Concerning the open tyranny, secret treachery, and deadly poisoning, imputed to some of the popes, the following account is given from Vergerius and others:
I. Their Tyranny.—Julius II. had more than two hundred thousand Christians put to death, in the space of seven years.
Gregory IX. caused the emperor’s envoys by whom he was informed, that Jerusalem was retaken, to be strangled, contrary to all justice.
Clemens IV. openly beheaded Conrad, the son of the king of Sicily, without valid reasons, or legal proceedings.
It is not necessary to give a recital here, of the innumerable multitude of true Christians, who, through the pretensions of some popes, were deprived of life, in all parts of the earth, by fearful deaths at the hands of the executioner, only on account of their religion; for this is sufficiently known, and needs no further demonstration.
II. Their Treachery.—The Emperor Frederick, at the diet of Nuremburg, openly complained of the treachery of Pope Alexander III, and that in the presence of the princes of the empire, before whom he read the letter containing the treason, which the pope had sent to the soldiers of the Turkish emperor.
Gregory II. secretly issued a prohibition, not to pay to the Emperor Leo his customary (and due) tax.
Alexander VI. availed himself of the assistance of the Turks (or at least, called upon them), against the French.
III. Their Poisoning.—Ancient writers mention, that Pope Paul III. poisoned his own mother and niece, that the inheritance of the Farnesi might fall to him.
Innocentius IV., through a priest, administered poison to the emperor, in a host, thus removing him from this life.