CHAP. I.]

THE INTERREGNUM.

143

Naples were advised of these steps, and requested to take measures against the evil.

By motives of prudence as well as of propriety, but especially because each pretender to the Papacy did not care to alienate from him the good-will of the preceding Pope's creatures 1-the Sacred College confirmed, on the motion of Cardinal de' Medici, the appointments held by Giacomo, as General of Holy Church, and Mario Sforza as his lieutenant, and appointed a protégé of San Sisto to the vacant post of the Borgo. The Savelli, according to custom, were to guard the Conclave. The Sforzas collected men who were specially told off to police duties. Some agitation, but no disturbances, reigned in Rome. At one time a conflict was feared between Sora and Prosper Colonna, brother of the cardinal, who arrived before Rome with his slayers,' as the regular troops under his command were called by the people. A formal injunction to remain away stopped his progress. There were a few isolated cases of assassination, and several false alarms; but with these exceptions-thanks to the active and energetic intelligence of Cardinal de' Medici, who, a mediocrity as a churchman, was born to command-peace was maintained during the interregnum, against all expectation.

The usual ceremonies took place, therefore, without being disturbed by any untoward incident. The body of Gregory, which had first been carried to St. Peter

1 The Pope's creatures are the cardinals he has made; and out of gratitude for the Pope who had made them cardinals, they generally voted with the cardinal nephew of the deceased Pope.

and placed in the chapel of Sixtus IV., was afterwards exposed for three days in the Gregorian chapel. The obsequies took place in the Sistine Chapel on the three following days, and ended by high mass at St. Peter's, where a catafalque was raised in the centre of the church. Immediately after these funeral ceremonies, which were minutely prescribed by the ritual and tradition, the cardinals entrusted with the government business met in the sacristy, where they received in succession, for the purpose of praising the defunct Pope, Count Olivarès, the Spanish ambassador, Baron Frederic Madruccio, brother of Cardinal Madruccio, the Emperor's ambassador, and Cardinal d'Este, Protector of France, as representative of the French ambassador. Marquis de Pisany, the ambassador of the very Christian King, only arrived on April 18, as the cardinals were about to meet in conclave. It was not without some difficulty that, notwithstanding an attempt of his Spanish colleague to postpone his audience until after the Conclave,' he succeeded in being received by the cardinals, who,' said he with humour, were only thinking what Pope they could elect who would be the best Spaniard at heart.' At the outset the rivalry between the Courts of Paris and Madrid appears in the relations between the two representatives.2 This antagonism was brought about by force of circumstances, but was likely to create in the future a number of inconveniences, of embarrassments, and of dangers to

6

6

1 Pisany to Henry III. April 22, 1585. Paris, Coll. Harlay, 288. 2 We must, on account of abundant other matters, pass over the quarrels of etiquette between the two ambassadors.

CHAP. I.]

DEATH OF GREGORY XIII.

145

the Pope who might be elected by the Conclave, at the doors of which the ambassadors of France and Spain were fighting, the one with all the energy and furia' common to his country, and the other with all the Castilian reserve and sosiego.'

The news of the death of Gregory was received with regret in Madrid, with indifference at Prague, and with ill-dissembled satisfaction in Paris and in Venice.1

1 Arch. Ven. Deliberazioni, April 1585. The senate expresses in very mild terms the regret which it experiences on hearing of the death of a Pope, who was 'a zealous pastor of God's glory.' Not a word on its political relations with him. The praise was fair, but the laconic style was significant.

CHAPTER II.

PRELIMINARIES.

IF the sudden death of Gregory caused universal astonishment, the event was foreseen by those who had most interest in not being taken by surprise. Such were the members of the Sacred College, the great Catholic States, and the Italian princes.

The cardinals, some of whom were looked upon as eligible for the Papacy, and of whom several, being the creatures of Gregory XIII., had gathered, as was the custom, around his nephew, but who all, owing to the fervent spirit which characterised the epoch, sincerely wished to make a good choice, appeared desirous to give their votes to the worthiest among them, to him who could best defend the faith against the encroachments of heresy, and continue in the Church the work of reform. In this respect matters had greatly changed since the beginning of the century.

If religion, however, had acquired a much larger share than formerly in the electoral canvassing of the members of the Conclave, political considerations and personal merits were not on that account excluded. Candidates for the Papacy had to look to the parties of various cardinals, and especially to those of the nephew of the last Pope, which were always more

CHAP. II.]

STATE OF PARTIES IN ROME.

147

or less influential according to the duration of that Pope's pontificate. They had to consider the popularity which some competitors enjoyed, and still more the fears with which others inspired them. The memory of the unheard-of severity exercised by Pius IV.1 at his accession, against a Caraffa, a nephew of his predecessor, was still present to all, though a quarter of a century had elapsed, and soared like a shadow over the electoral urn, making all concerned look from motives of fear, much less to a good Pope-that is, one favourable to the interests of each-than to the exclusion of those colleagues whom they considered hostile to them.

Princes likewise took their precautions, settled in their own minds which candidate they would wish to see successful, and instructed accordingly their ambassadors and cardinal-protectors. Candidates had therefore carefully to examine what were the secret wishes of the sovereigns of Germany, of Spain, and of France, armed as these already were, in fact, though not yet as a right, with the terrible privilege of exclusion. Could they only have contented themselves with the exercise of such a privilege! But donations, benefices, every species of favour, and even intimidation, were means not unfrequently used to procure friends at Rome. Notwithstanding all this, even here the effects

1 Cardinal Carlo Caraffa, nephew of Paul IV. was condemned to death by a tribunal composed of eight cardinals, and strangled in Fort St. Angelo. Duke Palliano, who in a moment of jealousy had killed his wife, had been beheaded within the gates of the prisons of Tordinone. His accomplices, Count Olifa, his brother-in-law, and Lionardo de Cardiera, his cousin, met with a similar fate. This case was revised and the decree reversed under the succeeding pontificate of Pius V.