XIV. CHAP. nishment of the offenders into a source of gain. (a) On the twentieth day of Junehe proceeded to degrade the cardinals Petrucci and de' Sauli, and also the cardinal Riario, from their dignities, and to deprive them of their goods and ecclesiastical preferments; after which, to the terror and astonishment of all the members of the sacred college, he delivered them over to the secular power.(b) During this meeting of the consistory, which continued thirteen hours, great dissensions and tumults arose, as well between the pope and some of the cardinals, as among the cardinals themselves, of whom only twelve were present, being all who then remained in the city. The sentence of deprivation was read by Pietro Bembo.(c) On the following night Petrucci A. D. 1517. A. Et. 42. (a) Par. de Grass. Diar. inedit. in Bib. Pub. Paris. (b) Ibid. (c) "Concistorium hoc duravit ab hora XI. usque ad "XXIV. tum propter lectionem processus, quam propter "clamores & rixas in Concistorio habitas; nam sunt ab ex"trinseco exauditi clamores mutui, præsertim Papæ contra "aliquos Cardinales, & Cardinalium contra Cardinales & "contra Papam, Cardinales præsentes privationi fuerunt "XII. nam non plures erant in urbe. Petrus Bembus le XIV. Petrucci was strangled in prison.(a) The sub- CHAP. ordinate instruments of this treachery, Battista da Vercelli and Antonio Nino, were also sentenced to death, and after suffering excruciating torments, were finally strangled and their bodies quartered.(b) The life of the cardinal de' Sauli was spared on the entreaty of Francesco Cibò the brother-in-law of the pontiff, "sententiam." Par. de Grass. Diar. ap. Fabr. vita Leon. p. 120. X. (a) Guicciard. lib. xiii. ii. 146. Another author, however, relates, that Petrucci was decapitated, having refused to confess his sins, alleging, that if he lost his body, he cared nothing about his soul. "Fama erat laqueo stran"" gulatum fuisse (verum ut alii Roma venientes nobis retule"runt, imposita ad faciem larva, capite plexus est, renuens 66 ut referebant, confessionem peccatorum facere) dixisseque "illum, si corpus amitteret, animam quoque se non curare. "In Campo Sancto noctu est humatus. Hic enim infelix "juvenis fatali aliquo sidere angigula, & collo debebat ex"tingui; olim namque a Burghesio fratre, novacula pene 66 jugulatus fuit." Ex relat. Titii. ap. Fabron. Leon. x. in adnot. p. 285. (b) "De Vercellio autem ac Antonio Scriba, acerbis"simé supplicium sumptum; adeo ut curru per urbem cir"cumducti, carptimque discerpti candentium forcipum mor "sibus, ac ad extremum strangulati, in frusta secarentur. "Ea severitate pontifex magnum terrorem omnibus incus"serat." Jov. vita Leon. x. lib. iv. p. 78. A. D. 1517. A. Et. 42. A. Pont. V. XIV. Conduct of Leo to CHAP. pontiff,(a) and although he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, yet he was soon afterwards liberated on payment of a sum of money and making an humble submission, which the pope received in a most ungracious manner and answered by a severe remonwards the strance.(b) As the cardinal died in the enother con- suing year, it was insinuated that he perished by a slow poison administered to him whilst in custody by the order of the pontiff;(c) an accusation which has no foundation, but in the horrible frequency with which crimes of this spirators. A. D. 1517. A. Ft. 42. A Pont. V. (a) Fabron. vita Leon. x. p. 120. It is not however improbable, that the cardinal was chiefly indebted for his safety to the interference of Francis I. who represented him to the pope as one of his Genoese subjects, and of a family which he highly esteemed. v. App. No. CXLIV. (b) Unde Papa, qui videbatur vultu quidem ægro et turbato, in paucis verbis respondit; 1mo. quidem dicens. "Utinam vos eodem animo et mente essetis, sicut verba "vestra sonant; et si nos crederemus vos ex bona mente "loqui, sic etiam gratiam nostram vobis impartiremur. "Sed dubitamus ne denuo ad vomitum redeatis, aut redire "cupiatis. Itaque si ea mens vobis est, melius est quod in "hac re supersedeatur." Par. de Grass. Diar. inedit. ap. Bib. Pub. Paris. (c) Guictiard. lib. xiii. ii. 146. this nature were then resorted to, and in the idea that as the pope had always treated the cardinal with distinguished kindness, he could not forgive the injury meditated against him. The cardinal of S. Georgio experienced greater lenity; and although he had been included in the decree of deprivation, was, on the payment of a certain sum and without any apology, immediately restored to all his ecclesiastical functions, except the power of voting in the college; which incapacity was also removed before the expiration of a year. On the reconciliation between them, Leo used ex. pressions of particular kindness and respect; solemnly assuring him that whatever offences the cardinal had committed against him, he had wholly pardoned and obliterated from his mind. (a) Riario, however, either humiliated by this (a) Reverendissime Domine; ut Dominatio vestra "habeat veram pacem, plenam atque perfectam, tam in "facie quam in corde, Ego vobis illam annuncio & dono; præsente hic Domino nostro Jesu Christo, in carne & san"guine; cujus gratiâ Ego remitto Dominationi vestræ Re"verendissimæ omnem injuriam, si quam ullo casu, aut " tempore contra me fecistis; et vice versa similiter, per "D. N. J. C. hic præsentem, rogo et peto, ut contra me omnem malum animum remittatis, si quem habetis." 20 "1 Par. de Grass. ap. Fabr. vita Leon. x. p. 117. The XIV. CHAP. this transaction, or not confiding in the assurances of the pontiff, soon afterwards quitted the city of Rome, where he had solong resided in the greatest splendour and respectability, and took up his residence at Naples, where he termi nated his days in the month of July, 1520. A. D. 1517. A. Et. 42. Observa event. This extraordinary transaction, in which tions on this so great a proportion of the members of the sacred college conspired against the life of the supreme pontiff, gave rise to much discussion and great diversity of opinion.(a) The motives of Petrucci were indeed sufficiently obvious The lenity experienced by Riario at different periods of his "Accepere manus RIARI vincla nocentes, "In caput Etrusci qui tulit arma Ducis. dedisti; (a) Vasari, who has given some account of this transaction in his own manner, mentions six cardinals as involved in the conspiracy, having erroneously enumerated S. Georgio and Raffaello Riario as different persons. v. Ragionam, p. 102. |