XV.

CENT livered from their confinement [f]. In the year PART II. 1481. he went much farther; and not only granted a full liberty to the Nominalists and their writings, but also restored that philosophical sect to its former authority and lustre in the university [8].

CHA P. II.

Concerning the Doctors and ministers of the church, and its form of government, during this century.

The vices of I. the clergy.

HE most eminent writers of this century unanimously lament the miserable condition to which the Christian church was reduced by the corruption of its ministers, and which seemed to portend nothing less than its total ruin, if Providence did not interpose, by extraordinary means, for its deliverance and preservation. The vices that reigned among the Roman pontifs, and indeed among all the ecclesiastical order, were so flagrant, that the complaints of these good men did not appear at all exaggerated, or their apprehensions ill-founded; nor had any of the corrupt advocates of the clergy the courage to call them to an account for the sharpness of their censures and of their complaints. Nay, the more eminent rulers of the church, who lived in a luxurious indolence, and the infamous practice of all kinds of vice, were obliged to hear with a placid countenance, and even to commend, these bold censors, who declaimed against the degeneracy of the church, declared that there was almost nothing

(f) Boulay, loc. cit. tom. v. p. 710.

(g) The proofs of this we find in Salabert's Philosophia Nominal. Vindicata, cap. i. p. 104.-See also Boulay, loc. cit. tom. v. p. 739, 747

E N T.

XV. PART II.

nothing sound either in its visible head, or in its C members, and demanded the aid of the secular arm, and the destroying sword to lop off the parts that were infected with this grievous and deplorable contagion. Things, in short, were brought to such a pass, that they were deemed the best Christians, and the most useful members of society, who, braving the terrors of persecution, and triumphing over the fear of man, inveighed with the greatest freedom and fervor against the court of Rome, its lordly pontif, and the whole tribe of his followers and votaries.

schism fo

II. At the commencement of this century, The great the Latin church was divided into two great fac- western tions, and was governed by two contending pon-mented and tifs, BONIFACE IX. who remained at Rome, and continued. BENEDICT XIII. who resided at Avignon. Upon the death of the former, the Cardinals of his party raised to the pontificate, in the year 1404, CosBAT DE MELIORATI, who assumed the name of INNOCENT VII. [b], and held that high dignity during the short space of two years only. After his decease, ANGELI CORRARIO, a Venetian cardinal, was chosen in his room, and ruled the Roman faction under the title of GREGORY XII. A plan of reconciliation was however formed, and the contending pontifs bound themselves, each by an oath, to make a voluntary renunciation of the papal chair, if that step were necessary to promote the peace and welfare of the church; but they both violated this solemn obligation in VOL. III. Dd

a scan

[b] Besides the ordinary writers, who have given us an account of the transactions that happened under the pontificate of INNOCENT VII. see LEON. ARETİN. Epistol. lib. i. ep. iv. v. p. 6. 19. 21. lib. ii. p. 30. et COLLUC. SALUTAT. Epistol. lib. ii. ep. i. p. 1. 18. edit. Florent.-We have also an account of the pontificate of GREGORY, in the Epistles of the same ÅRETIN, lib. ii. iii. p. 32. ep. vii. p. 30. 41. 51. lib. ii ep. xvii. P. 54. 56. 59.-Jo. LAMI Delicia Eruditorum, tom. x. p. 494.

PART II.

CEN T. a scandalous manner. BENEDICT XIII. besieged XV. in Avignon by the king of France, in the year 1408, saved himself by flight, retiring first into Catalonia, his native country, and afterwards to Perpignan. Hence eight or nine of the cardinals, who adhered to his cause, seeing themselves deserted by their pope, went over to the other side, and, joining publicly with the cardinals of GREGORY XII. they agreed together to assemble a council at Pisa on the 25th of March, 1409, in order to heal the divisions and factions that had so long rent the papal empire. This council, however, which was designed to close the wounds of the church, had an effect quite contrary to that which was universally expected, and only served to open a new breach, and to excite new divisions. Its proceedings, indeed, were vigorous, and its measures were accompanied with a just severity. A heavy sentence of condemnation was pronounced the 5th day of June, against the contending pontifs, who were both declared guilty of heresy, perjury, and contumacy, unworthy of the smallest tokens of honour or respect, and separated ipso facto from the communion of the church. This step was followed by the election of one pontif in their place. The election was made on the 25th of June, and fell upon PETER of CANDIA, known in the papal list by the name of ALEXANDER V. [1]; but all the decrees and proceedings of this famous council were treated with contempt by the condemned pontifs, who continued to enjoy the privileges and to perform the functions of the papacy, as if no attempts had been made to remove them from that dignity. BENEDICT assembled a council at Perpignan; and GREGORY, ano

ther

[i] See LENFANT's Histoire du Concile du Pise, published in 4to at Amsterdam, in the year 1724.-FRANC. PACI BreviarPontif. Romanor. tom. iv. p. 350.-BOSSUET, Defensio Decreti Gallicani de Potestate Ecclesiastica, tom. ii. p. 17, &c.~

XV

ther at Austria near Aquileia, in the district ofc EN T. Friuli. The latter, however, apprehending the pART II. resentment of the Venetians [k], made his escape in a clandestine manner from the territory of Aquileia, arrived at Caieta, where he threw himself upon the protection of LADISLAUS, king of Naples, and in the year 1412, fled from thence to Rimini.

stance as

ror Sigis

III. Thus was the Christian church divided in- The council to three great factions, and its government vio- of Conlently carried on by three contending chiefs, sembled by who loaded each other with reciprocal maledic- the empetions, calumnies and excommunications. ALEXAN-mund DER V. who had been elected pontif at the council of Pisa, died at Bologna in the year 1410; and the sixteen cardinals, who attended him in that city, immediately filled up the vacancy, by chusing as his successor BALTHASAR COSSA, a Neapolitan who was destitute of all principles both of religion and probity, and who assumed the title of JOHN XXIII. The duration of this schism in the papacy was a source of many calamities, and became daily more detrimental both to the civil and religious interests of those nations where the flame raged. Hence it was that the emperor SIGISMUND, the king of France, and several other European princes, employed all their zeal and activity, and spared neither labour nor expence, in restoring the tranquillity of the church, and uniting it again under one spiritual head. On the other hand, the pontifs could not be persuaded by any means to prefer the peace of the church to the gratification of their ambition; so that no other possible method of accommodating this weighty matter remained, than the assembling of a general council in which the controversy Dd 2 might

[] He had offended the Venetians by deposing their patriarch ANTONY PANCIARINI, and putting ANTONY DU PONT, the bishop of Concordia, in his place.

PART II.

CEN T. might be examined, and terminated by the judgXV. ment and decision of the universal church. This council was accordingly summoned to meet at Constance, in the year 1414, by JOHN XXIII. who was engaged in this measure by the entreaties of SIGISMUND, and also from an expectation, that the decrees of this grand assembly would be favourable to his interests. He appeared in person, attended with a great number of cardinals and bishops, at this famous council, which was also honoured with the presence of the emperor SIGISMUND, and of a great number of German princes, and with that of the ambassadors of all the European states, whose monarchs or regents could not be personally present at the decision of this important controversy [7].

The design

council.

IV. The great purpose that was aimed at in and issue of the convocation of this grand assembly, was the this grand healing of the schism that had so long rent the papacy and this purpose was happily accomplished. It was solemnly declared, in the fourth and fifth sessions of this council, by two decrees, that the Roman pontif was inferior and subject to a general assembly of the universal church; and the authority of councils was vindicated and maintained, by the same decrees, in the most

effectual

[1] The Acts of this famous council were published in six volumes in folio, at Francfort, in the year 1700, by HERMAN van der HARDT. This collection, however, is imperfect, notwithstanding the pains that it cost the laborious editor. Many of the Acts are omitted, and great number of pieces stuffed in among the Acts, which by no means deserve a place there. The history of this council by LENFANT is composed with great accuracy and elegance. It appeared in a second edition at Amsterdam, in the year 1728, in two volumes, quarto; the first was published in 1714. The Supplement that was given to this history by BURGEOIS DE CHASTENET, a French lawyer, is but an indifferent performance. It is entitled, "Nouvelle Histoire du Concile de Constance, où l'on fait voir combien la France a contribué à l'extinction du Schisme.'