THE

FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

PART I.

The External HISTORY of the CHURCH,

CHAPTER I.

Concerning the prosperous events that happened to the church during this century.

SEV

CENT.

renew the

EVERAL attempts were made by the monarchs and princes of the west, set on by the XIV. instigation of the Roman pontifs, to renew the PARTI. war in Palestine against the Turks and Saracens, Fruitless and to deliver the whole province of Syria from attempts to the oppressive yoke of these despotic infidels. crusades. The succession of pontifs that resided at Avignon were particularly zealous for the renovation of this religious war, and left no artifice, no methods of persuasion unemployed, that could have the least tendency to engage the kings of England and France in an expedition to the Holy Land. But their success was not answerable to their zeal; and notwithstanding the powerful influence of their exhortations and remonstrances, something still happened to prevent their producing the desired effect. CLEMENT V. urged the renewal of this holy war with the greatest ardour in the years 1307, 1308, and set apart an immense sum of U 4

money

XIV.

CENT money for carrying it on with alacrity and vigour PARTI [a] JOHN XXII. ordered a fleet of ten ships to be fitted out in the year 1319, to transport an army of pious adventurers into Palestine [b], and had recourse to the power of superstition, that is, to the influence of indulgencies, for raising the funds necessary to the support of this great enterprize. These indulgencies he offered to such as contributed generously to the carrying on the war, and appointed legates to administer them in all the countries in Europe that were subject to his ghostly jurisdiction. But, under this fair shew of piety and zeal, JOHN is supposed to have covered the most selfish and grovelling views; and we find LEWIS of Bavaria, who was at that time emperor, and several other princes, complaining loudly that this pontif made use of the holy war as a pretext to disguise his avarice and ambition [c]; and indeed the character of this pope was proper to give credit to such complaints. Under the pontificate of BENEDICT XII. a formidable army was raised in the year 1330, by PHILIP DE VALOIS, king of France, with a view, as was said, to attempt the deliverance of the Christians in Palestine [d]; but when he was just ready to embark his troops, the apprehension of an invasion from England, obliged him to lay aside this weighty enterprize. In the year 1345, CLEMENT V. at the request of the Venetians, engaged, by the persuasive power of indulgences, a prodigious number of adventurers to embark for Smyrna, where they composed a numerous army under the command of

ii.

[a] BALUZII Vitæ Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 15. 594. tom. P. 55. 57-374. 391, &c. ANT. MATTHÆI Analecta veteris avi, tom. ii. p. 577.

[b] BALUZII Vita Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 125. tom. ii. P. 515.

[c] BALUZIUS, loc. cit. tom. i. p. 175. 786. MATTHÆI Ânalecta vet. ævi, tom. ii. p. 595. 598.

[d] BALUZIUS, loc. cit. tom. i. p. 200.

XIV.

of GUIDO or GUY, dauphin of Vienne; but the CENT want of provisions obliged this army to return PARTI. with the general into Europe in a short time af ter their departure [e]. This disappointment did not, however, damp the spirits of the restless pontifs; for another formidable army was assembled in the year 1363, in consequence of the zealous exhortations of URBAN V. and was to be employed in a new expedition against the infidels, with JOHN, king of France, as its head; but the unexpected death of that prince blasted the hopes that many had entertained from this grand project, and occasioned the dispersion of that numerous body which had repaired to his standards [f].

1

in China

II. The missionaries that had been sent by the The state of Roman pontifs into China, Tartary, and the adja- Christianity cent countries, in the preceding century, found and Tartatheir labours crowned with the desired success,r ry. and established a great number of Christian churches in these unenlightened nations. In the year 1307, CLEMENT V. erected Cambalu (which at this time was the celebrated metropolis of Cathay, and is, undoubtedly, the same with Pekin, the capital city at present of the Chinese empire) into an archbishopric, which he conferred upon JOHN DE MONTE CORVINO, an Italian friar who had been employed in propagating the gospel in that country for many years. The same pontif sent soon after to assist this prelate in his pious labours seven other bishops of the Franciscan order [g]. JOHN XXII. exerted in this good

cause

[e] Fragmenta Histor. Romana, in MURATORI Antig. Ital. medii ævi, tom. iii. p. 368.

[f] BALUZII Vita Pontif. Avenion. tom. i. p. 366. 386. 371.401.

[g]WADDINGUS, Annal. Ordin. Minor. tom. vi. ad. A. 1305, sect. xii. p. 69. ad A. 1307, p. 91. 368. tom. vii. p. 53. 221. tom. viii. p. 235.-J. S. ASSEMANNI Biblioth. Orient. Vatican.

tom.

PARTI.

CEN T.cause the same zeal which had distinguished the XIV. pontificate of his predecessors. Upon the death of JOHN DE MONTE CORVINO, in the year 1330, he sent NICOLAS of Bentra to fill the vacant archbishopric of Cambalu, and charged him with letters to the Emperor of the Tartars, who, at that time, was in possession of the Chinese dominions. In the year 1338, BENEDICT XII. sent new legates and missionaries into Tartary and China, in consequence of a solemn embassy [b] with which he was honoured at Avignon from the Kan of the Tartars. During the time that the princes of this latter nation maintained themselves in the empire of China, the Christian religion flourished in these vast regions, and both Latins and Nestorians not only made a public profession of their faith, but also propagated it without any apprehension of danger, throughout the northern provinces of Asia.

Conversion of the Li

III. There remained in this century scarcely thuanians. any European prince, unconverted to Christianity, if we except JAGELLO, duke of Lithuania, who continued in the darkness of paganism, and worshipped the gods of his idolatrous ancestors, until the year 1386, when he embraced the Christian faith, received in baptism the name of VLADISLAUS, and persuaded his subjects to open their eyes upon the divine light of the gospel. We shall not pretend to justify the purity of the motives that first engaged this prince to renounce the religion of his fathers, as they were accompanied, at least, with views of policy, interest, and ambition. Upon the death of LEWIS, king of Poland, which happened in the year 1382, JAGELLO was named among the competitors who aspired

tom.iii. sect. ii. p. 521.-J. ECHARDI Scriptor. Prædicator, tom. i. p. 537-Acta Sanctor. tom. i. Januari, p. 984.—MOSHEMII Historia Eccles. Tartar.

[b] BALUZII Vita Pontificum Avenionensium, tom. p. 242.

HED

XIV.

aspired after the vacant throne; and as he was a C E N T. rich and powerful prince, the Poles beheld his pARTI pretensions and efforts with a favourable eye. His religion was the only obstacle that lay in his way to the accomplishment of his views. WIGE, the youngest daughter of the deceased monarch, who, by a decree of the senate, was declared heiress of the kingdom, was as little disposed to espouse, as the Poles were to obey, a Pagan, and hence JAGELLO was obliged to make superstition yield to royalty [i]. On the other hand, the Teutonic knights and crusaders extirpated by fire and sword any remains of paganism that were yet to be found in Prussia and Livonia, and effected, by force, what persuasion alone ought to have produced.

become

compul

We find also in the annals of this century a Many of great many instances of Jews converted to the the Jews Christian faith. The cruel persecutions they Christians suffered in several parts of Europe, particularly in through France and Germany, vanquished their obstinacy, sion. and bent their untractable spirits under the yoke of the gospel. The reports (whether false or true we shall not determine) that had been industriously spread abroad, of their poisoning the public fountains, of their killing infants and drinking their blood, of their profaning in the most impious and blasphemous manner the consecrated wafers that were used in the celebration of the eucharist, with other accusations equally enormous, excited every where the resentment of the magistrates and the fury of the people, and brought the most terrible sufferings, that unrelenting vengeance could invent, upon that wretched and devoted nation.

IV.

[] ODOR. RAYNALDUS, Annal. Eccles. ad A. 1386. sect. iv. -WADDINGI Annal. Minor. tom. ix. p. 71.-SOLIGNAC, Histoire de Pologne, tom. iii. p. 241.