In the said time, albeit some while before the defeat of Courtray, the king of France had become angered against Pope Boniface, by reason of the promise which the said Pope had made to the king, and to M. Charles of Valois, his brother, to make him Emperor, when he sent for him, as afore we made mention; which thing he did not fulfil, be the cause what it might. Nay, rather in the same year he had confirmed as Cf. Purg. vi. 97-117. king of the Romans Albert of Austria, son of King Rudolf, for the which thing the king of France held himself to be greatly deceived and betrayed by him, and in his wrath he entertained and did honour to Stefano della Colonna, his enemy, which was come to France on hearing of the discord which had arisen; and the king to the best of his power favoured him and his followers. And beyond this, the king caused the bishop of Pamiers, in the district of Carcassone, to be taken prisoner on charge of being a Paterine; and he spent the revenues of every vacant bishopric, and would confer the investitures himself. Wherefore Pope Boniface, which was proud and disdainful, and bold in doing all great things, of high purposes and powerful, as he was and as he held himself to be, beholding these outrages on the part of the king, added indignation to ill-will, and became wholly an enemy to the king of France. And at first, to establish his rights, he caused all the great prelates of France to be invited to his court; but the king of France opposed them, and would not let them go, wherefore the Pope was the more greatly incensed against the king, and would have it, according to his privilege and decrees, that the king of France, like other Christian princes, ought to acknowledge the temporal as well as the spiritual sovereignty of the Apostolic Chair; and for this he sent into France as his legate a Roman priest, archdeacon of Narbonne, that he might protest against and admonish the king under pain of excommunication to comply thereto, and acknowledge him; and if he would not do this, he was to excommunicate him and leave him under an interdict. And when the said legate came to the city of Paris, the king would not allow him to publish his letters and privileges, nay rather they were taken from him by the king's people, and he himself was dismissed from the realm. And when the said papal letters came before the king and his barons in the temple, the Count d'Artois, which was then living, threw them into the fire and burnt them in despite, whence great judgment came upon him; and the king ordered that all the entrances to his kingdom should be guarded, so that no message nor letter from the Pope should enter into France. When Pope Boniface heard this, he pronounced sentence of excommunication against the said Philip, king of France; and the king of France to justify himself, and to make his appeal, summoned in Paris a great council of clerics and prelates and of all his barons, excusing himself, and bringing many charges against Pope Boniface of heresy, and simony, and murders, and other base crimes, by reason whereof he ought to be deposed from the papacy. But the abbot of Citeaux would not consent to the appeal, rather he departed, and returned into Burgundy in despite of the king of France. In such wise began the strife between Pope Boniface and the king of France, which had afterwards so ill an end; whence afterwards arose great strife between them, and much evil followed thereupon, as hereafter we shall make mention.

In these times there came to pass a very notable thing in Florence, for Pope Boniface having presented to the commonwealth of Florence a fine young lion, which was confined by a chain in the court of the palace of the Priors, there came in thither an ass laden with wood, which when it saw the said lion, either through the fear he had of him or through a miracle, straightway attacked the lion fiercely, and so struck him with his hoofs that he died, notwithstanding the help of many men which were there present. This was held for a sign of great changes to come, and such like, which certainly came to pass to our city in these times. But certain of the learned said that the prophecy of the Sibyl was fulfilled where she said: "When the tame beast shall slay the king of beasts, then will begin the destruction of the Church"; and this was shortly made manifest in Pope Boniface himself, as will be found in the chapter following.

§ 63.—How the king of France caused Pope Boniface to be seized in Anagna by Sciarra della Colonna, whence the said Pope died a few days afterwards.

1303 a.d.
Purg. xx. 85-90.

After the said strife had arisen between Pope Boniface and King Philip of France, each one sought to abase the other by every method and guise that was possible: the Pope sought to oppress the king of France with excommunications and by other means to deprive him of the kingdom; and with this he favoured the Flemings, his rebellious subjects, and entered into negotiations with King Albert of Germany, encouraging him to come to Rome for the Imperial benediction, and to cause the Kingdom to be taken from King Charles, his kinsman, and to stir up war against the king of France on the borders of his realm on the side of Germany. The king of France, on the other hand, was not asleep, but with great caution, and by the counsel of Stefano della Colonna and of other sage Italians, and men of his own realm, sent one M. William of Nogaret of Provence, a wise and crafty cleric, with M. Musciatto Franzesi, into Tuscany, furnished with much ready money, and with drafts on the company of the Peruzzi (which were then his merchants) for as much money as might be needed; the Peruzzi not knowing wherefore. And when they were come to the fortress of Staggia, which pertained to the said M. Musciatto, they abode there long time, sending ambassadors and messages and letters; and they caused people to come to them in secret, giving out openly that they were there to treat concerning peace between the Pope and the king of France, and that for this cause they had brought the said money; and under this colour they conducted secret negotiations to take Pope Boniface prisoner in Anagna, spending thereupon much money, corrupting the barons of the country and the citizens of Anagna; and as it had been purposed, so it came to pass; for Pope Boniface being with his cardinals, and with all the court, in the city of Anagna, in Campagna, where he had been born, and was at home, not thinking or knowing of this plot, nor being on his guard, or if he heard anything of it, through his great courage not heeding it, or perhaps, as it pleased God, by reason of his great sins,—in the month of September, 1303, Sciarra della Colonna, with his mounted followers, to the number of 300, and many of his friends on foot, paid by money of the French king, with troops of the lords of Ceccano and of Supino, and of other barons of the Campagna, and of the sons of M. Maffio d'Anagna, and, it is said, with the consent of some of the cardinals which were in the plot, one morning early entered into Anagna, with the ensigns and standards of the king of France, crying: "Death to Pope Boniface! Long life to the king of France!" And they rode through the city without any hindrance, or rather, well-nigh all the ungrateful people of Anagna followed the standards and the rebellion; and when they came to the Papal Palace, they entered without opposition and took the palace, forasmuch as the present assault was not expected by the Pope and his retainers, and they were not upon their guard. Pope Boniface—hearing the uproar, and seeing himself forsaken by all his cardinals, which were fled and in hiding (whether through fear or through set malice), and by the most part of his servants, and seeing that his enemies had taken the city and the palace where he was—gave himself up for lost, but like the high-spirited and valorous man he was, he said: "Since, like Jesus Christ, I am willing to be taken and needs must die by treachery, at the least I desire to die as Pope"; and straightway he caused himself to be robed in the mantle of S. Peter, and with the crown of Constantine on his head, and with the keys and the cross in his hand, he seated himself upon the papal chair. And when Sciarra and the others, his enemies, came to him, they mocked at him with vile words, and arrested him and his household which had remained with him; among the others, M. William of Nogaret scorned him, which had conducted the negotiations for the king of France, whereby he had been taken, and threatened him, saying that he would take him bound to Lyons on the Rhone, and there in a general council would cause him to be deposed and condemned. The high-spirited Pope answered him, that he was well pleased to be condemned and deposed by Paterines such as he, whose father and mother had been burnt as Paterines; whereat M. William was confounded and put to shame. But afterwards, as it pleased God, to preserve the holy dignity of the Popes, no man dared to touch him, nor were they pleased to lay hands on him, but they left him robed under gentle ward, and were minded to rob the treasure of the Pope and of the Church. In this pain, shame and torment the great Pope Boniface abode prisoner among his enemies for three days; but, like as Christ rose on the third day, so it pleased Him that Pope Boniface should be set free; for without entreaty or other effort, save the Divine aid, the people of Anagna beholding their error, and issuing from their blind ingratitude, suddenly rose in arms, crying: "Long live the Pope and his household, and death to the traitors"; and running through the city they drove out Sciarra della Colonna and his followers, with loss to them of prisoners and slain, and freed the Pope and his household. Pope Boniface, seeing himself free, and his enemies driven away, did not therefore rejoice in any wise, forasmuch as the pain of his adversity had so entered into his heart and clotted there; wherefore he departed straightway from Anagna with all his court, and came to Rome to S. Peter's to hold a council, purposing to take the heaviest vengeance for his injury and that of Holy Church against the king of France, and whosoever had offended him; but, as it pleased God, the grief which had hardened in the heart of Pope Boniface, by reason of the injury which he had received, produced in him, after he was come to Rome, a strange malady so that he gnawed at himself as if he were mad, and in this state he passed from this life Inf. xix. 52-57. on the 12th day of October in the year of Christ 1303, and in the church of S. Peter, near the entrance of the doors, in a rich chapel which was built in his lifetime, he was honourably buried.

§ 64.—We will further tell of the ways of Pope Boniface.

1303 a.d.

This Pope Boniface was very wise both in learning and in natural wit, and a man very cautious and experienced, and of great knowledge and memory; very haughty he was, and proud, and cruel towards his enemies and adversaries, and was of a great heart, and much feared by all people; and he exalted and increased greatly the estate and the rights of Holy Church, and he commissioned M. Guglielmo da Bergamo and M. Ricciardi of Siena, who were cardinals, and M. Dino Rosoni of Mugello, all of them supreme masters in laws and in decretals, together with himself, for he too was a great master in divinity and in decretals, to draw up the Sixth Book of the Decretals, which is as it were the light of all the laws and the decretals. A man of large schemes was he, and liberal to folk which pleased him, and which were worthy, very desirous of worldly pomp according to his estate, and very desirous of wealth, not scrupulous, nor having very great or strict conscience Par. xxx. 148. about every gain, to enrich the Church and his nephews. He made many of his friends and confidants cardinals in his time, among others two very young nephews, and his uncle, his mother's brother; and twenty of his relations and friends of the little city of Anagna, bishops and archbishops of rich benefices; and to another of his nephews and his sons, which were counts, as we afore made mention, to them he left almost unbounded riches; and after the death of Pope Boniface, their uncle, they were bold and valiant in war, doing vengeance upon all their neighbours and enemies, which had betrayed and injured Pope Boniface, spending largely, and keeping at their own cost 300 good Catalan horsemen, by force of which they subdued almost all the Campagna and the district of Rome. And if Pope Boniface, while he was alive, had believed that they could be thus bold in arms and valorous in war, certainly he would have made them kings or great lords. And note, that when Pope Boniface was taken prisoner, tidings thereof were sent to the king of France by many couriers in a few days, through great joy; and when the first couriers arrived at Sion, beyond the mountain of Brieg [Sion under Brieg], the bishop of Sion, which then was a man of pure and holy life, when he heard the news was, as it were, amazed, and abode some while in silent contemplation, by reason of the wonderment which took him at the capture of the Pope; and coming to himself he said aloud, in the presence of many good folk: "The king of France will rejoice greatly on hearing these tidings, but I have it by Divine inspiration, that for this sin he is judged by God, and that great and strange perils and adversities, with shame to him and his lineage, will overtake him very swiftly, and he and his sons will be cast out from the inheritance of the realm." And this we learned a little while after, when we passed by Sion, from persons worthy of belief, which were present to hear. Which sentence was a prophecy in all its parts, as afterwards the truth will show, in due time, when we narrate the doings of the said king of France and of his sons. And the judgment of God is not to be marvelled at; for, albeit Pope Boniface was more worldly than was fitting to his dignity, and had done many things displeasing to God, God caused him to be punished after the fashion that we have said, and afterwards He punished the offender against him, not so much for the injury against the person of Pope Boniface, as for the sin committed against the Divine Majesty, whose countenance he represented on earth. We will leave this matter, which is now ended, and will turn back somewhat to relate of the doings of Florence and of Tuscany, which were very great in those times.

§ 65.—How the Florentines had the castle of Montale, and how they 1303 a.d. marched upon Pistoia together with the Lucchese. § 66.—How Benedict XI. was elected Pope.

§ 67.—How King Edward of England recovered Gascony and defeated the Scots.