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The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

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CLEMENT XL 1700-1721.<br />

CHAPTER I.<br />

K LECTION AND CHARACTER OF ClEMENT XI—HiS ATTITUDE<br />

DURING THE FiRST YeARS OF THE SPANISH WaR OF<br />

Succession—Increasing Tension in his Relations<br />

WITH THE Emperor Leopold I.<br />

Innocent XII. 's advanced age had early claimed <strong>the</strong><br />

attention <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Cardinals and <strong>the</strong> ambassadors in Rome ^<br />

and that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> various cabinets <strong>of</strong> Europe for <strong>the</strong> next<br />

papal election. Preoccupation with <strong>the</strong> subject became even<br />

more acute when his serious illness in November, 1699,2<br />

rendered <strong>the</strong> prospect <strong>of</strong> his death a proximate possibihty.<br />

Yet among <strong>the</strong> Great Powers France was <strong>the</strong> only one with<br />

a definite policy, and this she pursued with energy. Though<br />

<strong>the</strong> Spanish ministers indulged in lengthy discussions, as<br />

^ <strong>The</strong> imperial standpoint appears <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> " *Vita critica del<br />

cardinali che vivevano circa I'anno 1696 " (with supplements<br />

up to 1700), Cod. I, 4a, 24, Liechtenstein Archives, Vienna.<br />

On <strong>the</strong> Spanish side we have " *Juycio sobre el conclave que<br />

devia suceder a la muerte de Innocencio XII. ", Cod. Ill, 4,<br />

Archives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Spanish Embassy, Rome.<br />

2 Conjectures politiques sur le conclave de 1700, Parma, 1700,<br />

and <strong>the</strong> memorials quoted by Galland in Hist. Jahrbxich, III.,<br />

232, to which must be added <strong>the</strong> detailed " *Report to <strong>the</strong><br />

Emperor " {ca. 1699), in Liechtenstein Archives, Vienna, fasc. 5,<br />

^- 3343. ^•nd " *Refleciones que conviene tener presentes para<br />

el primer futuro conclave ", Cod. III., 4, Archives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Spanish<br />

Embassy, Rome, which say <strong>of</strong> Casanata (d. March 3, 1700) :<br />

" EI card. Casanate es generalmente reputado por muy digno de<br />

la Tiara por la edad que sera ya de 70 annos y por la leteratura,<br />

celo, comprehension y desinteres."<br />

VOL. XXXIII. I B

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