[hprints-00683151, v2] Enea Silvio Piccolomini (Pius II ... - Hprints.org

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hprints-00683151, version 2 - 19 Mar 2013 In Florence, Piccolomini also had some form of contact with Francesco Filelfo, who may then have had some Turkophile leanings 81 . Filelfo claims that Piccolomini was his student for two years in Florence, something which seems unlikely. At least it is not acknowledged by Piccolomini himself, and it is explicitly contradicted by his cousin, Goro Lolli. 82 However, there was at least some contact, as evidenced by their letters mentioned above, and Piccolomini may well have been confronted with a more broadminded conception of the Turks in that environment. As a consummate opportunist – some would say like Piccolomini himself – Filelfo later espoused the humanist propaganda against the Turks, but nonetheless his son, Giovanni Mario, wrote the above-mentioned Amyris whose early sections contain the notion of Turkish descent from the Trojans and the theme of the Turks as avengers of the Trojans. Later Piccolomini’s views of the matter changed to the opposite, partly because of the intensified Turkish threat to Europe culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and partly because of his reading of Aethicus from whom he took over the theory of the Turks having descended from the Scythians – in the mistaken belief that Aethicus was a classical and therefore authoritative source. 83 4.4.2 The French interest The French interest 84 was a challenge for a speaker who wanted to see the council located in Italy, in part because the interests of the French court and the French clergy did not coincide. The prelates wanted to strengthen the status of the Gallican church as a national church and to reduce papal influence over French church affairs. The king supported this policy which was eventually to be expressed in the Pragmatic Sanction of 81 Hankins, p. 130 82 Ady, p. 22-23 83 Hankins, p. 137; Bisaha, pp. 75-76. Other sources for Piccolomini’s later theory were Otto von Freising and Niccoló Sagundino 84 Helmrath: Basler, pp. 205-210 30
hprints-00683151, version 2 - 19 Mar 2013 Bourges (but on the other hand the Crown would not want the French church to become too strong and independent of the royal power). 85 Moreover, the high clergy and the king both wanted to have the council transferred to Avignon in order to strengthen French influence over the council and – who knows – may be later to effect a transfer of the papacy back to Avignon and the French sphere. The anti-Italian attitude of the French party was quite clearly put by the Bishop of Tours, Philippe de Coëtquis who said: “Either we should snatch the Apostolic See from the hands of the Italians, or we should leave it plucked bare, so that, wherever it remains, it can do nothing.” 86 But the king himself also wanted to have the pope as his ally in the question of the Kingdom of Naples where the House of Anjou, part of the extended royal family of France, was battling for the crown with the Spanish House of Aragon. So the French king did not wish to antagonise the pope who had until then favoured the French claims. It is, therefore, not surprising that the king sent one his most seasoned diplomats, Simon Charles 87 , to Basle in order to ensure that his fiery clerics would not jeopardize his relations with the pope and compromise the French cause in Southern Italy. In the matter of the venue for the council, Simon thus played a subtle role. No doubt he secretly preferred Avignon, but publicly he remained in the role of a cautious adviser and a friend of the council who accepted and respected its independence. So he did not declare himself openly for Avignon. This ambiguity Piccolomini exploited recklessly in his speech when he exclaimed that what the king’s ambassador asks is good and worthy of being granted. For Simon admonishes us to avoid grounds for a schism, he asks us as to agree a location with the pope, and he does not recommend or reject any place by name. If I am not mistaken, his words advise us to choose to Pavia … 88 The French clergymen at the council were probably quite exasperated at hearing this, and Piccolomini himself at the end of the speech took care to soothe the 85 Stieber, pp. 64-71 86 Pius II: Revised, p. 346 87 Helmrath: Basler, p. 87 88 Section 48 31
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