PUBLIC WORKS AND FINANCES. 155 dom set upon the monuments of ancient and renascent Italy, bearing which they were permitted by the now absolute Pontiff to remain as testimonies to his power. Retrenchment alone could not have sufficed for the accumulation of so much idle capital, and for so extensive an expenditure on works of public utility. Sixtus therefore had recourse to new taxation, new loans, and the creation of new offices for sale. The Venetian envoy mentions eighteen imposts levied in his reign; a sum of 600,000 crowns accruing to the Camera by the sale of places; and extensive loans, or Monti, which were principally financed by the Genoese. It was necessary for the Papacy, now that it had relinquished the larger part of its revenues derived from Europe, to live upon the proceeds of the Papal States. The complicated financial expedients on which successive Popes relied for developing their exchequer, have been elaborately explained by Ranke. They were materially assisted in their efforts to support the Papal dignity upon the resources of their realm, by the new system of nepotism which now began to prevail. Since the Council of Trent, it was impossible for a Pope to acknowledge his sons, and few, if any, of the Popes after Pius IV. had sons to acknowledge. The tendencies of the Church ren 1 Giov. Gritti, op. cit. p. 337. • History of the Popes, Book iv. section 1. • Giacomo Buoncompagno was born while Gregory XIII. was still a layman and a lawyer. dered it also incompatible with the Papal position that near relatives of the Pontiff should be advanced, as formerly, to the dignity of independent princes. The custom was to create one nephew Cardinal, with such wealth derived from office as should enable him to benefit the Papal family at large. Another nephew was usually ennobled, endowed with capital in the public funds for the purchase of lands, and provided with lucrative places in the secular administration. He then married into a Roman family of wealth and founded one of the aristocratic houses of the Roman State. We possess some details respecting the incomes of the Papal nephews at this period, which may be of interest.1 Carlo Borromeo was reasonably believed to enjoy revenues amounting to 50,000 scudi. Giacomo Buoncompagno's whole estate was estimated at 120,000 scudi; while the two Cardinal nephews of Gregory XIII. had each about 10,000 a year. At the same epoch Paolo Giordano Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, enjoyed an income of some 25,000, his estate being worth 60,000, but being heavily encumbered. These figures are taken from the Reports of the Venetian 'Sarpi writes: 'In my times Pius V., during five years, accumulated 25,000 ducats for the Cardinal nephew; Gregory XIII., in thirteen years, 30,000 for one nephew, and 20,000 for another; Sixtus V., for his only nephew, 9,000; Clement VIII., in thirteen years, for one nephew, 8,000, and for the other, 3,000; and this Pope, Paul V., in four years, for one nephew alone, 40,000. To what depths are we destined to fall in the future?' (Lettere, vol. i. p. 281). This final question was justified by the event; for, after the Borghesi, came the Ludovisi and Barberini, whose accumulations equalled, if they did not surpass, those of any antecedent Papal families. : WEALTH OF PAPAL FAMILIES. 157 envoys. If we may trust them as accurate, it will appear by a comparison of them with the details furnished by Ranke, that Gregory's successors treated their relatives with greater generosity.1 Sixtus V. enriched the Cardinal Montalto with an ecclesiastical income of 100,000 scudi. Clement VIII. bestowed on two nephews-one Cardinal, the other layman-revenues of about 60,000 apiece in 1599. He is computed to have hoarded altogether for his family a round sum of 1,000,000 scudi. Paul V. was believed to have given to his Borghese relatives nearly 700,000 scudi in cash, 24,600 scudi in funds, and 268,000 in the worth of offices.2 Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of Gregory XV., had a reputed income of 200,000 scudi; and the Ludovisi family obtained 800,000 in luoghi di monte or funds. Three nephews of Urban VIII., The The details may be examined in Ranke, vol. ii. pp. 303-311. • Sarpi's Letters supply some details relating to Paul V.'s nepotism. He describes the pleasure which this Pope took on one day of each week in washing his hands in the gold of the Datatario and the Camera (vol. i. p. 281), and says of him, 'attende solo a far danari' (vol. ii. p. 237). When Paul gave his nephew Scipione the Abbey of Vangadizza, with 12,000 ducats a year, Sarpi computed that the Cardinal held about 100,000 ducats of ecclesiastical benefices (vol. i. p. 219). When the Archbishopric of Bologna, worth over 16,000 ducats a year, fell vacant in 1610, Paul gave this to Scipione, who held it a short time without residence, and then abandoned it to Alessandro Ludovisi retaining all its revenues, with the exception of 2,000 ducats, for himself as a pension (vol. ii. pp. 158, 300). In the year 1610 Sarpi notices the purchase of Sulmona and other fiefs by Paul for his family, at the expenditure of 160,000 ducats (vol. ii. p. 70). In another place he speaks of another sum of 100,000 spent upon the same object (vol. i. p. 249, note). Well might he exclaim, 'Il pontefice è atteso ad arrichir la sua casa, (vol. i. p. 294). the brothers Barberini, were said to have enjoyed joint revenues amounting to half a million scudi, and their total gains from the pontificate touched the enormous sum of 105,000,000. These are the families, sprung from obscurity or mediocre station, whose palaces and villas adorn Rome, and who now rank, though of such recent origin, with the aristocracy of Europe. Sixtus V. died in 1590. To follow the history of his successors would be superfluous for the purpose of this book. The change in the Church which began in the reign of Paul III. was completed in his pontificate. About half a century, embracing seven tenures of the Holy Chair, had sufficed to develop the new phase of the Papacy as an absolute sovereignty, representing the modern European principle of absolutism, both as the acknowledged Head of Catholic Christendom and also as a petty Italian power. CHAPTER III. THE INQUISITION AND THE INDEX. Different Spirit in the Holy Office and the Company of Jesus-Both needed by the Counter-Reformation-Heresy in the Early Church -First Origins of the Inquisition in 1203-S. Dominic-The Holy Office becomes a Dominican Institution-Recognized by the Empire-Its early Organization-The Spanish InquisitionFounded in 1484-How it differed from the earlier Apostolical Inquisition-Jews, Moors, New Christians-Organization and History of the Holy Office in Spain-Torquemada and his Successors-The Spanish Inquisition never introduced into Italy -How the Roman Inquisition organized by Caraffa differed from it-Autos da fé in Rome-Proscription of suspected Lutherans— The Calabrian Waldenses-Protestants at Locarno and VeniceDigression on the Venetian Holy Office-Persecution of Free Thought in Literature-Growth of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum-Sanction given to it by the Council of Trent-The Roman Congregation of the Index-Final Form of the Censorship of Books under Clement VIII.—Analysis of its Regulations-Proscription of Heretical Books-Correction of Texts-Purgation and Castration Inquisitorial and Episcopal Licenses-Working of the System of this Censorship in Italy-Its long Delays-Hostility to Sound Learning-Ignorance of the Censors-Interference with Scholars in their Work-Terrorism of Booksellers-Vatican Scheme for the Restoration of Christian Erudition-Frustrated by the Tyranny of the Index-Dishonesty of the Vatican Scholars Biblical Studies rendered nugatory by the Tridentine Decree on the Vulgate -Decline of Learning in Universities-Miserable Servitude of Professors--Greek dies out-Muretus and Manutius in Rome-The Index and its Treatment of Political WorksMachiavelli-Ratio Status-Encouragement of Literature on Papal Absolutism-Sarpi's Attitude-Comparative Indifference of Rome to Books of Obscene or Immoral Tendency-Bandello and Boccaccio-Papal attempts to Control Intercourse of Italians with Heretics. In pursuing the plan of this book, which aims at showing how the spirit of the Catholic revival pene |