an the spiritual interests of his subjects.

CHAPTER XI

One thing alone was wanting to assure the success of the vast projects
that the pope and his son were founding upon the friendship of Louis and
an alliance with him--that is,--money. But Alexander was not the man to
be troubled about a paltry worry of that kind; true, the sale of
benefices was by now exhausted, the ordinary and extraordinary taxes had
already been collected for the whole year, and the prospect of
inheritance from cardinals and priests was a poor thing now that the
richest of them had been poisoned; but Alexander had other means at his
disposal, which were none the less efficacious because they were less
often used.

The first he employed was to spread a, report that the Turks were
threatening an invasion of Christendom, and that he knew for a positive
fact that before the end of the summer Bajazet would land two
considerable armies, one in Romagna, the other in Calabria; he therefore
published two bulls, one to levy tithes of all ecclesiastical revenues in
Europe of whatever nature they might be, the other to force the Jews into
paying an equivalent sum: both bulls contained the severest sentences of
excommunication against those who refused to submit, or attempted
opposition.

The second plan was the selling of indulgences, a thing which had never
been done before: these indulgences affected the people who had been
prevented by reasons of health or business from coming to Rome for the
Jubilee; the journey by this expedient was rendered unnecessary, and sins
were pardoned for a third of what it would have cost, and just as
completely as if the faithful had fulfilled every condition of the
pilgrimage. For gathering in this tax a veritable army of collectors was
instituted, a certain Ludovico delta Torre at their head. The sum that
Alexander brought into the pontifical treasury is incalculable, and same
idea of it may be gathered from the fact that 799,000 livres in gold was
paid in from the territory of Venice alone.

But as the Turks did as a fact make some sort of demonstration from the
Hungarian side, and the Venetians began to fear that they might be coming
in their direction, they asked for help from the pope, who gave orders
that at twelve o'clock in the day in all his States an Ave Maria should
be said, to pray God to avert the danger which was threatening the most
serene republic. This was the only help the Venetians got from