Poverty, charity, Neapolitan binds and a Roman clan
The Knights Hospitaller in Rome during the Great Western Schism, 1378-1409
p. 191-210
Résumés
This paper exposes the presence and survival strategies of the Knights Hospitaller in Rome from the reinstallation of the Papacy in Rome to the reconciliation of the different parties of the Order in the General Chapter held at Avignon in April 1410. The analysis of unpublished material from the Apostolic Vatican Archive reveals a threatened existence shaped by a constant shortage of financial and personal resources. With those challenges, it was important that the Order showed great flexibility aimed at achieving a high resiliency; an instrumental actor was the Lieutenant and former prior of Venice, Fra’ Niccolò Orsini († 1431). Proximity to the reigning pope, as well as connections with the Neapolitan and Roman clans that controlled the Roman papacy during the first years of the 15th century, in addition to the continuous exercise of its caritative charism, enabled the Roman Hospitallers to overcome the hardships of the Great Western Schism in Rome.
Cette contribution examine la présence et les stratégies de survie des Chevaliers Hospitaliers à Rome, depuis le retour du siège papal jusqu’à la réconciliation des différentes factions de l’ordre lors du chapitre général tenu à Avignon en avril 1410. L’analyse de documents inédits provenant des archives apostoliques du Vatican montre que l’existence même de l’Ordre était menacée par un manque constant de moyens financiers et de personnel. Pour faire face à ces défis, il était important que l’Ordre fasse preuve d’une grande capacité d’adaptation, visant à atteindre un haut degré de résilience ; le lieutenant et ancien prieur de Venise Fra’ Niccolò Orsini († 1431) a agi en ce sens. Leur proximité avec le pontife régnant, ainsi que leurs liens avec les familles napolitaines et romaines qui contrôlaient la papauté romaine dans les premières années du XVe siècle et, en outre, l’exercice continu de leur vocation philanthropique, ont permis aux Hospitaliers romains de surmonter les adversités du Grand Schisme d’Occident à Rome.
Entrées d’index
Mots-clés : Rome, Avignon, chevaliers hospitaliers, Niccolò Orsini, schisme
Keywords : Rome, Avignon, knights hospitallers, Niccolò Orsini, schism
Texte intégral
The Knight Hospitallers in Rome at the beginning of the Schism: an introduction to the question
1Founded in Jerusalem in the middle of the 12th century, the Order of St. John had spread throughout most of Europe by the middle of the 14th century, especially along the established pilgrimage routes. The Order came to Rome relatively late, having settled there during the pontificate of Innocent III († 1216). From 1308, the order’s headquarters were located in Rhodes, on the Dodecanese.1
2The years between 1384 and 1410 were arguably the most difficult years for the Order in the Middle Ages besides of the critical year of 1291, when it had become extremely weakened and endangered after the retreat of the Christians from continental Outremer as a result of the loss of Acre. A few years after the division of Western Christendom that occurred with the election of Clement VII († 1394) in Fondi in September 1378, the Order was also divided according to the contending factions of the Western Schism: Avignon and Rome. The schism within the order formally began on 28 March 1384 in Naples, when a dozen Hospitaller commanders swore an oath of allegiance to the Prior of Capua, Fra’ Riccardo Caracciolo († 1395), as the Lieutenant of the Mastership; i.e., as temporary Master.2 The assembly thus legitimised the recent appointment of Caracciolo by Pope Urban VI († 1389), who had already deposed Master Fra’ Juan Fernández de Heredia († 1396) on 15 December 1383.3 Like the Teutonic Order, the Knights of St. John largely supported the Pisan obedience. This circumstance contributed significantly to the reunification of almost all factions of the Knights of St. John at a general chapter in Aix-en-Provence in 1410. While the central government on Rhodes and most of the provinces (the so-called Langues) adhered to the Avignonese party, the German (including the houses in Poland and Bohemia), English (including the houses in Ireland) and Scandinavian, as well as the northern and central Italian, Hospitallers all followed the Roman obedience. The Roman Knights of St. John found themselves in a unique situation, where close proximity to one of the contending papal curiae lead to a position of minority within the Order, generally lacking of almost all possible resources, wider legitimacy and financial means.
3At the outbreak of the schism, the Knights of St. John had two centres in the city of Rome: one around the former Basilian monastery in the marshes of the Forum (where the Augustan Forum had been located in antiquity), and the other comprising the properties that had formerly belonged to the Templars, in particular the church and priory of St. Mary on the Aventine.
4This chapter examines how the Roman Knights of St. John managed to survive through a combination of fervent reliance on their original charitable charisma, thanks to a number of leading figures, and by adapting to the clan tactics of the Neapolitan aristocracy.4 This chapter is divided into four sections, each of which examines the history and situation of the Hospitallers from a specific perspective, namely: a) the functional proximity to the Roman Curia, b) the financing of their works, c) the key position of Fra’ Niccolo Orsini and d) the reconciliation chapter of 1410. The selection of these specific aspects follows from an analysis of papal letters (bulls, briefs and other documents such as indulgences, facultates, provisions and confirmationes) dealing with the Hospitallers. The Lateran registers are particularly relevant for the life of the individual Hospitaller knights living under the Roman obedience; the results presented here are based on the review of 14 volumes as a pars-pro-toto.5 These perspectives are reflected in the documents, and mirror the four major themes of the relationship between the Order and the papacy in the 15th century: the question of the unification of the Church and the legitimate seat of government of Papacy and Order alike, papal interference in the allocation of tithes and dues in the Order, financial administration and the war against Muslim adversaries.6
The functional proximity to the Roman Curia
5As early as the 1990s, scholars had identified clientelism as a characteristic feature of the high and late medieval papal court.7 Inseparable from the concept of clientelism itself is the dynamic of proximity. The Knights of St. John themselves had already stood out as important courtiers of the popes as early as the 13th century. As frequent members of the papal household, they provided a combination of private and administrative services at all late medieval curiae, both before and during the Schism.8 The following lines explain how the presence of the Knights of St. John in the ranks of the Roman popes, in particular that of the Lieutenant of the Mastership Riccardo Caracciolo, helped the obedience to overcome decades of separation from the Rhodian and, in view of the schism, pro-Avignonian-minded centre.
6In the first decade of the 15th century, the Roman branch of the Order experienced an extreme reduction and de facto integration into the ranks of the papal court. However, it began to regain its internationality following the death of Lieutenant Caracciolo in 1395, which had a positive effect on relations with the papacy as a whole. This proximity to the papal court guaranteed the Knights of St. John located in the Papal States the theological, legal and even economic protection of the court, which was due to the persisting dynamics of kingship. The language used in the Lateran registers, as well as the specific choice of title, repeatedly and subtly underline the precarious situation of the Knights of St. John. The “universe” of the Roman branch became identical to that of the Roman obedience, which was largely dominated by Neapolitan noble clans in conjunction with the city’s traditional baronial aristocracy.
7The “Neapolitanization” of the Curia reached its climax with the death of Boniface IX, when four out of five members of the College came from the Regno.9 Lieutenant Caracciolo embodied these connections. He had been in the Order since the late 1350s and had served as commander of various possessions of the Hospitallers on the borders between the Kingdom of Naples and the Papal States (Marigliano, Capraria, Benevento) from 1366, before becoming Prior of Capua and as such head of the Order in south-western Italy (in the south-east, the Order depended on the priory of Barletta; thus, it constituted a separate province).10 After just one year in office, Caracciolo proved his loyalty to the Urbanist cause by following Pope Urban VI into exile in Genoa in July 1385. The notarial diplomas in the Instrumenta Miscellanea 3362 of the Vatican Apostolic Archives show that the institutions of the Knights of St. John played an increasingly important role for the exiled papal court in the Ligurian metropolis from November of that year onwards. Under Boniface IX († 1404), Caracciolo continued to serve the Roman papacy, both as rector of Campania-Maritima (something relatively common that can be observed since the 13th century) and in peace missions to Milan (1391) and the Holy Roman Empire (1395).11 Few documents show the world of these Knights of St. John, who lived in the small space between the Vatican and the Capitol in the early years of the 15th century. Delaville has already pointed out this lack of archival material.12
8As is generally the case in historical research, land ownership titles can shed some light on details of their lives.13 At the geographical centre of this constantly threatened world lay the district of Ponte. This district, located between the Bridge of Angels and the city proper, connected the papal court (in the Vatican and the Borgo) with the Orsini sphere of influence and the “city of foreigners”, where Florentine financial brokers were always to be found. In this place, the Knight of St. John Fra’ Francesco da Volterra rented a house from the Roman citizen Paulo Lippanoro on behalf of Fra’ Bartolomeo Carafa.14 The witnesses were Cencio de Rodi, the hospital priest Francesco de Ponte and the Roman citizen Cola Mare, as stated in the notarial deed.
9A clear example of the de facto incorporation of the Roman branch of the Hospitallers into the ranks of the Papal Curia in the Roman obedience is the bull of Boniface IX, Ex iuncto nobis, of 8 June 1395.15 With this letter, the Pope confirmed a meeting of 14 dignitaries of the Order in the Apostolic Palace on 27 May 1395. These 14 knights elected Bartolomeo Carafa as Caracciolo’s successor. After the arenga, which is written in the usual terms of the papal chancery, the document lists the names of the knights that were present in the rooms of the chancery in the first part of the narratio: sitas in Palatio Apostolico ut dicitur, Cancelleriam. Together with the experienced papal officer Fra’ Basilio de Levanto and the skillful negotiator Fra’ Leonardo Bonafedi († 1412), a considerable number of significant individuals were present, encompassing the dense network of St. John’s foundations in Umbria, Tuscany, Lazio and the Marche (including the commander of Val di Nievole Fra’ Luigi di Pontremolo, the commander of Toscanella Fra’ Luigi di Nasina, the commander of Terni Fra’ Carluccio Fattipecora and the commander of Camerino Fra’ Giovanni Perusio).16 A third group was made up of the Campanian Hospitallers, who however did not join the general reconciliation of the chapter of 1410. The Campanians included Fra’ Petruccio de Falco, the powerful commander of Santo Stefano di Monopoli, and also Fra’ Francesco Caracciolo, the commander of Cicciano and relative of the deceased lieutenant. They could rely on a stronger social network than the Romans and on the support of the Angevine-Durazzo party, which was allied with the weak Roman papacy.17 Finally, there was a fourth group, comprised of comparatively younger members, most of them still without a commandery; nevertheless, they may have been important for the functioning of the Roman Order of St. John and the papal court. Some of them were Fra’ Bartolomeo de Porta, Fra’ Riccardo di Comaco, Fra’ Pietro da Pistoia, Fra’ Nicola d’Orta, Fra’ Antonio di Valleregia and the German Fra’ Alexander von Brunshorn. These four different groups show that the Roman obedience was predominantly attached to the central-southern Italian countryside during the years of the Schism.
10The narratio of the document goes on to say that the knights living at the papal court asked the pope to confirm – and thus legitimise – the decisions they had made thirteen days earlier:
Exhibita siquidem nobis nuper pro parte dilectorum filiorum fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani, in Romana Curia tunc consistentium […] [Riccardo Caracciolo] in dicta curia vita functo, ipsi fratres convenientes in unum, et praehabita inter eos super iis matura et diligenti deliberatione […] cum omnibus et singulis potestatibus et auctoritatibus consuetis, ordinarunt, deputarunt et constituerunt.18
11At this point, the letter records individual decisions: the Prior of Rome, Bartolomeo Carafa, was to become “pillier”; Leonardo Bonafedi was to become treasurer; Fra’ Giovanni Quartarolo († 1405), preceptor of three commanderies in Veneto and the only absentee among the elected officials, was to become the new procurator at the Curia; and finally Giovanni de Perusio was to assume the office of shield-bearer to the Master. A pillier was the representative of a province in the central government, itself located in Rhodes since 1309, and was also the immediate superior for all his brothers (from the same province) there. As shield-bearer, Perusio was responsible for the logistics of the Roman obedience, as had been customary since the 13th century. He was responsible for both the duties of the marshal (coordination of military actions, which in this case had been reduced to a minimum) and those of the draper (supply of food, clothing and horses).19 Immediately afterwards, the pope confirmed Enrico Minutolo († 1412) as Cardinal Protector of the Order. Minutolo was one of the leading representatives of the “familism” (as Arnold Esch20 puts it) promoted by the Roman Curia, which led to a tighter bond of survival and stability between Naples and Rome. At the time of the meeting, Naples had been shaken by conflict between supporters of the Durazzo and supporters of the long-established Angevin dynasty. Cardinal Minutolo, then still Archbishop of Naples, resided in the Roman borough Parione and thus was close to the Hospitallers in the borough of Ponte.21 This decision is followed by the date of the letter and a verbatim account of the proceedings of the meeting by Jacopo di Daminiano, the notary of the Apostolic Chamber, who was also from Naples himself and had a considerable share in the court.
12In Carafa, Boniface IX and his Knights of St. John had also chosen someone from their own ranks. According to tradition, Carafa had already served the Neapolitan King Ladislaus II († 1414) as a chamberlain when he became related to the future Pope Boniface IX through the marriage of Adriano Carafa to Lucrezia Tomacelli (a niece of Cardinal Pietro Tomacelli).22 In August 1378, when Bartolomeo Carafa asked Urban VI for help against the occupation of his commandery in Pian di Carpine, he was still in direct contact with the Curia.23 During Carafa’s tenure as Lieutenant, there was a rapprochement within the majority of the order, which was oriented towards the Avignonese obedience, as evidenced by the confirmation of Carafa as the Roman Prior for the Avignonese obedience by the Master Fra’ Philibert de Naillac († 1421) in August 1402.
13Nevertheless, Carafa was clearly still in the service of the Roman pope, who in 1403 entrusted him with the settlement of disputes arising from the fiefs of the Conti clan in the southern territories of the Papal States.24 In 1404, Boniface’s successor, Innocent VII († 1406), commissioned him to mediate between the Warrant clan of the Annibaldi della Molara family and the Roman city government – the Commune. When the Commune’s troops suffered several defeats at Rocca di Papa, Carafa, now a senator of Rome and a direct representative of the Pope to the city government, was rumoured to have circumvented Roman interests. In the tense days after Easter in 1405, during the procession of St. Mark in April of that year, Carafa was attacked on the Field of Mars by a crowd led by the city fathers, who dragged him to the Capitol before beheading him on the steps of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. The brutal murder of Carafa, who was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica, proved to be a bad omen for the pope’s flight to Viterbo from Neapolitan troops who, having seen the chaos in the city, advanced on Rome in August 1405 to prevent a papal agreement with the Angevin party.25
14Carafa was not referred to as a Lieutenant or even a Master, but only as a pillier; i.e., as the representative of a province of the Order. The fact that the Knights of St. John referred to their leader only as a pillier and still had an ambassador to the pope (stiled as “proctor”), however useless the office may have been in practice, as well as the equivalent of a papal representative to the Order (the protector), shows that the Roman Knights of St. John longed for normality. The situation was not normal, as the government of the Order was on the Dodecanese and the pope on the European mainland (as the Order ruled on Rhodes, the papacy was in Avignon). Both authorities were now located in Rome – one for its religious and political legitimacy, the other out of necessity. That is why the Order sought to emphasise the experimental, temporary nature of the measure of electing a new leader and a new government. At the same time, the appointment of a papal leader reflected a sense of realpolitik: the Order’s convent in Rhodes was officially excommunicated by Boniface IX and only ten out of twenty-four priories followed the Roman obedience in the Schism. In addition, the papacy emphasised the importance of healthy finances by appointing Bonafedi as treasurer.
Financing the works of the Order
15The papacy began to interfere in the finances of the Hospitallers at the latest with the large-scale investigation of 1373.26 Shortly before the outbreak of the Schism, Gregory XI († 1378) ordered his episcopate to arrange a visitation of the properties of the Hospitallers to find out their financial situation.27 Financial oversight was seen as essential in order to meet the needs of the church in the wider context of the crusades and the church reform of the time.28 As a tangible sign of the “well-functioning” body of the Church, the good disbusement and recompense of funds was of the utmost importance: a pope who performed a good deed proved his own legitimacy. Consequently the instruments of this very good deed proved necessary for a papacy desperately looking for legitimacy. The papacy’s direct financing of a soup kitchen and the administrative work of the Hospitallers in the Roman obedience are examples of this.
16The documents regarding fundraising for the Order’s works reveal another aspect of the Hospitallers’ survival in the Roman obedience at almost the opposite end of the spectrum from the aforementioned alliance with the political strategies of the papacy: the promotion of the Order’s primary task of serving the poor and the sick. Since the Roman Hospitallers were themselves poor, this service, as well as their administration in general, was financed by the papacy – at least during the pontificate of Innocent VII. On 16 July 1406, in the apostolic letter Cum hodie te, his chancellery granted Carafa’s successor, Fra’ Niccolò Orsini, a monthly allowance of 200 gold ducats from the papal treasury for the maintenance of the activities of the Roman Obedience. The letter is short but significant, as it expresses the papacy’s appreciation of the Order’s financial stability and, above all, its charitable work.29
17In the arenga/narratio, the pope recalls the appointment of Niccolò Orsini as Lieutenant of the Order after the death of Bartolomeo Carafa. Directly afterwards, in the dispositio, Innocent VII once again explains his reasons for wanting to help Orsini accomplish his task: Nos volentes ut onera tibi ratione locumtenentie Magisterii huiusmodi incumbencia facilius supportare valeas. The letter then confirms the personal situation of Orsini’s small court: Orsini was to live with his confidants and other brothers, including the treasurer and the procurator. Both were to have two horses and two servants at their disposal. The treasurer was also to have an own scribe at his service. The Pope allocated 200 gold ducats for these expenses. However, these funds were also to be used to pay for meals for twelve needy people. The funds were to be handed over to the treasurer, who was to be responsible for distributing them; according to Rollo-Koster, this is a sign of the effectiveness of the papacy’s financial organization in the late 14th century.30 Finally, other provisions were to remain unchanged. At this point the date follows.31 The number of the needy people to be fed has a symbolic meaning, as it is an obvious allusion to the twelve apostles. The building in question, where Orsini and his brothers lived and cared for the pauperes, was most likely located in one of the Hospitaller houses on Via della Croce Bianca, which was situated away from the Nerva Forum no longer exists today.32
The key position of Fra’ Niccolò Orsini
18In addition to their active participation in the papal budget and their advantageous use of financial resources in fullfilling their charitable duties, a third reason for the Hospitallers’ survival in Rome during the Schism was the order’s alliance with the Orsini family. In particular the three brothers Paolo († 1416), Ponziano († 1422) and Niccolò Orsini combined and shared their interests with those of the Order.
19Boniface IX’s appointment of Niccolò Orsini as the Prior of Venice on 29 September 1399 was also a papal act. Fourteen months after Carafa’s murder in 1405, Innocent VII appointed Orsini as the new Lieutenant of the Mastership (that is, the provisional leader of the Hospitallers in his obedience), with the apostolic letter Romanus Pontifex: deputatur dominus Nicolaus de Ursinis in Locumtenentem Magisterii hospitalis sancti Johannis Jerosolimitani.33 We can only speculate as to whether someone specific was in charge of the Order during this fourteen-month vacuum; it was most likely the proctor Fra’ Jacopo degli Obbizi († 1411), who was also the executor of Carafa’s will.34
20The arenga of Romanus Pontifex is a clear signal to the religious orders to accept the papal decision-making process and its results:
Romanus pontifex in quo potestatis plenitudo consistit et cui sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum et monasteriorum ac piorum locorum incumbit, ipsorum prout potest dispendiis obviat et de illorum regimine illud aliis commitendo et ad manus suas retinendo intercedendum pro sua voluntate disponit prout eorum necessitati et conspicuit utilitate in domino salubriter expedire.35
21The following narratio leads into the standard form for the confirmation of papal privileges for the Hospitallers, which has been used for centuries: hospitale ad quod gerimus specialiter devotionis affectum. For this very reason, the Order was to be well governed and led (salubriter regatur et feliciter gubernetur). The pope then, in the disputatio, assured Orsini that:
de tua probitate in multis et arduis comprobata gerentes in domino fiduciam specialem que ea que tibi conferimus curabis salubriter solicite et prudenter exercere te Locumtenentem dicti Magisterii tam in spiritualibus quam temporalibus atque ad nostrum beneplacitum auctoritate apostolica tenore presentium constituimus.36
22The “proven honesty” that qualified Orsini for the new task assigned to him by the Pope can be understood in three ways: firstly, through Niccolò’s prominence in the Curia; secondly, through his family connections and thirdly, in terms of the symbolic significance of the Venetian hospital priory for the crusade.
23Regarding Niccolò’s fame at the Curia, he had already witnessed the ratification of the Colonna clan’s capitulation on 17 February 1401, together with the papal marshal; the capitulation itself had been settled a month earlier through the negotiations of Fra’ Bartolomeo Carafa.37 In 1405, Boniface IX renewed a grain export license for Orsini, which allowed him to import large quantities of grain from the Marches into the territory of his priory in the north of the Papal States.38 A few months later, the Pope confirmed Orsini’s possession of three further commanderies in Lombardy.39 Turning towards the Orsini family complex, Niccolò also acted as procurator to his brother, the notorious papal condottiero Paolo Orsini. As such, he, the “splendid knight” of the Order of St. John, received almost 1000 ducats from Giovanni Bicci de Medici († 1429) in August 1402 on behalf of his brother, the “captain of several hundred soldiers of the Holy Roman Church”.40 Barely a month after Niccolò’s appointment as Lieutenant of the Knights of St. John, another Orsini brother joined the ranks of important curial officials, namely Ponziano, who was appointed Marshal of the Roman Church on 17 August 1406.41 The rapid military career of the later Duke of Gravina, Francesco Orsini († 1456), which can be attested as early as December 1404, as well as that of their prominent ecclesiastical relative Giordano Orsini († 1438), who was appointed cardinal in June 1405, round out the dominant presence of this family in the Curia of the early 15th century.42
24Finally, the third aspect of probitas in multis et arduis comprobata is the symbolic and logistical importance of the Hospitaller priory in Venice as the most important Italian port for communication with the Levant and thus with the Hospitaller headquarters on Rhodes. Already at the beginning of the Schism, Orsini’s predecessor as Prior, Fra’ Carlo Scrinzari, had distinguished himself when, on the recommendation of Cardinal Tommaso Orsini († 1390), he was asked to bring Narni into the Urbanist obedience in November 1388.43 With the increasing prominence of the obediences, it seemed wise to combine experiences from Venice with the situation in Rome. Regardless of the Italo-centrism of the Roman authorities, however, it should be noted that the Roman papacy was also dependent on the cooperation of the Knights of St. John with their brethren in other territories, for example in Denmark and Germany, in ecclesiastical matters.44
The reconciliation chapter of 1410
25A study of the Hospitallers during the Schism should also mention the conclusion of the Order’s own schism, as it reinforces the inherent dynamics of the contending factions. Looking at the reconciliation chapter, one may again see traces of the Roman obedience and its survival strategies.
26This new approach to the obediences is evident in the participation of the Proctor Fra’ Jacopo degli Obbizi at the Council of Pisa in the spring of 1409. At this time, the Master Philibert de Naillac, who was also influenced by the politics of the French crown, led the majority of the Hospitallers, who until then had followed the Avignonese obedience, to reunite with their brothers from eastern Spain, the Rhineland and Brandenburg, Scandinavia and Italy. As soon as the Hospitallers of central and northern Italy and Germany reached agreement, the Order’s own schism was overcome in April 1410.45 When he became aware of this situation, the Pisan Pope Alexander V († 1410) invited the entire Order together with the apostolic letter Amabiles fructus on 20 August 1409.46
27The arenga praises the defensive tasks of the Order with the metaphor of the sweet fruit that God has generously planted in the field of the “warlike Church”: Amabiles fructus quos vestra sacra religio velut pomerium quoddam divina manu consitum in agro militantis ecclesiae. The text continues in the narratio and praises the Hospitallers of all obediences as champions and “athletes of Christ” who fight against the slanderers of the name of the Crucified in order to defend the Catholic faith on land and sea. The metaphor of the athletes of Christ had already appeared in Latin patristics, but became increasingly popular from the 11th century onwards. In contrast to the Act of Martyrdom, which uses the New Testament concept of the “athletic competitor” (αγωνιζόμενος) to describe the passive resistance of the martyrs, the semiotics of the athletae Christi took on a new connotation in the Middle Ages, representing a literal and therefore military struggle. “In view of the commendable activities of the Order”, the Pope “wants to “contribute to its success”.47 This passage, which convenes a General Chapter in Nice in April of the following year, opens the dispositio: generale capitulum religionis et hospitalis prefactorum in Civitate Niciense kalendas Aprilis proxime future auctoritate apostolica decrevimus et mandavimus.48
28The Pope then wrote that the first thing to be done was to establish peace in the inner ranks of the Order. The Pope spoke of the spirit of love and affection, the inclination towards unity, the power of peace and the goodness of concord. This would indeed open the way to a more effective defense of Christianity – the main task of the Hospitallers in the opinion of Alexander V. He then urged adherence to religious discipline in order to accomplish the necessary reform. This was all the more important as the Schism had damaged the Order in many places. The Pope also ordered that each Prior should be assisted by two or three competent members who were familiar with the circumstances of the respective priories. The Pope then reaffirmed the desire to overcome discord and the will to make peace before giving his blessing.
29The General Chapter was prepared from August 1409 to April 1410. It is still unclear why Aix-en-Provence was chosen instead of Nice, as originally proposed. A letter from Philibert de Naillac to the assembly, dated Boulogne-sur-Mer on 13 March 1410, justifies the relocation with the “urgency” of the time, without giving further details: Et postmodum etiam de causis urgentibus ipsum capitulum in civitate Aquense in Provincia ordinatum celebrari.49
30On 19 April 1410, the chapter was opened in the church of the Knights of St. John in Aix. Cardinal Pierre de Vaury († 1410) represented the Pisan pope. One of the three presidents of the assembly came from the Roman obedience: the Prior of Lombardy, Fra’ Filippo de Lengueglia († 1427). On 21 May 1410, the chapter adopted the Pisan Declaration of 27 July 1409, which recognized all the appointments made up to that point by Benedict XIII and Gregory XII and thus all the legal acts of the Hospitallers of Rome; the Priors of Pisa and Venice were informed immediately.50 The Order’s schism was over. Two days later, the chapter was solemnly closed. It had appointed Fra’ Leonardo Bonafedi as collector for the entire area of the former obedience. By the summer of 1415, almost all the remaining knights of the obedience of Gregory XII had joined the Order. Only the priory of Naples remained in the Roman obedience, which no longer existed, until 1421. The provincial chapter of Ancona under Fra’ Pietro della Porta declared the Roman obedience non-existent on 21 March 1421.51
Conclusions
31From March 1384 to April 1410, the Knights of St. John were divided, joining the various parties of the Schism. The Prior of Capua, Fra’ Riccardo Caracciolo, led the Order during the early years of a period of intense intermingling with the Curia of Urban VI and characterised by a dominance of Neapolitan family ties in both the Church government and the Order. These clan-like structures allowed the Order’s Roman faction to cope with a considerable loss of its financial resources and the de facto abandonment of its military appeal (the Order in Rhodes had joined the Avignonese party entirely) and to strengthen its charitable vocation with the help of the Curia’s infrastructure (which provided the necessary means to care for the poor). This scenario continued with Caracciolo’s successor, Fra’ Bartolomeo Carafa, whose election by his peers was confirmed by Pope Boniface IX and who eventually paid for his service to the papacy with his life in 1405. With the new Lieutenant, Fra’ Niccolò Orsini, who was closely associated with Popes Innocent VII and Gregory XII, the Roman party moved towards a slow reunification with the rest of the order, which increasingly abandoned allegiance to Benedict XIII and eventually became one of the main supporters of the Pisan Pope. This development within the Hospitallers reflects the general situation in the Curia, which, under the leadership of cardinals from the leading Roman families, gradually pursued a strategy of seeking reunification, which succeeded in Constance with the election of the first pope from the Colonna clan.
Bibliographie
Archives
AAV = Archivio Apostolico Vaticano.
BAV = Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
NLM = National Library of Malta.
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Notes de bas de page
1For a general history of the Knights Hospitaller and its establishment in Europe see Nicholson 2001. For the early history of the Order in Rome see Moullot 2004.
2Luttrell 1992, p. 215. For the development of this assembly cf. Lobstein 2006, p. 204-205 and Delaville Le Roulx 1913, p. 249-252. The basic territorial and organizational unit of the Hospitallers was the commandery or priorate. Both nomenclatures are used synonymously according to the language of the sources. For differentiations related to the different types of commanderies, see Roger 2002, p. 38-40.
3It occurred with the Papal bull Cum iniquitate, cf. AAV, Reg. Vat. 310, fol. 299v-300r. It is mentioned in Valois 1896, p. 223.
4This analysis is based primarily on source material from the Vatican Archives, complementing the research done by Joseph Delaville Le Roulx at the beginning of the 20th century, later by the prolific Anthony Luttrell and most recently by Fra’ Franz von Lobstein.
5The volumes read were AAV, Reg. Lat. 81, 88, 136-138, 172, 286, 297, 300, 322, 332, 335, 384, 400. On the Lateran Registers see Giusti 1964.
6For a similar exposition of these research results from a different perspective (the resilience of the relationship between the Hospitallers and the papacy during the 15th century), cf. Garcia-Lascurain Bernstorff 2021, p. 67-90.
7For example, Rehberg 1999, p. 228.
8On the household as backbone of the papal administration in Avignon, cf. Rollo-Koster 2015, p. 169-175.
9Esch 2016, p. 56-61.
10Delaville Le Roulx 1910, p. 2; Marulli 1636, p. 373.
11For Hospitallers in papal functions cf. Tommasi 2015.
12Delaville 1894, p. CXVII.
13Esch 1985, p. 540.
14BAV, Vat. lat. 2664, fol. 209r. For Carafa’s life, cf. the complete and pregnant inscription of this tomb in the Hospitaller church Santa Maria in Aventino as reproduced in Garms 1981, p. 112: HIC IACET CORPUS VENERABILIS RELIGIOSI D[OMI]NI F[RAT]RIS BARTOLOMEI CARAFFE MILITIS DE NEAP[OLI] P[RI]OR[IS] URBIS ET HUNGA[R]IE MAG[IST]RI HOSPITII D[OMI]NI IN[N]OCENTII P[A]P[E] SEPTIMI NECNO[N] SACRE DOMUS HOSPITAL[IS] S[AN]C[T]I IOH[ANN]IS HIE[ROSO]LI[MI]TAN[I] MAGISTERII LOCU[M] TENE[N]TIS QUI ETIAM FUIT SENATOR HUI[US] ALME URBIS T[EM]P[O]R[E] P[A]P[E] BONIFATII NONI QUI OBIIT ROME DE ANNO D[OMI]NI Mo CCCCo Uo DE ME[N]SE AP[RI]LIS I[N]DIE S[AN]C[T]I MARCI F[RATE]R IACOB[US] DE OPICIS P[RO]CURATOR G[E]N[ER]ALIS ORD[IN]IS S[AN]C[T]I IO[HANNIS] P[RE]D[I]C[T]I EXECUTO[R] TESTAMENTI FIERI MAGISTER PAULUS FECIT.
15Edited in Paoli 1744, no. LXXXIV, p. 104-107. About this document see Delaville Le Roulx 1913, p. 206-207.
16Basilio de Levanto, Hospitaller prior of Barletta, was the vicar and military commander of Corneto. One of the sources reflecting his importance for the Papal States is the plea sent to him by the College of Cardinals on 16 October 1389 to swear his fidelity to the Pope to be elected in AAV, Reg. Vat. 312, fol. 64r. Leonardo Bonafedi, commander of Arezzo, was one of the few members of the Roman obedience who would play a decisive role after the reconciliation-chapter of 1410, cf. Luttrell 1992, p. 316.
17The popes of the Roman obedience, especially Boniface IX, supported the pretension of Ladislaus of Anjou-Durazzo to the throne of Naples. A general overview is contained in the article on Ladislaus’ mighty sister, Joanna II († 1435), see Ryder 2001.
18Paoli 1744, no. LXXXIV, p. 104-105.
19Burgtorf 2008, p. 89; Waldstein-Wartenberg 1988, p. 219.
20Esch 1969, p. 12.
21Vitale 2010.
22Aldimari 1691, p. 139-140.
23Urban VI gave him support, as seen in the letter Ad audientiam nostram from 25 August 1378 in AAV, Reg. Vat. 312, fol. 56r. This document is also recorded in AAV, Reg. Vat. 347, fol. 42r-44r and partially mentioned in BAV, Ottob. lat. 1083, fol. 126r.
24Delaville 1913, p. 262; Esch 1969, p. 393-394.
25Ilari 1996, p. 140. The mention of plans for another monument for Carafa in AAV, Reg. Vat. 311, are incorrect since these are instructions from Urban VI to many Hospitallers.
26Borchardt – Luttrell 2013, p. 618.
27For a complete exposition of the proceedings of 1373 see Glénisson 1971.
28Setton 1976, p. 327.
29Already at the end of the 12th century the popes underlined the importance of the Order’s charity work, cf. Sarnowsky 2018, p. 37.
30Rollo-Koster 2015, p. 161.
31Pro tua et familiarum tuorum et aliorum fratrum dicti hospitalis conventualium tecum morantium videlicet thesaurarii et procuratoris generalis ipsius hospitalis cum duobus equis et duobus famulis pro quolibet ipsorum et thesaurarii ac uno scriptore dicti thesaurarii sustentatione, ducentos ducatos auri mense quolibet de quibus ducentos ducatos fratres conventuales necnon thesaurarium et priorem cum equiset scriptore huiusmodi gubernare et in victum eorum providere […] ac duodecim Christipauperes in prandio quolibet die suscipere debeas tibi per dilectum filium thesaurarium dicti hospitalis huiusmodi beneplacito durante tradendos et assignandos auctoritate apostolica tenore presentium assignamus statuentes ac etiam ordinantes quod huiusmodi beneplacito durante dicti ducenti ducati de auro mense quolibet per thesaurarium generalem ipsius hospitalis decetero integre et effectualiter persolvantur mandantes eidem thesaurario per presentes ut tibi ducatos ducentos predictos quolibet mense ex causis supradictis tradere et cum effectu assignare studeat et procuret aliis in predictis nostris litteris super hoc confectis in suo robore permanentibus.
32Pietrangeli 1981, p. 30.
33AAV, Reg. Vat. 334, fol. 128r-129r.
34AAV, Reg. Vat. 333, fol. 259v-260v and Reg. Vat. 334, fol. 34r-34v. Obbizi issued from a prominent Hospitaller family of Lucca (his brother Opizio was Hospitaller commander of San Giovanni Bejano but lived in Rome) and had from 1405 onwards the commandery of Santo Sepolcro in Florence.
35“The Roman pontiff, in whose office resides the fullness of the authority and whose concern encompasses all the churches and monasteries as well as pious places and as much as it is possible prevents from charges and from their regime commits others who, with bounded hands, intercede out of his will for the sake of their necessities and beholds to beneficially in the Lord to send for their usefulness”, in AAV, Reg. Vat. 334, fol. 128r.
36“Because of your honesty, proven in hardships, grounded in the particular trust on the Lord, out of which We bring together that you should take care in a good, prompted and prudent manner the exercise of the Leutenantship of that Magistry both in spiritual and in temporal matters, so We established it with apostolic authority according Our will with the tenor of the present letters”, in AAV, Reg. Vat. 334, fol. 128r.
37Esch 1969, p. 345.
38With the apostolic letter Pridem videlicet from 8 July 1405, in AAV, Reg. Vat. 333, fol. 296v.
39Delaville Le Roulx 1913, p. 324.
40See the concract between Paolo de Orsini and the Curia from 12 March 1407, in AAV, Reg. Vat. 335, fol 146r-151v.
41Jamme 2007, p. 357.
42Mori 2016, p. 21.
43AAV, Reg. Vat. 311, fol. 123r-124r.
44Borchardt 2014, p. 64; Reitzel-Nielsen 1984, p. 308.
45Delaville Le Roulx 1913, p. 308-309.
46AAV, Reg. Lat. 136, fol. 255v-256v.
47AAV, Reg. Lat. 136, fol. 255v.
48“By our apostolic authority we decree and command that a General Chapter of the said order (religion and hospital) should be held at the first day of the coming April in Nice”, in AAV, Reg. Lat. 136, fol. 255v.
49“And so, due to urgent causes, it is ordained that this chapter is to be held at the city of Aix in Provence”, in NLM, AOM 355, fol. 16v.
50Delaville Le Roulx 1913, p. 313.
51Marulli 1636, p. 399.
Auteur
-
Ignacio García-Lascurain Bernstorff
Römisches Institut der Görres-Gesellschaft, ignaciogalabe@gmail.com
Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence Licence OpenEdition Books. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
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