Of the Election of the Pope

In the introduction to the Martyr's Mirror (edition of 1631, folios 25, 26, and 27) mention is made from Cardinal Baronius (we have looked into his history, and found it to be so at the place referred to) of various popes who ran of themselves, without lawful election or mission; and also of some who usurped the chair, without the consent of the church, merely by the power of princes and potentates.

Among the popes who, without lawful election or mission, ran of themselves, are counted Stephen the Sixth, Christopher, and Sergius the Third, with whom it was as follows:

Stephen the Sixth expelled Boniface the Sixth by force from the Roman see, after the death of Formosus; and afterwards committed an abominable deed on the dead body of that same Formosus, who was counted a lawful and good pope; a deed which Cardinal C. Baronius describes from Luytprandus and others as follows:

"In this same year was committed the great wickedness which Luytprandus and others relate, but wrongly charge to Sergius; since the acts of the Synod mentioned above, under Pope John the Ninth, to which no doubt more credence is to be given, charge it to the pope then living, Stephen the Ninth.

He had the dead body of Formosus dug up and placed on the pope's throne, dressed in all his papal robes. Then he rebuked Formosus, as though he were alive, for having come, through great ambition, from the chair of Porto into that of Rome; he anathematized him for this, had the dead body stripped of all the robes, had the three fingers with which Formosus according to custom used to ordain cut off from it, and so had it thrown into the Tiber. Besides this he deposed all those who had been ordained by Formosus, and ordained them again; and all of this he did out of sheer madness." See C. Baronius, Ecclesiastical History, year 897, numbers 1 and 2.

After this the same Baronius relates the following about Christophorus, who also thrust himself into the papal chair:

"Further, in the following year of Christ . . . in the tenth indiction,* Pope Benedict the Fourth died, and was buried in Saint Peter's church. In his place came Leo, the fifth of that name, a native of Ardea, who held the chair only forty days, being expelled and imprisoned after that by Christophorus, who himself occupied the chair after him." Baronius, Annals, year 907, number 2. [n74-2]

The Christophorus mentioned above, who had expelled his predecessor, Leo the Fifth, from the chair, and taken possession of it himself, was in his turn robbed of the occupancy of the chair by another, called Sergius the Third, who was ambitious for the same rule; and this Sergius, although he reached the papal dignity without being elected or called, and indeed, more than that, was by the testimony of the papists themselves fearfully tyrannical and unchaste, is nevertheless recorded with those named above on the Register of the legitimate popes of Rome. See Baronius, Annals, year 907, number 2; Annals, year 908, number 3.

In the middle of this account this papist writer declares that these were the dreadful times when every self-appointed pope at once nullified what his predecessor had made. Annals, year 908, number 2.

This matter is also confirmed by what is brought forward in the "Chronijk van den Ondergang," edition of 1617, for the year 891, page 315, columns 1 and 2, from the tract of "Den Onpartijdigen Rechter."

If anyone will only consider, says this writer, the spiritual or ecclesiastical treachery and rebelliousness of the popes, he will find in ancient history that the Roman popes have at all times quarreled and contended with one another for the papal chair.

Thus John the Twenty-fourth, having come to Bononia with many soldiers, sternly threatened all the cardinals if they should elect a pope who would not please him. When many had been named to him, and he would agree to none of them, he was finally asked to state whom he would elect to it. He replied: [n74-1] "Give me Peter's robe, and I will deliver it to the future pope." But when that was done, he put the robe on his own shoulders, saying: "I am the pope." And though this greatly displeased the other cardinals, they were nevertheless forced to accept it.

In the same way John the Twenty-second elected himself pope when the election was committed to him. See the ninth book of the chronicle mentioned above, for the year 891, at the place referred to there.

NOTE. In addition to what has been stated in the body [of this work] about the popes who raised themselves to the papal reign, it is also proper to give what may be read in the "Chronijk van den Ondergang der Tyrannen," for the year 537, where the popedom of Vigilius is spoken of in this way: "This Pope Vigilius was certainly driven by the spirit of ambition; he greatly aspired to the popedom, and wrongfully ascended the papal chair, for he advised the empress how to expel Pope Silverius. He hired false witnesses, who said that Silverius intended to betray the city of Rome secretly, and hand it over to the Goths (of which we shall speak more fully later); therefore he was deposed from the popedom by force, and banished into misery; and so Vigilius became pope six days afterward. The Empress Theodora asked him to reinstate Anthenius at Constantinople, as he had promised to do; but Vigilius refused, saying that no one is bound to keep a bad promise against his conscience." Compared with the account of Platina, in his "Pauselijk Register," [n74-3] folio 110. Also, the Chronicle Fasciculus Temporum, folio 117.