The 1489 Bull Cum Sollerti of Pope Innocent VIII

Abstract

The Order of St Lazarus, during the 14th -15th century, had lost it cohesiveness and had become separated administratively into three regional components: the fraction in France centred at Boigny, the fraction in Southern Italy centred in Capua, and the fraction in England centred in Burton Lazars. The daughter houses in the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Germany, and the Swiss Cantons retained their loyalty to the French mother house. The 1489 Bull Cum Sollerti of Pope Innocent VIII was to be a significant turning point in the 16th -century relationship between the Order of St Lazarus and the Holy See. It provided for the benefices of the Orders of St Lazarus and of the Holy Sepulchre to be transferred to the Order of St John, specifically the Priory of Aquitaine, whenever the incumbent Commander was due to be replaced by death or resignation. The transfer of the benefices reflected the political ramifications prevalent in the European region during the period, and was initiated as part-payment to the transfer of the Sultan’s brother Jem (sive Djem or Zizim) to Rome. The terms of this Bull were never truly implemented being strongly opposed by the major fractions of the Order. Transfer of benefices was only truly affected in the Kingdom of Germany. The resistance to the proposed amalgamation led subsequent Popes to reiterate the terms of the 1489 Bull – Julius II with the 1505 Bull Romani Pontificus and Leo X with his 1514 Bull Dum continuus. The terms of the 1489 Bull were challenged in the French court in 1544 with the court concluding that the terms of the Bull were no longer relevant having been superseded by subsequent bulls and edicts.