ever, that the plague will shortly abate, and when they have returned we will do whatever is reasonable to please the said princes.
You will also urge that our letters be answered, and re- quire those to whom we have written * to inform us by letter by what means this evil sect can be, in their judgment, most readily suppressed, so that those things that we must do may be the more quickly done, and you will diligently inform your- self on the same subject and write us in full.
Moreover, since we have learned that there are in Ger- many many good and learned poor men, and some men of distinguished ability, who have been made hostile to this See because the apostolic provisions ' go to actors and stable- boys rather than to learned men, we desire you to inquire who these men are and send us their names, so that when vacan- cies occur in German benefices, we may be able to appoint them by a proprius motus; for we know that for a long while the ecclesiastical benefices, especially those with cure of souls, have been given to unworthy men.
As r^[ards the subsidy for Hungary" we give you no other information than that which we gave you when you left, except that we exhort you to care most zealously for the matter, as you are doing. We shall send legates to the princes and cities of Italy also to ask each of them to help as they may be able. Pope Adrian the Sixth.
T. Hezius.^
559. POPE ADRIAN VI TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF
SAXONY. RTA., iii, 406. Rome, December x, 1522.
This letter is one of a number sent to Chieregato and forwarded for
>The Pope addreued letters to a considerable number of individual princes and to the delegates of certain of the German cities. Not all of them have been pre- served. On the letters tfiiU RTA, iii, 404, n. i.
- !,€,, the appointments to benefices. With the Pope's confession of the abuse of
the appointing power cf. Luther's statements in the LttUr to th€ German Nohility (Weimar ii. 42ofF; Phila. ii).
- /.#., for the crusade in Hungary against the Turks. Records of the negoti-
ations between the pope and the Diet on this subject in RTA ii, 319^*
« Theodore (Dirck) von Heeze, formerly pupil of Adrian at Louv^n, now hU private secretary. After Adrian's death he returned to Li^ge, where he became canon. Cf, Pastor: History of tht Popu, Vol. IX. He was a great scholar and a friend of Erasmus.
�� �
