How Gregory resigned, and Benedict retired with his tawdry court to a rocky fortress of his, and the Council burned John Hus and appointed a new Pope, may be read in history.[270] Martin left Cossa in Heidelberg, but in the spring of 1419 his keeper was heavily bribed and he was allowed to escape to Italy. It must have moved many when, as Martin officiated at the altar in Florence cathedral, the familiar figure of Baldassare Cossa broke from the throng and knelt humbly at his feet. He was restored to the rank of cardinal, and, apart from a foolish attempt, a few months later, to form a Lombard league against the Emperor, he lived peacefully in the house of Cosmo de' Medici until his death in December (1419). He was buried with pomp by the Republic, and the fine monument which Cosmo raised in the Baptistery shows that some appreciable qualities must have been united with his undisputed vices. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 265: _Historia de Vita Papæ Joannis XXIII._, which must be cited with reserve, as the author had a bitter quarrel with John and is often inaccurate. See C. Hunger, _Zur Geschichte Papst Johanns XXIII._ (1876). More reliable are the references in the _Commentarii rerum suo tempore in Italia gestarum_ (in Muratori, _Rerum Italicarum scriptores_, xix.), of Leonardo of Arezzo, at one time John's secretary. Leonardo's temperate verdict, that John was "a great man in temporal things, but a complete failure and unworthy in spiritual things," is endorsed by all. Exhaustive bibliographies will be found in E.J. Kitto's excellent works, _In the Days of the Councils_ (1908), and _Pope John the Twenty-third and Master John Hus of Bohemia_ (1910).] [Footnote 266: As in modern Spain, the word "traffic" or "sale" would be resented. The theory is that you give an alms to the Church and the Church grants the indulgence. The amount of the alms is fixed according to the grace required: there are four different _bulas_ in Spain today. It is hardly necessary to add that the agents did not officially sell the pardon of sins, but the remission of the punishment due in Purgatory for such sins as were confessed. Nevertheless we have the official assurance of the Council of Constance (art. 20) that John XXIII. "sold absolution both from punishment and guilt," and there are other indications of this grave abuse.] [Footnote 267: We learn from later letters of the Pope that he worked for Sigismund in Germany, especially when a rival "King of the Romans" was elected. See the evidence in Dr. J. Schwerdfeger's _Papst Johann XXIII. und die Wahl Sigismunds zum römischen König_ (1895).] [Footnote 268: _Commentarii_, p. 928.]