having pillaged all the provisions in the conclave, grew weary
of their own excesses. The cardinals fled on all sides. Four left the
city; Orsini and St. Eustache escaped to Vicovaro, Robert of Geneva to
Zagarolo, St. Angelo to Guardia; six, Limoges, D'Aigrefeuille, Poitou,
Viviers, Brittany, and Marmoutiers, to the castle of St. Angelo;
Florence, Milan, Montmayeur, Glandeve, and Luna, to their own strong
fortresses.

The Pope lay concealed in the Vatican. In the morning the five cardinals
in Rome were assembled round him. A message was sent to the bannerets of
Rome, announcing his election. The six cardinals in St. Angelo were
summoned; they were hardly persuaded to leave their place of security;
but without their presence the Archbishop would not declare his assent
to his elevation. The Cardinal of Florence, as dean, presented the
Pope-elect to the sacred college, and discoursed on the text, "Such
ought he to be, an undefiled high-priest." The Archbishop began a long
harangue, "Fear and trembling have come upon me, the horror of great
darkness." The Cardinal of Florence cut short the ill-timed sermon,
demanding whether he accepted the pontificate. The Archbishop gave his
assent; he took the name of Urban VI. _Te Deum_ was intoned; he was
lifted to the throne. The fugitives returned to Rome. Urban VI was
crowned on Easter Day, in the Church of St. John Lateran. All the
cardinals were present at the august ceremony. They announced the
election of Urban VI to their brethren who had remained in Avignon.
Urban himself addressed the usual encyclic letters, proclaiming his
elevation, to all the prelates in Christendom.

None could determine how far the nomination of the Archbishop of Bari
was free and uncontrolled by the terrors of the raging populace; but the
acknowledgment of Urban VI by all the cardinals, at his inauguration in
the holy office--their assistance at his coronation without protest,
when some at least might have been safe beyond the walls of Rome--their
acceptance of honors, as by the cardinals of Limoges, Poitou, and
Aigrefeuille--the homage of all--might seem to annul all possible
irregularity in the election, to confirm irrefragably the legitimacy of
his title.

Not many days had passed, when the cardinals began to look with dismay
and bitter repentance on their own work. "In Urban VI," said a writer of
these times (on the side of Urban as rightful pontiff), "was verified
the proverb--None is so insole