return of our Church to the leadership of a single pope.'
'John XXIII?'
'No.'
`You were among his strongest advocates for the papacy at Pisa, and when you persuaded him to accept the papacy at Bologna,' Gerson reminded him.
Cosimo passed a hand across his eyes. `I could weep for that.'
`John XXIII is a godless pope,' Spina said. Everyone nodded
`His godlessness is at the core of the hopelessness of the entire congregation,' Cosimo murmured. 'If he sees fit not to confess, how should the sheep in his flock respond?' If he neglects the mass, what doubts are thrown upon the mass across Christendom? But let me speak out from my own province – Pope John XXIII has very nearly bankrupted our Church.'
`Nonetheless,' D'Ailly said, `he holds the deciding, votes of the council.'
'That is why we are here, my devout friends,' Cosimo answered him `The method of voting at the council must be changed. If following precedent, heads are counted, then John XXIII must win and continue to strip the Church of he glory of God. They have the votes. He has brought an army of Italian churchmen with him for that purpose. The English Church, however – for one example – is represented by so few delegates that their rights and desires must be banished from any consideration.'
`That is all well and good,' Bishop Weldon said, 'but how else can a council of the Church vote?`
'I have put my best people on the problem, my lord. The council's voting must be done by nations – an equal number of deputies from each nation to have the final decision. The Italians would include under their aegis Cyprus, Constantinople, Bosnia, Turkey and Tartary. Similarly, the Germans, with whom are united the Bohemians, the Hungarians, Poles, Scandinavians, Croatians and Russians, would vote as one nation. The English nation would include the Irish, the Scots, Medes, Persians, Arabs, Indians, Ethiopians, Egyptians and Ninevahns. The French have already amassed over two hundred of their own delegates; and, lastly, the Spaniards who sooner or later must join this council – would also represent Portugal and Sicily.'
'But this is a council of the Church, not of nations. The Church must decide what happens in the Church.'
`True – and I agree. The, secular voters should be there to be used only when the cardinals need them -of course they will not intervene in matters of faith, But this plan will save the council from being dominated and controlled by a godless pope. Once control is wrested from him, then, of course, fullest domination will be passed to the cardinals of all nations:'
When Signora Melvini passed the word of the meeting to me, I reported it to Cossa. After that; he sat alone, brooding over a plan to prevent his ruination.
At the next assembly of the council, members of the English and German delegations arose to protest against individual voting; and jointly proposed that a fixed number of deputies be appointed by each nation and that the voting rest only with them by national unit. The French ambassador then took the floor and said, `Christendom is essentially distributed into four great nations. These are Italy, Germany, Spain and France. The minor kingdoms such as England, Portugal, Denmark, must he comprehended – under one or another of these great divisions.' He sat down.
Bishop Weldon leaped to his feet, red-faced with indignation. `A nation, by God?' he exclaimed. `Would for the sake of the strength of Christendom that France were such a nation as England! The English stand at the head of the British islands which are decorated with eight royal crowns and discriminated by five languages. The greater island from the north to south measures eight hundred miles, or forty days journey, and England alone, contains thirty-two counties and fifty-two thousand parish churches.'
The current victories of the English king, Henry V over France, added much weight to his argument and he finished boldly. `Let no Man forget the testimony of Bartholemy de Glanville, the great scholar of the cultures of the world, whose lifetime of studies brought him to the conclusion that there were only four Christian nations: one, Rome; two, Constantinople; three, Ireland, which had, long been transferred to the English monarchs; and four, Spain. Nonetheless and notwithstanding, my country gladly welcomes France into nationhood this day.'
On the following day, the French agreed to the national-unit voting plan for the council. Nations were to deliberate apart from each other and, when they had made their decisions, their deputies were to meet in general session of the council to settle matters. The Italians, massed around the Holy Father for his protection, were powerless to resist. Cossa's hopes were smashed with one blow. There would be three votes to one against, him, and there would have been four against if the. Spanish had attended the convention.
Sigismund rejoiced over this new and brilliant fuse which, in one stroke, had defeated the power of the cardinals to protect the pope with their votes. He knew Cossa was finished. He knew that all the rest would follow, naturally. He would be the hero of Christendom and now, at last, it would be impossible for the electors to deny him the throne of the empire. He held a general congregation at which Pope John, all the cardinals and all the prelates appeared. He reported his negotiations with Popes Benedict and Gregory, saying that he expected the legates of both popes at the council and that he had promised to meet Benedict at Nice in June: This told everyone in Konstanz that he would not work with Cossa.
As leader of the papal party, I rose to appeal to the authority of the Council of Pisa, which had declared both Benedict and Gregory to be heretic and schismatic. Cardinal D'Ailly took the floor with, overweening blandness. He felt that there was some,urgency that the cardinals agree with Sigismund, that the essence of politics was compromise, and – because the cardinals there present had elected both Benedict and Gregory to the papacy that the representations of both should be received with the honours demanded. His, motion was adopted. Cossa was defeated by his own council. The ground was crumbling under his feet:
Cossa was so convinced that they were all made of motes cemented into visible bodies that he would daydream of inventing a machine which would dissolve all the motes in everybody at the council. `They are less than dust,' he said to me, – so they should exist and be, seen only as dust.’
'We'll, have to think of something better than that,' I told him.
'I will be able to think again when Bernaba gets back here in six days' time. When I settle with the Marchesa di Artegiana, my mind will be clear again:
Meetings which were unannounced to Cossa began to be held under the seal of secrecy, but he soon knew what happened at them because groups of prelates came to see him every night and he had no
difficulty inducing them if necessary, under an absolution to tell all they knew of the plotting. He learned that the English and Sigismund wanted him locked in prison. The French were noncommittal. The Italians – a week before so fervent in his support – were now going along with the demand for his abdication.
Out of favour, he was nevertheless acknowledged by the council as the only legitimate pope. He refused to perform publicly the sacred functions of his office except that of presiding over the meetings of the council. he was thick with gout at forty-eight-years of age, and an elderly forty-eight at that (for I though twelve years' older, seemed far younger, Bernaba often told me); it was because of his torpid life after so many active years; Dr Weiler said. But Cossa still bedded the Angioni sisters imaginatively. He had worked out with pen and instruments, on paper, dozens of variations on exotic sexual positionings and of course, these were vastly expanded by his use
of twins in the studies. His other formal audiences were political. But his close direction of the curia produced steady revenue for himself and his sacred college so there were many who approached the problem of his cession with much reluctance.
Political ceremonies were faithfully performed by him. Masses opened all council meetings. He solemnly blessed the people from the summit of his palace. He carried out the canonization of St Brigitta, the Swede who had already been canonized in 1391 by Boniface IX for rewarding fees, but the Swedes wanted a renewal and they were to ask for still another renewal four years later.
Cossa could see the crisis coming. Information reached him that, by their steady ministrations and constant campaigning, the marchesa and her daughters were creating and sustaining a universal feeling that the only way to heal the schism was for all three popes either to abdicate or be deposed. No one ventured publicly to bring forward this proposition. Cossa continued to receive the marchesa at dinner. They didn't discuss politics any more. They did not look into each other's eyes. They talked almost entirely about money. All at once, Cardinal Spina arose in council, and openly demanded
that Pope John resign. He was so pronouncedly an Italian cardinal that his exhortation had all the more weight: While Cossa presided over the meeting, Spina told the council that the more firmly Cossa was persuaded
