§ 49. Nicolas V. 1447-1455.
Nicolas v., 1447-1455,^ the successor of Eugenius IV., was ruledbythe spirit of the new literary culture, the Renaissance, and was the first Maecenas in a line of popes like-minded. Following his example, his successors were for a century among the foremost patrons of art and letters in Europe. What Greg-
1 Fapstlhum, p. 192.
§ 49. NICOLAS V. 1447-1455. 407
ory VII. was to the system of the papal theocracy, that Nicolas was to the artistic revival in Rome. Under his rule, the eternal city witnessed the substantial beginnings of that transformation, in which it passed from a spectacle of ruins and desertion to a capital adorned with works of art and architectural construction. He himself repaired and beautified the Vatican and St. Peter's, laid the foundation of the Vatican library and called scholars and artists to his court. ^
Thomas Parentucelli, born 1397, the son of a physician of Sarzana, owed nothing of his distinction to the position of his family. His father was poor, and the son was little of stature, with disproportionately short legs. What he lacked, however, in bodily parts, he made up in intellectual endowments, tact and courtesies of manner. His education at Bologna being completed, his ecclesiastical preferment was rapid. In 1444, he was made archbishop of Bologna and, on his return from Germany as papal legate, 1446, he was honored with the red hat. Four months later he was elevated to the papal throne, and according to jEneas Sylvius, whose words about the eminent men of his day always have a diplomatic flavor, Thomas was so popular that there was no one who did not approve his election.
To Nicolas was given the notable distinction of witnessing the complete reunion of Western Christendom. By the abdication of Felix v., whom he treated with discreet and liberal generosity, and by Germany's abandonment of its attitude of neutrality, he could look back upon papal schism and divided obediences as matters of the past.
The Jubilee Year, celebrated in 1450, was adapted to bind the European nations closely to Rome, and to stir up anew the fires of devotion which had languished during the ecclesiastical disputes of nearly a century. ^ So vast were the throngs of pilgrims that the contemporary, Platina, felt justified in asserting that such multitudes had never been seen in the holy city before. According to iEneas, 40,000 went daily from church to church. The handkerchief of St. Veronica, — losudario, — bearing the
^ Pastor heads his chapter on Nicolas with the caption iWcoZas V., der Begrunder des pdpstlichen Maecenats.
2 Pastor, I. 417 sq., emphasizes these consequences of the Jubilee Year.
408 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
outline of the Lord's face, was exhibited every Sabbath, and the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul every Saturday. The large sums of money which the pilgrims left, Nicolas knew well how to use in carrying out his plans for beautifying the churches and streets of the city.
The calamity, which occurred on the bridge of St. Angelo, and cast a temporary gloom over the festivities of the holy year, is noticed by all the contemporary writers. The mule belonging to Peter Barbus, cardinal of St. Mark's, was crushed to death, so dense were the crowds, and in the excitement two hundred persons or more were trodden downordrowned bybeing pushed or throwing themselves into the Tiber. To prevent a repetition of the disaster, the pope had several buildings obstructing the passage to the bridge pulled down.^
In the administration of the properties of the holy see, Nicolas was discreet and successful. He confirmed the papal rule over the State of the Church, regained Bolsena and the castle of Spoleto, and secured the submission of Bologna, to which he sent Bessarion aspapal legate. The conspiracy of Stephen Porcaro, who emulated the ambitions of Ilienzo, was put down in 1453 and left the pope undisputed master of Rome. In his selection of cardinals he was wise, Nicolas of Cusa being included in the nu mber. The appointment of his younger brother, Philip Calandrini, to the sacred college, aroused no unfavorable criticism.
Nicolas' reign witnessed, in 1452, the last coronation in Rome of a German emperor, Frederick III. This monarch, who Tound in his councillor, ^neas Sylvius, an enthusiastic biographer, but who, by the testimony of others, was weak and destitute of martial spirit and generous qualities, was the first of the Hapsburgs to receive the crown in the holy city, and held the imperial office longer than any otlier of the emperors before or after him. With his coronation tlie emperor combined the celebration of his nuptials to Leonora of Portugal.
^Frederick's journey to Italy and his sojourn in llome offered to the pen of -^neas a rare opportunity for graphic description, of which he was a consummate master. The meeting with the
^ Infessura, p. 48 ; Platina, II. 242 ; iEneas : Hist. Frid. 172 ; Ilgen's trans., I. 214.