Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/633

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559

GILES


559


GILES


testa near Paterno, and on 2 June, 1355, a treaty was concluded with the Malatestas, which was approved by Innocent \l on 20 June. Henceforth the Malatestas were faithful allies of the papal forces. Their submis- sion was soon followed by that of Montefeltro, which brought the districts of Urbino and Cagli under the power of the cardinal. Shortly after, the cities of Sinigaglia and .^cona, and the two brothers Bernar- dino and Guido da Polenta, Lords of Ravenna and Cervia, submitted to the cardinal. Towards the end of 1355 Albornoz was appointeii Bishop of Sabina. Giovanni and Riniero de' Manfredi, of P^aenza, and Francesco degli Ordelaffi, of the Romagna, stubbornly refused to submit. In 1356 a crusade was preached against them by order of the pope. The Manfredi sur- rendered Faenza to Albornoz, 10 Nov., 1356, but Or- delaffi and his wife, the warlike Marzia, were still un- conquered. The cardinal had repeatedly asked Inno- cent VI to be recalled to Avignon. Now that all the usurpers of the Papal States with the exception of Or- delaffi had been subdued, the pope granted his request and sent Androin de la Iloche, .4bbot of Cluny, to re- place him in Italy. Before returning to .wignon, the cardinal held a meeting of the vicars of the papal ter- ritory on 29 April, 1357, and the two following days. At this meeting he published his famous Constitutions for the Papal States, "Constitutiones Sanetae Matris Ecclesiae ", generally known as the " Egidian Constitu- tions". When he made known to the assembled vicars his intention to return to Avignon, they all urged him to remain, at least till September. He reluc- tantly consented and at once began military operations against Ordelaffi. On 21 June he took Cesena, and Bertinoro fell into his hands on 25 July. When the cardinal departed for Avignon in September, Ordelaffi was still master of Forli and a few other strongholds of the Romagna. On 23 October the cardinal arrived at Avignon, was received with high honours by the pope, and hailed as "Pater Ecclesiaj".

Albornoz remained only a short time at Avignon. His successor in Italy, the Abbot of Cluny, lacked the military training to contend successfidly with the skilled and vaHant Ordelaffi. Moreover, the intrigues of Giovanni di Vico in the Papal States and fresh dis- turbances in Rome required the presence of Albornoz in Italy. The pope ordered him to return thither in December, 135S. He at once began operations against Ordelaffi, whose endeavours to buy the Condottiere Lando and his Grand Company into his service he frustrated by a contract with Lando. Ordelaffi was finally compelled to surrender, and on 4 July, 1359, the cardinal took possession of Forll. He allowed Or- delaffi to rule as papal vicar over Forlimpopoli and Castrocaro. In Rome, during the cardinal's absence, the people had established the septcmviri to rule jointly with the senator. Deeming it imprudent to go against the will of the people, he consented to the new arrangement, but reserved the appointment of the senator to the pope. With the exception of Bologna, the entire pontifical territorj' now again acknowledged the sovereignty of the pope. Giovanni d'Ollegio, who had possession of Bologna, was engaged in a war with Bernabo Visconti of Milan, who attempted to become master of Bologna. Unable to contend with the pow- erful Bernabo, Giovanni d'Ollegio surrendered Bo- logna to the cardinal, who tried in vain to arrive at an amicable arrangement with Bernabo. Meanwhile In- nocent VI had died (12 Sept., 1362). Albornoz re- fused the tiara which was offered him, and LTrban V was elected pope. Under him Albornoz continued his military operations against Bernabo, whose stubborn resistance was the principal obstacle to the crusade which Urban V intended to undertake against the Turks. When all other attempts failed, the pope pub- lished a crusade against Bernabo in the spring of 1363. In April the cardinal gained a victory at Salaruolo, near Modena, and the complete subjection of this stub-


bom tyrant was now only a question of time. But the idea of a crusade against the Turks had so completely taken possession of the pope that on 13 March, 1364, a hurried peace was concluded, the conditions of which were extremely favourable to Bernabo, who received 500,000 gold florins for his surrender of the city and principality of Bologna.

The cardinal had now completed the difficult task that had been entrusted to him by Innocent VI. He had again subjected the whole pontifical territory to the papal authority and therebj' made it possible for the pope to return to Rome. But he did not receive the gratitude which he h.ad so well earned. Urban V gave credence to the cardinal's enemies who accused him of having misappropriated papal moneys. In consequence the management of the temporal affairs of the Romagna was taken from ^\Jbornoz and given to the Bishop of Ravenna. Hereupon the cardinal asked to be recalled from Italy and addressed a letter to the pope in which he gave an account of his man- agement. The pope discovered his mistake and in his answer gave due credit for the inestimable service which .\lbornoz had performed for the papacy. In 1367 Urban V retiu-ned to Rome; Albornoz received him at Viterbo, but died before the pope came to Rome. In accordance with his wish he was buried in the church of St. Francis at Assisi, but four years later his remains were transferred to Toledo. His Constitutions for the Papal States were among the earliest books printed in Italy (Jesi, 1473) ; they re- mained in force until 1816. He is also the author of a compilation of all the documents relating to the sub- jection of the March of Ancona. They are preserved in the papal archives under the title " Codex legationis Cardinalis Egidii .Vlbornotii". In his will (29 Sept., 1364) he provided for the foundation of the Spanish CoOege of St. Clement at Bologna (Collegium Alborno- tianum) with 24 Spanish students and 2 chaplains.

RashdaU (Hist, of Universities, Oxford, 1S95, I, 200) says that it was the first Continental college " on a scale at all approaching that with which we are familiar in the English Universities", and was the model of many others in Italy and Spain. It still flourishes upon its ancient site, in sumptuously adorned sixteenth-century buildings, under control of the Spanish Government, which sends thither can- didates for the diplomatic service who have the B.A. degree of a Spanish university.

WrR-M, Cardinal Albornoz, der zweite Begrilnder des Kirchen- staats (Paderbom. 18921; Christophe, Hist, de la papaute penda7itleXIV^ ni'rlf iPari'. l«r>f!i. II; S\l,vi, II Cardinale Egi- dio Albornoz e gU nrrinr] ,1' s,'n:yn- in, documenti originali di sua legazione (Cam.rin'>. l^'.iii ; M' kviori, Annali d Italia (Ven- ice. 1823), XIX; \\ I Ki .-I.-,. I r.nnische Politik Papsl Inno- cFnz' VI. and K.mg KuiU IV. a ii-nna. 1878); Sepclveda, De vita et rebus gesti^ .Egidii Albornotii Carilli S. R. E. CardinaliJi libri tres (Rome, 1521). Sp. tr. by Vela (Toledo, 1566), and DocAMPO (Bologna, 1612); It. tr. by Stephaxo (Bologna. 1590).

Michael Ott.

Giles (Lat., .Ilgidius), Saint, Abbot, said to have been born of illustrious .Athenian parentage about the middle of the seventh century. Early in life he de- voted himself exclusively to spiritual things, but, finding his noble birth and high repute for sanctity in his native land an obstacle to his perfection, he passed over to Gaul, where he established himself first in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone and later by the River Gard. But here again the fame of his sanctity drew multitudes to him, so he withdrew to a dense forest near Nimes, where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being a hind. This last retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. The king [who according to the legend was Wamba (or Flavins?), King of the Visigoths, but who must have been a Frank, since the Franks had expelled the Visigoths from the neighbourhood of Nimes almost a century and a half earlier] conceived a high esteem for