The Pageant of Popes, Book 6 · Part 38
158. Sixtus the fourth.
SIxtus the fourth was borne at Sauona in Liguria called Frauncis Ruerius before, and generall minister of the Franciscans, succeded Pope Paule. He being at a time of solemnitye caryed in an horselitter to Lateran, there arose a sodein tumult, so that the Pope was in great daunger of loosing his life being so pelted with stones, so that the dryuers did almost forsake him in the Litter. This Pope vsed to graunte one benefice to diuers and sondry parsons. He loued his frendes so well, that to gratifye them he did manye things against all law and equitye. He promoted his companion Peter Ruerius both of his owne order and coū trye, whom with his brother Hierome he broughte vp for purpose to be a Cardinall, a man otherwise borne to wast riches: for within the space of two yeres after (then which time he liued not longer) he spent of himselfe alone by his royotous lyuing▪ two hundreth thousand Crownes, beside this he endebted himselfe three score Thousand, and spent in siluer three hundred poundes. He dyed beinge wasted through his incontinent life, when he was but xxviii. yeares old Anno 1474. His death was most hinderaunce to handicraft men, for he euer filled their shoppes with store of knackes. Iohn Textor in his officine sayth thus: Peter a priest and Cardinal in the time of Sixtus the fourth, wasted about vanityes & luxuriousnes, three hundred Thousand Crownes within ye space of two yeares. Againe Iohn Riueus in his booke De erroribus pontisiciorum sayth, ye Fulgosus reporteth of the incredible prodigality of the said partye. It were to longe to rehearse all his woordes for breuitye sake these fewe may suffice, which I thinke is the least to be spoken of: namely that he ware goulden roabes at home in his house, that he had his couerlets of gould for his beds, his Chamber stooles and pottes of siluer: Also he prouided for his concubine Tyresia, shoes couered wyth Pearles. By this a man maye gesse the rest of his vnmeasurable pompe and prodigalitye.
But Hierome brother to the saide Peter, beinge made chiefe of Liuius court and Cornelius court, after him did rule and order the matters of the Church: being a man of more seuere nature and lesse lasciuious, sauinge one waye not to be named. After these Sixtus aduaunced the childrē of his bretherne and sisterne, amonge whom he made one Iulian Cardinall and his brother Iohn Presidēt of the Citye, and Prince of Sora & Seuogallia. He loued (sayth Platina his kindred aboue measure, bestowing and lauisshing on them that which belōged both to man and God against all iustice. And by the iudgement of manye he plonged all Italye with bloudye broyles, & that without cause. Therefore sayth Volateranus, when he was driuen to necessitye hauing wasted his wealth vponupon these tumults, he was the first that began to practise this shifte: He deuised to picke oute certaine Colledges. Againe Agrippa sayth of him thus: amonge the bawdes of late yeares that set vppe and builded stewes, Pope Sixtus ye fourth was most famous, who builded a notable stewes at Rome and (as he sayth in his declamatiō to the Louanians he sheweth at large) not onlye for harlots, but otherwise horrible to be thought vponupon. He following ye example of Heliogabalus, did maintayne his traine of harlots, and bestowed them on his frendes and seruauntes. Beside he had his fee comming into his treasure of that moneye, which the harlots earned by their misdemeanour, to the enrychinge of his cofers: for ye strompets of Rome do yet paye theyr Iuly tribute (as it is termed) eueryevery weeke to the Pope, which in yearely reuenues hath oftentimes amounted to xx. Thousand ducates, and now by report ariseth to fourtye Thousande. And so ye treasurers of the Church are bound to make accompte as well of harlots tribute, as of the Church landes.
VVesselus Groningensis (called the light of the world) in the discourse of the Popes indulgences wryteth of this Pope Sixtus, that at ye sute of the foresaid Peter then Cardinall of S. Sixtus, and Patriarke of Constantinople, and of his brother Hierome, he graunted the whole familye of the Cardinall of S. Lucia (who in his former yonge yeares had in like maner yelded himselfe to the detestable lust of Pope Paule the second) to file theyr bodyes lawfullye, in most vnlawfull, vnnaturall and vnspeakable maner for 3. hot monthes Iune Iulye and August, which he graunted with this clause: Fiat vt petitur, Doe accordinge to your requeste. O horrible and monstrons men, more saluage then brute beastes, weare it not but that malice of Antichrist and the deuill (sparing no blasphemye to slaunder ye Church of Christe) dryueth me to detecte their loathsome treacherye and nakednesse, I would rather helpe to burye these villanyes in silence then to vtter these their filthines, which I cānot but with blushing remember. Loath were I to plucke of the sheete of theyr shame, & to reueale their ribaldrye, but that vnderunder such roabes lurketh hiddē so manye foule soares enfecting Christian soules, and deceauing their simplicitye with an outward visard of innocencye. And yet while I for beare euen for honesty & ciuilitye sake, to discouer their filthye commedyes and stewishe pranckes at large, as they themselues are not ashamed to doe, sportinge thereat with ballades, songes and sonets, and other vnhoneste wayes. Mantuan and other hauehave spoken and vttered thereof enoughe, & to much, wryting of this Pope Sixtus and his nephew, & of Alphonsus. But as touching Sixtus (sayth Volateran) he being disposed to exercise him selfe in warrefare, wherunto he was of nature more enclined then to religiō, moued quarrels of warre as he might right or wronge. He inuaded without any cause Vitelius Tiphernates, the Florentines, the Venetians, the Columnians, Ferdinand king of Sicilia, the duke of Calabria, and other nations and Princes. It was his chiefe delighte to hauehave Christian Princes at commaundemēt, whom at his pleasure he did both set vp and put downe: He set his confederates the Heluetians with fyre and sworde vponupon the Lombardes whom he had cursed, and gaue the Heluetians a pardon and an ensigne, to encourage them to the slaughter of the Lombardes. He aduaūced his cosins & bastardes (to the shame of the Church) to all that he mighte: for he made two of his nephewes Leonarde & Iohn to be Presidents of the Citye by course one after another, beside other dignities diuers and many yt he bestowed on sondrye of his kindred, & among other one Raphael his sisters sonne was made Cardinal. But one Laurence Medices honge vp the saide Raphael and Saluatus Pisanus and diuers other, because they had murthered his brother. He was verye beneficiall to the begging sect of religious roages, graūting them reuenues in this life, and heauen in the life to come. He is counted as it were a newe builder of Rome. He bestowed cost of pauinge the streates & repayring the wayes, appointing skauingers to loke to ye streates: beside diuers other lesse necessary & more vaine and superstitious deedes about Churches, Chappels, and Pallaces. In the xv. yeare he celebrated the Iubelie for the encrease of his lucre and gaynes, and to pleasure his frendes. He diuised many polling & bribing offices of scribes, abridgers, sollicitours, waighters, and notaryes of the escheaker, to enriche hys cofers, which offices are to be bought of ye Pope. He made diuers newe holly dayes, and diuers Saintes, and manye decrees to enriche the clergye. He excommunicated and cursed to hell Laurence Medices of Florence, for hanging his nephew Raphael. In the ende he being sicke of ye goute dyed throughe rancour and malice, the soner because the duke of Ferraria had takē peace with the Venetians against his will, Anno 1484. And therefore diuers men made these Epitaphes of him.
¶ Of his death.
Non potuit Seuum vis vlla extinguere Sixtum:
Audito tandem domine pacis, obit.
No force was forceable enoughe to make Pope Sixtus dye,
But when the name of peace was heard it kild him by and by.
Of the peace that ensued his death.
Dic vnde Alecto pax ista refulsit, & vnde
Tam subito reticent praelia? Sixtus obit.
Say hag Alecto whence hauehave we this peace? and how are fled
The bloudye broyles so sodenlye? Pope Sixtus nowe i… dead▪
Againe another wrote this.
Mortuus est Sixtus, gaudet nunc Roma: trahatur,
Vt dignum est, vnco mortuus in Tiberim.
Pope Sixt is dead and Rome is glad: therefore as it is meete,
To Tiber draw his carkasse with an hooke fast to his feete.
Another.
Sixtus obit, gaudent omnes: nefunere sicco
Transeat, amissa plangite glande sues.
Pope Sixt is dead, all men are glad: but least that noone bewayle
While he is buryed: weepe ye hogs and howle your acorns fayle.
Another.
Extulit auratas sed postquam maxima glandes
Ecclesia, innumeris patefacta est ianua porcis.
When mighty mother Church gan once her goulden acorns yeld,
It was set oape to howgy heards of swyne that hauehave it fild.
¶ Another.
Sixte iaces tandem, fidei contemptor & aequi:
Pacis vt hostis eras, pace peremptus obis.
O Sixt thou were a foe to peace, and peace hath thee now slaine,
That diddest long in life both fayth and equitye disdaine.
Sixte iaces tandem: laetatur Roma, tuo quae
Passa sub imperio est funer, bella, famem.
Now dead is Sixt: and Rome is glad who while as he did raigne,
Oft burials and wasting warre with famme did sustaine.
Sixte iaces tandem, nostri discordia secli:
Saeuisti in superos, nunc Acheronta moue.
Nowe Sixt is dead that noyde this age with discord and with euill.
Thou raged hast against the heauens, now wrangle with the deuill,
Sixte iaces tandem, fraudis que doli que minister:
Et sola tantum proditione potens.
Now Sixt is dead that did contriue such falsehoode craft & guile:
And onlye bare so great a sway by treason all this while.
Sixte iaces tandem, pressa est quo sospite virtus,
Leges, sacra, pium, relligio que , fides,
Now Sixt is dead: who while as he did liue did keepe in awe
Religion, fayth, zeale, godlines, all honestye and lawe.
Sixte iaces tandem, deflent tua busta cinedi,
Scorta que , lenones, alea, vina, Venus.
Now Sixt is dead, vponupon whose graue there doth lament & howle,
Bauds, strōpets, bankruts, ribaulds, stewes, & eke ye drōken nowle
Sixte iaces tandem, summorum imfamia, fex que
Pontificum, tandem perfide Sixte iaces.
Now Sixt is dead: the shame of those that hye in honour be
The scoom of Popes: most faithlesse wretch now dead at lēgth is he.
Sixte iaces tandem, vos hunc lacerate Quirites,
Dentur & impastis membra scelesta feris.
Now Sixt is dead: his carkasse then ye Romaynes rent & teare,
And giuegive the gubs to carrayne crowes, & to the saluage beare.
Quid pia profuerint functo solemnia Sixto?
Tradita sunt celeri vota preces que noto.
What doth it boote to pray for soule of Sixtus being dead,
Your prayers are but blastes of winde that in the ayre are fled.
Riserat vt viuens coelestia numina Sixtus,
Sic moriens nullos credidit esse Deos.
As Sixtus in his life did scorne the God celestiall,
So at his day of death he thought there was no God at all.
Sixte iaces tandem, superis inuisus & imis:
Inclusus grauido ventre necandus eras.
Thou Sixt at length art dead whom heauen doth loath & also hell,
If murdred thou in mothers wombe, had bene: it had bin well.
Stupra, famem, strages, vsuras, furta, rapinas,
Et quodcun que nefas, te duce Roma tulit.
Thou being Captaine wretched Rome, no mischiefe could escape,
As robbing, murther, vsury, theft, famin, whordome, rape.
Magna licet tardae soluenda est gratia morti:
Omne scelus tecum, Sixte cruente, iacet.
Much are we bound to death though long it were ere shee thee sped,
For now with the O cruell Sixt all villany is dead.
By these Uerses which were made vponupon Pope Sixtu: after his death, it maye appeare what opinion men had of his holinesse in his life. But to proceede, Leander & Tritemius say that about the yeare of our Lorde 1470. Alanus de rupe a dominican, after he had seene certaine diuelishe visions and illusions, contriued his worke called Rosariū out of our Ladyes Psalter, and preached it in steede of the Gospell: which Iames Sprenger did aduaunce with counterfaited myracles, and at the length Pope Sixtus did cō firme it to be holye and autenticall with his bulles and indulgences. Whereupon a certaine booke was published, in the beginning wherof it is written that vponupon a time the blessed Uirgin came into the Cell of the said Alan it being shut, and made him a ring of her owne haire, and betrouthed her selfe to ye monke, that she kissed him, giuing him leaue to handle and milke her breastes: and finally to be as pleasaunt and familiar with him as a woman would be wt her husband. And these grosse monkishe myracles are yet defended by the Popishe priesthoode. Of this Alan came the order of religious loyterers called after his name.