[188] Wadding. ann. 1375, No. 44; ann. 1390, No. 1-10; ann. 1403, No. 1; ann. 1405, No. 3; ann. 1415, No. 6-7; ann. 1431, No. 8; ann. 1434, No. 7; ann. 1435, No. 12-13; ann. 1453, No. 18-26; ann. 1454, No. 22-3; ann. 1455, No. 43-7; ann. 1456, No. 129; ann. 1498, No. 7-8; ann. 1499, No. 18-20.—Chron. Glassberger ann. 1426, 1430, 1501, 1517.—Theiner Monument. Hiberu. et Scotor. No. 801, p. 425, No. 844, p. 460.—Æn. Sylvii Opp. inedd. (Atti della Accademia del Lincei, 1883, p. 546).—Chron. Anon. (Analecta Franciscana I. 291-2).
The bitterness of the strife between the two branches of the Order is illustrated by the fact that the Franciscan Church of Palma, in Majorca, when struck by lightning and partially ruined in 1480, remained on this account unrepaired for nearly a hundred years, until the Observantines got the better of their rivals and obtained possession of it.—Dameto, Pro y Bover, Hist. de Mallorca, II. 1064-5 (Palma, 1841). It is related that when Sixtus IV., who had been a Conventual, proposed in 1477 to subject the Observantines to their rivals, the blessed Giacomo della Marca threatened him with an evil death, and he desisted.—(Chron. Glassberger ann. 1477).
The exceeding laxity prevailing among the Conventuals is indicated by letters granted in 1421 by the Franciscan general, Antonius de Perreto, to Friar Liebhardt Forschammer, permitting him to deposit with a faithful friend all alms given to him, and to expend them on his own wants or for the benefit of the Order, at his discretion; he was also required to confess only four times a year.—(Chron. Glassberger ann. 1416). The General Chapter held at Forli in 1421 was obliged to prohibit the brethren from trading and lending money on usury, under pain of imprisonment and confiscation.—(Ib. ann. 1421). From the Chapter of Ueberlingen, held in 1426, we learn that there was a custom by which, for a sum of money paid down, Franciscan convents would enter into obligations to pay definite stipends to individual friars.—(Ib. ann. 1426). In fact, the efforts of reform at this period, stimulated by the rivalry of the Observantines, reveal how utterly oblivious the Order had become of all the prescriptions of the Rule.
[189] Raynald. ann. 1418, No. 11; ann. 1421, No. 4; ann. 1424, No. 7.—Jo. de Ragusio de Init. Basil. Concil. (Mon. Conc. Gen. Sæc. XV. T. I. pp. 30-1, 40, 55).—Ripoll II. 645.
[190] Wadding. ann. 1426, No. 1-4.—Raynald. ann. 1428, No. 7.—Jac. de Marchia Dial. (Baluz. et Mansi II. 597, 609).
[191] Wadding. ann. 1426, No. 15-16; Regest. Mart. V. No. 162; ann. 1432, No. 8-9; ann. 1441, No. 37-8; ann. 1447, No. 10; ann. 1456, No. 108; ann. 1476, No. 24-5.—Raynald. ann. 1432, No. 24.—Jac. de Marchia Dial. (Baluz. et Mansi II. 610).
[192] Jac. de Marchia l. c.
[193] Steph. Infessuræ Diar. Urb. Rom. ann. 1467 (Eccard. Corp. Hist. II. 1893).—Platinæ Vit. Pauli II. (Ed. 1574, p. 308).—Rod. Santii Hist. Hispan. P. III. c. 40 (R. Beli Rer. Hisp. Scriptt. I. 433).—Wadding. ann. 1371, No. 14.—Ripoll IV. 22.
[194] Barbarano de’ Mironi. Hist. di Vicenza. II. 164-5.—Poggii Bracciol. Dial. contra Hypocrisim.
[195] Wadding. ann. 1481, No. 9; ann. 1487, No. 3-5; ann. 1495, No. 12.—Addis and Arnold’s Catholic Dictionary, s.v. Recollects.