Edward Maunde Thompson (editor and translator), Chronicon Adae de Usk, A.D. 1377-1404 (London: John Murray 1876), pp. 85-88; 211-217:
In festo sancti Michaelis [September 29, 1404], Franciae Castellae, Arrogoniae regum aliorumque Avionensis praesidentis primcipum obedienciariorum ex parte, ad Bonefacium papam, eis publicam audienciam praestantem, solempnis pro unione ecclesiae venit ambassiata. Quem archiepiscopus sancti Poncii de Francia [Petrus de Rabat, of Saint Pons de Tomières] affatur in haec verba, ipsum nullatenus papam approbando: "Metuendissime domine, si non proprie aliorum saltim animabus compaciamini, dominus meus ad omnem unionis viam etiam usque ad mortem inclinari se offert paratum." Unde et dominus Bonefacius ita prorupit: "Dominus tuus est falsus, sismaticus, et ipsemet antichristus." "Salva reverencia, pater, non ita. Dominus meus est sanctus, justus, verus, catholicus, et in vera sancti Petri cathedra residens." Et ultra cum impetu idem archiepiscopus haec protulit verba: "et non est symoniacus." Unde Bonefacius, illis verbis adeo attonitus, in cameram rediens infra biduum post vita eradicatur humana....
Per mortem domini papae finitur salvus ambassiatorum conductus. Unde per capitaneum castri Sancti Angeli [Antoniello Tomacelli, the Pope's nephew] in eo detruduntur captivi.
Pro eleccione novi pontificis Romani cardinales intrant conclave, regis Neapolitani suorumque sex mille militum custodiae commendatu, Insurgunt Romani pestiferi in duas partes Guelforum et Gybilynorum, et per tres septimanas cladibus et spoliis et homicidiis se mutuo infestantes et pro papae in parte eorum singulari creacione instantes, ad palacium tamen Sancti Petri et conclave propter dictam custodiam accedere non valentes. Unde eorum parcialitas unum extra utriusque gremium, Innocencium scilitet septimum, in Solmona oriundum, in papam eligi causavit. Cujus eleccione publicata, Romani ipsius hospicium invadunt et, more eorum rapaci, ymmo verius corruptela mordaci, ipsum spoliant, nichil penitus quantum fenestrarum barras in eo relinquentes.
Conclave est locus continuus, nullo intermedio separatus, pro eleccione futuri papae cardinalibus deputatus; et debet esse undique conclusus et muratus, ita quod, praeter unum parvum ingressus hostiolum, et post hujusmodi ingressum omnino claudendus, remanebit fortiter munitus. In quo et una parva fenestra pro victualibus, propriis expensis cardinalium, eis attribuendis, et ad aperiendi et claudendi oportunitatem erit aptata. Et habent singuli parvas pro dormiendi et reficiendi necessitate tabulatas camerulas; loca tantum tria communia, scilicet privetam, capellam, et eleccionis tractandae locum solum habituri; post primos tres dies, dum in eo fuerint, unum solum carnium vel piscium ferculum in die, et post quinque extunc dies, solum panem et vinum, usque ad concordiam accepturi....
Papa mortuus, pro obsequiis per novem dies tentis, post eleccionis publicacionem ad Sancti Petri defertur ecclesiam.
A novo papa cum Romanis feda sit concordia (quia cito post contrita) quod, retentis papae urbis dominio cum Sancti Petri burgo et Sancti Angeli castro ac sex milia florenorum censu annuo, necnon senatoris, dum tamen ultra centum miliaria a Roma oriundi, prefeccione, cetera in Romanorum regimine cederent et comoda. Rex praedictus, Campania et maritima ad annuum quinque annorum censum, quod postea causavit ecclesiae tedium, a papa per eum captis, cum suo exercitu recessit a Roma.
In festo Sancti Martini, novus papa pro sui coronacionis solempnitate a palacio Sancti Petri ad ejus ecclesiam descendit, et ad altare Sancti Gregorii, auditoribus vestimenta sibi deferentibus, pro missa investitur. Et in capelle Sancti Gregorii ad hoc egressu capelle sue clericus unam longam cannam cum stupa in summitate gerens, qua stupa ignita per candelam, in hanc vocem clamat: "Pater sancte, sic transit gloria mundi!" ac iterato in medio ita bis altiori voce, "Pater sancte, pater sanctissime!" et tertia vice, ad ingressum altaris sancti Petri, trina ita voce: "Pater sancte, pater sancte, pater sancte! altissima voce; et statim singulis vicibus extinguitur stupa. Prout et in coronacione imperatoris, in summitate gloriae suae, cum omni genere artificii eorum ministrorum cujuscunque generis et coloris lapides per latamos sibi offerri solebant, ita ei clamando, "Excellentissime princeps, de quo genere lapidum vis tibi tumbam fieri?" Item novus papa, finita per eum missa, altum theatrum ad hoc ordinatum ascendit et ibi per Cardinalem Hostiensem, quia collegii decanum, triplici corona aurea solempniter coronatus existit. Prima designat potestatem in temporalibus; secunda, paternitatem in spiritualibus; tercia, et magnificentiam in celestibus. Et subsequenter, in eodem apparatu albo, prout et omnes praelati ita in albis, etiam ab inde ad ecclesiam Sancti Johannis Latronensis, quia propriam papae cathedralem sedem, per Romam equitant. Ad detestationem tamen papae Agnetis, cujus ymago de petra cum filio suo prope Sanctum Clementem in via recta existit, per obliquum declinans, pro sui intronizatione, eandem ecclesiam papa, ab equo descendens, ingreditur. ubi in porphirea cathedra, ob hoc forata ex parte [inferiori, ut probetur] per juniorem cardinalem quod habet virilia, sedet; et cum cantu "Te laudamus" ad summum altare defertur.
Judei, in via eorum, legem, hoc est vetus testamentum, ei obtulerunt, ejus confirmationem petentes; quam papa, eo quod per eam ad agnitionem Filii Dei et fidem nostram devenimus, dulce in suis recepit manibus, et ita respondit: "Lex vestra bona est; vos tamen non intelligitis eam, quia vetera transierunt, omnia nova facta sunt." Sed quasi obprobriose, quia eam non intelligunt in errore indurati, ultra sinistram scapulam, non infirmando nec confirmando, ipsam retradit eisdem.
Item equitabant cum papa non solum ejus curiales et clerus, ymmo etiam tresdecim urbis regiones cum eorum capitaneis et vexillis precedentibus. In transitu, ad evacuandum populi pressuram, tribus vicibus jactabantur missilia in vulgus, per quorum collectionem facilior erat transitus.
On the Feast of St. Michael, there came a solemn embassy on the part of the Kings of France, Castille and Aragon, and of other princes who were obedient to him who sat at Avignon [Benedict XIII], to pope Boniface, who gave them public audience. And the Bishop of St. Pons in France spake to him in these words, not acknowledging him as pope: "Most dread lord, if you for yourself do not feel pity for the souls of others, my lord doth offer himself as ready to lay down his life to find a way of union." Whereat Lord Boniface burst forth, "Thy lord is false, schismatic and very antichrist." "Saving your reverence, father, not so. My lord is holy, just, true, catholic, and sits upon the true sead of St. Peter." And further, the same bishop cried out with heat: "Nor is he simoniac." Whereupon Boniface, astonished at these words, withdrew into his chamber, and within two days was cut off from this life....
By the death of our lord the pope the safe conduct of the ambassadors became void; and so they were by the captain of the castle of Saint Angelo therein thrust as prisoners.
For the election of a new pontiff of Rome the cardinals entered the conclave, which was entrusted to the safe keeping of the King of Naples and six thousand of his soldiers. The baleful Roman people rose divided into the two parties of Guelphs and Ghibellines, and for the space of three weeks with slaughter and robbery and murder did they torment each other, either party seeking the creation of a pope on its own side; yet by reason of the said guard could they not come near to the palace of Saint Peter nor to the conclave. And so their partizanship caused the election, as pope, of one who was after the heart of neither side, namely Innocent the Seventh, a native of Solmona. And, when his election was made known, the Romans attacked his palace, and, after their greedy fashion, nay rather from festering corruptness, they sacked it, leaving therein not so much as the bars of the windows.
The Conclave is a close-built place, without anything to divide it, and is set apart to the cardinals for the election of the pope; and it must be shut and walled in on all sides, so that, excepting a small wicket for entrance, which is afterwards closed, it shall remain strongly guarded. And therein is a small window for food to be passed in to the cardinals, at their own cost, which is fitted so as to open or shut as required. And the cardinals have each a small cell on different floors, for sleep and rest; and three rooms alone in common, the privy, the chapel, and the place of election. After the first three days, while they are there, they have but one dish of meat or fish daily, and after five days thence bread and wine only, until they agree.....
A disgraceful treaty was made with the Romans by the new pope (and how soon it was broken!) that, the lordship of the city with the borough of St. Peter and teh Castle of Saint Angelo and yearly tribute of six thousand florins being reserved to him, as well as the appointment of the Senator, who, however, must be born a full hundred miles from Rome, the rest should remain at the will and behoof of the people. The King of Naples, having received from the pope Campania dnt the Sea Coast for a yearly tribute for five years, which afterwards caused trouble to the church, departed with his army from Rome.
On the Feast of St. Martin [November 11, 1404] the new pope went down from the palace to the church of St. Peter for the ceremony of his coronation, and at the altar of St. Gregory, the auditors bringing the vestments, he was robed for the Mass. And at the moment of his coming forth from the chaptel of St. Gregory, a cleric of his chapel, bearing along rod in the end of which was fixed some tow, cried aloud as he set it aflame: "Holy Father, thus passeth the glory of the world!" And again, in the middle of the procession, with a louder voice, thus twice: "Holy Father, Most Holy Father!. And a third time on arriving at the altar of St. Peter, thrice: "Holy Father! Holy Father! Holy Father!" at his loudest; and forthwith each time is the tow quenched. Just as in the coronation of the Emperor, in the very noontide of his golry, stones of every kind and colour, worked with all the cunning of the craft, are wont to be presented to him by the stonecutters, with these words: "Most excellent prince, of what kind of stone wilt thou that thy tomb be made?"
Alos, the new pope, the Mass being ended, ascends a lofty stage, made for this purpose, and there he is solemnly crowned with the triple golden crown by the Cardinal of Ostia, as dean of the college. The first crown means power in temporal things; the second, fatherhood in things spiritual; the third, pre-eminence in things of heaven. And afterwards, still robed in the same white vestments, he, as well as all the prelates likewise in albs, rides thence through Rome to the Church of St. John Lateran, the cathedral seat of the pope. Then, after turning aside out of abhorrence of pope Agnes [Joan], whose image with her son stands in stone in the direct road near St. Clement's, the pope, dismounting from his horse, enters the Lateran for his enthronement. And there he is seated in a chair of porphyry, which is pierced beneath for this purpose, that one of the younger cardinals may make proof of his sex; and then, while a "Te Deum Laudamus" is changed, he is borne to the high altar.
ON his way to the church, the Jews offered to him their law, that is the Old Testament, seeking his confirmation; and the pope took it gently in his hands, for by it we have come to the knowledge of the Son of God and to our faith, and thus answered: "Your law is good; but ye understand it not, for the old things have passed away and all things are made new." And, as if for a reproach, since they being hardened in error understand it not, he delivers it back to them over his left shoulder, neither annulling nor confirming it.
There rode with the pope not only those of his court and the clergy, but also the thirteen quaestors of the city with their captains and standards at their heads. During the progress, in order to ease the thronging of the people, small coin was thrice cast among the crowd, and a passage was thus cleared while it was being gathered up.
The same audience of the Feast of St. Michael [November 29, 1404] is noted by Theoderic de Nyem [de schismate II. 23]:
Qui quidem nuntii Bonifacium et ejus cardinales diligenter exhortabantur, quod cum eodem Petro ad faciendam unionem in Ecclesia universali in aliquo loco utrique parti tuto concurrere vellent: ad quod ipsi domini cardinales partis nostrae bene inclinati erant; sed assignato termino, quo super hoc Bonifacius dictis nuntiis finaliter respondere volebat, scilicet in ejus palatio penes Basilicam principis Apostolorum, in eodem festo S. Michaelis in vesperis. Et cum illic Bonifacius, cardinales et nuntii, et multi curiales invicem convenissent, tunc praefati nuntii perquam discrete et solerter, quae ipsis commissa fuerant proposuerunt, rogando et exhortando dictum Bonifacium, quod finem daret huic schismati, eum eorum domino ad hoc paratp, ut dicebant.Quibus pontifex ad hoc parum benigniter respondit, se esse papam et eumdem Petrum antipapam, et similia verba parum vel nihil ad causam facientia, tunc ipsi nuncii dedignati in eius praesentia dixerunt, quod dominus eorum non esset symoniacus, notantes Bonifacium esse talem. Unde Bonifacius valde commotus iussit eos urbem exire, qui responderunt, quod salvum conductum haberent ab ipso et Romano populo adhuc aliquantulum illic manendi et inde recedendi, et quod illo gaudere vellent.
Raynaldi then quotes an excerpt from a Vatican manuscript, an anonymous Apology for Benedict XIII, which makes Pope Boniface say:
Magister vester non renuntiat vel non renuntiavit, cum hoc ipse juraverit, et in potestate se posuerit laicorum: renuntiet ipse si vult, et qui se obligavit, et non habet quid perdere. Nos sumus qui potestatem a Deo habemus et nolumus renuntiare.
©2011 John Paul Adams, CSUN
john.p.adams@csun.edu