6

unsatisfactory his finances had been when he was only the poor cardinal, he doubled the dish,' making it 200scudi a month, while to the cardinal-nephews of Gregory XIII., and to a brother of San Sisto, he only granted a pension of 100 scudi. The Roman barons became uneasy. The Sforzas felt that they were not in favour. The dismissal of Mario, and the execution of the four brothers who had worn their colours, were of bad augury.

On Wednesday, May 1, the coronation took place at St. Peter's, with the accustomed pomp, and in presence of a crowd of people, especially from the country. Cardinal de' Medici placed the tiara on the Pontiff's head. Besides the foreign ambassadors (who were all present, except the Spanish, who never went to a ceremony because he would have to give precedence to his French colleague), there were also present the envoysextraordinary sent by the Grand-Duke of Tuscany to congratulate the new Pontiff, all the members of the Sacred College, the Roman princes, and the high prelates. The Pope was solemnly carried to the Church: the Marquis de Pisany acted as the Pontiff's trainbearer. One of the Japanese princes presented him with. the water. To avoid any fighting, Sixtus suppressed the custom of throwing money to the people, and also the banquet to the Roman barons, on account of the dearness of everything. On Sunday, May 5, he took possession of the Lateran. He had spent the night in the Palace of San Marco, which, since the time of Pius IV., had become the residence of the Venetian ambassadors. The next morning, at the break of day, he proceeded

CHAP. I.]

OCCUPATION OF THE LATERAN.

259

to the Convent of Ara Coeli by the long aërial corridor which still connects the Capitol and the Venetian Palace. It was from this convent that the procession, composed of members of the Sacred College, the ambassadors (excepting, of course, the Spanish),1 the Japanese princes, the barons, the prelates, and the Papal Court started. Everyone was on horseback, and the head of the procession was already opposite the first basilica of Christendom 2 when its tail was still winding round the declivities of the Capitol. When the ceremonies were over, the Pope gave the blessing from the balcony, sent away his suite, and, accompanied only by Cardinals Alessandrino and Rusticucci, spent the remainder of the day in his old hermitage, in his villa at the Thermæ of Diocletian.

On the 13th he announced the appointments in a consistory called for that purpose, and scandalised Rome as well as the cardinals by giving the purple gown to his grand-nephew Alexander, who was one day to become one of the ornaments of the Sacred College and a Pope-maker, but who was then only a child of fourteen.

This procession is represented in a fresco of the room named after Sixtus V. in the library of the Vatican. The costume of the Japanese is precisely that of those who visited Europe a few years back

2 St. Peter's is only the second.

CHAPTER II.

THE CRUSADE AGAINST THE BANDITTI.

THE increasing severity of the measures to which the new Papal Government had recourse were variously judged. Among the people there was a general outburst of indignation, restrained, however, by the fear of drawing on themselves the resentment of this Government, at once so strong, so well-informed, and so ready to strike.1

The corps diplomatique, and the cardinals who maintained a correspondence with foreign sovereigns, though they occasionally criticised the rigour of the Government-though they sometimes, but however seldom, blamed its excesses-fully approved the Pontiff,

1 This is attested by the notizie, as the papers giving the news of the day were called, and which were circulated twice a week in Rome and in the country. The editors of these manuscript papers were called leaders (menanti), 'because they lead public opinion,' said the ambassador Michel Suriano; but they lead it without thought or discretion.' The Cardinal de' Medici complained of the great number of these papers, calculated to pervert public opinion, and Sixtus V. more than once treated the newsmongers with severity. These notices must not be confounded with the flysheets of the same name, which, as we have already mentioned, were added by the secretaries of the Venetian ambassadors to their official reports. The former were of great importance as contributing to form public opinion, and until of late years, during which the state archives have been opened to research, they were the chief sources of information to historians. These notices give an idea of the consternation and ill-humour of the Roman public during the first days of the reign of Sixtus.

CHAP. II.]

TERRORISM OF THE BANDITTI.

261

who with an iron hand restored order within his dominions, and diffused the benefits of public security not only in his own capital, but indirectly throughout all Italy. The new Government, in these respects, won the approval of all.

Not only the States of the Church groaned under the terrorism exercised by banditti, but the kingdom of Naples was equally infested by them, though the viceroys displayed extreme rigour in dealing with those who periodically disturbed the public peace. Those who were compromised tried to escape by making their way to the Roman frontier, and thus within a few months after the accession of Sixtus the fugitives arrived in vast numbers. Others retired to the mountains and became outlaws. At Naples, too, the dungeons were filled with political prisoners, and numerous executions took place. These severities, however, remained without effect through the inconsistency and partiality of the Government, the incoherence of its action, and the complete venality of its police. Humble people were hanged, and great personages were allowed to escape, in consideration of a fine. In Naples the viceroys were paralysed by the miserable inefficiency of their officers, and at Madrid by the intrigues of the Neapolitan aristocracy, who were more or less accessory to these disorders, but who were also more or less in favour at Court. Without doubt the government of Naples was very bad, but its worthlessness was even more the fault of

1 Suriano to the Doge, October 15, 1569. April 11, 1585.

Cardinal de' Medici,

circumstances than of the persons by whom it was conducted. Philip IV. hoped to mend matters by frequently changing his agents, but he merely increased

the evil.

6

Central Italy was also far from being tranquil. In Tuscany, Romagna, and the two Marches there were numerous half-independent feudatories of the empire continually at war among themselves and disturbing public tranquillity. They employed in this private warfare the numerous 'fuorusciti' and 'masnadieri,' bandits who were brigaded together under the command of chiefs who sold their aid to the highest bidder, after the manner of the condottieri' of old. It was only on the main land, round Venice and in Savoy, that brigandage was comparatively kept down. Everywhere else it was terrible, and in the States of the Church had become intolerable, and even menaced the existence of the Government. In Venetia, Albanian troops, called 'capelletti,' employed especially for this service, seized upon the brigands, though at the same time they occasionally themselves laid violent hands on the peasants.

In Rome murders were committed in broad daylight, and much bloodshed in the streets was caused by the encounters between the young nobles and the sbirri, while bands of 'fuorusciti' drew near to the city and defiantly pitched their tents in the Campagna, half-way between Prima Porta and Ponte Molle, i.e. at the very gates of the city. There was no exaggeration in what Sixtus V. said, towards the end of his reign, to the Duke of Luxembourg, who was deploring the lamentable state of France, that he could well believe it, since he