On his elevation to the chair of St. Peter, Nicolas found the temporalities of the holy see in a lamentable state of disorder. The military enterprizes of Eugenius had exhausted the pontifical treasury; the anarchy to which the long absence of that pontiff from his capital had given rise in the ecclesiastical territories, had impeded the collection of the public revenues; and the schism occasioned by the intemperance of the council of Basil had impaired the spiritual authority of the church.[370] Whilst the unpropitious circumstances which thus attended the commencement of his pontificate affected the mind of Nicolas with well-founded anxiety, his uneasiness was encreased by the contemplation of the distracted state of Italy. The Venetians and the duke of Milan were engaged in an obstinate and bloody contest, which spread devastation through the fertile provinces of Lombardy. Alfonso, king of Naples, having been instigated by Eugenius to declare war against the Florentines, had marched on his way to the Tuscan frontier as far as Tivoli, where his army lay encamped at the time of that pontiff’s death.[371] Justly apprehensive lest the collision of interests which occurs in a period of general warfare should disturb the peace of the pontifical dominions, Nicolas found himself surrounded by difficulties which called into full exercise the extraordinary abilities which he had cultivated with such successful industry. His first object was to remedy the confusion which prevailed in the ecclesiastical states. This object he speedily accomplished by a prudent choice of magistrates, by the establishment of a well-regulated system of internal economy, and by the mildness of a lenient administration of government. At the price of thirty-five thousand florins of gold he purchased from Francesco Sforza the possession of the city of Jesi.[372] The inhabitants of Bologna, influenced by the remembrance of the benevolence which shone conspicuous in his character, whilst he exercised amongst them the episcopal functions, sacrificed their independence to their gratitude, and voluntarily submitted to his authority.[373] The endeavours of Nicolas to inspire the other potentates of Italy with the ardent desire of peace which influenced his own actions were not crowned with equally prompt success. Alfonso proceeded on his march to the Florentine state, which he continued to harrass for the space of three years, at the end of which period he agreed to terms of pacification. The death of Filippo Maria, duke of Milan, which event took place on the thirteenth of August, 1447,[374] exposed his dominions to all the miseries of civil discord. Whilst the king of Naples asserted his title to the ducal crown by virtue of a pretended will, said to have been executed by Filippo during his last illness, Charles, duke of Orleans, maintained his own claim to the inheritance of the sovereignty of the Milanese, in right of his wife,