Page:EB1911 - Volume 25.djvu/180

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164
SIWARD—SIXTUS (POPES)

mountains is known as the Dehra Dun (or Dehra valley) and contains a considerable Eurasian colony and some British tea-planters. The principal pass is that of Mohan by which the main road from Saharanpur to Dehra and Mussoorie traverses the range. The Siwalik formation (distinguished for its extraordinary wealth of palaeontological remains) is found on the North-West Frontier occupying much the same position relatively to the Suliman range as it does to the Himalayas, i.e. it faces the plains and becomes the outermost wall of the hills.

SIWARD (d. 1055), earl of Northumbria, was a Dane by birth and probably came to England with Canute. He became earl of Deira after the death of Eadwulf Cutel, earl of Northumbria, about 1038, and earl of all Northumbria after murdering Eadwulf, earl of Bernicia, in 1041. He supported Edward the Confessor in his quarrel with Earl Godwine in 1051, and was appointed earl of Huntingdon soon after this date. In 1054 Siward invaded Scotland in the interests of his kinsman Malcolm Canmore, and he completely routed King Macbeth in a battle in which his son Osbeorn was killed. Early in 1055 the earl died at York. Shakespeare introduces Siward and his son, whom he calls young Siward, into the tragedy of Macbeth, and represents the old man as saying when he heard that his son's wounds were in front, “Had I as many sons as I have hairs, I would not wish them to a fairer death.” Siward, a man of unusual strength and size, is said to have risen from his bed at the approach of death, and to have died dressed in all his armour. He built a minster near York which he dedicated to St Olaf, and where he was buried; and one of his sons was Earl Waltheof.

See E. A. Freeman, The Norman Conquest, vols. ii. and iii. (1870–1876); and W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland (1876–1880).

SIXTUS, the name of five popes.

Sixtus I. (Xystus) was the sixth bishop of Rome (c. 116-125) and took the name on that account. Sixtus II., successor of Stephanus I. as bishop of Rome in 257, suffered martyrdom under Valerian on the 6th of August 258. He restored the relations with the African and Eastern Churches which had been broken off by his predecessor on the question of heretical baptism. Dionysius succeeded him.

Sixtus III. was bishop of Rome from the 31st of July 432 to the 19th of August 440. Before his elevation to the pontificate he had been suspected of favouring the Pelagians, but when he became pope he disappointed their expectations, and repelled their attempts to enter again into communion with the Church. During his pontificate the dispute was settled between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch, who had been at variance since the council of Ephesus, but he himself had some difficulties with Proclus of Constantinople with regard to the vicariate of Thessalonica.  (L. D.*) 

Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere), pope from the 9th of August 1471 to the 12th of August 1484, was born of a poor family near Savona in 1414. He entered the Franciscan order at an early age and studied philosophy and theology at the universities of Padua and Bologna. He speedily acquired a great reputation as an eloquent preacher, and, after filling the offices of procurator at Rome and provincial of Liguria, he was chosen general of his order in 1464. Three years later he was, to his own surprise, made cardinal-priest of St Pietro in Vincoli by Paul II., whom he succeeded as pope. Some writers have maintained that this sudden elevation of the most recent member of the Sacred College was due to bribery in the conclave, whilst the apologists of Sixtus affirm it was due to the friendship of the powerful and upright Cardinal Bessarion, and explain that the pope, having been brought up in a mendicant order, was inexperienced and did not appreciate the liberality of his donations after his election. There is no doubt that the expenditures of his pontificate were prodigal. Sixtus sent Cardinal Caraffa with a fleet against the Turks, but the expedition was unsuccessful. He continued to condemn the Pragmatic Sanction in France, and denounced especially the ordinance of Louis XI. which required (8th of January 1475) the royal placet for the publication of all papal decrees. He likewise continued his predecessor's negotiations with the Tsar Ivan III. for the reunion of the Russian Church with the Roman see and for support against the Turks, but without result. He was visited in 1474 by King Christian of Denmark and Norway, and in the following year (12th of June) he established the university of Copenhagen. Sixtus soon abandoned his universal policy in order to concentrate attention on Italian politics, and the admirable energy which he had shown at first was clouded by the favours which he now heaped upon unworthy relations. Not content with enriching them by gifts and lucrative offices, he made their aggrandizement the principal object of his policy as a secular prince. Sixtus was cognisant of the conspiracy of the Pazzi, plotted (1478) by his nephew, Cardinal Riario, against Lorenzo de' Medici. He entered into a fruitless and inglorious war with Florence, which kept Italy for two years (1478-80) in confusion. He next incited the Venetians to attack Ferrara, and then, after having been delivered by their general, Roberto Malatesta, from a Neapolitan invasion, he turned upon them and eventually assailed them for refusing to desist from the hostilities which he had himself instigated. He relied on the co-operation of Lodovico Sforza, who speedily forsook him; and vexation at having peace forced upon him by the princes and cities of Italy is said to have hastened his death. Several events of his pontificate are noteworthy: he granted many privileges to the mendicant orders, especially to the Franciscans; he endeavoured to suppress abuses in the Spanish Inquisition; he took measures against the Waldenses; he approved (1475) the office of the Immaculate Conception for the 8th of December; in 1478 he formally annulled the decrees of the council of Constance; and he canonized St Bonaventura (14th of April 1482). The most praiseworthy side of his pontificate was his munificence as a founder or restorer of useful institutions, and a patron of letters and art. He established and richly endowed the first foundling hospital, built and repaired numerous churches, constructed the Sistine Chapel and the Sistine Bridge, improved church music and instituted the famous Sistine choir, commissioned paintings on the largest scale, pensioned men of learning, and, above all, immortalized himself as the second founder of the Vatican library. These great works, however, were not accomplished without grievous taxation. Annates were increased and simony flourished. Though himself pious, of blameless morality, hospitable to a fault, and so exempt from avarice, says his secretary Conti, that he could not endure the sight of money, it was Sixtus's misfortune to have had no natural outlet for strong affections except unworthy relatives; and his great vices were nepotism, ambition and extravagance. He died on the 12th of August 1484, and was succeeded by Innocent VIII.

See L. Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. iv., trans, by F. I. Antrobus (London, 1898); M. Creighton, History of the Papacy, vol. iv. (London, 1901); F. Gregorovius, Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. vii., trans. by Mrs G. W. Hamilton (London, 1900-1902); Jacob Burckhardt, Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien (4th ed., 1904); J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy; E. Frantz, Sixtus IV. u. die Republik Florenz (Regensburg, 1880); I. Schlecht, “Sixtus IV. u. die deutschen Drucker in Rom,” in S. Ehses, Festschrift zu elfhundertjahrigen Jubiläum des Campo Santo (Freiburg, 1897); Aus den Annaten-Registern der Papste Eugen IV., Pius II., Paul II. u. Sixtus IV., ed. by K. Hayn (Cologne, 1896).  (C. H. Ha.) 

Sixtus V. (Felice Peretti), pope from 1585 to 1590, was born at Grottamara, in Ancona, on the 13th of December 1521. He was reared in extreme poverty; but the story of his having been a swineherd in his youth appears to be open to question. At an early age he entered a Franciscan monastery. He soon gave evidence of rare ability as a preacher and a dialectician. About 1552 he came under the notice of Cardinal Carpi, protector of his order, Ghislieri (later Pius V.) and Caraffa (later Paul IV.), and from that time his advancement was assured. He was sent to Venice as inquisitor general, but carried matters with a high hand, became embroiled in quarrels, and was forced to leave (1560). After a brief term as procurator of his order, he was attached to the Spanish legation headed by Buoncampagno (later Gregory XIII.) 1565. The violent dislike he conceived for Buoncampagno exerted a marked influence upon his subsequent actions. He hurried back to Rome upon the accession of