acquiring the bishoprics.

With respect to the Palatinate, he expresses himself as follows :
" Casimir had a sister, a widow, who had been wife to a landgrave of
Hesse, and was living at Braubach, a domain on the Rhine. She ap-
pears to possess many moral virtues, and some degree of religious
light : she is wont to practise many works of charity with much zeal,
bestowing many alms, and consoling the sick of those districts, whom
she provides with medicine. She converses willingly with certain



3o8 RANKE

fathers of the Jesuit order, and with the Archbishop of Treves. . . .
It is the opinion of many that with greater diligence, and by means
of some Jesuit father in her favor, or of some Catholic prince or
bishop, it would be an easy thing to bring her entirely over to the
true faith ; . . . for which, if the blessed God would grant his
grace, and the thing were done with befitting secrecy, she would be
an excellent instrument for afterward converting her nephew with his
sister and another daughter left by Casimir."

The author is here alluding to Anna Elizabeth of the Palatinate,
wife of Philip II of Hesse Rheinfels, who died in the year 158^. She
had previously been suspected of Calvinism, and had even been wounded
in a tumult on that account. We see that at a later period, while re-
siding on her jointure estate of Braubach, which she was embellishing
she was suspected of a tendency to the opposite creed of Catholicism.

This was the combination of circumstances on which our author
builds. He thinks that if the young count palatine were then to be
married to a Bavarian princess, the whole territory would become
Catholic. And what an advantage would it be to gain over an elec-
torate !

No. 75

Instruttione a V. Signore Monsignor Barberino, arcivescovo di Nasaret,
destinato nuntio ordinario di N. Signore al re christianissimo in
Francia, 1603. [Instruction to Monsignore Barberino, archbishop
of Nazareth, on being sent papal nuncio to the most Christian king,
etc.] MS. Rome.

Prepared by Cardinal P. Aldobrandino, who makes frequent men-
tion of his own former embassy to the French Court. Its object is the
furtherance of Catholicism in France, where it had already received
a powerful impulse from the conversion of Henry IV.

Let us listen to some of the charges given to the nuncio (who was
afterward Pope Urban VIII) : " Your Excellency will proceed in
such a manner with the King, that he shall not only give evidence
of his desire for the conversion of heretics, but shall aid and favor
them after their conversion. The idea of balancing matters so that
both the parties shall be maintained in amity, is a vain, false, and er-
roneous proposition ; it can be suggested only by politicians, evil-
minded persons, and such as love not the supreme authority of the
King in the kingdom. . . . Our lord the Pope would have you
place before him (the King) for his consideration a most easy method
(for getting rid of the Protestants), one that will cause no commo-
tion, can be very easily executed, and produces its effect without con-
stant labor. It is that which his holiness has on other occasions sug-
gested to his Majesty, adducing the example of the King of Poland;
namely, that he should confer no appointment or promotion on heretics.
. . . Your Excellency will also remind his Majesty that he should
occasionally give a shrewd rap to those fellows (the Huguenots), for
they are an insolent and rebellious crew. . . . Your excellency
must plainly tell the King that he ought to discontinue the economati
(custody of vacant sees), and avoid the practice of giving bishoprics
and abbacies to soldiers and women."

The right of the regale, which afterward occasioned so many
disputes, had its origin in these economati: " The King nominates
the economo, who, by virtue of a decree, and before the apostolic de-
cision has been made, administers both spiritual and temporal affairs,



THE HISTORY OF THE POPES 309

confers benefices, and constitutes vicars, who judge, absolve, and dis-
pense."

The nuncio was also to labor for the confirmation of the King him-
self in the Catholic faith, for it was not possible that he could have
received sufficient instruction during the war. He was enjoined to
urge the appointment of good bishops and to promote the reform of
the clergy; if possible, he was also to see that the decrees of the Council
of Trent were published : the King had promised the cardinal on his
departure that this should be done within two months, yet several
years had now passed, and it was still delayed. He was further to ad-
vise the destruction of Geneva : " To do away with the nest that the
heretics have in Geneva, as that which offers an asylum to all the
apostates that fly from Italy."

But it is Italy that the Pope has most at heart. He declares it to
be intolerable that a Huguenot commander should be sent to Castel
Delfino, on the southern side of the Alps. His example would be
deadly.

Clement was very earnestly occupied with the idea of a Turkish
war. Each of the sovereigns ought to attack the Turks from a different
point. The King of Spain was already prepared, and only required
an assurance that the King of France would not raise a war against
him meanwhile in other quarters.



No. 76

Pauli V. ponteücis maxima vita compendiose scripta. Bibl. Barb.
[Epitome of the life of Pope Paul V.] Barberini Library.

A panegyric of no great value.

The judicial administration of this pontiff and that of his govern-
ment generally, as well as his architectural undertakings, are all ex-
tolled at length.

" He was for the most part silent and abstracted, in all times and
places ; even at table he meditated, wrote, and transacted many affairs.

" To evil-doers no retreat was afforded. From the principal palaces
of Rome culprits were dragged to punishment by an armed force. I
do not say from the open halls only, but even from the innermost apart-
ments of the noblest dwellings.

" In the beginning of his pontificate he was oppressed by many dif-
ficulties, and most of all by want of money. During sixteen years he
was continually expending much gold in gifts, the reconstruction of
buildings, or the raising of others entirely new ; in fortresses also, and
subsidies to foreign powers; being moreover at much cost for supplies
of corn. He took nothing from the treasure of the castle St. Angelo,
amassed there for the public safety, and relieved the burdens of the
subject provinces. For so many vast works he contracted no new
debt, but rather diminished the old ; nor was he by any means re-
duced to want — nay, he enriched the public treasury from many sources,
and even accumulated 900,000 pieces of gold in his private treasury."

This panegyrist does not appear to have considered the creation of
so many new luoghi di monte as a loan.



3IO RANKE



No. TJ



Relatione dello stato infelice della Germania, cum propositione delli

rimedii opportuni, mandata dal nuntio Ferrero, vescovo di Vercelli,
alia Santita di N. Signore Papa Paolo V. Bibl. Barb. [Report
on the unhappy state of Germany, with a proposal of the fitting reme-
dies, presented by the nuncio Ferrero, bishop of Vercelli, to his
holiness our Lord the Pope Paul V.] Barberini Library.

This is probably one of the first circumstantial reports that came
into the hands of Paul V. The nuncio alludes to the insurrection of
the imperial troops against their general, Basta, in May, 1605, as an
event that had just occurred.

The unfortunate course taken by the war under these circumstances,
the progress of the Turks, and that of the rebels who were in open
strife with the Emperor, were without doubt his chief reasons for
calling Germany unhappy.

For, on the other hand, he did not fail to perceive the many con-
quests which the Catholic Church was making in Germany.

" The immediate cause of these successes have been the pupils, both
of Rome and various cities or other places of Germany, where the
piety of Gregory XIII afforded them opportunity of instruction at the
cost of the apostolic treasury, together with the colleges and schools
of the Jesuit fathers, wherein heretics are received mingled with the
Catholics ; because the aforesaid students become prelates or canons."

He declares repeatedly that the Jesuit schools had won over large
masses of young men to Catholicism; but he complains of an extraor-
dinary dearth of Catholic parish priests, more particularly in Bohemia.

He enters also into the political state of the country. He con-
siders the danger from the Turks to be rendered very menacing and
serious by the feeble and ill-prepared condition of the emperors, and
the internal dissensions of the house of Austria. The archdukes Mat-
thias and Maximilian have reconciled their disputes, that they might
the better oppose the Emperor.

" The Archdukes Matthias and Maximilian are now united in
friendship, perceiving that by their divisions they were playing the game
desired by the Emperor. Thus the second archduke has resolved to
yield to the first, as to him in whom, by the claims of primogeniture,
is vested the right to the Kingdom of Hungary, Bohemia, and the
States of Austria. Albert also has promised to acquiesce in whatever
shall be done, and by common consent they have required the Em-
peror by letters to adopt some resolution for the stability of the house ;
but he has fallen into so melancholy a state, whether because of their
union, and vexation at not being able to avail himself of those sedi-
tions, or for some other cause, that he provides neither for the impe-
rial house, for his States, nor for himself."

Many other remarkable circumstances are also brought to light —
the fact, for example, that views were entertained by the house of
Brandenburg upon Silesia even at that time. " Brandenburg does not
despair, with the States that he has in Silesia, and with his own forces,
of succeeding, at some period of revolution, in appropriating that prov-
ince to himself."



THE HISTORY OF THE POPES 311



No. 78

Relatione dell' illustrissimo Signore Franc. Molino cavaliere e procuror
tore ritornato da Roma con I' illustrissimo Signori Giovanni Mo-
cenigo cavaliere, Piero Duodo cavaliere e Francesco Contarini
cavaliere, mandati a Roma a congratularsi con Papa Paolo V.
della sua assontione al ponteficato: letta in senato 25 Genn. 1605
(1606). [Report of Francesco Molino on his return from Rome
with the most illustrious signors Pietro Duodo and Francesco
Contarini, whither they had been conjointly sent to congratulate
Pope Paul V on his accession to the pontificate: read in the
senate Jan. 1605 (1606).]

The outbreak of troubles was already foreseen ; the ambassadors ob-
served Pope Paul V as minutely as possible.

" When Leo XI was declared Pope they delayed the pontifical invest-
ment for two hours; but this Pope was believed to be clothed pon-
tifically almost before he was elected, and while yet but equal to the
other cardinals ; for he had scarcely been declared before he began to
manifest the pontifical reserve and gravity so conspicuously, whether
in looks, movements, words, or deeds, that all were filled with amaze-
ment and wonder, many perhaps repenting, but too late, and to no
purpose. For this pontiff, wholly different from his predecessors, who,
in the hurry and warmth of those first moments, all consented to the re-
quests as well of the cardinals as others, and granted a vast number of
favors. This Pope, I say, remained from the first most reserved and
serious — nay, declared himself resolved not to grant or promise the
most trifling request, affirming that it was needful and proper that
he should take due consideration with regard to every request pre-
sented to him. Thus there were but very few who received any favors,
and those after the lapse of some days. Nor does he at all enlarge
his liberality ; on the contrary, his reserve seems always increasing,
so that the court is apprehensive of a continued scarcity of favors, and
closer restriction on all points, whereat all are very sorrowful. Among
the cardinals there is not one that can boast of having had so much
familiarity or intimacy with him as to make sure of readily obtaining
anything at his hands : and they all hold him in so much dread that
when they have to wait upon him for the negotiation of affairs, they are
quite bewildered and disconcerted ; for not only do they always find
him standing on his dignity, and giving his replies in few words, but
he further encounters them with resolutions almost always founded on
the most rigid letter of the law. He will make no allowance for cus-
toms, which he calls abuses, nor for the practice of preceding pontiffs,
to which not only he declares himself incapable of reconciling his con-
science, but he further says those popes may have done wrong, and
have now perhaps to render an account to God, or else they may have
been deceived, or that the cases have been different from those then
before him ; thus he dismisses the cardinals, for the most part, very ill
satisfied. He is not pleased that any should speak long in dissent or
argument, and if he does listen to one or two replies, when he has met
them by decisions of law, by the canons, or by decrees of councils,
which he cites in refutation of their opinions, he turns away if they
proceed further, or commences some other subject; for he would have
them to know, that after his labors for thirty-five years in the study
of the laws, and in their continual practice, while exercising various
offices in the Roman Court and elsewhere, he may reasonably pretend



312 RANKE

(though he does not say this in express words) to so exact an ac-
quaintance with the subject, as never to take any false step, whether
in the decisions that he propounds or the determinations that he makes.
He alleges also, that in matters of doubt, the judgment and interpreta-
tion, more particularly in ecclesiastical matters, belong to him as su-
preme pontiff. Things being thus, the cardinals, who for some time
past have not been wont to contradict, as they formerly did, or even
to offer counsels, but when they are requested and commanded to speak
freely, take care to do so in conformity with the opinion they perceive
to be entertained by the ruling pontiff, even though they do not think
with him, restraining themselves with this Pope much more than even
with his predecessors ; and they will every day have more and more
cause to keep silence, for their opinion is now asked less than by any
others : Paul neither desires to hear it from the body collectedly, nor
from any one of them apart, as Pope Clement and other pontiffs used
to do. He makes all resolutions for himself, and announces them at
once in the Consistory, where he will now complain of the evil of the
times, and now inveigh against different princes with bitter words, as
he did but lately while we were there, in reference to the surrender
of Strigonia, complaining of it, and laying the blame on the Emperor
and other sovereigns, with very pointed and biting expressions ; or anon
reminding the cardinals of their duties and obligations, will suddenly
deal out protests against them, without precedent, order, or rule, by
which he throws them into the utmost confusion, as he did, for ex-
ample, when he signified to them the necessity for their residence^ and,
as I have said, not by way of command, as was usual with other pontiffs,
who assigned the prelates a specific time, though a short one, to repair
to their churches, but solely by declaring that he would not absolve
the absentees from mortal sin while they received the revenues, which
determination he founded on the canons and the Council of Trent. By
this form of words, and a decision so unexpected, pronounced with
so much heat, he caused such dismay among the cardinal-bishops that,
knowing they could stay no longer in Rome, without heavy scruples
and great remorse of conscience — without causing scandal, and above
all, incurring the particular opinion of the Pope that they cared little
for the warnings of his holiness, had little fear of God, and small re-
gard for their own honor in the eyes of the world, they have taken the
resolution either to depart to their sees, and some have even already
set off, or otherwise to resign them, though some few, indeed, have
requested a dispensation to remain until the rigor of the winter has
passed, and then to go in the spring. Nor has he admitted their hold-
ing legations in the provinces or cities of the Ecclesiastical States as an
excuse or means of defence. There are only two who are to be ex-
cepted from the necessity ,of residence : first. Cardinal Tarasio, Arch-
bishop of Sienna, who is very old, and quite deaf, and even he will
not be excused from renouncing his revenues ; and the Cardinal of Ve-
rona, who is also exempted on account of his very great age, as well
as because he has for many years had his nephew in the office of coad-
jutor; and this last has supplied the place of his uncle extremely well."
But in spite of this severity on the part of Paul V, the ambassadors
made very good progress with him upon the whole. He dismissed them
in the most friendly manner — the most gracious pontiff could not have
expressed himself more favorably ; they were therefore astonished that
affairs should so soon afterward have taken a turn so entirely different,
and at the same time so formidable.



THE HISTORY OF THE POPES



No. 79



313



Insfruttione a monsignore il vescovo di Rimini {Cardinale Gessi) dcs-
tinato nuntio alia republica di Venetia dalla Santita di N. S. P.
Paolo V. 1607. 4 Giugno. Bibl. Alb. [Instructions to the bishop
of Rimini, nuncio from Pope Paul V to the Republic of Venice.
June 4, 1607.] Albani Library.

Prepared immediately after the termination of the disputes, but still
not in a very pacific temper.

The Pope complains that the Venetians had sought to conceal the
act of absolution. In a declaration to their clergy there appeared an
intimation that the Pope had revoked the censures, because he ac-
knowledged the purity of their intentions (" che S. Beatitiidine per
haver conosciuta la sincerita degli aniini e dclle operationi loro havesse
levate le censure"). Paul V nevertheless goes so far as to entertain
a hope that the consultores — even Fra Paolo — would be given up
to the Inquisition. This passage is very remarkable. " With respect
to the persons of Fra Paolo, a Servite, and Giovanni Marsilio, with
others of those seducers who pass under the name of theologians, your
Excellency has received oral communication, and you ought not to have
any difficulty in obtaining that these men should be consigned to the
holy Inquisition, to say nothing of being at once abandoned by the re-
public, and deprived of that stipend which has been conferred on them
to the great scandal of all." It was impossible that such suggestions
should fail to exasperate the enmity of Fra Paolo, and to make it im-
placable. The Pope knew not the character of the enemy he. was thus
making for the papacy. His monsignori and illustrissimi are all for-
gotten, while the spirit of Fra Paolo still lives, at least, in one part
of the opposition existing wthn the limits of the Catholic Church, even
to the present day.

The resistance which the Pope had encountered in Venice made the
most profound impression on his mind. " His holiness desires that
the ecclesiastical authority and jurisdiction shouJd be manfully defended
by your Excellency; but your Excellency will be also very cautious to
adopt no cause for which you have not very good reason, since there
is perhaps less evil in leaving a point undisputed than in losing one
contended for."

No. 80

Ragguaglio della dieta imperiale fatta in Ratisbona I' anno del Signore
1608, nella quale in luogo dell' eccellentissimo e reverendissimo
Monsignore Antonio Gactano, arcivescovo di Capua, nuntio apos-
tolico, rimasto in Praga appresso la M. Cesarea, fu residente il
padre Filippo Milensio, maestro Agostino, vicario generale sopra
le provincie aquilonarie. AW eccellentissimo e reverendissimo
signore e principe il signore cardinale Francesco Barberini. [Re-
port of the imperial diet held at Ratisbon in the year of our Lord
1608, whereat Father Filippo Milensio, general of the Augustines,
and vicar of the northern provinces, was resident in the place of
Gaetano, archbishop of Capua, and apostolic nuncio; who was
detained at Prague by his imperial Majesty. Presented to the
prince-cardinal Francesco Barberini.]

When the Emperor Rudolf summoned a diet in 1667, Antonio Gae-
tano was nuncio at his court.



314 RANKE

Gaetano was instructed to effect the more complete introduction
of the Tridentine decrees, and the acceptance of the Gregorian calen-
dar, to which the three secular electors were already disposed — Saxony
most decidedly so. He had already instructed his ambassador to that
effect, and charged him to attend more particularly to the Catholic in-
terests in the Kammergericht. The interruption experienced by the
affairs of that court is accounted for in the Instruction, as follows:

" The Magdeburg heretic intruder, being supreme president of this
tribunal, and desiring to exercise the duties of his office, was not ad-
mitted; thus from that time no causes have been heard, and the suits
have accumulated, more especially the offences offered to the Cath-
olics, the heretics insisting that they ought to have equal place in that
tribunal with the Catholics, and continually laboring to usurp the eccle-
siastical possession."

It was easily to be foreseen that very animated discussions must
arise in the Diet with relation to this matter, yet the nuncio himself could
not be present. The Emperor sent the archduke Ferdinand thither as
his representative, and would have considered it as an affront had the
nuncio left him.

Gaetano sent the vicar of the Augustines, Fra Milensio, in his place.
As the latter had passed some years in Germany, he could not fail to
be in some degree acquainted with the position of things. But in addi-
tion to this, he was referred by the nuncio to Matthew Weiser " for
minute information respecting affairs of the empire " — and to that
Bishop of Ratisbon, a letter from whom was at that time producing
so great an excitement among the Protestants. He was also to attach
himself to the counsels of Father Wilier, the Emperor's confessor.

It was not, unfortunately, till many years afterward that this Au-
gustine drew up the report of his exertions in the Diet. The account he
gives of his own proceedings is nevertheless highly remarkable; and we
have already inserted it in the body of our work.

He attributes the whole of the disorders that had at that time
broken out in the empire to the disputed succession : " The report
prevailing that Rudolf intended to adopt the Archduke Leopold,
younger brother of Ferdinand, and that afterward he had inclined to
Ferdinand himself." Matthias was exceedingly displeased at this. But
he found in Kiesel and in Prince Lichtenstein, who had so much power
in Moravia, very faithful and influential adherents.

According to this report of the Augustinian's, Dietrichstein and
Gaetano had an important share in the conclusion of the agreement
between the brothers.

No. 8i

Relatione di Roma dell' illustrissimo Signore Giovan Mocenigo Cava-
liere Ambasciatore a quella corte I' anno 1612. " Inif. Politt. torn.
XV. [Report from Rome by the most illustrious Giovanni Mocenigo,
ambassador to that court in the year 1612. Inff. Polit. vol. xv.]

The first ambassador after the settlement of the dissensions was
Francesco Contarini, 1607-1609. Mocenigo speaks highly of the ad-
vantage he had derived from Contarini's prudent management. He
himself, who had already been employed in embassies during eighteen
years, remained in Rome from 1609 to 161 1. The quiet tone of his
report suffices to show that he also succeeded in maintaining a good
understanding.



THE HISTORY OF THE POPES



315



In the report before us, Mocenigo did not propose to repeat gen-
eralities or matters well known, but rather to exhibit the personal
qualities of the Pope and his disposition toward the Venetian republic.
" The qualities, purposes, and dispositions of the Pope and of the re-
public toward this republic. I will treat all with the utmost brevity,
omitting such things as are rather curious than necessary."

1. Pope Paul V. — " Majestic, tall, and of few words : yet it is cur-
rently reported in Rome that there is no one can equal him in terms
of politeness and good offices: he is truthful, guileless, and of most