Transcriber’s Note:

All notes, and their referents, are linked for ease of navigation.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.

Any corrections are indicated using an underline highlight. Placing the cursor over the correction will produce the original text in a small popup.

The original text does not include a Table of Contents. The following has been constructed for ease of navigation

St. PETER
LINUS,	First Bishop of Rome,	CE 66.
CLETUS or ANACLETUS	Second Bishop of Rome,	CE 78.
CLEMENT,	Third Bishop of Rome,	CE 91.
EVARISTUS	Fourth Bishop of Rome,	CE 100.
ALEXANDER,	Fifth Bishop of Rome,	CE 109.
SIXTUS,	Fourth Bishop of Rome,	CE 119.
TELESPHORUS,	Seventh Bishop of Rome,	CE 128.
HYGINUS,	Eighth Bishop of Rome,	CE 139.
PIUS,	Ninth Bishop of Rome,	CE 142.
ANICETUS,	Tenth Bishop of Rome,	CE 157.
SOTER,	Eleventh Bishop of Rome,	CE 168.
ELEUTHERIUS,	Twelfth Bishop of Rome,	CE 176.
VICTOR,	Thirteenth Bishop of Rome,	CE 192.
ZEPHYRINUS,	Fourteenth Bishop of Rome,	CE 201.
CALLISTUS,	Fifteenth Bishop of Rome,	CE 219.
URBANUS,	Sixteenth Bishop of Rome,	CE 223.
PONTIANUS,	Seventeenth Bishop of Rome,	CE 230.
ANTERUS,	Eighteenth Bishop of Rome,	CE 235.
FABIANUS,	Nineteenth Bishop of Rome,	CE 236.
CORNELIUS,	Twentieth Bishop of Rome,	CE 251.
LUCIUS,	Twenty-first Bishop of Rome,	CE 252.
STEPHEN,	Twenty-second Bishop of Rome,	CE 253.
SIXTUS II.	Twenty-third Bishop of Rome,	CE 257.
DIONYSIUS,	Twenty-fourth Bishop of Rome,	CE 258.
FELIX,	Twenty-fifth Bishop of Rome,	CE 269.
EUTYCHIANUS,	Twenty-sixth Bishop of Rome,	CE 275.
CAIUS,	Twenty-seventh Bishop of Rome,	CE 283.
MARCELLINUS,	Twenty-eighth Bishop of Rome,	CE 296.
MARCELLUS,	Twenty-ninth Bishop of Rome,	CE 308.
EUSEBIUS,	Thirtieth Bishop of Rome,	CE 310.
MELCHIADES,	Thirty-first Bishop of Rome,	CE 311.
SYLVESTER,	Thirty-second Bishop of Rome,	CE 314.
MARK,	Thirty-third Bishop of Rome,	CE 336.
JULIUS,	Thirty-fourth Bishop of Rome,	CE 337.
LIBERIUS,	Thirty-fifth Bishop of Rome,	CE 352.
DAMASUS,	Thirty-sixth Bishop of Rome,	CE 366.
SYRICIUS,	Thirty-seventh BISHOP of Rome,	CE 384.
ANASTASIUS,	Thirty-eighth Bishop of Rome,	CE 398.
INNOCENT,	Thirty-ninth Bishop of Rome,	CE 402.
ZOSIMUS,	Fortieth Bishop of Rome,	CE 417.
BONIFACE,	Forty-first Bishop of Rome,	CE 419.
CELESTINE,	Forty-second Bishop of Rome,	CE 422.

Corrected text is indicated as a hyperlink, which will navigate the reader to the corresponding entry in the corrections table in the note at the end of the text.

The original text does not include a Table of Contents.

THE
HISTORY
OF THE
POPES,

FROM THE

Foundation of the SEE of ROME,

TO THE

PRESENT TIME.

VOL. I.

By ARCHIBALD BOWER, Esq;

Heretofore Public Professor of Rhetoric, History, and Philosophy, in the

Universities of Rome, Fermo, and Macerata,

And, in the latter Place, Counsellor of the Inquisition.

The Third Edition.

LONDON:

Printed for the AUTHOR.

M. DCC. L.

TO THE

KING

Sir,

It is not only as having the Happiness to be Your subject, that I beg Your permission to lay this Book at Your feet. In whatever part of the world I had been born, or had resided, I should have desired to present it to Your Majesty, as the Great Protector of the Reformed Religion, and worthily filling that Throne, which, above any in Europe, is the chief Bulwark against the Papal Power, and all its pernicious attendants. The wonderful rise, and monstrous growth of that Power, almost to the ruin of all true Religion, and all the Civil rights of mankind, will be delineated in the course of this Work, which I flatter myself may be of some Use to the Protestant Cause. For, next to the light of the Gospel, there is nothing that Popery has more to fear, than that of historical Truth: It is a test which the pretensions and doctrines of Rome can never abide; and therefore she has used her utmost endeavours, not only to lock up the Gospel from the eyes of the Laity, and prefer her own Comments, Decrees, and Traditions, to the authority of the Scriptures, but to corrupt, disguise, and falsify History, in which necessary business her ablest pens have been employed. To take off those disguises, and discover those falsehoods, is consequently a task becoming the zeal of a good Protestant; and my intention at least, though not my performance encourages me to hope for Your Majesty’s Gracious Protection.

In the latter part of this History I shall have often the pleasure to shew, how great an Instrument under God the Power and Strength of this kingdom has been, to maintain and support the Reformation all over Europe. But I must also shew with concern, that from the death of our wise Queen Elizabeth, the Princes of the House of Stuart, instead of pursuing that glorious Plan, which she had traced out, were either remiss in the cause, or wholly forsook it; so that had not the Revolution providentially happened, and in consequence of it, the House of Brunswick been called to the Throne of these kingdoms, the Reformed Religion would, in all probability, have not only been lost in Great Britain, or at least under a fate of severe persecution, but would have been in great danger every-where else, from such a change in the Balance of Power as that event must have produced. The support of Your Royal Family is therefore most necessary, even upon motives of self-preservation, to every Protestant both here and abroad. May a due sense of that important connection between Your safety and Theirs, be always kept alive in their minds. May our Holy Religion continue to flourish under Your Majesty’s Care, and that of Your Royal Posterity, to the latest times. May neither the open attacks, nor secret machinations of Rome prevail against it. And may it produce all the Fruits that ought to spring from it, the truly-christian spirit of Toleration, universal charity, good morals, good learning, freedom of thought, and candour of mind. I need add no other wishes or prayers to these: They comprehend all happiness to Your Majesty, to Your Royal Family, and to my Country; and they come from the heart of,

Sir,
Your Majesty’s
Most Loyal,
Most Faithful,
And most devoted Subject,

Archibald Bower.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of the Popes: From the Foundation of the See of Rome, to the Present Time, 3rd Ed. Vol. 1

THE HISTORY OF THE POPES,

THE
HISTORY
OF THE
POPES,