[*111] It is curious to note the shameless zeal, astuteness, and cunning of the papacy in this matter. I believe a work on the subject is promised by Professor C. Scotoni. The Pope could not have proved his right to Urbino in any tribunal. His claim was really more absurd than the claim of the Emperor.
[112] Oliveriana MSS. No. 324. Many documents regarding these transactions are printed in Riposati, vol. II.
[*113] Here I heartily agree with Dennistoun. If the people preferred the ecclesiastical sway to that of the Signori, why was the whole state of Urbino so eager to get Francesco Maria II. married? And if we want another example from more recent times, why, in 1860, did the people of Perugia turn out en masse and tear down the papal fortress, leaving a desert, which they still gloat over, in its place? The temporal rule of the Church has been bad everywhere at all times and in every way. That is why we have beggared her.
[*114] This is amusing of Urban VIII., of whom Pasquino said—
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"Quod non fecerunt Barbari Fecerunt Barberini." |
[115] Brit. Mus. Lib. Add. MSS. Ital. No. 8511, art. 3.
[116] Dr. Antonio Babucci transcribed for the press a number of letters written by the Duke after the Devolution, and dedicated them to the Grand Duchess Vittoria. The MS. is preserved in the Magliabechiana Library, class xxv. No. 77, and fully bears out the commendation we have given to his epistolary style at p. [213].
[*117] An order not of monks but of friars, founded by S. Francis of Paola in Calabria in 1436. The rule is based on the Franciscan, and the religious are mendicants.
[*118] This I know not. Their present Casa generalizia is at S. Andrea delle Fratte. The basilica of S. Lorenzo is now in the care of the Franciscans.
[119] Cimarelli, Istoria dello Stato d'Urbino.