The Pageant of Popes, Book 6 · Part 23
143. Vrban the vi.
VRban the sixt being but a poore man and very obscure borne in Naples, called otherwyse Barthelmew and at length archbishop of Bare but neuer Cardinal, and absent (the Romaynes vrging it very sore) was chosen Pope. He being chosen Pope, Iane Queene of Sicill bestowed great cost in tryumphing for ioye, and sente to him for presentes fourty thousand dukates in gould & siluer, besides wynes, victuals and other thinges, yelding also to him her kingdome and all that she had, to be at his commaundemente. Likewise her husband the noble Otto duke of Brunswick and Prince of Tarentum offered him the like curtesy But (sayth Theodoricus of Nyem. lib. 1. cap. 7.) sone after Otto after dinner amonge many great estates and Cardinals drancke to the Pope, but Vrban was so proud that he suffered the noble Prince to kneele before him a great while, ere he would take the cup out of his hande, in so much that one of the Cardinals moued withall sayd vntounto him: Most holy father, it is time for you to take the cuppe & drincke. Whereby he fulfilled the ould sayings: Asperius misero nihil est qui surgit in altū. And againe: Corde stat inflato pauper honore dato. Claw a churle &c. But greater vnkindnes hee shewed in the ende both vntounto this duke & Queene Iane his wyfe, for by his meanes Otto was taken and murthered, and Iane also committed to prison, and therein miserablye strangled to death by one duke Charles, who contrarye to his oath by procurement of this Vrban, violentlye wrested from them that had broughte him vp, y• kingdome of Sicill with their liues: for furtheraunce whereof Vrban sould the proprieties and lands of Churches and Monasteryes in Rome, beside great store of siluer and golden challecies, crosses, images and such like monuments turned into wyne, and giuen to Charles to the summe of fourescore Thousand Florēces to maintaine his warre against the foresaid Princes, in recompence whereof Charles should bestowe vponupon a cowardlye wretch Francis Butillus nephewe to Vrban, the dukedomes of Capuan and Amalsitan, and manye noble Earledomes in the kingdome of Sicil. Vrban being enstalled, warned ye clergye of their dutye, hee charged all the bishops with periurye, because they were not residēt lying in the Court of Rome, and not in their bishoprickes, sayth Theodericus of Nyem, and seemed that he would purge his Court of idle parsōs. He warned the Cardinals diuers times to take heede of simonye, and to contente themselues with their porcions: he commaunded them to ryde wyth fewer horses, yt (quoth he) we maye euen from our hartes be a paterne to the people: and (quoth he) as touchinge that ye speake of returninge into Fraunce, ye knowe that I will continue still in Rome. Then viii. of them being Frenchmen wente first to Anagnia and afterwarde to Fundum because they feared his seueritye, where they conspiring among themselues & affirming that he was not true Pope, but violently thrust in by ye Romaynes, they chose to themselues another Pope the xx. day of Septēber called Clement the seuenth, whervpon arose a sciesme which was more perillous and lasted longer then euer did anye, for it lasted almost xl. yeares. Theodoricus sayth lib. 1. cap. 11. that Clemēt being chosen, manye prelats, offieials & courtiers, did on al sides flye to him frō Vrbā so yt he was left alone almost, & as for those y• taryed wt him or resorted to him in hope of preferment, or about any suetes, yet they misdoubted the estate therof and murmured dailye, still doubting what to do: which when Vrban sawe, he wept bitterlye repenting his roughe regimente the cause of all, and to salue his sore, and to allure the fauoure of men for his owne strength, hee made xxvi. newe Cardinals out of al sort of men, and gaue other offices and lyuinges franckly, by meanes wherof many begā to repayre to him from diuers places, hoping to speede wel in being partakers with him in this diuision.
Theodoricus in the 33. Chapter of his first booke, reporteth that Francis Butillus nephewe to this Pope Vrban, did rauishe a virgin being a Nunne in Naples keeping her perforce certaine dayes in his lodging: but what marueile is it (sayth he) seinge the filthye will still be filthye, for he was euer giuen to glotony, leachery, slouth and royat. And yet the Pope woulde not rebuke his nephewe for this villanye, but beinge told thereof and of his licentious life, he vsed to aunsweare: Tushe he is a yong man. And yet saith Theodoricus, Butillus was at this time fourty yeres old. But vponupon this fact there was a great murmuring among the people, saying ye like prancke was neuer played before in Naples. And yet the Pope did not onelyonly defende his nephewe being for it condempned to death by the kinge, but also with crackes & threates made the king glad to bestow a noble virgin of his owne bloud vponupon the sayd Butillus, & threscore and tenne thousande Florences yearely, with the castle of Luceria.
This Pope Vrban (as Stella sayth) was a crafty man, & one that would remember an iniurye and seke to reuenge: Crantzius sayth he was a churlishe, cruell and vnmerciful man, who taking vponupon him the Popedome, soughte not to make peace (as he should hauehave done) amonge Christians, but rather bent himselfe to reuēge the iniuries of his Cardinals and of Iane Queene of Sicill, and therefore to make the Florentines to take his part, he absolued them from ye excommunication of Pope Gregorie, and sent Iohn Hawcuth an Englishmā captaine of them against the Queene. Furthermore he being of nature giuen to wrāgling, strife, & cruelty, creating certaine new Cardinals at Nuceria, he cast vii. of ye old Cardinals into prison because they had cō spired with Clement the seuenth against him: and fiue of those vii. he layde vponupon great stones, and in despite of Clement drowned them, which kinde of death also one Adam an Englishman being a Cardinal did hardly escape at the same time. And of those newe Cardinals being xxix. they were all Neapolitans and his cosens, sauing three. This Pope proclaymed warre against Charles of Hūgary king of Naples, because he woulde not make a nephewe of his Prince of Campania: he gouerned the Church with all tyrannye that might be, and to shewe his rigorous rage more openlye, thus wryteth his friende Platina of him: Vrban (sayth he) being deliuered from the terrour of Fraunce & gone to Naples, desireth the king to make his nephew king of Campania, which whē he could not obtaine, this fellow vnderunder pretēce of a iust and honest man, being one whom no man neither loued nor liked, began forthwith to threat and crake the king, whereby he so offended the kinge that for a while he commited him to the charge of certaine parsons, and suffered him not to come abroade. But the Pope dissembling his malice for the time, departing with ye kings good will to Nuceria (because of the heate of the weather as he fayned) and fortifying the Citye sufficientlye, he doth both make newe Cardinals and imprysoneth seuen of the olde, because as he sayde they had conspired with the king and Pope Clement against him. Furthermore he sente out a processe against the king, and a citacion accordinge to the custome: the kinge aunsweared that he would shortlye come to Nuceria, and aunsweare his accusations both by word and by sword. So he came to Nuceria with a greate army and besieged the Citye, Ramond Balsian being moued with this discurtesye, beinge Prince of Tarent presuming of his power, and conueying Vrban wt all his Court to the next shoore, he put them into three Galleyes of Genewaies prouided for that purpose: wherby while the Pope is transported to Genua, he drowned fiue Cardinals fastened to rockes, of those seuen which he toke at Nuceria. Furthermore in the yere after the death of Charles, he passed to Ferentine (to see Naples as he sayde) but in deede of this minde, to depriue of their inheritaunce ye yonge Princes Ladislaus & Iohn being but a child, ye sonnes of Charles. This Vrban graunted to the sect of begging fryers, that they might chaunge theyr vowes to commit another vnhonest act, and challenge as it were to restore to righte vnlawfull goodes being in controuersy. He dyed in Rome Anno 1390. poysoned as some thincke, after he had misgouerned the Popedome x. yeares, and fewe or none were sorye of his death. The yeare before his death his Mule fel vnderunder him as he was rydinge, where withall he was soore hurt and brosed, so as he did neuer recouer it til his death: he being dead, his nephewe Frauncis was thrust from all his lyuing, and came to Rome poore and despised no man shewing him good countenance, according to ye old saying:
Cum moritur praeful, cognatio tota fit exul.
When as a prelate goes awaye,
then all the kindred do decaye.
And so this Francis with sorrowe and anguishe forsooke Rome at length and went to Sicill. This same yeare (sayth Funcius) this couetous miser Vrban brought vp the yeare of Iubelye, because he sawe it would proue gaineful to him and to the Romaynes. He also appointed annuities to be payed out of priestes landes, vnderunder pretence of waginge an armye against the Paganes: the Englishmen withstanding this constitution, calling a Parliamente did decree yt the Pope should hauehave no iurisdiction beyonde the limits of the Ocian Sea: but the bishops & prelats like traytours to their countrey, did take vponupon them afterward to paye y• pention.
It would aske a great volume to touche eueryevery vilanous practise of this Pope Vrban. Certaine comming to meete him on a time did first kisse the ground three times, & then his feete with al humility. He had giuen him by a certaine Ladye, a precious Miter and certaine garments valued at more then xx. Thousand Florences. He caused a Cardinal in one daye to depose, to racke, to tormente, to spoile & imprison, all the prelates of Sicilia, because they did not mauger their Prince assist him against Clement, and made in their steede 32. newe bishops and archbishops: and (sayth Theodoricus) there was not a clarke in al Naples so deltishe and beggerly, but that he was made eyther a bishop, archbishop, abbot, prior, or some prelate, if he woulde take it vppon him to take part with Vrban. He vsed the seruice of Charles king of Sicill on a time going before him as his vssher, and bearinge the Popes target following with his armye into a towne called Auersa. He put sixe Cardinals in a dongion with their feete set in the stockes, and caused them to be myserably tormented and racked, onlye for suspition of falsehoode against him, and so kept them in prisō where they pined through famine, thirst and cold, hauinge also wormes and life breedinge in their bodyes: & yet they stoode stoutly in their innocencye. But no humble and importunate sute neither of them nor anye other, coulde euer moue ye stonye hart of Vrban to pitye their cases, but (saith Theodoricus) the more he was entreated the more wrathfull he was, so that his eyes would sparkle, his face burne and glow, his throte waxe dry for anger. And after sondry examinations he sent vntounto them againe Theodoricus (the writer of this historye) & other to examine them in a vaute of the castle where they laye, then (sayth Theodoricus) the Cardinall of Sanger was first broughte vp vntounto vsus, with a paire of iron shakles on his feete and a short mantel about him, because it was a colde and windy prison. Who when he came to the ende of the cellar and sawe aboue him ye roapes hanging wherewith he should be racked, and was by y• wayters striped out of his apparell, leauing him scarcelye his shirt on, and bound very hard to the racke, Frauncis ye Popes nephewe stoode by and laughed at this miserable sight without all measure: but I that loued this Cardinal of ould was sore greeued thereat, but I could not departe the place. But to be short, the said Cardinall was an aged man of a corpulent bodye, comlye and taule of stature, and being bounde he was thrise lifted from the grounde by the stronge pulling of those that racked him, so that he waxed verye feble, which when I behelde, when hee was let go to the grounde againe I said to him softly: O deare father do you not see how your bloud is sought for: I beseech you for Gods cause confesse something to deliuer your selues for this time from these tormentours? He aunswered, I cannot tell what I shal say. And when they would hauehave …acked him againe, I bad them cease for he hath satisfyed mee as I wil certifye the Pope in wrytinge, & so they lose… him & caryed him out to take ayre: who comming to himselfe said vntounto vsus heauilye. Behould my brethren the time hath beene as ye know, that I liued in the pompe and royaltye of this world, but now I am become a moste myserable caytife and despised wretch. And I woulde to God this were graunted to me as a singuler benefite, that I hauing nothinge might begge my breade from place to place: but out alas, this trouble & sorrow are iustly by Gods iudgemēt fallen vponupon me, because euen in this kingdom of Sicil I was so cruel an executor of the Popes cōmaundemēt, in deposing without fauour the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and other of the clergye without respect of age or degree, hoping herein to hauehave pleased his minde. The next daye after this Pope Vrban called vntounto him one Basilius to be chiefe tormentour of these Cardinals, which liked him verye well for hee was a malicious man and hated the clergye naturallye, and was a persecutour of God and his seruauntes, a notable pirate, and a plaguer of Christians whom he vsed to take captiue from his youth: at the first he lyued by theft and robbery, but when that fayled and he became a begger, he sought succour of Pope Vrban, who not for deuotion but to obtaine a priorship of an hospital in Tinacria made him a fryer. To this fellowe, Vrban gaue charge to torment on the next day, ye Cardinal of Venice, and to continue rackinge him vntill such time as Vrban himselfe might heare him crye for paine: So when Basilius and we came to the prison wher the Cardinal of Venice was, Basilius taking him out & bringing him to a certaine hall in the Castle did stripe of his apparell, and hauinge the roapes fastened aloft & hanging downe to the ground he tyed him hard to them. And although ye Cardinall were an ould man, brokē and diseased, and weake of complexiō, yet he tormented him vppon the racke most cruellye from morninge till dinner time continuallye, but the sillye man euer as he was haled vp cryed stil & saide: Christ hath suffered for vsus, &c. In the meane time Pope Vrban walked in a garden belowe, and read on a booke so loude that wee mighte heare him, which he did to this ende that Basilius might the better loke to his charge to plong the Cardinal the mere. But as for me (sayth Theodoricus) I could abide this wofull sight no longer, and therefore dissembling my selfe to be sicke I gat leaue to departe. And in like maner was the other Cardinals vsed afterward. Finally Vrbā remouing from Naples commaūded that these Cardinals and their fellow prisoner the bishop of Aquilo, should followe him and ride next after him, assigninge to euerye one his garde to keepe them that they should not escape by the waye. But the bishop partly because he roade vponupon a iade, partly because his bodye was yet after his racking so sore and feeble that he was not able to endure faste riding, but as the Pope galloped he came lagging after as fast as he might. And yet the Pope thinking that helingred to hauehave stollen awaye, in a greate rage commaunded his villaines to kil him, and so they slew him mangling him with many woundes, and left his dead carkasse vnburied in the waye. Afterward at the sute of king Richard of England, Pope Vrban did partly release to the custody of a certaine priest one of the Cardinals called Adam Cardinal of Sicil: but he toke from him all that euer he had, and left him in case of a vagabounde till Boniface his successour restored him. But as for the other fiue he kept miserablye in prison in an abbey in a towne of Ianua, being next to ye Church where he laye: and if that he saw any man resort to that Church at extraordinary howers, he thought that he resorted thether to deliuer the Cardinals by stealth: and therefore he committed to prison & tormēted many of his owne Court onlye vponupon suspition therof. And notwithstāding ye duke & citizēs of Ianua sued for those prisoners, yet he wold neuer shew them any mercy, but in the end caused them to be put to death, as some saye beheaded, other saye drowned, but how so euer it were sure it is they perished. Furthermore Charles king of Sicil being at variaunce with Vrban, and hauing his nephew Fraūcis prisoner dyed at length. Then came Margaret the wyfe of the said Charles, humbly suing to Vrban to be gracious to her and to her children, and to graunt that her husbands body might be buryed, in which sute manye nobles of Florence and other Cityes ioyned wt her, and yet his hard hart woulde nothing pittye her sute, nor graūt her so much as a graue for the king her husbād, thoughe she had freely released his nephewe to him, yet he added processe to processe, and heaped condemnation vponupon condemnation against her and her poore children, because he did from his harte detest the name of the saide Charles. Thus reporteth Theodoricus word for word as he is alledged, whoe beinge Secretarye to Pope Vrban wrote that which he sawe with a sorrowfull hart. The cause whye that the Pope did dispatche those Cardinals was this: he was sodenlye forced to remoue from one place to another, and therefore thinking that those Cardinals if he shoulde carye them with him would hinder and comber him on the one side, & on the other side he was loath to leaue them behind least they should escape, and therfore flying from Nuceria to Ienua (as is sayd) it is thought that by the way he tyed them fast to the rockes, & so lef… them to be drowned. It is sayd that this yeare one Bertholdus Swart or otherwise Schuuartz an Alchymist and a monke, in the North parte of Germanye deuised first and contryued Gunnes to the spoyle of mankinde.