Innocent has made the great mistake of…
1405 CE
Innocent has made the great mistake of elevating his highly unsuitable nephew, Ludovico Migliorati—a colorful condottiere formerly in the pay of the late Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan, most of whose violent career as a soldier of fortune lies ahead of him—to the cardinalate, an act of nepotism that costs him dearly.
In August 1405, the cardinal waylays eleven members of the obstreperous Roman partisans on their return from a conference with the Pope, and has them assassinated in his own house and their bodies thrown from the windows of the hospital of Santo Spirito into the street.
There is an uproar.
Pope, court and cardinals, with the Migliorati faction, flee towards Viterbo.
Ludovico takes the occasion of driving off cattle that are grazing outside the walls, and the Papal party is pursued by furious Romans, losing thirty members, whose bodies are abandoned in the flight, including the Abbot of Perugia, struck down under the eyes of the Pope.
His protector Ladislas sends a squad of troops to quell the riots.