United States or Poland ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Touchinge the firste, the author hereof was Pope Alexander the vith whoe, as Platina and Onuphrius and Bale doe write, was himselfe a Spaniarde, and borne in Valencia, of the familie called Borgia, and therefore no marvell thoughe he were ledd by parcialitie to favour the Spanishe nation, thoughe yt were to the prejudice and domage of all others; whiche foule faulte of his may hereby appeare, that havinge in all the tyme of his Popedome created sixe and thirtie Cardinalles, of those xxxvj. he made xviij. to witt the one halfe, Spaniardes, as Bale dothe testifie, writinge of his life.
They, against whom this care was most taken, were the Pope and the Venetians; and to restrain the Venetians, there needed the union of all the rest, as it was in the defence of Ferrara; and to keep the Pope low, they served themselves of the Barons of Rome, who being divided into two factions, the Orsini and Colonnesi, there was alwaies occasion of offence between them, who standing ready with their armes in hand in the view of the Pope, held the Popedome weak and feeble: and however sometimes there arose a couragious Pope, as was Sextus; yet either his fortune, or his wisdome was not able to free him of these incommodities, and the brevity of their lives was the cause thereof; for in ten years, which time, one with another, Popes ordinarily liv'd, with much ado could they bring low one of the factions.
This also is granted, so he doe it in his own Dominions, or in the Dominions of any other Prince that hath given him that Power; but not universally, in Right of the Popedome: For that power belongeth to every Christian Soveraign, within the bounds of his owne Empire, and is inseparable from the Soveraignty.
And now hath Pope Leo his Holiness found the Popedome exceeding puissant, of whom it is hoped, that if they amplified it by armes, he by his goodness, and infinite other vertues, will much more advantage and dignifie it. How many sorts of Military discipline there are and touching Mercenary soldiers.
George, and Ascanius; all the others that were in possibility of the Popedome, were such as might have feard him rather, except the Cardinal of Roan, and the Spaniards; these by reason of their allyance and obligation with him, the other because of the power they had, having the Kingdome of France on their party; wherefore the Duke above all things should have created a Spanyard Pope, and in case he could not have done that, he should have agreed that Roan should have been, and not St.
Word Of The Day