The life and times of Rienzi

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Book I

The scenes which passed at Rome within the space of seven years, from 1347 to 1354, and which drew the attention of all Europe, formed by their continuity a sort of tragi-comedy so singular, as was never acted on the theatre of the world ; none ever came up to it either in regard to its causes and courses, its circumstances and plot, or its sac-i cess and discovery. Conspiracies bear in general an exact resemblance in history ; every where the same foundation ; every where the same passions, the same springs, and the same artifices ; there is a still more perfect resemblance to be found in particular actions ; ail appear framed upon the same model. Boldness, ambition, and malecontent first occasion enterprises ; rage and interest bind them ; secrecy and activity conduct them ; and circumstances joined to measures, well or ill undertaken, generally cause them to succeed or miscarry. The many revolutions occasioned by them are brought about underhand and gradually-; it must be a work of time to undermine the foundation of lawful authority: at length, when an infinity of causes, almost unperceivable, hath brought this authority either to the brink of subversion, or to a more firm establishment, it is neces^ sary that every enterprise of this nature be carried on with a coherence agreeable to the respective parts of the actors,

The conspiracy of Rienzi was widely different ; the secret was a small part, the conduct still less ; the motion was hasty and sudden ; a chimera instantly became a reality ; the success was happy for the rebel, and happy also during the time, for the Sovereign. A conspiracy thus extraordinary seemed to me deserving of being more known than it had* hitherto been, and I often wondered that in less than four centuries it should in a manner be buried in oblivion. The pleasure which the reading an event of such variety affords, was not my sole inducement to call to remembrance the different passages of those authors who have wrote upon it ; there was an advantage to be gathered from the moral and the politics. We have seen conspirators of different geniuses attempting to make themselves masters of their party and succeed ; but I know of none who has engaged in an undertaking like our present subject ; it must be acknowledged, that the irregularity of the means which he made use of to accomplish his ends, was alone capable of disconcerting the most refined policy and consummate wisdom. —

The personage, whose history I attempt, was not one of those heroes whose births are accompanied with predictions ; the obscurity of his birth hath prevented us from knowing any thing farther relating thereto, than that he was born at Rome, of low extraction, and that his father's name was Laurence Gabrini ; his mother's Magdalen ; the former was a mean vintner, the latter a laundress, and that they lived afterwards near the Tiber, opposite to the St. Thomas, under the Jews' Synagogue. These circumstances seemjngly trifling, are not to be omitted. Nicolas Rienzi, or Renzo, (the name he always went by) formed not his sentiments agreeable to the meanness of his extraction : he became an excellent scholar; and as he had a spirit elevated as his ideas, in a very short time he obtained the character of an extraordinary person, and merited the esteem and friendship of the celebrated Petrarch, his cotemporary. As soon as he had learned grammar and rhetoric, which improved his natural eloquence, he studied antiquity with an uncommon assiduity. Every thing he read he compared with similar passages, that occurred within his own observation, from whence he made reflections, by which he regulated his whole conduct. To all this he added a great

OF GABRINI.

knowledge in the laws and customs of nations* He had a vast memory; he retained all Cicero, Valeriu^ Maximus, Livy, the two Senecas, and Caesar's Commerttaries, especially, which he read continually, and often quoted by application to the events of his own time. This fihd of learning proved the basis and foundation of his rise.\ The desire he had to distinguish himself in the knowledge of monumental history drew him to another sort tf science, which few men at that time exerted themselves in. He passed whole days among the inscriptions which We to be found at Rome, and acquired soon the reputation <f a great antiquary in that way. But his views were not tAbe confined to the empty name of scholar. Arrived at\an age when the ways of the world make some part of ou\ reflection, he began to form ideas of reanimating the Romans with a love of Liberty. Young as he yet was, he Wd an air of gravity, which obtained him a kind of veneration, and which gave weight to the most minute of his speeches. Whenever he walked amongst the ruins of ancient Rome, he affected an ecstacy over some bust or remains of a statue, and pretending that he perceived not the crowd who were round him, " Where," said he, " are the old Romans ? — Where is all their grandeur ? Why lived I not in those good times ?" Sometimes he expressed himself in riddles, half sentences, and intricate phrases, and all without appearance of design ; he discovered not the least notice he& took of the impression which his speeches made on the people who followed him : his advantageous stature, his countenance, and that air of a man of importance, which he well knew how to assume, deeply imprinted all he said in the minds of his audience. His frequent repetitions of the words justice, liberty, ancient grandeur, which were continually in his mouth, made him persuade himself, as well as the giddy mob his followers, that he should one. day become the restorer of the Roman Republic. Not content with a name among the populace, he had the address to gain the familiarity among the most honourable, and insinuate himself into the favour of those who were at that time in the administration. He had a brother who happened to be assassinated ; satisfaction was not given for his death, and he resolved to go to Avignon and apply to the pope. — g THE CONSPIRACY

This journfy on account of the death of his brother was mere preterce, his real motive was to endeavour to gain confidence with the pope, and represent to him in the most pathetic manner the situation of the affairs at Rome ; he strove to p'ocure a title that might render him more reeommendableto the holy father, and to be appointed deputy, to eno-ao-e (i possible) his holiness to re-establish the court of Rome, aid his see at the capital of the world. These deputation seemed so important to the Romans, that they let slip no opportunity of renewing them. Since the year 1342, tie beginning of the pontificate of Clement VI., they had set a most solemn embassy to him composed of eig-hteea deputies, six of each of the three states, all chosen out of the chief families in Rome. The little success they had ii their^ first requests made them fix their eyes on Rienji, and name him for this deputation, in the same manner they had a few years before named Petrarch, as a man of eloquence, and capable of making the holy father sensible-how prejudicial his absence was to the interest of Rome, as well as his own. But before we relate in what manner he acquitted himself, it may not be improper to give an account of the situation of Rome at that time, and of the principal persons who open the scenes of this history ; the interior we leave to come in their proper course.

When Cardinal Peter Roger Limousin was elected pope •by the name of Clement VI., the pontifical see had been fixed at Avignon about thirty-seven years, by Bertrand d'Agoust, or De Goth, archbishop of Bordeaux, afterwards Pope Clement V., at the instigation of Philip the Handsome. This transmigration of the pope, which lasted near threescore and ten years, was fatal, if not to the church and Christianity in general, at least to Rome, to the patrimony of St. Peter, and to all Italy. The cruel factions of the Guelfs and Gibrlines, not only regained strength to destroy each other, but raised new cabals ; the one in aspiring by force to tyranny, the other in defending themselves, threw Italy into such convulsions, as rendered her difficult to be known again. Petrarch, among his letters (published without a title) wrote upon this subject to a friend the following: —

" Hitherto we have gone through the sport only of fortune, at this day we feel her fury. O God ! send us down again Nero, send us Domitian ; their persecution will be more open ; a secret poison consumes us, yet attacks less our lives than our courage. We have not the power either to live a virtuous life, or to die a glorious death. In short, all the fables you have read relating to Assyria, Babylon, the forest of Tartary, are in effect but a fable compared to our hell. Here we see another Nimroth with superb towers, another Semiramis, inexorable Minos, all-devouring Cerberus, the infamous Pasiphae, and the Minotaurs ; in a word, every horror imagination can paint. After this description can you believe the city the same that you have seen it? it is at once the most wicked and most miserable of cities ; the resort of devils, the sink of debauchery, and (according to the prophet) a hell upon earth."

If this celebrated author in his figurative terms flew too high, he was however right as to the affairs of Rome at that time ; all writers agree, that that great city was reduced to a most deplorable situation. Justice was administered no more with freedom, the laws were no more put in execution ; impunity rendered the guilty more hardened, and their outrages more clamorous. The great ones, always divided among themselves, agreed only in one point, that of deceiving the people, who fell always victims to their dissensions. Commerce languished at home ; foreigners feared to go to Rome, lest on their arrival they should be hurt either in their lives or effects ; the public roads were infested by robbers, and the city itself was the retreat of thieves ; churches and palaces, destroyed by fire or misfortunes, lay, for want of money, in ruins. But the greatest proof of the misery of Rome will be found in our history.

Among the Roman nobility who had reduced the people to slavery, the two most powerful families were those of Colonna and Ursini. The ancient feuds between them would not suffer them to live in tranquillity in that city. The Colonnas were Gibelines, and the Ursini Guelphs. Their animosities were often stifled and stirred up after the absence of the popes, who had as much difficulty to pacify as to put an entire" stop to them. The legate Bertram, archbishop of Embrun, could find no better expedient to bring them to a truce, than nominating Peter Colonna and Mathew Ursini governors of Rome. Some years after, in the fourth of the pontificate of Clement VI., in which Rienza was deputed for Avignon, their flames broke out again.

Clement VI. appeared to have no great regard for the Romans ; they were not often the objects of his thoughts. If Mathew Villani is to be credited : — " This pope was very liberal in bestowing benefices ; he kept a palace truly royal, a grand table, a great number of knights and esquires, and a fine stud of horses. He loved to aggrandise his family, and he purchased great estates in France for his relations. He filled the vacancies in the sacred college with those who were young and scarce regular. He advanced to the purple others still younger, at the solicitations of his friend the king of France, He regarded neither learning nor virtue ; ambition was sufficient. He was himself very well learned, but his behaviour was too free and gay. When he was archbishop he frequently passed his time away in gallantry among the ladies, and when he afterwards came to be pope he could not conceal his inclinations. The ladies of distinction entered his apartment as freely as the prelates ; the Countess de Tnrenne particularly knew so well how to manage him, that in a great measure she disposed of his favours. He squandered away the treasures of the church, while the divisions in Italy gave him no concern."

I have quoted this character merely to show the ill-will the Italians bore Clement VI. I have found no other author accusing him upon account of the ladies ; they all agree in his profuseness ; his passion for raising his family, and promoting minors to the dignity of cardinals. All extol his popularity and clemency. There are no less than six* ancient histories of his life, in which more mention is made of his virtues than his vices. "The peace of his subjects," says the author of the first, " was his principal study, to procure which he endeavoured at nothing more than a good correspondence with the sovereign princes of Europe, as is evident by the number of legates he sent to their respective courts. He interfered not in the wars of his neighbours, unless the rights of the church compelled him. His prudence in avoiding broils afforded him the more leisure to employ himself in the duties of the pontificate ; he was very exact in holding consistories at their appointed time ; his name seemed to have added to his natural clemency; so humane he never sought revenge on his most inveterate enemies. His goodness extended to all who applied to him : it was very rare he sent any away without granting their petitions. He was exceeding bountiful to the poor, especially those whose modesty added to their necessities ; he bore constantly in his mind the beatitude, ' Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' "

To these excellent qualities others add learning, and a memory so prodigious, that whenever he thought fit, he could recollect every author that he had read. This singular talent, they pretend, was occasioned by a wound on the head.

It is to be observed, that at the commencement of his pontificate the Romans demanded of him three articles. First, that' he seould accept for life, not as Pope Clement VI. but as Seigneur Peter Roger, tbe offices of Senator, Governor, <fec. of the city of Rome. Secondly, that he should come and fix at the Lateran Church, the mother of all churches, and his proper see, so long deprived of the presence of its sovereign pontiffs. Thirdly, that he should consider how few persons could enjoy the indulgence, granted an hundred years since by Bonifice VIII. and reduce it therefore to every fiftieth year. The pope at two months end answered their first demand, that he accepted of the govornment of Rome, by nominating persons to govern in his name, -upon condition of their acting no way prejudicial to his sovereignty. His journey to Rome and fixing there, he put ofT under several specious pretences ; that he wished it with all his heart, but could not at that time undertake it ; the Romans took this as a flat denial, and were bitterly chagrined at it. Their third demand he agreed to, and published the Bull Unigenitus, dated January 27, 1343, in which he granted indulgence to the faithful who visited the churches of the holy apostles, and St. John the Lateran in the year 1350, and for the future every fiftieth year to all perpetuity. The comparison which Boniface VIII. made in his bull with the Jews' jubilee, gave this indulgence ever afterwards the name of jubilee.

We must observe further, that it was under this Pope, that the schism of Germany on the election of emperors was prosecuted with great ardour, and brought at length great troubles both in the empire and the church. Lewis of Bavaria was elected in 1314 by five electors, and Frederic Duke of Austria by the other two. The Gibelines were for the former, and the Guelphs for the latter. Pope John XXII. issued out many processes against Lewis of Bavaria, who on his part penetrated into Rome, deposed the pontiff, negociated to no purpose with Benedict XII. and continued his hostilities to the time of Clement VI. The difference between him and the Popes, who looked upon the throne of the empire as vacant since Henry of Luxembourg, occasioned many pretensions on both sides. Clement VI. pursued the processes of John XXII. against the emperor, and pronounced a definite sentence against him by a bull dated April 13, 1346. He then caused Charles of Luxembourg to be chosen King of the Romans by three electors, having the same year signed some compacts with that prince at Avignon.

These troubles, without relating those of Nayles and Sicily, agitated Italy to such a degree, that the governors of Rome particularly seemed to possess rather an empty title than a power of making themselves obeyed. The discontent at the Pope's absence, and their reiterated denials to ^gfluit Avignon, caused perhaps a remissness. Stephen Colonna the elder, at that time governor of Rome, notwithstanding his birth, his credit, and the interest of his numerous family, of which he was chief, winked at an infinite number of enormities, either through an inability of suppressing them, or a fear of adding to the spirits of those, who were already too much irritated.

Raymond, Bishop of Orvieto, Vicar of Clement VI. at Rome for spiritual affairs, carried himself in much the same manner for the same reasons. He was a good prelate, a great canonist, strongly attached to the Pope's interest both spiritual and temporal ; of an impartiality and integrity that on some occasions proved too delicate ; but of a genius unfit for government, incapable of deceit, and liable, therefore, to be deceived by the artifices of every one who pretended the public good, which he had alone in view.

In regard to Rienzi, he was of a genius too difficult to define ; his character will be much better drawn from his actions, than from any portrait we can find of him. He had a singular mixture of virtues and vices, of good and bad qualities, of abilities and incapacity, which seemingly contradicting each other, he reconciled to a great degree. He was crafty and weak, bold and fearful, haughty and humble. A show of wisdom and gravity made him at first regarded as a profound politician ; but his extravagant flights soon made him pass among men of sense for a madman, capable of the most rash enterprises. He had a natural timidity, which hindered him from pushing them on. His fierceness on a sudden was changed to baseness, and the most fortunate acts of his policy often degenerated to the most extravagant meanness. He was ambitious enough to conceive a design of a kind of universal monarchy. Eloquent by nature and art, he made impressions on the minds of those he spoke to, without distinguishing, or pretending to distinguish between their applauses and railleries : capable of bringing about a revolution, and setting up a tyrannic government, but incapable of supporting tyranny upon a lasting foundation. In short, he was one of those geniuses of a superior degree, which Providence at diverse times sends to be either a scourge or blessing to a nation.

Such was the man deputed to go to Avignon, and repeat the petitions of the Romans to Clement VI. to return to- Rome. At his first audience he charmed the com* of Avig* non with his eloquence and the sprightliness of his conversation ; encouraged by success he one day took the liberty to tell the Pope, that the grandees of Rome were avowed robbers, public thieves, infamous adulterers, and illustrious profligates, who by their example authorised the most horrid crimes. To them he attributed the desolation of Rome, of which he drew so lively a picture, that the holy father was moved and exceedingly incensed against the Roman nobility.

Cardinal John Colonna at that time shone at the court of Avignon. He was a lover of real merit, as he possessed a large share himself. He was the Mecsenas of Petrarch, and of every man of letters. Rienzi apparently began with particulars that displeased the cardinal ; it is certain that that prelate was sensibly nettled at his invectives, which reflected, among the rest, on some of his family.—

B

Omitting no pretence to render, his deputation suspected, he caused him to be disgraced. This disgrace destroyed every scheme of Rienzi ; he fell into extreme misery. Vexation and sickness, joined with indigence, brought to an hospital a man, who afterward made so great a noise all over Europe. Happy for him his misery was of short duration : the same hand that threw him down, raised him up again. The cardinal who but just before had vowed his ruin, was all compassion, and, without foreseeing the consequences of his kindness, caused him to appear before the Pope in assurance of his being a good man, and a great partisan for justice and equity. The Pope approved of him more than ever, and to give him proofs of his esteem and confidence, he made him Apostolic Notary, and sent him back loaded with favours, but without any answer in relation to his Holiness's return to Rome, which he had demanded on the part of the Romans. Rienzi was less moved with the favours of Clement and Cardinal Colonna, than with the ill usage he at first met with from the latter. Resentment had a greater ascendency over him than gratitude. He departed with a firm resolution to be revenged on the Colonnas, which in time he knew how to accomplish, and had the imprudence to let fall his threats on his departure from Avignon.

Book II

As soon asRienzi returned to Rome, he began to execute his office of apostolic notary with great affectation of honour, justice, and probity ; which, joined to his continued exclamations against the enormities of the great, gained him on the one hand the affections of the people, as on the other it rendered them odious : by these means he obtained a kind of superiority, am: omitted no opportunity of turning to advantage his secret designs. By his affability and popularity he added to his credit ; always ready to serve, always foremost in civility, always punctual in the administration of justice, constantly exhorting the counsellors to equity, and the rest to peace, concord, and respect to the Holy See. Those who intermeddled with the government he stiled the Dogs of the Capitol.

When he imagined that he had sufficiently established the reputation of being a good citizen, he made a bold stroke. One day, at a full council-board, he rose up suddenly, and with a kind of enthusiasm said to the senators, "You are bad citizens:— you who suck the blood of the people relieve them not." Afterwards, addressing himself to the officers and governors, he admonished them to take care of the welfare of the city. His speech forced a blow from Andrew le Normand Camerlingue, who was of the family of Colonna. Thomas Fortifiocca, secretary of the senate, rebuked him also for his inconsiderate zeal, and displaced him. This ill success not the least disheartened him ; he grew more warm in reproving publicly their vices, and inveighing against the debauched, but acted in a more prudent manner. To cut a second eclat, with a better prospect of success, and less risk, he caused a symbolical picture to be drawn, on which he pretended to represent the whole situation of affairs in Italy, which he affixed to the court-gate of the senate.

This painting exhibited, in the midst of a tempestuous sea, a ship floating without sails or sailors, and just swallowed by the waves. On board appeared a woman in a widow's habit ; her hair dishevelled, her hands wringing at her breast, and her knees in a suppliant posture ; over her was written, Rome. On the right were four ships wrecked and sinking ; in each a woman upon deck, representing Babylon, Carthage, Troy, and Jerusalem. One label set forth that injustice had ruined those cities ; and another, that Rome was once greater than all, but her desolation was -now near at hand. On the left were three rocks ; on one was Italy, in the figure of a lady, lamenting the misfortune of Rome in having no place of refuge, who had herself been a refuge and asylum to the whole world. On another were the four cardinal virtues, emblematically displayed by four women, in attitudes the most expressive of grief which they seemed to attribute to the dangerous condition of Rome ; on a label they thus addressed her — " You have been attended upon by every virtue, and now, behold, you are overwhelmed in an ocean of evil. On the third rock was represented the Christian religion, with this label :=—

" Oh God ! if Rome perish, where must I go ?"

Above, towards the right, were painted four rows of diverse animals with horns, through which .they blew upon the waves, and endeavoured chiefly to sink the principal ship. In the first row were lions, wolves, and bears, with this inscription-— " Behold governors, senators, and nobles." In the second, dogs, hogs, and she-goats, with this — " Evil counsellors and flatterers of nobility." In the third, dragons, foxes, and he-goats, with this — " Corrupt officers, judges, and notaries." In the fourth, a number of apes, monkeys, and cats, with this-~-« Murderers, adulterers, ancj robbers." Over the whole was painted " Heaven," from whence descended the Supreme Being, with all the majesty of the sovereign judge displeased ; two swords issued from his mouth, and on each side were the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, endeavouring to appease him.

This fantastical picture, which drew the attention of the people, caused them to reflect on what they every day went through, and look upon Rienzi as a man capable of taking their interests into his hands, and restoring their tottering state. His stratagem having succeeded, without danger from the principal men who despised it, in a little time after he had the rashness to make another public show of quite a different nature.

He affixed to the wall of the choir of St. John the Lateran a large brass plate, on which was engraven the people of Rome yielding the sovereign authority to Vespasian, in antique characters, to render it the more ambiguous ; but the matter spoke itself. Rienzi would by this have had it understood, that the supreme power was entirely lodged in the hands of the people ; that their rulers were no more than trustees ; and that they were to ordain what they thought fit. The seditious maxims which Rienzi took so much pains to propagate, were extremely agreeable to the citizens : the nobility also were disgusted at the Pope's residence at Avignon, and especially at the little esteem Clement VI. showed the Romans.

Rienzi, perceiving the attention of the people, which his hieroglyphical plate had universally attracted, and their desire of understanding me meaning of the mystical characters, raised in the same place an alcove and amphitheatre handsomely adorned. Having set a day for the explanation, he gave a general invitation to the nobility. Stephen Colonna and John, his son, appeared at the head of a numerous company of distinction. It was thought that the cere^ mony would have been very solemn, but in its appearance it proved a very singular farce. Rienzi on his stage was, in fact, a comedy king; he was dressed in a gown, with a hood of white cloth, and a hat of the same colour, spangled with golden crowns, one of which more resplendent than the rest, was separated by the point of a silver sword. His

»2 whimsical garb made it difficult for him that day to expound ; the extravagancy of his enigmatical dress, and the boldness of the orator, surprised all. . He demanded silence ; he expatiated with great energy on the grandeur of the empire, and the liberty of Rome, comparing its ancient splendour with its present decline. He represented Rome as overwhelmed, and blind to such a degree as to be unable to see the source of her evils ; " because," saith he, " she hath plucked out both her eyes, to know the Pope and the Emperor." He alluded to the absence of Clement VI. ; the troubles occasioned by the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria, not acknowledged by the Popes : and to the miseries which were the consequence thereof. " Behold," added he, turning himself toward the plate of brass, " behold the glory of the senate at the time the Emperors held their authority of the Romans !" Afterwards, making a sign to a man prepared on purpose, he made him read a sheet of paper which contained a plain explication of the unknown characters ; they were the articles agreed upon between the senate and Vespasian. 1. The power of enacting laws and making alliances. 2. The liberty of adding to or diminishing from the garden of Rome (meaning Italy).* 3. The right to make counts, dukes, and kings, and to depose them ; to build or depopulate cities ; to turn the course of rivers ; and to levy or take off taxes, as should be judged most necessary.