Annalis Sedi Sanctae
It was in his very first days that Pope Nicolaus V ordered his scribes to write down the history of the Holy Seat. One of them would appear to be the most inspiring writers of them all, the young Horatius. It is as the name was bound to the skill of being a marvellous historian. Horatius, just 22 years old when he started among older, experienced scribes writing down history. The other scribes, well aware of his extraordinary writing skills, tried to keep him small so His Holiness wouldn’t notice this young scribe. But while working full days with the other scribes together on this work that should become the best historical work of all, he wrote his own history in secret. After eight years, he managed to get his manuscripts to the Pope. His Excellence read it. After two months he received a note. In this very short note he read the following: “Young master Horatio, you are summoned by the Pope for a meeting. He will expect you the 29th of May in his office at 15:00, just after His Holiness’ midday prayers.”
The young Horatius was stunned by this invitation of Nicolaus V himself. Why would the Pope have such an interest in an unimportant scribe, while he has so much other, more important matters to take care of?
The day of the audience neared very fast, and it was the 28th of May when he went into Rome to buy new clothes; he didn’t have anything he thought would be good enough to wear while meeting the Pope, leader of all Christians, successor of Petrus himself. He bought himself a suit far too expensive. So he had to loan money, but it would be worth it.
The day itself, Horatius stood trembling at the door of Nicolaus’ office. With a shaking voice he told the guard that he had arrived for a meeting with His Excellence. The guard knocked on the door of the office, entered and said: “Horatius, scribe in service of His Holiness Pope Nicolaus V has arrived for the appointment he made with His Holiness. Upon this words, Horatius entered the large office and kneeled. After he stood up, the guard left the office and closed the door again. Nicolaus began to speak. He asked Horatius various questions about his history work. He answered them with a nervous voice. The pope asked him friendly why he was so nervous. Horatius answered: “Because I’m speaking with His Holiness’, my Lord, something I never could imagine in whole my life. And I will never forget it anymore.”
The pope replied: “Dear son, I’m just a man as you are, not more, nor less then you. The reason I summoned you was, as you probably found out, your book you wrote on your own, without jealous scribes trying to put you down. I want you to write the history of the Holy Seat, I want to give this work exclusively to you. If you do not want this heavy duty I accept that as well, and you can continue with your current job. But realize that accepting this job would give you fame beyond recognition, and money as well. I will appoint you as my personal scribe. If you accept, of course”. Horatius didn’t need to think long. He accepted the offer of the Pope and begun with his Annalis Sedi Sanctae (History of the Holy Seat).
This is where it begins:
Part I
1453-1463: a decade of paradoxes.
The hot summer of 1453 had barely begun, or some treacherous elements within our Church began a war against the Holy Seat. It was a wise decision of His Holiness Pope Nicolaus V to decide with the Curia to change the policy of giving the Navy more attention then the Army. It were the merchant republics of Tuscany, Genoa and Milan who forged an alliance against the Pope himself. Also the Emperor of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ (they would have been really holy if they supported the Pope, not tried to destroy him) and his puppet Baden declared war upon the Papal State. The situation seemed bad for the Holy Seat, since it didn’t have the big army the Emperor had, it didn’t had allies. It was the Papacy against five aggressive countries. The Pope had to take a loan of 200 ducats, as there was almost no money in the treasury. This loan appeared later to be a disaster, but at this point of time it was the only way out. From the lend money the Pope hired 8000 mercenaries to fight against the Italian and Austrian threat. His Holiness decided to lead this army, named the 2nd army, himself, as he believed was the best solution to keep them loyal to Rome. Luckily the Divine Armies of the Papacy were allowed to send our armies through various neighbouring countries. This resulted in the relief of Romanga by Pope Nicolaus V himself, which was besieged by the unholy army of Tuscany and their general Ippolito Pontelli. After this battle the Pope laid siege to Firenze, and conquered it the 14th of February 1454 A.D.
The next month the first armies of Austria arrived in Pisa, Tuscany, what was just besieged by the 1st army of the Papacy. This one was far more smaller then the mercenary army the Pope led, and so His Holiness moved to Pisa to turn the tide. He succeeded, and in less then two weeks Pope Nicolaus V was forced to move back to Rome to lift the besieged city. When the army of the Pope arrived, the soldiers of Venice were quickly overwhelmed and forced to retreat. They retreated to ships that brought them here, a tactic which all enemies used to get in Rome. The navy of the Papacy was weak, and was weakened by a battle before the shores of the capital, and was forced to retreat to a safe harbour in Aragon, which gave access to his ports to the Papal fleet. There it was repaired, but with no use, because later the remaining two ships would be destroyed.
Then the war became easy for the Holy Seat, as all of the enemies came with small armies without any morale. But they kept just stinging like a wasp, annoying and forcing armies of the Papal State to defeat them again and again.
The next noteworthy is the victory the Papal 1st army had over the garrison of Pisa at the 27th of October 1454. One day later, the Pope and the Doge of Tuscany made a peace treaty. Tuscany had to pay for the damage they did on the cities and lands of the Holy Seat. They also had to cede the coastal city of Pisa, and became a vassal to His Holiness.
In December 1454 A.D. the Curia proposed a idea to give the army some discipline and morale boost, so they would be harder to beat. The Pope agreed in all His wisdom, because he knew that the Papacy could never afford to build up a large army. Thus Nicolaus V agreed with the idea that they would rather have a small but efficient army to withstand any intruder.
Around the New Year of 1455 A.D. the Austrians came in more frequently. The 22nd of January that year, he clashed with the Doge of Venice, Pietro de Campofregoso and won the battle gloriously. That spring there were some minor clashes between small armies, for the biggest part on Papal territory, but the invaders were defeated every time.
The Pope made peace with the alliance of Genoa and Venice on terms of returning to Status Quo.
But after this, the troubles for the Pope just began. The Austrians threw there full army on the lands of the Holy Seat. Romanga was even conquered by the Emperor, who seems to be even less Christian then the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire or the heathens of old. Then His Holiness decided to make peace with Austria on harsh terms for the Holy Seat, to avoid a even bigger disaster. The Curia agreed that the Papacy would pay an astonishing 125 ducats to the Emperor. But the consequence of this peace was bankruptcy a month later. It demoralised the forces and putted the inflation of the Papacy on 5 percent, which had a very hard impact on the development of the country itself. After this peace, which was signed on the 2nd of October of 1456 A.D. after more then three years war, a period of peace arrived, just to be disturbed by a rebellion in the city of Pisa. Because the armies didn’t receive their full payment anymore they had a low morale, that was even lower due to the fact that our prestige was destroyed by the bankruptcy as well. Thus the Pope paid the soldiers their full wages, which motivated them a bit, but even with this money the lost due to low morale. Then the Pope made a sad decision; he took the leadership of an army on him and moved in to defeat the rebellious citizens, who had taken hold of the city at that moment. At the battlefield on the plains of Pisa our great Leader, the best Pope of this age, the man who resisted five aggressive nations died in a trap set up by the traitors. Pope Nicolaus V was in the tail of the army, and when they rode through the forest the traitors suddenly jumped up out of the thick bushes. They shot with arrows on the division of knights which served as the Papal bodyguard. Many of them died, as the rebels where highly skilled, probably hunters of origin, and one arrow hit the Pope, riding amid of his most loyal soldiers. The rest of the army immediately turned and stormed at the rebels to defend their leader, not knowing he laid dying on the ground, besides his horse. When the rebels where drove away, the sergeant found the Pope, lying on the ground. He spoke his last words to this man. “Be loyal to my successor, support him with whole your body and immortal spirit. I go to a better place now, but you will have to stay for a little while longer, be sure to live well, and support the next Pope unconditional.” he said, and then he died, after a long life in service of our Church.
The army retreated to bring his body to Rome, to bury it. The Curia then elected Nicolaus VI as Pope. He was a competent administrator and diplomat and an excellent commander. The Curia made this decision probably to be able to face threats in the future, so the Papacy can be a force, a bulwark of Christianity and unite the Christians once again in the war against the heathens as in the crusades of old.
It was in his very first days that Pope Nicolaus V ordered his scribes to write down the history of the Holy Seat. One of them would appear to be the most inspiring writers of them all, the young Horatius. It is as the name was bound to the skill of being a marvellous historian. Horatius, just 22 years old when he started among older, experienced scribes writing down history. The other scribes, well aware of his extraordinary writing skills, tried to keep him small so His Holiness wouldn’t notice this young scribe. But while working full days with the other scribes together on this work that should become the best historical work of all, he wrote his own history in secret. After eight years, he managed to get his manuscripts to the Pope. His Excellence read it. After two months he received a note. In this very short note he read the following: “Young master Horatio, you are summoned by the Pope for a meeting. He will expect you the 29th of May in his office at 15:00, just after His Holiness’ midday prayers.”
The young Horatius was stunned by this invitation of Nicolaus V himself. Why would the Pope have such an interest in an unimportant scribe, while he has so much other, more important matters to take care of?
The day of the audience neared very fast, and it was the 28th of May when he went into Rome to buy new clothes; he didn’t have anything he thought would be good enough to wear while meeting the Pope, leader of all Christians, successor of Petrus himself. He bought himself a suit far too expensive. So he had to loan money, but it would be worth it.
The day itself, Horatius stood trembling at the door of Nicolaus’ office. With a shaking voice he told the guard that he had arrived for a meeting with His Excellence. The guard knocked on the door of the office, entered and said: “Horatius, scribe in service of His Holiness Pope Nicolaus V has arrived for the appointment he made with His Holiness. Upon this words, Horatius entered the large office and kneeled. After he stood up, the guard left the office and closed the door again. Nicolaus began to speak. He asked Horatius various questions about his history work. He answered them with a nervous voice. The pope asked him friendly why he was so nervous. Horatius answered: “Because I’m speaking with His Holiness’, my Lord, something I never could imagine in whole my life. And I will never forget it anymore.”
The pope replied: “Dear son, I’m just a man as you are, not more, nor less then you. The reason I summoned you was, as you probably found out, your book you wrote on your own, without jealous scribes trying to put you down. I want you to write the history of the Holy Seat, I want to give this work exclusively to you. If you do not want this heavy duty I accept that as well, and you can continue with your current job. But realize that accepting this job would give you fame beyond recognition, and money as well. I will appoint you as my personal scribe. If you accept, of course”. Horatius didn’t need to think long. He accepted the offer of the Pope and begun with his Annalis Sedi Sanctae (History of the Holy Seat).
This is where it begins:
Part I
1453-1463: a decade of paradoxes.
The hot summer of 1453 had barely begun, or some treacherous elements within our Church began a war against the Holy Seat. It was a wise decision of His Holiness Pope Nicolaus V to decide with the Curia to change the policy of giving the Navy more attention then the Army. It were the merchant republics of Tuscany, Genoa and Milan who forged an alliance against the Pope himself. Also the Emperor of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ (they would have been really holy if they supported the Pope, not tried to destroy him) and his puppet Baden declared war upon the Papal State. The situation seemed bad for the Holy Seat, since it didn’t have the big army the Emperor had, it didn’t had allies. It was the Papacy against five aggressive countries. The Pope had to take a loan of 200 ducats, as there was almost no money in the treasury. This loan appeared later to be a disaster, but at this point of time it was the only way out. From the lend money the Pope hired 8000 mercenaries to fight against the Italian and Austrian threat. His Holiness decided to lead this army, named the 2nd army, himself, as he believed was the best solution to keep them loyal to Rome. Luckily the Divine Armies of the Papacy were allowed to send our armies through various neighbouring countries. This resulted in the relief of Romanga by Pope Nicolaus V himself, which was besieged by the unholy army of Tuscany and their general Ippolito Pontelli. After this battle the Pope laid siege to Firenze, and conquered it the 14th of February 1454 A.D.
The next month the first armies of Austria arrived in Pisa, Tuscany, what was just besieged by the 1st army of the Papacy. This one was far more smaller then the mercenary army the Pope led, and so His Holiness moved to Pisa to turn the tide. He succeeded, and in less then two weeks Pope Nicolaus V was forced to move back to Rome to lift the besieged city. When the army of the Pope arrived, the soldiers of Venice were quickly overwhelmed and forced to retreat. They retreated to ships that brought them here, a tactic which all enemies used to get in Rome. The navy of the Papacy was weak, and was weakened by a battle before the shores of the capital, and was forced to retreat to a safe harbour in Aragon, which gave access to his ports to the Papal fleet. There it was repaired, but with no use, because later the remaining two ships would be destroyed.
Then the war became easy for the Holy Seat, as all of the enemies came with small armies without any morale. But they kept just stinging like a wasp, annoying and forcing armies of the Papal State to defeat them again and again.
The next noteworthy is the victory the Papal 1st army had over the garrison of Pisa at the 27th of October 1454. One day later, the Pope and the Doge of Tuscany made a peace treaty. Tuscany had to pay for the damage they did on the cities and lands of the Holy Seat. They also had to cede the coastal city of Pisa, and became a vassal to His Holiness.
In December 1454 A.D. the Curia proposed a idea to give the army some discipline and morale boost, so they would be harder to beat. The Pope agreed in all His wisdom, because he knew that the Papacy could never afford to build up a large army. Thus Nicolaus V agreed with the idea that they would rather have a small but efficient army to withstand any intruder.
Around the New Year of 1455 A.D. the Austrians came in more frequently. The 22nd of January that year, he clashed with the Doge of Venice, Pietro de Campofregoso and won the battle gloriously. That spring there were some minor clashes between small armies, for the biggest part on Papal territory, but the invaders were defeated every time.
The Pope made peace with the alliance of Genoa and Venice on terms of returning to Status Quo.
But after this, the troubles for the Pope just began. The Austrians threw there full army on the lands of the Holy Seat. Romanga was even conquered by the Emperor, who seems to be even less Christian then the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire or the heathens of old. Then His Holiness decided to make peace with Austria on harsh terms for the Holy Seat, to avoid a even bigger disaster. The Curia agreed that the Papacy would pay an astonishing 125 ducats to the Emperor. But the consequence of this peace was bankruptcy a month later. It demoralised the forces and putted the inflation of the Papacy on 5 percent, which had a very hard impact on the development of the country itself. After this peace, which was signed on the 2nd of October of 1456 A.D. after more then three years war, a period of peace arrived, just to be disturbed by a rebellion in the city of Pisa. Because the armies didn’t receive their full payment anymore they had a low morale, that was even lower due to the fact that our prestige was destroyed by the bankruptcy as well. Thus the Pope paid the soldiers their full wages, which motivated them a bit, but even with this money the lost due to low morale. Then the Pope made a sad decision; he took the leadership of an army on him and moved in to defeat the rebellious citizens, who had taken hold of the city at that moment. At the battlefield on the plains of Pisa our great Leader, the best Pope of this age, the man who resisted five aggressive nations died in a trap set up by the traitors. Pope Nicolaus V was in the tail of the army, and when they rode through the forest the traitors suddenly jumped up out of the thick bushes. They shot with arrows on the division of knights which served as the Papal bodyguard. Many of them died, as the rebels where highly skilled, probably hunters of origin, and one arrow hit the Pope, riding amid of his most loyal soldiers. The rest of the army immediately turned and stormed at the rebels to defend their leader, not knowing he laid dying on the ground, besides his horse. When the rebels where drove away, the sergeant found the Pope, lying on the ground. He spoke his last words to this man. “Be loyal to my successor, support him with whole your body and immortal spirit. I go to a better place now, but you will have to stay for a little while longer, be sure to live well, and support the next Pope unconditional.” he said, and then he died, after a long life in service of our Church.
The army retreated to bring his body to Rome, to bury it. The Curia then elected Nicolaus VI as Pope. He was a competent administrator and diplomat and an excellent commander. The Curia made this decision probably to be able to face threats in the future, so the Papacy can be a force, a bulwark of Christianity and unite the Christians once again in the war against the heathens as in the crusades of old.
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