and also the
fact that the Apostle should have his last resting place here in a
supremely honoured shrine. Over the ancient mosaic of the arrival of
the sacred body at the cathedral (above alluded to), on that church's
front, is an inscription thus given by Selvatico:
Collocat hunc dignis plebs laudibus, et colit hymnis,
Ut Veneto servet, terraque marique gubernet.
But which, as it now stands, has the second line unintelligibly altered
thus:
Ut Venetos semper sepit e(t)ab hoste suos.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
351
and its state. His successor Marsilio, beset by domestic
treason, his power and person being threatened by his own
uncle, handed over this state to Can Grande della Scala,
lord of Verona. After the death of that more powerful
Prince (1328), Padua was besieged by the Venetians and
Florentines in league against the Scaligeri; and when
Marsilio, instead of resisting, voluntarily admitted the be-
sieging force, he was rewarded by those allies, with the recog-
nition of a power less conditional than he had yet exercised
over his native city. Novello da Carrara, on whose behalf
his father, Francesco, had abdicated, 1388, found himself
without an army, without finances or trustworthy coun-
sellors, and consigned Padua to the most unscrupulously
ambitious of Italian Princes, Gian Galazzo Visconti, who
in return sent both the Da Carraras, father and son, to
prisons in Lombardy. The escape of Novello, and his
perilous wanderings over far-distant lands-the Italian
states, Avignon, Bavaria, Croatia,—in hope of obtaining aid
to recover his heritage, and his entry by night into Padua,
passing along the dried bed of the Brenta with a small com-
pany of mounted troops (June, 1390)—all this forms one of
the most romantic episodes even in the strangely eventful
annals of medieval Italy. The friend and patron of Petrarch
conspicuous in this Carrara dynasty, Giacomo II. (1345-50),
obtained the princedom by the sacrifice of his predecessor's
life, and was himself cut off by assassination from the hand
of a relative, the illegitimate son of Giacomo I. It has
been said of him that "never was authority better exercised
after being purchased by crimes." Together with the latter
Prince may be classed among benefactors of science and
literature, his successor Francesco, who secured to himself
undivided sway by the treacherous imprisonment of his
colleague and uncle (1355). He obtained from the Pope
the privilege for the Paduan University of conferring
1
352
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
I
degrees in Theology, and founded the first college in this
city for the gratuitous education and maintenance of a
certain number of students; several other establishments
similar to which, for poor students from different Italian
cities and from Cyprus, were opened in Padua during this
century. Rash hostilities against Venice, often treacher-
ously pursued and promoted by evil means, proved fatal to
the Da Carrara family as well as to the independence of their
State; and the last representatives of that house, an unhappy
father with his two sons, suffered violent deaths, victims of
remorseless policy, in Venetian dungeons, A.D. 1406.*
The Basilica of S. Anthony-that magnificent example of
the transitionary style, between Byzantine and Gothic-is.
said by Vasari, and by many who have followed him, to
have been designed by Nicolo Pisano; but no contemporary
or early writers mention this. What is certain is, that the
foundations were laid in 1237; the works fairly commenced
in 1259; and they are said to have been finished, at least
in the principal structure, 1307; but the central cupola was
not added until 1424, and the whole edifice arose, developed
into its majestic completeness, as at this day before us, in
1475. The body of S. Anthony was laid in its splendid
shrine within these walls, 1350, by a French Cardinal,
Legate in Lombardy. The church itself may be regarded
as a vast mausoleum to that eminently popular saint; and
when we see all these honours rendered to a self-mortified
* The last representatives, namely, of the Da Carrara family in their
capacity as independent Princes were those put to death by strangulation
in different prisons, the father, Francesco II., on the 17th September,
and the sons, Francesco III. and Jacopo, two days afterwards. Francesco
II. had two other sons, who found refuge at Florence, where one died a
natural death in 1407; and the other, having unfortunately ventured to
revisit Padua for some private affairs, was seized at a villa in the
neighbourhood, conducted to Venice, and put to death by decapitation,
1435.-Muratori, Annali, MCCCCV.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
353
mendicant friar, we are reminded of the power that has
gone forth from the teaching of the Crucified Lord, to
reverse the maxims of worldly wisdom, and frustrate the
combinations of worldly prudence-"putting down the
mighty from their seats, and exalting them of low degree!"*
There is a chapel in this basilica (for so the church ranks)
adorned with paintings, the value of which, as attesting
the luminous progress of art, can scarcely be over-estimated.
It was founded, 1376, by Bonifazio de Lupi, Marquis di
Soragna, and originally dedicated to S. James the Apostle,
but subsequently to S. Felix, whose body was laid here
about the year 1504. The frescoes round its walls illustrate
the principal events in the Gospel, and the entire legend of
S. James; the former series by Jacopo Avanzi of Bologna;
the latter by Altichieri (or Aldighiero) da Zevio, of the
Verona province; these two having been assisted by a
Paduan artist, Jacopo Davanzo.+ All the paintings here
before us were more or less injured by retouching in 1773.
The Crucifixion, the largest, fills three compartments, the
group of women on one side, the soldiers casting lots (a
highly dramatic scene,) on the other; the Victim on the
cross being dead. The episode of the fainting of the
Mother, and consequent attention paid to her by the other
women, is a novelty, now introduced, and henceforth
* This Saint (1195-1231,) born at Lisbon, has become "S. Anthony
of Padua” through popular assent alone. His usual emblem is a flaming
heart, to signify the ardour of his charity.
† Strange how little is known of the lives of two artists whose works
assert a rank alike eminent for both! Jacopo Avanzi was born 1350, and
was the cousin of Simone called "dalli Crocifissi," from his predilection
for the Crucifixion among subjects; with that relative Avanzi was
collaborer in the frescoes at the Mezzarata chapel near Bologna.
Altichieri was engaged much at Padua, but is only otherwise known as
a follower of the Giotto School in the latter years of this century-his
designation "Da Zevio," derived from his birthplace.
2 A
354
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
generally admitted in art, against which I must protest, as
unhistoric, unsuitable, derogatory to the moral effect of this
scene. No word in the sacred narrative justifies the belief
that Mary so gave way to her feelings at the dread cata-
strophe; and the early devotion of the Church contem-
plates her as standing,-"Stabat mater dolorosa," &c.,
beside the Cross till the last moment of awful agony, till
the Divine body had been lowered for entombment. The
little we know as to the personal character or conduct of
this holy woman assures us that hers were the ornaments
of a meek and quiet spirit; that she was never elated by
her glorious privileges, and never succumbed under the
burden of profound, but not unforeseen, sorrows. The
artists who imagine her swooning in the Crucifixion scene,
impute physical and moral weakness to her: and the group
of a more or less interesting lady with her anxious hand-
maids, claiming all attention for her at such a moment, is a
piece of vulgar sentimentality. The other pictures of New
Testament subjects in this chapel need no explanation.
Those from the legend of S. James present, I believe, the
first appearance of that romantic story in art; and the
paintings themselves may be best understood through
acquaintance with the narrative in all its details.
S. James while preaching in the Temple of Jerusalem
(here converted into a splendid church of Italo-Gothic
style,) is opposed by a magician, who stands up amidst the
congregation to resist him. This magician (named Anas-
tasius) is supposed (though such episode is not here por-
trayed,) to have been carried away by Demons, but at the
behest of the Apostle is brought back, riding on a dragon,
to earth. Converted by the miracles or arguments of the
Apostle, he at last burns some magical books in his
presence.
Next ensues the martyrdom of S. James; he is brought
before a judge, or prætor, and condemned to death; on his
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
355
Two
way to execution, one of the headsmen is converted, falls at
his feet, declaring himself a Christian, and is immediately
condemned to suffer the same death by the axe.
magicians, both alike converted by the same power, here
appear on the scene, and co-operate in the transport of the
Apostle's body to a distant land; they place it in a ship,
which is steered by an Angel to the coast of Spain. On
landing there the pious voyagers request permission of a
noble lady named Lupa, to have it interred within the
walls of the castle of which she is owner. Next is seen an
episode in the story of those converted magicians, who
are accused as Christians, and condemned to suffer by
drowning in a river, but are eventually rescued by an Angel
after being thrown into the deep waters. The Spanish lady
desires the body of S. James to be placed on a car, and
drawn by oxen whithersoever they choose to go; the
animals stop before a splendid building (Italian-Gothic,)
which proves to be the castle of Lupa, and which she now
concedes as a resting place for those sacred relics, and
allows to be consecrated for Christian worship. The
posthumous miracles of S. James come next in the series:
he appears in a vision of the night to Raniero, King of
Oviedo, promising him victory over the Moors in Spain;
the King, enthroned in state, announces this to his courtiers;
a battle ensues, and whilst the Christians are besieging the
Moslems in a city, S. James is seen floating in air above
the walls, while the King, who is commanding the attack,
kneels in gratitude for the divine aid guaranteed by that
vision. The various acts of this legendary drama are
represented with vigour and animation. In the finely
characterized aspect of the Apostle we see the intent to
indicate his human relationship with the Saviour. In the
same chapel is the tomb of its founder with a picture of
the Resurrection above it, and near it, another fresco by
2A2
356
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
?
the same hand, of the Marquis Bonifazio in armour, kneel-
ing before the Virgin and Child.
*
A dim-lit chapel, preceded by a vestibule or atrium,
where a number of trivial votive offerings announce some
favourite shrine of popular devotion, introduces us to a
new Saint, and to a painter yet new in the biographies of
medieval artists; this oratory having been founded by a
noble family, 1382, dedicated to the Beato Luca Belludi,
and adorned with frescoes by Giusto di Giovanni Menabrea,
the subjects from the lives of two Apostles SS. Philip and
James (not the James above mentioned,) and from that of
the Franciscan "Beato" himself,-among which latter
scenes is one historically interesting: S. Anthony appearing
after death to Luca Belludi, and announcing the certain
liberation of Padua from the siege by the ferocious Eccelino
da Romano, whose encampment before the walls is re-
presented. In the Crucifixion of S. James are introduced
portraits of the founder of this chapel, Bernardo de' Conti
and his sons.
The genius of Avanzi and Altichieri may be estimated not
only from their works in this basilica, but from others in
the adjacent chapel of S. George, founded for family
sepulture, 1377, by the Marquis Raimondino de' Lupi, and
after his death adorned by the pencils of those artists, here
engaged by Raimondino's brother, the Marquis Bonifazio.
The building and its contents have suffered from every
possible maltreatment by French soldiery; used as a prison
it was deprived of all its Gothic ornamentation, and of ten
gilt statues of the De' Lupi family once within its walls.†
*Little is known of this artist, but that he was a Florentine, and
flourished in the XIV. century. Ticozzi does not even mention him;
and I can only refer to the ever satisfactory reports of Messrs. Crowe
and Cavalcaselle.
+ See the well compiled and interesting "Guida de Padova,” published
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
357
Being dedicated to S. George, the legend of that Saint
forms the principal subject of the paintings on its walls,
besides which are various storie from the lives of S. Cathe-
rine of Alexandria, and S. Lucy; over the altar, the
Crucifixion and the Coronation of Mary; at the opposite
end, scenes from the New Testament; and on the vault,
the four Evangelists and four Doctors. An old writer,
Michele Savonarola (De Laudibus Patavii, 1446,) attributes
all these paintings to Altichieri. Vasari, and later critics
assign to that artist the lower of the two orders into which
the series is divided; the upper, to Jacopo Avanzi. The
legend of S. George here makes its first appearance, with
all its romantic incidents and colouring, in the artistic
sphere. Its narration serves to explain the paintings be-
fore us.
George of Cappadocia, a Christian soldier in the army
of Diocletian, chanced to arrive at Silena, a city of Libya,
at a moment of tragical crisis. A lake near that city had
been long infested by a terrific dragon which put to flight
the armed bands sent to attack it, and when urged by
hunger to approach the walls, spread mortal pestilence
among the inhabitants by its poisonous breath. For some
time the daily offering of two sheep had sufficed for the
appetite of the voracious monster and for the protection of
the city; but flocks being scarce in those parts, the supply
soon began to fail, and it was enacted by law that a human
victim, chosen by lot among the citizens, should thence-
forth be daily offered, together with a sheep, to the dragon.
It chanced that the lot fell to the King's daughter and only
there on occasion of the Congress of Italian savans in that city, 1842. In
the winter of 1870-71 the roof of the S. Giorgio chapel was crushed in
by the weight of snow fallen upon it; and in the summer following I
found the paintings partly concealed by the scaffolds put up for the work
of repair.
358
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
child. The unhappy father offered all his gold and silver,
half his kingdom, to save her life; but all in vain; the
people threatened to burn his palace and its inmates with
it unless he complied with the law passed by himself. The
utmost that could be obtained, was a respite of eight days,
after which the palace was surrounded by a furious crowd
demanding the victim, and crying out that all the citizens
would be destroyed by the breath of the dragon whilst the
king's daughter was kept safe. Clad in regal robes, the
princess, after receiving her father's last blessing, was
led to the shores of the lake, and all the people followed
to see what would become of her. The lugubrious pro-
cession was met by S. George on his steed. He asked the
weeping princess the cause of her sorrow, and when in-
formed, after she had first warned him to fly for his life,
addressed her with promises that seemed vain: "Fear not!
in the name of Christ I will aid thee." Now the dragon
put forth its hideous head from the water, and was ad-
vancing to seize its prey. S. George, armed with the cross
and his good lance, rode towards it, attacked and wounded
it; then desired the princess to cast her girdle round its
neck, which having done, she led the monster after
her, tame as a household-dog, into the city. The
people fled at the sight, but S. George reassured them: "Be
not afraid (he said); for this hath the Lord sent me,
that I should deliver you from the ferocity of the dragon.
But do ye now be converted; believe in Christ, and
be all baptized, and I will slay the dragon at once."
The King, Queen and Princess with all the people, 20,000
besides women and children, were forthwith baptized; and
S. George slew the dragon, whose carcase was dragged out
of the gates by four pairs of oxen. And the King built a
church, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary and S. George;
and from its altar gushed a miraculous fountain whose
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
359
waters cured all diseases. Hitherto this story seems the
counterpart of that of Perseus and Andromeda, but the
element of love is wanting, eliminated by the austerer
feeling dominant in the Christian mythology. S. George
takes leave of the King and Princess like a devout
Catholic, and in his parting words recommends regard for
the clergy, constant attendance at religious offices, and
charity towards the poor. The next stage brings us to the
martyrdom of this pious Champion. Whilst the last of the
Pagan persecutions was raging, he rushed before a Prætor,
Decennius (called also "King" in the legend), declared that
the gods of the Gentiles were demons, that there was only
one Creator and Supreme Lord. He was tortured by
having his flesh torn with hooks and burnt with torches ;
but Christ appeared to him in the night, and all his pangs
were assuaged and forgotten. The Prætor summoned a
famous magician, and desired him to defeat the mysterious
powers of the Christian, which the magician promised to
do at the price of his own life, should he fail. When S.
George was brought again before the tribunal, he was made
to drink poisoned wine, mixed by that magician; he did so
without being harmed, and the sorcerer fell down at his
feet, penitent, and declaring himself a Christian, for which
he was immediately sentenced to death. Next day, S.
George was condemned to suffer at the wheel; but the
instrument, set round with two-edged swords, broke when
he was bound to it, and the executioners, struck by the frag-
ments, fell to the ground. At last the Prætor tried per-
suasion, and S. George, (sarcastically, it seems) promised to
comply with what might reasonably be desired of him. The
Prætor thought that he intended to sacrifice to the gods,
and summoned all the citizens to see this obstinate Chris-
tian render such worship to their deities in the chief temple.
In presence of a great multitude there assembled, S. George
360
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
prayed that the temple and its idols might be destroyed;
and fire came down and consumed alike the building, the
idols and their priests; and the earth opened to swallow up
the ashes left. The Prætor's wife now interceded for the
invincible Saint, and her husband ordered her to be sus-
pended by the hair and scourged; she desired baptism, but
S. George assured her that the baptism of blood would be
accepted by Heaven; and so she died under the lash of the
executioner. It was now the Saint's time to receive his
heavenly reward. He was beheaded about the year 287;
and the Prætor Decennius, on returning to his palace after
witnessing that death, was destroyed, together with his
wicked ministers, by fire from Heaven.*
The paintings illustrating the legend of S. Catherine are
almost lost in this series at the S. Giorgio chapel. Those
* The martyr's prayer and the efficacy promised for it, in his last
moments, afford proof of the fully established worship of Saints before
this legend had origin-at least in its present form: "Oravit autem ad
Dominum, ut quicunque ejus inploraret auxilium petitionis suæ conse-
queretur effectum; divina autem vox ad eum venit, quod sic fieret ut
oravit."
At a meeting of the Royal Society of Literature, in November, 1858,
was read a paper on the history of S. George the Martyr, calling atten-
tion to the many errors long prevalent concerning him, and citing an
inscription, apparently of the date A.D. 346, in an ancient church dedi-
cated to him in Syria. The writer showed that confusion had arisen even
in early ages between S. George of Syria, the true Saint, and George of
Cappadocia, who was murdered at Alexandria, A.D. 361, but had no
claims to canonization. The Syrian Martyr suffered under Diocletian,
A. D. 287. Whatever the difference between the merits and fate of the
two, one S. George was, ages ago, chosen as Patron Saint of Genoa; and
it was in gratitude to that Republic for the assistance, i. e. transports,
and the free use of their port, offered to Richard I. of England in the
third Crusade, 1190, that Coeur-de-Lion placed his kingdom under the
same Protector, and adopted the Red Cross of Genoa for the device of
the English fleet.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
361
of the martyrdom of S. Lucy are better preserved: we see
the several acts of her sufferings; she is dragged by oxen,
exposed to the flames, deprived of her eyes: and finally
laid in death on a bier, surrounded by mourners—the loca-
lity, a large church of Italian Gothic style; and this is per-
haps the finest work in the series, the greater part, if not
all, of which is attributed to Altichieri. An ex-voto picture
in this chapel represents the males of the De' Lupi family,
all in complete armour, and kneeling in a formal row at the
front of the scene, their respective Patron Saints standing
behind them; also the Marquis Bonifazio presented by
S. George to the Virgin and Child.
The Baptistery of Padua, founded in the XIII. century, is
one of the later Italian examples of such an edifice standing
apart near its cathedral-the arrangement, no doubt, pre-
ferable for the administration of the rite during the long-
retained use of baptism by immersion-its ancient and
legitimate form. About 1378 this building was adorned, both
inside and outside, with fresco-paintings ordered by Fina
Buzzacarina, wife of Francisco I. da Carrara. Those that
cover the walls and dome in the interior are attributed
to Giusto di Firenze. The compositions present the entire
cycle of subjects from the Old and New Testament-the
Epic of revealed Religion-in what we may regard as the
now accepted and permanent form, which satisfied medieval
feeling till the time for a moral and religious change arrived.
In the acts of Creation, the Deity has the aspect and type
of the Second Person, as God the Son; on the dome is a
"Paradiso," or beatific vision of the Supreme Being sur-
rounded by choirs of Angels, and companies of innumerable
spirits in glory. Among the New Testament subjects
but one is of legendary nature-the presentation of Mary
as a child in the Temple. In the tribune are some scenes
from the Apocalypse; and in one compartment are portraits
362
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
F
of Fina and several members of the Da Carrara family,
among whom is admitted Petrarch, kneeling before the
Virgin and Child.*
Beginning with the master-pieces of Giotto in the Arena
chapel, we find a richly varied and impressive representation
of fourteenth century art at Padua. We should not omit
seeing the majestic tombs of the Da Carrara princes in the
"Eremitani" church: sculptured monuments in which the
pointed style is combined with that predilection for redund-
ant magnificence which we observe at Venice-though no
angels drawing aside curtains are here seen, nor columns
to support either sarcophagus or canopy; and the statuettes
are ranged, with heavy effect, along the front of the funeral
couch. Most observable is the monument of Ubertino, third
lord of Padua (ob. 1345), who conferred benefits on this
city and University, restored the fortifying walls, promoted
manufactures, but was abandoned to vices which shortened
his life. The frescoes round the walls of the tribune of
this old church are attributed to Guariento, an artist with
whom we have not yet become acquainted, native either of
Padua or Verona, and supposed to have been the immediate
pupil of Giotto whilst that great master was engaged in the
former city. It is known that commissions from the Venetian
Senate gave employment to Guariento in 1361, and that he
was still at work in 1365.† The principal subjects in the series.
before us are from the life of S. Augustine, a Saint whom
we have already seen take his place in art among the Four
*It is only on the credit of an inscription in this building that the
frescoes are assigned to Giusto. Good critics suppose them to be by
Giovanni and Antonio da Padova. The paintings on the exterior were,
probably, by Altichieri; but not a trace is left of them.
†These frescoes were not attributed to Guariento till some two
centuries after his death, and for the first time by an Italian critic, who
wrote A.D. 1530-v. Ticozzi, “Dizionario degli Architetti, Scultori e
Pittori."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
363
Doctors of the Latin Church, and in one of the earliest
examples at Assisi, but the complete illustration of whose
life is yet new-destined henceforth to a prominence and
celebrity that furnish the measure of his increasing in-
fluence in ecclesiastical spheres. These frescoes in the
Eremitani church are much injured by re-painting (1589);
they still deserve, however, the praises bestowed upon them
for invention, vivacity, and treatment of draperies. Other
frescoes, under the Gothic canopy of a tomb here seen
(XIV. century)—the Annunciation and Coronation, with
two warriors presented by their Patron Saints to the Virgin,
remind us of Giotto, and may be attributable to Altichieri.*
In the porch of the desecrated church of S. Michele, are
some frescoes of the same school, scriptural subjects,
among which is the Adoration of the Magi, with supposed
portraits of members of the Da Carrara family among the
attendants on the three Kings. Padua deserves a pro-
longed sojourn for the study of the genius of the period
here in question. An old-world picturesqueness and sombre
dignity predispose to reverential consideration of the Past
in this historic city.
MILAN AND THE LOMBARDIC CITIES.
We have seen how Gian Galeazzo Visconti obtained the
sovereignty over the Milanese State by conduct at once
treacherous and violent, the deposition, namely, and arrest
of his uncle and father-in-law, Bernabo, who died in prison
seven months afterwards, 1385. In 1395 the Emperor
Wenceslaus bestowed on the successful usurper the title of
Duke; and almost the whole of what had formed the ancient
kingdom of Italy, comprising twenty-three cities, (Galeazzo
being now in fact master of twelve other cities besides,)
* See Crowe and Cavalcaselle.
364
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
became subjected to this fortunate scion of the Visconti
house. On the very day of his triumphal entry into Milan
after the capture of his uncle and cousins, who had met
him, unsuspicious of evil, near the walls, he was recognised as
lord of that city and state by decree of the Grand Council.
His investiture with the rank of Duke, according to im-
perial diploma, took place at the basilica of S. Ambrose,
attended by an immense multitude from far and near, and
with such fêtes and spectacles as were rare even in this
demonstrative and pomp loving age. Corio (anno 1391)
gives the bill of fare of the stupendous banquet which fol-
lowed, after the official and devotional proceedings, on this
occasion.* The grasping ambition and unscrupulous policy
of the new Duke, sole Italian ruler now affecting such title,
might have made Gian Galeazzo formidable to neighbouring
powers; but his temper was not cruel, his reign was not dis-
graced by the wanton atrocities which had made Bernabo,
and others of the same house hateful or terrible; and advant-
ages to public interests might be expected from a Prince
who loved splendour, was eager to attach his name to monu-
mental works, and particularly emphatic in his professions
of piety. But Gian Galeazzo, cut off by death in his forty-
ninth year, (1403,) whilst bent on the attainment of the
highest prize, nothing less than the sovereignty of all Italy,
had scarcely time to fulfil even his implied promises or see
any
of his great works completed. It is questioned whether
his leading object, in the founding of a new Cathedral, were
the fulfilment of a vow, the accomplishment of a stroke of
* The panegyric pronounced by the Bishop of Novara on the piazza
before S. Ambrogio, is extant, and a curious specimen of what was
deemed eloquence at the time. Summing up the virtues of the Duke,
this mitred orator, who was no other than Peter Philargos, afterwards
Pope as Alexander V., passes into rhyming rhapsodies. "Celebris
potentia validi vigoris,-nobilis prosapia fulgidi decoris,-hilaris cle-
mentia placidi datoris" &c. (Verri, "Storia di Milano.")
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
365
policy, or the encouraging of art applied to the honour of
religion.* Probably all these purposes combined, together
with some impulse of remorse, in inducing him to an act
which satisfied at once his piety and ambition. On the
23rd May, 1385, he laid the first stone of the new cathedral
of Milan on the site of the ancient basilica mentioned by
S. Ambrose as inter muraria nova, also known as the
Winter-basilica and S. Maria Major. It was not till 1386
that the works for this celebrated edifice were fairly com-
menced. Report ascribed the original design to the Duke
Visconti himself. The architect who has generally been
allowed credit for prominent rank and authorship in the
great undertaking, is Heinrich Ahrler of Gmünden, said
to have been chief director of the buildings from 1388 to
1399, in association with other architects from Paris,
Normandy, Freiburg, Ulm, and Bruges. Ricci, however
(Storia dell' Architettura) shows that Ahrler was not
invited to assume the post of master architect at Milan till
1391, and that he stayed in this city not more than seven
months. A board of maestri, eighteen being Italians and
four foreigners, was constituted to take into consideration
the criticisms and suggestions of Ahrler; their discussions
resulted in the general approval of a plan and norma to be
carried out, and which it is believed were actually adopted
in determining the leading features and proportions. At
the request of Gian Galeazzo, Pope Boniface IX., who had
published the Jubilee for 1390, conceded the same indul-
gences as those obtainable at Rome, without the journey
thither, to all of the Visconti's subjects who would contri-
* He is said to have made a vow to the Virgin, ten years previously,
to raise this temple to her honour in case of the success of the ambitious
schemes long harboured, and accomplished as we have seen.
+ Marco Frisone da Campione is supposed by some to have been the
very first architect engaged for this building.
366
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
bute one-third the expense of that pilgrimage towards
the costs of this sacred building and to the Papal treasury-
two-thirds of that fraction for the new church, the remain-
ing third for His Holiness! Corio (anno 1391) states that
the Papal bull did not require the usual conditions of
penitence and confession for this indulgence; he is mistaken,
as the extant document shows. But Verri supposes that
this strange error was actually in popular currency at the
time, and encouraged among the ignorant in order to secure
their money-offerings at whatever risk to their morals!
The German architect above named left Milan, as Ricci
tells us, "little satisfied with the votes of his colleagues."
The extant records of the church date from 1387; they
comprise the names of fifty-two architects, and their
assistants, all engaged on the works in the last years of this
century. The great East window, with tracery approach-
ing to the flamboyant, was finished in 1391 from the
designs of Nicholas Bonaventure, mentioned as a Parisian.
The whole of the East end, as it still stands, is probably the
most ancient portion, and consequently stamped with the
characteristics and taste of the artists originally engaged
here-an index to the ideal aim of those who commenced
this church, and our guide in drawing inferences as to
what was projected for the whole structure. The main body,
or at least the shell of the building, was completed, a.d. 1400,
when it was determined to adorn the exterior with sculp-
tures; and either at that time, or not long afterwards, the
amazing number of 4500 statues, besides reliefs, was deter-
mined in this magnificent project for the glorifying of the
temple and the consecrating of Art. In the same year was
ordered and undertaken the colouring of the windows; and
the best masters then known in Italy were engaged in pre-
paring the glass-paintings, from 1400 to 1409. The history
of such a church belongs, of course, not to one but succes-
1
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
367
sive ages.
We cannot suppose the Milan Duomo to have
presented within fifteen years after the laying of the first
stone anything more than an intimation, however noble
even at that early stage, of the grandeur and beauty to be
attained. In the interior little, except the architectonic,
exists to remind us of the XIV. century, except certain
relievi, scriptural subjects, and Christ between the Virgin
and S. John, some from the designs of an artist better
known through his paintings at Florence, Giovanni di
Milano, who returned to his native city, probably invited by
the Visconti, in 1370. The works in this Duomo have been
continuing almost without interruption; and it is said that
the scaffolds, for the labourers engaged, have never been
absent either from the interior or exterior. Surely, we may
class among genuine benefits conferred by rulers the origi-
nating of such temples, destined to send down the stream
of time an influence acting on that which is disinterested,
generous and pure in man's nature; to supply demand for
the exertions of genius and offerings of piety; to embody a
thought of the Infinite in forms suited to affect almost every
not absolutely callous nature. We see also, in this illus-
trious example, the manner in which the Italian mind finally
accepted, whilst modifying, the Northern style; assimilat-
ing it to the spirit of another nationality and genius; not
merely imitating, but recreating; retaining the many fea-
tures that were characteristic, but eliciting from them a
different expression, and giving predominance to the beau-
tiful over all other elements.
Gian Galeazzo Visconti had been lord of Pavia before he
attained the sovereignty of Milan, and seemed mindful of
the honours and interests of the former city, which was the
seat of his more limited princedom. The Pavia University
owed its distinction mainly to him, and on account of the
privileges he conferred upon it, he was regarded as its second
368
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
founder. Desiring to connect his name with one of the
most magnificent monasteries on earth-whether still urged
by remorse for the past, who shall say? seeing how many
pious foundations of these times had their origin in the
impulses of guilt-laden conscience-the prosperous Duke
of Milan laid the first stone of a Carthusian church (Cer-
tosa) on the 8th September, 1396, many Prelates, Carthu-
sian Priors, and a multitude of all degrees attending. The
site chosen was within a park twenty miles in circuit, and
surrounded by walls, formerly reserved for the pleasures of
the chace by Gian Galeazzo's father. Who was the original
architect has been questioned; some supposing Jacopo da
Campione; others, Heinrich Ahrler; but I believe the evi-
dence recently brought forward from archives is quite con-
clusive-that it was Bernardo of Venice, engineer to the
Duke of Milan, who prepared the first designs, and who,
from July to September, 1396, received ten florins monthly
for his labours here.* The works were carried on with such
rapidity that, after two years, a community of twenty-five
Carthusians were able to establish themselves in the cloister,
and in the third year the first Mass was celebrated in the
splendid church. The history of this magnificent Certosa
belongs still less than does that of the Milan Duomo to the
century here considered; its sumptuous façade, covered
with statuary and medallions, was not even commenced till
1473; and the greater number of the sculptures adorning it
were executed between 1492-1499. The Duke left large
sums for the furtherance of the works after his premature
death, and desired to be interred within these walls. A
stately mausoleum in his honour was ordered by the monks,
and designed by Pellegrini in 1490; but not completed, by
*The same Bernardo da Venezia" was frequently consulted at
Milan by the "Opera" (board of works) for the Duomo, between 1391
and 1400.—v. “Archivio Storico Italiano, dispens. II. 1869."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
369
the labours of several sculptors, till 1562. That princely
monument is, however, a mere cenotaph, containing no relics
of the illustrious dead. Gian Galeazzo's funeral was solem-
nized with the utmost pomp at the Milan cathedral, and
his body was laid in some provisional resting place till a
suitable tomb could be prepared. Its place was forgotten
long before the stately mausoleum had been finished; and
the remains of the most powerful Visconti, who had the
regal crown of Italy almost within his grasp, lie mingled
with obscurer dust in a tomb not even known! The various
ages to which the structure belongs may be traced in the
discrepancies of style in this superb church. Still more
than in the Milanese example do we see here the predomi-
nance of Italian over northern feeling, whilst features of
transalpine origin are retained. The tendency to return to
Roman classicism is obvious; yet the general effect of the
Certosa has aerial grandeur and majestic grace; the whole
expands in luminous vastness; and we might say that this
church exemplifies the self-developing principle in sacred
architecture, which cannot be frozen to immutability, but
advances with the life of nations. In this respect is such
architecture a symbol of the elastic capabilities and moral
Catholicity of the Christian Religion itself-essentially the
same whether its worship be held within the bare walls of
the humblest Protestant chapel, amidst the Oriental gloom
of the Venetian S. Mark's, the spiritualized sublimity of
northern minsters, or the brilliant pomps of the Papal
basilica.
In a lateral chapel of the large and imposing (though
unfinished) cathedral of Pavia, stands one of the most beau-
tiful works of fourteenth-century Art, the shrine of S.
Augustine, which not only bears evidence to the genius of
the age, but to the ascendancy of that great Saint among
the influencing minds that have determined, and stamped
2 B
370
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
their own character on the decisions of Theology.* This
shrine has been ascribed to Agostino and Agnolo da Siena ;
but is proved not to have been commenced till after the
decease of those sculptors-namely, in 1362, and to be the
work of Bonino da Campione, who executed the monu-
ments of Cansignorio at Verona and Azzo Visconti at
Milan. It originally stood in the sacristy of S. Pietro in
ciel d'Oro, and is supposed to have been finished by 1380,
or not till several years subsequently, either after or
before the date 1400, as one circumstance might lead us to
infer. The monks, Augustinian Hermits, who served that
church, had already spent 4000 gold florins upon the shrine
before the year 1394, when they requested aid from Gian
Galeazzo Visconti, who, in his last will, enjoined upon his
heirs to provide for the completing of this work, with the
same marble and in the same style of ornamentation.†
* Aurelius Augustinus was born at Tagaste, in Numidia, A.D. 354.
In his youth he imbibed the notions of the Manichæan heretics, and his
baptism, which he had wished to receive during a dangerous illness, was
indefinitely delayed. Whilst engaged in teaching rhetoric at Milan, he
was so influenced by the eloquence and arguments of S. Ambrose as to
be led to abandon his heretic principles, and enter the orthodox commu-
nion. On the vigil of Easter, 387, he was baptized by that great Prelate
of the Milanese church; and soon afterwards returned to Africa, desir-
ing to dedicate himself to a life of piety and seclusion. From that retire-
ment he was called by Valerius, bishop of Hippo, to be ordained priest,
and engaged in preaching at that city. By the Bishop's desire, Augus-
tine became his coadjutor in the administration of that See, and eventually
succeeded to Valerius in the bishopric. He established in his own house
a kind of monastic society for ecclesiastics. His labours and self-devoting
zeal in the fulfilment of pastoral duties seem to present the personified
ideal of the episcopal character in its truly apostolic aspect and noblest
dignity. It is inferred, secing the immense number of his sermons, that
he must have long persisted in the habit of preaching every day. For
thirty-five years he continued in this unwearied devotedness to his sacred
tasks, and died at his post, 28th August, 430.
† Galeazzo Visconti died in September, 1402.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
371
About 1501 some restoration of it was ordered by the
monks, and certain heads of the statuettes were then re-
newed. The earliest mention of it (as far as I am aware)
by any known writer, is found in the "Descrizione d'Italia"
(written soon after 1550) by Leandro Alberti, who simply
notices it as" that artistically wrought sepulchre of marble,
in which are to be laid the bones of S. Augustine, but which
is not yet finished." The earliest notice of it that can be
called historic, is in a MS. at the public library of Pavia,
drawn up, 1578, by the Prior of the Augustinian Hermits,
its original owners. The intention to place the revered
relics of Augustine in this splendid tomb is said to have
been abandoned owing to a vision, in which that Saint
appeared to certain aged monks of the community at the
S. Pietro cloisters, desiring them to leave his relics un-
disturbed where they then lay. The body was removed
from Hippo, the African See of the great Prelate, during
the Arian persecution, under the Vandal king, Thrasimond,
about the end of the fifth century; and the Catholic bishops
of Africa brought it to Sardinia, whither they fled for refuge.
In that island the body remained till the VIII. century,
when, Sardinia being invaded by the Saracens, and these
relics exposed again to profanation, the Longobardic king
Luitprand, bought them from the Sardinian Clergy at a
high price, for transfer to Pavia, capital of his Italian king-
dom. The place of interment at S. Pietro in ciel d Oro had
been long forgotten. During some works of repair, in 1695,
was accidentally discovered, in the crypt of that church, a
marble sarcophagus with the name Augustinus inscribed on
the outside; within this a wooden case, and inside the latter
a silver coffer containing bones and ashes. After this dis-
covery the shrine was erected, and, I believe, the relics
laid within it, over an altar in the tribune of the church, and
for which the monks spent 10,000 Roman scudi. In 1773,
:
2 B 2
372
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
the Augustinians left the cloister of S. Pietro, and carried
the relics with them, leaving the shrine neglected and broken
up; in which state it remained for thirteen years, till
transferred to another church now occupied by the same
monks at Pavia. In 1799, their Eremite Order was sup-
pressed, and the relics, together with the shrine, were placed
in the cathedral of that city. A year afterwards, the
administrators of the church property proposed to sell the
scattered sculptures of the shrine to different merchants
or other speculators; but the capitular clergy exerted
themselves laudably and successfully to prevent such Van-
dalism. In 1823 a worthy Bishop of Pavia, Mgr. Tosi,
determined to have the sacred relics exposed to veneration,
and laid in the shrine destined for them. He desired to
have that sculptured tomb erected in a transept, which
had yet to be added to the buildings of the cathedral; but,
as the large sum requisite for such works could not be
supplied, the Bishop at last satisfied himself with the
more facile task of erecting a new chapel to contain the
enshrined relics. On the 28th of August, 1832, the silver
coffer, after being opened and inspected by the Bishop,
was placed on the high altar of the cathedral; and, after
solemn pontifical rites, carried in procession through the
city, with great rejoicings kept up for three days. The
relics were finally deposited in a recess within the altar
of the new chapel, where the silver coffer, closed by three
keys, still remains under the sculptured shrine that rises
majestically above the modest mensa. Unlike the splendid
tombs of S. Dominick at Bologna and S. Donatus at
Arezzo, in which the rich Gothic architecture first attracts
the eye, the shrine of S. Augustine exemplifies the sub-
ordinating of the architectonic to the sculptural art.
More remarkable than the beauty of detail and execution,
is the wealth of conceptions and imaginative personifica-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
373
tion of attributes here accumulated appropriately to
honour the greatest theological writer among the four who
rank as
"Doctors” of the Latin Church. There are alto-
gether 95 statuettes, 50 bas-reliefs, and 420 heads on the
structure before us. On the lowest of the four storeys are
relief statuettes of the Apostles (dignified and well cha-
racterized), each holding a scroll, on which is his name,
with a sentence of the Creed ascribed to him; thus,
S. Peter, first of the company, has his scroll inscribed:
S. Petrus dixit, Credo in unum Deum. In niches, alterna-
ting with these reliefs, are statuettes of Virtues, theolo-
gical and cardinal; and on the narrower sides, SS. Stephen
and Lawrence added to the company of Apostles. The
symbolism and emblems are, in some instances, both
novel and appropriate. Faith has her cross and chalice;
Charity supports two infants, and holds a heart in her
right hand; Orthodoxy holds by a chain a tamed monster
with a human head; Religion (or Piety), a lovely maiden,
with long flowing hair, stands amidst rocks, with a scroll
and a palm in her hands; Fortitude holds a disc, on which
are represented the sea, seven castles on a rock, and the
four winds; Poverty holds an olive branch and two tablets;
Chastity has roses and tulips, also a little animal (a rab-
bit ?) in her hands; Obedience, a severe matron, with one
finger on her lips, holds a yoke and a book. On the second
storey lies the life-size effigy of the Saint, pontifically vested,
a book laid open on his breast; six young deacons, or
rather (as their costume implies) monastic novices, lifting
up the border of the pall thrown round the venerable
figure, which is seen but partially through arcades and
colonnettes; the head finely characteristic and intellectual.
As if mourning around the bier, stand the other three of
the Latin Doctors, with S. Simplicianus, in monastic garb,
374
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
On consoles are numerous
filling the place of the fourth.*
seated statuettes of Popes, bishops, monks, and martyrs;
among the latter class, the four sculptors who suffered
voluntarily under Diocletian rather than fabricate images
for idolatrous worship; two among these seated figures
being probably intended to personify liberal arts. On the
canopy are other statuettes and relievi; the Deity blessing,
the Archangel Raphael leading Tobias, S. Michael with
sword and scales, in which he is weighing souls, S. John
the Baptist, the Blessed Virgin, the Magdalene and S.
Catherine. On the third storey are relievi of the principal
events in the Saint's life: we see him preaching; and
again, with a book on his knees, seated outside the cell of
the learned Simplicianus; receiving a book (the writings,
of S. Paul) from an angel; assuming at Milan the habit of
a catechumen; received into the Catholic communion by
S. Ambrose, his mother S. Monica and S. Simplicianus.
being present; the funeral of S. Monica, whose body is
borne on a bier by monks, her son following; the insti-
tuting of the Augustinian Order, the founder seated, with a
long scroll, amidst many disciples; the conversion of a
heretic by the arguments of the Saint; the Saint in act of
teaching before an audience, between two cities, one desig-
nated by the familiar letters S. P. Q. R. as Rome; the body
of Augustine transported from Sardinia to Pavia; its
arrival at that city, with a procession, in which walks
King Luitprand; the reception of those relics at the
* A saint who contributed to the conversion of Augustine from
Manichæan errors, and who succeeded to S. Ambrose, A.D. 397, in the
Milanese See.
† See his affecting account of his intercourse with that pious mother
during her last days at Ostia, and of her death and funeral, in the "Con-
fessions," c. X, XI, XII.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
375
church of S. Pietro in ciel d'Oro. In interstices between
these relievi are seated statuettes, Augustinian saints,
vested as prelates or monks. Along the summit of the
shrine are pyramidal canopies with other relievi of the
miracles ascribed to S. Augustine: he liberates a prisoner,
who (in the next compartment) returns to his home; he
casts out a devil; he prays before an altar for the suppres-
sion of heresy; he displays an open book (his own writ-
ings?) to a heresiarch, whose feet betray the diabolic
character; he refutes two opponents, alike recognised by
their more than suspicious feet (the three heresiarchs being
probably Manes, Arius, and Donatus); the death of the
Saint; his posthumous miracles, the healing of diseased
and maimed persons. Lastly, we see a church, with a
multitude assembled outside, allusive probably to the
canonization and supreme popularity of the great Saint.
Between these relievi are statuettes of angels, representa-
tives of the whole celestial hierarchy, each with his appro-
priate symbol—e.g. a chained dragon; the model of a city ;
a sceptre and globe; a disc displaying the image of the
Saviour. The sculptor of this shrine was the artist of the
most splendid among a well known group of monuments
at Verona. The Della Scala family, who held the sove-
reignty over that city and many dependencies for one
hundred and fourteen years, were the first among Italian
princes, who, without fiefs or hereditary states, aspired to
extensive dominion. They first appear on the historic page
on occasion of Mastino Della Scala being elected as
Podesta of Verona, 1268, a few years after the overthrow
The Em-
and death of the tyrant Eccelino da Romano.*
* First mentioned, however, are two brothers of that house, who, in
1257, were beheaded by Eccelino's order.
376
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
་
peror Henry VII. invested this family with the lordship of
their native city, and they, thenceforth, bore the titles of
Captains of the People, Imperial Vicars, and "Procura-
tori."
They were originally considered the leaders of the Ghi-
belline party, opposed to Robert of Naples and to the
Papal interests; notwithstanding which Mastino П., the
same who, with his own hand, slew the Bishop of Verona,
his cousin, 1339,* and was excommunicated for that crime
by the Pope, received from Benedict XII., after due per-
formance of the severe penances imposed by His Holiness,
the title of Pontific Vicar, under condition of paying
tribute, 5000 gold florins per annum, to the Papacy. The
sovereignty of this house, after laying its foundations in
justice and wisdom, perished through guilt and feebleness.
Cansignorio, the most magnificent in outward pomp, the
most culpable in domestic life, among all of his race, con-
trived, by the murder of his brother, to secure the succes-
sion to his two illegitimate sons, both young children. The
elder of these, Antonio, when but twenty years old, imitated
his father's guilt by assassinating his brother; but did not
long enjoy the sole dominion obtained by that crime.
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, whose star was now in the as-
cendant, compelled him to renounce his power, and to
quit Verona; before leaving which city for the last time,
he made formal abdication of the "Signoria," in presence
of imperial commissaries. Verona became subject to the
Duke of Milan; and thus ended, 1387, the historic career
and dominion of the Della Scala family.
The monuments of this family are placed, not within
sacred walls, but in an enclosed court, external to a small
church, S. Maria l'antica, founded in the XII. century.
* V. supr. p. 162.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
377
Such location is remarkable: it exhibits the withdrawing
of monumental art from ecclesiastical associations. The
sculptured tomb here becomes rather a political than a reli-
gious record of the dead. That of Mastino, the first Scala
raised to power by popular votation, is a plain sarcophagus
with no other ornament than a sculptured cross; though
formerly covered by a canopy, no longer in its place. An-
other family, named Nogarola, made use, as their arms and
inscription show, of the Podesta's tomb; and the epitaph
recording the death of Mastino, by assassination, 1277,
now in the sacristy of the adjacent church.*
is
Over the entrance to that church is the monument to
Can Francesco, surnamed the Great-noblest, and yet most
simple in character among the Scaligeri tombs distinguished
for artistic adornments. Francesco, called Cangrande, was
associated in authority with his brother Alboino, and both
were created Imperial Vicars at Verona by Henry VII.
He, the former, held the most magnificent court in Italy,
encouraged art and letters, was the hospitable patron of
strangers and exiles—the friend and protector of Dante.†
He died, aged 38, at Treviso, 1329, and his epitaph justly
states in his praise :-Scaligeram qui laude domum super
astra tulisset. On his tomb are two effigies of Cangrande :
one, in peaceful garb, laid on a sarcophagus, adorned with
* He was slain to avenge the honour of a young lady, by one of the
Scaramelli house, under an archway, since that event called "Volto
Barbaro," near this spot.
†The Poet's sojourn at this Prince's court, is thus foretold to him by
Cacciaguida, in the 17th Canto of the "Paradiso :"
"Lo primo tuo rifugio, e'l primo ostello
Sará la cortesia del gran Lombardo,
Che' n, su la Scala porta il santo uccello ;
Ch' aura' in te si benigno riguardo
Che del fare e del chieder fra voi due
Fia prima quel che tra gli altri é più tardo, &c."
378
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
sacred subjects in relief- Christ in the tomb, and the
Annunciation. Above the pyramidal canopy is the other
effigy-the Lord of Verona as in life, full armed and
mounted on a caparisoned steed, the visor down over his
face, his plume and mantle floating in the wind; the cha-
racter and action of this figure admirable. It impresses.
like a phantom of the heroic dead-a shadowy chieftain of
some chivalric and romantic age.
Much more sumptuous is the monument to Mastino II.,
who died 1351-this being the only known work of its
sculptor, Perino, a Milanese. Mastino II. extended his
sway over Treviso, Vicenza, Brescia, Parma, Reggio and
Lucca, and became the head of the Guelphic league against
the Visconti. Unfortunate in his enterprises, he saw much
of his power and dominion vanish: Padua restored to the
Carraresi, Brescia to the Visconti, &c. He also held a splen-
did and hospitable court; and a historian of the time saw
him surrounded by twenty-three princes, all dispossessed of
their estates, and recipients of his bounties. His political
misfortunes had embittered his spirit before he stained his
hands with blood by the sacrilegious murder, above men-
tioned, of the prelate, his relative. His monument is in
two storeys: the effigy lies under a canopy, and four angels
seem to keep watch over the dead; on the sarcophagus is
a relief of Christ in the tomb, and two other figures, pro-
bably Mastino and a guardian saint presenting him. The
only personified Virtue is Fortitude. On the pyramidal
canopy is an equestrian portrait statue-here, as in other
instances, the Prince being represented both in life and
death-another of the novelties in monumental art at
Verona. The monument of Cansignorio, the ninth of his
house who ruled over Verona, bears the inscription under
six Latin verses around the frieze: Hoc opus fecit et sculp-
sit Boninus de Campigliono Mediolanensis Diocesis, together
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
379
A
with the date of the Prince's death, October 19th, 1375.*
This superb structure of white marble, in four storeys,
presents a blending of the classical and Gothic, simplicity
in general outlines, with extreme redundancy of detail. In
tabernacles supported by columns, on the first storey, are
six warrior Saints, Quirinus, Valentine, Martin, George,
Sigismund and Louis.† Under pinnacles on the second
storey are statuettes (well conceived and dignified) of Pru-
dence, Charity, Hope, Fortitude. On the sarcophagus are
relievi of subjects from the Gospels, easily recognised (in
the Temptation, the Devil, a grotesque monster, offers
stones to be changed into bread); also the Coronation of
the Virgin, and Cansignorio presented by saints to the
blessed Mother; on the highest storey, reliefs (on smaller
scale) of Apostles. On the summit is the portrait statue.
Cansignorio ordered this monument, executed in his life-
time, at a cost of 10,000 gold florins. The implied flattery
in its sculptures-in the personified virtues and scriptural
* Campiglione, or Campione, is a village on the lake of Lugano, for-
merly a possession of the Milanese archbishops. From this obscure
spot went forth a band of sculptors, both in the 13th and 14th centuries,
who made their names and works known in various Italian cities; some
of whom co-operated in the building of the cathedral of Modena; others
through their counsels and labours assisted in the works for that of
Milan.
† Louis and Sigismund were kings (of France and Burgundy) as well
as warrior saints. Quirinus was one of four officers in the Roman army,
under Maxentius, who suffered torture and decapitation, about A.D. 309,
for their faith. Valentine is erroneously classed among warrior Saints:
he was a Roman priest, beheaded on the Flaminian Way, A.D. 270,
or, according to other report, 306. A church was dedicated to him
near the Milvian bridge, and the present Porta del Popolo was once
called after him. That church is said to have been rebuilt by Pope
Julius I. A.D. 337, but no longer exists, unless some ruins, in a villa
near that gate of Rome, may be referred to such origin.
380
·MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
:
scenes, as well as the epitaph-seems ominous for the future
destinies and bias of art, when we remember the character
and crimes of this Prince.
Art may have flourished under munificent autocrats;
but we have here one of the many examples proving that
its healthful atmosphere is found under the protection of
liberty.
One other of these tombs, deserving notice, is that of
Giovanni (ob. 1350), a member of the Scala family who
never held power, and is here represented in an evidently
truthful effigy: the expressive head, with long curly beard,
turned towards the spectator, on a sarcophagus adorned
with statuettes under an acute-arched canopy. His epi-
taph ascribes to him qualities we might infer from his
countenance :-
Mente manuque potens, simul aptus ad arma togamque,
Robur militiæ consiliumque domi.
The other monuments here before us are plain marble
urns, distinguished only by the Della Scala arms, except
that of Alberto (ob. 1301), who is represented in a rude.
relief, kneeling before the Virgin and Child. On that of
Alboino (ob. 1311), the eagle of the Ghibelline party,
* Cansignorio lived only to the age of 35, yet burdened his conscience
with two deliberate fratricides. He murdered his brother and prede-
cessor in power, Cangrande II. 1359, who had a troublous reign of eight
years, and who built the Castel Vecchio and the stately bridge comprised
within its bastions over the Adige, both edifices still picturesquely con-
spicuous at Verona. Not long before his death, Cansignorio ordered
another brother, Alboino, whom he had imprisoned in the castle of
Peschiera, to be executed, thus securing the succession to his own illegi-
timate children. His epitaph sets forth, after two introductory lines:
Ille ego sum, geminae qui gentis sceptra tenebam,
Justitiaque meos mixta pietate regebam.
Inclyta cui virtus, cui pax tranquilla, fidesque
Inconcussa, dabunt famam per sæcla, diesque.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
381
(Dante's santo uccello) is sculptured over the ladder-the
arme parlante of this family.
Some interesting creations of the genius of the XIV. and
XV. centuries are seen at the ancient, which stands high
above the modern Bergamo, in a beautiful mountain-region
mediate between the loftier Alps and the fertile plains of
Lombardy. This city, fair and stately on its eminence
amidst the hills and valleys that form as it were a gateway
to the sublime palace of Nature, passed successively under
Ostrogothic and Longobardic sway, after first yielding to
the shock of a siege by Attila, and was reconquered for the
Greek Empire in the VI. century. For some time sub-
sequently, it was governed by almost independent Dukes,
and, after the conquests of Charlemagne, by Counts, the
vassals of the Frankish Emperors. In the IX. century,
Arnulph, king of Germany, Emperor from 896, transferred
the local dominion to the Bishops of this See, who thence-
forth ranked as Counts of Bergamo even after they had lost
all temporalities.* From the time of Otho I. it appears
that this city enjoyed a degree of independence and auto-
nomic government, compatible with the claims of its mitred
rulers, till it passed again, through voluntary act of the in-
habitants,under the immediate sway of the German Emperor.
In 1331, Louis the Bavarian was recognized as sovereign,
and his authority established here through means of the
Imperial Vicar, John, King of Bohemia, empowered to
represent him in Lombardy, many of whose cities were
subjected to the German potentate by that King's conquests
or influences. In later years of the same century, the chief
* A learned historic notice of this place, beginning from the dim
twilight of its origin, is supplied in the "Descrizione di tutta Italia,”
by Leandro Alberti.
† John of Luxemburg, son of the Emperor Henry VII. obtained the
crown of Bohemia through his marriage with Elizabeth, the only child of
382
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
families of Bergamo, the Colleoni and Suardi, alternately
obtained masterdom (the "Signoria") over their fellow-
citizens. To this state of things succeeded the dominion of
the Visconti, now the most powerful princes in northern.
Italy. At last, in 1428, the Bergamesque territory was
annexed to the Venetian States by the free act of its inhabit-
ants, wearied of the vicissitudes and strifes of factions.
Shortly before this change, one of the Suardi family, finding
himself unable to maintain his own credit or the indepen-
dence of this small state, sold Bergamo for 3000 gold ducats
to Pandolfo Malatesta; but soon afterwards, in 1419, the
victories of Carmagnola, then commander of the Milanese.
forces, subjected both Bergamo and Brescia to the Duke
Filippo Maria Visconti. A hero of medieval renown, and
said to have been contemporaneous with Charlemagne,
Lupus, Duke of Bergamo, makes his appearance in local
art as personified ideal of wise and vigorous rule-the King
Arthur of this State.
a
The most important church here is not the cathedral,
but S. Maria Maggiore, finished in its main buildings about
1173; the date 1137 being seen on the archivolt of a
beautiful porch at the southern side. Above that member
rises one of the later adjuncts to this architecture, a Gothic
tabernacle, lofty, rich and graceful, with a seated statue of
Christ at the centre, two female figures at the sides, and
statue of the Deity on the highest pinnacle. This tabernacle
and its sculptures, as well as a series of statuettes, the
Saviour, the Apostles and Prophets along a frieze round
three sides of the projecting porch, are by Giovanni da
Campello, and of date 1360. To the same artist, whose
works entitle him to rank high in two walks alike pursued
with power here manifest, are attributed the porch and
Venceslaus IV. He was slain in the battle of Crecy, after gallantly taking
part in the action, though at the time totally blind.
!
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
383
sculptures on the façade of this church, date about 1353.
The round and acute arch are here united, the structure is
in three storeys, on the second of which is the equestrian
statue of Lupus in complete armour, with two Saints beside
him, under cusped arches; on the third storey, a Madonna
with two other Saints; another statue, indistinctly seen,
being on the apex of the canopy surmounting this con-
spicuous porch.*
An octagonal Baptistery, which stands isolated in the
cloisters of the cathedral, is a memorable example of the
transition style, Romano-classic and Gothic, overladen with
marble decorations.
This small but splendid building was placed originally
within the walls of S. Maria Maggiore, at one end of an
aisle, but has been twice transferred to different localities,
taken to pieces and rebuilt. A few years ago it was com-
pletely restored with the ancient materials, some modern
sculptures on the exterior, and a good deal of gilding in the
interior. It is not well seen, externally at least, within
the narrow area of a court; and is entered, from one side
of the quadrangular buildings, through a vestibule, in
which we see a tablet giving the date of the founding of
this Baptistry, 1340. The outside is encrusted with white,
red, and black marble; statuettes of Virtues are at the
angles of the eight sides; other sculptures (modern and of
marble, substituted for mediæval bronzes) are on the cupola;
a corridor of elaborately chiselled ornato, in white marble,
is carried round the summit; the windows are not divided,
but almost hidden and masked, by colonnettes, eight to each.
The interior is rich in statuary, reliefs, ornato and gilding;
and in most (if not all) of the sculptures here seen may
* An engraving of this porch, with the assigned date 1360, is given
in Hope's "History of Architecture." The equestrian statue seemed to
me more archaic than the others.
384
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
be recognized fourteenth century art. Round the upper
walls are relievi of the principal subjects from the Gospel,
treated according to then established canons; the Cruci-
fixion, with the episodes of the two thieves and the angel
and demon receiving their souls, the Mother fainting amidst
the other women, the soldiers casting lots for the garments.
Below these reliefs are the seven Sacraments personified (a
novel conception), and all as females, except Baptism,
whose representative is S. John holding a vase, and a gilt
relief, on a disk, of the Divine Lamb. Penance holds a
prostrate demon by a chain. Though somewhat heavy in
design, these sacramental figures are not without grace,
and the female countenances have a serious sweetness.
The gilding of details, on vestments, &c., is profuse; and
the marble mantle of the Baptist is, with questionable
taste, converted into a robe of gold. Medallions of the
Apostles, with sentences from the Creed on scrolls, seem
among the later (perhaps fifteenth century) sculptures
placed here. Altogether, this building and its contents
are, though very interesting, too like a casket of jewels;
an example of the redundant magnificence of a style
passing into the phase of decadence before giving place to
another founded on opposite principles. Striking, and in
their way beautiful examples of this tendency, carried to
the extreme of decorative pomp in renaissance sculpture,
are before us in the chapel and monuments of the Colleoni
family at Bergamo, which we shall have to consider when
the fifteenth century becomes the field for our studies.
The cathedral of Como and the basilica of Monza should
not be omitted in any review of Lombardic architecture.
The former, founded A.D. 1013, was rebuilt from designs
by Spazi, one of the many architects engaged at Milan,
whose works were commenced here in 1396; the richly
ornamented façade, Lombardo-Gothic, was not begun till
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
385
1460; and this church pertains rather to the latter than
the previous century. The Monza basilica was rebuilt
after its predecessor, founded by the pious Queen Theode-
linda, had stood unaltered for about 600 years, by Matteo
Visconti, styled "the Great," Lord of Milan and Imperial
Vicar in Lombardy (1295-1322); and for the costs of this
undertaking the oblations of the people were not wanting;
but the works remained long in suspense till the actual
façade was raised, 1389, by the now celebrated Matteo di
Campione. It has been called (by G. Knight) "a curious
specimen of the cabinet style," being fretted over with
profuse decorations, panels of coloured marble, tracery,
statuary, arcade cornices and canopies; the walls of
black and white marble in bands, an introduction (unusual
in Lombardy) of Tuscan peculiarities. Such a building
attests the Italian tendency to overlay the forms of the
Pointed Style with splendid ornamentation, effectively
combined, but not accordant, with the characteristic fea-
tures of that northern architecture. There are details in
the interior of this church-the sculptured capitals with
grotesque figures-which seem older than the XIVth,
and are perhaps of the XIth century. Fortunately there
still remains enough, among the highly curious relics here
preserved, to remind us of Theodelinda and also of the
great and good S. Gregory I. The Iron Crown was re-
stored to its shrine in this basilica after being carried away
by the Austrians, 1859; its restitution being stipulated and
agreed to after the peace in 1866.
BOLOGNA.
Among Italian cities whose aspect bears most strikingly
the impress of its historic past, Bologna is conspicuous.
At the base of the Apennines, where the lower declivities
20
386
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of the forest-clothed chain gently subside, amidst fair val-
leys and rock-crowned or cultivated slopes, into the wide
plain bounded westward by the Adriatic and the pine
forest of Ravenna, the situation of this grand old city adds
to the attractiveness of its memories, monuments, and
romantic physiognomy. We recognise here the tokens of
vigorous popular life, the influences reflected from Catholic.
piety combined with those of patriotic principle, the
genius of Italian art, together with the haughty spirit of
municipal independence. Majestic churches, medieval
embattled towers of stupendous height, and a long per-
spective of shadowy porticoes-all the objects around us
excite interest as to the history of a place so richly en-
dowed with elements of the picturesque, so nobly marked
by characteristics of power and vitality. Bologna, in its
rank among political and intellectual centres, demands
study and observation from those who would appreciate its
importance. I have had occasion to glance at some pas-
sages of its eventful annals in the later middle ages.
According to legend, Christianity was introduced here by
the immediate disciple of S. Peter and Apostle of Ravenna,
S. Apollinaris; but nothing is known on any sure basis of
the Bolognese Church prior to A.D. 270, when it was occu-
pied by a prelate, S. Zama, consecrated for his office by
Pope Dionysius. S. Petronius, chief patron saint of this
city, was appointed to the bishopric by Celestine I., about
A.D. 430. A Greek by birth, he had been sent to Rome
by the Emperor Theodosius II. to apprise that Pope of the
convocation of a General Council at Ephesus. He found
Bologna in desolation and misery after being twice cap-
tured and pillaged by Alaric; and during fifteen years that
this holy man held the bishopric, he exerted himself for
good in various ways; rebuilt the fortifying walls, founded
churches, improved the social conditions. We must reject
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
387
#
the tradition of his obtaining from Theodosius II. faculties
for the establishment of a University. The earliest docu-
ment throwing light on the origin of the famous schools of
Bologna is a diploma, conferring privileges on stranger
students here, from the Emperor Frederick I. Canon and
Civil Law alone were originally taught at these schools;
afterwards, liberal arts and medicine; later still, Theology,
a faculty introduced here by Pope Innocent VI. Public
examinations took place, with much pomp, in the cathe-
dral; and the Rector of the University had precedence, on
ceremonial occasions, of bishops and archbishops, the dio-
cesan of this see alone excepted. In 1260 we find 10,000
students at Bologna; in 1384, nineteen professors of juris-
prudence giving lectures here. "Bononia docet" became
a European byword.* This city was comprised in the
donations of Pepin to the Pope; but ages passed before it
became subject to the immediate sway of the tiara. After
the transfer of the Western Empire from a Frankish to a
German dynasty, Bologna imitated other Italian free
towns, acquired practical independence, and adopted forms
of republican government; though the power of the Ger-
man Emperors was theoretically acknowledged, and that
of the Popes, from time to time, submitted to with loyal
deference. In the XIII. century the Guelph and Ghi-
belline factions carried on the same conflicts, and drew
down similar misfortunes on their fellow-citizens here as
elsewhere, being represented by two powerful families, the
Lambertazzi and Geremei. The affecting story of the
* Cantu, "Storia degli Italiani," cap. xc.; see also Tiraboschi, t. vi.,
who traces the vicissitudes of this University from age to age. In the
XIV. century it declined; but rose again to its former credit and pros-
perity before 1400, continuing at that height during the earlier years of
the XV. century. A tradition long accepted is that of its origin
through means of the famous jurisconsult, Irnerius, about 1098.
*
2c2
388
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
loves of Bonifacio Geremei and Imelda Lambertazzi is well-
known; its tragic close in the assassination of the lover by
Imelda's relations (1273), kindled anew the flames of civil
war; those two families having been at deadly strife, at the
head of factions in partisanship under their names, from the
year 1258. The Geremei (Guelphs) eventually obtained
the upper hand; and the Lambertazzi (Ghibellines), alto-
gether 12,000 citizens classed with that party, were driven
into exile. In 1275 a battle was fought about two miles
from Bologna, the Guelphic party bringing a formidable
host into the field; for Parma, Modena, Reggio, and Fer-
rara had joined their forces with the Bolognese. The
exiles, aided by the citizens of Faenza, where they had found
refuge, obtained a signal victory over the Guelphic allies.
More than 3300 Bolognese were left on the field; and
4000, who gallantly defended the Carroccio at the crisis of
the battle, were all made prisoners.
This disaster materially injured the position of Bologna.
Together with Imola and other neighbouring towns, her
citizens at last resolved to renounce their allegiance to the
German Emperor and submit to the sovereignty of the
Pope-an act indicating at least the firm expectation of
better government and more peaceful civic life under the
tiara. The Bolognese addressed their professions of loyalty
to Pope Nicholas III., 1278. In the next year took place
a solemn scene of reconciliation, with religious sanctions,
for ratifying the peace brought about through the laud-
able efforts of the Legate, Cardinal Latino, nephew of that
Pontiff, who had sent him to Bologna on a righteous mis-
sion, seconded by the exertions, in the same good cause, of
Bertoldo Orsino, Count of Romagna, the Pope's brother.
On the 4th of August the leaders of the Lambertazzi and
Geremei factions assembled with a multitude of citizens on
the principal piazza; there, after an impressive discourse
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
389
from the Legate, who took his place on a decorated tri-
bune, fifty representatives of each party swore peace on
the Gospels, and embraced each other in the name and on
behalf of all their followers. This triumph of the Christian
principle, quickened and embodied in action through the
salutary power of the Church, did not, unfortunately, bear
the enduring fruit promised. In the December of the
same year tumults and bloodshed again occurred at Bo-
logna; the Lambertazzi were the first to offend, attacking
and putting to death those of the opposite side who fell into
their hands; the Geremei mustered their forces, repelled
the assailants, and finally drove the entire aggregate of
that Ghibelline party out of the city-gates. The exiles
again repaired to Faenza, while the usual barbaric reprisals
were enacted at Bologna: the houses and castles of the
vanquished were first pillaged, then totally demolished.
Two French Popes, John XXII. and Benedict XII. thought
of transferring the Curia from Avignon to Bologna.* The
former sent his Legate, Cardinal Pouget, to take possession
and govern this city in his name. Not without stipulation
for municipal rights and immunities was that representative
received, though indeed with pomp and festivity on his state
ingress, 1327. His rule became most unpopular, owing to
his extortions and the perpetual wars with other Italian
States in which he involved these citizens, though the Bolog
nese interest was in no way concerned in, or promoted
through, such contests. In 1334, this Cardinal began the
building of an immense castle with many towers, contiguous
Alluded to by Petrarch in his Sonnet "To the Signori of Italy,
urging them to take part in the Crusade of Pope John XXII.”
E 'l Vicario di Cristo, con la soma
Delle chiavi e del manto, al nido torna;
Si che, s'altro accidente nol distorna,
Vedrà Bologna, e poi la nobil Roma.
390
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
។
to one of the gates. While his troops were absent, called
away to resist an invasion of the territory by the Marquis
d'Este, the people took the opportunity of revolt; rose with
the
cry
of "Death to the traitors;" slew all the French
who fell into their hands, released the prisoners in jails,
and besieged the Legate in his new castle. The Este sent
troops for his rescue; the French soldiery returned to
execute vengeance; but the most efficient intervention was
that of Florence, which deputed ambassadors, who came, with
strong armed escort, to bring the Bolognese to honourable
terms with the Cardinal. His person and property were
secured, and he was enabled to leave, with all his moveable
wealth and attendants, under Florentine protection; though
not exempt from the execrations of the people on his way
to Florence, where he took up his abode. The siege of his
castle was not abandoned; it was taken by storm and totally
demolished about a month after his departure. Benedict
XII., more pacific in policy and unworldly in motives than
his predecessor, would probably have effected the removal
of the Papal residence to Bologna, but for the now ascend-
ant power of the Pepoli among their fellow-citizens. A
struggle for mastery had been carried on between Taddeo
de' Pepoli and the head of the Gozzadini house; the usual
scenes of tumult, street-conflicts and bloodshed occurred.
At last the Gozzadini and their partisans were driven into
exile; the soldiery and populace raised the cry: "Viva
Messer Taddeo de' Pepoli !" and that nobleman was elected
by acclamation Captain of the People and "Signor" of
Bologna, 1337. About three years afterwards, Benedict
XII. accepted a transaction rather than lose Bologna, and
conferred upon Pepoli the rank of Pontific Vicar, with the
obligation of tribute, 8000 gold florins per annum, to the
Holy See. After the death of Taddeo, 1347, the lordship
of this city was bestowed by popular act on his sons, Gio-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
391
!
vanni and Giacopo, without opposition from the reigning
Pope, Clement VI. It was the elder of those brothers who,
after being treacherously arrested by the Count of Romagna,
Duraforte (a relative of that Pope, charged with the task of
resubjecting to the tiara its lost towns and provinces), handed
over Bologna and its territory to the Lord of Milan. Re-
leased from captivity on the promise of a payment far
beyond his means, 80,000 gold florins, as ransom, Giovanni
de'Pepoli went to Milan, and transacted with the Archbishop
Visconti the sale of Bologna for 200,000 florins. A form
of popular election was passed through (1350) in order that
the mitred Lombardic Prince, now so potent, might seem at
least to be freely chosen by his new subjects as their sove-
reign; but this proceeding, managed through the influence
of the Pepoli, was regarded with general displeasure and
indignation by respectable citizens. (Muratori, Annali,
MCCCL.)
Five years afterwards, Giovanni da Oleggio, an illegiti-
mate member of the Visconti family deputed to govern
Bologna in their interest, usurped the dominion, and caused
himself to be proclaimed either Protector or "Signore," in
defiance of Matteo Visconti, now ruler of Milan. Bernabo,
successor to the latter, thought it best to come to terms
instead of pursuing the war begun by Matteo for recovering
Bologna, and recognized Da Oleggio as lord of that city
during his lifetime. After the general subjection of the
Pontific States had been commenced, with successfully
exerted abilities, by the Legate Albornoz, Da Oleggio
entered into treaty for ceding Bologna to that famous Car-
dinal. He fled by night from the blockaded city he found
himself unable to defend, and where his sway had become
generally hateful, because avaricious and unjust. Bologna
was now occupied for the Pope by Pietro da Farnese,
captain of the Legatine forces. Bernabo Visconti, refusing
392
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
to admit the Papal claims, undertook to recover what his
house had lost, and sent troops to desolate the environs,
subjecting the people of the Bolognese district to misery and
outrage. The Pope, however, maintained his rights over
this city and province till 1376, when, during a general
revolt against the tiara in Romagna and Umbria, the resi-
dent Legate was driven away from Bologna, his palace
besieged and property confiscated. Popular government was
restored, and hailed with popular rejoicing, after this-but
for short duration. In 1377, the Bolognese again submitted
to the Pontific sovereignty, after stipulating the right of
autonomic government for five years, on condition of an
annual tribute of 10,000 gold florins.
One might expect characteristic and superior art-produc-
tions from the genius of this prominent city. But no school
of high attainment arose at Bologna before the end of the
epoch here considered.* Three native painters, of the XIII.
century, are mentioned by name. In the sacristy of the
Servite church, we see a stern-looking enthroned Madonna
with angels, presented by Taddeo Pepoli in 1345. Between
1320-45, flourished one Vitale, called "delle Madonne,"
from his numerous pictures of the Blessed Virgin, one of
which (date 1320) is in the Belle Arti Academy. His
pupil, Lippo Dalmasio, was engaged in the latter years of
the XIV. and earlier of the next century; and pictures by
him are to be seen in the above-named sacristy, at S. Domi-
nico, and in the Ercolani collection at Bologna. His con-
temporary, Simone, acquired the epithet, "dei Crocifissi,"
from his preference for that subject, to which and to one
* Giotto, and (as Vasari states), his pupils, Puccio Capanna and Pace
da Faenza, were engaged at Bologna during this century. A Madonna
with Archangels and Saints by Giotto was in the church of S. Antonio
in Lanzi's time. That altar-piece is now divided; the central part at the
Brera Gallery (Milan), the wings in the Bologna Academy.
"
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
393
other, the Coronation of Mary, he almost exclusively con-
fined himself. One of his colossal Crucifixions, with name
and date, Symon fecit hoc opus, 1370, is in a chapel at SS.
Agostino e Giacomo, and certainly displays advance beyond
the ghastly and repulsive treatment of this subject by Mar-
garitone. The sufferer appears dead; at the apex is the
Deity blessing; Mary, S. John, and two other women stand
at the extremities of the cross. In two of the seven ancient
churches known by the common name of S. Stefano (though
each has a separate dedication), we see pictures by the same
Simone in the SS. Trinitá (one among those seven) the
Blessed Virgin and S. Ursula; in another, SS. Pietro e
Paolo, another Crucifixion similarly conceived and treated
with that at S. Giacomo; but instead of the two Maries at
the foot of the cross, he introduces, in this instance, the
Magdalen and a monk holding a cross as his symbol. Under-
neath is the ascetic inscription: Affixus lingno pte suffero
peñas. Symon fecit hoc opus. Memento Q. Pulvis es et
pulve reuteris. Age penitecia et vives in Eternum.
:
Jacobo degli Avanzi flourished about the end of this cen-
tury. His abilities may be estimated from several extant
works, e. g. two Crucifixions, one associated with a corona-
tion of the Virgin and other subjects, at the Academy; also
an Annunciation on the wall above a staircase in that part
of the ancient Podesta Palace now used as the "Archivio
Notarile." In the last-named picture, neither pleasing in
composition nor effective in colouring, the Deity (of type
like the Son, rather than the Father) is introduced above
the principal group; and beside the angel, a kneeling
donator. Below is the signature Jacopus Pauli f; and
the same inscription is read beneath a larger work, an
ancona with rich Gothic frame, in the same chapel at SS.
Agostino e Giacomo, where hangs the Crucifixion by Simone;
this altar-piece by Avanzi comprising five orders of saintly
394
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
M.
figures, full-lengths and busts, besides a Crucifixion and
coronation of Mary. A chapel known as the Mezzarata,
though dedicated to S. Apollonia, in the villa of the Min-
ghetti family, about two miles beyond the walls of Bologna,
is adorned with three orders of ancient frescoes, about half
of these being lost, notwithstanding a restoration in 1578.
The remnants of this series, carefully preserved, were rescued
from whitewash by Signor Marco Minghetti, 1838. They
are attributed to Simone, Vitale, Avanzi, and others; the
oldest being (as Lanzi shews) the Nativity by Vitale. Some
subjects from the book of Daniel, in the lowermost order,
bore the signature, no longer legible, Laurentius f-that,
namely, of Lorenzo, an artist said to have worked here in
1360.
Vasari states that the series was finished in 1404. Many
subjects, in the present damaged state of these frescoes,
are unintelligible, though we can recognise the Nativity,
the Adoration of the Magi, the Circumcision, the Banquet
of Herodias, at which the head of the Baptist is presented;
and the Pool of Bethesda, under which last is Avanzi's
usual signature, Jacopus fecit. Nothing here reminds us
of the dignity or power, or dramatic grouping of Giotto;
these paintings are curiosities, valuable only in a relative
sense, and as connected with the history of Art.* From
one point of view they are indeed interesting.
* Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle decide, contrary to Lanzi and other
writers on Art, that the Jacopo engaged at Mezzarata cannot be iden-
tified with the painter of that name, whose works are seen in the S.
Felice and S. Giorgio chapels at Padua. In no one quality or charac-
teristic do we recognise, among the faded frescoes in the Bolognese
Chapel, analogies with the imaginative power and beauty of form dis-
tinguishing the illustrated legends of S. James, S. George, and other
saints on the walls of the Paduan basilica and of the oratory adjacent to
it.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
395
In 1388 was determined the undertaking of a work
which reflects the highest honour on Bologna in the artistic
and also in the religious sphere: the building of a church
dedicated to S. Petronius, destined to be one of the
largest, and assuredly (had the original design been carried
out) one of the noblest in Italy. Antonio Vincenzi, a
native of this city, and one of the sixteen magistrates
called Riformatori, was commissioned to prepare the de-
sign, subject to the supervision and judgment of another
architect, a learned monk, Andrea Manfredi, General of
the Servite Order. It appears, however, that the latter
had only to give counsels, and that the authorship of the
design finally chosen must, in strict sense, be attributed to
Vincenzi. In 1390 the latter was required to prepare, in
stone and mortar, an exact model of the projected church,
40 feet long and 30 broad; and this, the trial of his skill
which satisfied judges, was built up in the court of the
Pepoli palace.* In that year the works were commenced;
and, in 1392, were so far advanced that mass could be
celebrated in a lateral chapel, where we now see fresco
paintings of the Paradiso and Inferno, attributed (but
erroneously) to Buffalmacco.
In 1400 was commenced the marble incrustation of the
exterior. Many houses, and subsequently (with sanction
from Pope Martin V.) no fewer than eight churches were
taken down to afford space for the vast basilica. A tax
towards the costs was imposed on all the families who,
flying from civil wars in other Italian states, had sought
* It was broken to pieces in 1406, when a copy in wood and paste-
board was made instead: but neither is that second-hand model now
extant. Forty designs by artists who competed at different periods for
the completion of this church, are seen in the halls of the "Reverenda
Fabbrica,” adjacent to the buildings. That by Terribilia was finally
chosen by the civic Senate in 1580.
396
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the citizenship of Bologna; and by such means was raised,
from one hundred and ten families, the amount of 22,177
Bolognese lire. The works were continued, with longer or
shorter intervals of suspense, till 1647, when it was found
necessary to abandon the magnificent original project, and
leave the buildings in their then unfinished state. An ab-
rupt termination to the nave and aisles, without the pro-
jected choir, apse, or transepts, was formed at once, and a
sacristy with other buildings raised round the east end. As
it stands, S. Petronio is merely the body of a Latin cross
proposed as the form of the entire edifice.* Only the lower
story of the façade is finished, and adorned with sculptures
according to the plan so far carried out.
In the latter art the only works to be noticed here (as
within the date to which I am now limited) are the sculp-
tures along the basement, by Bonafuti, a Venetian, namely,
half-length relievi, in quatrefoil recesses, of Prophets, SS.
Peter, Dominick, Francis and Petronius (the latter with a
model of the city in his hand); bold and effective, the heads
distinguished by a severe dignity. The effect of the in-
terior of this church is marred by the unsuitable termina-
tion of the aisles with doorways instead of chapels, and by
a wretched theatrical painting on the end wall beyond the
high altar. Yet there is still a grandeur, a blending of
power and grace, in this unfinished architecture.
The
great piers (like those of the Florence Duomo) are con-
* Actual dimensions: length 360, width 147 feet. Projected dimen-
sions, reported variously as 608 feet in length, 436 in the width of tran-
septs, and 400 feet as height of the lantern of an octogonal cupola
which would have vied with that of the Florence Duomo. By Ricci
given in palms: 570 length, 370 width of transepts, 400 for the height,
and 130 for the span of the cupola; these last being the admeasurements
published in 1653. The actual vaulting, from the designs of Terribilia,
was finished two centuries later than the commencement of the building.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
397
nected by pilasters with the springing of the vault. Late-
ral chapels with gothic arches, and two of which correspond
to each bay of the vaulting, finely break the long lines of
perspective in the aisles. The lancet windows of these
chapels, and three orders of round windows, disposed over
the space provided above the aisles and along the attics,
contribute to the admirable variety of outlines and orna-
ment.
Some suppose (v. Ricci) that lateral chapels (here a suit-
able, though in many other instances a disfiguring adjunct)
had their origin in a principle of exclusiveness or aristo-
cratic feeling; the divisions, namely, into classes, marked
by privilege of rank or party, and each with its elect Patron
Saint, consequently its desired separation in worship. It
is the Italian Gothic of the XIV. century, in a nobly
organised whole, that is before us at S. Petronio; lumi-
nous and majestically spacious, in effect utterly unlike the
dim solemnity of northern minsters is this, as are other
mediæval Italian churches. Nor are these characteristics
of the southern architecture to be condemned: they natu-
rally sprung from the appropriation of the sacred building,
which was not merely itself the expression of religious
sentiment, but, in many instances, required to be the arena
of assemblages political and popular, or academic, and also
destined as the hall of exhibition for supreme masterpieces
of art. Such appropriation and its consequences to the
character of the building itself, form a note-worthy evi-
dence of the all-pervading power and action of Catholicism
in the middle ages.
Other fine examples of the architecture of this period,
at Bologna, are the church and portico of the Servites, S.
Maria de' Servi, both designed, and in each instance the
works superintended by the General of that order, the
above-named Fra Andrea Manfredi. In this church (1383)
398
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
:
the acute arch prevails, and a happy union of the majestic
with the graceful distinguishes its interior. The portico
(begun 1392) is about the most admirable in this city of
porticoes, par excellence, where almost every street is lined
with such structures, in some instances majestic or beauti-
ful, in almost all picturesque. The stately arcade of the
Servite building consists of 29 arches, resting on 30 light
columns of white and red marble. Such an accessory
predisposes to reverence for the sacred fane, even before
we enter it.
Another monastic architect commenced, in 1339, the
Certosa (extramural), finished 1350. The adjacent clois-
ters, of great extent, to which others were added in more
modern time, are now used as a public cemetery. Though
not large, this church's interior has a religious solemnity,
and the rich ornamentation is harmonious. The impres-
sions received from both the temple and the cloisters, are
such as we desire to carry away from a spot so consecrated,
such as accord with the feelings "the melancholy fear,
subdued by faith"-most suitably cherished, and allowed
their ascendant action, in the sanctuary of the dead.
Turning to monuments of another class at Bologna-
mediæval sculpture-we naturally think first of the cele-
brated shrine of S. Dominick, which nobly attests the
revival of that art by the Pisan school, and represents its
progress from the earlier years of the XIII. century down
to the time of Michel Angiolo. That marvellous tomb of
the saintly Founder, in the principal church of his Order,
does not, however, present any addition made to its exqui-
site adornments within the period here in question. The
only work of fourteenth century sculpture at Bologna
entitled to rank high (besides the above-mentioned on the
S. Petronio façade), is a marble ancona over the high altar
of S. Francesco, a church of the more severe and simple
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
399
Gothic style, built either between 1236-45 or 1227-51; long
used as an inland "dogana ;" finally restored with much
polychrome decoration, and reopened for worship about
twenty years ago. Vasari made the mistake of attributing
this sculptured altar-piece to the Siennese Agostino and
Agnolo, and to the date 1329. It is now proved to be a
work, wrought, or commenced, in 1388, by the Venetians.
Jacobello and Pietro Paolo, known as the Masegne brothers.
The architectonic design is Gothic, rich and graceful,
crowned by aerial pinnacles. The principal sculptures,
besides a multitude of statuettes and delicately finished
reliefs, represent the Deity enthroned, and the Coronation
of Mary by the hand of Christ-a fine treatment of that
now pre-eminently popular subject.
Before completing this review of the religious History
and Art of fifty years within certain limits, I may notice a
few facts generally manifested, or pertaining to the theme
before me :-
The introduction in sacred architecture within the Pied-
montese provinces of influences from medieval France,
as apparent in the principal churches at Aosta, Chieri,
Moncalieri; the failing of that influence, and prevalence of
the Lombardic in the same provinces farther from the fron-
tier, as at Asti, and in the church of S. Maria di Renversa,
near Rivoli; in the Milanese States, the new variation of
the Italo-Gothic at Monza and Como; and the appearance
of a tendency aiming at more repose and simplicity than
are found in the northern type, exemplified in a majestic
church of this period, the Carmine at Pavia, as to which
Schnaase justly observes that it displays the attempt to
modify that type by a return to the earlier medieval forms.
At the close of this century, we find almost all the
legendary subjects admitted to the prominence and sanc-
tioned place they long continued through later ages to occupy
400
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
in juxtaposition with the historic and scriptural; also, alike
permanently set in their artistic rank, the episodes super-
added to the Gospel narrative, and in some instances con-
tradictory to the clear, even the more impressive meaning
of the sacred text.*
I have had to notice the Vandalic practice of demolition,
of destroying houses or castles, as part of the penalty
inflicted on traitors or proscribed exiles. The Visconti, in
their government at Milan, had the good sense to abolish
this, ordering that the residences of such persons should be
preserved as public property; and this while a law was
newly brought into force at Modena, that homicides also
should be so punished-their houses razed to the ground.
An incident curiously displaying the ideas and supersti-
tions associated with Art, occurred in 1357 at Siena. That
city was first supplied with water from the Fonte Gaja, in
1343, long before the fountain on the picturesque Piazza
del Campo acquired renown through the sculptures of
Giacomo della Quercia. The sole statue adorning it pre-
viously was an antique attributed to Lysippus, a Venus
reported of as most beautiful, which had been disinterred
* See the ably annotated and valuable work, "Apocryphal Gospels
and Documents relating to the History of CHRIST," translated by B.
Harris Cowper; for the whole of the Marian Legend, excepting the
later-imagined bodily assumption, see the "Gospel of the Nativity of
Mary, probably (observes Mr. Cowper) drawn up by a Latin writer
late in the fifth century, or within a hundred years after;" for the
Descent into Hades, apparition to the Patriarchs, discomfiture of the
Demons, &c. in that invisible world, the" Gospel of Nicodemus," written
probably between 320 and 376, the Greek text of the earliest version of
the story, called also "Acts of Pilate," avowedly not before the time of
Valentinian (364-375); for the Legend of Veronica and her miracu-
lously impressed handkerchief, see the "Death of Pilate," apparently a
mediæval Latin production, and the "Revenging of the Saviour," the
most absurdly incredible of these fictions, and in the original of most
barbarous Latinity.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
401
near Siena before the constructing of the fountain. During
many years in this century, the city was torn and rent by
civil wars.
At last one of the magistrates forming the
"Council of Twelve" declared to his colleagues his con-
viction that all these calamities were owing to such profane
setting-up of a Heathen idol as had desecrated the Fonte
Gaja; he advised that the Venus should not only be cast.
down, but broken into pieces, and the fragments buried
within the Florentine territory, thus to transfer the curse
and misfortunes long suffered by Siena to her formidable.
neighbours! This was actually done-the worthy magis-
trates probably not suspecting how strictly Pagan was the
feeling by which they were animated!*
v. Perkins, “Tuscan Sculptors."
2 D
402
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
CHRONOLOGY OF MONUMENTS.
(1350-1400.)
Rome.-Lateran Basilica restored after fire; Gothic
tabernacle, with paintings by Berna da Siena, over high
altar, 1369, works ordered by Urban V., 1364 ;* S. Peter's,
monuments in crypt of Urban VI., Cardinal Tebaldeschi,
Bishop Maffiolus, &c.; S. Maria Maggiore, campanile
rebuilt 1372, spire added 1376; S. Maria in Trastevere,
chapel of SS. Philip and James, and monument of Cardinal
Alençon (ob. 1397); S. Cecilia, monument of Cardinal
Adam Eston (ob. 1398); S. Crisogono, mosaics in apse
(date uncertain); Christian Museum of Vatican, twenty-
five panel pictures of Florentine and Siennese schools;
Capitoline palace, restored and fortified about 1395.
Florence.-Cathedral, works recommenced 1360, vaulting
raised 1364, monument of Pietro da Farnese, 1362; statue
of S. Mark by Niccolo Lamberti, 1384; picture by Or-
cagna (against pilaster) of S. Zanobius, Patron Saint, with
SS. Crescentius and Eugenius, Charity and Humility; oc-
tagon of cupola and chapel of east end commenced 1367;
S. Maria Novella, finished 1357, paintings by Orcagna in
Strozzi chapel, altar-piece 1357; Or San Michele, building
continued, with Orcagna as architect, 1355, tabernacle by
*The silver busts of SS. Peter and Paul by the Siennese goldsmith,
Giovanni Bartoli, placed in this tabernacle by Urban V., are said to have
disappeared, as well as the jewels adorning them, during the French
occupation of Rome in the last century. It is probable that the jewels
alone were lost, and that the busts we see, almost half-length figures
indeed, are no other than those works of the XIV. century, studded
with new gems, and restored to their place in 1804.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
403
the same artist, 1359, Madonna picture, enshrined in it, by
Bernardo Daddi; S. Trinita enlarged, 1382-campanile,
1390; S. Croce, frescoes in choir (legend of the True
Cross) by Agnolo Gaddi-in chapel of Holy Sacrament by
A. Gaddi and Starnina-in Rinuccini chapel, by Giovanni
da Milano-in Medici (or ? noviziato) chapel, Gothic altar-
piece, four saints and four emblems by Orcagna, 1363; S.
Giovanni Gualberto, and four subjects from his life, with
the Saviour blessing-Virgin and Child, with Saints, 1365;
sacristy of S. Croce, Crucifixion with Saints and Angels,
picture of uncertain authorship, Christ bearing the Cross,
Resurrection and Ascension by Niccolo Gerini; Carmine,
frescoes (legend of S. Cecilia) in chapel near sacristy, at-
tributed to Spinello; frescoes in cloisters by Giovanni da
Milano; chapel of Bigallo Hospital, Madonna and Angels,
statues by Alberto d'Arnoldo, 1359; Loggia di Orcagna
(or de' Lanzi) begun 1376, reliefs of Virtues along summit,
1390; Silver altar of S. John, for Baptistery, commenced
1366; S. Miniato (extramural), frescoes in sacristy by
Spinello, ordered by General of Olivetan Order, 1377;
Certosa (Val d'Emo), sepulchral chapel of Acciajuoli fa-
mily, 1355-monument of Niccolo Acciajuoli, 1365, and
horizontal tombs near it of his father, his sister, and his
son; Impruneta, in collegiate church of village altar-piece,
or ancona, 1374.
Naples.-Cathedral, Gothic details in chapels and ca-
nopy of episcopal throne; S. Chiara, monument of King
Robert, finished 1350-monuments of Mary de Valois,
Duchess of Calabria, of the Duchess of Durazzo, 1366, of her
two daughters, and of the Baucia family, 1370; S. Dominico
Maggiore, monuments of the Count d'Aquino, 1357, of
Joanna Brancacci, 1358, of Bertrando del Balzo, and
others, dated within this century; S. Lorenzo, monuments
.--.
2 D 2
404
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of the Count d'Artois and his wife Joanna di Durazzo,
1387; S. Maria Incoronata, founded 1351 (?), frescoes of
the Seven Sacraments on vault, and scenes from the life of
the Patriarch Joseph (much damaged) on lunettes*-in
chapel of Crucifix, vestiges of frescoes by Gennaro di Cola;
S. Angelo in Nilo (or in Lido), founded 1380.
Venice.-S. Mark's Cathedral, reliefs on archivolts of
central door, pinnacles and Gothic ornamentation of fa-
çade -chapel of S. Isidore, mosaics, and sculptured shrine
of that Saint, 1350-55-fourteen statues and Crucifix on
roodloft, 1394-statues on architraves of chapels lateral to
choir, 1397-statuettes (date uncertain) in chapel of " Ma-
donna de' Mascoli”-monument of Doge Andrea Dandolo
(ob. 1354) in Baptistery; SS. Giovanni a Paolo, monu-
ments of Doges Michiel Morosini, Marco Cornaro, and
Antonio Veniero, of the wife and daughter of the last; S.
Maria Gloriosa (Frari church), Madonna statue on pin-
nacle of façade, monuments of different dates in this cen-
tury; S. Maria dell' Orto, founded about 1350, restored
1399 (originally dedicated to S. Christofer) relief of
Virgin and Child, with Angels, by Giovanni de Sanctis, and
tomb of that artist (ob. 1392) in sacristy; S. Giorgio Mag-
giore, monument of Bishop of Castello, 1381; Convent of
La Caritá (now Accademia di Belle Arti), reliefs beside
portal, Virgin and Child, 1345, SS. Leonard and Christofer,
1377; Gallery of Academy, paintings by Semitecolo and
others; Ducal Palace, new buildings commenced and con-
tinued up to 1355-sculptures on capitals of arcade,
P
* Formerly attributed to Giotto, and described by able critics as "but
a development of the Giottesque manner by a painter of the middle of
the XIV. century, who sought to carry out the master's grand maxims
without his genius and energy." (Crowe and Cavalcaselle.)
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
405
ground-floor ?*; Mazzorbo Island, relief over church-door,
1368; Torcello, two horizontal monuments of Bishops in
cathedral.
•
Milan.-Cathedral, founded 1385, works commenced
1386-east end completed 1391-sculptures over doors of
sacristies by Giovanni and Perino de' Grassit-monument
with expressive effigy and the Four Emblems in relief, of
* I have noticed (v. supra, p. 346) the difficulty of determining any
exact date for those memorable reliefs, so fraught with moral and reli-
gious meanings. Deferring with the highest respect to such an au-
thority as Ruskin, I must own that the proofs adduced by Selvatico
lead me to conclude for a later origin than the former admits. Schnaase
("Kunstgeschichte") supposes that those capitals nearest to the S. Mark
piazza are of the XV. century, the rest earlier, though of date subse-
quent to the death of Calendario (1355), to whom they were long at-
tributed; and the same critic infers that the leading idea, the general
conception of the whole series, must pertain to the latter years of the
XIV. century. Whatever the date of their execution, the insight, reli-
gious sentiment, and standing-point from which life and duty seem to be
here regarded, announce in these finely conceived sculptures the genius
and spirit of the XIV., possibly kept alive and animating art-productions
in the XV. century.
†These, the most noticeable sculptures of date within the XIV.
century in the Duomo, adorn Gothic pediments over two doors, at oppo-
site sides, near the choir. Over one door are reliefs of the Annunciation,
Salutation, Adoration of Magi, Flight into Egypt, Massacre of Inno-
cents; on the tympanum, the Virgin of Mercy, with devotees around
her, and the Virgin and Child with two kneeling Apostles, the Entomb-
ment, relief statuettes as supporters; and on the lintels of the door,
heads of Prophets. Over the other door are reliefs of Christ, the Virgin
and S. John the Baptist, the latter presenting his severed head; under
an acute arched canopy, the Deity enthroned amidst Angels and Saints;
and in quatrefoil niches, ten small heads of Prophets. These works are
distinguished by imaginative power and beauty of finish. The first-
named of the two artists is better known as Giovanni da Milano, a painter,
and especially through his pictures extant in Tuscan and Umbrian
churches.
406
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Archbishop Giovanni Visconti (ob. 1354), and of Marco
Corelli (ob. 1394), with effigy and statuettes-the latter a
benefactor to this church at the time when the buildings
were incipient, as a line in his epitaph tells us :-
"Pro fabrica ecclesie maxima dona dedit.”
Brera Museum, in "Museo Archeologico," monuments of
Bernabo Visconti, with equestrian statue and reliefs,* and
of his wife Regina della Scala; sculptures and wall-paint-
ings, from suppressed churches, of this century.
Verona.-Monuments of Della Scala family-Can Fran-
cesco, 1329; Giovanni, 1350; Mastino II. 1351; Cansig-
norio, 1375.
Pavia.-Certosa founded 1396; shrine of S. Augustine
(now in cathedral) commenced for church of S. Pietro in
Ciel d'Oro, 1362-finished about 1380; S. Maria del Car-
mina, 1373;† S. Francesco (similar style) 1360.
Padua.-In Basilica of S. Anthony, chapel of S. Felix
(originally of S. James) founded 1376, paintings on its walls
by Altichieri da Zevio and Jacopo Avanzi commenced in
that year; five statuettes of Saints (inferior) by architect
of this chapel, Andriolo, a Venetian-chapel of the Beato
Luca Belludi founded 1382, paintings on its walls by Giusto
di Menabrea-in cloisters, monuments with Gothic canopies
* Ordered by Bernabo himself prior to 1384, and attributed to Matteo
da Campione, but more probably by Bovino da Campione. One of the
reliefs represents this ferocious tyrant in the midst of a group of saints
round the Crucifixion, S. George presenting him to the Saviour. Beside
the equestrian statue are smaller figures of Justice and Fortitude.
Neither this monument nor that of Bernabo's wife, both removed from
a suppressed church, display any high artistic merits.
† Schnaase observes of this imposing architecture that "at a first
glance one might take it for a German Cistercian church of the end of
the XII. century.”
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
407
and fresco-painting, 1370, 1390, &c. ; chapel of S. George,
founded 1377, legend of that Saint, and of others painted
by Altichieri and Avanzi; Baptistery (XII. century), fres-
coes on walls and cupola, 1378; Eremitani church, monu-
ments of Da Carrara family, frescoes in choir attributed to
Guariento; library of Chapter of Cathedral, picture by
Semitecolo, 1367.*
Bergamo.-S. Maria Maggiore, porch with sculptures on
façade, and tabernacle with sculptures above porch on south
sile, 1353-60; octagonal Baptistery, commenced 1340, with
sculptures, on the outer and inner sides, of this period.
Como.-Cathedral rebuilt, works commenced 1396.
Mantua.-S. Antonio rebuilt, relief of Guido Gonzaga,
presenting the President of the Guild of Merchants to the
Virgin and Child, 1350;† S. Maria delle Grazie (about
six miles from the city) founded by the Marquis Francesco
Gonzaga, 1399, and built at the cost of 30,000 ducats-
Romanesque Gothic.‡
*This remarkable work of the early Venetian school represents the
Holy Trinity, the Virgin and Child, and four scenes from the story of
S. Sebastian: the Father (in that first subject) holds the Son, whose
arms are extended, though no cross is seen, and the self-devoting One
appears alive; both Persons of mild and serene aspect-a novel concep-
tion of this mystic class in Art.
† Guido Gonzaga was elected Captain of the People at Mantua, 1348.
Raised to receive a supposed miraculous Madonna picture, to which
the Marquis had addressed his vows for the delivery of Mantua from a
pestilence then desolating many Italian cities. This church became a
place of pilgrimage, and contains a multitude of votive offerings the
most curious,-life-sized and full-dressed effigies of those who desired to
express their gratitude to the Madonna, among others many illustrious
persons, Charles V., Frederigo Gonzaga, Pope Pius II., &c.; also pic-
tures of the perils and sufferings from which votaries had been rescued,
through the power (as they attest in commemorative verses) of the
408
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
Monza.-Basilica of S. John-rebuilt, façade 1389-
marble pulpit with statuettes and reliefs by the same artist,
Matteo di Campione, who designed that façade; S. Marit
in Istrada (rich Gothic ornamentation in terra cotta), 1357.
Piacenza.-S. Antonino completed, with acute arches,
1350; Palazzo Pubblico, begun 1281.*
Mirandola.—In S. Francesco, monument of Prendiparte
Pico, a warrior, by Paolo, son of Jacobello Masegne.
Treviso.-S. Niccolo completed by Dominican architects,
1352.
Rivoli.-S. Antonio di Renversa (extramural) Italian
Gothic, founded in the XII. century for the Knights'
Hospitallers, rebuilt.
Chieri.-Cathedral founded, Piedmontese Gothic, finished
about 1405.
Biella.-Baptistery.
Ferrara.-On façade of cathedral, statue of Alberto d'Este
in pilgrim-garb, 1393; in S. Andrea frescoes by Cristoforo
of Bologna.
Bologna.-S. Petronio founded, 1390-reliefs on base-
ment of façade (Prophets and Saints) by Bonafuti, 1393;
S. Francesco, sculptured ancona, 1388; S. Maria de' Servi,
heavenly Queen. The worship of the Virgin is manifested in its extreme
extent and most glaring light at this long favourite sanctuary.
* One of the noblest of such municipal palaces in Italy. All the
clergy, the guilds and other bodies of citizens contributed to the costs;
not more than one-fourth was finished in the XIII. century; the rest,
from a different design, about a hundred years later. The acute and
round arch, with richest terra cotta ornamentation, are here seen; and
the whole upper story rests on Gothic arcades of bold and well-marked
character. Never shall I forget the first impression from a view by
twilight of this superb edifice.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
409
1
1383-portico before it, 1392; paintings by Simone de'
Crocifissi at SS. Agostino e Giacomo (or S. Giacomo Mag-
giore) and S. Stefano, others by Jacopo Paoli, at the former
church; by different artists of this period at the Mezzarata
chapel; Certosa (extramural) completed, 1350-outer cinc-
ture of walls, 1367.
Pisa.-Campo Santo, wall-paintings, history of Job, 1371,
of S. Ranieri, 1386, of SS. Ephesus and Potitus, 1392-
subjects from Genesis, and Coronation of the Virgin, 1390-1
-Triumph of Death, Resurrection and Judgment (date
uncertain, but prior to 1355) ;* S. Caterina, completed 1352
-Apotheosis of S. Thomas Aquinas, in the nave, by Traini
- monument of Archbishop Salterelli (ob. 1352); S.
Francesco, in Sardi chapel paintings of the last scenes in
the life of Mary, and figures of Saints by Taddeo Bartoli,
1397; in chapter-house, the Passion, Ascension, &c. painted
by Piero Gerini, 1392; Accademia, several paintings of this
period; Certosa (about five miles from city), founded 1367.
Siena.-Cathedral, intarsio of pavement commenced
1372; in Palazzo Pubblico frescoes of history of Alexander
III. and Frederick I. 1380-1400; tribune of S. Dominico,
finished 1361.
San Gemignano.-Pieve (collegiate church), paintings of
Biblical history, Genesis, &c. by Bartolo Fredi, 1356, of
the Passion, &c. by Berna da Siena, 1380, and Giovanni
d'Asciano; sculptured font, 1379.
Pistoja.-Cathedral-silver altar and tabernacle of S.
* In that year died Pietro the younger of the Lorenzetti brothers,
(called by Vasari "Laurati”), to whom these pictures are now attributed;
and by the same Pietro was painted the fresco illustrating Eremite
Life, also on these walls.
410
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
事
​:
James, commenced 1357, continued by different artists,*
1366, 1386, 1390; in S. Antonio (now desecrated) and
Piazza S. Domenico, frescoes, Christ in Glory and Paradiso,
by Giovanni Cristiani; Palazzo Pubblico, enlarged 1395.
Prato.-Cathedral, façade. 1356-wall-paintings in chapel
of the "Sacra Cintura," about 1365;† S. Francesco, in
chapter-house frescoes by Niccolo di Piero Gerini, legend
of S. Mathew, Crucifixion with Saints (half-destroyed),
scenes from life of S. Anthony the Abbot (the best, and least
injured, that of the Saint distributing his fortune to the
poor), and over entrance, SS. John Baptist, Bartholomew,
Francis, Clara and Catherine, under which is inscribed:
Niccholo di Piero Gierini Dipintore Fiorentino pinse qui con
suo colore.‡
• Left wing of altar by Maestro Piero; right wing, by Leonardo di
Ser Giovanni; four statuettes and Annunciation by Pietro d'Arrigo, a
German.
† Agnolo Gaddi's frescoes of the legend of this Relic, the "holy
Girdle," which was enshrined in its splendid chapel 1395: the marriage
of the Pratese Merchant in the East; S. Thomas, in propria personâ,
consigns the Girdle to the bridegroom as dowry of the bride; the voyage
of the married pair; the arrival at Prato, here represented as a sea-port;
the merchant landing with the Relic hidden in a basket of reeds; the
merchant removed from his bed and laid on the floor by Angels, the Relic
being placed under his pillow; the merchant, on his death-bed, consigns
the Relic to the "Proposto" of the cathedral, who kneels to receive it;
procession of the Relic to the cathedral. Another series by the same
artist, on these walls, comprise the Birth, Espousals, Transit, and As-
sumption of the Virgin, who, in this last picture, lets down the precious
girdle to S. Thomas-this picture in great part lost, sacrificed to a
modern window and wooden shrine. Another series illustrates, with
much ability and effect, the legend of Joachim and Anna; on the vault,
the Evangelists and Four Doctors.
The legend of S. Matthew, as here treated, is a novelty in art; and
its passages are explained by rude Latin verses under each picture. The
Apostle induces Iphigenia, a Princess, to dedicate herself to Heaven by
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
411
Arezzo.-Cathedral, on façade statue of S. Matthew, and
over side-door relief of Madonna, Angels and Saints, by
Niccolo Lamberti; façade of "Misericordia" (now public
library, &c.) with reliefs, Madonna and Patron Saints, by
the same sculptor, 1383. Crucifixion by Berna da Siena,
in cathedral; paintings by Spinello Spinelli on fronts of SS.
Trinità and L'Annunziata; other paintings of this period in
gallery of Badia.
Cortona.-S. Domenico, altar-piece by Lorenzo Gerini.
Pietrasanta.—Pieve, completed about 1350.
Suvareto (Tuscan Maremma).-S. Francesco, and tomb of
Franciscan General who founded church-architecture and
sculpture, the sole extant works of Moccio da Siena, 1357.
Fermo.-Cathedral, monument to Giovanni Visconti da
Oleggio (ob. 1366) by Tura da Imola.
Orvieto.-Works of cathedral continued by architect
Giovanni di Stefano, 1373.
Perugia.-Wall-paintings (mostly damaged) at S. Fio-
religious vows; her uncle, Hymacus, who has just ascended the throne
wishes to wed her; the Apostle supports her in resisting his suit, and the
enraged King sends his satellites to murder S. Matthew while he is cele-
brating at the altar. In this last scene, the Mass of the Apostle is, both as
to costume and sacred ornaments, images, &c. like that of a modern
Italian priest! Underneath are the verses:
Dum missam celebras, ac Epygenie mentem
Virginis egregie firmas herere Deo,
Perfidia Presulis Himaci necaris inique
Martirium passus, nunc pro cuntis ora.
These much damaged pictures have lately been cleaned and restored,
without any repainting, through the care of the Franciscan friars still
left in the convent here-see a critical notice, "La Cappella de' Miglio-
rati," by Signor Cesare Guasti, Prato, 1871.
412
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
!
!
+
renzo, S. Angelo, S. Agata (frescoes here of different
periods), in crypt of oratory of S. Agostino, at the extra-
mural S. Matteo, and the desecrated chapel of S. Crispino;
in Pinacotheca, paintings of this period, mostly from sup-
pressed convents; over and beside portal of Palazzo Pub-
blico, statues of Saints and allegoric subjects in relief.
Assisi.—Franciscan Basilica, in lower church frescoes by
Giottino-in north transept, nine (New Testament sub-
jects) attributed to Taddeo Gaddi, but probably by Giovanni
da Milano; frescoes in south transept by Puccio Capanna;
in chapel of S. Catherine, by Pace da Faenza; sculptured
pulpit in upper church; in chapter-house, Crucifixion by
Giottino; S. Chiara, frescoes by Giottino on vault of tribune.
and in transept.
Foligno.-Wall-paintings of this period at S. Maria infra
Portas (where are earlier and later frescoes also), in crypt
below S. Anna convent, and in the cell of the B. Pietro
Crisci in the cathedral tower; many others in the collection
formed at the "Betlemme," a suppressed church.
Spello.-Remnants of wall-painting in the extramural S.
Claudio and SS. Trinità, a ruined church.
Trevi.-Wall-paintings (of different dates) in S. Fran-
cesco; several Madonnas, of this and following century, at
S. Mario Pietra Rossa, in the valley below this town.
Montefalco.-S. Francesco, paintings of later Giottesque
school, and others of various dates.
Spoleto.-Remnants of wall-painting at S. Domenico and
the Madonna della Stella, a desecrated convent.
Citta di Castello.-Cathedral, around lateral door (Gothic
style),reliefs of Mercy, Humanity, and scriptural subjects
on smaller scale.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
413
1
Terni.-S. Francisco, wall-paintings in chapel, 1350.
Salerno.-Cathedral, monument of an archbishop, 1382
-effigies of Prelates in outer portico.*
Monte Vergine.-In church of monastery: monuments of
Louis of Taranto (ob. 1362), and of his mother Catherine
de Valois, of Prince John (ob. 1335), son of Charles II., and
anonymous monument of a lady with recumbent effigy
(v. supr. p. 245).
Sanseverino.-Monuments of Tomaso da Sanseverino,
High Constable of Naples in 1353, and of the Princes of
Salerno in village church.
Modena.-In cathedral, Gothic ancona, the Crucifixion,
the Coronation of the Virgin, &c., painted by Serafino de'
Serafini, 1385; near choir of this church, wall-paintings,
the Deity,† the Annunciation, the Madonna and S. Peter.
Cagli (between Urbino and Gubbio).-In S. Francesco
miracles of S. Antony, painted about the end of this cen-
tury-discovered, 1842.‡
Barletta.-S. Maria Maggiore (founded in XII. cen-
tury), east end and apse completed.
Biletto.-Cathedral commenced 1392.
Galatina (Peninsula of Otranto).-S. Caterina, church
and monastery founded 1355 by Raimondo del Balzo,
* The finest sculptured monument here belongs to a period removed
by a few years from my present limits-that of Queen Margaret of Anjou
(ob. 1412), wife of Charles III., and mother of King Ladislaus.
†The Father, colossal, holds the Son, an infant, in His hand; the
Son holds a globe and blesses. Near these paintings are the archaic,
but highly characteristic, reliefs of the Last Supper and the scenes of
the Passion by Anselmo da Campione.
Erroneously ascribed to Guido Palmerucci.
414
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Prince of Taranto, lord of this town, on his return from
the Holy Land; the aisles added later; the older parts
(except façade) French Gothic; tombs of the Del Balzo
family.*
Palermo.-S. Maria della Catena, atrium (round-arched)
about 1392.
Note to article "Florence" in Chronology of Monuments.
The frescoes in the Cappella degli Spagnuoli, (cloisters
of S. Maria Novella), attributed by Vasari to Taddeo
Gaddi and Simone di Martino, are now known to be by
other artists, of the latter half of this century; those on the
walls probably by Andrea di Firenze; those on the vault,
or at least the greater part of them, by Antonio Veneziano.
The west wall is occupied by the picture described else-
where in this work (Vol. I. p. 591), which may be called
the Apotheosis of S. Thomas Aquinas, who is seated among
the highest saints; the personified Virtues and Sciences,
with those excelling therein, seated below. On the east wall
is the Church Militant and Triumphant, a complicated pic-
ture, strikingly illustrative of the ideas of the time in the
religious and ecclesiastical order. This is in two distinct
compartments: on the lower plain is the material church
represented by Florence Cathedral, as designed by Arnolfo;
in front of it are seated on thrones a Pope (Benedict XI ?),
an Emperor, a King, another Prince, and a Cardinal (sup-
posed the portrait of Niccolo da Prato, Legate at Flo-
* See, for an account of this church, Schnaase "Kunstgeschichte.”
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
415
rence); near these are other persons, a numerous group,
among whom are said to be introduced portraits of Cimabue,
Arnolfo, Petrarch and Laura, Boccaccio and Fiammetta;
others are listening to the exhortations of a prelate; far-
ther on one side, is seen an allegory of the vocation of the
Dominican Order; their saintly Founder is directing seve-
ral white and black dogs (Domini canes) to do their duty
by driving off wolves (heretics) from a flock of sheep-the
faithful; above are groups dancing and playing on instru-
ments, allegoric perhaps of innocent pleasure sanctioned
by the Church; apart is seen S. Dominick confessing a
penitent; and again, the same Saint pointing out the en-
trance to Paradise, at the visible gate of which stands S.
Peter, receiving the faithful who are allowed to pass in;
beyond are seen the Joys of the Beatified; Christ enthroned
amidst Angels, and the Virgin Mother near, the emblems
of the Evangelists and the Cross above. On the side of
the altar are the procession to Calvary, the Saviour bear-
ing the cross, women, soldiers, and a multitude following;
the Crucifixion, the Thieves expiring on their crosses, while
an Angel and a Demon receive their souls, Angels bewail-
ing over the Divine victim, and the Mother fainting-as
to which last episode (already noticed as objectionable), it
is worthy of mention that Benedict XIV. states the fact of
an order having been once given by the Master of the
Sacred Palace (the chief Censor) at Rome, for the destruc-
tion of all Crucifixion pictures introducing it. On the
same side is the Descent into Hades-Christ entering
across the fallen gates, beneath which the monstrous Lucifer
lies crushed. The paintings on the opposite wall, from the
life and miracles of S. Dominick, are almost effaced. Those
on the vault represent the Resurrection and apparition to
Mary Magdalen, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy
416
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY. AND
Spirit (quaintly treated, with prominence given to the
figure of the Virgin), and Christ walking the waters, with
S. Peter rescued from sinking,-which reminds of Giotto's
Navicella, and is distinguished by more imaginative power
than the others in this series.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
417
CHAPTER VII.
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY-1400 To 1447.
FEW are the epochs so marked by vicissitudes important
to great interests, or so distinguished by moral and intel-
lectual movement as that we have now to consider. The
study of its annals may confirm our conviction that the
progress of the Human Race is the event and dominant
fact of all History. At the opening of this period we find
Western Europe more or less agitated by, or at least in-
terested in, proceedings the theatre of which was an
ecclesiastical Court either at Rome or Avignon; Latin
Christendom divided by that schism in the Papacy which
lasted thirty-seven years, and which from 1378 to 1409
continued to break up the Latin Church into two, from
1409 to 1415 into three "obediences" to one or other of
the rival Popes. The spectacle of worldly-minded old
men, each claiming to be sole Vicar of Christ on earth,
denouncing and cursing each other, professing readiness to
sacrifice everything for the sake of peace and unity, while
evidently preferring the sweets of power to all other in-
terests, had its natural effect on thinking minds. Indig-
nation and earnest feeling gave rise to the demand insisted
on by famous universities, re-echoed from the retreats of
piety and meditation, that the whole Church should be
reformed in her head and members. The desire for such
radical improvement, the claims for an independent action
of the entire Clergy, as well as Prelates and Abbots, in
{
2 E
418
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the sphere of spiritual things, were ostensibly admitted
but practically eluded. The efforts vigorously made for a
cause alike sacred and rational, failed to secure results
commensurate with the elevation of the objects and theories
fervently cherished and eloquently maintained. What
ensued after the great Councils held in the first half of
this century, shows the impossibility of accomplishing re-
ligious reforms, for which the public mind is not mature,
and which the Hierarchic Body is not disposed to adopt or
promote.
Among the Popes of this period we find liberal and en-
lightened benefactors of learning and literature; some also
who may rank among the best and wisest sovereigns in
Europe. The influence of progressive ideas could not be
resisted. Eugenius IV., when prayed to absolve an enter-
prising traveller, Niccolo Conti, who had passed twenty-
five years in the East, from the sin of denying the faith in
order to save his life, did not refuse, but imposed as con-
dition to this bountiful use of the spiritual keys that the
penitent should narrate his travels with strict correctness
to Poggio Bracciolini, so that the literary talents of the
latter might produce some instructive work founded on
that tale of foreign experiences. Martin V. granted
plenary indulgence to all travellers (the orthodox, of course,
alone implied) who might perish in the long and dangerous
journeys to oriental lands, which were promoted and un-
dertaken with at least the avowed object of redeeming
souls by baptism and civilizing nations through the Gospel.
Even before this period, the spiritual censures against in-
tercourse between Christians and Moslems had been re-
laxed. Urban VI. gave faculties to a Cardinal Archbishop
of Genoa to absolve Genoese, Milanese, and Piacentine
merchants from the previously imposed penalties for ex-
porting goods to Egypt; and at the same time empowered
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
419
5
that Cardinal to great dispensations for exporting mer-
chandise to the amount of 8000 florins' value into the
states of the Sultan of Babylon. The opposition to Papal
government from its immediate subjects now becomes a
sign of the times, increasing in frequency and in menacing
significance. Formerly hostilities had come from abroad,
from Princes recalcitrant against the authority or aggres-
sive against the rights of the Church. The danger now
lurks nearer to the Vatican and the Lateran, in the gloomy
towers of the feudal lord, in the narrow streets of Rome,
and in the humble workshops of Roman artisans. Revolt,
the flight of the insulted Pontiff, his return after more or
less prolonged exile, after being regretted in absence and
implored to forgive, to accept the guarantees of loyal sub-
mission for the future, are now familiar episodes.
Thus was the storm again and again allayed; and if
more serious evils to the pontific throne were warded off,
it was generally through means most creditable to those
who sat thereon-by wisdom and clemency, by personal
qualities that won esteem. The frequent recurrence of such
shocks, however, proved the inexorable, if slumbering, force
of the volcano under the surface-the gradually intensify-
ing sense of irreconcilability between two essentially op-
posed offices, between the tiara and the sceptre, the crucifix
and the sword.
The Jubilee of A.D. 1400 brought multitudes to Rome,
notwithstanding the other celebration, ten years pre-
viously, ordered by Boniface IX., sole Pontiff who ever
presided over two such recurrent "Holy Years" in this
metropolis.* The pilgrims, regardless of the conflict-
* Contrary to antecedents, no bull was published for this Jubilee; the
Pope merely intimated the bestowal of the same indulgences on pil-
grims to Rome as in other such years. He allowed like benefits to be
obtained in the city of Prague, at the request of the King of Bohemia;
2 E 2
420
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ing claims of an antipope, and also of a pestilence now
raging in different countries, flocked in immense numbers
to that centre, especially from France, whose king, Charles
VI., had renounced the cause of Benedict XIII., formerly
protected by him, and still at Avignon. The dangers of
the journey to Rome were, it seems, greatest in the im-
mediate environs of that city; for the Count Gaetano of
Fondi, at war with the Pope, sent his retainers to scour
the Campagna and despoil the unfortunate travellers who
fell into their hands. The grave accusation is brought
against Boniface IX. of failing to provide for the safety of
the pilgrims, many of whom died of the pestilence which
broke out with great fury, during this year, in Rome.
Other disasters threw gloom over the "Anno Santo" within
the city's walls. In January occurred an incident which
displays the temper and social conditions of the time. The
city was entered, late at night, by a thousand armed men,
mounted and on foot, with cries of viva for the people, and
"death to the tyrant Pope Boniface IX.!"—the invaders
being of the Colonna faction, and the plot contrived by
that turbulent family at their castle of Palestrina.
The Capitol was reached without opposition; but an at-
tempt to storm the recently restored palace was fruitless.
The assailants found themselves in perilous predicament,
for none of the citizens in league with the "Colonnesi"
stirred at the moment for action; and on their assistance
it seems that reliance had been placed for success in this
desperate attempt. When morning dawned no alternative
was left to the aggressors but flight. Many were seized
by the pontific soldiers, and hanged without form of trial:
thirty-one being thus doomed to instant death. Theodore de
and thus was the ideal importance of the Roman pilgrimage weakened
by the act of the Pontificate itself.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
421
Niem mentions the horrid circumstance that a poor youth,
one of the prisoners, was spared on condition of his acting
as hangman to all the rest, and thus being obliged to inflict
death in public on his own father and brother; this excit-
ing pity and indignation. The Pope not only anathema-
tized the Colonnas and all their partisans, but sent troops,
2000 enrolled citizens, to devastate their lands. Palestrina
and Zagarola were laid under interdict. Before this year
had passed, Perugia, Spoleto, Assisi, and Nocera were lost
to the pontific states, and became subject to the powerful
lord of Milan. Perugia, however, was recovered for the
tiara by Ladislaus of Naples, now the friend and protector
of Boniface IX. The deposition of the worthless and
vicious Emperor Wenceslaus, son of Charles IV., and the
election of his successor afforded opportunity for a notice-
able recognition of that office of supreme umpire often
nobly exercised by the Popes, and still theoretically as-
signed to them by all Western Europe. Boniface IX.
received the complaints which the Princes and Electors
addressed to him against the Emperor, before they pro-
ceeded to extreme measures.* Wenceslaus was admo-
nished, but in vain, by the Pontiff; and before the Electors
took the step which left the imperial throne vacant, they
sought sanction from the same authority.
* One of the charges against Wenceslaus was that he had derogated
from the imperial rights over Italy, by conferring the Dukedom of
Milan on Gian Galeazzo. In the eyes of the Pope he was culpable for
having made no effort to suppress the schism; still more as the sacrile-
gious murderer of S. John Nepomuck (or Nepomucene), confessor to
the Empress, and whom he ordered to be drowned in the Moldau (1383),
because the holy man refused to betray the secrets of the confessional.
Wenceslaus, who still retained the kingdom of Bohemia, was succeeded
by Robert, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria, elected King of the
Romans in 1400.
422
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
In 1404 deputies from the Antipope were admitted
to make some propositions in Consistory.* Their inso-
lence excited such indignation that the death of Boni-
face, who was already suffering from complicated diseases,
is said to have been hastened by the shock to his temper.
He did not leave a much honoured memory; and Muratori's
sentence is not unjust, that "he rather destroyed than
built up." The wealth he had accumulated (by what means
we have seen), enabled him to maintain a considerable
army, and recover several cities lost to the pontific states.†
He conferred benefits on the university of Bologna, by
founding new cathedræ for Civil Law and Physics. In
that city he appointed a Jubilee, kept up with festivities
for three days, with the object of promoting the works for
the splendid basilica of S. Petronio. The building of the
Milan cathedral was in a similar manner forwarded by
him.
The
So soon as the Pope's death became known, tumults and
conflicts broke out; the usual factions, headed by Colonnas.
and Savelli on the Ghibelline (anti-papal) side, by an
Orsini on the other, resumed their hereditary strife; and
for three days the streets were a theatre of civil war.
Capitol was attacked; the senatorial palace on that hill
was gallantly defended by the Senator, but the assailants
took possession of the church and convent of Ara Coli.
The deputies of the Antipope, who attempted to fly, were
seized and imprisoned in the S. Angelo fortress, but set
*Not, as reported, to propose a mutual concession of the Papacy, but
merely a meeting between the two claimants.-v. Muratori, Annali.
†The chronicler Gobelinus depicts in dark colours the effects of the
simony and venality notorious in the Curia during this pontificate:-
"Auctoritas et reverentia Papalis ex factis cjus (Bonifacii) plurimum
viluit apud omnes. . Clerusque quotidie magis et magis eisdem
laicis vergit in contemptum."-vi. c. 87.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
423
free on payment of 5000 gold florins, that they might con-
fer with the Cardinals respecting the election.
At the opening of the conclave all the Cardinals pledged
themselves solemnly to abdicate, if the interests of the
Church should so require of the future Pope. After
five days they elected Cosmo de' Migliorati, who, before
being one of their college, had been appointed to the sees
of Ravenna and Bologna,* and had acted as papal "col-
lector" in England. Innocent VII. (the name he took)
experienced during a short pontificate (1404-6) how great
were the perils now besetting S. Peter's throne-not indeed
through his own fault, for he was a just as well as learned
man, of pacific temper and the purest intentions. Even
before his coronation Rome was entered by Ladislaus, who
marched hither at the head of troops, with the pretext of
protecting the new Pope, born his subject (a native of
Sulmona), from violence or insult, but in reality, as the
event showed, to forward his own ambitious designs. The
King spent the first night in the Lateran palace, and the
next day was received by the Pope, with honours, at the
Vatican. He remained in Rome fifteen days; and during
this interval there was drawn up a treaty, one of the most
remarkable documents in the history of the Pontificate,
for it imports a partial abdication of the temporal power.
It was concluded only ten days after Innocent had been
raised to the throne, ratified by six Cardinals and four
citizens of the higher class, in a chapel at the Vatican:
The Pope was to appoint the Senator, with the same attri-
butions as formerly; the pontific Court, the aggregate
Clergy, and cases of leze-majesty, were to be exempted
* Troubles and hostilities against the clergy, so prevalent during this
period of schism, had prevented him from taking possession of either of
those archbishoprics.
!
ī
424
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
་་
1
from that officer's jurisdiction; six assessors (Gubernatores
Camera), succeeding to the place of the "Riformatori,"
and holding office for two months, were to administer the
civic finances, levy taxes, pay salaries, &c. After the first
half-year, three other magistrates were to be aggregated
to the gubernatores, their nomination to proceed both from
the Pope and the King. Ecclesiastical affairs were to be
exempt from all secular control; and if questions should
arise as to the limits between the ecclesiastical and civil,
the umpire was to be King Ladislaus. The Leonine City
was to be left under the Pope's exclusive jurisdiction; and,
as well as the defensible posts in that quarter, the Milvian
bridge to be guarded by pontific soldiers. No Roman
barons, or “signori" of the neighbourhood with armed
retainers, could be employed in the public service. The
Capitoline palace was to be reduced to a communal resi-
dence, as seat of the civic authorities, and court of justice.
That palace, on the first day the treaty came into force,
was consigned to a representative of the King, who intro-
duced the several magistrates. Before Ladislaus left, the
Pope constituted him Rector (or Governor) of the Cam-
pagna and Maritime Latium for three years; and that
territory continued in fact subject to the Neapolitan
crown for about thirteen years, till the time, namely, of
Martin V.
:
In his first year Innocent VII. took a step, the sequel to
which forms one of the leading events of this century he
announced the convocation of a General Council, to be
opened at Rome the 1st November, 1405. Many requests
from different quarters had convinced him of the necessity
of thus providing for the endangered interests of the
Church.
The Antipope imitated him some time afterwards. The
King of Naples continued to support the party disaffected
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
425
against the Pope in Rome. His troops again appeared in
the neighbourhood, and encamped on the fields near the S.
Angelo castle. The Romans of the anti-papal party joined
them, and co-operated in an attempt, not successful, to
seize the posts at the Milvian bridge.* Several skirmishes
ensued, but without decisive results. A deputation of lead-
ing citizens went to the Vatican, for the Pope was disposed
to listen to terms; but when they requested the surrender of
the Capitol and of that bridge to the representatives of the
people, Innocent refused. As these citizens were returning
from the palace, they were seized, except some who fled,
and brought before Ludovico de' Migliorati, the nephew
of the Pope and commander of his forces, who was then
lodging together with a condottiere near the S. Spirito
hospital. Ludovico upbraided them violently, and when
they attempted to justify themselves drew his sword and
wounded one of them in the face; then ordered the soldiers
beside him to kill them on the spot. Thus were eleven
citizens murdered in presence of this ferocious man, who
ordered their bodies to be thrown out of a window into
the street. After the horrid spectacle had been seen, and
the crime made known in the city, a revolt of most menacing
aspect broke out. The Pope, the Cardinals, and most of
the Vatican officials fled on the same day (6th August,
1405), passed the night at a village twelve miles distant,
and thence travelled to Viterbo; being exposed to such
suffering from heat, thirst and fatigue that some of the
more old and feeble fell down dead on the wayside, and
*This bridge must then have been partly of wood, as Infessura tells
us it was burnt on occasion of that attack. It must have been restored
before 1408, when a writer of the day mentions it as serving for transit.
It is still fortified by towers, as in the Middle Ages; and its last vicissi-
tude was to be blown up during the siege of Rome in 1849, not by French
but Roman orders.
426
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
"
others were struck with fever before they reached their
resting place.*
Rome was now left without regular government, and
in the power of an irritated anti-papal faction. Acts of
violence and bloodshed took place. Those courtiers and
adherents of the Pope who had not escaped, were put to
death; the Vatican was twice pillaged, first by the rabble,
next by Giovanni Colonna; books and documents, bulls and
diplomas were torn to pieces or carried away.† On the
* These scenes are graphically described by an illustrious eye-witness,
Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444), who had been lately appointed to a secre-
taryship by the Pope. In a letter to Coluccio Salutati he tells what he
saw between the S. Angelo bridge and the Vatican on that 6th October.
"When I heard the tumult, I hastened back to rejoin my friends; but
having made my way through the streets and reached the bridge of
Hadrian, I suddenly came upon a strong body of armed men, who were
guarding it. All around were arrays of weapons. I had just time to
turn my horse and pass into a side street, where I alighted, changed my
dress, and mingled unknown among the crowd, thus contriving to pass
through the guards. Scarcely had I left their ranks when I saw the
servant, who had stayed behind with my horse, seized by some soldiers,
the animal, and even his clothes, taken away from him. After I had
reached my companions the spectacle of the murdered men presented
itself, and filled me with horror, for many of them had been known to
me: they lay in the middle of the strect, covered with blood and gaping
wounds; I looked at them and shuddered. I then went to the palace of
the Pope, who was in the greatest affliction; utterly ignorant of what
was to take place, a peaceful and benignant man as he is, far as possible
from thoughts of bloodshed and murder. He sorrowfully bewailed him-
self and his fate; his upturned glance seemed to call God to witness his
innocence. Distress almost deprived him of power to decide what to do
or whither to go; and those around him were of different opinions. At
last prevailed the advice of those who urged a speedy flight. We prc-
pared as well as the short notice allowed, and started on our journey;
first a troop of horse, next the luggage," &c.
+ "Multos librorum papalium deportaverunt, et litteras bullatas et
aliqua registra supplicationum et literarum papalium laniaverunt; et de
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
427
20th of the same month, 3000 Ncapolitan soldiers, led by
the Count di Troja, entered the porticoes of St. Peter's.
Their King soon followed, and took up his lodging in the
Vatican. His purposes being now manifest, the Romans
showed that, however dissatisfied with Papal, they had no
desire to exchange it for Neapolitan rule. The King's
troops were plundered as they passed with their pack-
horses along the right bank of the Tiber to the Leonine
City; the S. Angelo bridge was barricaded with earth-
works, and the Neapolitans could not cross to make them-
selves masters of the river's left bank. Ladislaus held the
S. Angelo castle, while the anti-papal party occupied the
Capitol. The municipal palace on that hill was the strategic
point most hotly contested. It was at last transferred to
the pontific authorities through means of Paolo Orsini, who
attacked and occupied it by force. The S. Mark tower near
it was demolished. A new magistracy was created, and the
Senator appointed by the Pope returned to resume his
office. Soon after this the Neapolitans were defeated in
the Neronian fields, near the Milvian bridge; this proved
decisive; the invaders withdrew; the Colonna and Savelli
leaders left Rome; and the city, all but the S. Angelo
castle, was regained for the Pontificate.
A Roman deputation waited on the Pope at Viterbo,
with the keys of their city, which they laid at his feet,
praying him to return. He re-entered Rome, received
with rejoicings, 13th March, 1406, and presently denounced
Ladislaus as the enemy of the Church, &c., declaring him
deprived of his kingdom. The S. Angelo castle, held by
his garrison, was besieged. At this emergency Ladislaus
deemed it wise to submit, and accept the terms offered by
thesaureria papali ultra L volumina librorum exportaverunt."-Theod.
de Niem, II. c. 36
428
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the Pope. He ordered his troops to consign the castle to
pontific officers, and after this peace prevailed in the city
during the brief remaining period of Innocent VII.'s life.
The Antipope, after being besieged by the French troops
in his fortress-palace at Avignon, and saving himself by
flight, took refuge at Nice, and thence went to Genoa, a
city now, through voluntary cession, subject to France.
There the governor received him as legitimate pontiff-
again recognised as such by Charles VI., who had already
changed his mind in favour of Benedict XIII. A pesti-
lence, breaking out at Genoa, induced the latter to settle
first at Savona, afterwards at Monaco and Marseilles. He
endeavoured hard to persuade the world that he was ready
to abdicate so soon as his rival should do alike.
The mild and peaceful Innocent VII. exerted himself to
reconcile Guelph and Ghibelline opponents; and used to
say, after yielding one point after another to the demands
of the Romans: "I have conceded all you have sought
from me; and nothing else remains for you to ask, unless
you desire to deprive me of the pontific mantle I wear!"
The struggle for independent municipal government in his
time is almost the counterpart (at least as to ulterior aims)
of that which agitated Rome in the time of his predecessor
and namesake, Innocent II., 1143. The citizens did not,
in either instance, desire the overthrow of the pontific
throne, but the free administration of secular affairs under
that authority. Leonardo Bruni thus describes the general
conditions of Rome as he found them:-" The Roman people
have carried to excess the exercise of their lately acquired
liberties. The Colonnas and Savelli are most powerful
among the nobles; the Orsini are in decline, because
suspected by the people, and supposed to favour the Pon-
tiff. The Curia is filled and wealthy; the Cardinals are
numerous, and maintain great dignity. The Pope lives
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
429
at the Vatican, desiring leisure (cupidus otii), and con-
tented with the present state of things, provided he may
be allowed to enjoy it. But such the perverse spirit of
certain influential persons among the citizens, that tran-
quillity is not to be obtained. We are continually under
arms here; and it is difficult to recollect oneself sufficiently
for writing. The capriciousness and perversity of this
people have risen to such a point that one cannot find a
peaceful spot."*
An interview between
It soon became evident
The thirteen Cardinals now in Rome, elected (30th No-
vember, 1406) the new Pope, Angelo Corrario, a Venetian
and bishop of Castello (ancient title of the Venetian See),
who took the name of Gregory XII. His first step was to
renew the solemn engagement made in the conclave by
himself and all the Cardinals, to abdicate if requisite for
the peace of the Church; and the Antipope was informed
by his letters of that intention.
the two was proposed, at Savona.
that neither Gregory nor his rival were sincere; and that
an octogenarian (such the age of the former) loved power,
or its semblance, more than anything else. Yet this Pon-
tiff's position at Rome was far from agreeable or secure.
His poverty obliged him to pawn his tiara for 6000 gold
florins to a Florentine merchant, and to sell many books
out of the library of the Holy See, for 500 gold florins, to
the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples. On the night of the
17th June, Rome was entered with violence through a
breach (probably caused by ruin) in the walls, between the
Porta Maggiore and the Tiburtine or S. Lorenzo gate.
An armed company, whose leaders were the two Colonna
brothers, an Orsini, a Savelli, and one of the Normanni
* Rerum Italicarum Historia, and Epistles; all but the last sentence
of this extract being from the former work, and in the past, which
I translate into the present tense-that used in the letters.
430
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
family, thus forced their way as far as the now solitary
church of S. Bibiana, but a short distance from Porta
Maggiore, where they waited till daybreak. This attempt
proved fruitless as desperate. None of the citizens rose
(as, no doubt, expected) to take part in revolt or combat.
The Pope retired to the S. Angelo castle; and presently
Paolo Orsini led his soldiers from the Campagna, where
they were then on duty, to resist the aggressors. Several
were made prisoners, among others the two Colonnas, both
released on payment of ransom, and Galeotto Normanni,
who was beheaded at the base of the Capitol by order of
the Senator. As to the Pope and Antipope, their oft-
repeated and never-fulfilled promises, proposals of compro-
mise, and treaties without effect, form an episode both
scandalous and contemptible, only deserving the notice of
History on account of the opposition excited, the intellec-
tual repugnance aroused against them, and the ecclesiastical
efforts which sought to eradicate, not the schism alone, but
other abuses with it. Illustrious teachers in the world of
thought and theological science appeared as champions of
the honour and purity of the Latin Church, and of the pri-
mæval rights inherent in her prelacy: Pierre d'Ailly,
Bishop of Cambrai, and in 1411 Cardinal; Jean Charlier,
called Gerson, successor to D'Ailly as Chancellor of the
Paris University, (ob. 1429); Nicholas Clemangis (ob.
1440); Nicholas Cusa, Cardinal in 1448; and Zabarella,
professor of Canon Law at Padua, Archbishop of Florence,
afterwards Cardinal (1339-1417). The opinion of such
men on the then condition of Western Christendom, and
the remedies suitable for the baleful disease, pertains to
History.*
* “In consequence of clerical avarice, simony, and the greed and lust
of power in the Popes, the authority of Bishops and inferior ecclesiastics
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
431
Gregory and Benedict both became itinerant, seeking
protection or flying from danger, and thus mutually dis-
crediting their cause. Meantime the ever restless Ladis-
laus seized the opportunity of obtaining his cherished
object, the conquest of Rome. With a large army he
marched by way of Velletri to Ostia; there his fleet cast
anchor at the same time, and this ancient seaport was soon
taken. On the 16th April, 1408, he sailed with his forces
up the Tiber, landed at S. Paul's, threw a bridge of boats
across the river near that basilica, and was soon before the
walls of Rome. The city was without adequate means of
defence, governed by a Cardinal, the Vicar of Gregory XII.,
is completely set aside, so that they seem like mere pictures in the
Church, and are well-nigh superfluous."-Gerson, Opera (ed. Dupin) II.
p. I. 174. The same writer maintains that the Church is infallible, but
not the Pope; that the Church can put limits to the powers of the Pope,
but the Pope cannot limit those of the Church; that the Church has
not the right to chastise with corporeal punishments, unless conceded to
her by Princes, &c. Zabarella laments that the Church "had become
brutal, a severe prison-house, where only dungeon-air could be breathed
-full of hypocrisy and false pretence." "If we consider (he says) the
calamities and evils that now overwhelm the Church, we shall be con-
vinced that they have been caused by the cessation of Councils. For-
merly it was the usage to decide all difficult affairs in those Councils,
which took place frequently. But from the time that certain Popes
began to govern the Church rather as temporal princes than successors
of the Apostles, there has been no care to convoke such august assem-
blies. The flatterers desirous to please the Popes have persuaded them
for a long time, and still do so, that they are at liberty to do whatever
they please, without even excluding things unlawful. This has been
the origin of infinite abuses. The Pope has possessed himself of all the
rights of subordinate churches, and in consequence their Bishops have
been counted for nothing. It is necessary to modify the honours paid
to the Pope, and no longer carry them to such excess as to let it appear
that as much is rendered to him as to God Himself."
Treatise on the Schism.
432
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
but without a Senator, that post being vacant. Terms of
surrender were stipulated between the Count di Troja, the
royal representative, and Paolo Orsini on the pontific side.
The Cardinal Governor fled. The King entered amidst
popular rejoicings and pomps, 25th April; he passed first
to the Capitol, under a canopy of cloth of gold borne by
eight Roman barons. During two months he exercised
sovereign powers, coined money, appointed a Senator and
other magistrates, and raised his marble escutcheon on the
Capitoline palace. His thoughts were directed to an im-
perial crown; and having that highest prize in view, he
contented himself with the title, "Illuminator Urbis," to
signify his supremacy over Rome. Here he remained till
the 23rd (or 28th) of June, and then left, deputing the
Count di Troja to act as his Lieutenant.
In 1409, Gregory XII. opened a council at Udine; but
so small the number of prelates who attended, that he had
soon to prorogue, in fact to dissolve it. From Udine he
fled in the disguise of a merchant, and on foot, with two
servants, to Gaeta, a retreat desired, at the cost of that long
perilous journey, for the sake of the protection now afforded
him by Ladislaus, but only for an interval before that king
recognised another Pope. After this, Gregory became
again a fugitive, and found refuge at Rimini, there pro-
tected by Malatesta. While he was at Lucca, before the
abortive council, all the Cardinals hitherto faithful to him
deserted this Pontiff; and the two last to quit issued a
protest to a better-informed Pope, with appeal to a General
Council. Universities were consulted, and agreed, after
deliberation, in deciding for the right of the Sacred
College to provide for the welfare of the Church by con-
voking such an assembly on its own responsibility. Thir-
teen Cardinals, formerly of the two obediences, met at
Livorno, and concerted together as to the requisite line of
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
433
action. At last a Council, by some accepted as oecumenical,
met at Pisa. Inaugurated in the cathedral on the 25th
March, 1409, it was attended by 24 Cardinals, 3 Patriarchs,
180 Bishops and Archbishops, 300 Abbots and Procurators
of Abbots, 280 Theologic Professors, the Deputies of Chap-
ters and Universities, and the Ambassadors of several
Sovereigns.* On the first day after, High Mass and a
procession, two Archbishops, two Bishops, and two Car-
dinal Deacons, with certain theologians and votaries, went
to the chief portal, and cited Angelo Corrario and Pedro
de Luna to appear, then reported their absence, on which
the Council ordered in the name of the Church Universal
that the schism should be suppressed. Appointed officials.
accused the two contendants for the Papacy, requiring that
both should be declared contumacious, &c. After these
formalities had been repeated a second time, and after an
adjournment for some days, the Council proceeded to con-
demn Gregory and Benedict for schism and contumacy-
also as heretical, perjured through violation of their oaths,
degraded from all dignities, and ipso facto separated from
the Church; all the faithful being now prohibited under
pain of excommunication from recognising and favouring
* According to Cesare Cantu, there were present 24 Cardinals,
4 Patriarchs, 80 Bishops, 26 Archbishops, 86 Abbots, 202 Procurators
of monasteries, 300 Doctors of Theology and Canon Law, and the
Deputies of more than one hundred Chapters, as well as of 13 Universi-
ties. The statistics above are from Ciaconius. In the "Art de Vérifiér
les Dates," they are given differently: 22 Cardinals, 4 Patriarchs, 12
Archbishops, several Procurators of absent Archbishops, 80 Bishops,
and 102 Procurators of Bishops, 87 Abbots, and 202 Procurators of
Abbots, 41 Priors, the 4 Generals of the Mendicant Orders, the Grand
Master and 16 Knights Commendators of Rhodes, the deputies of at
least 13 Universities, and of more than 200 Chapters, more than 300
Doctors in Theology and Canon Law, the Ambassadors of several Kings
and of other great Princes.
2 F
434
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
them. A French theologian read a long discourse main-
taining that the Church was superior to the Pope; and an
Italian Prelate reported that such was the opinion of 103
Doctors of the Bologna University. During the sessions
a solemn comedy was enacted in another church at Pisa,
where certain clerics of the party of Benedict went through
the formula of citing all the Cardinals who had deserted
him, and were then in that city, to return to him by a given
day, under the usual penalties for disobedience. It is
needless to add that this availed nothing. Alike was
disregarded the protest of the Emperor Robert, whose
ambassadors appealed to another General Council, declaring
that of Pisa illegitimate because not convoked by himself.
On the 15th June, the Cardinals went into conclave, and
on the 26th, elected to the theoretically vacant throne,
Peter Philargos, said to be a native of Candia, Cardinal
Archbishop of Milan, and Legate in Lombardy, who now
became Pope as Alexander V.
The parties and claims of Gregory XII. and Benedict
XIII. were not annihilated by this procedure. The Coun-
cil had over-rated its strength in imagining that its decree
would at once suppress the schism; and instead of two, the
Christian world now beheld, for the first time, three Popes,
all maintaining their pretensions and "obediences," alike
denouncing and reprobating each other!
Yet a great historic momentum cannot be denied to the
august assemblage at Pisa. It pronounced the emancipa-
tion of the Latin Catholic Church from the spiritual des-
potism arrogated by a single Prelate; it put in its protest
that the true character of the Christian Hierarchy was not
the absolute monarchic, nor its constitution subjected, like
Judaism, to the unlimited control of a "Pontifex Maximus.”
Alexander V. was crowned in front of the Pisan Duomo,
-the first time that majestic temple looked down on rites
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
435
so imposing. A singular example of the accessibility of the
high places in the Church to learning and merit, the new
Pope had owed his rescue from want and ignorance to an
Italian Franciscan, who had found him in his Greek island,
a friendless boy and literally a beggar dependent on alms.*
After confirming all the acts of the Council, his first step
was to anathemize Ladislaus, and declare his forfeiture of
the Neapolitan crown. A claimant, for some time lost
sight of, Louis, Duke of Anjou (the same who was crowned
by the Antipope Clement, in 1389, as King of Jerusalem
and the Two Sicilies), now re-appears on the historic scene.
Embarking at Marseilles with troops and many galleys, he
arrived at Pisa, and there received investiture of his king-
dom from the Pope, who also appointed him "Gonfaloniere"
of the Church. The Florentine Republic, alike dreading
the encroachments of Ladislaus, entered into league with
the Pontificate against him; and the double object was
undertaken by these allies of rescuing Rome from that
king's usurpation, and depriving him of his throne for the
benefit of another dynasty. Cardinal Baldassare Cossa,
legate at Bologna, supposed to have been the influencing
mind at the Council of Pisa, and to have indeed directed the
choice of the Conclave to Philargos, rather than secure the
Papacy (as it was believed he might have done) for himself,
had the credit of devising this policy and bringing about
the league. That warlike, restless Cardinal, with forces
under his command, himself took part in the enterprise,
and together with the Florentine general, at the head of
* He had studied at Oxford and Paris, and taught in the latter uni-
versity. Gian Galeazzo Visconti, impressed by his character and con-
verse, secured to him successively the sees of Vicenza and Novara,
before raising him to the higher metropolitan rank; and whilst Lombardy
was in a troubled state after the death of that duke, Boniface IX. appointed
him Legate.
i
2 F 2
436
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
2000 lances and 1500 foot, joined Louis on his march by
way of Orvieto and Viterbo to Rome. Their arrival was
anticipated by the Neapolitans; an army, mustered by the
Count di Troya at Perugia, reaching the ancient capital
before them. The whole of the city on the Tiber's left
bank, and the Transtiberine suburb were occupied by the
forces of the Colonnesi in the interest of the Neapolitan
King; but the Leonine City was well defended from the
S. Angelo Castle, held by a garrison for the Sacred Col-
lege. On the 1st of October, 1406, the army of the League
appeared at the gates, and entered the Leonine City with-
out resistance, as the chatelain of the fortress had declared
himself for Alexander V. After a few encounters between
the opponents, without serious results, the leaders of the
league determined to attack Rome on the eastern or
northern side, and withdrew first to Monte Rotondo, leaving
the Borgo quarter alone occupied by Paolo Orsini for the
Pope. Their project was abandoned owing to the failure
of co-operation, relied upon from those favourable to their
cause, within the city. Instead of besieging Rome, the
Duke of Anjou and the Legate separated, and withdrew
their troops in different directions. The Florentine forces
alone remained, encamped at a few miles' distance from the
walls. On the 30th December a battle was fought on ground
now comprised within the Transtiberine fortifications, but
at that time for the most part an exposed suburb, the
present Borgo and Trastevere regions. The Neapolitans
and the troops under Paolo Orsini here combated with
much bloodshed, and the former were totally routed; their
defeat and flight were no sooner known than the citizens
rose with vivas for the "Church and People." A multi-
tude assembled that night in the Campo de' Fiori; and
before daybreak the Transtiberine suburb and the bridges
were guarded by the soldiers of Paolo Orsini, who pro-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
437
*
claimed the sovereignty of the Pope. A few days after-
wards the Florentine forces were allowed to enter paci-
fically, according to accepted terms, and marched into
Rome under the banner of the lily. The whole city was re-
subjected to the Pontiff, except two gates, the Tiburtine
and the Porta Maggiore, which had been developed into
strong fortresses with moats and drawbridges added to the
Honorian walls. These, in gloomy isolation, were defended
by Neapolitan garrisons against attack and bombardment
for a whole month, till capitulation was their only resource.
Miserable indeed was the condition of Rome after these
struggles. The Leonine City was encumbered with ruins ;
the woodwork of houses and the pavement of streets had
been torn up to make barricades; the belfry towers of
S. Peter's and S. Spirito were shattered by assault, and
beset with machines for bombarding. Sacred offices in that
basilica were almost suspended; and the Canons met in
chapter at a distant church, S. Tommaso in Formis, on
the Cœlian hill. Alexander V. never saw Rome in his
capacity as her sovereign. Guided in all things by the
ambitious Cardinal Cossa, he left Pisa, established him-
* The actual Borgo was comprised partly (not entirely) within the
walls of the Leonine City. The Trastevere was then an unprotected
suburb, excepting a district south of the Vatican, enclosed within the
Honorian walls, which here described almost a triangle, with the Tiber
at its base and the Porta S. Pancrazio at its apex. It is not easy to
determine whether the battle in question was throughout its action
external to the fortifying walls. The Campo de' Fiori, now a busy piazza,
but far from all gayer centres, near the sites of the theatre and curia
of Pompey, owes its name to a meadow where horses and cattle used to
graze, till about the middle of the XV. century, on ground now occupied
by old-fashioned houses and stalls for petty traffic. As is well known,
the walls of the Leonine City are now reduced to picturesque ruin, and
the Trastevere and Vatican encircled by fortifications in no part more
ancient than the pontificate of Pius IV.
438
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
self at Bologna, and died there on the 3rd May, 1410.
He used to say to those of his intimacy: "I have been a
wealthy Archbishop, a poor Cardinal, and now am a mendi-
cant Pope." The merits and capacities which had raised
him successively to so many high posts, did not suffice for
the difficult position in which he found himself at the sum-
mit of the ecclesiastical scale. With good intentions, he
effected no reform; and his very benevolence led him to
exercises of his office that were abusive and confirmatory of
abuses.*
On the 17th May the sixteen Cardinals at Bologna, hold-
ing conclave in the old Podesta palace, which had been the
prison of King Henzius, elected to the Papacy the above-
mentioned Baldassare Cossa, of a noble Neapolitan house,
who took the name of John XXIII.; and who, not being in
priest's orders, was ordained and consecrated as bishop in
S. Petronio before his coronation. The dark accusations
brought against him-almost every crime that man could
commit, including the poisoning of his virtuous predecessor
-cannot be proved, nor finally accepted by History, though
many of those charges certainly were admitted by an
Ecumenical Council. The raising up of such a man, the
very personification of that worldliness which had long dis-
graced the Papal throne and the higher prelacy, at the very
crisis when the religious sense of Christendom most
urgently demanded the regeneration of a spiritual supre-
macy so deeply fallen below the ideal of its vocation-this
seems truly a step of momentous fatality, or, we might
*"In ejus Papatu nihil penitus reformavit, et omnibus studuit com-
placere. Tam prodigus fuit in concedendis gratiis beneficialibus quam
nullam novit differentiam inter personas quibus illa fecit. Quam ob
rem ipsa Curia in tam brevi tempore in magnam confusionem et in-
famiam, ejusdem Alexandri Papæ causante simplicitate, devenit."-
Theod. de Niem, De Schismate, c. li.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
489
rather say, guided by the retributive Power which makes
evil its own punishment. Heavy was the responsibility
taken upon themselves by those Cardinal Electors at
Bologna! John XXIII. had indeed talents and great
energies, which he had exerted in resubjecting several cities
of Romagna, especially those wrested from the dominion of
the Church by the Duke of Milan. Leonardo Bruni, who
knew him well, says that in temporal things he was great-
in spiritual of no account, and utterly inept.* Platina
mentions the report that "this election was brought
about with violence; for Baldassare, being Legate at
Bologna, had troops under his command in the city and
district in order to obtain the Papacy by force, should
other means have failed." Other writers state that Gregory
XII. not only deprived him of the Cardinalate, but ex-
cluded him from the communion of the faithful for having
usurped the bishopric of Bologna and subjected that city
to his tyranny. In April, 1411, the new Pope arrived at
Rome with eight Cardinals; Louis of Anjou, claimant of the
Neapolitan crown, accompanying them. On S. George's day
he blessed the banners of the Church and of the Anjou Duke,
whom, together with Paolo Orsini, he appointed to the com-
mand of the Pontific army. Characteristic of John XXIII.
is an episode, the date of which was the next recurring S.
Mark's day at Rome. He concerted with the Florentines to
allow their emissaries, for a considerable bribe, to seize and
carry away the skull of S. John the Baptist, special treasure
of the church called S. Sylvestro in capite, which, with other
relics, was to be carried in the procession to S. Peter's on
that festival. But the plot transpired; the Caporioni
magistrates, the Colonnas, and the Nuns of S. Silvestro,
* "In temporalibus quidem magnus, in spiritualibus nullus omnino et
ineptus."
7
1
440
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
who walked in the procession, took means to guard that
sacred head as it passed through the streets; the Pope and
the Florentines were baffled.* A Council convoked by
Alexander V., was opened at Rome by his successor, about
the end of the year 1412, and dissolved in June, 1413. It
scarcely occupies a single historic page, and the sole docu-
mentary record of its existence is a Bull against the
followers of Wycliffe. The attendance of bishops was
scanty; for John is said to have taken perfidious measures,
in concert with Ladislaus, to obstruct their progress to
Rome, not desiring any such reforms as an efficient Council
might have decreed. Clemangis gives the anecdote, that at
the first session, the Pope had no sooner taken his seat
than a large owl flew in, perched opposite, and fixed its
eyes full upon him, which caused laughter among the
prelates, but so disconcerted his Holiness that he interrupted
the proceedings; this occurring a second time, the poor
owl was beaten to death. The King of Naples had been
anathematized and formally deposed by John XXIII., but
as he feigned submission, was received back into favour.
How hollow were the professions of Ladislaus, it soon be-
came evident. He invaded and seized many towns in the
* Moroni (Dizionario, article "Chiese di Roma,") tries to save the
credit of the Pontiff in this transaction. "As it appeared to Pope John
XXIII. (he says) that it (the head) was exposed to the danger of being
stolen by the Florentines, in 1411, this relic was no longer carried in the
procession, conformably with the advice of the Colonnesi, benefactors of
the church where it is still most carefully preserved." The skull is said
to have been brought to Rome from Edessa. In 1283 Martin IV. en-
shrined it in a silver tabernacle set with gems, on one of which, an
emerald, were chiselled scenes from the life of the Baptist. Boniface
VIII. placed a precious tiara on that tabernacle; and, when the city was
sacked in 1527, the nuns of S. Silvestro saved the relic from profanation
by transferring the tiara to another head-either skull or bust-in their
church.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
441
Anconitan Marches; and in June, 1413, the intelligence
reached Rome that Neapolitan troops were approaching
the city, whilst a fleet was sailing towards Ostia. The
Pope entrusted the defence to the magistrates and people,
enjoining on them to fear neither Ladislaus nor any other
foe. "I am ready," he said, "to die for the Church and
for Rome." The people, assembled in the Capitol, declared
their unanimous resolve to defend the Pontiff and the
Church. The next night fifteen hundred Neapolitan sol-
diers, led by a Condottiere, entered Rome through the walls
near the S. Croce basilica; and the next morning the
invaders were masters of the whole city, the S. Angelo
castle alone excepted. The Pope, Cardinals, and courtiers
fled to Viterbo; on their way thither some were robbed and
murdered by the marauding soldiery; one Cardinal was
seized and imprisoned. Ladislaus entered Rome on the
8th of June, lodged at the Lateran palace, and commenced
the siege of the castle, which capitulated on the 23rd
October. All the towns in the Pontific States north-
eastward, as far as the Tuscan frontier, submitted to that
King. The Pope meantime resided at Siena and Florence,
though for three months he was not allowed to enter
the latter city (its authorities fearing to provoke Ladis-
laus), but inhabited a suburban villa of the Bishop. In
the course of conferences held at Florence, he was
advised, and adopted the resolution, to secure protection
against Ladislaus from the Emperor Sigismund,* who alone
could efficiently support him; and also to ingratiate
Sigismund by a step, which would, it was argued, be the
best proof of the rectitude of his intentions, the convoking
* The son of Charles IV. and brother of the deposed Wenceslaus, had
been elected to the imperial throne in 1410, having been King of Hun-
gary since 1386. Sigismund was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle a few days
before his arrival at Constance for the General Council.
442
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of a General Council. The Pope sent two Cardinal
Legates to propose this; and it was agreed between the
Emperor and the Legates that Constance, an Imperial
city, should be the site preferred, an arrangement which
grieved and alarmed Pope John. He met Sigismund at
Lodi, and endeavoured to induce him to fix on another
city, but in vain. From Lodi were issued the summons
to all concerned, to attend the Council of Constance. The
Pope and Emperor travelled together to Cremona, of
which Gabrino Fondolo, a successful adventurer, was then
lord. It is said that this petty despot, before suffering the
death to which he was condemned (with little show of
justice) on the scaffold at Milan (1425) for revolt against
the Duke Visconti, declared that there was but one thing
of which he repented,-that, when accompanying Sigismund
and John XXIII. to the summit of the wonderfully lofty
and majestic tower which rises above graceful arcades
beside the Cremona Cathedral, he had not thrown both
those illustrious visitors from the parapet, by which act
he might have made his name notorious for all ages!
The sixteenth Ecumenical Council was opened at Con-
stance on the 5th November, 1414, and sat during three
years and six months. The Pope arrived on the 28th
October, with nine Cardinals and a numerous retinue,
about 600 persons in all. Though received with due
honours, he came full of forebodings, and when first in sight
of the city, as he rode down a mountain, is reported to
have said: "Behold the pitfall for catching foxes!" The
day after his entry the magistrates waited on him with
presents-several barrels of wine, Rhenish, Provençal,
Italian, a measure of grain, and a goblet of silver gilt.
The history of this famous Council is beyond the geo-
graphic limits of the subject undertaken in these pages;
but seeing its importance to the range of moral interests
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
443
here considered, I may briefly notice its leading acts and
circumstances. It was attended by 29 Cardinals (all
Italians, except 5 French and 1 Portuguese), 4 Patri-
archs (of Constantinople, Antioch, Grado, and Aquileja),
about 183 Bishops, 1134 Abbots, 250 Doctors, and 125 Pro-
vosts and other ecclesiastical superiors; altogether, accord-
ing to some writers, 18,000 prelates and other ecclesiastics,
and 8000 laymen; the total number of strangers in the
city during the sessions being ordinarily 50,000, and at
times 100,000. No disturbances occurred; all were well
lodged and fed, without rise in the current prices. The
city provided 30,000 beds; and about the same number was
that of the horses stabled within its walls during the whole
time. A gorgeously attended Archbishop of Mayence
arrived with 600 horses in his train; and on account of
scarcity of straw or fodder, it was ordered that not more than
20 such animals should be kept for the Pope, 10 for each
Cardinal, 5 for each Bishop, 4 for each Abbot, and 10 also
for Princes. Never had so momentous, nor perhaps so
brilliant a drama been enacted in any subordinate city,
scarcely in any capital, during medieval periods. Not alone
the power and grandeur, the learning, wisdom, and sanctity
of the age were represented at Constance, but comedians,
buffoons, mountebanks, the least respectable adventurers
of both sexes (according to some writers 346 comedians and
jesters) were drawn in by the absorbing stream which flowed
from all Europe towards that city, founded by the father
of the first Christian Emperor on its romantic lake.*
At the beginning of the deliberations, it was determined
that votes should be taken by nations, the five, namely,
which were fully represented in the Council: Italian,French,
German, Spanish, English; and this system, contrary to
the antecedents of such assemblies, gave a great blow to
* According to tradition, Constantíus Chlorus was founder of this
city, called after him.
444
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
„
the cause of Pope John, who had relied on the support of
an Italian majority. One Cardinal (D'Ailly) proposed that
in matters not concerning faith, Princes and their Ambassa-
dors should vote; another, that all parish-priests should have
the same privilege without restriction. At other Councils,
at least in the later ages of Christianity, none below the
rank of Bishop or Abbot had been allowed suffrages; but
at Pisa, in 1409, Professors and Doctors of Theology voted
(v. Milman, b. VI.). At Constance each nation elected
deputies, under a President renewed every month, who
assembled severally in the intervals between the general
meetings of all the deputies; and after agreement on
any articles discussed, the aggregate of nations, through
their deputies, submitted their decisions in signed and
sealed documents to the whole Council at the public
session. In the interval between the first and second of
those sessions, was presented to the general assembly of
nations an anonymous document containing fifty-five (or,
as some writers state, seventy) articles of accusation
against John XXIII., and, in consequence, certain deputies
were sent to recommend to him the inevitable step of
abdication.* This he promised under condition that his
rivals, Gregory and Benedict, should do alike. At the
ensuing public session, Pope John, after celebrating in the
cathedral the Mass of the Holy Spirit, read aloud the act
of abdication, and quitting his throne, knelt before the
altar, pronouncing, with hands clasped on his breast, the
words spondeo, voveo, et juro Deo. This had a great effect
on the august assembly. After the rites, the Emperor
Sigismund laid aside his crown, knelt, and kissed the feet of
* The serious nature of the charges against him is more than implied
in the words of Theodore de Niem: Quidem (ut præsumitur) Italicus
multos articulos valde famosos et omnia peccata mortalia
tinentes contra eundem Balthasarem in eodem concilio exhibuit in
scriptis, tamen secretè.”
•
con-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
445
the Pope, thanking him fervently for his generous act of
self-sacrifice; as did also the Patriarch of Antioch, with
the same homage, in the name of the Council.
The above-mentioned Emperor, son of Charles IV. and
brother of the deposed Wenceslaus, had arrived in Constance
on the Christmas-eve previous; received from the Pope
the sword and cap blessed on that occasion, and officiated
as Deacon at the Midnight Mass, holding the sacred sword
in his hand while he chanted the Gospel of the third nocturn
in the Matins: "Exiit edictum de Cæsare Augusto."
John XXIII. might now have retired from the historic
scene with dignity. He ruined his credit and his interests
(so far as anything was to be hoped for his future) by a
flight from Constance to Schaffhausen, there to place
himself under the protection of Frederick, Duke of Austria,
whose favour he had warily secured by a promised bribe
of 6000 florins per annum. The Duke gave a tourney, with
much pomp, to distract the attention of the citizens, whilst
the Pope made his escape in the disguise of a merchant, or
of a groom.
Sigismund insisted that this event should not
in any way affect the Council, or cause any suspense of
its labours for restoring peace and unity to the Church.
In the fourth session it was decreed that the Fathers
and Theologians, "being legitimately assembled in the name
of the Holy Spirit, forming a General Council which re-
presents the Catholic Church Militant, has received im-
mediately from Jesus Christ a power to which all, of
whatever age and condition, even the Pope, must yield
obedience in what pertains to faith, to the extirpation of
the present schism, and the reform of the Church in her
head and in her members." It was also defined that the Pope
had neither the right to convoke, nor, without the general
ecclesiastical consent, to dissolve an Ecumenical Council;
and D'Ailly and Gerson undertook to justify these principles
446
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
་
in writing, before the close of the sessions at Constance.
Between the 9th and 10th public sessions, witnesses were
admitted to make deposition against Pope John; and their
evidence was repeated in fifty several charges (the more
scandalous being omitted) to the full Council. That Pope
was thrice cited to appear; and, after this formality, was
solemnly condemned for scandalizing the Church by im-
moral conduct, disedifying life, systematic simony, &c. The
Duke of Austria was required to give him up to the power of
the Council, as he did, consenting to become the jailor instead
of the protector of the fugitive. After being confined at Frei-
burg in the Breisgau, the deposed Pope was conducted with
an armed escort to a fortified village near Constance, where,
whilst he lodged in a hostelry, a deputation of bishops
and doctors came to intimate to him the offences of which
he was accused, and the act of his deposition. The pontific
ring and seal were taken from his hands, and his attendants
were commanded to leave him. He became a prisoner for
some time in the fort of Ratolfzel, guarded by 300 Hun-
garian soldiers; afterwards in the picturesque castle of
Heidelberg. Thus, for the first time, was a Pope not only
deposed but treated as a criminal by those who had acknow-
ledged the legitimacy of his title.
Gregory XII. voluntarily abdicated, through a noble
representative, Carlo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, who.
appeared for him at the Council, whilst he himself was an
honoured guest at that city. When informed of this event
at Rimini, the ex-Pope, for the last time, convoked the
Cardinals faithful to him, took his seat in pontific vestments,
the tiara on his head, laid aside those insignia, and declared
that he would never again assume them. The Council re-
warded him for his submission; and, as Cardinal Angelo
Corrario, he was thenceforth constituted Dean of the Sacred
College and Perpetual Legate in the Anconitan Marches.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
447
İ
The Spanish Antipope, after being thrice cited to appear
before the Council, was declared contumacious, perjured,
and schismatic; finally deposed by sentence passed in July,
1417. All efforts for inducing the so-called Benedict XIII.
to resign, proved fruitless; and it was in vain that the
Emperor himself travelled to Aragon for conference with.
him and with the King of that country. The old man, at
last abandoned by his royal protectors in Spain, as elsewhere,
kept up the dreary comedy of a pretended Popedom and
imitative Curia at a solitary castle-Peniscola—on the
Aragonese coast, till the last moment of his life.*
In the eighth session the Council condemned forty-five
propositions extracted from the writings of Wycliffe, two
hundred of whose works had previously been burnt by the
Archbishop of Prague. In another session was passed
the decree prohibiting Communion in both kinds, under
penalty of excommunication to priests who should so ad-
minister that sacrament. The practice had never hitherto
been condemned, though gradually falling into general (not
total) disuse.† The trial and condemnation of John Hus
* He died, 1424, in his 90th year, and the 30th year of his pretended
pontificate. From such duration S. Antoninus seems to draw an
additional inference against the legitimacy of his claims-a proof that
the phrase non videbis annos Petri was current in the XV. century,
when that Saint wrote. It has been refuted in the sole instance of Pius
IX. among all pontificates of undisputed title.
† Communion in one kind had been gradually admitted, but fre-
quently, and by highest authority, condemned in earlier times. A.D.
445, Pope Leo I. commanded the faithful to receive the holy Eucharist
in both kinds; Gelasius I. (A.D. 492) renewed this injunction. In the
Council of Clermont, 1095, Urban II. decreed that none should com-
municate without receiving both kinds. There is no doubt, however,
that from a primitive period, and till the VI. century, the hermits
of the desert were allowed, as indeed their isolation rendered neces-
sary, to communicate without the chalice; and the almost primitive
practice of domiciliary Communion necessitated the same restriction;
448
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
induces us to glance at the antecedents of that reformer,
and the circumstances which led to his ruin.
John XXIII. had published an indulgence, with the usual
sanctions and appeals, for the support of a war to defend
himself against the formidable King Ladislaus. When
such use of the spiritual keys for the temporal interests
of the Pope was proclaimed, and the indulgence sold,
with insolent exaggerations of its efficacy, by the Pontific
agents in Bohemia, Hus publicly reprobated the practice,
and exposed the absurdity of thus applying spiritual powers
for temporal objects. His disciple, Jerome of Prague,
publicly burnt the Papal Bull (1411) under the gallows
in that city. The vendors were insulted and outraged;
the magistrates of Prague interfered; tumult ensued; and
lives were lost in the streets; the bodies of those slain were
honoured, by the party favourable to Hus, like the relics
of martyrs. The people took the part of the Reformers; the
feeble King Wenceslaus protected him; the Queen Sophia
the consecrated bread alone being taken from the altar, retained,
and consumed in private. After the first Crusade communion in
one kind became frequent in the West, as it had been much earlier
in the Church of Jerusalem. In the XIII. century the twofold com-
munion became generally restricted to priests, and denied to the laity.
In the next century, Clement VI. conceded it as a privilege to the King
of France, Philip VI., and his Queen, also to the Dukes of Burgundy
and Normandy, and to all the Monks of Cluny on the day of the opening
of their general chapter. The act, presenting so signal an example
of bold departure from the original standard, and modifying of the evan-
gelic law of Christianity, was formalized at Constance in the following
terms:-"Licet in primitiva Ecclesiâ hujusmodi Sacramentum reciperetur
sub utraque specie, postea a conficientibus sub utraque specie et laicis
tantummodo sub specie panis suscipiatur, cum firmissimi credendum
sit, et nullatenus dubitandum integrum Christi corpus et sanguineum
tam sub specie panis, quam sub specie vini veraciter contineri, unde cum
hujusmodi consuetudo ab Ecclesiâ et a sanctis patribus rationaliter
introducta et diutissime observata est, habenda est pro lege," &c.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
449
had already appointed him her confessor. Alexander V.
cited him to Rome to answer the charges against him.
John XXIII. repeated that summons; but in vain, and
those who went to Rome in his stead were imprisoned by
that Pope's order. After the opposition to the sale of the
indulgences, and the burning of the Papal bull, Hus was
anathematized, and Prague laid under interdict, for so long
as he should remain within its walls. The citizens opposed,
the King himself forbade, his departure for Rome. After
appealing from the Pope to a General Council, he quitted
Prague and went to his native place, Hussinecz. The Arch-
bishop of Prague, who had undertaken to prosecute him,
or, at least, put down his doctrines, accepted a profession
of faith made by Hus in his presence, and assured the Pope
that there was no heresy lingering in his archdiocese. The
Council of Constance invited Hus to attend its sessions,
and he promptly complied; the King of Bohemia placing
him under the protection of three nobles of that country,
and the Emperor Sigismund providing him with a safe-con-
duct, which, however, was nothing more than a passport
available for his journey.* Soon after his arrival at Con-
stance (4th November, 1414) he was heard in his own
justification by certain Cardinals, and, after that audience,
imprisoned by the Pope's order. He refused to recant, and
at the last hearing of his cause (6th July, 1415) was con-
demned to death. The Council gave him over to the secular
arm; the Emperor consigned him to the Elector Palatine;
and on that day he suffered in the flames. Led to the place
of execution by 800 horsemen, and followed by the whole
multitude of citizens, he was detained before the Bishop's
• The fact of even such a document having been granted to him is
questionable-v. Rohrbacher and Cesare Cantu, who quote his own
words: "Venimus sine salvo conductu." Hist. Eccles. xxi; Storia
degli Italiani, cap. cxvii.
2 G
450
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
palace to see the burning of his own books. Addressing
the people in German, he declared that his adversaries had
been unable to convince him of any error. On the 1st
June, 1416, his disciple, Jerome of Prague, who had first
retracted after six months' imprisonment at Constance
(11th September, 1415) and nobly revoked that step, re-
proaching himself for it as the greatest sin he had to
repent of, endured the same death by sentence of the
Council (26th May previous). The ashes of both these
victims were thrown into the Rhine; and at these execu-
tions was first used the horrid mockery, afterwards common
at the extreme punishment of heretics-paper mitres,
painted with figures of devils, on the heads of those con-
demned to the stake. Poggio Bracciolini, who was present
at the trial of Jerome, describes his conduct, and cites his
defence as a display of power and eloquence almost un-
rivalled in any known instance.
At last the Council commenced the urgently demanded
task of reform; and the articles to this effect were dis-
cussed in the 39th session. It was decreed that another
General Council should be held five years after the present,
another seven years after the dissolving of that second
assembly, and that thenceforth such Councils should be con-
voked by the Popes, at whatever places they pleased, with
the consent of the fathers, every ten years; the Popes
being allowed to abridge, but not to prolong, the intervals.
During the discussions, the deputies of the nations.
decided, after seven days' deliberation, that annates should
be abolished for the past, present, and future. John XXIII.
had enacted the payment of them, in some instances, several
times in the same year from benefices which happened to
be more than once vacant during twelve months. The
sums obtained by the Popes under this title of annates,
were now calculated, and declared to be exorbitant, and
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
451
intolerable. From France alone the average had been
697,750 livres per annum; and it was shown that European
nations, taxed at the same rate, would have paid nearly
seven million livres per annum to the Roman Pontiffs.*
Added to this was the yearly revenue of between 60,000
and 80,000 livres received by the Pope and Cardinals from
France. The abuses and rapacity carried on under the in-
auspicious pontificate of John XXIII., induced the Floren-
tine Republic to deprive the Holy See of the collation of
benefices in its States during five years. It was decided at
Constance that the Pope, as well as other bishops, had
sufficient means without any extraordinary supplies; that
other Churches might grant contributions to the Roman for
particular emergencies, but not as a perpetual imposition,
or payment legally due.
Eighteen articles of reform were proposed, and it was
enjoined that the future Popes should adopt and carry out
the intentions of the Council, embodied in those articles.
The Germans and English desired the reformation of the
Church to be not only discussed but accomplished before
the election of the new Pope; the Cardinals, and with
them the Italians and French, desired it after that step.
The English were eventually gained over to the side of the
Italians; and some of the German prelates are said to
have been won by bribery to what may be called the Latin
party at the Council (v. Milman, "Latin Christianity.")
In November, 1417, regulations were drawn up for the
election to the Supreme See, which had been vacant for
two years and five months. It was ordered that six
The right of the Roman See to appoint to all benefices was unknown
till the XII. century. Innocent III. first asserted it for the Papacy in
full plenitude; and hence arose the complicated system of reserves, pro-
visions, dispensations, annates, pluralities.-v. Milman, "Latin Chris-
tianity," b. vi.
2 & 2
452
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
deputies (prelates and other ecclesiastics) for each nation
should enter conclave together with the Cardinals; that
one-third of the votes of the thirty deputies, and (as
usual) two-thirds of those of the Sacred College should be
requisite for a full majority. The manners of the day are
curiously illustrated by one decree passed on this occasion,
prohibiting, under severe penalties, the pillage of the resi-
dence, and despoiling of the property of the newly-elect
Pontiff―a barbarism common in Rome, and sometimes prac-
tised against not only the house and chattels of the Elect, but
also those of all the Cardinals in conclave! Twenty-three
Cardinals, with their thirty colleagues now met in the mu-
nicipal palace of Constance, and on the 11th November,
1417, was elected Ottone Colonna, a Cardinal Deacon, then
in his forty-ninth year, who took the name of Martin V.
His antecedents had been not only respectable but admir-
able; and in every stage of ecclesiastical preferment he had
given the example of moderation, amiable temper, and
blameless life. On the evening of the same day he
was, after a grand procession, solemnly installed in the
cathedral.
Almost the first act of the new Pope was the publication
of a Bull against the Hussites, requiring that all suspected
of favouring them should swear to accept the decrees of
General Councils, especially those passed at Constance.
All that had been recently decreed concerning faith and
morals was at the same time sanctioned; but in this pro-
ceeding Martin V. did not pledge himself to the decision of
the superiority of Councils over Popes. It is urged in his
justification that, while accepting all the Acts styled "Con-
ciliar," he intended to include those emanating from one.
or other of the five nations without being voted for by all
in the Council. It is owned by impartial historians that
he to some degree promoted, however far from carrying
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
453
out, or cordially adopting, the principles of that great re-
form imagined by fervent spirits, advocated by the elo-
quence of the most learned theologians, and demanded by
the moral feeling of the age. He modified the exceptional
powers of the Holy See, and offensive privileges of the
Roman Curia. Though retaining, he limited the system.
of reserves, expectatives, dispensations; reduced the annates
to a reasonable tax on newly-appointed bishops; abolished
reserves and commendams in the case of bishoprics and
abbacies; prohibited the alienation of Church property;
ordered that prelates and abbots should forfeit a year's
revenue if absent during six months, and should lose their
sees and benefices if non-resident for two years. Most em-
phatically did Martin V. prohibit the appeal from Popes to
General Councils. He appointed a Commission of six Car-
dinals, together with certain deputies of nations, for the
important task of deciding on those measures requisite for
a more thorough reform; but nothing was efficiently
accomplished by the Commissioners, who never arrived at
agreement on any leading points. The Pope presided at
the last four sessions of the Council; convoked the next
assemblage at Pavia; and after reading a discourse to the
fathers at the 45th session, dissolved this memorable Coun-
cil, which had sat at Constance during three years and six
months. At the close a Cardinal pronounced the valedictory
words, Domini, ite in pace.
It is generally agreed that Martin V. did not correspond
to all that had been expected from him for the true interests
of the Church; that he cautiously evaded the full discharge
of his promises; and that the great purpose, for which the
Council had been convoked, was in the main defeated.
Hefele observes justly (Concilien Geschichte, b. vii.) that
"the liberal party at Constance wished to restore the system
of the Church from an absolute monarchy, which it had
454
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
:
become, to a constitutional monarchy, in which the chief
authority should lie, not with the Pope, but with the
assembled episcopate." Writers judging from the most
different points of view are accordant in this,—that the
eventful Council was a failure.* It might be likened to a
magician who raises a spirit, too strong for the daring
mortal, invested with such dangerous powers, himself to
cope with the mightier one overwhelms the subordinate
agent; and the master of the spell becomes the servant of
the mysterious being evoked. But if the efforts of intellect
aiming at a high ideal were vain, if the reforming attempt
of the mind of this age was frustrated, such utterances as
had been heard at Constance were not wasted like sand
thrown to the winds, but destined to germinate in the fer-
tile soil of a Christianity flourishing under brighter skies
in more healthful atmosphere.
The triumphal progress of Martin V. through northern
Italy to Rome made manifest the reconciled feeling towards
the Papacy, thanks to the estimable character of the man
now on its throne, as well as the general joy now felt for
the extinction of a scandalous schism. The Pope left Con-
* "Martin found means to postpone from day to day the reforms de-
manded, wasting time in devices and secondary concessions, protesting
against the appeals from Popes to Councils, and reconfirming many
abuses." (Cesare Cantu, Storia Degli Italiani, cap. cxvii.) "Martin V.,
before being elected, had pledged himself by oath, as had done all the
Sacred College, to make exertions in the Council for the reform of the
Church in her head and in her members; a promise he was induced
to renew, but the fulfilment of which he had always care to evade."
(Art de Vérifier les Dates.) "The Council gave its sanction to the whole
dominant creed of Christendom, and the complete indefeasible hierarchic
system,-declared war against all who should revolt, not only from the
doctrines but the discipline of the Church. The slightest emancipation
from the rule of this sacerdotal order entered not into the thoughts,
hardly the apprehension, of the fathers at Constance."-Milman, "Latin
Christianity," b. vi.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
455
stance (16th May, 1418) with a gorgeous cavalcade of about
40,000 persons, who accompanied him to Gottleben, where
he embarked on the Rhine for Schaffhausen. With the
tiara on his head, and pontifically vested, he rode on a
white palfrey under a canopy supported by four Counts of
the Empire, the Emperor Sigismund and the Elector of
Brandenburg holding the reins, four Princes lifting up the
rich trappings of his horse, the Dukes of Austria and
Bavaria following. In the rear were led twelve other
horses with scarlet housings; after the Cardinals came a
priest on a white palfrey, carrying the Sacred Host under
a baldacchino, surrounded by torch-bearers; the Clergy
and Magistrates of the city, all with torches, next in order;
a multitude of nobles and ecclesiastics bringing up the rear.
At Milan the Pope was received with much honour by the
Duke Filippo Maria Visconti; here he consecrated the
high altar of the cathedral, and in memory of that event,
a statue was erected to him in the same glorious temple.
At Florence the reception was still more magnificent. Out-
side the Porta S. Croce the Pope was met at the monastery
of S. Salvi, where he had passed the night, by the chief
citizens and the magistrates of the Guelphic party; thus
escorted, he made his entry on a white horse with red silk
housings, the Host being borne before him amidst blazing
tapers, the clergy in procession carrying relics, the magis-
trates and magnates following in splendid costumes, all with
laurel wreaths on their heads and olive branches in their
hands.
Repairing first to the cathedral, the whole procession
walked for some distance along an elevated stage of wood-
work hung with silk, up to the church doors. Martin V.
was lodged in apartments prepared expressly for him at the
great Dominican convent of S. Maria Novella. During his
stay he consecrated the high altar of that church, and
456
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
erected the Florentine See, hitherto only a Bishopric, to
metropolitan rank. Having blessed the Golden Rose on the
appointed Sunday in Lent, he bestowed that graceful gift
on the Republic through the person of its Gonfaloniere.
Another arrival which made a sensation among the citizens
was that of the ex-Pope, who had obtained his freedom at
the price of 30,000 ducats, advanced for him by Giovanni
de Medici, the father of Cosmo, to the Emperor; and now
came, submissive and in lowly guise, to throw himself at
the feet of his fortunate successor. Many were moved
to tears at this spectacle of vicissitudes in the "strange
eventful history" of a man whose misfortunes threw a veil
over his errors. Martin received him in the midst of the
Cardinals with great benignity, bestowed on him the red
hat anew, and appointed him Dean of the Sacred College,
with the privilege of occupying an elevated seat, next to
his throne, in the Consistory and at ceremonies. Baldassare
Cossa did not live long to enjoy these honours. He died
at Florence, 22nd November, 1419, and was buried in the
Baptistery after funereal pomps, kept up for nine days,
in the cathedral, as at the obsequies of a legitimate Pope.
During the stay of Martin V. at Florence, several cities,
lost to the Pontific States during the wars and troubles of
preceding years, were recovered; Civitavecchia, Orvieto,
and Terni being now re-subjected to the tiara; but
Perugia, Assisi, Todi, the Duchy of Spoleto, and a great
part of the Viterbo province, were still left under the sway
of the victorious captain Braccio da Montone, who defied
excommunications, haughtily disregarding the interdict
under which were laid all the districts governed by him.
The Greek empire was now tottering on the verge of
ruin, and its Autocrats adopted the miserable expedient of
offering to sacrifice their own and their people's faith, so
far as submission to Rome and acceptance of all the dis-
SACRED ALT IN ITALY.
457
puted doctrines in which the two Churches were at issue
involved such sacrifice, on condition of receiving material
aid from the Popes, and, through their influence, from other
Princes. Ambassadors from the Emperor, Manuel Palaeo-
lagus, brought letters from both that Sovereign and the
Patriarch, proposing a General Council for the re-union of
the East and West, to be convoked by the Emperor himself
at Constantinople. Martin received the envoys with much
honour, and, together with his answer, sent rich gifts to
Manuel; also another singularly-imagined token of good
will-a bevy of high-born young ladies, to be given in
marriage to Greek nobles! A cardinal was appointed
Legate to the eastern capital, where, for thirty years, no
Papal representative had been seen; but before sending so
dignified a personage, the Pope confided to a humbler agent
-a Franciscan Doctor of Theology—the mission of ascer-
taining the real temper of the Greek Court and Clergy, and
arranging the time and place for the Council, which he
consented should be held in the East. He also published
indulgences for those European princes who should co-
operate in the defence of the hexamila, the wall raised to pro-
tect the Peloponnesus against invaders, but which bulwark
was soon afterwards destroyed by the Turks. In a second
letter, replying to the Pope's missive, Manuel announced
that he was ready to enter the communion of the Roman
Church, almost without conditions, and to comply with all
the decrees of the future Council, provided they should
accord in principle with those of the first seven Ecumeni-
cal Councils; that at present it was impossible to hold such
an assemblage at Constantinople; but even amidst the
perils and troubles of the times, he would consent to its
being convoked there, if the Pope would oblige all Christian
Princes, under penalty of excommunication, to declare war
against the Moslems for the cause of the declining empire!
458
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
All this resulted as might have been foreseen, and as is
well-known.
Martin V. arrived in Rome the 28th September, 1420,
and made his state ingress the next day after passing a
night at the monastery of S. Maria del Popolo, close to the
Flaminian gate. Rejoicings, illuminations, &c., were kept
up for several days and nights, and after dark riders went
about the streets, brandishing torches, with shouts of viva
for "Papa Martino." The city had not been at peace
during the long vacancy of the Pontific throne. Indepen-
dent civic government was established after the departure
of John XXIII., but soon afterwards suppressed by a
Legate sent on the mission of installing a Senator
nominated by the absent Pope. Two leaders of the popular
party, considered as in revolt, were beheaded as traitors.
The S. Angelo castle had been long held by a Neapolitan
garrison for the Queen Joanna II., who had succeeded to
her brother Ladislaus. Braccio di Montone had at-
tempted to take that fortress, himself commanding the
siege; but Sforza, a Captain in the Queen's service, marched
with troops from Naples, raised the siege, and compelled
Braccio to retreat. Before the Pope's arrival the castle
had been consigned to his officers. So also Ostia and
Civitavecchia, alike held for the Queen, but which she had
promised to surrender to the lawful sovereign. The
desolate state of Rome at this time is described by con-
temporary writers: almost reduced to ruin by pestilence,
famine, fire, and sedition. Platina (in the same century)
draws the gloomy picture with details: "the city so
completely ruinous that it had no longer the aspect of a
habitable town, but rather of a desert; on every side
buildings seen falling into decay; the streets and lanes
deserted, without passengers and covered with mud; an
extreme penury of all things needful; no sign of social life,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
459
or of any civilization." The Pope applied himself earnestly
to the work of restoration, both moral and material. He
created a commission of Cardinals and Bishops for visiting
all the churches in Rome, and assigned a fund for such
repairs as were requisite. He bestowed precious sacra-
mental vessels and priestly vestments for the altars. The
portico of S. Peter's was rebuilt; and among public works
of secular character was the rebuilding of the Colonna
Palace, which Martin V. thenceforth inhabited, preferring
it to the Vatican. The Cardinals followed the example,
and emulated each other in repairing, or rebuilding, the
churches from which they took their titles. Platina
eulogises the energetic Pope for his zeal, not only in
adorning and improving the city, but in "reforming the
corrupt state of morals then prevailing;" and this writer
assures us that Martin V. was not merely called the
Supreme Pontiff, but also, and deservedly, the "father of his
country." The laudable intention to carry out, at least to
some degree, the projects and desires announced at Con-
stance, is most apparent in the edict passed by him for
It
regulating the life and conduct of the Cardinals.
enjoined on all members of the Sacred College not to
assume the protectorate of kings, princes, or other secular
personages; not to receive payment for the protection of
Religious Orders; not to let themselves be accompanied
by more than twenty domestics on horseback, and those to
be clerics, excepting the secular servants accustomed to
attend them; to procure the repair of their titular
churches according to the best of their means, and see to
the suitable and edifying administration of those churches ;*
* Procurent reparationem Ecclesiarum suorum Titulorum juxta posse
suum, in iisque Divinum cultum per Religiosos devotos, ac honestos
Clericos perfici, ac augeri faciant, ne sanctorum loca, in quibus ipsi
460
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ments.
to provide a sufficient number of Monks and Canons for
Divine Worship in churches and monasteries recom-
mended to their care; and to preserve in prosperous state
the buildings, possessions, and privileges of those establish-
Other edicts ordered the diminution of taxes and
fees, as affecting the poorer classes, in the procedure of the
Curia, the Chancery, and the legal profession generally.
No word was so frequently in the mouth of Martin V. as
justice; and his favourite citation, in briefs addressed to
the judges of different towns, was the text, "Diligite
justitiam, omnes qui judicatis terram." He conferred
benefits and privileges on many public schools and univer-
sities, especially the institutions of the latter class at
Rome, Perugia, Pavia, and Siena. Yet this Pontiff, other-
wise animated by such pure intentions, gave way to the
weakness of family pride and partiality, setting an early
example of the nepotism carried to such abusive extent by
his successors. He obtained for one of his brothers the
Dukedom of Amalfi and the Princedom of Salerno; for
another, the Margravate of Alba; the Colonnas, whilst
he sat on the throne, became lords of Marino, Frascati,
Rocca di Papa, Ardea, Soriano, Nettuno, Palliano,--in
short, the greatest part of Latium, together with those
picturesque towns now so often visited by tourists from
Rome. A formidable usurper of the Pontific provinces, and
representative of feudal antagonism against the Papacy,
Braccio di Montone, was removed by death in 1424. He
had for thirteen months been encamped before Aquila,
whose citizens resisted even when pressed by famine. The
Pope and the Queen of Naples united their forces against
that common foe; a Colonna commanding the Pontific, a
commode residere nequeunt, per negligentiam desertas remaneant.—v.
Ciaconius.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
461
Sforza the Neapolitan troops. A battle before the walls,
joined by the besieged in a vigorous sortie, resulted in the
defeat of Braccio, who was taken prisoner, wounded, though
not, it seems, mortally; but he refused surgical aid, never
spoke again, and died the next day. His body was brought
to Rome, and buried without Christian rites outside the
Tiburtine gate. Peace and security were at last restored
to the Pontific states, and to that hitherto troubled and
danger-beset region-the Roman Campagna. Several
aristocratic robbers, who used to descend from their fast-
nesses, and steal sheep or cattle, or more seriously molest
travellers on the few highways, were attacked and dis-
lodged; the castles of some were destroyed; others, among
them the lord of Monte Rotondo,* were brought prisoners
to Rome and beheaded.
Conformably with the engagements made at Constance,
the Pope sent his Legates, an Archbishop, an Abbot, and
the Father-General of the Dominicans, to open the Council
at Pavia, 22nd June, 1423. The sessions did not begin
till two months later, and closed on the 26th February in
the following year. The attendance was scanty; and a
visitation of pestilence soon induced the transfer to Siena,
where the number of prelates became more considerable.
*That picturesque little town, with a huge baronial palace, whose
tower is far-seen across the Campagna, has acquired recent historic
fame, after being besieged and occupied by Garibaldi with his volun-
teers, a few days before the battle of Mentana, fought in the valley
between Monte Rotondo and the village so named.
It is said by a chronicler of the time that, under the pontificate of
Martin V., any one might have travelled with gold in his hand, fearless
of danger, to the distance of 200 miles round Rome; that it might be
believed the age of Augustus had returned, "ut Octaviani Principis
tempora venisse crederes."-Gregorovius, Geschichte d. Stadt Rom.
vii. c. 1.
-1
AB
462
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Alfonso, King of Aragon, embittered against Martin V.
because he had supported the claims of the Anjou Louis to
the Neapolitan crown, sent emissaries with the evil object
of reviving the schism and again bringing forward the
almost forgotten Antipope, Pedro de Luna. Martin V.,
naturally alarmed at this, hastened to dissolve the Council,
and the prelates were ordered to return to their dioceses.
The plurality of them complained loudly that the Pope
had prevented the desired accomplishment of Church
Reform. The Legates answered that the Council was only
prorogued, and that the requisite reform should be pro-
moted by those who had presided over it (namely, them-
selves), in concert with the deputies of nations. It was
determined that another Council, the continuance of that
of Siena, should be held at Basle, after the lapse of seven
years. The assemblage dispersed without effecting ought
of importance, or even discussing the desired reforms;
only passing decrees against the heresies condemned at
Constance, and against all persons who should give any
support to the followers of Wycliffe or Hus. This frus-
tration of an undertaking, looked for as the renewal of the
efforts made at Constance to realize the exalted ideal of
a regenerate Church, directs our attention to the darker
aspect of the Roman Pontificate in the XV. century, to
its short-sighted and fatal policy of promoting its imme-
diate and narrow interests at the sacrifice of the ulterior,
the nobler, and truly Catholic interest. Martin V. is
accused of causing the Council to be adjourned before it
had occupied itself with the reform of the Church, lest
that assembly should make regulations contrary to the
privileges of the Roman Curia. A few months before the
Pope's death, was found one morning, on an outer wall of
the Vatican, a document threatening him and all Cardinals
with deposition and the severities due to heretics if they
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
463
should fail to promote the assemblies of the Church in
General Councils.
Martin V. died of apoplexy in the Colonna Palace, 21st
February, 1431. We are informed of particulars curiously
illustrating the moral and religious conditions of Rome in
his time. An unfortunate, perhaps innocent, woman was
publicly burnt as a witch and a poisoner. A less odious
auto da fe took place on the Capitol, by advice and through
the act of S. Bernardino of Siena, whose preaching had
been attended with salutary effects in this city as else-
where-the conversion of Jews, the reconciling of foes, &c.
Anticipating the similar crusade against vanities by Sa-
vonarola, he induced his hearers to consign heaps of
profane things, gaming tables, obscene songs, implements
used for incantation, (brevia, sortes), false hair, used by
women, it is said, for superstitious purposes (?), that a
general bonfire might be made thereof trophy of the
Saint's eloquence and of his hearers' repentance, at least
for the time being.
A compilation from more than a hundred inedited letters,
written by ambassadors or procurators of the Teutonic
Order at Rome during this pontificate, displays the world-
liness of the "Curia," and the total failure, in that sphere
at least, of the reforms demanded at Constance.* The
representatives of that once wealthy and powerful Order
at the Papal Court lived in splendour, and were in con-
stant intercourse with the Cardinals, one of whom was
their chosen Protector, and as such had to be propitiated
by frequent and costly gifts, plate, jewellery, horses, &c.
"He who gives most there (at Rome), is most in credit,"†
* Stimmen aus Rom, über dem päpstlichen Hof im XV. Jahrhundert,
in Voigt, Histor. Taschenbuch, 1833.
† "Wer da mehr giebt, der hat mehr Recht."
464
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
says one of these letters. The Pope received every year
an offering of 400 ducats from the Knights. On one
occasion he said thrice to their envoy, "Come to me alone,
without your Cardinal"-an intimation understood, and
responded to with a handsome present. Martin V. claimed
the right of appointing the Grand Master of the Order;
and was jealous of presentations to benefices, within their
gift, in Prussia or Livonia; he wanted (says one writer)
“to have either those benefices or their worth in money."
A list of Christmas-boxes to the Pope, the Cardinals, and
the servants of the Vatican, includes great variety of items:
to the holy father, a piece of blue velvet, worth 88 ducats,
and a gold goblet worth 64 ducats; to his chamberlains,
13 silver spoons, at the total value of 117 ducats; to his
chief groom, a horse worth 30 ducats, and 3 ducats as fee;
to the Sacred College, confectionary at the price of 70
ducats. The Pope had so subdued the Cardinals (we are
told) that "
they never spoke save in accordance with his
sentiments; and whilst they spake with him, alternately
blushed and turned pale."*
The history of the next pontificate might convince us,
if other proof were wanting, that no effectual improve-
ment, ecclesiastical or political, had been wrought in the
character and action of the Papacy through the decrees
or protestations of Councils. The Conclave, consisting of
but thirteen Cardinals, met in the Dominican Convent still
commonly called "La Minerva," the piazza before which
was barricaded during their sessions. On the second day,
:
* Similar and even more severe testimony against the venality of the
Roman Curia, in this century, is borne by one who lived to become Pope
as Pius II. "Nihil est quod absque argento Romana Curia dedit:
Nam et ipsae manus impositiones et Spiritus Sanctus dona venduntur.
Nec peccatorum venia nisi nummatis impenditur."-Eneas S. Picco-
lomini, Hist. Europ.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
465
3rd March, 1431, they elected from their own body a
Venetian, Gabriele Condulmero, who took the name of
Eugenius IV. His antecedents had been not merely re-
spectable but sanctified. After the death of his parents,
who were of the patrician class, he dispensed in charities
all they had left him, 40,000 ducats, and entered the Order
of Celestine Canons in his native city. Gregory XII., who
was his uncle, made him pontific treasurer, and soon after-
wards, when his age was only twenty-four, bishop of Siena.
Not much more than a month had passed after his election
before Rome and its environs were plunged in the miseries
of civil war. The Pope was led to suspect that the
nephews of Martin V.-Cardinal Prospero Colonna, An-
tonio Prince of Salerno and Palestrina, and Odoardo Count
di Celano-had seized the large treasure left by their
uncle, and intended by him for defraying the expenses of
the Greeks invited to the recently convoked Council.*
but
As first step towards the overthrow of that powerful
family, Eugenius ordered the arrest of the late Pope's Vice-
Chancellor by Stefano Colonna, commander of his troops,
who was not (it seems) involved in the same suspicions with
the rest of his house. He was charged to bring the Vice-
Chancellor to the Vatican without violence or insult;
instead of obeying this part of his orders, Stefano led both
that accused person, and the bishop of Trieste, who had been
chamberlain to the late Pope, in ignominious plight, like
common prisoners, through the streets. Eugenius was
highly displeased; he upbraided and threatened Stefano for
this offensive proceeding. The latter, deeming himself in
danger, fled to the strongest castle of his relatives, at Pales-
trina, and there induced the Prince Colonna to enter into
* Also (v. Raynaldus) for carrying on the war to protect the Greek
Empire against the Turks.
2 H
466
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
a conspiracy, the rumoured object of which was to dethrone
Eugenius IV., and either put him to death or drive him
into exile. The Colonnas and their armed retainers seized
the Appian gate (Porta S. Sebastiano) on the 23rd April;
and on the next day entered the city. Combat ensued on
the piazzas Colonna and S. Marco; many were slain, many
made prisoners on both sides; the citizens took part with
the Pontiff's troops against the unpopular family; the
Colonnas were worsted; but did not quit without securing
much prey in cattle and horses,-particularly the former,
the numerous herds, now kept by proprietors within the
city, being mentioned by Infessura.* The attack was a signal
for a general outbreak of fury against the Colonnas; their
palaces, even that where Martin V. had spent his last days,
and the houses of other persons in the service of that Pope,
were pillaged. After the invaders had withdrawn from the
streets, they still continued to hold the towered Appian.
gateway for several days, and the fighting was from time to
time renewed. None could venture beyond the walls with-
out being robbed and molested. In the meantime all usual
occupations were suspended; the streets were barricaded;
the citizens went about in arms.† On the 31st May the
Porta S. Sebastiano was taken from Stefano Colonna; but
the leader who now seized it was also an enemy of the Pope,
as appears from the order given, a few days afterwards, by
Eugenius IV., that his house in the city should be destroyed.
Infessura states that the Pope was poisoned by one of his
servants through the machinations of the Colonnas, and
that one of his sides became paralyzed when the poison took
"Perche in Roma vi era di molto bestiame," says Infessura-from
which fact we may infer how little of the area within the walls was occu-
pied by the habitations of the city.
+
† "Lo popolo di Roma stava sospeso, e non faceva niente; es fu tebar-
rato tutta Roma, e givano i Romani tutti armati."-Diary of Infessura.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
467
effect. For this revolt and conspiracy more than two hun-
dred persons suffered death, either on the scaffold or through
hardships endured in prison. So inauspiciously began the
sacerdotal reign of a pious and austere monk!
A brief interval of tranquillity ensued during an imperial
visit for one of those coronations still deemed requisite for
the full sanction, through consecrating rites at S. Peter's,
of the title conferred on the German potentates. Sigis-
mund, after receiving the iron crown at Milan, arrived
in Rome on the 21st May, 1433, and on the last day of
that month was crowned by the Pope at the basilica with
all accustomed pomp. He had entered the city, near
the S. Angelo castle, riding on a white horse, under a
canopy of cloth-of-gold, and in this state passed to the
front of S. Peter's, where the Pope and Cardinals were
waiting to receive him on the outer staircase. The two
sovereigns left that church together, after the corona-
tion; and the Romans were struck by seeing an Emperor,
with the golden diadem on his head, hold the stirrup for
the Pope to mount, and lead his palfrey for a few paces
on the way to the S. Angelo bridge, where Sigismund con-
ferred knighthood on a multitude of eager claimants.
The Emperor proceeded to the Lateran church, there
received a benediction and kissed the high altar; dined
at the convent of the SS. Quattro Coronati, between the
Lateran and the Forum, and returned in the evening to
his lodgings at the canonical residence near S. Peter's.
He confirmed the Constitutions of other Emperors in all
things touching the privileges of the Roman Church and the
Clergy; and the "golden ball" of Sigismund bore the
legend "Roma caput mundi."
More serious dangers, a more tremendous onset than
the attack of rebels led by the Colonnas, now threatened
the safety of the Pontific throne. Niccolo Fortebraccio,
2 H 2
468
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
nephew of Braccio di Montone, had entered the service of
the Pope, and reduced some rebellious towns to his dominion;
but was alienated by the unwise refusal of Eugenius IV. to
settle arrears of payment due to him, now withheld on the
pretext that this mercenary captain had been sufficiently
recompensed by the booty seized at the towns he had sub-
jected, Vico, Vitrella, and Civitavecchia. Urged by the Duke
Visconti, the disappointed Condottiere appeared in arms
against his former employer; marched rapidly through
Sabina; took the Milvian bridge, and on the same day the
bridges over the Anio (the Salarian and Noomentan) within
a few miles of Rome; his soldiery made prey close to the
Flaminian gate, seizing those at work in the fields or vine-
yards, driving away cattle, &c. These ravages lasted (as)
Infessura tells us) for nine months.* Fortebraccio marched
to Subiaco, and occupied the Benedictine abbey with his
troops; thence to Tivoli, which he held and defended from
the October of 1433 till the June of 1434, thence directing
a prolonged siege against Rome, whilst proudly styling
himself the "Executor of the holy Council"—namely, that
of Basle, whose sessions had commenced. The Pope left
the Vatican to take refuge in the S. Angelo castle; after-
wards, in the palace adjoining S. Lorenzo in Damaso. He
summoned to his aid the famous Prelate-warrior, Giovanni
Vitelleschi. Francesco Sforza, now in the service of the
Visconti, and the chosen husband of the Duke of Milan's
daughter, asked leave to pass with his troops through the
Anconitan Marches; and, once there, threw off the mask of
amity towards the Papal government. Ancona, in that
province, and other cities in Umbria received him with
acclamations--so ready were their inhabitants for revolt
against the tiara! Sforza marched on Rome; which was
"Durò questa tenebra (the Diarist picturesquely describes) nove
mesi."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
469
now beset by two armies, under the two Condottieri, who
fought and made prey on both sides of the Tiber. Soon
appeared a third leader, Piccinino, who joined his troops to
those of Sforza on the desolated Campagna. Fortebraccio
obtained victory over the Papal troops, led by Vitelleschi,
near Genazzano-the romantic little town now famous for
its shrine of the Madonna, much frequented by pilgrims,
among the mountains near Palestrina. The fortune of
battle was favourable to the Pontific cause in another en-
gagement at Mentana, after Fortebraccio had gallantly
repulsed the troops sent to drive him from Monte Rotondo.
This warfare, so long raging almost within sight from
Rome's walls, had such effect on the popular mind that a
conspiracy was formed against the Pope, now considered
mainly responsible for the evil. It was in vain that Euge-
nius IV. recognised the Basle Council, and revoked the
three bulls he had passed against it in the December of
1433. Urged by the sense of danger, he appointed Sforza
Gonfaloniere of the Church and his Vicar in the Anconitan
Marches. That leader, like Fortebraccio, had affected to
act under authority of the Council while making war against
the Pope, but now became the devoted ally of Eugenius,
and, after withdrawing from the Campagna, sent his brother
Leo to fight for the Papal cause. Filippo Maria Visconti,
his former employer, styled himself "Vicar of the Council in
Italy." That assembly at Basle, opened and presided over
by a distinguished and saintly Cardinal, Giuliano Cesarini,
had been sanctioned from the first by the Pope, who,
alarmed by its attack against his own prerogatives, resisted
till the crisis of danger induced his acquiescence. Remark-
able are the indications of a dominant idea: that the Basle
Council represented and expressed the desires of the Italian
people and true interests of the Church; the Roman pon-
tificate asserted its own limited interests, the privileges
:
:
470
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
and aggrandizement of the Curia! The disaffected Romans
determined to seize the Pope in the name of the Council,
and compel him to comply with all they demanded. On
the 29th May, 1434, the people rose in revolt to the cries,
Popolo-Libertá! The Capitoline palace was stormed; the
Senator surrendered after being wounded in the attempt to
resist. Republican government was proclaimed; the chief
authority conferred on seven magistrates, like the " Bande-
resi" of former times, but with the title of "Guberna-
tores." These magistrates went to the Pope, who had taken
up his residence near the basilica of S. Maria in Traste-
vere; required him to abdicate, to consign the S. Angelo
castle and Ostia to them, and also to give up his nephew as
their hostage. He answered only to refuse. On the 4th
June, at noonday, Eugenius effected his escape from the
Transtiberine quarter and from Rome, with a Benedictine
monk, both in the garb of monks of that order. The fugi-
tives embarked on the Tiber in a skiff; they were pursued
by the people, who, running along the river side, others
following in a boat, hurled darts, spears, and stones at
imminent peril to the life of the Pope, had he not been
sheltered as he lay covered up at the oarsman's feet. They
reached Ostia unobserved, and there passed the night in a
trireme supplied by a pirate from Ischia, so disreputable a
personage being engaged, and doing his duty well, for the
rescue of the Head of the Church. On the 12th June the
voyagers reached the port of Pisa; and on the 23rd Euge-
nius IV. found himself surrounded by honours and in full
enjoyment of liberty at Florence.
The Seventeenth Ecumenical Council, convoked by Mar-
tin V., was opened at Basle, 23rd July, 1431, though its
regular sessions did not commence till the 14th December
following. Its main objects were, as formally declared, the
reunion of Eastern and Western Christendom, and the
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
471
reform of the Church in her head and members-this last
declaration implying the avowal that the efforts made at
Constance had proved a failure. It is urged that the Fathers
at this new Council had no precise ideas of what they ought
to undertake, or practically carry out; that they wanted
alike such definite views as to their own powers and the
restrictions legally to be imposed on the Papacy, whose
absolutism they desired to limit; that they attacked abuses,
but did not propose efficient remedies.* At an early stage
of their proceedings, they listened to counsels, offered
through his envoy by the German Emperor, for the aboli-
tion of ecclesiastical celibacy; and one Cardinal went so far
as to advise that the liberty of marriage should be restored
(restitui) to priests and deacons; but this suggestion led
to nothing; postponed to a future day, the subject was at
last dropped. Eugenius IV. twice endeavoured to dissolve
the Council; but the Fathers held to their rights, insisting
on the now frequently admitted (though not indeed unop-
posed) doctrine of the superiority of Ecumenical Councils
over Popes.
Eugenius, finding himself (as we have seen) surrounded
by dangers which threatened his temporal, as the proceed-
ings at Basle threatened his spiritual sovereignty, approved
of the Council, and sent his Legates to preside together
with Cardinal Cesarini. The former were first required by
oath to observe all the decrees of this as well as of other
General Councils, and especially that of Constance; and it
was stipulated that those representatives of the Pope
should have no coactive jurisdiction, and should comply
with all the regulations already made at Basle; also that
the acts of the Council should be passed and published in
its own name alone. In subsequent sessions was confirmed
* Cantu, Storia degli Italiani, c. cxvii.
472
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
2
疊
​the decree of Constance regarding the superiority of Coun-
cils over all other powers, and all persons, in the Church.
Certain measures of reform were voted; among others, the
total abolition of annates, the annulling of all "expecta-
tive graces," mandates, reserves, hitherto such a source of
revenue to the Roman Church. The opposition of the
Legates was baffled. A profession of faith was drawn up,
to be subscribed by every Pope on the day of his election.
It was declared that the new Pope ought solemnly to pledge
himself to the frequent convocation of Councils; that the
number of Cardinals should not exceed twenty-four, chosen
from all Christian nations. In the 30th session, Commu-
nion in both kinds was conceded, with certain restrictions,
conformably to the demand of the Bohemians; but only to
that people and to the Moravians, under the condition that
priests, before so administering the sacramental species,
should admonish the people that Christ's Body was truly
and completely present in each kind, under the forms of
bread and wine alike,-sub qualibet specie est integer et totus
Christus. Other decrees of the Council display that spirit
of intelligent beneficence which so often shines forth in the
Church, even amidst the darkest social circumstances. It
was defined that excommunicated persons need not be
avoided, or refused ordinary services by others; that inter-
dicts should be observed only when publicly proclaimed and
rendered notorious; that at Universities at least two pro-
fessors of Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee and Arabic should be
appointed. The Fathers forbade dramatic representations
(the Mysteries still popular), and also profane music, in
churches; they exhorted bishops to depute preachers for
addressing the Jews, and (with less commendable zeal)
ordered all of that nationality to wear a particular garb,
and, where possible, to be restricted to separate quarters in
Christian cities.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
473
After the terms of union with the Greeks had been dis-
cussed another Council was convoked, and with sanction.
from the Pontiff, for effecting such object. Eugenius sent
his Legates to Constantinople with galleys to bring the
Greek Emperor, the Patriarch, and other chief prelates to
Italy. The Council also sent galleys and invitations in its
own name to the Byzantine Church and Court; but the
pontific vessels arrived first in the harbour of the eastern
capital. After some hesitation, John Palæologus* decided
to prefer the hospitalities of the Pope. Embarking on the
27th November, 1437, he reached Venice on the 8th Feb-
ruary, and there spent fifteen days before his departure for
Ferrara. The squadron of nine galleys, which brought him
and his suite to Italy, had been equipped at Venice and in
Candia; and the Autocrat of the East came with the
Byzantine Patriarch Joseph, the Primate of Russia, twenty
bishops, the five dignitaries called "Cross-bearers of S.
Sophia,” certain monks and "philosophers," and the deputies
("genuine or fictitious," as Gibbon sarcastically says) of
the Patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria; also
a select band of singers, and a supply of precious vessels
from the altars of the Byzantine cathedral. The Emperor's
brother Demetrius, and several nobles accompanied him.
Their reception at Venice brought into relief the tradi-
tionary regards for the ancient Empire, even at the last
stage of its decline. Seated on a high throne at the poop
of his galley, Palæologus, before landing, received the
homage of the Doge and Senators; and was then escorted
in the bucentaur up the grand canal, with a procession of
gondolas, steered by men clad in silk and gold, while the
* This Emperor succeeded to his father Manuel in 1425; reigned till
1448; and left the fatal inheritance of a crown with a ruined state
to his brother, Constantine XII., the fourth son of Manuel, and last of the
Byzantine Caesars.
474
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
air resounded to joyous music, and the Roman eagles were
blended, amidst emblems and pageantry, with the lion of
S. Mark.
The Basle Council and the Pope were now in open
hostility. The Fathers cited Eugenius to appear before them
under penalty of severest canonical censures. For disobey-
ing them they condemned him as contumacious, rejected
his bull for convoking a Council at Ferarra, declared his
last creation of Cardinals null and void; and in the 34th
session (25th June, 1439), went so far as to pronounce the
deposition of Eugenius IV. On this the Legates and the
Cardinal Cesarini quitted Basle, obeying the summons to
Ferrara. One Cardinal only, the Archbishop of Arles, re-
mained, and thenceforth presided at the sessions. From
the 23rd session to the last, no Spanish, and only two
Italian bishops took part, though theological doctors of
both those countries still kept their places. The Cardinal,
now presiding, made a memorable protest against Papal
absolution implied in the question: "What at this day
are bishops but a set of shadows? What have they left to
them but a staff and mitre? Can they be called shepherds,
whilst without sheep, and unable to do anything for those
placed under them ?"* On the 5th of November, thirty-
three electors appointed by the Council, the above-named
Archbishop being the only Cardinal among them, went into
conclave, and elected to the Papal throne, now deemed
vacant, Amadeus, the abdicated Duke of Savoy, who took
the name of Felix V. After the 45th session (May, 1443)
the Fathers dispersed, having first announced that the
Council was not dissolved, but prorogued, and transferred
either to Lyons or Lausaune. European Sovereigns were
* Cited in Pusey's "Eirenicon." Raynaldus can only state that some of
the prelates at Basle, together with the Cardinal Cesarini, obeyed the
Pope by quitting that city and repairing to Ferrara.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
475
divided as to the claims and procedure of this Council
and its contest with Eugenius IV. Charles VII. of France
forbade the bishops of his kingdom to appear at Ferrara.
The Emperor Sigismund having died during the session.
(1437), the German Electors decided to recognize both
the Pope and the Council, but not to accept any act of
mutual hostility between those contending parties. They
sent deputies, as did also the Duke of Milan, to recom-
mend postponement of the extreme measures against
Eugenius. Felix V. was recognised as Pope by the Sove-
reigns of Aragon and Hungary, and by the universities
of Paris, Cracow, and Germany, which learned bodies.
proved themselves true to their avowed doctrine of the
superiority of Ecumenical Councils. The other Princes
acted differently; and even the Duke of Milan, who had
married a daughter of Amadeus, refused to own his father-
in-law as Pope.
•
Amadeus VIII., called "the Pacific," succeeded to his
father, when a child of but eight years, 1391. After assum-
ing the reins of government as Count of Savoy, he acquired
the city and province of Geneva by cession from the last
Count, Otho de Villars; and in 1417 became first Duke of
Savoy, through diploma conceded by the Emperor Sigis-
mund, who solemnly invested Amadeus with his duchy, at
Chambery, in the same year. In 1418 the Sovereign Duke
became Count of Piedmont, through succession to Count
Louis of Savoy, deceased without issue, and soon afterwards
acquired the lordship of Nice, Villafranca, and the adjacent
sea-coast, ceded to him by Yolande of Aragon, Duchess of
Anjou, mother and guardian to Louis III., titular King of
Naples. The city and province of Vercelli were annexed
to his States through a treaty of peace with Filippo Maria
Visconti, concluded under the influence of Martin V., after
a threatened war, and the invasion of the Milanese by
476
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Amadeus at the head of 14,000 men. Being left a
widower, weary of the world, or of the cares of State,
this Duke abdicated in 1434, and retired to the priorate
of Ripaille, founded by himself, near the lake of Geneva.
Here his first step (so far as known) was to convoke the
nobles of his dominions, institute the chivalrous Order of
the Annunciation (or that of S. Maurice, according to some
writers), and create his son, Louis, Prince of Piedmont and
Lieutenant-General of the Savoy Dukedom. He then retired
to a more solitary retreat, a hermitage built by himself for
his use, near a cloister of the Augustinian Eremites in the
same neighbourhood, under the spiritual direction of which
fathers he desired to place himself and his companions.
Here six of the newly-created "Knights of the Annuncia-
tion" (or of S. Maurice), all widowers and past their
sixtieth year, were his companions. The aristocratic re-
cluses allowed their beards to grow, and wore long
white vestments of fine cloth, a scarlet cap, a gold cincture
round the waist, and a gold cross hung from the neck. The
life they led in that romantic region was not one of ascetic
observance or remorsefully imposed penances; but rather
that of contemplative Christian philosophers, seeking the
peace which the world denies to so many.* It might be
* Piccolomini, who visited him in this retreat, thought the life he and
his companions were leading: Magis voluptuosam quam pœniten-
tialem." Another eye-witness, Cardinal Nicolo Albergati, was more
favourably impressed by this example of eremite calm preferred to the
royal state: Spectaculo digna res: Princeps saeculi potentissimus,
Gallis, atque Italis metuendus, nunc sex tantum Eremitis præce-
dentibus, et paucis sequentibus sacerdotis in veste vili et abjecta Legatum
Apostolicum excepit. Crucem aurcam Eremitæ in pictore gestarunt:
id tantum nobilitatis signum retinuere, cætera contemptum seculi præ-
seferebant. Venere in amplexum Cardinalis, et Amadeus, ac multa se
invicem charitate sunt deosculati: nec satis Cardinalis aut admirari, aut
collaudare Principem poterat."-See Oldoinus, who mentions the sus-
picion of some that the Papal tiara was the prize in view, with the hope
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
477
considered an expression of the comparatively modern
instinct in the Church, adopting a more human and facile
standard of Christian duty than that severely maintained
by the ascetics of old time. When twenty-five deputies,
one a Cardinal, arrived at Ripaille with the extraordinary
intelligence from Basle, the ex-Duke hesitated long, and
finally, not without many tears, accepted the proffered
tiara. He first received homage as Pope in the church of
Ripaille; thence proceeding to Basle, was ordained priest,
consecrated as bishop, and crowned by the Cardinal of
Arles, 24th July, 1440. The dubious pontificate secured
to him, it seems, neither outward nor inward tranquillity.
He transferred his residence from one city to another-
Basle, Lausanne, and Geneva. After maintaining an un-
equal and profitless struggle with two Popes for nine years,
the Hermit Duke had the good sense to abdicate, 1449,
and again withdrew to his happier solitude, though now
invested, through the generosity of Nicholas V., with the
rank of Cardinal Bishop, Dean of the Sacred College, per-
petual Legate and Vicar of the Holy See in Savoy and
Piedmont, in the territories of Lausanne, Basle, Augsburg,
and Constance. He died, in esteem for sanctity, at Geneva,
1451.*
The Council of Ferrara opened under the presidency of
Cardinal Albergati, on the 10th January, 1438. At the
second session the Pope presided, and solemnly excommu-
nicated the fathers at Basle.
of which Amadeus had been filled from the time of his abdication-a
scarcely admissible calumny.
Profiting well by the clemency of Nicholas V., after his abdica-
tion he returned to the solitude of Ripaille, where he gave himself entirely
to contemplation, and, according to what is reported, no more even
remembered the Pontificate. He died a pious death, in much repute
for sanctity, either in January, 1450, or in 1451-according to some, in
1452."-Moroni, Dizionario, article Antipapa xxxix.
•
478
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
The anathematizing bull was read from a pulpit by the
Bishop of Forli, after the solemn Mass by which the pro-
ceedings were placed under heavenly direction. In the
whole history of spiritual despotism, it would be difficult to
find a more monstrous abuse of sacerdotal power, or more
outrageous violation of charity in the name and for the inte-
rests of faith. All the members and adherents of the Basle
Council were degraded from their ranks and offices, whether
lay or ecclesiastical, and deprived of their benefices if of
the latter class. The magistrates of that city were com-
manded to expel the prelates and other participants in the
Council within thirty days, unless the latter should depart of
their own accord; in case of disobedience, all the authori-
ties and public officers of Basle were to be excommunicated,
and their city laid under interdict. Travellers were for-
bidden to enter that city; merchants were forbidden to
supply its inhabitants with any articles of commerce or
necessities of life If, after the disobedience of the magis-
trates beyond thirty days, merchants also should disregard
the Papal mandate, the latter might be despoiled of their
commodities by any of the faithful, who were permitted to
appropriate such confiscated wares, seeing (his Holiness
adds) that it is said in Scripture: "The righteous have
despoiled the ungodly." A clause setting forth the benignity
of the Church assures those who should repent, and retract
within thirty days, of pardon and exemption from censures.*
* "Nullus post dictum terminum ad dictam civitatem Basileensem
accedat, sed ipsis (i. e., the inhabitants) denegat mercimonia, et cuncta
ad usum hominum necessaria. Mercatores sub eadem excommuni-
cationis pœna inde omnino discedant. Si vero hæc nostra mandata
contempserint, elapso dicto termino, Basileensibus in contumaciis per-
sistentibus, aliqua forsan portare præsumentes, cum scriptum sit, Justi
tulerunt spolia impiorum, possent tales hujusce modi a quibuscumque
Christi fidelibus impune spoliari, bonaque ipsa prius capientium dominio
cedant."-In Raynald, anno 1438.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
479
The interdict was prospectively laid upon all cities whose
hospitality or support should be offered to the offending
prelates. From the 9th April the sessions at Florence were
attended by the Greek Emperor, the Patriarch, and Byzan-
tine prelates; but the representation of the Latin Church
was far from considerable: only 5 archbishops, 18 bishops,
and 10 abbots; the Duke of Burgundy being the only
western sovereign who appeared. John Palæologus made
his entry into Ferrara on a black horse, a white steed,
with gold-embroidered eagles on its trappings, being led
before him, and a canopy borne over his head by kinsmen
of Duke Niccolo d'Este. The Pope met him at the door of
his apartment; "refused his proffered genuflexion" (says
Gibbon), and after a paternal embrace, conducted him to a
seat on his left hand. The Patriarch, who arrived later, would
not even disembark until the ceremonial of his reception had
been stipulated: the Primate of the West was to salute the
Primate of the East with the kiss of peace and union; the
Greek ecclesiastics were to be exempted from the homage
of kissing the foot.* After the 16th session, a bull was
published for transferring the Council to Florence, 10th
January, 1439, on account of the plague which had broken
out at Ferrara. Eugenius IV. set out for the former city,
* An eye-witness thus describes this famous meeting: "The Greek
Emperor entered Ferrara with a numerous suite on horseback. All the
Cardinals then at Ferrara went to meet him outside the city, accompanied
by a large body of prelates. The Emperor was conducted under a golden
canopy to the Apostolic palace, and rode on horseback up to the Pope's
chamber, along a way made in that palace, in ancient time, by the Mar-
quises of Ferrara." (Cardinal di S. Croce, in Raynaldus, an. 1438.)
The Byzantine historian Phrantzes says: "When the Pope heard that
the Emperor had reached the gate, he rose up, and took a walk; and as
he was walking up and down, the Emperor accidentally came upon him,
and when he would have fallen on his knees, the Pope would not
permit him."
480
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the sacred Host being borne before him under a canopy
surrounded by attendants with torches.
The eighteenth ŒEcumenical Council, a continuation of the
one at Ferrara, opened at Florence on the 26th February,
1439.* A contemporary and witness describes the imposing
scene in the glorious Duomo, where the Pope presided, the
Byzantine Emperor was enthroned opposite to him, and
140 bishops of the Latin and Greek communions attended.
After a majestic procession, and High Mass celebrated by
his Holiness, Eugenius took his seat, pontifically vested, on
the Gospel side of the high altar, the Cardinals and Latin
Prelates in copes and mitres being seated near him ; on the
Epistle side sat the Greek Autocrat, in long vestments of
richest silk brocade, with the small pointed cap of Greek
costume, and a precious gem at its apex-"a very beautiful
man (says the same writer), with beard according to the
Greek fashion." The silk vestments of the Oriental
clergy seemed to the Florentines more dignified than those
of the Western prelates. In the group around Palæologus
there were many nobles, all superbly clad, who had accom-
panied him on his journey. The Gospel and the Epistle
were chanted as at the Papal High Mass in Rome. In the
private sessions at the S. Maria Novella convent, where
Eugenius IV. resided, were discussed the points of differ-
ence between the two Churches. At last was drawn up
the celebrated Decree of Union. After the Emperor had
signed it, the Greek prelates repaired to the papal apart-
ments to sign on a day fixed, all except the Archbishop of
Ephesus, who openly resisted, the Archbishop of Stauro-
* Some writers reckon this as the Sixteenth General Council, and a
continuation of that of Basle, which ceased to be legitimate after the
departure of the Legates.
Era uno bellisimo uomo colla barba al modo Greco."
pasiano da Bisticci, Vita di Eugenio IV.
Ves-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
481
polis, who had secretly left Florence, and the Archbishop
of Heraclea, who was prevented by illness, but signed,
without hesitation, on his sick-bed. The venerable
Patriarch of Constantinople had died during the sessions,
and the Patriarch of Alexandria was represented by the
invalid Archbishop. The Vicars of the Patriarchs of An-
tioch and Jerusalem, who had attended the Council, sigued
for those dignitaries. All the Latin prelates affixed their
signatures after the Greeks, and lastly the Pope, who care-
fully examined the Greek signatures. On the 6th of July
the decree was published, first in Latin by Cardinal
Cesarini, next in Greek by Archbishop (afterwards Car-
dinal) Bessarion. After each perusal it was asked if all
present approved? Assent having been signified, all the
prelates embraced each other, and High Mass was celebrated
by the Pope; the Te Deum chanted in Greek.
The Decree of Union defines, that the Holy Spirit eter-
nally proceeds from the Father as from one principle and
through one spiration;* that in the Eucharistic Sacra-
ment the Body of Christ is consecrated and present alike in
unleavened as in leavened bread; that the souls of the truly
penitent, who have died in grace before bearing such worthy
fruits of repentance as can expiate their sins, are purified
by the pains of Purgatory, which may be alleviated by the
suffrages of the faithful; that the holy Apostolic See of the
Roman Pontiff possesses the primacy over the entire Church
and Christian world.† When the Emperor and the Greek
Hæc fidei veritas ab omnibus credatur et suscipiatur quod
Spiritus Sanctus ex Patres et Filio æternaliter est, et essentiam suam
suumque esse subsistens habet ex Patre et Filio, et ex utroque æternaliter
tanquam ab uno principio et una spiratione procedit.
† Definimus Sanctam Apostolicam Sedem et Romanum Pontificem
in universum orbem tenere Primatum, et ipsum Pontificem Romanum
successorum esse B. Petri Principis Apostolorum, et verum Christi
Vicarium, totiusque Ecclesiæ caput, et omnium Christianorum patrem et
2 I
482
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
clergy were about to leave Florence, the Pope required them
to sign five other copies of the Decree destined for the
Princes faithful to the cause of the legitimate Head of the
Church.* The Greeks refused to sign till they had received
the arrears of the payment promised by Eugenius for their
maintenance at Florence and their journey homeward.
Syropulos asserts that this refusal was dictated by the Em-
peror; but that Palæologus at last required them to sign
four copies, with which the Pope now declared himself
satisfied.† All left Florence in August, the Emperor and
his attendants last; and the outstanding debts were settled
immediately before the embarkation of the prelates.‡
During the sessions Palæologus treated with the Pope for
doctorem existere, et ipsi a B. Petro pascendi, regendi, et gubernandi
universalem Ecclesiam a Domino Nostro Jesu Christo plenam potestatem
traditam esse.-After this it is defined that the Patriarchate of Constan-
tinople ranks next to the Roman Pontificate; the Patriarchate of Alexan-
dria, third; that of Antioch, fourth; that of Jerusalem, fifth-with the
clause, "Salvis privilegiis omnibus et juribus eorum," i.e., of the five
eastern Patriarchs.
Syropulos, "Vera Historia Unionis non veri,”—the writer being one
of the "cross-bearers" of S. Sophia, who came to Florence.
+ Vespasiano states that Cardinal Cesarini consigned all the originals
of the Decree, in a velvet covered coffer set with silver, to the "Signo-
ria" of Florence, to be by them preserved ad perpetuam rei memoriam.
Yet, according to Gibbon, "None of the original Acts of Union can at
present be produced: of the ten MSS. that are preserved (five at Rome,
the remainder at Florence, Bologna, Venice, Paris, and London), nine
have been examined by an accurate critic, M. de Berquigny, who con-
demns them for the variety of imperfections of the Greek signatures.
Yet several of these may be considered as authentic copies, which were
signed at Florence before the final separation of the Pope and Emperor.
The Despot Demetrius sternly refused to sign, and was rewarded by
popularity in his native country.
""
The Pope ordered the profits of an indulgence, published in the
States of the Duke of Burgundy, to be applied for the succour of the
Greeks. v. Raynaldus, an. 1439.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
483
those political interests, which, obviously, had been para-
mount in the minds of the laic, however influential, or other-
wise, over the ecclesiastical party from Constantinople.
Eugenius undertook to defray the costs of the journey for
the Emperor as well as the clergy; for three years to main-
tain 300 soldiers and two galleys for the defence of the
Byzantine Empire (or rather for its capital alone); and
whenever the Emperor should desire, to supply twenty
galleys for six months, or ten for a year; moreover, to
urge all Western Princes to send troops, at emergencies, for
defending the imperilled city and State.
It is well known what utter failure was the result of
this attempted reunion between the two Churches. After
the Emperor and prelates had returned to Constantinople,
the rest of the Greek clergy refused to communicate with
those who had signed the Decree. The name of John
Palæologus was struck off the sacred diptychs; he ought
no longer to be prayed for according to the charity of fana-
ticism! The new Patriarch was speedily, because favourable
to the union, denounced as schismatic; all his efforts for
peace were vain; neither the unyielding clergy nor the
frivolous people would hold communion with him; several
who had given their signatures at Florence finally retracted.
The Emperor John died without seeing any accomplishment
of the union so solemnly accepted and proclaimed. His
successor held a Council at S. Sophia, in which the Patriarch
was deposed, and the acts of the Florence assembly were
rejected. Soon afterwards all the prelates who had signed
the Decree gave in their retractation. The Greek Empire,
involved in theologic contests, hastened to and prepared its
ruin.* In the sessions held after the departure of the Greeks,
* "The Despot Demetrius raised the standard of Greek orthodoxy in
direct rebellion against his brother. It was openly said that they (the
2 I 2
484
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the Fathers at Basle and all their adherents were again
denounced as heretical and schismatic. A decree was passed,
the Pope speaking in his own name alone, for the reunion
of the Armenian with the Latin Church.* The Anti-pope
and all his party were condemned as guilty of leze-majesty,
as well as heresy and schism; but forgiveness was promised
by Eugenius to those who should retract within fifty days.
In the last session (26th April, 1442) was proclaimed the
transfer of the Council to Rome. During his stay in
Florence the Pope consecrated the cathedral with much
picturesque pomp and popular rejoicing, vividly described
by the biographer and eye-witness Vespasiano. The same
writer, and another contemporary, S. Antoninus, mention
the exertions made by Eugenius for the reform of religious
Orders, and for the general advantage of the Church in
Tuscany; also giving account of the deplorable abuses dis-
covered by him in Florentine cloisters. The zealous Pontiff
found it necessary to suppress several communities of nuns,
whose life was most scandalous; and the sisterhood in some
signers of the decree) 'Judas-like, had received money, and sold the
Lord.' The churches where they officiated, not merely in the metro-
polis, but in the villages around, were deserted by their flocks. Even in
Russia, the Cardinal Isidore was met by the same contemptuous, in-
flexible resistance." (Milman, Book XIII., c. xiv.) The latter, Arch-
bishop of Kiow, was made Cardinal, together with the learned Bassarion
and fifteen others, by Eugenius IV. at Florence. Isidore lived to witness
the siege and capture of Constantinople, to escape, after most perilous
adventures, from the Turks, to vote at the elections of three Popes, and
finally died at Rome as titular Patriarch of the Greek metropolis.
* The arrival at Florence of a person pretending to be a chief abbot
of the Ethiopian Church, and bearer of letters from "Prester John,”
whom he represented as about to visit Italy, is rejected by some histo-
rians (v. Dupin) as a pseudo-mission, unauthorized, and without
enduring effect. A deputy from the Patriarch of Armenia arrived with
credentials from that dignitary, in whose name he accepted a formula of
Catholic faith presented in one of the public sessions.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
485
instances were distributed over other convents, where
they could be kept under control. We have, however, the
testimony of the saintly Archbishop Antoninus, as to
the edifying example set by the nuns of the Murate con-
vent (on the site now occupied by the great prisons),
where a community of more than a hundred maintained
themselves by their labour, and could afford, out of their
earnings, to dispense much in alms; they kept up con-
tinual psalmody in their church, and were veritable
models of strict observance (S. Anton., Chronic. anno
1435). Several monasteries, which could not be reduced
under wholesome restraint, were suppressed; those not
incorrigible, reformed and preserved.* The Sylvestrine.
monks at S. Marco were among the reprobate; and to that
convent the Pope transferred the Dominicans from another
cloister, at the request of Cosmo de' Medici, who (says
Vespasiano) promised his Holiness to spend 10,000 ducats
on the restoration of the S. Marco church and convent, and
actually went to the expense of 40,000 on those works, after
which that renowned Dominican church was consecrated by
Eugenius. The Florentine "Badia" (Benedictine) was
also reformed; and the Pope abolished the perpetual tenure
of the abbacy, substituting the system of annual election
to that office. A similar reform was effected at S. Salvi, the
Vallombrosan monastery now desecrated and forlorn, but
still known to tourists through Andrea del Sarto's beau-
tiful fresco of the Last Supper in its refectory. Another
extramural abbey, Settimo, once inhabited by forty to fifty
monks of the Cistercian reform of S. Bernard, but now con-
taining only two brethren, and deprived of almost all its
lands and farms, which had been sold by an unworthy
abbot, was consigned by the Pope to the cares of an estim-
* " Più monisteri ch' erano per la terra in varii luoghi, che non si
potevano riducere, gli disfece-Dove potè riducerli a viver bene, lo
fecc."-Vespasiano, Eugenio IV.
486
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
able Cardinal, Domenico Capranica, who recovered the lost
properties and revenues, invited Benedictine monks from
the "Badia" to establish themselves here, and assume the
Cistercian habit, so that before long a community of more
than forty brethren brought back life and influence to that
decayed cloister. Eugenius wished to suppress all the con-
ventual friars (¿.e. those living on their own property), and
reduce them to the faithful observance of the rules pre-
scribed by S. Dominick and S. Francis. This reform was
carried out at Alvernia, at Aracoeli in Rome, and generally
throughout the Roman States. Whatever may be thought of
the acts of Eugenius IV. as Supreme Pontiff or as temporal
Ruler, his private life presents a venerable example of austere
virtues, self-denial, studious pursuits, and most generous
liberality in disposing of this world's goods. He personified
that excellence which the Catholic Religion is eminently
suited to produce, the fruit of ecclesiastical education
matured by inspiring principles of habitual obedience and
concentrated self-command. The report by Vespasiano of
the impression made by him, and the popular feeling mani-
fested towards him at Florence, is truly affecting. Not
only a tribute to the virtues of the man, but to the sanctity
of the Pontificate did the pious Florentines render to that
Pope when he appeared in public-these citizens, no doubt,
being the organs of utterance for a sentiment still deeply
rooted in the Italian mind One scene is described by that
writer with a graphic simplicity only to be appreciated in
his quaint original words: "I recollect that several times
the Pope was with the Cardinals on a balcony near the
portal of the cloister of S. Maria Novella; and the piazza
of S. Maria Novella was full, not only it, but all the ways
leading to it being crowded; and so great was the devotion
of the people who came that all remained stupified in behold-
ing him (Eugenius); and not a single person was heard to
SACRED ART IN ITALY,
487
speak, but all turned towards the Pontiff. And when he
began, according to the custom of the Pontiffs, with these
words, Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini, one heard how
the piazza was full of weeping and lamenting, many calling
upon God for mercy, through the great devotion the people
felt on seeing his Holiness; for not only did it appear to
them that they saw the Vicar of Christ on earth, but His
Divinity.-Truly at this time, he (the Pope) appeared to be
the One he represented."
On the 28th September, 1443, Eugenius IV. re-entered
Rome after an absence of more than nine years. He was
received with rejoicings; and after passing the night at the
monastery close to the Flaminian gate, rode to S. Peter's
through streets hung with rich draperies; hearing a cry
raised from the crowd, complaining of a new tax on wine,
he commanded silence, and instantly abolished that imposi-
tion. Many had been the vicissitudes, and deeply depressed
the conditions of the city during his absence. For some time
after the Pope's flight, the S. Angelo castle was held by his
troops, and after being attacked, kept up a vigorous bom-
bardment, spreading havoc and death around its sullen
walls. The people invited Fortebraccio from his camp, and
he entered the city (1434) with some show of military
triumph. But in the meantime Vitelleschi was recruiting
his forces after defeat; and Sforza, led by the natural con--
dottiere instinct, was changing sides, finding it better to
fight for the Pope than against him in a profitless league.
In the October of that year, Vitelleschi, Sforza, the Orsini
and pontific commissaries arrived with a sufficient army for
their purposes; entered the Borgo quarters near S. Peter's,
and the next day were masters of the Transtiberine
suburb as well as the Leonine City. The cry "La Chiesa !"
was raised in the streets. Combat ensued; Vitelleschi
stormed the Capitol whilst the Chatelain of S. Angelo made
488
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
a vigorous sortie; the seven "Gubernatores" fled, unable
to defend themselves in the Capitoline palace lately rebuilt;
the Republic was overthrown, and Papal authority restored,
after scarcely nine months of that adverse government.
Vitelleschi now applied himself to exterminate with fire
and sword the marauding soldiery who were devastating
and pursuing their brigand courses over the Campagna and
Sabina; also to put down the hardly less lawless violence
of the baronial leaders. Palestrina was destroyed, not even
the cathedral being spared; and the work of demolition was
continued for a whole month by order of this Prelate-
Captain. The Colonna castle, on its rocky height above
that town, was left standing till the next year (1438), when,
Lorenzo Colonna having ventured to return, that strong-
hold of his family was also destroyed. The prettily-situated
Zagarolo, in the valley below Palestrina, shared the same fate.
The Savelli castle near Albano was razed to the ground.†
The Prefect, Del Vico, was besieged at Vetralla, and after
the taking of that fortress, sent to the castle of Soriano to
suffer death. With him became extinct that family, of
German origin, which had held the hereditary office of Pre-
fect of Rome since the XII. century; and subsequently
the prefecture was bestowed by the Popes at pleasure, with
much limitation of its former attributes. The moral con-
ditions and police of Rome were, at this time, the worst
* The church-bells were taken to Corneto; the marbles of the cathe-
dral doors to the same town, for adorning the magnificent palace of the
Vitelleschi family, still extant, and now serving as the principal hotel of
Corneto.
+ Mentioned in the XI. century, and rebuilt about the end of the
XII. by the nephews of Honorius III., this castle was again restored
by Pius II, but finally deserted, owing to want of water, in 1640. Its
ruins, on a woody knoll, form a picturesque object scen from the road to
Albano.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
489
possible; robbery, murder, and sanguinary vengeance
stalked abroad, the unchecked demons of a corrupt people
and feeble state! The churches, even principal basilicas,
were so often robbed that the Pope issued a bull (1436)
against such sacrilege. At the Lateran the silver busts,
containing the supposed skulls of S. Peter and Paul, were
deprived of their most precious jewels by two beneficed
clergymen of that chapter, who, as well as a canon, con-
victed only of the offence of receiving some of those stolen
gems, suffered a horrible death; brought from their prison
to the Campo di Fiori, with paper mitres on their head, the
canon seated on a mule, the other two dragged at the tails
of horses, the former was hanged to a tree before the
Lateran basilica, the two latter were burnt alive after their
right hands had been cut off; and this ghastly scene was
commemorated in a picture painted on a wall either of the
church or the adjacent palace.* The robbery had been
twice perpetrated, at Easter and on the festival of the two
Apostles. Those jewels, soon recovered, were brought back
to the Lateran by the Senator with all the magistrates in
procession; there, at the high altar, that chief officer read
the excommunication threatened by Urban V., who had
deposited the jewelled busts in their shrine, against all sacri-
legious despoilers.
After his successful onset against petty despots, and bri-
gand-soldiery on the Campagna, Vitelleschi entered Rome in
triumph, received with pomp, and from the arch of Gallienus
(near S. Maria Maggiore) was attended by the magistrates
with olive branches in their hands, a canopy borne over his
head as he rode through the streets by torchlight, to the
palace of S. Lorenzo in Damaso. The people shouted vivas
for "the Patriarch, the father of the city!" On the same
* As Infessura, not very clearly, reports: "painted on the side where
one enters the church of S. Giovanni, on the right, high up."
490
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
night a deputation waited on him, and presented a goblet
full of gold pieces. The obsequious Senate and magistrates,
in a civic assembly on the Capitol, voted the erection of an
equestrian statue to his honour, with the epigraph: Joanni
Vitellescho, Patriarchæ Alexandrino, tertio a Romulo Ro-
manæ Urbis Parenti-to be placed on the Capitol, where,
however, no such sculptured monument was ever seen.
This mitred warrior commanded 4000 horse and 2000 foot
soldiery; had his garrisons at Corneto, Ostia, Civitavecchia.
Most characteristic of the blending of opposite offices and dig-
nities in his person, and of the natural fruit of such anomaly,
was one of the rewards he promised to his soldiers: an indul-
gence of a hundred days for every olive-tree cut down on land
they were devastating! But his career was drawing towards
a tragic close. He was accused to the Pope of intent to sub-
ject to his own power the cities he had reconquered for the
tiara; of holding secret treaties with Piccinnino, the captain
of Duke Visconti's forces, etc. Cardinal Scarampo, an ambi-
tious and intriguing man, counselled Eugenius to have him
put under arrest. One day when Vitelleschi was passing
by the S. Angelo castle at the head of his troops, about to
march into Tuscany, he was treacherously seized by the
Chatelain, Rido, who pretended to enter into friendly dis-
course with him at the angle between the gate of that
fortress and the bridge. Finding himself surrounded and
made a prisoner inside the iron gate now closed behind
him, he valiantly resisted till wounded in the neck and
right arm. He died in the castle, a few days afterwards.
(1440), either of wounds, or (as suspected) of poison; and
the remains of this once great and dreaded leader, Car-
dinal Patriarch and Chief Commander of the pontific
armies, were insultingly exposed, naked and unhonoured,
in the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, for an interval
before his relatives were allowed to remove them to Coructo.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
491
His career is a striking example of the strange confusion,
which highest ecclesiastical authorities are responsible for,
between things sacred and profane. When pontific hands
bestowed the mitre and the command of troops, the sword
and the crozier, upon the same individual, what standard of
ecclesiastical duties could be kept up, or consistently
adopted and maintained? Eugenius IV. made Vitelleschi
"Captain-General of the Holy Church," and, in the same
year, Bishop of two Sees, Macerata and Recanati; in the
next year, Archbishop of Florence and titular Patriarch of
Alexandria ; two years afterwards he raised him to the cardi-
nalate; and during that Pope's absence from Rome, Cardinal
Vitelleschi was appointed Governor and Vice-Chancellor.
At different periods he had been Legate to several Italian
states and cities; and was once sent with forces into the
Neapolitan kingdom to support Réné d'Anjou in his struggle
against Alphonso of Arragon for the crown. Apologists,
who own that "he wielded more frequently the sword than
the crozier, and seldom resided in his dioceses," have made
good his claim to praise for well employed energies. Excellent
regulations were passed by him to promote the welfare of his
flocks, who seldom saw their warlike pastor, and to secure
the good conduct of the clergy subject to him in his dio-
ceses. Corneto was erected into a bishopric by his counsel;
and out of regard for him the Roman Senate bestowed
their own citizenship on all the inhabitants of that town.
This Cardinal's nephew, who was Bishop of Corneto at the
time of his death, fled on hearing of his uncle's tragic fate;
was deprived of his See, made Cardinal by the Antipope,
and finally restored to his bishopric by Nicholas V.
Eugenius, in a brief to the "Cornetani," represented their
illustrious townsman's captivity and death as the conse-
quences of an accident in a quarrel between him and the
Chatelain; but it is certain that the Pope liberally re-
492
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
T
warded Rido for his base services. Cardinal Scarampo
succeeded to the offices and honours of the unfortunate
Vitelleschi.
Contemporary writers describe the ruinous desolation of
Rome-symbolic of its moral decline at this period, and
during the nine years' exile of the Pope. Æneas Piccolo-
mini observes that the city, deprived of the government of
its pontiffs, appeared more like a vast and deserted cavern
than a metropolis.* Another writer found it like a village
of cowherds rather than a civilized city; its inhabitants
being dressed, as we may suppose were peasants on the Cam-
pagna at this time, in coarse cloaks (capperoni) and long
boots; where once had been shops and stalls, sheep and
cattle now wandered about; and one sign of improved
circumstances was that, after the return of Eugenius IV.,
the impoverished people put on better clothes.† Poggio
saw the Capitoline hill covered with vineyards, and of all
its monumental grandeur nothing left save the massive
time-defying ruins of the Tabularium, the great vaulted
corridor of which was then utilized as a salt magazine. Flavio
Biondo mentions the practice, then common, of burning the
travertine and marble, torn from classic ruins, in limekilns.
Ambrogio Traversari (visiting this city in 1432) says: "Onc
cannot walk in any direction without having to observe
some work of antique art, either lying on the ground or
set into some wall like a useless old stone. Fragments of
marble or porphyry columns are seen strewn on the earth;
and many such, still preserved erect, serve to support the
most miserable sort of porches."
In 1441 arrived visitors who made a sensation, and
whose appearance in Rome is commemorated among the
* "Romam sine pontificis cura non tam urbem quam vastam ac descrtam
speluncam, etc.”
Si rivestirono e rassettarono la maggior parte." Vespasiano.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
493
reliefs on the bronze doors of S. Peter's: an Egyptian
abbot, named Antony, with about twelve Ethiopian monks,
that superior representing himself to be in the confidence.
of the Emperor of Ethiopia. They were received at the
gates by the Senator, the Governor and other magistrates;
were lodged in the palace of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, and
escorted by officials to see the principal churches and expo-
sitions of relics. The object of their mission is but vaguely
indicated; though Ciaconius brings it into connection with.
that of the "orators" from Armenia and Ethiopia, who
appeared at Florence during the Council, professing their
readiness to submit to the decisions of that assembly and
to the authority of the Pope; requesting also to be sup-
plied, as they promptly were, with a norma for doctrine
and discipline in the true Church, to which they desired to
pertain. Gibbon, admitting the fact of their mission,
questions their credentials, and doubts the reality of the
nominal reunion between the Churches.*
While Felix V., neglected and scarcely formidable, was
keeping up the semblance of a pontific court at Lausanne,
the German Empire still continued neutral, as ever since
the Council of Basle had commenced. Anonymous writings
* "The deputies of the Armenians, Maronites, Jacobites of Syria
and Egypt successively kissed the foot of Eugenius IV., and announced
the obedience and orthodoxy of the East." These Oriental embassies,
(he infers) were unknown in the countries they presumed to represent.
"So nugatory, or rather so fabulous (he adds), were these reunions of
the Nestorians and Jacobites, that I have turned over, without success,
the Bibliotheca Orientalis of Assemanus, a faithful slave of the Vatican."
(Decline and Fall, c. LXVI.) A contemporary, Vespasiano, assumes that
this mission had its practical importance, so at least his own simple
words imply :-"Letti i privilegi de' Greci, e autenticati e confermati
in pubblico di volontà delle parti, si lessero poi quegli degli Armeni e
Jacobiti ed Etiopi”—that is, at the Florence Council.
1
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
494
were circulated calling on the nation to cast off an inglo-
rious neutrality, and espouse the cause of religious freedom
by acknowledging that Council. Eugenius IV. arbitrarily
deposed the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves, and
intrusted other ecclesiastics, not even Germans, with those
princely sees. Six of the Electors entered into a league,
and threatened that if the Pope did not annul his bull of
deposition against the Archbishops, and submit to the
decrees of Constance, they would cast off the neutrality,
acknowledge the Council of Basle and Felix V. as legiti
mately raised to the pontificate. The Emperor, ruled by
his secretary, the eloquent Æneas Sylvius, whom Eugenius
had recently appointed his own secretary also, sent tidings
of this league to Rome, and intrusted to the same accom-
plished agent the task of persuading the Pope to grant
restitution to the two Archbishops. Eneas succeeded in
his difficult mission; the deposed prelates were restored ;
the Emperor and several of the German Princes forswore
the neutrality and submitted to Eugenius. A concordat
was drawn up (1447) between Frederick III. and the Le-
gate, Cardinal Carvajal, and accepted the same year by a
Diet, importing-That canonical election should be restored
to the capitular clergy; that the Pope should no more grant
provisions or expectatives in the Empire, but should nomi-
nate to German benefices left vacant through the transla-
tion of incumbents or the annulling by the Holy See of
previous nominations; that he should appoint to canoni-
cates, alternately with the Chapters, for six months; that a
tax, payable by the recipients of benefices within two
years, should be substituted for the abolished annates. To
Frederick III. is imputed the responsibility of having sold
to Rome the cause of reform in the German Church for
the sum of 200,000 florins, coupled with the promise of an
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
495
imperial coronation, and certain concessions of ecclesias-
tical favours in his hereditary states.*
Eneas Sylvius was the bearer to Rome of the intelli-
gence that the Diet at Frankfort had accepted the terms
offered by the Pope, and that the Emperor was satisfied.
with his concessions. The Concordat was celebrated in the
former city, like a victory, with rejoicings and illuminations.
Eugenius just lived long enough to issue the apostolic
bulls, and reward the services of Æneas Sylvius with a
bishopric. Fourteen days afterwards he breathed his last,
23rd February, 1447.
The last days and words of this Pontiff have a touching
solemnity, as reported by contemporaries and by one who
saw him on his death-bed.† Eugenius asserted that in his
youth, whilst he dwelt in his quiet monastery at Venice,
the supreme pontificate, its peculiar trials in his case, its
duration, and consequently the term of his life, had been
prophesied to him by a mysterious hermit, whom he saw
but once. His death was calm and holy; but one utter-
ance, at that moment when illusions fade before the
closing eyes, expressed a profound feeling of self-reproach
at the retrospect of his career since highest honours had
accumulated on his head:-"O Gabriel (he exclaimed),
how much better had it been for thy soul's salvation if
thou hadst never been either Pope or Cardinal, but left to
die a simple monk!"‡
* Gregorovius, B. XIII. c. 1. The anonymous author of "Janus"
says, in this reference: "Damit war in Deutschland die Sache des Con-
cils und der Kirchenreformation verloren, und sank die Deutsche Kirche
Schritt für Schritt in die frühere Knechtschaft zurück." Yet assuredly
the points conceded in the Concordat had their importance, participating
of the nature of disciplinary reform.
†The same Piccolomini, named Æneas.
"O Gabriello, quanto sarebbe suto meglio per la salute dell' anima
496
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Eugenius IV., notwithstanding many virtues, had not
elevation of mind to perceive that the true interests of the
Papacy were identical with those of the Church; and that
acquiescence in demands advanced by the wise, the
thoughtful and learned, for temperate reform, would have
strengthened instead of weakening the throne he filled.
He strove for the interests of the Roman Curia, and for
his own prerogatives and claims understood in that exagge-
rated sense which the intellect and religious feeling of the
age were beginning to dispute, or openly deny, to the
Roman See. He left to his successors a sad inheritance-
a confirmed antagonism between the Papal power and the
Apostolic institutions of primitive Christianity. "Had he
made a better use of his talents," it is observed by an
ecclesiastical historian, "he might have restored to the
Church a part at least of her pristine splendour." (Art.
de Vérifier les Dates.)
tua, che tu non fussi mai suto nè papa nè cardinale, ma fussiti morto
nella tua religione."-Vespasiano.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
497
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, 1447 TO 1500.
DURING the conclave, which met in the Dominican
convent of "La Minerva," after the death of Eugenius IV.,
Alfonso of Aragon, who had obtained the Neapolitan crown
in 1443, appeared at the head of troops on the Campagna,
and took up his quarters at Tivoli. His presence there
contributed to protect the pontific cause during the inter-
regnum, whilst an effort was made by Stefano Porcaro, a
citizen of the higher class and of cultivated mind, to rouse
the people to revolt. Now, he argued, was the favourable
moment, the throne being vacant, to claim their rights and
emancipate themselves from the sacerdotal sway which it
was disgraceful to endure. Thus did this bold demagogue
address a multitude assembled in the church of Aracoli on
the Capitol; but his appeals were fruitless; the spirit and
efforts of Rienzo could not be revived, and the prelate who
governed Rome during the seclusion of the Cardinals had
strength to put down the abortive revolution which failed
before passing into the phase of incipient action. On the
6th March, 1447, issued forth from the Minerva convent
a procession escorting the new Pope, with customary pomps,
to S. Peter's; and the Romans now saw, mounted on a
white palfrey, the little, feeble, insignificant-looking man,
whom seventeen Cardinals had elected to the Papal throne,
and who took the name of Nicholas V.
Tomaso da Sarzana, the son of a surgeon in a Tuscan
village, had studied at Bologna, and began his career as a
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
private tutor at Florence. Winning his way through merits
and learning to the various high offices of the Church, he
became, in the course of eighteen months, Bishop of
Bologna, Cardinal, and Sovereign Pontiff. He had accom-
panied his patron, Cardinal Albergati, on several important
missions to France, England, and Burgundy; had been
subsequently sent by Eugenius IV. into countries where he
represented the Holy See without dependence on another.
In him the world had soon to recognise one of the most
learned and beneficent of Popes. At a time when the
ardent desire for knowledge prevailed throughout Italy,
and an eager interest in classical literature was increasing,
when novel and bold ideas were obtaining ground, when the
deference towards the Church and the Papacy was declin-
ing, and many old things were passing away from mind or
belief, this Pontiff became the chief instrument for unlock-
ing to the European intellect, thus already stimulated, the
treasures of Antiquity, its Philosophy, its History, and its
Thought; he re-asserted for the Papacy an intellectual
headship, and a character in which it worthily sustained
the higher character and vocation of the Latin Church.
He was the founder of the Vatican Library, a nucleus of
which, the remnant of the more ancient Papal library
brought back from Avignon, had been left at the now
deserted Lateran, but was transferred by Nicholas to the
more modern palace, where in the course of his pontificate
of eight years, that collection swelled to the number of
5000 volumes. He sent missionaries over distant countries
to search among the remnants of Byzantine libraries, or
the obscurest monasteries of Germany and Britain for
the dusty MSS., which were to him the most prized of
earthly treasures. He caused to be made known, either in
the originals or through Latin translation, the most valu-
able works of Plato and Aristotle, and all the discoverable
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
499
writings of Thucydides, Herodotus, Xenophon, Polybius,
Diodorus, Appian, Theophrastus, Philo, Ptolemy. The
patristic Greek Literature was not forgotten; and transla-
tors of the works of Chrysostom, Cyril, Eusebius were
liberally rewarded. Gianozzo Manetti, invited to Rome
from Florence, was made pontific Secretary, with a double
salary for his services, while employed in literary under-
takings, in translating and composing. To Lorenzo Valle
was assigned the task of translating Herodotus and Thucy-
dides; to Poggio, that of rendering Xenophon and Dio-
dorus into Latin. The Pope promised 10,000 gold florins to
Francesco Filelfo for a poetic version of Homer (never,
unfortunately, finished), after first giving that writer a
purse of 500 ducats, on hearing him read his once famous
Satires. One emissary brought from Germany the long
lost "Germania" of Tacitus, and the "De Viris illustribus"
of Suetonius. Classic MSS. were the tribute of the world
to this crowned Mecenas, of whom Gibbon says that in him
"the character of the man prevailed over the interest of
the Pope;" that "the fame of Nicholas V. has not been
adequate to his deserts." He habitually kept 1000
scribes engaged in copying the ancient codes thus carefully
acquired, and 100 learned writers to translate into Latin
from those that were in Greek. The literary men, monks
and savants, driven from the Eastern Empire by Moslem
invasion, found refuge and encouragement in Rome.
Throughout his pontificate, Nicholas V. was not only a
patron of the learned, but munificent in the undertaking
of public works; he used to say that there were two objects
for which he desired to spend money: books and buildings.
In his relations with Princes, his aims and policy were
always pacific; hence the gradually restored amity between
European governments and the Holy See; and hence the
abandonment of the cause of the last among Antipopes, the
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MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Duke of Savoy, called Felix V., who had the wisdom to
renounce his ill-supported claims (1449), and owed to the
magnanimity of Nicholas not only forgiveness, but the
highest ecclesiastical honours that could be bestowed.
Rejoicings and illuminations celebrated this event at Rome.
It appeared, says Vespasiano, in his life of Nicholas V.,
"that such a Pontiff had been sent by Divine mercy to
restore peace to Italy, after the wars and evils of so many
years.' It was his hope "that he should never have to
use any other arms than that which Christ had given him
for his defence—the Cross; that was the weapon he wished
to wield throughout his pontificate.”*
""
The jubilee of 1450 is said to have attracted more pil-
grims to Rome than any other celebration of the "holy
year;" but it was concluded by tragic disasters. One day
when a multitude were returning from S. Peter's, after the
exposition of the "Volto Santo," some trifling obstacle on
the S. Angelo bridge caused a panic and general arrest
of the moving throng; numbers were thrown over the
parapet into the river; many were suffocated in the pres-
sure; altogether, 200 perished, and 136 were buried with
the solemn funeral, ordered by the Pope, at the adjacent
church of S. Celso, while eighteen carts bore the rest of the
dead to a public cemetery. To provide against such
dangers for the future, many houses, which encumbered
the narrow ways leading to the bridge, were thrown down;
* "He had not only knowledge of the modern, but of all ancient men
of learning (dottori), as well Greek as Latin; and there were few
writers in the Greek and Latin languages whose works he had not seen ;
and he had the Bible entirely by heart (tutta a mente), and always could
quote from it appropriately. His intellect seemed divine; and divine
was his memory of all things." Vespasiano da Bisticci, in his quaint
fifteenth-century Italian, thus eulogizes the estimable Pope, whose
character he could bear witness to from personal acquaintance.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
501
and two chapels were erected at the entrance to it from the
left bank of the river for joint commemoration of those who
lost their lives on that fatal day.
1449, caused any
Nicholas V. set
spectacle of this
Neither this disaster, nor the plague which had been
raging in Italy, and had reached Rome, in
interruption to the sacred observances.
the example of piety and zeal; and the
learned Pope daily visiting the churches of the "Stations"
with all his Cardinals, walking barefooted in the proces-
sions led by him, and going through all the devotions.
prescribed to the pilgrims, might have seemed a symbol or
embodiment of the alliance between faith and intellect,
between ancient Catholicism and a world now rapidly sub-
mitting to the influences which were transforming it.
The Pope took measures to provide for the welfare of
the pilgrims by prescribing an average of prices in the
provision markets; he procured from different countries.
seventy ship-loads of corn for the Roman mills; and sup-
plied not only physical comforts but regulations of police
for checking the audacious brigandage on the Campagna.
In the records of ceremonial the coronation of a German
Emperor at Rome, after the imperial progress undertaken
expressly to receive the diadem from Papal hands at
S. Peter's, is memorable as being the last such occurrence,
the last instance of acknowledgment by the German Empire
of the traditionary rights of the Papacy to set its seal
and sanction on the choice of the Teutonic Electors. In
March, 1452, Frederick III., and his bride Eleonora of
Portugal, made their ingress into this city with much
pomp by the Porta di Castello. On the next day, the
Pope blessed the nuptials of this Emperor and the Portu-
guese Princess; and eight days afterwards took place the
coronation, at which were used the crown, sceptre, sword,
502
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
and golden globe, brought from Nuremburg, and said to be
the identical objects used at the coronation of Charlemagne.
At the nuptials Nicholas placed another crown on the
Emperor's head, that of the Italian kingdom; but a silver
diadem, brought also from Nuremburg, supplied the place of
that iron crown which could only be obtained at Milan.
After the final ceremony, the imperial cavalcade passed, as
usual, to the Lateran, the young Empress (aged sixteen)
carrying in her hand the Golden Rose, presented to her by
the Pope and at the S. Angelo bridge the Emperor had to
go through the weary task of bestowing knighthood on 265
claimants. Nicholas V. had been alarmed, apprehending
some encroachment on his prerogatives, when the arrival of
Frederick was announced. In the interval, he caused the
S. Angelo castle to be repaired, and the Capitoline Palace
fortified; took into his pay 1000 soldiers, and invited the
barons to quit their strongholds on the Campagna, and sup-
port him by their presence during the imperial visit. On his
way to Rome, Frederick III. encountered personal danger
at Viterbo, through the rude eagerness of the populace to
avail themselves of the ancient privileges of seizing the
horse ridden by and the canopy carried above a sovereign
on his entry into Italian cities. They tore down with hooks
the canopy borne over his imperial head, and attempted to
draw his horse from under him before he stopt to alight.
Fortunately his German majesty was strong enough to
defend himself, and manfully belaboured the assailants
with blows which sufficed to repel them. The strangers
were not disturbed, nor the cause of disturbance, at Rome.
Frederick returned thither on his way from Naples, and
spent fifteen days at the Vatican as the guest of the Pope;
on which occasion, we are told, all the civic officers, from
highest to lowest, were provided with new garments, at
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
503
least as much as three and a half yards of red cloth for each,
at the expense of His Holiness!
*
In the January of 1453, Stefano Porcaro made the
second attempt against pontific rule, which proved fatal to
himself and his accomplices. The revival of classic literature,
and the new ideas, the republican and Platonic theories
thus germinating in awakened minds, may probably have
stimulated antipathy against sacerdotal power, notwith-
standing the blameless and respectable character of the
individual now worthily representing it at the Vatican.
Porcaro had been mildly dealt with after his first attempt;
banished to Bologna, he had been detained not as a prisoner
but under the obligation of showing himself every day to
the governor of that city, and never venturing into Rome.
* Maximilian, the son and successor (1493) of Frederick III., set out
at the beginning of the year 1508 for a journey to obtain the same
coronation at Rome, but oppositions offered by Venice induced him to
return beyond the Alps and abandon the intent of receiving a crown
from Papal hands. By circular letters he required all the states of the
Empire to give him the title of Roman Emperor Elect, subsequently
assumed by all his successors in ascending the throne, and approved of,
in the case of Maximilian, by Julius II. Scarcely could the most
indulgent among Popes have acquiesced in the other title strangely
assumed by Maximilian, of "Pontifex Maximus," the German, thus
imitating the Roman and Pagan (a few also of the early Christian)
Emperors. When Charles V. desired the crowns of the German
Empire and Italy, a Pope, Clement VII., had to travel to Bologna for
performance of the ceremonies, 1530, instead of receiving the imperial
applicant at Rome. Ferdinand, the brother and successor in Empire
(1556) of Charles V., was denounced by Paul IV., and prohibited to
assume the imperial titles, because neither at his election nor at the
abdication of Charles had the Pontiff in any manner intervened.
Ferdinand protested against this act of the Pope; and thenceforth the
German potentates ceased to apply for any sanction from the Holy See.
Thus did the indispensable coronation and ratification pass away among
things "silently gone out of mind!”
504
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
He contrived to escape, and returned, invited by his friends,
to renew the struggle. The co-operation of 400 exiles was
reckoned upon for the success of a revolt in which it was
proposed to throw fire into the Vatican stables, and during
the panic ensuing to seize the persons of the Pope and Car-
dinals, and occupy the S. Angelo fortress. It was said
that Stefano had provided himself with a gold chain for the
captive Pontiff; and the conspirators expected to find at
least a million gold florins in the Papal treasury, the
palaces of the Cardinals and banks of the money-changers.
The Epiphany was the day fixed; but by the vigil of that
festival the whole plot had been discovered. On that
evening, the Senators, accompanied by many soldiers, sur-
prised Stefano, with the other conspirators, at the Porcaro
Palace, where 300 armed men were found concealed.
ringleader escaped to the house of his sister, but was
soon seized in his hiding place, a chest, in which he lay for
a time; he suffered death by hanging from the battle-
ments of S. Angelo. Platina and other historians state
that three of his accomplices were executed in the same
manner on the Capitol; but Vespasiano da Bisticci declares,
with eulogies on the clemency of the Pope, that the lives of
all the other conspirators were spared.*
The
Every day at noon the church-bells throughout Italy
invite to the prayer of the "Angelus," or Ave Maria, a devo-
tion added to the morning and evening observance, with the
same formula, by Callixtus III., successor to Nicholas V.,
for enjoining on the faithful to invoke the Divine protection
against Moslem conquest, the progress of which, threaten-
* The house of the Porcaro family still stands, though modernized.
A collection of antique epigraphs within its walls, formed by Stefano
and others of his race, was presented by Prince Doria, heir of the
property after the extinction of that family, to the Pope, and placed in
the Vatican, where we still see it in the "galleria lapidaria.”
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
505
ing to raise the Crescent above the Cross from the Holy
Sepulchre to the shrine of S. Peter at Rome, caused
terror to all Christendom in this century. Perhaps few,
amidst the din and distractions of city-life, pass in thought
along the historic chain of memories and tragedies linked
with the sound of that holy bell. A catastrophe, which is
believed to have eventually promoted rather than checked
the progress of culture and civilization in western Europe,
occurred on the 29th May, 1453, when the Greek Empire
was overthrown, through the capture of Constantinople by
Mohammed II. This event had been almost prophesied of by
Nicholas V. Two years previously the last unfortunate.
sovereign of the Palæologus dynasty had renewed, through
envoys sent to Rome, the oft-repeated, and now trans-
parently hollow offers of the submission of the Greeks to
the Papal supremacy, and of reunion between the two
divided Churches, as inducement and price, or condition at
least, for that material succour vainly relied upon for the
rescue of the falling Empire.
The only Princes who had conscientiously and with con-
sistent earnestness endeavoured to avert that ruin, foreseen
its approach, and anticipated its results of danger to west-
ern Christendom, were the Roman Pontiffs. The last effort
made from the Vatican was through the mission of a Greek
Cardinal, Isidore, Archbishop of Kioff, sent as legate with
the answer of Nicholas V. to the letters of the last Greek
Emperor: it was necessary (the Pope observed) to see
whether the fig-tree, hitherto cultivated in vain, could yet
produce fruit; for three years that stricken tree might be left,
but if it still proved barren at the end of that time, it must
be torn up by the roots. The legate found the Emperor,
the clergy, and chief nobles of Constantinople apparently
eager to promote that object so much desired by the Pope
and the Latin Church. The Decree of Union, drawn up
506
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
at the Council of Florence, was again accepted and solemnly
ratified, but with the proviso, that after it had pleased God
to restore peace to the Empire, and rescue the imperilled
capital, that document should be maturely examined, and
emended, as deemed advisable, by competent persons. But
ceremonies and public professions were no signs of moral
realities in this case. Fanaticism and the hereditary force
of the odium theologicum prevailed at the Eastern metro-
polis; and the Cardinal Isidore had to listen not only to a
chorus of anathemas from monks in their cloisters, but to
the rude tumult of the low populace, amidst the orgies of
the tavern, cursing over their wine cups the Roman Pontiff
who had endeavoured to protect their sovereign and state,
and especially denouncing, in scorn and hatred, the azimites,
namely, those guilty of the horrible sacrilege of communi-
cating in the Holy Eucharist on unleavened bread!
The self-devoting heroism of the doomed Emperor, who
has been well apostrophized as the "last and noblest
Constantine," excites the profoundest pity and admiration;
and the sublimity of his hopeless struggle redeems the
honour of an imperial line otherwise so fatally perverse
and misguided.* But the history of the Greek Empire's
decline and fall reminds us of the mysterious legend asso-
ciated with the catastrophe of Jerusalem,-how, shortly
* But thou, that on thy ramparts proudly dying,
As a crowned leader in such hours should die,
Upon thy pyre of shivered spears art lying
With the heavens o'er thee for a canopy,
And banners for thy shroud! No tear, no sigh
Shall mingle with thy dirge; for thou art now
Beyond vicissitude! Lo! reared on high,
The Crescent blazes while the Cross must bow;
But where no change can reach, there, Constantine, art thou!
The Last Constantine.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
507
before the capture by the Roman armies, angels spread
their wings to abandon the temple of the ancient Covenant,'
and were heard to exclaim, amidst the silence of night,
"Let us depart hence!" The intelligence of the fall of
Constantinople overclouded the few remaining years, and
perhaps shortened the life of Nicholas V., who, it is said,
was never again seen to laugh after hearing of that great
disaster. His contemporary and biographer gives an
affecting account of his last days and private sorrows. He
had invited two Carthusian monks, one from the Certosa
near Florence, the other being Prior of the monastery near
Pisa, to attend him, and give him the benefit of their good
counsels; and so much was he impressed by their sanctity
and converse that he desired these holy men to remain at
the Vatican, lodged in an apartment communicating with
his own. In one of their frequent colloquies, he asked
these Carthusians whether there could be found on earth a
more unhappy man than he-the Sovereign of the Church?
adding that, among the other afflictions of his lot, was
this, his particular misfortune, that none who crossed the
threshold of his chamber ever told him the truth, that no
one ever uttered to him his real thoughts on things that
were known; and that he (the Pope himself) was conse-
quently in such perturbation of spirit, that, if it could
comport with his duties, he would willingly renounce the
pontificate, to become once more plain "Maestro Tomaso
da Sarzana," returning to the life in which he had enjoyed
more happiness during a single day than in a whole year on
the Papal throne; "and he complained to them (the
monks) infinitely, almost shedding tears while he spoke
thus with them."*
* "Dolsesi con loro infinitamente, infino quasi che ne venivano le
lagrime."-Bisticci, "Nicola V., Papa."
508
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Alfonso Borgia, Cardinal Archbishop of Valencia, was
elected Pope (8th April, 1455), at the age of seventy-eight,
and took the name of Callixtus III. His pontificate of
three years is signalized by the first appearance on the
historic scene of a Spanish family notorious for ambition,
by the renewed effort to raise the Papacy to a rank among
belligerent powers, and by the more worthy enterprise of
a Crusade, supported by all the influence and means of the
tiara, against the Turks. The establishment of the Moslem
power at Constantinople gave rise to a new idea in the
Christian mind, substituted for the long-cherished project
of recovering the Holy Sepulchre: the paramount duty of
rescuing the lost Empire from infidel invaders. The
Spanish Pope had, and it seems long before his election,
recorded a vow to dedicate all his efforts to that cause.
Platina gives the very words from his memorandum-book,
and tells us how much astonishment was excited when it
became known that, long before obtaining the tiara,
Cardinal Borgia had confidently styled himself Pontiff in
his private record, though already a decrepid old man. In
his earlier career, before being either bishop or cardinal,
he had rendered good service to the Church by counselling,
and mainly contributing to induce, the abdication of a
phantasm antipope, raised up by two Cardinals, the solitary
adherents to the last hour of the obstinate nonogenarian
Pedro de Luna, at the lone castle of Peniscola on the Ara-
gonese coast. This creature of a shadowy conclave was a
canon of Barcelona, named Egidius Munoz, who now called
himself Clement VIII., but renounced his pretended Pope-
dom (1429), after four years, and rendered homage to
Martin V., through a Cardinal Legate, as did at the same
time, three pseudo-Cardinals. * Martin V. generously
rewarded Munoz with the bishopric of Majorca.
*The Legate who received homage for the Pope on this occasion,
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
509
One of Callixtus III.'s first proceedings was to send
eloquent preachers through different countries to proclaim,
and rouse up nations to unite in the Crusade. For pro-
moting this object, he emptied the treasury, in which
Nicholas V. left 200,000 ducats; pawned the jewels of the
tiara, sold church property, and even removed the silver
bindings from books collected by his learned predecessor
in the Vatican library. Through such efforts he was able
to create a pontific fleet-a phenomenon long unseen,-
consisting of sixteen triremes, the command of which was
entrusted to Cardinal Scarampo, Archbishop of Florence
and Patriarch of Aquileja.* This fleet sailed from Ostia for
the Ægean sea, certain islands in which were taken;
and during three years pontific soldiery continued at inter-
vals to descend from those Roman ships on the coast of
Asia Minor with more or less damage to the Moslem
inhabitants. Alfonso of Naples and the Duke of Burgundy
"took the Cross" for this holy war; but neither risked his
own person nor co-operated in any efficient manner.
Amidst these enterprises and the increasing alarms
which had urged to such efforts, the religious agency em-
ployed to act on the popular mind, and avowedly to appease
the invisible powers, was characteristic of the spirit now
dominant at Rome. An image of the Virgin was carried
through the streets in grand procession, under a canopy
was Cardinal de Foix, the same who now recovered, and restored to
Rome, many precious vestments and revered relics, among others, the
mitre said to have been given by Constantine to S. Sylvester, and
also a number of pontific registers, which had been carried away from
Avignon to Spain by the Antipope calling himself Benedict XIII.
v. Moroni, Dizionario, article Antipapa XXXVII.
* The same Cardinal had been deputed to the command of an army
sent against the Turks into Hungary. Ciaconius, noticing the qualities
which recommended him to high ecclesiastical preferment, naively
observes, "eâ tempestate Rome plus arma quam toga valerent.”
510
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
amidst blazing tapers. A blazing comet terrified the
ignorant and suggested the usual forebodings of ill; the
Pope appointed solemn prayers during seven days for
averting the wrath of Heaven, and (as Ciaconius says) “in
case any calamity were impending over mankind, to avert
it totally, directing it against the Turks, the enemies of the
Christian name.” It is needless to comment on the reli-
gious idea expressing itself thus!
Now occurred the first great success for the Christian in
conflict with the Moslem cause, the first decided check to
the victorious arms of Mohammed II. That Sultan laid
siege to Belgrade in the July of 1456; the Vaivod John
Huniades hastened to succour by land and by water; his
fleet obtained advantage over that of the Turks on the
Danube; his host attacked the assailants under the walls
and raised the siege, defying the thunder of 300 cannons,
and leaving 40,000 Moslems dead or wounded on the field
before Belgrade, 22nd July. In the September following,
Huniades died, and the whole of Servia was eventually
subjected to the invaders so gallantly repulsed. The hete-
rogeneous army which achieved that brillant victory (a
great blow, assuredly, to the Turkish power in Europe),
might have been compared to some of the crusading bands
of the XIII. century, and its ranks were animated, one
might say inspired, by a leader who seemed another Peter
the Hermit,—an enthusiast whose appearance demands
attention, whose successes were among the marvels of the
historic stage.
Giovanni di Capistrano, a native of the province of
Aquila, had followed the legal profession and been pro-
moted to the office of Judge in the grand court of the
Vicaria at Naples. He renounced that career in disgust
when required by King Ladislaus to acquiesce (as basely
did the other judges) in the iniquitous sentence of death
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
511
against not only a powerful baron, the culprit legally con-
demned, but also, at the King's capricious desire, against
his innocent first-born son. Giovanni abandoned fortune
and prospects to become a Franciscan friar.* Several im-
portant negotiations were intrusted to him by Eugenius
IV. and Nicholas V. After the most alarming encroach-
ments of Turkish invasion, he was associated with S. Ber-
nardino of Siena in the mission of preaching and pro-
moting the holy war. In Hungary, Bohemia, and several
German provinces, as far as Vienna, the voice of Giovanni
di Capistrano was listened to with wrapt attention, and he
obtained repute not only as a converter of sinners, but a
worker of stupendous miracles. Moved by his words,
multitudes brought cards, dice, and other frivolous things
to be burnt in his presence, as tokens of the abnegation of
folly or vice to which his eloquence had induced them.
This Franciscan missionary succeeded in mustering for the
desired Crusade a host, not of nobles or mail-clad knights
like the red-cross champions led by Godfrey and Tancred,
but of the common people, mendicant friars, students, and
peasants armed with clubs, slings, &c. Such the hetero-
geneous force, in want of an experienced leader for the
* The circumstances which led to the conversion of Giovanni da
Capistrano are narrated differently by some writers, who state that he
was led to abandon a secular life through his meditations during an impri-
sonment unjustly suffered by him at Perugia, being there suspected of
favouring the cause of the Neapolitan king, at war with that city. He
was associated, on his missions for the Crusade in Germany and Hun-
gary, not only with S. Bernardino of Siena, but also with S. Giacomo
della Marca, another Franciscan renowned for eloquence and for reputed
miracles, whose figure becomes familiar in the art of a period not much
later than that in which he lived. Giovanni died at a convent near
Sirmich (Sirmium), aged 71, in 1456, and was canonized by Benedict
XIII. 1724. Giacomo closed his days at the age of 90 at a convent
near Naples, 1479, and was canonized by the same Pope, 1726.
512
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
practical matters of warfare, which the heroic Huniades.
undertook to command and to discipline; and by such
an army-not indeed without other elements, the Hunga-
rian and pontific contingents,-was the great Sultan de-
feated before Belgrade. Cardinal Scarampo was also on
the field of that victory. The Pope, desiring to perpetuate
the memory of the event, appointed a festival not on the
real but the conventionally observed day of its commemo-
ration, the 6th August, thenceforth celebrated not only by
the Roman Catholic but by other Churches as the Feast
of the Transfiguration, the office for which was composed
by Callixtus himself.
Though a pious, charitable, and generally estimable man,
this Pontiff carried the weakness of nepotism and national
partiality to scandalous excess-preparing the way for the
evil that was to come after him. Having given the Cardi-
nal's hat to one of his nephews, he created another Duke
of Spoleto and Prefect of Rome, reviving for his honour
in the latter capacity the olden ceremonial of coronation
with "
a silver diadem.”* But Borgian ambition was not
satisfied with this. An Italian kingdom was the aim of the
octogenarian Pope for his favourite nephew. The Arago-
nese King of Naples, Alfonso, had died, leaving his throne
to an illegitimate son; and Callixtus decreed that that
* Don Pedro Luis de Mila was only twenty-three years old when
made Gonfaloniere of the Church and Prefect of Rome. The bestowal
of the silver fillet was a usage of the time of Otho III. The Pope's
other nephew, made Cardinal at the age of twenty-two, bore the name
of Lençol, which his uncle changed into that of Borgia. A chronicler
describes the lawless state of Rome at this time and the ubiquitous
presence of the unpopular Spaniards: "Tutto quel tempo che regno
(Callisto) mai fu veduto lo più tristo governo di rubarie- ogni dì homi-
cidii et questioni per Roma, ne si vedevano se non Catalani."-Paolo
di Ponte, anno 1458.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
513
kingdom, being legally his own, had devolved as a fief to the
Holy See. He tried to induce the Duke of Milan to join
him in the attempt to despoil Ferdinand, the now recog-
nized King of the Neapolitan States, promising to Fran-
cesco Sforza a share in the prey; but that Duke was too
prudent to commit himself. Callixtus made preparations
for war; so did Ferdinand. Death soon cut short the pro-
jects and schemes of pontific ambition; and Callixtus III.
left 115,000 gold ducats from his economies for promoting
the more justifiable war against the Turks.
His successor was a truly representative man, one of
those in whom we see reflected the spirit of an age. Æneas
Sylvius Piccolomini, of a noble but impoverished Siennese
family, had been renowned for learning and eloquence, for
the successes of a brilliant and adventurous career, and for
numerous writings, the latter so versatile as to include a
love story, unique among literary contributions of that
class from such an exalted sphere of authorship. Among
all ever raised to the Papal throne he seems the most
genial character, the one with whom personal acquaintance
would have been most agreeable; and he is the only Pope
who has given us, in the record of his own times, the image
of his mind, together with biographic details referring to
the period both before and after his elevation to highest
rank. In his numerous journeys, for discharge of impor-
tant missions, he had seen regions as far north as Scotland
and Norway; had been assailed and despoiled by robbers,
thrown into prison, and about twenty times in imminent
danger. During a war between Florence and Siena, he
had to leave the latter city with a provision of six ducats,
all his father could give him, and on this he lived till
appointed secretary to a Cardinal.* Whilst holding the
* Domenico Capranica, a learned and virtuous man, who built the
↓
2 L
514
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
same office under another Cardinal, Albergati, the saintly
Bishop of Bologna, he was sent by the latter to Scotland,
on the mission of bringing about peace between the King
of that country, James II., and Henry VI. of England.
The Antipope Felix also engaged him as secretary; but
when the cause of that pretender was waning, the Emperor
Frederick appointed Æneas Sylvius his envoy to offer sub-
mission and amity to Eugenius IV. That Pope's death
occurred soon after the ambassador's arrival at Rome; and
Nicholas V. was so favourably impressed by his talents
and character, that he made him apostolic secretary, Bishop
of Trieste, and in 1450 Archbishop of Siena. Having been
raised to the cardinalate by Callixtus III., Piccolomini was
elected Pope at the age of fifty-three, 27th August, 1458,
and took the name of Pius II.
It is interesting to learn from his own words the impres-
sion made on his discursive mind by such contemporary
events as the Councils of Basle and Florence, and the fall
of the Greek Empire; the Wars of the Roses, the struggle
between France and England, and the heroic episode of
the Maid of Orleans. While acting as secretary to the
Cardinal Capranica, at Basle, he had espoused and defended
with his pen the boldest tenets concerning the powers of
Ecumenical Councils, and their superiority over Popes;
but all these opinions he condemned and retracted-first,
as Bishop of Trieste, and, finally, with more emphatic
disavowal, in a Papal bull. The writings of Æneas Sylvius
embrace the interval from 1405 to 1463. His "Com-
mentaries" were dictated by him in his later years, and
after he had become Pope; but this work was, unfortu-
nately, polished up, and even altered-not without omis-
Capranica palace, and endowed it as a college for ecclesiastical students,
at Rome.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
515
sions-by his favourite amanuensis, and finally published
under the name of Gobelinus, a priest of Bonn. It refers
to the real author's career in earlier and later life; in
many passages it is full of interest to the archeologist, for
the writer describes with enthusiasm and intelligence his
visits to ancient cities and classical sites. His feeling for
the beautiful and romantic in nature is quite accordant
with modern inspirations, and might remind us of the
tourist literature of our own times. It is justly said of
this illustrious author that, "in him first appeared the sign
of a transitionary age."* His historical works belong to the
period of his pontificate; and his "Europa" is only a sketch
of an undertaking never completed.
One aim and interest occupied the thoughts of this
eminent man on the pontific throne: the Crusade against
the Turks, and the recovery of Constantinople. Though
feeble and broken down by fatigues and maladies, he left
Rome in the depth of winter to attend a congress of
princes and ambassadors, convoked by himself, at Mantua,
for the furtherance of this great object. A celebrated
German cardinal, Cusa, was appointed to act as his Legate
at Rome during his absence; six other cardinals were
chosen to accompany the Pope; and, after spending a night
at the palace contiguous to S. Maria Maggiore, Pius II.
having first blessed the people, and taken leave of them
with tears, set out on his journey, 5th January, 1459.
Travelling by way of Siena, Florence, Bologna, Ferrara,
he reached Mantua on the 27th May, received with all
possible honours and pomps by the Marquis Louis
Gonzaga III. We have the Pope's own description of
this ingress; and, in the long stately procession of digni-
* In eo primum apparuit-seculi mutati signum." Paolo Cortese,
De Cardinalatu. See also a just estimate and analysis of Piccolomini's
writings by Gregorovius.
2 L 2
516
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
L
taries and officials, the holy Eucharist was borne in a
golden shrine on a white palfrey, under a silken baldacchino,
surrounded by torches. On the 1st of June, after a solemn
Mass before all the assembled dignitaries in the Cathedral,
the Pope pronounced an eloquent discourse, insisting on
the supreme importance of the Crusade, complaining of
the coldness of European princes in their response to his
appeals, and declaring his purpose to remain at Mantua
till apprised of the intentions of all those potentates, and
enabled to form a league with them for the welfare of
Christendom. The Congress was not opened till September.
At the first session, Francesco Filelfo spoke with the ability
which distinguished him in the name of the Duke of
Milan; and, at the end, the Pope pronounced a speech
of three hours' duration, only interrupted by his tears, and
attended with thrilling effect on his audience. * His
counsels were accepted with approval by all the ambassa-
dors present. Few were the reigning princes seen at
these sessions, though all the others sent their representa-
tives. A multitude of fugitive Greeks attended, and
deputies from the Morea depicted the atrocities committed
by the Turks, the miseries of those enslaved under their
dominion. The honour of commanding the Crusade was
offered to, and accepted by, the Duke of Burgundy. It was
expected that an army of 30,000 foot, and 10,000 horse
could be raised in Germany; the maintenance of this force
to be at the charge of France, Spain, and Italy. Venice
promised to supply mariners and naval captains. The
Pope taxed his own treasury to the amount of 100,000
* Female eloquence also exerted itself, and to an admiring audience,
at this assembly. The crusading enterprise was recommended with
oratoric skill by two illustrious ladies, Ippolita Sforza, daughter of
Francesco, Duke of Milan, and wife of Alfonso II., of Naples, and Isotta
Nogarola, whom Cantu describes as "filosofessa, teologante, letterata."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
517
florins, and the other Italian powers promised their contri-
butions in the amounts respectively of 100,000 florins from
Venice; 80,000 from the King of Naples; 70,000 from the
Duke of Milan; 50,000 from Florence; 20,000 from the
Duke of Modena; 10,000 from the Duke of Mantua ;
15,000 from Siena; 8,000 from Lucca; 5,000 from the
Duke of Monferrato. The crafty Louis XI. had received
from the Pope the consecrated sword and cap sent to
inspire him with zeal for the holy war, but he did nothing to
promote it; he even compelled Philip, Duke of Burgundy,
to break his solemn promise of personal co-operation.
Soon after the opening of the Congress, Sigismund, Duke
of Austria, and Albert, Marquis of Brandenburg, arrived at
Mantua. In the second session, the Pope decreed that, for
the maintenance of the promised army, should be imposed
on the clergy a contribution of one-tenth, on the laity one-
thirtieth, and on the Jews one-twentieth. This all the
Italian States agreed to, the Venetian and Florentine
excepted. The French ambassadors being asked to
promise assistance from their government, required as
condition that a pontific Legate should be deputed to
make peace between France and England, at the same
time complaining against the investiture given by the Pope
to Ferdinand of Aragon, instead of to Réné d'Anjou, who
claimed the Neapolitan kingdom. Pius II., prevented by
infirmities from immediately answering, justified himself a
few days afterwards in a speech of three hours' length.
The ambassadors of the Emperor requested that a Legate
should be sent with the army raised in the German States,
and the Cardinal Bessarion was appointed to that office.
On the 15th January, 1460, the Pope published a bull,
announcing to the world the resolutions of the Congress,
ordering public prayers for the Crusade, and conceding
indulgences, with remission of sins, to all who should
518
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
co-operate either in person, or through other means.
Before the dissolution of the Congress, he published a
constitution against appeals from the Pope to General
Councils. Towards the end of January the Congress was
closed, and Pius set out for Siena.
Ecclesiastical writers and the Pope's own pages give
ample space to the history of the consignment and recep-
tion at Rome of the head of S. Andrew, a sacred treasure
ceded to Pius II. by Thomas, Despot of Morea, and nephew
to Constantine XII. That Greek prince had brought the
relic with him from Patras, where the Apostle is supposed
to have suffered martyrdom; and in 1462 he sailed from
Corfu to Ancona, after consenting to the Pope's request
that S. Andrew's head should be placed beside the body of
the apostolic brother in Rome's great basilica. Other
European princes had offered large sums to Thomas
Palæologus for this relic, but he would listen only to the
propositions of the Pope, who liberally rewarded him; for
the despoiled despot found a home and honourable main-
tenance till his death under the shadow of the Vatican.
Pius II. assigned to him a residence near the S. Spirito hos-
pital, and a revenue of 500 scudi per month-300 contri-
buted by the Pontiff, the rest by the cardinals. The
famous relic was consigned to a cardinal sent as Legate
à latere to Ancona, and thence brought with religious
honours to Narni, where it lay for a time in the castle.
From Narni it was brought to Rome by three cardinals,
one being the learned Greek, Bessarion. On Palm Sunday,
1462, it was deposited in the tower guarding the Milvian
Bridge. There the Pope arrived with all the cardinals and
prelates the next day. Pius II. with his own hands ex-
posed the head to the people, an immense multitude,
from an elevated stage near that bridge, whilst all the high
dignitaries of the Roman Church stood around him. With
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
519
his own hands did Pius II. carry the silver urn containing
that relic to the Flaminian Gate, passing through ranks of
torch-bearers-30,000 lights, we are told-the whole way
back to the city; and, after remaining for the night at
the Convent of S. Maria del Popolo, the relic being depo-
sited in that church, the Pope took part the next day in,
perhaps, the most splendid of devotional pomps ever
beheld even in Rome. Such the honours with which the
head of S. Andrew was carried to S. Peter's by Pius II.,
and finally enshrined above an altar in a chapel of the
ancient church where that Pontiff and his nephew,
Pius III., had sepulture, till the remains and monuments
of both were transferred to the church of the Theatines,
S. Andrea della Valle. Never was the reverence for
relics, or the notion of their importance as guarantees of
the favour of Heaven, and of the localized presence of
Divine influences, more strikingly expressed than in the
superb pageantry of this occasion, ordered, and vividly
narrated for our benefit by one of the most learned and in-
tellectual among Popes. Very different was another, a
lugubrious ceremony ordered by Pius II., and curiously
illustrating the temper and traditions of the Roman Court
at this time. Sigismund Malatesta, lord of Rimini, who
had incurred the highest displeasure as well of Cal-
lixtus III. as of his successor, and had made war against
Ferdinand of Naples on behalf of the Anjou pretender,
was denounced before Pius in the consistory as stained
with almost all imaginable crimes, deserving of the punish-
ment due to heresy and leze-majesty, and of the death of a
felon. A strange auto da fe was exhibited on those stairs
before S. Peter's which Pius II. had restored and adorned
with statues of the two chief apostles; there, on the highest
landing-place, was erected a pyre of combustible material,
and on the summit of this lay an effigy of Sigismund, a
520
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
perfect likeness, we are told, with a label issuing from the
mouth, inscribed: Sigismundus hic ego sum Malatesta, filius
Pandulphi,rex proditorum, Deo atque hominibus infestus, sacri
censura senatus igni damnatus. While eager spectators
gazed, with what feelings we know not, on this scene, fire
was applied, and combustibles and effigy sank into ashes.
The Pope attacked Malatesta both with the temporal and
spiritual sword. During two years his States were invaded
by pontific troops, under Federico, Count of Urbino,
with a Cardinal Legate in the camp; the City of Rimini
resisted too firmly to be captured, and, after peace con-
cluded in 1463 between the Aragonese and Anjou parties,
at Naples, Sigismund was allowed to retain, as vassal of
the Papacy, the vicariate of Rimini, with a few miles of en-
virons, on condition of ceding all the other towns occupied
during the war by the pontific forces.
Not long afterwards the Court and citizens of Rome,
and, indeed, all European nations were amazed by the
announcement that Pius II., sinking under premature old
age, and scarcely able to travel, had resolved himself to
head the Crusade, and embark with the army at Ancona for
the eastern campaign; not intending himself to appear in
the combat, but to pray, like Moses on Horeb, with the
holy Eucharist before his eyes, for Christian victories over
the infidel.* "Perhaps," he said, "when they shall see their
father, the Roman Pontiff and Vicar of Christ, aged and
infirm as he is, setting out for the holy war, they will be
ashamed to remain at home, and will embrace with courage
*He embarked near the Milvian Bridge, and made the voyage up the
river as far as Fiano, the ancient Flavianum, now a poor village; thence he
visited the monastery high on Mount Soracte; again pursued the voyage
to a point near Otricoli, a miserable little town on an eminence; and
thence went by land to Narni, passing by Spoleto, Assisi, Fabriano and
Loreto to Ancona.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
521
the defence of our holy religion." In June, 1464, he left
Rome, embarking for the first stage of the journey on the
Tiber, and for the rest carried in a litter through the
Sabina, the Umbrian and Anconitan provinces, and thus
reaching the seaport on the Adriatic after a month spent
in the progress. Not one vessel had reached the harbour,
two pontific galleys excepted, when the Pope arrived,
though on the journey he had met numerous bands of sol-
diery from the German States, France and Spain, marching
under the banner of the Crusade. * After some days were
seen the sails of the Venetian squadron, consisting of only
eleven triremes, in which the Doge, Cristoforo Moro, came
with the naval forces promised by that Republic; but the
active brain and ardent mind which had planned, and, up to
this stage, organized the Crusade, were now overshadowed
by the mists of death. Pius II. could not even receive the
Doge; and two days after the Venetian ships had cast
anchor he expired (15th August, 1464), his last moments
being placid and edifying. It was probably the general
reverence and interest excited by his life which led to the
report that a Camaldulese hermit, the Beato Pietro Cor-
nelio, at his vigils in a monastery among the Tuscan
Apennines, had seen the soul of Pius II. ascending, accom-
panied by choirs of angels heavenward, on the same night,
and at the very hour of that tranquil death in the Episcopal
Palace at Ancona. This self-devoting Pontiff misunder-
stood the spirit of his age; he could not revive the glories
or heroism of the medieval Crusades; but we must revere
his memory, and acknowledge that in his case the poet's
words are true, that-
A noble end is as a noble deed-
* "In itinere magnam vim hominum-venientum ad bellum Turcis
indictum, offendit : quorum magnam partem absolutam à peccatis,
Germanorum potissimum, in patriam remisit, quôd minus idonei bello
gerendo essent."-Ciaconius.
522
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
through the whole history of the persistent efforts and
generous sacrifices of Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini.
Platina gives a selection from the apothegms, "useful,"
he thinks, "for the guidance of human life," written or
uttered by Pius II. Not all of these are above the average
of wise maxims; but a few, his opinions on the scientific
tendencies, or ecclesiastical characteristics of his time, are-
noteworthy, e.g., "Those who are occupied with measuring
the heavens and the earth show themselves more audacious
than truthful-Literature ought to be for the people in
place of silver; for the nobility in place of gold; and for
princes in place of gems-As all rivers flow into the sea, so
do all vices meet in the courts of the great-The king who
does not render justice to his people, is unworthy to receive
the revenues of his kingdom; and so alike is he (the
priest) who does not take part in the spiritual cure or sacra-
mental rites of his church, unworthy to obtain the re-
venues of his benefice-The vagabond monk is a servant of
the Devil-With great reason were the clergy formerly for-
bidden to take wives; and there is still greater reason now
for permitting them to marry." In the extensive corres-
pondence of this Pontiff, his letters to Mohammed II., as
well as the Sultan's answers, should be remembered.
During one of this Pope's many journeys and absences
from Rome, occurred an episode of outrage and crime,
showing what evils prevailed and how feebly the social
safety was protected in that oft-distracted city. Two des-
perate young men, Tiburzio and Valeriano, brothers, took
advantage of the notorious weakness of magisterial autho-
rities, and collected a band of adventurers like them-
selves, or still worse malefactors trained in guilt; for some
time every species of outrage, rapine, incendiarism, insult
to women, and murder of wives and maidens who resisted,
took place with complete impunity. The citizens waited
1
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
523
to see what would be done by the Senator and Governor;
and those functionaries remained inert, the latter quitting
his official residence to take refuge in the Vatican. A
leader, called by the rest of the gang "Innamorato,” was
at last arrested by the soldiers of the magistracy; he was
nearly rescued, and a servant of the Senator seized in the
scuffle on that occasion. The conspirators (they now
assumed more formidable character and plans) fortified
themselves in the Pantheon, there holding out for several
days, being supplied with food by the inhabitants of the
neighbourhood, who hoped thus to exempt themselves from
pillage. The authorities at last condescended so far as to
come to terms, and consented to give up "Innamorato ” in
exchange for Caro, the Senator's servant! The city was
again exposed to the same horrors and licentiousness. The
conspirators disarmed and put to flight the few soldiers
organised for resistance by the Senator; they presently took
possession of a tower near S. Lorenzo in Lucina, and soon
afterwards of a more aristocratic residence, the recently
built Capranica palace. Antonio, the Pope's nephew,
hearing of their occupation of the old tower, left the Vati-
can with some mounted foreign soldiery and entered the
city by the Flaminian gate, avoiding the S. Angelo
bridge; but he did not deem it safe to advance so far as the
palazzo Capranica, around which the streets were narrow,
and the disposition of the people could not be relied on-
still less, considering that Antonio led foreign troops.
Tiburzio became, in place of "Innamorato," absolute lord
and captain of the conspirators. The Capranica palace was
long a den of thieves in the worst possible sense, where
every species of crime was plotted, days were spent in
riotous feasting and gambling, and nights in deeds of vio-
lence by those issuing after dark from its walls.* At last
* "Illic consilia de rapinis, de patrandis adulteriis capiebant; con-
524
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the Roman nobles, indignant at the inertness of their magis-
trates, went in a body to that stronghold of iniquity, and
requested Tiburzio to leave the city, representing to him the
danger to himself and his followers should stronger forces
be brought to bear against them, should the Pope return
and restore order by means at his disposal. Tiburzio
yielded, and made his exit like a great prince on a state
progress, riding through the streets between one of the
chief magistrates and an Apostolic Protonotary. But the
evil was not efficiently put down by this feeble expedient.
Nine of the gang, soon afterwards, entered the extramural
S. Agnes monastery, then occupied by nuns, in the night,
and there committed every species of outrage, robbery, and
sacrilege. The Pope, informed of this last crime, deter-
mined to return to Rome, and sent notice that he might be
expected within twenty days; an intelligence publicly cele-
brated with rejoicing. Soon after the Pontific ingress it
was ascertained that Valeriano and six other conspirators
had returned, and were lying in concealment within the
city. They were tracked out, but saved themselves by
flight, one alone excepted. Tiburzio, now at Palombara, a
small town in the Sabina, hearing of this and also of the
capture, erroneously reported, of his brother, concerted
the desperate plot, in which he was assisted by the Savelli
at Palombara, of entering Rome with a band of armed
robbers, rousing the citizens to revolt, and overthrowing
the established government. The invaders, thus mustered
for the frantic attempt, entered the city by night through a
breach in the ruinous walls near the Thermae of Diocletian,
where the high ground of the Viminal and Esquiline hills
was then, no doubt, almost uninhabited, as it has continued
viviaque simul agitabant, noctes latrociniis, dies ludis dantes."-Com-
ment. P'ii Papæ II., 1. iv.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
525
till a very recent date.* Passing through the streets in the
early morning, they endeavoured to stimulate the people
by the usual watchwords, or appeals, to urge them to cast
off the yoke of priestly sway and regain the sacred rights
of Roman citizens. None responded, and the attempt
utterly failed. At a last emergency the invaders made
their way to a point near the centre of the city, S. Eusta-
chio, and entered a building near that church described as
answering to the purposes of a custom-house,t where they
seized a young man, known to be of Siena, and therefore
likely to be ransomed at a handsome amount-such we
may suppose the inference-by the Pope, who was also a
Siennese. Panic now prevailed; report exaggerated reali-
ties;
and it was rumoured that formidable bands of conspi-
rators were within the city, or approaching. The Pope,
hearing of all these things, maintained perfect presence of
mind, and ordered two Cardinals to ride through the
streets, and call on the citizens to arm against the brigand-
invaders. Those orders were anticipated by the Senator,
the Major-domo of the Vatican, and other leading persons,
who arrayed themselves for attack, and soon scared away
Tiburzio and his followers. The whole gang fled and lay
concealed for a time in a canneto, one of those beds of tall,
densely growing reeds which form a feature of the Cam-
pagna and offer convenient hiding-places; thence they
were soon dragged out by the feet and brought into Rome,
exposed to the derision and rage of the people as they
passed. Tiburzio made a full confession before the torture
had been applied to him, and his disclosures showed how
much co-operation had been relied upon, how desperate the
* In the "Commentaries" it is stated that the band led by Tiburzio
numbered only about fourteen (?)
↑ "Prope domus adsunt, in quis merces deponuntur, et vectigal exi-
gitur."― Comment. 1. v.
J
526
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
projects of the conspirators, even against the life of the
Pope. They had been assured, he said, by diviners, that
in that same year sacerdotal government would come to an
end. The leader and seven others were hanged; but
Pius II. had the humanity to forbid the infliction of death
with prolonged agonies, which the Senator desired, at
Tiburzio's execution.
That "Pragmatic Sanction" which Bossuet considered
the foundation of sound discipline in the Gallican Church,
was suppressed by a stroke of policy for which Pius II.
highly congratulates himself in his writings. In 1438,
during the discussions between Eugenius IV. and the
Council of Basle, that charter of Gallican privileges was
drawn up by an assembly of French prelates at Bourges,
and in the following year registered by a parliament. The
document was founded upon certain articles relating to
ecclesiastical reform approved by the Council, and sent by
the fathers from Basle to the French King, Charles VII.
Conformably to its terms, the freedom of election to bishop-
rics and benefices was restored; annates, reserves, expec-
tatives, &c. were abolished. But soon after the accession
of Louis XI. (1461), that king yielded to the persuasions
of Pius II., backed by the subtle arguments of the Bishop
of Arras, and consented to revoke the Sanction. The same
prelate was sent to Rome with the original document, now
to be consigned to the Pope and cancelled. A Cardinal's
hat was the bishop's reward; the sword consecrated at
Christmas, in a sheath adorned with gold and gems, was the
token of pontific gratitude to the king. But the triumph
of the Pope was incomplete; for when Louis found that he
had been deceived by the bishop, his envoy, who affected
to have forgotten to secure the Pope's support for Réné
d'Anjou in his struggle to obtain the Neapolitan crown,
and also to demand the appointment of a Legate in the
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
527
1
French kingdom, he refused to permit the act of revoca-
tion to be registered or officially ratified. The ecclesias-
tical affairs of France remained almost in the same state as
before this transaction.
.64
The twenty Cardinals now in Rome met in the new build-
ings of the Vatican, commenced by Nicholas V., and held
their votation in the small chapel of S. Lorenzo. On the
31st August, 1464, the conclave terminated with the election
of a Venetian, Pietro Barbo, nephew of Eugenius IV. by
the mother's side; who took the name of Paul II. A
constitution,” binding upon the new Pope, was drawn up
in this conclave, each member of the sacred college pledg-
ing himself by oath to observe it-its import being: That
the Elect, raised to the Holy See, should prosecute the
war against the Turks by all means at the disposal of the
Papacy, and should apply to the costs of that war the
entire profits of the alum mines lately discovered at La
Tolfa, among the mountains above the coast near Civita
Vecchia and Corneto; that the manners, &c. of the Curia
were to be reformed, and reduced to the standard of ancient
discipline; that a General Council was to be convoked
within three years in order to secure the co-operation of
European powers for the defence of religion, and for remedy
of the evils afflicting the Church; that the number of Car-
dinals was never to exceed twenty-four, and none should
be raised to that dignity before completing the 30th year
of age, nor unless having previously professed either canon
or civil law, or sacred literature; that no bishop or abbot
could be deposed by the Pope at the request of any sove-
reign save on legal grounds, and with the right of a hearing
for the accused; that the command of the pontifical army
was never to be given to any relative of the Pope,* &c.
Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Patrum dis-
Concilium generale Christianorum
* Lapsos Curialium mores ad
ciplinam restringeret, etc. etc.
528
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Before the proclamation of Paul II., those constitutions
were formally presented to him by the Cardinals. He imme-
diately took a pen, subscribed, and vowed to observe them
—servaturumque se eas juravit, ac vovit, says Ciaconius.
It soon became sufficiently evident that it was the inten-
tion of the new Pope to break that vow and violate those
engagements. He laid another set of articles, essen-
tially different from those drawn up in conclave, before the
several members of the college, and required them to sign,
which, with more or less of reluctance and protest, the
Cardinals eventually did, all except one, the aged Spanish
Cardinal, Carvajal, who had the dignity and firmness to
refuse. An authentic account of this perfidious proceed-
ing, and of the manner in which Paul II. overcame re-
sistance and silenced the most grave objections, is before
us in a reproachful letter addressed to him by one of
those who yielded, Cardinal Jacopo Amanato, Bishop of
Pavia.*
The promise to promote the war against the Moslem,
henceforth the main object of Papal policy, was not for-
gotten by this Pontiff, otherwise so regardless of his oaths.
He exerted himself to bring about peace between European
princes, as preparatory to a league for that desired "Cru-
intra triennium cogeret, in quo et Principes sæculi ad tuendam religio-
nis causam accenderentur, ægræque partes Ecclesiæ communi medica-
mento sanitatem reciperent!
* "Vovisti Cardinalis, vovisti et Pontifex servaturum te leges, quæ
in Conclavi sunt editæ ad salutem publicam utiles: votis tui duobus in
libellis chirographum extat: dixisti cum scriberes, etiam sine voto ser-
vaturum te eas fuisse .
Sperabamus respiraturam Ecclesiam,
futurum Pontificatum qualem a Petro non vidimus. Quid nunc dicam?
aut quid potius non dicam? commutasti tu eas in leges inanes, mille
effugiis plenas, quibus in hanc sententiam præfari nos cogis, quia
priores bonæ non erant O bone Jesu, quæ præcipitatio hæc
est? et quæ intemperies mentis?"-Ciaconius, Additio August. Oldoini.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
529
.་
sade;" but had little success. France, Spain, England,
Germany, were absorbed by other interests, or engaged in
other contests. The island of Negropont was attacked by
the Turks; and soon came intelligence that almost the
whole of Epirus had been subjected to the Sultan.
Extraordinary devotions were ordered at Rome; the most
famous images and relics were carried about in procession ;
the Pope himself carried the "Volto Santo" through the
streets; the picture of the Virgin ascribed to S. Luke (still
at S. Maria del Popolo), the head of S. Andrew, and that
of S. John the Baptist were removed from their shrines to
be displayed in these penitential processions appointed for
the emergency of danger to all Christendom. Another
Madonna picture, painted on a wall near the south side of
the Tarpeian rock, was said to be working miracles-a usual
notion begot by popular credulity during times of excite-
ment or panic; that thaumaturgic image was removed, and
a church built at the expense of the citizens to receive it—
S. Maria della Consolazione, consecrated 1471-where it
still hangs over the high altar. More lugubrious solemni-
ties ensued. In the July of 1467 eight heretics, with
paper mitres on their heads, were exposed on a stage on
the summit of the Capitol, and thence led into the church
of Aracoeli, where the Pope's vicar and five other prelates
preached to them; those who were converted by this over-
whelming eloquence were again led to the Capitol, clad in
black linen vestments, with white crosses before and behind,
to be publicly reconciled. Paul II. had a passion for pomp,
and a more laudable taste for public works, for magnifi-
cence in building, etc., attested to this day by the noble
(though unfinished) palace founded by him before he
became Pope, and his favourite residence subsequently,
the Palazzo di Venezia, as that castellated edifice is now
called. He ordered a tiara, the most splendid and costly
2 M
530
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
yet worn on any pontific head; and we are told that the
use of that symbol of sovereignty had for some time been
almost discontinued.* Platina accuses him of inordinate
vanity, and of painting his face whenever he had to appear
at ceremonies. To his fondness for shows and amusements
the Romans owe the development of Carnival-races, and
their localization in the Corso, where this pleasure-loving
Pope could enjoy them from the windows of his palace. As
re-ordered by him, the competitors in those races for the
pallium, given as prize each day, were not only horses,
asses, buffaloes, but old men, boys, and unfortunate Jews.
Still more exciting, and, indeed, superior to the more
modern follies of the Roman Carnival, was the pageant
display in which mythologic and historic groups passed in
gorgeous cars through the street: gods and goddesses,
Diana, Cupid, Bacchus, Cleopatra and Augustus, etc.; con-
suls, senators, and magistrates, and the soldiers of ancient
Rome in battle-array, represented by 160 masquerading
youths. Besides the adornment of his own handsome
person, Paul II. added to the insignia of the Cardinals the
scarlet berretta, and all that was wanting to the fulness of
their costume in that imperial colour-the sacra porpora.
He permitted them to use the damask mitre, and to
go abroad with scarlet trappings on their horses.
His love of festal shows was gratified by the arrival in
Rome of the Emperor Frederick, bent on the fulfilment of
a vow by pious pilgrimage; and for the fêtes on this occa-
sion the Pope spent 18,000 gold florins. The Marquis of
Ferrara, Borso d'Este, who came with a splendid retinue:
many noblemen, hundreds of guards, a hundred grooms,
and 150 mules caparisoned with velvet and embroidered
cloth. This accomplished prince, one of the distinguished
patrons of art and letters in the Italy of his time, was
*Not that the tiara had disappeared from the crown jewels of the
Papacy; but the occasions for assuming it were rare.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
531
invested by the Pope with the title of Duke on Easter
Day, in S. Peter's Church. He died the same year, 1471.
Whilst the magnificence of ceremonial and worship was
carried to its greatest height, and Rome was assuming a
new aspect through public works and improvements under
Paul II., another event of immense, though in this city, as
it seems, long unrecognized importance, signalized the ponti-
ficate now before our consideration: the first appearance
in Italy, and establishment in this capital, of the printing
press. Two German typographers, Schweinheim and Pan-
nartz, settled here with their apparatus, either in 1464 or
1465; but met with so little encouragement that they re-
moved (probably invited by the Benedictine monks) to
Subiaco, where they found support and hospitality at the
abbey of S. Scolastica, some of whose inmates were also
Germans. In that celebrated cloister they printed the
first book produced from a press south of the Alps-a
work by the now forgotten grammarian of the 4th cen-
tury, Ælius Donatus, and the Institutes of Lactantius,
1465, Two years afterwards they returned to Rome,
where they were allowed to set up their types in the palace
of Pietro de' Massimi; and here appeared the first volume
from a Roman press, the "Familiar Epistles" of Cicero.*
* The first edition has the address in domo Petri de Maximis. The
"Palazzino Massimi," as the building is now called, still stands contiguous
to the larger palace of Prince Massimi, built by Baldassare Peruzzi.
Tiraboschi supplies the chronology of the printing press in Italy as
successively introduced in the principal, and also in some minor cities
during this century: next to Rome on the list comes Venice, where a
press was set up in 1469; next Foligno, 1470-Naples, Pavia, Bologna,
Florence, Ferrara, Trevigi, 1471-Padua, Mantua, 1472-Turin, Genoa,
Modena, and Vicenza, 1474-Cagli and Udine, 1476-Palermo, Peru-
gia, Bergamo, 1477-Urbino, 1481-Pisa, 1482-Siena, 1484--Rimini,
1486-Forli, 1495. Visiting Subiaco in the spring of 1871, I begged to
have a sight of the Lactantius, long displayed among the treasures of
S. Scolastica, but was sorry to learn from the lord Abbot that this
2 M 2
532
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Another collabourer, who had joined them at S. Scolastica,
Ulrich Hahn, established a separate office in this city.
Little else is known of these enterprising men except that
they fell into extreme poverty, much to the discredit of
those who might have assisted them, and a fact which
betrays the low state of literary culture in the Papal
metropolis at this time. After the death of Schweinheim,
in 1476, nothing is heard more of his companion; but we
read of another German typographer, named Lauer, who
established a press in this city at S. Eusebio, then a monas-
tery of Celestine monks, who protected him--now a con-
vent of Jesuits. Something like the splendours and largesses
of the Cæsars was revived by Paul II. At the great church-
festivals he caused all the prisons to be thrown open, and
all except murderers and the worst malefactors released
from their bonds. He gave banquets in the open air
before the S. Mark's basilica (or, more probably, in the
wider space before the contiguous palace, his residence),
entertaining most sumptuously the magistrates, all those
in office, and a multitude of other citizens, the humblest
populace being allowed to carry away the residues of fish,
fowl, and flesh from the well spread tables; after which,
his Holiness amused himself by scattering silver coins from
a window, and seeing the scramble to obtain them. His
charities were more laudably exercised, and though he is
accused of amassing wealth by simoniac means—the sale
of bishoprics, &c., (see Platina)—it is also shown that the
bounties of the Vatican now flowed in a copious stream;
that necessitous prelates, decayed families, widows and
orphans were constantly relieved by the Pope. To the
famous Scanderbeg, Prince of Albania, he gave 300 gold flo-
princeps edition was no longer in the monastery; nor could I ascertain
more as to its fate, but only conjecture its removal, since the change of
government, to the Vatican.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
533
rins on his arrival in Rome, and, soon afterwards, the nobler
gift of the sword and cap consecrated at Christmas. On the
orphan daughters of Thomas, Despot of Morea, and brother
to the last Constantine, he settled a pension in the amount
of 200 gold florins per month, and their education was pro-
vided for through his care. It was consistent with the tem-
per of such a Pontiff to maintain the highest theories and
claims of the prerogatives and powers of the Holy See. A
king of Bohemia, George Podiebrad, accused of heresy, was
publicly excommunicated and declared to have forfeited
his crown by sentence twice pronounced, once after the
rites of Christmas, at S. Peter's, by the Pope's own lips.
An invader was invited to occupy the Bohemian states,
and hence ensued many years of warfare between the
anathematized king and Matthias Corvinus, monarch of
Hungary, who was proclaimed King of Bohemia in 1469.*
* George Podiebrad, elected 1458, demanded from Pius II. the con-
firmation of his title, and the ratifying of the compact made with
Bohemia by the Basle Council, and in virtue of which communion in
both kinds was conceded to that nation. Pius positively refused such
sacramental privilege, and eluded the rest of the demand. Irri-
tated at this, the King, with the assent and support of the Arch-
bishop of Prague, maintained the validity of the compact, and thence-
forth began to persecute the Catholics among his subjects, identifying
himself in fact with the Hussites and "Calixtine " party. Pius II.
anathematized him, 1463; and the act of Paul II. was but a continuance
of the same spiritual hostilities with exercise of the deposing power
affected by the Holy See. Podiebrad died (1471), amidst the contests
and tumults after the invasion of his states and recognition of the claims
of a rival to his throne. The successor he had named, Ladislaus, son of
Casimir IV. of Poland, was finally obliged to share his title with
Matthias, and cede to the latter, (1478), the provinces of Lusatia,
Moravia, and Silesia, which had been incorporated with the Bohemian
kingdom. They were, however, re-acquired by him after the death of
the King of Hungary without heirs, and according to the convention
between these two competitors, in 1490.
534
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Paul II., himself an imperfectly educated man, and not
originally brought up for the ecclesiastical career, con-
ceived suspicions against the savans who surrounded him ;
suppressed the college of pontifical " Abbreviatori," crea-
ted by Pius II., and whose members were learned men.
The academy founded by Pomponio Leto, at his own house
on the Quirinal hill, met with the same treatment. In the
Carnival of 1468, twenty academicians were arrested by
the Pope's orders, and Platina, the historian, was dragged
from the table of Cardinal Gonzaga to prison. Pomponio
came from Naples, voluntarily he tells us, to
answer the charges against him, and being imprisoned,
drew up a defence, in which he declares that he had always
revered and spoke respectfully of Paul II.* He was soon
released; but the less fortunate Platina remained long in
prison, altogether sixteen months. This is the first in-
stance of antagonism between the Papacy and the genius
of the Renaissance now accused of reviving Pagan philo-
sophy and Platonic theories to the prejudice of Chris-
tianity. The above-named historian of the Popes, who
* The Academy was restored by sanction of Sixtus IV., its members
having been declared free from all taint of heresy by a committee of
theologians. Pomponio Leto, on his first re-appearance in his cathedra
after his imprisonment, was hailed with triumphant welcome. The
Emperor Frederick III. granted privileges to the Academy by a diploma
which was read with rejoicing on occasion of the first celebration by the
learned academicians of the anniversary of Rome, 21st April, 1483—a
historic fête still kept up, celebrated in different ways, both under the
Papal and under the recently established constitutional government in
this city. That academic body, which comprised many distinguished
members, as Bembo, Sadoleto, Vida, Paolo Giovio, ended its career
at the fatal catastrophe of the siege and sack of Rome, 1527. Pom-
ponio Leto died 1498, and had the honours of a grand funeral, at-
tended by forty bishops and several ambassadors, at Aracoeli on the
Capitol.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
535
was one of the Abbreviators deprived of office, gives a
vivid account of his sufferings, and reveals to us the hor-
rors of a Roman dungeon, and the more dreadful secrets
of the torture-room, with unintentional but crushing accu-
sation against the judicial procedure in Rome at this time.*
He had imprudently written to the Pope, protesting
against the arbitrary deprivation of the Abbreviators, and
threatening to appeal to European princes, who might
convoke a Council, and call his Holiness to account for
his injustice. This naturally provoked implacable wrath, and
arrest and torture were the consequences to the audacious
Platina. After his first imprisonment, being released at
the request of Cardinal Gonzaga, he was forbidden to quit
Rome, and some time afterwards was again arrested under
suspicion of complicity in a plot against Paul II., the reality
of which was never proved. After ten months imprison-
ment he and his fellow-captives were visited by the Pontiff,
* "On the first and second day many were tortured, and among them
the greater number fainted from agony. So terribly did the vaults of
the castle (S. Angelo) resound and re-echo to the cries of the miserable
young men, that one might have supposed this fortress to be converted
into the bull of Phalaris. The executioners became tired before being
satiated with their task, for on that day about twenty were tortured by
them. I also was summoned with the rest to my punishment. They
prepare the cord, strip me of my clothes, lacerate, and frequently hoist
me, lifting and lowering me like a thief or highway assassin." Platina
describes the sufferings from the cord, and expresses his indignation at
seeing a prelate, the vice-chancellor, sent by the Pope to preside over
these atrocities, interrogate the agonized victims, and, as he reports,
conduct himself with the most unfeeling levity. This was after Pla-
tina's second arrest, when accused of a conspiracy against Paul II. On
his first arrest he was (he tells us) "bound with the heaviest irons, and
left in the midst of winter, without fire, in a lofty tower, exposed to all
the winds during four months." Some of his companions, he tells us,
were thrown into a subterranean dungeon.
536
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
who violently upbraided them, accused them of denying
or doubting the immortality of the soul, but more especially
vented his wrath against Platina, accusing him of con-
spiracy, heresy, ingratitude, &c. Curious is the historian's
report of this dialogue in the prison-the antagonism
between narrow-souled orthodoxy in power and self-eman-
cipated intelligence in disgrace. But a feeling profoundly
sorrowful is awakened when we contrast the Papacy, per-
sonified by Paul II., with the Papacy amid the light shed
around it by sanctity and charities from such men as
S. Gregory or S. Leo I. Platina and his fellow prisoners
were not released till long after this pontific visit, which
did not come to them with pardon or mercy. They had to
complete an entire year in captivity; at last being trans-
ferred to the Vatican, they were confined for twenty days.
to their apartments in that palace; subsequently allowed
the range of its ample premises, till, at the intercession of
the cardinals, all were left at large.*
The conclave elected with unanimous votes, twelve days
after the death of Paul II. (9th August, 1471), a Francis-
can Cardinal and father-general of that Order, named
Francesco della Rovere, fifty-seven years of age, who hence-
forth becomes known as Sixtus IV. With his pontificate
may be said to open, though not indeed unanticipated by
the acts and characters of some of his predecessors, that
phase of the Papacy, continued during the next eighty
years, when the main objects proposed to themselves by the
occupants of its throne were the consolidation of temporal
power, political aggrandisement, or (still less justifiable)
• The valuable work of Platina closes with the biography of
Paul II, to whom he may have been unjust, as other historians consider;
yet even in writing about the sovereign through whose capricious sus-
picions he had suffered so cruelly, he bears testimony to merits and to
the brighter side of that F'ope's character.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
537
the promotion of the honours, wealth, and glories of a single
house, the fortunate nephews or illegitimate children of
the reigning Pope. Thus did the Roman See lose more
and more of its pristine lustre, recede further and further
from the apostolic norma, and desert the standard of its
high vocation to a degree almost unparalleled in the annals
of other Christian bishoprics. Sixtus IV. is one of those
mainly responsible for subjecting a once truly venerable
and truly sanctified dominion to this fatally unspiritual-
izing process. Almost his first act betrayed that nepo-
tism, the consequences of which proved the great scandal
of his career as Pope. He gave the Cardinal's hat to two
young men his nephews, Giuliano della Rovere (who lived
to be his successor as Julius II.), and Pietro Riavio (per-
haps his own son), who, raised suddenly from an obscure
Franciscan convent, became by rapid strides Archbishop of
Florence, titular Patriarch of Constantinople, Legate for
all Italy, as well as Cardinal, and in the course of two
years held seven bishoprics besides his other more brilliant
promotions! For the brother of this young man, Girol-
amo, was obtained the lordship of Imola and Forli, pur-
chased at the price of 40,000 gold ducats from a ruler
expelled by popular violence, Taddeo Manfredi. Another
fortunate nephew, Leonardo della Rovere, was appointed
Prefect of Rome, and ultimately obtained the hand of a
natural daughter of Ferrante (or Ferdinand), the Ara-
gonese King of Naples, on occasion of which union the
Pope exempted the Neapolitan crown from the obligation
of annual census to the Holy See, though still requiring
the "chinea," or white palfrey, to be presented, as formerly,
on S. Peter's day in the Apostle's basilica; and imposing
the condition of that king's assistance in the war against
the Turks.
538
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Other European princes soon felt the error they had
committed in leaving the Greek Empire to fall under the
sway of the Sultan. Sixtus IV. had nothing of the high-
souled enthusiasm of Pius II; but he exerted himself and
expended large sums for the furtherance of the "Crusades."
He deputed Cardinal Legates, Rodriguez Borgia in Spain,
Bessarion in France, Barbo in the German and Hunga-
rian states, to incite rulers to coalesce in the first step
requisite, a league for that common cause.
A fleet was
equipped; the Pope himself supplying as many galleys as
he possibly could; the Venetians fifty, the Neapolitan king
fourteen such vessels; and in two different enterprises,
the expenditure from the pontific treasury was 100,000
and 75,000 ducats! On the festival of Corpus Christi,
1472, the Pope went with many prelates and courtiers to
S. Paul's, near which basilica his ships were moored on the
Tiber; solemnly blessed the fleet, the command of which he
had given to a Cardinal Legate, Caraffa, bestowed on its
crew a hundred standards, and granted plenary indulgence
to all who should join this Crusade. The fleet of the allies
caused some damage, but nothing that did permanent
injury to the Turkish power, in Asia Minor. They attacked
and set fire to Smyrna, making many prisoners among its
citizens. They besieged Salatia, or Adalia, now a commer-
cial town of some importance, on the southern coast of what
was once Pamphilia, and carried away from its port the
chains which, brought to Rome, were hung up as trophies
at S. Peter's. Cardinal Caraffa had the honours of a
public triumph on his return to that city, where he made
his entry with twelve camels bearing the spoils on their
backs, and twenty-five Turkish captives.
* Muratori says that the pontific galleys were thirty-four in number
Panvinio makes them fourteen; other writers, twenty-nine.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
539
Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, in the double capacity of
Legate and general, suppressed by armed force certain
tumults, a Guelph and Ghibelline struggle, in the Umbrian
city of Todi; and after this first apprenticeship and achieve-
ment in the military career, for which he showed decided.
predeliction even when seated on the Papal throne, led his
forces to Cittá di Castello, at that time (1474) under the
domination of the Vitelli, the chief family of the place.
Federico di Montefeltro, lately invested by the Pope with
the rank of Duke (formerly Count) of Urbino, joined this
expedition, and took the command, under the Legate, of
the pontific troops. After a siege of three months, Nicolo
Vitelli surrendered, and that fortified city on the Tiber
was given up to the Legate, who took possession in the
name of the Pope. Some time afterwards Vitelli returned,
found support among the citizens, again assumed the lord-
ship of Città di Castello, and demolished the castle built by
order of Sixtus IV. Lorenzo de' Medici assisted the Vitelli
family in their resistance, and supplied them with means
for maintaining that independent power which was almost
sovereignty. Hence the origin of the enmity and indigna-
tion of the Pope against the Medici. The ambitious designs
of Sixtus IV. centred in his favourite nephew, Count
Girolamo, for whom it was his darling object to obtain an
Italian princedom. He entered into alliance with a Flo-
rentine faction opposed to the ascendancy of the Medici;
and the conspiracy of the Pazzi, aiming at the overthrow
of that wealthy and hitherto well-deserving family by the
removal-if necessary through assassination-of the two
brothers Lorenzo and Giuliano, was confided to, sanctioned
and in part directed by the Pope, who, however, had the
decency to withhold his formal assent from all projects of
murderous import. Count Girolamo hated Lorenzo de'
Medici for having opposed his elevation to the lordship
510
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
of Imola; and the fondness of the Pope for his nephew pre-
disposed him for that complicity in a crime which has
deeply compromised the reputation of Sixtus IV. Fran-
cesco and Jacopo de' Pazzi, Girolamo della Rovere, and
Francesco Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa, were the principal
leaders who concerted their plans in Rome, and with full
cognisance of the Pope.* The day chosen was Easter Sun-
day, 26th April, 1478; the place (the Medici villa at
Fiesole having been proposed, but found unsuitable) the
cathedral of Florence, and the moment for the murderous
deed, that of the communion at High Mass. The Pope
sent 2000 soldiers with a captain in his service to be ready
at the Florentine frontier for support of the conspirators
at whatever emergency; he also desired his grand-nephew,
Cardinal Raffaello Riario, to repair to Florence from Pisa,
directing him to conform to the counsels of the Archbishop
* The foreknowledge and approval of the conspiracy by Sixtus IV.,
albeit with reserve of all express sanction for the murder, is set in the
clearest light by a document which has been cited, strange to say, in the
Pope's justification-the confession, namely, of Giambattista da Monte-
secco, a condottiere in the pontific service, who was urged to take
part with other hired assassins, but refused. This witness repeats the
discourse held at the Vatican between the Pope, Count Girolamo, the
Archbishop Salviati, and himself. Reporting his own words, "Holy
Father (he said) these things cannot be done without the death of
Lorenzo and of Giuliano, and perhaps of others also. His Holiness
answered him: I do not desire the death of any one on any account ;
nor is it our office to consent to the death of any one; and though Lo-
renzo be a villain, and has behaved ill towards us, I by no means desire
his death, but only the change of the government (mutazione dello
stato). And the Count answered: All that can be done shall be
done, in order to prevent this from happening, but should it happen,
your Holiness will assuredly pardon those who have committed it (la
Vostra Santitâ perdonará bene a chi'l fesse).' The Pope replied to
the Count Thou art a fool (tu sia una bestia). I tell thee that I
desire not the death of any one, but only the change of government.'
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
541
Salviati.* The young Cardinal was "assisting" in state at
the mass, celebrated by a canon, on the morning appointed.
How the conspiracy was thwarted, and the life of Giuliano
de' Medici alone sacrificed by sacrilegious murder, one of
the assassins being a priest, in the holy place, is well-
known. The power of the Medici was only strengthened,
and Lorenzo rose higher than ever in popularity and
influence after his rescue from this danger.† Almost im-
mediately after the terrific scene in the cathedral, the
Archbishop Salviati, Jacopo and Francesco de' Pazzi, and
Jacopo Poggio, son of the celebrated writer, were hanged
from the balcony of the Palazzo della Signoria, now called
"Palazzo Vecchio." Cardinal Riario, who, in his terror at
the popular fury which threatened his life, clung to the
high altar amidst the tumultuous agitation of multitudes,
was rescued through the protection of Lorenzo, who be-
lieved him innocent, and after being detained for a short
time under a strong guard, was allowed to leave in safety.
At the intelligence of these events the Pope was most in-
dignant. He formed a league with the King of Naples
against the Florentine Republic. He took the pretext of
the extra-legal execution of an Archbishop and captivity of
a Cardinal, to fulminate anathemas against Lorenzo de'
Medici and the Florentine magistrates, and lay their city
under interdict. In the July of that year a synod of
Tuscan prelates and theologians, presided over by the
* This Cardinal, only eighteen years old at the time, became cele-
brated as the founder and owner of the vast majestic palace, raised with
Bramante's architecture in Rome, since known as the Cancelleria. He
seems to have had no share in the Pazzi conspiracy, nor even been
informed of what was to take place that day. The impression of terror
was such, after the scene in the Florence Duomo, that he is said to have
been pale in the face for the rest of his life.
† A bronze medal was struck with a design by Pallaiuolo, represent-
ing the murder of one and escape of the other brother, with the legend :
Salus publica, luctus publicus.
542
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Bishop of Arezzo, accused the Pope of having instigated
the murderous conspiracy, rejected his excommunications,
and launched a similar sentence against him on their own
authority.
Lami (Lezioni di Antichità Toscane) says of this me-
morable proceeding: "If inquiry were made at the present
time in Florence for any one who had seen a printed copy
of the counter-excommunication (Contra scommunica del
Clero Fiorentino fulminata contra il Summo Pontefice
Sisto IV.), surprise would be excited, and belief would be
expressed that no such document can be in existence. The
fact, however, is most true; and there is at this day a copy
of it extant in a certain library at Florence."*
Both Sixtus and Ferdinand availed themselves of the
sanction of the interdict to confiscate the money and pos-
sessions of such unfortunate Florentines as were then
residing either at Rome or in the Neapolitan States. An
embassy sent to appease the enraged Pontiff, had no suc-
cess. Other Florentine envoys, charged to secure the
alliance of Venice and Milan for the war now threatening
that republic, protested against "the imperious temper and
injustice of the Pope;" declared that "he had ill-exercised
the pontific sovereignty which he had acquired by bad means;
had sent persons raised by him to high episcopal rank, in
company with traitors and parricides, to commit treason
in the temple of God, and in the midst of the divine offices'
(Machiavelli, "History of Florence"). The Pontific and
Neapolitan forces invaded the States of the Republic on
the side of the Val di Chiana. Louis XI., the Regency of
Milan, the Venetians, the Duke of Ferrara and the Mala-
testa of Rimini declared for Florence against the Pope and
* The learned antiquarian does not say in which library. That sen-
tence of the bishops' was printed for distribution throughout Christen-
dom. v. Trollope, "Commonwealth of Florence."
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
543
King Ferdinand. The Florentines obtained a victory on
the shores of the Thrasymene lake, but were defeated near
Poggibonsi by the forces under the Duke of Calabria.
Lorenzo de' Medici of his own accord set out for Naples to
propose terms of peace to Ferdinand; and his eloquence
had such effect that the war was brought to a close, and
the king concluded a league with Florence against his other
enemies.
We must go back to a period earlier than these events
to notice the "Holy Year," 1475, celebrated by Sixtus IV.,
and henceforth, if not sooner, called the "Jubilee" in
common parlance. Paul II. had altered by bull (1470) the
prescriptions of his predecessors respecting this observ-
ance, and decreed that, in consideration of the shortness
of human life, and in order that each generation might have
the chance of benefiting by the spiritual treasures of the
Church bestowed in their plenitude at such sacred seasons,
the Holy Year should thenceforth be celebrated not once
or twice only, but four times in each century, and con-
sequently every twenty-fifth year should be one of Jubilee.
Sixtus IV., magnificent and enterprising in public works,
ordered on this occasion many restorations of buildings,
churches, and hospitals in Rome, especially with a view to
the reception and entertainment of pilgrims. A bridge.
over the Tiber was now restored, and called after his name,
"Ponte Sisto." Royal personages came among the pil-
grims: King Ferdinand of Naples, attended by many
barons and lords, with domestics bringing ever so many
falcons for the chace in the Campagna; and Catherine,
Queen of Bosnia, who died at Rome, 1488, and whose
monument we see in the Aracoeli church; she, on her
journey hither for the Jubilee, being attended by forty
knights. The arrival of the King of Sweden is reported by
some writers, but uncertainly. The devotional visit of
544
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Christian I. of Denmark is assigned by Ciaconius to the
date 1473, not to the Jubilee year, when other writers
suppose that he undertook that pilgrimage. But the
aggregate of devout visitors was comparatively low;
the pilgrimage was impeded by political troubles, by
wars in France, Germany, Spain, Poland and Hungary;
and the dangers of the highways, beset by brigands and
marauders, were known enough to be dreaded. On this
account the Pope deemed it prudent to make another inno-
vation by extending the Jubilee to Bologna, with the same
privileges and indulgences, four churches in that city being
raised to parity with the four patriarchal basilicas of Rome;
the Bolognese Jubilee to last from the 12th May till the end
of the year. The material improvements of Rome, commenced
by Paul II. and continued by Sixtus IV., were promoted
through the advice given by the Neapolitan King to the
latter in this year. Ferdinand observed the gloomy condi-
tion of the streets, shut in by projecting porticoes and over-
shadowed by the balconies of fortress-like houses, or huge
castles. He pointed out to the Pope the strategic objec-
tions; the difficulty of sending troops through this incon-
and
venient city, where their movements could not be free,
the ill-affected people might hurl stones, &c., upon them
from above-the soldiery thus exposed, the citizens pro-
tected. Sixtus took the hint; porticoes and balconies
(porticali e mignani, says Infessura,) were removed, and the
necessity for paving the streets, for the first time, with
brick, was alleged as the real-it might well have been one
-object for which this demolition was preparatory.
In 1480, Italy, and regions beyond the Alps not less
than Italy, felt the terror of the shock caused by the
hostile descent of Moslems on the southern coast of this
peninsula. An invasion, led by the Grand Vizier, over-
whelmed the town of Otranto, for which the most dread.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
545
ful fate was reserved: 12,000 inhabitants, among whom was
the Bishop, with all the clergy and friars, were massacred,
and 10,000 carried away into slavery. The Pope thought of
flight—of taking refuge beyond the Alps; he adopted a
course more conformable with his duties; urged the Chris-
tian princes to unite against the common enemy, and
sent ships to join a Neapolitan expedition for the rescue
of Otranto. In the next year that desolated city was
recovered, the Turks being expelled, with loss of all their
artillery, by the Duke of Calabria. The news of this
event had been preceded in Rome by that of another, which
excited still more joy, expressed through public solemni-
ties-the death of Mohammed II., at Constantinople, 5th
of May, reported at Rome on the 28th of that month,
1481. Thanksgiving celebrations were kept up for three
days; the Pope and all the Cardinals took part in a
long procession between the Vatican and the S. Angelo
bridge.
Soon after the disaster of Otranto, Sixtus showed himself
ready to re-admit to favour the offending Florentines, and
relieve them from the interdict. Twelve citizens, sent to
negotiate peace and reconciliation with the Church, ap-
peared in the atrium of S. Peter's on the first Sunday of
Advent, and waited on their knees till the Pope should
arrive. He absolved them, and through them the city
and state of Florence, with the ceremony of touching their
heads with a long wand, after which they heard mass, and
received restitution of the territories and castles taken
from the Republic in the war. The Pope now made
alliance with the Florentines and King Ferdinand against
the Venetians, who were besieging Ferrara.
We read much of the scandals, the vanities and worldli-
ness of the Curia during this pontificate. Sixtus IV. gave
the Archbishopric of Saragossa in perpetual commenda to
2 N
546
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
a child six years old, the natural son of King Ferdinand of
Aragon. All the offices of the Papal court and govern-
ment were purchasable, and sold at fixed tariff as publicly
advertised. That Pope set the example of creating new
charges expressly for the purpose of selling them to the
highest bidders; and rendered venal those appointments
which had hitherto been preserved from such degrada-
tion. Onofrio Panvinio observes of this corrupt system
that "in this manner the liberty of the Roman Court was
placed, as it were, in fetters, since the diligence of labo-
rious and vigilant minds no longer availed, and there were
no means of obtaining, save by payment of money, any of
those offices which used to be given gratuitously to learned
and estimable persons." For the first time a body-guard
was attached to the Papal service, and provided with
quarters at the Vatican; and in defiance of prejudices not
unnatural at this period of crusading enterprise among
Christians, a novel nomenclature was introduced among
the pontific troops; Janissaries, Stradiots, Mamelukes ranked
with the other soldiers in arms for the Supreme Pontiff.
The "college," as it was called, of a hundred janissaries,
was created at once for 100,000 ducats, paid into the
palace treasury by its members. Even before this time,
and in 1470, the number of venal posts in the Curia, was
650, rendering a profit of 100,000 ducats. Sixtus IV.
made all the other offices venal, and developed to such an
extent that he has been considered almost the originator of
this system.* He imposed new taxes, increased those of
earlier origin, monopolized corn, and obliged the Roman
* "Tutto vendè questo Papa, che fu considerato quasi l'inventore
di questo sistema-Fu quasi vertiginoso il furore col quale la corte
romana precipitossi in questa prima specie di debito pubblico."-Gale-
otti, Sovranita e Governo Temporale dei Papi, II. § IV.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
547
bakers to use grain of such inferior quality, imported from
the Neapolitan provinces, that, as Infessura tells us, it
caused disease among the people. He frequently required
tithes for his own benefit from the bishops in general.*
In 1487, the Princes of the German Empire opposed the
exacting of a tenth, never yet heard of, which he de-
manded from those states.
Rarely had the social conditions of Rome been more
deplorable, the lawlessness of the aristocracy more fero-
cious, the defenceless citizens more exposed to miseries.
than under this pontificate. The Vandalic practice of
demolishing houses or castles in punishment of their
offending owners, was carried out systematically by the
Pope's orders. In one day he caused two residences
of the Santa Croce family to be thus destroyed, because
they had attacked the palace of the Della Valle family,
with whom they were at mortal feud, provoked by the
murder of Prospero Santa Croce, who was slain with a
knife, as he sat at supper in his own house, by Francesco
della Valle, his brother-in-law. The Pope leagued
with the Orsini against the Colonnas, whom he was
bent on ruining. That still powerful family were lords
of Marino, Palliano, other fortified places near Rome,
and the district of Tagliacozzo, once a fief of the Orsini.
After Sixtus had been for two months the guest of Vir-
ginio Orsini at the castle of Bracciano, he began his
deliberate onset against the rival house. One of the
Colonnas, Antonio, he deprived of the prefecture of Rome,
to bestow that high office on his own nephew, Leonardo
della Rovere. Another, Lorenzo Colonna, one of the
Apostolic Protonotaries, and therefore of prelatic rank,
* See the article "Sisto IV." in Moroni, Dizionario; that uncom-
promising champion of the Popes avowing that Sixtus "non senza
critica esigette molte decime da' prelati.”
2 N 2
548
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
was required to give up the county of Alvi to Virginio
Orsini on payment of 14,000 ducats, for which sum it had
been obtained by the king of Naples, who bestowed it on
the Colonnas. The Protonotary, suspecting evil designs
against his person and his family, fortified himself in their
residence on the Quirinal hill, where many of his relatives
and armed retainers joined him. The Pope ordered the
Orsini to enter that palace by force, and at the same time
sent certain magistrates to persuade Lorenzo Colonna to
submit, and confide in the clemency with which he would
be received at the Vatican. He was ready to comply, but
prevented by his relations, who twice forced him to return
when he had set out for the Papal palace. The pontific
troops united with the retainers of the Orsini to attack
the Colonna palace; a regular siege ensued, with slaughter
on both sides, and kept up for several hours. The Orsini
at last entered, found the Protonotary wounded, and com-
manded him to follow them. Instead of meeting with
clemency, he was imprisoned in the S. Angelo castle,
repeatedly tortured, and after a month, beheaded, his
poor lacerated body being one mass of wounds. In
the tumult of that day so auspicious for the Orsini, one
of the Savelli, a partizan of the Colonnas, was slain in
a street by an Orsini for refusing to cry viva, for the
rival house.
The Conservators held council in the Capitol, and sent
to entreat the Pope to put a stop to civil warfare, and to
make peace with the Colonnas. The Cardinals also met in
consistory, and begged that the blazing palace of that
family, which was still on fire, whilst the populace were
despoiling it of everything valuable, should be rescued
from destruction, and no further acts of vengeance allowed.
Sixtus feigned compliance, but a few hours afterwards
sent an officer to revive the fire, and to destroy other
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
549
houses besides that of the Colonnas, giving the people
license to sack and despoil. In the general pillage of
houses belonging to the Colonnas, on the Quirinal and
elsewhere, Pomponio Leto lost his precious library.
These dreadful times are described by Infessura, an
eye-witness, whose narrative, though quaint and confused,
is distinguished by the colouring of reality. Contrast was
supplied by the unparalleled splendours, extravagance and
entertainments of the Pope's nephews, particularly those
raised by him to the cardinalate, as Pietro Riario, perhaps
the most luxurious cardinal who ever lived. During the
two years that he survived after receiving the scarlet
hat he spent 200,000, some writers say 300,000 gold
ducats on banquets and the pleasures of the table alone,
keeping a court of about 500 persons, among whom
bishops, theologians, poets, orators, were proud to be
admitted. On his death, in his 29th year, this ecclesias-
tical prince left 300 lbs. weight of wrought silver, valued at
300,000 scudi, but also debts to the amount of 62,000 gold
ducats. His entertainments were marvellous, surpassing
all yet beheld in Christian Rome. For a single banquet
he expended 20,000 florins. On one S. Peter's Day, he
gave a pageant representing the tribute paid by the
ancient world to this city in her days of imperial supremacy;
seventy mules appeared, covered with rich trappings, in
the processional pomp.
In another series of fêtes he
ordered performances in dramatic style, more characteristic
of the spirit of the age, and pertaining to the class of
sacred mysteries: the Adoration of the Magi, the Resur-
rection, the Descent into Hades.
In implacable hostility against the Colonnas, the Pope
ordered two of their strongest places, Marino and Palliano,
to be besieged. On the vigil of S. John's Day, he solemnly
blessed the artillery and bomb-shells prepared expressly for
550
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the attack on Marino, that now quiet and picturesque little
town, in sight from Rome, on the Alban hills. The de-
fendants did not attempt long resistance; ceding the town
to the Pope, they retired to their more secure castle, Rocca
di Papa, the highest situated on the same mountain. The
immediate motive for this cession, was the hope on the
part of the owner, Fabrizio Colonna, to save his brother,
the unfortunate Protonotary, whose fate has been men-
tioned, and who was still living a prisoner. The execution
of the latter took place five days afterwards, when his
mangled body was brought to the SS. Apostoli Church
for burial; his mother, who received it in the midst of the
weeping women and friends of that family, observed the
scars left by the rack, and lifted up the severed head,
exclaiming :-" Questa é la testa del mio figlio, e la fede
di Papa Sisto!" Next was undertaken the siege of
Palliano, but the three Colonna brothers defended that
town gallantly and successfully; the pontific troops
suffered from frequent sallies, and at length Count Giro-
lamo, who commanded the assailants, wrote to the Pope
that it would be vain to continue-the siege must be raised.
This so mortified Sixtus that his health was affected,
and soon afterwards another shock had consequences
more fatal to him. After a long war between Venice and
Genoa on one side, the King of Naples, the Dukes of Milan
and Ferrara on the other, peace was finally made through the
counsel, and with the interposition, of Ludovico Sforza, the
Milanese Duke's uncle. This was concluded without any
reference to the Pope, and contrary to his wishes. The
iutelligence so enraged him, that passion brought on, or
aggravated, the malady which proved mortal. He died,
13th August, 1484, "leaving Italy at peace" (says
Machiavelli), "after, during his lifetime, he had con-
tinually caused it to be at war." Infessura signalizes.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
551
the day of his death as one fortunate for Rome and for
Christendom.*
Yet Sixtus IV. had qualities which enter into and
produce the typical character of a great sovereign:
talents, energies, learning, courage, munificence. The im-
mutability of the religious principle (whatever the develop-
ments of dogma), and the consistent pursuit of religious
interests, with steadfastness to one supreme cause amidst
all vicissitudes, present a most impressive feature in
the history of the Papacy, and explain the maintenance
for the Roman Church of its extremely high place among
agencies of Christian civilization. As was the case with
other Popes whose personal example was disedifying,
Sixtus proved firmly devoted to the interests of the clergy,
and of the orthodoxy they were pledged to. He was a bene-
factor to religious orders and to charitable institutions,
a liberal Mecenas to artists and literary men.
He re-
built and enlarged the hospital of S. Spirito, with a
spacious compartment for foundling infants. Following
out the intentions of Nicholas V., he raised a new library
at the Vatican, and endowed it with 100 gold ducats per
annum, appointing Platina chief librarian, and securing
the services of Latin, Greek and Hebrew writers, and
correttori -correctors. The secret archivio of the Vati-
can may be said to have been founded by Sixtus; originally
filling only four wooden coffers, and three bookcases, this
collection was afterwards transferred to the S. Angelo
castle, where it remained till near the close of the last
century (Marini, Memorie istor. d. Archivi di S. Sede.)
One of this Pope's excellent laws, though beyond his power
""
* In quo felicissimo die Deus ipse omnipotens ostendit potentiam
suam super terram, liberavitque populum suum de manu talis viri, cui
nullus regendi Populi Christiani amor, nulla caritatis ed dilectionis
affectio, sed solum voluptas inhonesta, avaritia, pompa, seu vana gloria
semper et continuo præcipue viguit, et in consideratione fuit.
552
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
to enforce permanently, required the proprietors of the
Campagna to cultivate at least one-third of their lands; in
case of their neglect to do which, any one else, with license
from an appointed board, might break up and sow with
grain those untilled fields, with obligation to hand over to
the proprietors a fixed share of the produce. The cycle of
sacred solemnities was added to, and new festivals were
introduced by him in honour of S. Joseph, S. Anne,
S. Francis, the Immaculate Conception, and the Presenta-
tion of the Blessed Virgin. With respect to the contro-
versy on the immunity of the Mother from original sin,
Sixtus prohibited all further discussion on it between the
Dominicans and Franciscans, who had agitated it from
opposite points of view; also decreeing that either opinion
might be held without heresy. Perhaps he could not have
foreseen, nor would have approved, the extreme conse-
quences of another step taken by him: the institution by
bull, 1478, of the Inquisition in Spain, granted at the
demand of the co-reigning Ferdinand and Isabella, with
prescriptions placing that tribunal under the authority of
the crown, and in dependence on the Spanish bishops.
The impression made on contemporaries by this ponti-
ficate was unfavourable; it is evident that Sixtus IV. con-
tributed to dispel the last illusions of childlike veneration
for the Papacy, and to hasten the catastrophes most in-
jurious to its interests. A Latin poem, "De Calamita-
tibus Temporum," referring to these times, observes of the
notorious venality now practised by the Church and Curia :
Venalia nobis
Templa, sacerdotes, altaria, sacra, corone,
Ignes, tura, preces, coelum est venale, Deusque.
And Machiavelli comments on the policy of this Pope in
terms not distinctly condemnatory, though capable of
being interpreted as such in the highest possible degree.
Sixtus IV., he says, was the first who began to show how
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
553
much could be accomplished by a Pontiff, and how many
things, hitherto called wrong, might be hidden under the
mantle of pontific authority.'
The anarchic state of Rome during the interregnum was
a result and proof of hatred against the family and person
of that Pope, and of the utter feebleness of ecclesiastical
authorities here at such periodically recurring crises. Of
the twenty-five cardinals in this city, only eleven attended
the funeral. The people, enraged at the avarice, mono-
polies, and luxuries of the Della Rovere and Riario families,
attacked and despoiled the palace of Count Girolamo
(near S. Apollinare), whilst one band of rioters went to
the well-stocked farm of his Countess, Caterina Sforza, at
Castel Giubileo on the site of the historic Fidene, drove
away all the cattle, flocks and poultry, seized the provi-
sions and drank the good wine. The corn-magazines and
banks of exchange were plundered, the streets were barri-
caded; several of the cardinals, particularly the Pope's
nephews and the Borgia, fortified themselves in their palaces.
Girolamo and Virginio Riario, hearing of their uncle's
death, left the camp before Palliano, but were forbidden
to approach Rome within a certain distance by envoys
whom the Cardinals sent to meet them. The Countess
Caterina, however, contrived to reach the S. Angelo Castle,
held by a garrison for her husband, and bravely maintained
herself there on his behalf. The Colonnas also returned,
with soldiers and artillery, like independent princes, and
because they had been the enemies and victims of Sixtus,
were received by the people. with rejoicing. Two days
after the Pope's death, the magistrates endeavoured to
enforce law, placed guards at the gates and bridges,
threatened capital punishment for outrage and robbery.
A civic council, held on the Capitol, addressed the Cardinals,
requesting them to disarm their servants and hasten in
554
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
accordance to elect to the vacant throne. Before they
went into conclave, they took steps to restore order,
obtained the S. Angelo and other castles belonging to the
Holy See, and now held for Count Girolamo, from his
courageous lady on payment of only 4000 ducats; also
stipulated that the Orsini and Colonnas alike should leave
the city and absent themselves for a month.
Infessura,
In the conclave, the purchase of votes was undisguised;
palaces, offices, castles, legations were offered. We read
in the admirable work by Prof. Villari, "Life and Times
of Savonarola," that the terms, or rather donations received
by each cardinal, for due support in this votation, were
matter of common talk at the time in Florence.
who gives the particulars most fully, admits, however, that
there were some who contradicted the reports of such cor-
ruption, and affirmed that the election was accomplished
by just means. On the 29th of August it was completed,
and the new Pope, Giambattista Cibo, of a noble Genoese
house, whose remote origin was Greek, took the name of
Innocent VIII. Though this Pope's character was pacific
and benevolent, the venality of public offices, the impunity
of crime, the recognised system of transacting with crimi-
nals who could pay for exemption from law, and the feeble-
ness of authority contributed to render his pontificate
scandalous and disastrous. It is an anecdote, that when
some one ventured to remonstrate at the Vatican against
the practice of allowing offenders to pay off the penalties
deserved by them, some clerical courtier answered with
unction: "God desireth not the death of a sinner, but
rather that he should turn from his wickedness, and—
pay!'
For the first time were given fêtes at the Vatican
in which the children, a son and daughter, of the Pope took
conspicuous parts; and brilliant ladies sat at banquets with
his Holiness on occasion of weddings in his own well-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
555
enriched family.* During the latter years of his short
pontificate, Innocent, whose intentions were good, exerted
himself to improve the social conditions, to give force to
law, and efficiently protect the Roman citizens against
malefactors so long left unpunished Two brothers of the
Del Bufalo family, who had been in the habit of giving
refuge to, and thus withdrawing from justice, every class of
criminals in their palace, were arrested and put to death.
Two of the pontific secretaries, patricians by birth, were
hanged for forgery, and their bodies burnt under the gal-
lows. Two other persons were put to death in the same
manner for no other offence than calumniating the Pope,
though their families offered all they possessed, being in
affluence, and 16,000 gold ducats at once, to save them.
The venality of the Curia was in no way checked; rather
did Innocent VIII. follow the worst example set by his
predecessor. In one day he appointed thirty-two
"Plumbatores Bullarum," - sealers of bulls-and sold
those posts for 26,000 gold ducats; he also amplified
the college of" Apostolic Scribes," adding twenty-six new
secretaries, who in the aggregate purchased their offices
for 55,000 ducats. He desired popularity; gave public
audiences, listened patiently to complaints, &c., and
aimed at peace, desiring to bring about the accord
between princes requisite for the Crusade, the fur-
* As Cardinal Cibo he had recognised the many children born, it is
said, before he had received priest's orders. Egidius of Viterbo (Hist.
XX. Sæcul.) observes, with severe comment,-" Primus Pontificum filios
filiasque palam ostentavit, primus eorum apertas fecit nuptias, primus
domesticos hymenaeos celebravit."
A very caustic Latin epigram represents Innocent VIII. as the father
of eight sons and eight daughters. Though he was not older than
fifty-two at the time of his election, only two of his family were then
living; and some writers state that they were born of lawful wedlock,
contracted in his youth with a noble Neapolitan lady.
556
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
therance of which was with him a paramount object.
Yet an invasion of his States, followed by a long series of
evils, was drawn down by the policy of this Pontiff. King
Ferdinand of Naples had, as we have seen, been dispensed
by Sixtus from the obligation of the annual census, 28,000
ducats, to Rome, though he still continued to present the
white palfry. Innocent would not confirm the concessions
of his predecessor, and demanded the tribute in money.
War was the consequence. The Pope supported the claims
of a pretender to the Neapolitan crown, Réné of Lorraine,
grandson to the titular King, Réné d'Anjou, by his daughter
Yolande. The Duke of Calabria invaded the Campagna
with an army which carried on a desultory warfare on both
sides of the Tiber. The pontific troops were commanded
by a captain of some renown, Roberto Sanseverino, for-
merly in the Venetian service, who was made “Gonfa-
loniere" of the Church, receiving the sacred standard
from the Pope's hand with a species of coronation, for
we are told that after the ceremony he appeared in the
streets clad in a mantle of gold brocade and wearing a
diadem set with pearls. The Colonnas fought for the
Pope, the Orsini for the King; and the latter fortified
themselves on the still castellated Nomentan bridge over
the Anio, whence they were not expelled till the third
month after Sanseverino had begun to attack them. The
miserable state of Rome during this war is minutely de-
scribed from day to day in a diary by an anonymous writer,
edited by Muratori.* We there read of outrages, assassi-
nations, religious ceremonies, factious combats between
rival families, all jotted down in the same dry style and
tone. During an illness of the Pope the feud between the
Colonnas and Orsini revived with the utmost violence.
* "Il Notario di pantiporto," in Rer. Ital. Script. t. iii., p. 11.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
557
The head of the latter house rode into the city and
through the Transtiberine quarter with barbaric triumph,
followed by 300 horse and 400 foot soldiery, his armed
retainers; he proceeded to despoil the property of the
Orsini, and from one of their estates drove away 500
head of cattle and made 113 labouring men his prisoners.
Devotions, stimulated by popular panic and disaster, took
the form of a fetish Madonna-worship. Between the 2nd
and 14th of August (vigil of the Assumption), sixteen pro-
cessions carried from church to church, from rione to rione,
the image of Mary enshrined at S. Agostino, which on the
20th was escorted from S. Peter's to the Pantheon by all
the Roman clergy and pious confraternities with torches in
their hands, followed by all the magistrates and, of course,
a multitude of people. Cardinal Orsini gave up Monte
Rotondo, of which his relatives were lords, to the Pope;
and the neighbouring town of Mentana was taken from
them by force. After the war had been kept up for some
time, King Ferdinand made terms of peace, promising to
pay the tribute; but as he failed to do so, hostilities again
commenced, and the Pope at last took extreme steps
against him. He excommunicated that king, and soon
afterwards (1489) declared him to have forfeited his crown,
to be theoretically deposed. It would be impossible to
represent too darkly 'the fatal effects on the future of Italy
from another proceeding, which was sequel to this step on
the part of Innocent VIII. He invited the young king of
France, Charles VIII., to invade the Neapolitan states and
seize the crown, promising him 300,000 gold florins for the
costs of that enterprise, and 6000 troops under command
of the Duke of Lorraine. Charles at once consented, ac-
cepting the offers. The revolt of the Barons against the
oppressive rule of Ferdinand brought on dangers which
perhaps inclined him to submit to the Pope; and he was
558
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
}
glad to receive the absolution accorded to him and his son,
when the young Prince of Capua, Ferdinand's grandson,
was sent to Rome (1492) on a mission of reconciliation.
Ferdinand the Catholic, king of Spain, interposed to bring
about this peace.
The favourable terms secured to the Pope through the
first negotiation with the Neapolitan king were, in the prin-
cipal articles-that the Barons who had declared for the
Pope against their unpopular sovereign should pay tribute
to his Holiness, and remain, if they desired, in immediate
dependence on the Church; that the Abbey of Monte
Casino, its lands and castles, should be disposed of by the
Pope; that all bishoprics and benefices in the kingdom
should be conferred by him; that the city of Aquila, which
had revolted against Ferdinand and voluntarily placed
itself under the Holy See, should be left at liberty to
choose its sovereign, whether pontific or regal; that the
Duke Réné, with a French army, might pass through the
Papal on their way to the Neapolitan States, and the Pope
might supply them with victuals on such a hostile march;
that Virginio Orsini should ask pardon of the Pope on
his knees, with bare head and feet, and a halter round his
neck; the Cardinal and other members of that house to
submit to whatever punishment his Holiness might inflict
for their rebellion.
The Prince of Capua was entertained at the Vatican with
much honour. When he left Rome the Neapolitan attend-
ants, who came with him, carried away from that palace all
they could steal, the hangings of the rooms and linen for
daily use, besides other moveables. The Pope had sent
those servants their food, and what they could spare they
sold to the people in the Borgo quarter. Infessura, who
supplies these curious particulars of Neapolitan morality,
mentions the supper given to the young Prince by Cardinal
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
559
Ascanio Sforza, with a degree of splendour and sumptuous-
ness which that diarist attempts not to describe, convinced
that report thereof would seem ridiculous and incredible.
The failure of all Pope Innocent's efforts to bring about
the Crusade, forms one among many proofs of the impossi-
bility of reviving the Past, and of the opposition against
such enterprises from the feeling and reason of the time.
European powers were now intent on other warfare-some
on hostilities against the pontific throne, which lost many
of its towns and districts about this period; Rieti being
occupied by the Neapolitans; Perugia, Foligno, Todi sub-
mitting to local lords, the paramount aristocracy. With
courage and self-devotedness, the Pope made a last attempt;
he invited all the Christian sovereigns to send ambassa-
dors for conferring with him on the holy war; and himself
promised to accompany the eastern campaign, as did Pius
II., provided that the King of France, the King of Spain or
that of England would take the command. Even this
proved fruitless. Instead of being able to disturb the
Turkish Empire, Innocent VIII. found himself, through
strange and unforeseen circumstances, led into alliance with
the Sultan, and actually the recipient of a pension from his
bounty! In 1489 arrived in Rome a stranger who excited
much curiosity, Zizim (or Zem), the brother of Bajazet II.,
with whom he had disputed the throne, he himself having
been proclaimed sovereign at Prusa soon after the death of
Mohammed II., their father. Defeated in battle, Zizim had
fled to Rhodes, and put himself under the protection of
the Knights of Jerusalem, there settled. He was thence
sent to France, and placed in a cloister of that Order in
honourable captivity. The Grand Master, Pierre Dau-
busson, agreed to consign him to the Pope, with the con-
sent of the French king; and Daubusson was made Cardi-
nal in reward. Zizim entered Rome in state, accompanied
་
560
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
by the Pope's son, Francesco Cibo, and several courtiers of
the Vatican. Introduced in consistory, he would not pay
any homage, as directed, to the enthroned Pontiff, but
walked straight up to him, made a slight inclination, and
kissed his right shoulder. The other Moslems who came
with him did as required, knelt, and kissed the foot. Pre-
sently arrived envoys from the Sultan of Egypt with mag-
nificent offers to the Pope for the consignment of the
captive prince, as that Sultan, now at war with the Turkish
sovereign, wished to place him at the head of an army for
invading the states of the prince's brother. He promised
to restore Jerusalem to the Christians if the Pope would
gratify him. This Innocent refused to do, doubting per-
haps the one Sultan's means for despoiling the other.
Bajazet, informed of his brother's arrival, renewed to the
Pope the promise already made by him to the French king:
an annual pension of 40,000 gold ducats for the custody of
Zizim. The latter was lodged at the Vatican under a
strong guard, but not as a prisoner, and a French Cardinal
was appointed to watch over and entertain him. The envoy
from Constantinople charged to make the first disburse-
ment of the annuity, brought gifts of Oriental treasures
for the Pope, and also an offering more precious than gold
and gems in the eyes of the Catholic Hierarch: that holy
lance which (as believed) had pierced the side of the Cru-
eified Lord, had been removed from Jerusalem to Constan-
tinople by S. Helena, and been re-discovered, after long
oblivion, at Antioch in 1098, buried under a church, and
brought to light at the moment when its re-appearance
cheered and inspired to victory the Crusaders in the
defence of that city against a Turkish siege. This relic
was first consigned at Ancona to two prelates sent thither
for receiving it; next to two Cardinals, created Legates
á latere for the occasion, at Narni; and lastly to the Pope.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
561
himself, who went to meet it in grand procession, with all
the other Cardinals, at a certain distance beyond the Fla-
minian gate. After being exhibited to the people at
S. Peter's, and after the benediction given with it by pontific
hands, it was finally placed in a marble tabernacle over an
altar raised in that church by Innocent VIII.
If the reasoning and instructed mind could require
historic arguments against such a doctrine as the personal
infallibility of the Pope, a value as evidence may be recog-
nised in the only other act of Innocent within the range of
ecclesiastical things which need be noticed here. In 1484
he issued his famous bull against witchcraft and sorcery,
attended in Germany with the effect of introducing under
high sanction a regular system of prosecution for such
mysterious crimes; and about five years afterwards was
published at Cologne the "Malleus Maleficarum," an
authorised code of procedure for such cases, drawn up, in
625 pages, by the three Inquisitors appointed by the Pope
for the German states. Alexander VI. and Leo X. issued
bulls of similar import. One writer on this subject, Horst,
calls the bull of 1484, "a truly unique decree in its place.
in History, and with which, however many follies the human
mind had brought forth already, scarcely any other docu-
ment can be confronted as either so absurd or so horror-
striking."
Disorder and crime prevailed in Rome during the last
illness of Innocent VIII.; and Infessura tells us that from
the first day of that illness till the day of his successor's
coronation (little more than a month's interval) two hundred
and twenty assassinations were committed in or near this
city.*
From this diarist we have the anecdote, sugges-
tive of grave imputations of simony against the cardinals,
* Infessura does not specify further, but seems to refer to what was
passing within the city gates.
0
562
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
that, shortly before the conclave, four mules laden with
silver were driven from the palace of Cardinal Borgia to
that of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, son of the Duke of Milan.
Among the twenty-seven Cardinals who entered conclave,
twenty-three voted for Rodriguez Borgia, Vice-chancellor
and Dean of the sacred college, then sixty-one years old,
who took the name of Alexander VI., 11th August, 1492.
It is certain that Sforza, who received the succession to the
vice-chancellorship together with the splendid palace built
by Borgia for his residence, was mainly instrumental in
directing the votation in his favour; and historians observe,
as something portentous, the fact that all the Cardinals
most active on behalf of the successful candidate in this
instance, sooner or later came to grief.*
*
Such odium has surrounded the memory of this Pontiff,
that the name conferred on him in lieu of his father's by
his uncle, Callixtus III., has passed into a byword of in-
famy. Yet, as is usually the case when tradition seizes
hold of an individual to personify in him the qualities
especially exposed to hatred or contempt, the accumulative
charges against Alexander VI. have gone beyond the truth
and the historian who calmly weighs evidence will be led
to admit that, but for a worldly spirit, and an ambition
which aimed at the aggrandisement of his own family above
all things and by whatever means, this Pope might have
left an honoured memory. He had some good qualities,
some elements even of greatness of character. Yet it is
observed of his election, and by ecclesiastical writers, that
* Raynaldus admits the notorious simony of this election, and the
discredit thence reflecting on the cardinals, reproached because “ nec
virum delegisse castimonia, sed stupris insignem." Jacobus de Volterra,
mentioning the immense wealth, bears testimony also to the talents of
the clected Cardinal: "vir est ingenii ad quæcunque versatilis, et
animi magni.”
;
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
563
never was any such proceeding "more opposed to the spirit
and discipline of the Church; for so infamous had this man
been through his well-known conduct, that the choice of
the Cardinals excited astonishment and indignation" (Art
de Verifier les Dates). Yet it does not appear that such
feeling prevailed at the time in Rome. The new Pope was
greeted with jubilant acclamations. Nothing had yet been
seen equal to the splendour of his coronation at S. Peter's
and installation at the Lateran; and the verses inscribed on
triumphal arches erected for his pompous progress to the
latter church, bestow eulogies which, read from the modern
point of view as to his deserts, might be taken in the sense
of bitterest irony. One of these is curious both for the
degree of adulation, and for the Paganish taste it ex-
presses :-
Caesare magna fuit, nunc Roma est maxima: Sixtus
Regnat Alexander; ille vir, iste Deus!
And another has still more of the renaissance stamp in its
strange compliment to a reputed Vicar of Christ:-
Scit venisse suum patria grata Jovem !*
The genius of satire in Rome found vent indeed in
other strains, telling a different tale of this Pontiff after
his subjects had known for a few years what it was to be
governed by such a god upon earth :—-
Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum,
Emerat ille prius, vendere jure potest.
* These fêtes are described by an eye-witness, Peter Delphinus, in a
letter written from Rome to an abbot, and quoted by Raynaldus. He
tells us that the Pope fainted away, overcome by the fatigues of the
progress, during the ceremony at the Lateran; and observes, what struck
him as sinister, the extraordinary mustering of troops at this time in
Rome: "Quid ei (Papa) profuerint tot armatorum acies per urbem
totam ad custodiam cjus disposita ?"
0 2
564
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
De vitio in vitium, de flamma crescit in ignem,
Roma sub Hispano deperit imperio.
Sextus Tarquinius, Sextus Nero, Sextus et iste;
Semper sub Sextis perdita Roma fuit.*
Like the Nero with whom his name is here associated,
Alexander began well: perceiving the evils of the social
state in this city, he appointed four new judges of the
criminal courts, created a Commission for periodically
visiting prisons, and made himself accessible to all his sub-
jects, listening to whatever complaints and petitions at a
public audience once a week. The people, at least in the
lowest class, seem to have been tolerably contented under
his sway. Law was more rigorously enforced, though in
application, conformably with the notions and practices of
the time, somewhat barbaric. We read of the punishment
of a soldier who, enraged at his losses in gambling, had
struck with his weapon a crucifix on the outer wall of a
church; both his hands were cut off, and nailed to the same
wall, before he suffered death by hanging. The practice of
demolishing the houses of offenders was sytematically kept
up, and by direct orders from the Pope.
He
An Archbishop of Cosenza, one of the pontific secre-
taries, was accused of forging briefs, and thereby granting
favours in his master's name, which were unsuitable.
was tried by a commission, degraded from all ecclesiastical
offices, and condemned to imprisonment for life. Burkhard
gives a ghastly picture of the old man in his dungeon,
never visited by light of day, at the S. Angelo fortress;
his dress that of a vulgar convict, his sole diet bread and
water, though he was provided, through special indulgence,
with a Bible (the Old Testament ?), the Epistles of S. Paul,
* Attributed to Sannazaro, and, if correctly so, the utterance of a
stranger not among the Pope's subjects. That Neapolitan poet calum-
niated both Alexander and his daughter.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
565
and his Breviary; also with oil to keep a lamp burning.
The Pope sent some prelates to visit him, who, feigning
friendship, assured him that if he confessed all of which
he was accused, he should be restored to all and more than
the honours he had enjoyed. He did thus confess, but to
find himself deceived, never more either seeing those visitors,
or hearing of Papal clemency towards him. The unhappy
man died soon afterwards, declaring that he had sinned
against God, but never against the Pope.
In his relations with European princes, Alexander en-
deavoured to maintain peace, and counselled them to direct
their arms against the Turks, not for other warfare. He
had five children-the licentiousness of his private life
being nothing unusual or unpardonable in the eyes of the
world at this time, when a rich and aristocratic prelate was
concerned; and the mother of that family, a Roman woman
named Vanozza, twice married to citizens of the middle
class, seems to have long retained influence over her tiara-
crowned lover.* For his eldest son, Giovanni, he obtained
the Duchy of Gandia in Spain, and finally that of Bene-
vento; and this dismemberment of the pontific States for
the benefit of the Pope's illegitimate offspring, only one of
the Cardinals, Piccolomini, had the courage to protest against.
On another son, the famous Cesare Borgia, Alexander
bestowed the Cardinal's hat (1493), after giving him first a
bishopric, Pampeluna, and next an archbishopric, Valencia ;
and for six years this man, stained with every crime, and
addicted to notorious vice, as the historic page displays
him, held the rank of Cardinal Deacon, taking his place in
the august assemblages of the sacred college. In 1497 he
was appointed Legate á latere to crown Frederick II., the
Aragonese King of Naples, and performed that ceremony
* She survived him, and at last scrupled not to assume the name of
Borgia. One of their sons seems to have died in infancy.
566
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
at Capua, where he made his entry with great magnificence.
In his ecclesiastical capacity he enjoyed revenues from
benefices amounting to 35,000 gold florins per annum. He
at last renounced a career hateful to him, and dedicated
himself to that more congenial one, the military, for which
he had talents. The Cardinal of Valencia (as he was called)
became Duke Valentino.
His younger brother, Jofré, was betrothed to an illegiti-
mate daughter of Alfonso II. of Naples, when the bridegroom
was only thirteen. The beautiful and much calumniated
Lucrezia was wedded to four husbands, and by her fourth
marriage with Alfonso d'Este became reigning Duchess of
Ferrara. The Pope had no scruple in dissolving both her
first marriage with an untitled Spanish gentleman, con-
tracted before Alexander's election; and the second alike,
her marriage, namely, with Giovanni Sforza, lord of Pesaro.
Lucrezia's third husband, Alfonso Duke di Biseglia, an
illegitimate son of the Neapolitan King, was assassinated
by Cesare on the threshold of St. Peter's. There is reason
to believe that after her union with the Este (1502),
Lucrezia, whatever her conduct amidst the evil atmosphere
surrounding her earlier life, merited and enjoyed esteem
and affection. That unswerving maintenance of the mar-
*
* He was stabbed one night on the stairs before that church; but sur-
vived for some time, nursed by his wife, who seems to have been truly
devoted to him. Whilst the unfortunate man was recovering from his
wounds, Cesare caused him to be strangled in his presence. The palace
which was the residence of Lucrezia, with her second and third husbands,
is now degraded to serve as a granary, and stands, in gloomy desolation,
behind the Vatican colonnades, near the buildings of the Inquisition.
† Nardi, a contemporary, says: "The Signora Lucrezia, whom in
after time many regarded as of most praiseworthy life, had had three
former husbands, the first a gentleman of the Neapolitan kingdom while
she was not yet marriageable, nor her father yet raised to the pontificate,
which marriage he dissolved after attaining that rank, in order to bestow
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
567
riage tie by which the Holy See had so often rendered
service to morality, and checked licentiousness on thrones,
was utterly set at nought by Alexander.
He sent Cesare into France on a mission to the Court
of Louis XII. (1498) for friendly overtures, and charged
with a bull of divorce granted to that King against his
devoted wife, Joanna, daughter of Louis XI., his union with
whom had been, as Louis pleaded, compulsory and distasteful
to him from the first. The ostentatious luxury of the age
was displayed in the progress on this occasion; and Cesare
was charged at once with the Papal bull, and the red hat for
the King's favourite, D'Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen,-
the illustrious envoy having before this renounced the Cardi-
nalate. Nobles and courtiers of the Vatican rode in the
grand cavalcade; the horses of the patricians being shod with
silver, that of the Pope's son with gold, and the dress of the
rider himself all glittering with jewels; 200,000 ducats were
among the effects which formed the lading of some hundreds
of mules. Louis XII. bestowed upon Cesare Borgia, toge-
ther with the hand of Charlotte d'Albret, sister to King
John of Navarre, a company of 100 men at arms, an income
of 20,000 livres, and the promise of a fief in the Milanese
State after its expected conquest.
Still more offensive than the divorces granted for political
motives is the laxity with which the dispensing power was
now used, in permitting exceptional marriages, by Alex-
ander. In 1496 he sanctioned the union of Ferdinand II.
of Naples with his own aunt, sister to Alfonso II., "a mar-
riage," says Muratori, "beheld not without astonishment,
and with still more of reprobation by sensible persons.
""
her on the lord of Pesaro." Lucrezia died 1520, leaving three sons by
her fourth husband, and the last period of her life was dedicated to piety
and charities. See Roscoe's spirited defence of her, "Life of Louis X.,"
and the carefully compiled biography by Mr. William Gilbert.
568
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
Truly may it be said that the Papacy now appears like a
mighty magician bent on disenchanting the nations hitherto
fascinated and over-mastered by his spells!
"
But we have to consider the great events of previous
years. In 1494 the conduct of Ludovico Sforza, called
'Il Moro," uncle to the young Gian Galeazzo, Duke of
Milan, gave much dissatisfaction to the Neapolitan court.
Ludovico unjustly held all the rights of sovereignty, to
the prejudice of his nephew, who was married to a daugh-
ter of the Duke of Calabria. The wife interceded for her
husband with her father and grandfather, but to no pur-
pose. Remonstrances from King Ferdinand II. were dis-
regarded by Ludovico. Fearing, however, the resentment
of the Neapolitan king, and other consequences of his own
injustice, he adopted a policy eventually ruinous to himself;
he urged Charles VIII. of France, an ambitious and ill-
counselled young King, then in his twenty-fourth year, to
make good his claims on the Neapolitan crown, and invade
Italy.* Alexander VI. is said to have at first encouraged
the project of that invasion, which he afterwards vainly
attempted to dissuade from, through a mission confided to a
Cardinal Legate.+ The Cardinal della Rovere, a fugitive
• Réné "the Good," Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence, titular
King of Sicily as adoptive son of Joanna II., left by testament the
Neapolitan kingdom and Provence to Charles VII., his nephew, and to
Louis XI. the Duchy of Anjou, thenceforth united to the states of the
French crown. Charles left to his son all the pretensions, together with
the states so acquired.
† Guicciardini states the participation of Alexander in counselling the
enterprise. Rohrbacher mentions researches which have brought out
evidence vindicating the Pope from this charge, and showing that he
had sought an alliance between Milan, Naples, and himself, which, if
formed, might have prevented the invasion. I believe that one of the
calumnics to which that Pope has been exposed, may be refuted in this
instance.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
569
from Rome on account of the enmity between him and the
Pope, was by the side of Charles urging him to the war.
That King obtained large sums from Italian bankers, at
immense usury, for his expedition against their country,
-from Milan, 50,000; from Genoa, 100,000 ducats. In
the June of 1494 the Pope and Alfonso II., who had just
succeeded to his father Ferdinand at Naples, met at the
little town of Vicovaro near Tivoli-an interview the cere-
monial of which is fully described by the diarist Burkhard,
without any particulars as to its political import.* At the
beginning of the next September, Charles VIII. crossed the
Alps with an army whose numbers are variously reported--
at the lowest as 25,000 horse and 15,000 foot, at the highest
as 98,000 in all; according to some writers, 60,000.† A
French fleet of 450 sail advanced towards the Italian coast.
It would have been easy to defend the Alpine pass by which
the invaders entered Piedmont; but that State was now
governed by a Regent-duchess for her infant son, Carlo
Amadeo; and so far from resisting, the governors of all the
towns were ordered to receive Charles with honours. A
species of dramatic pageantry representing the deeds of
Charlemagne, was displayed for his amusement at Turin ;
and the Duchess lent him her own jewels, which he pawned
for 12,000 ducats; she also bestowed the steed he rode on
throughout his campaign. Asti, where the King next made
sojourn, was already subject to his cousin, the Duke of
Orleans, who had inherited it from his grandmother, Valen-
tina Visconti.
* He tells us that several Cardinals conducted the King to the castle,
where the Pope lodged; that Alfonso went through the usual homage;
after which Alexander led him into the recess of a window, and they
conversed together "for about the eighth part of an hour."
† Muratori (Annali) admits a much lower amount.
reports 17,000, including the King's guard of 200 nobles.
Guicciardini
570
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
The massacres perpetrated by the French in certain
towns of Romagna, where they encountered and defeated
a Neapolitan force, were, says Guicciardini, "acts yet
unknown, and exciting the greatest terror in Italy, where
for a long time war had been rather a splendid spectacle
than a reality manifested in its perilous and sanguinary
character." The Neapolitans, led by Alfonso's brother,
Don Ferdinand, were also defeated by land and at sea
before Rapallo, a small port on a gulf south-east of Genoa.
At Pisa the citizens took the opportunity of Charles's
presence and assumed friendship to cast off the yoke of
Florence, which they abhorred; the shield of that city was
torn down, the symbolic lion ("marzocco ") gave place to
the statue of the French king. Declarations of hatred
against Florentine sway, made to Charles by young Pisau
ladies at a state ball given for his entertainment, strangely
exhibit the intense municipal cnmities prevailing in Italy.*
At Pavia the King was received with all honours by
Ludovico Sforza, and visited in the castle the unfortunate
Gian Galeazzo, now at the point of death, and supposed to
be the victim of poison given him by his usurping uncle.
Ludovico was present at that interview, when Isabella, the
duchess, threw herself at Charles's feet, imploring hist
protection for her husband and child, and his generosity
towards her relatives at Naples. She obtained nothing
save fair words in return. Two days after the French had
left Pavia, Gian Galeazzo died, and Ludovico was instantly
proclaimed Duke of Milan, he having already procured
for money, 40,000 gold florins, a diploma of sovereignty
* "Ululantes se male passim ubique vagantes, sui corporis quæstum
turpiter facere, quam honeste in Florentinorum vivere tyrannide.” –
Sfrenati, Chronicle.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
571
from the German Emperor. The ingress of the French
into other Italian cities left enduring traces.
Shortly before Charles VIII. entered Florence the power
of the Medici was overthrown. Piero, the son of Lorenzo
de' Medici, had taken it upon himself, unauthorised, to
parley with Charles in his camp before Sarzana, and pro-
mise to deliver up five principal cities, including Pisa and
Livorno. On his return to Florence, the doors of the
government palace were shut against Piero; his family
were placed under ban as rebels; their splendid mansion
was sacked by the populace; they fled to Bologna, the
young Cardinal Giovanni (afterwards Leo X.), following
his brother in the disguise of a Franciscan friar. The
French entered Florence in imposing array, 17th November,
1494. The King's exorbitant demands, requiring absolute
dominion over and submission from the city, the restoration
of the Medici, and the payment of 200,000 ducats, were
rejected. The treaty drawn up by his ministers, insulting
to the honour of the independent Republic, was cancelled
by the famous act of Pier Capponi, one of the deputies
sent by the "Signoria" to confer with him as to admissible
terms, who, on the threat that French trumpets should
be sounded for combat in the city, tore that document
before the king's eyes, with the words which have become
classic: "Voi suonorete le vostre trombe, e noi suoneremo
le nostre campane" (You may sound your trumpets,
and we will ring our bells)—namely, as signal for armed
resistance.* Charles at last agreed with the haughty
patriots, and reduced his pretensions. Pisa and Livorno
were to be delivered to him with their fortresses, and
restored gratuitously after his Neapolitan campaign. The
* Pier Capponi appears in act of tearing the treaty among the
statues of Florentine and Tuscan worthies under the porticoes of the
Uffizi.
572
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
sum of 120,000 ducats was to be paid to him in three
advancements. This treaty was solemnly proclaimed, and
sworn to by the King and the magistrates during religious
rites at the cathedral. Charles left Florence with his army,
and accompanied by two ambassadors of that Republic, the
next day, 28th November.
The Pope now endeavoured to avert the tempest, or at
least turn aside the onward march of invasion from Rome.
He sent an embassy to the Sultan, desiring his support
against the French, and representing to him the danger to
his own throne, the probability that Charles would raise up
the captive Zizim in his place. Burkhard gives a letter
from Bajazet to Alexander (considered of doubtful authen-
ticity), in which the former requests the latter to consign
the dead body of Zizim, offering 30,000 gold florins for the
compliance, which he intimates full expectations of obtain-
ing. Alexander, devout in his fears, sent his own effigy
in wax, life-size, to be suspended as an ex-voto before the
Madonna in the Annunziata church at Florence, where it
was solemnly welcomed, and accompanied with sound of
trumpets to the sanctuary of the "Servi di Maria."* The
Colonnas and Savelli now entered into the service of
Charles VIII., and encamped with such forces as they could
muster, 4600 men, near Frascati, while Fabrizio Colonna
occupied Ostia, and raised on its battlements the banners
of the French king and of the Della Rovere-the Ostian
castle having been built by the Cardinal of that house, who
was bishop of the see, for his own residence; and here had
the dauntless Cardinal Giuliano for some time defied the
power of Alexander VI. That Pontiff, full of suspicions,
and not disposed to spare those of the sacred college who
*It was long the usage to hang up such ex-voto images both at the
Annunziata and S. Croce. Olduinus had seen that effigy of Alexander
in its place, and describes it as a faithful portrait.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
573
offended him, summoned the Cardinals Colonna, Sforza,
and three others to the Vatican, and there detained them
under guard; the next day sending the two above-named,
for severer durance, to S. Angelo. Colonna, however, was
soon liberated, and charged with a mission to the French
king. At this juncture the Pope changed his tactics, and
made the attempt to induce Charles not only to turn aside
from Rome on his march, but forego the projected invasion
and direct his arms instead, with nobler purpose, against the
common enemy, the Turks; promising the co-operation of
other European princes for such a crusade. To this Charles
paid no attention, though the purpose of an ulterior enter-
prise for the conquest of Constantinople had been pro-
fessed by him, and in the January of 1494 the Pope had
formally bestowed on him the title of Emperor of that
capital.
An effort to rouse the Roman citizens to activity in de-
fence of the pontificate was fruitless; in vain were they
supplied with arms by the Pope's order, and alike vain
was the appeal to the German residents in this city; a few
artisans of that nationality met at the hospice near their
church, and declared that they would obey only the
"Caporioni," regionary magistrates-manifestations of the
civic temper which certainly afford no proof of loyalty.
The last envoy sent to Charles was the Cardinal Giovanni
Borgia, the Pope's nephew, who found that king at Brac-
ciano, the guest of the Orsini at their castle on the beau-
tiful lake; and the only object now in view was to stipu-
late terms for the French ingress into Rome with gua-
rantees for the pontific honour and authority. The terror
of the Pope now betrayed the perturbation of his con-
science, and his apprehension of dangers to himself, more
serious in his eyes than any which threatened Rome. He
ordered the treasury of the Papal chapel to be deposited
574
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
.
in the fortress, his table service, furniture, and even bed
to be packed up, his horses kept ready for flight in the
stables. Certain influential Cardinals, and the ambassadors
from Spain and Venice prevailed on him to remain at his
post.
A Neapolitan force, led by the Duke of Calabria,
marched into Rome, and remained till Charles insisted
upon their dismissal. Alexander, thus obliged to deprive
himself of his protectors, obtained from the king a safe-
conduct for the Duke Ferdinand through the pontific
states, which the latter haughtily refused to avail himself
of.
On the last day of the year 1494, the Neapolitans and
their leaders marched out of Rome by the Appiau gate,
whilst the French entered by the Flaminian, or Porta del
Popolo. Six hours elapsed before the whole invading
army had made its ingress. At 7 p.m. arrived the King in
complete armour, with lance in rest, the Cardinals Della
Rovere and Ascanio Sforza riding beside him, the Cardinals
Colonna and Savelli following; the flower of the French
noblesse accompanied that army, reported by some chro-
niclers as between 30 and 40,000. Long after dark did
the people continue to gaze on the imposing spectacle,
unlike any military pageant yet beheld in Rome; torches
lit up
the scene; and enormous cars, laden with artillery,
such as never yet had been seen in Italian warfare, drawn
by horses instead of oxen (formerly used for such purpose)
went clattering along the pavement of the narrow streets.
Nothing, says Paolo Giovio, so much astonished the Romans
as the French cannons, 140 of large calibre, and 1200
smaller pieces, at this memorable ingress; and as they
passed, the unthinking crowd, delighted at a show what-
ever it might portend, raised the cries, Francia,-Colonna,
-Tincoli! by that last designating the Cardinal della
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
575
Rovere, who took his title from the S. Pietro in Vincoli
church.
*
The King took up his lodging in the S. Marco (now
Venetian) palace, beneath whose castellated walls the
artillery was drawn up, whilst troops bivouacked on piazzas.
The Pope took refuge in the S. Angelo castle, accompanied
by only two or three Cardinals.* French cannons were
twice pointed against the old fortress, and withdrawn with-
out firing; but it was noticed as a sign of Divine wrath
against a simonical Pontiff, that a portion of the building
fell, yielding to natural decay, during his residence there.
The other Cardinals waited on the King, who held his
Court with customary state; and now began that opposi-
tion which Alexander had probably foreseen. Certain
Cardinals advised Charles to convoke a General Council
for the deposition of Alexander VI, whose election had
been simonical and personal example scandalous.† But
that king had neither the thought nor wish to assume the
part of a Reformer or restorer of discipline in the Church.
* Guicciardini says that the Pope retired into the castle on the entry
of the French; others, that he did not do so till the 6th January. As
for the accommodation with which the King had to content himself in
Rome, it is thus described: "Le palais de S. Marc, ou logea le Roi,
était tenu fort salement, les chambres remplies de paille, qui l'on ne
nettoya pas. Ils attachaient les chandelles aux portes des chambres, et
aux cheminées-omnia habebantur ad instar stabuli porcorum.”.
Burkhard, edited by Leibnitz, 1697.
† It is to be regretted that we have such scanty details of this re-
markable coalition. Guicciardini mentions it but vaguely, giving the
names of three Cardinals, "Vincoli, Ascanio, Colonna, and many
others." Some writers add also Perauld, a French Cardinal; and Ray-
naldus states that, the leaders were the two above-named, Della
Rovere, Sforza, and Perauld, called "Gurcensis" from his bishopric.
The latter accused the Pope of entering into culpable alliance with the
Sultan, but the main charges were simony and immorality.
576
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
One of his ministers, Brissonet, hoped for the red hat, and
probably influenced him for the interest of the Pontiff.
Partial disturbances now occurred; the mansions of some
rich prelates were broken into and pillaged by French.
soldiery, and assassinations, the usual result of Roman
quarrels, began to cut off lives from the ranks of the armed
foreigners. On the 13th January several civic quarters
(“mezza Roma," says one chronicler) were sacked; and
two days later the Pope yielded, accepting all the terms he
had first refused, as dictated by the King. He promised
to consign to the French till after the conquest of Naples
either three or four of his cities; to restore Ostia to Car-
dinal della Rovere, grant amnesty to all those of the
sacred college who had opposed him, and consign Zizim for
six months to the French, receiving from the King in return
20,000 ducats; also to depute Cesare as Cardinal Legate
to accompany the invaders to Naples.* The bestowal of
the Neapolitan crown was comprised in these terms (v.
Guicciardini, and also Burkhard); but it is certain that
such concession was never actually made. The Pontiff and
King now met, for the first time, in a garden communicat-
ing with the corridor (rebuilt by Alexander) between the
castle and the Vatican. His Holiness refused the proffered.
genuflexions and kiss of the foot. Both repaired together
to the palace, where, in an impromptu consistory, the Pope
at once bestowed the cardinalate on Brissonet, bishop of
:
* Cesare contrived to escape in disguise from the French camp when
they had marched no further than Velletri. The unfortunate Zizim,
led away according to compact, and bargained for like a slave, died at
Capua, as supposed of poison given to him before he left Rome.
Bajazet rejoiced to receive his brother's corpse, consigned at his request.
His last advancement of 40,000 ducats for Zizim's maintenance had
never reached the Pope, being seized by the brother of Cardinal della
Rovere at Sinigallia.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
577
S. Malo, at Charles's request.* Next day the King ap-
peared at a public consistory; went through the usual
homage, kissing the pontific hand and foot; took his seat
among the Cardinals, and respectfully proffered three
requests, the most important being for the investiture of
the Neapolitan kingdom, to which the Pope replied that
he must consult with the sacred college on so serious an
interest. On the morrow Charles attended the Papal High
Mass at S. Peter's, and presented the oblations, serving as
acolyte at the altar. During his stay in Rome he acted
like a devout pilgrim, visiting basilicas, revering the prin-
cipal relics; and founded a church, the Trinità de' Monti,
on the Pincian hill. On the 28th January, after again
attending mass celebrated by the Pope at S. Marco, close
to the palace where he lodged, and dining with his Holiness,
Charles quitted Rome at the head of his army for the
facile conquest of Naples.
In that city religious influences were felt amidst the
general excitement, fear on one side, sanguine hope on
the other. As Savonarola had prophesied at Florence, so
did S. Francesco di Paola raise his voice at this crisis an-
nouncing evil to come; and because he had foreseen the
taking of Constantinople and the Turkish descent on
Otranto, this Saint had the credit for prophetic powers
among the people. Towns, castles, villages, received the
French with gladness, and the inhabitants sent the keys of
their gates to Charles while he was yet far off. Meantime
Alfonso II., agonized by remorse and terror, imagined him-
* Burkhard gives an amusingly minute description of the interview,
which must have presented a curious study for the physiognomist. The
chamberlain was shocked at the non-formalities of the consistory, so
hastily summoned; and all the process of the vesting of the new
Cardinal is recorded. An epigraph, placed near the spot of the meeting,
remained long to remind of that event, and a painting in the castle
(which has disappeared) served for the same purpose.
2 P
578
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
He
self haunted by the shade of his angry father, and heard
the cry of "Francia" continually ringing in his ears.
abdicated (23rd January) in favour of his son Ferdinand,
and carrying with him 300,000 ducats, embarked for Sicily,
where he entered a cloister of Olivetan monks at Mazara,
and died in that retreat a few months afterwards.
During the occupation of city after city, and after effect-
ing the conquest of the Neapolitan States without striking
a blow-the defenceless Ferdinand II. having fled to Ischia
—the French behaved with unbridled licentiousness, per-
mitting themselves every species of excess. The revenues
of institutions and schools, the funds belonging to indus-
trial and other establishments, were absorbed for their pay.
Thus was the Roman University deprived of its endow-
ments; and the schools and printing presses of Aldo
Manuzio were dispersed. In the splendid palace of the
Medice at Florence, these foreigners laid hands on all they
could carry away, and the precious artistic objects collected
by the magnificent Lorenzo became their spoils. Whilst
at Rome, Charles, like the German emperors during their
sojourn here, took upon himself all the rights, and exer-
cised the functions of a sovereign in his own capital;
coined money with the title of Emperor to his effigy, pro-
nounced judicial sentences, his ministers inflicting such
punishments as amputation, scourging, and death by the
gallows. Guicciardini dwells on the incalculable evils, the
long succession of troubles extending over a far-distant
future, which this invasion brought upon Italy: "mutations.
of government, subversion of kingdoms, desolation of
districts, massacre in cities, most cruel slaughters; also
new customs and manners, novel and sanguinary modes of
warfare, and diseases hitherto unknown." The invader's
presence on this side of the Alps was regretted, and its
further consequences were dreaded by foreign as well as
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
579
Italian sovereigns. The Spanish king desired either to
restore his relatives to the Neapolitan throne, or already
laid his plans for betraying their cause, and subjecting
Naples to his crown.
A league was formed against the French by the Pope,
the Emperor Maximilan, Ferdinand of Spain, the Duke of
Milan and the Venetian Republic; and these allies soon
brought 40,000 men into the field. This intelligence
alarmed Charles amidst the pleasures to which he was
abandoning himself at Naples. He left a Viceroy and
garrisons in the conquered state, and two months after his
arrival quitted for his march towards the Alps. On his
return to Rome, the Pope withdrew to Orvieto, thence to
Perugia. The King restored the pontific cities received
in pledge. During his second sojourn, of only two days,
in Rome, he is said to have ordered all Spaniards found
here at the time, to be put to death; and their pro-
perty confiscated; but this seems inconsistent with the
King's known character, and is not mentioned by all
writers of authority as to these events. On his further
progress he avoided Florence, conforming in this, as
believed, to the counsels of Savonarola, sent to meet him at
Poggibonsi. When descending from the Apennines on
the plains of Lombardy, the French encountered the army
of the league, commanded by the Marquis of Mantua, and
suffered the defeat (battle of Fornovo, 6th July, 1495),
which proved almost equally disastrous to both, and was
claimed on both sides as victory. It is asserted (Mura-
tori, Annali), that more Italians than French were left dead
or wounded on that field; but immense booty, the spoils of
southern palaces, convents, and probably churches also,
passed into the hands of the Italians, who could not pre-
vent the orderly retreat of their foes, nor the safe exit of
Charles from the country where his presence had brought
2 P 2
580
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
+
so much disaster and left such evil traces. Accounts of
that battle differ strangely; some making it last for nine,
others for two hours; one stating that all was over after
about one hour of hot conflict! The Duke of Milan
erected a chapel on the spot; the Gonzaga of Mantua
founded a church, S. Maria della Vittoria, in his city; and
with the same intent of pious thanksgiving, processions.
were organized at Florence and Venice.
Ferdinand II., who had been betrayed and deserted by
his own army and generals when he attempted to defend
the pass of S. Germano against the invaders, now re-
turned from Ischia to Naples, received like a conqueror,
and entered on a war of two years duration to liberate his
states from the French occupation, and expel the forces
of the Viceroy deputed by Charles. Through the aid of
Consalvo di Cordova, the "Great Captain," he was finally
successful; and the last remaining French garrison capi-
tulated after the Viceroy Montpensier's death, soon after
which Ferdinand also died, 1496. His successor, Frederick
III., was the victim of the coalition for dividing the Neapo-
litan kingdom, as effected in 1501 between Ferdinand of
Spain and Louis XII.
The latter, succeeding to his cousin Charles VIII. (1498)
on the throne of France, at once assumed the titles of King
of the Two Sicilies and Duke of Milan, claiming the latter
state by right of inheritance from his grandmother Valen-
tina, Duchess of Orleans, sister of two reigning Visconti,
both of whom died without issue. The Pope entered into
a league with Louis, with Ferdinand, Venice and Florence,
in the ulterior object of promoting the project of those
two kings to overthrow the Aragonese dynasty at Naples,
and divide that kingdom between them-execrabile, ac
Italia funestum foedus, as even an ecclesiastical writer
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
581
(Ciaconius) scruples not to call this compact.* It stipu-
lated also the annexation of Milan to the French states,
the consignment of Cremona to the Venetians, and the
recognising of Cesare Borgia as Duke of Romagna. The
subjection of the baronial families who had held many
cities of the pontific states under their sway, was com-
pletely accomplished under Alexander VI., and mainly
through the military successes of Cesare, assisted by the
French. The nephews of Sixtus IV. lost Imola and Forli,
though the latter city was gallantly defended by Caterina
Sforza, widow of Girolamo Riario; the Sforzas themselves
lost Pesaro; the Malatestas were driven from Rimini; the
last of the Manfredi, the beloved and unfortunate young
Astorre, was besieged at Faenza, treacherously made.
prisoner after he had capitulated, and mysteriously put to
death in the S. Angelo fortress.† Cesare, now Duke of
Romagna and "Gonfaloniere" of the Church, enjoyed the
honours of a superb triumph when he re-entered Rome
after a victorious campaign, amidst the devout observances
of the Jubilee year, 1500.
On a Sunday in Lent, the Golden Rose was blessed as usual
by the Pope. After High Mass, celebrated by a Cardinal at
S. Peter's, the vexillum also was blessed by the Pope with
holy water and incense, and given to Cesare, who, kneeling,
made his profession of devotedness and fidelity; next was
* "Fuit mihi a veridica persona relatum sanctissimum Dominum
Nostrum in ultimo consistorio secreto pronunciasse Fredericum de Ar-
rogonia, Regem Neapolitanum, regno Neapolitano privatum, et Regem
Franciæ de eodem regno, ct Regem Hispaniarum de Ducatu Calabriæ
investisse."-Burkhard.
† He was probably precipitated, alive or dead, down one of the dark
abysses called trobocchetti, which used to be shown by torchlight in that
castle, "by many a foul and midnight murder fed," but which (for what
reason I know not) are now kept out of sight.
582
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
bestowed on him the mystic Rose, with the usual very beau-
tiful prayer of consecration; and, finally, the cap of the Gon-
faloniere was placed on Cesare's head by his father. The
“volto santo” was exposed at the end of the long ceremonies
on this day. As to ceremonies in general, the dislike of
Alexander to loss of time in such matters, is curiously
apparent in Burkhard's narrative. Being subject to syn-
cope, he used to feign such fits ("finxit syncopare") when
the ritual fatigued him, thus finding pretext for ordering
it to be abridged. Firmer foundations were laid for the
temporal power than had ever yet been secured; but it
was mainly the aggrandisement of his own family, which
was the object of Alexander's desires. If it has been, not
without reason, objected against some pontiffs that they
had no scruples in postponing the interests of Italy to
those of the tiara, the charge to be brought against Alex-
ander is that he, engrossed by ambitious projects for his
children, postponed the interests of the tiara to those of
the Borgia house. Thus did the endowment with the long
maintained temporal power lead the Papacy, as represented
by this man, into such a course as the deliberate spoliation
of its own dominions, and sacrifice of the inheritance to
be transmitted with its throne, for the benefit of a single
family! Even the ordinary decencies and discipline of the
Vatican were now disregarded. Alexander, bent on the
ruin of the Gaetani family and confiscation of their estates
and wealth for his children, quitted Rome to direct in
person the siege of their fortress at Sermoneta, and de-
puted the fair Lucrezia to act in his absence as his Vicar,
-presiding in the pontific apartments, giving audiences,
opening letters, &c. with a Cardinal by her side as her
subordinate counsellor! Contrast this with the almost
monastic routine and proprieties of the Vatican at the
present day! Comedies of Plautus, masquerades, dramatic
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
583
1
pageants, banquets, at which fair ladies (not always the
most estimable) sat beside the Pope, among cardinals and
prelates, were among the more innocent recreations which
Alexander delighted in, though at the same time notable
for his temperance and most assiduous application to busi-
ness. These things are only entitled to historic notice,
seeing the impression made through the unavoidable
notoriety to which such Vatican amenities were exposed.
Much more scandalous orgies described in some editions
of Burkhard, as now polluting the Papal palace, are
incredible. Had they taken place, would the decorous
chamberlain have mentioned them?
After the occupation of Sermoneta by the pontific troops,
Lucrezia purchased that town, ostensibly from the Camera
Apostolica, for 80,000 ducats. She thus became titular
duchess, and was also appointed by her father to the
government, as Regent, of Spoleto. The head of the
Gaetani family was decoyed to Rome, imprisoned in the S.
Angelo castle, declared guilty of treason by a venal tribu-
nal, and sentenced to the forfeiture of all his possessions.
He made formal protest against this, and soon afterwards
(1500) died in the fortress, still a captive, and probably a
victim of poison.* His nephew, Niccolo, was assassinated
near Sermoneta by the myrmidons of Cesare.
The first check to the prosperity of the Borgia house'
came from the powerful Orsini family, whose possessions
Alexander coveted for his children, while at the same time
bent on punishing them for their temerity in taking part
with the French, contrary to his express commands. But
the Orsini, assisted by Vitelli, lord of Città di Castello,
were able to repulse the pontific troops, besieging their
* The protest of Giacomo Gaetani, still in the archives of that family,
is given by Gregorovius.
584.
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
castle of Bracciano, and also to obtain a signal victory near
Soriano over those forces commanded by the Duke of
Urbino, Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, and by Giovanni
Borgia. The Duke was made prisoner, Giovanni wounded;
and a Cardinal Legate fled from that field with such haste
and terror that his death was the consequence. The Pope
now came to terms with the Orsini, restored the towns
and castles taken from them, but not without receiving in
return 50,000 florins. In this episode we see how com-
pletely the position of independent powers was that still
held by the great baronial families in the pontific states.
To meet the demands for civil war and the endowments
of his children, Alexander (following the example of his
predecessors) created venal offices, and sold for 761 scudi
(or gold florins) each of the eighty posts in a new "college"
of Secretaries of Briefs.* About this time the castle of
Ostia was seized by Consalvo of Cordova, who duly con-
signed it to the Pope; and in that lone fortress on the
unhealthy sea-coast took place an interview between his
Holiness and the Great Captain, who had the boldness to
reproach the Pontiff for his disedifying life and the abuses
of the Curia. A cruel blow fell on Alexander VI. in 1497,
and for a time awakened the better instincts of his nature,
affliction leading him, in anguish, to avow his dereliction
from the high standard of his supreme office and duties.
His son Giovanni, Duke of Gandia, had been invested, as
we have seen, with the Duchy of Benevuto, to which were
added Terracina and Pontecorvo as countships; and only
one of the Cardinals protested in consistory against this
deliberate dismemberment of the Papal states for Borgian
interests. Shortly before the day for the departure of
* Julius II. added one hundred more to the same college, selling cach
post for the same price.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
585
Giovanni to visit his new Duchy, he and his brother Cesare
(still a Cardinal) were riding back to the Vatican after a
supper with their mother in a vineyard near S. Pietro in
Vincoli. Near the palace of the Chancery (now Sforza
Cesarini), Giovanni took leave of Cesare, rode off with a
single attendant, a mysterious masked man, and never
more was the young Duke seen alive after that night, 14th
June. His disappearance excited no alarm at first, his
habits being well known; but on the evening of the day
afterwards his father became anxious; ordered every
search to be made, and the Tiber to be dragged by 300
fishermen. The body of Giovanni pierced with nine wounds,
the hands tied, a purse of ducats still in its place, was soon
found, drifted far down the stream. A charcoal seller, who
had been passing the night of the 14th June in a boat on
the river, at the small port of "Ripetta," within the city,
deposed to having seen a corpse brought to the Tiber bank,
laid across a horse, and thrown into the water by some
men who had taken sundry precautions to avoid notice.
When asked why he had not sooner reported this, the
witness answered that in his time he had seen a hundred
corpses thrown into the river by night, yet never had any
care been taken about such occurrences. Suspicion soon
pointed out the murderer of Giovanni Borgia-no other
than his brother Cesare. The Pope, wounded through the
affections for which he had sacrificed so much, and proba-
bly soon led to suspect the author of the heinous crime
which darkened his house, shut himself up in his chamber
for three days without speaking, and long refusing food.
Burkhard says from the Wednesday evening to the Satur-
day he thus starved himself, and never slept for twenty-
four hours. After the first burst of grief he seemed a new
man, bent on atoning for the past, and on applying all his
energies (which were great) to the uprooting of evils, the
586
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
purifying of the atmosphere around him. He even thought
of abdicating, and announced this intention to the King of
Spain, who dissuaded him. In consistory he declared his
resolve to promote a general reform of the Curia and of
discipline; appointed a commission of six Cardinals to
deliberate and propose the measures suitable for that
worthy object. No more dignities or benefices were to be
sold; the Cardinals were to content themselves with a
single bishopric each, and 6000 florins' revenue. But the
cares and ambitions of this world soon choked the good
seed in the stony soil of that mind. The salutary measures
proposed by the commissioners were met by objections
on the ground of privilege, prerogatives, ragion di stato,
&c. So ended the repentance and virtuous intentions of
Alexander VI. !*
It is mentioned that the ghost of his murdered son was
heard wailing through the vast chambers of the Vatican on
the winter nights of that same year.†
* One of the Cardinals commissioned for the reforming measures was
the Piccolomini who succeeded to Alexander VI. Raynaldus gives an
eloquent letter from Peter Delphinus, addressed to that Cardinal, and
urging on him the consideration of the high importance of the task now
before him. "Editae sunt ab iis (Cardinalibus) pluris sanctissimae sanc-
tiones, quae perductae ad exitum non fuerunt, an. 1497." Thus, once more,
dnring the XV. century, did the Papacy thwart and prevent the reform
of the Church as projected and approved by her own representatives !
† Sanuto, 1. 1, 623-see also Gregorovius: "The people believed in
these phantoms, and it was said that Demoniac Powers dominated in
the vicinity of the Pope." The belief in the supernatural, to a degree
and with direction not common in the Italian mind, seems to have pre-
vailed at this time, fostered perhaps by the tragic events and horror-
striking crimes so frequently darkening the moral horizon and historic
scene. It was reported at Naples, shortly before the arrival of the
French, that the ghost of King Ferdinand had appeared on three suc-
cessive nights to the court-surgeon, and commanded him, first mildly,
then with sternness, to tell Alfonso II., from his father, that it was vain
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
587
The coalition of Cardinals at the time of the French
King's stay in Rome, was not the only antagonism which
aimed at the extreme object of causing Alexander VI. to
be deposed from the Papal throne. More severe denun-
ciations were heard in Florence; and the voice of Savona-
rola was the organ through which the conscience of the
Church, the religious sense of the people, spoke in repro-
bation of one who was considered to dishonour the sacred
throne he occupied. That celebrated Dominican preacher
wrote letters to potentates, the principal kings of Europe,
urging them to convoke an Ecumenical Council for effect-
ing the desired reforms, and especially for the deposition
of Alexander, whom the eloquent writer denounced as
neither true and legitimate Pontiff nor even a Christian.*
One of those letters was seized, through contrivance of
Ludovico Sforza, from the courier, who was waylaid and
robbed on his journey to France; and the Duke of Milan,
eager to ingratiate himself with the Pope, immediately
sent it to him. Can we be surprised that such a man as
Rodriguez Borgia should have determined on the ruin of
the audacious Dominican who had so conspired against
him? The deposition of an unworthy Pope was believed
to be fully within the competency of General Councils;
to resist the invader, for their dynasty, the Aragonese, was doomed, and
their race destined to be soon extinct. (Guicciardini, 1. 1.) The Duke
of Gandia, who lived only 24 years, was the ancestor of the present
Borgia family, illustrated by some eminent men in the Spanish and
Italian branches, as Francis Borgia, a canonized Saint and third General
of the Jesuits after S. Ignatius.
* Two of these letters, but in Italian, not the original Latin, are
given by Mansi in the Appendix to Baluze, Miscell. t. I. Savonarola
goes so far as to accuse the Pope of atheism; but the trustworthy
account of his death by Burkhard does not justify or confirm this im-
putation. Externally at least Alexander complied with all the require-
ments of the Church at the last stage of mortal existence.
588
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
!
nor had the arguments heard at Constance and Basle been
forgotten; but it may be doubted whether any such assem-
blage would have dethroned Alexander.
In the Museum of the Propaganda College we see a
memorable record of this pontificate: a map of the New
World, prepared soon after the return of Columbus from
his second voyage (1493), and with the line of demarcation
drawn by the Pope's own hand, för dividing all the terri-
tories yet discovered, and to be discovered, between Spain
and Portugal. A far-extending sea-coast, the shores of
both American continents, and the isthmus between them
are marked, and distinctly enough, on this parchment,
however defective the geographic details. Spain has the
lion's share-in fact, all the land from one hundred miles
west of Cape Verd and the Azores.
This last among
acts of the Papacy in its character as supreme Arbiter over
Christian nations and rulers, might have raised Alexander's
soul above the meshes of tortuous policy and struggles for
family aggrandisement. There is some proof that, for a
time, it did so; the language of the bull addressed by him.
(4th May, 1493) to Ferdinand and Isabella shows that he
could rise to the moral height of the occasion, could feel
the solemnity of obligations now resting upon him. In
making concession to the Spanish Sovereigns of all islands
and continents, discovered by their envoys or captains
within certain limits, he lays down the conditions that “in
virtue of holy obedience, and according to the promises.
you have made to us, and which we doubt not your inten-
tion of fulfilling, you will take good care to send learned,
experienced, and virtuous men to those continents and
islands, in order that the nations may be instructed in the
Catholic faith and in sound morality."
There are those who describe the conditions of Rome as
ameliorated under the energetic sway of Alexander; but
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
589
"Never (says
others draw a picture in very dark colours.
Raphael Volaterranus, Vitae quatuor Summ. Pontif) had
the audacity of gladiators (hired soldiery) been greater in
this city, nor the freedom of the people less. The city
swarmed with spies; the slightest expression of displeasure
(or anger) was punished with death. Moreover, Rome
was now filled with robbers, so that no street was safe at
night. The asylum of nations, the fortress of all people,
as this city had ever been, now became a slaughter-house;
and all this Alexander permitted out of affection for his
children." Yet the same writer elsewhere testifies to the
tranquillity of Rome at this time: "Nullum in urbe
tumultum, nulla sensimus arma !"
Fallen indeed were the credit and dignity of the Holy
See when Catholic Kings could send embassies to its
capital, expressly to admonish the Pope of the duty of
attending to ecclesiastical interests, of correcting the enor
mous abuses, and putting a stop to the flagrant vices pre-
vailing among Christians, and especially around his own
sacerdotal throne; complaining, as crowned monitors now
did, of the disgraceful traffic in sacred things, and the noto-
rious fact that the chief See, the source of spiritual autho-
rities in the Church, set the worst example, had become
the centre of the greatest scandals in Christendom !*
Yet many acts of this pontificate in the range of eccle-
* Embassy from Emanuel of Portugal, called the Great, to Alexander
VI. :
Misit ad Alexandrum legatos, qui eum admonerent, ut rebus
Ecclesiæ prospiceret, nam mores esse profligatos, pietatis studium res-
tinctum, flagitiorum licentiam solutam, res sanctissimas pretio indignis-
simis addici. In ea urbe, quæ fuerat pietatis et sanctimoniæ domi-
cilium, officinam impudentiae atque sceleris institui, ecclesiamque
Romanam insigni infamia flagrare, remque esse in extremum pene dis-
ut iret
crimen adductam; proinde se illum orare et obsecrare
obviam sceleri, resecaret libidinem, coerceret avaritiam, moresque laxos
disciplinâ severiore devinciret," &c.-Raynaldus, anno 1498.
590
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
siastical affairs are pronounced commendable. Alexander
confirmed some recently founded, and highly useful reli-
gious Orders: that of Minims, whose originator was S.
Francesco di Paola; that of S. Mary Magdalene for
female penitents, instituted at Paris by a Franciscan, Jean
Tisseraud, and that of Nuns of the Annunciation, founded
by the divorced Queen of Louis XII., who bore her trials
with saintly fortitude, herself entered the convent of her
sisterhood, and died there after about a year (1505)—
canonized as S. Joanna of Valois, 1738. Alexander had
the wisdom to grant the abolition of celibacy, seeing that
it had led to no good consequences, on behalf of the military
Orders in Portugal. To the King of Spain he granted the
rank and revenues of Grand Master to three such Orders,
the Knights of S. James, Calatrava, and Alcantara. The
title "Catholic" was conferred by him (1496) on Ferdinand
and his successors for ever, having been first bestowed on
that King, but only in personam, by Innocent VIII.,
the conquest of Granada. Alexander permitted the Bishop
of Wilna and the Lithuanian Clergy to use arms, other-
wise unlawful, for defending their country against the
Tartars. He made some efforts to check the abuse of
indulgences, and passed decrees against magic and witch-
craft, &c.* He did not institute the ecclesiastical censor-
ship, but was the first to apply it to printed books, pro-
hibiting the publication of any works not provided with
the attestation of the respective bishops that their contents
were in no way contrary to faith or morals. Prosecutions
for heresy were severe during this pontificate. A Spanish
bishop, Pedro de Aranda, who held high office at the
after
* Enormities mentioned by Moroni, with commendation of the Pope's
endeavours to check them, as "at this time gaining ground, and princi-
pally in Germany and Bohemia.”— Dizionario, article Alessandro VI.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
591
Vatican, was condemned to imprisonment for life in the S.
Angelo castle, and degraded from all ecclesiastical rank,
for teaching, or believing, various false doctrines; denying
the Holy Trinity, the existence of a Heaven and Hell, and
maintaining that indulgences were a human invention for
base lucre, therefore null and void, &c.
The holy bell, which invites to the prayer of the
"Angelus" at noon, and for the original intention of
reminding the faithful to invoke Heaven's aid against
Turkish invasion, was first introduced (as we have seen)
by Callixtus III. The practice had fallen into neglect for
some years, till it was revived by that Pope's nephew and
successor; and since the 19th August, 1500, it has never
ceased. Strange that a universal observance of Catholic
piety should be linked with the memory of a Pope long
considered a disgrace and dishonour to the Church!
An important place is assignable in History to this
pontificate. It seems the intensified expression of the
subordinating of the spiritual to the temporal, and the
extreme consequence of that endowment with a civil
princedom, which so many thoughtful writers have agreed
with Dante in deeming the chief cause of deterioration to
the Papacy.
During this century the Supreme Pontificate went
through, and rose superior to, many shocks, recovered
credit after deep degradation. It sustained in some signal
instances that grandeur of character and vocation which
cannot be denied to it, its nobler aspects being considered,
by any unprejudiced mind well acquainted with its eventful
historic career, its various phases, and astonishing acti-
vities. During long ages it preserved its ascendancy over
the life and institutions of the more civilized world, and
caused that life, those institutions to be penetrated by the
Christian influence; thus contributing to the fulfilment of
i
592
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
.:
the sublime purposes and heavenly office proper to that
Religion.
When, however, we remember the earnest efforts made
during the period whose History is slightly sketched in
these pages, for the object of effectuating reforms based
on ancient doctrine, with loyal adherence to the ancient
Hierarchy; and, on the other hand, the antagonistic posi-
tion assumed by the Roman See towards that movement
and its leaders-we are constrained to own that at those
critical epochs while famous Councils of the Church were
seated at Constance, Basle, Florence, the Popes proved the
greatest impediment against the accomplishment of that
high ideal of Catholicism which the intellect of the XV.
century conceived and desired to realize. Yet even this
charge, however it may be substantiated, does not cancel
the debt of Christian Civilization to the Holy See.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
593
CHAPTER IX.
MONUMENTS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
ROME.
INTERESTING indeed is it to trace in art-creations the
progress of religious ideas, or any such movements as have
their sphere within the inner world. Subordinating our
studies of arts and monuments to the study of that which
possesses more deep and enduring importance, to the esti-
mate of Humanity itself, we shall find ever new sources of
instruction and pleasure in our wanderings through historic
cities or memory-haunted lands.
The metropolis of the Church produced no great school
properly her own, and few artists whose names have escaped
oblivion in this century. Only two sculptors of Roman
birth, Paulo Romano and Gian Cristoforo, are remembered
among competitors in their walk during this period. In
architecture we see a remarkable change, alien to that
ancient basilica-type the massive simplicity of which sup-
plied a groundwork for superadded splendour, serving to
link together the earlier and later ages of Christianity.
The leading features of those Roman churches which
exemplify the first appearance of the Italian renaissance in
this city, are the following: externally, façades divided by
flat pilasters with cornice along the entire sky-line, trian-
gular or pyramidal summits, sculptured ornaments in low
2 Q
594
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
relief round doorways, and sometimes a sacred group in such
relievo over the chief entrance, windows numerous and
round-arched; in the interior, nave and aisles divided by
quadrate pilasters (or rather piers), with half-columns
leaning against those structures, semicircular arches, and
instead of the paneled wooden ceiling, a grained vaulting;
the orders imitated in capitals and cornices, classic or
approaching the classical type.
Noteworthy examples of this style, and of the period
here in question, are the following: S. Maria del Popolo,
rebuilt 1477, by Sixtus IV. from designs by the Florentine
architect Baccio Pontelli, who was engaged for almost all
the public buildings in Rome by that Pontiff-this church
being now to a great degree altered and, one may say,
masqueraded by the florid fantasies of Bernini; S. Maria
della Pace, founded about the same time and designed by
the same architect, its name allusive to the peace between
long belligerent powers which Sixtus IV. desired to com-
memorate, whilst at the same time fulfilling a vow made to
the Madonna, by the erection of this church-the present
façade of the 17th century, designed by Pietro da Cortona ;*
S. Agostino, founded 1479, finished 1484, by a munificent
French Cardinal, Estouteville, this principal church of the
Augustinians being the first seen in this city with the dis-
tinguishing feature, afterwards so grandly developed, of the
cupola, henceforth substituted for the medieval belfry-
tower; the whole of the interior modernized by Vanvitelli,
* A small church stood previously on the site, and in its portico hung
a Madonna picture, which shed blood when struck by a stone hurled by
some profane hand! The explicit belief in such miracles at the time is
attested by the solemn act of the Pope, Sixtus IV., and the principal
clergy, who went in procession to revere that wounded Madonna; and
it was then that the Pope made a vow to raise the larger temple, in which
the same picture now hangs over the high altar.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
595
|
1750; S. Marco, rebuilt, all except the tribune of the
9th century and the medieval campanile, by Paul II.,
1468; S. Lorenzo in Damaso, rebuilt, 1495, by Cardinal
Riario, and incorporated with his magnificent palace, now
the Cancellaria, but much altered, the interior almost com-
pletely renewed, by works of the present century; S. Maria
di Monserrato, built, together with an ample hospice for
the Spaniards, from designs by Antonio Sangallo, except
the façade designed by Francesco di Volterra, 1495; the
other church of that nationality, S. Giacomo, having become
ruinous not many years after it was founded, (1450),
though still remaining, as we see it, in abandonment and
decay. This originally Gothic Franciscan church, Aracoeli,
is said to have been in two-thirds rebuilt, 1484, by a Car-
dinal Caraffa, a benefactor of that Order, and the additions
are still distinguished from older parts by a style transi-
tionary between the earlier and later, by what may be called
a reminiscence of the Gothic feeling. Observation leads me
to conclude that far less than the proportion supposed is
really due to that Cardinal benefactor, and that in the greater
part of the Aracoeli church we still see the thirteenth-century
architecture, raised soon after it had been bestowed on the
Franciscans, 1251. The two campanili, with stunted spires,
on the northern side of the Lateran, were raised by
Sixtus IV. In the interior of that basilica the great chancel-
arch reminds us of Alexander VI., to whom also is due an
interesting memorial, the gilding of the gorgeous paneled
ceiling of S. Maria Maggiore with the first gold brought to
Rome from America-an offering of Ferdinand and Isabella
to that Pope. Among examples of restoration in this cen-
tury we may notice the SS. Quattro Incoronati, with its
fortress-like convent built as a Papal palace in the XII.
century;* and S. Stefano Rotondo, unfortunately so much
* Restored, with much alteration, as apparent, by a Spanish Cardinal
2Q2
596
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
"
altered through the works ordered by Nicholas V. that the
outer of two circular aisles surrounding the central pile has
been cut off, and is now only traceable in ruins left in the
quiet garden amidst which this interesting old church stands
isolated on the Coelian hill.* The Trinit à di Monte on the
Pincian hill still reminds of the terror-striking ingress of
French invaders in 1495, when it was founded by Charles
VIII. with a convent for the Friars Minim of S. Francesco
di Paola, at the request of that spiritual counsellor, but the
buildings now before us are of the restoration ordered
by Louis XVIII., 1816, and designed by a French archi-
tect, Mazois. The imposing staircase in front, ascending
to the Pincian from the piazza below, is also a French
work. S. Sisto on the Appian Way was restored, or re-
built, 1475. Other restorations of about this time are
S. Balbino and S. Cosimata; and the small church, ranking
as a cathedral at Ostia, is a good example of Baccio
Pontelli's style.
The Popes of the XV. century had great projects for
restoring or embellishing their capital. Martin V. under-
took to rebuild, or at least restore, all the parish churches.
Eugenius IV. did much in the way of church-building and
repairing, but not always with good taste. The Lateran of
the XIV. century was now disguised, all its old columns
being immured in heavy square piers by his architect.
After his nine years' exile from Rome, that Pope ordered.
the principal streets to be widened, and those traversing
the Campus Martius to be provided with pavement, a yet
under Martin V. The first lines of a Latin epigraph, above the entrance
to an outer court, picturesquely indicate the state of weed-overgrown
ruin in which this church had been long left :-
Hæc quæcumque vides veteri prostrata ruina
Obruta verbenis, hederis, dumisque jacebant.
* Abandoned to decay during the Avignon pontificates.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
597
unknown luxury. It was then that the noble portico of
the Pantheon was disencumbered of the paltry booths for
traders, which had long filled its inter-columnations and
partly hidden its granite shafts. Nicholas V., whose
modest monogram, N.PP.V. frequently meets the eye as
we pursue our walks along the outer sides of the dusky old
walls and towers which still encircle Rome-those Honorian
fortifications so often repaired by Popes-had projects
truly grandiose. He desired to create a new S. Peter's and
a new Vatican: the great cathedral to be built in the
form of a Latin cross crowned by a stupendous dome, with
contiguous residence for its capitular clergy; the palace to
be fortified by towers, and to suffice not only for pontific
residence, but also for the whole college of Cardinals and
other ecclesiastical dignitaries; to contain a suitable place
of assemblage for the Conclave, a hall of state for imperial
coronations, and even a theatre (for public disputes and
recitations?), besides vast parks and gardens. When
Nicholas V. quitted this life but little of his great under-
takings had advanced beyond the first stage. The build-
ings for the new S. Peter's, by the Florentine architect
Rossellini, rose to the height of a few feet only behind the
tribune of the ancient basilica; and of the new palace
nothing was completed except one wing, first inhabited by
Alexander VI., and comprising two chapels, dedicated to
S. Laurence and the Holy Sacrament. Significant was
another work, destructive not creative, ordered by the
learned Pope Nicholas for the demolishing of the Constan-
tinian basilica-a procedure which might be said to sym-
bolize the severance of the comparatively modern from the
more ancient Papacy; but it was long before the old
S. Peter's actually disappeared. Under Innocent VIII.
was built by Antonio Pollajuolo the celebrated Belvedere
Villa, subsequently united by long corridors to the Vatican
598
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
palace. Another lofty pile of buildings, still known as the
"Torre Borgia," was added to that residence by Alexander
VI. The Sistine Chapel, called after its founder Sixtus IV.,
was finished in 1473, and the most celebrated painters were
invited to Rome expressly for adorning its walls; the style
of that building, so little ecclesiastical in the interior, being
admirable of its kind, and as viewed from without,
imposing. Part of the outer cincture of walls and towers
raised by Nicholas V. are still distinguishable among the
heavy, incongruous piles of building which form the
Vatican of the present day. As to the merits of Sixtus IV.
in the monumental walk, we should remember his bull (or
rather edict), 1477, threatening not only excommunication
but a heavy fine for the frequent offence of despoiling
churches, even basilicas, in this sacred city of marbles, por-
phyry, and other incrustations for private uses. A similar
edict was called for, and passed by Urban VIII, in 1640,
against the Vandalism of removing monuments or epitaphs
from churches.
The church-architecture of the XV. century, though
distinguished by a certain grace and symmetry, wants the
characteristics of a truly religious style. In the attri-
bute of grandeur it is surpassed by the palatial style of
this period. Not only the civilization but the religious life.
of ages is attested by the architecture they have left; and
at Rome the palace confirms the evidence on the historic
page, recording the luxury and pride of the higher Clergy
whilst the spiritual beauty of the Church was overclouded
and disfigured. An evil sign of the times is it that the
house of the lordly priest should surpass in splendour that
of God upon earth! And here, in the Rome of this time,
we find such to be the case; we might pass almost un-
noticed such churches as S. Lorenzo in Damaso and the
renewed S. Marco, incorporated in and concealed as they
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
599
are by the contiguous palaces of the Cardinals who restored
them. In other instances, however, we are reminded of
charity and munificence well employed by dignitaries who
raised stately piles for others' rather than their own benefit;
and there were members of the Sacred College, in this cen-
tury, who shone by virtues as well as by learning. Some
of these palaces exemplify the transitions between the
Italian Gothic and the early renaissance, as the following,
which we may visit in their chronologic order.
Palazzo Capranica, 1460, founded by the estimable Car-
dinal Domenico Capranica, and left by him, according to
his testament, as a college liberally endowed for a certain
number of students, to whom he left also his library of
about 2000 volumes.* Palazzo di S. Marco (now di
Venezia), founded by Cardinal Barbo (Paul II.) 1455, and
finished about 1468.† Palazzo del Governo Vecchio, built
by a munificent Cardinal, Nardini, 1475, as a college for
the gratuitous education and maintenance of twenty-six
poor students; called by its present name after becoming
the official residence of the Governor of Rome-now let to
families. Palazzo Cancelleria, raised for himself by Car-
* There is a fine recumbent effigy of this Cardinal (ob. 1458) in the
Rosary Chapel at S. Maria sopra Minerva. The building actually used
as a college was added to the older part of the Capranica palace by
another Cardinal, Angelo, the brother of Domenico. Two styles are
still distinguishable in the different parts, though this palace, now in
part a theatre, has much deteriorated.
† Vasari gives the architecture to Giuliano da Majano; other
writers mention two other architects as engaged on this palace; and it
is not improbable that all three may have been successively employed
here before the buildings were finished. Besides the great court with
porticoes there is a smaller court, also with a good quadrangular portico
on the south-eastern side.
It is traditionary that Beatrice Cenci was brought to trial in this
palace, and for some time confined in the lofty tower which overlooks
the now much disfigured and neglected court.
600
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
dinal Raffaello Riario, 1495, the architecture of Bramante,
distinguished by majesty and grace, especially the great
court surrounded by two* orders of colonnades. Another
palace designed by Bramante for a Cardinal, is that now
called Palazzo Giraud (or Torlonia), near S. Peter's, which
became the residence of the English Ambassadors, and was
presented by our King Henry VIII. to Campeggi, who
figures as "Cardinal Campeius" in Shakespeare's tragedy.†
The palace now called "Sforza Cesarini," built for himself by
the Cardinal Borgia who became Pope, and by him presented
(part of the price for a vote in Conclave, as is said) to Car-
dinal Ascanio Sforza, has been modernized; but still displays
in its spacious court with arcades the style of the original
architecture. The turbulent Alexander VI. is brought to
mind also by the enormous rotunda in brickwork rising
* Finished, at least, in the year 1495; the travertines taken from
the Colosseum; the columns of the inner portico said to be from the
now buried ruins of the hecaton-stylon of Pompey, adjoining which was
the Curia. The Cardinal who built this majestic palace was that
grand-nephew of Sixtus IV., who witnessed the murderous outbreak of
the Pazzi conspiracy, and remained pale, from the terror of the moment,
for the rest of his life. Accused of complicity in the conspiracy of
Cardinal Petrucci against the life of Leo X., he was degraded from all
his dignities and benefices, deprived even of cardinalitial rank, and of
this grand palace, now confiscated for the Camera Apostolica. On
the intercession of the other Cardinals, Leo accepted a fine of 100,000
scudi as commutation of his punishment, allowed Riario to retain his place
in the Sacred College, and inhabit till death, though no longer as master,
the palace thenceforth officially held by the Chancery of the Roman
Church. The disgraced Riario fell into profound melancholy, and died
at Naples, 1520; his plain and almost forgotten monument is seen
near the high altar of the SS. Apostoli.
† Cardinal Campeggi, the "Campeius" of Shakespeare's Henry the
Eighth, was twice sent by Clement VII. as Legate to the King; first
with the object of promoting a league between England, France, and
Spain against the Turks; next, in 1528, for the celebrated divorce-case,
which he could not bring to conclusion.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
601
above what remains of the antique travertine structure
of Hadrian's mausoleum; for the actual Castle of S. Angelo
is in the greater part the work of that Pope, rebuilt, 1195,
after the fortress of Boniface IX. had been ruined by a
thunderbolt which struck the powder-magazine. The corri-
dor communicating between the Castle and the Vatican
reminds us both of the stormy period of the Papal schism,
and that of Borgian domination: originally built, accord-
ing to some writers, by Alexander V. (who never saw Rome
in his capacity as Pope), or, as others state, by John XXIII.,
it was either finished or restored by Alexander VI., and in
our own time by Pius IX., after the communication had
been cut off by republican authority in 1849.
With few exceptions, the sculptures, as well as the architec-
ture of this period at Rome, are by Tuscan masters. Striking
indeed is the progress apparent in the sculptor's art when we
contrast the earlier with the later produce of the same cen-
tury, when we compare the coarse and clumsy portrait statue
of Boniface IX. at the S. Paul's basilica* with the statues
and monuments by the Contucci called Sansovino. Among
statues not monumental or connected with groups, one
of superior claims is by the artist of Roman birth
known as Paolo Romano: S. Paul with a book and an em-
blematic sword, the head finely intellectual (date supposed,
1417), now placed at the entrance to the S. Angelo bridge
from the Tiber's left bank, whither it was removed from the
Sistine chapel by Clement VII., to occupy, with its com-
panion statue of S. Peter by Lorenzetto, the site of two
oratories destroyed during the siege in 1527.† Among
* Formerly in the cloisters, now in a hall entered from the Sacristy :
a seated figure, crowned with the triple diadem, which is said to be, in
this instance, for the first time represented by art.
† A monument, of severe and simple style, to Cardinal Stefaneschi
degli Annibaldi, at S. Cecilia, bears the signature of this artist," Magister
602
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ཡ
other sculptures of this class entitled to notice are the S.
John Baptist, and S. Sebastian, the latter rather classical
than Christian in sentiment, in a lateral chapel of S. Maria
sopra Minerva, both by Mino da Fiesole, whose best works
date between 1461-1481. One of the noblest statues of
Saints hitherto erected in Rome, is that of the Apostle
S. James, in pilgrim costume, by Andrea Contucci (or
Sansovino), who lived from 1460 to 1529, executed for the
Spanish church of S. Giacomo, and now at S. Maria in
Monserrato. A group by this artist of S. Anna and the Virgin
Mary with the Divine Infant in her arms, in a chapel of
S. Agostino, is distinguished by tender grace and
delicacy; the relation between the aged and youthful
mother felicitously expressed. A bronze statue of S. John
the Precursor, in the Lateran Baptistery, is from an original
in wood by Donatello-the only statue by him in Rome—
now in the sacristy of that basilica. SS. Peter and Paul,
statues by Mino del Regno (a little-known artist) were
placed by Pius II. before S. Peter's church, and are now to
be seen in a corridor leading to the sacristy, removed
by Pius IX., to be succeeded by other statues of those
Apostles, works by living sculptors. These earlier statues
are of no high order; but the S. Paul is noticeable as the
supposed portrait of Thomas, Despot of the Morca, brother
to the last Constantine.
Authentic Papal effigies on coins were not known till the
time of Martin V., who engaged the ablest Italian medal-
lurgist living, Vittore Pisanello of Verona, to execute the
coins of his pontificate. From Nicholas V. to Sixtus IV.
the Papal money bore impressions executed by Guazzalotti
of Prato. Paul II., first among Popes, introduced the
Paulus," with the date 1417. I know no other evidence as to the period
during which he was at work.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
603
practice of inserting medals in the foundation-stones of
public buildings and palaces. When the eye passes along
the array of colossal pontific heads in mosaic above the
colonnades of the S. Paul's basilica, we know that from the
Apostle who bore the keys of heaven to the infamous John
XXIII., deposed at Constance, little value can be set on com-
positions which, with few exceptions, are purely imaginary.
Much historic, though no high artistic value must be
ascribed to the bronze sculptures of the portal ordered by
Eugenius IV. for the old S. Peter's, and still serving for
the same purpose at the great entrance to the modern
basilica. These are by the Florentine sculptors, Filarete,
and Simone, said to be a brother of Donatello.* The relievi
on the two valves may be divided into historic, devotional,
legendary, and mythological. On the principal panels are
the largest figures, Christ blessing (of type like that
hitherto given in art to the Eternal Father), and the Blessed
Virgin, both seated on thrones; below these, S. Peter giving
the keys to the kneeling Pope Eugenius, and S. Paul with
a vase of flowers beside him-allusive to his scriptural
epithet, Vas Electionis. On much smaller scale are repre-
sented the martyrdoms of the two Apostles; that of S. Peter
taking place between two pyramids,† with the Castle of
* A relationship stated, without proof, by Vasari alone. Mr. Perkins
("Tuscan Sculptors") shows that the artist who assisted Filarete in
casting these doors was Simone Ghini, a Florentine goldsmith. A statue
of S. John the Baptist, at S. Clemente, is the best extant work by this
Simone.
† Probably intended for two mausolea whose ruins have since disap-
peared; one near S. Peter's erroneously called the tomb of Scipio
Africanus, demolished by Alexander VI. to widen the street he opened
between the basilica and the bridge; the other near the Porta del
Popolo, and believed to be the tomb of Sulla,-destroyed about 1662 to
give place to one of the two churches between the piazza and the opening
of the Corso.
604
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
S. Angelo in the foreground, restored according to the fan-
tastic notions of that time as to what Hadrian's mausoleum
had once been; the martyrdom of S. Paul, with introduc-
tion in the background of a scene illustrating the legend of
the pious matron, who received from him, after his death, the
handkerchief she had lent the Apostle for bandaging his eyes
at the last moment.* The other subjects represented in re-
lievi on smaller scale, are: the coronation of the Emperor
Sigismund by Eugenius IV. at S. Peter's (1433); the Pope
and the Emperor, after that ceremony, proceeding together
on horseback amidst attendants to the S. Angelo bridge,
where they part according to the etiquette of such occasions ;
the Greek Emperor John Palæologus, with the Patriarch and
other dignitaries, embarking at Constantinople for Venice,
on their way to attend the Council at Florence; their dis-
embarkation and festal reception at Venice; the arrival at
Rome of monks deputed by the Ethiopic and Armenian
Churches, and the homage paid by those envoys to Euge-
nius IV. in recognition of the Papal supremacy. The
framework of these doors is sculptured with tiny and very
fantastic reliefs, amidst foliate ornato,—the subjects in
some instances strangely chosen,-besides heads of Roman
Emperors and Heathen Philosophers, we see Romulus and
Remus suckled by the wolf, Diana and Actæon, Ganymede
* Baronius supposes this matron to have been Plautilla, the mother of
S. Flavia Domitilla, and who is said to have been baptized by S. Peter,
surviving the two Apostles but a short time.
† Explained by the Latin lines here inscribed under the figure of
S. Paul :
Ut Graeci, Armeni, Aethiopes hic aspice, ut ipsa
Romanum amplexa est gens Jacobina fidem.
Under the figure of S. Peter is the compliment to Eugenius IV.:
Sunt haec Eugenii monimenta illustria quarti :
Excelsi haec animi sunt monimenta sui.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
605
and the Eagle, the Rape of Proserpine, and some of the
Labours of Hercules !
Monumental sculpture now undergoes a remarkable
change in prevailing character and general conception.
The graceful acute arched canopies, the angels drawing
aside curtains, as if to display the dead whose form lies on
a sarcophagus like a funeral couch, now disappear; in place
of those accessorial details we see classical ædiculæ, with
pilasters, friezes, cornices, sculptured tympana, and a
profusion of ornato reliefs, trophies, garlands, weapons,
masks, musical instruments, sometimes reminding rather
of the joyous rites of antique Polytheism than of either the
trials or hopes of the Christian. The effigy of the deceased
is still, as in earlier monuments, recumbent on the sarco-
phagus, in repose neither like actual death nor sleep, but
an ideal state between the two, more solemn than the one,
without the awfulness of the other. Looking at these often
finely characterized and affecting images laid before us on
the sculptured couch, we may be induced to cite the ap-
propriate line:
"After life's fitful fever he sleeps well!"
In the accessorial sculptures also, usually conspicuous in
these compositions, new tendencies are apparent. Sacred
groups, the Virgin and Child, sometimes the Crucifixion,
and frequently the Eternal Father, who gives blessing, are
introduced; but the subjects generally preferred, or at
least more prominent, are Saints and Doctors of the Church,
the Founders of Religious Orders, personified Virtues and
Sciences—the latter less frequently seen than the stately
matron forms representing Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice,
Fortitude.
Many are the monuments in Rome which may be cited
as types of this school, and best displaying its conceptions
606
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
or sentiment. Among churches particularly rich in such
works of fifteenth-century art, I may mention S. Maria del
Popolo (pre-eminent in this respect), the Minerva, Ara-
coeli, S. Clemente, S. Cecilia, the crypt of S. Peter's, and
at the Priorate of the Knights of Malta, the chapel of their
establishment, in a delicious garden commanding most
impressive views, on the height of the Aventine above the
Tiber. In the court of the Spanish hospice, at S. Maria in
Monserrato, are several interesting monuments, removed
from the ruinous S. Giacomo, of prelates of that nationality.
The subterranean church (grotte) of S. Peter's is richest of
all in sculptures of this period from the tombs of Popes, or
from the altars and ciboria presented by Popes to the
ancient basilica, and inexcusably ill-treated, being broken
up and dispersed without order, as we now see them by
torch-light in this dark retreat. Without attempting de-
scription, that would resolve itself into a mere catalogue, or
enumeration of all noteworthy works, I may mention, as
distinguished by beauty and solemnity, the monument to
Rocca, Archbishop of Salerno (ob. 1482), in the sacristy of
S. Maria del Popolo; that of Cardinal Albret, or Alibret,
(latinized as De Lebretto), of the blood royal of France,
ob. 1465; and that of Cardinal Savelli (1498), both in
the church of Araceoli; that of Cardinal Pietro Riario
(the luxurious nephew of Sixtus IV.,- ob. 1474), near the
high altar of the SS. Apostoli; that of Cardinal Forti-
guerra (1473), at S. Cecilia; those of two Prelates, De
Coco and Sperandio (1495), at the Minerva; those of the
Cardinals Antonio Venier (1479) and Rovarello (1476),
at S. Clemente.*
*The masterpieces of Andrea Contucci, those nobly conceived and
exquisitely wrought monuments to the Cardinals Ascanio Sforza and
Basso della Rovere, in the choir of Maria del Popolo, both ordered by
Julius II., are of date just beyond the limits to which my subject is con-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
607
Among the monuments of Popes (far more interesting
than those of later date) erected in this century, may be
signalized the following: that of Martin V., recently re-
moved from the nave to the "confession," or crypt-chapel,
below the high altar of the Lateran, with bronze effigy in
low relief, the countenance bearing a stamp of wisdom and
gravity, laid in a low sarcophagus, by Filarete and Simone,
assisted, it is said, by Donatello; that of Eugenius IV.,
(one of the few works extant by its artist, Isaia of Pisa),
with recumbent effigy and statuettes of the Four Doctors,*
a monument long treated with neglect strangely contrast-
ing with the fusti and vicissitudes, the notoriety, triumphs,
and trials of a pontificate which fills so prominent a place
in history. From the old S. Peter's it was removed to
S. Salvatore in Lauro, the church of the Regular Canons,
whose Order the Pope entered in his youth, and was there
placed first in the cloisters, next in an oratory, where it
still remains, and which, long unused for worship, has been
degraded into a soldiers' dormitory, where coarse beds and
bedding in part conceal the sculptured ornaments on this
memorial of the Pope, before whom the Emperor of the
East knelt to acknowledge his supremacy over the united
Greek and Latin Churches. In the crypt of S. Peter's
fined, 1505 and 1507; so also is another, with a finely treated recumbent
effigy, to Gomiel, Bishop of Burgos (ob. 1514), in the sacristy of the
same church.
* The best works of this sculptor are said to have been those in the
chapel of S. Monica at St. Agostino, to which the body of the former
saint was brought from Ostia, 1483. Isaia's sculptures, here placed,
were, with cruel injustice to his memory, broken to pieces and sold as
waste marble when the chapel was modernized with the rest of that
Augustinian church!
† S. Salvatore in Lauro was founded by Cardinal Latino Orsini,
about 1450. A piece of Vandalism has been perpetrated here within
my recollection. The otherwise plain façade had a fine porch, with
608
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
a finely wrought and expressive bronze effigy is laid on the
tomb of Innocent VII., erected by Nicholas V., the artist
unknown; and a well individualized statue by Mino da
Fiesole of the pomp-loving Paul II. lies on his sarco-
phagus.
The monument, with a poorly executed statue, shown by
custodi as that of Alexander VI., is in reality that of
Callixtus III., but is empty, both that Pope's remains and
those of his nephew, Alexander, having been transferred
to the Spanish church, with intent on the part of certain
Spanish cardinals to raise a joint monument to both. No
such memorial having been executed, the bones of the two
Borgia Popes are not even interred, but lie in a wooden.
coffin in a chamber near the sacristy of S. Maria di Mon-
serrato. The monuments of Pius II. and his nephew,
Pius III., have both been brought from the old S. Peter's
to the Theatine church, S. Andrea della Valle, on the site
of a palace of the Piccolomini family. In one edition of
Vasari they are ascribed to two sculptors, Pietro Paolo and
Niccolo della Guardia, pupils of the above-named Paolo
Romano; but the traditionary dates can scarcely be recon-
ciled with such conclusion. The last-named sculptor is
said to have been engaged in 1417. Pius II. died in 1464;
Pius III. in 1503; and in fact the Le Monier edition of
Vasari names two other artists, Pasquino, a pupil of Fila-
rete, and Bernardo Criffagni, as authors of these Papal
monuments. We might desire to see a memorial to the
gifted and heroic-minded Pius II. superior in character to
that before us, the relievi on which are confused and some-
what feeble. In the large and splendid chapel of the Holy
Sacrament at S. Peter's, stands majestic and isolated, like a
clustering pilasters and guardian lions of early date, all swept away for
a renovation, ordered under Pius IX., which has given to this front the
aspect of a modern post-office or club house.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
609
sculptured funeral couch, the tomb on which is laid the beau-
tifully wrought bronze statue of Sixtus IV., with bas-reliefs
of the personified Virtues and Sciences around the base-
ment and on the platform around that recumbent effigy.*
The Sciences here represented are: Rhetoric, Dialectics,
Grammar, Perspective, Geometry, Philosophy, Theology,
Arithmetic, Geography, with the Virtues, more easily recog-
nized by their attributes, and one of the fine arts, Music.
These allegoric female figures display the exaggeration of the
manner and taste of the renaissance-premature indeed,
the dates of Pollajuolo's life being considered. The atti-
tudes of the Sciences, seated or reclining, are affected and
stagey. Some novelties of symbolism are observable. The
Charitas has a cornucopia and a flaming heart, besides her
usual children, one at the breast. Dialectica reclines
against the front of a throne supported by Sphinxes, and
holds in one hand a knotted skein, signifying the difficulty
of the questions she has to solve. Grammatica reads from
a book held before her by a floating Genius. The seven
Virtues are designed with more purity, and in seated
postures more dignified. I have seen simple folk on their
knees before this monument, mistaking it for that of a
saint! and its imposing effect accounts for the error.
Theology, almost nude, with a quiver full of arrows slung
to her shoulder, might be taken for Diana at the bath, but
for a not felicitously conceived introduction of Christian
mysticism-a triple head, apparently belonging to one
body, to symbolize the Holy Trinity! By the same sculp-
* Ordered by the Cardinal who succeeded to the Papal throne as Julius
II., and whose remains here repose together with those of his uncle
Sixtus. The Pope who ordered for himself a mausoleum which would
have towered supreme, the principal object to attract all eyes, in the
centre of the great church founded by him, has no monument of any
description, neither "storied urn nor animated bust," within its walls!
-1
2 R
610
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
tor is the much more quiet monument, in the south aisle
of the Basilica, to Innocent VIII., with the peculiarity of
two portrait statues, one seated on a throne, the other laid
on a sarcophagus. The former represents Pope Innocent
with one hand blessing and with the other holding the
sacred lance sent to him by the Sultan Bajazet, and so
often exposed at S. Peter's among the three "Major Relics."
Five relievi figures of Virtues, in arched recesses, are grace-
ful; and this monument is altogether in purer taste than
that of Sixtus.
Once more to return to the subterranean S. Peter's.
Originality, effective grouping, and well-marked character
distinguish many of the sculptures from the tombs of
Popes, or for the altars erected by them, now so in-
judiciously stowed away in this dark crypt, without any
regard to the integrity of the original compositions. Some
of the statues and relievi figures of the Apostles are intel-
lectual and expressive, as the SS. John and Matthew, and
the two SS. James from the monument of Callixtus III.
· ;
the SS. John and Bartholomew from that of Nicholas V.
Most beautiful is that of Hope, from the tomb of Paul II.,
by Mino da Fiesole, with intensely expectant gaze and joyous
faith expressed in her upturned countenance. A relief of
the Virgin and Child, with that Pope kneeling before them,
and SS. Peter and Paul, among the sculptures by the Fiesole
artist, are examples of his power and feeling; and his most
complicated work in relief, the Last Judgment, from the
same tomb, exemplifies the new conception of that awful
subject in progressive Art: the Christ is in benediction
and of mild aspect; the Virgin is not introduced, but
Apostles and Martyrs are grouped round the Judge, and
immediately below stands S. Michael, a prominent and
majestic form; among the Dead who rise to life, the
righteous are distinguished by their draped figures, the
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
611
others being almost nude; there is nothing grotesque or
bestial in the fiends. The relievi from a ciborium (altar-
canopy) presented by Sixtus IV. are among the most
elaborate, and betray the tendency to seek the effects of
painting in sculpture; they represent the lives and martyr-
dom of SS. Peter and Paul; the scene where the two
Apostles are brought before Nero, with numerous figures.
divided by the columns of a classic portico, especially
marked by the characteristics of the renaissance. A relief
of the Supreme Being, within an elliptic nimbus amidst
Angels (Mino da Fiesole), is an example of the ideal of the
Father, now more widely severing itself from that of the
Divine Son, in Art. Among other monuments with recum-
bent effigies, besides the Papal, those of two Cardinals della
Porta (1434 and 1493), and of Cardinal Bernardo Herulus
(Eruli), bishop of Narni (1478), may rank with the finest
of their style and period.
Beauty and refined feeling distinguish another class of
sculptures which the Art of this period produced with singu-
lar success, and many specimens of which are seen in Roman
churches: the shrine, or tabernacle, and altar-piece with sta-
tuettes and reliefs; the architectural design usually classic,
with graceful ornato introduced among accessories. Some of
the best examples are in that church so rich in fifteenth cen-
tury Art, S. Maria del Popolo-one an altar-piece, the
general design graceful, with statuettes of S. Catharine of
Egypt, S. Antony of Padua, and S. Vincent, above which
are reliefs of the Annunciation, and the Deity blessing;
another in a corridor leading to the sacristy, with figures of
the Virgin, S. Augustine, and S. Catherine, this being a
donation made to the Augustinians of the convent, 1497.
In that sacristy we see one of the largest and finest examples
of the sculptured shrine, presented by Alexander VI. when
Cardinal, and destined for the Madonna-picture, ascribed
2 R 2
612
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
1
to S. Luke, which still hangs over the high altar of the
church, but in another, more modern, and far less beau-
tiful setting. This, Cardinal Borgia's donation, now
contains another Madonna-picture,* and is adorned with
admirable statuettes of SS. Peter and Paul, SS. Jerome and
Augustine, the half-figure of the Deity on the tympanum,
and lowly adoring angels below; the ornato details, taste-
ful. A small church in Trastevere, S. Cosimato, formerly a
Benedictine abbey, but rebuilt by Sixtus IV., 1475, for the
Clarisse nuns, who have been located in the adjoining con-
vent ever since 1250, contains the very master-piece of
this class in sacred art, the most exquisite example in
Rome of the sculptured tabernacle, and admirable alike for
design and for delicacy of finish: on the central panel the
Virgin and Child attended by Angels, with the Apostle
Bartholomew and another Saint (probably S. Lawrence),
who presents a kneeling Cardinal, the donor, no doubt, of
this work; also, in recesses against lateral pilasters, statu-
ettes of Faith, Hope, Charity and Justice, in all which
figures a serene grace is blent with genuine dignity. This
tabernacle was originally in the Cibo Chapel at S. Maria
del Popolo; and from the epigraph on a lintel, Sanctae
Martyri Christi Severae, we may conclude that it was placed
over an altar dedicated to that saint.
Among works of this class are the shrines for the holy
oils, in some instances with sculptures, of the period here
in question, uniting a mystic conception with remarkable
delicacy of treatment-as one at S. Maria in Trastevere,
with small highly-finished reliefs by Mino da Fiesole;
another in the chapel of the Genoese hospice, a building
with cloisters of graceful architecture, founded by a Genoese
* Of the Giottesque school; found in a long deserted chapel of the
ancient, below the modern, convent, when the former was demolished, early
in the present century, for the sake of enlarging the piazza del Popolo.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
613
citizen, whose monument, with an effigy (ob. 1481) stands
in the same chapel; another at the Lateran with reliefs of
the Ecce Homo, and S. John the Apostle before whom is a
kneeling Pope, perhaps a portrait, and intended for Leo I.
-time of Sixtus IV. At S. Gregorio we see an elaborately
finished tabernacle for the Holy Sacrament, presented by
an abbot of the monastery, 1469, with reliefs and statuettes,
displaying Tuscan influence, somewhat spoilt by profuse
gilding. The Abbot kneels before the Virgin and Child,
round whom stand lovely girl-like Angels; S. Gregory and
another Saint stand in lateral niches; above is the Annun-
ciation, and a glory of Angels round the door of the recess
for the Host; above this, on a frieze, is a quaint relief of
the vision seen by S. Gregory during the plague, as he passes
in procession before the S. Angelo Castle-here restored with
little archæologic probability. The altar of the chapel of S.
Gregory, in the same church, has a sculptured front,
with subjects mystically illustrating the efficacy of the
Sacrifice of the Mass offered up by that great Saint*—also
of this century, though the archaic style might lead us to
suppose a date much earlier. Other examples of the sculp-
tured altar-pieces are: the Crucifixion, a relief attributed
to Mino da Fiesole (but not worthy of him) at S. Balbina
on the Aventine, but originally at S. Peter's over an altar
erected by Cardinal Bembo, afterwards Paul II.; another
superior treatment of the same subject, also rilievo, and
with the figures of several saints, of SS. Peter and Paul
beside the Cross, a work bearing the date 1463 and
the name of the donor, De Roa, placed in a vestibule
entered from the court of the Spanish hospice above-named.
Another tabernacle, with small relievi of superior style, is
* He delivers souls from Purgatory; and at one of the three Masses
here represented, the Saviour appears above the altar.
614
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
that by Antonio Pollajuolo which contains the reputed
chains of S. Peter, in the sacristy of S. Pietro in Vincoli.
In that church, rebuilt by Julius II., we see a bas-relief
remarkable for conception of subject, as well as for the
celebrity of the donor whom it records: S. Peter, with
book and keys, seated on a throne, whilst an Angel kneels
before him, either receiving or consigning the much revered
chains, and on the other side kneels a Cardinal, Nicholas
Cusa, one of the most learned, and with regard to the
opinions he maintained, one of the boldest theologians of
his time, who took a prominent part at the Basle Council,
and was among the firm advocates of the theory that
General Councils are superior to Popes. Finally aban-
doning that party of opposition, and becoming reconciled
to Eugenius IV., he was made Cardinal, 1448, by Nicho-
las V., and employed in different legations. His works fill
three large tomes; and in one, “De Concordia Catholica,” he
rejects the legend of the donation of Constantine, ascribing
to the Emperor authority much higher than that of the
Pope.* The sculpture before us was the adornment of a
shrine for the precious chains, ordered by this Cardinal, and
beneath which he desired that his bones should lie, as we
learn from the epitaph, with date, 1465 :
Hic jacet ante tuas Nicholaus, Petre, Cathenas ;
Hoc opus erexit, cetera marmor habet.
Some later sculptures of this century, relievi from an altar
tabernacle erected by the French Cardinal Estouteville at
S. Maria Maggiore, are now placed along the walls of the
tribune behind the modern high altar; the subjects here
"Imperator Christianorum in sua præsidentia Christi Vicarius, qui
Rex Regum et Dominus dominantium existit."-Such the theory sus-
tained by this Cardinal, in the brief notice of whose life, by Bisticci, we
find him described as grandissimo filosofo e teologo, e grande plato-
nista." He was of German birth, by his first preferment Archdeacon of
Liege, and died at Tivoli, 1465.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
615
represented: the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the
Assumption, and the legend of the founding of this basilica
by Pope Liberius, A.D. 352, on the site indicated by a
preternatural fall of snow on the Esquiline hill, 4th August
that year.
In the last year of this century was placed in one of the
chapels near S. Peter's, namely, S. Petronilla-destroyed
to make room for the modern basilica-a work by a young
sculptor, who now appears a star among the brightest yet
risen on the horizon of Christian art, and whose name leads
thought into a sphere removed by wide moral distance from
that within which our studies have hitherto been confined.
A French Cardinal, Jean de la Grolaye, bounteously
bestowed on that chapel in 1499 a gift consisting of a group
of the Mother with the Dead Christ, executed in his twenty-
fifth year by Michael Angelo Buonarotti, who had arrived
in Rome, engaged by Cardinal Raffaello Riario at the Can-
celleria palace, in 1496. I need not describe that sculp-
ture of the “Pieta," announcing so totally new an ideal,
and so original in its treatment of the sublimely pathetic
subject. Where we now see it, in the first chapel off the
right aisle in the new basilica, it was not placed till 1749.
The commission for it was given by another French Cardi-
nal, Villiers, ambassador of that kingdom at the Court of
Alexander VI. The sorrowing Mother might be said to
personify the Church in grief for the insults to her Son
and His divine authority which were offered and tolerated
under that inauspicious pontificate. No Roman painter is
conspicuous in this century, but the illustrious in that Art
from other Italian regions were much engaged by several
Popes. Martin V., Nicholas V., and Sixtus IV. proved
liberal patrons to the painters, most of them Tuscans,
whom they commissioned to adorn churches, or the chapels.
of the Vatican. Sixtus IV. gave by brief its first constitu-
616
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
tion to the "University of Artists," which developed into
the Academy of S. Luke, but had existed long before this
time, and used to meet in a hall adjoining a church dedi-
cated to that Apostle on the Esquiline, their affairs being
managed by Consuls, and the Senators of Rome being ex
officio their protectors. The now well-known Academy did
not, however, attain its present form till 1577, and its pri-
vileges were finally confirmed by Sixtus V. about 1588.
Martin V. engaged the first masters of the time, Masaccio,
Gentile da Fabriano, Vittore Pisano, to paint on the walls
of the Lateran, where, unfortunately, all their works have
perished; and we have alike to regret the loss of those of
Mantegna in the Vatican palace, ordered by Innocent
VIII.
Among pictures which serve as landmarks to the history
of thought, or signs of the influence exercised over the
Christian world by revered and saintly individuals—and
such works alone can here be particularized-I may men-
tion the most noteworthy still seen in Roman churches.
By Tommaso di S. Giovanni, called Masaccio,* the fres-
coes on the walls of the Gothic chapel of S. Catherine at S.
Clemente, representing the legend of that saint of Alexan-
dria, and other subjects not easily explainable. The prin-
cipal episodes in the story of that Virgin Martyr, as to
whom so little resting on any historic basis is known, are
here treated with much dramatic effect and pathos.+
* Born 1402, at S. Giovanni, a town in the Val d'Arno, being the son
of a notary, whose family name was Scheggia. The date of his death
not quite certain; but the Annotators of Vasari (Le Monier edition)
place that event in 1428; and that Masaccio died at Rome, and prema-
turely, is not doubted.
† Her legend was not known before the 8th century, and there is no
proof that it was received in Western Europe before the 11th century,
when the Latin Church first appointed a day-25th November, for her
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
617
•
Though some critics have questioned the genuineness of
these frescoes as works by the great Tuscan artist, they
certainly correspond to the high qualities manifested in
his other compositions. The scenes represented are: the
Saint refuting the Pagan philosophers by her arguments in
favour of Christian doctrine, before the Emperor; in
the background of this picture, the martyrdom in the
flames of those same philosophers, who, converted by her,
thus suffer, while consoled in their sufferings by the elo-
quent young maiden; the Saint arguing against idolatry,
while she points out to derision before a multitude the
statue of a god in its temple; the conversion by the Saint
of the Emperor's daughter, who visits her in prison; the
decapitation of that princess, a martyr for her newly em-
braced faith; the saint condemned to die between wheels
set with hooks to tear the flesh, but rescued by an angel;
her martyrdom by the axe; and finally, the transport of her
body, borne by angels, to the summit of Mount Sinai.
The four scenes painted on the opposite wall cannot, I
believe, be referred to either the legend of S. Catherine or
commemoration. She is said to have been the daughter of Costis, a son
of Constantius Chlorus, by his first wife, Sabinella, a virtuous though
heathen princess, daughter and heiress of the King of Egypt, and to
have suffered martyrdom, after refuting the arguments of fifty Pagan
philosophers and rhetoricians, in presence of the Emperor Maxentius
(or Maximinus), A.D. 307. Perhaps the earliest known introduction of
her story, namely, her martyrdom, in art, is that seen among the very
curious wall paintings in the ancient S. Clemente, discovered below the
more modern church, through the intelligent exertions of the estimable
Father Mullooly, Prior of the Irish Dominicans here established. One
of the first Mystery Plays ever performed in England was founded on
the story of this Saint, being written by Geoffrey, a learned Norman,
who was invited from the Paris University, about 1119, to superintend
the Abbey schools at Dunstable, and whose drama on this subject was
acted by his pupils. Dryden's "Tyrannic Love" is founded on the
same legend.”—v. Mrs. Jameson, "Sacred and Legendary Art.”
618
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the life of Pope S. Clement. On the wall above the altar
is the Crucifixion, a large picture with numerous grouping,
the Mother fainting amidst the attendant women, Roman
soldiers, the two thieves on their crosses, and the now
generally admitted episodes of the Angel and Demon
receiving the soul of the converted and that of the im-
penitent malefactor; also spectators of different classes,
knights and citizens, not concerned in the historic action,
only united by the common sentiment of adoration and
faith; this picture being an example (not the earliest) of
the withdrawal of its awful subject from the historic, and
its transfer to the mystic and the devotional sphere. Here
also landscape, a distant sea coast, mountainous, wild and
lonely, is treated with a degree of carefulness and know-
ledge hitherto rarely seen. On the vaults are the Evangel-
ists and four Doctors; on the outer wall, beside the arched
entrance, the giant S. Christofer carrying the Infant Christ
—that favourite of northern legends comparatively little
known in Italy, and whose romantic story the Church has
wisely consented to dismiss to the realms of pious fiction.
The Annunciation, above the arch, is another beautiful
picture by the same hand; Mary, who kneels (her suitable
position), while the Angel stands before her, distinguished
by a gentle and subdued loveliness.
The great master of religious art in this century, Fra
Giovanni Angelico (1387-1455) came to Rome about 1445,
invited by Eugenius IV., and painted in the chapels of the
Vatican under his patron and friend, Nicholas V. He
died at the Minerva convent, where we see his monument,
with an indifferently executed effigy in relief and a metrical
epitaph ascribed to that Pope.* The last of Angelico's
* Non mihi sit laudi quod eram velut alter Apelles,
Sed quod lucra tuis omnia, Christe, dabam,
Altera nam terris opera extant, altera coelo ;
Urbs mihi Johannem flus tulit Etruriæ.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
619,
more important works was the series of frescoes round the
walls of the S. Lorenzo chapel at the Vatican, representing
in six scenes the life of S. Stephen, and in five that of S.
Lawrence; on painted pilasters the four Latin Doctors
and four other saints admitted to rank with those holy
fathers, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Bonaventura, and Thomas;
on the vault, the Evangelists. It would be superfluous to
point out the merits of these paintings, but I may observe
the solemnity of effect in the two ordination scenes—
S. Stephen ordained priest by S. Peter, and S. Lawrence
by Pope Sixtus II., here a portrait of Nicholas V.; also the
artist's power, and his mastery of perspective in the two
pictures of the distribution of the alms of the Church, at
Jerusalem and Rome, by the two martyr deacons; and
alike in that of S. Lawrence before the Prefect Decius.
Another chapel, that of the Holy Sacrament, added to the
Vatican buildings by Nicholas V., was also surrounded with
frescoes by Fra Giovanni; but was remorselessly destroyed
together with those precious contents, about 1549, for the
comparatively trivial object of securing space for the Sala
Regia built from Sangallo's designs under Paul III. No-
thing could more strikingly prove than does this pro-
ceeding the want of appreciation for the highest order of
religious Art (at least that anterior to the Sixteenth Cen-
tury) at the Papal Court. Another circumstance, almost
alike discreditable, is the actual oblivion into which the
chapel of S. Lorenzo, both as to its existence and the means
of entering it, had fallen before the latter years of the
Fifteenth Century. Teja (see his Description of the
Vatican) owns that he had long supposed it to have been
destroyed; and Bottari says that he had at last succeeded
in effecting entrance through a window; the German Art-
critic, Hirt, had the credit of accomplishing a second
discovery which led him into this pictured oratory in
620
MEDIÆVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
his explorings through the terra incognita of the Vatican
(v. Goethe "Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert"; Ru-
mohr, “Italien. Forschungen," b. II. 13). In the time of
Pius VII. the frescoes of Fra Giovanni were retouched by
Camuccini-probably not the first restoration they have
suffered from. One, a Deposition from the Cross, on the
side above the altar, has totally disappeared.
By Filippino Lippi (1460-1505), frescoes, executed 1489,
in the chapel founded by Cardinal Caraffa at the Minerva
church, and in which reposed the body of the Saint to whom
it is dedicated, Thomas Aquinas, till those relics were
removed, 1511, to Naples. Here we see the third example
(two others I have already noticed) of a sort of apotheosis in
Art, for honouring the memory of that great theologian. St.
Thomas is seated, together with four allegoric female figures,
on a lofty estrade, setting his feet on a prostrate old man
(Arius or Sabelius), near whom is a scroll displaying the
words, Sapientia vincit malitiam; an open book, held by the
Saint, having the words on its pages, Sapientiam Sapientium
perdam. In the foreground are two groups of persons dif
ferent as to class and costume, and between them, thrown
to earth, lie several books, on two of which we read the
condemnatory epigraphs: Si Filius natus est, erat quando
non erat Filius-Error Arii; Pater a Filio non est alius
nec a Spiritu Sancto-Error Sabelii. Above this picture is
another on smaller scale, admirably composed: S. Thomas
kneeling before the Crucifix, which bows its head and
speaks approval of his writings, the volumes here laid.
before that holy symbol. Angels attend the Saint in his
extatic prayer; to the right, in a portico like that of a
church, we see another Dominican friar, and in front of this
portico, are three persons, two of them women in nun-like
dress, driving away a rash intruder in Turkish costume,
probably meant for the false Prophet. Over the altar is
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
621
the Annunciation, with S. Thomas presenting the Cardinal
Caraffa to the Virgin; this, and the Assumption with the
Apostles, on the same wall-surface, being also by Filippino
Lippi.*
By Bernardino Betti, called Pinturicchio (1454-1513),
are the frescoes on the apsidal vault of S. Croce in Geru-
salemme, representing the legend of the True Cross from
its discovery by S. Helena to its restitution at Jerusalem by
the Emperor Heraclius after his victory over the Persians;
above this dramatic and interesting series, the Saviour
seated in an elliptic nimbus, with one hand blessing, while
the other holds the Gospel open at the words, Ego sum Via,
Veritas, et Vita-a nobly benignant figure, announcing a
progressive and elevated conception of the Divine person-
ality in Art. Some critics question whether these paintings
can be given to Pinturicchio; and some suppose that if he
really executed them, he was probably assisted by Luca
Signorelli.† An event which caused much sensation, and
was hailed with joy by authorities in Rome, is connected
with the history of these remarkable frescoes.
In 1492 some repairs, ordered by the Cardinal Titular,
were progressing within this church, when a niche was dis-
covered near the summit of the apsidal vault, and on the
outside of this recess, the inscription, "Titulus Crucis."
In the inside was found, on removal of the brick front, a
leaden coffer fastened with three seals, and in which was
deposited that famous relic believed to be the largest extant
* An early and ominous instance of conventionality, of disregard for
the ideal proprieties of a subject, is before us in this Annunciation by
Lippi: the Virgin turns away from the Angel and from the Divine
Dove, who descends along a ray of light, exclusively giving her atten-
tion, with the mannered grace of a high-born lady, to the kneeling
Cardinal!
† Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle speak of them as a work which
"seems a medley of Bonfigli, Signorelli and Pinturicchio, such as might
be expected from one of the numerous inferior Umbrians," &c.
622
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
portion of the true Cross, or rather of a part of the title
placed above the head of the Sufferer, and containing
certain letters of the words, in Syro-Chaldaic, Greek, and
Latin, JESUS NAZARENUS REX. Great interest was excited
by the announcement of this discovery. The Pope, Inno-
cent VIII., and all the Cardinals came in procession to
inspect and revere the relic, which was transferred to a
chamber communicating with a balcony above the high
altar, where this and other sacred objects are solemnly
exhibited, three times a year, by the mitred Abbot of the
Cistercians. A Spanish Cardinal, Carvajal, ordered, about
1492, the paintings illustrating the story of the true Cross,
which cover the vault before us, and are generally ascribed
to Pinturicchio; the figure of that Cardinal being intro-
duced, kneeling before the Cross erect in the centre fore-
ground, with S. Helena on one side.
Other undoubted works of Pinturicchio are seen in
several Roman churches built or restored in the latter
years of this century, as S. Maria del Popolo, S. Onofrio,
S. Maria in Trastevere, S. Cosimato, Aracoeli. At the first-
named church, two Holy Families with Saints, an Assump-
tion, and (in lunettes) scenes from the life of Mary and
from that of S. Jerome (date 1485); on the vault of the
choir, more important and admirable pictures, commissioned
for S. Maria del Popolo by the Cardinal della Rovere
(Julius II.): in the centre, the Coronation of the Virgin,
with the sole figures of the Saviour and the Madonna seated
opposite to each other (the motive, in this composition,
earlier introduced and longer retained than any other for
the same eminently popular subject), while the Divine Son,
serenely glorious, places a crown on the earthly Mother's
head; ranged round this group, on a decorated ground,
the Evangelists with their emblems, the four Doctors, nobly
venerable figures each seated within a classically designed
ædicula, and four Sybils in graceful recumbent attitudes.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
623
At Aracoeli the same artist executed some very interesting
pictures in a chapel founded by the Bufalini family, and (it
is said) especially to commemorate the extinction of a
deadly feud. Pinturicchio's frescoes illustrate the life of S.
Bernadino, to whom that chapel is dedicated: over the altar,
Christ in glory amidst Angels, SS. Bernardino, Anthony
of Padua, and Louis of Anjou, Bishop of Toulouse, two
Angels holding a crown over the head of the first-named,
who stands between the other Saints, holding a book open
at the text, Pater, manifestavi nomen tuum hominibus.* On
one side, the reception of the Saint into the Franciscan
Order at Siena, the Saint discoursing to some devout
hearers, and S. Francis receiving the Stigmata; on the
opposite wall, the funeral of S. Bernardino, with renais-
sance architecture in the background, and in a group under
a portico, portraits of two members of the Rufalini family;
an infant in a cradle before the bier on which lies the
corpse, said to be intended for the same Saint, his childhood
in juxtaposition with his old age in death. At S. Onofrio,
the church with convent and gardens pleasantly situated
on the Janiculan hill, are some frescoes in the tribune, the
Virgin and Child, the Coronation of Mary, the Deity bless-
ing, and other subjects, ascribed partly to Finturicchio,
partly to Baldassare Peruzzi. The monument of the pious
hermit, Beato Niccolo, of the diocese of Sulmona (ob. 1441),
at whose request this church and convent were built
1437-'46), with a characteristic relievo effigy, placed near
the chief door, deserves notice among the sculptures of
the period.†
* Words of an antiphon in the Vespers for the Vigil of the Ascension,
which were being sung at the moment this Saint expired at Aquila,
1444. How early he became popular both in devout regards and among
subjects of Art, these paintings testify.
† The Beato Niccolo was one of a band of hermits who inhabited
624
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
The frescoes on the walls of the Sistine Chapel by artists
the most illustrious of their time, who were liberally en-
gaged for this task by Sixtus IV.—I do not here consider
the marvels of Buonarotti's genius, within the same walls—
form a series most important as displaying the spirit and
tendencies of Art towards the close of the XV. century.
A manifest change had passed over the world of its ideal
creations since the earlier years of this epoch, and even
within the shorter period elapsed since the death of Fra
Angelico. In one aspect we see progress in power and
knowledge; in another, decline from the standard of devo-
tional ideality. Art is now seen emancipating herself from
ascetic conventionalism. The painter, instead of giving a
simple and solemn presentment of a sacred theme, crowds
his canvas with accessorial figures in the costume of his
own time, mere spectators, unconcerned in the main action
—a method first introduced, with admirable success indeed
by Masaccio. Details of ornament become profuse; land-
scape, more ably treated, now affording proof of intelli-
gent observation of nature. Above all, architecture, in-
variably copied either from the models of classic Rome, or
from those of the renaissance founded on such models,
takes a conspicuous place on the canvas or in the wall-
painting, sometimes dividing attention with the figures to
which it serves as background.
At first sight the interior of the Sistine chapel is disap-
pointing. Neither is the style of this building religious,
nor are the paintings, in the effect immediately perceived,
so impressive as may have been anticipated. Many are
faded, and the figures are, with few exceptions, too small
for the height at which they are placed, whilst farther
some scattered cells on the Janiculan before the convent, which was the
last retreat of Tasso, had arisen, founded by Eugenius IV., and a Cardinal
protector of the Jeronymites, on this spot.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
625
losing by comparison with the colossal creations of Michael
Angelo.
By Cosimo Rosselli (1416-84) are-the Passage of the
Red Sea, and Pharaoh amidst his Counsellors; Moses receiv-
ing the tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai; and breaking
those tablets in his wrath at the idolatry of the Israelites;
the punishment of that idolatry; the Sermon on the Mount,
and the healing of the leper; the landscape in the last
picture by the artist's pupil, Piero da Cosimo (1441-1521).
By Rosselli also is the Last Supper, with four spectators
quite unconcerned in the sacred action, and in the back-
ground, seen through an arcade, the Saviour on the Mount
of Olives, His capture by the Jews, and the Crucifixion,—
an unworthily subordinate introduction of such subjects.
By Sandro Botticelli (1437-1515): Moses slaying the
Egyptian, and assisting the daughters of Jethro to water
their flocks; the emigration of Moses with several fol-
lowers (from Midian) into Egypt; the appearance of the
Deity in the burning tree; the punishment of Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram, with architecture in the background,
a classic ruin, and (strange example of the tendency above
noticed) a Roman triumphal arch, evidently suggested by
that of Septimius Severus. By the same artist, the Temp-
tation of Christ, the three acts of which are represented in
the same picture; in the foreground the high priest re-
ceiving a patera, or goblet, from a white-robed worshipper,
which accessorial and fanciful group may attract attention
more than the principal subjects; and it is remarkable
that the medieval idea of the demon is here totally aban-
doned, a stern and sombre, not hideous or brute type, being
imagined in the personality of Satan.
By Domenico Ghirlandajo (1447-93): the calling of
SS. Peter and Andrew while they are engaged in fishing,
and the calling of SS. John and James, who are in a boat
2 s
626
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
on the lake, while the Divine Master addresses them from
the shore, both these subjects being in the background,
and the foreground filled with a finely treated group, the
two first-named of those Apostles kneeling before Christ,
with many spectators on both sides. The Resurrection,
by the same artist, was injured by the falling of a beam,
and has been so badly repainted, that in its present state
this fresco in no way reminds us of Ghirlandajo.
By Luca Signorelli (1439-1521): subjects from the life
of Moses and the Exodus, a grandly conceived series, the
several episodes so united as to form only two large compo-
sitions ; one representing the earlier life of the Lawgiver,
the other his last days while accompanying his people on
their progress through the wilderness. In the first, (nearest
the altar), we see the journey of Moses and his wife, with
many others, from Midian into Egypt; Moses met by an
Angel, who threatens him with a drawn sword;* the cir-
cumcision of his son by Zipporah, and in the background
a group of shepherds, most graceful and animated, dancing
to music on a mountain side, perhaps intended for the
rustic festivities at the marriage of Moses. In the other
picture, the Exodus subjects, we see Moses consigning his
staff to Joshua, Moses seated on a mound, the book of the
law in his hand, delivering his inspired song to the Israel-
ites, a numerous group, around him; in the background an
angel shows to Moses the promised land from a mountain-
height; and lastly we see the death of the Lawgiver, or
rather the mourning of the Israelites over his body-a
subject not treated with strict regard to the account of
* See the mysterious text (Exodus iv. 24): "And it came to pass by
the way, in the inn, that the Lord met him (Moses), and sought to kill
him."
† Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle ascribe the whole of this composi-
tion to Pietro Perugino.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
627
the mysterious circumstances attending his funeral.-
Deuteronomy xxxiv. 6.
By Pietro Vannucci (Perugino, 1446-1524): the Bap-
tism of Christ, with a vision of the Eternal Father as well
as the celestial Dove; in the background, the Sermon on
the Mount and the preaching of S. John the Baptist. By
the same artist-a masterpiece and example of his highest
powers-the Delivery of the Keys to S. Peter in presence
of all the Apostles, in the background architecture, renais-
sance and classical, with several groups variously engaged,
and quite unconcerned with the main action which fills
the foreground, where it is contemplated by certain other
persons, besides the twelve Apostles, with reverential
interest. The principal group is a composition to rank
among the triumphs of sacred art; and accordant with the
solemnity of the subject is a serene dignity which pervades
and elevates the whole scene. The architecture may be
intended to symbolize the triumphs of the Church, or at
least of the Papacy; in the centre rises a temple with a
cupola reminding us of Brunelleschi's happiest perform-
ances in this class; lateral to this are two classic arches,
richly sculptured, and inscribed with epigraphs in honour
of Sixtus IV.: Immensum Salomon Templum, tu hoc,
Quarte, sacrasti-Sixte opibus dispar religione prior.
Among the most important and successful works by
Pinturicchio are the frescoes adorning the "Appartamento
Borgia," a suite of halls in the Vatican either built or
finished by Alexander VI., in which that Pontiff resided,
and in one of which he died. These paintings (1492-'94)
are most interesting as testimony to the spirit and ten-
dencies of art at the time, and exemplifying the now
intimate union of the legendary with the evangelico-
historical, of renaissance taste and decoration with sacred
or mystic subjects. In the first chamber, called that "of
2$ 2
628
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
the Sibyls," are half-lengths, in lunettes under the vaults,
of twelve Prophets, and as many Sibyls, all holding scrolls,
on which are inscribed texts of prophecy and verses at-
tributed to Sibylline inspiration; the Cumæan Sibyl having
for her motto the lines from the "Pollio" of Virgil—
"Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna,
Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto.'
On the vault are seven medallion pictures representing the
planets, personified according to mythologic ideas, and ad-
vancing in their chariots through the sky, the pursuits and
conditions of life they severally preside over being intro-
duced below. Thus under Luna are people fishing in the
sea (her influence over tides); under Jove, the chace, deemed
the especial amusement of royalty; under Apollo, with
singular blending of the Christian and Pagan, a Pope seated
among his Cardinals and prelatic courtiers.
In the next, "Chamber of the Credo," are twelve
Prophets in like manner paired with the Apostles, and
holding scrolls, those of the former displaying texts from
their prophecies; and those of the latter, clauses from the
Apostles' Creed, according to the tradition admitted by
Baronius and Durandus, which assigns to each of the Twelve
a clause in that symbol of belief. Thus S. Peter begins the
orthodox profession with the clause: "Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem coeli et terræ." In the
third, "Chamber of the Liberal Arts," are seven large
pictures, Rhetoric, Geometry, Arithmetic, Music, Astro-
nomy, Grammar, and Dialectics, personified as beautiful and
* It is about this period, towards the end of the XV. century, that
the Sibyls first become conspicuous in art. Many representations of
them are seen in Rome, but all dating from the XV. to the XVII.,
none in earlier centuries. Cardinal d'Estouteville ordered, 1480, a paint-
ing for the Augustinian church at Cori, the Coronation of the Virgin,
with a group of six Sibyls, each having her oracular Latin distich.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
629
majestic women seated on splendid thrones with appro-
priate emblems, and groups of individuals who excelled in
the practice, or promoted the culture, of those Arts and
Sciences severally. Thus is Geometry attended by the
mathematicians, Rhetoric by the orators of antiquity; the
latter having for attributes a sword and a golden globe,
signifying the power of eloquence to penetrate, pierce and
disarm, and also to keep the world suspended by the charm
of her utterances. The archivolt of an arch, which divides
the room into two sections, is dedicated to the subject of
Justice, treated in five small pictures; that of Virtue per-
sonified in the centre; laterally, the parting of Jacob and
Laban, the flight of Lot from the burning city; a judge
seated on a tribunal, with merchants before him who are
pledging each other to keep faith in their transactions;
the widow appealing to Trajan for justice, her only son
having been accidentally killed by the Emperor's son,
(v. "Legenda Aurea;" Dante, "Purgatorio," X.; Joan.
Diacon., "Vita S. Greg.")*
In the next, "Chamber of the Saints," the Legends of
the Alexandrian S. Catherine, of S. Paul the Hermit, of the
Virgin Martyrs Barbara and Juliana, the martyrdom of
S. Sebastian, and the Visitation (sole subject from Scrip-
ture in this series), are treated with singular wealth of
imagination and variety in composition. The story of S.
Catherine, occupying the largest space, is presented with
* It was in this chamber that Alexander VI. died, 13th August, 1503.
The account of his last illness by Burckhard, in every respect trust-
worthy, shows that he succumbed to an attack of tertian fever. The
belief, common at the time, that he died of poison, prepared not by him-
self but by his son, for certain wealthy Cardinals, is attested by Guicciar-
dini, Onofrio Panvinio, and others; see also Gregorovius, who supplies
all the evidence on this subject. It is certain that the Pope received the
Sacraments, and made confession before Communion, on his deathbed.
630
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
complicated details; the fair Saint standing before the Em-
peror on his throne, philosophers and knights in 15th century
costume grouped around; in the distance a triumphal arch,
like that of Constantine, with the epigraph, Pacis Cultori.
S. Barbara escaping from her tower, and pursued by her
tyrant father with a drawn sword, is among the rarer sub-
jects in Art, and here presented with much dramatic effect.*
Admirable is the pictured meeting of S. Anthony the abbot
and S. Paul the hermit in the desert, where they divide the
loaf brought by a raven, devout disciples attending, and
three fair women approaching near enough for the discern-
ment of their true character as demon tempters, with bat-
wings, talons, &c. In the background to the martyrdom of
S. Sebastian, who is shot with arrows by the imperial
guard (but not thus put to death), is introduced the Colos-
seum, and in ruins as now before us!† In the picture of
S. Juliana, who is married by force to a Pagan governor,
delivered up to executioners and beheaded, a gracefully
designed fountain is conspicuous in the midst, with do-
mestic animals around its basement-an example of the
increasing disposition to give importance to accessories and
decorative detail. Over a door is a much obscured picture
of the Madonna teaching the Infant Christ to read; cherub-
heads in a circle around; the Virgin erroneously said to be
+
* Place of martyrdom unknown; nor is it agreed whether this Saint
(if she ever existed) lived in the third or fourth century. She is said to
have been beheaded by her own father, Dioscurus; has become the
Patroness of Artillery; and her festival, 4th December, has been cele-
brated by the Greeks since the 8th, by the Latin Church since the 9th cen-
tury. Her attribute is the tower, from which she escapes miraculously.
† Of this picture Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle observe that it is
"much restored, more so indeed than any part of these paintings, which
have all undergone more or less retouching."
† She suffered at Nicomedia in the IV. century, during the last per-
secution.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
631
a portrait of Vanozza, the mother of Cesare Borgia, but in
reality meant for Giulia Farnese, a lady whose name is not
honourably associated with that of Alexander VI., and
whose brother received from him the Cardinal's hat, living
to succeed to him as Pope Paul III. On the vault is repre-
sented, in several medallion pictures and gilt stuccoes, the
whole mythologic history of Isis and Osiris, a far-strained
compliment to the Borgia house, allusive to their device, an
ox, or rather cow, vache passante. It was in this chamber
that the body of Alexander lay in state, simply vested in
white, on a couch hung with crimson silk.
In the fifth," Chamber of the Life of Our Lord," the sub-
jects are the Annunciation, Nativity (or rather Adoration
of the Divine Infant), the Adoration of the Magi, the Resur-
rection, the Ascension, the Pentecost, (Descent of the Holy
Spirit), and Assumption of the Virgin-all treated with a
rich redundance of detail and numerous grouping. In the
picture of the Resurrection is introduced Alexander VI.,
kneeling, pontifically vested, with the tiara on the ground,
the face in profile; in that of the Assumption, is another
interesting portrait, Cesare Borgia in his capacity and cos-
tume as Cardinal, kneeling beside the vacant tomb, on the
other side of which kneels S. Thomas; the head of Cesare
that of a man about thirty, serious and sensible looking; a
glance sufficing to convince that the portrait by Raffael in
the Borghese collection, commonly called "Cæsar Borgia,"
is not the likeness of this notorious personage. On the
pendentives of the vault are seven Prophets with scrolls,
the texts on which refer to the subjects of the larger pic-
tures. Solomon is made to predict the Assumption of the
Virgin in the words: Quasi Cedrus exaltata sum in Libano.
(Eccl. xxiv. 17.)
In the sixth, the largest room of this suite, all the works
of Pinturicchio were destroyed by Leo X. (who ought to
632
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
have known and done better), and in their place were
painted sundry uninteresting decorative designs, mythologic
and others, by Giovanni da Udine and Pierino del Vaga.
In one of the Vatican Stanze containing Raffael's frescoes
(the Incendio del Borgo, &c. being in this), four circular
paintings on the vault, by Perugino, were saved from destruc-
tion by his more illustrious pupil, who refused to paint over
them, as requested by his employers. He did well to preserve
them, for these compositions are among the most devotional
and refined in religious feeling of all that Umbrian master's
works. They represent, on scale less than life: Christ seen
in a gilt nimbus with the personified Justice and Mercy,
majestic and graceful forms, standing before Him, angels
and cherub-heads floating around; the Transfiguration,
Christ standing between Moses and Elias, with angels at-
tending, two of those mysterious beings placed between
the Saviour and the visionary Lawgiver and Prophet; the
Eternal Father enthroned among clouds and blessing, with
a glory of angels around; the Holy Trinity, an original
treatment of that subject, the Father seen in the heavens
with a globe in one hand, the other raised to bless, the Son
standing on clouds below, the Apostles kneeling around
Him, and also on clouds instead of resting on earth, the
Dove hovering beneath the feet of the Christ, who blesses
as does the Father. The distinction of age and aspect is
strongly marked, and the relationship between the Father
and the Son is conceived from a human point of view, less
spiritual, one might say less orthodox than the conception
of earlier Art, which presents the Divine Son as sole em-
bodied and visible manifestation of the Infinite. Both are
of nobly benignant aspect, however otherwise contrasted, in
these pictures; and the grave, beautiful sweetness in the
countenance of the Son corresponds to the idea of
Him who, intensely human, is touched with the feeling
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
633
of our infirmities, and is the sole Mediator of whom
sinful creatures can have need, or whose advocacy can
be relied on before the Holy of Holies. Genius seems
here implicitly to reject the notion of any human inter-
cessors being requisite, or empowered to aid, between the
erring creature and the all-powerful Son of Man!
Melozzo degli Ambrosi, called from his birthplace "da
Forli ” (1438-'92), was prominent among the artists invited
to Rome by Sixtus IV. When Cardinal Pietro Riario
enlarged the SS. Apostoli church, this master was engaged
to adorn the tribune with a great picture, the largest he
is known to have ever undertaken. Its subject was the
Ascension; but its merits did not save that portion of the
building from being taken down, and Melozzo's fresco
consequently in the greater part destroyed, when the
church underwent some tasteless modernization in 1711.
Portions of the picture were, however, preserved. The
colossal figure of Christ soaring heavenward amidst angelic
choirs, is now set into a wall above the first landing-place of
the great stairs in the Quirinal palace. An inscription below,
said to be by Pope Clement XI., ascribes to Melozzo either
the inventing or the perfecting of the method of painting
on vaults, for the di sotto in su effect. The Saviour ascends
with outspread arms, the gaze directed downwards, the hair
long and dark, the drapery floating in broad folds; behind
Him are a multitude of cherubim, in semicircular orders,
rising one above another; the ideal of His form utterly
unlike that familiarly seen in earlier art, partaking more
of the intellectual and powerful than of the benign or
gracious—a character indeed so strongly marked as almost
to approach coarseness. The innocent joy and childlike
loveliness of the little angels are affecting in moral contrast
with the awe and mystery of the great transaction they
are gazing on. Fourteen other fragments of the same picture
634
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
are in the stanza capitolare of S. Peter's: eight half-length
figures of angels playing on instruments, in extatic and
rather overstrained, but very expressive attitudes, the
types of countenance all feminine; two groups of lovely
child-angels; and (finest of all) four heads of Apostles,
gazing intensely upwards, decision of character and earnest
feeling predominant in their countenances. Progress in
technical skill and knowledge is apparent; but the angels
in this composition betray decline from the more spiritual
idea of such individualities, and are mere creatures of earth
compared with those imagined by Fra Giovanni and Benozzo
Gozzoli.
Another happy specimen of Melozzo's powers, and also
of the new direction and truthfulness now apparent in
portrait painting, is a fresco transferred to canvass, and
moved from its original place (a vestibule of the ancient
library) to the pinacotheca of the Vatican, representing
Sixtus IV. seated in that library, built by his order for the
increasing collection on its shelves; the Pope being here
attended by his nephews, Cardinal Riario and the Cardinal
who became Julius II., also by two secular persons conjec-
tured to be his other nephews, Count Girolamo and Gio-
vanni della Rovere, with the historian Platina kneeling
before his Holiness on occasion of his appointment as
Vatican librarian.*
* Platina points to the verses inscribed below the picture, and which
form a compendious account of the public works carried out by Sixtus :
Templa, domum expositis, fora, moenia, pontes,
Virgineam Triviæ quod repararis aquam,
Prisca licet nautis statuas dare commoda portas,
Et Vaticanum cingere, Sixte, jugum :
Plus tamen Urbs debit, nam quæ squalore latebat,
Cernitur in celebri Bibliothecæ loco.
As pendant to this may be quoted a Latin epigraph in honour of the
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
635
In the older portions of the convent of Oblate Nuns,
Tor de' Specchi, near the Capitol, founded by S. Francesca
Romana, are some curious wall-paintings, with the date
1485 over one part, illustrating the spiritual experiences,
visions, temptations, extasies, aud miracles of that saintly
matron. In one is depicted a vision of the whole infernal
realm, displayed to her in ghastly distinctness, while she
is guided by her Guardian Angel. Interesting as records.
of the devotional and mystic ideas of the time, these paint-
ings have not the least value as art works, but serve to
recall the realities (whatever the dreams or illusions) of a
noble life, which cannot be omitted from the religious.
history of Rome at this period. Francesca, of a family
named Bussi, born in 1384, had advantages of social posi-
tion and fortune which were augmented through her union
with Lorenzo Ponziani, a young man of the higher class, to
whom her parents gave her in marriage against her will,
as it appears, for the religious, that is the cloistral state,
had been her preference from childhood. Trials came upon
her in her capacity as wife and mother, in both which
characters her conduct was most exemplary. During the
shocks of violence and social disorder caused by the con-
quest and occupation of Rome by King Ladislaus, her
husband was exiled, her eldest son imprisoned, and all the
fortunes of the Ponziani were dispersed. Francesca lived to
see the return of peace, and to be reunited to her family,
now possessed again of all they had lost. From that time
Francesca and her husband lived together as brother and
sister. Several Roman ladies desired to follow her ex-
same Pope, placed by the Curators of Rome, and still seen, on a house in
the Vicolo de' Balestrari, dated 1483, and the last two verses running
thus:
Digna salutifero debentur premia Xysto :
O quantum est summo debita Roma Duci.
636
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
ample in a life of piety and charities; and she became the
founder of a religious sisterhood, united under a rule from
the year 1433, and in 1439 approved by the Pope. They
placed themselves under the direction of the Olivetan
monks, and were called "Oblates," from their act of self-
offering; but they bound themselves by no vows, were not
strictly cloistered, being severed from the pleasures and
cares of this world without artificial restraint. Francesca,
become a widow, desired to enter this community, and
presented herself prostrate on the ground, bare-footed,
and with a cord round her neck, craving to be received
among them. She refused at first the office of Superior,
but was finally induced to accept it by the urgencies of
those who wished to obey one they so much loved and
revered. Not the less did she continue, though in the post
of authority, to dedicate herself to the lowliest duties, and
exercise her charities both without and within her convent-
walls-for her rule did not impede the liberty of doing good.
She died 1440, aged 56, of a malady caught from her son
whilst nursing him. The Roman people had experienced
her goodness and known well her virtues; consequently she
received, immediately after her death, such honours as are
usually paid to canonized saints, though it was not till 1608
that she was actually enrolled among that company by
act of Pope Paul V. Her body was now transferred to a
splendid tomb at S. Maria Nuova, the Olivetan church,
which thenceforth received a new dedication as S. Francesca
Romana. The benignly majestic figure of this virtuous
saint becomes familiar in the art of later ages, and is
usually accompanied by another, an Angel, allusive to the
deeply significant legend that such a heavenly guide,
beautiful and glorious in aspect, was for many years
visibly present to her, and that another Angel, still more
radiant than the first, was sent to be her perpetual com-
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
637
panion during the last years of her life. It seems to me
that the moral characteristics of that holy life announce
a more enlightened and cheerful apprehension of the reli-
gious calling than appears in earlier hagiography. There is
little in Francesca's career at all analogous to the startling
and almost horror-striking austerities of saints in former
times. All is brightly serene, lit with the glow of virtue
rendered heroic through self-sacrifice, in the example of
this admirable woman.
Quitting the city for one of the beautiful regions com-
prised within the Agro Romano, we find a singularly rich
specimen of the Italian Gothic, with sculptured decoration,
at Vicovaro, between Tivoli and Subiaco. In the princi-
pal street of that impoverished little town stands the
octagonal church of S. Giacomo, founded about the middle
of this century by the Orsini, Counts of Tagliacozzo, and
lords of this place; the sculptures on its exterior, by
Simone, a Florentine pupil of Brunelleschi, and mentioned
by Vasari with the information that he died at Vicovaro,
while engaged on his labours here. Seven sides of the
octagon are plain. That on which opens the sole doorway is
profusely adorned with sculpture, statuettes and relievi
on small scale, some much injured by time. On the tym-
panum is a relief of the Virgin and Child, with two graceful
angels, who present the kneeling figures of the two Orsini
brothers, founders of this church. The Divine Dove and
adoring Angels are seen within an arch over this. At each
side of the portal are six statuettes of saints, male and
female, under Gothic canopies; other saintly figures stand
in niches on flanking pilasters. On the summits of half-
* An impressive picture of her with the angel, by Romanelli, is in a
hall of the Conservators' palace on the Capitol, there placed by Urban
VIII. in 1638-" aeternæ memoriæ Franciscæ Bussiæ de Pontianis,
eximiæ pietate ac Romana nobilitate matronæ.”
638
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
columns, and at the apex of a triangular pediment, are
other statuettes, so much mutilated that neither their
subjects nor artistic merit can be well discerned;
that on
the pediment probably intended for the Saviour blessing.
An inscription over the door gives the title of the Orsini
brothers, "Taliacociastae Comites," and mentions the
Bishop of Trani, who consecrated this church, but supplies
no date. An inscribed tablet in the interior gives further
particulars, and records the indulgences conceded by Pius
II.—that learned Pope who himself penned a brief notice
of this interesting little church in his "Commentaria," lvi.*
73
* He speaks of it as "nobile sacellum ex marmore candidissimo,"
adorned “statuis egregiis," but left unfinished owing to the death of
Francesco degli Orsini.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
639
CHRONOLOGY OF MONUMENTS.
(1400 To 1500).
.;
Rome.-S. Peter's-bronze doors by Filarete, 1445;
bronze monuments by Pollajuolo to Sixtus IV. (1493),
and Innocent VIII.; group of La Pietà (the Mother with
the Dead Christ) by Buonarotti, 1499; in a corridor of
sacristy, statues of SS. Peter and Paul by Mino del
Regno; in Chapter-house (stanza capitolare) twelve frag-
ments of Melozzo da Forli's picture of the Ascension
from the SS. Apostoli church; in grotte (crypt) monu-
ments of Innocent VII., Paul II., and Callixtus III., of
two Cardinals della Porta (1434, 1493), and sculptures
(several by Mino da Fiesole) from various Papal monu-
ments, and from the ciborium presented by Sixtus IV.
Lateran Basilica, monument with bronze effigy of Martin
V. by Filarete, of a Portuguese Cardinal, 1447; sculptured
tabernacle for holy oils, time of Sixtus IV., wooden statue
of S. John the Baptist by Donatello, and relievi of the
two SS. John, &c., in sacristy; silver processional cross,
1451; S. Paul's Basilica, statue of Boniface IX. in hall off
sacristy; S. Maria Maggiore—four relievi from canopy of
ancient high altar, now in the tribune, other relief-sculp-
tures from the same altar set into the altar of a chapel left
of entrance to the chapel'of the Holy Sacrament, added to
basilica by Sixtus V.; panelled ceiling of nave; S. Marco,
rebuilt in greater part, 1468—relievo of S. Mark over en-
trance, 1470, in sacristy two bas-reliefs by Mino da Fiesole;
S. Maria Aracoeli, rebuilt in part 1464-85-relievi of SS.
Matthew and John over lateral doors of façade, monuments
640
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
of Cardinals De Lebretto (Albret), 1465, and Giovanni
Savelli (in choir), 1498, of Catherine Queen of Bosnia, 1461,
and others; in chapel of S. Bernardino, frescoes illustrating
the life of that Saint by Pinturicchio; S. Maria di Mon-
serrato, built 1495-statue of S. James the Apostle by Con-
tucci (Sansovino), in portico of court monuments of Spanish
Prelates, dated 1467, 1479, 1486, 1498; in vestibule leading
to this court, relievo of Crucifixion and Saints, 1463, in
sacristy sculptured tabernacle for holy oils;* S. Maria
della Pace, founded by Sixtus IV.; S. Maria del Popolo,
rebuilt 1477, architect Baccio Pontelli-in first chapel (1.)
monument of Cardinal della Rovere (time of Sixtus IV.),
in second chapel, of S. Augustine, monument to Duke Della
Rovere (di Sora) 1485, and frescoes by Pinturicchio; in
fourth chapel, of S. Catherine (founded 1479), sculptured
altar-piece, monument of Albertoni, a Roman nobleman,
1485; in chapel of S. Jerome, frescoes by Pinturicchio,
about 1485; in chapel of S. Lawrence (first r.) two sculp-
tured tabernacles with statuettes, on vault of choir Pin-
turicchio's Coronation of the B. Virgin, etc.; in corridor of
sacristy monument of a Knight of Jerusalem, 1488, and
sculptured altar-piece, 1497; in sacristy monument of Arch-
bishop of Salerno, 1482, and tabernacle for Madonna-
picture, with statuettes, presented by Alexander VI.;
S. Maria sopra Minerva, apse added to church by Cardinal
Antonio Gaetani (ob. 1417), monuments of Cardinals Do-
menico Capranica (1458), Collescipoli (1446), and Orsini,
of the Prelates De Coco and Speranzio (1495), of Fra
Angelico (1455), and of two members of the Rustici family
(1482-1488), last in vestibule leading to lateral entrance;
that of the Florentine merchant, Tornabuoni, by Mino da
* These monuments, etc. were removed from S. Giacomo, the other
Spanish church, in the Piazza Navona, founded 1450, and now ruinous.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
641
Fiesole; by the same artist, statues of SS. John Baptist
and Sebastian in lateral chapel; recumbent effigy of S.
Catherine of Siena under high altar,* in chapel of S.
Thomas Aquinas, frescoes illustrating the theological rank
of that Saint, and altar-piece of Annunciation by Filippino
Lippi, in chapel off r. aisle, altar-piece ascribed to Lippo
Lippit; in cloister, two monuments, one of a Spanish Car-
dinal, 1478; S. Maria del Priorato (of the Knights of
Malta), monument of the Grand Master Caraffa (1405),
attributed to Paolo Romano, and of the Knight Seripando,
1465; S. Maria in Trastevere, monument of Cardinal degli
Annibaldi, 1417, by Paolo Romano, tabernacle for holy oils,
by Mino da Fiesole; S. Agostino 1479-'84, in lateral
chapel group of the B. Virgin and S. Anna by Contucci;
S. Andrea della Valle, monument of Pius II; SS. Apos-
toli, monument (near high altar) of Cardinal Pietro Riario,
1474-one of the finest of its style and period; S.
Balbina, restored, relievo of Crucifixion attributed to
Mino da Fiesole, ordered by Cardinal Barbo (Paul II.)
for the ancient S. Peter's; S. Cecilia, monument of
Cardinal Fortiguerra, 1473; in a side chapel, wall-
* Placed in a chapel over her tomb soon after the canonization of
that saint by Pius II., and removed to the high altar after her relics had
been transferred, with much solemnity, on occasion of the restoration
and reconsecrating of this church, 1855. (v supra, p. 205-6.)
† Ascribed also to other masters. This beautiful picture being designed
to commemorate the institution by Cardinal Torquemada of the annually
dispensed charity of bestowing dowries on young girls through the agency
of a pious sodality, the recipients of that donation are introduced,
kneeling before the Madonna, in the picture, as also is the Cardinal who
founded, and is interred beneath, this chapel-not the Torquemada who
was Grand Inquisitor in Spain, but one of his ancestors.
Subject of the principal relief on this now ill-placed monument, the
consignment of the head of S. Andrew to Pope Pius amidst an assem-
blage of dignitaries.
2 T
642
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
:
1
!
picture of the Crucifixion, with life-size figures, attri-
buted to Fra Angelico, above an altar adorned with rich
intarsio, probably of this period; S. Cesario, relievi of
angels in front of high altar; S. Clemente, monuments of
Cardinals Rovarello (1476) and Venier (1479), statue of
S. John Baptist by Simone of Florence, frescoes by
Masaccio in chapel of S. Catherine; S. Cosimato, restored
by Sixtus IV., altar-piece, or shrine, of S. Severa (probably
of date in this, or opening of next century), in lateral
chapel; Madonna and Child with SS. Francis and Clare by
Pinturicchio (?); S. Croce in Gerusalemme, frescoes on
apsidal vault attributed to Pinturicchio, 1492; S. Francesco
a Ripa, monuments (removed to sacristy) of Anguillara
family, one a warrior in armour, 1482; S. Gregorio, monu-
ment, in outer cloisters, to two brothers; in chapel of S.
Gregory altar with sculptured front, in Salviati chapel,
altar tabernacle, with relievi and statuettes, 1467; S. Ono-
frio, church built 1437-'46, on outer wall monument of the
Beato Niccolo (Jeronymite Hermit), ob. 1441; on absidal
vault, frescoes ascribed to Pinturicchio and Baldassare
Peruzzi; S. Pietro in Vincoli, monument of the brothers
Antonio and Pietro Pollajuolo, with busts in relief
tabernacle ordered by Cardinal Cusa for the chains of S.
Peter, 1465; in sacristy, tabernacle now containing those
relics, with bronze relievi by Antonio Pollajuolo; S. Pras-
sede, monument of Cardinal Alain, 1474; S. Sabina,
monument of Cardinal da Poggio, 1483; S. Salvatore
in Lauro, monument of Eugenius IV., by Isaia di Pisa, in
oratory entered from cloisters; S. Vito, wall-painting of
time of Sixtus IV. (?);* S. Agnese (extramural Basilica)
* To this period belongs a painting, the Saviour with Saints, in the
now desecrated S. Maria del Sole, alias Temple of Vesta (though mis-
called as such), first dedicated to Christian worship by the Savelli, and
afterwards by the Della Rovere family.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
613
sculptured altar-piece, S. Stephen and other Saints, 1490;
S. Lorenzo (extramural Basilica) Virgin and Child, with
SS. Stephen and Laurence, in choir, by Pinturicchio.
Churches rebuilt or restored (besides the above-named):
S. Lorenzo in Damaso (1495), SS. Quattro Incoronati, S.
Sisto, S. Stefano Rotondo, S. Teodoro.
In Vatican Palace: Sistine Chapel, 1473, wall-paintings
by Botticelli, Rosselli, Ghirlandajo, Signorelli, Perugino;
Chapel of S. Lorenzo, frescoes by Fra Giovanni Angelico; Ap-
partamento Borgia, wall-paintings by Pinturicchio, 1492-'95.
In pinacotheca, paintings by Melozzo da Forli (portraits
of Sixtus IV. and of his nephews), Pinturicchio, Pietro
Perugino, and two anconas (altar-pieces with Gothic
frames) one dated 1466, by Niccolo Alunno of Foligno.
Statue of S. Paul by Paolo Romano, on parapet of S.
Angelo bridge. Quirinal Palace: on wall above landing-
place of staircase, fresco of Christ ascending with Angels,
being part of Melozzo da Forli's great picture above-named.
Palaces built in this century: Capranica, 1460; S. Marco
di Venezia (1455-68);* Nardini (now "Governo Vecchio")
1475; Cancelleria, 1495; Giraud (or Torlonia); Sforza
Cesarini. Hospital of S. Spirito, rebuilt 1471-to which
period belongs part of existing structure.
Miniature Paintings: In Vatican Library, Dante, with
illuminations and miniatures by different artists; Ponti-
fical, with twenty-five miniatures; Breviary of Matthias
Corvinus, with miniatures, one bearing the date 1492,
ascribed to Attavante of Florence.
Archives of S. Peter's.- Missal of Nicholas V.,
miniatures
* A bust of Paul II. by Velluno da Padua, on the upper story of
the portico in the chief court of this castellated palace, is the sole
example of such portrait-sculpture of this century (besides those on
monuments) to be seen in Rome. Another is at the Albani Villa, and
preserves the likeness of a lady named Teodorina Cibo.
2T 2
644
MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY AND
few, the most important a Crucifixion; Missal of Cardinal
Adimari (Archbishop of Pisa, ob. 1422) splendid illumina-
tions and highly finished miniatures; principal subjects a
Crucifixion, and Christ in glory amidst adoring angels, also
the Four Emblems.
Barberini Library: Dante, with miniatures, the MS.
completed 1419, and signed by the copyist Jacopo Ser-
landio.
COMARCA, OR ROMAN PROVINCE.*
Ostia.-Cathedral of S. Aurea, designed by Baccio
Pontelli; castle rebuilt, 1483-6.
Vicovaro.-Church of S. Giacomo, with sculptures and
Gothic ornamentation on exterior.
Subiaco.-In monastic church of S. Benedetto, wall-
paintings of various dates, some assignable to the XV. cen-
tury, as a figure of Pope S. Gregory I. blessing, with
inscription dated 1489, by Stammatico or Psammatico, a
Greek; and the Last Judgment, with inscription dated
1466-very archaic and rude. In upper church, a Ma-
donna of school of Pinturicchio; in sacristy, Pietà, a wall-
painting of this period. In S. Francesco, wall-paintings
attributed to Pinturicchio-probably by some inferior
imitator; also, over high altar, a Madonna with the Child
standing on her knees and caressing her-a panel-picture
of much beauty and refined feeling, by an artist known
as Antonio Romano, and inscribed Anno Dñi 1467, Anto-
nius de Romæ me pinxit die 4 Octobris.†
* A territorial limitation no longer retained.
† Only shown to the public on certain festivals, being usually covered
and hidden by another picture representing S. Bernardino. I know of
no other work by this certainly superior artist.
SACRED ART IN ITALY.
645
APPENDIX TO CHRONOLOGY OF
XIV. CENTURY.
(v. p. 401.)
Modena.-In Cathedral, ancona by Serafino de' Serafini,
subjects the Crucifixion, the Coronation of the Virgin, with
Saints, 1385; colossal wall-painting of the Deity, the
Eternal Father with the Son, as an infant blessing, held
in His hand; relievi (archaic) of the Last Supper and
Scenes of the Passion,* etc.; altar-piece by Tommaso da
Modena; other wall-paintings, the Annunciation, S. Peter,
the Virgin, etc.
Cagli.-In S. Francesco, frescoes, subjects from legend of
S. Anthony, date about 1389.
Barletta.-East end and apse of S. Maria Maggiore, a
church founded in the XII. century.
Bitetto.-Cathedral, commenced 1355.
S. Pietro in Galatina (Peninsula of Apulia).-S. Caterina,
church founded 1355, by Raymond de Baux, lord of town,
older parts (except façade) in French Gothic, aisles added
among later buildings.
Palermo.-Atrium (round-arched) of S. Maria della
Catena, about 1392; façade and towers of Cathedral, 1300-
1359.
* These sculptures (among other subjects, the washing of the Apostles'
feet and the Denial of Christ by S. Peter), are more archaic than
might be expected at the date to which I understand they are assigned.
646
APPENDIX.
Mediaval Paintings at Naples.
SOME wall-paintings in the Convent of Donna Regina at
Naples, made accessible to the public since the suppression of
monasteries, are interesting examples of medieval art in South-
crn Italy, and are referred by criticism mostly to the XIV. and
XV. centuries; in part also, namely those that form the higher of
two orders carried along the walls of a vestibule, to still earlier
date, within the XIII. century. They cover the walls both of
that chamber and of a large oratory used by the nuns; are much
damaged, faded or blackened by time, except where a few figures
have been repainted. The subjects can, in some instances, be
scarcely distinguished, and the prevailing tint is a dusky reddish
brown, far from pleasing. In the vestibule we recognise, besides
several figures of saints, standing or seated within painted
frames like architecture, the Presentation in the Temple, and
the Transit of the Virgin, the latter subject with the usual
traditionary treatment-the Saviour standing among the Apos-
tles by the bier, and holding in His arms the liberated soul in
the form of an infant. On the walls of the oratory is repre-
sented, in several orders of groups on a small scale, the entire
Gospel History, the Last Judgment, and, on a larger scale, near
the place of the altar, are separate figures of Apostles and Pro-
phets. The Judgment picture, occupying the wall opposite
to the altar, is the most damaged and unintelligible; but what
remains suffices to show a conception of the subject not accord-
ing to the Greek but the Latin ideal: beside the Saviour and
Judge stand Moses and Elias; the twelve Apostles preside
over the groups of the Blessed, and as many other personages
APPENDIX.
647
(Prophets?) over the terrific scene of the resurrection to second
death. We notice the giant S. Christopher with the Divine
Infant on his shoulders, and S. Anthony the Abbot among
Saints in the vestibule. No particularly original or striking
conceptions are manifest, and these paintings are of a descrip-
tion less interesting to the lover of Art than to the antiquarian.
On the dark panelled ceiling of the oratory is an alto-relievo in
gilt woodwork of the Coronation of the Virgin. This chapel is
now converted into the Court of Assizes; the Judge's seat fills
the place of the altar, and on one side the painted walls are in
part whitewashed over-not, I believe, through any recently
ordered arrangement. The immense monastery, restored after
the ancient buildings had suffered from earthquake, by Mary,
consort of Charles II., 1293—the pious Queen who spent the
last years of her life, and died, in this retreat is now under-
going strange transformations, which threaten to sweep away
its half-ruinous porticoes and arcades, battlemented walls, and
Gothic windows. I had neither seen nor heard of the curious
paintings in its formerly impenetrable interior, till informed on
the subject through the valuable work lately commenced, and
now appearing in periodical fascicoli, Studj sui Monumenti
d'Italia Meridionale dal IV. al XIII. secolo, by Demetrio
Saluzano, Inspector of the Pinacotheca at the National
Museum of Naples. This learned author arrives at the con-
clusion that Art never became absolutely extinct in Southern
Italy, but kept the tenor of its way through ages of turmoil
and imperfect civilization, still an independent school, which
neither required nor received lustre from the kindling of a new
light by Cimabue or Giotto. What other long buried treasures
of Art may we not expect to see brought before the public eye,
in the cloistral retreats of veiled sisterhood or obscure mendicant
community, after the full enforcement of new laws in the Italian
Kingdom?
The Catacombs of Naples.
Since my notice of these cemeteries (supr. p. 219) was written,
works of exploration have been recommenced, and intelligently
648
APPENDIX.
directed in them, with results that promise to add valuable things
to the range of Christian and Greek Antiquities in the capital of
the ex-kingdom. A full report of these interesting labours and
the fruit hitherto obtained by them, is given in De Rossi's " Bul-
lettino" of Christian Archæology, 2nd series, anno II., No. I.
It is needless to observe that such Art as is found in the
hypogaea in question, does not fall within the limits of my
present subject.
The Popes at Avignon.
Romanin, "Storia documentata di Venezia," throws doubt on
the whole story mentioned above (p. 128), of the abject humilia-
tion of the Venetian Envoy, Dandolo, before John XXII., when
that Republic submitted (1323) to the wrathful Pontiff, craving
release from the interdict provoked by the taking of Ferrara in
1308, and fulminated by Clement V.
An instance of dignified opposition to spiritual despotism
occurs in the narrative of another embassy to Avignon, sent
from Florence after Gregory XI. had cited the representatives
of that Republic (1376) to answer before his tribunal for the
offence of inciting the pontific cities to revolt against his go-
vernment, or rather that of his unworthy ministers, in the
Roman States. The Florentine Orators began by declaring
that: "During the four hundred years they had enjoyed liberty,
this blessing had become so naturalized among them that every
citizen would be ready to sacrifice life for its preservation."
The Pope would not allow them to speak further; but forth-
with launched the interdict which, among other clauses, autho-
rized all who had either the means or will to seize the persons
and confiscate the property of Florentine citizens. On this onc
of the Ambassadors, Donato Barbadori, turned to a crucifix in
the audience-hall, and appealed to the Redeemer against that
sentence, citing the words of a sacred text: " My Protector,
leave me not! even though my father and my mother should
abandon me."
APPENDIX.
619
1
Church Restorations.
The numerous restorations of ancient churches, now in pro-
gress in Central and Northern Italy, are, so far as I have had
opportunity of observing, directed by a just taste and intelli-
gent appreciation of the original architecture. The medieval
is respected and preserved; and it is the obvious aim of these
undertakings to reintegrate without altering the sacred build-
ings so cared for.
At Venice several of these works, now advancing to com-
pleteness, were commenced by Austrian, others by Italian
authorities. The restoration of St. Mark's was begun many
years before the change of government, and the entire northern
side of that basilica is now renovated, the ancient material and all
the sculptures being carefully replaced, by an architect named
Biondelli, who finished his task in 1862. In 1865, another
architect, named Dorigo, began the works still in progress at
the southern side, and directed according to the same principle
—a reintegration of the antique with the use of the old material,
and the refitting of all parts after such repair as is necessary.
Signor Dorigo proceeds slowly on system, employing com-
paratively few labourers, and scrupulously superintending all
they do. I learn with regret that it is intended to restore the
façade by the same process-an operation which, it is to be
feared, will divest that marvellous structure, to some degree, of
the time-worn grandeur and rich, venerable Orientalism which
so impose and fascinate in its aspect. In the course of the
works it was discovered that, conformably with local traditions,
the original design of the architecture is simple, the construc-
tion of brick little overlaid with ornament, and the splendid
incrustation of coloured marbles and heterogeneous sculptures
but a mask of later origin, concealing the ancient walls of this
ducal basilica. The "Storia della Repubblica di Venezia," by
Francesco Zanotto, published since the restorations in question
were begun, points out this confirmation of the conjectures of
historians and critics as to the original character of St. Mark's
cathedral.
Restorations at the church next in grandeur and in historic
650
APPENDIX.
importance at Venice, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, were begun fifteen
years ago, and are yet far from completion. The exterior has
been isolated, so that every part of its elevation, and the pen-
tagonal apse with its stories of lancet windows, are brought
fully into view, unobstructed by modern buildings. No injury
inflicted by time has been fatal to any leading features of this
church, founded in 1240; and it has only been necessary to
strengthen the lofty columns, especially the two which serve to
support the cupola. The painted glass has been removed, and
is (I understand) to be, if possible, restored, or else replaced by
other glass-paintings prepared at the factory for the service of
the Duomo at Milan. The chapel of the Rosary, destroyed by
fire in August, 1867, and in which perished on that occasion a
masterpiece of Titian and one of the most admirable Madonna
pictures of Giovanni Bellini, is rebuilt and re-roofed. Two
other Venetian churches, interesting examples of the later
Gothic and the earlier Renaissance, are undergoing repairs.
S. Maria dell' Orto, with a fine façade (1474) and sculptures
attributed to Bartolomeo Buono (or Bon), had been used as a
barrack for five years before 1862, when it was determined to
repair and reconsecrate this church. I cannot approve of the
extent to which colour and gilding are introduced in the new
embellishments; and though on the flat wooden ceiling such
decoration is suitable, its profuseness around archivolts and on
the capitals of marble columns seems discordant with the
gravity of style and massiveness of forms in this interior. I
can more unreservedly commend the repairs at S. Maria dei
Miracoli, the most exquisite Venetian example of the Renais-
sance style, rich in sculptured ornato and inlaid work of coloured
marbles—a masterpiece of the architect Pietro Lombardo, who
built this small but conspicuous church, 1481-9. The method
adopted for the restoration is like that at St. Mark's: the removal
and retouching of the marble pieces, for replacement after the
sculptor or stonecutter has done his task, but no alteration of
design or admission of novelty. The exterior of the whole
building is already thus renewed. In the interior I found all
the marble incrustations, friezes, &c. lying heaped up on the
APPENDIX.
651
།
pavement, the choir alone, raised above the nave, and provided
with ambones projecting from its platform, being finished.
The cathedral of S. Donato, on the Murano island, which,
according to Ughelli (Italia Sacra), was founded 950 and con-
secrated in 957, has been undergoing restorations since 1867,
though such works have been at intervals suspended. The
pentagonal apse, with two storeys of arcades, and much curious
inlaid work, is completely renewed with the old material; so
also the keel-formed wooden ceiling, which is to be painted.
It has not been necessary to touch the columns of Greek marble
or their Corinthian capitals, but the present altars, in bad modern
style, will be restored to an olden type, and the high altar pro-
vided with a canopy like that at St. Mark's. The grand and
sombre, long-neglected, but most impressive Duomo, on the
island of Torcello, is to become also a scene of restoring labours.
Visiting that almost deserted island in the September of last
year, I was sorry to observe signs of unchecked decay in that
venerable monument of Christian architecture, the cathedral
founded in the tenth century, and in the greater part rebuilt,
A.D. 1008, by the bishop of this See, Orso Orseoli, son of the
Doge Pietro. The highly valuable mosaic which covers the
western wall above the chief doorway, and is (I believe) the
earliest example, being coeval with the original church, of
the Last Judgment represented in such form of art, was in part
concealed by scaffolding for the requisite repairs at the time of
my visit. In this composition the figure of the Eternal Father
is introduced as well as the Saviour and Judge, the Two
Persons being similar in type, though the Father (on larger
scale) has more of the severe and sombre in aspect than the
Son. The gate of Paradise is guarded by a Seraph on the
outer side, by S. Peter with his keys and S. John the Baptist
within. Angels are precipitating the souls of the reprobate
into hell-flames, the benignant ministers thus discharging the
task assigned in later art to Demons. Below is seen the purga-
torial state, with souls, in form of nude human figures, plunged
in its cleansing fires. Central, on the lowest plain, is the apo-
calyptic throne, with a cross and jewelled book laid upon it,
652
APPENDIX.
S....
Archangels guarding it, and, on one side, S. Michael with his
scales for weighing good and evil deeds, on the other, a group
of black scaly-winged Devils.
The adjacent church of S. Fosca, founded in the X. and
restored in the XII. century, is better kept than the Duomo,
though used for worship but one day in the year, while a daily
Mass is celebrated at the latter. The fine pentagonal portico
of S. Fosca is the part most damaged.
At Verona I found works recently commenced at the histori-
cal basilica of S. Zenone, which promise well, and have already
swept away several tasteless adjuncts and alterations for which
the capitular clergy were responsible. Entering this majestic
church, we now see at once to the extremity of the spacious
crypt, divided into aisles by forty-eight columns of red marble,
like that at S. Miniato near Florence. The removal of white-
wash has brought to light many mediæval frescoes on the walls;
and among these the most remarkable is a painting, near the
tribune, attributed to Altichieri, and, I should say, worthy of
that master; the subject, a Crucifixion, with five Saints, one of
whom presents a kneeling donator, also angels hovering around
the cross. In the cathedral of Verona has lately been rescued
from whitewash an important composition in fresco, on the wall
of an aisle several saints, dignified and characteristic figures,
standing each apart within a framework of painted architecture,
an inscription being preserved with the artist's name, Giovanni
Falconetto, and the date 1503. Vasari supposes that this
Veronese artist died in 1534, aged 76; Lanzi, that he was pro-
bably living in 1553.
I cannot but look with some apprehension on repairs, how-
ever judicious or desirable, in a church so rich in memories,
and of architecture so worthily corresponding to the sanctities
of the past, as S. Ambrogio at Milan. The restorations still
progressing here, were begun about fifteen years ago. The high
altar, under which were lately discovered three skeletons, those
of St. Ambrose, St. Gervasius, and St. Protasius, is under-
going restoration; and its highly curious canopy, with archaic
reliefs on the four sides, has been restored and regilt where
APPENDIX.
653
originally so ornamented.
This canopy, resting on porphyry
columns, is among the objects by which the church was enriched
when almost rebuilt by Archbishop Galdinus, 1169.
A crypt
has been found under the mosaic-adorned chapel of St. Satyrus,
which is supposed to be another and more ancient church, the
basilica of Fausta, incorporated with the Ambrosian; and here
are to be laid the relics of St. Satyrus and St. Victor, hitherto
kept in a sculptured marble urn over the altar. Some remnants
of frescoes adorning the walls and pillars of the nave have been
brought to light by the removal of stucco. On the whole, I
must speak favourably of all that has yet been done at S.
Ambrogio. The grave dignity, the olden charm of this cele-
brated church, and its severely simple architecture, do not
appear, hitherto, injured.
At Pavia I was glad to hear of the project for finishing the ca-
thedral according to the designs of Cristoforo Rocchi, who com-
menced this building 1488: the completion to be accomplished
at the cost of the citizens, who have opened a subscription.
One benefactor left 50,000 francs by will. Some incipient works,
too little advanced for any estimate of style, are to be seen
against the lateral walls. The magnificent Certosa of Pavia
fortunately requires no repair, nor any touch from modern
labour for its elaborate and splendid details. Its marble and
mosaic encrusted chapels, gorgeous choir, and vast Renaissance
cloisters may now be visited in every part by both sexes.
Cloistral restraints are removed, though eight Carthusian monks
(three only in priest's orders) still remain here as guardians and
ministers of this famous sanctuary. At Piacenza I saw with
pleasure the restoration, and I believe strictly to its original
type, of S. Antonino, the former cathedral, founded in the
tenth, and partly (as, no doubt, in the acute arches of its inte-
rior) a building of the twelfth century. Some grotesque reliefs
round the portal are, I believe, the oldest details. Of the frescoes
on pilasters (mentioned by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle)
I could find only one, the single figure of St. Anthony the
Hermit.
Comparing the works for church-restoration carried out in
654
APPENDIX.
recent years by ecclesiastical government at Rome and by con-
stitutional government in other Italian cities, one is struck by
singularity of contrast. In the pontifical metropolis sacred
antiquity has been overlaid and disguised under modern splen-
dours, with questionable taste; under the constitutional régime it
has been scrupulously revered and preserved, so far as possible,
in the processes of renovation ! The Italian Government is
accused, and not without cause, of systematic antagonism
against the claims and privileges of the hierarchic body, and
against all ecclesiastical institutions. The spirit and intention
with which such sacred monuments as I have above alluded to
are now cared for, with lavish expense, announce the strength
and reality of an opposite feeling, the Catholic and traditional,
in the Italian mind; and perhaps may be construed as a guaran-
tee for the maintenance of the old religion, however modified or
newly influenced, in this classic land-the centre of so many
supremacies. (Communicated to the "Academy.")
The Ducal Palace, Venice.
Further study with reference to this historical Palace has led
me to modify the opinion expressed above (pp. 346-7), and to con-
clude that, though the terms used by some writers seem to imply
the fact of a total re-edification begun in the second year of Fran-
cesco Foscari (1424), some parts at least of an architecture older
than the XV. century are still seen in the imposing pile before
us. Two of the acute-arched windows with tracery, on the front
towards the "Riva," are at lower level than others in the same
storey; and the more antique character is apparent in the small
acute-arched windows of the highest storey overlooking the
inner court. The new buildings, we are told, were finished up
to the imposts of the arches opposite the "Scala dei Giganti" in
1457, the last year of the Doge Foscari. In 1499 the directing
architect, Rizzo, was succeeded by Pietro Lombardo.
No statement by trustworthy writers obliges us to conclude
that the time-honoured residence of the earlier Doges was
demolished without sparing a single detail. The opinions of
critics are divided, as I have observed, respecting the period
APPENDIX.
655
of the very remarkable sculptures on the capitals of the lower
arcades; and perhaps it may be inferred that, if executed in
the XV. century, the intention and ideas manifest in those
works pertain to the preceding.
The Jubilee Year and Confraternities in Rome.
The more frequent recurrence of the Jubilee-determined by
bull of Paul II., afterwards by Sixtus IV., for every twenty-
fifth instead of every fiftieth, or (according to the original de-
cree) every first year in each century-supplied fresh stimulus
throughout the range of ecclesiastical undertakings. During
the years which immediately preceded the great twelve months'
festival there was a continual movement towards the restoring,
embellishing, or founding of churches. In this way, probably,
much was lost that deserved to be retained; but no doubt much
was accomplished with energy. So also did the founding of
national hospices, attached to churches, for French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Slavonians, Genoese, Bretons, contribute to the
motives for exertion and to interests of art in Rome during this
century. And the continual growth of pious confraternities,
each dedicated to some special office of devotion or charity,
each provided with its proper oratory, was at the same time an
operative cause for securing similar effects. Now arose, with
the form of pious sodalities, the guilds of traders and artizans;
that of gardeners and fishermen, who built the richly ornate
church of S. Maria dell' Orto (1489) in Trastevere; that of
innkeepers, ferrymen, and boatmen of the Tiber, who built
S. Rocco, with a hospital, (1499,) modernized in 1657; that of
druggists, who founded a hospital (1430) beside S. Lorenzo in
Miranda, rebuilt in 1602, amidst the ruins of the temple of
Antoninus and Faustina; that of bakers, who formed themselves
into a guild in 1500, and commenced in 1507 their church,
S. Maria di Loreto, finished 1580, from the designs of Antonio
Sangallo. The sculptors and stonecutters chose for their wor-
ship the ancient chapel of S. Sylvester, contiguous to the SS.
Quattro Incoronati. The painters, though earlier constituted
as a privileged association, did not obtain a church for their
656
APPENDIX.
aggregate worship-SS. Luca e Martina, on the Forum-till
1588.
If the fifteenth century has its darker aspect in the annals of
Rome and of the Papacy; if (especially within its later years)
some individuals, raised to the chair of S. Peter, proved little
worthy of that high post; and if ecclesiastical policy, under such
auspices, manifested increasing tendencies to worldliness, -
granting that all those evils existed, we perceive, nevertheless, a
brighter side of the picture, radiant and attractive in the lustre
thrown on the records of these times from the progress of intel-
lect and inspirations of piety.
INDEX.
PAGE
Academies of Art
Literary
Acciajuoli, Niccolo
Ahrler, Architect
Ailly, Pierre de
252,616
Archives of Monte Vergine
PAGE
245
534
Arezzo
272
Armenian Church
365
Arnoldo Alberto
299, 410
484, 493
269
430
Albornoz, Cardinal
23, 33, 42, 314, 391
Assisi, history of 99, 106, 311, 411
Churches: Cathedral
Basilica of S. Francis 311, 325
316
Alexander V.
Alexander VI.
434, 437
562, 608, 629, 631
S. Chiara
314
S. Damiano
316
Alfonso I. King of Naples
499, 512
S. Maria Maggiore
317
Alfonso II.
ditto
569, 577
S. Pietro
316
Altichieri da Zevio
353, 356*
Astrology
160
Alvernia, Convent
486
Augustine, S.
362, 370
Amadeus VIII. of Savoy
475
Avanzi, Jacopo
353, 356, 393
Ambrogio, Traversari, Beato
492
Avignon, Papal Court at
Ambrosian Liturgy
119
18, 23, 39, 48
America, Discovery of
588
Ancona
521
Baboccio, Antonio
221
Andrea Corsini, Saint
271
Bartolini, Jurisconsult
144
Andrea di Firenze
285, 291
Bartoli Taddeo
282, 296
Angelico, Fra Giovanni
618, 642
Bartolo, Jurisconsult
157, 159
Angelus, or Ave Maria
504, 591
Battle of Anghiari
272
Anjou Dynasty
214
Annates
19, 94, 450
Annunciation, Order of
590
of Fornovo
of Montecatini
of Parabiagio
579
250
119
Anthony, S.
352
Belgrade, Siege of
510
Antipopes: Benedict XIII. 108, 447.
Bellini, Jacopo
337
Clement VII.
68, 107
Benedict XII.
7, 146, 159, 389
Clement VIII.
508
Benevento
83
Felix V.
474, 500
Bergamo, Churches
381
Antonio Veneziano
256, 285
Berna di Siena
194, 282, 300
Archbishops of Capua
115
Bernardino da Siena, S.
463, 623
of Florence
133
Bernardo di Venezia
368
of Milan
of Naples
126 Bertrando, Beato
115 Bessarion, Cardinal
186
481, 518
of Riga
103
Bevignate, S.
310
Architecture in Rome
593
Biella
408
Boccaccio
156, 184, 214
Bohemia, Kings of
533
* For the subjects marked with
Bologna, history of
an asterisk, see Appendix.
7, 34, 51, 59, 101, 122, 125, 385.
2 U
1:
+
658
INDEX.
PAGE
Bologna, Churches: S. Petronio
395, 408, 422, 438
SS. Agostino e Giacomo
(or S. Giacomo Maggiore) 393
S. Francesco
Churches: S. Maria de' Servi
PAGE
Mezzarata Chapel
Certosa, extramural
Bolsena
Bonafuti
Boniface IX.
90, 108
Borgia, Alfonso (v. Callixtus III.)
Catherine, Queen of Bosnia
543
Cavallini, Pietro
201, 213
Cecchi, Giovanni
284
Cecco d' Ascoli
160
398
Celibacy
471, 590
Cennino Cennini
256
397, 408
394
· 398
59
396
Censorship of Books
Cesena
Charles III. of Naples
Charles IV. Emperor
Charles VIII. of France
Charles the Illustrious, Duke of
590
57
75, 113
36
557, 568, 574, 577
508, 608
Calabria
Cesare
565, 581, 585, 631
Chaucer
Giovanni
565, 585
Chieti
229
93
408
Lucrezia
566, 582
Chinea, (or palfrey) tribute of 111
Rodriguez (v. Alexander VI.)
Ciccione Andrea
216, 225
Botticelli, Sandro
625
Ciompi, Revolt of at Florence 251
Bracciano
573
Cione, Andrea di
253, 266, 402
Braccio da Montone
458
Leonardo di
256
Bramante
600
Circus Maximus
209
Brigida, S.
48, 117, 181
Citta di Castello
325, 412
Bruni Leonardo
426, 428, 439
Clara, S.
315
Buonarotti, Michelangiolo
615
Clergy, Laws against
21
Buono (or Bono) Bartolommeo 347
Cola, Gennaro di
222, 240
Burkhard, Diarist
576, 583, 585
Colombini Giovanni, Beato
184
Colonna family
Calendario Filippo
345
104, 420, 427, 436, 460, 549.
Callixtus III.
508
Colosseum
16, 147
Campagna of Rome
17, 46, 552
Columbus
588
Campeggi, Cardinal
600
Communion in one kind
447
Campello, Giovanni di
382
Como, Cathedral
384
Campione, Bernardo da
370,378
Conclave
62, 452, 554, 562
Matteo da
385
Consalvo, of Cordova
580
Cangrande (v. Della Scala)
Constantine XII. Greek Emperor
Canonizations
183, 641
473, 506
Capitoline Palace 105, 207, 424, 427
Capranica, Domenico, Cardinal 599
of
Constantinople, Siege and capture
505
Cardinals
22, 432
Contucci, Andrea
Carnival
530
Corneto
602, 606
41, 48, 55
Carrara da, family
350
Coronation of Frederick of Sicily 138
Castle of S. Angelo
72, 105, 553, 575, 581, 601
of S. Elmo
225
of Anjou Kings at Naples 216
Cortona
Catacombs of Naples
Catherine, S. of Siena
219*
of Doges of Venice
Cosmati family
Cossa Baldassare (v. John XXIII.)
20, 53, 175, 205, 641
Council of Basle
Coronations of Emperors
37, 44
of Popes
66, 68, 91, 563
333
298, 410
195
468, 470
INDEX.
659
Council of Constance
of Ferrara
of Florence
of Pavia
of Pisa
of Rome
of Udine
Cremona
PAGE
223
PAGE
442
Fiore, Colantonio del
479
Florence, history of
408
461
52, 67, 132, 249, 251, 571
Churches: Cathedral
433
440
432
Badia
Carmine
442
319
S. Marco
Cresci, Pietro B.
Crucifixion represented in Art
313, 384, 394, 413, 618*
Crusade against Alexandria
+
130
against Joanna I. of Naples 75
against Louis of Anjou 78, 80
against Smyrna
129
against Spoleto and Orvieto 88
against the Turks 129,515, 520
against Venice
128
Cusa, Nicholas, Cardinal 430, 614
Daddi, Bernardo
Dante
253, 267, 270, 402
485
269, 271
S. Croce 255, 263, 267, 325, 402
485
S. Maria Novella 256, 266, 412
S. Miniato
Or San Michele
Baptistery
Chapel of Bigallo
degli Spagnuoli
269, 402
258, 402
270
402
412
Certosa (extramural) 272, 402
Loggia di Orcagna
253, 270, 402
Foligno
317, 411
Churches: Cathedral
319
262
S Anna
Betlemme
321
321
121, 253, 286, 377
Demolition of Buildings, &c.
Demonology and Demons in Art
S. Maria infra Portas 318, 320
400, 598
Fondi
68
Francesca Romana, S.
635
285, 300, 379
Francesco di Paola, S.
577, 590
Divorces
Donatello
Drama
101, 567
602
147,569, 582
Francesco di Volterra
285
Fraticelli
142
Frederick I. (or II.) of Sicily 136
II. (or III.) of Sicily
Election of Bishops
135
III. of Naples
Emblems in Art
302, 373, 609
Fredi Bartolo
Emmanuel of Portugal
589
Frezzi Federigo
137
580
282
151
Esti, Marquises of Ferrara
91,530
Eugenius IV.
418, 465, 495, 596, 603, 607
Gaddi, Agnolo 255, 262, 277, 409
Taddeo
255, 312
Ethiopian Church
493
Gaetani Family
104, 582
Excommunication
170, 478*
Gerson, Jean Charlier
430
Ghirlandajo Domenico
625
Ferdinand (Ferrante) I. of Naples
Giacomo della Marca, S.
511
543
Genoa
83
Ferdinand II. of Naples
567, 580
Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain
Gentile da Fabriano
Gerini, Lorenzo
337
298
580, 590
Niccolo
269, 297
Fermo
411
Giottino, Stefano
254, 312, 314
Festivals, popular
173
Giotto
of Venice
175, 334, 473
Fidene
Filarcte
553
603, 607
187, 191, 214, 217, 236, 292
Giovanni da Capestrano, S. 510
Giovanni da Milano
255, 276, 404
660
INDEX.
PAGE
PAGE
Golden Rose
45, 92, 581
Ladislaus, of Naples
Gospels, Apocryphal
Gonfalone, Sodality of
Greek Church, attempted Reunion
147
400
with Latin
480, 483, 505
Gregory XI.
50, 56, 146
Gregory XII.
Guariento
Guesclin, Bertrand de
429
326
39
101, 115, 423, 427, 431, 441
Lamberti, Niccolo Aretino 270, 301
Landini, Jacopo (Il Casentino)
255, 259
Last Judgment, represented in
Art 287, 289, 610, 646, 651*
Legends of S. Andrea Corsini 271
:
of S. Catherine of Alexandria
616
Hawkwood
46, 52, 58
of S. Christopher
618
Henry VII, Emperor
250
of SS. Ephesus and Poti-
Heraldry at Florence
252
tus
293
Heresies
141, 145
of
SS. Gamaliel and
punishment of
529, 590
Lucian
204
Hohenstaufen Dynasty
214
of S. George
356
Holy Week
165
of S. James the Apostle
354
Huniades, Voivod of Transilvania
of S. Mary Magdalene
268
510
of S. Matthew
410
Hus, John
447, 450
of S. Mark
336
of the Patron Saints of
Images (as ex-votos)
572
Venice
334
Impruneta (near Florence) 275,403
Indulgences
2, 36, 92, 448, 590
of SS. Peter and Paul 320, 604
of the Beato Ranieri of Pisa
Innocent IV., monument of
226
290
Innocent VI.
22
of the Girdle of the Vir-
Innocent VII.
423, 428
gin Mary
277, 409
Innocent VIII.
554, 610
of the True Cross
267, 621
Inquisition in Spain
552
Installation of Popes
169, 563
Interdicts
brosa
52, 59, 67, 81, 133, 252, 541*1
of Monte Vergine
of the Demons at Vallom-
of the Demon at Naples 212
242
161
Isaia of Pisa
607
Leto Pomponio
Isidore, S.
339
Libraries, Monastic
Lippo Dalmasio
Januarius, S.
Jerome of Prague
243
Lippi Filippino
534
317
392
620
448
Jesuati Order
49, 185
Joan of Valois, S.
590
Joanna I. of Naples
Literature of XIV. century 147, 150
revival of in XV. century
Lorenzetti, Pietro
45, 61, 69, 77, 111, 113, 231, 238
Louis XI. of France
II. of Naples
458
John Nepomuck, S.
421
XII. of France
of Anjou I. titular King
John XXII.
159, 389
of Naples
John XXIII.
438, 456
II. ditto
peror
44, 473, 479, 483
John Palæologus, Greck Em-
Jubilee Year (Anno Santo)
1, 90, 365, 500, 543*
Prince of Taranto 238, 244
Louis of Anjou, Bishop of Tou-
louse, S.
311
King of Hungary
498, 513
285, 408
517, 526
567,580
77, 101
101,114
112
INDEX.
661
PAGE
PAGE
Lucca
85
Monza Basilica
385
Lucera
113
Mosaics
190, 200, 218, 339, 340*
Museum, Brera
405
Malatesta, Sigismondo
519
National, of Naples
219, 220
Manfredi, Fra Andrea
397
of Propaganda College
588
Astorre di
52, 581
Mussato Albertino
148
Mantua
406
Mystery Plays
549, 617
Manuel Palæologus, Greek Em-
peror
457
Margaritone di Arezzo
306
tury
116
Marino, Siege of
550
Churches: Cathedral
Martin V.
452, 596
Mary, the Blessed Virgin, re-
presented in Art 243, 287, 301,
594, 615, 618. 621, 622
Immaculate Conception of 552
Ideas respecting 157, 557
Mary, Duchess of Durazzo 230
Masaccio, Tommaso
616
Masegne, Pietro and Jacobello
311, 399
Masuccio the First 215, 224, 240
the Second 224, 228, 235, 237
Matthias Corvinus, King of
Naples, state of in XIV. cen-
211, 215, 226, 403
Baptistery of Cathedral
S. Chiara
218
215, 217, 223, 227, 403
S. Giovanni a Carbonara 215
L'Incoronata 215, 238, 403
S. Lorenzo
220, 235
S. Maria Donna Regina 237*
S. Martino
S. Pietro ad Aram
S. Restituta
Neapolitan Kingdom, history of
219
211
211
77, 88, 110, 115, 210, 558, 577, 580
Niccolo da Furcapalena, B. 623
Nicholas V.
497, 597, 619
Hungary
533
Mausoleum of Augustus
301
Mazzorbo, Venetian Island
351
Nocera
80, 106
Medals of Popes
602
Oblate Nuns
Medici Family
636
539, 541, 571
Melozzo da Forli
Orcagna (v. Cione)
633
Orvieto
25, 98, 411
Mentana
557
Ostia
Merliano, Giovanni di Nola
55, 572, 584, 596
216
Michelotti, Biordo di
78
Milan, history of 117, 125, 126,363
Cathedral
365, 404
Otranto, siege and capture of 544
Padua, Churches: Basilica of S.
Anthony
S. Ambrogio
652
Miniatures
643
Eremitani
S. Giorgio
Mino da Fiesole 602, 610, 611, 612
Baptistery
del Regno
602
Pace da Faenza
Mirandola
407
Palaces, Municipal, of Florence 254
Moccio da Siena
410
of Perugia
Modena, Cathedral
645
of Piacenza
Mohammed II.
505, 545
of Pistoja
Monica, S.
374, 607
of Siena
Monte Cassino
49, 158, 558
Palestrina
Montefalco
324, 411
Pantheon
Monte Vergine
241, 412
Paolo Romano
Monuments of Popes
189, 226, 607, 608, 610
Papacy, Court of (v. Avignon)
311
407
281
408
26
597
593, 601
463, 552, 582
352, 406
362
356, 406
361
314, 392
.
..
6, 146, 536, 582
481, 591
662
Papacy, Temporal Power of
Spiritual Power of
INDEX.
PAGE
Pragmatic Sanction of Gallican
PAGE
Church
526
Prefects of Rome
488, 512
Passavanti, Jacopo
154
Printing Press, introduced into
Paul II.
527, 608
Italy
531
Pavia
122, 126, 367, 405
Puccio, Capanna
392
Pavia Churches: Cathedral 369
Pietro di
285
Certosa
368*
· S. Maria de' Servi
399
Pazzi Conspiracy
539
Relics
Penance
121, 162, 376
Perino de' Grassi
378, 404
Perugia, Churches: S. Agata
308
S. Angelo
307
Quadriregio, Epic Poem
196, 243, 349, 489, 518, 560, 621
René d'Anjou, titular king of Naples
556, 568
Resurrection of CHRIST represented
151
S. Bevignate
309
in Art
298, 414, 631
S. Costanzo
S. Fiorenzo
310
Ricci, Bishop of Pistoja
279
307
Richard II. of England
92
S. Matteo
308
Rienzo, Cola di
4, 24, 26, 151
and S. Crispino
Pinacotheca
Chapels of S. Agostino
Perugino, Pietro Vannucci 627,632
Ritual and Ceremonies
308
119, 133, 163, 512, 518, 529, 552
306, 309
Rivoli
399, 407
Rocca di Papa
55b
Peruzzi, Baldassare
623
Rome, state of in XIV. century
Peter II of Sicily
136
Petrarch
4, 18, 22, 160
his Sonnets
21, 389
his Canzoni and Letters
15, 40, 145, 208
Petronius, S.
386
Petronio, Pietro B.
184
Piacenza
407
Piccolomini, Æneas Sylvius (v.
Pius II.)
Pietrasanta
410
S. Balbina
Pilgrimages
4, 139, 158, 543
S. Cecilia
8, 14, 17, 46
in XV. century
487, 492, 522, 544, 561, 589
Churches: S. Peter's
189, 401, 606, 608, 610
S. John, Lateran Basilica
44, 187, 401, 489, 595, 607
S. Agostino 594, 602, 607
S. Andrea della Valle 608
SS. Apostoli
606
596, 613
199, 401, 606
Pinturicchio, Bernardino Betti
S. Clemente
621, 623, 627
S. Cosimato
44, 606, 616
612
Pisa, Churches: S. Caterina
294
Certosa
408
S. Francesco
295
Campo Santo 254, 284, 408
Pisanello, Vittore
602
Pius II.
514, 638
Plague of 1348
252
Platina
530, 634
Pollajuolo, Antonio
597, 609
Porcaro, Stefano
497, 503
Posterla Family
120
Prato, Churches
276, 409
S. Crisogono 200, 402
S. Croce in Gerusalemme
S. Lorenzo (extramural) 17
Chapel of
S. Maria in Aracoeli
199, 203, 206, 543, 606, 623
S. Maria della Consolazione
529
S. Maria Maggiore 196, 614
S. Maria della Pace 594
621
S. Marco
619
595
INDEX.
663
PAGE
Rome, Churches: S. Maria sopra
PAGE
Shrine of S. John the Baptist 281
11
598, 624
206, 596
595
S. Maria del Popolo
Minerva
205, 606, 618, 620
· S. Maria di Monserrato
of S. Isidore
340
of S. Severa
612
595, 606, 608
Sibyls
628
Sicily
61, 135, 137
594, 606, 611, 622
Siena
38, 303
Cathedral
305, 408
Fonte Gaja
400
- Municipal Palace
303
S. Maria del Priorato 606
S. Maria in Trastevere
17, 197, 202, 612
S. Onofrio
623
S. Paul's, Ostian Basilica
196, 201, 601, 603
S. Pietro in Vincoli 614
SS. Quattro Incoronati 595
S. Sabina and S. Saba 17
S. Salvatore in Lauro 607
Sistine Chapel
S. Sisto
S. Stefano Rotondo
SS. Trinita di Monte 596
Sigismund, Emperor 441, 445, 467
Signorelli, Luca
621, 626
Simone of Naples 222, 232, 235, 240
de' Crocifissi
Ghini of Florence
Sixtus IV.
392
603, 607
536, 609, 624
Solario, Antonio di
Sorcery and witchcraft,
220, 223
prosecution
of
159, 561, 590
Spello
324
Bridges
71, 425
Spinelli, Spinello 269,
293, 299, 303
Obelisks
210
Spoleto
97, 324, 412
Palaces 105, 207, 424, 598, 600
Starnina, Gherardo
256
Walls
577
Sieges of
436, 441, 469
Stefani, Tommaso degli
Pietro degli
221, 241
241
Rosselli, Cosimo
Stefano di Firenze
252
625
Stefanone, Maestro
222
Sacraments, The Seven, represented
Subiaco
468, 531, 644
in Art
238, 384
Suvareto
410
Salerno
412
Sword and Cap, consecrated 85, 517
Salutati, Coluccio
146
Sangallo, Antonio
595
Terni
324
San Gemignano
281, 409
Tesauro, Filippo
222
Sanseverino
412
Teutonic Knights
103, 463
Savonarola
579, 587
Thomas Aquinas, S.
Scala della, Lords of Verona
289, 295, 412, 620
162,375
Theatre of Pompey
209
Scanderbeg, Prince of Albania 532
Sculpture of XIV. Century
189, 194, 197, 213
of XV. Century 593, 601, 605
Tino da Camaino
237
Tivoli
38
Todi
106
Torcello Cathedral
349*
Semitecolo
338, 406
Torture
80, 122
Senators of Rome
Trevi
323
5, 14, 19, 46, 103, 108
Treviso
407
Sforza, Ascanio, Cardinal 559, 606
TRINITY, the Godhead, represented
Gian Galeazzo, Duke
570
in Art
274, 308, 321, 609*
Ludovico, "Il Moro"
568, 570
Shrine of S. Augustine
369
Umiliati Friars
250
of S. James
280, 409
Universities
150, 158, 387
664
INDEX.
PAGE
Urban V.
39, 41, 123
Villani, Matteo
Urban VI.
66, 228
Vincenzi, Antonio
Visconti, Giovanni, Archbishop and
PAGE
1, 2
395
Archives
Valentine, S.
Valdesi (or Vaudois)
Vatican Palace
Borgia Apartment
Chapel of S. Lorenzo
379
Lord of Milan
34, 121, 127
143
Gian Galeazzo I.
100
44, 597
Ottone, Matteo, and Azzone 118
551
Luchino
627
Galeazzo II.
619
Bernabo
120
122
122, 405
Christian Museum
204
Gian Galeazzo, Duke of Milan
Library
498, 551
124, 363, 367
Venice, history of
127, 130, 327
Visions: of S. Ambrose in battle 119
Public Charities of
336
11
Frari
331, 346*
Churches: S. Mark's Cathedral
328, 331, 339, 345, 403*
332, 343, 348
SS. Giovanni e Paolo
331, 542*
S. Maria dell' Orto. 349*
S. Maria della Salute 339
Ducal Palace
Islands (v. Mazzorbo and
Walter de Brienne
of S. Peter to Urban VI.
of Ferdinand of Naples
89
586
Vitale of Bologna
392
Vite, Antonio
278
Vitelleschi, Cardinal
487, 489
Viterbo
26, 41, 43, 98, 106
250
Wenceslaus, Emperor
White Penitents
125, 448
139
Torcello*)
Wycliffe
145, 447
Verona, history of
373
Church of S. Zenone
652
Monuments of Scaligeri
Zabarella, Cardinal
Zagarolo
430
488
376, 405
Zizim, Turkish Prince
559, 576
Vicovaro
569, 637
THE END.
G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN.

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