Rome became the scene of a chronique scandaleuse among these
scholars, there was something unnatural in the predominance of
the humanists in the Curia.
The fostering care of the science-loving pope extended also to the field of ecclesiastical literature; and the greatest importance attaches to the energy he developed as a collector of manuscripts and books. His agents travelled as far as Prussia, and even into the East. All this activity served to enrich the Vatican library, the foundation of which is for Nicholas V. an abiding title to fame. In political and ecclesiastical affairs he similarly manifested great vigour; and his extraordinarily pacific disposition did more than anything else towards diminishing the difficulties with which he had to contend on his entry upon office. An agreement was very quickly concluded with King Alphonso of Naples. In the Empire the affairs of the Church were ameliorated—though not so quickly—by the Concordat of Vienna (1448). The Council of Basel was compelled to dissolve, and the anti-pope Felix V. to abdicate: and, though even after the termination of the synod men like Jacob of Jüterbogk (q.v.) were found to champion ecclesiastical parliamentarianism and the more advanced ideas of Basel, they were confronted, on the other hand, by an array of redoubtable controversialists, who entered the lists to defend, both in speech and writing, the privileges of the Apostolic See. Among these, Torquemada, Rodericus Sancius de Arevalo, Capistrano and Piero del Monte were especially active for the restoration of the papacy. Fortunate as Nicholas was in the haute politique of the Church, he was equally so in his efforts to re-establish and maintain peace in Rome and the papal state. In Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, Bosnia and Croatia—even in Cyprus itself—he was zealous for the peace of the Church.
The long-hoped cessation of civil war within the Church had now come, and Nicholas considered that the event could not better be celebrated than by the proclamation of a universal jubilee—an announcement which evoked a thrill of joy in the whole of Christendom. A special point of attraction in this jubilee of 1450 was the canonization Jubilee of 1450. of Bernardino of Siena; and, in spite of the plague which broke out in Rome, the celebrations ran a brilliant course.
It was the wish of the pope that the jubilee should be followed by a revival of religious life in all Christian countries. To put this project into execution, the Church opened her “treasuries of grace,” connected with the jubilee dispensation, for the peculiar benefit of those nations that had suffered most from the turmoils of the last few decades, or were prevented from visiting the Eternal City. Nicholas of Cusa was nominated legate for Germany, and began the work of reformation by travelling through every province in Germany dispensing blessings. It was under Nicholas V. that the last imperial coronation was solemnized at Rome. There is a touch of tragedy in the fact that, in the following year, the pope saw his temporal sovereignty—even his life—threatened by a conspiracy hatched among the adherents of the pseudo-humanism. The prime mover in the plot, Stefano Porcaro, was executed. Nicholas had scarcely recovered from the shock, when news came of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks; and his efforts to unite the Christian powers against the Moslem failed. This darkened the evening of his life, and he died in the night of the 24–25th of March 1455. From the universal standpoint of history the significance of Nicholas’s pontificate lies in the fact that he put himself at the head of the artistic and literary Renaissance. By this means he introduced a new epoch in the history of the papacy and of civilization: Rome, the centre of ecclesiastical life, was now to become the centre of literature and art.
The short reign of the Spaniard, Alphonso de Borgia, as Pope Calixtus III., is almost completely filled by his heroic efforts to arm Christendom for the common defence against Islam. Unfortunately all the warnings and admonitions of the pope fell on deaf ears, though he himself parted with his mitre and plate in order Calixtus III., 1455–1458. to equip a fleet against the Turks. The Mahommedans, indeed, were severely punished at Belgrade (1456), and in the sea-fight of Metelino (1457): but the indolence of the European princes, who failed to push home the victory, rendered the success abortive. Bitterly disillusioned, Calixtus died on the 14th of August 1458. His memory would be stainless but for the deep shadow cast on it by the advancement which he conferred upon his relatives.
When Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini was elected pope as Pius II.
the papal throne was ascended by a man whose name was
famous as poet, historian, humanist and statesman,
and whose far-seeing eye and exact knowledge of
affairs seemed peculiarly to fit him for his position.
On the other hand, the troubled and not impeccable past of
Pius II.,
1458–1464.
the new pontiff was bound to excite some misgiving; while,
at the same time, severe bodily suffering had brought old age
on a man of but 53 years. In spite of his infirmity and the
brief duration of his reign, Pius II. accomplished much for the
restoration of the prestige and authority of the Holy See. His
indefatigable activity on behalf of Western civilization, now
threatened with extinction by the Ottomans, excites admiration
and adds an undying lustre to his memory. If we except
the Eastern question, Pius II. was principally exercised by
the opposition to papal authority which was gaining ground
in Germany and France. In the former country the movement
was headed by the worldly archbishop-elector Diether of Mainz;[1]
in the latter by Louis XI., who played the autocrat in ecclesiastical
matters. In full consciousness of his high-priestly dignity
he set his face against these and all similar attempts; and his
zeal and firmness in defending the authority and rights of the
Holy See against the attacks of the conciliar and national
parties within the Church deserve double recognition, in view
of the eminently difficult circumstances of that period. Nor
did he shrink from excursions in the direction of reform, now
become an imperative necessity. His attempt to reunite Bohemia
with the Church was destined to failure; but the one great aim
of the pope during his whole reign was the organization of a
gigantic crusade—a project which showed a correct appreciation
of the danger with which the Church and the West in general
were menaced by the Crescent. It is profoundly affecting to
contemplate this man, a mere wreck from gout, shrinking from
no fatigue, no labour, and no personal sacrifices; disregarding
the obstacles and difficulties thrown in his way by cardinals
and temporal princes, whose fatal infatuation refused to see
the peril which hung above them all; recurring time after time,
with all his intellect and energy, to the realization of his scheme;
and finally adopting the high-hearted resolve of placing himself
at the head of the crusade. Tortured by bodily, and still more
by mental suffering, the old pope reached Ancona. There he
was struck down by fever; and on the 15th of August 1464
death had released him from all his afflictions—a tragic close
which has thrown a halo round his memory. In the sphere
of art he left an enduring monument in the Renaissance town
of Pienza which he built.
The humanist Pius II. was succeeded by a splendour-loving
Venetian, Pietro Barbo, the nephew of Eugenius IV., who is
known as Pope Paul II. With his accession the
situation altered; for he no longer made the Turkish
War the centre of his whole activity, as both his
immediate predecessors had done. Nevertheless, he was far from
Paul II.,
1464–1471.
indifferent to the Ottoman danger. Paul took energetic measures
against the principle of the absolute supremacy of the state as
maintained by the Venetians and by Louis XI. of France;
while in Bohemia he ordered the deposition of George Podebrad
(Dec. 1466). The widely diffused view that this pope was
an enemy of science and culture is unfounded. It may be
traced back to Platina, who, resenting his arrest, avenged
himself by a biographical caricature. What the pope actually
sought to combat by his dissolution of the Roman Academy
- ↑ Diether von Isenburg (1412–1463), second son of Count Diether of Isenburg-Büdingen; rector of the university of Erfurt, 1434; archbishop of Mainz, 1459. He led the movement for a reform of the Empire and the opposition to the papal encroachments, supporting the theory of church government enunciated at Constance and Basel and condemned in Pius II.’s bull Execrabilis.—[Ed.]
