PART ONE
September 30, 1453 (Rome)
Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople on May 29, 1453. News of the event made its way to Western Europe over the summer, and by September, Pope Nicholas V had prepared the call to crusade presented here. The decree reflects, on the one hand, a long tradition of crusade propaganda: the theology and piety that informed the practice of crusade indulgences; scriptural allusions reflecting a long tradition of crusading; detailed provisions for fundraising. On the other hand, it signals developments more reflective of the fifteenth century, above all in its anti-Turkish sentiment, which here frames Mehmed II as a bloodthirsty tyrant and highlights the atrocities committed in his name. The decree became in many respects a model document for subsequent calls to crusade through the end of the century.
Source: Trans. J. Mixson, from the partial editions available in Cesare Baronio, ed., Annales ecclesiastici (Bar-le-Duc, 1864), 28: 599–601, and L. M. Bååth, ed., Diplomatarium Svecanum appendix. Acta pontificum svecia I. Acta cameralia. vol. 2: 1371–1492 (Stockholm, 1957), 385–7 (no. 1243). These editions are supplemented here with readings from Vatican, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Arm. XXXII, vol. 12, fols. 75–80r.
Nicholas, servant of the servants of God, for perpetual memory.
Although the church of Christ is governed, protected, and defended ceaselessly through Jesus Christ our Lord, the only begotten Son of God and our eternal pontiff, lest the roaring enemy should prevail against her (and indeed it is Jesus who, by his own words in the presence of his apostles, promised to all the church that he would always be present, saying, “Behold I am with you all, until the end of the age”;1 and it was Jesus who gave the church assurance that she would never be overcome by her persecutors, saying, “Fear not! I have overcome the world”2); nevertheless, he is forever calling back his faithful, who so often break his laws and wander from the way of his commands, and through their tribulations and difficulties he never ceases from calling them back to the power of salvation.
Thus, it has been established through God’s most merciful providence that although mankind’s life here on earth is one of struggle and temptation (and there is not one who does not face it, from the mother’s womb to the grave); nevertheless, divine Providence desired that mankind should place all of its hope in God’s aid and protection (because “unless the Lord build the house, its builders labor in vain” and “unless the Lord guard the city, the watchmen guard it in vain”);3 and that mankind should put forth every care and effort to cooperate with divine grace, so that there would be triumph, and not defeat. He cooperates in every good work of the faithful, and grants that, by his merciful piety, their strength prevails. For as the most blessed [Pope] Leo says, “the gifts of God’s grace are indeed sweeter to us whenever they are gained with great effort; and an uninterrupted peace obtained through ease can seem a lesser good than one that is earned through labor.”4 For the victory that Christ our God granted to the church while we are in this world, though it is grounded in great faith, still does not come without effort; and it has not been given so that we might sleep, but that we might work all the more cheerfully. “Through many tribulations,” says the Apostle, “we must enter into the kingdom of God.”5
There was once a most bitter enemy of the church of Christ, the cruelest of persecutors, Muhammad, son of Satan, son of perdition, son of death – who longed with his father, the Devil, to devour both souls and bodies, thirsting for Christian blood, a savage and bloodstained enemy of the salvation wrought by our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ our Lord; who is thought certainly to have been that great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its head that John saw in Revelation, whose fall brought down a third part of the stars of heaven and sent them to the earth; who occupied almost all of the East and Egypt and Africa; and who compelled others to imitate his impiety, as he profaned the holy city of Jerusalem, destroyed its sanctuaries, inflicted injuries, shame, blows, prison, and death upon the faithful of Christ. And yet divine Providence preserved the church of the faithful who (in his most inscrutable judgment) were pleasing to him, and up to this day he has not allowed the enemy to prevail.
But very recently, in our times, a second Muhammad has risen up, an imitator of his impiety, burning with a thirsty passion for pouring out the blood of Christians, burning against the name of Christ, forgetful of all humanity, like a rabid beast who, since he can only attack the head [of the church] with empty words, now tries to sprinkle, to pour, and to spew out his furor and wrath as if from a vomiting stomach upon the members, that is the faithful.6
And now in most recent days he has brought under his dominion the city of Constantinople, overcome by a brutal siege and a fight to the bitter end, with a great slaughter of Christian people. All of the churches and sanctuaries there have been profaned; the reliquaries of the saints trampled underfoot; the sacred images of our Lord Jesus Christ and his most glorious Mother and of the living cross subject to insults and taunts, cast down, knocked over, torn to the ground, stained with mud and other vile matter, and thrown away as objects of shame and hatred. Here, truly, is a herald of the Antichrist, who like a second Sennacherib7 glories in his strength and in the number of his people, that he might obtain all of the West by his hand and erase the name of Christian from all the world. He is out of his mind, obsessed with the idea that he can prevail against the power of God.
Therefore we who, though unworthy, hold the place of the one to whom Christ commended his church: the one who has worked to ensure that “the gates of hell should not prevail against it”;8 and the one to whom Christ gave the command that he should support his faltering brothers in their commitment, saying, “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail. And when you have repented, strengthen your brothers”9 – in this moment we look to the duties of our office as is required of necessity by the church. And so, by the advice and assent of our venerable brothers, the cardinals in the holy Roman Church, we have undertaken to arrange the following:
First, we encourage, require, and command all Christian princes, whatever imperial, kingly, queenly, ducal or other worldly dignity they might hold, by virtue of the profession they made in taking on holy baptism, and by virtue of the oath they offered when they took up the insignia of their dignities, to come to the defense of the Christian religion and of the faith with their goods and persons, as genuinely and insistently as is possible. In doing so they will receive an eternal reward from the one whose cause they advance, both in the present life and in the future, since in the present moment we believe it to be incumbent upon each of them, as a necessity of salvation and a necessity from which no one may legitimately excuse themselves. As for other lords or communities or anyone having whatsoever other dominions, we also exhort, require, and admonish them, commanding similarly by the force of the faith which they have professed, to strongly and perseveringly assist in the defense of the religion and of the faith with all their strength and all their power, remembering that they have alongside them that champion who, through his angel, in one night killed 185,000 from the army of Sennacherib,10 and who has otherwise never abandoned his church, nor allowed its enemies to glory in their impiety.
Thus, to all of whatsoever estate, rank, condition, or order who, in the face of such a great emergency for the church and the faith, shall be present and serve for six months from February 1, whether clergy or laity, whatever ecclesiastical or worldly dignity may distinguish them, by the authority of almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul as well as the plenitude of heavenly power given to us, we grant full remission and pardon of all sins. We also grant all that has been customarily given by our predecessors in aid of the Holy Land, as well as all things which our predecessors and we as well have granted to the Christian people for the Jubilee year […].11 And by apostolic authority we command that however many of the aforesaid holy works to which they may obligate themselves by vow, they should also place on their clothing the saving sign of the living cross, carrying on their shoulders the memory of the one by whose suffering they have been saved from eternal damnation and imitating the one who, for our redemption, had “the government of the world placed on his shoulders,” who admonished us to follow in his footsteps, saying, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”12
But since an almost incalculable amount of money is needed in order to carry out this task successfully, in order to make arrangements for those things that necessity will require, and since this is a matter involving the faith, and of all the Christian religion, to which all are held accountable without exception, as a matter of their salvation, we therefore first ordain, decree, and order it to be sacredly observed, that all fruits, revenues, and profits coming to the apostolic camera,13 from whatever benefice, whether greater or lesser, whether archiepiscopal, episcopal, abbatial, or whatever other kind, by whatever name they might be deemed to belong to us, be put in the service of this holy task – totally, fully, and without being lessened in any way. And so that this may be put into effect precisely as we desire, we wish and command that these revenues should be assigned by our chamberlain (or his representative, our treasurer) to our venerable brothers and cardinals of the holy Roman Church […] all of whom will ensure that the money is held by a depositor to be chosen by them for the use of this holy expedition.
By the same rationale we wish and command that a tenth portion of all revenues that come to our camera from the temporal holdings of the Roman Church should be assigned to the aforementioned cardinals through the same chamberlain or his representative and treasurer, and we dedicate this along with the above sum to this holy work as well. Moreover, our venerable brother cardinals of the holy Roman Church should willingly and freely offer to pay for such a holy and pious task, fully and without any reduction, an entire tenth from common incomes from their chapel and all their churches and benefices. And since it is a shameful thing for anyone of a lesser rank or order to retreat from observing the law to which the highest pontiff has obligated himself out of charity, and on the other hand since it is a decent and fitting thing that all, whether prelates or those of a lesser rank, should be participants in bearing the same burden, we wish (and by this present constitution decree) that for such a holy work a tenth portion should be paid in full from the incomes of all of the offices of the Roman curia, whatever their titles, even those administered by the aforesaid vice-chancellor, chamberlain, and major penitentiary, cardinals of the holy Roman Church (as these same cardinals have willingly offered to do).
And so that all of this might be strictly observed by those of lesser rank, we wish and decree that anyone who is fraudulent and does not pay the aforesaid tenth in full will be subject to excommunication and removal from office. And since all of this would still not suffice for only a modest part of the needs of such a great undertaking, unless the prelates and other ecclesiastics of all of the churches which are spread across the whole Christian world should also lend their aid and effort, by the counsel and also the assent of our venerable brother cardinals of the holy Roman Church, by virtue of the fullness of apostolic power we hereby reserve for such a holy effort a full tenth of all ecclesiastical incomes throughout all the world, according to their true value, without any exception – those of patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, abbots, and whatsoever other incomes, whatsoever their titles, greater or lesser, with or without pastoral duties attached, exempt or nonexempt, whether bound by religious rule or not, of whatsoever order, status, or condition they may be.
So that this measure might be carried out more efficiently, we wish to place under the sentence of excommunication those who resist or disobey or defraud, so that those who are disobedient or who knowingly commit fraud, whatever their estate or condition, should incur the sentence of excommunication. By the same authority we also decree that, until this holy undertaking should see a happy outcome, all who hold offices in lands subject to the temporal rule of the Roman Church, whether in the present or in the future, whether clergy or laity governing cities or provinces, public or civil governors or treasurers, whether holding their offices for life or for a term, if they are owed a salary, should pay a tenth of all pay and other incomes that are due to them or to their ministers, without any reduction. And they should do this according to the manner and form established by our venerable brothers […] whom we have assigned especially to this task. If they should do otherwise, let them incur excommunication, and also be rendered unable and unworthy to hold any office in the future.
And clearly since those who dedicate themselves to the services of the heavenly emperor ought to enjoy a special privilege, we decree that all those who sign themselves with the cross for this holy expedition should be exempt from collections, taxation, or other burdens, commanding each and all, whatever dignity they enjoy, that they not require anything from those under the sign of the cross. After they have taken the cross, we take their persons and goods under Saint Peter’s protection, and ours.
Should anyone stubbornly refuse to obey this command, let them incur excommunication. Moreover, so that those maritime predators called pirates or others accustomed to committing robbery on land and sea should not dare to impede this expedition, we bind all of them with the chains of excommunication, along with their accomplices, protectors, and harborers. We strictly forbid anyone to enter into any contract for selling or buying, to make concessions for any port or locale, or to interact with them publicly or in private, also commanding the leaders of cities and locales that they prohibit anyone from committing such impiety. Moreover, as blessed Felix our predecessor said to Acacius, “to not disturb the perverted is nothing other than to support them,” and “let those not shy away from hidden association who refuse to confront manifest crimes.”14 Therefore we inflict on these persons the sentence of excommunication, and we command that the prelates of their lands strike them with the sentence of interdict. We furthermore excommunicate and condemn those pseudo-Christians who carry to the aforesaid enemy of Christ (or to their allies) iron weapons and wood; those who sell war galleys or cargo ships or any other vessels to them; those who build ships for their use; and those who take command of their ships; as well as any who offer any aid or counsel with machines of war or in any other acts. They are also to be punished by the privation of their goods and declared the servants of their captives. We command that sentences of this kind should be publicized in all maritime cities on every Sunday and feast day, and that the bosom of the church should not be open to those punished in this way unless they should offer both all that they gained from this damnable commerce as well as their own resources in support of this praiseworthy and most holy undertaking.
But since for the advance of such a holy task we discern it most fitting that kings and princes and all others who hold dominion among the Christian people should have and observe peace, by the authority of almighty God we establish and order that throughout the Christian world peace should be generally observed, so that through the prelates of the church those who are at odds might be returned to peace, or if there is no way at all to find peace then at least truces might be strictly observed. And if someone should refuse to yield, then let them be compelled to obey individually by way of excommunication, or as a community by way of interdict. Therefore let no one infringe on our exhortation, requirement, admonition, mandate, concession, gift, will, decree, reservation, transfer, assignment, or command. But if someone should presume to do so, let them know that they have incurred the wrath of almighty God and of his apostles, the blessed Peter and Paul.
Given in Rome in 1453, on September 30, in the seventh year of our pontificate.
1 Matthew 28:20.
2 John 16:33.
3 Psalm 126 (127):1.
4 Pope Leo I (d. 461), Letter 120, to Bishop Theodoret of Cyrus. Adapted here from Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 12 (1895; repr., Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989), 87.
5 Acts 14:21.
6 The reference here is to the traditional bodily metaphor for the medieval church, with the papacy as the “head” and the faithful as the “members.”
7 King of Assyria whose armies besieged Jerusalem under King Hezekiah. In the biblical narrative (see 2 Kings 18–19), 185,000 of Sennacherib’s troops were killed by an angel. The story became integral to liturgies of crusade and narratives of Christian victory against overwhelming odds. See also 2 Chronicles 32:20–1. For context see Gaposchkin, Invisible Weapons. See the introduction, n. 37.
8 Matthew 16:18.
9 Luke 22:32.
10 See n. 7 above in this document.
11 A series of detailed prescriptions regarding indulgences follows.
12 Isaiah 9:6 and Matthew 16:24.
13 That is, the papal treasury.
14 Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople (d. 489), was involved in a series of controversies with Pope Felix III and eventually excommunicated.