DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71557#0341
VITTORIA COLONNA.
309
up, to be dealt with as a contumacious heretic who
had spread the mischief of his opinions far and
wide. In a spirit of base and tyrannical subser-
viency, and in violation of the laws of hospitality,
the duke yielded instant compliance, and Car«
nesecchi was transferred from the festal board to
the custody of the Inquisition. On his arrival at
Rome, he was proceeded against as holding Pro-
testant opinions, and he admitted the general
truth of the accusation. Great efforts were made
after his condemnation, and in the course of a
cruel and protracted imprisonment which followed
it, to induce him to recant; but even Popish his-
torians are forced to confess that his constancy
proved invincible. At the head of the charges
preferred against him, was his belief in the doctrine
of justification by faith only, and another charge
was, his doubts whether the succession of the
Roman pontiff was really derived from St. Peter.
He was finally beheaded, and his body afterwards
burnt, in the year 1567.
It would be easy to swell these pages with the
affecting recital of the faith and constancy with
which many other men of eminent character and
learning—a Paleario, a Pompeio Algieri, a Fannio,
a Pasquali, went through agonizing trials in their
passage to the martyr's crown. But we abstain
from details which have no direct reference to
Vittoria Colonna and her friends. Suffice it to say,
that during the remainder of the 16th century
x 3
309
up, to be dealt with as a contumacious heretic who
had spread the mischief of his opinions far and
wide. In a spirit of base and tyrannical subser-
viency, and in violation of the laws of hospitality,
the duke yielded instant compliance, and Car«
nesecchi was transferred from the festal board to
the custody of the Inquisition. On his arrival at
Rome, he was proceeded against as holding Pro-
testant opinions, and he admitted the general
truth of the accusation. Great efforts were made
after his condemnation, and in the course of a
cruel and protracted imprisonment which followed
it, to induce him to recant; but even Popish his-
torians are forced to confess that his constancy
proved invincible. At the head of the charges
preferred against him, was his belief in the doctrine
of justification by faith only, and another charge
was, his doubts whether the succession of the
Roman pontiff was really derived from St. Peter.
He was finally beheaded, and his body afterwards
burnt, in the year 1567.
It would be easy to swell these pages with the
affecting recital of the faith and constancy with
which many other men of eminent character and
learning—a Paleario, a Pompeio Algieri, a Fannio,
a Pasquali, went through agonizing trials in their
passage to the martyr's crown. But we abstain
from details which have no direct reference to
Vittoria Colonna and her friends. Suffice it to say,
that during the remainder of the 16th century
x 3