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

70
HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Prince of the Apostles. The coronation w;is performed by
Cardinals Rovere and del Monte in front of St. Peter's, upon
a tribune in full view of the great crowds of people, and which
had been adorned with allegorical pictures. Filled with
enthusiasm, the people cried : " Viva Pio V. !
" The cere-
mony was so long that night was falling when the Cardinals
went to the coronation banquet, which had been made ready
in the apartments of Innocent VIII. The banquet was on a
splendid scale, but not unduly lavish ; indeed the service
and arrangements were somewhat deficient considering the
number of the guests. The Pope himself ate as little as if he
had been in the refectory of his own convent. " God grant,"
so runs a report from Rome, " that he may be preserved to
us, because so far he has shown himself to be a true Vicar
of Christ."^
At the coronation of Pius IV., several persons had been
crushed to death in the crowds ; the new Pope, therefore,
did not have money scattered among the people, but sent
instead large alms to the poor and the religious houses. His
first act after his coronation, and one which was in itself a
sign of his strict views, was to give orders for the dismissal
from the Vatican of Doctor Buccia, the court jester of Pius
IV. 2 In 1567 the custom of celebrating the anniversary of
the coronation by a state banquet was abolished, and the
money which would have been spent was distributed to the
poor.^
" The Pope," thus begins an account of the solemn ceremony
^ *Avviso di Roma of January 19, 1566, Urb. 1040, p. i66b-i67,
Vatican Library, and C. Firmanus, *Diarium, in Miscell., Arm.
XII., 31, p. 40b seq.. Papal Secret Archives, C/. App. n. 4.
" See the *report of Cusano of January 19, 1566, State Archives,
Vienna. According to the *Avviso di Roma of January 19, 1566
(Urb. 1040, p. 166, Vatican Library), Buccia was a s'Mavone.
For his life see Constant, Rapport, 222 seq. Naturally Pius V.
did not wish to have anything to do with actors ;
lett. Ital., LXIII., 298 seq.
see Giorn. d.
3 *Avviso di Roma of January 18, 1567, Urb. 1040, p. 350,
Vatican Library,. Cf. Cancellieri, Possessi, no.