Of the True Church of God, Its Origin, Progress, and Immovable Stability, Through All Times
How the Roman Chair Stood Vacant
As great as the excessive desire of some was at times for possession of the chair of papal rule, so great at other times was the neglect and unwillingness to advance that same cause;** for it sometimes happened that the chair stood vacant for a long time, because of the quarrels and divisions among the cardinals, so that the whole Roman church was without a head; and without a head, as the papists themselves assert, it cannot exist.
To show this, we shall (so as not to mix in all sorts of writers) bring forward the various notes of P. J. Twisk, who gives information on this subject from Platina's Registers of the Popes, and other celebrated papist authors, in his Chronicle, printed in the year 1617 at Hoorn; from which we shall briefly take the following instances, and set them before the reader.
We shall, however, leave out short periods of a few days, weeks, or months, and pass on to intervals of more than a year, which therefore are not counted by months, or by still shorter periods. In this we shall begin with the shortest period, and end with the longest.
On page 225, column 1, mention is made of Pope Martin the First (in the Register the seventy-sixth), that he was carried away a prisoner by Constantine, emperor at Constantinople, and sent into exile, where he died; after which the chair stood vacant for over a year. From Hist. Georg., book 4. Platina, folio 135. Zeg., folio 224, 225.
Page 260, column 2, the same writer relates of Paul the First (the ninety-fifth in the Register), that he excommunicated Constantine the Fifth, who had thrown the images out of the church; and that Constantine, not heeding this, in his turn excommunicated the pope; after which the latter died, and the Roman chair was without an occupant, and the church without a head, one year and one month. From Platinae Regist. Pap., folio 166. Hist. Georg., book 4. Franc. Altars., folio 54.
After that he makes mention of Pope Honorius the First (in the Register the seventy-second), that he, having instituted the exaltations of the Holy Cross, the Saturday processions, which had to be held at Rome, the special prayers in the invocation of the departed saints, and so on, was deposed by a certain council at Constantinople; and that, when he had died, the chair at Rome was vacant for one year and seven months. See the Chronicle mentioned above, page 218, column 1. From Hist. Georg., book 4. Franc. Ala. Reg., folio 44. Platin. Succ. Papae, folio 130.
When Pope John the Twenty-fourth was deposed because of his wicked life and ungodly conduct, and placed in confinement somewhere, in the time of the emperor Sigismund and the council of Constance, there was for the time of two years and five months no one who took charge of the papal government; hence the chair was without an occupant for that length of time. See the Chronicle mentioned above, for the year 1411, page 769, column v. From Fasc. Temp., folio 187. Platina, folio 401. Onu f., folio 406, 417. Hist. Eccl. Casp. Hedio, part 3, book 11. Chronol. Leonh., book 6. Joh. Stumpf., folio 21. Hist. Georg., book 9. Hist. Mart. Adr., folio 53 to 66. Jan Crisp., folio 356 to 175. Zeg., folio 326.
Moreover, twice it happened that for the space of about three years no one was pope, or general head of the Roman church; first, after the deposition of Pope Benedict the Thirteenth of Avignon; second, before the election of Otto Calumna, called Martin the Fifth, so named because he was consecrated, or ordained, on Saint Martin's day. Concerning the first time, see P. J. Twisk, Chronicle, for the year 1415, page 774, column 1; concerning the second, see in the same book, for the year 1417, or two years afterward, page 781, column 1, compared with Fasc. Temp., folio 187; Platina, folio 470; Hist. Georg., book 6; Mern., folio 913; Seb. Fr. (old edition), folio 31.
After the death of Pope Nicholas the First (the 108th in the Register), information is obtained from Platina, according to the account of various other authors, about the condition of the Roman church at that time; namely, that she had no pope or head for eight years, seven months and nine days. Compare Plat. Reg. Pap., folio 197, with Georg. Hist., book 5; Joh. Munst., folio 14; Mern., folio 556; Francisc. Ala., folio 60. Also, P. J. Twisk, Chronicle, 9th Book, edition of 1617, page 297, column 2.