cient Sanction to obtain the Force of a Law. That's the Subitance of the faid Differtation. VI. I HAVE given an Account in the Preface to the first Edition, of the Affistance I have had from Italian Authors. Pogge Florentin's History of Florence publish'd by John Baptift Recanati, a noble Venetian, had not yet feen the Light when the firt Edition appear'd. It has not been neglected in this Edition, tho' we have been able to get but little Affiftance from it, becaufe 'tis very fhort, especially with regard to Matters Ecclefiaftical. This Hiftory begins at the Origin of the Republick of Florence, and goes down to 1455. that is to fay, to about four Years before the Author's Death, which happen'd in 1460. when he was 78 Years of Age. We have obferv'd elsewhere that he was at the Council of Confiance; but we have not taken notice that he was accompany'd in this Journey by one Bartholomew de Montepulciano, upon which the Reader may confult the Poggiana. (a) We find in this fame Treatife, that Pogge improv'd his Stay at Conftance in learning the Hebrew Language from a Rabbi whom he banters very pleasantly in thefe Words, (b) Dicebam multa de literis Hebraicis, quibus operam dabam, plura jocabar in Dolorem ipfum virum levem, infulfum & inconftantem. Literas vero, & Doctrinam ut quidem incultam atque agreftem facetiis quibufdam leviter perfringebam, i. e. I faid many things concerning the Hebrew Language which I study'd; I crack'd many Jefts upon my Teacher, a whiffling, filly, maggotty Man. Nay, I banter'd both the Language and the Doctrine as unpolish'd and wild. (a) Adver tilement on Part 11. of Peggiana, No XXII, XXIX. (b) P. 9. GREAT Ufe was made of the Hiftorics of Leonard Aretin in the former Edition; but at that time I had not feen his Letters, of which the learned and laborious Profeffor John Albert Fabricius publifh'd laft Year a new Edition. In the Poggiana we read that Leonard Aretin accompany'd John XXIII. to Conftance. I have however fome Doubt about this Fact. Tis very certain that he went to Conftance, because among thofe Letters there's one dated from that City, wherein he gives a very agreeable Relation of this Journey to his Friend Nicolas Nicolo. But he could not arrive with. the Pope at Conftance, because the latter came thither on the 28th of October, 1414. whereas according to this Letter Aretin was ftill at Verona about the Clofe of November (the 5th of the Calends of December.) Neither cou'd he have been above one Year at Conftance, because on the first of January 1415. he receiv'd at Arezzo, his own Country, a Letter from Pogge, dated the 13th of December, in the preceding Year. It appears by this Letter, 1. That there was very great Confufion in that Council, and fuch a Slownefs in the Deliberations, that Pogge was quite weary of it. 2. That the Cardinals were very much neglected in the Council (for this is what I understand by the Word Senate) and that they were fallen into that Contempt, which in Leonard's Judgment they had richly deferv'd.. 3. It feems that Pogge had exhorted Leonard to return to Conftance, or perhaps to Rome, or to Florence, of which he was Chancellor; for this may be conftrued in either Senfe; Quod me mones, properem recte, atque ex officio arbitror te feciffe. Etfi enim Patria, Domus, Familia me plurimum oblectant, tamen dulciffima recordatio Curie & tot amicorum familiaritas, fic interdum movet animum, ut omnibus pofthabitis advolare cu(a) P. 119. piam; (a) i. e. As you advise me I will make hafte directly, believing it proceeds from pure Kindness. For altho' I am vaftly delighted with my Country, my Houfe, and my Family, yet the moft grateful Remembrance of the Court, and the Acquaintance of fo many Friends do fometimes fo work upon my Mind, that I defire to postpone all Confiderations and fly thither. 'Tis probable this was to Florence, because in 1416 he was actually at that City, from whence he return'd to Arezzo. From thence it was that he wrote a Letter to Pogge, wherein he complains ænigmatically of the ill Conduct of the Council; I pity the poor People, fays he, more than the Fathers, because they are commonly the Victim of the Faults of their Superiors. Where-upon he quotes thefe Verfes of Horace. Hor. Lib. I. Epift. II. 14. & Seq. Quicquid delirant Reges, plectuntur Achivi, THERE is another Letter from the fame Place to the fame Perfon, in which he thanks him for having recommended his Interests to Martin V. to whom Leonard wrote a very curious Letter, wherein he proves the Precedency of the Pope's Secretaries before the Advocates of the Court of Rome, who contested it with them. The principal Reasons were, 1. Cuftom, I have, fays he, been at the Election of three Popes, Gregory XII. Alexander V. and John XXIII. The Popes had the Precedency there before the Advocates. 2. The Secretaries belong to the Popes, and are of their Families, whereas the Advocates belong only to Clients, and are only employ'd in litigious Caufes fuch as Tryals. 3. The Secretaries are they who prefcribe to the Advocates the Pieces by which they are to regulate themselves in pleading, because they are the first who form the Decretals and Refcripts of the Popes. The Secretaries may become Bishops, and still remain Secretaries, which cannot be faid of the Advocates. He inftances modern Precedents for this in Francis Bithop of Arezzo, and Bartholomew Bishop of Cremona. I just now mention'd the Relation which Aretin gave of his Journey from Italy to Conftance, in which I find fomewhat particular concerning this City. "I have, fays he, ask'd feveral Citizens touching the Origin and Antiquity of "Confiance, but fearce met with one that knew fo much as the Name " of 4. Aret. L. V. Epift. IV. of his Grand-father, fo far was I from being able to get Informa"tion of the Antiquity of that City. At length, after a great many Inquiries, I found a marble Table with old Characters upon it, "by which it appear'd, that the City of Conftance was fo call'd by "CONSTANCE, Father of Conftantine, who was made Cæfar by " DIOCLESIAN and MAXIMIAN, and that it was formerly VITUDU“ RUM. No body at Conftance can read this Infcription, and the vulgar Opinion is, that 'tis fome facred Monument of the Chriftian Re"ligion (Sanctuarium quoddam præcipue Religionis.) For this Reason "the filly Women and the Populace have almost blotted out the Characters, by continually rubbing it with their "Hands; however the Names we read there, are not the "Names of Saints, but of Perfecutors of the Chriftian "Faith (4)". VII. A Treatife was printed at Rome in 1720, which I read with Greediness, in hopes of finding fomething in it to enrich this fecond Edition. But I was quite deceiv'd in my Expectation, for instead of being the better for it, I was oblig'd to correct it in feveral important Pallages relating to the Council, and to Gerfon, who was one of the chief Members of it. For it pretends that Gerfon and the Council of Conftance retracted their Principles touching the Pope's Infallibility, which they had deny'd, and the Superiority of the Council, which they had affirm'd. This engag'd me to join to my History an hiftorical and apologetical Differtation for Gerfon, and for the Council of Conftance, against Father BERNARD DESIRANT, an Hermit of the Order of St. Augustin, D.D. Author of the faid Treatife. And that I might not be oblig'd to do it. twice, I have to that Differtation added a Confutation of fome Paffages of a Theological Tract upon the Authority and Infallibility of the Popes, printed at Luxemburg in 1724. by the Reverend Father Dom. MATTHEW PETITDIDIER, Abbot of St. Peter de Senones, of the Order of St. Benedict, and Prefident of the Congregation of St. Vannes and St. Hidulphus. Forafmuch as that Author attacks the Council of Conftance in its Vitals, I could not remain in filence without betraying the Caufe of the Council, and mine own too. This Differtation, in which the Reader will find feveral Points clear'd up, as well of Ecclefiaftical History in general, as of that of the Council of Conftance, will ftand in a very proper Place with the Apology for the Author of the Hiftory of the Council of Conftance against the Journal de Trevoux, printed at Amfterdam in 1716. As there has been no Reply to this Apology, it ftill fubfifts in force, and demands a Place in this History. Berlin, Decem ber 4. 1725. G PIECES PIECES added to this Second Edition of the Hiftory of the COUNCIL of CONSTANCE. I. AN Hiftorical DISSERTATION on the first Edition of the Acts of the Council of Conftance. [It begins the next Page.] II. AN Historical and Apologetical DISSERTATION for JOHN GERSON, and for the Council of Conftance, against Father DESIRANT, and against Father PETIT DIDIER. III. AN APOLOGY for the Author of the Hiftory of the Council of Conftance against the Journal de Trevoux, for the Month of December, 1714. [The two laft are added to the Second Volume.] AN 丸 AN HISTORICAL DISSERTATION (1) ΟΝ ΤΗ Ε First Edition of the ACTS OF THE COUNCIL of CONSTANCE. T HE Curious Art of Printing was unknown at the Time of the Council of Conftance; for it was not till twenty or thirty Years after, that all Europe was oblig'd for this Prefent to Germany. Therefore 'tis no wonder that As of fuch Importance, as thofe of this famous Council, were bury'd in the Duft of publick and private Libraries. Nor was it till the latter End of the 15th Century, that any body took it into their Heads to bring them out to the Light. (1) This Differtation is taken from the Bibliotheque Germanique, Tom. XII. p. 1. &c. |