66 Many details of the state of the Roman churches at the Jubilee of 1350 can be gathered from a fragment of the Descriptio Urbis" made by order of Cola di Rienzo between 1344 and 1347, a copy of which is preserved in the University library at Turin.' In giving the catalogue of the four hundred and fourteen places of worship which existed at that time within the boundaries of the city, the author of the census says that forty-four had no attendants, or keepers, eleven were levelled to the ground, while many others had no roof or windows or doors. Yet these halfruined establishments gave shelter to a clerical army thirteen hundred and three strong, representing a fifteenth part of the whole population. Petrarch, one of the pilgrims of 1350, says that the city gave the impression of having just been stormed and pillaged by a barbaric host. Things were allowed to remain in this condition until the day Cardinal Oddone Colonna was raised to the chair of St. Peter under the name of Martin V (November 14, 1417). His biographer, Platina, says: "He found Rome in such a state of devastation that it could hardly be considered a city fit for human habitation: whole rows of houses abandoned by their tenants; many churches fallen to the ground; streets deserted and buried under heaps of refuse; traces of plague and famine everywhere." With the Bull et si in cunctarum, published on March 30, 1425, Martin V reestablished the office of the "magistri viarum," to whom the care of cleaning and reconstructing the city was entrusted. The Bull describes incidentally how various classes of manufacturers and tradesmen had occupied and made their headquarters in certain antique edifices, still capable of giving shelter. The butchers, for instance, had chosen for their 1 Published by Papencordt, De Hist. Urbis Romae, p. 53; Urlichs, Codex Urbis Romae Topographicus, p. 170; Armellini, Chiese di Roma, p. 47. home the beautiful forum of Nerva, and the lower arcades of the theatre of Marcellus; hence the name of Fundicus macellorum given to both in contemporary documents. The fishmongers had established themselves in the portico of Octavia, thus causing its classic name to be superseded The fish-market in the portico of Octavia, abolished in 1878 by that of Forum piscium. The tanners were making use of the crypts of Domitian's Stadium; the lime-burners and the rope-makers of those of the Circus Flaminius; the candlemakers of the portico of Balbus; the glass-blowers of the baths of Agrippa. The other available ruins had long since been occupied and fortified by the barons. Nicholas Porcari and Marcello Capodiferro, the first commissioners selected by the Pope, entered into their duties with fervor, but accomplished little or nothing. With the exception of the bridge of Santa Maria, the ancient Pons. Æmilius, repaired at the cost of three thousand ducats, of the church and palace of Santi Apostoli, and of certain 1 works at the Lateran, I do not know of any other material improvement which the city owes to Martin V; but as in the time of Augustus his friends Plancus, Cornificius, Balbus, Pollio, Philippus, Taurus, etc., contributed towards the embellishment of the capital by reconstructing at their own cost the temple of Saturn, the temple of Diana, the crypta and theatre of Balbus, the atrium of Liberty, the temple of Hercules Musagetes, the Statilian amphitheatre, etc., so the cardinals of the court of Martin V endeavored to follow his lead by restoring their own titular churches and the adjoining residences. Thus Jean de la Rochetaille, archbishop of Rouen, rebuilt the titulus Lucinae, that is to say, the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, and the palace annexed to it;1 Alfonso Carrillo that of the Santi Quattro Coronati on the Cælian hill; Giacomo Isolani that of Sant' Eustachio, and so on. While these works were progressing the Pope died of an apoplectic stroke in his palace by the Santi Apostoli, on the twentieth day of February of the year 1431. Rome mourned over the loss; under the just and prosperous administration of Martin V, the Romans had forgotten their lost republican liberties. A contemporary chronicler says that tradesmen and travellers could cross the Campagna with gold in their wallets, without danger or fear. Over the grave of Oddone Colonna was inscribed the best title of honor that a ruler could wish: TEMPORUM SUORUM FELICITAS-"the happiness of his times." The praise is not exaggerated if we recall to mind the tribulations which the people had suffered at the time of the great schism, to which the Council of Constance had put an end. Eugenius IV, who, on March 3, 1431, succeeded Martin V in the chair of St. Peter, brought with him a return of 1 The palace and the "Arco di Portogallo," upon which it was partially built, are represented in the illustration on p. 38. |