# How The Roman Chair Stood Vacant.

Date not assigned · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: HOW THE ROMAN CHAIR STOOD VACANT.



As great as was at times the inordinate desire
manifested by some for the possession of the chair
of papal dominion, so great was at other times the
negligence and aversion as regards the promotion
of the same cause;61 for it occasionally happened
that the chair stood vacant for a considerable time,
in consequence of the contentions and dissensions
of the cardinals; so that the whole Roman church
was without a head; without which, as the papists
themselves assert, it cannot subsist.

54

In order to demonstrate this matter, we shall (so
as not to intermix all sorts of writers) adduce the
various notes of P. J. Twisk, who gives information
in regard to this subject from Platina’s Registers of
the Popes, and other celebrated papistic authors, in
his Chronicle, printed Anno 1617 at Hoorn; from
which we shall briefly extract the following instances,
and present them to the reader.

We shall, however, omit brief periods of a few
days, weeks, or months, and pass on to intervals
of more than a year, which, consequently, are not
reckoned by months, or still lesser periods. In this
we shall begin with the shortest period, and end
with the longest.

On page 225, col. 1, mention is made of pope
Martin I. (in the Register the seventy-sixth), that
he was carried away a prisoner by Constantine,
emperor at Constantinople, and sent into exile,
where he died; whereupon the chair stood vacant
for over a year. Ex. Hist. Georg; lib. 4. Platin.
fol. 135. Zeg. fol. 224, 225.

Page 260, col. 2, the same writer relates of Paul I.
(the ninety-fifth in the Register), that he excommunicated
Constantine V., who had thrown the images
out of the church; and that Constantine, not
heeding this, in his turn excommunicated the pope;
whereupon the latter died, and the Roman chair
was without an occupant, and the church without a
head, one year and one month. Ex. Platinæ Regist.
Pap. fol. 166. hist. Georg. lib. 4. Franc.
Allars. fol. 54.

After that he makes mention of pope Honorius I.
(in the Register the seventy-second), that he, having
instituted the exaltations of the Holy Cross, the
Saturday processions, which had to be held at
Rome, the special prayers in the invocation of the
departed saints, etc., was deposed by a certain
council at Constantinople; and that, he having died,
the chair at Rome was vacant for one year and seven
months. See above mentioned Chronicle, page
218. col. 1. ex hist. Georg. lib. 4. Franc. Ala.
Reg. fol. 44. Platin. Succ. Papæ. fol. 130.

When Pope John XXIV. was deposed on account
of his wicked life and ungodly conduct, and placed
in confinement somewhere, in the time of emperor
Sigismund and the council of Constance, there was
for the time of two years and five months no one
who took charge of the papal government; hence
the chair was without an occupant for that length of
time. See aforementioned Chronicle, for the year
1411, p. 769. col. 1. ex Fasc. Temp. fol. 187.
Platin. fol. 401. Onuf. fol. 406. 417. Hist. Eccl.
Casp. Hedio. part. 3. lib. 11. Chronol. Leonh.
lib. 6. Joh. Stumpff. fol. 21. Hist. Georg. lib. 9.
Hist. Mart. Adr. fol. 53. to 66. Jan Crisp. fol. 356.
to 175. Zeg. fol. 326.

Moreover, twice it happened, that for the space
of about three years no one was pope, or general
head of the Roman church; first, after the deposition
of Pope Benedict XIII. of Avignon; secondly,
before the election of Otto Calumna, called Martin
V., thus named because he was consecrated or ordained
on St. Martin’s day. Concerning the first
time, see P. J. Twisk, Chron. for the year 1415.
page 774 col. 1; concerning the second, see in the
same book, for the year 1417, or two years afterwards
p. 781. col. 1. compared with Fasc. Temp.
fol. 187. Platin. fol. 470. Hist. Georg. lib. 6.
Mern. fol. 913. Seb. Fr. (old edition) fol. 31.

After the death of Pope Nicholas I. (the 108th in
the Register), information is obtained from Platina,
according to the account of various other authors,
relative to the condition of the Roman church at
that time; namely, that she had no pope or head,
for eight years, seven months and nine days. Compare
Plat. Reg. Pap. fol. 197. with Georg. hist.
lib. 5. Joh. Munst. fol. 14. Mern. fol. 556. Francisc.
Ala. fol. 60. Also, P. J. Twisk, Chron. 9th Book,
edition of 1617. p. 297. col. 2.





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