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Greenwood, Thomas, 1790-
1871. Cathedra Petri
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CATHEDRA PETRI.
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GREAT LATIN PATRIARCHATE.
BOOKS III. IV. & V.
FROM THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTH TO THE MIDDLE OF THE NINTH CENTURY.
THOMAS GREENWOOD,
M.A. CAMB. AND DURH., F.R.S.L., BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
LONDON:
C. J. STEWART, 11 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND.
1858.
LONDON : PRINTED BY LEVEY, ROBSON, AND FKANKLVN,
Great New Street and Feller Lane.
PRIHOJSTOIT X. -fthC. DEC 1883 ^|
THSOLOGIGAL
i<^
PREFACE.
The remarks which the First and Second Books of this work have called forth, — and for which the writer begs to return his best thanks to his censors, — induce him to explain himself more clearly upon certain points which seem not to have been as thoroughly understood as he desired.
In his Preface to the published volume, the writer disa- vowed all intention to substitute any peculiar opinions of his own for proved matter of fact. He has, in truth, endeavoured throughout the work accurately to mark the distinction between the testimony of the witnesses, and the conclusions or inferences to which that testimony might conduct him or his readers. Still it was his manifest duty to ascertain, at all risks, the quality and value of the testimony produced to establish the truth of the facts narrated. Having determined this material point, and indicated the bearing of the truths thus elicited upon the resulting series, the acceptance or rejection of the conclu- sions arrived at ought, he thought, to be left to the unfettered judgment of the reader.
And, indeed, it has not been objected to him that he has withheld any evidence, or that he has distorted or garbled that which he has adduced to suit any peculiar views of his own. The charge seems to be, that he has too rashly rejected, or with less pardonable partiality explained away, certain proofs which ought to have been implicitly received ; and he is told that the inferences founded upon these errors must fcill to the ffround.
iv PREFACE.
The objections taken by his courteous reviewers turn prin- cipally upon two points: I. The personal presence at some period of his life of the apostle Peter at Rome, his preaching in that city, and his martyrdom there in the reign of Nero : and II. The genuine character of the primitive church-consti- tution.
I. As to the first point, it is alleged that the writer has deliberately rejected or set aside certain direct and positive testimony to the fact of St. Peter's residence and martyrdom at Rome. By reference, however, to his work, it will be seen that every witness was called to the point upon whose means of information or veracity any reliance could be placed.^ It is no imputation upon the writer, if, upon a minuter inquiry into the value of their testimony, he should have found himself constrained to give a preference to those witnesses who lived nearest to the time ; who had the best means of knowing, and the strongest inducements to publish and make known to their hearers a fact of such extraordinary importance to the com- munity of which they were the chiefs and the instructors. These early eye- and ear-witnesses he finds to have been either wholly silent upon the subject, or to have abstained from any direct assertion, as substantive facts within their own per- sonal knowledge, that St. Peter at any period of his life dwelt, preached, founded a church, or died at Rome. He observes, indeed, that the writers in question speak of Peter and Paul as *' founders" of a church at Rome ; but it is by no means clear that they intend to affirm the personal presence of either, or that they alluded to them in any other character than that of the founders of a church there, as they were the founders of a church at Antioch, at Jerusalem, at Corinth, or any other among the multitude of Christian communities they had col- lected in the great cities of the empire and elsewhere. Two of these witnesses, remotest in point of time to the fact in ques- tion, allude to an injluential presence of St. Peter in Italy, but without specifying time or place, or any of those attendant a See the rule laid down in p. vii. of the preface to vol. i.
PREFACE. V
circumstances which denote the existence of a positive know- ledge and belief in the mind of the witness himself, and give us confidence in the accuracy of his deposition — which, in fact, constitute the distinction between a faithful conviction of the truth, and vague hearsay credence or mere traditional belief.
Yet this evidence, such as he found it, was neither rejected nor explained away by the writer. It was allowed, on the contrary, to have the full weight that properly belonged to it. But vague and inconclusive testimony like this is peculiarly open to the influence of adverse facts. Such facts may have the effect of either overthrowing the conclusion altogether, or of rendering it imperative upon us to suspend our judgment on the question at issue. Several facts, in truth, were adduced which seemed to have a contrary bearing. It cannot be denied, for instance, that St. Peter dates his first Epistle from a city, or region, which he denotes by the name of Babylon ; and in order to make this date evidence of the place from which that epistle was really written, it becomes necessary to determine the questions, Whe- ther the Babylon thus mentioned was the ancient Mesopota- mian city of that name ; or the Egyptian Babylon of the Delta ; or, lastly, whether we are to believe that Rome, the mj'stical Babylon of a later age, was intended by the writer.
Now, presuming St. Peter to have written his epistle from Rome, there springs up the question of the time tvhen it was written. And here step in two negative facts, which necessarily restrict the epoch and the period of his residence there within a very narrow span. It may be taken for granted that St. Peter was not at Rome when St. Paul wrote his second epistle to Timothy, very shortly before his own death (ann. 65 or (]&). It is impossible to allege any reliable proof that Peter was there at any given point of time during the ministry of St. Paul in Rome : he was not there when the latter arrived in the city ; he was not there within a year of the death of St. Paul. When was he there ? It is replied. At some time within the latter period.. So be it; but then, whence did he come? To this question we must either profess our total ignorance, or reply —
Vi PREFACE.
from Babylon. From the Babylon of Mesopotamia, or of the Memphian nome of Egypt ? If from the former, he must have travelled a distance of 2000 miles, — in those days a work of time and fatigue, — in order to dignify the Roman church by his martyrdom : if from the latter, both time and labour would have been less, though still considerable, as we may learn from the length of St. Paul's voyage from Jerusalem to Rome some five or six years before.
Without denying the possibility of the journey, the proba- bilities are all against it; and that probability is still further' reduced by a consideration of a different character. It is not controverted that the peculiar mission of Peter was to the Jews of the dispersion, as that of Paul was to the Gentiles. It is therefore more probable that he would dedicate his life and labours to the conversion of the Jews, and that he would choose for the scene of his activity precisely the spot where they were collected in the greatest numbers, than that he should at the latest period of his life have wandered to Rome, where the field was already occupied by that fellow-labourer to whom it had been specially assigned by himself and his apostolic brethren.
But an objection in limine is here taken to the possibility of Babylon of Mesopotamia ever having been the residence of St. Peter. It is alleged that at the date of the death of the apostle, and for many years before, that city had become a desert — an uninhabited waste tenanted only by wild beasts. But the writer believes that this allegation is altogether untenable. The facts stand thus : Strabo (lib. xiv. c. i. § 5) says, indeed, that in his time " Babylon, the great city, had become a great desert." Now, it should be borne in mind, that Strabo was born (ac- cording to the best computation) in the year 54 B.C. ; that his Geography was probably published about the year a.d. 18 ; and that he died about a.d. 25, in the reign of Tiberius. If, there- fore, his description of the state of Babylon at that epoch is to be taken in its literal import, the city must have then been an uninhabited wilderness. But according to Josephus
PREFACE. Vii
(lib. xviii. c. ix. § 38), it was at that very time the abode of a very numerous colony of Jews. From him we learn that in the reign of the emperor Caligula, that is, between the years A.D. 37 and 41, a great body of Jews migrated /row Babylon to the neighbouring Seleucia to escape the persecutions of the Parthians of that city. He then informs us, that within the same period 50,000 of that people perished by the hands of the hostile Seleucians. Without trusting to the accuracy of the numbers (always a very uncertain reliance), the fact of such a serious massacre sufficiently proves the great numbers of the Jews shortly before then settled in Babylon.
If, therefore, the words of Strabo are to be taken literally, they imply a direct contradiction to the information derived from Josephus. If, on the other hand, we adopt the account of Josephus, we must take Strabo's description of the state of Babylon in his days, i. e. anterior by a space of at least twenty years to the migration of the Jews to Seleucia, as intended simply to mark the vast contrast between the extent and popu- lation of the city at this point of time, and the aspect it ex- hibited in the palmy days of its greatness and splendour. And that this was his real meaning we may gather from the further details of the actual state of the city. He describes the walls, hanging gardens, colleges, and other buildings, as still standing ; and it may be submitted, that while so much accommodation and shelter, and such effective defences existed, it is extremely unlikely that there should have been no dwellings and no inha- bitants to take advantage of them.
Reasoning from the analogies presented by similar events in other parts of the world and in other times, it is not even probable that the migration to Seleucia left no Jews behind in Babylon, — that it comprehended the totality of the colony. Certainly the subsequent massacre of the Seleucian Jews did not amount to an extirpation ; for we know that they swarmed in the neighbouring regions down to a much later age. Under such circumstances, it is very probable that after the frightful injuries inflicted on them by the Seleucians, many of that people
viii PREFACE.
resorted to Babylon to escape the persecutions of the latter, as their predecessors had done to escape those of the Babylonians. It is moreover notorious that down to the middle of the second century, if not long afterwards, a vast colony of Jews was settled in the province of Babylonia ; and that in the reign of Hadrian (a.d. 117 to 138) they signalised their hatred of their Roman and Parthian masters by frequent and sanguinary insurrections. The great numbers and the stability of their religious and poli- tical establishment in Babylonia within three centuries after Christ are attested by the transfer of the great school of rabbin- ical learning to that region, and the subsequent composition of that marvellous monument of " human industry, human wisdom, and human folly," as Dean Milman has so aptly described it {His- tory of the Jews, vol. iii, p. 171), the Babylonian Talmud. Those who are at all acquainted with that voluminous and elaborate production must be convinced, not only that a long period of learned leisure and tranquillity was necessary for its composi- tion, but likewise that the minds of the compilers could not have settled down to a work of such magnitude, if the induce- ment of a numerous school of auditors and scholars had been wanting ; if, indeed, there had not been a numerous people to be indoctrinated, and if that degree of repose and social dignity had not existed which, we are authentically informed, the Jews of Babylonia for ages afterwards enjoyed under the patronage of the Parthian and Persian sovereigns.
It is always a critical matter to give due weight to the ac- counts of exterminations, massacres, and slaughters we read in ancient — even in modern — historians. It is very difficult to believe in the extinction of whole nations, or even of largfe or isolated sections of any people, by the hands of their enemies. The annals of the Jews exhibit accounts of such extermina- tions, which the same records show to have been very incomplete. The Canaanites, for instance, were never wholly expunged from the list of the nations, nor even expelled from the very regions they had occupied previously to the Iraelitish invasion. Na- tions, it is true, often disappear for a time from a particular
PREFACE. IX
spot ; but it is only to re-appear on the same spot not long afterwards. The total destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was so far from preventing the return of the Jews to that city, that we find them in the reign of Trajan, that is, scarcely half a cen- tury after the catastrophe, agaui assembled there in great num- bers. The slaughter of the Jews of Alexandria, Cyrene, and other places, about the period of the insurrection of Barcochab (a.d. 134) under Hadrian, did not prevent the re-assembling and domiciliation of the race very soon afterwards in the very lo- calities in which those calamities had befallen them. A similar devoted attachment to the places where they had dwelt for any length of time, is conspicuous throughout the history of the Jewish people, from the Babylonish captivity down to the age in which we live. Thus, when invited by Zerubbabel, and encou- raged by their Persian master, to return to the land of their an- cestors, to resume their national independence, and to assemble round the temple of their God, the great majority of the people declined to quit the land of their adoption, and remained to share the fortunes of the heathen lords of the soil — Medes, Per- sians, Babylonians, Parthians, or Romans. The whole history of the Jews, from the earliest to the latest period of their exist- ence, shows that though an expansive, they have never been a migratory people. Once settled in a particular locality, they remain there in defiance of civil and religious oppression, — in defiance of persecution, disabilities, and political outlawry. Where Jews have once been, Jews will be found. It may be doubted whether even the ruthless vigilance of the Spanish In- quisition has succeeded in extirpating them from that father- land of ignorance, superstition, and cruelty.
Taking all these considerations together, it becomes in the highest degree probable that, as long as there remained a Baby- lon for Jews to dwell in, there Jews would be found. The pro- bability therefore that within the first century of the Christian era that city had not fallen into such a state of hopeless decay as to preclude a possible residence of the apostle Peter within its walls, has, it is submitted, been satisfactorily established. Yet
X PREFACE.
even if it were not so, it is by no means an irrational supposition that, when he dated his letter from Babylon, he intended not so much to designate the city, as the region of which it was still the reputed capital ; from which, in fact, that region derived its name. Thus the Jewish " Babylon" might include the colonies of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, as well as those of Neerda, and per- haps of Nisibis and other settlements. When, therefore, to this we adduce the preponderant probability that the apostle of the circumcision would take up his abode where the peculiar ob- jects of his mission were collected in the greatest numbers, — in the stronghold, that is, of Rabbinism, the nursery of that mass of spurious learning, vulgar superstition, and inveterate formal- ism he was specially commissioned to encounter and to over- throw,— it must, we think, become clear to candid inquiry, that the apostle wrote his first epistle general from the Mesopo- tamian Babylon ; and that if he suffered not in that city or its vicinity, but travelled to Rome to receive there the crown of martyrdom, he must have undertaken that long and laborious journey in the closing days of his life, and as far as he was concerned, without any adequate motive ; and we must accept the fact in the absence of any direct or positive contemporary evidence.
It may, however, not be unimportant to the more complete justification of the writer's views upon this important point, to take notice of an allegation frequently — and even triumphantly — urged by a numerous class of divines of the Churches of England and Rome. These persons are in the habit of appeal- ing to what they choose to term the notoriety of St. Peter's preaching and martyrdom at Rome in the earlier ages of the Christian Church. What though, say they, neither Clemens, nor Ignatius, nor Irenaeus, nor Justin Martyr, nor Tertullian, directly and in positive, terras affirm these facts, it was because they were matter of such general conviction, that every body who read their writings must have taken them for granted ; and that they could have required no statement of particulars regard- ing them. It will be seen at once that this argument involves
PREFACE, XI
a gross fallacy. It is not denied that a tradition existed that Peter had preached at Rome at some time of his life. But when we inquire into the origin of the tradition, we find that nothing like authentic evidence is produceable. Every rational inquirer must pronounce a tradition to be spurious, when he finds contemporaries, eye-witnesses, actors in the scene, know nothing about the facts on which it rests. The maxim, that de non apparentihus et non existentihus eadeni est ratio, is as sound a principle in history as it is in law. Though, there- fore, the absence of direct testimony may not disprove the fact alleged, yet it imposes almost insuperable difficulty upon those who maintain the affirmative. Tertullian and Dionysius of Co- rinth may have believed the tradition. There is no doubt that three centuries after the event Eusebius did believe it. But though we are not called upon to prove a negative, yet if we can assign a reasonable origin of the tradition, and which may be consistent with the vague allusions of the writers quoted to some supposed personal presence of Peter in Rome, it would unquestionably strengthen our claim upon those who undertake to prove the affirmative.
Now we know that there existed in the earliest ages of Christianity a strong mental association of the two constituent parties in the body-corporate of the Church, — the Jewish and the Gentile churches formed together the one great dispensa- tion ; so that, in accordance with the symbolising habit of the age, more especially of the Oriental Christians, when the foun- dation of the churches was treated of, the names of the two great teachers who, by special appointment, represented these two sections, were associated both in thought and expression as the concurrent sources of the true Christian revelation. But it happened that before the extinction of the apostolic college, a disagreement had arisen between the Jewish and the Gentile converts upon points connected with the observ- ance of the ceremonial law. Paul was regarded as the ad- vocate of a more liberal treatment of the Gentile converts ; Peter, as the patron of a severer adherence to the Mosaic or-
Xll PREFACE.
dinances. The church in Rome consisted of a large majority of Jewish converts,*^ anxious, doubtless, to sustain the credit of their appointed leader. And, in fact, we learn that at a very early point of time certain writings made their appear- ance in Rome, under the name of Peter, encouraging a popular belief in the personal presence of the apostle at Rome ; and representing him not only as in direct verbal communication with their earliest elders or bishops, but as actually dictating a series of rules and ordinances for their future government as of divine authority. Although the date of these writings is unknown, and although they were treated by the subsequent ages as pious fictions, these circumstances form no argument against their popularity at the time of publication ; nor would the facts and events recorded in them be less a matter of po- pular belief. We have, indeed, no sure guide to the precise period at which these writings were published; but the work called the " Preaching of Peter" {Krjpv^^a IleTpov) is be- lieved to be of a very early date ; probably also the " Revela- tion" and the " Itinerary" of Peter ; and it is equally probable that the *' Recognitions" and " Clementines," as well as the " Apostolical Constitutions" and " Canons," existed in a much more primitive and less elaborate form, than that in which they now lie before us. In all these writings Peter figures either as the sole speaker and instructor, or as the president and prolocu- tor of the apostolic college ; Clement, one of the earliest presid- ing elders of the Roman church, is the chosen recipient of the Petrine ordinances ; and the scene throughout is laid in Rome. Now, there is no valid reason to think that any belief or report of the presence of Peter in that city at a date antecedent to the publication of these writings, existed in the Roman congrega- tion ; and we are entitled to ask whether, in the absence of any direct contemporary statement to the fact of such residence, it is not just as reasonable to suppose that the tradition took its origin from the writings in question, as that the latter sprang from a previously accredited tradition ?*^
b Book I. c. i. pp. 3, 4. « Conf. Book I. c. ii. pp. 28, 48, 49.
PREFACE. XIU
II. The writer of this work has been censured for enter- taining an opinion respecting the structure and character of the primitive church-constitution adverse to that of the most learned divines of the churches of England and of Rome. He is informed that there is but " one Church of God ;" that the institution is in itself " divine ;" and that the Christian church is no other than the Jewish church, with the addition of the Holy Ghost ; consequently " that there has always been a priesthood and a sacrifice." He takes, however, the liberty to observe, that these propositions are either matters of a direct revelation vouchsafed to the Church at large, or to some par- ticular church ; or that they must be supported upon authentic historical fact. There is no escape from the alternative. The writer has not presumed to meddle with these doubtless very orthodox propositions, any further than as it was necessary to show the bearing of the evidence upon them. It is not his fault, if, when that evidence is faithfully produced, it is found to afford a very qualified or doubtful support to the preten- sions of the Christian Church to a jus divinum in any respect comparable to that which properly belonged to the Levitical dispensation.
It is obvious to all men that the idea of a special revelation operating throughout all ages, and gradually unfolding a church- constitution endowed with all the privileges of the Mosaic ordi- nances, is not a subject of historical proof. There is nothing either in the instructions left behind them by Christ or his Apostles, or in the conduct and practice of their immediate fol- lowers, which can attach a jus divinum to any particular outward form of church-government, discipline, or ritual. In dealing, therefore, with the evidence touching the character and func- tions of the primitive Christian ministry, the writer submitted to his readers that there was no sufficient evidence to prove that the master-builders of the Church contemplated an outward structure in any respect resembling, or claiming an authority analogous to that of the Levitical priesthood ; he saw nothing to the point of a positive or definite character in the ministry
XIV PREFACE.
established by the Apostles and their immediate successors ; he saw no altar, no victim, no sacrificing priest, no definite orders, no spiritual aristocracy, no high-priest but the One above and over all, in short, no single provision for a household of God having the remotest analogy to the Mosaic platform.
But does this observation in any degree contradict the pro- position that a Christian church is a divine institution ? We think not. The question, as far as its history is concerned, is whether the Divinity resides in the outward form or the inward substance — the faith and the hope of the Chiirch — or in both. It is joyfully conceded that in the latter resides the whole di- vinity of the Founder — that is his work: as to the former, he did no more than send forth ministers to preach his gospel ; he established no rank or order among them ; he gave them no special commands as to the ordinary outward means of pro- pagating the faith ; all these things he left to their discretion. Neither did these, his immediate emissaries, bind down their followers by any such precise or stringent ordinances as might interfere with that freedom of action which is essential to sus- tain the zeal and activity indispensable to so wide, so universal a mission as theirs. Their commission was out of all analogy to that of the Mosaic priesthood. The latter might tolerate pro- selytism ; the former commanded, made it the first duty of its ministers, to convert all nations, to bring all, who were will- ing to come, within the pale of the Church. They appointed preachers, it is true ; they gave them directions how to conduct themselves morally and religiously ; they specified the qualifica- tions requisite to the due performance of their duties ; and they cautioned them against hasty and inconsiderate appointments. But here the evidence stops short ; and upon this state of the facts no method of induction can substantiate a jus divlnum, properly so called, on behalf of any outward form of church- government, discipline, or ritual. There is, indeed, one mode of arriving at such a result ; but with that mode history has no concern. The Roman and the Greek churches have wisely and consistently adopted the alternative alluded to. Both tliese
PREFACE. XV
bodies claim a continuous revelation ; both construe the pro- mised presence of the Lord with his Church to extend to the external form as fully as to the substance of his religion : and though bystanders may be struck with the aspect of two con- flicting rights divine, the members themselves are spared the trouble of choice, and find rest for their souls in firm reliance upon the saving formularies which vouch their membership of the " one Church," out of which there is no salvation.
To avoid misconstruction, the writer here observes, that there is another and a different jus divinum, which, with its corresponding obligation, presses heavily on the conscience of every Christian. The whole Christian association — the uni- versal Church — has a divine right to call upon every one of its members to give all diligence to search for, and to adopt, the best outward means of maintaining and propagating the religion of Christ in the world. In full view of this obligatio <, ^e believes that he is not at liberty to discharge from his cons', .or- ation the example or the precept of the apostles of Christ ; but that he is free to consider them with reference to the state of the Christian association at different periods of its exist- ence, and under the variety of circumstances in which it may from time to time be placed. The earliest form was that of apostles, presbyters, and deacons ; and immediately succeeding it came that of bishops, or presiding elders, with presbyters, deacons, and a variety of other functionaries, springing out of the spiritual impulses or necessities of the times. These are weighty facts ; and unless there be preponderant reasons for departing from them, — that is, unless the circumstances of the times render their adoption impossible, without danger to the vital interests of religion, — we think they ought not to be de- parted from. There have been such times in ecclesiastical his- tory. The Albigensian churches, a large section of the Lu- theran persuasion, and all the reformed churches of France and Switzerland, rejected the episcopal form, — some from necessity, others from deliberate choice ; and to this rejection we think we have a ri^ht to ascribe the feebleness of their resistance to the
Xvi PREFACE.
encroachments of the episcopally organised church of Rome. We think it highly probable that, with that enlightened view to the requirements of the future, which must be conceded to men thus divinely commissioned, the Apostles and their disciples would recommend a general form of outward government appli- cable to all times and circumstances ; and when we reflect that an analogous structure of secular government has been produc- tive of an amount of power and prosperity hitherto unexampled in the history of the world, we feel all the more strongly in- clined to do homage to the wisdom and foresight of our inspired teachers ; and should be disposed to depart from their ordinances — as far as we can comprehend or apply them — with a far more sensible reluctance than that we should feel in changing or abandoning the most salutary political scheme.
As the best means, therefore, of maintaining and propagating Christianity in the world, we regard the constitution of bishops, priests, and deacons as obligatory. Fortified as it is to a cer- tain extent by apostolical example and primitive practice, and strengthened by the adoption of eighteen centuries, we think it requires no jus divinuni to recommend it to our choice. Yet its history discloses to us that it cannot be exalted into an article of belief; that it was not intended to present a perfected form; nor — as was the case with the Mosaic priesthood — is there in that history any thing to identify it with the moral or dog- matic teaching of the Church. Regarding the institution as an instrument with the highest reverence, we do and say all that the facts connected with its first institution warrant us in doing and saying. And if we go an inch further, we are inevitably involved in the dogma of a perpetual revelation, and driven to search for the particular body in which that revelation resides, — a task which lies far out of the beat of the historical student. But, irrespective of any such inquiry, the duty remains the same. No further stimulus is requisite to the right-minded Christian to abide by that scheme of outward discipline which enjoys such extraordinary recommendations, and has hitherto been productive of such excellent results.
PREFACE. Xvii
But the author of these sheets submits the foresroinc re- marks purely as impressions derived from the history and expe- rience of the past. They are laid before his readers only with a view to dissipate misconstructions which may affect him per- sonally ; but not in any degree to control the judgment of the public, or to engender the idea that he has any particular theory to maintain, any special object to write for, any desire beyond a full and fair disclosure of the truth, as far as the materials at his disposal shall enable him to arrive at it. The work entitles . itself a " political" history ; the writer therefore meddles with dogmatic theology only where his subject propels, or his cen- sors drive him into it. Thus, when the jus divinum of the An- glican, the Roman, or any other outward church-constitution is urged upon him as a matter of faith, he can only refer to the facts, and bid the reader make of them what he can on behalf of his own theory ; yet without renouncing the legitimate liberty of the historian to point out the palpable bearing of such facts upon the several subjects of investigation. Dogmatism has no legitimate place in history. Every inference arrived at must be supported upon the authority of ascertained fact, but not beyond it. The rest is conjecture; more or less probable ac- cording to the greater or less credibility of the testimony upon which it is founded. Elaborate argumentation is out orplace in narrative ; and if, after a clear statement and proper arrange- ment of his materials, the historian thinks fit to indicate his own views, he will be the last to find fault with the reader for drawing a different conclusion from the same premises. This, the writer has been informed, has occurred to some of his readers ; and he is glad of it, so far as it shows that he has afforded them a fair opportunity of testing their own convic- tions, and to that extent of doing justice to the candour of the statement.
CONTENTS.
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
THE HENOTICON.
PAGE
Confusion of form and substance in religion — The representative church — The representative unity — Rome as the representative church — Imper- sonation of Christian unity in the Roman pontiff — Simplicius pope — Gaudentius of Aufina — Censures upon John of Ravenna — Rome and Ravenna — Zeno of Seville, legate in Spain — The vicariate— The Oriental churches — Timotheus iElurus — Timotheus Solifaciolus — Zeno emperor — Restoration of ^lurus — Acacius patriarch of Constantinople — Restoration of Zeno — Correspondence between Rome and Constantinople — Simplicius and Acacius — Ordinance of Zeno in favour of Constantinople — Protest of Simplicius — Chui'ch prerogative — Disturbances in the East — Soli- faciolus and Johannes Talaia in Alexandria — Talaia attaches himself to Rome — Peter Mongus sides with Acacius, and is installed in the see of Alexandria — Talaia goes to Rome — The ' Ilenoticon' of Zeno — Equivoca- tions of Mongus — Felix III. pope — Felix and Acacius — Remonstrance and legation of Felix against the Henoticon — Citation of Acacius — Seduction of the legates of Felix — Condemnation of the legates — Excommunication and deposition of Acacius by Felix — Ecclesiastical law ; its defects — Novelty and illegality of the papal proceedings against Acacius — Re- instatement of Peter the Fuller in the see of Antioch — Name of Felix struck out of the sacred diptychs — Death of Acacius — Fravitta and Eu- phemius patriarchs — Euphemius attempts a reconciliation with Rome — Death of Zeno — Anastasius I. emperor — Gelasius pope .... 1
CHAPTER II.
PAPAL PREROGATIVE UNDER POPES GELASIUS I. AND SYJVIMACHUS.
Anastasius emperor — Ilis disposition towards the litigants — Pope Gelasius I. renounces the communion of Constantinoj^le — Euphemius patriarch — His pacific disposition — Mission of Faustus and Irenajus — Monition of Gela-
XX CONTENTS.
PAGE
sius to the emperor Anastasius — Claims of Gelasius — Papal sophistry — Constructive subjection — Letter of Gelasius to the emperor Anastasius — Analysis of the letter — Gelasius and the bishops of Illyricum — The Dlyrians entertain an erroneous notion of the Roman claims — Roman synod and declaration of the pontifical prerogative — Letter of Gelasius to the lUyrians — He impeaches Acacius of rebellion, &c. — Analysis of the letter, &c.— Epitome of the Gelasian declaration of prerogative, &c. — Scope of the document— Its results— Death of Gelasius I. — Anastasius IL pope — His pacific character — Death of Anastasius H. — Symmachus and Laurentius — Contested election — Domestic state of the church of Rome at the close of the fifth century— Government interferences in the election of popes — under Odovaker — Law of Odovaker against the aliena- tion of church funds — offensive to the clergy — Its effect — Religious faction in Rome — Contest between Symmachus and Laurentius referred to King Theodoric — He decides in favour of Symmachus — Law against canvass- ing, &c.— Impeachment of Pope Symmachus — How dealt with by Theo- (joric — The Synodus palmaris — Symmachus retracts his submission to the synod — Plea of Symmachus — The synod declares its own incompetency to try the pope — Ennodius on papal impeccability — Synod of the year 502 — Repeal of the laws of Odovaker — Re-enactment of the law against bribery — Synodal encroachments upon the civil legislature — Remon- strance of the Gallic prelates — Synod of the year 503 — Adoption of the Ennodian doctrine of papal impeccability, &c. — Declaration of episcopal privilege — Summary of ecclesiastical privilege, &c. — Rights of civil state declared — Anomalous relation of the Church to the State in the age of Theodoric the Great 41
CHAPTER III.
THE PAPAL PREROGATIVE UNDER HORMISDA.
State of the Oriental churches — Religious parties — Rupture of Anastasius I. and Pope Symmachus — Revival of Eutychianism — The patriarch Mace- donius deposed — Timotheus patriarch — Address of the Orientals to Pope Symmachus — He repudiates all compromise — Hormisda pope — Triumph of Eutychianism in the East — Rome and the Illyrian bishops — Insur- rection ofVitalianus — A general council proposed^ Papal legation to Constantinople — Resistance of Anastasius and the church of Constan- tinople— Connection of the pope with the Vitalian insurgents — The em- peror proposes the convocation of a general council — Reply of Hormisda — Defection of the Illyrian bishops — " Libellus" of Hormisda — Excom- munication of Dorotheus of Thessalonica — Papal legation — Instructions to the legates — Arrest and deportation of the legates — Orthodox monks in the East go over to Rome — Rescript of Hormisda — His principles of church-government— Policy of Hormisda — Death of Anastasius I., and revival of orthodoxy in the East — The emperor Justin L makes advances to Rome — Haughty reply of Hormisda — Libellus and legation of Hor- misda to Constantinople — Submission of the Greeks — Ostensible character of the submission — Its real character — Religious advantage of Rome . 84
CONTENTS. XX i
CHAPTER IV.
JUSTINIANIAN PERIOD (I.).
VAOB
Subserviency of Constantinople — Appeal of the Syrian fanatics — Count Justinian and Pope Hormisda — Death of Hormisda — John I. — Thcodoric the Great protects the Arians of the East — His tyranny — Felix III. pope
— Death of Theodoric— Imperial policy — Amalasuintha and Athalaric — Ee-annexation of Rome to the empire — State of the Roman church — Boniface II. pope — Decree of the Roman senate against bribery — John II. pope — Reiterated decree against bribery — Secular interposition against bribery, &c. — Church-policy of the emperor Justinian — Scope and objects of his ecclesiastical laws — Their secular and political character — Limits of the secular and ecclesiastical powers in respect of church-legislation — Relations of Justinian to the Roman pontiffs — Title of " universal patri- arch"— Intent of Justinian — How accepted by Pope John II. — Rome and the Gallic churches — Rome and the revived churches of Africa — Their address to Pope Agapetus — Rome and the canons of the Church-catholic — Agapetus pope — His embassy to Constantinople — Intrigues of the em- press Theodora — Anthimus patriarch — His deposition — Mennas patriarch — Imperial principle of church-legislation — Course of proceeding — Syl verius pope — Intrigue of Theodora and Vigilius — of Belisarius and Antonia — Deportation of Sylverius — Election of Vigilius — Murder of Sylverius — Canonical defects in the title of Vigilius .... 120
CHAPTER V.
JUSTINIANIAN PERIOD (II.).
Italian conquests of Justinian — Vigilius at Constantinople — Condemnation of the Origenists, and controversy of the " three chapters" — Justinian condemns the " three chapters" — Dilemma of Vigilius; his "judicatum" — He proposes a general council — The council; its imperfect constitution, and breach of faith by the Greeks — Opening of the council in the ab- sence of the pope — His excuses disallowed — Condemnation of the "three chapters" — The "constitutum" of Vigilius — His name struck out of the diptychs, and publication of the condemnation, &c. — Submission of Vi- gilius; his retractation — Contemporary opinion as to the necessity of papal participation in a general council — Reasons for desiring the concur- rence of the pope — Release of Vigilius; his death, and election ofPelagius I. — Agitation in the Western churches — Decline of the papal authority — Spiritual power, how affected by the late proceedings against the Chal- cedonian decrees — Pelagius claims the sujjport of the military power — Pelagius on the duty of religious persecution — Narses declines to interfere
— Pope Pelagius and the Italian seceders — Objections of the Western churches — Historical inferences, &c. — State and prospects of the papacy — More favourable aspects — John III. pope — Imperial oppression in Italy — Heresy and death of Justinian I. — Conquest of Italy by the Lon- gobardi . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-19
Xxii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI. THE CONTROVERSY OF "THE TITLE."
PAGE
Roman clergy resume their independence — The Lombards in Italy — Defence- less state of Rome — Byzantines and Franks — Disaffection of the Italians — Gregory at Constantinople— John the Faster— Title of "oecumenical patriarch"— Rebuked by Pelagius II. — The Roman bishop the universal primate — Pelagius on the primacy — His inconsistency — Apology for Con- stantinople—Retrospect of the churches of Spain, France, Germany, and Britain — Gregory I. (the Great) pope — His position— His foreign and domestic policy — Clerical celibacy— Gregory on the celibacy of the clergy - — His secular administration — The Lombards under Agilulph — Agilulph and Theudelinda — Their alliance with Rome; its justification and results — Controversy of the "three chapters" in Italy — Establishment of the see of Justiniania Prima— Gregory in the cause of Hadrian of Thebes — In the cause of Honoratus of Salona — Equivocal termination of the dispute — John the Faster assumes the title of " oecumenical bishop"— Remon- strance of Pope Gregory — Protest and appeal of Gregory against Cyriacus of Constantinople — His reply to the emperor Maurice— Gregory on the three Petrine sees — His sentiments on the Petrine primacy — His personal humility— Assumes the titular designation of " servus servorum Dei" — He repudiates the title of " universal pope"— His precautions against the ambition of Cyriacus — Latent equivocations of Gregory on the Petrine primacy — Schism — He renounces communion with Cyriacus . . . 173
CHAPTER VII.
GREGORY THE GREAT.
Gregory and the Latin churches — Projects the Conversion of the Anglo- Saxons — Mission of Augustine — His success — Method of conversion — Regulation of Gregory for the Anglo-Saxon churches — British and Irish churches — Conference of Augustine with the British bishops — Its results —Instructions of Pope Gregory to Augustine— His toleration of pagan rites — Patronage of images, &c. — Ecclesiastical vestures — The Dalmatic and Pallium — Ecclesiastical government of Pope Gregory— Corruptions of the Prankish churches — Image and Relic worship in France — Serenus of Marseilles against Image-worship— Pope Gregory on Image-worship — Prevalence of Image-worship — The conventual system of Pope Gregory — Exemptions from episcopal jurisdiction — Tendency of these exemptions — Influence of Pope Gregory in France — Intercourse with the Spanish churches— Cause of Januarius and Stephen, &c.— Canon-law in the cause — Defects of papal proceeding — Prerogative versus civil and canon law — Pope Gregory and the African churches — Moderation of Pope Gregory — Edict of the Emperor Maurice — Remonstrance of Pope Gregorj' — Ordi- nance respecting the admission of Soldiers into Monasteries — Murder of Maurice — Phocas emperor — Pope Gregory congratulates the usurper — His peculiar views and his death — Character of Gregory the Great — His relation with the court of Constantinople — Judgment upon his con- duct in the affair of Phocas — Sabiniau pope — Decree of Phocas — Its authenticity, &c. — Construction of the decree — Results — Popes from x,T>. 608 to A.r). 625 — Honorius I. pope 211
CONTENTS. XXili
BOOK lY.
CHAPTER I.
THE TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY.
PAGE
Approaches of the papacy towards temporal sovereignty — Relative position of the nations of Christendom to each other and to Rome — Objects of papal ambition — Subjects of inquiry — Position of the papacy in relation to Greeks and Lombards — Reign of Agilulph — Of Adalwald — Arioald — Rothari— Aripert — Bertarid and Godibert — Succession of popes — Mar- tin I. and Constans II. — Deportation and death of Pope Martin I. — Constans II. in Rome — His death — Reign of Grimoald — Bertarid re- stored— Kunibert — Extinction of Arianism in the duchies of Beneven- tum and Spoletum — Monte Casino — The "patrimony" of St. Peter — Its exposed position — Ansprand and Luitprand — The Lombard government — Papal succession — Papal policy — Invasions of the "patrimony" by Lombards — Rome and the Byzantine connection — Leo the Isaurian pro- hibits image-worship — Progress of saint and relic worship — Rebellion against iconoclasm — Gregory II. saves the exarchate — Defeats the re- forms of Leo the Isaurian — Successes of Luitprand — Gregory III. — Luitprand before Rome — He dismembers the "patrimony" — Zachary pope, procures restitution — He protects the exarchate — Ascendency of Luitprand — His death and character — Hildebrand — Rachis — Ascendency of Pope Zachary, and abdication of Rachis — Aistulph and Zachary — Gradual secularisation of the papacy, a consequence of its territorial wealth and ambiguous position — General plan of papal acquisitiveness — Prospective connection with France ....... 243
CHAPTER II.
SPAIN AND FRANCE IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
The churches ]of Spain in the seventh century — Constitutional powers of the Spanish clergy — Papal confirmations unknown to Spanish clergy — Communications with Rome — Independent action of the Spanish churches — Their replies to the papal censures — Roman influence in Spain at tlie epoch of the Arab conquest. II. Latin Christianity among the Franks — Conversion of the Franks — its character — Modes of conver- sion— State of the Prankish clergy — Christianity among the Franks — Priestcraft — Moral state — Civil and political state — Clerical judicatures, prerogatives, and immunities — Powers and secular habits of Prankish bishops — The mayor of the palace, his powers, &c. — Leudes — Antrustions — Bishops a constituent estate of the kingdom — Advancing privileges of the clergy — Declining influence of Rome in the Prankish churches — Elements of reformation — Principle of "church unity" — Rome the "mo- ther," &c. — Vantage-ground of Rome 273
XXIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
BRITISH CHURCHES IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. (I.)
PAGE
The British churches — Scottish and Irish churches — Patrick — Columba — Origin of these churches — Differ from the Latins — Differences — Lauren- tius of Canterbury — His complaint — King Eadbert apostatises — The sons of Sabert — Retreat of the Roman mission — Artifice of Lam-entius — Recall of the mission — Melitus and Justus — King Edwin of Northumbria — mar- ries Ethelburga — Paulinus of York — Conversion of Edwin — Vision of Edwin — its result — Character of Edwin's conversion — The priesthood of the Anglo-Saxons — Facilities of conversion — Mode of conversion — Re- nunciation of idol-worship — Destruction of idol-temples — Baptism of Ed- win— Pope Honorius I. rewards Paulinus — Rome and the British and Scotch churches — Death of Edwin, and extinction of the Roman mission in Northumbria — Expulsion of Paulinus — Osric — Eanfrid — Oswald re- covers the kingdom — sends for missionaries from Scotland — Aidan at Lin- disfarn — Scottish form of episcopal ordination — Apology of the Venerable Bede — Labours of Aidan — Middle Anglia and Mercia added to the North- imibrian church — Finnan of Lindisfarn — King Oswy extends the Scottish establishment — Independence of the Northumbrian church — Simplicity of the Scottish divines — incompetent disputants — Revival of the Paschal controversy — Ronan — Wilfred — Agilbert — Conference of Whitby — Pub- lic discussion — Argument of Bishop Colman — Reply of Wilfred — Incon- sistency of the Paschal theory of the Scots — Rejoinder of Colman — Answer of Wilfred — alleges the Petrine power — Victory of the Latins — Examination of their argument — Intent of the Latins — Retreat of the Scottish hierarchy 289
CHAPTER IV.
BRITISH CHURCHES IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY, (II.)
Submission of the prince and people — New bishops in Northumbria — Wil- fred— Chad — Conformity of the Anglo-Saxon churches to the Latin rite — Embassy of kings Egbert and Oswy to Pope Vitalian— Reply of the pope — Appointment of Theodore as archbishop of Canterbury — Decree of appointment — Removal of Chad, and reinstatement of Wilfred in the see of York — Introduction of the Roman canon-law — Benedict Biscop and the Latin ritual — Services, ornaments, church-furniture — Biscop the Ritualist — Character of image and relic worship — Advantage of Rome — Wilfred of York — Elfrida — Edilburga — Wilfred expelled — His appeal to the pope — Papal adjudication— rejected in Northumbria — Imprisonment and libera- tion of Wilfred — His restoration — His second expulsion — Council of Nes- terfield— Recusancy of Wilfred — Adjudication — Berthuald archbishop of Canterbury in the appeal of Wilfred — Judgment of Pope John VI. — Final success and restoration of Wilfred — His death, and distribution of his treasures 324
CONTENTS. XXV
CHAPTER V.
PAPAL SUPREMACY IN FRANCE AND GERMANY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
PAGE
Ideas of the temporal and spiritual powers in the seventh and eighth cen- turies— Divergences — The papal theory — Anglo-Saxon missions — Ecg- bert — Wicbert — Willibrord — Frisian and Saxon churches founded — Mis- sions of Ecgbert to central Germany — Killian — Colman — Totman — Duke Hedan — Compromise with heathenism — Emmeramm in Bavaria — Rupert archbishop of Salzburg — Corbinian in Bavaria — Ascendency of Rome — Great extension of Latin Christianity in the seventh century — Causes — Winfred of Winchester (Boniface) — His devotion for Rome — Winfred among the Hessians — His method of conversion — His refoi'ms — His Anglo- Saxon coadjutors — His missionary colonies — Mode of instruction — Win- fred, by the name of Boniface, archbishop and legate— His ecclesiastical divisions — Papal confirmation — Charles Martel obstructs the papal po- licy— Carlmann invites Boniface to France — Report of Boniface on the "Frankish chui'ches — Synods of Salzburg and Leptines — Reforms — Adop- tion of Roman canon-law — Adalbert and Clemens in schism — Charges against them — Merits of the charges — Difficulties of Boniface in France — His report to Cuthbert of Canterbury — Difficulties and impediments — Boniface archbishop of Maintz and primate of all Germany — Rebellion of Adalbert and Clemens — Heathenism and married priests — Obstacles to the scheme of Boniface — The remedy — Synod of Verneuil — Condemna- tion and banishment of Adalbert and Clemens — Synopsis . . . 345
CHAPTER VI.
APPROACHES OF THE PAPACY TO TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY. (I.)
Connection of ecclesiastical and political history — Merovingian race in France supplanted by the family of Pippin of Landen — The mayor of the palace — Pippin the Short — Pippin, Boniface, and Pope Zachary — Pippin takes the title of king — Proximate causes and character of the revolution — Papal participation — Opinions thereon — The precedent — Pope Stephen III. and Aistulph king of the Lombards — Papal policy — Journey of Pope Stephen to Pavia — His flight into France — His reception there — Moral and poli- tical effect of this reception — Negotiations, and treaty of Pontyon — Diet of Quiercy-sur-Oise — Coronation of Pippin and his sons — Papal views of the transaction — Pippin invades Lombardy — Submission of Aistulph and treaty of Pavia — Relations of the papacy to the Byzantine empire — Re- treat of Pippin — Pope Stephen claims the fulfilment of the treaty of Pavia — Donation of Pippin; its character, scope, and intent — Aistulph again at- tacks the " patrimony of St. Peter" — Siege of Rome — Pippin raises the siege — Second treaty of Pavia — Confirmation and final execution of the donation — Death of Aistulph, and elevation of Desiderius — Extortions of Pope Stephen — Treachery of Stephen — Paul I. pope — His complaint to Pippin — Charges against Desiderius — Results 372
^J
XXVI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
APPROACHES OF THE PAPACY TO TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY. (II.)
PAGE
Progress of Eome in the eighth century — State of law and legislation — Ac- cession of Charlemagne — Project of Queen Bertrada — Disorders in Rome — Constantine and Philip, popes— Stephen IV. pope — Ferocity of faction — Stephen IV. against Desiderius and the Lombards — Remonstrance of the pope against the project of Bertrada — Menaces of the pope — Divorce of Charlemagne and Irmengarda — Pope Stephen's decree to regulate the papal elections — Disorders in Rome — The Lombard faction — Paul Afiarta — Humiliation and death of Stephen IV. — Hadrian I. pope — Suppression of sedition — Desiderius invades the "patrimony" — Flight of Gerberga, widow of Carlmann — Desiderius and Gerberga — He espouses her cause — His advance to Rome — Sudden retreat — Charlemagne invades Lom- bardy — Winter campaign in Italy — Foreign policy of the papacy — Ap- proaches of the papacy to political sovereignty — Siege of Pavia — First expedition of Charlemagne to Rome — Charlemagne at Rome — ratifies the treaties of Pontyon andQuiercy— The donation of Charlemagne — obtained by misrepresentation or fraud — Execution of the deed of donation — Char- lemagne "patrician" — Surrender and deposition of Desiderius — Charle- magne king of Italy — Gains of the papacy — Position of the papacy in respect of the lands granted — Actual result ...... 395
BOOK V.
CHAPTER I.
THE MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSY.
General retrospect — Eome in the controversies of the sixth and seventh cen- turies — Monothelite and Iconoclastic controversies — The Monothelite controversy ; its origin and character — Unguarded conduct of Pope Ho- norius I. — The Ecthesis of Heraclius — Character of the Ecthesis — Pope John IV. — His apology for Honorius — He condemns the Monothelite heresy — Conversion of Pyrrhus — Address of the Africans — The Ti/pe — The Latins reject the Type — Martin I. pope — Council of the Lateran against the Type — Condemnation of the Ecthesis and Type, &c. — Excess of jurisdiction — Canon-law of Rome — Arrogance of Pope Martin I. — Pope Martin endeavours to recover his influence over the Illyrians — Arrest, imprisonment, and death of Pope Martin I. — Uncanonical election of Eu- genius I. — Vitalian pope — He makes approaches to Constantinople — Case of John of Lappse — Constans II. enforces the Type — Expedition
CONTENTS. XXVU
PAGE
and death of Constans II. — Relations between Rome and Constantinople between the years 668 and 679 — Roman synod of the year 679 — Synodal acts and report — Character of the synod — Assembling of the (so-called) Sixth General Council — Constituency of the council — Proceedings, and their result — Condemnation of the Monothelite heresiarchs — Sentence upon Pope Honorius I. — Concluding acts of the council — Edict of con- firmation—Pope Leo II. accepts the decrees, and adopts the anathemas . 419
CHAPTEE II.
THE RAVENNATINE CONTROVERSY— THE QUINISEXT.
Political and religious position of the holy see — Participation of Rome in the sixth general council — Comparative state of the Eastern and Western churches — Death of C. Pogonatus — His successors — Leontius — Tiberius III. — Bardanes — Religious revolutions in the East— Claims of Ravenna — History of the Ravennatine patriarchate — The Autocephaly — Conflict between Rome and Ravenna — Privileges of Ravenna cancelled by C. Pogonatus — Benedict II. pope — Election of Sergius I. — Substitution of saint and relic worship for idolatrous superstitions, &c. — Success of Pope Sergius I. — Origin and convocation of the " Quinisext" council — Objections to the constitution of the Quinisext council — Canons of the Quinisext — Pope Sergius I. rejects the council — Abortive attempts to compel acceptance of the Quinisext decrees — Complaisance of Justinian n. towards the holy see — Mysterious journey of Pope Constantine to Constantinople — Conjectural explanation . . . . ' . . 443
CHAPTER III.
THE ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVERSY. (I.)
Elevation of Leo III. the Isaurian— Origin of the iconoclastic controversy- Primitive opinions as to image-worship — Sudden rise of image- worship — Causes of the rise of image-worship — First breathings of the controversy Arguments — Controversy stimulated by the Arab conquests — Aver- sion of Arabs and Jews to the use of images— Earlier steps of Leo the Isaurian against images— Germanus on image-worship— Pope Gregory II. on image-worship— Reply of the iconoclasts— Inveterate character of the controversy — Leo's second edict against images — Insurrection — Papal denunciations of iconoclasm— Gregory III.— His insolent address to the emperor— His fabulous portraits, images, &c.— Ignorant vituperations of Gregory III.— Gregory defies the emperor — Impotency of the empire in
Italy Council at Rome against the image-breakers— Leo confiscates the
patrimonies of the Roman church, &c. — The pope retains his nominal allegiance to the empire — State of the papacy at the death of Gre- gory III 463
XXVlll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVERSY, (II.)
PAGE
Constantine V. (Copronymus) emperor — Religious truce with Rome — Ge- neral synod of the Greek church on image-worship — Character of the factions— Their mutual hatred — Stephen of St. Auxentius— His interview with Constantine V. — Murder of Stephen of St. Auxentius — Constan- tino's embassy to Pippin of France — Leo IV. and Irene — Constantine VI. and Irene — Negotiation with Rome — Convocation of the (so-called) seventh general council (Nicsea II.) — Deliberations and resolutions of the council — Restoration of image-worship — Pope Hadrian I. accepts and ratifies the decrees of Nicaea — Protest of the Gallic churches — The " Libri Carolini" — Apology of Pope Hadrian I. — Great synod of Frank- fort— Condemnation of image-worship — Concurrent relations of the pope to the Prankish and Byzantine courts — Byzantine arrogance — Papal cupi- dity— Mutual disgust — Papal principle of secular acquisition — Negotia- tions between Charlemagne and the Byzantines — Emperor Nicephorus averse to image-worship — His toleration — Insurrection — Revolutions at Constantinople for and against image-worship — Michael I. — Leo V. — Theodore the Studite — His adulation of Pope Paschal I. — Value of these encomiums — Reception of the Studite memorial at Rome — Michael II., the Stammerer, convokes a general council — Opposition of the Studites — Grounds of opposition — Reply of Michael II. to the Studites — Insolence of the Studite party — Value of the Studite testimony to the supremacy of Rome — Embassy of Michael to Louis the Pious — Moderation of Michael II 482
CHAPTER V.
ISSUE OF THE CONTROVERSY ON IMAGE-WORSHIP.
Ecclesiastical relations with Rome during the reign of Charlemagne — Louis I. the Pious — Gallic view of the question of image-worship — Commission of inquiry and I'eport — Substance of the report — Censure passed upon Hadrian I. and Gregory H.— Proposals of the commissioners to the em- peror Louis — Gallic estimate of papal authority — General exposition of the report, &c. — Letter of Louis the Pious to Pope Eugenius — Inconse- quential issue of the emperor's proposal — Claudius Clemens, bishop of Turin — The reforms of Claude fall to the ground — Subsidence of the iconoclastic disturbances — Theophilus "emperor — John Leconomontis — Restoration of images in the East by the emperor Michael III. — Epoch of 844 508
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX 523
-i^G. DEC 1883 ..
CATHEDRA PETRI
POLITICAL HISTORY
GREAT LATIN PATRIARCHATE.
Book III. Chapter I.
THE HENOTICON,
Confusion of form and substance in religion — Tlie representative church — The representative unity — Rome as the representative church — Impersonation of Christian unity in the Roman pontiff — Simpliciiis pope — Gaudentius of Aufina — Censures upon Jolin of Ravenna — Rome and Ravenna — Zeno of Seville, legate in Spain — The vicariate — The Oriental churches — Timo- theus ^lurus — Timotheus Solifaciolus — Zeno emperor — Restoration of -(Elurus — Acacius patriarch of Constantinople — Restoration of Zeno — Cor- respondence between Rome and Constantinople — Simplicius and Acacius — Ordinance of Zeno in favour of Constantinople — Protest of Simplicius — Church prerogative — Disturbances in the East — Solifaciolus and Johannes Talaia in Alexandria — Talaia attaches himself to Rome — Peter Mongus sides ■with Acacius, and is installed in the see of Alexandria — Talaia goes to Rome — The ' Plenoticon' of Zeno — Equivocations of Mongus — Felix III. pope — Felix and Acacius — Remonstrance and legation of Felix against the Henoticon — Citation of Acacius — Seduction of the legates of Felix — Condemnation of the legates — Excommunication and deposition of Acacius by Felix — Ecclesiastical law ; its defects — Novelty and illegality of the papal proceedings against Acacius — Reinstatement of Peter the Fuller in the see of Airtioch — Name of Felix struck out of the sacred diptychs — Death of Acacius — Fravitta and Euphemius patriarchs — Euphemius attempts a reconciliation with Rome — • Death of Zeno — Anastasius I. emperor — Gelasius pope.
The special end or purpose of institutions^ political or relig-ious^ is very commonly confounded with the Confusion means adopted for their establishment and main- sub^rtl'Sce'in tenance. In this way principle and practice are religion.
VOL. II. B
•2 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
no lono-er disting-uislied in our minds ; the means are mis- taken for the end ; and we lose sig'ht of the latter in our over-estimate of the former. Thus likewise form and sub- stance are made to flow intOj and mutually obscure one another^ until the ver}^ facult}^ of disting-uishing' between them is lost, and men feed upon the husk in preference to the nourishing" fruit it was intended to protect and mature. But principles are not properl}^ the subject of chang-e, while the machinery for their practical applica- tion is capable of infinite variety and perpetual improve- ment. The error of confoundino- them with each other has led to much mischief in the manao^ement of human affairs^ religious and political. The manag'ers of all ex- clusive systems in either department have always con- ceived their interests to lie in promoting- this miscon- ception ; and have never felt themselves safe ag'ainst external interference or pressure until they had extin- g'uished in the minds of the subjects of g'overnment the capacity to discern the difference between the form and the substance — between the end and the means — between the principle and the practice. Thus it has been the almost universal habit of the manag'ers of political in- stitutions to lift the forms of g'overnment into at least equal importance with the welfare of the state and people^ the extension of industry, knowledg'e, and g-eneral civili- sation. So likewise in the case of religious establish- mentS; the priesthood have invariabl}^ striven to invest the outward forms — church g'overnment^ discipline, and ritual — with the same authority as that upon which the relig'ion itself was established. But Christianity — unlike many ethnic S3^stems — deals with principles onl}^ The Founder of our relioion contented himself with inculcat- ing" the duty of carrying" those principles into practical operation throug"hout the w^orld ; leaving" the methods to be pursued — the entire machinery of his Church — to the piety, zeal, and discretion of his disciples. Yet it is an established tmth, that the powers assumed by the Christian hierarch}^ at the close of the fifth century, and more especially those which Rome had at that period ap- propriated to herself, were not only founded upon assump-
Chap. L] HOME THE EEPRESENTATIVE CHURCH. 3
tions of fact unknown to the primitive churches as they came from the hands of the evang-ehsts and apostles, but that tlwse powers ^xere now phiced on the same basis, and invested with the same authority, as the revelation itself. And, indeed, in any other view the manifest inconsistency between the facts and the theory of ecclesiastical powers must have operated to the overthrow of the whole scheme of church-g'o^ernment. There was no remedy for the weakness of this position but in the establish- rj,^^^ ^^,^^.^_ ment of a repy^esentative church, endowed with sentath-e all the powers of the Saviour himself, more '^'«'"'^'- particularly the right to legislate for the Church in his place and on his behalf. These powers mig-ht, it Avas believed, be deduced from his pron^iise that '^ he would be present with his disciples even unto the end of the world."'' Here was a principle and a power of develop- ment ostensibly derivable from the same authority as that b}^ which the religion itself was established. Thougii the command and the promise related solely to the prin- ciples and the practice he had while on earth personally enjoined upon all his followers, yet the Christian priest- hood had appropriated both the command and the pro- mise to themselves exclusively, and interpreted them to justify any superstructure which the}^, in their representa- tive capacity, might think fit to erect upon them. Neither Christ nor his apostles had left any express provision for a definite framework of church government, discipline, or ritual. But it was soon perceived that the Mosaic forms presented both a convenient model and an authoritative precedent for the new edifice j hence the zeal and alacrity with which that model was resorted to, and the close analogy of the forms and powers adopted with those of the Levitical priesthood.''
But an oligarchical hierarchy like that of the Chris- tian churches of the fifth centur}^, was altogether Avanting in that unity which was of the very sentatR7 essence of the Mosaic scheme. There is reason unity; umne to believe that this defect was generally felt and sentedve acknowledged. Rome boldly took the remedy ^'iiui'ch'
» Malt, xxviii. 18-20. •> Book T. c. vi. passim.
4 CATHEDKA PETEI. [Book III.
into her own hands, and proposed herself to the Christian world as the representative of that visible unity which was wanted to complete the ecclesiastical edifice. In this enterprise she started from a far more advantag-eous position than had fallen to the lot of an}^ other Christian communit}^ The g-reatness of the city as the capital of the empire ; her central position and preponderating* in- fluence ', her close alliance and communion with the civil g-overnment ; her independent org'anisation ; and her re- putation as the see of Peter, — placed her in advance of all competition. In her orig-in she was, in the opinion of all Christendom, pre-eminently apostolical : the myth of the cathedra Petri was established as an article of undisputed tradition ; and the world, confounded by the indefinite latitude of the powers incident to this attribu- tion, was not prepared to investig-ate with any deg'ree of discernment, or to resist with any confidence, the ex- tensions which the Roman pontiffs mig-ht from time to time think fit to impart to it. But in the theory of the chair of Peter there lurked a principle of development at open warfare with that of olig'archical g'overnment in the Church. According" to the prevailing- theory, each par- ticular hierarch was both priest and king* within his own impersona- dioccsc or parish." But as in the g-reat celes- tion of Chris- ^ial hierarchy, and in its representative imao-e
tian unity m ,i t -i- i t .■ ^^ i j_
the Koman the Licvitical dispeusatiou, there was but one pontifF. monarch, one hig"h-priest, so the whole analogy of the scheme founded upon it required that there should be one supreme representative priest and king* upon earth. Thus the gTound was at once struck from beneath the feet of the g'overnment of man}^ In that scheme there could be no real and visible representation of the celestial hig-h-priesthood of Christ. He was one ', they were several : as represented by one, he migJit be visibly present with his Church in his oneness ; if his powers were divided with others, the question must always arise, ^^ Where is the Christ 1" and the Church mio-ht thus find itself destitute of a disting-uishable visible head either in heaven or on earth. A representative headship of any
■= Conf. vol. i. c. vi, pp. 146-148.
Chap. I.] SIMrLICIUS POrE. 5
kind^ therefore^ necessarily implied a unity of jiersonal rcjyresentation. The perception of this difficulty^ it is olj- vious^ had weig'hed heavil}' upon the spirit of the Chiu'ch from the time that the theory of visible representation had g-ot afloat ; and this perception disposed them to listen with awe, thoug'h it mig-ht be wdth secret aversion, to the exclusive pretensions of the sing'le pontiff of Rome. The church of Constantinople was more immediately affected by these pretensions j and was, b}" her peculiar position, broug'ht into closer conflict with them. Un- willing* to admit a princijjle which must have broug'ht her under subordination to Rome, yet unprepared to deny or to assert on her own behalf the dog'ma of a single reiwesentcdive priesfltood, she found herself involved in a war of principle in which there was no g'ood defensive position to fall back upon. On the other hand, the strug'- g'le bring-s out in full relief the advantages derived on behalf of the Roman prerog*ative j the skill, the perse- verance, the political courag"e and discernment displayed in the manag"ement of the contest : but more especially that bold and definite character wdiicli it imparted to the Roman claims: a true conception of which is so necessary to a rig-ht understanding- of the progress of the papacy towards the spiritual autocracy to which she now un- disg'uisedly aspired.
The state of the Italian churches must now for awdiile eng'ag-e our attention, with a view to the domestic influ- ence of Rome in the ecclesiastical affairs of Ital}" itself.
Pope Hilarus died in the year 4G7,'' and, as already observed, was succeeded by Simplicius, a native simpHcius of Tivoli, the son of one Castinus :' more is not p^p*^- known of his origin or pretensions. But his pontificate reveals some not unimportant particulars relative to the g-rowth of the pontifical authority Avithin the confines of Italy itself. The ordinary jurisdiction of the bishop did not extend beyond the Provincioe suburbicarise, or ori- ginal vicariate of Rome 5' and even in reg"ard to this do-
"^ Soo vol. i. Book II. c. vii, p. 448. ^ Conf. Book I. c. viii. pp. 188 and
^ TiUemont, Mem. Eccl. toin. xvi. p. 192.
287.
6 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
mestic jurisdiction we learn little or nothing" prior to this pontificate. Yet the amount of influence now broug'ht to bear upon the Italian churches cannot but have been of long" standing- • no institution of recent g'rowth would Deposition ^^^^'^ bomc the roug-li hand of Pope Simplicius. ofGaudemius About the year 472" — perhaps a year or two of Aufiaa. i.jtgj._^]^g pontiff^ ou the relation of three pro- vincial bishops, arbitrarily deprived Gaudentius bishop of Aufina'' of the rig'hts of ordination, cancelled the or- ders previously conferred by him^ and confiscated three- fourths of the revenues of his see, transferring- tliem to Simplicius the nianag'cment of a strang-er.' About the censures same time — be it a year or two earlier, or bishop of some time afterwards — John archbishop of Ra- Ravenna. yemia liiid deprived one Greg'or}^, a presbyter of his church, of his cauonry or benefice at Ravennaj and forcibly and ag-ainst his will ordained him bishop of Modena. For this oflfence the pope reprehended the arch- bishop with g'reat severity. " He who was capable of such an abnse of his powers, he said, deserved to forfeit them altog'ether : but to so harsh a measure he was dis- inclined from considerations of mercy to the dehnquent ; nevertheless Greg'ory should now be withdrawn from the spiritual jurisdiction of the archbishop, and all causes both for and ag"ainst him be henceforward submitted to the arbitrament of Rome."-"
The practice of ordaining- persons of eminent piety or of popular reverence in opposition to their
Relation of • i i i • /• ^i •
the see of owu Avish, and cvcu by a species or g-entle vio- Ravenna to leucc, to the cpiscopatc, was not uncommon iu that and the preceding' ag'es. But in the case of Gregory, the motive appears upon the papal charg-e to have been a covetous desire on the part of the arch-
K Tlie dates of the Epistles of Pope sively upon the relation of the three
Simplicius are veiy ill ascertained. See bishops (Florentius, Equitius, and Sc-
Tillemotif, c. xvi. p. 287. But little de- verus). Tillemont (ubi sup. p. 288) is
pends upon their chronological order. shocked at this proceeding, and charit-
•> The modern town or village of ably suggests that the pope must have
Ofena in the Abruzzi, therefore within heard the bishop's defence in council,
the provincia; suburbicarise. J Cone. torn. ii. p. 803 ; Baron, ad
' Epp. Siwplicii Pap. Cone. torn. ii. Ann. 482 ; i^/ewr?/, H. E. torn. vi. p. 61 9.
p. 804. It is clear from the terms of Conf. Bower, H. of the Popes, vol. ii.
the letter that the pope acted exclu- pp. 166 et sqq.
Chap. I.] KOME AND RAVENNA. 7
bishop to possess himself of certain lands enjo^-ed by his presb^'ter^ ^\"hich he hoped to appropriate by the for- cible elevation of the owner to the episcopal bench. The sentence of the pope was communicated to the arch- bishop by a bishop-deleg'ate from Rome ] but^ it should appear, without canonical trial or opportiniity of defence. It is, however, a matter of doubt whether John of Ra- venna took any such view of his own position in the Church as that adopted by the pope. The Emperor A^alen- tininn III. had transferred the imperial residence from Rome to Ravenna, and thereby raised her to the civil as well as the ecclesiastical rank of a metropolitan city. The same cause which had liberated Constantinople from the jurisdiction of Heracleia,'' had exempted Ravenna from that of her former metropolitan of Milan, and probably assig-ned to her an eparchal or patriarchal district of her own, conterminous with the province of^Emilia, of which she was the most important city. Thoug'h l^'ing* beyond the limits of the provincioe subarbicariae, Simplicius ob- viousl}" conceived himself invested with the same powers with reg-nrd to Ravenna as those he exercised within those limits — powers destitute of any apparent canonical forms or limitations,' and controllable only by considera- tions of expedienc}' or mercy. He mig-ht, he observed, for this offence have sequestered the archbishop from all episcopal function ; but, to avoid scandal, he should in this instance content himself with exempting* the bishop of Modena from his jurisdiction and taking* him under his own protection ; commanding* him at the same time to restore the lands he had so nefariously usurped to the church of Ravenna."'
Of the result of this affair we ha^e no account ; but further lig'ht "\^ ill probably be thrown upon the ecclesi- astical relations of the see of Ravenna at this period by her resistance to the supremac}^ claimed by subsequent
'' Conf. Book I. 0. viii. p. 193. to any i-egular or canonical forms of
' The tone of both letters presumes trial or precept of law.
an arbitrai'y visitatorial power; aright "' This harsh jugdnient, as Tillemont
to inquire into, to condemn, and to pun- observes (vol. xvi. p. 2;-9), did not prc-
ish ecclesiastical delinquents ; subject vent Archbishop John from being hon-
to considerations of mercy rather than oured by the Church as a saint.
8 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
pontiffs^ and the pretension to autoceplialy (self-g-overn- nient), to which we shall hereafter have to adv^ert.
The earliest of the few extant letters of this pope con- „. ,. . veys the appointment of Zeno archbishop of Se-
Simpiicius •ii-n* i i • n i i i" i
appointsZeiio viliej m fepam^ to be the pontmcal leg'ate lor that of Seville ]^iiio-dom.° " He had heard, he said, from many
apostolical & ii'i c i
legate in pcrsons, how that, by the special grace or the Spam. Holy Spirit, Zeno had so piloted the vessel of his church as to steer clear of the dangers of shipwreck with which she was beset on all sides ;"° and he ad- monished him in nowise to permit the decrees of '^' apos- tolical institution/' or the ^' ordinances of the holy Fa- thers," to be overstepped. P The peremptory assertion of a g'eneral visitatorial power over the whole Church by Leo the Greaf clearly pointed out the track to be fol- lowed 3 and his successors did not fail to pursue it with The perseverance and success. Among' the means vicariate, adopted, uouc was uiorc promising' than the appointment of vicars or representatives of the holy see in all the more important churches to which the bishops of Rome had access. Notwithstanding-, however, the fre- quency of the practice, we are still left much in the dark as to the point of view in which those commissions were accepted and acted upon by the bishops and churches to which they were addressed.' We have, in the case before us, no hint as to the light in which the papal appointment was considered by the archbishop of Seville — whether it was accepted as a proof of pontifical favour and confidence, or as a leg'al delegation of powers he did not possess be- fore, and regarded as proceeding from a lawful superior.
° Hardiiin. Concil. torn. ii. p. 803 ; plicius intended simply to inculcate a
Baron. Ann. 482, § 46. careful observance of the canons of the
° " Comperimus fervore Spi- Church. But yve think that at least as
ritus Sancti ita te ecclesise gubernato- early as the pontificate of Innocent I.
rem existere, ut naufragii detrimenta, (a.d. 402 to 417), the popes had been
Deo auctore, non sentiat." The " de- in the habit of including among the
trimenta naufragii" here alluded to, " apostolical decrees" all ordinances
were, no doubt, the disturbed state of issuing from the " apostolical" see of
public affairs in Spain at this time, but Rome, whether relating to doctrine, dis-
more especially the contact with the cipline, or ritual. See the Decretal to
Arianism of the Gothic conquerors. Ducentius, Book II. c. i. p. 282.
P Fleiiry (H. E. torn. vi. p. 618) and <i Conf. Book II. c. iv. pp. 348 et
Father Pagi (ad Baron, in Ann. 482, sqq. § 26) agree that by this admonition Sim- ' Conf. Book II. c. i. p. 280.
CiiAr. I.] THE EASTEKN CHURCHES. 9
In g'eneralj it may be affirmed that we liave^ up to this point of tinie^ no sufficient historical g-round to determine the question^ A^'hether the submissiv^e respect with which the mandates of Rome were g"enerally received by the Wes- tern churches proceeded from a sense of strict ecclesiastical duty^ or whether it denoted no more than that reverential deference for the chair of Peter which might still leave them entirely their own masters except in cases of ex- traordinary doubt and difficulty^ or of emerg'encies in which; b}^ a voluntary submission to her authorit}^, they bound themselves to abide by her decision. But it was of little consequence to Rome whether this obsequious spirit proceeded from the one motive or the other. Armed with an admitted right of interference^ she felt herself at liberty to adopt that explanation of the conduct of foreign churches which was most favourable to her claims; with the advantng'e of having' it to say that she had at no time kept them l)ack or dissembled them.
Reverting- to the state of the Oriental churches at the accession and throiig'hout the pontificate of Oriental SimpliciuS; we encounter a prospect of the most churches. g-loomy and revolting' character. The definitions of Chal- cedon had answered no purpose but to exasperate the existing" dissensions. The Eutychian party, so far from 3'ielding' to or accepting, had rejected those decrees with tenfold fury and animosit}". The churches of Alexandria and Antioch became the principal J'bci of religious agita- tion. In the former, as ^^'e have seen/ the orthodox pre- late Proterius had been deposed and murdered b}^ a Eu- tychian mob, under the direction of Timotheus Timotheus jElurus, a zealot of that profession. JElurus ^lums. occupied the see of Alexandria from the year 457 to 460, when he was driven from his usurped chair by the Em- peror Leo at the solicitation of the orthodox and pacific Gennadius, the successor of the slippery Anatolius of Constantinople.* The orthodox party were now at liberty to elect a patriarch ; and their choice fell upon Timotheus Timotheus Sohfaciolus, a man of peace. Under Soiifacioius.
^ Conf. Bouk II. c. vi. pp. 428 ct sqq. ' Conf. ubi sup. p 433.
10 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
him the Church looked forward to a long* period of tran- quillity • but in the 3'ear 474 the orthodox Emperor Leo the Thracian died^ and was succeeded by his son-in-law Zeno the Zeuo, sumamed '^the Isaurian." The new em- isaurian em- peror professed Eutychian tenets ; the scene
^^^°^' Avas suddenty chang-ed ; and now^ under the sinister auspices of that profiig"ate adventurer^ a g'loomy futurity loomed upon the orthodox churches of the East. Two 3'ears afterwards^ Zeno was deposed b}^ his brother- in-law^ the base and proflig'ate Basiliscus^ and compelled to take refug-e among- his predatory countrymen, the mountaineers of Isauria. Basiliscus stood forth as the declared champion of Eutychianism, and initiated his reig'u by an edict declaratory of his rejection and con- demnation of all creeds or definitions of faith excepting- those of Nicaea (325), Constantinople ('38 1), and Ephesus (481), but more especially of those of Chalcedon and the letter or tomus of Pope Leo to Flavian ; he commanded that all such creeds, confessions, and writing's, wherever they mig'ht be found, should be destroyed, and that all bishops within his dominion should sig'uify their adhesion to his decree b}^ their subscriptions, on pain of deposition, banishment, and forfeiture, if they should at any time use or teach any other creed than that of Nicsea, confirmed as aforesaid, or in any manner advert or recur to the hereti- cal ordinances or tenets of the pseudo-synod of Chalcedon." Solifaciolus of Alexandria, deserted by the court. Restoration Avhich had hitherto extended its protection to of^iurus. ]jjj^^^ .,^j(^| exposed to the violence of a party in his own church he had no long-er the means of controlling', retired to his monastery ; and the turbulent and blood- stained vElurus was forthwith recalled from banishment, and replaced by his elated partisans upon the throne of Alexandria. But his triumph was of short duration. His spiritual throne partook of all the infirmities of that Acacius pa- of his temporal patron Basiliscus. In the year Constant/- "^^ ^ ^^^ saiutly Geniiadius of Constantinople had
nopie. been succeeded by Acacius under the influence
" Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. iv., set out by Baron. A. 476, § 30 et sqq. Conf. Fleury, H. E. torn. vi. p. 596.
Chap. I.] HOME AND CONSTANTINOPLE. 1 1
of ZenO; who three 3'ears afterwards himself succeeded to the throne of the East/ Whether he had adopted the creed of his patron, is not very clearly established ; the connection was probably sufficient to expose him to the jealous suspicions of the severer adherents of the Chal- cedonian confession. Yet his first public act after the usurpation of Basihscus would seem to rebut any pre- sumption adverse to his orthodoxy. Acacius boldly pro- tested ag-ainst and rejected the decree of Basiliscus. He had iniiuence enoug'h to raise the monks and populace of the capital, and the skill to stir up such a storm of agita- tion ag-ainst the feeble tyrant as to compel him to retract his decree, and even humbly to sue for pardon at the feet of the patriarch and his able assistant, the rig'id enthusiast Daniel Stylites.''' But this transaction appears to have revealed to the friends of the exiled Zeno the Eestoration extreme weakness of the usurper's position; the of Zeno. former emerg-ed from his mountain-home, marched with a few followers upon the capital, and was joyfully hailed by all parties. The luckless usurper took refug'e in the cathedral church ; but was delivered up to his eneni}- by Acacius, and condemned, tog'ether with his whole famity, to a ling-ering" death by starvation in a distant castle in Cappadocia."
During- the short reig-n of Basiliscus, the orthodox clergy of Constantinople had kept the pope correspond- fuUy informed of the enormities committed by ^nce between JElurus and his friend Peter Mong-us at Alex- constanti- andria, as well as of the misdeeds of the Euty- °°p^®- chian bishop of Antioch, Peter the Fuller (Gnapheus). Hearing- nothino- from Acacius himself about these fatal disorders, Simplicius wrote to the patriarch, urging* him to resist to the utmost all changes in the established creed of the Church ; and, — in real or affected ignorance
" Tillemont, torn. xvi. p. 286. ^' Conf. Gibbon, torn. v. p. 4, ed. Sm.
'■'' See an amusing life of this singular and Milm. The histoi'ian of " The De- fanatic in Tiltemoitt, Mem. Eecl. torn. cline and Fall" is extremely meagre xvi. pp. 439 et sqq. Like his friend and upon these transactions. Conf. Tille- prototype, Simeon the Syrian Stylite, mo7it, Mem. Eccles. torn, xvi., — Vie he had succeeded in eliminating all the d'Acace, art. vii. and xi. pp. 295 and carnal, and with them, not improbably, 302. all the human elements of his nature.
12 CATHEDEA PETEI. [Book III.
of the sentiments of the usurper BasiUscuS; — exhorting- him to represent to the emperor in the strongest terms the g'uilt and the dang'er of neglecting" the punishment of the crimes committed by the heretical intruders/ He acknow- ledged at the same time the zeal of the metropolitan clerg}^, and thanked them for their intelligence.^ But after the re- instatement of Zeno, Simplicius entered into more intimate relations with the emperor and court of Constantinople." The monarch immediatel}?^ addressed the pope^ announcing* his restoration^ and in return received the congratula- tions of Simplicius. Acacius himself despatched a de- tailed statement of occurrences in the East; and received in repl}^ the warm thanks of the pontiff for the welcome intelligence of the final expulsion from their usurped sees of Peter the Fuller of Antioch^ Paul of Ephesus, a certain Antonius whom he designates as the standard- hearer of tyranny, and John of Apamsea — all leaders of 'the Eutychian movement in the Asiatic and Syrian dioceses.'' JElurus, however, was permitted to occupy the chair of Alexandria until his death, which occurred not many months afterwards.'' That event, and the restora- tion of the legitimate patriarch Solifaciolus, was promptl}'" reported by Acacius to the pontiff;'' and in the following year the latter, by autograph letters both to the emperor and the patriarch, signified his satisfaction at the in- telligence received ; calling at the same time for the expulsion and punishment of Mongus, and the erasure of the names of the heretical teachers from the sacred lists.^
Almost every step taken by the court of Constan-
1 y Cone. torn. ii. p. 806. torn. vii. p. 995, — ap. Jaffe, p. 50.
^ Simplicius is also reported to have <^ Evag. Scliol. lib. iii. c. xi.
written twice in the year 476 to Basil- ^ Ep. Acac. ad Simpl. ap. Hard. Con-
iscus himself, entreating him to expel cilia, tom. ii. p. 804. After the death of
the intrusive bishop of Alexandria, -^^jlurus, Peter Mongus had, it seems,
-(Elurus, and to maintain the Catholic seated himself for a short time ujion
doctrine of the incarnation, as his pre- the chair of Alexandria ; but was soon
decessors Marcian and Leo had done. dispossessed in favour of Solifaciolus,
See Jaffe, Regist. Pont. Rom. p. 50. by the orthodox party.
» See abstract of his letter to Zeno, " Ex Mansi, Cone. tom. vii. pp. 983,
from Mansi, Cone. tom. vii. p. 980, ap. 984, — ap. Jaffe, ip. 50. See also the let-
Jaffe, U.S. p. 50. ters in pari materia, ap. Mansi, loc. cit.
b Simpl. ad Acac. ap. HoJsten. Coll. pp. 985, 986, 987. Rom. i. p. 194. See also Mansi, Cone.
Chap. I.] DECREE OF ZENO. 13
tinople ag-ainst the pre\ailiiio- heresy in the Ascendency East had been thus anticipated by the pope, of Rome in He had pointed out the means to be adopted ^i^^^^^*- for the purification of the churches ; he had designated^ probably by name, the bishops to be expelled, the here- tics to be punished ; and thus appropriated the lead in the ecclesiastical revolution which restored the ascend- ency of the Chalcedonian confession in the East. The orthodox churchmen were thus accustomed to look to Rome as the standard-bearer of the faith, without trou- bling- themselves to inquire whither she mig'ht lead them, so long- as she served their present turn, or afforded a strong- point-d'appui ag-ainst their domestic enemies. But a very few months after the restoration of Zeno, the pope was no less surprised than shocked by the startling- in- tellig-ence that the emperor had issued an edict for the reg-ulation of many important ecclesiastical matters, on which he mig-ht at least expect to have had previous no- tice, if not a consultative voice. The offensive Disturbed ordinance was addressed to the praetorian pre- ^y t^^^ '^f'^l^^
n ci T • IP ..^^01 Zeno in ta-
lect feebastian; and, after many provisions lor vourofCon- maintenance of the orthodox doctrine, the pre- stantmopie. cedency and privileg-es of the bishops in their several ranks, the orders of the clerg-y, and the estates of the Church, it proceeds to confirm all the honours, dig-nities, and prerog-atives of the church of Constantinople, in as ample a form as they had ever been enjoyed under any of his predecessors ; more especially the rig-hts of ordi- nation, and the precedency before all the bishops of the empire; expressly grounding- this declaration ofrig-ht on the jjolitical dignity and importance of the metropolis of the empire ; and thereby once more reoccup3dng- the very ground from which his predecessor Marcian had been driven by the successful audacity of Pope Leo the Great.^
f Conf. Book II. c. v. p. 118. See Constantinople to the primacy of tlie
the Edict in Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. ii. Eastern empire. It is to be noted, that
1. 16. Though the xxviiith canon of this ordinance expressly grants or con-
Chalcedon is not named in this law, it firms the primacy " regiai urbis intu-
was doubtless intended to confirm that itu." and every other title of the chui'ch of
14 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
But altlioug-li^ for the sake of peace, Marcian had Protest of consented to cast a veil over the obnoxious Pope Sim. xxviii'" cauou of Chalcedon, and to stifle the ^*^'"^' resistance of Anatohus, there is no reason to helieve that the church of Constantinople ever reg'arded herself as bound by the act of her patriarch. It suited, mdeed, Pope Leo to affirm that the bishop in such wise represented his church, that his official act must be con- strued to be the act of the body corporate ; but the rule was by no means so well understood, or so g-enerally esta- blished, as to pledg-e the latter to terms of which it may have had no previous knowledg-e, and to which certanily there is no evidence of its ever ha^ ing' given a corporate assent. Pope Simplicius, however, immediately despatched Probus bishop of Canusium to the court of Constantinople to protest ag-ainst this alleg'ed outrag-e upon the Ordi- nances of the Fathers. ^' Such usurpations," he declared, ^^ were altoo-ether inexcusable : ecclesiastical dio-nities were by no means dependent upon the mag'nitude or the rank of the cities to which thev mio-ht be attached : but could be reg'ulated solely by ecclesiastical dispensation^ as determined by the ^ traditions of the Fathers.' "' It Papal theory ^s hardly ncccssar}^ to observe, that by this time of ecciesiasti- those ^"^ ordiuanccs" and "traditions" were all cai privilege, g^^-^^jj^g^j ^p ^j^ ^|^g Romau vcrsiou of the vi*''
canon of Nicoea, with the arbitrary construction put upon it by Leo the Grreat,'' and supported by him upon the supposititious prefix extant in that version, and in that version only. The alleg'ed ordinances and traditions of the Fathers were at the same time all comprised in, and made dependent upon, the one i^rm^r?/ tradition of St. Peter's chair; and in this combination they had furnished Rome with a plenary justification for rejecting- the ad- verse decrees of two g"eneral councils on behalf of the rival see. And, indeed, the vi"' canon of Nicaea could in
g This protest, it should be ob- but he is corrected by Pagi, who rightly
served, is collected from a letter of Pope traces it to Zeno, a.d. 477. He is fol-
Gelasius I., as extracted by Baron. lowed by Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. torn.
A. 472, § 6, p. 312. In § 2" the car- xvi. p. 306.
dinal tells us that the edict was issued •' Conf. Book II. c. v. pp. 400, 401,
by the Emp. Leo the Thracian in 472; 402, 406.
Chap. I.] DISTURBANCES IN THE EAST. 15
no imaginable mode but tbis be made to support the Roman scbeme of ecclesiastical privileg-e.
In this state of" the controversy, we find the battle- field between both parties, independently of all Antao-onistic other considerations, fairly defined and marked theories of out. On the one side it was to be contended that p^'^^'^^s^- the " ordinances and reg'ulations" of the Fathers were satisfied by ther attribution of prerogative and jurisdiction to the ravk and dignity of the cities upon which they were conferred j and on the other, that by these very '^ ordi- nances and regulations," political rank or position was absolutely excluded as a ground of ecclesiastical privi- lege ; and that as to the sees of apostolical pedigree, such as Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and others, no law, whe- ther founded upon conciliar enactment, or usage of any antiquity, could avail to chang*e their position in the Church, consequently must be inoperative to impart to Byzantium any other station among- the churches of Christendom than that which she occupied as the humble suffi'agan of the metropolitan of Heracleia.
But for the present the voice of altercation was si- lenced by the dang-ers which threatened the Disturbances orthodox parties in the East. After the resto- Eastern ration of Solifaciolus in Alexandria, the Euty- churches. chian faction elected Peter Mongus, the friend of ^lurus, and the supposed accomplice of all his misdeeds, in op- position to the orthodox patriarch. But his attempt to possess himself of the patriarchal throne appears to have failed. Solifaciolus soon regained the ascendency, and Mongus slunk for the time into obscurity.' The influ- ence of Acacius at the court was at this moment predo- minant ; and Zeno, in spite of his compromising" disposi- tion, was impelled to those measures of severity against the turbulent Orientals to which we have already adverted. The governor of Egypt received instructions to protect Solifaciolus by the military force of the diocese, and to punish Mong'us and his accomplices.^ Some deg'ree of
' Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. xi. ; Lihe- loc. Evag. ; and conf. //a/'J. Cone. torn. ra^MS, BieviariunijCxvi.. — np.Tillemont, ii. p. 80.5. torn. xvi. p. 310; and Vales, in not. ad J i?ua^. Schol. loc. cit. says with death:
16 CATHEDEA PETEI. [Book III.
tranquillity was thus restored in the Alexandrian churchy and the ag-ed patriarch continued in quiet possession of his chair till his death in the yeav 482.
His demise, however, was the sig-nal for a renewal of Death of So- ^^^^ relig'ious disturbances in his church. The
lifacioius, Eutychians once more drew Mong-us from his of johTnntS concealment, and reinstated him upon the pa-
Takiaat triarclial throne. On the other hand, the or- Aiexandria. ^j^q^Jq^ party chosc Johauucs Talaia, the friend and archdeacon of the late patriarch. But Talaia, it is said, had disqualified himself for the appointment. Be- fore the death of Sohfaciolus, and at the personal solici- tation of Talaia, as the envoy of his church, the emperor had restored to the Alexandrians the rig'ht freely to elect their own bishop as soon as the see should fall vacant. But Zeno, suspecting" that Talaia was intrig-uing* at court to procure his own nomination, exacted from him a so- lemn oath that he would neither solicit the suflrng-es of the clergy, nor accept the dig-nity of patriarch of Alex- andria if' offered to him.'' Disregarding-, however, both his oath and the displeasure of his sovereig-n, he exerted all his influence to procure his own election, and was accordingly seated by his friends as legitimate bishop.^ It may be surmised that Zeno at this point of time had already entertained the idea of putting- an end to the civil and rehg'ious disorders which g-ave so much trouble to his g-overnment, by means of a compromise by which all parties mig-ht be persuaded to lay down their arms ; and that he reg-arded Talaia as a person not at all likely to assist him in his well-meant but hazardous desig-n. And, in fact, the latter appears, from the very first steps in his career, to have defied both the court and patriarch of Constantinople. He not only neg-lected the ordinary but essential forms of announcing- his election, but en- hanced the offence by an insulting" contrast in his de- meanour towards the pope, to whom he sent special
Valesius contests the reading which ' Evag. (loc. mod. cit.) says, upon
would convey that meaning. In fact, the authority of his informant Zacha-
nobody appears to have suffered. rias, that he purchased this support by
'' Evag. Schol, lib. iii. c. xi. cum not. money. Vales.
Chap. I.] ACACIUS AND MONGUS. 17
deleg'ates to report his accession to the apostohcal chair of Alexandria^ and (probably) to request the papal con- firmation.'"
It is siig'g'ested that Acacius was the first to suspect Talaia's desig'ns upon the see of Alexandria, . and that he communicated those suspicions to gotiateTwUh the emperor. Whichever way the truth may ^^^^^ ^°^" lie, the two prelates became irreconcilable ene- mies. It is probable that both the patriarch and his mas- ter were by this time bent upon their scheme of union, and that both were prepared to sacrifice former friend- ships and enmities for the attainment of their purpose. It was obvious that the new patriarch of Alexandria could not be prevailed upon to eng-ag'e in any scheme which might compromise him with Rome and the more rigid supporters of the Chalcedonian profession in the East. Mong'us, on the other hand, was withheld by no similar scruples. He flattered himself that, with the imperial support and a little management on his own part, he mig'ht satisf}^ his Eutychian partisans that his formal reconciliation with the court and patriarch of Constan- tinople implied no sacrifice of principle ; and that he could succeed in persuading* them that no measures he mig'ht propose for their adoption would be of a nature to bind them to the obnoxious decrees of Chalcedon, or to compromise the consistency of opposition. Mong'us was not troubled by any scruples in the accomplishment of his designs." Acacius, on the other hand, had deeply pledged himself against the enemies of Chalcedon ; and against none of these — with the exception perhaps of Peter the Fuller of Antioch — had he lifted up his voice more loudly than against Mongus himself." Pope Sim-
"> Conf. Baron. Ann. 482, §14, p. 403; all episcopal elections, and that Talaia
and Pagi's note, p. 406. The letter of acted under that conviction.
Simplicius in Baronius is not in the col- "" Evagrius (lib. iii. c. 17), a writer
lection of Harduin. The privilege of con- not generally ill-disposed towards the
firmation by patriarchs or metropoli- Eutychians, describes him as a person of
tans was not confined to Rome, but was so crafty and versatile a genius, that he
the common right of all of equal degree. could at pleasure assume any disguise
This lays bare the sophism of the zeal- that suited his purpose,
ous cardinal, who would have us to be- ° In a letter to Simplicius of the year
lieve that it wa^ the exclusive preroga- 477, upon occasion of the first intrusion
tive of Rome to assent to and confirm of Mongus, therefore five years only
VOL. II. C
18 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
pliciiis may have accepted these denunciations as a posi- tive pledge of antag'onism ', but in the mean time circum- stances had undergone a great change^ and Acacius might reasonably allege the prospect of peace in the Churchy and the advantage of gaining over so important an adversary, as a sufficient plea for the accommodation proposed. He therefore consented to the nomination of Mongus to the vacant chair of Alexandria, upon condition that he should agree to certain terms to be proposed by the emperor for the eventual union of all parties in the Church, and the restoration of religious and domestic tranquillity. Mon- gus readily accepted those conditions; and the emperor wrote to Pope Simplicius a letter explanatory of his motives for rejecting Talaia, and for preferring- Mongus as a proper successor to the orthodox Solifaciolus.''
Meanwhile Talaia had retired to Home,'' where he Pope Sim- was wcll rcccivcd, and acknowledged by the piicius con- pope as legitimate patriarch. But upon the
demns the ^ ^ . , (, H . \ ■, . . ri . n.^ . ,.
election of amvai 01 the nnperiai missive, feimplicms lor Mongus. ^i^Q moment retracted the confirmation of Ta- laia's election, " inasmuch," he said, " as in so important an affair nothing ought to appear to have been done in a hurry." He added, that indeed that election had given him the sincerest pleasure ; but that upon the arrival of the imperial letters he had learnt with surprise that the new patriarch lay under the charge of perjury, and was therefore not deemed a fit person to occupy the chair to which he had been raised : at the same time, however, he had heard with still greater astonishment that it was intended to promote Peter (Mongus), an as- sociate, nay, a chief of heretics, and long since an out- cast from all catholic communion, to the government of the great church of Alexandria ; and that this had been done with the knowledge and consent of Acacius, to whom the life and character of Mongus could be no
before the second, he thus describes ^arJ Cone. torn. ii. pp. 804, 805. Conf.
that person: "Qui Petrus, noctis ex- Baron. Ann. 478, §§ 2-4.
istens filius, et operum diei lucentium p Conf. Tillemont, torn. xvi. p. 325.
alienus apparens, omnino tenebras ad i Conf. Not. Vales, ad JEvag. Schol.
latrocinium peragendum congruus, ea- lib. iii. c. 15,
rumque cooperator, inveniens," &c.
CiiAr. I.] THE HENOTICON. 19
secret. To this man the emperor^ he was informed^ had proposed terms of communion^ thoug'h a person with whom no terms of an}^ kind could be made^ no associa- tion permittedj until he should have been reconciled to the Church b}^ due canonical penance — one who even, when reconciled, was canonicall}' incapacitated from hold- ing- any ecclesiastical dig-nitj or preferment: this man now aspired to rule over that catholic flock from which he had long* since been expelled — for what purpose, but that he mig'ht make them the instruments for the pro- pa g-ation of his infamous doctrines, by the introduction of discord among- the orthodox, who could never live at peace under heretical domination ? The pope concluded his address by an earnest exhortation to the patriarch to be instant in season and out of season, with a view to divert Zeno from his unhallowed project ; and in the mean time to omit no opportunity of informing- him (the pope) of the state of aliairs in the East, and of taking- council with him as to the measures necessary to avert the impending- calamity from the catholic Church/
Acacius appears to have paid as little attention to the papal rescript as the emperor had thoug-ht proper to bestow upon a letter addressed to himself personally by the pope to the like effect.' The patriarch, it seems, was too intently eng-ag-ed in the composition and publication of the celebrated instrument called the ^^ Hen- ^ ,,. ^.
„ ^ PTT- 11' Jrublication
oticon, or Compact or Union, to attend to his of the "Hen- relations with Eome. That document was pre- "^^^Tt'or faced by a fervid eulog-iuin upon relig'ious union, Union ; its and a vivid description of the spiritual and tem- ^"•^^^t^'^^^- poral evils, disturbances, seditions, and murders, which had resulted from the late dissensions in the Church ; it adopts the Nicene creed as confirmed and explained by the synods of Constantinople (381) and of Ephesus (431) ; it condemns the opposite errors of Nestorius and Eutyches ; it confesses that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, veritably consubstantial \\ith the Father as touch-
■■ J5«ro/i. Ann. 482, §§ 13 to 18. silence, and urging him to renewed
* Four months, or thereabouts, after exertions to thwart the late measures
the last two letters, the pope again of the court. Hard. Cone. torn, ii,
wrote to Acacius, rebuking him for his p. 80G.
20 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
iii^ his g-odlieacl, and with us men as touching- his manhood ; that He came down from heaven^ and was incarnate of the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God ; that He is one Son, and not two Sons ] the same also which suftered for us in the flesh : it adopts the Twelve Anathemas of Cyril/ hut is silent as to the letter of Leo to Flavian : it denounces all who divide or con- found the two natures in the Christ, or hold a mere semblance of an incarnation • and it anathematises all who, at Chalcedon or at any other council, have otherwise believed and taug"ht, more particularly Nestorius and Eutyches and their followers. The edict concludes with an earnest injunction to all men faithfully to adopt and maintain the articles of union therein set forth."
To Mong'us these articles offered several advantag'es ;
for while it left him in full possession of the
conducrof TAvelve Anathemas of Cyril" — the text-book of
Peter Mon- \\yQ Eutychiaus — it passed over in silence, or
^"^* with such censure as that silence migiit well be construed to imply, the Leonine Tomus, the text-book of their antag-onists. The dark shade cast upon the council of Chalcedon by the terms of the edict mig-ht furnish him with a plausible plea for keeping- it out of sight, and thus far gratifying* the implacable animosity of a large portion of his supporters. His slippery reputation might, however, give colour to any reports of compliances, which might seem requisite to maintain his equivocal position. And, in fact, he was soon accused of having publicly anathematised the council of Chalcedon and the Leonine edict, and thereby not only broken faith with the emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople, but deranged the entire scheme of the Henoticon.'" It was further alleged against him that, with the like intent, he had struck out from the sacred diptychs, or tablets of his church, the names of the orthodox prelates Pro- terius and Solifaciolus, and inserted those of the con- demned heretics Dioscorus and ^lurus. Acacius re-
' Conf. Book II. c. iii. p. 329; and c. ^ Conf. Book II. c. iii. p. 327,
iv. pp. 358 et sqq. ■*'' Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. 16.
" Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. 14.
CiiAP. I.] DEATH OF POPE SIMPLICIUS. 21
ceived the iiitellig'ence of the misdeeds of his new ally with disma3\ Mong'us lost not a moment in contradict- ing- these reports ; he assured the patriarch that he had alwa^^s felt^ and still professed^ in puhlic and private^ the most profound reverence for the holy S3'nod of Clialce- don ; but that such Avas the turbulent and unmnnag-eable disposition of his people, ^^ who rather g'overned him than he them/' that wild monks and other disorderly folk ran about spreading- all manner of evil reports respecting* himself], and endeavouring-j by every kind of falsehood, to disturb the peace of the Church and sow discord among- the people."
But thoug-h Acacius may have found it convenient to accept the apolog-y, no such disposition could -^^^^^ ^^ be expected to exist at Rome, where Talaia and Pope simpii- his friends were in full possession of the papal ''"'^• ear. The ver}^ appearance of the Henoticon, — the ambi- g'uity of its lang-uag-e, the apparent slig-ht put upon the council of Chalcedon, and above all the studied neg-lect of the canonicnl letter of Leo, standing*, as it did, foremost upon the records of that council, — denoted not merely a secession from the standard of Roman orthodox}^, but an intentional insult to the chair of Peter. Yet we are not in possession of any public act of official recog-nition of the claims of Talaia, nor indicative of any open breach with the court or patriarch of Constantinople, during* the pontificate of Simplicius. That pontiff died in the month of March 483, after a reig*n of fifteen years, five months.
-"^ Evag. Scliol. lib. iii. c. 15. But ciilty. He says that the Acephali, a Mongiis, in this letter, does not deny body of monks in Alexandria, had se- in direct terms that he had " anathe- ceded from Mongus, because he main- matised the decrees of Chalcedon." He tained the validity of the council of only desires that negative to be implied. Chalcedon ; that, fearing a total loss He asks, " How could I, after so many of his popularity, he had endcavoui'ed solemn protestations of adoption, be to arrest the secession by a public con- supposed to have so belied my profes- demnation of the council ; but without sions ?" There is at least an unfor- success, inasmuch as, having once em- tunato air of insincerity or mental re- braced its decrees, he was held to have servation in the defence of Mongus. irremediably committed himself to tliat Leontius of Byzantium, a rather volu- confession, and distpialified himself to minous writer on ecclesiastical subjects, be the head of its opponents. He was who lived at the end of the fifth or the " neither fish nor flesh" to them. See beginning of the sixth century, gives the extract ap. Baron. Ann. 482, § 42, a very probable solution of the diffi- p. 410.
22 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
Accession of and teii days;^ and was succeeded by Felix III., Felix III. a Roman priest, and a person of a more ener- g-etic and vehement nature than his immediate predeces- sor. Under him the warfare of the Henoticon partook of a fiercer character, and soon assumed more than the ordinary venom of ecclesiastical disputes.
Throughout the transactions hitherto noticed, the Acacius not couduct of Acacius and his patron appears ra- the enemy of tlicr iu tlic lig'lit of au crror in judg'ment than Chaicedon. ^^ ^^^ intentional attack upon the orthodox faith of the Church, as charg-ed against them by their adversa- ries. The choice of Mongus as an instrument for carry- ing out their plan of union, was a serious mistake. This choice, in the actual state of men's minds, necessarily reflected the suspicion of insincerity and deceit upon his protectors ; it served to give colour to all the obloquy justly or unjustly cast upon the latter by their opponents, and to fling" their slanders back upon the scheme itself as well as its authors and contrivers. The conduct of Aca- cius in this respect naturally exposed him to the charges of levity and insincerity : this sudden adoption into his communion of one whom, but five years before, he had publicly censured as a "heretic and a child of perdition;" this unprepared exchange of ancient fellowship for a hos- tile alliance, — could not but startle the orthodox both in the East and West, and dispose them to regard the ad- vocates of peace and union as the covert enemies of the faith, and the scheme itself as a cunningly devised plot ag'ainst the Chalcedonian confession. But with all this, there is no valid ground to believe that Acacius and his patron were animated by any other than an anxious desire for religious peace and unanimity in Christendom; or that in the method they adopted they intended to weaken the established standards of the faith they had themselves uniformly professed.
The language of Simplicius to the rival patriarch,
Corres onci ^^^^^g*^^ moderate in its tone, was still that of a
ence with Superior to his responsible ofiicer. He takes it for
Rome, granted that the completeness of all ecclesiasti-
y According to Anastasius the librarian, ap. Baron. Ann. 483, § 4.
Chap. I.] APOLOGY FOR ACACIUS. 23
cal title depends upon the papal confirmation/ Throiig'h- out the correspondencej he assumes the responsibility of Acacius to the see of Home as a matter understood and admitted. We notice the same matter-of-course refer- ence to Rome as the ultimate dispenser of all ecclesias- tical powers as that we have observed upon in the inter- course of his predecessors with the churches of the East, of Gaul, Spain, and Africa ;^' and thoug-h, perhaps, in the letters of Pope Simplicius, the tone of rebuke is softened down, and the usual spiritual courtesies somewhat more carefully observed, 3'et all acts done, or to be done, in conformity with the expressed wishes or expectations of the pope, are as carefulh' put upon the footing- of dutiful homag-e to the moderatorial authorit}^ of the holy see as in the correspondences of his predecessors. And in this tone the intent to humble Constantinople could hardly be mistaken. It conveys a practical commentar}^ upon Pope Leo's rejection of the xxviii"* canon of Chalcedon — an offensive denial of the " equal privileg'e" solemnly adjudi- cated to that church, and a preg^nant proof that peace with Rome was to be obtained, only by an unqualified abandonment of that station in which, by the consent of Christendom, she had been solemnly installed.
To avoid the threatened peril, no course remained to Acacius but to act for the future entirely upon Apology for his own conciliar authority, and to rely upon Acacius. the support of the g-o^ernment. He lay under no defini- tive eno-ao-ements with the see of Rome ; and he mio'ht reasonably decline to be fettered by lang-uag'e held by him
^ Thus, announcing his approval of vicar of the holy see, imposing the du- the election ofTalaia, he says: "Nihil ties of an inferior officer to his chief, omnino restare videbatur (that is, to its and of course implying a negation of canonical validity), nisi ut . . . . upo- that spiritual equahty claimed by all stolicce quoque moderationis assensu voti- Christian bishops. There is, however, vam sumeret firmitatem." It may here no pretence for any such delegation, be noticed, that Card. Baronius desires The "munus" alluded to denotes sim- it to be understood that Simplicius had ply the office of the bishop, whose duty constituted Acacius his vicar for the it was to discourage and suppress he- affairs of the East. Redraws his infer- resy. Conf. Baron. Ann. 482, § 13. ence as well from the tone of the pope's » Conf. Book II. c. ii. pp. 299 et scjq.; letters to Acacius as from an incidental ibid. p. 300; ibid. pp. 310, 311; ibid. expression in one of these letters: — c. iii. pp. 331, 335; ibid. c. iv. pp. 351, " proinde delegatum tibi munvs impen- 3G1, 374; ibid. c. v. pp. 395, 403, 410, dens," &c., which he construes into an 415, 416; ibid. c. vi. pp. 440 et sqq., p. allusion to his appointment as ordinary 445.
24 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
under a very different state of circumstances. He had embraced in one broad view the gTeat spiritual and tem- poral interests of the sovereign and his states. The poli- tical object of the Henoticon was strictly consistent with the cause of true relio-ion : it involved no contradiction to the universal^ received doctrine of the Church ; and it pointed out the means of assuaging* those exasperating* controversies, those tumults and civil dissensions which had so long" distressed the government and destroyed the peace of society. And in this view of its tendency^ the Henoticon of Zeno was joyfully accepted by all who felt more concerned for the maintenance of Christian fellow- ship than for success in a controversy upon which nothing- is clearly revealed in Scripture^ or decisively defined by council or synod within the first four centuries of Chris- tian history.''
But this view of the Henoticon was in a great de- Acacius at- gi'^c Unintelligible to the parties to whom it was tacked both addrcsscd. The orthodox persisted in repre-
by Catholics ,• jT i ' j , • •
andEuty- seutmg' that mstrument as conveymg a rejec- chians. ^-^ow and Condemnation of the council of Chal- cedon ; while their adversaries denounced it because it left that acceptance or rejection an open question. They could be satisfied with nothing less than a total renuncia- tion of the obnoxious decrees. Amore formidable objection, weighing equally with both the extreme parties, was that it was the work of lay hands — a daring attempt to smother a question of vital importance to religion — a sacrilegious intrusion upon the sacerdotal office." These views bound both parties irrevocably : the orthodox, to the rigid main- tenance of the council of Chalcedon; the ultra-Eutychian party, to its unconditional rejection and abrogation. The middle course proposed b}^ Zeno and Acacius was equally fatal to both views. On the one hand, if accepted uni- versally, it manifestly tended to enfeeble the spiritual influence of Rome, and to strengthen that of Constanti- nople in the East j while on the other, it must strike the ground fi'om beneath the feet of the powerful party
b Conf. Cent. Magd. c. v. pp. 1206- <= Conf. the vehement invectives of
1208; Neander, Kirch. Gesch. p. 1127. Baronius Ann. 482, §§ 31, 32.
CiiAP. I.] EEMONSTRANCE OE TOPE FELIX. 25
which had up to this time pretty equally divided the conscientious alleo-iance of the Oriental churches \a ith the orthodox. Both factions therefore ag-reed m stigmatis- ino- the Henoticon as a device of hell for the extiup-uish- ment of true religion. Acacius had been all alono- re- guarded b}' the Monophysites as their bitterest enemy, while the orthodox branded him as the associate and accomplice of heretics; his rigidly orthodox profession of faith was treated as a fraudulent pretence ; he was at once a conspirator and an impostor, one who, under false pretences, drew awa}^ those who adhered to his scheme into an adulterous connection with the damned, and thereby involved them in the like condemnation.'' Such was the position of the controversy when it fell into the hands of Felix III., a person very well disposed to make the most of it.
At Rome, the Henoticon had become an object of profound fear and abhorrence. Within the first iiemon- year of his pontificate. Pope Felix assembled a pope^peiS synod of his subject provinces to deliberate with to Acacius. him upon the best mode of dealing- with that perplexing* instrument and its adherents. In the result a mission, consisting- of two bishops, Vitalis and Misenus, with the presb^^ter Felix, was despatched to Constantinople with letters to the emperor and the patriarch from the pope and his synod, conveying- a solemn protest ag-ainst the Henoticon and all proceeding's under it. Such was the professed object of the embass}^ ; and had it rested there, little objection could have been taken to the papal com- munication. The tone of the monition addressed to Aca- cius was not unbecoming- a Christian pastor whose inter- est in the welfare of the whole Christian family fully en- titled him to a respectful hearing-. He reminded Acacius of his oblig-ations as a prelate of the catholic Church, and of the devout respect due to the decrees of an oecumenical council like that of Chalcedon. He reproved him in g-entle terms for his unaccountable silence respecting- the state
"• Conf. 7'j!7/efflon^tom.xvi. pp. 362 ct and the Henoticon. Baronius is asusual
sqq. Tillemont has ably and effectively violent and declamatory ; Tillemont
summed up the articles of accusation quiet, but venomous : both are equally
brought by his church against Acacius partial.
26 CATHEDEA PETEI. [Book III.
of the Alexandrine church ; he urg-ed upon him that the Christian pastor who keeps an}^ terms with heretics must be deemed an accomphce of heretics, and that when the truth is dissembled by its appointed g'uardians, it is in reality betrayed by them : that such conduct on his part could not but cause well-founded suspicions of his ortho- doxy ; for that he who consorts with the very criminals whom it is his duty to punish cannot, and oug'ht not, to escape the charg'e of participating* in their evil desig'ns.^
To the emperor, Felix addressed at the same time —to the Em- '^^^ carncst supplication on behalf of the Alex- peror Zeno. audrinc churcli : he implored him, in the name of the Apostle Peter, to have a care lest the emblematic g-arment of Christ be rent by schism ; he reminded him of his former meritorious strug'g'le for the faith ag'ainst the tyrant Basiliscus ; of his restoration of the orthodox Solifaciolus, and the condemnation of the convicted he- retic Mong-us ; and remonstrated with him upon the in- consistency of his late proceeding's, in upholding* the cause of one whom but shortly before he had condemned and banished as a malefactor/
If Pope FeHx III. had stopped here, he mig-ht per- haps have made a plausible case for renouncing- tion^and pre- the communiou of the emperor and patriarch, cept to QY gygj^ fop procuring a like renunciation by all who adopted the maxim that they who com- municate with heretics must be presumed to participate in the heresy. But, besides these documents, it appears that the leg'ates were intrusted with two others. The Jirst of these was a formal citation addressed to Acacius, setting- out a judicial appeal to the chair of Peter by Johannes Talaia ag-ainst Acacius, on account of injuries suiFered by the leg-itimate patriarch and church of Alex- andria by his procurement or connivance ; and command- ing- him, by the supreme power to bind and to loose conferred by Christ on the Apostle Peter and his succes- sors, without loss of time to present himself at Rome, and there, before a bench of his brother bishops, to purg-e himself of the offences laid to his charg-e. The second
^ Hard. Cone. torn. ii. pp. 811 et sqq. ' Hard. Cone. torn. ii. p. 814.
CnAP. I.] PAPAL CITATION TO ACACIUS. 27
document was in the shape of a monition to the emperor, calhng" upon him to compel the appearance of Acacius, to answer the comphiint and appeal in question^ " before the holy Apostle Peter and his episcopal brethren."^
Such a citation could not hut be inexpressibly offen- sive to the metropolitan patriarchy and very character irritatino- to his imperial patron. It was not and intent of
1 J. Ill I'x* the citation.
merely an outrag-e upon all knoAvn ecclesiasti- cal law^ but implied a direct infraction of the decrees of that very council in defence of which the pope pro- fessed to do battle. The xxviii"' canon of Chalcedon im- parted equal privileg'e to Constantinople with that en- joyed b}' old Kome : the Oriental bishops had taken no notice of the proud rejection of that ordinance by Leo the Great^ it was therefore still res integra upon their sta- tute-book ; and as long* as Constantinople maintained the lofty position adjudged to her by a g'eneral council of the Church, she could acknowledg'e no sing'le bishop, how- ever exalted his position, as her legitimate judg'e. Rome, therefore, never ceased to press for a j^rcictical abandon- ment of a law which struck at the root of her power. And now, if Acacius could be prevailed upon, either by persuasion or intimidation, to answer the appeal ofTalaia, — whether in person or t3y deputy mattered little, — the cause of Rome was won, and Constantinople must sink at once from the eminence so solemnly assigned to her to the insignificant position of a suffragan, or parochial church. And whatever the success of this daring at- tempt, the position of Pope Felix could not be endan- gered, though it might well serve the purpose of shaking* that of his adversary. Rome, or rather the bigots of or- thodoxy, had many stanch partisans in Constantinople and the East J and although the Henoticon had been very generally subscribed by the Oriental prelacy, the ele- ments of dissension were still in active operation, and required little more than able management to fan them into a flame that must sweep the last vestige of religious fellowship from the hearts and memories of the several parties of the Christian world.
s Hard. Cone. torn. ii. pp. 829-831; Evay. Schol. lib. iii. c. 18.
28 " CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
Some unexplained delays appear to have retarded the Eome and joumej of the papal leg'ates^ so as to afford to theAcceme- Pope FeKx time to communicate with them *c™anti-''^ hefore their arrival in the imperial city. Thus nopie. it happened, that after their departure envoys arrived at Rome from Cyril, archimandrite, or abbot of a certain monastic colony at Constantinople known by the name of the Acoemetan monks,'' — a communit}- wholty devoted to the formal orthodoxy of Chalcedon,—urg-ing" fresh complaints against Acacius ; more particularly charg'ing- him with a criminal connivance and partici- pation in heretical communion. In consequence of these communications, Felix chang-ed his plan of operations, and directed his leg-ates to take no step towards the ac- complishment of their mission till they should have con- ferred with and taken the advice of Cyril as to what was further to be done in the matter.' The court, it ap- pears, had obtained information of this underhand desig-n. Defeat of ^^^^ *^^^^ *^^ alarm. Upon the arrival of the the papal Icgatcs at Ab3^dos, they found themselves under project, aj-i-est; their papers were taken from them, and the attempt of the pope, throug-h his leg-ates, to combine a formidable body of opposition to the court and patriarch before committing- himself to the decisive attack medi- tated in the letters of citation, was at once detected and defeated.^
But in the g*ame of double-dealing* the Greeks were Seduction of *^^ ^'^^^ vcrscd to be at a loss how to retort it the legates upoii their eiiemies. The patriarch found the of Felix III. 2gg..-^tes y italis and Misenus — possibly already subdued by their imprisonment, or not inaccessible to bribes — ready to g'ive at least a silent consent to, and even by their personal presence to sanction his communion with the adherents of the Henoticon. It was customary in the liturg-ical ritual of the Eastern churches to recite the names of the emperors with those of the living- prelates
'■ 'AKol/j-riToi, or " sleepless" monks, going to sleep,
so called because the services in their ' Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. xix.
church were kept up night and day J Ep. Eel. Pap. ad Acac. ap. Hard,
without intermission by relays of monks; Concil. torn. ii. p. 832. whence they got the reputation of never
CiiAP. I.] SEDUCTION OF THE LEGATES. 29
of the superior sees and the predecessors of the reig-ning" pontiffsj in token of Christian fellowship and communion. All who attended such services were considered as ac- knowledging- religious communion with the persons so named.'' The leg'ates, in direct contravention of the papal instructions, allowed themselves to he prevailed upon on several occasions to communicate publicly with Acacius and the legate of Mong-us himself, and to permit the re- citation of the prohibited names of that person and other condemned heretics in their presence without objection or protest.'
Cyril and his monks lost no time in informing- the pope of the treason of his legates. They dwelt synod at upon the mischievous consequences of their de- Rome, and
p^. ,. i/'-i i-iij 1 condemna-
lection irom the laith ; they said that a general tion of the impression would thereby be produced that the « legates, arcli-heretic Mongus had been received into the com- munion of the holy see of Eome ; and they urged that unless the promptest measures were adopted to dissipate that impression, the cause of orthodoxy in the East must suffer irretrievable injur}^"' Pope Felix, who had all along* acted upon the advice of the Acoemetans, compre- hended at once the difficulty of his position, and the ne- cessity of prompt and decisive action. An immediate disavoAval of their acts, and the exemplary punishment of his legates, was, he perceived, the appropriate mode of purging the chair of Peter from the foul blot of here- tical communion. A full synod of sixty-seven bishops was instantl}^ convened j the recreant legates were put upon their trial, condemned, excommunicated, and de- graded from all order or rank in the church ;" and the promptest notice of these proceedings was despatched to the friends and agents of Home at Constantinople and in the East. The synod then proceeded to take in hand the special charges against Acacius and Mongus. No dis- tinction was even thought of between the cases of the
^ From alist recited in the diptychs, or 77iont, ubi sup.
sacred tablets of the particular church. " Ep. .Synod. Eccl. Rom. ad Clerieos
' Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. xx. Conf. etlMonaciiosOricntalcs, ap. //a/v/.Conc.
ri7/e/no«<, torn. xvi. pp. 348, 349. torn. ii. pp. 8.53-856. Conf. Tillcmont,
" Evag. Schol. ubi sup. Conf. Tille- ubi sup. jip. 353 et sqq.
30 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
declared heretic and his protector j both were involved in the like condemnation, and were deemed to have incurred the like penalty. Acacius had indeed treated the papal cita- tion with that contempt which so informal and anomalous an instrument deserved." He and his patron
the Hmo- Zeno had proceeded with zeal and activity in the ticon in the promulg'ation and execution of the Henoticon in every province of the East. While the pope was assailing* the defenders of the Henoticon in the West, several Eutychian subscribers were raised to the episcopal bench ; the archbishopric of Tyre was conferred upon the reputed heretic John of Apamsea ; Peter the Fuller was confirmed in the see of Antioch, to the prejudice of the orthodox Calendion f and Mart3"rius bishop of Jerusalem was persuaded to send letters of communion to Mong-us of Alexandria. The scheme of Zeno prospered bej^ond expectation, and the prospect raised a storm of wrath and alarm in every orthodox bosom. It was manifest that all chance of defeating' the imperial project by neg'o- tiation, persuasion, or intimidation had vanished. Rome felt that she must finally cast off the flimsy veil which, in deference to the still unsubdued spirit of olig'archical in- dependence in the gTeater churches, she had hitherto con- sented to wear, and display her prerog'ative in its full proportions, even at the risk of offending- the weak vision
Pope Felix ^^ some of her own supporters. Felix therefore
passes sen- rcsolvcd upou the ultimate step, b}^ which he
commmii^c^- hopcd to g'ivc coufidencc to the orthodox, to
tion and inspire a salutary fear into all waverers, and to
upon Ac"a^- Carry the standard of open warfare in the very cius. centre of the enemy's quarters. He passed the irrevocable sentence against Acacius of Constantinople in terms best suited to dissipate all doubt both as to the scope and extent of the poAver of the chair of Peter, and as to the person in whom that power was lodg-ed. After reciting" the manifold transg-ressions of the offender, — his
o There was no mode by which the the chair of Peter; a principle certainly
jurisdiction of Rome could be establish- never recognised by Constantinople,
ed, except by the adoption of the Leo- nor, that we can find, by any canon
nine principle of the " superabundant or council of the East or the West,
power" (conf. Book II. c. iv. p. .348) of p Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. 16.
CiiAi'. I.] CONDEMNATION OF ACACIUS. 31
heretical promotions ; his rejection of all orthodox (recu- sant) candidates ; his alliance with the convicted and con- demned heretics^ Mong-us^ John of Antioch, Martyrius of Jerusalem, and others; the expulsion of the legitimate patriarch Talaia ; the seductions practised upon the le- gates,— the sentence concluded hy announcing* to him that he (Acacius) thereby stood condemned by him (Felix), acting' for and by the authority of the holy see and of the blessed Apostle Peter, to eternal seclusion from the communion of the faithful every where, and final priva- tion of all sacerdotal or ministerial function.''
We observe that this step of Pope Felix III.^ thoug-h it exhibits several novel features, was in reality . i „. • a perfectly legitimate sequence to the Leonine maS&toof theory of 'the cathedra Petri. And it was so ^>^ ^^i^^- in the most absolute sense and in the purest form ; for it would be hard to discover a single scrap of proper church-legislation or canon-law upon Avhich he could have ventured to rely for the validity of his proceedings. Felix himself was indeed sensible of this dano-erous defect of jurisdiction ; following, therefore, the example of his great predecessor, he eagerl}^ seized upon the vain and spurious prefix to the sixth canon of Nice/ ^^As often," he sa3'S, in his synodical epistle to his friends in the East^ — "• as often as within the precinct of Italy the priests of the Lord are assembled for ecclesiastical de- liberation, the custom is observed, that the successor of the bishops of the apostolic see doth, in his own per- son, officially represent the whole prelacy, and shall do and constitute all things by himself^ because he is the head of all/ according to the word of the Lord to Peter, saying-j ^ Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church/ . ... In obedience to which words, the three hundred and eighteen holy fathers assembled at NiGOia did decree the conjirmafion of the state and au-
1 See the act at length, ap. Hard. sufficiently explain the anxiety of Pope
Cone. torn. ii. p. 831. Conf. generally, Leo the Great to assemble the great
upon these transactions, Baron, ad council against the Eutychians, which
ann. 482, 483, and 484, passim, with afterwards met at Chalcedon, within
Pagi's notes. the confines of Italy. Conf. Book II.
■■ Conf. Book II. c. v. pp. 406 et sqq. c. v. p. 383.
* A pretension which would of itself
3S CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
thority of the lioly Roman Church; which state and authority they (the pontiffs) and their successors to this day have^ by the g-race of Christ, preserved inviohite/"
A doubt mig'ht perhaps be raised whether this strange Defect of ec- cxposition of the vi"' canon of Nicoea \Aas not,
ciesiasticai \yv the mind of the writer, restricted to Italian piled by^the' bishops in ail Italian synod. But the reason pope. g'iven for the jurisdiction claimed — "because, according- to the word of the Lord, he is the head of all" — is universal; and the application to Acacius himself follows in the next sentence." But this is the sole ground Pope Felix could have chosen. There was, in truth, no provision of existing' ecclesiastical law which could bring* a patriarchal prelate within any canonical jurisdiction, unless b}^ some means he could be broug'ht down to a subordinate position in the Church. Hence the eag'er desire of Home to reduce the patriarch of Constanti- nople to the status of a suffragan of Heracleia, and to deprive him of all ecclesiastical rank above that of a dependent and responsible provincial prelate. The v"' canon of the Nicene decrees, even in their spurious con- junction with the Sardican resolutions, established either no jurisdiction at all over a metropolitan patriarch, or it contemplated a tribunal of a totally different character.'' The popes, therefore, had nothing- to rely upon but this spurious canon, as expounded by Leo the Great, though labouring- under the peremptory contradiction of a general council of the whole Christian world.''' A plea in favour of the arbitrary pretension of Rome upon the ground of an acknowledged deficiency of ecclesiastical law,'' as it affected more eminent delinquents, cannot be tothespuci- sustained. Rome herself was so doubtful of the
ous exposi- success of sucli a plen, that she eao-erly snatched
tion of the f> • i i • i
vi"> canon of at tlic shodow 01 caiiomcal authority adum- Nicsea. grated in her own spurious addition or com-
t Hard, ubi sup. p. 856. " See Book I. c. ix. p. 203 note («);
" "Quod ergoplacuit sanctaj synodo ibid. pp. 205-208. Compare with these
apud beatum Petrum Apostohim, et quotations what is said in Book II. c.
beatissimus vir Felix (the pope) caput ii. pp. 300, 301, 306 et sqq., and chap. v.
nostrum, papa et archiepiscopus, judi- pp. 400, 401.
cavit, in subditis contiuctur." Then ** See Book II. c. v. jjp. 400, 401 .
follows the sentence. ^ Conf. Book II. c. iv. p. 34fc!.
Chap. I.] PROCEEDINGS AGAINST ACACIUS. 33
mentary — it is doubtful which — to the vi*'' canon of Ni- ccea. And in fact, upon the two great occasions on which it had been put forward^ it had been dehberately set aside. The Africans in the fourth^ and the Fathers of Chalcedon in the fifth century had reproved and rejected it/ But whatever its merits, the aro*ument drawn from the canon in question in its Roman form was not really necessary to sustain the power claimed by the pontiffs. That power rested not upon conciliar enactment, but upon antecedent and independent authorisation — upon the alleg-ed g-rant from the Saviour to his apostle Peter, and throug-h him to his presumed successors the pontiffs of Rome. The fiilure of the attempt to add a title b}^ conciliar recog'nition to that of an original divine grant, served rather to weaken than strengthen the cause of Rome against the episco- pal olig'archy. The later popes very wisely relinquished it, and took up their position under the shadow of the cathedra Petri.
But up to this point of time the bishops of Rome had not ventured upon any such startling- exercise Novelty and of the arbitrary jurisdiction claimed under that illegality of authority as that assumed by Pope Felix III. ings^LgSnst in the case before us. Thoug-h his predecessors -Acacius. had frequently secluded refractor}^ bishops of other dio- ceses from their own communion and that of the churches properly subject to their own domestic jurisdiction ;^ yet up to this point of time we do not know of au}^ instance in which, by their own mere authority independentl}^ of episcopal or canonical assent, they had ventured to cast out the meanest individual from the bosom of the Church- catholic, much less to degrade a brother patriarch from all spiritual rank and function without so much as a locus poenitentiee.'* In all the more important acts done by them in the exercise of their presumed visitatorial powers, we have been accustomed to see the provincial and dio- cesan synods established by the " holiest of councils" treated with some degree of respect. No bishop of Rome
y See the quotation from the Second the case of Chrysostom, Book 11. c. i.
Book of this work, ubi sup. pp. 278 et sqq., especially note (2), p,
» Conf. Book I. c. vii. p. 165. 279, col. 2. • Conf. the conduct of Innocent I. in
VOL. II. D
34 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III,
had hitherto ventured to substitute his own despotic fiat, attested only by the signatures of a packed committee of his Italian dependents, for those deliberative and re- sponsible bodies to which the public law of the Church had consigned the trial of spiritual offenders.
It may perhaps be alleg'ed, that the Nicene canons for- state of the bid the reception of any excommunicated bishop canon-law qy persou iuto the communion of other churches. to the Atrial But the cauou applies only to the sentences of of bishops, prelates or synods having canonical jurisdic- tion over the subject. In the case of Acacius, no pre- tence can be set up to such a jurisdiction upon canonical grounds. NiccBa recognises no courts for the punish- ment of spiritual offences but the semestral synods esta- blished by its ^fiftl(' canon,.^ The problematical ordin- ances of Sardica would indeed warrant a qualified in- terference on the part of Rome; but they prescribe a mode of procedure totally unlike that now under review.*" The Fathers of Constantinople (371) expressly condemned foreign interference in the domestic government of the churches.'' The first synod of Ephesus (431) inhibited all the bishops from invading the diocese or province of any other, and declared it to be the duty of all to pre- serve to all the quiet enjoyment of their respective rights and liberties."" The most numerous of all S3aiods, that of Chalcedon, scrupulously defined the tribunals for the trial of ecclesiastical offences ; referring the churches in all cases of dispute to the ancient and well-known cus- toms which had hitherto prevailed, to the exclusion of all innovation.'^
The only security, in short, for the rights and liberties of all churches provided by the existing law of n?ca/ defect's the uuivcrsal Cliurch, was that established by the of the pro- yth ^anon of Nicsea, viz. trial by comprovincial against synocl. Hithcrto it was an undeniable principle Acacius. qjp j^^y ^r^^ jjQ bishop could be accused or at- tainted of any offence whatever, though it were by his
•» Conf. Book I. c. viii. p. 191. in the cause of the Cyprian bishops,
c Conf. Book I. c. ix. p. 206. Hard. Concil. torn. i. p. 1619. ^ Conf. Book 11. c. i. p. 256. f See particularly Cann. ix. x. xix.
« Decree of the synod of Ephesus xx. Hard. Cone. torn. ii. pp. 605,610.
Chap. I] THEIR CANONICAL DEFECTS. 35
own metropolitan, without the intervention of a synod of the province. But in the i)roceeding- ag-ainst Acacius^ althoug-h the sentence pronounced was sig'ned by sixty- seven prelates, jet the synod itself was convoked in a foreign diocese, and consisted wholly oi foreigners, pre- sided over by ?i foreign priest having- no canonical au- thority in the cause ; therefore a tribunal out of all ana- logy to any known ecclesiastical judicature. At the same time it should be noticed, that the case broug-ht forward by Talaia ag'ainst Acacius was not an appeal, but an original complaint, triable, if at all, only before the coun- cil of the East, or the provinces of the vicinag-e. But no such trial had taken place j there was therefore neither judg-e nor decision to appeal from. Consequently Rome was not even in a condition to resort to her own self- imputed appellate jurisdiction ; the act was thus reduced to a naked infraction of all ancient rig'hts and privileg-es, and could be defended only on the gi'ound of the supreme ^Visitatorial powers" — the " superabounding-" authority — i. e. the altog'ether exceptional prerogative of the see of Peter. Nor is this all: the members of this nominal synod were scarcely a deliberative, certainly not a judicial body; the adjudication and the sentence was the pope's, not theirs : and thus it occurred, that when some not un- friendly members of the Oriental church accidentally present in the assembly complained to Felix of the irre- g'ularity in the proceedino-s arising* out of the absence of any prior canonical trial and sentence, it was answered, that in an Italian council the pope was always supreme ; and that as the representative of all ecclesiastical autho- rity and g-eneral visitor of all churches, he was emj)ow- ered to determine and promulg'ate all such thing's in his own name and as of his own mere motion.^
The reconciliation of Acacius with Peter Mong'us had
e See above, p. 31 of this chapter. vi. pp. 436, 438). In this view of the
Conf. PcKji, Crit. ad Baron. Ann. 484, matter, we can easily understand tlie
§ .5. According to the Roman exposi- process of i-easoning by which ]*opc
tion of the vi"' canon of Nicaea, it was Felix may have persuaded himself that
held to give power to the universal his explanation ought to be received as
primate to reduce the customs of all a sati.sfactory sohition of the doubts of
dioceses to a conformity with those of the objectors. Rome Cconf. Book II. c. v. p. 408; ch.
36 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
Reinstate- naturally exposed the former to the g-ravest ment of Peter imputations. But hls share in the restoration '"Ihrsel'of'of Peter the Fuller, the chief of the Mono-
Antioch. pliysite party in the Syrian diocese, g'ave the finishing blow to his reputation among their opponents. Peter had, partly by favour of the Emperor Zeno, and partly by the occasional ascendency of his party in An- tioch, succeeded in obtruding- himself three several times into that see ; and thrice he had been expelled by the efforts of his adversaries. Subsequent^ two bishops of the Chalcedonian confession had held the see for a term of three years under the patronage of Acacius. The last of these, Stephen, had been assassinated by an Eutychian mob at the foot of his own altar. Acacius interfered to put an end to these disgraceful disorders ; and in the year 482, b}^ his influence, Calendion, a rigid advocate of Chalce- don, was consecrated to the vacant chair. But Calen- dion was found an unfit instrument for the imperial purpose; he not only resisted all solicitations to sub- scribe the Henoticon, but entered into a close under- standing with Talaia of Alexandria and the pontiff of Bome against the imperial project. Calendion was ac- cordingly deposed ; and Peter the Fuller, whose influence with the Eutj^chian party in Syria was not inferior to that of Mongus in Egypt, was reseated upon the throne of Antioch. Not even Mongus himself had in times past incurred more vehement censures from Acacius than this person. The glaring inconsistencies involved in these proceedings were eagerly seized upon by the zealots of both parties ', both agreed in branding him as a false friend, an impostor, and a cheat. No ingenuity could now rescue him from the false position in which his mode of conducting it, rather than the design itself, had placed him.
At Borne the reinstatement of Peter the Fuller was
regarded as a gross aggravation of the many
reinstatement offenccs of Acacius. FcHx III. forthwith caused
of Peter the ^]^g scntcnce delivered ao-ainst Peter Mono-us
to be republished, with the name of his friend
and associate in guilt included ; and both were, ^^ by au-
CiiAr. I.] HOME AND CONSTANTINOPLE. 37
thority of the apostolic see, ejected from the episcopate and cut off from the communion of the faithful." Every attempt that monastic cunning- could devise was made officially to serve the patriarch himself with a copy of the sentence, and to give it the utmost publicity in Con- stantinople. But the Acoemetan monks, to whom that dangerous duty was assigned, were assailed by the in- dignant populace; some of them were slain outright, and others thrown into dungeons.'" Acacius himself re- sented the attempted outrage by causing the r^^^^ ^^^^^ ^.^ name of Felix to be struck out of the sacred pope Feiix diptychs of his church ; and by that act form- stmckoutof
if -^ , ^.T f. ' 1. -^ • the diptychs.
ally cut oil the pope irom his own communion and that of the church over which he presided.'
These reciprocal acts of defiance completed the schism, and revived the spiritual warfare which the Henoticon had for a time appeased. The sue- nagement of cess of that scheme was now more distant thecontro- than ever. E;ome had alwa}^s less to fear from open war than from peace upon any terms not dictated b}'^ herself: she had drawn all the advantages that could be derived from the prevarications and inadvertencies of her opponents ; and she had, by an assertion of pre- rogative with a plainness and to an extent hitherto un- exampled in ecclesiastical history, established her own position, impressed both friends and enemies with an im- posing idea of her power to protect or injure, and taken her stand upon an eminence from which no extent of jurisdiction or authority in the Church seemed beyond her reach.
Reckoning from the close of the great council of Chalcedon, the conflict of claims and interests contrasted between Rome and Constantinople had lasted p^si^-i"" "[
„ *xr ^ • ^^ Kome and
tor a term ot twenty-two years, i et during all constanti- that time we are surprised to find that it had ""P^*" ? ^^l
14. -1 -^ .P +1 + Struggle for
not occurred to a single writer oi that age — power.
•• One of these devoted persons, we to escape detection. Baron. Ann. 484,
are told, had the hardihood to pin a § 35.
copy of the sentence to the pallium of ' Baron. Ann. 484, §§ 31, 34, 3.'5.
the patriarch as he entered his cathe- Conf. TVece^A., as quoted by Ccni.Majrrf,
dral to say Mass, and the good luck cent. v. p. 1210.
38 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
that no advocate of the rig-hts of the great metropoHtaii church had started up — to mquire into the historical foun- dation of claims which now unequivocally threatened to swallow up every other ecclesiastical power or authority. But when we reflect how very probable it is that few churches were in possession of copies of the councils, or of any documents likely to throw lig'ht upon the past his- tory of Roman prerog'ative ; that in the dearth of written record, tradition, — vag'ue, unauthenticated, fictitious, — constituted the body and the bulk of historical testimony; that such records as already existed were in many in- stances of very questionable g^enuineness and authen- ticity; that, moreover, theolog-ical scholars could reap little credit with the world but by outbidding- each other in the subtlety of their arg-umentations or the boundless fury of their zeal, — we are no long-er surprised to find Greeks, Asiatics, Syrians, Eg-yptians, alike destitute of the weapons necessary to defend their common independ- ence. And in fact, to all but Constantinople, Rome lay too far away for any direct interference with their do- mestic g-overnment ; and the ever-varying* movements of faction so absorbed their attention, that a leg'ion of emis- saries, armed with all the power of the Church-catholic, could not have aroused them to a sense of their common interests, or of the necessity of combined resistance to a common enemy. Among* such elements, Rome's task re- quired only minute information and clever manag-ement. Constantinople stood foremost in the list of foes to be en- countered ; and she stood almost alone. She was, indeed, supported for the present by the civil g-overnment ; but within her own bosom, and in every province subject to her jurisdiction or influence, she nourished a numerous and determined faction in close alliance with her g-reat adversary. At perpetual feud with her own subjects or dependents, she could count upon no more solid basis of defence than the precarious favour of the civil g'overn- ment. The sequel will show how this reliance served her turn in the time of need.
In the year 488 Acacius died, and was succeeded by Fravitta : a person described by one class of writers as
Chap. I.] ATTEMPTED RECONCILIATION. 39
a hypocritical pi'etender ; by others, as a man of undoubted piety and ability. But he g-ave Acacius: in his adhesion to the Henoticon, and for that Fravitta and act incurred the envenomed hatred of Rome iSuc^es- and her partisans. His pontificate of barely four ^^^^• months would perhaps have escaped attention, if he had not been marked out by the opposite faction for post- humous persecution. He was succeeded by Euphemius, an Alexandrian by birth, and a presbyter of the church of Constantinople. His creed was unimpeachable, and his character beyond suspicion; he professed inviolable alle- giance to the Chalcedonian confession, and testified on all occasions his abhorrence of the Eutychian error. Soon after his accession he strove to discharge his Attempted chair from the odium incurred by communion reconciliation Avith its now notorious champion Mongus of ^^''^ "™'^' Alexandria; he struck the name of that adventurer out of the sacred calendar of his church ; and, without pub- licly renouncing the Henoticon, strove to mitigate the evils of which that unfortunate document had been the occasion. In proof of his earnest desire for the restoration of union, he entered into correspondence with Pope Felix III.; and as a preliminary step to the restoration of peace, he reinstated the name of that pontiff' in the diptychs of his church, from which it had been struck out by Acacius. But the latter sternly refused to listen to any overtures of reconciliation until the names of the deceased patri- archs Acacius and Fravitta should have been doomed to the ignominy of a public erasure from the sacred calen- dar. Euphemius was unwilling thus to disgrace his own church; and probably, if willing, was unable to carry a measure alike insulting to the court and dangerous to the peace of the metropolis. Felix was, hoAvever, inacces- sible to all entreaty to admit to his communion any one who, directly or indirectly, professed sympathy or spiri- tual felloAvship with excommunicated heretics. He con- tended that the sentence of the apostolic see attached to the whole ecclesiastical status and character of the de- ceased prelates ; he asserted that condemnation and de- position by that authority \A'as destructive of all rank or
40 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
place in the Church ; and that those who still upheld them must be deemed accomplices and participators of those errors for which they had already suffered the spiritual death.-*
In the year 491 the emperor Zeno died, and the senate Anastasius I. pi'oclaimed Anastasius I.; and in the following* emperor; year Gclasius^ an African by birth, and the se- FdixUL; cretary and confidential fi^iend of Pope Felix Geiasius IH.^ succccded that pontiff upon the papal ^°^*^* throne. The new pope united the zeal of Au- g-ustine with the integ-rity of Leo the Great, tog-ether with every s])ark of that pride of power and station that had ever animated the occupants of St. Peter's chair. But this pontificate ushers in a new phase of the g'reat controversy between Rome and Constantinople — a con- test, on the one hand, for universal spiritual dominion ; and on the other, for existence as an independent patri- archate.
J ^aron. Ann. 489, §§i. etsqq. Conf. iV/ccp/ior.,— ap. Cent. Magdeb. cent. v. pp 1214, 1270.
CHAPTER II.
PAPAL PEEKOGATIVE UNDER POPES GELASIUS I. AND SYMMACHUS.
Anastasius emperor — His disposition towards the litigants — Pojje Gelasius I. re- nounces the communion of Constantinople — Euphemius patriarch — His pacific disposition — Mission of Eaustus and Ireugeus — Monition of Gelasius to the emperor Anastasius — Claims of Gelasius — Papal sophistry — Constructive sub- jection— Letter of Gelasius to the emperor Anastasius — Analysis of the letter — Gelasius and the bishops oflllyricum— The Illyrians entertain an erroneous notion of the Roman claims — Roman synod and declaration of the pontifical prerogative — Letter of Gelasius to the Illyrians — He impeaches Acacius of rebellion, &c. — Analysis of the letter, &c. — Epitome of the Gelasian declara- tion of prerogative, &c. — Scope of the document — Its results — Death of Gela- sius I. — Anastasius II. pope — His pacific character — Death of Anastasius II. — Symmachus and Laiirentius — Contested election — Domestic state of the church of Rome at the close of the fifth century — Government interferences in the election of popes — under Odovaker — Law of Odovaker against the aliena- tion of church funds — offensive to the clergy — Its effect — Religious faction in Rome — Contest between Symmachus and Laurentius referred to King Theo- doric — He decides in favour of Symmachus — Law against canvassing, &c. — Impeachment of Pope Symmachus — How dealt with by Theodoric — The Sy nodus palmaris — Symmachus retracts his submission to the synod — Plea of Symmachus — The synod declares its own incompetency to try the pope — Ennodius on papal impeccability— Synod of the year 502 — Repeal of the laws of Odovaker — Re-enactment of the law against bribery — Synodal encroach- ments upon the civil legislature — Remonstrance of the Gallic prelates — Synod of the year 503— Adoption of the Ennodian doctrine of papal impeccability, &c. — Declaration of episcopal privilege — Summary of ecclesiastical privilege, &c. — Rights of civil state declared — Anomalous relation of the Chui'ch to the State in the age of Theodoric the Gi'eat.
Ariadne, the daughter of Leo the Isaurian and the
widow of ZeilO, on whom the choice of a sue- Anastasius
cesser to her late husband devolved^ without emperor. deh\y nominated their common friend Anastasius ; and within forty days of the demise of Zeno crowned and married the new emperor, with the hearty concurrence of the senate and people of Constantinople. As a temporal ruler, the balance of testimony is in his favour; and those qualities which had contributed to his elevation main- tained him upon the throne for the unusual period of
49 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
twenty-seven years." But Anastasius appears^ as far as the testimony of his adversaries may be trusted^ to have His disposi- pledged himself to the Eutychian party prior tion towards to his elevation ; and for the same cause Eu- partieTm the phemius of Constantinople is reported to have Church, vehemently opposed his elevation, and to have consented only upon receiving* from him a promise in writing- to maintain the catholic profession, to permit no innovation in the Church, and to adopt the rule of the council of Chalcedon in all thing's touching- the faith.*" It is not alleg-ed that the promise was ever withdrawn ; and indeed little active partisanship in matters of religion is imputed to this prince. The Eoman pontiff, at least in the outset of his reig-n, treated with him rather as with a friend than a foe '," and Evag-rius assures us that he was the devoted advocate of peace, an enemy of all innova- tion, and intent only on banishing- from his states all oc- casion for relig-ious or civil strife."* It is, however, pretty clear that the policy of Anastasius inclined in favour of the Henoticon of his predecessor; that he endeavoured to hold the balance between the various sects and factions^ into which the Eastern churches were split up, and to preserve to all the rig-ht to put their own interpretation upon that instrument, provided they should grant the like liberty to the rest. He appears to have indifferently protected those who adhered to, and those who rejected, the Chalcedonian decrees and the expositions of faith appended to them. But the methods of conciliation and mutual toleration lay beyond the comprehension of that age; the experiment was eminently unsuccessful, and Home remained the only gainer by all that was lost to the true interests of Christian faith and practice.
In Pope Gelasius I. the church of Kome found an able advocate and a resolute champion. He declined
a See the testunony for and against <= Conf. Gelas. Pap. Ep. iv., — Hard.
the character of Anastasius very fairly Concil. torn. ii. pp. 893 et sqq.
set out by Father Tillemont, Hist, des ^ Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. 30. And
Emp. torn, vi., Vie d'Anastase, arts. iii. with this agrees the extract of Valesius
and iv. pp. 535 to 539. (ad Evag. loc, cit.) from the Breviarium
•• This incident is derived from the of Liberatiis.
Byzantines Theophanes and Cedrcuus. ^ Conf. Evag. loc. mod. cit. Tillemont, ubi sup. p. 533.
CiiAP. II.] GELASIUS AND EUPHEMIUS.
to announce his election to the patriarch of j, Constantinople until assured of his submission sius dedirTc's to the terms prescribed by his predecessor. '^P'^^^opai
riii_ 1 -n 1 • p /S • 1 communion
Inus when Hiuphemius oi Uonstantmople com- with Con- plained that Gelasius had omitted to send him stantmopic. the usual synodal letters announcing* his election to the see of Kome, he promptly replied that " thoug'h it was customary to g'ive such notification as a mark of favour to those prelates who cherished the communion of the holy seC; yet that it was in no degTce oblig'atory upon the latter; and though a matter of strict duty on the part of all other churches in their ordinary intercourse with the first see of Christendom^ there was no reciprocity of obli- gation, nor was the supreme pontiff of Rome in any Avay bound to announce his accession to the inferior sees of Christendom."^ And it must be admitted, that a custom springing from the original equality of all bishops was wholly inconsistent with the novel position assumed by the see of Rome. That Christian fellowship, that free com- munion denoted by the mutual delivery of synodal letters by the bishops upon their election, or on other important occasions, had become an anomaly in the scheme of the Roman primacy. Pope Gelasius therefore took care to divest these documents of their primitive significance, and to place them upon the footing of acts of special grace and favour towards those whom his church might deem worthy of such a distinction.^
The anxiety which Euphemius took no care to con- ceal for the communion and support of Rome, served only to reveal the weakness of his position. He apologised to the pope for his participation in the imperial scheme of union : he had, he said, been driven into compromise for the sake of peace, but had never swerved from the ortho- dox faith of the Church; and he mildly remonstrated with his brother patriarch for objecting to the retention of the names of his predecessors in the sacred diptj^chsas a condescension in itself immaterial, yet necessary to the
f Ep. Gelas. ad Euphem., Hard. Cone. §§ 10 and 1 4. But neither of these pass- torn, ii. pp. 879, 880: see the passages ages is very clearly expressed, "non arbitramur," &c. and "cum au- s Conf. Baron, ubi sup. § 7. tern dicis," &c. Conf. Baron. Ann, 492,
44 CATIIEDKA PETEI. [Book III.
attainment of the great end in view — peace and unity in the Church.'' Gelasius replied, that by permitting- his name, with that of the pope and other orthodox prelates, to be associated with the name of the condemned heretic Acacius," he had placed himself in the false and humili- ating* position in which he now stood 5 and that if he (Gelasius) should connive at such a course of proceeding*, he should himself become a sharer in the spiritual dis- g-race attending- it: that therefore, unless Euphemius should without delay obliterate all traces of communion or sympathy with heretics and heres}^, by the erasure of the names of the delinquents from the liturg-ies of his church, he could not consent to restore him to the com- munion of the holy see.^
If it had been the single, or even the principal, object Double of Pope Gelasius, in repelling- the advances of aspect of the pacific patriarch, to save the reputation of church- his churcli and to avoid the contamination of pohcy. heretical communion, some apolog*y mig-ht be sug-g-ested for the course he adopted. But it is undeniable that the main intent of the pope was to establish in him- self the character of supreme ecclesiastical judg-e; a motive of conduct different in its nature from that defensive at- titude to which no just exception can be taken.'' Yet the orthodox churches of the East may reasonably be sup- posed to have reg-arded the conduct of Gelasius from this latter point of view, and to have looked up to him with- out suspicion as the sing-le-minded defender of the ortho- dox faith. With this feeling* on their minds, they could not be expected to disting*uish accurately between the defensive measures to which they were well disposed to give their support, and that offensive warfiire wag-ed by the see of Rome ag-ainst every rival judicature in the
■i According to Baronius (Ann. 492, nius discovers, with a view to explain
§§ 7, 8, 9), two letters were written by the address of Gelasius's letter to Eu-
Euphemius to Pope Gelasius : the above phemius : " Dilectissimo/ra<r? Euphe-
facts are extracted from the reply of miano," &c. The highest charge that
the latter to the second letter, sent by could be brought against Acacius was
the hand of his deacon Sinclitius. that of schism.
' Pope Gelasius, it appears, did not J Ep. Gelas. ad Euph.,— /fo?(/. Gone,
take the distinction between a heretic loc. sup. cit. and a schismatic which Cardinal Baro- ^ Couf. Book I. c. vii. pp. 161-163.
Chap. II.] MISSION OF FAUSTUS AND IRENiEUS. 45
Church. Thus^ on the one hand, the Roman advocate mig'ht feel himself at liberty to discern in each act of acquiescence or submission a fresh proof of the acknow- ledg'ed universality of the papal jurisdiction ; while on the other, the unreflecting-, the unwary, or the ig-norant mig'ht be unconsciously ensnared into dependence where they intended no more than Christian trust and fellowship.
And there is no room to doubt, that by this time the see of Rome had succeeded in so comming-ling- and Rome acimits confounding" the ideas of communion and sub- °o distinction jection, that she was probably herself hardly munlonan™ sensible of any distinction. Certainly she ad- subjection. mitted none such in her intercourse with foreign churches. At this juncture a simply political event afforded to Pope Gelasius an opportunity to lay before his friends in the East a full and explicit statement of his reasons for reject- ing' the application of Euphemius, and of placing* the pre- rog'ative of St. Peter's chair in a lig'ht so broad and clear that no one could thereafter plead ig'norance of the terms of Roman communion, or hope to obtain it but by the ab- solute surrender of all corporate or individual privileg-e.
King* Theodoric the Great had occasion to send two Roman envoys, Faustus and Irenoeus, to the Mission of court of Constantinople upon certain secret ne- Fau.stus and g-otintions of importance. These persons pos- ^'■''""^"'^• sessed the confidence of Gelasius, and, without reference to his lay character, he selected Faustus to be the bearer and publisher of his mandates in the East; a step, it must be observed, hitherto unprecedented in the annals of eccle- siastical intercourse.' Euphemius had closed his corre- spondence with Rome in ang'er and disg-ust. He was pro- bably now disposed to let thing's take their course, and to trust to time -and his own exertions to counteract the g-row- ino- influence of Rome among' the fanatical adherents of the Chalcedonian confession. But neither the traditional policy of his see nor a sense of his duty as he conceived it permitted Pope Gelasius to tolerate such a state of qui-
' Faustus had been, it appears, in the sent to him afterwards, upon receiving first instance intrusted with verbal in- his report of the state of things at Con- structions from the pope. The commo- stantinople. nitorium, or written in.structions, were
46 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
esceiice ; suspension of intercourse must not be allowed
to imply even a truce with the enemies of the faith, or
the g"ainsayers of the supremacy of its divinely appointed
g-uardian and dispenser. From the report of
stmction's Faustus hc leamt that Euphemius, so far from
to Faustus, exhibiting" a disposition more favourable to the demands of Rome, was drawing- away his party from the papal communion. He therefore despatched to the former a " commonitorium/' or instruction, embracing* every point of the existing- controversy, with a view to furnish his friends in the East with the most effective arg-umentative artillery against the "hypocritical pre- varications" to whose machinations he imputed the daring- rebellion of the patriarch and his party."'
The emperor Anastasius had, it seems, complained to
Monition of the cuvoys that the censure passed upon his Pope Geiasius religious profcssiou had caused the senate to
plror A^s- rcfusc to commuuicatc with him. Gelasius tasius. denied that he had ever reflected upon the em- peror's religion ; " but if," he added, " it should please him to make common cause Avith the damned, he had no right to blame him for the consequences ; more espe- cially as, by renouncing his connection with heretics, he might not only escape the like condemnation, but acquire a title to the affectionate regard and communion of the holy see :" that the senate of Constantinople should have declined religious intercourse with him, was no ground of complaint ; for they were fully justified in avoiding the contamination of heresy, whereby the}^ must have forfeited the favour of the apostolic see : " but," said the indignant monitor, " these folk demand in one breath that I should pardon the unrepentant and hardened malefactor — him who hath died in mortal sin — in order that they may be received into our communion ; and in the next they threaten to withdraw themselves from that communion. A valiant threat indeed ! For have they not long ago most effectually renounced our communion ?
™ Baronius — ostensibly from Cassio- was found by Faustus " majorum rix- dorius, whose works I have not imme- arum fomenta miscere," &c. Ann. 49,3, diatelyathand — tells us that Euphemius § 9.
Chap. II.] CLAIMS OF POPE GELASIUS. 47
Did they not know that Acacius was damned already by the very terms of the Chalcedonian decrees^ in that he took under his protection that error which^ among- many others^ was therein specially condemned ? But Acacius, forsooth, was sentenced without trial ! What need of trial in the case of one already under condemnation ? Is it not manifest that all the abettors of his heres}^ were thereby condemned, in the same manner and form as was also ever}^ other heresy since the foundation of the Church ; and that my predecessor (FeHx III.) was but the hand by which that judg-ment was executed, not the originator of any new process ? And this proceeding- is within the competency not of the holy see alone, but of every bishop ; for they are all at liberty to separate from their communion any one, whoever and whatever he may be, who hath participated in any heresy already con- demned by the Church-catholic."
The Greeks, it appears, had shown a disposition to inquire too curiously into the g-rounds of the „ Roman claim to this universal jurisdiction. siXcial^^s They had put forward the decrees of the four ^''""/."'''"i '^^- g-eneral councils of the Church for securing- the aii canonical liberties of the individual churches ag-ainst fo- ^'^^t^'^tions. reig-n encroachment." The case of Acacius was mani- festly not that of a judicially convicted heretic, as the pope assumed it to be. The offence of the deceased pa- triarch, if any, amounted at the utmost to that of schism ; and it was surely a matter of inquiry whether that of- fence had indeed been committed, and whether it could be broug-ht within the description of any of the heresies condemned by conciliar enactment. To that law, there- fore, the Greeks had very reasonably appealed. They had presumed to quote the canons ag-ainst the arbitrary act of Felix, and thereby drew down upon themselves a storm of pontifical wrath. ^^They fling- the canons in our teeth," said he : ^^ verily they know not what they are talking- about ; for they are themselves the very first to break throug-h these canons, h)j the mere act ofrefusiiuj obedience to the 'primate of all the chairs: for it is by vir-
" Conf. chap. i. of this Book, pp. 42, 43.
48 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book III.
tue of these very canons that an appeal to the chair of Peter lieth open to all and every portion of the Church- catholic; the same law constituteth Eome the supreme judg-e over the whole Churchy thoug-h herself amenable to no earthly tribunal ; from her decrees there is no appeal ; her sentences are irreversible and binding- upon the whole world."°
There is here an apparently calculated confusion in Papal the lan^uag-e of Pope Gelasius. There was sophistry. i«eally no appeal in the case. The complaint of Talaia to the pope could not come before him by way of appeal ; but must, in conformity with the decision of Pope Siricius in the case of Bonosus, and^ we may add, that of Innocent I. in the case of Chrysostom/ be first adjudicated upon by the synod of the province or diocese where the reputed dehnquent resided. It was no answer to the objection, thnt the difficulties in the way of as- sembling' such a synod were insuperable, and therefore that the pope might dispense with that preliminary, and treat the cause as if it had come before him in the ordinary canonical form of an appeal from the decision of a competent ecclesiastical tribunal.'' In this daring- appeal to the canons, Pope Gelasius, however, does not venture to fix upon any sing-le ordinance among- them on which he g-rounded his proud assumption of juris- diction and universal immunity. But we are by this time sufficiently familiar with the mode in which the Roman pontiffs connected their claims with the canons of the Church. As we ha^e more than once repeated, the vi"' canon of Nicsea, with its spurious Roman prefix, was the only scrap of canon law she could alleg-e with any chance of a hearing- from the Christian world. And if, "in the case before us, the traditional position of the
o See the whole document ap. Hard. it is indeed difficult to say to what court
Cone. torn. ii. pp. 884-887; Baron. Ana. he was by law amenable in the first
493, §§ 13, 14, 1.5. instance. But though his case were a
p See Book II. c. i. p. 266; and Book " casus omissus," the pope could upon
II. c. i. p. 279 note (e). no principle of law or common sense
q Acacius, even if treated as simple thereby acquire a right to deal with it
bishop of Byzantium, must have been either as an original or an appeal cause
tried before the comprovincial bishops in his own court, of the Thracian diocese. As patriarch.
Chap. II.] CONSTRUCTIVE SUBJECTION. 49
pope had not been much strong-er than liis law, he could hardl}' have escaped the reprobation or the derision of Christendom.
But at the close of the fifth century the myth of the chair of Peter was so far established^ that no verbal contradiction was to be apprehended ; wTth TheS and Pope Gelasius was prepared with a series ofR^mea
/• ^ 1 , 1 1 • • • 1 r\ 1 constructive
ot precedents and admissions ag-amst bonstan- acknowiedg- tinople^ which mig-ht at all events serve to ™''."* ?*" ^"b- perplex his antag-onists and to g-ive confidence '^^^ '""' to his own supporters in the East. " It was obvious/^ he said^ " that the late proceeding's a g-ainst the heretics Timothy ^Elurus, Peter Mong-us, Peter (Gnapheus) of Antiochj John of Apamnea^ and divers others^ originated with, and were the spontaneous act and deed of, the apostolic see : that in all these causes Acacius had so- licited and received his instructions from Eome ; and that he acted in all thing's only as the willhig- official, the obedient minister and ag-ent of the holy see for the due execution of the sentences pronounced b}^ the pope (FeHx III.). These sentences/' he added, "were pro- mulg-ated and authenticated in due synodal form ', con- sequently no one — least of all the ag'ent himself — could be at liberty to recede from them, or ag-ain to take the condemned delinquents to his bosom : neither could Aca- cius himself complain if he were dealt with in the same manner as they had been, for having* fallen back into fellowship with the men whose condemnation he had served and promoted. And yet," exclaimed the pope, " the apolog'ists of this person have dared to alleg-e ag'ainst us those canons which they themselves have so g*rossly infring-ed, to serve the interests of their own exorbitant ambition !"
It is almost superfluous to point out to the reader that, as ftV as the evidence befoi'e us g'oes, Forced con- Acacius himself had not the remotest intention struction of to do homag"e to the chair of Peter while con- Acadus by sen ting" to act with Eome in pursuit of a com- thepojie. mon purpose. It is true that he had approved the cen- sures passed upon the heretics Mong-us and his associates j
VOL. II. E
50 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
but he had not been an orig'inal party to the quasi-judi- cial proceeding's at Home ag*ainst those persons^ nor had he acknowledg-ed their vahdity so as to bind himself as a party to the sentence. While Kome restricted her pre- tensions to the rig"ht of excluding- them from her own particular communion, Acacius mig-ht indeed approve the act ; but when told that such verbal approval not only bound him as a party to the process, but deg-raded him to the position of a simple minister or ag'ent for its exe- cution, he and his apologists had a full rig'ht to ask upon what canonical gTounds such a demand was based. The expulsions of ^Elurus and Gnapheus from their sees, in- deed, appear to have been altog^ether arbitrary : no synods had been convoked to decide between them and their op- ponents 5 the acts by which they lost their chairs — like those b}^ which they reg"ained them — were rather popular and tumultuary than judicial: there was therefore no re- cord by which Acacius could be so far bound as to con- vert a verbal approval into a conclusive eng-ag-ement such as that alleged against him by the pope.
Yet there was enough in his conduct throughout
Eome pre- thcsc trausactious to fix him with the charges of
sumes a uni- inconsistency and subterfuo*e ; thoup'h perhaps
versal assent . * , i i < -i i
to her supre- m uo greater degree than must necessarily be macy. incurred in all cases of compromise with former antagonists. But after making the most of these incon- sistencies, Gelasius found himself at last thrown back upon the canons. It was important to impress upon the Oriental world that Acacius had adopted the Roman con- struction of those canons : and to that end, when acting in concurrence with Rome, he is treated as her submis- sive agent and servant ; when in opposition, as a mere traitor and a rebel. His acts are valid to prove submis- sion and dependence, but worthless to excuse or explain resistance. But this process of proof could be of avail only upon the supposition that the law or the custom regulat- ing the relation of the sees of Christendom to that of Rome had received the universal assent affirmed by the pope : otherwise the mere joint pursuit of a common purpose could furnish no evidence at all to show the legal subjec-
CuAP. II.] PAPAL DEALING WITH CANON-LAW. 51
tion of the one jurisdiction to the other. Rome could claim no other than a legal supremacy; nor could she put her own construction upon isolated acts until she had settled the law applicahle to those acts — until she should have shown that that law was known to and admitted by the actors, and that the}^ intended to be bound by it. But for this she had not a frao-ment of an admission to exhibit .... the alleg'ed law was unknown to, and unacknow- ledg'ed in any shape by, the prelacy of the East : if they acted with Rome, they did so for their own purposes, but without the remotest intention of professing themselves the ag-ents and subjects of Rome."
It is, however, tolerably clear that Pope Gelasius had in his own mind identified and incorporated the prerog-ative of St. Peter's chair, as he found it in^ wth'^e^x- upon the records of his church, with the corpus isting^anon- of ecclesiastical law. The canons to which he appealed were in truth made up of the traditional com- mentaries of his predecessors — more especially those of Leo the Great — upon the vi"" canon of Niceea, and the sub- sequent cx-iKirte declarations of prerog'ative arising* out of them ; and he was therefore fully prepared to treat all resistance to that prerog*ative as a sacrilegious outrag-e upon the operative ecclesiastical law. Hence his indig-- nant invective ag'ainst Euphemius and his patron for re- jecting- the decisions of the late Roman synods : " They had dared to sit in judg'ment upon the chair of Peter ; they had presumed to dispute the authority and to ques- tion the powers of the apostolic commission ; the bishop of a see Avhich hj the canons (!) hath no place among- the spiritual thrones of Christendom,' hath ventured upon his own judg-ment to g-ainsay the canonical rights of the apostolic see,' as affirmed hy the holy synods." An indi- rect attack had in fiict been made upon the fundamental
"• For further illustration of some of pp. 300-311, ch. iv. pp. 374-376, ch. v.
the points contained in the last two pa- pp. 390-392, 400, 401, 406-411.
ragraphs, — particularly as to the mode ^ It will be remembered that the iii''
of dealing with the canons so frequently and iv"' canons of Constantinople (371)
resorted to by the Roman pontiffs,— and the xxviii"' of Chalcedon were waste
the reader is referred to the following paper at Rome.
passages in the first two Books of this ' The vi"" of Nicsea was passed before
work, viz. Book I. ch. viii. pp. 191-193, Constantinople was in existence, and ch. ix. pp. 202, 203; Book II. c. ii.
53 CATHEDRA PETKT. [Book III.
doctrine of the chair of Peter ; the Eoman exposition of the "Tu es Petrus" was in dang-er. Gelasius felt and acknowledg-ed the challenge ; and it drew from him the fullest, plainest, and most instructive declaration of the papal prerog-ative that had ever issued from the papal oracle.
This remarkable document was drawn up in the form Letter of of an apolog'etic letter, addressed to the em- Pope Gelasius peror Anastasius, with a view to convey a full pe^rorY^'s- and fraiik exposition of the relation between the tasius. Church and the State, and of the reciprocal oblig'ations incident to their independent character and free alliance. In the exordium Gelasius professes abso- lute submission in all matters of lawful obedience. But the world, he observes, is ruled by two powers, the pon- tifical and the royal; the more g'rave and important of the two is that which appertains to the priesthood ; for they it is who must hereafter render an account unto the Lord for the deeds of kings themselves. '^ You cannot be ig-norant, most gracious son," that though you rule over men in the world, yet, as a devout prince, you are in duty bound to submit in spiritual concerns to your prelates, and to look to them for the means of your sal- vation j that as to the administration of divine ordinances you are not a ruler, but a subject ; that in such concerns you have no right to command ; that it is j^ou that are dependent upon them as 3'our spiritual pastors ; that it is not for them therein to consult 3'Our will, or for you to obtrude it upon them."
The pope indeed graciously excepts civil government
Paramount from the competciicy of the priesthood, and ad-
dignity and jjjits that obedicuce to the lawful commands of
^"ofThe^ the sovereign cannot be refused by his bishops
pontificate, without incurring a heav}^ debt of sin. But this
topic soon vanishes from his view, and Gelasius addresses
himself with fervour to the contemplation of the graver of
the two powers by which the world is ruled — that power
before which even princes must veil their heads in humble
submission. " But among all the sacerdotal principalities,
" The first time this mode of address to princes occurs in the papal writings (?)•
Chap. II.] GELASIUS ON THE PONTIFICATE. 53
where/' he asks, "is that Avhich is comparable pontifical in dig'iiity to the power which God himself had argument. placed on an eminence hig-h above all — that ivhich is ac- kaowledcjed by the universal Church — which was erected by the word of Christ Jumself — that power which, thoug-h often assailed by the kings of the world, still, like the rock on which it is founded, stands invincible and im- preg'nable — the primacy of the JRoman church ? For as by virtue of this commission the Roman pontiff becomes the (jage and pledge to God for the soundness of the whole body of the Church, if the apostolic see should even in the minutest matter betray its trust, or deal falsely by the faith, the whole fabric of the Church, which is built upon the single foundation of St. Peter's confession, must be shaken to its base. There can be therefore no peace or compromise with her until the very seeds of perversity, the very roots and fibres of error, be first wholly destroyed and exterminated ; in her bosom there can be no commu- nion or sympathy with heresy. If it be once believed that the Eutychian dog-ma may stand side by side or be made to agTee with the catholic faith, that heresy is thereby published and affirmed. So if any man make p ^ j^. common cause with the jmtrons of heretics, he peachment must be deemed an abettor of heres3^ For by all human state-law the harbourer of the thief becomes involved in the guilt of his confederates ; nor can he be reg-arded as innocent who, thoug-h not himself directly implicated in the crime, yet hesitates not to admit the criminal to his intimacy. By such a course it was that Acacius had become involved in the g'uilt of his confede- rates ; and was therefore of necessity cut off from the com- munion of the catholic Church and of the apostolic see, lest that see mig'ht, even b}' the remotest appearance of conniv- ance, seem to contract some taint of the like perfidy." But in dealino- with the more direct assault ,. , .
n 1 n 1 1 11 1 • * !• l->emands im-
01 the (jT reeks upon the alleg'ed prerog'ative* oi piicitobedi- St. Peter's chair, the pontiff did not think fit to preliminary face the objection. No foreig'ii church, he inti- to eondiiar mated, could lawfully reopen or discuss a subject ^"^""■y-
• See p. 47 of tliis chapter.
54 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
settled from all antiquity ; nor could any but the g'eneral voice of all Christendom be com2:>etent to instruct the chair of Peter upon the scope and meaning* of the Nicene decrees: until therefore that voice should be heard^ the duty of obedience remained in full force. " First/' he ex- claimed; " let the abhorred names be blotted from the me- morials of the Church; and when that is done^ let any one that dares stand forth and impeach in due form the vener- able decrees of the Fathers: it shall then appear which party hath faithfully kept the traditions of the elders^ and which hath^ by irreverent impeachment^ become as ^ ,. a thief and a robber in the Church."" In the
Repudiates , . , ■■•,
the plea of samc peremptory tone he set aside all con- pohtioai siderations of political expediency asfainst the
expediency. i- - 1. ^ i • ^ r ^ .t i-
erasure oi the obnoxious names from the dip- tychs : " What if it should happen that the erasure of those names should be followed by popular tumult or disturbance of the public peace 1 That/' he said^ " was the emperor's peculiar care ; for was it not obvious that if he should at any time hnd it necessary to make use of the public force to carry an unpopular law into execu- tion^ he would not hesitate to exert his lawful powers for that purpose j how much more, then, was it incumbent upon him to put those powers in motion when called upon to reduce his people to obedience to the divine precept 1^'^"
Such, at the close of the fifth century, was the case Geiasiusand sct up on behalf of the Petrine primacy by one the compro- of its most learned and most resolute advo- bSJops^of cates. But Gelasius was a man of prompt and lUyricum. decisive action — one to whom compromise was an abomination — one who knew no middle path between precept and practice ; between the rig'ht to command and the duty to obey. The bishops of Illyricum Orientale — a diocese which had for ag-es past been reg'arded by Rome as within her special superintendence" — had hesi-
' See the entire document, ap. Hard. ^ Conf. Ep. Gelas. ad Anastas., — ap.
Cone. torn, ii, pp. 893 to 896. Conf. Hard. Cone. torn. ii. p. 896.
Baron. Ann. 493, §§ 10 to 21, with the '^ Conf Book II, cb. i. pp. 279, 280;
cardinal's running commentary; also and ch. ii. pp. 310-313. Ep. ad Orientales, Hard. torn. ii. p. 924.
Chap. II.] GELASIUS TO THE ILLYRIANS. 65
tated to make the erasure of the names of Acacius and Fravitta from their registers a condition of church-fel- lowship among' themselves. Man}* of them had^ indeed, struck those names out of their own services; but had not declined communion with their metropolitan of Thessa- lonica, who resolutely retained them. Others, it appears, were still upon friendly terms with Euphemius of Con- stantinople, but at the same time anxious not to forfeit the communion of Kome. Gelasius hastened to convince them that such a position was untenable. The arch- bishop of Thessalonica was put out of the Roman com- nmnion for his obstinate sympathy with Constantinople. But it was of importance that this act of power should be unconditionally adopted by all whom the voice of Rome could reach. Gelasius therefore summoned a com- mission, or synod, consisting* of seventy bishops of his Italian dependencies, for the publication of a solemn de- claration of rigiit, embracing" the whole prerog'ative of the see of Peter and the duties w^hich the relation thus created entailed upon the universal Church and all its members. The Illyrians, it appears, had fallen ^rror of the into the error of supposing* that the see of Kome, iiiyrian like all others, was bound by existing* canons to the alleged in adjudicating* upon ecclesiastical causes, and jurisdiction were therefore at a loss to comprehend by what ° °™ ' public law or ecclesiastical custom a sing'le patriarch, without the intervention of a reg'ular synodal inquiry and sentence, pretended to excommunicate and depose a bishop of equally exalted rank. This was dang*erous g'round; and Pope Gelasius resolved to convince them of their mistake on the two points which the objection em- braced. It was indispensable that they should be made to understand Jirst, that the holy see was not bound by the ordinary rules of synodal proceeding* where it saw g'ood cause for departhig from them; and secondly, that the bishop of Constantinople not only stood beneath the see of Home, but beneath all other patriarchal and me- tropolitan sees; that, in fact, his church could pretend to no canonical place, rank, or authority of any but of the lowest deg-ree among* the sees of Christendom.
56 CATHEDRA PETBI. [Book III.
Whether the dechiration of rig-ht published b}^ the
seventy Roman prelates preceded or followed
and deciara- ' the remarkable epistle of Gelasius to the 111}^-
tion of ponti- rian prelates to be next adverted to, is of small
heal right. ' t n • t i i
moment, it larnishes the best commentary upon the scope and design of that epistle, and may be treated as an appropriate prelude to it. "■ We think it re- quisite/' said the assenting' fathers^ " to make known to all, that as there can be but one bride-chamber of Christ, the holy apostolical church of Rome does not owe its high pre-eminence above all other churches to any synodal lam or constitution ; but that it was conferred upon her by our Lord and Saviour in his gospel^ when he pronounced the w ords^ ^ Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the g-ates of hell shall not prevail ag-ainst it / and ag-ain by the words, ' I will g-ive unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whomsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whomsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven :'.... therefore the Roman church of the blessed apostle Peter . . . is the primate over all. The next to her in order is the see of Alexandria, consecrated in the name of Peter by his disciple and evangelical secretary Mark. The tJiird see is that of Antioch, likewise ren- dered illustrious through the name of the blessed Peter, seeing that he dwelt there before he inhabited Rome, and because there the followers of the new religion were first called Christian s."y
This deduction of title, it will be seen, at once cleared
Scope and *^^^ ^^^^ froui all the intricacies and impedi-
purposeofthe uieuts with which a canonical derivation — if
rightr\ette°/ ®"^^ ^'^^^ possible — was encumbered, and won-
to'the derfully assisted the pope in dissipating the
niyrians. ^^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ IHyriaus. The object, it will be borne in mind, was to convince them that the deceased patriarch Acacius was not entitled to a canonical trial ; that no inquest as to his participation in the guilt of heresy was necessar}^; that he was self-condemned, and
y See Cone. Rom. i, can. i., — ap. Hard. Cone. torn. ii. p. 938. Conf. Baron. Ann. 494, §§ 20, 21,
Chap. II.] GELASIUS TO THE ILLYRIANS. 57
that whatever deficiencies mig-ht be alleg-ed in the pro- ceeding's ag'ahist him were properly supplied by the un- bounded prerog-ative of the holy see. By thus shaping* his case, the pope g'ot rid of all the material questions both of law and of fact involved in it. The pope^ he says, was, in virtue of the primacy of the Roman see, in\ested with full authority to carry into execution all such conciliar decrees as should have received his con- currence and confirmation; consequently the questions whether Acacius was personally charg-eable with Euty- chian heres}", and whether a person not so charg'eable could contract the g'uilt of heresy by holding- intercourse or communion with heretics, were matters triable by the pope in his capacity of universal bishop, without the con- currence of any council, general or special. It was, he declared, the invariable practice of the holy see to hold those who professed heretical tenets, without judicial inquiry into the particular tacts, as condemned already by the^ simple tenor of the decree which defines the error. The chair of Peter he affirmed was endowed with the sole moderatorial and executive power for the due admi- nistration of ecclesiastical law ; that is, in each case to declare the fact, and to apply the law upon its own arbi- trary judg'ment.
Gelasius then passes on to the articles of impeach- ment ag-ainst Acacius. In all antecedent pro- Gelasius im- ceedino-s, said the nope to his correspond- peaches
^ ' . - ,iJ. jf-^, -\T Acacius ot
ents, ag"amst the heretics T^iilurus, Mong'us, prevarication and others, Acacius had acted as the self-pro- andrebeUion. fessed ag-ent and servant of Rome ; he had not only con- curred in the condemnation of those delinquents, but had actively assisted in executing- the sentences passed upon them by the holy see : but that after that he had sud- denly discontinued his dutiful intercourse with Rome; he had withheld information, wrapped himself in g'uilty silence; and at length he, the official executor of the papal commands, was found to have renewed his connection with the very men whom he had but a short time before denounced and punished. In addition to these offences, he had been g'uilty of a contempt of the most flagrant
58 CATHEDRA PETRI. ' [Book III.
character^ in decliuing- the jurisdiction of the bishop- primate of Christendom when summoned to answer be- fore him by the pontiff of the second see/ For all these delinquencies the pope assumed that he had a full rig-ht, — upon his own inquest, by his own judgment, and in strict pursuance of the decrees of the synod of Chalcedon/ — to condemn and depose Acacius, and to expung-e his name from the hearts and memories of the faithful, as a heretic and the friend and associate of heretics.
"And/' continues Gelasius, " what in all this hath Aca- Takes the cius or his posthumous comforters and abettors charges to complaiu of ? Was he not himself the fore- ISdus most to condemn these his new friends and al- pro confesso. ]igg ? Hath hc not, by so connecting- himself, pronounced his own doom ? Have we not letters under his own hand, convicting* him of all we charg-e ag'ainst him? Surely, with such testimony before us, there can be no need of further inquiry; more especially after he hath wilfully thrown away the opportunity afforded him* of exculpating- himself — after rejecting- the summons of the second see to clear himself before the pontiff of the first see, to whom he is canonically amenable. That he is so amenable, is a matter of universal notoriety. All the The holy see world kuows that the holy see hath power to t^e sole judge revise and reverse all ecclesiastical sentefices ; law and the to sit in judg7)ient, in the last resort y ujwn all fact. churches; and that no pontiff^ or person is com- petent to call her judgment in question: and this in such wise, that if at any time the canons of the Church should be alleg-ed ag-ainst her, it is answered that there Ueth no ajjpeal to the canons, for that she is the sole judg-e of their import and application."
" But, passing- by all this, let Acacius be judg-ed by
^ The pope takes for granted the va- not competent to cite Acacius according
lidity of the election of Talaia to the to the pope's own principle, and then
see of Alexandria; a question of fact there would have been no question to
which Acacius might have good ground try.
for disputing. But this, it seems, was a Which, however, neither defined the
one of the facts determinable by Rome particular offence charged against Aca-
at her own discretion, though raising a cius, nor pointed out the persons of any
most material issue in the case. For if delinquents.
Talaia's election was irregular, he was ^ Judge both of the law and the fact.
Chap. II.] GELASIUS TO THE ILLYRIANS. 59
his own conduct. Let his advocates inform us , .
xi C tic 1 It S
by what authority he deposed bishops canoni- estopped by cally elected, and instituted his own creatures ,!"^ own ir- m tlien* places. VV hat synod did he convoke c Or by what rig-ht did he interfere in these matters ? Of w hat see is he the bishop ? Of what metropolitan church is he the primate ? Let them show^ if they can, that he stands one step higher in rank than that of a dependent parochial bishop of the diocese of Heracleia ; or that he hath power to convoke synods, or to do any ecclesi- astical act implying" such a power. Such acts are a ma- nifest invasion of the prerog'ative of the greater sees, and therefore in themselves altog'ether nug'atory and void. And this more emphatically so, when it is remembered that no synod hath any validity without the approbation of the holy see; and that that see hath the power, even witJiout synod, of reversing all conciliar decisions, of ab- solving' those who may have been synodically condemned, and condemning- those who oug'lit to be condemned." We therefore laug-h to scorn," exclaims the indig-nant pontiff, "^those who would assig"n authority to Acacius because he was bishop of the imperial city. Have not emperors on many occasions resided at Ravenna, at Milan, at Treves 1 and have those cities claimed any additional dig"- nity on that pretence V And surely," he adds, ^' if the
"= The pope here alleges the cases of might be reversed by a legitimate coun-
Athanasius, Chrysostom, Flavian, and oil, suppoi'ted by the approval of the
Dioscorus, as instances or precedents of holy see; but only with such support,
this sole self-action of the holy see, — and to the extent to which that support
with what propriety may be seen by was granted. This is added to save the
reference to the first vol. of this work, rejection of the xxviii"' canon by Leo
Book I. c. ix. pp. 200etsqq ; Book II. the Great; a canon fatal to one of the
c. i. pp. 274 et sqq., ibid. c. iv. pp. 373, most material points in the pope's argu-
374, 375. She alone, Gelasius assures ment, and therefore carefidly kept out
us, decreed and convoked the great of sight throughout this document,
council of Chalccdon; in that council '' A temporary residence of the prince
she, of her sole authority, granted her certainly does not constitute a capital,
pardon to many bishops who had been But Rome and Constantinople were the
implicated in the proceedings of the legal and chartered capitals of the em-
" ruffian synod" (Ephesus II.), and re- pire. Ravenna, Milan, and Treves were
jected those who continued obdurate; residences for the convenience of provin-
which sole power was admitted and acted cial government, the conduct of wars, or
upon by that council, to the intent that security against invasion. But Gelasius
nothing should stand firm but what the chooses to forget that these oecumenical
holysee approved; thus establishing the councils had adopted the very ground
principle thatwhat had been decreed by for the attribution of power to Constan-
a false and wicked synod (Ephesus II.) tinople which he " laughs to scorn."
00 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
question of rig-ht to do all these tliing"s which Acacius hath done should be made to turn upon the dignity of the cities, then the dig-nit}" of the three great patriarchal sees is superior to that of the city, which not only hath no name or place among- those sees, but hath not even metropolitan rank or right of any kind. And again, when men talk of a royal city, its rank or prerogative, they ought to be reminded that the power of secular royalty is one thing, but the distribution of ecclesiastical dignity a totally dilterent thing. For as even the most insigni- ficant place of residence could not derogate from the im- perial prerog'ative, so neither can the imperial presence alter the measure of religious attribution.''
"The patrons of Acacius," he continues, " cannot be
Repudiates permitted to allege either that he had no means the apologies to rcsist the authority of the emperor in the
Jn bdirif of disposal of episcopal sees, or that the emperor Acacius. }jf^^ reason or right to voice or power in any ecclesiastical matter. He could not resist, forsooth ! He had no powers of remonstrance ! He could lift no warn- ing voice ! He could not rebuke, as Nathan rebuked King David, or as the holy Ambrose rebuked the em- peror Theodosius the Great ! But he could resist the tyrant Basihscus when it suited his purpose, and even compel him to relinquish his nefarious designs. And shall it be believed that he could not in the same way have rebuked and resisted Zeno in his evil scheme of union with excommunicated heretics? And, above all other considerations, if he really felt himself so feeble, why did he not take counsel of the Roman see, whose delegate he was, and from whom he notoriousl}^ derived all the authority he possessed over the regions he go- verned?^ But his conduct exhibits the reverse of all this;
* The pope supports this proposition thority from Rome to the bishop ofCon-
upon the submission of the emperor stantinople; of which, however, there
Marcian and the penitence and obedi- is no further evidence. I believe the
ence of Anatolius in the affair of the delegation here alluded to denotes no
xxviii"' canon of Chalcedon, but always more than the generally derivative cha-
without naming that abomination. See racter of the episcopate so foudly che-
vol. i. Book II. 0. V. pp. 416 et sqq. rished by the see of Rome. See Op-
f There are here and there obscure tatus of Milevis on the Petrine primacy,
hints in the writings of this pontiff of a Book II. c. ii. pp. 294, 295. kind of vicariate, or delegation of au-
Chap. II. J GELASIAN PREROGATIVE. 61
for he was, and must be reputed to be, a principal delin- quent, whether it be on the o-round of connivance at the crimes of others, or as himself an active participator and accomplice."
With a view to dissipate all remaining- doubt in the minds of his Illvrian correspondents, Gelasius c a i
1 1 " 1 • r* 1 -Tk 1 fe3'nods only
condescends to apolog'ise for the lioman synods a mode of he had convoked to adjudicate upon the whole tSecS relation between the holy see and that of Con- of the stantinople. '^ Not," he said, " that any synod ^'"^^ "'"• was necessary to determine a matter alreadi/ decided by authority of the holy see; but because that proceeding- ap- peared requisite to g'ive publicit}^ to her sentences and to clear away the impediments her adversaries mig-ht throw in her wa^- ; finall}', because no other mode was open to her, inasmuch as there were no orthodox bishops in the East, but such as were deprived of all liberty or inde- pendence. The holy see therefore was left to act — as she had at all times and under all circumstances a right to do — ?/p6>7i her own authority ; when she could, ivherc she could, and in conjunction with any perso?is she could, in the execution of the laws of the Church, committed to her charge r^
The laboured attempt of the pontiff to reconcile the ex-pa.rte proceedings of Eome ag-ainst Acacius . with the laws of the Church could be success- the^Geiasian ful only by establishing- the prior fact, that the '^^'^f ^.-1^^°" delinquent was ex confesso a heretic and an "
associate of heretics. But of this there was no judicial proof Gelasius felt that without a judg-e there could be no judg-ment ; and with all his ing-enuity he could find no way out of the dilemma but by the broadest asser- tion of irresponsible prerog-ative. Driven forwards by the nature of the case under his hand and the arbitrary maxims of his predecessors, he soon relinquished the weak g'round of law, and struck boldly into the broad path of privileg'e.
K See the document at length, ap. times eloquent. The abstract in the
Hard. Cone. torn. ii. pp. 90.5-916. It is text conveys the general sense rather
extremely prolix, full of repetitions, than the precise expressions used. Conf.
and here and there abundantly obscure; Barun. Ann. 493, 494. but ot'tea cogent in argument, and some-
62 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
Divested of the fring-e of professions — reg-ard^ for in- stancej for the rights of the episcopacy^ the homag-e due to the canons^ the dig'nity of the more ancient patri- archates^ the respect to be paid to the ordinances of g"eneral councils — Chalcedon in particuhir — we have no difficult}" in detecting' the broad proposition that the will ofthe^wj^e is the law of the Clmrcli. This proposition he developed and defined under the five following- heads:
1. The Koman church is invested with a primacy antecedent to^ and independent of^ all church legislature^ whereby she is constituted guardicm and general exe- cutor of the canons, the supreme judge and visitor of all churches.
2. No church legislation^ canons, or conciliar decrees are valid to deprive her of any part oi t\vdX original juris- diction which she derives under the commission of Christ to St. Peter.
3. No such canons or decrees are of force for any purpose affecting the rights of the holy see^ but such as shall have received her express or implied sanction.
4. No temporal power or consideration of a secular nature can confer any rank or station in the Church but that which is acknowledged by the Roman pontiff: con- sequently no council^ general or particular^ is competent to confer it^ or to withdraw any church from his visita- torial and executive jurisdiction ; so that^ any canon or ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding^ Constanti- nople must still stand in this respect as a dependent suf- fragan church of the province of Heracleia.
5. When any illicit or unauthorised assumption of spiritual character in derogation of the Roman primacy, or of any other acknowledged power in the Churchy shall take place, and the pope shall see no prospect of sup- pressing the usurpation by the ordinary ecclesiastical judicatures, he is fully empowered to effect that purpose by the employment of any means at his command.
Thus, as far as the broadest and plainest implication
Scope of the cau amouut to affirmation, Gelasius I. affirms
document. ]^\^^^ ^\^q pontiff of tlic scc of Rouic is cudowed,
as of divine right, with the fullest powers to supersede,
Chap. II.] ANASTASIUS IT. POPE. 63
at his own discretion and upon his own sole judo-ment^ all other cimrch leo'lslation, nnd to dispense with all en- acted law or canon whenever that law stands in the way of the antecedent and paramount prima c}^ ; and that if he consent at any time to be hound by conciliar law^ it is rather from considerations of expediency or deference for the g'reat ecclesiastical constituency^ than from any respect of relig-ious oblig'ation. All the elements of spi- ritual autocracy are wholly contained in these proposi- tions; and henceforward history has in fact little else to do than to mark their prog-ress, and to show how they worked their way into that full practical development arrived at in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.*"
The Illyrian churches were much attached to Rome , their addresses abounded with expressions of duty to the holy see ; and thoug'h we are with- out precise information as to the effect of the papal ex- planations in removing" from their minds the difficulty of reconcihng* the conduct of the pope with the familiar prin- ciples of church legislation^ it is, upon the whole, more probable that g-round was g-ainecl than that any advan- tag-e was lost. Subsequent events, we think, show that Rome retained throug-hout her controversy with Con- stantinople a powerful body of devoted friends in that important diocese.
But the pontificate of Pope Gelasius was too brief to bring" this vast autocratic scheme to matu- Death of rity. He died in the year 496, after a reig-n of Gelasius i. scarcely four years and nine months,' and was peaceably succeeded by the Roman ecclesiastic, Anastasius Anastasius II. The new pontiff appears to have in some "s" PSfiL respects recoiled from the daring' measures of character. his predecessor. He is even reported to have reg-arded the retention of the names of Acacius and Fravitta in the
•> The culminatinf^ epochs— those of and the dangers of private judgment. Gregory VII. and Innocent III. The He established the Inqvisition. former stated and established the Gela- ' Baron. (Ann. 496, § 1) counts four sian propositions in their naked form, years, eight months, and twenty-one and divested of all reserves ; the latter days. Pagi {Annot. ad loc. Bar.) in- hedged in and fortified them by a strong clines to the term of four years, eight scheme of temporal checks and counter. months, and eighteen days, poises against the private conscience
04 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
Oriental calendars — now the only ostensible cause of quar- rel between the two churches — as too trivial a g-round of schism. He took no notice of the more than suspicious orthodoxy of the emperor ; and with all g-entleness of speech and spirit strove to induce him quietly to drop the name of Acacius from the diptychs.^ But neither emperor nor clergy could be prevailed upon thus to compromise the honour of the metropolitan church. The pope find- ing- that the Henotic clergy apprehended a design on the part of their opponents to vacate the holy orders con- ferred by Acacius^ declared all such orders to be g'ood and valid : he even went so far as to insinuate a possibil- ity that the condemnation of that prelate might have been informal; and he sent his friend, the patrician Festus^ then at Constantinople upon a political errand from the Gothic king* Theodoric the Great^ instructions of a lati- tude which appears to have given serious offence to the hig"h-church party at Rome. But before the return of Festus, Pope Anastasius II. died^ and his project of union appeared likely to fall to the ground. Festus, however, made a bold push in favour of his patron's scheme, the particulars of which have not come down to us ; and to that end promoted with all his influence the election of Symmachus the archpricst Laurentius, a friend of peace, to and Laii- \\^q poutifical thronc.'' But his opponents were conleTted beforehand with him, and by a small majority election, carried the election of Coelius Symmachus, a Sardinian by birth, to the papal chair, and installed him in the basilica of Constantine. On the other side, the friends of Laurentius inaug'urated their candidate in the church of St. Mary the Greater ;' and once more the streets of the city became the arena of one of those sang-ui- nar}^ election riots which had on several occasions polluted and disg-raced both the church and people of Home.™
J Ep. Anast. Pap. ad Anast. Aug., place in the Roman calendar by a too
Hard. Cone. torn. ii. pp. 947 et sqq. apparent condescension to the Greek
^ See the documents relating to the schismatics. His letter to the emperor
short pontificate of Anastasius II., ap. stands in marked contrast with the fiery
Hard. Cone. loc. cit. ; Baron, ad Ann. rhetoric of his predecessor Gelasius. 497, 498. Conf. Fleury, H. E. torn. vii. ' See Ciacone,Wt. Pont. tom. i. p. 339.
p. 97, and Bower, vol. ii. pp. 236-248. "' Conf. Book I. c. x. p. 223; and Book
Anastasius II. certainly forfeited his II. c. ii. pp. 314 et sqq.
CiiAP. II.] CHURCH AND STATE IN ROME. 65
But for the more complete elucicliition of the domestic position of the Roman pontificate at this point of time, it is requisite to take a short retrospec- posiuonof tive survey of the rehition in which the Italian thechurcii churches and their chief were placed towards the new barbaric o-o\'ernments under which they had fallen by the overthrow of the Western empire.
It should be observed, that from the establishment of Christianity it does not appear that the emperors ever meddled seriously or offensively with the freedom of the electoral bodies j or that when they did interfere, it was for any other purpose than the maintenance of the public tranquillity. Peaceful canvass, thoug-h contaminated b}^ bribery, corruption, intrig'ue, or even simony, does not seem to have afforded any proper g-round for secular inter- ference. Nevertheless, when the public interests Government were threatened, the imperial court knew of no iiiterferences article in its compact with the Church to take tion of the away or abridge the rig-ht of self-preservation. P'^p^s- In such cases, the emperors did not hesitate to exercise a power of selection among- rival candidates, with a view to put an end to the war of factions which disturbed the course of g'overnment. In this way the secular authori- ties interfered between Damasus and Ursinus, confirming" the election of the former, and banishing* the latter from the city.° And thus also the sang-uinary schism which, in the reig'n of Honorius, preceded the election of Boni- face I., was similarly dealt with by the court of Bavenna." These precedents are the more remarkable, as they show the mode and measure of secular interference tolerated, if not solicited, b}' the Boman clergy at those periods. In neither case was any fault found with the imperial proceeding- by the clerical body ; the State entertained no doubt of its competency, as guardian of the public peace, to adjudicate upon the rival claims, and thus to exercise a direct influence in determining- the discretion of the electors.
By the dissolution of the Western empire under the whole power of the State devolved upon the Odovaker.
" Conf. Book I. c. X. p. 224. ° Conf. Book II. c. ii. pp. .314 et sqq.
VOL. II. F
QQ CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
succeeding" g-overnments ; and Pope Simplicius had acted on this presumption. Apprehending- that on his decease the election of a successor mig-ht lead to a repetition of the irregularities which had so often disturbed the public tranquilHty, he took the precaution of requesting; Basilius, the praetorian prefect of King- Odovaker, not to permit the electoral body to proceed to the choice of a pontiff other- wise than in his presence and under his control.^ After the death of Simplicius, however, the clerg-y and people of Rome proceeded to elect a successor without g-iving- due notice to the civil mag-istrate, in breach, it should seem, of a subsisting- rule or custom on like occasions. Basilius went to the electoral assembly, and complained of the irreg-ularity. " It was their duty," he said, " to g-ive due notice to the representative of the sovereig-n power on so important an occasion, because to him it belong-ed to take all proper precautions to prevent those disturbances which mig-ht so easily arise — disturbances which were ver}^ apt to pass from the Church to the State, and therefore to be provided ag-ainst by the authority in- trusted with the preservation of the public peace."'*
But the rig-ht to adopt measures of this nature mig-ht be easily construed so as to limit the discretion valklAo pre- of the electoral bodies themselves, and to au- divtr^iJn^of thorise preventive precautions inconsistent with church- the freedom of election itself and the acknow- funds. ledg-ed privileges of the electors. And in the instance before us the civil power took a step not easily reconcilable with the rig-hts of the churches, or with any antecedent custom. Hitherto the administration and ex- penditure of all church-funds had been in practice left in the hands of the clerg-y; but at this juncture we find that King- Odovaker had felt the inconvenience arising- from the frequent and habitual diversion of the wealth of the churches to the purposes of faction, and that he had de- termined, on his own authority, to dr}^ up this source of uneasiness to his g-overnment. In pursuance of this re-
P Syn.Rora.an. 502, Hard.Conc. torn. rather painfully from the record of the
ii. § 2, p. 977. several synods held under Pope Sym-
1 The details of this transaction, and machus in the years 499, 501, 502. See
that which follows it, must be collected Hard. Cone. tom. ii. pp. 957, 967, 975.
CiiAP. ir.] DECREES OF ODOVAKER. 67
solution^ the prefect Basilius communicated to the elec- tortil council a royal ordinance prohibiting- all alienations of lands, sacred vessels, or other church-property ; all such sales, or contracts of sale, he declared void, and the property so alienated liable to be recovered to the churches after any leng-th of adverse possession. This ordinance he confirmed in episcopal form, denouncing- anathema ag-ainst all who should either buy or sell, g-ive away or accept, any article of value that had ever belong-ed to the Church/
In every precedent of secular interference with the course of ecclesiastical g-o^-ernment to which we have hitherto adverted, there were points in the cimTactTr hio-hest deo-ree offensive to the feelino-s and opi- °,^"^'"^
• i>jii'i j' 1 • T\ ordinance.
nions ot the hig-h-prerog-ative clerg*y in Kome and Italy/ That bod}^ had beg-un to shrink from even the 'g-entlest touch of the secular hand ; they reg-arded the State as a things unholy in itself, and to be purified only by the sanctifying- hand of the Church. Yet that unhallowed power had presumed to tamper with the holiest, to meddle with the chair of Peter, to provide for the services, to interfere with the sacred property of the Church, and to prescribe at its own will and pleasure the mode and manner of its administration and disposal; lastly, it had in the later times passed on to the extra- vag-ance of sacrileg-ious presumption, by taking- to itself the episcopal character, and usurping- the awful power of the anathema.'
But King- Odovaker was not a person to be lig'htly opposed; his minister Basilius was temperate Effect of the and firm, and the election of Fehx II. passed ordinance, off" without disturbance. The inaug-urations of the popes Gelasius I. and Anastasius II. were equally peaceable. But prior to the death of the former, Odovaker had suc- cumbed to the energ-y and talents of Theodoric king* of the Ostrog'oths, of Epirus, and Pannonia (a.d. 498). At
' See Baron. Ann. 483, §§ 10 et sqq.; we perceive no trace in the Oriental
Fleury, torn. vi. p. 620. Conf. Antonio churches.
de Dominis, torn. i. p. 485; and Bower, ' Syn. Rom. an. 502, Hard. torn. il.
vol. ii. p. 19.3. pp. 977, 978.
' Feelings and opinions of which
68 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
the decease of the hitter, the Ostrog'othic power had not acquired that solidity \\ hich the talents of Theodoric af- terwards imparted to it; and the death-bed of Anastasiiis became the sig'nal of a sang-uinary civil war in Home. Reii ious I^^^^^^s and his party, in defiance of the priority faction in of Symmachus and the majority of sufFrag'es Rome. -^-^ jj-g favour, installed their candidate Lauren- tiuSj as already observed, in the church of St. Mary the Greater. That basilica and the hall of Constantine be- came respectively the head-quarters of the contending* factions, from whence they issued forth, clergy and laity in mixed bodies, to the fray ; and the streets of the city became the arena of bloody conflicts, in which many per- sons of both conditions lost their lives." (a.d. 490.)
Both parties at length ag-reed to refer itheir pretensions
to King" Theodoric ; thoug-h he had not as yet
Symmachus visitcd the Capital, and was therefore imperfe'ctly
and Lauren- acquainted with the temper of its inhabitants.
tius referred ^j.-,'^ ^ „ , k . -. ,. pi
to Theo- ihe reierence oi an ecclesiastical dispute oi such *^Grea?^ moment to a temporal prince, and that prince himself an Arian heretic, was a sore mortifica- tion to the hig'h-church party, whom Symmachus repre- sented. It was, indeed, resorted to under the pressure of dire necessity alone, and Theodoric dealt with it en- tirely as a secular affair. Without meddling- with the merits, personal or professional, of the candidates, he looked to the majorit}^ of votes as the test of the elec- tion ; and as soon as it was made clear to him that Sym- machus had the advantag-e of his rival, both in time and numbers, he threw his sword into the scale : the clamour of sedition was hushed, and the storm subsided as suddenly as it had arisen. The Gothic prince, ' in truth, thoug-ht of little in the whole affair but the restor- ation of public order ; he was loth, both from disinclina- tion and policy, to mix in the relig-ious broils of his new subjects ; but he demanded of them an effectual security ag-ainst the sang'uinary broils by which they had lately diso-raced themselves and the o'overnment.
In compliance with this reasonable demand, a council
" Paul Drac. in Hist. Miscell., ap. Muratori, Rr. Ital. So. vol. i. p. 101.
I
CiiAi'. II.J LAW AGAINST CANVASSING. 69
was assembled by royal precept to inquire into and adopt tlie best means for preventing* the re- tanvafs^ng currence of the like cabals, intrig-ues, and rival- for the ries for the future. The synod, when assembled, papacy, numbered no fewer than seventy-three bishops, sixt}''- seven presbyters, and seven deacons. The pope stated the object of the meeting* to be the necessity of provid- ing* a remedy ag'ainst the disorders that had occurred at his own election ; and, upon his proposal, the assembly adopted the following* resolutions: FirH, Thnt if in the lifetime of the reig-ning* pontiff^ and without his know- ledg*e, any presbyter, deacon, or clerk, should canvass for or solicit votes for the pontificate, or make or exact any promise, oath, or other eng*ag'ement, or should for such purpose hold any private consultation to deliberate on or decide any common measures, he be deg*raded from his office and excommunicated. Secondly, That if any person should, in the lifetime of the pontifij be convicted of canvassing* for or soliciting* the papacy, he should incur the penalty of the anathema. TJdrdly, That if the pope should die so suddenly as to have no time to take order for the choice of a jwoper successor, the ab- solute majority of the votes should decide the election, unless the candidate came within the penalty of the foreg'oing* resolution. Fourthb/, That any person, even thoug'h he be himself an accomplice in any of the above- named offences, who should freely denounce, and by rea- sonable testimony convict, his associates of any such cabals or intrig-ues, or other participation in the forbidden practices, should not only g'o free from all punishment, but be handsomely rewarded for his trouble."
But the low-church, or conciliation party, with the patrician Festus at their head, continued for some time
^ Syn. Rom. sub Symm. Tap., Hard. is to decide. The word "decernere"
Cone. torn. ii. pp. 9.59, 960; and conf. in this connection can be no otherwise
Baron. Ann. 499, §§ 6-9. The cardi- rendered than by the terms, "to ap-
nal is a good deal startled at the idea point or decide upon." The phrase must
of a pope choosing his own successor. therefore stand thus : " If the reigning
But the wording of the resolution hardly pontiff t-hould die so suddenly as not to
admits of any other interpretation: " Si have had time to appoint n successor,
transitus papiw inopinatus evenerit, ut the majority of the electors shall ap-
de sui electione successoris non possit point." ante decernere," &c., then the majority
70 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book 111.
eachment ^•^"^'^^ to agitate the Roman populace. In "of Po^e^° the followmg year (500) they impeached Sym- Symmachus. niachus before King- Theodoric of divers crimes and misdemeanors^ and procured from him an order to have the charg-es inquired into by a synod of bishops. In the city of Rome^ disorders of every kind, murders^ and pillag-e^ had broken out afresh; and Festus persuaded the king- that his only remedy lay in the appointment of an ecclesiastical commissioner^ who; in conformit}^ with the precedent established in the reign of Honorius,"^ should supersede the pope, and take order for his trial upon the articles to be exhibited ag-ainst him; and in the mean time to perform the sacred functions as if the see were vacant. Yielding- to this advice, Theodoric, Avho knew very little, and probably cared less, about the state of parties in the church of Rome, named Peter Peter of ^isliop of Altiuum iu Venetia as ad-interim ad- Aitinum ad- miuistrator of the holy see ; but with instruc- ministrator. ^j^^^^ ^^ couduct himself with all due considera- tion and respect towards the pope. Peter, however, in apparent disregard of these instructions, proceeded, upon his arrival in Rome, to sequester Symmachus from all his functions without seeing' or hearing- him in his defence. This inconsiderate step added fuel to the flame of popular discontent, and the state of the capital became at length so critical as to require the presence of the king. Theo- doric entered the city, accompanied by a sufficient escort of his own trusty Goths ; and the seditions which had now for nearly two years deluged the streets of Rome with blood ceased as by the touch of magic. The king devoted all his energies to obliterate every vestige of re- cent outrage, to bring the populace into better humour, and to improve their condition, before he proceeded to deal with the delicate and irritating inquiries to which he had pledged himself. Dealing of '^hc advantages conferred upon the Italian Theodoric proviuccs by the government of Theodoric the church and Great liavc been adverted to at the close of our clergy, gecoud Book. The perfect freedom of rehgious
^ Conf, Book II. c. ii. pp. 315 et sqq.
Chap. II.] THE " SYNODUS PALMARIS." 71
opinion and practice is proved by the free movements of the ecclesiastical body during" the greater part of his reig'n. Within the first years^ no fewer than seven synods are said to have been held at Rome ;" and his g-eneral con- duct on these occasions, we think, furnishes good evidence that he thoroughly comprehended the position in which he was placed as successor to the imperial power, and that he adhered as closely as circumstances permitted to the terms of the ancient compact between the Church and the State/ saving only those contingencies in which the exigencies of the moment might call upon the govern- ment peremptorily to put the ecclesiastical powers in mo- tion, or to check and control their movement when their action became so abnormal or violent as to be inconsistent with the public welfare. Some length of time was allowed to elapse before matters were thought to be in a proper train for the inquiry into the articles of charge against Pope Symmachus.^ The royal precept for the convocation of the synod had been met by un- convoke"a expected delays; the bishops hesitated, or quitted synod to in- Rome : a second and a third summons appear the changes to have met with more ready obedience. The- ^g-'^i^^t Pope
, . . •^ , bymmacnus.
odoric took pams to reassure them as to any intended interference on his part beyond what was ne- cessary to protect them from interruption, and to ensure a speedy suppression of the dangerous and vexatious broils which had arisen out of the disputed election.'' The bishops of the Italian and suburbicarian pro- The " Syno- vinces at length met at Rome to the number of ^^"spaimaris." one hundred and fifteen. With a view further to assure them of their independence, he himself removed to Ra- venna, leaving* only a sufficient force, under his household officers, Gudela, Bedulph, and Arigern, to keep the peace and watch over the safety of the meeting. The assembled prelates, in the first instance, called upon the pope to ap-
* Pagi, in Baron. Ann. 500, not. vi. second or the third synod held in the
ad §§ 2 and 9. pontificate of Symmachus, i.e. in the
y Conf. Book II. c. iv. p. .S54; ch. v. year .501 or .503. See Pagi and Mansi's
p. 378; and ch. vi. p. 436 of this work. notes ad Baron, loc. mod. cit.
^ It is a matter of some uncertainty » ' Prseceptiones regis,' apud Hard.
whether the inquiry took place at the Cone. tom. ii. pp. 971, 972.
72 CATHEDEA PETEI. [Book III.
pear before the synod — it should seem — as his legitimate judg'es. Some members^ hoAvever, intimated to the king- that they entertained doubts as to their competency to sit in judgment on the successor of St. Peter 5 but Theodoric relieved their scruples by the assurance that the pope him- self had called for the inquir3^ Symmachus confirmed that assurance to the council in person j but he demanded that before he should be called upon to answer for himself, the royal sequestrator^ Peter of Altinum^ the friend of his enemies^ siiould be sent away^ and that he (the pope) should be restored to the full enjoyment of his functions and of the patrimon}^ of his church. Theodoric^ however, thought that such a course mig-ht look too much like an acquittal before trial, and refused to entertain the pro- posal. Neither pope nor council thoug'ht proper to press this question any further.^
S3^mmachus, it seems, had several times attended the Tumult preliminary meeting's of the council, in which in Rome, probably the question of competency had been discussed. The pope was popular in Home, and had pro- bably by this time ascertained his streng-th in the synod. On his last attendance he was escorted from the church of St. Peter to the hall of session by a larg'e concourse of friends and partisans. The opposition party, conceiv- ing* that so g-reat an assemblag-e conveyed a defiance to themselves, or that it was intended to intimidate the coun- cil, attacked and dispersed the pope's friends ; several priests and laymen were killed in the affray ; and Sym- machus himself was with some difficulty rescued from the hands of the assailants by the Gothic officers of the king", who had hastened to the spot on the first rumour of tlie tumult.
Shortty after this incident, the correspondents of The- and retracta- odoric in the couucil reported to the king- a *ibmiJsion ^^^^ssage from the pope, peremptorily renouncing- by Pope the jurisdiction. " He had," he said, ^' at his Symmachus. fjj.g^ meeting' with the king-, while he resided in Rome, hastened without hesitation to Avave his pre- rogative, and to g-ive authority to the council to proceed j
*> Syn. Kom. Palmaris, ap. Hard. Cone. tom. ii. p. 967.
incom- petency.
Chap. II.] IMPEACHMENT OF SYMMACHUS. 73
but that, according' to ecclesiastical rule and order, he had demanded his reinstatement in his churches, but without success ; that afterwards, and while he was proceeding- accompanied by his clergy to the hall of session, he had been cruelly assailed and personally injured : that he there- fore declined to submit further to the proposed inquiry ; nnd that he placed himself in the hands of God and of his lord the king-, to deal with him ns he mig'ht think proper." The bishops added, that they had summoned the pontiff to attend the synod ; that he had rejected deciares"L their request ; that they had then sent the royal *^"" " minister Arig'ern to him, who Avould himself convey to the king- the answer he had received ; that they were, in fact, at their wit's ends, for that they found them- selves destitute of all power to compel the pope to appear before them : and they sug'g'ested, that by the terms of the ecclesiastical law the pope, to whom all bishops have a rig'ht to appeal, is not bound himself to appeal to any one ; if he decline, he can be dealt Avith neither in his ab- sence nor for contumacy : that lastly, this was a novel case, inasmuch as there was no precedent for calling* upon a pontiff of this see to answer before his own bishops. They concluded by assuring* him that there was no pro- spect of bring-ing" the subsising* disputes to a close by a reg'ular ecclesiastical decision : they could do no more than exhort all parties to peace ; and that expedient having- failed, it remained for the king- to take such steps as he mig-ht think expedient for the redinteg-ration of the Church, the peace of the city, and the quietude of the provinces.'' Theodoric replied by reminding* them that he had called them tog*ether under a just expectation .
that they would find the means of putting- an throws the end to the prevailino- disturbances ; that as long- responsibility
1 1 1 • 1 1 • 1 & 01 the pubhc
as they succeeded m that object, he cared very peace upon little about the mode of accomplishing- it. He ^^^ ^^"°*^* could, he said, with the help of his trusty nobility, have settled matters himself, so that neither the present nor any future ag'e could find serious fault with his decision ;
•^ ' Relatio Episcoporum,' ap. Hard. Cone. torn. ii. p. 974 ; Synod. Palm. ibid, p. 969.
74 CATHEDKA PETEI. [Book III.
but inasmuch as he had not thoug-ht it his proper duty to decide upon ecclesiastical subjects^ he had deemed it expedient to refer the whole matter to them^ that they mig'ht have the merit of restoring* concord. Under the circumstances^ it was now for them to decide in any manner they liked : all he required of them was, that they should, whether with or without discussion, come to such a decision as they could answer for before God ; pro- vided only that thereby peace be restored to the senate and people of Rome ; so that when judgment should be given, it should have the effect of eradicating- the seeds of sedition and discord : for by that test the world would judg-e of the soundness and integ-rity of their inten- tions/
The honesty of the pope's plea for his chang-e of purpose may be suspected. The nature of the
^\eTZv personal injury sustained by him is not stated f evading the .^^iA it mig'ht bc supposed that the soldiery who
inquiry, j.gg^^^g^ j^jj^^ £j^.qjjj ^j^g dang^cr could as easily
have protected him ag-ainst a repetition of the attack. He had had ample opportunity to sound the fathers as to their disposition towards him, and had ever}^ reason to believe that they had acquiesced with reluctance in the king's project of pacification. He was fully informed of the disinclination of Theodoric to drive them into com- pliance by violent measures 5 and with so inviting- a pro- spect of evading- the critical inquiry impending- over him, the personal outrage he had suffered must have offered a strong- temptation to retract a promise which mortmed his pride, and threw an important advantage into the hands of his enemies. Be this as it may, the bishops eagerly embraced the opportunity to get rid of the whole inquiry. "Considering," they said, " the manifold incon-
^ ' Prseceptio regis,' Hard. Concilia, pertinere," &c. The king puts his non- torn, ii. pp. 974, 975. The Fathers, in interference more upon the ground of their report of the proceedings, put a expediency than of obligation. Syn. stronger construction upon the words Palm, ubi sup. See also Baron. Ann. of Theodoric than they properly bear. 502, § 15. Conf. Fleury, H. E. tom. vii. "Ad hoc serenissimus rex . . . . In sy- pp. 104-109; ^ower, vol. ii. pp. 252-260. nodali esse arbitrio in tanto negotio se- * He only says that the mob " eum quenda prsescribere ; nee aliquid ad se crudeliter tractavit," cruelly entreated prceter reverentlam ecclesiasticis negotiis him.
CiiAi'. II.] PAPAL IRRESPONSIBILITY. 75
veniences that must attend a further prosecution of the charg-es ag-ahist the pope/ but more espe- deckre'tht cially the transcendent character and authority P^pe irre- of the see of Peter, they had resolved that, in- ^i'"^'^^'"- asmuch as the}^ considered themselves incompetent to pass a binding- decree in the matter, the accused pontiff must g"o free and be discharg-ed from all human responsibility, and be restored to all his functions and honours : and that the merits of the causes of accusation, whatever they mig'ht be, must be referred to the judg'ment of God."'
It should be here observed, with a view to the future, that neither the pope nor the synod were dis- posed to deny their responsibility to the head of spoSsibmty ; the State for any line of conduct which mig'ht its character endang-er the peace of the community. In this'^ "speno . respect they submitted themselves implicitly to the king- as supreme. So far from pronouncing- Symmachus " not g'uilty," they had simpl}^ declared their incompetency to try him : as they had no power to condemn, so neither had they any to acquit ; there was, in fact, no provision of ecclesiastical law that could reach the chair of Peter, therefore the pope must g'o free of all ecclesiastical cen- sure, and his religious g-uilt or innocence be referred to the divine tribunal as the only competent judg-ment-seat. But when it is considered that the civil and criminal law of the State still stood upon precisely the same g-round as it had done under the empire, and that if the articles of impeachment ag-ainst Symmachus had been of a civil or political as well as of a religious character, (which we have good reason to believe they were), he was strictly amenable to the ordinary criminal judicature, we have no difficulty in understanding- the expression of submission employed by both pope and council, as well as those of Theoderic himself regarding' his own authorit}^ in the cause, to have reference to that secular liability shared by the priesthood with the commonalty in all matters to which no legal exemption or immunity was attached in
^ It is remarkable, that these charges e Syn. Palm., ap. Hard. Cone. tom.
are nowhere specified in any of the do- ii. p. 970. cumeuts relating to these proceedings.
7G CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
behalf of the former.'' The acquittal of Pope Sj^mmachus | (if so it may be called)^ and the unusual forbearance of the king", aftbrd no g-rounds for believing- that up to the close of the fifth century an}'^ altitude of ecclesiastical dig'nity or privileg"e imparted exemption irom the judi- cature of the State in the cases provided for by the civil law as it stood at that period ; or that such dig-nity or privileg'e was regarded as pleadable in bar of criminal actions ag-ainst ecclesiastical delinquents of any rank.
Yet it must be admitted that the current of opinion Ennodius on ^^loi^g" ^hc hig'h-churcli clergy of the Latin com- papai mpec' muiiion had already set-in in an opposite di- cabiitty. pgg^JQ^^ Ennodius, die deacon and secretar}^ of Pope Symmachus/ undertook officiall}^ to defend an opi- nion, which appears to have been extensively entertained by the Italian clergy, that the successor of the apostle Peter was, virtute officii, impeccable. This opinion had been impug'ned by the Laurentian or low-church party, as implying- a perpetual license to sin in faA^our of the pope. Ennodius denied the inference : " We do not say," he declares, " as you tell us we do, that the Lord g-ave to Peter and his successors, by virtue of the office conferred upon them, a license to commit sin : what we affirm is, that Peter transmitted to his successors, tog-ether with the whole endowment of his own merits, likewise that of hereditary innocence; so that all that was g-ranted to jj him (Peter) as the reward of his deserts, inures also to * them, they being- thereby illumined by the like brig-ht- ness and purity of conversation. Who, then," he exclaims, '' shall deny him to be a saint, who is exalted to so high a dig-nity ? or that he who steps into the place of such a predecessor hath not all his own personal deficiencies amply compensated by Peter's merits? For such a sta- tion must always either find its occupant pure and illus-
'' Conf. Book II. c. vii. p. 467. See inus invenhe justitiam" See. And com-
the remarkable words of Theodorie : pare the concluding words of the papal
(Prsecept. Reg.. Hard. torn. ii. p. 974) message declining the council: "In po-
" Cum si nos de prsesenti ante voluis- testate Dei est, et domini regis, quid de
semus judicare negotio" (namely, the me deliberet ordinari." Hard, ibid, charges against Symmachus) " habito • In the year 510 Ennodius became
cum proceribus nostris de inquirenda bishop of Pa via. veritate tractatu, Deo auspice, po<«wAe-
CiiAP. IL] CHURCH AND STATE. 77
trious^ or it makes liiiii so.''^ It is eas}- to conceive the imincible repuo-naiice of persons entertainino- an opinion of this nature to the mere idea of human responsibihty attaching- to one endowed \\ith the divine attriljute of impeccabihty.
But ever since the estabHshment of the barbaric g"o- vernments in the West of Europe, we observe a strong' tendency among- the Latin clergy to ofthLpowJl-s dispute the jurisdiction of the State in all di- of t'^e civil rections. Constantino and his successors enter- as against tained neither doubt nor scruple as to their *'^® Church. rig-ht to interfere for the due reg'ulation and administra- tion of the fluids^ property, or even the discipline of the churches, as often as abuse or misnianag-ement called for the reforming- hand of the civil power."" But when they had passed from the scene, the connection between the Church and the State had become g-reatly relaxed. The foreign princes nnd their military followers, aliens alike in lang-uag-e, relig-ion, and habits, looked with little jea- lousy or apprehension upon the g-rowth of ecclesiastical pretensions with which they had no S3'mpath3^ Thus, under the shadow of barbaric indifference, the churches learned to identify modes of acquirement, funds, posses- sions, administration, with their whole status, and to in- vest them with all their own personal privileg-es and im- munities. Temporals nnd spirituals fell tog-ether under the one g-reat class of ideas which constituted that of the Churclij and g-radually partook of the inviolable sanctity attached to the categ'ory as a whole : to lay hands upon one was a violation of the rest. The smothered indig-- nation of the Eoman prelacy when, in the year synod of the 488, Odovaker published his ordinance for pre- y«^'^»' •''O^- venting- the alienation and misappropriation of church- funds to electioneering- and other purposes, broke out at the third synod, convoked by Pope Symmachus at Eome in the 3^ear 503.' It is probable that the clamours of the
J Baron. Ann. 503, § 6. Extracted synod of the year 503.
from a controversial work of Ennodius ^ Conf. observations in Book I. c. vii.
against those who had impugned the p. 178; c.viii.p. 181; c. x. pp.22G-228.
synod. The work was read before, and ' I decline pledging myself to the
published in the acts of, the subsequent precise accuracy of the dates assigned
78 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
Laiirentiaii party had at the same time called the atten- tion of the g"overnment to the abuses which that ordi- nance had failed to reform. But Symmachus himself had severely felt the inconveniences of the diversion of church- funds to the purposes of briber}^ and corruption. The special object^ therefore, proposed by the pope to this synod was, to devise a remedy against those illicit misap- propriations which had become so fatally prevalent, more especially in the church of Rome.
There was now, however, a law in existence passed Repeals the for the cxprcss purposc of putting- an end to OdlTvIke^/on t^i^ cvil J but that law was the work of lay the papal hauds, aud was moreover, in its concoction, *^ ^agahist" connected with a transaction extremely repng- bribery, &c. naut to clerical preposscssious. In the year 488, Odovaker's prefect Basilius, as already related, had been requested by Pope Simplicius, immediate^ after his de- cease to take measures for preventing* those disorders which he apprehended mig"ht occur upon the occasion of a new election ; and for that purpose that pope on his death-bed besoug'ht him not to permit the election to take place but by his consent and under his personal superin- tendence. The minute of this request, as it was stated by Basilius to the electoral council at the election of Felix III., was called for b}^ the fathers of the synod now assembled, and immediately objected to upon the gTound that, in fact, it superseded the clergy, and placed the election in the hands of the laity ; that therefore it was wholly irreg'ular and uncanonical. In like manner, the minute of tlie Basihan law for the prevention of cle- rical alienations was called for, read, and unanimously rejected. No laj^man, it was urg'ed, had authority thus to meddle with ecclesiastical concerns : the ordinance had not been sig-ned by the pope (Felix III.), nor even b}^ a sing'le metropolitan bishop; and even if it had been sig-ned by all the bishops, they could not bind the pope ) it was therefore a mere nulhty. The synod, however, was satis-
to these Roman synods. The ari'ange- again, Pagi's dates are disputed by
ment in Harduin is obviously wrong; Mansi. The question is of little im-
that of Baronius is contested by his portance to our subject, commentator Pagi with great learning;
Chap. II.] SYNOD AGAINST BRIBERY. 79
fied with this emphatic repudiation of hiy interposition, and proceeded themselves to frame a law corresponding* in all ])oints with the ordinance of Odovaker. They declared all alienations of church-property, to- enacruJ kw g'ether with all contracts for sale or purchase, against to be uncanonical and ineffectual; and they " *^'^- decreed that all such alienations, or contracts of aliena- tion, should expose the parties to such acts to the penalty of the annthema ; but if perchance that penalty should prove ineffectual, they further decreed that all such acts or contracts should be deemed altog'ether void, and the property conveyed liable to be reclaimed or recovered, tog-ether with the rents and profits, by the ahenors, or by any other ecclesiastical person who might sue for it.'"
If it was the intention of the synod, as upon the face of their proceeding's it appears to have been, to synodal en- quash the Basilian ordinance, by which alone croachment the remedy against the la}^ alienees of church- cmUegis- propert}- could be made available, the}^ had ob- i^'"^'*^- viousty exceeded their competency. They could neither enact a. law to bind the laity, nor carry it into effect when made. We do not find that any antecedent law had made the acquisition of church-lands criminal, or even civilly reversible, as ag-ainst lay purchasers or donees. Neither bishops nor any order of churchmen could make laws, hold courts, or try causes, except such as concerned the doctrhie, discipline, or constitution of the Church, nor enforce their judgments by any but spiritual penalties." If, therefore, the synod meant to repudiate the Basilian ordinance, they thereby surrendered the temporal remedy which it supphed. It would be, perhaps, erroneous or unfair to stig-matise this synodal decree as an intentional encroachment upon the State judicature ; and we would notice the anomaly only with a view to illustrate the tendency of the Latin chin-chmen to encourage that con- fusion in men's minds between secular and religious oblig-ations which has at all times proved so essentially conducive to the advancement of the priesthood, and enabled it g-radually to draw Avithin its own judicial
"> Hard. Cone. torn. ii. pp. 97.5 et sqq. " Conf. Book II. e. vii. p. 468.
80 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
cognisance so larg-e a portion of the public rig-lits and interests."
When^ a little before this point of timej the report of Eemon- the intended proceeding's ag-ainst Pope Sym- ^Gamrre^*" machus, at the instance of Theodoric, reached lates against the Gallic churchcs, thcj were seized with alarm- w^ot'Tupt "^g' apprehensions for the safety of the whole Symmachus. state of the Cliurcli and ecclesinstical privileg'e. Avitus the archbishop of Vienne accordingiy received a commission from the synod of Burg'und}^ to remonstrate with the Italian prelates ag-ainst the proposed inquiry. It was^ he said^ the unanimous opinion of the Gallic churches that the pope could not be tried by his bishops ; he was the superior — the head and chief of the Church- catholic ; they, his inferiors and sul:»jects. Who had ever heard of a temporal prince having- been judg-ed by his own servants ? How much less^ then^ a sovereig-n pontiff by those who^ instead of accusing-^ were by the divine ordinances commanded to cherish and support him.p Every member was interested in the head ; and if the head be smitten, the injury must be felt in every fibre of the body. Which of the bishops would be safe^ if the see of Peter be thus exposed to the persecution of his infe- riors ? Or hoAV, if the pope of the holy see be imperilled by those whose duty it is to protect him^ were they, the bishops, to contend ag-ainst the heresies and calamities with which they were surrounded on all sides? On these g-rounds, he implored them to proceed no further in the proposed inquest, and to hasten the return of their mes- seng*er with assurances of the restoration of unity and concord in the Church.''
Stimulated by this unanimous concurrence of so im- Synod of the portaut a scctiou of the Latin prelacy in sup- year 503. port of the irresponsible dig-nity and authority of the Petrine chair, Pope Symmachus, in the year 503, convoked a fourth S3'nod of the Italian churches, for the purpose of enreg-istering- that opinion in leg-islative form.
° On this transaction, conf. Baron. vol. ii. pp. 263, 264. Ann. 502, §§ 22-24, cum not. Pagi; p Quoting 1 Tim. v. 1.
Fleury, tom. vii. pp. 117, 118; Bower, "i ^arc?. Cone. tom. ii. pp. 981 et .sqq.
Chap. II.] PAPAL IMPECCABILITY. 81
among* the muniments of his chair. At that meeting- the treatise of Ennodius, declaratory of the official m- jieccahility of the pope of Rome, was read and enrolled among- the acts of the council/ They decreed that the pope being', by virtue of the divine commission, the su- preme judg-e on earth of all matters ecclesiastical and spiritual, could be made responsible for his acts to God alone. Furthermore, for the security of episcopal privileg-e, they decreed that thoug-h a bishop mig-ht be justly reprehendible, j^et that he may not be taken to task by his flock ) and that he should not be bound to make answer, even to a synodal impeachment, until he should have been fully restored to all property, dig'iiity, or prl- vileg'e of which he mig'ht have been deprived by his ac- cusers ; and that he should have ample space of time to verify and recover his losses to the satisfaction of the comprovincial prelates. These reg'ulations they confirmed by the penalty of deg-radation and deposition against all clerical offenders, and of excommunication ag-ainst lay- men and monks. The synod proceeded to visit upon the enemies of S3'mmachus their late infractions of the im- prescriptible prerogatives thus assigned to him. But after the solemn enrolment of such boundless immunity, the pope could well afford to be merciful. He therefore g'enerously pardoned his adversaries; adding* only, by way of caution, that they must take g'ood care for the future more scrupulously to observe the ^'ancient canons f^ and that the flock should on no account presume to call their pastors to account, except for cause of heresy or of injury to individuals.*
In these successive synods a majority of the Latui
' The honest historian Fleury, torn. of them are quoted, or even the sources
vii. p. 119, is anxious to get rid of the from which they were derived indi-
idea of personal impeccability. " It was," cated.
he says, "thought that God would not ' Large items of exception, it must
permit any one to ascend the throne of be admitted, more especially the latter!
Peter but those whom He had predes- The "injury to individuals" is probably
tined to be saints." not that which might arise from official
* It is remarkable, that on all the in- acts, but strictly private and personal
numerable occasions upon which these wrongs, unconnected with any ecclesi-
"ancient canons" ai'e mentioned and re- astical privilege. See Syn. Kom., ap.
lied upon, we do not find a single in- Hard. Cone. ii. pp. 983 et sqq. This
stance (except that of the vi"' canon of synod was attended by no fewer than
Nictea) in which the contents of any one 218 bishops of Italy.
VOL. II. G
83 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
Summary of cliurches had therefore affirmed the folio whig
ecclesiasti- prODOSitioilS '.
TJdedarIi ^' That the pontiff of the see of Rome is
by these ahsolutely irresponsible to every tribunal, whe- synods. ^-^^^^ ecclesiastical or temporal.
2. That the pope, in his official capacity, cannot be supposed capable of wrong ; consequently he is under no circumstances chargeable with wrong.
3. That the temporal state is not entitled to any share or participation, direct or indirect, in the election of a Roman pontiff.
4. That no temporal power, law, or legislature hath, or ought to have, any authority to deal with or to inter- fere in the regulation of ecclesiastical property, because the temporal estate of the Church partakes of the same independent spiritual character as that which attaches to its possessors.
5. That as the pope is the head of all the churches, and therefore cannot be judged by his inferiors, so neither shall the bishop be called to account by any member of his flock; nor even by his own peers until satisfactory restitu- tion shall be made to him of all damage or loss he may have sustained prior to, or in consequence of, the accusation.
On the other hand, the State had within the same Rights of period as fully asserted its right to make the the civil state neccssary orders and regulations to prevent witwnthe and puuish all breaches of the public peace same period, ^hich might occur by the abuse, or in the course of the exercise, of ecclesiastical functions. The govern- ment had claimed and enforced its right, 1st, to provide for the performance of ecclesiastical services when, by reason of a contested election or other popular disturb- ance, no properly-qualified ecclesiastic was at hand to take the duty ; 2dly, to superintend the papal elections, with a view to the suppression of those cabals and riots which had so frequently and so fatally convulsed the whole frame of Roman society ; 3dly, to prevent those misappli- cations of ecclesiastical funds which had been found to be productive of public crimes and disorders falling- directly under the jurisdiction of the secular state, and which either
Chap. II.] CHURCH AND STATE UNDER THEODORIC. 83
actually were or mio-ht reasonably be deemed the sub- jects of temporal punishment.
And it must be observed, that the clergy had not j^et ventured in g-eneral terms to deny the power of Anomalous the State to interfere for these purposes; but thl^'church they had strenuously objected to each particu- to the state lar measure that mig-ht introduce the hand of ^Vheodoric*^ the laity into the interior sanctuary — all that the Great. mig-ht operate as a check upon the unlimited liberty of election, the uncontrolled regulation of church-property, or the perfect immunity of the clergy from all secular responsibility in the exercise, reg*ular or irreg'ular, of their recog*nised functions. It is obvious, that in the ac- tual state of the Roman church these conflicting* claims admitted of no adjustment but that which the hand of power could bring* to pass. The policy of Theodoric was, in fact, gTounded upon military possession only. His Gothic followers looked with indifference or contempt upon the squabbles of churchmen; his bishops meddled as little with the affairs of the establishment as his mili- tary subjects with the civil administration. But with all this real or affected respect for the institutions and sen- timents of the vanquished, Theodoric contrived to con- vince them that he entertained no idea of a lawful resist- ance to any measures he might think fit to adopt for the prevention of faction and disorder, however derogatory to the presumed liberties of the church and clergy. The pope, while repudiating the principle of lay interposition, took care to satisfy the demands of the king, by adopting the measures he recommended ; measures, indeed, in which his personal interests were as much involved as those of the pubhc. Theodoric cared for and asked no more. This isolation of government for the moment facilitated the maintenance of the truce between the antagonistic ele- ments of which his power was compounded ; but it af- forded time and opportunit}^ to the Church to mature and digest its pretensions, to extend its influence, and to sap the foundations of a throne based upon heretical religion, foreign habits, and anti-national prepossessions."
" Conf. Book II. c. vii. p. 484.
CHAPTER III.
THE PAPAL PREROGATIVE UNDER HORMISDA.
State of the Oriental churches — ^Religious parties — Rupture of Anastasius I. and Pope Symmachus— Revival of Eutychianism — The patriarch Macedonius de- posed—Timotheus patriarch— Address of tlio Orientals to Pope Symmachus — He repudiates all compromise — Hormisda pope — Triumph of Eutychianism in the East— Rome and the lUyrian bishops — Insurrection of Vitalianus — A ge- neral council proposed — Papal legation to Constantinople — Resistance of Ana- stasius and the church of Constantinople — Connection of the pope with the Vitalian insurgents — The emperor proposes the convocation of a general coun- cil— Reply of Hormisda — Defection of the Illyrian bishops — "Libellus" of Hormisda— Excommunication of Dorotheus of Thessalonica — Papal legation — Instructions to the legates — Arrest and deportation of the legates — Orthodox monks in the East go over to Rome — Rescript of Hormisda — His principles of church-government — Policy of Hormisda — Death of Anastasius I., and revival of orthodoxy in the East — The emperor Justin I. makes advances to Rome — Haughty reply of Hormisda — Libellus and legation of Hormisda to Constan- tinople— Submission of the Greeks — Ostensible character of the submission — Its real character — Religious advantage of Rome.
While in the West the Church was successfully paving the way for her final emancipation from the Oriental coutrol of the State, her prospects in the East churches, ^crc obscurcd by the immitigable spirit of re- lig'ious discord. The sovereigns of that division of the empire had never been able to hold the balance of theo- logical opinion^ thoug-h its periodical disturbances had been attended with g-reat detriment to every public inter- est, and frequently with the destruction of property and loss of life. All these evils, however, called for and jus- tified the constant interference of the secular power in the aifairs of the Church. The Oriental sovereig*ns were unable to avail themselves of that natural neutrality of position enjoyed by Theodoric the Great. Their interests, opinions, prepossessions, were all intimately linked with those of their subjects. They were agitated by the same wayward passions j they followed the same pursuits j they
Chap, m.] RELIGIOUS PARTIES IN THE EAST. 85
were possessed with the Seime disputatious spirit, the same love of cavil, sophistry, and chicaner}^ Instead, therefore, of standing- proudly aloof from the vulo-ar theo- logical brawls of the times, the sovereign and his court plung-ed headlong' into the vortex of religious faction. Embracing- by turns the most opposite dog-mas, the con- tending- factions looked for their advantag-e in a chang-e of g-overnment or in the oscillating- ophiions of the court. The Church, as a body, lost all coherence, and became incapable of defending- its liberties ag-ainst the prince or the favourite of the day. Thus canonical elections were set aside or forestalled ; patriarchs and bishops appointed or deposed at the pleasure or the caprice of the court. In all such cases, neither the clerg-y of the particular church nor the metropolitan of the province were con- sulted but for the purpose of g'iving- a formal and often reluctant consent. On- the other hand, whenever any re- lig-ious party was for the moment too strong- for court- manag-ement, or could contrive by bribery or intrig*ue to secure connivance, they never hesitated to commit the like outrag-es upon the liberties of neig-hbouring- churches; the ecclesiastical bodies among- themselves showed, in short, no more respect for the canonical rig-hts of election and self-g-overnment than the sovereig-n and his ministers. This pernicious example was scrupulously imitated by the swarms of monks and anchorites which peopled the deserts of Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and Eg-ypt. In all these reg-ions persecution in its most odious forms, tu- mults, seditions, murders, disg-raced the Christian cause, and perplexed and irritated the civil mag-istrates. In a community where all were eng-aged hi wrong--doino', little could be said about rig-hts ; and thus, while the law and the discipline of the Western churches were with every year becoming* more firmly consolidated, the whole or- g-anisation of the Eastern hierarchy was g-radually falling- into weakness and decay.
At the period now under review the Oriental churches were split up into four principal factions : 1. Of i^eii^io^g these the most consistent, and probably the most parties in numerous, were the rig-id CatholicSj who rejected ^'*'' ^''^^^'
86 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
with abhorrence the Henoticon of Zeno, accepted the whole council of Chalcedon^ and professed religious sym- pathy with Eome; 2. The extreme EutycUan, ov Mono- physite, party^ who rejected with equal detestation the council of Chalcedon and Zeno's act of union, and kept themselves steadily aloof from every middle course or compromise proposed ; 3. The moderate EidycUans, who accepted the act of union, but rejected the decrees of Chalcedon; and 4. The moderate Catholics, who sub- scribed the Henoticon, saving- always their devout alle- g"iance to the Chalcedonian doctrine and discipline.'* Be- sides these active bodies, the provinces and cities of the East swarmed with schismatics and heretics of various shades and denominations, chiefly Novatians, Nestorians, Arians, and Manichseans.
The fourth of these sectional parties was, if not the
more numerous, the more pacific and rational.
t^moderate At the head of this body stood the patriarcli
party in the Euphcmius ; a persou of opinions strictly ortho-
Church. -. ^ --^i-i xx- r 'i. A
dox, enjoymg- a hig'h reputation lor piety and probity, and animated by a sincere desire to heal the prevailing- schism between the Latin and Greek commu- nions. During- the short pontificate of Pope Anastasius the prospect of accommodation had been flattering- ; but, as we have seen, the death of that estimable pontiff, and perhaps the impatience or ambition of the friends of union at Eome, frustrated all hope of compromise. The election of Pope Symmachus decided the downfall of the moderate catholic party in the West ; a party which owed its ex- istence in Rome to the political influence or the intrig-ues of the court of Constantinople, and was supported only by a pacific minority, who saw little dang-er to their or- thodox profession from the adoption of the act of union, and no alternative between its reception and the perpetua- tion of the schism. Personal The cmpcror Anastasius had for some time
Tweerthe P^st bccu suspcctcd of a stroug'cr leaning- to- emperor wai'ds the extremc Eutychian tenet than was
Symmachus. consistent with his public professions. This
a Evag. Schol. lib. iii. c. 30.
Chap, m.] ANASTASIUS AND SYMMACHUS. 87
impression was confirmed in the year 496^ when, upon some apparently futile charg-es of an illicit understand- ing* with the Isaurians, with whom he was at war, the patriarch Euphemius was sequestered from his functions, and soon afterwards formally deposed by a packed s^'nod assembled at Constantinople for that purpose. His real crime is believed to have been his obstinate adherence to the Chalcedonian formulae, ag'ainst which the emperor had conceived a secret dislike. The latter, however, still professed to maintain the Henoticon, and caused that instrument to be confirmed and republished by the very synod by which Euphemius was deposed. He went a step further in the popular direction, and consented to the elevation of the orthodox priest Macedonius to the vacant see. The latter accepted the dig-nity, if not with reluctance, yet with a g^enerous feeling of compunction for thus supplanting- his predecessor and reg"ard for his ex- alted virtues.*" But private worth and rectitude of inten- tion were of no avail ag'ainst the humours and passions of the despot who wielded the sceptre of the East, or the unj'ielding* pretensions of the spiritual autocrat of the West. On his part. Pope Symmachus was irritated by the marked neglect of the emperor in withholding' the usual letters of cong'ratulation upon his accession to the pontificate ; and Anastasius took to himself the whole insult conve3^ed in the harsh and unbecom'ing' invectives of the Roman pontiflfs ag-ainst all who directly or indi- rectly favoured the " adulterous" Henoticon, or declined to blot out the hated name of Acacius from the memo- rials of the Church. His resentment found its appro- priate solace in a violent libel ag'ainst the pope, in which he imputed to him all the heresies of which he had been himself accused, more especially that of Manicheeism — the deadliest insult that could be inflicted upon any or- thodox professor. " The pope," he said, " had dared to excommunicate an emperor." '^ And why not," was the proud reply of S^anmachus, ^^ if the emperor chooses his fi'iends and associates among* condemned and anathe- matised heretics ? In what is he who consents to heres}^
*» Tillcmont, torn. xvi. pp. 659 ot S(iq.
88 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
better than he who publishes heresy ? Acacius was a heretic because he communicated with heretics : for this he was condemned ; and with him all who participated in, or sympathised with, his error. But," continues the pope, " we deny that we excommunicated you. We ex- communicated Acacius, indeed ; but if you depart from him and his communion, you withdraw yourself likewise from his sentence : if you persist in his communion, it is not we that excommunicate you, but you that excommuni- cate your self. ^^'^
It may be questioned whether the violence of Anas- insoient tasius, or the tone of insolent superiority as- treatment of guuied by the popc, was the more blamable. The *X^pSpe'*'' clash of the spirits of temporal and spiritual Symmachus. despotism is a revolting" spectacle ; the words of " peace and g-oodwill towards men" in the mouths of either g-ive back a sing'ularly harsh and grating- echo to the Christian ear.'* The vehement passions which the con- trovers}^ eng'endered drove both parties to the extremes of intolerance. While Anastasius was pursuing- the re- cusants of the Henoticon in the East, the pope was per- secuting" the Manichaeans in the West ;^ but the emperor had a favourite who was strong"ly suspected of that he- resy,— he was therefore himself set down as a Mani- cheean, and was so treated by the pope. Certainly the moderate Catholics had lateW fallen into discredit at court, probably because they would not be persuaded to aban- don their desire for an accommodation with Rome. By favour of this chang-e in the imperial mind, and under the protection of the court-favourite Xenaias, the Mono- physite bishop of Hierapolis, the extreme Eutychians
<= See this answer of Pope Symma- pleasing enough ; but the frequent quo- chus in extenso, ap. Baron. Ann. 503, tations from Scripture in justification §§ 18-30. It is hardly possible to con- of the very conduct which he blames in ceive how Baronius could gather from Anastasius ai'e positively disgusting, this passage that Symmachus had ex- * Symmachus takes great credit to communicated Anastasius by name as himself for his activity against these he- a heretic in the Roman synod of 502. retics, and throws in the teeth of Anas- All he has to allege for this story, says tasius his supineness in rooting out the Tillemont (tom. xvi. p. 674), is this very swarms of heretics which polluted the passage, which in fact refutes him. Conf. East. ' He does not persecute, therefore Baron. Ann. 503, § 17. he is a favourer and accomplice of all
•^ The spirit of intolerance that these heresies in the mass !' breathes in the papal rescript is dis-
Chap. III.] RUPTUEE WITH ROME. 89
once more appeared in the field : they boldly 1^^^;^^^ ^f maintained that the Chalcedonian decrees were uUra-Euty- a mere revival of the old Nestorian errors^ ciuamsm. which^ b}' predicating" of the Christ that he was of two na- tures ^ — namety^ a human, born of the Virg-in, and a divine, not horn of the Virgin, thus depriving- her of her hon- ours as the Mother of God, — was derog-atory to the g'reat doctrine of an incarnate Deity, and subversive of the whole scheme of redemption/ While all the four parties agreed in maintaining' the " one Christ who w^s crucified for us/' the friends of Chalcedon, in particular, without further refinements, asserted that the Christ alone suf- fered on the cross : the Eut3"chians cried aloud that God himself ill the Christ, that is, the holy Trinit}^ in him, had made atonement for the sins of the world upon Religious the cross. Thus in the year 511 a Eutychian commotion. mob broke into the g'reat church of Constantinople ; and when in the course of the service the " Trisag'ion" was chanted, vociferously added the words ^Svho wast crucified for us."' The interruption was repeated on the following- Sunday, and led to an affra}^ in the church which ended in the expulsion of the oifenders. The emperor himself is charg'ed by the orthodox party with having* encour- no'ed this riotous demonstration ; the notorious Euty- chian monk Severus, now the recog'nised leader of the ultra-Monophysite party, threw back the blame upon the patriarch Macedonius ;'' be this as it may, Anasta- sius availed himself of the alarm thus created Alienation to wreak his displeasure upon the pntriarch. oftheem- Disg'usted at the ill success of the Henoticon, the onhuXx and violently irritated ag'ainst the catholic party p^^''^- for their adhesion to Home and their uncompromising' defence of the decrees of Chalcedon, to which the impe-
f See the intrigues of Xenaias, as dc- services it appears to have been sung in
tailed by the orthodox Syrian monks in several forms ; but the words " who wast
their letter to Alcison, bishop of Nico- crucified for us" was never any part
polls In Epirus, ap. Evay. Schol. lib. Hi. of it. Peter Gnaphcus, the Eutychian
c. 31 ; and conf. Tillemont, torn. xvi. pp. patriarch of Antloch, is said to have
679 ct son. been the first to introduce them. Vide
s The Tpio-t^Ytos ujui/os, or Thrice Holy, Hoffmann. Lex. Univer. ad voc. Tris-
is embodied in the Latin communion or agins.
eucharistic formulae. In the Oriental '■ Evag. Schol. lib. ill. c. 44.
90 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
rial dog'matist had always been indifferent or averse^ he was now driven to take measures to secure his throne and person ag'ainst the seditious zeal of the orthodox po- pulace of the capital." All these influences taken tog*e- ther had for some time past gradually estrang-ed him from the scheme of his predecessor. The intrig"ues of the Per- sian adventurer Xenaias and the audacity of the Syrian Severus were more in harmony with the temper and feeling's of the despot than the ineffective compromise which had .been thrust upon him by his political position. But the firmness and integrity of Macedonius opposed a serious obstacle to the contemplated chang-e. When pressed by the emperor to renounce the council of Chal- cedon — a first step only in the intended relig-ious revolu- tion— Macedonius peremptorily declined. The alternative proposed to him was the surrender of the autog'raph en- g-agement to sustain the council of Chalcedon given by the emperor to the patriarch Euphemius at his accession to the throne. This document was in the custody of Macedonius; and he preserved it^ as the palladium of orthodoxy^ with a jealous vigilance which baffled all the craft of Anastasius and his satellites Xenaias and Severus. The patriarch returned to this demand the same refusal as to the prior mandate. Every artifice of intrig'ue^ every resource of calumny, solicitation, bribery and deceit, we are told, were put in motion to destroy the character of Macedonius, and to procure a sentence of deposition, hoAV- ever unfair or irregular, from some recognised ecclesias- tical judicature. But the universal respect and position of affection with which he had inspired all classes the patriarch of t]ie citizcus of Constantinople frustrated every
Macedonius. , „ mi iii
chance oi assemblmg' a council that could be
trusted with the work of iniquity ; and Macedonius was
arrested in the night-time in the patriarchal residence, and
Timotheus somc time afterwards banished to Eucactes in
patriarch. Pontus.^ In liis placc Auastasius nominated
' See the curious story of the stage- Byzantine historians Theophanes and
trick played off by the emperor to allay Theodoras Anagnostes.
the seditious spirit of the people, ap. J Theophanes, ap. Tillemont, loc. cit.
Evay. Schol. lib. iii. c. 44. Conf. Tille- pp. 690, 691. mont, torn. xvi. p. 688, following the later
Chap. III.] ADDRESS OF THE OEIENTALS. 91
Timotheus^ a priest and treasurer of the metropolitan church, who seems to have professed no creed but the will and pleasure of the court for the time being-. The new patriarch forthwith despatched letters of communion to John Nicaiotes, the Eutychian patriarch of Alexan- dria, and other prelates of his confession ; and at the same time renounced religious intercourse with the defenders of orthodox}^, Flavian of Antioch and Elias of Jeru- salem.''
Meanwhile the relig'ious uproar in Syria and Pales- tine had reached an extreme amid which no supplicatory sounds could be heard but those of cursing* and address of invective. The moderate Catholics, under the to Pope direction of the thaumaturo-ic anchorite Sabas Symmachus, and the patriarch Flavian ofAntioch, determined to bespeak the interposition of Rome, if b}^ that means they mig-ht j)ut an end to the subsisting- miseries and disorders. With that view, the}" wrote a supplicatory letter to Pope Sym- machus, containing* a lively description of the distracted state of the Oriental churches, and imploring* his g'ood offices for the restoration of peace and union in the Chris- tian world. But they knew that all who approached the chair of Peter for spiritual help or comfort must be pre- pared to do the homag'e of the lips to that exalted spiritual prerog'ative which she had claimed on like occasions. "Let there be no delay," said the memorialists, " but hasten at once to our deliverance. You, who are daily taug-ht by the mouth of that holy doctor of your church, the apostle Peter, that the whole flock of Christ througiiout the world, not hif compulsion^ hut hij their own free choice^ are intrusted to your pastoral care — you who call to us, your spiritual pupils, in the words of the g'reat doctor of the Gentiles, the most learned Paul — ^neither have we dominion over your faith, but are helpers of 3 our joy," — to j^ou we ad- dress ourselves, as to one whose special duty and office it is to bring* succour to the distressed and comfort to
I* Both these prelates had, it seems, with having renounced the council ;
subscribed the Ilenoticon ; but Flavian which, however, he himself flatly do-
with a reservation in favour of the de- nicd.
crees of Chalcedou. Elias is charged ' 2 Cur. i. 24.
92 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
rj,, the afflicted.""" The memorialists admitted that
Ihey excuse . i i i • i •
their com- maiij amoiig" their number had contmued m
Se adrocatS communion with the enemies of Chalcedon : yet
of the these^ they said^ mig-ht justly claim exemption
Henoticon. £j.qj^ ^]^q ccnsures passcd upon Acacius^ on the gTound of the manifold difficulties of their position ; but more especially upon the consideration^ that if they had renounced all spiritual intercourse with the dissidents^ they would thereb}^ have at once been compelled to aban- don their flocks to others^ from whom they must have con- tracted the infection ag'ainst which they (the memorialists) were most anxious to g'uard them. It was, they protested, the necessity of theii* position solely, and not any ag'ree- ment in principle, that had driven them into connection with schismatics ; and this position it was from which not only those who had refrained from, but those who still reluctantly continued in, heretical communion looked for deliverance from to the churches of the West. Upon this plea they craved the interposition of Rome, as the only physician capable of healing* their wounds by the resto- ration of peace and concord, and their own re-admission to the communion of the West ; and this they claimed rather as a debt of Christian charity than as a matter of favour or mere discretion on the pope's part." To this supplication they appended an unexceptionable profession of faith, equally condemning* the opposite errors of Nes- torius and Eutyches, and signifying- their plenary adhe- sion to the decrees of Chalcedon, including* the " tomus" of Pope Leo ; and they professed a devout belief in the union of the divine and the human nature in the Christ, neither confounding* nor dividing* them.
^ What answer Pope Symmachus returned to
diates all the memorial is unknown. We are, however, compromise, assurcd that the g-eneral instructions from Rome
™ The reservation in this preamble they pray not that the pope would treat
could hardly satisfy the claims of the them as a parent, always loath to desert
pontiff, to whom nothing but uncondi- his children, but pretend that they have
tional submission could be welcome, a right to his services." But the words
" Baronius (Ann. 512, § 46) thinks " sancta adoramus tua vestigia" are
this tone highly indecorous on the part nevertheless a very good precedent,
of the Orientals. *' They wished," he establishing the very ancient practice
said, " to extort these favours as a debt ; of kissing the pope's feet !
Chap. III.] RELIGIOUS POLICY OF ROME. 93
to the catliolic party in the East were as strongly pro- hibitory of religious intercourse with the contbrniino* churches and favom-ers of the Henoticon as with the ultra-Eutycliians themselves: all who hesitated to ana- thematise the memory of Acacius^ Fravitta, Euphemius, or any one who had ever polluted himself with the accur- sed thing" — the "adulterous Henoticon" — and persisted in his error, were to be deemed equally g'uilty with the professed followers of Eutyches — with Mong-us, JElurus, Dioscorus, and the host of heresiarchs condemned by the holy synod of Chalcedon. The betrayers of the truth were, if possible, even more dangerous than the disseminators of falsehood ; they who were ready to bring this unholy sacrifice to worldly expediency — they who would admit the wolf into the fold, in the hope of muzzling or pacify- ing- him Avhen there, were false shepherds, unworth}^ of Him who had intrusted them with the care of the sheep. Obedience and not profession, acts and not confessions of faith, were the only proofs of true communion Rome would accept : all, therefore, who declined to strike out the name of the heresiarch Acacius from the services of their churches, in strict unreasoning obedience to the de- cree of the Roman pontiff, were to be held as accomplices of the criminal whom they wanted courage to abjure."
Contemplating the religious policy of the Roman pon- tiffs with reference to the objects in view, and with their peculiar political position, this mode Ind conf of conduct was both consistent and safe. As reli- sistency of gious rulers they were perfect^ exempt from all ^ ^" ^^^' external control ', and this position enabled them without fear to take up ground which under other circumstances would have been untenable. Without doubt or hesitation they proclaimed to the world that " he that was not for them was against them." And this course was in strict conformity with the nature and character of that scheme of incontrovertible dogmatic truth of which they conceived the chair of Peter to be the exclusive depository. To tamper with defined and absolute truth is to deny it ; to connive at dissent under any form, or upon any pretence,
° Conf. Baron. Ann. 512, § 34.
94 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
is a betraj^al of the sacred trust. As long", therefore, as no more was done than was strictly necessary to enforce recog'nised and unim peached principles, there would be little room for charg-ing- personal ambition or undue severity ag'ainst the official manag'ers of such a system, to whatever extravagance of assumption, whatever enor- mity of power, it mig-ht, in strict logical consequence, conduct them. The Christian world had, in fact, too long- listened in sullen or in awe-stricken silence to the daring- pretensions of the Boman pontiffs, to cast off the fetters which had been silently forg-ed and fitted in the Roman workshop. The catholic world had once for all admitted that the reputed chair of Peter was the representative of orthodox rehg'ion in the world ; why not, then, the arbiter and the judg-e ? The question transcended the log-ic of the ag-e ; and all who would not follow the papal chair as captives were necessarily deemed traitors and rebels. It Submissive IS truc that the admission of those claims was /Spirit of vouched by no formal or even definite acts of to the claims submissiou extending" to all the branches of the of Rome. Church-catholic, or even to a majority ; yet all approached Rome with awe and trepidation : they who desired her communion or support did not, indeed, as yet very clearly discern that they could obtain it only at the price of their freedom, but they preferred apologising* for every exercise of their Christian liberty to an honest as- sertion of it ag'ainst her despotic mandates. And thus it happened that the pontiffs of Rome were permitted with- out verbal objection or reproach, to stand forth as the champions of that very council whose decree they had been themselves the first to set at naug-ht — whose laws they had cancelled by their own mere authority in favour of their own power.^
Pope Symmachus died in the year 514, and was suc- ceeded by Coelius Hormisda ; a man after the mTsdrp^pe! lieart of his predecessors, Leo, Felix, and Ge- lasius, and with them equally determined to interfere in the affairs and troubles of the Church in no other character than that of absolute master and
P Conf. Book II. c. v. pp. 408 et sqq.
Chap. III.] FALL OF THE MODERATES IN TIIE EAST. 95
ruler. In the year 512 the moderate patriarch Flavian of Antioch was deposed by the court, and the Eutychian zealot Severus was placed in his th"EutV- chair. The Syrian monks belono-ino- to both chiansin
J o o jjje East
parties marched to the support of the contend- ing* bishops ; and civil confusion, riot, and bloodshed, prevailed in the streets of Antioch and the neig'hbour- ing" districts. The patriarch Elias of Jerusalem, thoug-h a subscriber to the Henoticon, and suspected of disaf- fection to the council of Chalcedon, declined communion with the Eutychian usurper of Antioch 5 and he was sup- ported ag'ainst the court-faction by the orthodox ceno- bite Sabas at the head of a vast concourse of warlike and fanatical monks.'^ But the civil power carried all before it; and now, of the four g-reat patriarchates of the East, three had fallen into the hands of the enemies of Chalcedon and of Rome." In the year 518, EHas of Jerusalem was likewise deposed ; but his successor, John IIL,manag'ed to hoodwink the civil g-overnors Ohmpius and Anastasius, and preserved his orthodoxy at the ex- pense of his integTity. Jerusalem in his hands remained tlie last remaining- bulwark of catholicity in the East.'
At this point of time* the prospects of Rome in the East seemed on the decline. She had been emi-
,1 f«i iiirri 1 Downfall of
nently unsuccessiui on behalr 01 her own exclu- the moderate sive scheme : yet her position was in one respect P''^^*y '" the improved ; she had witnessed the downfall of the party from which she apprehended far more dang-er than from her declared enemies. The latter had long- since stood forth in battle-array ag-ainst her ; the moderate party could be of use only while hang-ing- upon the skirts of her declared antag'onists, crippling* their movements and disturbing" their coherency. But after answering- that pur-
1 It is inconceivable how Baronius, as we have seen, have been admitted by the official reformer of the Roman ha- the Roman pontiff of the day. giography, could permit Sabas to ro- ' Constantinople, Antioch, and Alex- tain a place in the Latin catalogue of andria.
saints; for he not only supported Elias ' Ba?on. Ann. 51.3, .514, pp. 126-152;
of Jerusalem and Flavian of Antioch, 2^/eu/-y, torn. vii. pp. 182 186; Tillemont,
both of them subscribers to the " adul- torn. xvi. pp. 721, 722; Euay. Schol. lib.
terous Henoticon," but lived in strict iii. c. 32. Conf. Art de vir. les Dates,
communion with both. His apology for vol. i. pp. 225, 243.
this contaminating connection could not, ' Circa a.d. 513 and 514.
96 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
pose they were worse than useless ; and it must be ad- mitted, she had never g-iven them any positive encourage- ment. The first object of Eome, from the beg-inning- of the controversy, was to cut off every channel of commu- nication and stifle every vestig'e of sympathy between her flock and the condemned faction ; for thereby alone could she escape being* driven into the fatal path of compromise. In the northern provinces of the Byzantine em- Romefn^'the pirc, particularly in Moesia and the region called Dardanian Dardauia," and in the capital itself, she still piovinceb. j.g^^-j^g^ ^ considerable body of adherents faith- ful to her interests, and, it appears, ready, if need be, to support her cause in arms. From the age of Damasus'' the attention of the Roman pontiffs had never been with- drawn from the great diocese of Illyricum Orientale. The Dardanian and Moesian provinces formed the northern portion of that vast region, and bordered upon the con- fines of the metropolitan province of Thrace. Vitalianus was at this moment military governor of Dardania and Insurrection MoGsia. That officcr Suddenly Collected his forces, of Vitaiian, ^nd marchcdupou the capital with such rapidity, that the emperor beheld his squadrons of Huns and Bul- garians from the walls before he had had time to collect a sufficient force to oppose any effectual resistance. The objects of Vitaiian, however, were rather of a religious than a political nature, and he made no objection to ne- gotiate with the emperor for their accomplishment. He demanded, Jtrst, the immediate restoration of orthodox Macedonius to the chair of Constantinople, and of Fla- vian to that of Antioch ; secondly, the reinstatement of all the bishops who had been deposed for declining Eu- tychian communion; and thirdly, the speedy convoca- tion of a general council of the Church, at which the Bo- man pontiff" and all the bishops of the empire should be invited to attend, for the purpose of inquiring into the legalit}^ of the imperial decrees lately published ag'ainst the prelates and other supporters of the orthodox com- munion. Anastasius, his court, and senate assented to these terms Avithout scruple, and pledged their oaths to
" The modern Servia. * Book II. c. i. pp. 258, 259.
Chap. III.] TROPOSAL FOR A GENERAL COUNCIL. 97
the performance. Vitalian withdrew his troops to more distant quarters^ and the wily Anastasius g-ained the time necessary to enable him to evade his eng-ag-ements.'"'
The emperor might feel pretty confident that the con- vocation of a g-eneral conncil could not be made palatable to Rome, except upon conditions that pTOpoJlTa should not only throw the entire manng-ement general and control into her hands, but that should en- '"'""" ' able her to dictate the results. It Avas at the same time not very probable that any section of the Greek church could be broug'ht to ag-ree cordiall}^ to such an arrang-e- ment. But it was not yet safe to repudiate his promise ; and in the 3'ear 514 the emperor opened his communi- cations with Pope Hormisda in a cold and formal mis- sive, in which he vag-uely notihed to him the intention to convoke a g-eneral synod at Heracleia in Thrace, and requested the pope's personal attendance" as mcd'uttor be- tween the contending- parties for the restoration of peace and unity in the Church. But the office of mediator could hardly be acceptable to a pontiff of Rome. In his com- munications with Anastasius, the pope therefore treated the proposed council Avith studied reserve, postponing- his reply upon the subject until he should be better informed as to the expediency of such a measure; but he sig-nifi- cantly observed that he knew of no precedent justifying- the attendance of a Roman pontiff at any council held beyond the confines of Italy.' But when his temporal sovereig-n Theodoric added his instances to those of the emperor, the proposal could not be decently evaded,^ and in the 3'ear 515 Hormisda despatched two bishops, En- nodius of Pavia and Fortunatus of Todi, with the priests Venantius and Vitalis, to open neg-otiations with that view.
^'' See the narrative of Marcelllniis stances: a passing compliment to the Chron. and Cedrenus, ap. Baron. Ann. see of Peter — " in quo (Salvatnr) forti- 514. §§ 40, 41; and that of TheojJutnes tudinem sure ecclesia} constituit" — is of Byzantium, ap. Pagi, Crit. ad loc. the only redeeming point. " No corn- Baron. Evagrius (lib. iii. c. 43) makes punction, no repentance for his manifold no mention of the treaty, and imputes to offences here I" exclaims the zealous Ba- Vitalian a design to usurp the empire. ronius, Ann. 515, § 4.
« The terms were barely civil; he y Baron. Ann. .515, §§ 15 and 20.
imputes the cessation of intercourse to ^ See Theophanes, ubi sup , and the
the stiffness (duritia) of the popes, and edict of Theodoric to that effect, — ap.
the renewal to the pressure of circuni- Baron. Ann. 515, § 39.
VOL. II. H
98 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
But, to provide ag-ainst any false step in dealing- with Papal the Avily Greek, the pope furnished his leg-ates legation, ^j^^ii iustructious wliicli sliouM not onty vindi- cate to the utmost his supreme pastoral authority, but supply them with appropriate replies to every probable question or interrogatory that might be addressed to them by the emperor. He strictly forbade them to eat, drink, or hold any communication with bishops or clergy until they should* have delivered their credentials into the hands of the emperor himself; and even after that, they were commanded to observe tlie severest caution in their intercourse with all ecclesiastics, lest, like the unfortunate leg-ates of Pope Felix III.,^ they should be entrapped into communion with heretics. With the emperor himself they were forbidden to hold religious communion until the arrang-ement for the restoration of peace was completed and executed, inasmuch as an earlier reconcihation mig-ht be taken advantage of to delay or defeat the required sa- tisfaction. The}^ were moreover instructed to insist upon an immediate and unqualified adoption of the Chalcedo- nian decrees, together with the " tomus" or letter of Pope Leo the Great thereunto appended; but to reserve all other questions, more especial^ the rival claims of Mace- donius and his successor Timotheus, for the adjudication of the holy see. In the next place, they were to make the assent of the pope to the convocation of a general council dependent upon the absolute submission of the emperor and the Oriental churches to the papal guidance and di- rection. Anastasius was then to be called upon to deliver a personal declaration of adhesion to the Chalcedonian decrees, with the tomus of Leo annexed ; to make pro- clamation of that fact to all the bishops of his commu- nion; and to command them to signify the like conformity by appending their signatures to a " libellus," or formula., to be presented by the legates for that purpose.*"
a See Book III. c. i. p. 29. lute condemnation of the heresiarchs
■• Baron, Ann. 615, §§ 30, 36, 37; Nestorius, Eutyches, Dioscorus, and
eonf. jF/cMr^, torn. vii. pp. 187-193. The their followers; ^lurus, Mongus, and
libellus embraced the following points: others their fellows. 3. The condem-
1. The unreserved acceptance of the nation of Acacius, Peter Gnapheus, and
Chalcedonian decrees (the xviii"' canon, all the adherents of Zeno's Ilenoticon.
of com'se, nof included). 2, The abso- 4. The reference of all differences af-
Chap. III.] CONDITIONS IMPOSED BY ROME. 99
It is tolerably manifest^ that after the acceptance of terms aniountiiio- to an nnconditional surrender .^ ,
,. . P ,. , ,, Dorence of
or every pomt m dispute^ and an equally un- Anastusius qualified adoption of the supreme jurisdiction of e|y"b?tant Home upon all matters in difference, a g-eneral demamis of council could answer no purpose but to reg'is- ^'"'^''* ter her decrees, and the more effectually to rivet her yoke u|)on the neck of the Oriental churches. Anastasius was not in a condition peremptorily to reject the hard terms thus imposed upon him by the pope, now in open alliance with his own rebellious lieutenant ; but there yet remained one debatable spot of gTound, from which he could not be so easily dislodg-ed. He knew that the populace of the me- tropolis, and probably likewise many of the orthodox pre- lates of the East, ^veve devoutly attached to the memory of their pious pastors, Acacius, Fravitta, and Euphemius, all of them laboiu'ino- under tlie anathema of Home : the hrst of them in consequence of his labours for the peace of the whole Church j the two latter for defending- his memory from posthumous insult and their church from irretrievable disg-race. The emperor, A\'ho Avas no strang*er to the sentiments of his clergy upon this point, received the papal leg'ates with disting'uished honours j he readily assented to all their propositions till they came to the article requiring* the erasiu'e of the name of Acacius from the sacred diptychs. Up to this point the ortho- ^^^ ^^ ^^.^^^ dox clergy had raised no objections ; but when of Constanti- they were called upon to pronounce the irre- Jl,°^consenTto vocable sentence of degradation ag-ainst their her own de- beloved church, — not perhaps without some s'-adation. suspicion that few thing's lay nearer to the heart of Rome than to entail discredit upon the rival see, — the voice of contradiction became loud and g-eneral. It is beyond question that, from the beg'inning- to the end of the con- troversy, it had been the settled purpose of the Koman pontiffs to reduce the see of Constantinople in all respects, excepthig- perhaps in name, to the level of the unimportant city of Byzantium before Constantine the Great raised it
ft'cting- ecclesiastical title, together with arisen out of the late religious quar- all disputes whatever which might have rels, to the arbitrament of the pope.
100 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
to the dig'nity of second capital of the empire. An all- important step in the accomplishment of this purpose was to affix indelible disg-race upon the succession of her bishops, and thus prepare the Christian world to concur in her erasure from the list of the g'reat patriarchal sees. The leg-ates^ therefore, strenuously insisted upon this car- dinal point in the negotiation. The emperor urg'ed that, after accepting* all the material terms proposed, he oug'ht not to be called upon to expel the living' from the Church for the offences of the deceased ; he hinted sig"nificantly enoug'h at the danger impending" over those who derived their orders from the condemned prelates, and protested that such a course on his part would be inevitably at- tended with ciAil disturbance, insurrection, and blood- shed. He cunningly added, that this subordinate and comparatively unimportant question might be much more satisfactorily discussed at the ensuing* general council ; and he promised to send envoys to Rome to convey the ratification of the treaty, and to give the pope the fullest assurance of his sincerity and good faith.*"
The emperor Anastasius certainly had sufficient rea-
Anastasius SOUS to believc that Pope Hormisda stood in iopTlTcom- communication, if not in league, with the Yita-
munication Hail insurg'euts. The operations of Home in the ^taiia/in-'" provinccs of Dardania and Moesia had been at- surgents. tended with signal success. The majority of the prelacy of those regions had zealousty embraced her com- munion, and professed themselves her subjects: Vitalian had presented himself in arms at the g-ate of the imperial palace as their spokesman and champion; the chain of cir- cumstances seemed to point unmistakably to the pope as a principal promoter or abettor of the insurrection. Hor- misda,, at all events, availed himself of the distresses of the court, thus brought to pass, to an extent that left no doubt of his hearty concurrence in the treasonable proceeding's of the dissidents. Four of the Ill^^rian prelates, conspicuous
= Though no record of the actual con- to the Roman senate in the latter year
ferences remains, it appears, — from the (§ 11), — that such must have been the
correspondence set out at length by Ba- course of the negotiation. Conf. Fleury,
ronius, ad Ann. 515 and 516, but more tom. vii. p. 193; and Bower, vol. ii. p.
especially from the letter of Anastasius 285.
Chap. III.] DRIFT OF THE PAPAL PROPOSALS. 101
for their recent adhesion to Home, hnppenin(>- to be at that time in the emperor's power, were detained in cus- tody'' for compHcity in the insurrection; a circumstance in- dicating-which way the suspicions of the emperor pointed. But thing's were not 3'et ripe for any retrog'rade step on his part. The leg'ates of the pope, finding* that nothing- more could be accomphshed consistently with their in- structions, relieved the court from their importunate pre- sence. Little reflection was requisite to convince the most orthodox friends of Home in the East that the vital in- terests of their communion were ver}^ remotely, if at all, i.Mvolved in the condemnation of the memory of Acaciusj that, in fact, that demand was of importance to no party but to Rome alone. A doubt could hardly fail to cross their minds that the real object of the lloman pontiffs was nmch less to preserve the unity and the purit}^ of the faith, than to establish a test whereby they mig-ht try the fidelity and obedience of their adherents, and lay a solid foundation of an influence in the East equally exclusive with that to which they had so closel}^ approximated in the West."
Bat it could escape neither the emperor nor any party in the Church, that the proposed arbitrament jx f ^ , of all disputes about ecclesiastical claims which Roman had accrued during* a long* period of schism, Proposals. must ultimately bring* all ecclesiastical title under the im- mediate cog'uisance and decision of the pope ; and that, if successful in the process of purification, he would be enabled to pack a council from which he would have little to apprehend. But the pope himself mig-ht doubt his power to carry out so critical an operation, and mig-ht fear to risk the advantag'es already g'ained. On the other hand, Anastasius had proposed the convocation of a council rather with a view to involve his opponent in
'' These were, Alcyson bishop of Ni- referred to. All the papal demands copolis, Gayanus of Nayssa, Laurentius were intended to unite the orthodox of of Lieida, and Evangelus of Paulitalia. the East in unconditional obedience to 'J'he two first died at Constantinople Rome; and the acceptance of the terms this year (516). Evangelus was soon proposed was to be the test of their at- released; but Laurentius was detained tachment: " Quod tunc qui sunt ortho- some time longer. Nicephorits, ap. Bar. doxideunitate sedis apostolicje minimc Ann. 51 fi, §§ 36, .37 ; and Cedrcnus, ap. separentur, et qui his sunt contrarii cog- eiind. §38. Conf. F/e«ry. tom.vii. p. 194. noscentur." See the Instructions, ap.
" This object is, in fact, very dis- Z^«ro7i. Ann. 516, § .30, ubi sup. tinctly avowed in the instructions above
102 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
difficulties he could easily anticipate than from any sin- cere desire for the accommodation of existing- difterences. In the Eastern churches no echo of his ostensible anxiety for a g-eneral synod was heard j and thoug"h the Western churches in some deg'ree encourag-ed the project^ there was no such g-eneral call for the proposed remedy as to tie the hands of the pontiff, or impel him in any direction inconsistent with the interests of his policy.
Anastasius, however, mig-ht not be willing- at once to The emperor I'^lcase the popc from a possible embarrassment; sends envoys aud therefore, in the month of July in the year
to the pope. 5iQ^ j^g despatched two g-reat officers of the court*^ to present to the pope his confession of faith and solemn ratificntion of the terms, as far as they had been agreed upon, with the leg-ates in the preceding- year. The pope, however, took offence at a mission of laymen for the transaction of ecclesiastical affairs, and felt himself at the some time disappointed and baffled by the cold and in- different tone of the letters they brought with them ; he therefore declined to accept the submission, and instructed the senate, to whom Anastasius had addressed letters by the same hands, to inform the emperor that there could be no peace with Rome until the name of Acacius should be erased from the list of Christian bishops. Hormisda himself, in his reply, repeated his decision upon this vital Reply of the poiut J he besought the emperor to hasten his pope. conversion, and to testify his sincerity not by words but by deeds, — by renouncing- all sympathy with the abettors and defenders of heretics. ^' Eeject, I be- seech you," he said, — '^ reject altogether the contagion of the accursed thing (the Henoticon) and its authors, know- ing that the pure hath no portion with the impious, and that there is no fellowship between faith and falsehood."^ But in the course of 515 and the beginning* of the
Impolicy of foUowiug ycaT, poHtical affiiirs had taken a turn the court, and n^Qi-e favourable to the emperor. The strength
theiiiyrian of Vitaliau had melted away under the effects bishops. Qf (Jelay and intrigue j the chief command of
f Theopompus count of the domestics, s See the documents in extenso,print-
and Severianus couut of the consistory. ed by Baronius ad Ann. 516, §§ 4-lG.
Chap. III.] "LIBELLUS' OF POPE IIOHMISDA. 103
the Illyrian forces had been peaceably transferred to the friendly hnnd of lliiffinns, and Rome had lost all the ad- vantao-e of the terror she had inspired by her alliance with the rebel sul)jects of Anastasius. But the latter hastened, as far as in him lay, to forfeit the benefit of this chang*e of position by impolitic severities against the refractory bishops of lllyricum. Dorotheus of Thessalonica, the metropolitan of the diocese, had all along- disreg'arded the papal injunction to renounce the communion of the dis- sident patriarchs of Constantinople ; but he was not sup- ])orted by the bishops of his diocese as the court desired, and a foolish attempt to drive them into conformity by useless annoyances only contributed to hasten a g'eneral defection. The bishops of Epirus, after the impolitic arrest and death of their metropolitan bishop Alcyson, elected John, a devout adherent of the Roman connnu- nion, to the vacant chair of Nicopolis. The new archbishoj) hastened to announce his election to the pope by the usual synodal letters from himself and the council of compro- vincial bishops.'' The pope, in reply, cong-ratulated them on the orthodoxy of their profession ; he cautioned them ag"ainst the artifices of the court-heretics, and exhorted them to perseverance in avoiding* all communications with those whose faith was doubtful or unsound ; and he added that, as no precaution could be reg'arded as superfluous which would in any way secure the integrit}^ of the faith and the stability of true religion, he called upon them to affix their signatures to a hbellus, or Avritten Theiibeiius engagement, by which they should bind them- of Pope selves to observe and defend the whole doctrine of Rome, to adopt or reject what she adopted or rejected ; but more especially to abide by the condemnation of the Eutychian heretics and their posthumous advocates Aca- cius, Fravitta, and Euphemius, and to avoid communion with the '^ execrable" heretic Timotheus of Constanti- nople. This libellus, or act of submission, was sent by the same hand to all the churches of Epirus, and probably
'' See the letters, ap. Baron. Ann. sirao et beatissimo Patri Patrum, com-
516, §§ 44, 4.'j, 46. They are inscribed iiiinistro nustroet Principi Episcupurum
in the ordinary form of Oriental syco- lloruiisdaj I'apiu.''' phancy. "Domino per cuueta Sanctis-
104 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
received the sig'natures of the great majority of the pre- hites of the province.'
If the direct interferences of Rome with the lUyrian n., T,i . episcopacy had been a novelty, Dorotheus, the
The Illyrian '^ . ^ i "^i , ^^, n A t u
schism; ex- patriarchal metropolitan oi the diocese, woiua tbn ofSSl)- ^^^^® ^^^ ^^^^ g'round of complaint. The pa- theus of pal proceeding* was indeed in manifest breach Thessaiouica. ^^ ^jj ecclcsiastical law^ as it stood upon the statute-book of the Churchy and could be justified only under the presumed power-superabundant and extraor- dinary of the Petrine see. The theory of the law-eccle- siastic ag'ainst the intromission of one prelate upon the diocese, province, or parish of another, was clear and string"ent ; and if even it were g'ranted that a g'eneral superintendence had from all times appertained to the see of Rome over the provinces of Illyricum Orientale, there is no evidence that it had ever been exercised otherwise than by or through the pontifical vicnrs of Thessalonica.J Now, however, that intermediate authority was frankly cost aside, Pope Hormisda assumed to himself the Avliole metropolitan prerogative, and ordained bishops to all the vacant sees within the provinces of Epirus and Dardania.'' Dorotheus, the eparch of Thessalonica, whose rig'hts were thus unscrupulously invaded, manifested his resentment by a closer adhesion to the prohibited communion of Con- stantinople. He was according-ly excommunicated by the pope ; the bishops of his diocese were exempted from his jurisdiction, and prohibited from holding* religious or official intercourse with him as their primate upon pain of forfeitin<2: the communion of the Church-catholic'
' Baron. Ann. 51 G, §§ 60-64. and metropolitan churches. The prac-
j See Book II. c. i. pp.258, 259, 280; tice of vicarial interference was now of
c. ii. pp. 310-312. more than a hundred-and-thirty years
** For author! t}', we must refer the standinof, from the episcopate of Dama-
reader to the large collection of origi- sus to that of Hormisda; a very suffi-
nal documents apud Baron. Ann. 516, cient perpetuity in the estimate of the
torn. ix. of the Lucca edition of 1741. Roman ecclesiastical jurists to establish
Directing- his attention to note (B) p. 312 the right, even independently of the
of the lid Book of this work, he will theory of Pope Leo the Great,
not fail to recognise in this step of Pope ' See the letter of Hormisda to his
Hormisda, another and a very marked legates Ennodius and Peregrinus; but
stage in the gradual process of substi- particularly the epistle to John of Ni-
tuting the papal authority for the sta- copolis, the metropolitan of Epirus, on
tutc and common law rights of eparchal the request of the bishops of his pro-
CuAP. III.] LEGATION AND INSTRUCTIONS. 105
The relig'ious ao-itation which began, but did not end, witli the rebellion of Vitalian, was improved by p.^ . ^^^^_ Hormisda with vig'our and abilit}^ The pros- tion of the pect of successful operations upon the liberties, y^'-^^ ''^'^• or b}^ what other name they may be called, of the Eastern churches throug'h the fears of the ag'ed and wayward despot was indeed at an end ; but Hormisda was quick to discern, and prompt to avail himself of, the anarchical condition of the East for reducing- the Greek hierarchy to the Roman platform. The first requisite was to maintain and streng-then his communications with the enemies of the o-overnment. It is at first sig-ht difiicult to conceive what hopes he could have founded upon a repetition or the experimental leg-ation of the year 515. Yet in the month of April 517 he despatched two leg'ates of epis- copal rank, Ennodius of Pavia and Pereg-rinus of Mise- num in Campania, for the ostensible purpose of reviving- the negotiations which had been broken otf upon the ques- tion of the erasure of the name of Acacius from the sacred dipt3'ch8. The legates were provided with public letters of introduction and recommendation to the emperor, and some others of general import to the Oriental churches of all denominations : containing exhortations and admoni- tions to the orthodox to keej) the faith and persevere in well-doing; to the heretical or the contaminated, to hasten their return to the lloman communion, " the rock upon Mhicli the whole Church is founded."'"
But it soon became obvious, that though the legates of
Hormisda were ostensibly accredited to the em- jj^^tj.,
peror, their real business was with othei's. They to tht •11-1 • 1 i«.-.,f-<
were provided with secret or private letters to
the orthodox monks and people of Constantinople, the
contents of which soon became known to the court, and
must have appeared to the jealous despot as scarcely a
step removed from treason. Their charge was to establish
vince to be allowed to send the usual the breach of them on the grounds of
letters of communion to Dorotheas of his connection with heresy and the ne-
Thessalonica, ap. Baron. Ann. .517, §§ cossity of arresting the contagion. /(/.
34-.39 ; and conf. the letter of the same ihid. § 39.
to Dorotheas himself, amply recognis- '" Se-e the letters, ap. Baron. Ann.
ing his diocesan rights, but justifying 517, §§ 3-2.5.
factions ,0 the legates.
106 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
a more intimate sympathy and understandino- with all the orthodox prelates of the East ; to advocate the cause of the persecuted Epirot and Illyrian bishops ag'ainst their metropolitan Dorotheus ; to disturb and, if possible, to break up the still subsisting- harmony between the ortho- dox party and the church of Constantinople ; to inculcate with all earnestness the proposition that there could be no church-fellowship out of the pale of the apostolic see, no return to the unity of the Church-catholic without an unconditional renunciation of all adverse communion, no valid ecclesiastical authority but that which was bestowed or sanctioned by the pope of Rome." To this end, they were further supplied with a formula of recantation, damnhig- all heresiarchs, more particularly Nestorius and Eut^^ches, with an especial curse upon the memory of Acacius and all the defenders and advocates of the He- noticon. If this document should be repelled by the em- peror and the bishops of his party, of which the pope could have entertained no doubt, the leg-ates were instructed pri- vatety to procure as many signatures as possible, and by every means in their power to disseminate a secret libel against the emperor and the court-prelates ; in short, to make friends with the adversaries of the g-overnment, and do their utmost to convert its friends into foes.
Connecting" the tenor and spirit of these documents Character of ^^'^^^^ ^'^^ ^^^^ insurrcctiou of Vitaliau, brought the instruc- about by similar means ; with the open defec- *^°°*' tion of the churches of Illyricum, Dardania, and Epirus, from the communion of Constantinople at the so- licitation of the pope, and the long'-subsisting- intercourse between Rome and the swarms of disaffected and riotous monastic bodies in the capital and in the Asiatic pro- vinces,— the emperor, not unreasonably, came to the con- clusion that the Roman claims were destructive of liberty of conscience to his own communion, and to that of a large portion of his subjects ; that they were incompatible with the maintenance of the public peace, and dung-erous to his throne and government.
" Card. Bdvonius (Ann. 517, §§42- instructions to the legates, in all their 44) detects these propositions in the nudity; and we think he is right.
CiiAP. III.] OFFENSIVE MOVEMENT OF IIORMISDA. 107
But, in the true spirit of Byzantine policy, the leg'ates were permitted to execute their secret commis- offunsivo sion without impediment. Instead of treating* measures of them as double-dealers and secret fomenters of the maitcT"V disturbance in his dominions, Anastasius, we are i>orotheus. told, endeavoured in vain to overreach or to bribe them ; thus incurring* disg*race and exposure where law and rea- sons of state might have stood his friends. The imme- diate cause of the breach with Rome arose out of the resolution of Archbishop Dorotheus to resist the paj)al intrusion in his diocese. Johannes, the successor of Al- cyson, had declined the jurisdiction of Thessalonica, and, at the sug*g"estion of Home, omitted to send the usual sy- nodical letters after his election to the see of Nicopolis in Epirus. Dorotheus, it appears, took measures, — of what nature we are not precisely informed, — to reduce him to canonical obedience. These measures were reported to the pope, and were by him treated as acts of criminal persecution and open rebellion against the supremacy of the holy see, from which, as he hinted, the metropolitan powers of the archbishop originally emanated ; powers Avhich of course mig'ht be resumed for disobedience or contumacy." He g*ave strict orders to his leg-ates to deal with Dorotheus as one who had forfeited the connnunion of the catholic Church ; they were to hold no intercourse with him but for the purpose of induciug- him to renounce connection with the })atriarch of Constantinople and all other heretics or defenders of heretics ; they were to in- sist that no one who sincerely wished to return to the bosom of the catholic Church, to which there was no door but through Rome, could be upon g'ood terms with those who continued in outer darkness '/ and he directed them,
o The legates were to promise that converted into an original endowment,
the privileges of his church (jranted by emanating from the see of Rome alone;
his (^tlie pope's) predecessors should not the J'act being that Ihessalonica was
be withdrawn if he observed the " laws the diocesan metropolis of Illyricum
of the C/iu)-ch." " Let him," said Hor- Orientale long before the earliest of tlu;
misda, "return to ' the unity,' and no vicarial delegations. See 7i«/v)/(. Aim.
one shall insist more earnestly than 517, § 43. Baronius adopts this inler-
ourselves that all the privileges he dc- pretation; and we think the words will
rives from the apostolic see be preserved bi ar it.
inviolate." These words are perhaps '' " Adnioiiitio ad legatos," ap. Z>'a-
ambiguous; it should seem as if tlie run. Ann. ;J17, ubi sup. grant of the vicariate were now to be
108 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
if their remonstrances should prove fruitless, to post copies of the apostolic letters in the cause of Johannes at the places of public resort in Thessalonica and other conve- nient localities. In the last place^ they were directed to inform the emperor that, the bishops of Nicopolis having* returned to the bosom of the holy Roman church, and thereby incurred the vengeance of Dorotheus, the holy father and the orthodox churches demanded that such anno^'ance should be at once disconthmed, so as to g'ive assurance to the world that repentance and return to the true fold were not to expose men to penalties and persecutions.
Whether the means adopted by Anastasius to avert Arrest and the threatened danger were such as they are deportation dcscribcd to US*' or uot, the emperor mio-ht
of the le- • . ^ . ~
gates of j^istly resent a proceeding- perhaps more likely Hormisda. ilinn any othcr to plung-e him back into the perils from which he had so recently escaped. The only remedy in his power, short of abject submission to the arrogant demands of the Roman pontiff, was accordingly resorted to. The legates were arrested and shipped for Italy, but without any special precautions to prevent communication with the enemies of the court. On their voyage, they put in to several important ports ; and through the ag'ency of friendl}^ monks distributed many copies of the papal manifesto, or libellus. But most of these writings fell into the hands of the imperialist offi- cers and clergy, and were transmitted to Constantinople. Some sinister light seems to have been thrown upon the conduct of the legates by these documents. Almost every vestige of their late successes appears to have vanished A\'ith their presence. The bishops who had signed the papal formulae hastened to renounce their en- gagements, and to resume communion with the see of Constantinople.' Anastasius closed his correspondence with the pope in a letter, contrasting* the proud and dic-
1 By Anastasius the librarian, a very therefore, was their consternation when
untrustworthy authority. they found themselves exposed without
■■ ft seems most probable that they defence to the wrath of their sovereign,
had never intended that their signatures Baron, ubi sup. § 47. should be shown up against them ; groat.
Chap. III.] MONASTIC WARFARE IN THE EAST. 109
tatorial Inng-uao-e of Hormisda with the gracious lessons of the Saviour^ and conchiding- with a declaration that ^' thouo-h he mio-ht submit to be vihtied and made of no account, he would not tolerate the lang-uag-e of command."' While affairs were in this position between Constan- tinople and the West, the churches of Pales- orthodox tine, S3'ria, and Egypt were still convulsed by monks of bitter contentions for and ag'ainst the decrees ^^^^'^•'^'^ of Chalcedon. The Eutychian patriarch, Severus of An- tioch, perpetrated, we are told, unheard-of cruelties upon the Maronite and other monastic communities of the ortho- dox confession. From spiritual maledictions and cursing-s, these factions advanced to carnal warfare; and many mur- derous affrays took place between the hostile Laurce or con- vents, in which it appears the so-called catholic party were worsted. In one of these sang'uinary encounters, no fewer tlian three hundred and fifty monks are said to have been left dead upon the field ; very many more were wounded, and others ag*ain drag"g*ed from the very altars at which they had taken sanctuary to instant death. The van- quished hopelessly appealed to the emperor for protection and redress ; but the Eutychian interest was paramount at court, and their cries fell upon deaf ears^ On the otlier hand, as long' as they adhered to the Henoticon, or held communion with the moderate of any party, they could expect neither sympathy nor assistance from Kome or the Western churches. But their condition was now too desperate to admit of hesitation ; and they came to the resolution of abandoning- the middle path of ,.. , compromise, and throA^ing* themselves without pel-secution reserve into the arms of Rome. In this spirit, "'Jj- ^^^^^^^^ they addressed a humble memorial and supplica- tion to the pope and the bishops of the Western churches for aid and comfort under their manifold afflictions. " We beseech and implore you," they said, " most holy fathers, to arise quickly for the healing* of the lacerated body of the Church ; for the vindication of the faith contemned, the canons trodden under foot, the fathers blasphemed,
^''Injiiriari et annullari sustineve jon. ubi sup. § 49. Conf.F/cMr?/, toui.vii. possuimis, juberi non possiimiis." Ba- p. 201.
110 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
and the holiest of synods (Chalcedon) set at naug-ht and cursed. For unto you hath God given the power to hind and to loose. . . . Arise^ therefore ; and be 3^e imitators of the Lord^ who came down from heaven to seek and to save the lost sheep. Take example of the blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, Avhose seat you (the pope) so worthily fill ; and of Paul, that vessel of election, who went
forth preaching* to and enligiitening- all nations
And now, for the more perfect information of him who is the ang'el of 3^our church (Hormisda), we do, by this our writing*, cast out, anathematise, and pronounce accursed all who are or have been cast out, anathematised, and cursed by your apostolic see ; we name more particularly Nesto- rius, Eutyches, Dioscorus, Peter of Alexandria (Mong*us), Peter of Antioch (Gnapheus), and all who have consorted with, comforted, or abetted any of these heretics."' This address was sig-ned by twenty-five Archimandrites or ab- bots, and one hundred and sevent}" priests and deacons. The pope received the document as a plenary renun-
Cono-ratuia- ^'i'^^ion of the Henoticon, and as a formal deed tory "rescript of subuiissiou to tlic domiuion of Rome. In the to t^rorii following* year Hormisda replied in a tone of ex-
tai monks, ultiug- coug'ratulation upon the complete thoug'h tardy conversion of the memorialists. " At leng'th,^^ said he, " you have conformed to the doctrine, and obe^^ed the mandate of the apostolic see. But now you have passed throug*h the purifying* fire of affliction ; now 3^ou have learnt wisdom from much tribulation ! And what wonder that you should have been afflicted, seeing* that heretofore you had g*one astray from the onl}^ true fold, wandered from the oiihj true shejjJterd I We therefore exhort you to persevere in the strug*g*le, to shake off the mire of filthy communications ; to shrink with relig-ious horror from all who have ever swerved
from the letter of JRoman doctrine Let there
be no manner of contact with heresy ; let the lessons of the fathers, as taufjht at Home, be in the hand, in the heart, and on the lips of all of yoxx ; let the decrees of
' See the Memorial, ap. Baron. Ann. 517, is 57. Conf. Fleury, tom. viii. pp. 214-217. J^ Vi-
Chap. Ill] CIIURCII-GOVERNMENT UNDER HORMISDA. HI
Chalcedon and the letter of Pope Leo to Flavian be the standard of 3'our faith, the weapons of the Spirit whereby to vanquish and overthrow the Nestorian and Eutychian blasphemies, Avhereof the former denieth that the most blessed Virgin is Aerily the 3Iofhcr of God, and the lat- ter exting'uisheth altog'ether the sacred mystery of the redemption. But more especiall}^ we exhort 3011 to yield no manner of obedience to the mandates of secular 2^er- sons in spiritual concerns ; the sacred altars ma}^ not be contaminated by strang-e sacrifices ; God himself hath established the distinction of office between the Le rites and the laity. Human authority is one thing-, the pre- rogative of the priesthood is another and a peculiar func- tion ; and it was for usurping- the latter that Uzziah king- of Judah Avas smitten with lepros}':" know ye, therefore, that the ordinances of profane authorit}^ in thing-s spi- ritual are treated by (lod as contempts of his command- ments, and that they are altog-ether destitute of force or effect in his Church."
The principles enounced in this document, and indeed g'enerall}' maintained throug'hout the pontificate Pope iior- of Hormisda, are in substance the following- : °i^«/^^'s pj"^"- 1. Home is the sovereig-n arbitress of doctrinal chlS-ch-go- orthodoxy, and she is entitled to implicit sub- vernment. mission in all matters of faith. 2. She is the only authen- tic interpreter of the decrees of a g-eneral council. 8. Ever}-^ mandate or judicature that she rejects is ipso facto unlawful and void. 4. Tlie interference of the secular power within the wide field of ecclesiastical jurisdiction or interest, except it proceed under the direction or sanc- tion of Rome, is a substantive act of sacrileg-e and treason to God and his Church. In man}- respects they ag-ree with the propositions contended for b}^ his predecessor Gelasius. The pontifical maxims of the latter deal more exclusive^ Avith the ecclesiastical element of the papal power, because they were called forth by a question of a more purely ecclesiastical character 3 while those of Hor- misda turned more especiall}' upon the conflicting- rela- tions of the spiritual to the temporal poAAer.'' Eut we
" 2 Chron. xxvi. 16-21. ' ggg Book III. e. ii. pp. 78, 79.
1 12 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
have seen"" that in one gTeat department of ecclesiastical g-overnment — that relating- to the manag-ement of church- property — Pope Symmachus had put upon record a so- lemn protest ag-ainst the right of the secular power to in- terfere with the Church in the disposal of its funds. Hor- misda consistently g"eneralised the principle of his prede- cessor, and extended it to ever}' subject-matter in which the Church mig-ht take an interest, direct or indirect, — d fortiori to any law, rule, or reg-ulation emanating* from the secular power which mig-ht circumscribe or impede the course of spiritual g"overnment, or the measures of the superintending- and visitatorial authority vested in the Ro- man pontiff. The steps in the advancement of prindp^rof the Rouiau claims during- the three pontificates the papal of Gclasius, Symmachus, and Hormisda, are very strong-ly marked ; and, if maturely considered, will be found to embrace all the material elements of a power theoretically excluding- all external reformation or amendment as fully as it repudiates all limitation or con- trol. The history of the papacy is, in truth, but the simple development of pre-established principles, dating- from the latter half of the fifth, and the first twenty years of the sixth, century.
It has been observed, that until the extinction of na- The policy tioual g-ovemmeiit in the West, scarcel}^ a mur- of Hormisda. j^^yj. \^r^^ bccu heard ag-ainst the frequent med- dling-s of the civil power with ecclesiastical affairs." But the pontiff of Rome was now the subject of a foreig-n prince ; and by that chang'e of position he was enabled to deal with the Enstern emperor as an independent power. He was politically, as well as relig-iously, emancipated from all obhg-ations which mig-ht impede the natural de- velopment of the relig-ious scheme of which he was the self-constituted chief and champion. Pope Hormisda was the first of his rank who fully discerned the advantag-es of this novel state of thing-s ; he was likewise the first to denounce the interference of the civil g-overnment in the affairs of the Church in terms wide enoug-h to make the tranquillity of the state for all time to come depend-
" Book III. c. ii. pp. 99, 103, 104. " Book III. c. ii. p. 98.
Chap. III.] DEATH OF ANASTASIUS I. 113
ent upon the passions or the prudence of the reigning* pontiff. Hormisda followed closely in the footsteps of his predecessors Leo the Great and Gelasius. There was in his addresses to his spiritual subjects^ as well ns its scope and to recusant parties, an honesty and fervour of character, expression which left no room for doubt of his sincerity. His comniinations — daring* and unsparing* as they were — always assumed the tone of the purest aspirations of peace and goodwill towards men. Thus he managed to kindle in the minds of his party a burning* desire for the termination of the fi'ightful anarchy which for more than half a century had desolated the Eastern churches, with- out holding* out the remotest prospect of its accomplish- ment by any other means than unconditional submission to the arbitrament of Rome. Few pontiffs had deserved better of the holy see than Hormisda. Thoug-h less scru- pulous than Leo the Great as to the means employed for the ends in view, he cannot upon the whole be charg-ed with any g*laring* departure from that strict rule of per- sonal integ'rity which had earned for his great predecessor so lofty a position in the Church, and so well-deserved a character in the religious world.
In the month of April 517 Timotheus the Eutychian patriarch of Constantinople died ; and was sue- Death of ceeded by his syncellus, or secretary, John of ^"^st^si"^^- Cappadocia. The emperor does not appear to of orthodoxy have interfered with the election, and John was '" •^'^'^ ^^^*- allowed to profess orthodox sentiments during* the few re- maining* months of the life of Annstasius. But the latter survived only till the July in the following* year ; and was succeeded by the adventurer Justin, the commander of the im})erial guards, who, after adroitly overreaching* an incapable competitor, by favour of a popular confession of faith secured the concurrence of the clergy, senate, and people of Constantinople.^ The first movement of reviving orthodoxy was announced b}' the devout voci- ferations of the populace of the capital. The patriarch
y Baronius (Ann. 518, §§ 2, 3) gener- cruing to the Church. As under the old
ou.sly forgives the breach of faith by dispensation, Ehud and Jacl are hia
which he obtained the diadem, in con- vouchers, sideration of the advantage thereby ac-
YOL. II. I
114 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
John and the court-party turned over in a body to the imperial creed. All concurred in denouncing* anathema ag-ainst NestoriuSj Eutyches^ Severus of Antioch, and every one who^ living* or dead, had ever held communion with them. The g-eneral councils, especially that of Chal- cedon, were adopted, confirmed, and canonised afresh ; and the names of Macedonius, Euphemius, and Pope Leo the Great, were reinscribed by acclamation upon the sacred tablets of the church.^
Yet in these transactions, g-reatly as they tended to The revival ^^^I'^'ow the cliasm vvhich divided the Eastern independent and the Wcstcrn churchcs, there was much to of Rome, ajami the jcalousy of old Romc. A synod was assembled at Constantinople to confirm and register the hasty resolutions of the court, patriarch, and people, after their sudden emancipation from the yoke of an heretical prince. But the acts of this synod made but small ac- count of the papal authority. Excepting* the restoration of the name of Leo the Great to the sacred diptychs, no notice whatever was taken of Rome or any interest of hers in the whole transaction.^ The bishop of Con- stantinople accepted the suspicious title of " oecumenical patriarch ;" and the names of Macedonius and Euphe- mius— both the advocates of Acacius, both subscribers to the Henoticon of Zeno, both accursed of Rome — were placed above that of Leo the holiest of pontiffs, the pride and giory of the Latin church.
The triumph of doctrinal orthodox}^ was, however, all
but complete in the East. Antioch was soon
jus^thTmakes after wards liberated from the odious yoke of the
advances to impious and blood-staiucd Severus. John of
the pope." ^i - , •11 1' f -I' • ^
J erusalem had contrived, by dint or dissimula- tion, to avoid compliance with the heresy" of his imperial
* See the acts, ap. Baron. Ann. 518, sufficient grounds. The question will
§ 14. Conf. Flemy, torn. vii. pp. 216- arise hereafter.
221. The cardinal notices with high in- » The assumption of Baronius (Ann.
dignation that in these acts John of Con- 518, § 70) that the eastern bishops only
stantinople is styled throughout " odcu- acted provisionally, and that they well
menical patriarch," a title always— and knew that what they did in their synod
forgoodreason— reprobated by the holy was of no force till confirmed by the
see. He thinks the title an interpola- pope, is as far as possible from the
tion of the later Greeks; but upon in- truth.
Chap. III.] JUSTIN I. EMPEROR. 115
patron : all the bishops of the eastern dioceses floated with the current of reviving- orthodoxy ; Eg-ypt alone conti- nued to hold out ag-ainst the decrees of Chalcedon. But the Orientals were not to be permitted thus easily to set- tle terms with Rome ; nor could it be tolerated that the pacification of the Church should be the work of an}'^ other hand but hers. To satisfy the dig'nity and maintain the position of the Petrine chair, there could be no advance on the part of the pontiff. Nor was any such step re- quisite : the new emperor was determined upon peace at any price ; he according'ly opened his communications with Pope Hormisda by an imperial autog-raph drawn up in a liattering- and reverential tone, and transmitted it to Rome by the hands of Count Gratus, the friend and confidant of his nephew and successor Justinian. 3y the same hand the patriarch John sent his synodal letters, containing" his confession of faith in the terms of Pope Leo's celebrated treatise ; he informed the pope that he had restored the names of all his (Hormisda's) predeces- sors to the sacred calendars of his church ; and concluded his address with the request that the pope would send pro- perl^^-accredited leg*ates to ratif}^ on his part the reunion of the two churches. Justinian added a letter from him- self to the same purport.'' The ansAvers returned Reply of were short and dry. The pope declared, that Hormisda. before any thing* could be concluded, the name of Acacius, the associate and accomplice of the worst of heresiarchs, Peter (Mong'us) of Alexandria, must be struck out of the list of the blessed, and consigned to infamy or oblivion. He haug'htily informed the applicants that the}' had now no retreat ; and that having" once embraced the creed of Rome, they had tied and bound themselves down to obe- dience to her precepts in all matters, and to accept her decisions upon every point included in that confession. " You have renounced heresy," said the pontiff, " you have taken upon you the faith of the blessed Peter ^ knowing*
'' Baron. Ann. 518, §§ 74, 75. The dry superscription of the reply runs
letter of the patriai-ch was addressed: thus: "Hormisda bishop to John bishop
" To my lord and most holy brother of Constantinople." and fellow-minister Hormisda." The
116 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
that in that faith alone you have salvation : therefore now set your hands to the written covenant (lihellus) herewith sent yo\x for your subscription^ that thereby we may be united in one holy communion with each other."'^
This "libellus," or covenant, was substantially the same
d ^'^^^ *^^* which had been so scornfully rejected
legation of b}^ the dcccascd emperor and his clerg-y. The
Pope Hor- jgo-ates who conveyed it received the same mi-
misda to o . J . . i» r
Constanti- nutc and cautious mstructions as those oi the nopie. preceding- j^ears 515 and 517. They were en- joined to take no step that mig"ht compromise the rigid consistenc3'^,or cast a shadow over the omniscience of Rome in all matters of faith. They were directed to open no communication with clergy or k^anen, to decline all inter- course with the patriarch of Constantinople, and to hold no discourse with any one touching- the subject of their mission, until the}" should have introduced themsehes and delivered their credentials and all the documents ac- companying- them to the emperor's own hands ; after that they were immediately, and without allowing- space for hesitation or reflection, to demand his subscription and the instant publication of the act. The only point they were empowered to yield was an insult rather than a concession : the pope g-raciously consented that the names of the imperial heretics, the predecessors of Justin, should not be publicly associated with the vulg'ar herd of the damned, but should be privatel}' Avithdrawn from the reg-isters of the faithful sons of the Church. As soon, then, as the emperor and patriarch should have performed these conditions, the leg-ates were to be at liberty to re- ceive them into the communion of the cathohc Churcli ; and so on with the rest ; always carefully exacting- such a deg-ree of publicity in all these acts of conformity, as that no one mioht thereafter plead ig-norance of the full extent of the oblig-ation contracted, or be enabled to evade the conditions, or question the authorit}^ which imposed them.
The prog-ress of the leg-ates to Constanthiople rather
•^ Baron. Ann. 518, §§ 81, 82.
CiiAi'. III.] CESSATION OF THE SCHISM. 117
resembled a triumphal procession than a mission submission of peace. The bishops of the cities on their of ^''^ Greeks, route sig'ned the libels without waiting- for the o"]" KomTin imperial license. Dorotheus of Thessalonica ^^® ^^^t. alone hesitated at this wholesale surrender of the liberties of his church. On their arrival at Constantinople, the leg'ates found all men prepared to accede to the papal demands ; and a few days sufficed to bring' the emperor jHid his court, the patriarch and his clergy, within the pale of the lloman church ; for such was both the form and the understanding of the whole transaction, as far as outward acts could be made to denote intention. The names of Acacius, Fravitta, Euphemius, and Timotheus, tog'ether with those of the emperors Zeno and Anasta- sius, were struck out of the lists of the faithful, and e\ ery bishop and abbot of the metropolis and the diocese at- tached to it sio'ued and delivered his libel in the form required.
The g-reat schism thus broug'ht to an end** had con- vulsed Christendom for a period of thirty-five ^
OstGnsibiG
years. And so far as practical admissions may character extend in construinof intention, the subscribers ,^^}^^?
r -I Ti IT (> T-» TT • I 111 n submission.
01 the libelli oi Jrope Hormisda could hardly deny the obligation of spiritual allegiance to the chair of Peter. The claim to that allegiance, its extent and meaning*, were clearly stated and brougiit to their know- ledg-e before they executed the bond : all the demands of the pope had been ostentatiously g-rounded upon a divine right, overriding- all other law or order in the Church j and, as far as in him lay, he had taken care that the surrender should be unconditional, and that the act itself should bear the stamp of rightful homag'e to the apostolic see. His leg'ates discussed nothing- ; they were intrusted with no power to treat, or to vary the terms of submis- sion ; every -appearance of independent action on either side was carefull}^ excluded; there were no parties, no dispute, no neg'otiation ; submission, absolute and un- conditional, was the form and the substance of the whole
"1 Reckoning from the condemnation of Acacias by Pope Felix II. in the year 484 to 519.
118 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
transaction; the demand itself was^ with all possible pub- licity and notoriet}^, based upon the proposition that out of the pale of St. Peter^s chair there ivas no church, no unity, no promise, no salvation.^
The sequel will^ we thhik, show that the Oriental
Real charac- churchcs ucver intended that absolute surrender
ter of the of their independence which their acts seemed
submission. ^^ j^^^pj^,^ ^jj ^j^^ ^^^^jj^. ^-^^^ ^^^ j right-minded
clergy thoug-ht of little more than the restoration of union in the Churchy and the termination of those unhappy dif- ferences which had caused the effusion of so much Chris- tian blood and so long- banished Christian charity from the world ; the statesmen were anxious to arrest the civil dis- orders, and dry up the sources of sedition and rebellion which had sprung- from the prevailing- religious dissensions. No part}^ probably paid much attention to the principle of the papal demands upon them^ or to the construction that mig-ht be put upon their own acts. The correspondence of emperor, court, and clergy conveys the impression that their minds were wholly absorbed by the strong- desire for peace ; nor do we find, amid the many complimentary and iiattering- expressions of deference for the holy see, an^^ thing- that could be made to convey a direct verbal ac- ceptance of the papal principle — any acknoAvledg-ment of subjection or alleg-iance. The pope alone busied himself with the principle ', the Greeks looked only to the prac- tical benefits of the desired union. A name or two more or less upon the lists of saints and benefactors, was of little moment compared with the serenity and security resulting- from a durable relig-ious peace. The new em- peror was a veteran soldier, to whom theolog-ical disputes were altogether strang-e, and who mig-ht therefore look Avith contempt upon the quarrels of troublesome priests, and with resentment at the amount of civil mischief they
Religious ^^^^ ^^^w fouud Capable of perpetrating-. But advantages Rome had obviously succeeded in making- her-
ofRome. g^j^ ^|^g mistrcss of the controversy. While
« The entire correspondency between Ann. 519, torn. ix. We point particu- the court and the prelates of the East larly to the letter of Justinian to the may be found at length in i?aroHms, pope, § 98.
Chap. III.l ADVANTAGE OF ROME. 119
fig'hting" for spiritual dominion^ she carefully adhered to those dog'matic formulae which had hitherto commanded the assent of a majority in the Christian world. And true it is, that while she maintained the four g-eneral councils, and steadily set her face ag-ainst the vain and pernicious speculations of the Oriental divines, she could make sure of the first place in the estimation of the catholic body. It was to this natural and legitimate supremacy that the emperor Justin and his clergy did homage; and posterity will ratify the act. But these merits being- conceded, the like approval cannot be ex- tended to the obvious design to make them the ground- work— as it were the credentials — of a divine commission to exercise absolute dominioUj irrespectively of future merit or demerit, over the religious conscience of man- kind, and to make the victory she obtained in this great struo'o'le evidence of her rigiit to retain and exercise that dominion for all time to come.
CHAPTER IV.
JUSTINIANIAN PERIOD (L).
Subserviency of Constantinople— Appeal of the Syrian fanatics— Count Justinian and Pope Hormisda — Death of Hormisda — John I. — Theodoric the Great protects the Ai-ians of the East— His tyranny — Eelix III. pope — Death of Theodoric— Imperial policy — Amalasuintha and Athalaric— Re-annexation of Rome to the empire — State of the Roman church— Boniface II. pope— Decree of the Roman senate against bribery — John II. pope — Reiterated decree against bribery— Secular interposition against bribery, &c.— Church-policy of the em- peror Justinian — Scope and objects of his ecclesiastical laws — Their secular and political character — Limits of the secular and ecclesiastical powers in re- spect of church-legislation — Relations of Justinian to the Roman pontiffs — Title of " universal patriarch" — Intent of Justinian — How accepted by Pope John II.— Rome and the Gallic churches — Rome and the revived churches of Africa — Their address to Pope Agapetus — Rome and the canons of the Church- catholic — Agapetus pope — His embassy to Constantinople — Intrigues of the empress Theodora — Anthimus patriarch — His deposition — Mennas patriarch — Imperial principle of church-legislation — Course of proceeding — Sylverius pope — Intrigue of Theodora and Vigilius — Of Belisarius and Antonia — De- portation of Sylverius — Election of Vigilius — Murder of Sylverius — Canonical defects in the title of Vigilius.
Pope Hormisda survived his victory for a term of four Subservienc 3'6^1'S- Of the host of oppoueiitSj two oulv re- of Constanti- luaiiied in the field : Timotheus the Monophy- nopie. g-^^ patriarch of Alexandria still maintained his gTound ag-ainst pope and emperor by the aid of the popu- lar support ; and the refractory Dorotheus of Thessalo- nica could not be persuaded to subscribe to the degTa- dation of his church. In all other quarters the religious influence of Home was for a time paramount. All im- portant ecclesiastical measures and appointments \\ere submitted to the pontiff; and any departure from alleg'ed law or usag'e affecting- the claims of Rome was promptly rebuked and obsequiously apolog"ised for b}^ the trans- gTessors. Thus it occurred thai, after the death of the patriarch John, his successor Epiphanius was deemed to have delayed his official letters of notification to the pope
Chap. IV.] JUSTINIAN AND HORMISDA. 121
beyond a reasonable time; for this neg'lect the hitter administered a sharp rebuke^ and drew from the new pa- triarch a humble apology^ accompanied by ostentatious protestations of attachment to the see of Peter and per- fect acquiescence in every step of the pontiff for the main- tenance and purity of the faith — heartily condemning- and rejecting* all and every person, matter or thing-, that had been condemned and rejected by the holy see/
The relig'ious movement in the East presented some novel features. Certain S3"rian fanatics main- tained that for the completion of the rule of faith th^Syrian it was necessary to pronounce that " a Person fanatics to of the Holy Trinit}^ had suffered on the cross for the redemption of the world." This extravagant dogma they supported by clamorous charges of heterodoxy against their opponents. Though they had found favour at court, they were discountenanced by the patriarch and the Roman legates. But by the recommendation of Count Justinian they carried their complaints to Rome ; and the future emperor in an autograph epistle pressed the pope for a decision, assuring him that the orthodox churches of the East Avould receive his adjudication upon the merits of the question as catholic doctrine. With the habi- tual indulgence of Rome for all appellants fi-om foreign churches, the pope entertained the cause ; but declined to give judgment, and dismissed the applicants without sa- tisfaction indeed, but without reprehension or censure.''
Within the same period the Count Justinian appears upon the stage as the intimate ally and pupil Relations of of the pontiff of Rome. He asked and received Count Justi-
1 • 1-1 1 -1 Til' ^ • /• man and
solutions or theological dimculties ; sent tor re- Pope Hor- lics from the shrines of the apostles, and inter- ^"sda. ceded for those whose orthodox}- entitled them to indulg- ences from the holy see.*' The plentiful crop of religious conceits which had lately sprung up within the pale of the Chalcedonian profession itself, afforded ample occupation
» Baron. Ann. 520, §§ 29-35. of the pious patriarchs Macedonius and
'' F/eur?/, H.E. torn, vii.liv.xxxi., par- Euphemius. Hormisda appears to have
ticularly p. 253. yielded the point to the powerful inter-
<= More especially for those churches cession of Justinian. Baron. Ann. 520,
which still retained in honour the names § 36.
122 CATHEDRA PETKI. [Book III.
for the theological acumen of Justinian and his pontifical pedag'og'ue. Epiphanius dutiful^ reported the proceed- ing's of his synodal courts to the pope^ and the emperor and his ministers accepted his directions for completing- what remained to be done in the g-reat work of reconcilia- tion. Except from open and declared enemies, opposi- tion had ceased on all hands; and, before his death, Hor- misda rejoiced in the prospect of a wider influence and a more solidly-established power than had been enjoyed by any of his predecessors/ Pope Hormisda died
PopeHor- early in the month of August of the year 523; misda; John r^j^j ^^s succccdcd by John I., sumamcd Cata- ■ ^°^^" hnus, a Tuscan by birth, and a priest of the district or parish of St. John and St. Pau? at Rome.
The accession of John I. carries us back to the state of Persecution Italy, a couutry becoming- with every succeed-
of heresy, i^g" year morc and more closely connected with the fortunes of the B3^zantine empire. As long* as the public attention was absorbed by religious controversy^ men could not find time or leisure to look out for the minor objects of persecution ; but as soon as by the coalition of the stronger parties their mutual jealousies were laid asleep, the mind of the churchmen applied itself to the task of reducing all dissentients to conformity. But to that end they knew of no methods but imprisonments, civil penalties, disabilities, and even capital punishments. Thus the Manichaeans were hunted down and ruthlessly burnt to death in every province of the empire. Other he- retics, of a less obnoxious description, were deprived of liberty, station, property, and civil rights. The Arians were
"* Baron, ad Ann. 520-522. sellers in ordinary of the bishop, and e Both Baronius (^ Ann. 423, § 10) and his official attendants on all public occa- Ciacone (Vit. John I.) describe John sions and ceremonies. When the pope Catalinus as cardmaZ-priest of St. John became the monarch of the Church, it and St. Paul, by the title of Pammachius. was natural enough that they who made Though the title of cardinal-priest — him and surrounded him from his con- principal or chief priest — may have been secration to his grave should be styled of early date, yet I believe it was not princes of the Church. But it is a disin- used in the sense afterwards affixed to genuous artifice to carry back the title to it much before the age in which the an antiquity to which it has no preten- parish clergy of Rome acquired the sole sion. There could be no princes before power of electing the Roman pontiffs. there was a king. Conf. Ducange, ad The parochial clergy of Rome, however, voc. Cardinalis. became at a very early period the coun-
GiiAP. IV.] TYKANNY OF TliEODORIC. 123
still a numerous religious profession^ even in the East ; in Italy Arianism was the relig'ion of the o-overning- power. It was not advisable, therefore, to extend the like disci- pline to this class of dissenters ; and the attempt of the emperor Justin to expel the Arians from their churches and to transfer them to the catholics — a preliminary step to more active persecution — was resented by Theodonc Theodoric the Great as a flag-rant insult to his *'^^ cjreat own creed. With characteristic vig'our, he de- Arians of termined to make the pope himself the instru- *^^^ ^^^*- ment for redressing- the wrong's of his co-relig'ionists. The pontiff was according-ly sent to Constantinople, with peremptory instructions to press the revocation of the obnoxious edict. The measure was for the moment suc- cessful : the pope was received with the hig-hest honours ; he occupied the first place at the altar, crowned the em- peror, and prevailed upon him, for obvious reasons, to foreg-o for the present the g-ratihcation and the profits to be derived j^^i the persecution of his Arian subjects. "^^
But by m\s time suspicion of the ulterior desig-ns of the court of Constantinople had taken full pos- Tyranny of session of the mind of Theodoric. Ag-e, and the Tiieodoric. disappointment of every scheme for the accomplishment of a closer national union between his Roman and Gothic subjects, had exhausted his forbearance. He perceived that the Italians requited the contempt of the Gothic soldiery with a persevering* aversion, enhanced by reli- gious hatred. They had thwarted the measures of the sovereig-n by irritating* resistance, and were more than suspected of treasonable intrig-ues with the chief of their own relig-ious communion in the East. Hurried on by
f Card. Baronius (Ann. .'323, §§8-11) Greeks. Fleury (torn. vii. p. 284) can- fully sympathises with the pope and the not get rid of the concurring testimony emperor in this unfortunate dilemma. of the " Liher Pontificalis," the Greek He repudiates with indignation the sup- 7-/ieo/)/ianes,andthe"HistoriaMiscelIa" position that a Roman pontiff could, to that fact; but he rightly, no doubt, from compulsion or from any other con- attributes the intercession of Pope John ceivable motive, become the protector to no desire to relieve the Arians, or to of heretics. See Ep. Joh. Pap. Ann. any motive of religious toleration, but 526, § 2. From this epistle, and a pass- simply to his anxiety to protect the Ita- age from the " Lives of the Martyrs " lian churches from the resentment of of Gregory of Tours, he endeavours to their Arian masters. Conf. Payi, not, show that the imputation of interceding ad Baron. Ann. 525, §§ 5-9. for the Arians is a calumny of the later
124 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
jealousy and resentment, the ag-ed monarch cast aside the principles upon which his g-overnment had been hi- therto conducted." His suspicions fell upon the innocent heads of his ministers Boethius and Symmachus ; and Death of Pope Johu was immured in an unwholesome John I. prison at Ravenna^ where he shortly afterwards
died.*^
Theodoric took the selection of a successor to the Election of dcccascd poutiff into his own hands ; and by Feiixiii. iiis precept, Fehx, the third of the name, a Samnite by birth, and probably a member of the Roman church, was after slight hesitation placed upon the papal throne.' The king- had fathomed the designs of the By- zantine court for the recovery of its Italian dominion ; nor could it have been a secret to him, that that scheme turned upon the rehgious sympathies of his people for the distant chief of their communion. The late accommo- dation, therefore, of the relig'ious differences between the East and the West must have appeared to him fraught with dang-er to his government ; perhaps he had arrived at some surmise that the facility of the emperor in the late arrangement was not unconnected with the execution of the sinister desig-ns of the court of Constantinople. Cer- tain it is that the late reconciliation opened a broad path for pohtical intrig'ues : the correspondence of the Itahan malcontents with the Byzantines had become intimat^ and active, and Theodoric resorted to measures of severity to check the spirit of resistance which his unbounded tolera- tion had engendered and fostered among his Italian sub- jects. But before the effects of these steps became mani- ' ,. . fest, a distemper, which aifected mind and body
Death of . ? f ^ . i . i • • ^ i
Theodoric smiultancously, put an end to his existence,-" the Great. ^^^^^. ^ long", aud upou the whole beneficent, reig-n of thirty-four years from the death of Odovaker.
e Conf. Book II. c. vii. pp. 483, 484. examine laudatum," &c. {Baron. Ann.
'' Conf. Baron, and Fleury, ubi sup.; 526, § 3.) Conf. Ciacone, torn. i. p. 353.
Hist, of the Germans, p. 542. It appears, nevertheless, that Felix IH.
» Athalaric, the successor of Theo- has obtained a niche in the Roman Pan-
doric, in a letter to the Roman senate, theon.
alludes to this election in these terms: J Theodoric the Great died on the
" Recipistis virum (Felicem), et divina 30th August 526. gratia probabiliier institutum et regali
Chap. IV.] DEATH OF TIIEODOEIC. 1*25
The precise relation subsisting* at this point of time between the Greek emperors and the Gothic so- imperial vereigns of Italy is of some moment to the pro- po'i^y- gTess of papal histor}^ Though the emperor Zeno and his successors had sanctioned the introduction of foreig-n g'overnment in Italy by the successive recog-nitions of Odovaker and Theodoric, they pertinaciously continued to reg-ard that country, no less than every other reg'ion that had at any time ibrmed a portion of the empire, quite as much in the light of a province or append ag*e of their titular sovereig"nty as if it had never been severed from their dominion. With the pedantr}'' of jurists, they maintained that in parting- with the present possession they had never abandoned or impaired their dominium supremum ; and that on the occurrence of any technical cause of forfeiture or escheat, they mig'ht lawfully resume the g-rant. In point of fact, the Gothic prince had taken possession as the g-rantee of the emperor ;'' and although the former always carefully excluded all interference with his government, yet he was equally solicitous to preserve in his addresses and demeanour that respectful tone and manner which threw a g-raceful veil over the more offensive forms of independent power. During- the whole period of his reign, therefore, the claims of the Byzantine em- perors were suffered to sleep. But his death, and the events which followed it hi rapid succession, put an end to this amicable understanding-, and introduced a chang-e in the position of the Gothic monarchy which held out g-reat encourag-ement to the scheme of re-annexation always uppermost in the mind of the court of Constantinople.
. Theodoric was succeeded by his grandson Athalaric, a child as yet scarcely eig-ht 3^ears of age, un- Amaiasu- der the reg-ency of his mother Amalasuintha, a intha and daug'liter of the late monarch. The king*dom of the Goths thus became a prey to all the evils of a minority; the haughty warriors submitted reluctantly to female rule ; and the reg-ent was unable to control the precocious vices and caprices of the youthful king-. But in the year 584 Athalaric died from the consequences of
^ Jortiandes, c. 57, p. 69 G; Procopius, Hist. Goth. lib. i. c. i. p. 308.
120 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
premature intemperance ; and his mother, in an evil hour, thoug'ht to perpetuate her power by manying- the Amalan prince Theodotus. But the new king--consort quickly undeceived her ; he excluded her from all participation in the g'overnment, and soon afterwards caused her to be secretly strangied in the bath.'
In the year 627, the emperor Justin had caused his ^ nephcAV the count Justinian and his wife Theo-
Ke-annexa- i . i • > i i i i •
tionofRome dora to DC uomuiated and crowned as his sue- to the cessors on the throne of the East. He himself died a few months afterwards, at the ag"e of seventy-seven, after a reig-n of nine years. Within the first seven years of his reig"n Justinian had concluded a peace with the preponderant Persian power on his east- ern frontier, and accomplished the conquest of the Vandal king'dom of Africa. His victorious g'eneral Belisarius had rapidly overrun the barbarian realm, recaptured Car- thag;e, and conducted the Vandal king- Gelimer a prisoner to the foot of his throne. With an army and a captain such as Rome had not seen since the days of Scipio or of Caesar, the emperor boldly aspired to the conquest of Italy, where dissensions and the incapacity of Theodotus had prepared the way for his arms and fortune. He affected to consider the murder of Amalasuintha as a legitimate cause of forfeiture ; a strang'er to the orig-inal g-rant had usurped the vassal throne, and the inheritance of Theodoric was held to lapse to the imperial gTantor. In the year 536 Belisarius, without a battle, overran the island of Sicily ; whence he crossed to Calabria, and possessed himself of the important cities of Naples and Cumge. In Home, the boiling* hatred of the citizens for their heretical rulers, co-operating* with the misg"overn- ment of Theodotus, had predisposed the minds of all classes for a chang-e of masters. The Gothic g*arrison, enfeebled by mutiny and discontent, felt itself incompe- tent to defend its extended quarters ag'ainst the appre- hended insurrection of the citizens emboldened by the approach of their deliverers ; they abandoned the city ; and Belisarius put his sovereig-n once again in the posses-
' Jornand. c. lix. p. 701 ; Procop. ubi sup. lib. i. c. iv. p. 317.
CiiAP. IV.] RECONQUEST OF ITALY. 127
sion of the ancient capital of the empire after a severance of sixty 3'ears' duration."'
During- the period of nine years which elapsed be- tween the death of Theodoric and the conquest Reigning of Rome by Behsarius/ the chair of Peter was P^';"g|,'|^^h^ occupied by four popes — Felix III.^ Boniface years rm II., John ll., and Ag-apetus— all elected under ^"'^ ^•'^*^- the patronag-e of the Gothic viceroys, if not by the direct nomination of the reg*ent. But Amalasuintha, during- her short ascendency, felt the expediency of keeping- the Romans in good humour too strongly to pursue the ri- gorous measures contemplated by her father against the disaffected clerg-y of the capital. With a view to regain the lost popularity of the court of Ravenna, she pub- lished an edict transferring all suits, civil or criminal, brought ag'ainst any clerk or minister of the Roman church to the adjudication of the pope himself, with an appeal to the civil courts only in the case of a p-alpable denial of justice by the pontiff." The alleg'ed motive for this extension of privileg-e was the frequency of vexatious actions, civil and criminal, against the Roman clerg-y ; not improbably traceable to the restless spirit of that bod}', and the retaliatory disposition of the g-overnment officials-^*
But the feeble g-overnment of the reg*ent was unequal to the difficulties she had to contend with, and g^^tg^jfthe the removal of the strong- hand of Theodoric Roman the Great at once reproduced the fruits of dis- ''•^'''Sj'arpe-' order and corruption in every element of the riod; State. The Roman clerg-y, no long-er curbed by -^*'^"' ^^^• the moral vig-our of a Gelasius, a Felix, or a Hormisda, g-ave way to that seditious spirit, and lapsed into the cor- rupt habits, which the barbaric government and their own
" For these incidents the reader is proceed either in the bishop's court or
referred to the works oi Jornandes and before the civil magistrate, " compro-
Frocopius, as above quoted. misso interposito." See Book U. c. vii.
n From the year 527 to 536. p. 467. It is true that the Roman clergy,
° See the edict, ap. Saron. Ann. 537, in their petition to the court, claimed
§§ 64-06. this extension as a matter of long cus-
p The Theodosian laws certainly did torn, "longseconsuetudinisinstitutum;"
not exempt the clergy from the juris- but the claim is negatived by the tenor
diction of the civil courts in any but spi- of the civil law, and could never have
ritual causes of action. All the " gra- been recognised or admitted by the
viorescausje" were reserved; and in civil State, actions the lay party had his election to
128 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
ablest pontiffs had so long- and so anxiously combated.'^ Pope Felix III. held the pontifical chair for the short space of three years and two months. He died in the year 530 ; and was succeeded by Bonifacius, Boniface n. ^^^ ^^^ of Sig-cvult, a pHest of Gothic extrac- tion, after a severe contest with a more popular candidate named Dioscorus. Both parties appear to have prac- ticed open and shameless bribery/ and Boniface II. was indebted for the throne to the sudden death of his rival within a few days of his successful appeal to the popular constituency. The new pope ushered in his pontificate by a solemn curse upon the memory of his late com- petitor. In breach of all ecclesiastical order, he obtained from his synod a decree which empowered him to appoint his own successor; and he nominated his deacon Yig-ilius to the reversionary dignity. But a decree which anni- hilated the rights of the electoral body, and deprived the sovereig-n of his veto, offended all parties, and alarmed the regent. A synod convoked in the following- year (531) annulled the decree ; Boniface himself admitted his error, and in the presence of the council and senate burnt the decree with his own hand, confessing- himself g'uilty of the crime of treason in procuring its enactment.'
Odovaker had prohibited the diversion of church- property to secular purposes; and Theodoric, ""'deSof throug-h the Church herself, had provided the senate ag'ainst the recurrence of those cabals and in- against it. ^^.j^.^^g ^y}ji(.}j jj^d SO frequently led to disturb- ances of the public peace, and g-iven so much trouble to the g'overnment.' But these ordinances had been found to be practically inoperative. They did not extend to the crime of bribery in g-eneral, but to bribery by aliena- tion or diversion of church-funds only ; and it is probable that the execution of these statutes was not very closely watched so long as the infraction of them did not mate- rially affect the interests of government. At this time, however, the senate of Rome — which as a political body
1 Conf. Book III. c. ii. pp. 85, 87, 88. 531, § 2 ; Fleury, torn. vii. p. 317—" Papa
' See Ep. Justiniaui, ap. Baron. Ann. reum se coiifcssus est majestatis." 530, § 4. ' Book III. c. ii. pp. 88-100.
» Anastas. in Bonif., ap. Baron. Ann.
Chap. IV.] EDICT AGAINST BRIBERY. 129
had almost disappeared from the historic stag-e, took an unwonted interest in the reformation of this abuse. They issued a decree, that if any one should, for the purpose of obtaining- the bishopric of the city of Eome, be convicted of g"iving- or promising* any article or thing by way of bribe, either on his own behalf or on behalf of any other person, such contract or ag'reement should be altogether void ; the guilty parties should forfeit their right of suf- frage ; the promises made be vacated, and the article or thing given be recoverable by action against the receiver." But the authority of the senate to make laws binding upon the clergy was soon put to the test. The ^ , „ death of Pope Boniface II., in the year 532, "^reUeraS*^' was followed by a repetition of those scenes of «^^f ^.fs'^^^^'^ bribery and corruption Avhich had disgraced his own election. Through the weakness of the regency, the choice of a successor had fallen back into the ordinary channel ; and after a vacancy of unusual duration John, surnamed Mercurius,'' was chosen pope. But in the course of his election the g'oods and property of the churches had been recklessly squandered in bribes by the candidates and their friends 5 promises had been lavishly dispensed, and even the sacred vessels of the altars put up to auction to procure funds for bribery or to favour friendly purchasers. The senate, indignant at so open a contempt of its recent ordinance, and^ disgusted with this public display of venality, presented the abuse to the court of llavenna, and obtained a rescript addressed to Pope John II. confirming- the senatus consultum for the sup- pression of bribery and simoniacal practices. The re- script recited and re-enacted all the, provisions of that decree ; but it went a step beyond, and extended them to all the patriarchal and metropolitan chairs throughout the kingdom of Italy ; and lastly, with a view to pre- vent extortion on the part of the officers of government, it was ordered that whenever a contested election should occur, and the successful candidate should come to the sovereign for his confirmation, the officers of the court
" Cassiodorus, Epp. lib. ix. ep. 15.
* He is said to have been so called on account of his eloquence. VvOL. II. K
130 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
should in no case accept from a newly elected pope more than 3000 solidi as fees of office^ nor more than 2000 from patriarchs and metropolitans. Simple bishops were to be allowed to distribute among" their people a sum not exceeding- 500 solidi ; and rig'orous punishments were denounced ag-ainst all who should either offer or accept more than these specific sums. The pope was moreover ordered to publish the ordinance in all churches subject to his pastoral superintendence ; and the prefect of the city, Salvantius, was directed to have it inscribed upon marble tablets and posted up conspicuously in the vesti- bule of the church of St. Peter, as the proper mode of recording- the royal pleasure, " and g'iving' due honour to the laudable decree of the most noble senate.""'
The character of these decrees has been thoug-ht ma-
Secuiarin- tcrially to affcct the j^apal claims. It appears terposition clcarly cnough that neither the Roman senate
*rection*of ^^''^ ^hc Gothic rulcrs entertained any doubt of ecclesiastical their compctcncy to recall the pastors of the church to a sense of their duty by direct legis- lative interference, and to enforce the abatement of the scandalous nuisance complained of by leg-al penalties. The pope himself was to be bound by the decree in the same sense, and to the same extent, as all other persons named ; and he is treated throughout as an instrument in the hand of the leg-islature for the purpose of bring'ing- the law to the knowledg-e of the clerg-y and people of Ital}^ The ordinance of the senate, and the confirmatory decree of Athalaric, therefore bear the stamp of a direct secular interposition for the correction of ecclesiastical abuses.''
Church-po- It may be advantageous in this place to
hey of the comijare the almost simultaneous policy of the
emperor i -p.. . ,. i-'i
Justinian, cmpcror J ustimaii ni relation to ecclesiastical
^ Cassiodor, lib. ix. ep. 16; Baron. was assigned to the churches to watch
Ann. 533, §§ 32, 40; Fleury, torn. vii. over their interests in the civil courts.
pp. 322, 323. Whether this officer was the direct re-
^ Baronius endeavours to get rid of presentative or agent of the bishop at
the offensive aspect of this deci-ee by the court of the sovereign or not, it is
a disingenuous misinterpretation of a clear from the words of the edict that
passage in the decree. The complaint he made his complaint " cum aposto-
of those malpractices is stated to have licse sedis peteretur antistes;" conse-
reached the royal ear through the " De- quently, before John II. was pope.
fensorEcclesiae Romance," an officer who Baron. Ann. 333, § 33, p. 467.
Chap. IV.] THE JUSTINIANTAN LAWS. 131
leg'islation, with a view to obtain a more g*eneral idea of the respective shares which pubhc opinion in this ng-e as- signed to the temporal and spiritual poAvers in the exter- nal o-overnment of the Church. Upon the lights we ma}^ obtain on this point, it is obvious, must in a great mea- sure depend the claim of the great Latin patriarch to have been from all time exempt from secular legislation, except such as either moved from himself, or was sanc- tioned by his solicitation or direct participation.^
Between the years 528 and 534, the emperor Jus- tinian issued numerous decrees directty affect- g^^ ^^ ^^^ ing* the government, discipline, and revenues of ecclesiastical the churches within his own dominions. Though ^^'^^' throughout this period Rome was in the hands of the Goths, yet Italy was still regarded by the Bj^zantine monarchs as an integral portion of the empire, so that, when reduced into possession, it would be legally re- garded as in all respects subject to the existing laws of the State and the Church ; consequently, in that contin- gency, the chief of the Latin communion would come under that general code of laws then lately published b}^ the emperor for the prevention of abuses and the main- tenance of canonical discipline in the whole body of the Church.
We describe generally the more important of these laws, especially those which most plainly show q^,. ^^^ ^f ^j^^ the intent of the legislator to impose laws upon Justinianian the Church by the authority of the State-po- '^^^^^ litic. In one of these earlier ordinances he enforces the residence of the bishops on their sees, and attaches the penalty of excominuni cation for non-residence.^ Another of an equally early date regulates episcopal elections and defines the persons by whom bishops shall be elected, and the qualifications of candidates for the episcopacy. The same law places the civil rights of the bishops, more especially as respects property and succession to private estate, upon more certain grounds ; it provides for the proper management of church-funds, with a vieAV
y The affirmative is dogmatically Roman prerogative, maintained by all the advocates of the ^ Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. iii. 1. 43.
132 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
to the prevention of embezzlement and misapplication ; it rigorously denounces briber}- and all simoniacal practices at ordinations and in filling- ecclesiastical appointments ; it prescribes the strict performance of their duties by the body of the clerg-y; and holds the bishops respon- sible for the conduct of their inferiors and officials, direct- ing- them to deo-rade from their orders all who should neg'lect the service of their churches.^
For the due reg'ulation of episcopal elections, Justinian ordained that on every vacancy, three persons of orthodox faith and blameless lives should be nominated by the elec- toral body, and presented by them to the emperor for his choice.'' Other laws were enacted for the reg-ulation of monasteries and religious houses f for the settlement of the civil rig-hts and liabiHties of the clergy and other religi- Gus persons ;"* for extending- and defining' the jurisdictions of the l)ishops in sundry civil matters ; and for determin- ing* the form of proceeding- in the trial and punishment of bishops and clerg-y for ecclesiastical offences/
The ecclesiastical code of Justinian is arrang-ed under
no fewer than thirteen titles, and it enters into
political cha- ^H the miuutioB of doctrine and discipline : it
racter of defines orthodoxy ; it provides for the suppres-
these laws. . , -liPi •j.ij."
sion and punishment oi heresy ; it determines the rig-hts and privileg-es of bishops and clerg-y, their of- ficers and assistants ; it reg-ulates the g-overnment, con- duct, and discipline of the monastic orders, ascetics, and cenobites; and lays down precise rules for the dispensa- tion of the funds belong-ing- to hospitals and charitable institutions. To the breach of these laws the code ap- plies temporal as well as spiritual penalties, in most cases without reference to any other authority but the plenitude of the imperial prerog-ative. All canons and ecclesiastical reg-ulations acquire the force of law only by the fiat of the prince '/ and so amply is this arbitrary ag-ency dis- played, both in the internal and external g-overnment of
a Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. iii. 1. 42. ' " Sancimus enim vicem legum ^obti-
b lliid. 1. 48. nerc sanctas ecclesiasticas regulas quse a
<= Ibid. 11. 44, 47. Sanctis quatuor conciliis expositse sunt
d Ibid. 1. 53. aut formatte,'' &c. Novell, cxxxi. c. i. e Ibid. lib. i. tit. iv. 1. 29.
Chap. IV.] CHURCH-LEGISLATION OF JUSTINIAN. 133
.the Church, that the emperor does not scruple to supply the deficiencies of canonical precept, wherever chang-e or addition appeared requisite for the more perfect execution of spiritual ordinances and their adaptation to the civil law of the empire.'^
Yet it should be observed, that the whole tone and tenor of these laws denote a desire on the part q^ ^j^^ jj^^j^^ of the imperial legislator to adhere religiously of the eccie- to apostolical authority; and, above airthing-s, ^J.^^i^^^p^^'^ • to avoid innovation or encroachment upon the ers in church- primitive doctrine, discipline, and customs of ^*^§^^'^'^^°'^- the Church. He believed, indeed, that the free concur- rence and consent of the prince, testified b}" his official authentication, was essential to impart leg-al force and validity to all g*eneral ordinances of the Church ; but he as fully admitted that primitive antiquity and the canons of the four general councils constituted the rule by which both the temporal and spiritual powers were to be g*o- verned ; and that neither party could lawfully act in de- fiance of the other, or without reg'ard to the fundamental rule binding" upon both. The initiative in the origination, of ecclesiastical ordinances does not yet appear to have been a matter of dispute between the Church and the State ; and althoug'h the independent character which the former had always maintained in its relations to the latter- tended naturally to cast the duty of orig-inal leg-islation into the hands of the clergy, yet it Avas so always with the understanding- — at least on the part of the civil state — that that power was not to be excluded from a direct influence and control in all cases where the interests of the State became in any way involved in the order, g-overnment, or constitution of the Church. But in the process of time these cases became every year more and more numerous. The clergy increased yearly in numbers, wealth, privileg-es, exemptions, and more particularl}^ in moral and political power over the tem- per and opinions of the subjects of the temporal state. Accordingiy a much g-reater latitude of interference in
» Pag'i, Annot. ad Baron. Ann. 528, § 6, p. 392. Conf. P. de Mornay, Myst. Iniquit. pp. 82, 83.
134 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
ecclesiastical legislation had become indispensable ; and it was — reluctantly perhaps — conceded to and exercised by the prince. A sense of manifest convenience and of ob- vious political expediency alone had hitherto for the most part determined the reciprocal action of the spiritual and temporal powers upon each other ; and any attempt from acts done under this state of thing's by either or both parties to extract definite leg'al principles, fixing- the limits 'of their respective shares in church-legislation^ must lead to very questionable results.
The relations of the emperor Justinian with the pon- , tifical court of liome prior to the conquests of
Relations of-nT. t*^, -, -, t^t
Justinian to ijelisanus are somewhat perplexed and obscure. the Roman jjjg desig'ns for tlic rccovcry of Italy depended mainly upon the dispositions of the clergy^ and the favour of their chief Ag*ain, the influence of the pope in the East was still formidable. Before the death of Boniface II. (a.d. 532), the bishops of Ill^'ricum Ori- entale had ag-ain hoisted the standard of revolt, and for- mally renounced dependence upon their ancient metro- politan of Thessalonica^ who had adhered firmly to the communion of Constantinople^ and acknowledg'ed in some shape the superiority of the metropolitan patriarch over his diocese.^ The emperor supported the pretensions of Thessalonica and Constantinople ; but the bishops alleg-ed the universal primacy of St. Peter's chair^ and their own ancient connection with Rome, as gTounds of exemption from all other patriarchal superintendence. Constanti- nople resented this claim as spiritual rebellion^ and the emperor adopted her cause ; in all the memorials and re- monstrances addressed to him, he would not permit the name of the bishop of Rome to be even mentioned.'
But the lang-uag'e^ and probably the policy^ of Justi- Ambiguous ^^^^^^ tended — perhaps designedly — to introduce language of ambig'uity in the relations of the two great thie of"' patriarchates to one another and to the State. " universal In the coursc of his spiritual legislation, he ad- pa riaic . (jj.gggg(j i^jjg patriarch of Constantinople by the style and title of " the most holy and blessed archbishop
!' Conf. cli. iii. of this Book, p. 129. ' Fleunj, torn. vii. pp. 318 to 332.
Chap. IV.] TITLE OF "UNIVERSAL PATRIARCH." 185
of the imperial citjj and universal patriarch ;"^ and de- scribed the church of that capital as the " head of all the churches." And 3^et, in the preamble to a decree passed in the following* year (534) touching* heretical opinions, the confession of faith, the four g-eneral councils, and some other matters of purely religious interest, the em- peror addressed Pope John II. as " the most holy John, archbishop and patriarch of the illustrious city of Rome." " Rendering"," he said, " all honour to the apostolic see, and to your holiness as our father in the faith, we have g-iven all due dilig'ence to bring- to the knowledg-e of your holiness all thing-s which concern the state of the Church. For it hath ah^^ays been our especial study to maintain the unity of communion with your see, and to preserve that state of the holy churches which hath hitherto subsisted and still subsists undisturbed./ Therefore we have been dilig-ent both in subjecting and uniting unto your holiness all the clergy of the entire region of the East ; . . . and it is our firm resolve never to permit any matter touching* the g*eneral state of the Church to be stirred, however ma- nifest and free from doubt such matters may be, without notifying" the same to your holiness, who are the head, of all the holy chtirches ; thus in all thing's striving* to in- crease the honour and authority of your see."'' V
The metropolitan of Constantinople, thoug*h compli-
j Cod. Justinian, lib. i. tit. i. 1. 7, de ime quod, quoties in iis locis hseretici
Summa Trin.: a remarkable instance pullularunt,et sententia, et recto judicio
of studied verbal ambiguity. After ad- (rp yvdfJ-T) Ka\ opQfi Kpltrn) illius vcnera-
dressing Epiphanius by the title of bills sedis coerciti sunt." Upon these
" universal patriarch," he declares it to words Rome might claim as " caput om-
be his intention that all things relat- nium, &c." what Constantinople might
ing to the state of the Church should with equal propriety reject as "cecu-
be brought to his cognisance : " Cog- menical patriarch." Both had an equal
noscere volentes tuam sanctitatem ea claim to judicial cognisance of all mat-
omnia qure ad ccclesiasticum spectant ters touching tlie state of the Church;
statum." But in the same breath he but Rome mightpretend to be the higher
declares it to be his pleasure to pre- tribunal, both as ''caput" and as "uni-
serve the union of the churches with versal pope." But this term "capuf is
the " most holy the pope of Old Rome," after all reduceable to mere social rank,
and that all matters pertaining to the as explained by the canons of Constan-
state of the Church shall be in like tinople (341) and of Chalcedon (452).
manner referred to the pope: "Nee However, he afterwards gave the same
enim patimur ut quicquam eorum qure title to Constantinople, ccclesiasticum spectant statum, noneii'am ^ Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. ii. de Episc.
ad ejusdem (papa-) referatur beatitu- et Cler. 1. 24, See also the terms of 1. 6,
dinem; quum ea sit caput omnium sane- lib, i. tit. i. tissimoram Dei sacerdotiun : vel co ma.v-
136 CATHEDRA PETRI, [Book III.
mented with the title of " oecumenical patri- int?nt\nd arch" aiid "■ head of all the churches/' and meaning of ^[j^g fj^p placed upon a level with the bishop of
this language. -^^ / ,^. ,, i-^j^i
Jtiome, does not, it must be admittea^ appear in the same strono;" lio-ht with the latter as the centre of relig'ious union. Justinian, it is true, abstained from defining- the kind of " subjection" to which he desired to reduce the Eastern churches; 3'et the lanj^uag*e of his address mig'ht encourag-e the church of Rome to propose herself to the world as the acknowledged spiritual chief of the visible Church in every respect of rank, dig-nity, and authority. But we suspect that this lang'uag'e was either merety complimentary, or that it imported some- thing- very different from the sense attached to it by Rome. The treatment of the Illyrian bishops when they evinced their determination to carry out practically the principles of subjection and obedience ostensibly adopted by the emperor in his public professions, seems to indicate that he did not intend to yield up the independence of the Eastern churches, or to impute to the see of Rome a spiritual autocracy at all analogous to that which he himself exercised in the temporal g'overnment. It is tolerably clear that Justinian kept in view the principles adopted by the councils of Constantinople and Chalcedon ;' and that he was as little disposed as the fathers of the Greek church to yield either the kind or the amount of jurisdiction claimed by the see of Rome. Thus, at a later period of his reig-n, he declares and ordains that, " in con- formity with the definition of the general councils of the Church, the most holy the pope of the older (senioris) Rome shall be the chief of all priests ; and that the most blessed the archbishop of Constantinople, or New Rome, shall have the second place after the most holy apostolic see of Old Rome, and shall rank above all other sees."'" But Pope John II. accepted these declarations in
' Conf. Book II. c. i. p. 257 ; and rics of Dacia Mediterranea, Dacia Ri-
ibid. c. V. p. 402. pensis, Prsevalitana, Dardania, McBsia
"> Novell, cxxxi. c.ii. Thisnovell con- Superior, and Pannonia, and they shall
tains the following provision in favour be ordained by him; he himself (the
of the newly-erected archbishopric of archbishop) shall be ordained by the
Justiniania Prima: "The archb. of J. P. bishops of the diocese, so as in the pro-
shall have jurisdiction over the bishop- vinces subject to him to have the place
Chap. IV.] ROME AND THE GALLIC CHURCHES. 137
their literal and widest sense; and in his ac-p^ ejohnii knowledg'inent for the edict of 534^ he thus en- accepts the larg'es upon the terms : " Among- the conspi- chmitk)a*^i" CU0U3 virtues," he says, ^' which adorn 3'our an acknow- wisdom and clemency, most gracious prince, the^univer^- that virtue which shineth with a purer lustre ^^i primacy is, that with the love of the faith and the study ^ "™^' of charity you combine a perfect acquaintance with ec- clesiastical law and discipline ;^nd that, preserving- the reverence due to the Roman see, you have subjected all things unto her, and reduced all churches to that unity rvhich dwelleth in her alone, to whom the Lord, through the prince of the apostles, did delegate all poiver ; .... and that the apostolic see is in verity the head of all churches both the rules of the fathers and the statutes of the princes do manifestly declare, and the same is now witnessed by your imperial piety." /
But thoug'h there was here ample room for explana- tion and discussion, neither party seemed will- ing* to ventilate the matter any further. Thcofthec^mc emperor was satisfied with vindicating* the dig-- churches to nity of his metropolitan see upon the gTound already laid down by two g-eneral councils of the Church ; and Rome, backed by the prodig-ious spiritual influence she had established in the Christian world, was left at liberty to appeal to the terms of the imperial acknowledg'- ments, as conflrmatory evidence of her title to the uni- versal primacy with all its inferential rig'hts and appur- tenances. The Gallic churches at this period were falling" rapidly into the Roman view of the primacy. From the time of Pope Hilarus, successor to Leo the Great," those churches remained in undeviating" attachment to Rome.
(t^c 76itov iirix^i-v) of the apostolic see pope in the new diocese, as the arch- of Rome, according to the regulation of bishop of Thessalonica had been in the the most holy pope Vigilius." What old. If the latter exposition be adopted, that regulation was, we do not know; it might (if we knew what this regula- but the words of the decree may denote tion of Pope Vigilius was) amount to a either a transfer of the powers there- legislative acknowledgment of the papal tofore exercised by the popes in those vicariate in all the provinces which con- provinces (all of them portions of the stituted the two dioceses of Thessalo- great diocese of lllyricum Orientale) to nica and Justiniania Prima, the new archbishop, or that the latter " Conf. Book II. c. vi. pp. 439 et was to be regarded as the vicar of the sqq.
138 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
All the " more weighty causes" (g-raviores causne) which had arisen in the administration of ecclesiastical law and discipline, had been allowed to flow to Eome as the proper court of appeal in like cases. The decree of Ya- lentinian III. had fructified in Gaul and many other portions of the Latin church to such an extent, as to stifle every idea of lawful resistance to the supreme visi- tatorial and appellate jurisdiction of the pope. And as soon as Africa was annexed to the empire by the vic- torious arms of Belisarius, the orthodox bishops of that province hastened to renew the spiritual bonds renew their wliich United them with Rome, and reiterate ^o'?™^°io'i their assurances of unbounded confidence and attachment to the holy see. So in the year 634, Reparatus bishop of Carthag"e, by the advice of a council of two hundred and seventeen African prelates, res23ectfully addressed Pope John II., requesting* his ad- vice and instruction as to the course to be pursued with reference to the Arian prelates who with the chang-e of rulers had embraced the Catholic doctrine. " Thoug-h," they said, ^^ we thoug-ht it inexpedient that these converts should be allowed to retain their ecclesiastical rank, yet it seems to us most consistent with the law of charity that this our opinion should not be made public with- out first ascertaining' what custom or authentic rule may have been adopted by the Roman church upon this ques- tion. Now we — being" persuaded that ^^ou, sitting- upon the chair of Peter, and being* thereby entitled to all re- spect and reverence, are filled with all charity, and ever speak the truth in sincerity, and do nothing* in the spirit of pride — with the true affection of our whole communion, resort to you for your counsel and advice in this matter."" This address was received and replied to b}^ Ag'apetus, Their ad- the succcssor of Joliu II. ou the papal throne. dress ; hovv Thoug'h nothing' more appears in it than a hig'h Pope^Aga- reg'ard for St. Peter's chair and an earnest de- petus. g]j,g ^Q ]3g g-uided in a matter of difficulty by the advice of the pontiff as laid down by the rules of his own church in like cases, yet Ag"apetus, in accordance with the
o Baron. Ann, 535, §§ 22 to 24; Hard. Cone. torn. ii. p. 1154.
Chap. IV.] CANON-LAW OF ROME. 139
now habitual policy of Rome, treated the application purely as a matter of dutiful honiao'e, and called upon them to accept and publish his decision — a decision expressly asked for of their own '^ free love and affection" — as the decree of a lawful superior. " I rejoice/' said the pope in his reply, " that amidst the afflictions of your bondag'e you have not lost sig'ht oi t\\e principality of the apostolic see ; but that, as hj your duty you are hound, you have soug-ht relief from the doubt which hath of late arisen among* you from that chair to which the power of the portals (of heaven and hell) hath been committed." And Reparatus was especially directed to interpose his metropolitan authority for the due execution of the pontifical decree ; " so that no one thereafter should be enabled to pretend ig-norance of the decision of the apostolic see upon consideration of the canons"^
The Roman church had by this time contracted the habit of confoundhig* the " canons/' properly so Practice of called,'' with her own local customs and maxims, confounding What those " canons" were upon which the de- ^^of the°^ cision on the application of the African bishops cimrch ca-
j' 1 ^ ^ r -i ii* tholic with
was iramed, appears clearly irom tlie repl}^ oi the particu- the same pope to the intercession of the em- ^'-^y constitu- peror Justinian on behalf of the Arian convert Roman bishops and priesthood of Africa. Ag'apetus church, observed, that the diificulty in acceding" to the emperor's request arose from the impossibility of reconciling* the retention of their sees by the penitents with the ^' puhlic synodal constitutions''^' of the apostolic see. These con- stitutions therefore, which were now destined to form a code of law for the Church-catholic, were in truth no other than the particular customs and usag*es of the church of Rome. But that church did not often deal with the term with the same degree of plainness as upon this occa- sion. She much oftener used it without any reference to its source, and in such g-eneral words as to keep out of sig"ht its special and local orig-in. Of this habit some
P See the two letters, ap. 5aron. Ann. •■ "Aperta et synodah'a constituta."
535, §§ 37-41. '^oi'in Hard. Cone. See the Rescript of Agapetus,ap.7?arow.
1 Thatis, the rules laid down by coun- Ann. 5.35, § 50. Conf. note (") ch. iii.
oils of the Church, general or special. p. 103 of this Book.
140 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
instances have already, and many more must hereafter, come under our notice. But the long-cherished principle, that all spiritual enactments derived their sole claim to the obedience of Christians from the chair of Peter, led naturally to the assumption of a direct leg-islative autho- rity in herself; and thus the papal law became in papal contemplation the law of the Church-catholic ; and with this persuasion on their minds, the popes of Rome could admit no distinction between their own ^^ public synodal ordinances" and the enactments of the whole church-con- stituency. The power of the keys was held to override all other considerations in the construction and adminis- tration of the law-Christian ; and by the law of Rome the African church would be now as little excused in distin- g-uishing" between that law and the leg-islative acts of the four g"eneral councils, as they were held to be when, in the year 422, the}^ objected to the supposititious canons of the council of Niceea urg-ed upon them by Pope Coelestine." Pope Ag'apetus had succeeded to John II. in the year 535 ; and found himself at his accession in a pole^his position of great danger and difficulty. The dangerous throuc of the Goths was occupied by the feeble posi ion. ^^^^ abandoned Amalan prince Theodotus, the husband and murderer of the unfortunate daughter of Theodoric the Great. The disaffection of the senate, the clergy and the people of Rome towards their- barbaric rulers was ripening' into open revolt. Meanwhile the con- quest of Sicily by Belisarius, and his active preparations for the invasion of Italy, had filled the minds of the Gothic occupants with jealous alarm threatening to the lives and property of the citizens. A proposal of peace upon terms of great advantage to the emperor had been rejected, and Theodotus resolved to make the pope his instrument for diverting the threatened invasion. Aga- petus was put on board a ship for Constantinople, with orders to dissuade Justinian from his design; Avith the threat that the senators, their wives and children, should answer with their lives for the success of his mission. Povert}^, distress, and danger, surrounded the pope on
s Conf. Book II. c, ii. pp. 306 et sqq., and ihid. c. v. p. 410 with note (").
Chap. IV.] INTRIGUES OF THEODORA. 141
every side. The Church was at this moment reduced to such a state of penurv, that Ag-apetus was „•
IT 1 11 1 1 1 CI • 1 "'^ embassy
obhg-ed to pledg-e the sacred vessels or his altars to Cunstan- to procure the needful funds for his journey ;' ^'°opi^- and when, on the 2d of February 536^ he ai-rived at Con- stantinople, he found the emperor inexorabl}^ bent upon the re-conquest of Italy^ and deaf to every proposal that mio-ht arrest the progress' of his arms. Belisarius was already far advanced on his march to Rome ; and the mission of the pope^ so far as it related to any political object^ was at an end. But this termination of his embassy was by no means prejudicial to the spiritual interests of the papacv- Political and relig-ious cabals were as the breath of life to the Byzantine court ; and it was now^ as ever, split up into factions contending- for ascendency by ever}^ artifice of intrig'ue and deceit. On his arrival in the capital, Ag-apetus found himself for the moment the object of commanding* interest to all these parties. Sing'ular as it may seem, the empress intrigues of Theodora had placed herself at the head of a t'^^ empress ftiction professing* the most violent antipath}^ to Aiuhimus' the decrees of Chalcedon, while her imperial patriarch, consort professed an equally devout attachment to catho- lic doctrine. By her secret influence, Anthimus bishop of Trapezus, a prelate in private attached to the Eu- tychian tenets, was, upon the death of Euphemius in the year 535, raised to the patriarchal chair. But Pope Ag'apetus, to whom the heresy of Anthimus was speedily made known, resolutely refused to communicate with him unless he consented to make a public declaration of his belief in the ^^two natures;" to admit the uncanonical character of his election," and return to his bishopric of Trapezus. The patriarch declined these hard terms ; the emperor withdrew his support; and Anthimus resig'ned
' We meet with no complaints of period. Conf. CasAtWo?-. Varior. lib. xii.
spoliation by the Goths; consequently ep. 20; and oh. ii, pp. 85 and 99 of
this sudden failure of the hitherto no- this Book.
torious wealth and luxury of the Roman " The more ancient canons of the
pontiffs caa only be accounted for by the Church strictly excluded bishops from
prodigality of bribery, simony, and cor- deserting their sees fur others. Trans-
ruption, more especially in the papal lations were altogether uncanonical
elections, which seems to have become down to a much later period, a chronic disease of that church at this
142 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
. . his chair. Mennas, the orthodox warden of the
of AnthimTs; hospital of St. Samsoii at Constantinople^ was
Mennas elected to succccd him ; and at the request of
Justinian the new patriarch was solemnly con- secrated by the pope/
The catholic party^ who had from the moment of his
arrival reg'arded the pope as the champion of principle their cause^ were well disposed to reward him of church- ^j^jj ^^q outward honours of the victory. And
in this frame of mind^ they were not likely to be either shocked or alarmed to hear the deposition of An- thimus — perhaps also the elevation of Mennas — described as the simple act of papal omnipotence. But at court certain other proceeding's were thoug'ht necessary to give leg-al validity to the papal sentence. A synod was in the first instance called to register and confirm the decree ; and thus the canonical rule which assig'ns the cognisance of episcopal causes to the comprovincial bishops was to a certain extent satisfied.'" Yet althougii the ecclesiastical proceeding* may have been completed in due form, it could not become law without the imperial consent." But Pope Ag'apetus had in the mean time died at Constantinople : and not long* afterwards, and within the same year, the emperor published his leg'islative decree in terms clearl}" indicating* the share which he assig^ned to the civil power in the enactment of ecclesiastical laws. The edict was addressed to the patriarch Mennas ; it sanctioned all the proceeding's of the late synod, including* more particularly the deposition of Anthimus, In the preamble he set forth the principle adopted for the g*overnment of the case. " As often/' he said, " as by sentence of the bishops un- worthy priests have been deposed from their sees, the imperial decree hath passed concurrently with theirs ; in order that, human and divine authority, combining* in one and the same act, may tog*ether frame one true and perfect law for all Upon this principle we
" Zziera<Ms,ap.jBaron. Ann.536,§17; Conf. Book I. c. ix. pp. 206,207: seepar-
Lib. Fontif. Aiiastas., ap. Muratori, Ss. ticiilarly Book I. c. viii. pp. 190, 191 ; and
Rr. Ital. torn. iii. pp. 128, 405. Book II. c. i. p. 256.
" Presuming even the Canons of Sar- " Conf. Book I. c. viii. p. 184.
dica to have been accepted as the rule.
Chap. IV.] CHURCH-LEGISLATION. 143
propose to treat what hath lately been done in the cause of Anthinius, whom Ag-apetus of holy and g-lorious me- mory, late pontiff of the most holy and most ancient see of did Rome, hath in the first instance by common con- sent deposed from our holy (metropolitan) see, for that he (Anthimus) had without his consent and ag-ainst the holy canons intruded himself into that see^ and who after that was also condemned and deposed by a sacred S3^nod here assembled, for divers errors in faith and doctrine."^
The course of proceeding* in this case was obviously the following- : the papal resolution upon the course of subject in hand had set the proper ecclesiastical proceeding authority in motion; and when that tribunal had performed its part, the emperor stepped in with the tem- poral sanction necessary to impart the force of law to the common decision. The share assigned to the pope is little more than that of official prosecutor, thoug'h acknow- ledg-ed in terms more ample and flattering' in proportion to the exalted dig'nity of the prelate from whom the pro- ceeding- moved in the first instance. The orig"ination is beyond dispute assig-ned to the pope; yet no larg-er parti- cipation can be imputed to him, unless we should hold that the respective shares of the several authorities en- g-ag-ed in the transaction had at the time been all believed to merg-e in that participation — a supposition for which no sufficient g-round appears in the documents before us.^
Pope Ag'apetus died at Constantinople on the 22d of April A.D. 536, about eig-ht months before the intrigue of occupation of Rome by Belisarius ; and Sylve- Theodora rius, a son of Pope Hormisda, was nominated^" igi ms. by Theodotus and adopted by the clerg-y of Rome as his successor.'' At this moment Vig'ilius, a deacon of the church of Rome, resided at Constantinople as apocrisarius, or resident leg-ate, of the holy see. Under the patronag-e of the empress Theodora, the intrig-ues of the Eutychian
y Cod. Just. Const. Novell, xlii. p. 77. clarations of Baronms, Ann. 536, §§ 22,
This decree condemned together with 23, 408.
Anthimus, Theodosius of Alexandria, * Anastas. Biblioth. says that the
Severus of Antioch, Peter of Apamrea, election was procured by intimidation,
and Zoaras ; all of them leaders of the Vit. Sylv.,ap. i^/Mra<. Ss. Rr. Ital. torn.
Eutychian faction. iii. p. 129.
^ But on the other part, see the de-
144 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
party in the East had become active and g'eneral; and the chance which now presented itself of estabhshing- that doctrine in the West was too inviting- to be overlooked by the unscrupulous princess. Yig'ilius lent himself to the scheme of the empress for deposing" S^^lverius^ and substi- tuting- a Eutychian pope in his chair. It was privately aofreed between Theodora and the leg-ate that the former should supply him with letters to Behsarius and his wife Antoiiina to forward his elevation to the papacy ; thnt for that purpose a sum of seven hundred pounds of gold should be placed at his disposal 5 and that he should — pri- vately in the first instance^ and, when successful, publicly — embrace the communion ofTheodosius of Alexandria and the Eutychian confession.''
On the 10th of December 536, Belisarius, by the aid Intrigue of of Popc Sylvcrius and the citizens, had made ^^anT*^^ himself master of the city of Rome. Theodotus Antonina. had fallen by the hands of his indig-nant sub- jects ', and Yitig-es, a prince of ability and vig-our, had mounted the tottering- throne of the Goths. In the fol- lowing- 3^ear the concentrated force of the Gothic mon- archy marched to recover their capital ; but the masterly defence of Belisarius repelled every assault of the be- sieg-ers, and his g-ood fortune or sag-acity enabled him to frustrate the intrig-ues of the enemy with a party favour- able to their views within the walls. The detected plot served the confederates, Yig'ilius, Belisarius, and Anto- nina, as the basis of the intrig-ue for the accomplishment of the views of their imperial patroness. Sylverius was charo-ed with holding- treasonable communications with the Gothic partisans ; and Belisarius adopted the accusa- tion with a view to intimidate Sylverius rather than to promote the prospects of Yig'ilius, whom he and his ra- pacious consort thus hoped to deprive of the pecuniary advantag'e of his barg-ain with the empress. But the integ-rity of the pope was proof ag-ainst the threats and promises of the g-eneral ; and when all prospect of prevail- ing" upon him to apost-atise from the faith of Chalcedon
b Liberal, in Breviar. c. xxii. ; Baron. Ann. 536, § 123 ; Fleury, torn. vii. p. 389 ; Anastas. Biblioth. ubi sup.
Chap. IV.] DEPORTATION OF SYLVERIUS. 145
had vanished, he Avas secretly conveyed on board a sliip and detahied a prisoner at Patara^ in Lycia.''
The immediate effect of the re-annexation of Rome to the empire was to place the see of that city ^
I \ ^. . .., - - ii Deportation
in much the same position with respect to the of Syiverius, civil state as that of Constantinople. Practi- ^"/ «i°^/.i"»
n 1 T» • • I 1 • ^^ Vlglhus.
cally the liyzantme patriarch was the nominee of the crowiij and had always been de facto removable at the pleasure of the prince. And now that Belisarius was master of Rome, he saw no reason to vary the practice in favour of the Roman patriarch. The veiy day after the abduction of Syiverius he called the clergy tog-ether ; he announced the deposition of the traitor-pope, and met with no difficulty in procuring- the immediate election of Vig-ilius, as if the throne were vacant. According- to compact, Belisarius now appropriated two hundred out of the seven hundred .pounds of g'old which Vig'ilius had obtained from the empress, and insisted upon the im- mediate execution of the secret articles of the compact. But Vig'ilius knew how worthless a possession the see of Rome must become in the hands of one Avho should ven- ture to strike a blow at the venerated council of Chal- cedon. He took refug-e in procrastination, and awaited the prog-ress of events. The policy of Justinian is enig-- matical; it is not, indeed, improbable that he connived to a certain extent at the machinations of his consort; but the lawless deposition of Syiverius 'was too violent a measure to pass unreproved, and the persecuted pontilf was conveyed back to Rome, to await there the result of an inquiry into the charg-es preferred ag-ainst him. Alarmed by the re- appearance of his rival, Vig-ilius ad- dressed the stipulated letters of communion toTlieodosius of Alexandria, and to Anthiinus and Severus, the repro- bate patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch. In these letters he professed to hold the same laith with them ; he denied the "two natures," abjured the doctrines of Chal- cedon, and renounced communion with its defenders.''
c Baron. Ann. 538, §§ 15-19. Conf. rat. in Breviar. ; Anastas. in Vit. Sylv.
/(/. Ann. 540, § 4 : see also Fleury, torn. ct Vigil. The cardinal denies the au-
vii. p. 391. thenticity of these letters: see Pagi,
<i Baron, and Fleury, ubi sup. ; Libe- not. ad loc. Baron, contra. Fleury
VOL. II. L
146 . CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
The miserable barg;ain was sealed by the murder of Murder of Sylverius. Belisarius delivered the deposed Syiverius, pontiff iiito the hands of his rival, and he was Tatkrof by him conveyed to the island of Palmaria, Vigiiius. where he was soon afterwards starved to death. But it appears that Justinian had by this time obtained more definite intelHg-ence of the intrig-ues of his Euty- chian consort at Rome ; and thoug'h not disposed to scru- tinise the iniquities of his empress or his officers as long- as they did not materially interfere with his own crooked policy, it became clear to the confederates that the con- templated apostasy was too dang-erous an experiment to be persevered in. They therefore withheld the letters of communion addressed to the heretical prelates ; and Vi- giiius hastened, no doubt this time with unfeig-ned alacrity, to purify himself to Justinian from the suspicion of having- participated in that criminal transaction : he protested that his faith had ever been that of his predecessors, St. Leo, Hormisda, John I., and Ag*apetus ; he professed his unvarying' belief in the doctrine of the four g'eneral coun- cils, with the tomus of Pope Leo on the " two natures" annexed ; and he renounced and condemned with all his heart the doctrine of the heretics Theodosius, Anthimus, Severus, Zoaras, and Peter of Apamgea.^
Thoug'h the doctrinal apostasy of Vigiiius admits of „, , . no reasonable doubt, yet as it was not made
The election iT-n • if ii t n
of Vigiiius public, liome IS saved irom the disgrace oi void ab numbering' a self-condemned heretic amono- her
initio ^
pontiffs. But the defects of his election are in- curable ; and if this pope is to be taken as a link in an uninterrupted succession of canonical pontiffs, his advo- cates have insuperable difficulties to encounter. By every known rule of canon law his election was void from the beg'inning". It cannot be pretended tliat Sylverius was leg'ally deposed ; therefore when Vig'ilius intruded himself there 7vas no vacancy. This defect in his title was not cured by any subsequent valid election ',^ and the leg'al in-
agrees with Pagi as to their genuine- stantinople, and after that by the de-
ness. cree of Justinian, Novell, p. 42.
« The names are those of the persons ^ Baronius boldly affirms that the un-
condemned by the last synod of Con- canonical election of Vigiiius was o/i'er-
Chap. IV.] DEFECTS IN THE PAPAL TITLE. 147
ference arises that Vigilius never was pope, and that the whole space of his alleg'ed pontificate was one long- inter- regnum of eig'hteen years and upwards. Hence doubt and perplexity are introduced into the succession of all ecclesiastical orders and offices derived throug-h him ; and the Latin church cannot at this moment have any suffi- cient assurance of the title of its priesthood or the validity of its orders.^
It is true that Vig'ilius has retained his place among- the legitimate popes. And, indeed, if the church of Rome had suffered his name to drop out the canonical of the catalog'ue, it is unimag-inable how she ^^^^^ °^ ^^'^^ could retain those of many of his predecessors. For if bribery and simoniacal barg-aining-s, if secular interference and intrig'ue, popular intimidation and vio- lence, had been thoug'ht fatal to the validity of the papal elections, not man}^ pontiffs within the last century could have exhibited an unexceptionable title. The only course, therefore, is to rest that title upon recog-nition ; and to presume that in every case to which an historical de- fect attaches, it was set rig-ht by some subsequent unre- corded curative proceeding*. None of the more important sees of Christendom were in fact in any better condition in this respect than that of Rome. Constantinople, Alex- andria, Antioch, and probably many others, had for a long' time past been polluted by disorders which set all laws, human and divine, at open defiance. Simony, in- trig'ue, and violence were the ordinary weapons of spiri-
wards cured by a valid election. His tara, or to Palmaria, it is undoubted that
only witness is Anastasius the librarian, Vigilius wrote his letters of communion
whom on other occasions he flouts un- to the heretical bishops before the death
mercifully. But the words of Anasta- of Hylverius at Palmaria. Therefore
sius himself prove nothing. He says, the latter was alive long after Vigilius
that after Sylverius was sent away "ces- occupied the chair, savit episcopatus dies sex." " There- s That is, always supposing that an
fore," saith the cardinal, " Vigilius must uninterrupted transmission through ca-
have descended from the usurped chair, nonically qualified pastors be essential
and submitted to a regular election." to the validity of orders. Cardinal J?a-
But Anastasius blunders, as usual. He ronius(^Ann. 540, §§ 8-10)cutstlie Gor-
mentions only one exile of Sylverius, dian knot: "The providence of God,"
and tells us that he died and was bu- he says, " permits no moral or ceremo-
ried in Pontus. It is, however, clear that nial stain to adhere to the chair of Peter,
he was alive when Vigilius was raised to however gross the personal demerits of
the pontificate. But whether the words its occupants." have reference to the abduction to Pa-
148 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
tual candidature ; and when these weapons were sheathed, bishops were most frequently chosen out of simple defer- ence for the equally scandalous interference of the civil mag'istrate. Defects in secular title to power, estate, or inheritance, are supposed to be cured by long* undisturbed possession or uniform recog-nition. But it may be rea- sonably doubted whether n jus divinum can be made to stand upon the same g"round, where contemporary testi- mony discloses a manifest impurity of orig'in, or hiatus in its transmission. The boldest ecclesiastical jurist would shrink from asserting* that a bishop might be consecrated, or a priest ordained, by one who never was a bishop. Unless, therefore, we presume a special provision of Pro- vidence to leg"itimatise a power tainted with every defect that can attach to human title, the pontificate of Vigilius discloses an incurable flaw in the claim of the Roman pontiffs to any other power than that of a merely secular or mundane principality.
CHAPTER V.
JUSTINIANIAN PERIOD (II.).
Italian conquests of Justinian — Vigilius at Constantinople — Condemnation of the Origenists, and controversy of the " three chapters" — Justinian condemns the "three chapters" — Dilemma of Vigilius; his "judicatum" — He proposes a general council — The council; its imperfect constitution, and breach of faith by the Greeks — Opening of the council in the absence of the pope — His ex- cuses disallowed — Condemnation of the "three chapters" — The " constitu- tum" of Vigilius — His name struck out of the diptychs, and publication of the condemnation, &c. — Submission of Vigilius; his retractation — Contemporary opinion as to the necessity of papal participation in a general council — Reasons for desiring the concurrence of the pope — Release of Vigilius; his death, and election of Pelagius I. — Agitation in the Western churches — Decline of the papal authority — Spiritual power, how affected by the late proceedings against the Chalcedonian decrees — Pelagius claims the support of the military power — Pelagius on the duty of religious persecution — Narses declines to interfere — Pope Pelagius and the Italian seceders — Objections of the Western churches — Historical inferences, &c. — State and prospects of the papacy — More favour- able aspects — John III. pope — Imperial oppression in Italy — Heresy and death of Justinian I. — Conquest of Italy by the Longobardi.
The conquest of Rome and Southern Italy by Justinian property introduces a new era in the history of the g-reat Latin patriarchate. That event ma- Italian con- teriaily altered the relation which had subsisted ^"g^j^^jjjjf between the Church and the State during- the Ostrog-othic period. It throws at the same time a clearer lig'ht upon the imperial method of ecclesiastical g-overn- ment; and exhibits a manifest decline both in the reli- gious and the political character of the papacy. The annexation of Italy to the Byzantine dominion at once dissipates the cloud which the enig-matical dealing- of Justinian with the Roman pontiffs has hitherto cast upon his personal views of religious legislation.
Pope Yio'ilius, whose elevation had been ^
, . / , ^ .^ . 1 i /• 1 Deportation
stamed by notorious simony and yet louler of vigilius crime, continued to render himself odious to his ^^ ^^ "\e^°*^" spiritual subjects by rapacity and cruelty in the
150 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
discliarg-e of his sacred office." The empress Theodora took advantag-e of the complamts of those who had suftered by his persecutions to procure an order from the emperor to have him broug-ht to Constantinople. But the vindictive feeling's of the empress were allowed to proceed no further. It suited the present purpose of Justinian that the pope should be received with honour. He was therefore treated as a friend and spiritual father^ and instead of a prison he found a palace ready to receive him. The cause of this sudden chang-e of purpose is a matter of importance to the progTcss of the narration.
A relig-ious tempest^ traceable as much to the idle
The emperor thcolog-ical Vauity of tllC Cmpcror as to the co- condemns the vert intrigues of the empress and the Eut3^ch- rigenists. -^^^ party, was at this moment ag^itating- every church and province of the East. The persevering- ef- forts of that party had now for nearly a century been directed to overthrow, or at least to weaken, the autho- rit}^ of the council of Chalcedon. A direct attack, indeed, was not to be thoug'ht of ; but the records of that council revealed certain weak points, of which advantag"e mig-ht be taken to impeach the credit of the whole. An oppor- tunity for this movement was afforded by an envenomed quarrel of some standing* between the disciples of Orig-en and the orthodox prelates in the S^a'ian diocese. While the martial monks of Syria and Palestine wag'ed carnal warfare with the Orig-enists ; the catholic patriarchs, Eph- rem of Antioch and Peter of Jerusalem, prosecuted the same suit at Constantinople before the emperor Justinian. They pleaded that Orig'enism was, in fact, the basis of the Eutychian errors, and that an imperial decision was necessary to enable them to encounter those errors with effect. Justinian embraced the opportunity for the dis- play of his theological acumen with all imag"inable ala- crity ;*" and without the aid of patriarch, pope, or council, issued an imperial decree condemning- the alleg-ed errors of Orig-en and his disciples.
a Anastas. in Vigil. Ss. Rr. Ital. torn. dens se de talibus causisjudicium ferre." iii. p. ISO. Liberatus, ap. Neander, K, G. vol. ii. p.
^ " Annuit imperator facillime, gau- 1 143.
CiiAr. v.] THE "THREE CHAPTERS." 151
The numerous but quiescent pnrty of Nestorius con- curred with the orthodox^ or cathohc, section in their aversion to tlie tenets of Orig-enism^ of'thJ"\h7Je and reg'arded the condemnation of those doc- cimptc-rs" trines as a tacit homag-e to their own opi- nions. The Eutychians Avere proportionably ahirmed and irritated by a blow aimed at the philosoph}^ of their sys- tem." They affected to reg'ard the condemnation of Ori- g-enism as a revival of the Nestorian error; and their friends at court pressed upon the attention of Justinian the necessity of an equally emphatic declaration ag-ainst that heres}^^ both with a view to preserve his own ortho- doxy and to deprive the Nestorians of any hope of ad- vantag-e from the condemnation of the adverse opinions of the Orig-enists. Nestorian errors, they said, had be- yond doubt been allo^Acd to creep into the acts of the council of Chalcedon, and to these documents themselves those heretics mig-ht now appeal in support of their doc- trinal pravities ; it was therefore indispensably necessary to expung'e the vicious acts and articles from the records of the council; these were three in number : 1. A treatise of Theodore of Mopsueste, the friend and spiritual in- structor of the heresiarch Nestorius ; 2. A tract by The- odoret of C3'rrhus, in defence of Theodore ag'ainst the attacks of Cyril of Alexandria ; and 3. A letter written by Ibas, bishop of Edessa, on the same side. By this measure the records of the council would, they contended, be ])urified from the offensive matter which now polluted them ; the emperor would make it manifest to the Avorld that no favour was intended to either of the opposite heresies ; all reasonable objection to the authority of the council would be removed ; and the wisdom of the mon- arch would thus have cleared the way towards a final union of the contending- parties in the Church.
Allured by the prospect of a spiritual victory justinian so eas}^, so complete, and so flattering- to his ^°'),'^^j^^^J^^^ personal vanity, Justinian jaelded to the insi- chapters."
= The Monophysitc party had very the principles of his theological philo-
generally embraced the speculations of sophy. Fleury (torn. yii. p. 416) gives
Origen, and supported their opinions an epitome of these opinions, upon the incarnation by reference to
152 CATHEDKA TETRI. [Book III.
dious proposal, and published an edict in legislative form ag-ainst the denounced articles, or chapters, of the coun- cil, concluding- with a formal sentence of condemnation and anathema. The catholic party were struck with the difficulties in which this bold measure of their adversa- ries had involved them. On the one hand, the theologi- cal errors of Theodore of Mopsueste could not be denied, and a direct defence of the "three chapters" became a work of difficulty and dang-er ; on the other hand, there appeared equal disadvantag-es to be apprehended from any attack upon the wisdom and sanctity of the council of Chalcedon. That council was universally reg-arded as the g-reat bulwark of Catholicism ; and it was to be feared that if a singie stone were removed, the whole edifice mig'ht ere long* crumble under the assaults of its invete- rate and persevering enemies. The intent of that party was indeed obvious enoug-h : but the arg-uments advanced by their opponents made no impression upon Justinian ; his will was law to his clergy, and the obsequious patri- archs Mennas, Ephrem, and Peter, with a majority of the orthodox prelates of the East, affixed their signatures to the decree of condemnation. The dissentients were summarily ejected from their sees ; they appealed to the papal leg"ate — afterwards Pope Vigilius — for protection, and renounced the communion of Mennas and all who con- curred in this impious attack upon the holy synod. Their example was zealously adopted by all the African bishops; and the episcopacy of Illyricum Orientale refused every token of submission to a mandate at once threatening" to the integTity of the catholic communion and to their con- nection with Rome as the patron and defender of the Chalcedonian decrees.''
In this position of the controversy Pope Vig'ilius ar-
rived at Constantinople. All parties were anx-
PopeVigiiius; iousto obtaiu liis support in the coming* strug'gie;
his"judi- iije emperor reg'arded his assent to the decree
of condemnation as a matter of course, and it
•^ This summary of the events that led Baronius, Ann. 54^; Fleurj/, H.'E. torn. to the so-called fifth general council is vii.; and Neander, K. G. vol. ii. drawn up from the materials found in
CiiAp. v.] DILEMMA OF VIGILTUS. 153
was manifest tliat no considerable number could be broug-lit to support him ag'ainst the court. On the other hand, he was no strani>"er to the sentiments of the Latins, and saw the dang-er of laying* violent hands upon the sanc- tuary of their faith. In this dilemmaj he struck out a middle course, which, while it compromised his own or- thodoxy, satisfied no one else. He issued a Avriting', or manifesto, entitled "judicatum," in which he pronounced ag-ainst the " three chapters," " saving- alvvnys the autho- rity of the council of Chalcedon." The Eutychians re- jected the saving* clause with contempt, for it defeated the object of their machinations ; and the Catholics felt keenly that any form of condemnation or rejection of that which an inspired council of the Church had approved and adopted into its authentic acts must throw discredit upon them all. The Roman clerg-y iu the suite of Vig'ilius deserted him, and proclaimed to the catholic world that a lloman pontiff had turned his back upon the standard of the faith — that he had denied the holiest of the holy councils of the Church !" The bishops of Africa and Ill3'ria excommu- nicated Vig*ilius ; and from Gaul and Italy anxious in- quiries poured in, to learn the particulars of this deplor- able defection. Beset by solicitations and reproaches on all sides, the pope replied, probably with sincerity, that he had neither by act or intention done any thing* to prejudice the authority of Chalcedon ; and he resented the reports disseminated by his own malcontent followers to the injury of the holy see by sentence of excommuni- cation.'^ The emperor became aware that he had raised a storm he could not conjure down ; and Mennas, with the court clerg*y and the Oriental patriarchs, importuned the pope to withdraw his "judicatum," and to publish an un- qualified sentence. Thus hard-pressed on all sides, Vi- g-ilius proposed the convocation of a general ne proposes council for the final adjudication of the ques- a general tion 5 the emperor accepted the proposal ; and it *^"""^' ■ was solemnly ag*reed that no further step should be taken either for or ag'ainst the '- three chapters" until the as-
= Baron, cum not. Pagi, Ann. 548, ' Ibid. Ann. 548, §§3-6; Ann. 550.
§§2,3. §§16-26.
154 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
sembling" of the proposed sjmod: that the question should then be referred in integi^o to the council^ and that no per- son should be precluded by his past acts or declarations from adopting' that conclusion which argument and con- science mig'ht then sug-g-est. Upon these terms the pope withdrew his "judicatum/' and the bishops were allowed to retract their subscriptions to the imperial decree.^ The meeting' of the council, however, was impeded by
many delays and difficulties. The bishops of
conTdtiition Ul^'ricum Orientale flatly refused to attend ; not
ofthe council, in^i^y AfHcan prelates, and those of no repute,
of compact appeared to the summons. Of the Italian epis-
by the copacy the attendance was scanty, and all of
them were stanch champions of the Chalcedo- nian confession. The Greek bishops, and the court party with Theodore archbishop of Csesarea at their head, be- came impatient ; and before the council was constituted in numbers sufficient to satisfy the terms of their compact with the pope, they proceeded arbitrarily to confirm and republish the imperial decree ag-ainst the 'Hhree chapters." The pope resented this breach of faith by fulminating' a sentence of excommunication ag'ainst the perpetrators ; and took refug'e from the apprehended wrath of the em- peror at the altar of St. Euphemia at Chalcedon. The pious populace of Constantinople defeated an attempt of Justinian to drag" him from his asylum ; and now no alternative remained but to revert to the broken com- pact, and for that purpose to treat with the pope and the prelates who shared his exile at St. Euphemia. Neg'o- tiations were accordingly opened with the pontiff. Yig'il- ius was satisfied by a retractation of the irregular decree, and a promise on the part of the delinquents to observe faithfully all things contained in, or ordained by, the four general councils :" he, on his part, withdrew the censures
s Fleury, torn. vii. pp. 462, 463. any council that had not received the
'' The promise was, that they would assent of the pope. But this is a very
faithfully observe and keep all things violent inference. All, I think, that can
which, ^'' with the consent of the legates a7id be fairly extracted from the words is,
vicars of the holy see presiding therein, that they engaged not to hold the pope
had been decreed and ordained." Fleury bound by any of the terms of those
(torn. vii. p. 474) thinks that this de- councils but those to which the assent
claration invalidates all proceedings of of the holy see might be presumed. If
Chap. V.] THE FIFTH GENERAL COUNCIL. 155
he had launched ag'ainst his opponents^ and returned to Constantinople.
In the month of Aug-ust 552 the patriarch Mennas of Constantinople died ; and was succeeded by opening of Eutychius.a Phryo-ian monk of oTeat reputation the council;
• • •^'-'. .~ ^ the none
tor sanctity and learning-^ and sincerely attached absents to the Roman communion. The council was by Wmseif. this time fully constituted^ and all parties joined in an earnest request to the pope to open and preside at the conferences. Yig'ilius consented ; but^ with a view to g-ain time^ sug-g-ested that the Latin church could not be pro- l)erly represented else\^'here than in Italy or in Sicily ; and he requested that the council might be adjourned to some city within the confines of either country. But the Orientals were too well acquainted with the dispositions of the Latin churches not to foresee defeat and ruin to their project from such a measure ; the Western prelacy were known to be unalterably attached to the decrees of Chal- cedony and averse to any tampering- with the integ-rity of the sacred record : a majority so composed must be fatal to the erasure and condemnation of the obnoxious documents. But Yig'ilius^ on the other hand^ knew that he possessed no influence in the council as it was then constituted^ and that the emperor expected the same sub- mission on his part as that he uniformly exacted from the prelates of his ancient dominions. Thus shut out from all share in the management of the proceeding's ; deprived of all liberty of action^ and of all power of controlling- the decision^ — the pope trusted to procrastination to evade the humiliating- part assigned to him. After much neg'otia- tioUj in which little honest}^ or sincerit}' was displayed on either side, the council, weary of delay, opened its sitting-s in the absence of the pontiif.'
The fathers, it is true, made it their first dut}" to in- vite the pope to take the presidential chair ; His excuses but Vig'ilius declined, upon the g-round that the '^'Jf'^J'i^e^'! Latin church was not duly represented, and council.
they had meant it as Fleury states, they cannot be imputed to them without the
must have abandoned all the claims of strictest proof. Certainly no such in-
Constantinople to patriarchal rank (see tention existed in tlie age of Justinian.
Book II. c. V. p. 408), Such an intent ' Namely, on the 4th May 553.
150 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
sigTiified his intention to lay before the emperor his writ- ten judg'ment upon the " three chapters." The council disallowed the excuse, and censured the proposal with which it was accompanied. The pope himself, they said, had appealed to a council of the catholic communion, which communion they were j the emperor had placed the decision in the hands of the synod, and with them it must rest ; and lastly, they urg-ed that in none of the antecedent g'eneral councils had the Latin church been so fully re- presented as in that now assembled. The pope, however, persisted in withholding- all countenance to their proceed- ing's; and the fathers declared that, inasmuch as they were not justified in permitting* groundless objections to stand in the way of a decision indispensable to the peace of Church and State, they should proceed to a decision without further reference to, or notice of^ the pope.
Without delay the fathers opened the sessions, and proceeded to condemn the writing-s of Theodore tion ITthe of Mopsuestc and the apolog-ies of his advocates "three chap- Thcodorct aud Ibas ; and struck them out of the stit'utum" of Chalcedonian records. Vig-ilius meanwhile had Pope Vigil- prepared his '^ constitutum," or pontifical adju- dication, upon those documents ; in which, after specifically condemning' the errors alleg'ed to be contained in them, he somewhat inconsistently prohibited any im- peachment of the personal orthodoxy of the writers, because, he said, the fathers of Chalcedon had not cen- sured them, and because it was not lawful to pass such sentence upon defunct persons.^ This decision, or " con- stitutum," was countersig'ned by seventeen bishops and three deacons from his own immediate retinue ;'' but when presented to the imperial officers for delivery into the hands of their master, they declined to receive it, rig'htly objecting* that it oug-lit to have been addressed to the synod then sitting- ; and they assured the pope that even now, if he should think proper to attend the meetings, he would be received as their father and president. De- termined, however, to confer no sign of recognition upon
J Vigilius forgot the proceedings of of the Henoticon. his predecessors, Felix, Gelasius, and ^ See the entire document, ap. JjTayt/.
Hormisda, against the deceased patrons Cone. torn. iii. pp. 10-48.
Chap, v.] THE "THREE CHArXERS" CONDEMNED. 157
the council or its proceeding's^ Yig-ilius sent his " consti- tutum" to the emperor by the hands of" his own deacon in attendance. Justinian, in conformity with his p • , , eng-ao'ement with the council, peremptorily re- by tiie jected it ; intimating* to the pope that, after ap- ^■"P'^^o^'- pealing- to a council convoked at his own special request, he could not be permitted to propose himself as the sole judg-e of the questions submitted to them. If, the emperor added, the proffered instrument went to condemn the "three chapters," he had no need of it, because he was already in possession of the pope's own solemn adjudication on that matter ;' but if, on the contrary, its purport were different, how could he set any value upon a document in which the writer only proclaimed his own inconsistency ?
To the council itself the emperor justified himself by producing- all the previous acts and declarations The councii of Vigilius ag-ainst the ^' three chapters," and ?trike out his unqualified engag-ement to abide by the deci- the sacred" sion of the council assembled in compliance with dipty-bs, his own requisition ; and exhibited at the same time a writ- ten promise that he would do his utmost to procure a pure and simple condemnation of the " three chapters," which he alleg-ed to have been made by him to the late empress Theodora."" The indig-nant fathers without hesitation re- solved that for these breaches of faith, and for his several contempts of the council, the name of Vig-ilius should be erased from the diptychs of the churches ; and and publish disdaining- further reference to any authority ^^^'^''' ?o"- but their own, they published a final sentence of the " three condemnation and anathema ag'ainst the person, chapters." memory, and writhig-s of Theodore of Mopsueste and his advocates Theodoret and Ibas. The sentence was unac- companied by any reservation in favour of the inspiration which had sanctioned and adopted those documents 5 and an irreparable breach was thus effected in the main de- fences of that hitherto impreg-nable bulwark of orthodoxy."
' The "judicatum ;" by which, how- " Baron. Ann. .5.53, §§ 215 et sqq.;
ever, from the terms of the compact be- Hard. Cone. torn. iii. pp. 194 ct sqq.;
fore the convocation of the council, he Ce/t<.J/r/</(/. cent. vi. pp. 499-540 ;J'/f'?iry,
was not bound. torn. vii. pp. 500, 501; JVeander, K. G.
'" Theodora had died in 549. vol. ii. p. 1166.
158 - CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
The number of the prehites assembled in this so-called Submission ^^^^ g'enei'al council never exceeded one hun- ofPope dred-and-sixty, exclusivel}^ of the twenty or Vigihus. ^}jjj.^y bishops who seceded with the pope. The objects of its promoters are not very clear from the be- ginning*. The majority, it may be believed, entertained no desig'ns hostile to the integ'rity of the Chalcedonian decrees. The refractory pontiff was treated with the re- spect due to his rank in the hierarchy, but without a thoug-ht that either his presence or his consent were es- sential to impart to their proceeding's the force of law ; they believed that what had been erroneously or heed- lessly done in a g'eneral council migiit be corrected bi/ a g'eneral council; a proposition obviously inconsistent with that absolute reservation in favour of the infallibility of the erring* council insisted upon by Pope Yigilius. After the conclusion of their labours tliey were therefore re- leased from their long- and wearisome attendance, without a suspicion that any thing* more was wanting* to accomplish the object of their convocation. The pope and his friends His re- now saw uo chance of release from the weari- tractation, gome cxile uuder which they had suffered for a term of more than six years" but in a plenary retractation of their objections to the council and its proceeding's. The emperor was convinced that the relig-ious peace of his dominions depended upon the acquiescence of the West in the decision of the council, and that that acquiescence could only be insured by the adhesion of the pope. By the victories of Narses'' the whole of Italy was by this time reduced into the tranquil possession of the empire ; Rome no long-er afforded a refug*e ag-ainst the displeasure of the temporal sovereig*n; the pope, whether at Constan- tinople or at Home, was his subject, and could no long-er shut his eyes to the intention of Justinian to make him the instrument of his scheme of relig-ious union. Yig-ilius had already incurred the resentment of the Western pre-
° According- to Fleury, torn. vii. pp. p The defeat and death of Totila on
443 and 504, Vij^ilius arrived at Con- the field of the " JBusta Galhn-um" took
stantinople on the 25th January 547. place in the month of July 552, and of
The council was dissolved in the month his gallant successor Teias at the " Mons
of June 553. Lactai'ius" in March 553.
Chap. V.] TOrE AND COUNCIL. 159
lacy by liis late condescensions ; nnd to avoid the total loss oftlie confidence of the Latins^ his return to Rome was of indispensable necessity. Six months after the dis- sohition, he gave in his formal and uncondi- tional adhesion to the decrees of the council ; he tlon of the' condemned the "^ three chapters," their authors, decrees of advocates, and followers ; he embraced the fa- thers as his brethren and fellow-labourers in the gTeat work of purification ; he quashed all writing's or tracts issued by himself or in his name in the course of the con- troversy, and solemnl}^ ratified all the acts and proceed- ings of the council.''
There are circumstances connected with the convoca- tion and character of this jiftli general council which throw some light on the state of ecclesias- rSry o^iSn tical opinion respecting* papal participation in respecting the deliberative assemblies of the Church-catho- parUcFpaUon lie. The share taken by Pope Vigilius in the con- i" the con-
, • _£• j_i • "i • 1 1 ? 1 , vocation, and
vocaiion ot this synod is absolutely evanescent, validity of a The simple sugg'estion of, or appeal to, a general general assembly of the Church — a suggestion immedi- ately afterwards retracted — does not amount to a partici- pation of any kind. It follows that the convocation was the sole act of the emperor, and that the fathers derived their powers to meet and deliberate from the imperial authority alone. We gather moreover from the whole tenor and spirit of the acts, that they supported themselves upon the imperial summons as the meritorious basis of their commission ; and that they regarded the accession of the pope as altogether unessential, either to their right to inquire and discuss, or to the validity of the decision
'i Both the Greek and the Latin "con- que secuti sunt; cum constet a Sanctis stituta" of Pope Vit;ihus in confirmation memoratis patribus ; et viaxime a saticto of the fifth general council are inserted Chalcedonensi concilio, nullum de quo hy Harduin, Cone. torn. iii. pp. 214-244. fuit suspicio fuisse susceptum, nisi qui In the Latin constitutum we observe a superius designa'as blaspheraias, velhis laboured eifort to save the credit of similia, rcspuit," &c.: i.e. the council Chalcedon, or at least to encounter the never i tended to admit the "three chap- charge of vacating its authority ; "Quas ters," because it never can be supposed omnes designatas blaspheniias (of the that they would tolerate any such here- " three chapters") absit ab universali sies as those they discl(ised,&c. A vague ecclesia ut quisquam quatnor prsedictas conjecture set up against a deliberate synodos, vel unam ex lis, asserat sus- act! See also 2?aro?t. Ann. .5.54, § 7, and cepisse ; vel eos qui talia sapuerunt at- P(Jgi ad cund. ; Fleury, torn. vii. p. 507.
160 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
they mig-ht arrive at. We observe, at the same time, that Vigihus repudiated its authority in all its stag-es ; that he made unavailing- efforts to supersede the synodal juris- diction, and to substitute his own in lieu of it ; and that he continued to pursue the same course of opposition till six months after the official promulg-atioh of the decision, and the consequent dissolution of the council. We there- fore reg"ard his subsequent ratification, as far as it affected the legal validity of the acts of the council, as, a mere nullity. It is but reasonable to suppose, that if the fiithers had tiioug-ht the papal presidency and sanction essential, they would have either dropped all thoug-ht of meeting- in council, or that they would have awaited the operation of other motives to overcome the reluctance of the pontiff. But now the question presents itself, what was the real effect of the subsequent ratification t If his initiatory consent were essential, the council must have been illeg-al from the beg-inning- : and we know that the pope re- g-arded it in that lig'ht. How then could any subsequent ratification cure the fatal irreg'ularit}'' ? If that consent was unnecessary, no such subsequent act of the pope could impart to the proceeding-s any force which they did not possess without it : all that it could effect would be to bind the pope himself, and to bring* him under the same oblig-ation as the rest of Christendom.
And upon this g-round it was that the practical im- Operative portauce of the papal assent to the decision of reasons for ^he council rcstcd. It could not be unknown paparfon-'^ to the Byzautiues that the see of. Rome dis-
currence.
claimed all spiritual control ; that she was in the habit of discharg-ing- herself from all oblig-ations but those she imposed upon herself; and that she disregarded all church-le^-islation but that which orio-inated with herself, or which had received the stamp of her appro- bation. Thoug'h neither the emperor nor the Orientals of his ag-e knew of any power of the chair of Peter compe- tent, either before or after enactment, to impart to, or withhold leg-al validity from, the acts of a g-eneral council, they were at the same time well aware that Koine had the power to thwart or to impede their operation. Nor
Chap. V.] ELECTION OF PELAGIUS T. 161
do we see reason to believe that the desire of the em- peror and the fathers of the second council of Constan- tinople in this instance to obtain the concurrence of the pope proceeded from any doubt of their own authority to make laws binding- upon the catholic body^ but purely from their anxiety to neutralise the adverse influence of the papacy in the West^ and to impart to their resolu- tions that force which alwa3^s attaches to unanimity of sufii-ao'e/
If the papal biog-rapher Anastasius be entitled to be- lief, the release of Pope Vig-ilius from his long* Eeiease of exile was attended by circumstances indicating- Vigiiius. the small respect with which the emperor was disposed to treat the representative of St. Peter, as soon as he had ceased either to be formidable as an opponent, or useful as an instrument. That writer informs us, that throug-h the intercession of Narses the Romans obtained from Justinian the recall of Yig'ilius, and of those of the Roman clerg-y who had shared his exile, fi'om their places of banishment back to Constantinople ; and that when they were broug'ht before him, he supercihously inquired of them whether they were still inclined to take back Yi- g'ilius as their pope, or whether they preferred his arch- deacon Pelag'ius : to himself it was a matter of indiffer- ence, and he would g-ive them either the one or the other. In reply, they declared for Yig-ilius ; but they added that, if such were his pleasure, they were ready,. after the de- cease of the reigning pontiff, to adopt the archdeacon as their bishop.^
The pope and his friends were allowed to depart home- ward.* But Yig-ilius died in Sicily 5 and it is His death- remarkable that the archdeacon Pelag-ius was election of forthwith installed in the papal chair without ^^^^s^""^^ any recorded election, as it were by the direct appointment of the emperor. The late pontiff was announced to have died of the stone; but report laid his death at the door of his successor, whose ill-usage during- the vo^^age is
"■ On the other part, see Baron. A. « Anastas. Bibl. in Vit. Vigil, ap.
5.53, §§ 118 to 124 ; ibid. A. 5.5.5, § 5: Murat. Ss. Er. Ital. torn. iii. p. 132. and conf. Fleury, torn. vii. p. 503. ' a.d. 554.
VOL. II. M
162 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
said at least to have accelerated the vacancy to which he looked forward. The heart of the Latin communion re- volted at the appointment ; and so gTeat was the unpo- pularity of Pelagius !._, that only two bishops and a single presbyter could be found to officiate at his consecration. The first act of the new pope was to submit to a solemn Agitation in purg'ation, for the purpose of clearing himself of the Western the imputed participation in the death of his churches, p^edecessor." But that proceeding'^ however requisite it mig'ht have been to silence busy tong-ues, did not touch the true cause of the aversion which the new pontiff had to encounter at his entrance into office. The ag'itation which the late successful assault upon the sanctity of the Chalcedonian decrees had eng'endered, at once broke up the harmony of submission to Kome^ which had prevailed in the Western churches with little inter- ruption ever since the extinction of the Arian contro- versy. The attachment of those churches to their pa- triarch, however submissive^ had been at the same time both g-enuine and g'enial. We have now to contem- plate the reverse of this picture : the papal authority re- duced to the brink of ruin j the vaunted independence of the Latin church sacrificed j and the mag'nificent scheme of Leo the Great pining* away under the incubus of im- perialism.
We have already observed, that under the Gothic g-o- Deciine of vcmment the pressure of the temporal power the papal had bccu scarccly felt ; the pope was the almost power, undisputed arbiter of the Latin communion, and felt his hands at liberty for spiritual conquest in all di- rections. But the successes of Belisarius and Narses altered the whole aspect of affairs. The election of Vi- g'ilius, and still more properly that of Pelagius I., may be said to have announced the revolution which was to reduce Rome to the level of Constantinople. The em- peror scarcety made a secret of his pretensions to exercise a spiritual influence in Christendom, at least very closely
" Pagi thinks Anastasius wrong in tor of Tunoni, Chron. ap. Pagi, Crit. ad
ascribing the defection of the Roman Baron. A. 555, § 9; and Anastas. Vit.
clergy to the charge of accelerating the Vigil, ubi sup. Conf. Fleury, torn. vii.
death of Vigilius. See extr. from Vic- p. 512.
Chap. V.] DECLINE OF THE PAPACY IN THE WEST. 163
approaching* in its character to the temporal power he wielded. The court of Constantinople had uniformly dealt with the patriarchate of that city^ and of all the greater sees of the East^ as articles of imperial patronag-e. And it is admitted hy pontifical writers of eminence that^ after the expulsion of the Goths^ it hecame the practice that the election of a pope by clergy^ senate^ and people^ should be reg'arded as provisional only ; that the new pontiff could not be lawfully consecrated until the imperial letters of confirmation and license were received from court; and that until then the pontiff-elect was incompetent to exer- cise any of the rig-hts^ or to perform any of the duties, of his office i"" a state of thing's practically identical with that which prevailed in the East. The bishop and clerg-y of Rome hadj therefore, no g'ood reason to believe that the emperor would make an}^ difference in the exercise of his veto, or that he would feel any g-reater hesitation to super- sede a refractory pontiff in that portion of his dominions than he had hitherto evinced in any other.
But the loss of independence was attended by a more serious compromise of character and influence . in the West. The churches of Gaul and all the pow^erVrthe sees dependent upon the patriarchate of Aqui- y^P^Jg^^'^ leia silently withdrew from, or boldly I'enounced how affected the communion of Rome ; the Illyrian episco- ^jj^g^^/n^g pacy prepared to follow their example ; those of Africa, the most independent and boldest of the Latin communion, thoug-h retaining* their ancient attachment to Rome, g-lowed Avith a warmer affection for tliat ca- tholic confession for which they had suffered and bled throug-h a century of persecution and affliction : the im- perial decree ag*ainst the " three chapters" was as a va- pour too thin to dim the brig-htness of Chalcedon ; the tardy and reluctant concurrence of Rome was powerless to convict the most numerous and holiest of oecumenical synods of the patronag-e of relig'ious error; nor could any sophistical reservation persuade the Western church that the impeachment involved in the solemn condemnation of dogmatic writing's, as solemnly adopted by the fathers
'■' Pagi, Crit. ad Baron. A. 555, § 10. Conf. Moniai/, Myst. Iniq. p. 93,
164 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
of Chalcedon, could operate otherwise than to overthrow their title to the spiritual allegiance of the Christian world. Error in one point imphed the possibility of error in all ; it thus opened out every point of doctrine to renewed dis- cussion, and threw hack the Christian community into the chaos from which she had now emerged for more than an entire century. The steadiest of the friends of Eome stood ag-hast at the dark prospect before them ; her most zealous adherents were converted into her most formidable oppo- nents ; and the papacy was compelled to descend from the hig-h ground of spiritual prerogative, aud to take shelter under the wing- of the temporal power against the merited resentment of her exasperated dependents.'''
Pope Pelagius acknowledged the novelty and difficulty Peiagius I. of his positiou, and availed himself with promp- ciaims the titudc and vigour of the means in his hands the^t?mporai for arresting the progress of religious rebeUion. power, jjig attention w^as directed in the first instance to the suppression of disaffection in the provinces of Li- guria, Venetia, and Istria. Setting aside the ordinary modes of ecclesiastical proceeding in like cases, he applied to Narses, the imperial viceroy of Italy, at once to arrest the refractory bishops of those regions, and to send them to Constantinople for punishment. The viceroy, however, either fi'om want of instructions from court or from re- luctance to endanger the peace of the province, decHned compliance, on the ground that it was no part of his duty to interfere in ecclesiastical matters, and that it was in- expedient that he should appear in the character of a rehgious persecutor. The reply of Narses drew fi'om the pope a luminous exposition of the claims of Eome upon the secular arm for the support of her spiritual domin- Peiagius on iou. ^^ Be uot led astray," said Pelagius, " by the right and ij^q y^in babble of thosc who call it persecution grous perse- to rcprcss Crime, and to labour for the salva- cution. ^JQjj of souls : no one can be accused of perse- cution, except he use force to compel men to do wrong ; but he that punishes a crime already perpetrated, or seeks to prevent the commission by the threat of impending
«■ Neander, K. G. vol. ii. p. 1151; Fleurij, torn. vii. p. 510.
Chap, v.] PELAGIUS ON RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. 165
punishment^ doeth a deed of love rather than of perse- cution : for if, as some will have it; no one is to be pre- vented by punishment from evil-doing-, or afterwards to be reclaimed bj the same means, there is an end of all laws, human and divine ; for it is in the very nature of laws to dispense penalties ag-ainst the wicked and re- wards to the rig-hteous, as justice requires it. That schism is a crime, and that such persons as the present delin- quents oug-ht to be put down by the temporal power, both the authority of Scripture and the ordinances of the fa- thers do positively affirm and teach : moreover it is not to be doubted that 7vJwsoever separateth himself from the apostolic see is in schism, and that he setteth up a strang-e altar in the face of the Church. . . . And therefore it was affirmed by the council of Chalcedon,^ that if any one shall suspend himself from communion by setting- up a separate altar, and after proper admonition shall de- cline to live in unity with his bishop, such an one shall be altog-ether reprobate, and never ag-ain have the benefit of the prayers of the faithful, nor enjoy the comforts of religion. And if such persons shall continue in exclusion, and shall make riotiiigs and seditions in the Church, they shall be put down b}' the civil power as movers of rebel- lion. And in the same strain speaketh St. Aug-ustine in his treatise ag-ainst the Donatists. Now as to the ac- tual offenders, they were in duty bound, before renouncing* obedience to their lawful patriarch, to have sent, accord- ing- to ancient practice, a deputation from their own body to g-ive and receive satisfaction upon the matters in dis- pute ; and not blindly to tear to pieces the body of Christ, which is His holy Church. You cannot, therefore, en- tertain any further doubt that these persons oug-ht to be
•■* In its fourth session the council But it is obvious that the words quoted recited the well-known fifth canon of and adopted by the council of Chalce- the council of Antioch, held in the year don, as well as the dictum of St. Augus- 341, directing that schismatic clerks be tine (Enchir. c. 7), contemplate some- deposed from their clergy; adding the thing more than doctrinal or disciplina- noticeable words, " And if they continue rian schism to entitle the Church to call to disturb the Church, let them be put in the secular arm; it must, in fact, be down by the external power as movers accompaniedhy disturbance and sedition, of sedition." "This," say the authors in other words, by a breach of the pub- of the Art de verifier les Dates (vol. i. lie peace. Conf. Cent. Magd. cent. v. p. 139), "is the origin of the modern p. 941; Fleury, torn. vii. 419. practice of ' calling in the secular arm.' "
166 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
constrained by the authority of the sovereign or of his magistrates. . . . Now we have laid before you these rules of the fathers^ lest perchance your mind may have been rendered timid by the fear of being- accounted and hated as a persecutor ; but you will now perceive that both the Scriptures and the canons teach that it is not persecution to repress crime, and to labour for the salvation of souls. Therefore, in punishing* the obstinate schismatics of Li- guria, Venetia, and Istria, you have nothing to fear 5 for there are a thousand precedents and a thousand ordin- ances to prove that it is the duty of the temporal state to punish spiritual delinquents of this sort, not only by exile, but by confiscation of goods and the severest per- sonal coercion."^
The right and the duty of the temporal state to inter- Narses de- ^"^^^ ^^ putting dowu schismatic disturbers of the
ciines to public pcacc has never been called in question ;
interfere. ^^^^ ^g -^ ^^ ^^ supposcd that if the vigilaut vice- roy had detected the seditious spirit complained of in the conduct of the Ligurian bishops, he would not have ef- fectually quelled it. But until then, neither the right nor the duty to interfere arose ; and Narses dechned to support the papal authority at the risk of civil confu- sion in the new and still unsettled provinces of Northern Italy. Neither the reiterated instances of Pelagius, nor even the fanatical proceedings of Paulinus of Aquileia and Honoratus of Milan,^ could induce him to change his policy. If any steps were taken to arrest the progress of the schism, they only served to feed the flame ; for now the bishops of Yenetia and Istria formally renounced communion with Rome, and declared their independence under the archbishop of Aquileia, whom they elected pa- triarch of their diocese.^ At the same time the bishops of Tuscany joined the ranks of the seceders, and the Gallic churches resounded with the appalling report that the
y Baron. A. 556, §§ 5 et sqq.; Fleury, also Baron. A. 556, § 10.
torn. vii. p. 517. * Baron. A. 570, § 12. The annalist
^ Those prelates are said to have ex- admits that the origin of the patriar-
communicated Narses himself, and may chate of Aquileia dates from this schism,
probably enough have suffered for their It was certainly never abrogated ; but
temerity, Conf. Ph. de Mornay upon the jurisdiction was afterwards trans-
Sigonius de Occident. Imp. lib. xx. See ferred to Venice.
Chap. V.] SCHISM IN ITALY. 167
late council^ with the pope at their head, had enacted statutes contrary to the catholic faith.
Pope Pelagius encountered the storm with a steady countenance. With no weapons at his com- peij^^j^g mand but the time-honoured claims and habi- and'the tual deference of the West for the Petrine see, seceders. he ceased not to declaim ag^ainst the unheard-of auda- city of seceding- from that apostolic see in which the Lord himself had established the foundation of his Church. " For/' he said, " none can be ig'norant that there neither is, nor can be, any Church but that which is rooted and gTounded in the chair of Peter, and that all who are cut off from that chair are ij)so facto cut off from the body of Christ." Neither he nor his predecessor, he protested, had done any thing' to the prejudice of the faith of Chal- cedon j for thoug-h certain matters there adopted had been touched upon by the late s3aiod which required to be set rig'ht, yet were these thing's wholly unconnected with doctrine ; the faith of Chalcedon had not thereby suf- fered injury, but, on the contrary, had been fortified and strengthened ag-ainst the attacks of its subtle enemies, by whose disappointed malice or desire of reveng-e the false reports of what had been done by the late council had been put in circulation.^
In the Gallic churches the relig'ious turmoil appears to have gradually subsided. In Italy, not all .
the thunders and protestations of the pope could orthe"^ remove the impression that a deadly blow had Western been aimed at the credit of the council of Chal- cedon. Several circumstances attending- the late proceed- ing's ag-ainst the "^ three chapters" tended to deepen the impression. At ever}^ step of the transaction the inter- ference of the secular arm was plainly visible ; the pope was during" the whole of the discussions in actual or vir- tual captivity, and exposed to influences which deprived him of the freedom of will requisite to bind himself and his spiritual subjects : he had moreover for a long* period resisted the imperial demand, and in the course of that
•• Baron. Ann. 556, §§ 26-36; Fleury, torn. vii. pp. 517-519.
168 . CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
resistance had urg-ed the same reasons as those which the seceders now rehed upon ag-ainst himself: he had pro- tested then — as they^ the seceders^ now protested — that the feehng's and the opinions of the Latin communion were not adequately represented in the council ; and they urg'ed, upon the authority of the pope himself, that no§ principle was more firmly established than that the acfs of an oecumenical council could not be reversed by a^ synod unendowed with the like attributes of universality. .• The historical inferences to which the controversy of the " three chapters" enables us to arrive, as to inferences the statc of the papacy during" the period over from the in- which it extended, are rather negfative than
cidents in the ... -ttt- , • ji.-, j_
controversy pOSltlVC. W C at OUCe pcrCClVC tlmt it WaS UOt
of the " three ^ p-enerallv received opinion even in the Latin church that the powers of the chair of Peter suf- ficed in any respect to abrog'ate, to dispense with, or to modif}^ the statutes of an oecumenical council. It is equally obvious that those powers were not g'enerally allowed to impart to any council or assembly of the Church the cha- racter of universality, unless it should be acknowledg'ed to possess the independent leg'al attributes essential to that character. The pontiff himself, and with him a larg-e section of the Latin communion, held that completeness of representation was an essential attribute of universal- ity, and that the second g-reat council of Constantinople was therefore insufficiently constituted to represent the Church-catholic. Yig'ilius mig-ht, indeed, for the sake of convenience, subsequently excuse his adoption of this and other weig"hty objections, by imputing- it to Satanic sug*- g"estion j*" but no one can doubt that in g-iving" them utter- ance he spoke the g'enuine lang-uag-e of the communion he represented. Nor is it less a matter of certainty, that his desertion of the g-round he had taken up at the outset was very g-enerally deemed an abandonment of his duty to the Church ; that it was reg-arded as a legitimate cause of separation from his communion j and that it operated
•= See the letters of confirmation ad- ticularly the introductory paragraph, dressed to the patriarch Eutychius, ap. " Scandala quae humani generis inimi- Hard. Cone. tom. iii. p. 214. See par- cus," &c.
Chap. V.] PROSPECTS OF THE PAPACY. 169
SO as to shift the reproach of schism from the seceders upon the pontiff himself.
And, indeed, those who looked back to the palmy days of Chalcedon could not but feel the mortifying- ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ contrast between the position of the g-reat Latin and pros- patriarchate in those days and that which it p*^'^*^ °f ^^^
• T T 1 r^ 11 11 1 papacy.
now occupied. Leo the (jrreat had reg-arded and dealt with that council as the simple instrument of his supreme willj the voice of the temporal sovereig'n was heard only to confirm and enreg'ister his decrees j the fathers themselves had reverently permitted their acts to be recorded in the name, and to stand there as the work, of the g-reat pontiff;'' and the sing-le departure from his instructions they had ventured upon^ served only to call forth a renewed display of power, and to add another victory to the ample wreath which already encircled his brows.^ If then they carried onward their view to the victorious career of Felix, Gelasius, Hormisda, and there beheld the Eastern hierarchs bowing- down before the re- buke of Eome — every party and faction alternately flying- to her for comfort and protection, or retreating- crest-fallen before her rig-orous and uncompromising- rebuke — the sovereio-n and his court shiftino- and dodo'ino- to elude her vig-ilance or to overreach her caution, yet ultimately driven like stray sheep into her fold, — they, we say, who beheld these thing's could scarcely recog-nise in their Yi- g'ilius or their Pelag'ius the successors of those heroes who had planted the banner of Roman supremacy in every corner of Christendom, and imposed their laws alike upon princes and prelates. Such a spectator would now have to contemplate the reverse of this brig-ht picture : the pontiff a prisoner in the hands of a vain and vicious court ; reduced to practise the arts of evasion and dis- simulation to escape the overbearing- influence of the temporal power ; vainly strug-g-ling- to reserve to himself the means of escaping- that ruinous apostasy from every maxim of his predecessors which the tyrant of the day
^ Book II. c. V. pp. 395-397, and c. vi. p. 421.
« The passing of the xxviii"' canon, Book II. c. v. p. 403.
f Book II. c. V. p. 416.
170 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book III.
had imposed upon him ; retreating* at leng-th from the scene of his defeat with disg'race and contumely j his suc- cessor reduced to become the passive instrument of the same iron despotism, and to strug*g'le ag'ainst the indig'- nation of the world with little to support him but the memor}^ of past g-lories ; — all these things he would see, and mig'ht — if he did not altogether despair of the see of Peter — look forward to an ag-e of conflict to reg'ain the lost gTound, and to replace the pontiff in a position which at this moment mig'ht well appear beyond the chances of human events.
But in this dark and g-loomy prospect there were still Brighter here and there a few lig-hts to cheer the spirit aspects, of the devouter adherent of Rome. Thoug'h her influence both in the East and the West had been over- clouded by the crimes, the vacillations, and the self-de- sertion of Vig'ilius, yet the theory of the chair of Peter had never been directly called in question. Thoug"h the victory of Rome in the great Eutychian controversy may have been balanced by her defeat in that of the " three chapters," yet that defeat had at bottom been broug'ht about by the vulgar expedient of physical force. Thoug-h abandoned for the moment, the maxims of Roman eccle- siastical policy were neither forg^otten nor .renounced. If the pope had not been carried away as a state-prisoner to Byzantium, there would have been no schism ; if the imperial mountebank who ruled the remnant of the em- pire had not by a mere military accident become the master of Italy, there would have been little to prevent the same bold repudiation of his factious and mischievous experiment upon the settled faith of Christendom. And already a promising' chang'e had come over the political atmosphere : the revived dominion of the empire in Italy was already tottering" to its fall ; the instrument was at hand that was to break in pieces the frail edifice of the Byzantine power. The jDresence of Narses upon the scene of his triumphs alone delayed the catastrophe ; and dur- ing- the remainder of his life Justinian was indulged with the vain contemplation of a conquest he had neither the heart to value nor the talent to maintain.
Chap. V.] DEATH OF JUSTINIAN I. 171
In the year 559, Pope Pelagius I. was succeeded by John III. (Catelhnus.) The reign of this pon- j^^^ j^j tiff was disting-uished by the restoration of the (Cateiiinus) revenues of the holy see and an increased splen- p'^i^^' dour of pubhc worship. The vanity of Justinian and the Hberahty of Narses contributed to rescue the holy see from the indig'ence to which the prevalence of corruption and the troubles of the times had reduced it. But in the mean time the B^^zantine tyranny was exhausting* both the patience and the resources of the province. While Narses lived, some deg'ree of political order was pre- imperial op- served J but by this time the Italians would have pression in been g'lad to re-exchang-e the vectig-alia and ^^^^^' tribilta of the ancient despotism for the milder tertise of the Goths. Justinian, in whose mind conceit, indolence, and rapacity held an equal dominion, looked to the country not only for reimbursement of the expenses of the con- quest, but as the source of an ample revenue for the time to come. Every obolus that could be extracted by the most ing'enious and unrelenting* extortion, was transmitted to the court ; the pay of the armies was allowed to fall into arrear ; their discipline was broken up ; and the of- ficers of g'overnment stained themselves with every kind of peculation and abuse. While he lived, relig-ious dis- cussion was suppressed by a spiritual despotism closely akin to that secular tyranny which weig-hed upon the spirits and fortunes of all his subjects alike ; and the life of society would have become exthict, if that vitality which was fast disappearing* among- the laity had not sui'vived in the churches of the West.
In the latter years of his life the emperor Justinian listened to the dreamy speculations of a sect Heresy and which maintained that the body of the Saviour death of was " impassible," i. e. not subject to human passions, or to the wants, the suffering's, or the natural ap- petites of the human body.^ This opinion was, in truth, a revival of an ancient Gnostic error in a slig'htly varied form. Besides this, it fell in with the most dang-erous of the Eutychian theories, namely, the absorption of the
e This doctrine was, in the affected a(peapToSoKriri.(TfjL6s. Ncander, K. G. vol. theological jargon of the East, called ii. p. 1168.
172 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
human in the divine nature of the Log'os. The patriarch Eutychius could not be prevailed upon to adopt or to countenance the imperial doctrine^ and was at once de- posed from his chair and dismissed to distant banish- ment. The new creed was despatched to all the churches, with a peremptory command for its publication and adop- tion by all the prelates of the empire; and all the ordinary machinery of imperial tyranny was about to be put in motion to compel obedience, when the author himself was removed from the scene of his mischievous activity.
Justinian died in the year 565 ; and was succeeded Justin II. by his nephew Justin II., the son of his sis- emperor : ter Vig-ilantia, at the moment of his accession Sy'bythe filling" the officc of hig'h-steward of the imperial Longobardi. household. The new emperor retraced the later steps of his predecessor, and suffered ecclesiastical affairs to fall back into their former channel. But in no other respect was the world benefited by the g-overnment of the vicious being* who now occupied the throne of the Csesars. A new swarm of Germanic invaders hovered upon the northern frontier of Italy ; the land was exhausted of its substance to g'ratify Byzantine cupidity ; the spirit of the people was broken by extortion and oppression ; famine and pestilential diseases thinned and disheartened the population ; the army, corrupted by license, was dispersed over the face of the country for the necessary supplies ', and the ag"ed commander, disg'usted by neglect and in- sult, tarnished his loyalty by entering* into treasonable correspondence with the formidable Alboin, king- of the Pannoniah Long'obardi. Death saved him from g*reater criminality ; and Alboin descended like a thunder-cloud upon the defenceless provinces of Ital}^ Thus, within the space of three years, the whole of ^miha, Yenetia, Tuscany, Umbria, and the Tyberine districts fell an easy prey to the barbarians ; and after the fall of Pavia, the splendid acquisitions of Justinian were reduced to the cities of Rome, Ravenna, Naples, and the provinces which constitute the modern kingdom of the Two Sicilies.''
^ The incidents in this chapter, for Germans.BookT. c. xi. §§3and4,where which no authority is quoted, are ad- the historical proofs may be referred opted from the author's History of the to.
CHAPTER VI.
THE CONTKOVERSY OF "THE TITLE."
Roman clergy resume their independence — The Lombards in Italy — Defenceless state of Kome — Byzantines and Franks — Disaffection of the Italians — Gre- gory at Constantinople — John the Faster — Title of "oecumenical patriarch" — Rebuked by Pelagius II. — The Roman bishop the universal primate — Pelagius on the primacy — His inconsistency — Apology for Constantinople — Retrospect of the churches of Spain, France, Germany, and Britain — Gregory I. (the Great) pope — His position — His foreign and domestic policy — Clerical celi- bacy— Gregory on the celibacy of the clergy — His secular administration — The Lombards under Agilulph — Agilulph and Theudelinda — Their alliance with Rome; its justification and results — Controversy of the "three chap- ters" in Italy — Establishment of the see of Justiniania Prima — Gregory in the cause of Hadrian of Thebes — In the cause ofHonoratus of Salona— Equivocal termination of the dispute — John the Faster assumes the title of "oecume- nical bishop" — Remonstrance of Pope Gregory — Protest and appeal of Gre- gory against Cyriacus of Constantinople — His reply to the emperor Maurice — Gregory on the three Petrine sees — His sentiments on the Pe trine pri- macy— His personal humility — Assumes the titular designation of " servus servorum Dei" — He repudiates the title of " universal pope" — His precautions against the ambition of Cyriacus — Latent equivocations of Gregory on the Petrine primacy — Schism — He renounces communion with Cyriacus.
Pope John III. died in the year 572^ after a calamitous pontificate of thirteen 3"ears. The jDubiic mi- rpj^^ j^om^a sery and the ravag'es of the Lombards dehiyed clergy re- the nomination and approval of a successor for dependence"" a term often months. Benedict 1., surnamed JohniiL, Bonosus^ Avas at leiig'th confirmed by the court^ and seated upon the pontifical chair. His administra- tion of the holy see is marked bj^ no incident of historical interest. Religious controversy was drowned by the uni- versal cry of distress which resounded from all quarters of the land. These evils — the offspring- of its own inca- pacity and folly — had so effectually unhing*ed the Byzan- tine authority^ that^ upon the death of Benedict I. in the year 577, the Roman clergy resumed their independence, and ventured to consecrate and to inaugurate a successor
174 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
without waiting" for the imperial letters of license ; and thus the successful candidate, Pelagius II., a Roman by- birth, was the first independently-elected pontiff that had occupied the papal throne since the Byzantine conquest.
The sanguinary Alboin fell by the hand of his vin- The state of dictivc cousort Rosamunda, the daughter of his the Lombards slaug-htered foe Kunimund, king- of the Gepidse."' in Italy. r|.j^^ Lombards raised Cleph, the most distin- g"uished of their chiefs, to the vacant throne ; but, after a short reig-n of about eig'hteen months, he was slain by a domestic assassin, and the nation reverted to their more ancient state of clanship ; they divided the conquered ter- ritory into thirty-six districts, under as manj^ chiefs or dukes, who, with the ^^ faras," or clans attached to their respective banners, established themselves in the more important cities and towns of the new king-dom. The most advanced of these duchies, those of Tuscany, Bene- ventum, and Spoleto, surrounded and enclosed on all but the maritime frontier the entire territory still remaining- in the occupation of the Byzantines. The latter resorted to a corresponding- division of the remnants of their do- minion. Under a g-overnor-g-eneral or exarch, resident in the strong- fortress of Ravenna, two g-overnors or dukes of Rome and Naples defended the reduced frontier from the desultory attacks of the neig-hbouring- Lombard clans. Defenceless Tlius, duriug* the iuterreg-num, the Roman state of Rome, (jygj^y had bccome the arena of unsparing- plun- der and devastation. '■'• Italy," said Pope Pelag-ius II. to his leg-ate at Constantinople, Greg-ory, abbot of St. An- drew's," " is trodden under foot by the heretical and mur- derous Longobardi ; the people here are destitute of arms, money, leaders; the g-reater part of the Roman territory hath neither troops nor g-arrisons to defend it ; and the exarch Decius of Ravenna sends us word that he hath scarcely men enoug-h under arms to maintain the post committed to his charge."''
But in the year 578 the idiotic and proflig-ate Jus-
* Some time early in the year 573. Hist. Longob. lib. ii. c. xxviii. p. 4.3.5.
See Hist, of the Germans, ubi sup. p. 619 b Afterwards Pope Gregory the Great,
(n. 21). The tragic story of Alboin and « Barow. A. 584, p. 400. Conf. Hist.
Rosamunda is told by Faul Warnefrid, of the Germ, ubi sup. p. 638.
Chap. VI.] STATE OF ITALY. 175
till II. was succeeded on the throne of the East by Tiberius 11.^ a man of superior intelhg-ence prr^ect'of and integrity ; probably for that very reason alliance with unlit to contend ag"ainst the inveterate vices of the Byzantine court and g'overnment. His successes ag-ainst the Persians in the East scarcely balanced the decline of the imperial power in Italy. Not a man could be spared for the defence of that province ; and all that the eloquence of Greg'ory could obtain from the impover- ished court was a scanty sum of money, to be employed by Pelag'ius either in purchasing- a truce from the Lom- bards ; or, if thoug-ht expedient, in subsidising- the Franks to invade Lombard}^, and thus at least to create a diver- sion in favour of the harassed Romans. After the death of Tiberius in 582, his successor Maurice, by the inter- vention of the pope, treated with Childebert II., the king- of the Austrasian Franks, to procure a joint invasion and partition of the territories overrun by the Lombards : and the latter, alarmed at the prospect of so powerful a coa- lition, and convinced of the necessity of unity of com- mand to avert the dang-er, determined to elect a king-; and raised Authari, son of Cleph, a prince of talent and integrity, to their throne. This step, while it defeated the coalition, greatly improved the condition of the con- quered people. Authari attacked the evil at its root ; he reformed with a vigorous hand the worst of the abuses in the existing relations between the Lombard lords and their native dependents : and these measures, we are told by the national historian of the Lombards, were imme- diately attended by the restoration of peace and content- ment within his dominions.'^
But though the judicious policy of Authari suspended the predatory warfare which had reduced the t^- «• .•
„ ^ . i' , , T -r-» • Uisattection
irontier territories to a desert, the Byzantines of the reaped no benefit from the change. The miser- ^*^^^^"^- able dispute about the ^^ three chapters" alienated the catholic clergy of Ravenna, Venetia, and Istria from the Greek government, as much as it had already dis- gusted them with Rome; and now, while the exarch
•• Paul Diac. lib. iii. c. xvi. p, 444.
176 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
Smarag'dus was striving- by temporal penalties to set up the B^^zantine standard of orthodox}^^ the Lombards made themselves masters of the whole of Yenetia and Istria^ and dispossessed the empire of the last remnants of its conquests in Northern Itaty/
The patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople, whom Gregory the Justiiiian iu his dotag'c had deposed and ban- apocrisarius. ighed, was rcstorcd to his see by Tiberius. Gre- gory, the papal leg-ate or apocrisarius at court, lived in sincere friendship with the excellent patriarch. But the latter, at the verg-e of life, leaned to an opinion which seemed to impug"n the received doctrine of the resurrec- tion of the body. He thoug-ht, namely, that the raised body could not be identical with the dissolved mass of bones, muscle, and sinew composing- the mortal body; and that the body of the resurrection must be of a more ethereal or spiritual substance. The hteral orthodoxy of Greg-ory took offence at this deviation from the received opinion, and a hot dispute was kindled between the subtle Greek and the more practical Latin doctor. The quarrel was suspended by the severe indisposition of both dis- putants. Eutychius died (a.d. 685) ; and Greg-ory sur- vived, soon to preside over the Latin communion in a nobler spirit, and with g-reater advantag-e to the interests of his church, than any pontiff since the death of Leo the Great.
John, surnamed the " Faster," a person of reserved T u .1, and austere habits, succeeded Eutychius on the
John the ^~ 'iaii
Faster pa- throuc 01 Coustautmople. As a churchman he triarch; ^^^ much estccmcd by the court and people for apparent self-abasement and ascetic practice. He ac- cepted his elevation with seeming- reluctance ', but Gre- g-ory, himself a spectator of the scene, suspected his sin- cerity, and justified his suspicions by pointing- to that presumptuous spirit which induced the humble monk im- mediately to assume the proud title of " oecu- tWe o?"^cecu- nienical patriarch." Greg'ory may have for- menicaipa- g-ottcu that Popc Johu 11. had acccptcd from the emperor Justinian the equally objectionable
« Hist, of the Germ, ubi sup. p. 641.
Chap. VI.] JOHN THE FASTER. 177
title of ^^ head of all the churches f^ but certain it is that he overlooked the fact that John had forborne to notice the g'laring" contradiction involved in the simultaneous attribution of an equivalent title to the patriarch of Con- stantinople. As long-^ however^ as the B3^zantine g-OA^ern- ment in Italy retained any deg-ree of consistency^ it was not likely that this anomaty would be made a ground of quarrel between the two sees. But the pretensions of Constantinople were not forg'otten; and as soon as the external pressure which kept doAvn the rankling- jealousy between the rival pontiffs was removed, occasions could not be wanting- to rekindle the flame.
Two years after the accession of John the Faster (a.b. •087), articles of impeachment were presented peiagius ii. to the emperor Maurice a^'ainst the patriarch rebukes the
n\ /• * • 1 rrn ^ -x i 11 presumption
(jrreg'ory oi Antioch. The latter demandea a of John the canonical trial, and appealed to a canonical faster, tribunal to consist of the assembled bishops of the dio- cese and the adjoining* provinces. Maurice g-ranted the re- quest; the synod, composed of the patriarclis of the East, and other metropolitan prelates, assembled at Constanti- nople ) the articles were discussed before the emperor and the senate ; a sentence of unqualified acquittal was re- corded in favour of the defendant, and his prosecutors were stig-matised as vulgar delators and slanderers.^ But it came to the ear of Pope Peiagius II. — probably throug-h the information of his apocrisarius — that in the course of the proceedings, and in his sig-nature to the final decree, John of Constantinople had adopted the proud title of " oecumenical patriarch," Whether this assumption was, in fact, a mere novelty, or whether it had been customarily used b}^ the metropolitan bishops since it was first intro- duced in the rescripts of Justinian addressed to Epiphanius in the year 533, is unknown. But no sooner was its ap- pearance on the face of the proceedings ag-ainst Gregory of Antioch notified to Pope Peiagius than he declared that the irreg-ularity vitiated every step in the cause ; and he annulled the sentence, on the express g-round that John
f See chap. iv. of this Book, p. 168.
B Evag. Schol. lib. vi. c. vii.; Baron. A. 587, § 4.
VOL. II. N
178 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
of Constantinople had unwarrantably assumed a title and
a function to which he had no claim^ and had
the universal thereby violatcd the sole and exclusive privilege
prmiacy of qJ" f]ig Jigiy ^^^ fg swnmon aiul to jyreside over
all greater councils of the Church. At the same
time he re-affirmed^ in its broadest and most offensive
form, the lono--cherished theory of the universal 2)nmacy
of the see of Rome, its paramount indefeasible authority,
as vested hy Christ himself in the see of Peter ; and he
roundly asserted that whatever was at any time done
without that authority was void from the beginning*.
" If, therefore," said the zealous pontiff, in the pero-
ration to his address, " you have any regard for
on the title" the commuiiion of the holy see, cast out from o^".^^?i^'^y,^^' among you this profane title oi tmiversality ; nor let any one of you sanction by his presence any synod holden without the license of the holy see. None of your patriarchs have ever assumed this unholy name ;'' for they knew that if ever he who in verity is the supreme patriarch over all (the bishop of Rome) were to take it specially to himself, he would, as respects the episcopacy in general, thereby derogate from the rank and dignit}^ of all. Far be such a deed from us. God forbid that we should desire to diminish the honours of our brethren. Therefore, let no one among you assume the name of ^ universal bishop/ lest, by depriving others of their honours, he forfeit that which he himself hath."' It is not easy to unravel the confusion of ideas which
The pope's ^his extraordinary document betrays. The im-
objections port of the words leads to the inference that though the bishop of Rome was bound to re- gard himself as dejure the ^'^ oecumenical patriarch," yet that he voluntarily abstained from adopting the title, lest he should give offence to his brethren by the assertion of his right, and by exhibiting himself to the Avorld in his true character. Reasonable persons would imagine that the real offence lay, not in the name, but in the thing
'• We have not the means of verify- thimus, Mennas, or Eutychius, having ing this statement ; no official act of come down to lis. Epiphanius, or of his successors An- ' Baron. A. 687, § 5.
CuAP. VI.] TITLE OF '"(ECUMENICAL BISHOP." 179
signified. If there was any invasion of the rig-hts of the episcopac}^, it arose rather from the real pretensions of Rome than from the titular claim of Constantinople. But^ as a matter of fact^ Rome herself would have found it a difficult task to clear herself of the identical oifence she now cast in the teeth of her rival. Pope Leo the Great himself had permitted his leg-ates at the gTeat council of Chalcedon to designate him as ^^ bishop of the whole Church/' " pope of the Universal Church/' — titles not easily disting-uishable from the designation^ assumed by John the Faster ; nor perhaps from those more ancient words of universality — '^ summus sacerdos/' ^^ pontifex maximus" — which gave just offence to the zealous Afri- can Tertullian.'' It might, indeed^ have lain in the mouth of any but the bishop of Rome to contend that the term itself implied such an exhausting' universality^ as to leave no place for any other episcopal function side by side with it. But it seems clear that neither Justinian in conferring*, nor the patriarchs in adopting*, the st^de and title of CBCumenical bishops, spoke in a sense to exclude any similar distinction elsewhere. In all their public acts, on the contrarjr, care Avas taken, not only to preserve to Rome her primacy of rank, but also to save harm- less the honours, titles, and jurisdictions of all the great patriarchal churches.'
The synod of Constantinople in the cause of Gregory of Antioch, though declared by the pope to be inconsistency a mere nullity, "void from the beginning" — ofPeiagius. void " to all intents and purposes" — was 3^et, it seems, susceptible of confirmation. Pelagius approved the ab- solution of Gregory of Antioch^ and solemnly pronounced
J Conf. Book II. c. V. pp. 396, 397 of sense of the first council of Constanti-
this work. nople, and in that of Chalcedon, as de-
^ Conf. Book I. c. v. pp. 107, 108 of clared in its sixteenth session. At the
this work. It may be noticed, that the second council of Constantinople, we
decree of Valentinian III., solicited and learn that he repeatedly importuned
adopted by Leo the Great, gave the Pope Vigilius to preside at that synod
" universality," both dejure and de facto, as the " primse sedis episcopus." Pela-
to the see of Rome ; though it does not gius II. himself admitted that John the
totidem verbis confer the title. See Book Faster had disclaimed the offensive im-
II. c. iv. pp. 353, 354 of this work. putation, though he refused to admit the
' Justinian, as we have seen, justly disclaimer, admitted the primacy of Rome in the
180 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
his restoration to his church and functions : thoug-h the synod was ^^ no S3niod at all," but a " mere conventicle/' 3^et the only object for which it had met, and the only act it did, was approved by the pope. Upon the proper merits of the s}'nod there was, therefore, no question ; nor was there any objection raised to John of Constantinople beyond a merely personal irreg'ularit}^, which could not affect the competency of the tribunal of which he was a qualified member. Yet upon this g-round Pope Pela- g-ius directed his leg'ate at court to excommunicate the patriarch, and to continue him in separation from the catholic body until he should publicly renounce the of- fensive desig'nation.
We can hardly speak of the merits of a dispute in Apology for wliich the demerits on both sides seem pretty Constant!- evculy balanced. Some sug-g-estions, however, °°^ ^" may be tendered in excuse for the presumption of John the Faster. Rome had shown no disposition to withdraw her protest ag-ainst the xxviii'*' canon of Chalce- don, by which Constantinople was placed on an equality of privileg'e. But the latter church had now not only a canonical jDOsition among* the g'reat patriarchates, and a legislativelv recognised jurisdiction of her own, but she had been also de facto raised to a presidency in the Ori- ental church closely resembling* that which Home had long- since exercised in the West, and therefore naturally took to herself the same g'eneral superintending" power within the sphere of her spiritual influence as that pos- sessed by Rome — subject only to that precedence of rank which she had all along* acknowledged to belong* to the elder patriarchate. But Home had insolently rejected a law of the Church which confined her supremacy to a simple privilege of rank and honour j and she had encountered it by an unqualified claim of paramount jurisdiction and power subversive of all equality, whether of rank, or hon- our, or privilege. Under such circumstances, it may be urged on behalf of Constantinople, that she must either have submitted to a domination subversive of positive law and natural justice, or at once have proclaimed her own privilege, and asserted her legislative equality by boldly
CuAP. VL] RETROSPECT: SPAIN. 181
assuming- the rank and character attributed to her by a g-eneral edict of the cathohc body. This course she may reasonably be presumed to have reg-arded as the best mode of saving- the rig-hts and jurisdictions synodically secured to her from the g'rasp of her antag'onist — rig-hts which she could not abandon without sacrificing' her hon- our and dignity^ and encourag'ing* encroachments to which neither she nor the sister churches of the East could be called upon to submit. Upon the whole, it seems most probable that the claim of ^^ universality" set up by John the Faster was a defensive rather than an ag-g-res- sive measure, and that nothing- more was meant by it than to place Constantinople upon that level with Rome to which she held an unquestionable legislative title.
As we approach the pontificate of Greg-ory the Great, it may be useful to take a short retrospective view of the state of the churches of Spain, Gaul, *^ ^^^v<^^ ■ Germany, and Britain. In all these regions the hand of the remarkable man whose acts must occupy some space in our narrative is clearly visible; and in all of them he left behind him the traces of his able and active administration.
In the Visig'othic king-dom of Spain, the vestig'es of pontifical influence down to the close of the .
sixth century are extremely faint. Like the mi- litary followers of Theodoric in Italy, the Visig'oths of Spain professed the Arian form of Christianit}' ; and like them, had all along* to contend ag-ainst a commonalty and a clergy of Roman orig-in and rig-idly orthodox pro- fession. The conquerors were, however, as little inclined to religious persecution as the kindred tribe occup3ing- the ItaUan peninsula. The catholic clerg-^^, therefore, had the advantag-e of a fair field for the maintenance and ex- tension of their creed ; and towards the middle of the sixth century reaped the reward of their zeal and activity in the acquisition of a degree of influence over the public mind which left the Arian princes no long-er in doubt that they possessed the confidence of a larg-e majority among* their subjects. In the year 509, Liuvegild, a zealous
182 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book HI.
Arian^ mounted the throne of Spam. About nine years afterwards (a.d. 578)^ this prince married his eldest son Hermeneg-ild to the cathohc princess Ing-unda^ a daug-h- ter of Sig'ibert^ king" of the Austrasian Franks. Throug'h her influence; Leander^ the catholic archbishop of Seville, g'ained the ear of the prince, and succeeded in converting- him to the creed of the majority. Disg'usted, however, by the severities to which his desertion of the faith of his forefathers exposed him, he fled to the neig"hbouring' Suevi of Lusitania for protection, and with their aid raised the standard of rebellion ag"ainst his father. But the unfor- tunate prince and his allies suffered a total defeat ; he him-/ self became a prisoner, and was ruthlessly put to death in his dung-eon. The king-dom of the catholic Suevi was absorbed in the Visig-othic dominions, and the prospects of the orthodox seemed more g'loomy than at any period since the Gothic invasion. But at the death of Liuveg-ild, in the year 586, the conversion of Hermeneg-ild bore
Conversion ^^^ts J Rcccarcd, the second of the sons of the of King deceased monarch, succeeded to the throne, and
Eeccared. pggoiygfj ^q ^.^j^g ^j^g ggj^gg ^f ^j^g nation as to
the merits of the controversy which divided the court and people of Spain, and had so recently and seriously endang-ered the public tranquillity. To .that end, he as- sembled a g-eneral council at Toledo, consisting- indif- ferently of the orthodox and the Arian prelates of his dominions ; and after a long- discussion of the points in dispute in his presence and that of his court and nobility, the king- declared in favour of the catholic confession. His example was followed, with few exceptions, by his bishops and subjects ; and the synod of Toledo was permitted to proclaim the faith of the first four g-eneral councils as the only true faith and the established relig'ion of the nation and government of Spain. King- Reccared confirmed the resolutions of the fathers of Toledo by an edict denouncing- excommunication ag-ainst all recusant bishops and clerks, and condemning- the laity who should reject the royal confession to the loss of estate and honours.""
"' See Cone. Tolet. III., ap. Hard. Cone. torn. iii. p. 484.
Chap. VI.] ROME AND THE SPANISH CHURCH. 183
This sudden and simultaneous conversion of the Span- ish nation has been g-enerally imputed to the ^^j^.^ ^^ learning- and eloquence of Leander of Seville^ Rome to a and to the g'radual prevalence of the Nicene ^^o^iJ:^er"sion^ opinions, so long- and so earnestly maintained of the b}^ the catholic clergy. Eome has, indeed, put Spaniards. in her claim to a larg-e share in the meritorious work ; Leander, she tells us, was the leg'ate of Pope Pelag-ius in Spain, and acted under that commission. But of this there is not a trace of credible evidence ; and the extant record of the council bears no marks of Roman interpo- sition." The assembly was convoked in the customary form b}" the sing'le act of the sovereig-n, without mention of any concurrent authority." Leander himself, thoug'h a principal actor and speaker upon the scene, did not present himself as the deleg-ate of the holy see ; and sub- scribed the acts of the council — not in the first place, as upon the supposition of a leg-antine authority he would have been entitled to do, but — in the third place, and in his own name onty as metropolitan of the province of Boetica.P There is therefore little reason to doubt but that the movement in favour of catholicit}^ in Spain was the spontaneous act of the sovereign and the nation, spring-ing* probably from motives quite as much of a political as a relio-ious character.
The religious state of Gaul — or, as we may now with
" Baronius (Ann. 589, § 9, p. 461) quote from, cent. vi. pp. 606, 607. In quotes a passage from Lucas of Twj, a Harduin's edition of the councils (ubi writer of the thirteenth century, living sup.) the name of Leander stands third in the reign of Gregory IX. and a ve- after that of theking; acircumstance not hement persecutor of the Albigenses. very favourable to the legantine cha- Lucas is said to describe Leander as the racter imputed to him by Baronius on legate of the pope in Spain. The car- the vague authority of Lucas of Tuy. dinal, in support of his authority, states " See the recital of the letters of con- that the popes always kept a legate vocation in the exordium of the report, in Spain; but upon what authority he Hard, ubi sup. p. 467. The royal sub- says this, we are not informed, except scription to the canons or capitula is it be the obscure appointment of Zeno remarkable : " Flavius Reccaridus rex, archbishop of Seville by Pope Simpli- banc deliberationem, quam cum sancto cius to be the papal legate in Spain, definivimus synodo, eonfirmans sub- A.D. 484: see ch. i. p. 8 of this Book. scripsi." Ibid. p. 484. De Mornay, c. xcviii., observes, that the p " Leander in C. N. ccclesiie Hispa- name of Leander is not found in some lensismeti-opolitanusBoeticseprovincise, of the copies of the council; nor is it in hisconstitutionibus annuens sub- that which the Magdeburg Centuriators scripsi." Id. ibid.
184 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
State of the ^lore propriety call it, France — differed mate- Erankish rially from that of Spain. While the latter churches. (,Qyj^^j,y ^ygg fj.Qj^^ ti^g moment of the Visig'othic
conquest divided between hostile relig-ious sects, Eoman Christianity had maintained itself without a rival in France. The form of faith which Clovis found established among- the conquered people at the period of his conversion became the religion of the State ; and thoug'h the inter- course with the religious metropolis may have been im- peded by the Frankish irruption, the authority of the Roman pontiff had suffered no serious diminution or dis- continuance. From the first introduction of Christianity into the new king-dom, the clergy were all of Eoman race ; they connected the name of Rome with all their ministra- tions ; and througii them the religious character of the pontiff'of Rome became a g-enial bond of union between the whole bod}'^ both of the conquerors and the conquered.
But during- all this period the predilection of the Gal- ■D 1 ,. » lie clerpfv for Rome was not inconsistent with the Frankish a g'eueral statc 01 rehg'ious mdependence. ihe Eom?Jnd°to ^isliops of the Burg-uudiau and Arelatian dio- their own ccscs — pcrhaps of somc others — mig'lit, as we government, j^jj^yg seen, at tiuies appeal to Rome, or shelter themselves under papal decisions and constitutions ag'ainst their superiors or their metropolitan synods^ with a view to evade the penalties due to their own irreg'ularities ; yet practically the religious g'overnment of the Church rested with the provincial councils, without any ordinary or ha- bitual resort to Rome. At the same time, the appointment to vacant bishoprics of importance fell into the hands of the temporal princes ; the spiritual judicatures remaining' in the prelates, thoug'h without the power of inflicting' any other than spiritual penalties. But the social relations in which they were placed operated still further to throw the episcopacy into political dependence upon the monarch : the greater prelates frequented the court, and adopted the habits of the lay nobility ; like the latter, they indulg-ed in the coarsest convivialities and debaucheries ', they made war upon, they robbed, they plundered^ and occasionally murdered, one another w ith impunity ; they ming'led in-
Chap. VI.] THE FKANKISH CLERGY. 185
discriminately in political broils and court cabals ; they buckled on armour^ and led their dependents and retainers to the field ; they adopted the modes of lifcj the sports and the pastimes of the secular nobles, and performed all the services of lay vassals in the camp, court, and councils of the sovereio-n.''
This state of the clerical body in France was the natu- ral result of the lavish grants of beneficiary lands to the churches by the superstitious liberalit}" tionofthe of Clovis, his sons, and PTandsons. In these ^r'lnidsh grants little or no distinction was made between " the clerical and lay grantees of the crown ; the State held all liable alike to the military and fiscal burdens attached to the benefices they held/ This state of church-property threw the nomination of the holders, as a matter of course, into the hands of the kings. During the whole period over which the history of Gregory bishop of Tours extends, the appointment to vacant sees rested practically with the court, though the forms of election were still retained/ The clergy might occasionally insist upon the right of free election,* yet they always admitted the royal veto ; while the kino-s, without directly contestino- the rio-ht of the churches, practically assumed the appointment by virtue of the veto." The more ambitious among the clergy knew too well where that power rested, to be very vigilant in the maintenance of the privileges of their churches ag-ainst royal encroachment. Those who looked for bishoprics, sought them at court by solicitations and bribes.' At length it became the practice to appoint lay- men to vacant sees without any form of election ; and so numerous were these nominations, that during the reign
1 Gregory of Tours furnishes numer- p. 684), chiefly from Gregory of Tours
ous proofs of the state of things de- and the Formulse of Marculfus. scribed in the text: see particularly lib. ' See extracts from the councils of
iv. cc. xii. and xliii. pp. 208 and 227; Paris, a. d. 551, and of Orleans, a. d. 549,
lib. V. c. xxi. p. 247 ; lib. vii. cc. xi. ap. Conciani, Barb. Leg. Antiq. torn. ii.
xxxvii. and xxxix. pp. 272, 309, 310. pp. 190, 191, note (3). See Book II. c. ii. p. 342. " See History of the Germans, ibid.
>■ Greg. Turon. lib. ii. c. ii. p. 204 ; p. 685, note 45, where the authorities
lib. vii. c. xlii. p. 311 ; lib. v. c. xxvii. will bo found at length. p. 250. V Conf. Greg. Turon. lib. iv. c. xi.
^ See the forms, as described in my p 205. History of the Germans (Book I. c. xii.
186 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
of Chilpericli; tlie Merovingian king" of Soissons^ very few of the ordained clergy obtained bislioj^rics.'"
Under such circumstances^ it is not surprising" that PriviWes of g"i'^^t Uncertainty should exist as to the privi- the Prankish leofes of the clcrofv in France during" the Mero- ciergy. ying'ian period. As a body^they still remained ci- villy and criminal^ amenable to the laws of the land; but the bishops and hig'her ecclesiastics stoutly resisted every judicature but that of their own order ', the}'^ claimed to be tried by canon-law^ and to be liable to canonical punish- ments only." But the only sources of canon-law known
in the Frankish states were rather of Roman
their attach- than national derivation ; the associations both
ment to of clerg"y and people all pointed to Home as the
cradle of their faith and the fountain of relio-ious law ; and thus an appeal to E-ome in support of that law lay fully Avithin the sphere of the national prepossessions. Thus, when the bishops, Salonius of Embrun and Sa- g"ittarius of Gap in Provence, were convicted before a synod of the Arelatensian province of the crimes of rob- bery, homicide, and adultery, and sentenced to privation and deg'radation, the culprits obtained the permission of Gunthram, king- of Orleans, to carry their cause by way of appeal to bishop John III. (Catellinus). of Rome. The pope for no discoverable reason reversed the sentence, and reinstated the bishops. The Gallic church patientl}^ ac- cepted the decision ; but a repetition of the offences sub- jected the delinquents to a reiterated sentence, which seems to have met with no further opposition from Rome.^ Thoug"h, therefore, the transaction wears an exceptional rather than a normal aspect, it affords evidence of a sub- sisting* reg-ard for the pontifical authority, susceptible of a vast expansion as soon as foreig"n support should be- come needful or available for the maintenance of the presumed privileg'es of the Gallic clergy.
" Greg. Turon. lib. vi. cc. xxxviii. and Greg. Turon. libb. v. vii. and x., in llis-
xlvi. ; lib. viii. c. xxxix. p. 330: conf. tory of the Germans, p. 686.
Eichhorn, Deutsch - Staats und Rechts ^ Greg. Turon. lib. v. cc. xxi. and
Alterthiimer, vol. i. § 101, p. 272. xxviii. pp. 247, 250.
^ See the instances, collected from
Chap. VI.] EELIGIOUS STATE OF GERMANY. 187
A g'lance at the religious state of Germany-Proper within the sixth century of the Christian era, presents the picture of a half-Christian, half- suTe^of ' heathen people struo-o-lino- into political and re- christian
■,. . !•/• • 1 1 1 • proiession.
lig"ious hie, With that earnestness and yig'our which disting-uished the Germanic races from their earliest encounters with the po^^'er of liome to their final victory over the expiring* g'iant. Among* these tribes, the numer- ous clans of Frisians and Saxons inhabiting* the banks of the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe, still lived in a state of unreclaimed heathenism. The Allemanni or Swabian Germans, the Thuring-ians, Bavarians, and Lombards, thoug-h nominally Christians, were scarcely less addicted to the mag*ic superstitions and sacrihcial rites of heathen- ism than before the cross was raised within their can- tons. The rude and ig*norant clerg*y who administered the public worship, were either themselves deeply tainted with the popular superstitions, or driven to indulg*e their people in man}^ of the g*rosser practices of the old idolatry in order to maintain their own influence and keep alive a semblance of Christianit}^ in the land.
But towards the close of the period, a movement for the conversion of the heathen tribes of the north, jj,jgi^ ^^^ and, what was of equal importance, for the re- Angio-Saxon formation of the heathenised Christians of the '"^''^^°°^- midland and southern reg'ions of the vast wilderness, ori- ginated in the far west — in a region distant from the centre of Christendom, and beyond the largest limits which, at this point of time, can be assigned to the spi- ritual influence of Bome. Two Irish monks, Colum- banus and Gall, issued from the zealous and learned se- minary of Icolmkil in the Hebrides, and planted churches in Swabia, Switzerland, and Lombardy. Soon after them, Ennneram, a Frankish missionary monk, undertook to reform, or rather to republish, the religion of Christ among the half-heathen Bavarians. These devoted men were followed from time to time b}' others, who carried forward the same good work in Germany with no other warrant or authority than that which their own earnest conviction and zeal imparted. Neither bishop nor arch-
188 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
bishop interfered with, or claimed control over, their la- bours ; nor was it till the appearance of the celebrated Ang'lo-Saxon preacher Winfred of Winchester — more familiarly known by the name of Boniface — in the mid- dle of the eig'hth centmy, that the name of Rome or the voice of her pontiffs was heard in the primitive wilds of Germany.''
Of the state of Christianity in Britain, it is onlyneces- Britain and ^^^T ^^^ ^^^'^ placc to obscrve, that the relig-ion of British Christ, planted there by the Roman Christians, hnstianity. j^.^^ \)eeii^ swcpt awa}^ by the heathen swarm which, at the beg'inning* of the sixth centur}^, is found to have already occupied and colonised the g-reater part of the British islands. In some districts, however, particularly in the mountain reg'ions ofWales, Cumberland, Cornwall, the west of Scotland, and in Ireland, whither the ruthless sword of the Saxon had not yet penetrated, Christianity still survived. There multitudes of Christians — clergy, laity, and relig'ious men — retained and propag^ated the purer forms of the old relig-ion. The northern coasts of Ireland and the Southern Hebrides became a far- famed seminary of relig'ious learning and missionary zeal. Twenty years before the mission of Aug-ustine, the emis- sary of Pope Greg'ory the Great, to this country, the monaster}^ of lona had, as we have seen, sent forth de- vout men to preach the Gospel to the wild Frisians and Saxons who still inhabited the reg-ions which cradled the conquering- races of Gaul and Britain. Meanwhile the Welsh Christians, under their metropolitan bishop of Caerleon, maintained their relig-ious state and their poli- tical independence, in absolute seclusion from the rest of Christendom, ag-ainst the neig-hbouring- Saxon princes and people. The latter, thoug-h still adhering- to their ancient superstition, and disdaining- to adopt the creed of a van- quished enemy, were a simple and vig'orous race, open to
^ I must refer the reader, for a fuller all the authorities are collected, and
account of the labours of the Irish, An- the histor}' of the Germanic churches
glo-Saxon, and Frankish missions, to carried down to the appointment of
sect. iii. of the xiii"" chap, of my His- Boniface to the metropolitan dignity by
tory of the Germans, pp. 770-792, where Pope Gregory II.
Chap. VI.] ELEVATION OF GREGOEY THE GREAT. 189
conviction when the new creed was presented to them in ti form suited to their capacities, and not offensive to their national pride. In default of that discriminating- reason which education alone can impart, the modest Saxon in- clined to authority; the hig'h road to the heart of the people lay throug-h their warrior-chiefs and princes ; and the latter, with the example of the christianised Franks before them, had few scruples to overcome but those which arose from the influence of simple habit, unsupported by dogmatic opinion or principle. Their superstitions were not the subjects of faith or conviction ; and those who could proffer either throug'h an acceptable medium, mig'ht be sure of a hearing-^ and mig-ht with time and patience count upon success.^ The sequel proves that the Ang'lo- Saxon race was little more difficult to deal with than the kindred Frankish tribes in the ffrst years of this century.
Pope Pelag'ius II. died in the 3'ear 590, after a reig'n of twelve 3^ears and three months. Greg-or^ , abbot or principal of the relig'ious house of St. pope Gre- Andrew at Rome, had for some 3^ears past gory the drawn upon himself the attention of the religi- ous world. Conspicuous among' the churchmen of his ng*e for learning'^ integ-rit}', and piety, not a voice was raised ag-ainst his elevation to the papal chair b}^ any but himself. Greg-or}' recoiled from the burden thus cast upon him by the unanimous suffrag-es of his church ; he fled from Rome to escape the zeal of the electors, and earnestly besoug-ht the emperor Maurice to withhold the imperial approbation. He honestly shrunk from a task which ap- peared to him to transcend his strength and ability. But when the ratification of his election arrived, and no pro- spect remained of escaping* the superhuman burden, he took possession of the see in a spirit of tempered courag'e, spring-ing", we believe, from a g'enuine sense of oblig'ation to the Church, and in pious reliance upon Providence for the streng-th needful to fulfil his hig"h destin}-.
The virtues of Greg'ory the Great, though the off*spring- of the truest piety, were not those of an expansive or en-
* On the state of Britain in the sixth century, consult Beda Hist. Ecc. lib. i.
190 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
Hischa- lightened understanding". No man of his ag'e racter and -yy^s more thoroup'hlv Imbucd with the preva-
d.iiiicuitiGs • . " . "^ -I •
ofhispo- lent ecclesiastical views; nor do we believe that sition. ^j^y Qj^g q£ |-^jg n^ost strenuous predecessors en- tertained a more lofty conception of the Petrine power. jBut these views were under the control of a cooler judg"- ment and a more Christian temper. He surveyed at a glance all the difficulties of his position ; and these were, indeed; such as mig;ht shake the stoutest nerves, and put in requisition powers for which no man could give him- self credit. When he ascended the papal throne, the plague was rag'ing within the walls of Rome ; the Lom- bard enemy hovered around her desolated and impover- ished territory; the bishops of Istria and Yenetia, — suffragans of the archbishop of Aquileia, — stood in open schism upon the still-vexed question of the " three chap- ters." In Africa, the remnants of the Donatist and Ma- nichsean heresies were still stirring ; the external influence of the holy see was as a thing that had passed away ; and it seemed as if the task ofreconstructino- the whole edifice of Roman power had been cast upon the new pontiff, with- out any of those external facilities or supports to which his predecessors had been so largely indebted.
His first efforts to restore the decaying influence of
His foreio-n 1^011^6 iu tlic outlyiug dej)endencies of the Pe- and domestic trine cliair were not attended with the desired ^° '^•^" success. His attempt to reduce the dissident bishops of Northern Italy to obedience was arrested by a peremptory command of the emperor, to which he sub- mitted without remonstrance. In Africa, his labours to disturb the ill-omened harmony which the common cala- mities had established between the Catholic and the Do- natist clergy, were equally unsuccessful. But at home his peculiar virtues and abilities found a fairer field of action. His first care was to administer consolation and relief to his afflicted flock. Next he turned his attention to the reform of the many abuses that infected the inter- nal state of his church ; more especially in the monastic system, which had by this time risen into a most im- portant element of the ecclesiastical polity. Gregory was
Chap, 71.] GREGOilY ON CLERICAL CELIBACY. 191
devoutly attached to that mode of Christian Hfe ; he had adopted it witli all his heart ; and never lost sio-ht of it even in the heig'ht of his success, nor amid the bustle and turmoil of public business.'' No man was more pro- foundl}^ convinced that the efficiency of every system of g'overnment must depend upon the streng-th and adapta- tion of its internal machiner3^ Mau}^ fatal irreg'ularities had crept into the Roman monasteries, from indiscri- minate admissions and loose superintendence. For the remedy of these evils, he ordered that no youth under the ag-e of eig-hteen years should be admitted into any reli- gious house ', and that no one should be allowed to take the vows until he should have underg'one a two-years pro- bation. Monks who forsook their convent and returned to the world were condemned to the strictest seclusion for the remainder of their lives. The prevalent habit of vag'ranc}^ Avas repressed ; and it was ordered that when- ever a monk, even upon lawful occasions, should pass beyond his con vent- walls, he should alwa3^s be accom- panied by a companion, as a witness of his conduct and a check upon his passions.'' In reforming* the vices of the prelates and clerg-y of his immediate dependency, Gre- g'or}^ proceeded with equal vig'our. He deposed Deme- trius, bishop of Naples, for crimes which, under an}^ sounder and strong-er sj'stem of g'overnment, must have forfeited the life of the delinquent to the outrng'ed laws."* In like manner, and for like offences, he expelled Ag'atho, bishop of Lipari, and Paul, a Dalmatian prelate, from their sees. The voluminous correspondence of Greg'ory discloses other instances of punishments of the same na- ture inflicted and submitted to ', but in no department of ecclesiastical discipline did he display more inexorable rigour than in the article of clerical celibacy.
The combined ideas of poverty and chastity origin and — or rather abstinence from connubial enjoy- progress of ment^ — formed the basis of the monastic s^^s- of*cieHcd tern. That system was, as we have seen,^ of celibacy.
b Epp. S. Greg. Mag. lib. i. passim. '^ Ibid. lib. ii. ep. 3.
>= Ibid. lib. X. ep. 22: " Qui sine teste ^ Conf. Book I. c. iv. p. 86. See par-
ambulat, non recte vivit." ticularly note (").
192 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
very ancient date ; and during- the period of persecution found favour with all the more earnest Christians^ from its adaptation to the militant state of the Church in its primitive stag'es. The taint of Orientalism^ so observable throug'hout the early history of the Christian community, led g-radually to the notion of a meritorious self-sacrifice ; and that which was orig-inally no more than a matter of prudence or expediency, was mag"nified into a virtue — a means of g-race — a spiritual instrument of mig'hty power for the salvation of the possessor, and even of those to whom the same g'ift Avas denied/ It was honestly be- lieved by many devout sons of the Church that a state of virginity was indispensable to that perfect purity essen- tial to the mediatorial character of the priesthood. The priest, it was said, must always be eng-ag-ed in prayer for the lait}" ; his prayers were supposed to derive their efii- cacy from an absolute freedom from the remotest taint of carnality j marriag'e, whatever its intrinsic merits, must divert his thoughts from heaven, where alone they oug'ht to rest, to the earthly objects of his affections, and quench the spirit within upon which all operative intercession depended." The monastic communities universally em- braced this view of technical purity ; from them it g-ra- dually extended itself — at first only as a local custom — to the secular clerg-y ', adopted by some churches, modi- fied and occasionally rejected by others, but rarely en- countering- contradiction in principle. Still the practice never amounted to an absolute prohibition to many, even after the reception of holy orders ; so neither was the married state reg-arded as a disqualification for the min- istry. Yet, towards the close of the sixth century, it was g-enerally thoug-ht that all who took upon themselves the episcopal office, or entered into the orders of priest or deacon, oug-ht, if already married, to abstain from con- nubial intercourse, though without the deg-rading* forma- lity of repudiation. It became at leng-th customary for candidates for orders in this predicament to take a solemn
'' See the passages from Herraas' s Conf. Book II. c. i. p. 264 of this
Shepherd, as quoted in the passage of work, this work last above cited.
Chat. VI.] GREGORY'S SECULAR ADMINISTRATION, 193
eiig'ag'emeiit to live in a state of abstinence for the term of their natural lives; and in all cases the residence of the wife with the husband was permitted^ provided it took place with such precautions as mig-ht secure the conti- nence of the parties.
Pope Greg"ory I. insisted rig'orously upon the observ- ance of these customs; and extended them to the order of sub-deacon^ which they had not oreft'on the hitherto been held to affect.' But it seems J^f^^^j;''^ that he did not regard them as ordinances of ^^^^°^' universal obligation^ nor as binding- be^^ond the limits of his own immediate jurisdiction and the other dependen- cies of the holy see. And in recommending the Roman custom to other churches^ he abstained from the impe- rious language of his predecessors ; choosing rather the path of persuasion ; and generall}^ exhorting the foreign churches he addressed to enforce their own special disci- pline upon this head; and to insist on the rigid execution of existing rules and regulations against incontinence and dissoluteness of life among their clergy.'
The administration of Gregory embraced spirituals and temporals with equal vigour. He intro- His secular duced various reforms in the management of administra- the estates of the Church essential to the effi- ciency and economy of ecclesiastical government. The property or endowments of the Roman church consisted of numerous lands and territories scattered over the whole surface of Italy and Sicil}^, as well as over some parts of the Gallic province between the Alps and the Rhone; wdthout; however^ as j^et any approach to a claim of secular lordship or sovereignty. Though the extent of these endowments may have suffered some reduction in the coui'se of the revolutions of the last centur}^, 3'et the church was still possessed of large tracts of land^ which, under proper management, might still yield a consider- able revenue. The poverty to which she was reduced had ■ been the result of the peculation of the church-stewards, aM the diversion of the funds to the purposes of bribery.
>> Epp. S. Grey. Mag. lib. iii. epp. 34 ' Ibid. libb. iii. vii, ix. and xi. pas-
and 50. sim.
VOL. II. O
194 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
All these evils were effectually checked by the care and dilig-ence of Greg-ory. A system of manag'ement was introduced^ by which the income was improved and aug-- mented without having- recourse to any extraordinary or exhausting measures for rendering" it more productive.^
From this general view of the measures of Pope Gre- gory for the internal consolidation of the see^ "^"he^om-^ we pass on to those incidents of his pontificate bards under ^yhich relate to the external relations of the pa-
^^' " ^ ■ pacy at this point of time. The first and most important of these relations is that which subsisted be- tween Eome and the Lombard occupants of Italy. The Lombard king- Authari had been succeeded in the year 590 by Agilulph duke of Turin. At his accession the warfare between the Greeks of Ravenna and the conquer- ors of Italy had languished into an exhausting and unpro- fitable warfare of outposts and mutual inroads ; but the new king, freed by pestilence from the formidable inva- sions of the Franks on his northern frontier, was now at leisure to prosecute the war with vigour and effect. He expelled the Byzantines from Tuscany and Picenum, and extended his conquests to the gates of Rome. The city was almost destitute of the means of defence ; yet in this terrible emergency the spiritual influence of the pope sufficed to save the city from the calamities of a siege and capture.
Agilulph had married Theudelinda, the daughter of
Garibald, duke, or — as he is sometimes called —
ThLudeUnda king; of the Bavariaus. Theudelinda was the
in alliance widow ofthc latc king Authari ; and in his life- ^^ ^^ ' time had; by her beauty and talents, inspired the nation with the most profound admiration and respect. Her marriage with Agilulph greatly strengthened his position ; with this advantage the new king combined a noble and generous character capable of valuing the vir- tues of his consort; and disposing him to lean with affec- tion and deference to her suggestions^ religious or poli-
j See Fleury, H. E. torn. viii. pp. 33 to 36, for a detailed account of the eco- nomy of Gregory I.
Chap. VL] RELATIONS WITH TPIE LOMBARDS. 195
tical. The queen had all along' maintained an intimate cor- respondence with Pope Greg'or}^; a circumstance which established a sympathy ^^ith. Rome in the heart of her husband. Theudelinda was a strict Catholic^ and pro- fessed herself the spiritual pupil of the pontiff. Throug-h her^ his admonitions and councils could not fail to acquire g'reat weig'ht in the mind of the Lombard prince ; and it was ag-reed between Agilulph and his queen to reg'ard Home rather as the abode of their spiritual friend the pope than as a dependency of their treacherous enemy the Byzantine emperor. The Lombard armies were con- sequently withdrawn from the territor}^ of the city^ then commonly designated as the ^^ duchy of Rome;" and for many succeeding' years a friendly relation was established between the citizens and the neig'hbouriug' Lombards.''
When Pope Greg'ory came to this amicable under- standing* with the enemy of his own sovereig'n^ he entertained no thoug'lit of that political sepa- o^the'^aiiu'^ ration which seemed to result naturally from the ^^'^^'^ ^'^ new position he had chosen for himself and the defenceless people who trusted to his spontaneous chief- ship. His thoug'hts and aspirations were wholly directed to the interests of the religious s^^stem of which he was the official g'uardian^ and the temporal welfare of his deserted and helpless flock. It is hardly possible to con- ceive a more absolute identification of spiritual and poli- tical duties than that which the anomalous state of Italy at this point of time introduced into the external relations of Rome. The Byzantine influence was almost annihi- lated 5 with the power to protect, the right to g'overn passed away from the inept court of Constantinople ; a no- minal allegiance was all that could be claimed or 3'ielded, while the real powers of g'overnment fell by a natural ne- cessity into the hands of the chief Avho possessed the pub- lic confidence. Thus the enemy of the nominal sovereig'n became the friend of the pope. The Lombard khig- put an end to the persecutions which had from time to time afflicted the catholic communion within his territories. Their worship was not merely tolerated, but protected
** Paul. Diac. lib, vi. cc. ix. and x. p. 496.
19G CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
and encourag"ed. Theudelinda established the Irish mis- sionary priest Columbanus in a cell at Bobbio^ and en- dowed it with all the land for four miles around.' She caused her son Adalwald to be baptised according* to the catholic ritual j she built a spacious church at Monza^ not far from Milan^ and decorated it with all the mag-nifi- cence of the ag-e; the churches throug-hout Lombard}^ arose from their ashes 5 the catholic bishops^ who had hitherto lived in penury and obscurity^ were enriched with lands and endowments, and thus raised to honour and credit among* the people ; and now in every city and town of the king-dom a catholic prelate watched and controlled the influence of his Arian rival.""
Greg'ory thus became the parent of a relig'ious revo- Controversy lutiou which added a vast amount of spiritual of the influence to the chair of Peter, and served in a chapters" gTcat deg*ree to balance the loss sustained from in Italy, j^j^g continucd schism of the ^^ three chapters." The bishops of Rhsetia, Yenetia, and Istria, attached to the patriarchate of Aquileia, persisted in their opposition to the g*eneral council of Constantinople of the year 551, and in their consequent separation from Rome. Greg*ory himself was not prepared to encounter the theolog*ical arguments of his opponents. His own published opinion placed the decisions of a g*eneral council of the Church upon the level of inspiration." The erasure of the three treatises which the fathers of Chalcedon had solemnly adopted into their proceeding-s was a manifest attack on the canon of Christian faith. The seceders reasonably affirmed that any attempt to invalidate a part must, if suc- cessful, overthrow the whole, and re-open every question therein discussed and determined. This objection was not replied to by Greg*ory ; in lieu of arg*ument he endea- voured to substitute authority ; and to that end solicited the court of Constantinople — which still partially retained
' Ughelli, Ital. Sfee., ap. Mtirat. Ss. edifice of the faith; and every one who
Er. Ital. torn. i. p. 455. refuseth to build thereon, though he
■" Paul. DiacAih. vi. cc. v. vi. p. 455; appear to belong to the whole, is not-
Epp. S. Greg. M. lib. xiv. epp. 12 & 14. withstanding afar off on the outside of
° " Upon these (the general councils), the enclosure." S. Greg. M. Epp. lib. i.
as upon a polished rock, rests the whole ep. 24.
Chap. VI.] EOME AND THE ILLYEIANS. 197
the sovereign authority in the refractory region — to direct the convocation of a g-eneral council of the Latin churchy to be held at Rome ; and to issue his mandate to the dis- sidents to give their attendance^ and abide by the de- cision to be there pronounced upon the question at issue. But the latter loudly protested ag-ainst a tribunal to be composed of so larg-e a majority of opponents as that which now stood at the disposal of the pope ; and they rested their cause upon the '^ constitutum" of Pope Vig-ilius, as declaratory at once of their rigid orthodoxy and of their aversion to every inroad upon the inviolable sanctity of a g-eneral council of the Church."
The proposal of Pope Greg-ory fell to the g-round. Neither Avas he more successful in his endea- -,.,.,. u
, . , . „ , . Establisn-
vours to mamtani the ancient clanns oi his see mentofthe upon the Illyrian provinces. The fatal contro- "gee of jur-"^ versy of the '•' three chapters" had impaired the tiniania influence of Rome there as elsewhere. Ag'ain, Pnma. the vicariate of Thessalonica^ even if available at this junc- ture^ had been practically annulled by the division of the great diocese of Illyricum Orientale introduced by the emperor Justinian, In the earlier j^ears of his reig*n, he had withdrawn the provinces of Epirus, Dardania^ Preeva- litana, and Moesia, from the jurisdiction of Thessalonica^ and annexed them to that of Justiniania Prima, a new patriarchal see founded by the emperor in honour of the place of his birth.^ In the 3'ear 541 he confirmed the prior ordinance, and decreed that the new archl)ishop should stand in the same relation to his subordinate prelacy as that actually subsisting* between the pope of Rome and the bishops of the provinces subject to his patriarchal super- intendence.'' The establishment of the new archbishopric
" Baron. Ann. 590, § 38 : conf. c. v. stolicra Eomte." It seems to me that the
pp. 156, 157 of this Book. See also ibid. words i-hv t6ttov eire'xeif cannot with-
p. 163. out violence be extended to any pi'ior
P See Corp. Jur. Civil, novell. xi. p. relation existing between these pro-
28, and novell. cxxxi. p. 184, fol. cd. vinces and the see of Eome. The ex-
1 This seems to me the fair construe- pressions here strongly recall to our re-
tion of the words, rhv t6-kov i-n-exetv au- collection the words used by the Niceno
rhv rov cLiroaroXiKov 'VdiyL-qs dp6vov. The Fathers in defining the jurisdictions of
Latin translators render the words thus : Antioch and Alexandria — eVeiS^ koI ry
"in subjectis sibi pi'ovinciis locum ob- iv 'Pwfiri iiriaKinai tovto trvuidds icTTiv.
tinere cum (archiepiscopum) sedis apo- Home is here the constitutional model
198 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
^ . was not propitious to the claims of Rome. In thriiufe'of the year 692, Hadrian^ bishop of Thebes in ^Th'^b" ''^ Thessaty^ was deposed by a provincial synod. He appealed to the primate of Justiniania^ who affirmed the decree of the inferior court. Hadrian car- ried his complaint before Pope Gregory ; and the latter took upon himself to annul the proceedings^ and enjoined the primate to restore the appellant to his see upon pain of excommunication, exempting- him thenceforward from the jurisdiction of his metropolitan.""
The result of this experiment upon the attachment of Cause of ^^^^ prelacy of Illyria is unknown. The issue Honoratus of the transaction next to be adverted to is of saiona. equivocal. In the same year Natalis of Salona, the metropolitan of Dalmatia, a province of the diocese of Justiniania Primaj deposed his archdeacon Honoratus. The latter appealed to Pope Gregor}^, who directed him to be reinstated. But Natalis dying soon afterwards, Honoratus himself was elected by the clerg}^ and people of Salona to the vacant see. But the new bishop was obnoxious to the prelates of the province, and they took upon themselves to nominate one Maximus to succeed Natalis ; and this person soon afterwards obtained his let- ters of license and confirmation from the court of Con- stantinople. The people and clergy of Salona resisted the
or pi-ecedent on which the emperoi', like that the term rSiros is that ordinarily
the Nieene Fathers, desired to define the used to signify a representative agency ;
jurisdiction of the new archbishop. The and that the attribution of the roirov to
Illyrians might, and probably did, pre- Justiniania was a natural consequence
fer the Latin forms of church-govern- of the division of the province, and an
ment to those of the Greeks; and to this arrangement necessai'y to preserve the
we attribute the selection of Rome in- ancient jurisdiction of Rome within the
stead of Constantinople or Antioch as diocese. The term may, indeed, some-
the model of the new church-consti- times have been soused; but in the case
tution. It should be remembered too of Cyril, who was the self- professed
tliat Justiniania was. not substituted for agent of Rome at Ephesus (Book II.
Thessalonica.where — if any where — the e. iii. p. 331 of this work). Pope Cceles-
papal vicariate still resided; so that if the tine describes him as TOTrorripciv tj/jau —
word t6itos meant this vicariate, there "watching, or taking care, in our place"
would be now two vicai's instead of one. — words of a much more definite signi-
It may be further remarked, that the fication. Besides the word tJitos, when
imperial government never recognised used to denote place or representation,
the papal vicariate of Illyricum Orien- is generally put in the dative followed
tale; but rather encouraged the prelates hy ii gemtive, tSttcji tivSs. The second
of that diocese to resort to Constanti- branch of the argument cannot be sus-
nople in the " majores causaj" of their tained for the reasons already assigned, churches. On the other side, it is urged ■■ S. Grey. M. Epp. lib. ii. epp. 6 and 7.
CuAP. VI.] CASE OF HONORATUS OF SALONA. 199
installation of Maximns, and tlie new bishop was inducted by the civil power with the aid of a military force. Pope Greg'ory at once declared the election void^ and by au- thority of the chair of Peter set aside all the proceeding's. He treated the imperial letters either as a naked for- gery^ or as obtained by misrepresentation and fraud; and peremptorily commanded Maximus to abstain from all episcopal functions until the emperor should be more perfectly informed^ and the decision of the hol}^ see upon the subject be definitively published. Maximus paid no attention to the papal mandate^ and Greg-ory summoned him to Rome to answer for his contumacy : but the emperor Maurice — irritated perhaps by the peremptory bearing' of the pope, perhaps with intent to support the jurisdiction of the primate and the authority of his own letters of license — commanded Greg-ory to give no further disturbance to the new archbishop of Salona. The re- monstrances of the pope at Constantinople were unheeded ; and Gregory, dreading" a direct collision with the imperial prerogative, dextrously shifted his ground, and summoned Maximus to Rome to answer to an impeachment of purely ecclesiastical offences, among the rest those of simony and sacrilege, preferred against him by his rival Honoratus ; a proceeding by which the pope hoped to deprive him of the imperial protection. Maximus and his party put in the strictly canonical plea that the summons was irregu- lar, because no bishop could be arraigned of any eccle- siastical offence out of the metropolitan diocese to which he was alone amenable." Pope Gregory again applied to the emperor Maurice to support his authority ; and the latter at lenoth sent instructions to the exarch Cal- linicus of Ravenna to interpose b}^ choosing proper ar- bitrators for the settlement of this vexatious dispute. Maximianus, patriarch of Ravenna, was approved by both parties as a qualified referee ; and, in obedience to
* Conf. Book I. c. viii. p. 191, c. ix. politan bishops charged with ecclesias-
p. 207; and Book II. c. i. p. 256. Some tical offences. But the analogy of the
doubts might perhaps be raised upon older canon-law is decidedly in favour of
the canons of Nica^a, Sardica (if over archbishop Maximus, if we set aside the
known to the Orientals), and Constanti- claim of the cathedra Petri, which could
nople (I.), whether any canonical remedy hardly be said to rest upon any canoni-
bad been provided in the case of metro- cal title.
200 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
his award^ the archbishop of Salona professed contrition for his contempt of the papal summons, and was per- mitted to purg-e himself by his own oath from the criminal charg-es preferred ag'ainst him. After this he accepted absolution, and was acknowledg-ed by the pope as the legitimate metropolitan of the Dalmatian province.'
This termination of the dispute satisfied neither the
E uivocai f^^"^^^^^s of the cnnon-law nor the claims of St.
termination Pctcr's chair. For, as far as the rule of law d"isVutl ^^'^® involved, the irreg-ularity of the trial of Maximus admits of no question. He was com- pelled to answer before a foreig-n tribunal, constituted by secular authority, and without any diocesan decision, from which there could have been a canonical appeal either to Rome or to any other ecclesiastical authority. Next, — supposing- Rome to have taken her stand upon the equi- vocal canons of Sardica," she could lay claim to no rig-ht to interpose until complaint made of a denial of justice by the canonical tribunal established by the fifth of the Nicene canons. No such complaint was made, because there had been no decision to appeal from. Honoratus had appealed to Rome in the first instance; and Rome had arbitrarily reversed the act of the Dalmatian prelacy without any cause in hand. In the next place, the judg-- ment was g-iven at Rome, in defiance of the forms pre- scribed by the Sardican fathers. The pope had issued no summons to the neig'hbouring- bishops of the eparchia j he had nominated no triers ; he had sent no ^^leg-ates a latere" to preside ; nor had he deleg-ated the powers vested in him to other prelates of his own choice. There is, in truth, no article of ecclesiastical law which had not been violated or ig-nored in this extraordinary proceeding-. Moreover the pontifi*had failed in his attempt to drag- the archbishop of Salona before his own tribunal. The rig-ht of direct interference with the privileg-es of the provincial churches was practically repudiated; and the original jurisdiction over the matter in hand claimed by the chair
' S. Gre^f. ilf.Epp.lib. iii.epp.l5&20. epistles. The subject recurs frequently in the » Conf. Bookl. c. ix. pp. 204et sqq.;
second and seventh books of Gregory's Book III. c. i. pp. 43-45, ibid, c, ii. p. 60.
Chap. VI.] GRr.GORY AND JOHN THE FASTER. 201
of Peter was neutralised by the interposition of an ano- malous judicature equally unknown to the canon-law and subversive of the privileg'e set up by Rome herself. The pope appears in the transaction as a part}' rather than as a judg-e ; and though the decision \\'as in his favour^ yet no sale inference as to the actual relation of the parties can be deduced from a proceeding- in which every rule of laAV^ custom, or privileg'e that mig'ht have been alleg'ed on either part had been wilfully set aside or overlooked.
Thoug-li the Homan pontiffs had not paraded the titles of ^* oecumenical bishop" and ^^ chief of all john the the churches" at the head of their public acts, I'aster^pa- yet their pretensions to that supremacy had ad- constanti- vanced to the broadest assertion of ecclesiastical °°p^®- sovereignty' ."^ Constantinople, on the other hand, had con- fidently assumed the titular rank assig'ued to her by S}' no- dal and imperial authority. Whatever extent of meaning may have been attached to it, Pope Pelagius had, as we have seen, taken great offence at the lofty designation. John the Faster had not yielded to the threats of the pope ; he was aware that the real question touched the dignity and independence of his church, and that he would be supported by the court of the emperor Maurice, who preferred the communion of his own domestic pastor to the remoter connection with the head of a distant, and at this moment precarious, dependency.
Pope Gregory, however, at this early period of his pontificate shrunk from a quarrel with Constan- tinople ; he therefore thought fit to give the go- ^utieli by to the censures fulminated by his predecessor " ui^jversai against the patriarch, and addressed to him the usual synodal letters announcing his accession to the pon- tificate. In the reply to this act of ecclesiastical courtesy John again subscribed himself " universal bishop." Pope Gregory promptly rebuked the pretension, and reminded the patriarch that his predecessor had for that single cause
^ Conf. Book II. c. iv. pp. 349 et sqq. ; pp. 51, 5.5, 56, 58, more particularly pp. Book III. c. i. pp. 34, 35, 37: see also 61, 62, 63; and that of Ilonuisda, c. iii. the language of Pope Gelasius I., ch. ii. pp. Ill, 112, 117.
202 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Bcck III.
annulled the decree of a g'eneral synod. " Lay aside," he said, " the haug-hty and damnable distinction. What reply will you make to Christ, the only Head of strance of the uiiiverscil CkuTch, at the last day, for thus Pope Gre- usurpiug" his ofRcc, — you, who, by this title of universality, have presumed to subject all His members to yourself? Besides, it is known to all that the apostle Peter is the chief of the universal Church. Paul, Andrew, John, — what were these other than heads of jmrticular churches ? Yea all are members under the one head, which is Christ ; 3^et not one of these ever coveted the title of '• universal bishop.' Now it is well known to your holiness that the most reverend council of Chalcedon ex- pressly yielded''' to the apostolic see, in which I nov/ sit, the distinctive title of universal bishop j yet none of my ])redecessors ever assumed that name of sing^darity, lest b}^ imputing- to any one bishop an attribute of a sing"ular and exclusive significance, the whole episcopate should
thereb}^ be shorn of its due honour Let us therefore
beware lest our names be written among* those who covet the first places in the synag'og'ues ; who are anxious for salutations in the market-place ; who desire to be called of men ^ Eabbi :' for against these our. Lord saith to his disciples, ^ Be not ye called " Rabbi," for one is your Master, and ye all are brethren ; and be not ye called " Fatlier" on earth, for one is your Father.' What, then, beloved brother, will you reply in that terrible day of the coming" Judg-e, — 3'ou who desire to be called not merely ' Father,' but ^ universal Father V " In the same strain Pope Greg-ory remonstrated with the emperor Maurice upon his connivance at the misconduct of the patriarch. He persisted in affirming- that the title of ^^ oecum.enical bishop" im])lied a claim to a sole episcopate; that it amounted, in short, to a swallowing up, or absorption^ of all episcopal rank or office into one."
At the death of John the Faster, in the year 59o, his
"^' S. Greg. M. Epp. lib. iv. cp. 38. It is would be perhaps hardly correct to af- not perhaps too much to say, with Pope firm that they adopted the act of Pas- Gregory, that the fathers of Chalcedon chasinus and his fellow-legates. See yielded the title to the Roman pontiff. Book II. c. v. p. 397. His legates assumed it for their master ^ Ibid. Epp. lib. iv. epp. 32, 34, 36, with the consent of the fathers; but it 38.
CuAP. VI.l TITLE OF ECUMENICAL BISHOP. 203
archpriest, Cyriacus, succeeded to the see of Constantinople. Tlie new patriarch sent his appcSof synodal letters announcing* his election to Pope ^'^p*^ ^re- Greg'ory^ with the official signature of ^^ oecu- ^°'^^' menical patriarch."^ The pontiff did not take immediate notice of the offensive desig-nation ; but still observed towards him the usual forms of ecclesiastical courtesy.'' Yet when he heard that the people of Constantinople had hailed the inaug-uration of Cyriacus with extravag'ant demonstrations of joy, he did not omit to express his dis- approbation ; predicting- that, after all^ he would not turn out the blessing- to the Church which the acclamations of the people seemed to predict.'' Greg'ory, however^ for the present restricted his resentment to a solemn moni- tion^ addressed to Cyriacus, warning- him that there could be no solid peace in the Church until he should have re- nounced the ^^ superstitious" title. At the same time he struck up a correspondence with the patriarchs Anasta- sius of Antioch and Eulog-ius of Alexandria, with a \iew to obtain their participation in the censure he had passed upon the act of Cyriacus. " It behoved them," he said, " to keep a watchful eye upon the church of Constanti- nople." " That church/' he remarked, " had been ever fruitful of heresies; and now a gTeater dang-er threatened them from the same quarter ; for if a single bishop be per- mitted to assiune the attribute of universality, and should afterwards fall into error, the Avhole Church must foil with him."^
y S, Greg, Mag. lib. vi. epp. 4 & 24. -with that of Optatns of Milevis, as ap-
^ Ibid. lib. vi. epp. 6 and 30. plied by him to the see of Eome: Book II.
^ Ibid. lib. vi. ep. 7. The populace c. ii. p. 29.5 of this work. That sec by- hailed the new patriarch with the Mords itself alone represented the visible miitt/ of Scripture : "This is the day which of the apostolic powe?; that is the Church; the Lord hath made ; let us rejoice and and it was to provide against the chance be glad in it." Gregory remarked that of that see falling into error, and there- this was a profane adaptation to a mor- by drawing after it the downfall of the tal of prophetic words applicable to the whole edifice, that Ennodius introduced coming of the Saviour. the extravagant presumption that the
i" Jbid. Epp. lib. vi. ep. 24. The idea bishop of Rome was impeccable, inas- here expressed seems to he, first, that much as it was not to bo supposed that the Church subsists in the episcopaci/ ; God would permit his Church to fall, and secondly, that a universal bishop Conf. c. ii. p. 76 of this Book. If the woidd absorb the episcopaci/— ha would yJri^propositionbetruo, it wouldbediffi- embody in himself the whole Church, cult to disprove the second, or to deny so that if he fall, the Church must fall theprcsumed necessity of an impeccable witii him. This opinion corresponds head.
204 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book III.
The emperor Maurice^ however^ disapproved of this His re 1 to attempt ofthe pope to introduce discord into the the emperor Church ', and exprcssed his profound reg-ret that Maurice, g^ trivial a thing- as a name or title of honour should be allowed to disturb the subsisting- harmony. Greg'ory replied by denying* the triviality ', he contended that he who assumes so proud a name is ^forerunner of Antichrist, for he thereb}^ exalteth himself hig"h above all; such a name is not a trivial thing*^ for it is a scan- dal in the Church, and for that cause alone oug'ht to be sacrificed to the peace and contentment of the Avhole body.''
Eulog'ius of Alexandria entered cordially into the views of Greg'ory, and replied in a strain of Gregory on complimeut to the chair of Peter hig-hly ac- the three ceptablc to tlic pope. The answer of Greo-orv ' is remarkable : '^ I have read/' he said, ^' with delig'ht the thing's you have written me touching- the chair of Peter, the prince of the apostles ; wherein also you remind me that I at this time am seated in that chair as one of his successors. And althoug-h I am unw^orthy of a place among* the number, yet do I willingly take to myself what 3^ou have said of me ; be.cause it was said only in reference to me as sitting* upon this holy chair. .... For it is universally acknowledg*ed that the holy Church is established upon the solid foundation of the prince of the apostles, who, by the name g*iven unto him, ^ Peter,' Avhich is derived from ^petra,' a rock, showed forth the firmness of his faith ; whom also the voice of truth proclaimed to be the rock ; thereby that it was said unto him, ^I will g*ive unto thee the keys of the king*dom of heaven.' Ag-ain : ^ When thou art con- verted, streng'then the brethren.' And ag*ain : ' Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me ? Feed my sheep.' There- fore, thoug'h there be many apostles, 3^et, because of that sole ])rincipality which was given to him, the see of the prince of the apostles is exalted above all ; a see which, though set up in three different cities, is derived from him alone. For he did most highly of all exalt that see
c S. Grc(j. 3Iag. lib. vi. c]). 30, ad Manrit. Imp,
Chap. VI.] GREGORY ON THE PETRINE PRIMACY. 205
in which he took up his final abode^ and honoured by finishing* there his mortal career. But he also founded and honoured that see in which he seated his disciple, Mark the Evang-elist. And lastty, he erected that see in which he himself sat for the space of seven years, thouo-h he afterwards relinquished it. Since, therefore, these three are derived from one, and are one ; and see- ing* that now, by Divine authority, three several bishops do preside over them, — I do therefore take unto myself all the g-ood I hear of 30U5 and I beseech j^ou, that whatever g*ood 3^ou hear of me, to count it among- your own merits ; for we are one in him, who prayed for his disciples that, as he and the Father were one, they also mig'ht be one in him."'*
We do not find that at any former period of ecclesias- tical history the bishops of Rome had admitted sentiments so close a parallel between the three P-reat sees,^f^opeGre-
1111 •11* gory on the
or that they had ever conceived them m so near Petrine pri- an approach to equality.^ The oneness of the "^'^^y- three sees almost appears to have been sug-g-ested to the mind of Pope Gregory by the terms of the Nicene doc- trine of the Trinity; it is an identity of being", with a distinction of persons only. This conception is not in- consistent with a priority of place, but altog-ether irre- concilable with a priority of power or authorit}^ As a compliment to Alexandria and Antiocli, it was dang-erous ; if intentional, it was fatal to the Roman supremac}^ But in the works of this remarkable man there are more proofs than this of a conflict in his mind between his internal convictions and his outward position. The former often break out in words, where the latter would prescribe a discreet silence. In his hands the theory of St. Peter's chair is far less peremptory, less sharply de- fined, than in those of his predecessors. He satisfies himself with reminding- his brother bishops of the oneness of the Church-catholic in and through the prince of the
•^ 5. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. vi. ep. 37. the Roman chair of Peter. Seetheopi-
^ To the best of my belief, this is the nions of Optatus, Augustine, Jerome,
first mention of the parallel occurring Ca?lestineI.,andLcotheGreat: Book I.
in any papal document. All other opi- c. x. p. 231 ; Book II. c. i. p. 2SG, c. ii.
nions contemplate the sole primacy of pp. 294 et sqq., and c. iv. pp. 348etsqq.
206 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
apostles. And in this view, his conception of the rela- tion borders rather upon a symbolical than an actual oneness. Peter appears as the symbol rather than the personal representative of the outward unit}^'^ The pope^ indeed^ accepts the eulogies of the patriarch of Alex- andria^ but sinks the digiiity of St. Peter's chair in the oneness of the three principal sees ; he -strives to hold fast his supremac}^; and the prerog'atives implied therein^ if possible^ without offending- ag'ainst Gospel humility by the assumption of the names and titles properly denoting* them. Thougii claiming-^ as pope^ to be reg'arded as the "Father of fathers/' he repudiated — probably with sin- cerity— all that migiit redound to the g-ratification of personal vanity 5 herein^ as he believed^ satisf3dng" the Saviour's precept^ " Be not ye called Rabbi." Althoug'h^ therefore, his exultation in the dig-nit}^ of his office is very apparent^ his professions of personal self-abasement and humility are frequent^ and sometimes overcharg-ed ; he is humbled to the dust by his sense of the tremendous duties cast upon him ; he is appalled^ even to death^ by the dang'ers to which his elevation may expose his spi- ritual interests. On the other hand; he is wrapt in the contemplation of the sublime trust confided to him ; and consoles himself with the reflection that he sought it not, that he fled from it, that it was the will of God and not his own will that had thus lifted him up on hig-h above his fellows."
There is every reason to believe that this diffidence His personal was a g'enuine feeling-. It is, in fact^ accounted humility, for by his prior monastic habits, and by the tra- ditional views of Christian life from which the conventual system took its origin.'' This genuineness^ we think, shows itself in the absence of that unchristian harshness of pretension which marks the lang-uag-e and demeanour of some of his most disting-uished predecessors. In this humble disposition, Greg'or}^ is ready to share his honours with the sister sees ; and in the same spirit, he desires to
f Conf. Book I. c. iv. p. 89. '' Conf. Book I. c, iv, p. 96 of this
e S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. i. epp. 1, 4, work. 5, 7, 29, 30, &c.
Chap. VI.] GREGORY THE " SERVU3 SERVORUM," &c. 207
expel hig'li-soundiiig' titles and personal distinctions from the Churchy and for his own person to be known only as the " servant of the servants of God."'
In the like temper of mind he reproves his friend Eu- log-ius of Alexandria for receiving- his admoni- jj^ assumes tions as ^' commands." " I protest/' he writes, the designa- " ag-ainst every phrase impl^'ing- command as 'Svus^er- between you and me; for I knoAV who I am, vo^'^inii^ei." and who 3^011 are : in station 3^011 are my brother ; in spi- ritual attaiimients you are my father : I have therefore commanded nothing-, I have but pointed out to you what I think expedient. But 3'ou, my brother, have not com- prehended my meaning-; and this I perceive from the form of 3"0ur address : for in the ver}^ exordium of j^our letter I find the forbidden words of j) ride ap- plied to me ; you style me ^ universal jjope.' I ^\heTitit of^^ beseech your holiness to do this no more; for "universal 3^ou must perceive that what is assigned to ''°^'^' me be3^ond the measure of rig'ht, is withdrawn from the, brethren. I do not desire to deprive them of their hon- ours : I do not desire to make them poor ; for m3^ honour
consists in upholding- their honour If 3'ou call
me ^ universal pope/ 3"0u deny 3^ourself to be that which you say I am. Awa3^, then, with all empt3^ titles. Awa3'' with words and names that puff up unto vanit3^, which wound charity. And althoug-h 3^ou know that at the holy synod of Chalcedon, and 133^ the fathers their successors, this title was assig'ned to ni)^ predecessors, 3^et not one of them ever thoug'ht it rig-ht to assume it ; in order that b3^ thus showing- their jealousy for the honour of all bishops, the3^ might not forfeit their own before Almig-hty God."J
But the precautions taken on a subsequent precautions occasion betra3^ an apprehension that cannot of Gregory be wholly accounted for b3" his jealous desire to ^{^Bbluous^ protect the character and honour of his episcopal ^^^f.'p °^ „ brethren. Cyriacus of Constantinople had sum- consteL" moned a g'eneral synod of the Oriental churches tinopie.
' " Servus servorum Dei." S. Greg. J S. Grey. Mag. Epp. lib. vii. ep. 30.
Mag. Epp. lib. i. ep. 34, ad Petrum.
208 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
to meet at the capital ; and the pope was informed^ or suspected^ that he mtended to use this meeting- as a mode or opportunity of procuring- a conciliar sanction — similar probahly to that obtained fy Pope Leo at Chalcedon — to the use of the title of ^^ oecumenical patriarch." Greg-ory lost no time in apprising" the prelates of Illyricum Orien- talc; more especially the primates of Thessalonica^ Justi- niania Prima, and Crete, of the presumed desig-n of Cy- riacus. He reminded them, that some time ag-o Bishop John (the Faster) of Constantinople had assembled a coun- cil of his church by the style and title of " oecumenical bishop j" and that his predecessor Pelag'ius II. had for that cause, of his own autliority, annulled all the acts of that synod ; yet Cyriacus had retained and used the forbidden title. He therefore warned them on no account to consent to, or to write — or, if written to, to approve or allow, or to countersig-n— any document in which the for- bidden title should be used. '' It had come to his know- ledg'e," he said, " that a synod was convoked at Constan- tinople, and that they were summoned to attend it; and he had reason to believe that perverse men might be tempted to avail themselves of that meeting- clandestinely to obtain undue sanction to the usurpation of Cyriacus." " And although," he continues, " you cannot be ignorant that without the authority and consent of the holy apos- tolic see of Rome the acts of such assembly can have no force or validity, yet I do hereby admonish and adjure you beforehand, that no one of you be induced by any persuasions or blandishments, b}^ any hope of reward or fear of punishment, to consent to a proceeding of this na- ture; but that, on the contrary, you raise ^^our voices with one accord against any such depraved design; and that, tahing your stand upon the apostolical authority, you drive away the thievish wolf about to break into your fold : betray not your churches into the hand of the de- stroyer: permit no synod to be holden concerning this matter : thwart every device to bring it together. For such a synod is no lawful synod ; it is no synod at all. If, however, the meeting should turn upon other matters, be upon your guard ; be vigilant ; be circumspect ; lest any
Cjiap. VI.] GREGORY ON THE TETRINE PRIMACY. S09
derog'otion to person or rank be allowed to creep into the Church throuo-h your neo'liu'ence/"'
It is ap})arent that the renunciation on his own be- half of the title of " universal bishop" did not Latent equi- extend to the abandonment of a sino-le article T?^^^!""* ^^ of prerog'ative claimable under that title. Gre- thJ^retrine o-ory peremptorily debars -the bishops he ad- p^macy. dresses from the free exercise of their private judg-ment^ and interdicts all deliberation upon the merits of the claim of Constantinople. He dog-matically affirms, as a matter of legal notorletfj, that all synodal assemblies unsanctioned b}" llome are null and void ; and strong-l}^ implies a rig-ht to stifle all opposition to the papal commands. He inti- mates that, as a matter of strict rig'ht, the Roman pontiff 7vas entitled to use the desig'nation in question ; and that the nonuse was a matter of expediency : it might be per- sonally discreditable to the pontiff; it mig-ht eng-ender strife and jealousy; it mig-ht be reg'arded as derog-atory to the rig-hts and honours of other bishops. Yet upon no one of the many occasions upon which he claims the au- thority of Chalcedon on behalf of the Petrine universality, does he ever notice that alleged grant as an error or a mistake — as unduly or uncanonically conferred. He suf- fers it to stand upon the statute-book of the Church as a matter of established prerogative ; approving the thing, reprobating the name only.
We do not pretend to reconcile the moral equivoca- tions and inconsistencies observable in the opinions and conduct of this distinguished pontiff. Whether they jus- tify a charge of disingenuousness; or involve the deeper guilt of hypocrisy; or only raise a suspicion of paltering with an internal unacknowledged sense of the essential vanity of the pretensions implied in the title of " oecume- nical bishop," and of a desire to satisfy his own misgiving's by a colourable repudiation of an empty name, while reserving' to himself the exorbitant powers which his secret conscience reproved ; — these and similar questions must be left to the judgment of the individual inquirer, upon a careful and candid perusal of his works.
^ S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. vii. pt. ii. ep. 70. VOL. II. P
210 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
Greg'ory completed the schism by the recall of his apo- crisarius, or resident leo-ate, at the church and
He renounces , c r\ • j- i i i • j^i
the commu- court 01 Constantniopie^ and by renouncing* the nionof communion of the patriarch Cyriacus. The yriacus, ^^j^-^^, of the Greek court, and the ever-rankling- jealousy of the church, left no room for compromise. As heretofore, a victory could be expected from political re- volution only. And thus, perhaps, among- other causes to be hereafter adverted to, it happened, that the bloody trag'edy which befel the reig'ning* sovereig-n and his unfor- tunate family soon afterwards fell upon the ear of Pope Greg'ory like tiding's of great jo}^
CHAPTER VII.
GREGOEY THE GREAT.
Gregory and the Latin churches — Projects the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons — Mission of Augustine — His success — Method of conversion — Regulation of Gregoiy for the Anglo-Saxon churches — British and Irish churches — Confer- ence of Augustine with the British bishops — Its results — Instructions of Pope Gregory to Augustine — His toleration of pagan rites — Patronage of images, &c. — Ecclesiastical vestures — The Dalmatic and Pallium — Ecclesiastical govern- ment of Pope Gregory — Corruptions of the Frank ish churches — Image and Relic worship in France — Serenus of Marseilles against Image-worship— Pope Gregory on Image-worship — Prevalence of Image-worship — The conventual system of Pope Gregory — Exemptions from episcopal jurisdiction — Tendency of these exemptions — Influence of Pope Gregory on France — Intel-course with the Spanish churches — Cause of Januarius and Stephen, &c. — Canon-law in the cause — Defects of papal proceeding — Prerogative versus civil and canon law — Pope Gregory and the African churches — Moderation of Pope Gregory — Edict of the Emperor Maurice — Remonstrance of Pope Gregorj' — Ordinance respecting the admission of Soldiers into Monasteries — Murder of Maurice — Phocas emperor — Pope Gregoiy congratulates the usurper — His peculiar views and his death — Character of St. Gregory the Great — His relation with the court of Constantinople — Judgment upon his conduct in the affair of Phocas — Sa- binian pope — Decree of Phocas — Its authenticity, &c. — Construction of the decree — Results — Popes from a.d. COS to a.d. 625 — Honorius I. pope.
Before we pass on to the further details of Pope Gre- gory's deahng-s with the Oriental churches, it is necessary to advert shortly to his intercourse dea'imgs'^wRh with the churches of the Latin communion : and *'^^ I'^^^^l
■. •11 I • • • churches, &c.
somewhat more particularly to his enterprising* and successful attempt to extend the benefits of Roman Christianity to the heathen occupants of the British islands. In the 3^ear 507, the attention of the pontiff was called to the relig-ious destitution of the Ang-lo-Saxon His scheme conquerors of Britain : and he conceived the ^^^' *¥ '^""'
• version ot
design of effecting- their conversion, and thus the Angio- reducing- a powerful and vigorous race of bar- ^^xons. barians under the spiritual dominion of the holy see. The opportunity which presented itself at this point of time was not to be overlooked. In the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent, the knig, Ethelbert, had married Bertha, (hmgh- ter of the Prankish king Charibert of Neustria^ but under
2]^2 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III
express stipulation for the free exercise of her rehg-ion.'' She was accompanied, as her chaplain, by a bishop named Luithard ; and from him encourag-ing- reports were trans- mitted to Pope Greg'ory of the disposition of the king- and people of Kent to accept the faith of Christ.'' This intelli- g-ence revived in his mind a desire which, as we are told by the Venerable Bede,' the aspect of certain Ang-lo-Saxon youths exposed for sale in the slave-market at Home had sutro-ested some years before his elevation to the papacy. An^opportunity so favourable as that w^hich now pre- sented itself; appeared to Gregory in the lig-ht of a pro- vidential interposition on behalf of the benig'hted heathen of Britain. With this impression, he despatched a com-
Misdou of pi^ny of forty missionary monks, under the com- Augustine. mand of Aug-ustine, the prior of his own monas- tery of St. Andrew, to preach the Gospel according- to E.ome to the benig-hted Ang-lo-Saxons. The zeal of the pope sustained the fainting- spirits of the missionaries, whom io-norance of the lang-uage of the barbarians, and alarmino- reports of their savag-e character and habits, had at the outset seriously discourag-ed. They landed on the Isle of Thanet, and announced their arrival to Ethelbert, ^\ ith g'ood tiding-s of gTeat joy from Eome to himself and his people. Aug'ustine and his retinue were allowed to proceed to Durovernum, or Canterbury, the residence of the king- ; where also his Christian queen, Bertha, was permitted to hold Christian worship in the ruins of an ancient British church dedicated to St. Mar- tin. A public audience was granted to him, and permis- sion was g-iven to preach the Gospel to the prince, his court, and people, freely and at all seasons.
His success. ]^^|^gn|3gi,|. ^^.^^g fayourably impressed ; and the
approval of the monarch opened the ears and the hearts of his subjects to the new teachers. Their national pre- judices yielded to the royal inchnations, the example of their queen, and the earnestness of the missionaries. They had no properly relig'ious impressions to oppose to the splendid promises of the Gospel; they saw little
a Greg. Turon. lib. ix. c. xxvi., ap. •> S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. v. ep. 58.
D. Bouquet, torn. ii. p. 348. <= Hist. Angl. Eccl. lib. ii. c. i.
Chap. VII.] CONVERSION OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 213
reason to believe that their Odin or Thor were more jiowerfiil protectors than the God to whom their thriving* neig-hbours and kinsfolk^ the Franks, had consecrated their poKtical state. Ethelbert himself took care that the pro- ceeding-s of the missionaries should be open to public ob- servation, in order that no forbidden rites, no compulsory or clandestine methods, should be resorted to to g'ain con- verts. Auo'ustine accommodated himself to these rea'u- lations ; he preached freely and publicly to the people throug-h interpreters supplied to him from Eome. Con- verts multiplied; and we are told that, on the Christmas Day of the year 597, no fewer than ten thousand heathen were g'athered in a mass into the fold of the Christian Church by baptism. Ethelbert himself prudently forbore to announce his own conversion until he had not onl)- satis- fied himself of the g-enuine character of the missionaries, but had also formed a true estimate of the dispositions of his own subjects towards the new religion. After this he himself accepted baptism ; and Christianity, in the Ro- man form, became the established relig-ion of the Kentish king-dom as long* as he lived to profess and protect it.'^
The scheme of doctrine and discipline introduced by Aug'ustine was essentiall}^ monastic; that is, it was narrow, exclusive, and intolerant. The conversion, missionary monk was little influenced by that ^^"c^their spirit of patient forbearance which his master had imbibed from the wellspring* of Christian wisdom. But his manag-ement was vig'orous, and his method was well adapted to the coarse apprehensions of his barbarian hearers. Success like that which attended his labours mig'ht well disturb the equilibrium of a mind formed in the seclusion of the cloister, and stimulated b}^ the con- templation of those miraculous interpositions by which it had pleased God to manifest himself to the heathen at the first preaching- of the Gospel. Under the like cir- cumstances, it was not unnatural that he should look for the like assistance. The heat of his zeal, and the incapa- city of his mind to embrace all the aspects of his new position, disposed him to behold a miracle in each instance
^ Ep. S. Greg. Mag. ad Eulogium, — Bedcc, II. E. Angl, libb. i. and ii.
214 CATHEDRA PETKI. [Book in.
of uncomprehended success, or some special incidents at- tending* it. Plis own credulity stood probably much upon a level with the superstition of his converts ; each aiding- the delusion in the mind of the other, until neither was inclined to doubt the reality of that which both expected with equal faith and earnestness. The work of conver- sion and miracle went on hand in hand ; till Pope Greg'ory found it necessary to check the self-sufficient spirit which such a state of thing's was sure to eng-ender, and to reduce the elated apostle of the Anglo-Saxons to the position of a humble emissary of the Gospel of Christ."
Among" the Ang'lo-Saxons, as among* all the Germanic T, , ,. races, the first adoption of Christianity was susf-
Eegulations i /^ i i i • -n
of Gregory g'ested or lavourcd by temporal motives. iJut
v^r/nmrnt*'of ^^^^^^ their conversion, such as it was, was ac-
the Anglo- complishcd, the Christian scheme was found
saxonchurch.,^^!^^^-^,.^!^!^^, suitcd to the strong- and virg-in soil
into which it was thus transplanted. That scheme was offered to them as the sole g-ift of Rome j the means as well as the tiding-s of salvation came from Rome rather than from Christ. The converts themselves perceived no distinction between the source and the means of grace ; both were represented to them as at the disposal of the Roman pontiff. The constitution of the Anglo-Saxon church therefore assumed an exclusively Roman form. There was no living- tradition of a more primitive date to control the operation of the missionary scheme. Not many years before the advent of Aug-ustine, the last British bishop of London had died or emigrated ; and it is pro- bable that the remnant of his flock existed only as the ig-iiorant and helpless bondsmen of the conquerors. In the year 601, Greg'ory despatched a new colony of mis- sionaiy monks under Mellitus and Justus, to reinforce the establishment of Aug-ustine. The latter meanwhile had settled himself at Durovernum, or Canterbury, the capital of his royal convert ; where also a church and a monastery had been built for him. Mellitus broug'ht with him the pallium of an archbishop for Aug-ustine, with instructions from the pope to consecrate twelve bishops for his pro-
" S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. ix. ep. 58, ad August, Conf. also Id. lib. xii. ep. 34.
Chap, VIL] BRITISH AND lEISH CHURCHES. 215
vince ; and, if he should see a prospect of advantag-e to the propag'ation of the faith, to estabhsh a bishop at York, who should then have authority to nominate twelve other bishops for the northern districts of the island. Aug'ustine himself was empowered to retain the general superintendence of the Ang-lo-Saxon churches during- his lifetime ; but after his decease, the bishop of York, with the pallium of metropolitan, was to assume the independ- ent g-overnment of his provincial sufifrag'ans/
In the ecclesiastical view of the case the Ang-lo-Saxon church was the s'enuine daug-hter of Rome. ^ . . .
. ^ . ^ . British
But beyond the limits of that establishment, no and Irish rig'ht of parentag'e can be assigned to her within churches. the British islands. A numerous Christian population still existed in the northern and western districts, whose tra- ditions g'ave no countenance to the Roman claim of ma- ternity. The ritual and discipline of the British, Welsh, and Irish churches differed in many points from those of Rome and the Latins generally. They celebrated the Easter festival in conformity with the practice of the Ori- ental churches ; and in the form of their tonsure, as well as in that of the baptismal rite, they folloAved the same model ; differences which of themselves seem sufficient to preclude all probability of a purely Latin pedigree. Thus we find the Irish missionary Columbanus, from his mon- astery at Luxeu (Luxovium), in the Ardennes, disdain- fully rejecting the instances of a papal legate, seconded by the Frankish bishops, to induce him and his companions to depart from the ancient practice of keeping Easter, as observed in the Irish church ; at the same time boldly assuring Pope Gregory, that if any man should upon that })oint controvert the authority of Anatolius of Laodicaea,*^ as approved by St. Jerome, he would be regarded as a heretic by the British Christians.''
The ignorant Anglo-Saxon convert was incapable of distinguishing between the rehgion and its messeng'ers ; the authority of the priest was the authority of the Deity
^ S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. xii. cp. 15. upon the Easter festival, which Jerome E Anatolius was bishop of Laodica^a knew and thought well of. in the year 2G9, and wrote a treatise •' Fhury, H. 15. toni. viii. p. 222.
216 CATHEDRA PETRI, [Book III.
Augustine's ^^ whosG name the priest appeared and taug-ht.
conference Qii the othei* hand^ the British Christians knew British the pope oiAj as bishop of Rome, and were bishops. ^tqW disposed to pay him that free deference due to the head of so important a branch of the Christian Church. Beyond this, they saw no reason to impute to him any more comprehensive authority than that they attributed to the primate of Caerleon in their own primi- tive estabhshment. The introduction of the Christian faith among* their enemies, the Saxons, could not be ex- pected to increase their respect for their pastors the mis- sionaries ; and the conduct of Aug"ustine in no respect tended to mitig'ate the national aversion which divided the two races. The new archbishop made no distinction between the unconverted heathen and the Christian not within the pale of Eome. He was, if possible, more anxious for the subjug*ation of the latter than the con- version of the former; and with this view, he prevailed upon king- Ethelbert to neg'otiate a meeting* with the British bishops at a spot on the borders of the Ang-lo- Saxon territory. At the first meeting-, Aug-ustine hmited his demands to the adoption of the Eoman ritual in the celebration of Easter and the administration of baptism. The abbot Dynoch of Bang-or, in the name of the British bishops, replied, that thoug-h the}^ should always feel bound to follow the precepts and monitions of the Church of God, whether proceeding- from the bishop of Rome or any pious Christian, 3'et the}^ knew of no other kind of obedience ; and that obedience they were at all times ready to yield to i\Tij who came to them in the name of the Lord. The demands of Aug'ustine were, however, of a nature to require a more g-eneral discussion, and a se- cond meeting- was ag*reed upon for that purpose. The simple Britons knew of no mode of trying- the spirits, whether they be of God or man, but the law of their Master — the law of fraternal affection and humility: and it was resolved that if the missionary should meet them upon terms of Christian brotherhood, it would then be- come them to hear him in a corresponding- spirit, and upon conviction, to follow his councils; but if, on the
Chap. VII.] GREGORY'S INSTRUCTIONS TO AUGUSTINE. 217
contrary, he should come with a proud and haug-hty bearing'j they would decline all further intercourse : and the test was to be, that if, upon entering- the place of meeting', he should rise from his seat and come forward to greet them as his brethren, they should reg'ard him as a man of God, and give him a patient hearing". The confer- Auo'ustine arrived first at the place of meetino- : ence broken
O 1 ^ O z* up tjy the
where, seated and surrounded by his scanty re- demeanour tinue, he witnessed the entry of the numerous °^^"sustme. train of British bishops, but rose not from his seat or g*ave sig*n of recog*nition. The impression was instan- taneous and indelible ; he who disdained to rise at the approach of his episcopal brethren could be no g-enuine messeng-er of the meek and g'entle Saviour ; and they dechned all further discussion. Not even miracle, they justly thoug'ht, could reconcile the palpable contradiction between the real and the assumed character of the man of God ; and if further evidence had been wanting* to un- mask the impostor, the concluding* threat of the wrathful priest would have supphed it. " If," said he, " ye will not acknowledg'e the Saxons as brethren, and proclaim to them the way of life, they shall be your enemies, and their veng-eance shall surety fall upon 3^ou."'
It may be presumed that Greg'ory understood the character of the man to whom he had intrusted this critical errand. There is little doubt that of Pope he suspected him of contracted and ambitious Gregory to
■^ TT 11 • 1 1 • • i Augustine.
Views. Me repeated^ cautioned hnn ag'anist inordinate assumption of power, and that spiritual pride which invades feeble minds raised to sudden eminence and authorit}'.^ But the spiritual conquest achieved throug'h him g-ave the pope unming-led delight. He spared no labour or expense to promote the success of the mission ; nor does he appear to have weighed the means to be re- sorted to for that purpose in any very delicate balance of religious propriety. He desired that Augustine should throw away no chance of extending' the dominion of the Saviour, and of his representative on earth, which the
' BedcE Ven. Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. c. ii. > S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. ix. ep. 58;
ed. Smith, p. 79. and lib. xii. ep. 31.
218 CATHEDEA PETKL [Book III.
course of human eventSj or the relig-ious prepossessions of the people^ mig'ht offer. He therefore instructed his emissary not to overtlu'ow the idol altars ; but after a solemn purification^ to dedicate them to the worship of the XT- , 1 true God. He cautioned him ao-ainst the in-
His tolera- , . , . it- m i • /• i
tion of discrnnmate abolition ox heathen sacrmces ; and pagan rites, j-ecommended that the victims that had been theretofore slain in honour of idols^ should thenceforward be killed and eaten b}^ the worshippers at the celebration of the g-reat Christian festivals, the consecration of churches, the birthda3^s of saints and mart^-rs, the solemn deposi- tion of holy relics, and other occasions of ecclesiastical festivity.''
In order to suppl}^ visible objects of devotion in the and patron- placc of thosc abandoned by the converts, Gre- age of images, o-ory transmitted to Aug-ustine abundance of religious rclics and church-furniture.^ The vacancy of symbolism. ^]^g religious mind was thus promptly and adroitly filled up : those outward usages and customs which adhere most pertinaciously to the popular atfections were saved to them ; and it was believed that thereby a path would be kept open for the introduction of a more g-enuine spiritual worship. We cannot doubt that such was the intention of Pope Greg-ory ; nor do we think that that disting-uished pontiff was tinctured with that idola- trous symbolism to which this and the subsequent ag'es bear such abundant testimony. But he approved of the use of imag'es in churches as a means of popular instruc- tion in the absence of books, or the incapacity to make use of them."" He held the relics of saints and martyrs in the highest honour, and required the like observance from others. It probabl}^ did not occur to him to inquire into the relationship between the kind of veneration he con- templated, and the popular idea of wof'ship. In both, the sentiment is generically the same, differing* only in in- tensity ; the visible manifestation is in both cases identi- cal ; the sentiment naturally follows and partakes of the character of the outward act of worship. The distinction
^ S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. ix. ep. 71. ' Beda Ven. E. H. lib. i. c. xxi.
Conf. Beda Ven. lib. i. c. xxx. p. 71. "" S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. ix. ep. 9.
CiiAP. Vir.] ECCLESIASTICAL VESTURES. 219
transcends the discrimination of the mass ; and it was a o'ainst this natural infirmity of the human heart that the Mosaic liiw provided b}" nn absohite prohibition of the use of imag-es or visible symbols of any kind in the ceremo- idal of divine worship. That he overlooked this dang-er in consideration of the manifest utility of symbols and imag-es for the instruction of the ig'uorant multitude^ will shortly appear. At the same time^ it is not to be denied that he imputed miraculous virtues to the relics of saints and martyrs. Pie was extremely solicitous about the gen- uincness of relics^ and g'ave special directions to Aug'us- tine upon this important topic." The religious policy of Greg'ory the Great took into account the carnal as fully as the spiritual nature of the being-s he had to deal with. But the g-reatest leaders of mankind have — with but One excep- tion— never been free from the bias of the ag*e in Avhich they lived j had they been otherwise, they would probably have been unfit for the limited task intrusted to them.
During- the pontificate of Gregory the Great, ecclesi- astical fashions Howino; from Rome spread with ^ , unexampled rapidity over the Western churches, gents of sa- more especially those of France. In the ordi- ce^^^otai
11 c ^ -111 robes.
nary every-day dress or the priesthood, there had probably been little distinction between clergy and laity. In the celebration of Divine service, however, some additions and changes were usual ; more par- rj-j^^ ^^^_ ticularly in the use of the dalmatic and the matic and pallium ; the latter only on extraordinary oc- ^ ^^ '^^"^' casions, and by bishops of metropolitan rank. The greater prelates were in the habit of sending presents of clerical vestures to their subordinate clergy as testimonials of affection and confidence. In this way the popes often sent dalmatics, and other sacred vestures, to their confi- dential friends as s3'mbols of office conferred, or in reward for services rendered. For some time past it had been customary for the metropolitan bishops to officiate in a particular dress of ceremony, the principal article of
" See his reply to the ninth inter- 31: and conf. his letter to Serenus of rogatory of Augustine, Epp. lib. xii. ep. Mai'seilles, lib. viii. ep. 110,
220 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
which was the palUum — a scarf of white hnen or wool, worn over the shoulders, the ends of which were allowed to hang- down the back. These scarfs, or pallia, were fre- quently presented by the Roman pontiffs to the metro- politans of those churches which maintained a more in- timate correspondence Avith Rome, thoug'h at first only as symbols of approval or acknowledg-ment of rank. In process of time it became usual to send these robes to the remoter churches ; and when received, they appear to have been reg^arded as conferring precedency in rank only over those bishops to whom they had not been vouchsafed." In the sixth century, we see no reason to believe that these presents were looked upon in any other lig-ht than as spiritual tokens of intimacy and g'ood-will, and not as symbols of ofhcial investiture. Yet the hig'h rank of the giver imparted an additional value to the gift ; and Pope Greg'ory himself imputed overweening* significance and importance to such tokens of favour when bestowed by the holy see ;p but he treated the g-rant of the pallium as a custom only, thougii of long- standing', and thougiit it ouoiit not to be conferred without the consent of the temporal prince, and never except at the earnest desire and personal application of the bishop who wished for it.''
The scheme of ecclesiastical g"overnment pursued by _ , . . , Pope Greo-ory I. was neatly modified both by government his persoual couvictions and his outward posi- °[^P?°^^ tion. Unlike his disting'uished predecessors, Felix, Gelasius, and Hormisda, he made no am- bitious efforts to extend his jurisdiction. But he spared no exertions to establish the influence of his see wherever it could be planted without offence, and with a prospect of advantage to the cause of vital Christianity. He re- stricted the exercise of the supreme superintending' power, which he as fully as any previous pontiff believed to re-
o But they did not raise them to me- p See his letter to Vigilius, arch-
tropolitan rank or jurisdiction. Thus bishop of Aries, Epp. lib. v. ep. 53, — ap.
Syagrius, bishop of Autun, received the D. Boug. torn. iv. p. 14. Conf. Fleury,
pallium from Gregory the Great, but tom. viii. p. 149.
was not thei'eby released from the juris- •» Conf. Z)«can(/e, Gloss, voc. " Dal-
diction of his provincial meti'opolitan matica" and "Pallium." the archbishop of Lyons.
CiiAP. VII.] CHURCH- GOVERNMENT OF GREGORY. 221
side in the holy see^ to those churches with which he stood in more ancient and more immediate communion. The churches of France^ Spain^ Africa^ and Illyricum fell within that description ; but we do not find that he ever hazarded any decisive operation of Petrine omnipotence in either of the other great patriarchates. It is true that he reproved Bishops John' and Cj^'iacus of Constanti- nople on more than one occasion ; and that he finally re- nounced the communion of the latter as an incorrig-ible offender ag-ainst the first principle of the episcopal polity. But Constantinople was beyond his reach^ and he wisely forbore to Aviden the breach by any excessive stretch of the Petrine prerogative. Again, his high respect for the apostolical dignity of Alexandria and Antioch seems to have withheld him from all interference with the internal government of those churches. But in other portions of Christendom no previous pontifi* had ever exercised a more active and pei'severing" superintendence. The Gallic and Prankish churches were, as we have seen, polluted by abuses of many kinds, of which si- °o7The°°^ monv was the most common. Ao-ainst this ij'ankish
c/ o ciiurciiGS
practice, as well as against the non-observance of clerical celibncy, he loudly and incessantly protested. He wrote urgent letters to the queen Brunehildis, widow of Sigebert, king of the Austrasian Franks, and regent of the kingdom during the non-age of her son Childebert II., exhorting* her to put an end to this shameless traffic in ecclesiastical benefices ; to the consecration of laymen to bishoprics ; the forbidden practice of marriage or concu- binage, almost universal among the Prankish clergy ; and upon the priesthood themselves he impressed the necessity of frequent synods, with a view to the suppression of these and numberless other abuses.
But the attention of Pope Gregory was called rather to the disregard of canonical ordinances, and image and departures from the practice and discipline of^'^^^^^^^'o^'^^'P-
■■ Among others, for his harsh and he made no decree of reinstatement, nor
unjust condemnation of two eccclesias- interfered in any way with tlic proper
tics of his diocese for imputed lieres}'. jurisdiction of the patriarch, S. Greg.
He absolved them from the charge, and Mag. Epp. Ub. ii. ej). 52. received them into his communion. But
222 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
Eome^ than to that moral decay which tamted the whole body of the Frankish church. If the candid history of his namesakcj the bishop of Tours, had been before him/ his Christian discernment must have discovered far deeper wounds than the restoration of formal discipline could have cured. In truth^ little short of a republica- tion of the Gospel in a purer form — the infusion of a nobler spirit, of a hig'her conception of Christian duty — could suffice to remedy the evils introduced by the semi- pag'an habits and practices which the Frankish clerg*y had tolerated and encourag'ed, till they themselves became infected, and swam with the current of idolatry and su- perstition. Yet neither the means nor the zeal necessary for such a reformation were altog^ether wanting-. The very first requisite was to check the universal practice of imag'e and relic worship. Serenus, archbishop against image of Marseilles, was foremost to raise his voice
and relic ao'aiust the monsti'ous abuse ofimao-es and pic- tures in his own diocese. He had witnessed and deprecated the palpable adoration paid to these re- presentative symbols ; he had broken them in pieces, aiid cast them out of his temples with abhorrence. In this violent act of faith, Greg'ory detected an excess of zeal, and a serious error of judg'ment. It did not square with the accommodating' policy he had adopted in dealing* with an ig'norant and superstitious g-eneration. " You have Rebuked by doue wroug'," lie wrotc to Serenus, ^' to break
Gregory, thosc imag'cs iu pieces 5 for they have been put up in the churches from time immemorial. They oug'ht not, indeed, to be adored 5 and it is your duty to warn your flock ag-ainst paying- them any kind of worship. Never-
' Gregory of Tours bad visited Rome, of tbe saints, and tbe efficacy of pious
and conversed with the pontiff, in the gifts to churches and monasteries, for
year 594. He brought down his history the pardon of sins, and the settlement
of the Gallic churches to the year 595, of accounts with the next world; his
the year of his death. His work depicts bitter resentment of injui'ies, real or
the corruptions of the clergy, but more imaginary, to Church or churchman;
particularly the evils of saint and image — these, and other indications of a
worship, in the darkest colours ; yet coarse, vulgar, and unchristian spirit,
without the least apparent suspicion that place him far beneath the level of his
the mischief he describes really resulted illustrious namesake; whose mind, with
from those practices. His honest but all its weaknesses, was attuned to a far
boundless credulity ; his unshaken be- higher standard of Christian virtue, lief in the virtues of relics, the power
CriAP. Vir.] GREGORY ON IMAGE- WORSHIP. 223
theless, you oug-ht not to set 3'ourself up for more pure and pious than 3'oiir brethren. It is your duty to teach 3^our flock the proper use of pictures and images^ but not to destroy them ; for these pictures and imag-es are the substitutes for the books which they cannot read. Be- sides, 3^ou have given g-reat scandal to the people by your violence ; and many have in consequence withdrawn from your communion. You oug'ht, therefore, to call them to- g'ether, and to prove to them from the Holy Scriptures that they are on no account to adore any thing* that is the work of man's hands : you should g-ive as the reason why you have thus cast out and broken their imag'es, that they had swerved from the proper use of them 5 and tell them that if the}^ desire to have them restored, they must learn to reg*ard them only as memorials of the faith, and a means of instruction, but that they must on no ac- count presume to adore them.""
But while Greg"ory thus denied the divine virtues, and forbade the worship, of imag'es, the Frank- ish clergy were striving- with all their mig'ht to and intensity impart to them the forbidden character. The ^^ image- saints were every where reg'arded as local di- vinities, endowed with power to reward friends, favour- ites and devotees, and to punish with the most sudden and appalling' visitations any disrespect to themselves, their imag'es, their churches, and the g'uardians of their shrines. The universal faith reposed in the miraculous virtues of relics became a source of g'ainful traffic j relics of reputation were boug-ht and sold at fibulous prices; they were worn as amulets and charms ag'ainst all sorts of chances and mishaps j they wroug-ht miracles, rendered the soldier invulnerable, saved the sailor from shipwreck and disasters of every kind ; they absorbed, in short, the religious interest of the ag'e, and withdrew it from the vital duties of a moral and religious life." Of all this Pope Gregory appears to have taken little notice; so
" The substance of two letters of Gre- ing the sacred images and relics sent
gory to Serenus — the first written in him, ap. Baron. Ann. 59!), §§ 16, 17.
599 (Epp. lib. vii. ep. 110), the second in ^ Conf. History of the Germans, pp.
600 (lib. ix. ep. 9)— is given in the text. 681, 682, and the authorities there Conf. his letter to Secundinus concern- quoted.
224 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
little, in fact, that when an opportunity occurred to check an evil he himself admitted and condemned, he allowed the feeble plea of convenience to prevail ag'ainst the dis- continuance of a practice which had already poisoned the source of pure relig'ion in the heart of Christendom.
Under the patronag'e of Pope Greg'ory the Great the The conven- mouastic systcm acquired an accelerated move- tuai system meut. All the ordinary occupations and duties gory the of life appeared to the religious mind of the age Great, gg incurably tainted with the corruptions j)re- vailing" in the world, — corruptions from which there was no escape but in absolute seclusion from all the common pursuits of men in the world. Gregory himself was im- pressed with the belief that such seclusion alone could afford the needful security against the abject carnalism of the times. He regarded monachism as the perfection of Christian life, and the fittest instrument for reforming- man- kind. Nothing pleased him more than the foundation and endowment of monasteries j and in this respect the reli- gion or superstition of the age favoured his predilections. Many new congregations of monks had sprung up in France. Kings and nobles had built houses for those pious recluses, and endowed them with lands, revenues, and serfs. After this fashion many opulent sinners were per- suaded to settle their accounts with, the next world ', and the Church accepted the composition in full atonement and satisfaction for sins of the blackest die."' But these Exemptions establishments had hitherto fallen under the fromepis- direct coutrol of the prelacy, and had in con-
copal control. n^ i j^i r • i j
sequence suitered greatly irom episcopal ty- ranny and extortion. The independent founders and in- mates were naturally averse to external interference with their domestic g"overnment ; and began at an early pe- riod to look to Rome as the only competent protector against the vexations of their ordinaries and the secular clergy. Rome was nothing loth to meet the wishes of her petitioners ; and thus privileges were from time to time granted to the monasteries, in the first instance for
" See extracts from Gregory of Tours in my Hist, of the Germans, pp. 687, 8.
Chap. VIL] GREGORY'S INFLUENCE IN FRANCE. 2'2o
the security of the conventual property^ and soon nfter- wnrds for their total exemption from episcopal visitation and g'overnment."
It cannot escape us that these g'rants of privileg'e imply an important step in advance of the Ro- ^ man prerogative. The power assumed on these of these occasions arbitrarily to curtail the ordinary ju- exemptions, risdiction of the bishops, cannot be broug-ht under the description of simple acts of visitation or superintendence ; they can be reg*arded in no other ligdit than as direct violations of the episcopal constitution. But it is impro- bable that they were so considered at the time. In a rude ag'e, men rarely look be3'ond the expediency of the moment in preserving- the consistency, or calculating- the consequences of their own acts : yet in these apparently inconsiderate g-rants we discern the first beg'inning*s of that combination between popes, princes, and monk.s, which g-radually undermined the episcopacy, and contributed perhaps more powerfully than any other cause to exalt the papacy hig-h above the heads of all the parties to the orio'inal movement. Brunehildis, the reg-ent of ^ „
-r-, "- , -y^ ^, • , 1 '^ • Influence
I ranee, drew I'ope (ireg-ory into her councils m of Pope many Aveio-hty affairs both of Church and State. Gregory in In his replies, the pope assumed a tone of simple advice or admonition in no manner inconsistent Avith the independence of the temporal sovereig'nty. He reproved, indeed, the simoniacal practices so common in the Frank- ish churches, as well as the uncanonical promotion of lay- men to bishoprics ; but he did not meddle with the usual mode of appointment, thoug'h it mig'ht not be unknown to him that the real evil orig-inated in the proflig"ate dealing-s of princes and courtiers with candidates and applicants^ for ecclesiastical appointments. The Frankish bishops
'= Gregory the Great granted such pri- Bouq. torn. iv. pp. 21, 27, 35, 36. In
"vileges to the religious houses founded the following ages forged " privilegia"
by queen Brunehildis at Autun. He were circulated under the name of Gre-
was aware of the rapacious character gory the Great. Conf. Baron. Ann. 593,
of the Gallic bishops, and recommended §§ 85, 86; Dupin, De Antiq. Eccl. Dis-
thc recluses to look sharply to the pi-e- cipl. dissert, vii. pp. 504, 505; Fleury,
serration of their independence. Conf. tom. viii. p. 221.
i''. Greci. M. Epp. lib. vii. ep. 12; lib. ix. y Conf. ch. vi. p. 226 of this Boole, ep. Ill; lib. xiii. epp. 8-10, — ap. D.
VOL. II. Q
226 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
had; in fact, forfeited their independence by their own vices. Yet among- them there still remained a fund of g-enuine piety, and an anxious desire to retrieve the lost ground. To "that spirit Gregory appealed ; and upon this he relied as a powerful counterpoise to the corrupthig- in- fluence of secular habits. He appointed Virg'ilius arch- bishop of Aries and Syagrius of Autun his ordinary vicars in France ; he encouraged religious foundations ; he kept up an intimate correspondence with the princes 5 he acted where and as he could in harmony with them ; and by degrees estabhshed a system of superintendence, the ex- pediency of which was undeniable, and which was unac- companied by any display of those offensive or alarming pretensions which might have irritated the high-spirited barbarians he had to deal with.^
The Spanish churches were in a condition not ver}^ dif- intercourse fcreut froui thosc of Fraucc. At the solicitation of Gregory gf Gregory, a council was assembled in the year Spanish 599 for the purpose of putting down the venal churches, traffic 111 holy orders, and the elevation of lay- men to the episcopal bench. The synod decreed that all such appointments were unlawful, though sanctioned by the sovereign himself; and they resolved that, in Ailing up vacant sees, the clergy and people should elect and present three candidates to the archbishop of the pro- vince, and that he should choose one of them by lot. In conformit}^, it is said, with ancient custom, Gregory sent the pallium to Leander, archbishop of Seville, as a token of his regard for that prelate. He corresponded familiarly with the Gothic khig Eeccared, whom, from his recent conversion, he considered in some sort as his son in the faith. Questions of discipline were frequently referred to his decision by the Spanish churches. Whenever any complaint Avas brought under his notice of an infraction of discipline, he was, it seems, accustomed to appoint de- legates, whom he called " defensores," to inquire into the
^ Dom. Bouquet, editor of the " His- which touch upon Gallic affairs in the toriens dcs Gaules," has collected all fourth volume of his collection, pp. 1 to the letters of Pope Gregory the Great 36.
CiiAP. VII.] GEEGOr.Y AND THE SPANISH CHURCHES. 227
matter on the spot; and to g'ive judg-ment, if need be, without further reference to himself^ in conformity with instructions previously furnished to them.
In the year 608, Januarius and Steplien^ two bishops of the province of Malag-n, comphiined that the Papai inter- civil mno'istrate of the district had bi'oken into f^rence in their churches by force^ seized their persons^ januarius and arraig'ued them of certain crimes and mis- ^""^ ^^^p^^^°- demeanours before the secular courts ; that they had been thereupon condemned and deposed ; and that intrusive bishops had been inducted into their sees. Upon receipt of this report; Pope Greg-ory sent his presbyter John as " defensor" on behalf of the Roman church, Avith precise instructions how to proceed ag-ainst the civil mag'istrate and the intrusive bishops if the deposed prelates should make g'ood their complaint. The defensor was directed in the tirst place to depose the intruders, to deg-rade them from their orders, and either to deliver them over into the hands of the appellants, or to send them, with all the documents in the cause, to Rome, there to abide the papal judg-ment. This proceeding* mig'ht be thought abundantly sufficient to vindicate the privileges of the clergy as ag-ainst the civil magistrate. But Gregory's instructions did not stop there. The defensor was next to condemn the district judge, or, if no longer living, his heir or re- presentative, to the payment of all costs and damnges sustained b}" the two bishops in consequence of his illegal proceedings ; and to punish all bishops and clergy who should have assisted at the consecration of the intruders with seclusions and penances proportionate to the amount of their guilty participation ; lastly, he was authorised to rest the case of the complainants upon their own oaths, without requiring any confirmator}^ testimony.''
Malaga Avas at this point of time still subject to the Byzantine Ctesars.'' Pope Gregory Avas therefore justi-
a S. Greg. M. Epp. lib. xii. ep. 52. (Atlas der Geschichte aller Europii-
*» The whole of the southern coast ischen Lander und Staaten), Seventh
from Cape St. Vincent to Cape Sparti- Century. The Uyzantiiie dominion in
vento, and perhaps beyond it, was still Spain was finally put an end to by the
held by Uoraan, or rather, Byzantine, Visigothic king Suintila, in the year
garrisons. See iTrMse's Historical Atlas 624.
•228 CATHEDEA PETRI. LBooic III.
Canon-law ^ecl ill appealing* to the imperial laws in sup- as applicable port of liis proceecliiigs. In his instructions ceedings in to the clefensor, he stated, correctly enoug-h : the cause, i^ That the crimcs of breaking- into a church, interrupting- divine worship, or doing- violence to the offi- ciating' clerg-}^, were equivalent to treason, and punishable with death." 2. That no bishop could lawfully be tried by the civil magistrate, except by the order of the sovereign, for any cause, whether pecuniary or criminal, without his own consent, mider a penolty of twenty pounds of g'old, to be paid to the bishop so illeg-ally impleaded/ 3. That if either layman or priest have any cause ag-ainst a bishop, he shall carry his complaint before the metropolitan, so that no bishop be compelled to answer out of his own pro- vince 5 and that if exception be taken to the decision of the metropolitan, an appeal shall lie to the patriarch of the diocese, to be determined by him in accordance with the law of the land and the canons of the Church." By way of further caution, the pope added a formula of acquittal in favour of the appellants, and of the sentence to be pronounced ag-ainst their n censers, viiih blanks for their names. This sentence ran in the name of Greg'or}^, and purported to pass as of his sole authority.^
The formula, however, thoug'h prepared beforehand. Defects of ^^^ have been provisional only and directory, the papal not peremptory. But the functions of the proceeding, jgfgijgor were uot limited to inquiry into the truth of the charg-es exhibited before the civil magistrate ag-ainst the appellant bishops. It is obvious that he was sent in the character of judge of appeal in the last resort, and that his commission invested him with a power for which no legal warrant could be alleged. He arrived in Spain not merely as judge in the cause, but as the exe- cutive officer of the holy see, authorised to inflict fines and
c Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. ii. 1. 31; politan control. Gregory instructed
Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. iii. 1. 10. his defensor, in case that should be al-
"^ Coll. Auth. ix. tit. vi. novel, cxxiii. legcd in defence, to reply that in such
S 8. case the apostolic see, which is the head
« /6)W. novel, cxxiii. §22. It is possi- of all churches, was fully competent to
ble that the church of Malaga belonged hear and decide the cause, notwith-
to a class of churches known as "ace- standing any such privilege, phalse," that is, not subject to metro- ' 5. Grey. M. Epp. lib. xii. ep. 5.5.
CnAi'. VII.] CAUSE OF JANUARIUS AND STEPHEN. 220
to exact damag'es ag'ainst the civil mag'istrate in a cause coo-nisable onl}' by the civil courts or b}^ the sovereig'ii himself. Thouo-h by the law, as it stood, the crime mio-jit be of the most penal character^ yet it could be dealt Avith only by the secular tribunal j the sentence of the pope could have no leg'al validity, and was in itself a manifest invasion of the secular jurisdiction.
In its ecclesiastical aspect this proceeding* appears therefore to have been equally irreg-ular and ex- canoniciii ceptive. The course of law described by Gre- (iefects, &c. g'ory himself Avas not observed, nor intended so to be. 'No ])rovision of ecclesiastical law existed to justify the papal intrusion upon acephalous churches, even upon the sup- })osition that Malag-a belonged to that class ; neither is it alleg'ed on the part of the pope that such was the case. The deposition of Januarius and Stephen was an eccle- siastical act, to which the civil governor had lent his ex- ecutive aid ; and the appeal still lay to the metropolitan bishop and his council. Till that judgment was published, there was nothing- to appeal against, and the supreme appellate authority could not be called into action.^ But even in that case, it ought to have clearly appeared that there existed no competent patriarchal jurisdiction to ap- peal to in the last resort before the lloman pontiff could claim a shadow of canonical jurisdiction. This, however, is not alleged ; so that under every aspect of the cause the papal interference appears to have been altogether extra-judicial and anomalous. The law is paraded only to be set at naught, and an executi^'e power assumed for which neither canon nor precedent could be alleged.''
Yet there is no valid reason to believe that Pope Gre.
s The letter of ecclesiastical law is triarch of the diocese, from whose de- clear upon this point. After setting cision there was no further appeal. Cod. forth the course of proceeding in the Just. lib. i. tit. iv. 1. 29. The pope was case of a clerk of inferior rank, it goes neither metro))olitan nor patriarch of on to prescribe what is to be done where the province of Malaga, the culprit was of episcopal rank: 'Hoc '' The decree ofValentinian III. would idem servandum est si . . . episcopus not help out the case; for even that de- accusatus sit; nam ut statim accusatio cree gave no executive power to the pope ad sanctissiraos patriarchos deforatur, to compel the appearance of those whom ct ut accusati in aliam provinciam mit- he might summon before his judgmont- tantur, omnino proltibemus" &c. The seat. That power rested always with first resort was to the metropolitan; the the governor of the province: Book II, second and the final resort to the pa- c. iv. p. 3.54 of this work.
230 CATHEDEA PETEI. [Book III.
Civil and ca- §"01*7 was clisposecl to saci'ifice the interests of non law re- justicc to proiiiote tliose of liis 866. It is obvious^ afdUaiVto that ill his views of ecclesiastical judicature he theprero- j^qJ gg coufouiidecl the positivc principles of ec- ^cathedra '° clcsiastical law with the anomalous practice of Petri. ]^jg predecessors and the traditional pretensions of St. Peter's chair^ as to be no longer able to reconcile or even disting-uish between law and prerog-ative. Thus he o^'erlooked the obvious inconsistency of requiring- the re- moval of spiritual delinquents to Home for trial with the law to which he himself emphatically directed the attention of his ag-ent. Though^ therefore, we believe that no injus- tice^ or even any breach of ecclesia-rtical rule^ was intended, we perceive in this transaction a step towards the esta- blishment of a spiritual police for bringing- the bodies of misdemeanants into court. The pope of Rome, though still a subject of the empire, was to be bound by its laws, spiritual or temporal, no further than as those laws might ser^'e to support the prerogative of St. Peter's chair. The discretionary adoption of secular forms was not to be con- strued as a honiag-e to the State-laws. Those laws were to be regarded, not as principles, but as instruments only, to be used or cast aside as they might turn out to be useful or useless for the emergency in hand.' The result is unknown ; but the attempt furnishes one of the most instructive pages in papal history^
The attention of this active pontiff had been much Pope Gre- engaged by the disordered state of the African gory's super- churches. Hc assuiiicd the most ample spiri- the African tual juHsdictiou ovcr the metropolitans and pre- ciiureiies. j.^^gg of Mauritania and Numidia; he called on them to render frequent and accurate accounts of their stewardship to the holy see ; he reproved their simoniacal practices ; he reprobated their habit of promoting boys and raw 3'outlis to the priesthood ; he condemned their lukewarmness for the suppression of heresy. He corre- sponded at the same time with the civil governors of
• See the manifesto of Pope Gelasins to the Illyi'ian bishops, chap. ii. pp. 56 to 63 of this Book.
Chap. VII.] MODERATION OF GPvEGORY. 231
these provinces^ with a view to prevail upon them to put in force the existing- hiws a_i>-ainst the Donatist heretics.^ The bishops, on the other hand^ complained to him of the g'overnors ; the laws, they said, were allowed to sleep, and the faithful were sold to the heretics for the price of g-old. The pope sent the complainants to the emperor for re- dress ; but the latter was loth to take upon himself the correction of ecclesiastical abuses ; and thus, when the primate of Byzacene was impeached by his bishops, the emperor referred the inquiry back to the pope for canonical adjudication. Gregory declined the task ; but rather from a conscientious fear that the difficulties he would have to encounter were beyond his powers of discernment than from any doubt about his jurisdiction : "for," said he, '^the primate may well affirm that he is subject to the holy see, for I know not what bishop is exempt from such subjection when in error ; althoug-h^ that case excepted^ all bishops are made equal by the law of humility.'"'
This transaction, and some others, indicate an unwil- ling'ness on the part of the worthy pontiff to Moderation put the powers of the Petrine principality in of Pope action where the ordinaiy ecclesiastical powers ^"-'^so^y- seemed sufficient for the purpose. A case of this nature occurred in the year GO I. Certain African bishops and clergy complained to him of the oppression of their su- periors ; but, instead of treating- the complaint as an ap- peal, he referred them back to the primate of the neig-h- bouring* province of Numidia, requesting- him and another prelate to hiquire and do justice between the parties; adding- that, if needful^ he had given directions to the land- steward of the Roman patrimony in Africa to be present at the hearing* on his behalf.' The tone of these letters is monitory rather than imperative ; hortator}- rather than peremptory j referential rather than absolute ; leg'al rather than despotic : a departure this from the habitual formulsB
J With the exception of the Nes- baptised all whom they received into
torians, the Donatists were the most their communion.
long-lived of all the Christian sects. ^ S. Greg. Mag. Epp. lib. vii. ep. 65.
They formed at this moment a rich Conf. Fleury, torn. viii. p. 157.
and intiuential class of seeedcrs from ' See the letters of Gregory on this
the Latin church. They repudiated the subject, ap. Baron. Ann. C02, §§4 and 5.
orders of the catholic clergy, and re- Conf. Fleury, tom. viii. pp. 218,219.
232 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book III.
of his predecessors indicative of a wiser and humbler spirit. And in justice to this g-ood man it should be ob- served, that in all his communications A\'ith his episcopal brethren he prefers appearing- before them as their pa- ternal president and monitor rather than as the spiritual monarch and sovereign lord. In his manng-ement ^^■e perceive little of that eag-er encourag'ement of appeals from the ordinary tribunals of the Church so common in the practice of his predecessors. In his lang-uag'e and demeanour thei'e is an unaffected respect for the rig'hts and privileg-es of other churches ; and althoug'h his con- ception of his own position was quite as lofty as that of a Felix^ a Gelasius^ or a Hormisda, it was tempered down by a strong-er sense of official and personal responsibility^ by natural beneficence and acquired self-control.
Yet Pope Greg-ory I. belie^'ed that the welfare of re- The emperor lig'ion was essentially dependent upon the main- bid" the sol ' ^^^^^^i<^^ of the prerog-atives of the holy see^ as diery to turn wcll as the rig'hts of the churches subject to his monks, superintendence. Political measures, or State ordinances, ^^'hich he reg'arded as inconsistent with the spiritual interests of the g-reat flock intrusted to his care, were set down as infractions of Church privileg-e. He roundly affirmed that king's and princes who g-overned ill mig-ht be treated as tyrants, more especially those \v\\o encroached upon that " liberty which Christ had bouglit for his Church b}" the shedding* of his precious blood ;" lor such rulers were to be deemed transg-ressors of all the limits of the royal authority, and mig'ht lawfully be treated as usurpers." This opinion is expressed in his commentaries upon the penitential psalms of David, in Avhich the royal poet complains ag'ainst the transg-ressors of God's laws. But it appears rather in the shape of an occasional reflection than of a principle of conduct, in- tended to define dog-matically the oblig-ations of the sub- ject towards the sovereig-n. In the year 692, Greg'or}^ thoug'ht he had abinidant reason to complain of the em- ])eror Maurice. That prince had prohibited his soldiery from evading- their ser\ice by turning- monks. The pope
'" S. Greg. Mag. in Ps. Pcenit. c. iv.,— ap. Baron. Ann. 593, §§ 14 et sqq.
Chap. VII.] REMONSTRANCE OF GREGORY. 233
reg'arded this ordinance as a g'rave spiritual error^ and liig-lily obstructive to the salvation of souls. In a respect- ful and submissive remonstrance^ he declared j^^^ his conviction of the unlawfulness of the edict, strance of ^' I speak/' said the pope, ^^ in ni}^ private capa- ^^regory. city, as tlie least worthy of }'our majesty's subjects, and neither as bishop nor as servant of the State. Your law has been laid before me ; but I was disabled by infirmity of body from replying- by the messeng-er Avho brought it. You have ordained that no one engag-ed in the public service shall take upon him the ecclesiastical state. This
I greatl}^ approve Not so what follo\A's ; for 3"ou
have also decreed that no such person, nor any of your sol- diery, shall be permitted to enter the monasteries. This law has g'reatly alarmed me j because thereby the road to heaven is closed ag'ainst many. For thoug'h many there are who are capable of a relig'ious life even under a secu- lar habit, yet there are many more who, unless they cast all other things behind them, can by no means be saved. And I, who say these thing's, Avho am I but dust and ashes ! Yet, inasmuch as I feel that this ordinance is directed ag*ainst God, the lluler of all, I dare not be silent before my earthl}' master. For unto this end was the power g'iven unto him from above, that he mig'ht be a help to those A\ho seek after that which is g'ood \ so that the g'ates of heaven may be thrown wide o})en, and that the terrestrial ma}' become the handmaiden of the celestial kingdom. Yet by this decree it is proclaimed aloud that he who hath once been bi-anded for earthly warfare, shall never, except by the expiration of his service, or by infir- mity of body, be allowed to become the soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. To this Christ, throug-h me, the meanest of his servants, saith unto you : ^ I made thee Caesar and emperor ; was it for this that I committed my priests to thy charg'e, that thou shouldest withdraw thy soldiers from my service ?' What answer, I pray, will you return when you stand injudg-ment before your Lord? . . . . Nevertheless J, as subject to your order ^' ha\'e caused this your edict to be circulated for publication j and have pro-
° " Jussioiii subjectus."
234 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
tested ag-ainst it, as plainly repug'iiant to the law of God. Thus have I in both respects performed m};^ duty ; yield- ing- due obedience to the sovereig'n, 3'et speaking- my mind with all openness and freedom/'
In a letter written to his confidential friend the phy- sician Theodorus, with a view to eng-age his ideallf the interest for the repeal of this decree, he thus relation be- expresses his idea of the relation of the civil to spiritual and the ecclesiastical power : ^'^ Lang'uag'e fails me temporal ^^ exprcss how mauv favours I have enioyed
powers. * *^ o »'
from Almig'hty God and my most serene lord the emperor. For all these favours, what better return can I make than by following* their footsteps in purity of heart and affection ? But, — whether for my sins or for yours I know not, — he hath in the year last past pub- lished such a law, that whosoever truly loveth him must
mourn over it with many tears Hard indeed doth
it appear to me that he should withdraw his servants from the service of Him who g'ave him all he hath, and granted him to have dominion not only over the soldiery hut likewise over the j)ricsthoodJ'°
But the pope honestly desired to reconcile his duty His ordin- to the Churcli ^^'ith his obligations as a subject, ance re- jJe therefore recommended the bishops of the adraisslfn of Italian provinces, as well as those of Illyricum soldiers, &c. Orieiitale, to use the utmost circumspection in the admission of military men into their convents. He directed that no one should be received till after a three- years probation, before the expiration of which he was not
" See the letters in extenso, ap. Baron. needless to reply that there is nothing Ann. 593, §§ 8-13; and see S. Greg. whatever in these letters to show that Mag. Epp. lib. ii. epp. 62, 65. The car- Gregory was speaking in a double sense, dinal is sadly shocked at the use made or that he did not regard himself as by the centuriators and the Protestants quite as much dejure as de facto the sub- ofthese latter expressions. Gregory, he ject of the emperor. The pi'ompt pub- says, spoke not of any legal subjection, lication of the edict, though as bishop but only of a subjection dc facto, in the he objected to it, was a public official same sense as the bishops of Home were act accompanying the declaration, and the subjects of Nero and Doraitian, or shows that he deemed himself bound by as, by divine permission, Christ became the decree as much in his character of subject to Pilate. Besides, he adds, pope as in that of subject. And com- Gregory did not speak in his episcopal, pare his conduct in the case of Alcyson but only in his private character; and bishop of Corfu, ap. Fleury, tom. viii. therefore used words adapted to the p. 228. character personated. But it is almost
Chap. VII.] USURPATION OF rilOCAS. 235
to be allo^ved to assume the monastic habit. By this and other precautions he hoped to deter from simulated con version J and to convince the emperor that under such reg'uUxtions no pubhc inconvenience could arise from the admission of military penitents into the monasteries^'
JBut the loyalty' expressed in this correspondence ap- pears to have grown more and more faint in his mind as time wore on. The schism of the "^ three MaurLTand chapters" still continued to divide the Italian ,^'''pj;"'j'y churches^ especially in the districts still subject ,to the exarchate of Ravenna. In that reg-ion the pontiff found it impossible to eng-ag-e the co-operation of the Greek g'overnor for the suppression of the schism. This misunderstandino- was no doubt enhanced bv the con- tinned adherence of the court and bishop of Constanti- nople to the title of '■'• oecumenical patriarch." These and perhaps other causes of offence appear to have dried up the wellspi'ing' of charity in the heart of Greg-ory ; and when^ in the year 602^ the unfortunate emperor Maurice and all his family were ruthlessl}" murdered by his worth- less subject PhocaSj the event appeared to Greg-ory in the lig'ht of a providential dis]:)ensation^ and the actors in that bloody trag'edy as the divinely appointed instruments for the chastisement of tyranny and the deliverance of the Church from intolerable bondage. As soon as the news of these frig-htful crimes reached him^ he hastened to set up the iniag-e of the usurper in the oratory of S^i Cassarius of the Palatine ; and^ with a full knowledg-e of all the odious particulars, wrote a cong-ratulator}^ epistle to the new emperor.
^' Glory to God in the highest," he wrote, — ^^ g'loi'V to God in the highest, who changeth seasons and transferreth kingdoms. Also for that he hath congfatuia- made manifest the things which he spake by the *'•'" *" *^« mouth of the prophet, saying, ' The Most High "^"'^P®^' ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.''' Sometimes he raiseth up a severe ruler to punish
P S. Greg. M. Epp. lib. vi. ep. 2. " And settoth up over it the basest of
1 See Daniel iv. \7. Gregory might men." have added the sequel of tliis passage :
236 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book III.
the unrighteousness of men^ and to bow down the necks of the disobedient. But when he prepareth comfort for the hearts of his afflicted servants^ he I'aiseth up one among* them whose hoivels of mercy make others to partake of that joy which he himself feels in his own exaltation. And thus it is that we also are refreshed by the abundailce of your joy. Therefore let the heavens rejoice^ and let the earth be g-lad. Nay let the whole realm^ hitherto plunged in mourning*^ be of good cheer. May the proud neck of the eneiny bend beneath your yoke. By your loving-kind- ness may the contrite and dejected spirits among 3'our. subjects be lifted up.' B}^ the virtue of divine grace, ma3\you be made a terror to j^our enemies and" a blessing to 3^our people."'
Gregory wrote in the same strain of compliment to His peculiar Lcontia/ tlic vicious cousort of the blood-stained views of this usurper. And Avhen Phocas complained to him that A\'hen he mounted the throne he found no resident apocrisarius of Home at the capital, Gregory replied, that in consequence of the tyranny of Maurice, and the vexations he had inflicted upon the Church, he had been compelled to suspend all intercourse ; but that, now that by the beneficent interposition of Providence all impediments were removed, no inconvenience of that kind should occur for the future." The crimes of the usurper had, in short, been all purged away by the inci- dental benefit accruing from them to Pope Gregory's peculiar views of religious dut}^ and the exaltation of his see. The pope himself did not survive to reap the full harvest of advantage Avhich the hopes or fears of the new emperor might cast into the lap of Borne. IS pati. jj^ ^.^^ ^^^ ^1^^ -^^^j^ ^^ March a.d. 004, worn
out by disease of body, engendered or aggravated by in- cessant application to the duties and fatigues of his high office.
The conduct of Gregory as bishop of Rome displays less of that haughty self-sufficiency A\'hich distinguished
"■ In allusion to the exclusion of the ' See the character of Leontia in Ce-
penitent soldiers from the convents. drenus, ap. Beufou, Ann. 603, § 9.
s S. Greg. M, Epp. lib. xi. ep. 38. " S. Greg. M. Epp. lib. xi. ep. 45.
Chap. VII.] DEATH AND CHARACTER OF GREGORY. 237
the public acts Jind lang'iing'e of his g'reat pre- decessors, Leo, Fehx, Gelasiiis, Horiiiisda. In chamcfer^of his hands the theory of the papal supremacy prego^y assumed an aspect modified by his personal virtues. The distinction between his authority as head of the Church and his duty as a subject, though vag-ue and ill-dehned, was nevertheless strong-ly present to his mind. Thoug'h he was never in doubt as to Avhich of the two ■was entitled to the preference, yet when the oblig-ations of both came into conflict with each other, the strug-g-le of the spirit within him is not to be mistaken. The piety or the superstition of the age in which he lived, and the peculiar temper of his monastic profession, inclined him to look to divine interposition for the solution of his con- scientious difficulties. Gregory regarded political events as providential expositions of the duty of religious govern- ment ; no w^onder, then, that he should have considered the murder of Maurice, and the elevation of Phocas, as a providential solution of all his doubts, and a relief vouch- safed to him from above from the terrible dilemma of transgressing one great duty in the performance of an- other.
To a conscientious mind, this dilemma was indeed of serious moment. For a period of more than a in,, equivocal century and a half the great object of papal po- relations to licy had been tbe overthrow of the pretensions coiSanti- of Constantinople, and the reduction of that "°p''^- church to its pi-imitive rank among the sees of Christen- dom ; incidentally, therefore, to humble the temporal power which encouraged and supported it. Such objects were in their nature inconsistent Avith the allegiance of the pontiffs tmvards the temporal sovereign, and involved both in a state of perpetual warfare, now and then sus- pended by temporary truces of a political rather than a religious character. The difficulties arising out of this state of things were more acutely felt b}^ Gregory than by any '(5f his predecessors 5 partly because his mind was of a more delicate moral texture, and partly because his dependence upon the Byzantine court was direct, and his duty as a subject positive and unequivocal. Concurrently^
238 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
therefore^ with the strongest professions of duty and alle- g-iance^ he was imremitting* in his endeavours b}^ remon- strance to modify, or by manag'ement to ekide^ the exe- cution of the imperial mandates^ rather than to thwart them by open resistance or contradiction. In his cor- respondence with the court he never assumed a harsh or peremptory tone ; he was anxious to avoid those occa- sions of colhsion between the states temporal and spiritual which ahvaj'S involve the most perplexing* and distressing- strug"g*les incident to human g"overnment. Yet when he thought he had arrived at the limits of dutiful forbearance, and plunged past remed}^ into the conflict, he accepted what he had" taug-ht himself to believe to be providential aid in the performance of his duty, in any shape it might please God to send it; it was, he thought, his part to rejoice in the result, not to scrutinise the means.
Though it be true that in none of the letters of Pope judo-ment Grregory, written within the sixteen months upon his which intervened between the usurpation of and'^co'l^duct Phocas and his own death, any notice is taken in the affair of the crimcs and cruelties perpetrated by the usurper upon the innocent family and kindred of the emperor Maurice,'' yet we cannot think that the absence of reprobation in this case raises any direct or unavoidable presumption of approval on the part of Gre- gory, or of a natural callousness of moral feeling. If error there was, it appears to have lain in regarding the crimes of Phocas throuo-h a medium better suited to the old than to the new dispensation. After the publication of the Gospel, the deed of a Ehud or a Jael could no longer take shelter under the sanction of a divine command; and the zeal which would extend that sanction to the offences of a Phocas cannot meet with sympathy of any kind in the heart of a Christian. Providence has in mercy saved us, through Christ, from the dreadful necessity of denying our own moral nature in obedience to his more secret and mysterious dispensations. But the cloud still hung over the mind of this distinguished pontiff; and we are disposed to regard this passage in his otherwise conscientious and
T Bower, vol. ii. p. 538.
CiiAp. VII.] DECEEE OF FHOCAS. 239
useful career rather in the spirit of commiseration than of censure.
Pope Greg-ory the Great was succeeded hy Sabinian ; but the new pontiti' held the see only five months Sabinian and sixteen days. At his death a vacancy of P"p°- nearly a twelvemonth intervened^ unaccounted for by the Roman annalists. At the end of that term Boniface Boniface^ a deacon of the church of Rome^ was p^p*^- installed in the pontifical chair. At the death of Sabinian the new pontifi^* ^vas at Constantinople, whither he had been sent b}^ Greg-ory as his resident apocrisarius or re- presentative. During- his sojourn in the capital he had insinuated himself into the favour of Phocas ', while the patriarch Cyriacus and the metropolitan clerg-y had in- curred his resentment by their humane attempts to pro- tect the empress Constantina and her three daug'hters ag'iiinst the brutality of the tyrant. It can hardly be doubted that one object of the mission of Boniface was to obtain from the court the rejection of the claim of the patriarch to the title of " oecumenical bishop." The junc- ture was favourable 5 and we are told that at the Decree of instance of Boniface it was decreed by Phocas I'liocas. — "that the apostolic see of Rome was the head of all clmrchcSyfor that the church of Constantinople had taken to itself the title oi primate of all the cluircliesy'^
The authenticity of the report is questionable. It oc- curs in a sing'lcj short, and unconnected passag-e in Paul Warnefrid's Histoiy of the Lombards, "of^the"^ written at the close of the eighth century. We decree ques-
tioriciDis
next meet with it a century afterwards, in the writings of the Venerable Bede/ copied literally from the notice of Paul the Deacon j ag-ain, after the lapse of three centuries^ we find it inserted verbatim by Anastasius the
" Paul. Diac. De Gest. Longob. lib. clesiarum scribebat." iv. 0. 7, in edit. Lindeubrog. p. 272, — ap. ^ De Sex ^Etat. Mund. ed. Smith, p.
Murat. Ss. Rr. Ital. torn. i. p. 465. The 29 : " Hie (Phocas) rogante papa Boui-
words run thus: "Ilic (Phocas) rogante facio statuit sidem llomanaj ct apos-
papa Bonifacio statuit sedcm Komanae tolicaeecclesiai caput esse omnium eccle-
et apostolic;E ecclcsise caput esse om- siarum, quia ecclesia Constantinopoli-
niuni ecclcsiarum, qttia ecclesia Con- tana primam se omnium ecclesiarum
stantinopolitana primam se omnium ec- scribebat."
240 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
librarian, ill his Lives of the Eoman Pontiffs, a work of very doubtful authority.^ After him it was inserted by Sieg'e- bert of Gembloux in his work entitled "Chronog-raphia.'^" From these works it has been simply copied by all subse- quent writers. Many succeeding* historians and contro- versialists have, strang-ely enoug'h, taken it for g-ranted that this was ihejii'st leg'islative recog^nition of the sole primacy
Construe- 0^' l^^^ ^^^ of Romc over all Christian churches.
tirn of the The pontifical advocates allege that the decree of Phocas was a simple act of confirmation, or leg'is- lative republication, of that primitive primacy assigned by the Church-catholic to that of Rome from the foundations of the Christian Church. Both they and their opponents appear to agree in construing* it as adverse to the claim of Constantinople.'' Yet it is sufficiently clear that the decree was not the first solemn adjudication in favour of the Roman primacy ', and, if the words have any meaning-^ neither assigns an exclusive primacy to the holy see, nor abrogates the title of ^'^ oecumenical patriarch" claimable under the same authority by the bishop of Constantinople, at least since the reign of Justinian.'' We do not hear that any protest was ever put in by Constantinople against the decree ; and it is notorious that her patriarchs did not discontinue the use of their customary title of honour.'' The decree of Phocas, as it stands, in substance imports no more than a confirmation of the precedency previously granted to Rome by the councils of Constantinople (I.) and Chalcedon, strengthened by the more recent recognition of the emperor Justinian f but in no respect varies the
y ^nastos. Vit. Bonif. HI., ap. Mwra^. to the ground. Other words must be
Ss. Er. Ital. torn. iii. p. 138. introduced into the second clause of the
^ «S/e(7ei. GewWac. Chronogr., ap. Pzs- sentence to give it such an import; as,
toiium, Er. Germ. Ss. torn. i. p. 746. for instance, ^'■Because Constantinople
a Baron. Ann. 606, §§ 11 et sqq.; has wrongfully written herself down
Fleury, H. E. torn. viii. p. 238. See con- primate of all churches, therefore it is
tra Philip de Mornuy, Myst. Iniq. p. decreed that Rome is really the head of
106; Cent. Magd. cent. vii. p. 228; and all the churches."
Bower, vol. ii. p. 146. *= Conf. Fleury, ubi sup. De Mornay
•* Novell, cxxxi. c. 2. It should be ob- has collected the passages in the no veils
served, that the Avhole question of con- of the emperor Leo the Isaurian, and in
struction turns upon the single word the acts of the second Nicene council, in
" gu/rt" in the report of Paul the Deacon. which the title of " oecumenical bishop"
Rendering the word by the English is given to the bishop of Constantinople,
equivalent " because," the consti'uction '' Conf. Book III. c. iv. p. 134; and
contended for by the papal writers falls c. vi. p. 179.
Chap. VII.]
RESULTS. HONORIUS I.
241
position of the church of Constantinople to that of Rome.
There is no reason to beheve that Kome herself took any steps to improve the presumed advantage. All we know with any degree of certainty is, that after the receipt of the decree, Pope Boniface III. assembled a council in the basilica of St. Peter's for the correction of divers abuses in the papal and episcopal elections.^ Boniface himself held the chair for the short period of eig^ht months and twenty-three days only. Be- tween the 3'ears 008 and 625, Boniface IV., and after him Deusdedit and Boniface V., occupied the papal chair. In the latter year Honorius I. mounted the papal throne. His pontificate introduces us to a new phase in the relations between the Eastern and Western churches, — a revival, in a somewhat different form, of the old Monoph^^site controversy ; and scarcely less efficacious in stimulating* those heart-burnings and jealousies which ended in the final separation of the two main branches of the Christian profession.
" Platina, a papal biographer of the fifteenth century, affirms that Boniface III. hastened, upon the arrival of the decree of Phocas in Eome, to assemble a synod consisting of sixty-two Italian prelates ; and that, in conformity with its tenor, he solemnly proclaimed the holy see to be the " head of all churches," and the pope " universal bishop," &c. We know of no original or contempo- rary authority for this transaction. It wiU be seen that it is not borne out by
the statement of Anastasius (ap. Mm at. Ss. Rr. Ital. tom. iii. p. 1 35), and cannot be taken upon the sole credit of a writer who lived six centuries further removed from the date of the event. It is, how- ever, quoted from Platina by the Centu- riators (cent. vii. p. 251), and hy Bower (vol. ii. p. 548). Ciacone (Vit. Pont, tom. i. p. 425), though he writes from Platina, yet doubts a part of his state- ment, " because," says he, " the acts of Boniface III. have died with him."
VOL. II.
B
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
THE TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY.
Approaches of the papacy towards temporal sovereignty — Relative position of the nations of Christendom to each other and to Rome— Objects of papal ambition — Subjects of inquiry — Position of the papacy in relation to Greeks and Lom- bards—Reign of Agilulph — Of Adalwald — Arioald— Rothari— Aripert— Ber- tarid and Godibert — Succession of popes — ]\Iartin I. and Constans II. — De- portation and death of Pope IMartin I. — Constans II. in Rome— His death — Reiga of Grimoald — Bertarid restored — Kunibert — Extinction of Arianism in the duchies of Beneventum and Spoietum — Monte Casino — The "patrimony'' of St. Petei- — Its exposed position — Ansprand and Luitprand — The Lombard government— Papal succession — Papal policy — Invasions of the "patrimony" by Lombards — Rome and the Byzantine connection — Leo the Isaurian pro- hibits image- worship — Progress of saint and relic worship — Rebellion against iconoclasm — Gregory II. saves the exarchate — Defeats the reforms of Leo the Isaurian — Successes of Luitprand — Gregory III. — Luitprand before Rome — He dismembers the "patrimony" — Zachary pope, procures restitution — He protects the exarchate — Ascendency of Luitprand — His death and cha- racter— Hildebrand — Rachis — Ascendency of Pope Zachary, and abdication of Rachis — Aistulph and Zachary — Gradual secularisation of the papacy, a con- sequence of its territorial wealth and ambiguous position — General plan of papal acquisitiveness — Prospective connection with France.
In the preceding" Books we have passed in review tlie first six centuries of papal histor}^ AVithin that period we have detected the g'erm, and exhibited the papacy the o'radual advances of the see of Eome towards *" p*''i'i< ai the estabhshment, of a hierarchical monarchy : we have found that eyevy principle of an unlimited reli- gious autocracy had been avowed and adopted by or on behalf of the holy see, and that these principles had been to a considerable extent practically established. The out- ward machinery of this spiritual absolutism had been put in motion ; yet many impediments to the smooth working" of the system still existed. The hand which g"uided it Avas not its own master; and it is obvious that, until the fetters of political dependence were removed, it could never be safe from those disturbino- external influences which
244 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
must render all its operations inconsequent and uncertain. But the commencement of the seventh century marks a new period in the history of the Latin patriarchate. Hitherto the political headship which the popes of Home had assumed had been the offspring- of unforeseen or ac- cidental emerg'encieS; and had never outlasted the occa- sions which called it forth ; but ever since the downfall of the Western empire^ the absence of any truly na- tional g-overnment had directed the attention of the Eo- man people to their bishop as their natural chief, and contributed to invest him with a special political influence distinct from his religious character. After the over- throw of the Ostrog'othic power, the short-lived ascend- ency of the Byzantines was in no respect more popular than that of Odovaker or Theodoric. The invasions of the Lombards and the merited reverses of the Greeks in Italy were productive of a larg-e increase of political power in the hands of the pontiffs. Oppressed first, and after- wards deserted, by their sovereig-n protector, the senate and people of Home leaned upon their spiritual chief for counsel and support under the calamities of their political position, and soon learnt in a gTeat measure to overlook the distinction between the essentially relig'ious and the incidentally political character accruing- to him. Both powers beg-an, as it were by a natural necessity, to flow into the hands of the pontiffs ; and now a combination of external causes unparalleled in the history of the world fixvoured the emancipation of the papacy from the last feeble trammels of a nominal dependence, and added the substantial attributes of temporal sovereig'nty^ thoug-h without the name, to the boundless spiritual prerog-ative already practically acknowledg-ed by some of the most important sections of the Christian community.
The characteristics of the period we are now entering-
Relative upou, in their bearing- upon the advances of the the natSs^'of P^P^^ powcr, are very remarkable. The seventh Christendom aud eig'htli ccnturies of European history ex- ^andtolhe' hibit the elemcuts ofrelig-ious and political life
paiDacy. in a statc of incessant and violent fermentation. The relative positions of races and nations were underg-oing-
Chap. I.] THE PAPACY AND THE NATIONS, &c. 245
gTeat and sudden chang'es. Many of the older consti- tuents of the Christian commonwealth were struck out, and some new ones introduced. The political g-overn- ments of the world were as yet destitute of s^'stem, and were carried on in conformity with customs and habits suited rather to a migTatory than a settled state of in- habitanc}^ The position of the subsisting* political asso- ciations was altogether new' and unsettled; and thus, while the ecclesiastical system flowed steadily on in the ancient channel which it had worn for itself, the more recent states had painfully to work their way into some kind of national consistency. The papacy, thoug-h not yet numbered among* the king'doms of the world, stood before them all as a self-existent power, exercising" an influence of a character to command the personal obe- dience of princes and subjects. The ig'norance and the indolence of the northern barbarians, and the supercilious neg'lect or the crooked policy of the feeble Byzantines, kept the new states in estrangement, and there remained only the common relig'ion and its ministers to connect them with each other. Governments were every where isolated and anarchical : in the Church alone there was method, order, subordination, vig'our, and unity of design ; there was among* its members a facility of communication, a cordial and rapid interchange of views and ideas, of knowledo-e and intellio-ence, of which there are few traces in the intercourse of the nations. From the Bosphorus to the shores of the Atlantic, the European tribes knew little, and cared less, about each other's movements, wants, dang-ers, or embarrassments. On the other hand, the bishops of Rome were in active communication with them all : they were busily engag'ed in fortifying* their position within, and in propagating* Roman religion beyond the pale of Christendom ; and thus forming* an external belt of intelligence and influence which encircled and bound up in its embrace all the elder branches of the Christian family. But during' this period the current of papal history is found no longer to flow in the same uniform q^^-^^^^ ^f course. On the contrary, it mixes itself up the papal with, it diverg*es from, and ag*ain runs into, the ^°^^^^'°"-
240 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
current of political history throug'h a hundred different channels : its religious character is for a time almost swallowed up in the secular strug-g-le for political life and power 5 3"et we can very clearly discern a double object in view throug'hout the policy of Rome during" the whole course of the seventh and eig'hth centuries. The g-reat problem she had to solve was, how to manag*e the spiritual ascendency alread}^ achieved over one half at least of the Christian world, so as to render it serviceable in the ac- quisition of that political self- existence essential to the maintenance of the position she had already g-ained, and the unlimited extension of those principles of relig'ious g-overnment upon which she had staked her existence. Thoug'h the double object adverted to introduces compli- cation into the narrative, yet it is necessary to keep it steadily in view in order to do justice to the leaders and manag'ers of the g;reat movement, and at the same time not to lose sig'ht of its bearing- upon the prog^ress of civi- lisation and the interests of civil and relig'ious liberty. The period to be reviewed in this and the following- ^ 1 book of this work embraces the seventh and
(jreneral • -, ^ • c ^ r\i • •
plan of eig-hth centuries oi the Christian era, and may inquiry, j^^ properly described as the transition period of the papacy from a state of subordination to the civil power to that of political self-existence. The ecclesiastical and the political branches of the inquiry diverg-e for a season : it may therefore be convenient, for the sake of perspicuity, to treat them in some respects separately ; noticing- their mutual connection at those special periods wdien that con- nection naturally challeng-es our attention. The topics to which we shall advert are g-enerally the following- f
I. The political history of the papacy in Italy during' the seventh and eig'hth centuries oi the Christian era.
II. The prog-ress of lioman influence and relig-ion in the Yisig-othic and Franco-Gallic states.
III. The advances of the papacy in the Ang-lo-Saxon and more northern portions of the European continent.
IV. The Roman missions in France and Germany ;
a This enumeration of topics is in- not engage to pursue them in their strict tended only as a general guide to direct order, further than is requisite to show the reader's attention. The writer does their connection.
Chap. I.] TOLITICAL POSITION OF THE TAPACY. 247
and the methods resorted-to to render them productive of advantag-e to the prog'ress of the papal supremac}^^ tem- poral and spiritual.
Y. The final establishment of the political independ- ence of papal Rome as a member of the restored empire of the West.
VI. The effects of the Arab conquests and Byzantine misg'overnment upon the political and religious state of the Eastern empire ; and the policy of Rome in the Mo- nothelite and Iconoclastic controversies.
Pope Greg'ory the Great had accomplished the formal reconciliation of the Lombard monarch and peo- . pie with the church and republic of Rome. But the papacy this reconciliation involved a separate compact i^^ /elation
. , 1 f 1 • ^ . 1 ^ to the
With the enemy oi his own sovereig*n the em- Greeks and peror ; and thoug-h it was a strictly natural con- ^^^^ards. sequence of the inability of the Byzantines to afford the protection the Romans had a right to expect^ yet it was extremely offensive to that haug'hty and imbecile power. The success of the Nicene confession in the Lombard states of Italy was rapid^ indeed^ but incomplete^ and did not emancipate the popes from the dangers incident to the unsettled state of the country. As subjects of the emperor^ they could never reckon upon the forbearance of his enemies. While the Lombard princes were straining* every nerve to expel the Greeks from the last remnants of their Italian possessions, the wily Byzantines strove to re-establish their dominion by the arts of deceit and intrig'ue, in the use of which they had arrived at un- rivalled proficiency. Between them stood the popes of Rome, equally exposed to the assaults of both, and thrown wholly upon their own feeble resources for the defence of their widely-spread territorial domains and the numer- ous population practically dependent upon them for the safety both of life and property. Thus thougii still a no- minal dependency of the B^^zantine empire — thougii even an imperial duke or viceroy migiit still reside there— the duchy of Rome was without any military defence except the rude militia which the emergencies of the times had called into existence. The ancient senate of Rome vanishes
248 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book IV.
g-radually from the pag-e of history ; and no names but those of the popes seem to float on the surface of the turbid stream of her domestic annals. In such a state of thing's^ the pontiffs stepped spontaneously into the position of temporal princes; the community attached themselves to them as their natural chiefs; and^ as a matter of course, the former converted their spiritual powers into instruments of temporal government, — for they possessed no others.
Touching- the relation of the duchy of Eome to Con- stantinople during the continuance of the strug-g'le for the dominion of Italy between the Greeks and Lombards, we observe, that during- the whole of that period the authority of the empire had been uniformly exercised to the detri- ment of its Italian dependencies. From the death of Jus- tinian to the ag-e of the vicious Constans II. extortion and oppression had done their worst on the unfortunate inha- bitants of the scattered cities and districts in which the Byzantine g-arrisons and governors still maintained a pre- carious dominion. And here the political state of the pa- pacy coimects itself so essentially with the history of the Lombard ascendency in Italy, that a somewhat particu- lar account of that people must be given in this place. "^
The political conduct of the kings, after the restora- tion of the royal authority among the Lom- history: bards, had been, upon the whole, moderate and A^^-M*h P^cifi^' Early in the reign of Agilulph, that
^' " ^ ' prince had converted the truce which his prede- cessor Authari had concluded with the Franks into a solid peace ; the khan of the Avaric tribes, which bordered on his Histrian and Friulian provinces, courted his alliance ; and internal rebellion was every where repressed and punished. The impotent pride of the B^^zantine court, indeed, revolted from a formal treaty with one whom it affected to regard as a barbarian rebel ; but the exarch of Ravenna was empoAvered to conclude successive truces, by which active hostilities were periodically suspended.
b I make no scruple of reprinting published more than twenty years ago.
almost in extenso the narrative intro- All the authorities will be given as they
duced into the 1st section of the xivth stand in the notes to the passage in my
chapter of my History of the Germans, former work.
Chap. I.] ^AKIOALD-ROTHARI. 249
In the year 599, however, the exarch Callinicus thoug-ht fit to break the tlien subsisting* truce, and was punished by the loss of the cities of Padua, Monsehce, Cremona, and Mantua ; and from the year GOG to the death of Agilulph, in G16, no foreign or domestic enemy appears to have materially disturbed the tranquillity of his dominions.''
Adahvald, the son and successor of Ag'ilulph, was in his thirteenth year at the death of his father.*^ Reign of The regency during- his nonag"e was intrusted Adaiwaid. to his mother Theudelinda ; and she employed her influ- ence for the confirmation and extension of CathoHcity in Lombardy. But when the young- king- entered upon the g-overnment, he was found to labour under a mental malady which manifested itself in a wanton delig'ht in bloodshed and cruelt}^, to which many of the first per- sons in the king-dom fell victims. He was at leng-th deposed, and placed in confinement; and the Lombard nobility chose Arioald duke of Turin, who had married a daug-hter of Ag-ilulph, to succeed him.**
The reig-n of Arioald has left no record, except the name and the period. After g-overning- the ArioaH: Lombards for the space of twelve years, he was Kotbari. succeeded by Rothari, a noble of the royal sept*^ of Arad. " This prince," sa^^s the historian, ^^ was strong- in person, and a g-reat lover of justice, thoug-h stained with the faith- less heresy of the Arians." The Catholics were not, how- ever, disturbed in the enjoyment of their civil or religious liberties; thoug-h both the pope and the court of Constan- tinople chose to treat this king- as a usurper.^ The latter paid the penalty of its folly and presumption, by a severe defeat in a battle fought on the banks of the Scultenna in ^miha, and the capture of all the towns still occupied by the Greeks on the Lig-urian coasts as far as the con- fines of the province."
•= Paul. Diac. lib. iv. cc. xiii. to xxix. Greek envoy Eusebius. He died soon
Conf. Mascou, Hist, of the Germans, after his deposition, as it was believed,
vol. ii. pp. 218 to 222. of poison.
•• He was born in 603. Murut. ad * " Fara," translated "generatio" b}'
Paul. Diac. note 21;}, p. 469. Paul the Deacon. The name " Arad" is
^ Paw/. Z)«/c. lib. iv.c. xliii. Fredigar. otherwise spelt Hai-ad: qy. ''Harold?"
Chron. c. xlix. p. 432. The disorder of f See the letter of Pope Honorius, ap.
Adalwald was currently imputed to a Mascou, vol. ii. p. 2.59.
charm or poison administered by the •> Paul. Diac. lib. iv. c. xlvii. p. 471.
250 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
In the 5^ear 652, Eothari was succeeded by his son Ro-
doald, who had married Godeberg'a, a daug"htei*
Aripert' of Agilulph and Theudehnda. The new queen
^^'^?^' ^^"^ protected the CathoUcs, and incurred serious
dang*er from the partisans of the Arian confes- sion.' Rodoald himself was slain by one of his own sub- jects, in reveng'e for a private injury ; and the Lombards chose Aripert, a nephew of Queen Theudelinda, for their king'.^ In his reig'u the orthodox faith g'ained a decisive ascendency in Lombardy. At his death, in the year 661, he was peaceably succeeded by his two sons Bertarid and Godibert ; but, in consequence of an intrigue set on foot by Garibald duke of Turin, the two king's fell out ; and a road to the throne was opened to Grimoald, the powerful duke of the Beneventine Lombards. Godibert fell by the hand of his rebellious vassal ; and Bertarid fled for pro- tection to the khan of the Avars of Pannonia.''
From the death of Gregory the Great, in the year Succession 604, to the acccssiou of Honorius I. in 625, five of popes, successive popes had, as already observed, oc- cupied the chair of Peter. These pontificates present no matter of importance to our subject. But that of Ho- norius once more introduces tlie papacy into active and ill-omened participation in the aftairs of the Church. In his pontificate, the Christian world involved itself in a dis- pute respecting* the nature of the divine and human will in the person of the Saviour, to which we shall hereafter . have to advert more particularly. Honorius
died in the year 638, after a reigii of nearl}^
thirteen years. Between the year of his death and the
. accession of Pope Martin I., in 649, Severi-
nus I., John IV., and Theodore had succes- sively mounted the papal throne. We have no precise information as to the freedom of election in the choice of the bishops of R-ome within the first half of the seventh century. A B^'zantine governor still exercised certain civil powers within the city and duchy of Home ', and oc-
' An attempt was made to establish half, and the king and nation bowed to
against her the charges of adultery and the "judgment of God." treason; but her champion was victo- J Paul. Viae. lib. iv. c. xlix. p. 473.
rious in the wager of battle on her be- '< Id. lib. iv, c. liii. p. 475.
Chap. I.] POPE MARTIN I. 251
casionall}^ we hear of an imperial g"arrison stationed there. There is^ however, no doubt that the confirmation of the emperor was still reo-arded as essential to complete the title of the pope-elect^ and that he could not be inau- g'urated until the formal consent of the court arrived from Constantinople. Honorius I. was strong-ly impressed with the importance of maintainino" the union of Church and State in the actual position of the papacy in Italy ', he had, in fact; carried his acquiescence in the theolo- g"ical schemes of the emperor Heraclius far beyond the line that a prudent reg-ard for the opinions of the Western churches would have induced him to pass. Meanwhile the controversy in the East had assumed that acrimonious character which almost always accompanied Oriental dog-matism ; and Pope Martin I. was drag"g*ed into the vortex by the intolerance of the g-randson of Heraclius, Constans II. Pressed onwards by the strong' preposses- sions of his own church ao'ainst the Monothelite doo'ma, he boldly repudiated the middle term, or compromise^ pro- posed by the court, with, a view to smother a contro- versy that had become inconvenient. In the year of his election he convoked a council of Italian bishops in the church of the Lateran, and obtained from them a formal condemnation of the new heresy. Carried away by their zeal, the Latin fathers imprudently excommunicated the patriarch Paul of Constantinople, as a reviver and patron of the exploded heresy of Eutyches.' Irritated by the indig'nity to his church, and flag-rant disreg'ard of his sovereig'n pleasure, the Byzantine tyrant caused the pope to be secretly conveyed to Constantinople ; where he underwent a mock trial upon charg-es Deportation unconnected with the real subject of complaint, ^°^ •^®!^*Y'^ and was afterwards condemned to ling'er out the few remaining" months of his life in an obscure prison on the Hellespont.'"
This violent proceeding* embittered the quarrel be- tween the two churches. In the year 6G1 constansir. Constans was driven from his capital by the i" ^^me.
' Baron. Ann. 648, with Pagi^s note, sufferinn;s, M'ritten by a humble attend-
pp. 387etsqq. Conf. Epp. Mart. /.,ap. ant, who was permitted to wait upon
Hard. Cone. torn. iii. pp. 645 et sqq. him in his aittiction, is still extant. See
'" A memoir of his imprisonment and Mans, Concil. torn. x. pp. 786 et sqq.
252 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
indig-nation of his subjects ; but with the treasure at his command he collected a larg*e mercenary force^ landed at Tarcntumj and totally destro} ed the Lombard city of'Lu- cera. After this success, he advanced ag'ainst the strong* fortress of Beneventum ; but the brave defence of Ro- muald, son of duke Grimoald, compelled him to abandon the sieg-e, and to take refug-e in Naples." Soon after- wards, the g-allant youth encountered Suburrus, the lieu- tenant of Constans, in the field ; and thoug'h g-reatly infe- rior in numbers, completely defeated him. Constans, thus compelled to abandon his desig-ns ag-ainst the Lombards, prepared to wreak his disappointment upon the disaf- fected Romans. The venerable aspect of the fillen mis- tress of the world, the submissive reception he met with from the pope Yitalian, the clerg-y and principal citizens, failed to awaken any feeling* of sympathy for the departed glories of the empire, or reg-ard for the property of the citizens. With scarcely conceivable cupidity, he employed the twelve days of his residence in the ancient capital of the empire in stripping- her of all her most portable public wealth and ornament. He robbed the g-org-eous dome of the Pantheon of its brazen tiles, and carried off the metal ornaments and statues, which even in her decay still de- corated the public building-s and palaces of Old Rome. After shipping- off his plunder to Syracuse, he followed into Sicily; where he was permitted for a short time long-er to ti-y the lo3'alty of his subjects by all those outrag-es from which a heart seared by debaucher}^ and blood-g-uiltiness may derive a momentary oblivion or a passing- excitement." At leng-th a common serving'-man took upon himself the reveng-e of outrag-ed humanity, and struck the tyrant to death in the bath.p
The victory of Romuald drew after it the conquest
Reign of of nearly all that remained to the Greeks in
Gnmoaid. ^|^g province of Apulia, and added the cities of
Bari, Brundusium, and Tarentum to the acquisitions of
the Beneventine Lombards. The war with the Greeks of
Ravenna lang-uished during- the remainder of the reig-n of
n Paul. Diac. lib. v. cc. vi.-ix. pp. when it fell into their hands, and was
479, 480. carried away to Alexandria.
o The plunder of Rome lay at Syra- p Paul. Diac. lib. v. cc. x. xi. xiii.,
cuse till the Saracen invasion of Sicil}'; pp. 480, 481.
Chap. I.] EXTINCTION OF ARIANISM IN LOMBARDY. 253
Grimoald ; and upon his sudden demise in the tenth year of his reig-n, the Lombard nobiUty reverted to the hue of Ag'ihilph and Theudehnda^ in the person of the exiled king- Eertarid. Garibald, the elder of the two Bertand sons of Grimoald, took refug-e with his young-er r^^stored. brother, Romuald, at Beneventum. No attempt was made to retrieve the honours of royalty ; and the enmity of the Ag'ilulphian and Beneventine races was exting-uished by the marriag-e of Grimoald, a son of Bomuald, with the princess Winolinda, the daug-hter of Bertarid. After a reign of five or six years long-er, Romuald transmitted the duchy of Beneventum to his son ; and in the year 088 Bertarid was succeeded upon the throne of the Lombards by his son, the valiant and ortho- dox Kunibert.''
This king' and his father were both zealous Catholics. Ag;ilulph, Bothari, Bodoald, Garibald, and Gri- moald had extended at least equal protection to JncSn oT the two ^reat religious parties in the Lombard Arianism in dominions ; the queens I'heudehnda, Godeberg-a, °™ ^^ ^' and Bodelinda,' had proved the nursing-mothers of or- thodoxy ; and thoug'h the Arian party was still strong- in numbers, it appears that by this time the principal families of the king-dom had slidden g-radually into the catholic profession. It is probable that it was to the support of that party that Bertarid was indebted for his throne j and it is certain that the only civil commotion which disturbed the reig-n of Kunibert was caused by the efforts of the Arians to regain their ancient ascend- enc}^ The streng-th of the old relig'ion of the Lombards consisted mainly in its alliance with the pag-an supersti- tions of the people ; Christianity had not as 3^et overg-rown, nuich less superseded, the more inveterate prejudices of barbaric relig'ion ; and the assaults of the orthodox were directed at least as much ag-ainst the practices of the heathen as against the speculative tenets of the heretic. The more methodical zeal of the catholic clerg-y had, how- ever, by this time placed them upon firm g-round ; by assi-
1 Paul. Diac. lib. v. cc. xvii.-xxii. and lib. vi. c. ii. p. 490. xxvi. xxvii. xxxii. xxxiii., pp. 484, 485; ■■ The wife of Bertarid.
254 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
duity and perseverance they had raised themselves to ac- knowledg'ed rank^ wealthy and social respectability : in lieu of their ancient g'roves and fountains and rude altars, their converts were provided with stately temples, relics, imag'es, and processions 5 and a showy ritual offered an acceptable substitute for their bloody sacrifices, their riot- ous festivals, and mischievous mummeries." Still much of the old leaven remained to be purg-ed awa}^ j and the reign of Kunibert was for a time suspended by an insur- rection, arising* in a g'reat degree from the dissatisfaction of the people with the gTowing' power of the catholic clergy, the decline of the older religion, and the priva- tion of the pagan indulg"ences connected with it.
Kunibert was driven from his capital; but a short
The same in time sufficcd to provc the power of the catholic
of Beneven- V'^^^J' ^hc usurpcr, Alachis duke of Trent, was
turn and cxpellcd froiu Pavia, and Kunibert was restored
Spoietum. ai^^ifi the acclamation of all classes.* Meanwhile
the prog-ress of orthodoxy among- the southern, or Spole-
tan and Beneventine Lombards had been at least equally
rapid. Romuald and his successors, Grimoald and Gi-
sulf^ were steadity attached to the catholic doctrine and
ritual. Under the auspices of the latter of these princes,
,,. ^ the monasterv of Monte Casino, founded bv the
Re-establish- . , n^r j^' i • i ni i
mentof patriarch ot Latin monachism, the celebrated Cas"no ^^' ^6^^6<^^ict, towards the close of the fifth cen- tury, but which had been unoccupied for a pe- riod of one hundred and ten years, was re-peopled by a numerous colon}' of monks, under the presidency of St. Petronax." The Lombard clergy of the two duchies tes- tified their adhesion to the Eoman scheme of orthodoxy by the solemn adoption of the sixth g-eneral council, held at Constantinople in the years 680 and 681, in which the heresy of the Monothelites was condemned.^ Priests and people had passed silently and g*radually into the worship of the saints, relics, and imag-es, which their teachers had substituted for the numerous objects of su-
" For a more detailed account of these pp. 487, 488.
superstitions, I must refer the reader to " Id. lib. vi. c. Ix. p. 50.3.
my Hist, of the Germ. ch. xiii. p. 770. v Jd jjb yj (.. iv. p. 492.
' Paul. Diac. lib. v. cc. xxxviii. xxxix.
CiiAP. I] THE PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER. 255
perstitious or idolatrous reverence of which they had been deprived. The}' now trusted to the mediation of saints and the virtues of rehcs, as formerly to their charms and amulets and incantations^ to avert natural calamities^ contagious disorders, and other public and private mis- haps. They became equally eag-er with the devout Frank for the acquisition of efficacious relics^ and vied with each other in the construction of shrines and churches for their due commemoration and worship.'''
After the death of Kunibert^ in the year 700, a sud- den revolution placed Aripert duke of Turin Tiigpatn- upon the throne of Lombardy j and there he mony of st. maintained himself for a period of eleven 3'ears.'' ^^^^^' Meanwhile Gisulf duke of Beneventum attacked the im- perialists of Naples ; an operation of which the popes^ as professed subjects of the Byzantine Cgesars, were not entitled to complain. But the incessant warfare carried on by Greeks and Lombards of necessity involved the vio- lation of that sacred territory which the Roman church had already hallowed to itself, under the name of the Patrimony of St. Peter. Over the whole and every part of these domains the popes threw the ceg^is of their great patron^ and claimed for it immunity from all the incidents of secular warfare. Even at this early period, the ^^ pa- trimony" comprised a very larg-e part of the Byzantine duchy of Rome. The estates attached to the holy see are said to have extended from the vicinity of Naples as far northward as the city of Viterbo. Besides these, the popes possessed, or claimed, many more distant domains in the north of Ital}^, and even on the Gallic side of the Alps, in the southern districts of the Burgundian king'dom.^
"' See Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. iv. p. 492. parts of both bodies. And see the Abbo
When St. Petronax returned to Monte Muratori's learned summary of the long
Casino, the community found that they controversy about the relics of St. Bene-
had suffered an unspeakable loss. The diet, note 19 adloc. Paul. Diac. mod. cit.
bones of St. Benedict, and of his sainted '' Id. lib. vi. cc. xvii.-xx.
sister Scholastica, had been feloniously y Gregory the Great, in Epp. i. and ii.,
carried away by a party of relic-stealers ap. D. Bouq. torn. iv. pp. 12, 13, gives
from Mons and Orleans to enrich the particular directions for the manage-
monastery of St. Benoit-sur-Loire. The ment of the Arelatensian estates of the
brethren of Monte Casino, however, see of Rome ; or, as he calls it, the
comforted themselves with the posses- " patrimonium Gallicanum." Confer
sion of the undoubted nose, mouth, and Mannert, Geogr. der Gr. und Rom. vol.
eyes of the saint, and of all the fleshy i. p. 311.
256 CATHEDEA PETKI. [Book IV.
Extensive and widely-scattered districts, whose g'eog'ra-
its exposed phical positioH necessarily exposed them to the position, incursions of the bellig"erents, fell thus within the sacred pale of the Church ; and the pope, as official g-uardian of the hallowed precinct, declared spiritual war against every intruder within those limits. It would have been fortunate for the interests of humanit}^ if the pontiffs could have maintained their claim ; but the immunity de- manded was too inconvenient to the belligerent powers to command acquiescence. Thus the wars of Duke Gisulf with the Greek governor of Rome had brought him into the vicinity of the city ; but there he was met by so pow- erful a remonstrance on the part of the Roman clergy, that he relinquished his enterprise and retired (a.d. 702)/ Three years later the usurper Aripert acquired a claim to the gratitude of Pope John VII. by the restitution of a district in Lombardy alleg-ed to have belong-ed to the Roman church prior to the Lombard invasion/ But these were tokens of early zeal, and occurred before the attachment of the Lombards to the see of Rome was ex- posed to severer trials.
In the year 712, Aripert was driven from his usurped
Ans rand throne, and slain in battle by Duke Ansprand and and his renowned son Luitprand. The father
Luitprand. gj^j^yg^j ^]^e throuc but a. few months after the downfall of their adversary ; and Luitprand succeeded to an insecure and precarious inheritance. In the first year
o. . f of his reio'n he defeated more than one conspi-
Stateofgo- '-'^ "^"^ •'' 1 • 1 1 ^•^ h Tt • •
vernment in racy ag'auist his throue and lire. 15 ut activity Lombardy. ^^^^ vigilaucc enabled him to maintain his au- thority. This insecurity of the central government in Lombardy resulted from the rude state of society, and the absence of any settled rule of succession. And thus it happened, that every duke or noble who could rely upon the attachment of his fara, or clan, or could collect a party strong* enough to make head ag-ainst the govern- ment, might aspire to the throne. The dukes ag-ain re-
^ Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. xxvii. p. 499, in letters of gold, and was afterwards
with the note of Muratori {Ul). Conf. confirmed by King Luitprand. Faul.
Anurias, ap. eund. tom. iii. p. 151. Diac. lib. vi. c. xliii. p. 504.
a The deed of restitution was written ^ Ibid. lib. vi. c. xxxv. p. 502.
CiiAP. I.] PAPAL SUCCESSION FROM 654 TO 712. 257
lied upon the same support to protect them ag-ainst the t^^ranny of the sovereig'n, and to secure impunity for disobedience or treason. When the crown was strong- enoug-h^ dukes were appointed or deposed at the royal pleasure ; when the g'overnment was weak, duchies and offices of State were usurped or disposed of at the will of the strong-est ; each duke jdelding- to or resisting* the authority of the king- according- to the streng-th, number, and attachment of his followers and clansmen. Among* the Lombards, as among* the Franks and Germans, of- fices, honours, estates, were g*radually assuming* an here- ditary character. The more distant duchies of Spoletum and Beneventum lay too far away from the seat of g*o- vernment to be under the eifectual control of the central power ; the command of the military force, and with it every function of g*overnment, fell of necessity into the hands of the dukes j and, with such means at their com- mand, it would have been surprising* if they had not used them to perpetuate authority in their own famihes.''
Between the abduction and death of Pope Martin I., in the year 654, and the accession of King- Luit- p^ ^^ ^^^^^ prand, — a period of about sixty years, — a series cession from of no fewer than foul'teen popes occupied the ^^^ *^ ^^^" pontifical chair of Eome. The dr}^ list runs thus : Eu- g*enius I., Yitalian, Adeodatus, Bonus or Bomnus, Ag-a- tho, Leo IL, Benedict II., John V., Conon, Serg-ius I., John VI., John VII., Sisinnius, and Constantine II. Of these, one pontificate — that of Sisinnius — was under a month f three — those of Leo IL, Benedict IL, and Conon — under a twelvemonth ; the long-est — those of Vitalian, Adeodatus, Serg-ius L, and Constantine I. — reached re- spectively the terms of fourteen years and a halfj four years and a half, thirteen years and three quarters, and eig-ht years. ^ These pontificates, thoug-h in many in- stances disting-uished by vig*orous spiritual action, mani- fest none of that political vitality which subsequently in-
« Paul Diac. lib. vi. c. xxxviii. p. 503. the reader is not troubled with the
^ Sisinnius, according to Cmcone, Vit. months and days, according to the mi-
Pont., only reigned twenty days. nute, and often discrepant, computations
« So little depends upon the exact of the papal writers Baronius.Pagi, Cia-
chrouology of this rapid succession, that cone, Olduinus, Victorelli, and others.
VOL. II. S
258 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
spired the papal chair. The beo-inning" of the eighth cen- tury opens a new era in the history of the papacy. The prominent character of this era is the strug-gle and final success of the Roman pontiffs in shaking* off the tram- mels of temporal subjection, and the acquisition of a firm standing- among- the ruling" powers of this world. We pursue this subject in connection with the Lombard and Frankish history of the eighth century.
Notwithstanding the advantages accruing- to the pa- Pa ai oiic V'^^J from the g'eneral prevalence of catholic within that orthodoxy ill Lombardy, the divisions and se-
period. parate interests of the kings and chiefs, but above all, the incessant warfare waged by all, jointly or severally, against the scattered dependencies of the By- zantines in Italy, exposed the estate of the Church to all the incidents of war, and kept the city in a state of per- petual apprehension for the safety of the inhabitants and the supplies requisite for their support. On the one hand, it was obvious that the Romans could claim no forbear- ance from the Lombards as long as they continued to profess themselves the subjects of the emperor ; on the other, it became a matter of serious consideration whe- ther their renunciation of the Byzantine connection might turn out any better than an exchange of masters. No result could be more dreaded by the Roman pontiffs 5 and the policy by which they successfully eluded the dilemma constitutes the main interest of the period we have now to consider.
The accession of the warlike and enterprising Luit- invasion P^''^^^^ ^0 tlic tlirouc of the Louibards again drew
of the upon the " patrimon}'^" of the Church devasta- "J g" Pgjjj," tion and pillage. In the course of their warfare
by the agaiust the Greeks, the Beneventine Lombards
ombar s. |^^j posscsscd themselvcs of the town of Cumse, within the pale of the Greek duchy of Naples. But Pope Gregory IL claimed that town as part and parcel of the '^patrimony" of St. Peter, and made many fruitless at- tempts, by spiritual censures and remonstrances, to induce the captors to abandon their prey ; nor could they be pre- vailed upon to evacuate the place till the pope had paid
Chap. I.] LEO AGAINST IMAGE-WORSHIP. 259
them seventy pounds* weig'ht of g'old as a ransom.* A few 3^ears later, Faroald duke of Spoletum invaded the Ra- vennatine territor}^, and possessed himself of the town of Chiasso, a dependenc}^ of the holy see. Luitprand, it is true, compelled his reluctant subject to restore the place to the Church ', but a short time afterwards, he himself, in the course of his wars with the Greeks, retook and totally destroyed Chiasso. =
No circumstance in the actual position of the E-oman church had in fact been hitherto the cause of so j^^^^ much difficulty and embarrassment as the sub- and the sisting* dependence upon the Byzantine empire. %2^°*'"®s. That connection now became year by year more perplexing- and dang-erous. The people of Rome, who had suffered less from the incursions of the Lombards than the more distant parts of the so-called '' patrimony'* of St. Peter, looked for- ward with anxious solicitude to their emancipation from the extortions of a weak and vicious g'overnment. The pontiifs, thoug-h not less impatient under this equally use- less and pernicious incubus, would have waited till some powerful counterpoise ag'ainst the dang-erous ascendency of the Lombards should present itself. But events over which the Church had no control set all caution nt naug'ht, and threw them into the position they were thenceforward compelled to maintain, or sink back into the humble — and, it must be admitted, perilous — position of simple Christian bishops.
In the year 717, Leo, an Isaurian soldier of fortune, had deposed and supplanted the feeble emperor Leo the Theodosius III. Within a few days of his isaurian accession, Leo was called upon to defend his Sgo- throne ag-ainst an army of one hundred and worship. twenty thousand Arabs, under the command of Moslehma, the brother of the Caliph Suleyman. The valour of the defenders, and the skilful use of the Greek fire, a new and formidable instrument of defence, — but, in popular estimation, far more effectually the miraculous powers of
f He borrowed the gold of the Greek expense of the empire. Paul. Diac. lib. governor, or patrician, of Naples, whose vi. c. xl.; Baron. A. 715, p. 258. duty it was to defend the city at the « Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. xliv. p. 504.
260 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
the most holy effigy of the divine Theotokos^ — deUvered the city and empire from this imminent peril. The po- pulace of the capital, encouraged by their holy patriarch Germanus, were at this period devoutly addicted to saint, reUc, and imag-e worship ; and the terrors of the sieg-e had multiplied wonders, and strengthened the belief in the miraculous powers imputed to the imag-es of the Virgin and the Saints. But the emperor Leo had received his relig-ious education in a purer school ; he had imbibed from his early instructors a strong* prepossession ag-ainst the palpable idolatries which the practice in question had fostered in all the provinces of the East.*" The state of public affairs eng-ag'ed for some years so much of the emperor's solicitude, that he was unable to g-ive his at- tention to the contemplated relig-ious reformation. But in the year 726, the Christian world was shaken to its centre by an edict prohibiting- the adoration of imag-es, either in public or private worship.' The explosion of relig-ious zeal or prejudice was universal, and the bishops of llome became involved in irreconcilable hostilities with their titular sovereign. For the first time in the history of the papacy, the notions of relig-ious duty came into di- rect contradiction to civil allegiance ; and the popes pre- ferred insulting their sovereign to offending their saints. Within the century which had elapsed since the date
of Pope Gregory the Great's address to Serenus
samrancf of Marseilles upon the use of images in public
^eiic^^ois^ip worship,^ the interests of Roman Christianity
had become m a much greater degree mvolved in the practice than at any former period of its history. In France, Britain, and Germany, some progress had been made in introducing a taste for pictures and images. Belic-worship had been for ages a popular form of de- votion ; and efforts had been made to persuade the people that the interposition of the saints in heaven for temporal and spiritual blessings was to be obtained through the medium of their images and relics, and that such images
•• Occasion will hereafter occur to brought will no longer be imputed to
enter more fully into this topic; and it Protestant prejudice,
is confidently expected that after that ' Baron. Ann. 726, p. 335.
the charge of idolatry here deliberately J Conf, Book III. c. vii. pp. 222, 223.
CiiAP. L] REBELLION IN ITALY. 261
and relics were the sanctified instruments by which the saints still continued to exercise, on behalf of their vota- ries and favourites, those miraculous powers with which they were believed to have been endowed during* their abode upon earth. But within the same period the en- tire Lombard race had been g-athered into the Iloman fold. With the tenets of orthodoxy, the new converts had imbibed a strong* devotion for that outward ritual which their teachers had substituted for the national idols and superstitions. They had acquired a strong* taste for imag'es and shrines, and pilg'rimag*es and pompous pro- cessions. King* Luitprand himself was a devout admirer of relics ; and is reported to have g'iven a larg*e sum of mone}'^ to the Saracens of Africa for the restoration of the body of St. Aug*ustine of Hippo, and to have enshrined it in a sumptuous mausoleum at Pavia.""
It is natural to suppose that the edict of Leo ag-ainst the sacred objects of national adoration g'reatly embittered the hereditary animosity of the Lom- ^ jji^ bards ag*ainst their Greek opponents. Pope against the Greg'ory II., who had succeeded Constantine I. ordinances'^ in the year 714, fulminated sentence of con- of Leo the demnation and anathema ao*ainst the edict and its autlwrs ; and publicly declared his resolution to resist by force all attempts to carry the ordinance into execution within the Italian peninsula (a.d. 726).^ 'But when, in the year 730, Leo the Isaurian put the finishing*-stroke to his scheme of reformation by decreeing* the expulsion of all imag*es of worship from the churches of the empire, the Greek troops quartered in the exarchate, the Penta- polis, and the Venetian dependencies, refused to execute the mandate of the court. The g*overnors of Ravenna and the other imperial cities and dependencies, however, continued actively to second the views of their master ; and a party favourable to the abolition of imag*e-worship
■' Circ. A.D. 72.5. Paul. Dine. lib. vi. and vectlgalia to the imperial treasury.
c. xlvlii, p. 506. Conf. Baron, ad Ann. But this, as well as the reported excom-
725. munlcation of the emperor Leo by Gre-
' Baronius (Ann. 730, p. 30O) says, gory II., is problematical. Conf. Pagi,
that the pope upon his own authority not. ad Baron. In loc. cit. ; and Bower,
suspended the payment of the tributa vol. iii. p. 289.
262 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
was not wanting* even in the Italian provinces of the em- pire." Thus relig-ious discord, rebellion, and mutiny re- duced the Greek dominion in the peninsula to the brink of ruin. Luitprand, to whom this state of thing's opened brilliant advantag'es, entered zealously into the views and feeling's of the orthodox supporters of imag'e-worship. He invaded the exarchate, and by the aid of the exasperated inhabitants of Ravenna, made himself master of that city. All Italy lay at his feet ; a deadly blow had been dealt at the project of the heretical emperor, and Luit- prand was exalted to the dig'iiity of the champion of orthodoxy and imag'e-worship."
But this was a triumph in no respect ag^reeable to the
Gregory II. pontiff. The succcss of Luitpraud occasioned saves the hardly less consternation at Kome than at Con-
exarc ate. gf^ntiuople ; and Greg'ory II. urg'entl}^ entreated Ursus, the imperial commander in the Venetian pro- vince, to spare no exertion for the recovery of Ravenna. Fortune, or the incapacity of the Lombard g'overnors, fa- voured the imperialists ; and Ravenna was restored to the heretical emperor by the efforts of the most determined of his relig-ious opponents." During* the first effervescence of public feeling' ag-ainst the sacrilegious decrees of Leo, the armies of the exarchate had been upon the point of renouncing' their allegiance and setting' up an emperor of their own choice. This desig'n was strenuously opposed by the pope. There is, however, no ground for imputing' these manifestations of loyalty to any feeling' of dutiful obedience resembling' that which induced his g-reat name- sake and predecessor to publish the much reprobated ordin- ance of the emperor Maurice.^ The measures in question were, in fact, sug'g-ested by obvious political expediency. It would have been but sorry policy to exchang'e the pro- tection of the empire, however distant and precarious, for that of any feeble usurper whom it mig-ht please a fickle and lawless soldiery to set up ; and it was as clear to the pope as it is to us now that the triumph of the rebellion in the exarchate must soon, if not immediate^, have
"' Anastas. Bibl. ap. Baron, torn. xii. ° Anastas. ap. Baron. Ann. 726, § 26,
p. 361. p. 343. Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. liv. p. 508.
" Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. xlix. p. 506. v See Book III. c. vii. p. 233.
Chap. I.] SUCCESSES OF LUITPKAND. 263
delivered all Itaty^ with Rome herself, into the hands of the Lombards.''
But Greg'ory II. was not the less anxious to avail him- self of the enthusiasm of the moment to defeat „ ^ ,
, -i 7 • • • J p 1 • • T 1' J. He defeats
the religions projects oi his sovereig-n. In lact, the reforms his personal safetv depended now wholly on the *l^ ^®° *^®
^. I'll 1 PI- Isaunan.
protection which the attachment oi the imag-e- worshiping- majority threw around him. Paul exarch of Ravenna, and the dukes Basilius of Rome and Exhila- ratus of Naples, had received positive orders from the court to seize the person of the pope as a traitor to the State. Basilius was, however, attacked by the Romans and shut up in a monastery ; while his officers, Johannes and Jordanes, paid the penalty of obedience with their lives. At Naples, Duke Exhilaratus and his son An- drianus met with the same fate ; and when afterwards the exarch Eutychius of Ravenna endeavoured to carry the imperial decree against Greg'ory into execution, he was met by so stout a resistance that he was promptly compelled to abandon the attempt.'
But these disturbances did not improve the political position of the papacy in Italy. During* the successes of iconoclastic seditions at Ravenna, in which the Luitprand. exarch Paul (the predecessor of Eutychius) lost his life, Luitprand had possessed himself of many strong" places in the ^milian province : he had captured Montebello, Buxetum, Persiceta, Bolog'na, and Osimo," and reduced the exarchate to a narrow strip of coast-land along' the north-western shores of the Adriatic. In the midst of these turmoils, the able Pope Greg'ory II. passed from the scene j and was succeeded by an impetuous and unlettered Syrian priest, under the name of Gregory III. ^ ,„
(a.d. 731.) At this juncture, the attention of "^^^^^^ Luitprand was diverted for a time fi^om the affairs of southern Italy by the alarming' inroads of the Sclavi of Carinthia. The war with the Greeks was carried on with various success ; and in the year 739, Luitprand marched to the assistance of Charles Martel, the heroic major-domo
1 Conf. Baron, iibi sup. §§ 26, 27. Anastas. ap. Baron. A. cit. §§ 38, 39,
^ Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. xlix. p. 506; » Anastas. ap. Baron, ubi sup.
264 • CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
of the Franks, in expelling* the Saracens of Spain from the provinces of Lang'uedoc and Provence. By these services he relieved himself from all apprehension on his north- western frontier, and acquired a claim to the gratitude of his powerful neig^hbour. He was now at leisure to mark what had been done amiss on his southern frontiers. For some 3^ears past the vassal dukes of Beneventum and Spoletum had g-iven ample cause for uneasiness and re- sentment. Both had been found tampering" with the Greek g"overnors of Bome and Naples to the prejudice of their suzerain. In the year 740, Luitprand marched, ag-ainst Thrasimund of Spoleto with an overwhelming* force, and compelled him to take refuge with his confederate Stephen, the governor, or patrician, of Bome ; and his duchy was given to a nobleman named Hilderich. Luitprand ad- vanced forthwith to the gates of the city, and demanded the immediate surrender of his rebel subject. Upon their advance the Lombards laid waste the circumjacent coun- try, and even despoiled the church of St. Peter of its most costly ornaments.*
In this emergency. Pope Gregory III. opened a Luitprand Communication with Charles Martel, the major- before Rome, domo, or priucc, of the Franks, with a view to obtain his interference for the protection of the holy see." No satisfactory reply was obtained. But Luitprand did not press the siege of Bome ; he satisfied himself with Dismembers detaching four towus or cities, with the districts the " patri- appurtciiant to them, from the " patrimony" of ™°"^* St. Peter, and annexing them to the duchy of Beneventum. He had, however, hardly withdrawn from the Bom an territory before the citizens marched out to restore their ally Thrasimund to his duchy. The operation was successful 5 and the duke was reinstated upon con- dition that he should procure the restoration of the four towns detached by Luitprand. But Thrasimund forgot, Zachary or was uuable to perform, his promise. Mean- pope, while Gregory III. had been succeeded in the
' Particularly a mao;nificent cande- alliance, from which the papacy derived
labrmn of silver. See ^aron. Ann. 740, advantages little contemplated at the
§ 20, torn. xii. p. 454. time.
" The first step towards that intimate
Chap. I.] ZACHARY PEOTECTS THE EXARCHATE. 265
papal chair by Zachary/ a name of celebrity in the papal annals. The new pope insisted upon the restoration of the four towns ; but with no better success than that which had attended the requisitions of his predecessor. Thrasimund was therefore adjudg"ed to have forfeited all claim to further protection ; and Zachary sent word to Luitprand that he was prepared to abandon his late ally to the veng-eance of the king*, and even to send the Roman militia to his assistance^ upon condition that the four towns should be restored to the " patrimony" of St. Peter. Luitprand adopted the proposal ; the forces of the Romans marched to co-operate with the king"'s troops; and Thrasimund, hopeless of repelling" both his enemies, threw himself at the feet of his suzerain, and put him in possession of the whole duchy without further resistance. After this eas}^ success, Luitprand affected to undervalue the assistance of the pope, and hesitated to pay the heavy price demanded. But Pope Zachary, whose procures political influence in Rome obviously overbal- restitution anced that of the imperial patrician, made the confiscated whole matter his own aftair and that of his '^^'^*'^- church. He went in person to the Lombard camp at Narni, and urg-ed his demands with so much eloquence and address, that Luitprand not only surrendered the territory in dispute, but restored certain estates claimed to have been in times past a portion of the " patrimony" of the Church ; and, as a further protection to the holy see and her domain, consented to a truce of twenty years with the imperial g-overnor of Rome.'''
In the year 741, the king- found himself in possession of the entire duchy of Spoletum, as well as of that of Beneventum ; thus enclosing* the estates zachTry of the Church, tog-ether with the remnant of the saves the Greek duchy of Naples, in his dang'erous em- brace." Rebellion and disaffection hud been repressed and punished ; the Greek exarchate had been by this time shorn of the g-reater portion of its territory in the Penta-
" A.D. 741, Dec, 5th, Olduin, ap. Cia- Anastasius there quoted, cone, in Zach. pap. ^ Paul. Diac. lib. vi, cc. Iv. and Ivi,
" Baron. A. 739, § 5. Id. ibid. Ann. pp. 508, 509. 741 and 742, and the extracts from
266 CATHEDEA PETKI. [Book IV.
polls '/ and by the recent capture of Cesena, Ravenna itself was placed in a state of blockade, and exposed to dis- tress and famine at the pleasure of the enemy. In this difficulty, the exarch Eutyches and the archbishop John entreated the intercession of Pope Zachary to save the church and people of Ravenna from the perils which sur- rounded them. The pontiff himself, notwithstanding- the advantag-es g-ained in his late interview with Luitprand, was none the less alarmed at the progTess of the Lombard power; and the messag'e of the Ravennatines was felt by him to be quite as much an appeal to his own interests as to his humanity or his duty to the threatened Church. He therefore applied himself promptly to the task "assig"ned him. Presuming' upon his influence with the king-, he ad- monished him on the part of holy Church to desist from his designs ag-ainst the city. Luitprand turned a deaf ear to the demand, and even refused to admit the papal emissa- ries to an audience. In this emerg-ency, Zachary, inspired perhaps b}^ the example of his great predecessor Leo, who had successfully bearded the lion Attila in his lair, set forth on a journey to Pavia, with the resolution to urg-e his suit before the king- in person. Luitprand received him reluct- antly, but respectfully. After performing- pontifical mass in the metropolitan church of the city, he dined with the king- ; and on the following- day he made, we are told, so powerful an appeal to the understanding- and relig-ion of the monarch, that, thoug-h he listened at first with ex- treme impatience, he became g-radually interested, and was at leng-th completely won over to the views of the pontiff. He consented to raise the blockade of Ravenna ; to restore immediately two-thirds of the district of Cesena; and, in the event of a peace with the emperor Constan- tine Copron3'^mus, — to whom ambassadors were to be de- spatched for that purpose, — to g'ive up the remaining- third to the empire.^
y The modern legations of Bologna But see Art. de ver. Sfc. torn. i. pp. 257
and Ferrara. and 421. The journey of Zachary to
^ Constantine came to the throne in Pavia forms a chapter of Johannes MUl-
the year 741. The date of Zachary's ler's interesting little volume, entitled
journey to Pavia is fixed by Muratori "Journeys of the Popes," — Works, vol.
(Ss. Rr. Ital. tom. i. p. 511, note 244) in viii. p. 23. the last year of the reign of Luitprand.
Chap. I.] CHARACTER OF LUITPRAND. 267
Pope Zachary might indeed cong-ratulate himself and his si^iritual subjects on their deUverance from the imme- diate dang-er which threatened them ; but what he had seen at Pavia did not encourag-e the hope of a durable state of tranquillity for Church or State. He returned thanks to God for his providential success ; but in the very terms of that thanksgiving- besoug-ht " the great Giver of peace and Lover of concord" to deliver those intrusted to his charg-e, Romans as well as Kavennatines^ from the deceiver and persecutor Luitprand. " Nor," says his bio- grapher AnastasiuSj " were the prayers of the holy man poured forth in vain ; for not long- afterwards the Lord withdrew that prince from the light of this world; and all persecution ceased. Then was there joy, not only among* the Romans and Ravennatines, but likewise among the Lombards themselves."^
In the reigns of Zachary and his two pre- Ascendency decessorS; the political views of the papacy had of ^^"1'?^^°'^= underg'one a very marked expansion. Zachary had, it is true, failed in obtaining all the concessions he had ex- pected ; and the power of the Lombards, under the able management of Luitprand, had acquired a strength and consistency verj^ prejudicial to the prospects of.the holy see. But that prince, the most deserving of the Lom- bard king's of Italy, died at a mature ag'e in the his death and spring of the year 744, after a reign of thirty- character, one years and seven months. He had revised and im- proved the laws of his predecessor Rothari, and adorned his cities with many sumptuous buildings. During his reign Arianism had become almost extinct ; the ancient heathenism was superseded by saint^ relic, and image worship ; churches, monasteries, convents, and clerical seminaries were multiplied and amply endowed ; internal tranquillity was, upon the whole, successfully maintained ; and habits of subordination, to which his princes and subjects had been hitherto strongly averse, were intro- duced. The military force of the kingdom was improved, the frontiers well defended, and the more distant depend- encies brought within reach of the central authority.
* Anastas. Vit. Pont. ap. Munit. torn. iii. p. 163.
^68 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
" This prince/' says Paul the Deacon, " was a person of gTeat wisdom, sag-acity, and piety ; a lover of peace, yet mig-hty in battle j merciful towards offenders; chaste, modest; munificent in almsg"iving' ; ig-norant, indeed, of letters, but a philosopher rather by nature than by educa- tion ; for he was the father and legislator of his people.'"'
The Lombards chose Hildebrand, a nephew of the Hiidebrand l^te king", to succeed him on their throne. But
^^^S' his vices and cruelties soon disgusted his sub- jects, and he was deposed after a reig^n of seven months
Rachis Only. Rachis, son of Pemmo duke of Friuli,
^i"g- was next raised to the throne. Thoug'h a bold and successful warrior, he was of a relig'ious and contem- plative turn of mind. Pope Zachary saw his advantag*e, and without difficulty obtained from him a confirmation of the twenty years' truce g-ranted by Luitprand in favour of the territories of the church of Rome. But this treaty did not protect those of the Greek exarchate ; and in the year 750 the Lombard armies invaded Tuscany, and laid sieg-e to the city of Perugia. But Pope Zachar^^^ — upon what ground it is difficult to conjecture — chose to con- sider that city as part and parcel of the Petrine patri- mony, and therefore protected by the truce. The dang-er- ous approach of the Lombards once more called forth the personal interference of the intrepid pontiff. He took up his staff and crosier, and proceeded with a small
oTpopT^ retinue to the camp of the king- before Perug-ia.'' Zachary, Hachis, who meant no offence to the Church
and .1'. . ^ . 11*
m the mvasion or a territory belonging- to an enemy, was taken by surprise. The sudden and impos- ing- visit implied, and was intended to imply, some crime of mag-nitude ag-ainst the awful majesty of the Church, to which he was devoutly attached; the eloquent denun- ciations of the saintl}^ pontiff, his pious conversation and apostolical authority, smote his royal auditor to the heart, and he recoiled from the ab3'ss of g-uilt into which his
'' Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. Iviii. p. 511. it had again fallen into their hands, or
<= Perugia had been recaptured from that it had ever been annexed to the
the Lombards by the exarch Smarag- states of the Church, or even included
dus, in the year 595; and from that pe- within the duchy of Rome, riod there is no reasoa to believe that
CuAP. I.] RACmS-AISTULPH. 209
martial ardour had been on the point of plung-ing- him. The sieg-e of Perug-ia was instantly abandoned ; and Ka- chis^ grateful for liis escape from the apprehended penal- ties of perjury and sacrileg-e, carried into immediate exe- cution a resolve which^ from his peculiar tone of mind^ there can be little doubt he would sooner or abdication later have adopted. He descended from his ofEachis. throne^ renounced the world; and entered himself a hum- ble probationer of the fraternity of Monte Casino ; where but lately Carlmann, the brother of Pippin the Short, major-domo and king- of the Franks, had sought an asy- lum from a world of violence and g-uilt.'*
By the retirement of Eachis the throne of the Lom- bards became vacant ; and it was immediately ^istuiph filled by the elevation of his ambitious brother and Aistulph. The king-dom had at this point of '''' ^''^' time attained a deg-ree of power to which no effectual resistance could be offered within the limits of Italy. The Byzantine exarchate, in fact, existed only under the pro- tectorate of the Church ; the mihtary force of the Roman duchy was insio-nificant, nor could the armies of the united frag-ments of Greek territory within the peninsula have furnished the means of a single campaign in the field. The character of the new king of the Lombards offered no pro- spect of success for that course of pohcy which had told so well upon his more devout predecessors ; and Pope Za- chary soon became sensible that the corslet of Aistulph was very likely to turn the edge of the keenest of his spiritual weapons.
We find, in fact, that we have now arrived at a great turning-point in papal history. The bishop of secuiarisa- Rome had in many respects stepped into the tion of the position of a temporal prince. The political p^^p^^'
<! Chron. Cassinense, B.^. Murat. torn. veral retreats. Eachis was received into
iii. p. 358. Conf. Baron. A. 7.50, torn. xii. the Benedictine brotherhood at Monte
p. 558, cum Pag. Crit. The devotional Casino; and Thasia and her daughter
contagion seized at the same time his collected a community of pious sisters
queen Thasia and his daughter Ratruda. around them at Plumbariola, not far
The royal penitents proceeded in pil- distant from Monte Casino. Both es-
griraage together to the shrine of St. tablishnients profited not a little by the
Peter; and after receiving the aposto- munilicence of the royal inmates, lical benediction, departed for their se-
270 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
balance of Italy was in his hands : and the maintenance of that position had become a matter of necessit}^ rather than of choice ; for by this time it was beyond human contemplation that he should ever step back into the con- dition of a humble spiritual chief or pastor. A long- train of events and aspirations^ in most instances wholly for- eign to the character and the duties of Christian bishops, had inevitably tended to secularise the papacy. The vast endowments lavished on the see of Rome by the piety or a necessary the policy of a loug" liiic of imperial and royal consequence bcncfactors ; the scattered and precarious posi- territoriai tiou of thcse cndowmcuts *, the disputable titles possessions under which they were held or claimed ; the im- practicable immunities setup in their favour, — immunities, nevertheless, of the utmost importance to their security and quiet enjoyment, — imposed upon the holder of the chair of Peter all the duties of a temporal prince, and flung- him headlong" into the vortex of secular politics. Thoug-h the bitterest spiritual enemy of the empire, the pope had been converted by a strang-e complication of circumstances into a political friend ; and in that character had become involved in a conflict which he had no outward means of bringing" to a successful issue, except by converting- his spiritual powers into the instruments of secular warfare. Nothing" was farther from the pontifical scheme than the exaltation of his spiritual enemy the heretical emperor ; and in an ag-e like that we are contemplating-, the naked duty of alleg'iance, divested as it was of all relig"ious support, would never have induced him to save a shred and am- ^f the Byzautine dominion in Italy. Yet his biguous own ambig'uous position as a member of the position, belhg-erent state exposed him at every turn to the justifiable attack of the opposing- power ; and ag"ainst neither had he any adequate material resources to back up his pretensions to stand between them in the character of a secular mediator. He could not renounce his con- nection with the empire without at the same time aban- doning- the last frail prop of his anomalous authority at home ; abroad he had nothing" to rely upon against the org-anised and g-allant armies of the Lombards but the
Cn-AP. I.] rnOSPECTIVE CONNECTION WITH FRANCE. 271
wretched B3v.antine g'arrison, and the tumultuary mihtia of the Komans. Every circumstance, therefore, irresisti- bly impelled the pope to the conclusion that there could be no peace for Home, no solid temporal foundation for the spiritual supremacy already achieved by the see of Peter, but in the total overthrow both of the Greek and the Lombard powers in Italy, and the appropriation of their spoils by the holy see.
There is abundant historical gTound to believe that this object had by this time shaped itself very distinctly in the mind of the papacy : the terri- oTcontenT-^ tory of its rcliqious encmii. the emperoi\ 7mist plated ac- he definitively annexed to the j)atri7Uony of St. Peter, tog'ether with as much more extensive a territorial estate as opportunity mig'ht bring- within its g-rasp ; and for the entire domain thus acquired, all the immunities and exemptions from secular control, and the incidents of secular warfare, hitherto claimed on behalf of the Church patrimony, must be irreversibly established. But there remained the arduous and apparently hopeless task of wresting- these prospective acquisitions from the hands of the Lombard enemy. And, in fact, the whole course of the papal policy was thenceforward directed to the ac- comphshment of this single object. That object was to be effected by a simple chanye of i^rotectorate ; and that protectorate to be of a nature to secure all the advan- tages of effectual secular support without the incidents of jwUtical dependence, or of any such reciprocity of oblig-a- tion as might bind the hands of the pope or impede the prog*ress of the spiritual autocracy.
The religious and political state of the Frankish king-- dom afforded the desired opportunity, and pre- Prospective sented the means for the solution of the problem connection in hand. The eyes of the ])opes had been for ^^'^ France. some time past fixed upon the church and g-overnment of France as the quarter from which their deliverance was to proceed. But with a view to show the prog-ress already made by the see of Rome, and the means, spiritual and temporal, at her command for further encroachments upon the constitutional privileg-es of other churches, we must
272 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
cast a g'lance back at the state of the Christian churches in Western Europe during- the seventh and the first half of the eig-hth centur}^ We shall thereby acquire a more distinct notion of the relations in which the more im- portant branches of the Latin church stood towards the Eoman patriarch, and bring" under observation the ele- ments of that nearer connection which was to g'row up between them in the following ag-e.
CHAPTER II.
'^ SPAIN AND FRANCE IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
I. The churches of Spain in the seventh century — Constitutional powers of the Spanish clergy — Papal confirmations unknown to Spanish clergy — Commu- nications with Rome — Independent action of the Spanish churches — Their replies to the papal censures — Roman influence in Spain at the epoch of the Arab conquest — II. Latin Christianity among the Franks — Conversion of the Franks — its character — Modes of conversion — State of the Prankish clergy — Christianity among the Franks — Priestcraft — Moral state— Civil and political state — Clerical judicatures, prerogatives, and immunities — Powers and secular habits of Frankish bishops — The mayor of the palace, his powers, &c. — Leudes — Antrustions — Bishops a constituent estate of the kingdom — Advancing pri- vileges of the clergy — Declining influence of Rome in the Frankish churches — Elements of reformation — Principle of " church unity" — Rome the "mother," &c. — Vantage-ground of Rome.
Though ultimately struck out of the list of Christian na- tions by the Arab conquest of the eig-hth cen-^, ,
* J. o Trg cnurciiGS
tury^ 3'et the Gothic monarchy of Spain was of Spain in still desthied to endure for more than a cen- ^^Jg^t^J"*^^ tuiy, from the conversion of Reccared to the overthrow of King- Roderick in the year 712. And there are peculiarities in the history of the intercourse of the Spanish churches with the holy see during- that period which throw some lig*ht upon the degree and intensity of papal influence at this stag'e of its prog-ress, and may enable us to form a more accurate estimate of the value attached bv the men of that ag-e to the claims of the Petrine chair upon the Christian world.
The conformity of King- Reccared to the catholic faith^ in the year 580^ certainly increased the powers of influence of Rome in the Visig-othic king-doms. the Spanish Pope Gregory the Great had taken steps to *^^'^^y- withdraw the appointment of bishops and superior clergy from the direct nomination of the laity, and to correct the simoniacal practices which polluted the churches of Spain ;^ but he did not attempt to draw these appoint-
=* Conf. Book III. c. vi. p. 183, and c. vii. p 226. VOL. II. T
274 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
ments to himself; nor is it probable that he succeeded in the sing"le attempt recorded of him to acquire original jurisdiction in the so-called " Causae majores" or " Epis- copales.'"" And it so happened that during- the whole course of the seventh century the attention of the Roman pontiffs was so absorbed b}^ the solicitudes of their own political position^ their controversies with the Orientals^ and the manag'ement of the Italian and Gallic churches^ that they had little leisure to attend to the affairs of the remote peninsula of Spain. The ecclesiastical system was therefore left to work its own way, and was enabled to acquire a position of great social and political importance. The clergy, in fact, became the preponderating* power in the state/ and took a large share in State-legislation and the management of public affairs. The periodical assem- blies of the superior clergy flowed into and became em- bodied with the legislative diets of the kingdom. At these great meeting's kings, princes, nobles, and prelates dis- cussed tog'ether matters temporal and spiritual: they re- gulated the succession to the crown ; they deposed and set up king's ; they absolved subjects from their oaths of alle- giance, and imposed others corresponding with the changes of g'overnment; and enacted laws for the whole body of the State. At the same time, and in the same assemblies, they took order for the government of the churches ; they appointed and deposed bishops; and passed numerous canons for the better celebration of divine worship, the regulation of discipline, the prevention of simony, the sup- pression of popular superstitions, and a variety of other objects of purety religious and ecclesiastical interest.
Of the twenty-eight national synods held within the Papal power scventh ccutur}^, we are in possession of the ofconfirma- acts of twcntv-seven. In all these documents
tion unknown • a • . " i c i'
to the Span- & smg'lc lustancc onl}^ occurs ot an}^ rererence ish churches, to the Confirmatory or visitatorial authority of the see of Rome. There is not a vestige of evidence to
»> Conf. Book III. p. 227. benediction. Baronius(A. 688) remarks
•^ It is related of King Egica, that of this humble demeanour, that it was
when he opened the xvith council of "dignum exeraplum catholic! princi-
Toledo, he prostrated himself before pis."
the assembled prelacy, and craved their
Chap. II.] EOME AND THE SPANISH CHUECHES. 275
show that the canons or body of haws enacted by those assembhes were ever reported to^ or broug-ht officiall}' to the knowledg-e of, the holy see. From this circumstance it may be safely inferred, that the papal claim to imme- diate and circumstantial reports of all that should be re- solved or decreed in national or provincial synods, with a view to the unfettered exercise of the alleg'ed power to confirm or annul such acts or resolutions, was during* all that period unknown to the Spanish churches.
It mig'ht notj indeed, be quite fair, considering- the re- moteness of the Spanish peninsula, to demand communica- the proof of a uniform transmission of reports t'O"^ ^f ^^^ and orders to and from Rome, before we admit churches any of these claims as estabhshed in Spain. '^^^^ ^^"'"^• Yet the confident lang'uag-e of the papal writers, in affir- mation of the absolute universality of the practice, would lead us to expect, in the case of Spain, as of other prin- cipal churches, to find among" the acts of these g-reat national synods some positive acknowledg-ment of Roman supremacy ; or at least some reverential allusion to the pontifical acts and ordinances, some dutiful mention of their authority, some expressions of reg'ret at being* de- prived of the papal instructions, or that, while making- laws for the g-overnment of the national church, they should have been kept in ig-norance of that perfect code of prerogative law held out to them as the only true pi-inciple of religious legislation, binding alike upon all Christian princes, prelates, and people. But of all this there is no trace in the records themselves. The fourth council of Toledo, held in the year GIO, mentions the name of Pope Gregory the Great, and authorises the Roman form of administering the eucharist upon his authority.'' At the council of Seville, held in the year Giy, '^ the decrees of the kings and the edicts of the popes are mentioned as authorities or rules for deter- mining- the territorial extent of the episcopal jurisdictions and the limits of dioceses.* After this, no allusion to Rome occurs in any extant Spanish council till the year
'' ThLs occurs in the xviiith canon, •= Id. ibid. p. 296.
Fleurij, H. E. torn. viii. p. 364.
276 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
683. In that year Pope Leo II. sent a leg-ate into Spain to demand the submission of those churches to the acts of the sixth g-eneral cauncil, then lately held at Con- stantinople, ag-ainst the heresy of the Monothehtes. The leg"ate carried with him a copy of the acts in question, together with letters from the pope to the king-, the clerg-y, and nobility of the realm/ apprising- them of the proceeding-s of the council, and calling- upon them to ac- cept and publish the acts as the established rule of faith upon the dog-ma of the divine and human will in the Christ, and to send them back to Home with the signa- tures of all the bishops attached to them.^
But before a reply to the papal demand could be received from Spain, Pope Leo II. died, and
Independent jirxi, it) i_j.
action of the was succccdcd by the popular Koman presbyter Spanish Benedict II. His first care was to remind the the Mono- Icg'atc of the holy see in Spain of the important theiite con- (Juty committed to him, and to urg-e him with- out loss of time to obtain the confirmatory sig- natures of the bishops to the acts of the g-eneral council of Constantinople, held three years before (a.d. 681). But this monition arrived immediately after the dissolution of the general annual S3mod of the Spanish churches, and the lateness of the season rendered it impossible to recall them.'' It is obvious that the Spaniards regarded the whole subject as a question, not of individual, but of ag'- gregate concernment. Their church had received no in- timation of the matter of controversy^, nor of the inten- tion to bring it before a general assembly of the Church. No summons to attend such assembly had reached them ; nor had time or opportunity been afforded to consider and decide upon the merits of the discussion. Such an exclusion from the councils of Christendom entitled them to regard the whole question as open to a free inquiry on their part ; and in that opinion the bishops of the Cartha- ginian province, assembled at Toledo, in the winter of the
' Cardinal Baronius (A. 683) unfor- however, regard them as genuine,
tunately finds the name of Pope Hono- 8 See the letter of Leo II. ap. Hard.
rius I. on thelistofheresiarchs condem- Cone. torn. iii. p. 1733 et sqq.
ned by the council, and pronounces the '' Cone. Tolet.xiv. § 3, ap. Hard. tom.
letters to be forgeries. Pagi and Fleury, iii. p. 1754.
Chap. II.] INDEPENDENCE OF THE SPANISH CHUKCHES. 277
year 684, with as many of the neig-hbourmg* prelates, or their vicars, as could be conveniently broug-ht tog-ether, fully concurred. They carefully examined the acts sent for their sig'natures with those of the first four g-eneral councils, with a view to ascertain their dog'matic conform- ity ; and having- satisfied themselves that no discrepancy or departure from the catholic faith was to be detected in them, they freely sig'nified their concurrence in the deci- sions of the late council, and assig-ned to them a rank next after the first four g*eneral councils among* the records of the national church/
The Spanish prelacy thus appear to have adopted the acts of the synod of 681 spontaneously, and tj^^j^.^.^ j. without reg-ard to extraneous authority. They to the papal confirmed this decision in the subsequent Tole- '^*^°^'^'"®- dan council of 688. That they had proceeded upon a per- fectly independent examination of the whole subject, is apparent from an incident adverted to at g-reat leng'th in the minutes of the latter synod. It appears that in their letter transmitted by the leg-ate to Pope Benedict II. on the prior occasion, they had used certain terms respect- ing- the procession of the divine will in the Christ,J which had been misunderstood or misconstrued by the pope. They therefore replied to the pontifical censure by an ela- borate appeal to the writing-s of the fathers in proof of the orthodoxy of their opinions upon the points in dispute, concluding- with a solemn declaration, that '^ if, after that explanation, and the dicta of the fathers by which it was supported, they (the Koman divines) should in any way differ or dissent from their decision, no further controversy oug-ht to be entered into ; they knowing- that by adhering- rigidly to the instructions of the fathers, their answers would stand hig'h in the opinion of all w ho by the g-race of God were (real) friends of the truth, althoug-h ig-norant cavillers mig-ht reo-ard them as frivolous.'"'
The independent tone of the Spaniards ; their indif-
• Cone. Tolet. xiv. § 3, ap. Hard. pp. '' Cone. Tolet. xv. loc. cit. pp. 1766,
1753-1 7.^)6; particularly § vi. p. 1755. 1767. Conf. i^/e«/-^. torn. ix. p. 92; Ba-
j " Voluntas genuit voluntatem, ut sa- ron. A. 684, torn. xii. pp. 99, 100. pientia sapientiam."
278 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
ference to the papal mandate, and their averse- Roman m- 11 -V !••
Alienees in iiess to acKDOwledg'e any concihar decision to
^r'och*o?^ which they were not made parties as binding*
the Arab upoii them, offer conclusive proof that up to this
invasion, p^j^^^ ^f ^jj^g ^]jg pQpal preteusious had made
but little progTess in the peninsula. The reason of the failure is to be soug-ht in the remoteness of that country from the centre of Latin Christianity, and the self-existent character of the Spanish hierarchy, resulting* from the long- suspension of political and social intercourse with the rest of the Christian Avorld. It would be curious to specu- late upon what mig'ht have been the ultimate effect of this independent spirit, if the Arab invasion had been success- fully repelled. But by that event the Yisig'othic church and nation were well-nig'h extirpated from the land ; and by the time that the distressed remnant which survived the o-eneral wreck had struo-o-led once more into national life, the ensig'n of Eome floated triumphantly over the nations of the West ; and neither sympathy nor aid was to be looked for from any other quarter. It is not im- probable that the Arab scimitar foug-ht the battle of Rome more effectually than all the spiritual artillery she could have brought to bear.
Some notice has already been taken of the state of the Gallic churches under the earlier princes Christianity of tlic Meroving'iaii dynasty.' It is, however, among the important in this place to direct our attention inoxe at leng-th to the operation of Latin Chris- tianity upon the state both of clergy and commonalty in those important realms, with a view to account for that more intimate connection by which the papacy was about to proHt so larg'ely.
Thoug'h the Franks had, by their conversion, chang'ed
■, . the objects of their rehgious worship, it was long-
of the before they could be prevailed upon to abandon
Franks; its ^j^g fovms of pao'anism. From their earlier
character. •/ i i i i • i ^
teachers they learnt tliat the saints, as the spi- ritual ancestry of their church, were familiarly conversant
' Book III. c. vi. pp. 183-186.
Chap. II.] THE FRANKISH CLEEGY. 279
\vith, and took a lively interest in, all that passed on the scene of their passion and their labours here below ; that their intercession with the g-loritied Saviour was always listened to with peculiar favour j that a mysterious virtue, hio-hly beneficial to the possessors, was attached to their relics ; and that it was the duty of every g'ood Christian to visit their shrines, to lay his requests before them, and to expect a favourable answer, if his petitions were pre- ferred with earnestness and sincerity : and that the proofs of this proper state of mind lay in liberal g-ifts to the g'uardians of the shrines, in building* and endowing- places of worship in their honour, and in the transfer to the new temples of every remnant or memorial of them that could be procured by the most dilig-ent search.
These instructions fell in aptly with the national pre- dilections, and facilitated the progress of con- Modes of formity. For, in fact, the so-called conversion conversion. of the barbaric races amounted to little more than a shift- ing" of the honours they were accustomed to pay to their own deified ancestry to the saints whom the new teachers taug'ht them to adore. Instead of the g'roves,, the hill- tops, and the fountains, where their prog'enitors had sacri- ficed, they now chose the churches for that purpose ; they slew the victims at the church-porch ; they deposited the carcasses upon the altar ; they feasted upon the sacrificial meats, and emptied the bowl in honour of the confessors and martyrs of the faith.'" The primitive missionaries llemig-ius, Columbanus, Gall, Wilfred, Willibrord, and others, aimed, indeed, at a purer form of Christianity. Neither their religion nor their methods of conversion were derived from Rome. But the spirit of accommoda- tion and compromise soon tainted the ministrations of their successors ; and when the purer race of teachers had passed away, the clerg'y almost universall}^ abandoned themselves to the current of popular habits and o. . f.,
mi 1-11 f ^^^^^ of the
superstitions. I he rural priesthood was oi ne- Prankish cessity recruited from among the new converts ; ^^^^sy-
™ Vit. S. Columb. by Jonas, as quoted ciani, loc. m. cit. pp. 66, 77, 106; Hartz-
by Ca/iCi'awj, Barb. Legg. Antiq. turn. iii. Iieirn, GoncW. Germ. Ann. 742, can. 5;
p. 90. Epp. -S. Greg. Mag. lib. xi. ep. Capit. Reg. Franc. Cone. ibid. p. 216. 76. Indiculus superstitionum, ap. Can-
280 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book IV.
and thus it happened that in many provinces bishops were to be found ig-norant of the common ritual of the Churchy — unacquainted even with the proper form of ad- ministering* the rite of baptism. Admission to the priest- hood was obtained without inquir}^ into the hfe and con- versation of the candidate ; often^ indeed^ without reg'ular ordination^ and by means of impudent pretension or im- posture."
The superior clergy frequently interfered to check Christianity *^^ gTosscst of tlicsc heatheuish practices and among the abuscs J but the modc of cure for the most part ^^^ ®" consisted in giving* encourag'ement to saint- wor- ship, the use of consecrated tapers, votive imag-es and tablets, processions, and other observances, which mig-ht furnish a sufficient variety of objects and forms of wor- ship to satisfy the craving's of the popular appetite, and perhaps g-ra dually tend to divert the attention of the people from those g'rosser usag'es they were required to abandon." The religion of Franks, Saxons, and Ger- mans consisted in a firm belief in the miracles of the Saviour and the host of saints whom their teachers had substituted for the discarded deities of their ancestors. They held themselves rig-idly bound to the performance of certain outward acts pertaining* to the worship of God ; but those acts had little connection in their minds with any rule of personal morality. The offences they were most careful to avoid were, disrespect or contempt of the saints, their churches, their relics, and their priests ; but even these, and every other offence in the g'reat catalog*ue of human infirmities, mig'ht be atoned for b}^ the building* and enriching- of churches, monasteries, and hospitals; by liberality to the clerg-}^, and (in case of the worst) the punctual performance of certain stated penances.^ With
n Cap. Beg. Franc, lib. vi. § 72, p. c. vii. p. 222-224.
267; lib. vii. § 316, p. 338; and § 40.5, p See the beatification of Chrodinus
p. 347. Cap. Carol. Afag. ap. Hartz- for his benefactitins to the churches, ap.
heim. Cone. Germ. torn. i. p. 271. Cap. Greg. Turon. lib. vi. c. xx. p. 277; and
Beg. Franc. Add. tom. iii. § 93, p. 393; the reprobation of Marcus the Referen-
lib. vii. § 195, p. 325; and Add. iv. § 32, dary for his sordidness, notwithstand-
p. 393. ing that he had received the tonsure on
° See the recommendations of Gre- his deathbed. Ibid. lib. vi. c. xxviii. p.
goi-y the Great to Augustine. Book III. 280.
Chap. II.] THE FRANKISH CLERGY. 281
all this, the pupil went on sinning* till his priest claimed the penalty ; and then — be it in the day of affliction and ang-uish, or in a sudden paroxysm of compunction, or at the hour of death — it was almost always punctually dis- charg-ed.
In such a state of the relig^ious conscience^ it is a matter of experience that violent outbursts of remorse priestcraft should produce the most sing"ular acts of self- among the torture and ascetic extravag'ance. The clergy ^'■^'^^^■ of France were in the habit of holding up such practices to public admiration ; they seized upon the merits of mar- tyrs, confessors, saints, and anchorites, as their own spe- cial property ; they enhanced their brig-htness by a long- catalog'ue of miracles appended to each name of note ; the muster-roll of saints was swelled by names of doubt- ful tradition or pure invention ; and every means was adopted to impart to them (as heretofore observed) the character of local divinities, endowed with power to re- ward friends, favourites, and devotees, and to punish with the most sudden and appalling' visitations any disrespect to themselves, or injury to their churches or the appointed g^uardians of their shrines.''
But besides these sources of g'ain," the wealth of the clero-y had been P'reatly aug-mented by lavish ,, ,
o t.' _ o ./ o •' Moral con-
g'rants of land from the fiscal estates of the sove- duion of the reio-ns : and these lands had become for the most ^^ankish part discharg'ed of all state imposts or taxes." In fact, the extent and value of church property had, within the sixth century, swelled beyond proportion to
1 Conf. the followin? passages in the burdened with the old Roman tributum.
History of Gregory of Tours, Hist. Eccl. Lists of all such tributai-y lands as had
Er. lib. iv. c. ii p. 20t ; lib. v. c. vi. been thus retained were scrupulously
p. 257; lib vii. c. xxii. p. 300. Ibid. preserved in the fiscus of the kings;
c. xlii. p. 311; lib. viii. c. xvi. p. 320. and according to these lists the crown
Ibid. c. xxxiii. p. 323. Ibid c. xxxiv. and its grantees were entitled to levy
p. 329. tribute upon the possessors. But in a fit
■■ The traffic in relics had proved very of compunction, or superstitious terror,
profitable to the clergy. See the story the notorious Fredigundis burnt the
of the "Thumb of St. Sergius,"ap.G/-e^. registers of the church lands in which
Turon. lib. viii. c. xxxi. p. 305. she was entitled to tribute, and per-
* The Gallic churches had, in fact, suaded her husband Chilperich to do the
never been wholly deprived of the lands like with those of all the crown lands
and revenues they enjoyed before the enjoyed by the churches. Greg. Turon.
Frankish conquest. These lands they lib. v. c. xxxv. p. 253. continued to hold as allodia, but still
282 ■ CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
that of any other class of suhjects. The vices and cor- ruptions of the clergy kept even pace with this increase of their wealth. They stig-matised every attempt to check the career of acquisition as g'odless persecution. Thus Greg-ory of Tours describes the government of King- Chil- perich of Soissons as one continuous series of persecutions^ because that monarch endeavoured to set bounds to the rapacity of the chui-chmen. Yet it is remarkable that the bishop himself bears testimony to the literal truth of every allegation by which that prince justified his obnoxious pro- ceeding's. He accuses the superior clergy of unblushing- covetousness and debaucher}^ ; he rebukes the wholly secu- lar, and even the military^ habits of bishops and abbots ; their mutual feuds, homicides, and murders, and their in- decorous alacrity in mixing- themselves up on every prac- ticable occasion with the political broils of the worldlings.* As far as the interests of the civil state were affected Civil condi- ^3 ^^^^^ formidable accunmlation oflanded wealth tion of the in the hands of the clergy, the remedy, as al- ciergy- j.gr^(^y observed, had suggested itself." The veto assumed by the kings restored to them almost all the advantages, civil, military, and fiscal, which they had theoretically forfeited b}^ their prodigality to the Chm-ch. The prerogative of free election to vacant sees and spi- ritual benefices of importance was practically annulled ;" yet the personal privileges of the clergy do not appear to have suffered more than occasional infractions. The bishops, as already remarked,''' were exempted from the hay judicature in all criminal cases, that of high treason not excepted. For the latter offence, as well as all other crimes of an aggravated character, they were amenable to
' Greg. Ttiron. lib. iv. c. ii. p. 208; cc. v. vii., with Cariciani's note, p. 193.
lib. V. c. xxi. p. 247. Clerical homicides Infractions of the right of free election,
and assassinations, lib. viii. c. xxix. p. ap. Greg. Turon. lib. iv. e. xv. p. 210,
324. Intriguing- pr'ests, lib. vi. c. xi. p. and c. xxvi. p. 21.5. Conf. Cunc. Barb.
272; c. xxii. p. 277. Martial prelates, Leg^. Ant. torn. iii. pp. 190, 191, note (3).
lib. vi. c. xliii. p. 223; lib. vii, c. xxxvii. Lay bi>hops, Greg Turon. lib. vi. c.
p. 309, and c. xxxix. p. 310. See Book xxxviii. p. 286, and c. xlvi. lib. viii. c.
III. c. vi. p. 18.5. " xxxix. p. 330, and c. xli p. 331. And
" Book III. c. vi. pp. 185, 186. compare Greg. Mag. Epp. ap. D. Bouq.
" As to the proceedings at such elec- torn. iii. pp. 13-16.
tions, we rofer to Greg. Turon. lib. v. " Book III. c. vi. p. 184. c. V. p. 235; Marculjx, Formulae, lib. i.
CiiAP. II.] CLEEICAL JUDICATURES, &c. 283
110 tribunal but that of the peers of their own order ; and the only law held applicable to their case was the Roman and the canon laws, as contained in the Theodosiaii code, and the usual collections of g-eneral or national synods." But the inferior clero-y were still responsible to the civil judicature for the crimes of treason, murder, and theft. Of their private disputes amon^ one another, the bishop was the only competent judg-e. Yet, as in the days of the empire, the bishop might, with the consent Clerical judi- of the parties, take cog-nisance of a great many matures. civil causes ; and, when to this voluntary refereeship was added the coo-nisance of a multitude of other crimes, — such as adultery, sacrileg-e. blasphemy, sorcery, desecra- tion of churches and holy places, shedding- of blood within the sacred precincts, breach of sanctuary, and others of a like mixed description, — the whole amount of jurisdiction acquired implied an enormous encroachment upon the competency of the civil judicature. Such teuiptations to break down all barriers must, in so rude and incautious an ao-e, have been irresistible : and althouo'h the eccle- siastical judge could inflict none but canonical punish- ments, 3^et all that is most valuable to man in society — the title by which he holds all the rest, honour, reputa- tion, and station in the world — was placed at his mercy. For their personal immunities, their jurisdictions, and their accumulations, the clergy strenuously in- ^^^^-^^^-^ sisted upon absolute exemption from taxation, rogativesand pubhc services, and from all unprofitable or ^'^^""n'ties. merely burdensome secular offices. They maintained that they Avere the servants of the poor, and their possessions the property of the poor ; that property was, they alleged, a hallowed fund, which might not be touched by profane hands without incurring the highest displeasure of Al- mighty God, and the certain vengeance of the patron saint.^ These privileges were, upon the whole, maintained
" Eichhorn, Staats und Rechts-Ge- dius of Rheims for high treason, lib. x.
schichte, vol. i. p. 260. See the cases c. xix. p. 396.
of Prsetextatus of Rouen, those of the >' Conf. the maledictions of Gregory
bisho[S of Gap and Embrun, and of of Tours upon King Chilperich, H. E.
Gregory of Tours himself, — Hist. Eccl. lib. v. e. xxvii. p. 250. See also lib.
lib. V. c. xix. p. 246; c. xxi. p. 247; c. iv. c. ii. p. 204, and lib. x. c. xxx. p.
xxviii. p. 250. See also the trial of vEgi- 350.
284 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
with success. Thoug-h^ in the heat of passion^ or in the eag'erness of g'ain^ it often happened that the distinction between priest and layman was lost sig-ht of, and that occasionally^ for the g-ratification of reveng-e or avarice, bishops and abbots were imprisoned, tortured, beaten, or even mortally injured ;^ yet a profitable compunction g*e- nerally followed the offence. The Frank was firmly per- suaded that he could compound with the saints for such irreg'ularities in the same way that he was in the habit of compounding- with his neighbour for personal injuries, thefts, robberies, and the like ; that is, by a mone^^-pay- ment — a spiritual wereg'eld, whereby he mig-ht, if he had the pecuniary means, satisfy the most unreasonable of the celestial host.'' In this Avay the clergy were often enabled to carry their gTievances and suffering's to an advantag'eous market, and g*et back, in the shape of pen- ances, a g-reat deal more than they lost by the offences which had incurred them.
While the clergy individually were thus rapidly ex- PQ^gj. Qf ^jjg tending* their influence, their superiors had as- Frankish sumed all the prerogatives of lay princes : they bishops. ^,gjj^ Q^^ ^Q battle with one another, and with the nobles of their own dioceses and cities f they took an active part in the civil wars and intrigues of the day. In these encounters they exhibited all the ferocity and craft which distinguished the wars and the politics of the age. Thus, Bishop Arnulph of Metz became the leader of the rebellion which dethroned and ruined the celebrated Queen Brunehildis, and placed Chlothar II. upon the throne ; and it is to that active prelate that we trace the germ of that revolution which graduall}^ sub- stituted the power of the mayors of the palace for that of the legitimate descendants of Clovis.''
As early as the beginning of the seventh century, the
The mayor uiayor of tlic palacc of the Frankish kings — ori-
of the^a- D-inall}^ only tlie chief officer, or lord-steward, of
power's, &c. the ro3^al household — had obtained the uncon-
^ Greg. Turon. lib. v. c. xxix. p. 251. xxi. pp. 294-297.
a Eichhorn, op. mod. cit. § 28, p. 90. <= Cont. in Frediy. Chron. cc. xxxix.-
b Greg. Turon. lib. v. cc. xxi. xxv. xlii. ap. D. Bouq. torn, ii. pp. 423-430. xxvi. pp. 247-250; lib. vii. cc. ii. xiii.
Chap. II.] THE BISHOPS. 285
trolled manag-ement and administration of the roj^al do- mnins. In that capacity he became the chief ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ of the Leudes, or beneficiaries of the crown. The latter soon learnt to regard that ^reat officer as their constitutional superior, and to take a lively interest in the appointment. The king- could no long-er venture to place a person displeasing- to his Leudes at their hend.'^ The ancient birth-nobility of the Franks had by this time merg-ed in the mere nobility of office; the old allodial partitioners of the territory conquered from the Romans had melted into the mass of ministerials and retainers of the court, and in those capacities had fallen under the jurisdiction of the mayors of the palace. But among- the mass of the aristocracy we distinguish a less numerous but more powerful body of officials called the " king-'s Antrustions." This class consisted of the more ^jj^^ustions wealthy lay nobles, or " Proceres," and of the g-reat prelates of the realm. These persons constituted the ordinary council of the crown ; but upon special occa- sions the king-s were accustomed to convoke the body of the nation, consisting- of bishops, Proceres, Leudes, An- trustions, and free men, in one hug-e assemblag-e.' The rig-ht of the prelates to take a leading- part in ^^ these national meeting-s rested upon the same g-round as that of the landed aristocracy g-enerally; viz. high office, and territorial power derived from the exten- sive allodia of their churches, or the still more important g-rants of crown domain. But as the greater prelates all bore the character of the " king's Antrustions," they en- tered into the closer community of the king's ordinary or privy council. They were for the most part the creatures of his appointment ; and they looked to him for further advancement, and for protection ag-ainst the ever-ready encroachments of the lay nobility. They were, in short, regarded as the "king's friends," and soon became the secular as well as the spiritual advisers of the crown.
^ The tragical fate of Bruiiehildis is ^ Called the Field of March, because
attributed to her determination to main- commonly assembled in that month of
tain her favourite Protadius in that post the year. Eichhnrn, St. u. Rechts-Gesch.
asjainstthe wishes of the Austrasian and vol. i. p. 298; Cancmn. Barb. Leg. Ant.
Burgundian aristocracy. Cont. Fredig. torn. iii. p. 114. ubi sup.
286 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
As an acknowledg-ed estate ofthe king-dom^the bishops ,., ^ and PTeater abbots took a share in all important
a constituent o . n , mi ^i x. ^
estate of the transactions ot state, inus the great revolu- ^'*^''"- tion which (a.d. 618) raised Chlothar II. to the throne upon the ruins of the house of Childebert, was the joint work of the prelates and nobility of the three realms of Neustria, Austrasia (Germany), and Burg-undy. Two years after this event (a.d. 615), a g-eneral synod, or diet, consisting- of the clerg-y and laity of the three kino-doms, was held at Paris. The nobles demanded and obtained securities ag-ainst the arbitrary resumption of benefices by the crown. The clergy broug'ht under dis- cussion the irreg-ular interferences of the king's with the canonical course of episcopal elections, and the frequent citations of spiritual persons before the secular judg'es. It was obvious to the clerg-y that the power of the king-s to promote their interests was upon the decline; their attention w^as therefore necessarily turned to the task of creating- for themselves a position in the commonwealth independent both of the crown, that could no long-er pro- tect, and of the g-reat nobility, that had alternately en-
, % . riched and plundered them. To that end, they privileges of obtained from the g-reat diet of 615 decrees pro-
the clergy, j^ihiting" all appeals by spiritual persons to the king-, his court, or council, to the prejudice of the episco- pal jurisdictions, or to obtain immunity ag-ainst ecclesias- tical censures. At the same time the king- renounced the prerog-ative of arbitrary appointment to vacant sees, as hitherto practised.^ In the civil suits of spiritual persons the jurisdiction of the civil courts was taken away, but in criminal cases the inferior clerg-y still remained in the hands of the secular judg-e ; yet now, even in the case of an ordinary clerk, the presence of a bishop was made necessary to constitute a competent tribunal ; and it was decreed that the culprit should be tried, iwt by the com- mon or civil law, but b}^ the canons of the Church.^
This state of thing-s endured throug-hout the seventh
f The decree of the diet differs from torn. viii. p. 280-282.
the recorded rule or canon of the Church. e Biiliiz. Capit. lieg. Fr. torn. i. p. 8.
The former reserves the royal veto, the Conf. Schmidt, Gesch. der Deutschen,
latter takes no notice of it. Conf. Fleurt/, vol. i. pp. 271, 272.
Chap. IL] ELEMENTS OF REFORMATION. 287
and the first half of the eig-hth centuiy. During* the whole of that period — or, we should perhaps rather say, till the appearance of the reformer Boniface upon the stag-e — the traces of connection between Kome Deciinins in- and the Gallic churches are extremely faint, fluency of
r^• 1 • -1 1 • X I- T7" •!• R'Ullt' in tllG
bnice the nicidental appomtments or V u'g-inus French of Aries and SyagTius of Autun by Greg'ory churches, the Great as his vicars in Francej*" we hear of no renewal or revival of that office. Those prelates were the last who had applied for and accepted the g-ift of the pallium ; appeals to Rome had become extremely rare ; the Gallic bishopSj like those of Spain, continued to hold their pro- vincial and national synods without reference to the pon- tiffs, and without even the ordinary notification of their proceeding's, or the transmission of copies of the acts of council, certainty without troubhng- themselves about their confirmation or approval.'
As we approach the reforms of the eig-hth centmy, we are curious to know what tendencies or capabi- Elements of lities of a favourable chano-e existed in the actual i-eformation. constitution of the Gallic and Germanic churches. Upon this subject we here observe that in France, as in Spain, the clergy were, as a body, a constituent estate of the kingdom, — an estate possessed of preponderance of wealth and political power. Corruptions of the worst description had, indeed, crept into the system 5 but not, as in Spain, to the almost total absorption of the spiritual in the poli- tical character. The vices of the French clergy had en- countered vehement censure from the purer-minded among* themselves; and it is manifest that there remained at bottom a fund of piety favourable to the introduction of a more regular and purer system of moral and religious discipline. The most important feature in Gallic church- polity, however, was the ever-living* principle of Principle of church unify. Amid all their deviations from church
~, . . *J . , . .. , . unity.
Christian practice, no cnang*e is perceptible in
the idea of that outward unitbrmity, which, in the general
absence of spiritual Christianity was perhaps the only
>> Book III. c. vii. p. 226.
' Conf Mannert, Gescb. der Frank. &c. torn. i. p. 31.5.
288 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
security for the subsistence of relig'ion in the world.
Practically that unity, or uniformity, was the solitar}^
principle the clergy could build upon, both ag-ainst the
encroachments of the lait}^ and the disturbers of the re-
lig-ious peace among- themselves. The Franks
mother of contiuued to regard Rome as their spiritual
Gallic prog-enitrix. The advocates of reform had, in
fact, no other support to rely upon. There was
obviously no remedy to be found but in the interposition
of a strong hand endowed with power and authority to
sweep away the accumulated pollutions which defiled
the national church.
At any favourable juncture, therefore, it was in the Vanta e- powcr of Romc to prcscut to the Gallic clergy ground of their actual condition as a state of unnatural ^^"®" estrang'ement from the source of rehgious and ecclesiastical life. It would be, then, no difficult matter to direct the national conscience into the channel already prepared for it to flow in ; ihejirst step being* always to eng-ag'e the interest of the princes in the meditated re- forms ; and the next, to substitute, in the place of the varying- forms, customs, and canons received in the Gal- lic churches, a new and uniform rule of ecclesiastical law — that rule to be always the canon and decretal law of Rome.
CHAPTER III.
BRITISH CHURCHES IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. (I.)
The British churches — Scottish and Irish churches — Patrick — Columba — Origin of these churches — Differ from the Latins — Differences — Laurentius of Can-
. terbury — His complaint — King Eadbert apostatises — The sons of Sabert — Re- treat of the Roman mission — Artifice of Laurentius — Recall of the mission — Melitus and Justus— King Edw'in of Northumbria — marries Ethelburga — Pau- linus of York — Conversion of Edwin — Vision of Ed win — its result — Character of Edwin's conversion — The priesthood of the Anglo-Saxons — Eacilities of conversion — Mode of conversion — Renunciation of idol-worship — Destruction of idol-temples— Baptism of Edwin — Pope Honorius I. rewards Paulinus — Rome and the British and Scotch churches — Death of Edwin, and extinc- tion of the Roman mission in Northumbria — Expulsion of Paulinus — Osric — Eanfrid — Oswald recovers the kingdom — sends for missionaries from Scotland — Aidan at Lindisfarn — Scottish form of episcopal ordination — Apology of the Venerable Bede — Labours of Aidan — Middle Anglia and Mercia added to the Northumbrian church — Finnan of Lindisfarn — King Oswy extends the Scot- tish establishment — Independence of the Northumbrian church — Simplicity of the Scottish divines — incompetent disputants — Revival of the Paschal con- troversy— Ronan — Wilfred — Agilbert — Conference of Whitby — Public dis- cussion— Argument of Bishop Colman — Reply of Wilfred — Inconsistency of the Paschal theory of the Scots — Rejoinder of Colman — Answer of Wilfred — alleges the Petrine power — Victory of the Latins — Examination of their argu- ment— Intent of the Latins — Retreat of the Scottish hierarchy.
In reviewing- the progress of the papal scheme during* the sixth and seventh centuries, the state of The British Christianity in the British Ishmds calls for a churches, considerable share of our attention. Thoug-h the re- establishnient of the Christian profession in Britain was in a prominent degree the work of Rome, 3'et it should not be forgotten that that profession had never been wholly extirpated by the Saxon conquest. The remnant of the British race, confined to the mountain regions of Wales and Cumberland, still kept alive the embers
VOL. II. u
290 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
of the common faith in the West ; while in the south- western districts of Scotland a church had recently sprung" up in absolute independence of all foreig-n con- rrv, e ..• u nection or control. This branch of the p-reat
The Scottish „, . . . , . ..„=•,
or Irish Christian community took its origin irom the church, priniitive church of Ireland^ established in that island about the middle of the fifth century by a mission from the Gallic churches^ under the direction of certain devout men, who in after-times have found a common Patrick, representative under the name of Patricius, or Coiumba. Patrick.^ In the year 565, Columba, or Colom, an Irish monk, obtained from the maritime chief of the Caledonian Picts a gTant of the small island of Hii, now known by the name of Icolmkil. This spot, thoug-h barren and exposed, was sufficientl}^ near for easy com- munication with the mainland, yet remote enough to se- cure the monastic community which Coiumba had settled upon it from disturbance. The establishment prospered ; and in process of time a numerous colony of devout men from the adjacent coasts of Ireland resorted thither to take part in the conversion of the Pictish tribes dwelling* to the north of the Grampian rang'e. Their labours met with merited success; and shortly the faith of Christ was professed by numerous adjoining" clans of the Pictish family. But it appears that the tribes of the same race dwelling- to the southward of the Grampians had pre- ceded their more northern brethern in the knowledg'e and profession of Christianity. Nynian, a supposed disciple of the mysterious Patrick himself, had, many years before the establishment of Coiumba at Hii, succeeded in con- verting* those tribes, and had settled his episcopal see at Withern, a locality situated within the modern district of Galloway. Thus the extent of territory broug'ht within
'^ The legends of this celebrated saint the fifth and the first years of the sixth
are so totally inconsistent with com- century preached the gospel in Ireland,
mon chronology or common sense, as to I incline to agree with this hypothesis
raise a doubt whether any such indivi- as to a plurality of missionaries ; but
dual ever existed. With a view to recon- think that tradition has assigned their
cile the contradictory legends of Pa- acts and merits to one favourite name; the
trick's life and labours, several persons person bearing that name being the most
of the same name are supposed to have active, possibly the earliest preacher,
at different times within the compass of Conf, Moreri and Smith ad voc.
Chap. III.] BRITISH AND SCOTTISH CHURCHES. 291
the pale of the Christian Church embraced the entire reg-ion known to us as the Western Hig-hhinds of Scot- land. Here, in comparative obscurity, but in absolute inde})endence, these communities subsisted long- before, and until long- after, the advent of the Eoman mission of Pope Greg-ory I., in Great Britain.''
Though the evidence of communication between the Scottish and British or Cambrian churches is ^ .^ deficient, yet the proof of the Latin descent Jf Brkish° or orio-ination of either is still more so. It has ^'^f Scottish
n 11 11 1 ciT^'ii churches.
been alleg-ed that the leg'endary fet. Batrick, the common ancestor — if we may use the phrase — of the Irish and Scottish churches, had been consecrated bishop of Ireland by Pope Celestine I. at some time between the years 422 and 433 ; and that that circumstance estab- lished the maternity of Rome in Ireland, and all deriva- tive churches. But even if the inference were correct, the fiict upon which it is founded is altog'ether apocryphal ; neither is there a trace of any subsequent connection to authenticate it." It may therefore be safely presumed that the churches founded under the name of Patrick in the north of Ireland formed an independent nucleus of Christian doctrine, discipline, and ritual; and that the Scottish offsets, propag-ated by Nynian and Columba, partook of the same self-existent and autonomous cha- racter. Now, thoug'h we are in the dark as to any actual communications between the Cambro-British and Scottish churches, yet we have proof that they ag'reed on certain points of disciplinarian and ritual observance, which esta- blish a (jeneric difference between them and the churches of Latin or Roman pedigTee. These differences, it should, however, be observed, involved no essential doctrine of Christianity ; but turned solely upon external — principally ritualistic — observances. Yet, in this ag'e, it lay far away from the habits of the relio-ious mind to distino-uish with any degree of accuracy between form and substance — doctrine and discipline — unity and unifoi'mity. A depar- ture in outward form involved a breach of the theoretic
b Bedce H. E. lib. iii. c. iv. p. 106. penlerg, Gt'sch. v. Engl. vol. i. p. 133.
= Neander, K. G. vol. ii. p. 262; Lap-
292 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
unity, — the odious sin of schism, or the less pardonable g-uilt of heresy/ The British and Irish churches had been, at the period we have arrived at, shut out for ag-es from all communication with the rest of Christendom. Differences They had adhered with technical precision to ^tween the ecclcsiastical forms, differing- materially from the Latin the thcu prevailing" disciplinarian and ritualistic churches, obscrvances of the Latin churches, and bearing- the unmistakable impress of an Oriental origin of a very early t^^pe. These differences touched chiefly upon five points : Jirst and principally, upon the time for the cele- bration of the Easter festival ; secondly, upon the precise form of the sacerdotal tonsure ; thirdly, upon the cere- mony of marriage ; fourthly, upon the celibacy of the clerg-y 5 smdjifthly, upon the mode of episcopal ordina- tion. It may be doubtful whether at this precise period of Christian history the four last points would have fur- nished matter for those bitter dissensions they occasioned in a subsequent ag-e. The controversy at this time turned almost wholly upon the computation and celebration of the Paschal festival, and the canonical form of the sa- cerdotal tonsure. These variances in themselves were of very minor moment, when compared with the evidence they furnished of a spirit of independence and self-re- liance repugnant to the scheme of Roman supremacy, and the theory of the sacramental unity, which had by this time taken so firm a root in the principle and polity ^ . of the Latin primacy. The reluctance of the ° ' Cambro-British Christians to acknowledge any jurisdiction superior to that of their own national and patriarchal prelates, placed them, in fact, in a position of direct antagonism to that scheme. The attempt of Au- g-ustine to entrap or intimidate them into submission, both characterises the agent, and lays bare the principle upon which he acted j and it is obvious to us that, as soon as the Northern churches should come in contact with the Latins of the South, the contest must be revived upon the
^ Some remains of Pelagianism may afterwards. See Bede, lib. i. c. i. x. xvii.
have lingered in the island as late as the xxi., and lib. ii. c. xix. Conf. Lappen-
seventh century; but I believe that no berg, vol. i. p. 135. revival of that heresy was ever heard of
Chap. III.] LAURENTIUS. 293
like oTounds^ thoug'h it might be not precisely in the same mode or form.
That point of time, in fact^ lay at no g-reat distance. When Archbishop Laurentius succeeded Aug-us- Laurentius tine in the see of Canterbury, the Roman missions of Canter-
,, . 1 , ,• '"nil bury assumes
possessed three episcopal stations m Jjjng-lana. the primacy While that prelate presided over the see of Can- (.J^^^^'J^eg ^^ terbury, those of Rochester and London were Great respectively assig'ned to Justus and Melitus^both ^"'^1°- members of the second Greg'orian mission.* Between the death of Aug-ustine and that of his royal patron^ Ethelbert kino- of Kent, a period of eleven years elapsed. During- all that time the missionaries had ample leisure to improve their position ; but do not appear to have materially ex- tended the knowledg'e of Christianity^ or the limits of their respective dioceses. But Laurentius was too well versed in the Latin tactics to permit an}- g-round to be lost for want of claim : " He took upon himself/' says Bede^ " the pastoral superintendence, not only of the churches broug'ht tog-ether from among- the Ang-les and Saxons, but also of the more ancient churches of the Britons, including- those of the Scots inhabiting- the parts of Ireland ad- jacent to the British coasts.'" To these communities he presented himself as the chosen representative of the one episcopate, and the sole channel of catholic communion. " He had," he said, ^' expected to find among- them a con- formity of rites and usng-es with the catholic His body ; but had been g-rieved to perceive an ob- complaint, stinate spirit of resistance — an irrelig-ious adherence to a ritual inconsistent with catholic (Latin) tradition ; more especially in the refractory demeanour of their repre- sentatives Dag-anus and Columbanus in Gaul."^ The re- monstrances of the archbishop, however, drew forth no reply from Scots or Britons ; and for the present the con- troversy upon which those churches appear by this time to have staked their independence, fell to the g-round. The new establishments in Kent and the adjoining- districts
See Book III. c. vii. p. 214. Conf. e Bede, ubi sup.; and conf. Book III.
BedcE H. E. lib. ii. c. iii. p. 81. c. vii. p. 215 of this work.
^ Bede, lib. ii. c. iv. p. 82.
294 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
of Essex and Middlesex prospered under the patronage of Ethelbert and his nephew, the vassal king- Sabert of the East Saxons. We observe that the Greg-orian settle- ments in Eng-land were founded exclusively upon the monastic principle ; and in the year 610 Laurentius despatched Bishop Melitus to Rome to obtain further instructions from Pope Boniface IV., for the better or- ganisation of his churches, but more especially to bring- back with him a more perfect scheme of monastic disci- pline, fortified by papal authority, and to be enforced by pontifical letters addressed to the kings and clergy of the converted districts.*"
This tranquil progress of the mission was interrupted Apostasy by thc dcatlis of Ethelbert and of his nephew ofEadbaid. gabcrt of the East Saxons, in the year 616. The Kentish prince was succeeded by his son Eadbald, a Christian by baptism, but impatient of the moral control which his new profession imposed, and his priests were by no means backward to insist upon. Shortly after his acces- sion he had married his father's widow. The act, though probably not inconsistent with the loose habits of his age and the privilege of his rank, drew upon him the severest denunciations of his spiritual monitors. The paroxysms of rage into which he was thrown by this check upon his wanton desires were imputed to demoniacal influence, and regarded as a punishment for his contempt of the ordin- ances of the Church. He withdrew his countenance from the new establishment, and his example was followed by a general defection from the faith among his subjects. The sons The inheritance of Sabert had meanwhile fallen of Sabert. ^q his thrcc uutamed and unbaptised sons ; and the people of Essex reverted mechanically to the groves and idol-temples in which their ancestors had worshipped. These princes sought and soon found a cause of quarrel with the bishop and his followers. Melitus was accus- tomed to administer the eucharistic bread and wine to his flock in public. On one of these occasions, the royal youths broke in upon the congregation, and demanded a share of the goodly elements they saw distributed among the
^ Bede, ubi sup.
CriAP. III.] VISION OF LAURENTIUS. 295
faithful. The bishop replied, "If you consent to be washed in the sacred font of baptism, you may then partake of this bread, as did your father before you. But if ye despise the holy fountain of life, ye can by no means be partakers of the bread of life." Enrag-ed by the refusal, the princes rephed that, " if in so trivial a matter the bishop refused to gratify their reasonable request, he should no long-er be permitted to dwell among- them." The contest ended with the expulsion of Melitus and his followers, and the almost total extinction of Christianity within the diocese.'
Their retreat was not molested ; and after a long- and anxious consultation AA'ith Laurentius, the state ^, . .
,. ,f ■ ■ A 1 1 ' ^ 1 1 Themission-
01 atian-s m both kmg-doms appeared so des- anes resolve perate that it was resolved to withdraw the to quit the
• ■ T-1 • • 1 J.' 1 island.
mission to t ranee, there to await a providential solution of their difficulties. Justus and Melitus set sail for France ; Laurentius delayed his departure awhile, no doubt with the purpose of making" a last appeal to the obdurate monarch. He mig-ht hope that the superstitions of the king- were at bottom strong-er than his passions. He was probably aware that in the loose apprehension of the half-Christian, half- heathen barbarians, the Christian saints were a scarcely less formidable order of divinities than their own Thor or Wodan ; and that he mig'ht there- fore, with some prospect .of success, stake the credit of the prince of the apostles ag-ainst the g-ods of his credulous auditor. At considerable personal risk, he one ^ „ , day entered the presence of the king* and his artifice of court, and boldly affirmed that on the preced- i^aurentms. ing- nig-ht, while eng-ag-ed in prayer within the walls of his church, he had fallen into a trance ; and in that state had received a most merciless flag-ellation from the hands of St. Peter himself as a punishment for his cowardly de- sign of deserting' the church by him specially committed to his charg-e. Then, baring- his back, he exhibited his waled and lacerated shoulders, as ocular proof of the severity of the castig'ation inflicted, to the astonished prince and his court. JEadbald was, we are told, so profoundly affected by this pregnant proof of divine displeasure^ that he on
' Bede, lib. iii. c. v. p. 84.
296 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
the spot renounced his idols, repudiated his step-mother^
and recalled Melitus and Justus from exile.
restoradon The latter was peaceably reinstated in his epis-
. °f ^^^ . copal see at Rochester ; but Melitus had a
misMonaries. j^^j^.^^^, battle to fig-ht. Thoug'h the ribald sons
of Sabert had a short time before perished in battle Avith the West Saxons, the people of Essex continued to adhere to their g-roves, their idols, and hedge-enclosed temples, and pertinaciously refused to admit the enemies of their late chiefs within their territory .^
The difficulties and distresses which these incidents Melitus and ii^Aicted upou the infant churches arrested for Justus arch- a timc tlic progTcss of Latin Christianity in the
bishops. ;gj.i^jgjj islands. Archbishop Laurentius died in the year 619, and was succeeded by Melitus the exiled bishop of London. The latter, however, followed him to the tomb in the year 624, and Justus of Rochester was installed in his chair. The following- year opened a wider
Edwin of pi"ospect of Spiritual conquest. Eadwin, or Ed- Northum- wiu, kiug" of Northumbria, at this moment the
beriand. j^^^g^ extcusive aud powerful of the Ang-lo-Saxon principalities of Britain, sued for the hand of Ethelburg-a or Tata, a daug-hter of the late king* Ethelbert of Kent. The dominions of Edwin extended from the estuary of the Humber northward to where the Grampian chain divided it from the wild and unsubdued Pictish hordes of the Northern Highlands. To the westward his power embraced the British tribes, and the offsets of the Anglo- Saxon race inhabiting" the counties of Cumberland, West- morland, Lancashire, and Cheshire, inclusive of the re- moter islands of Anglesea and Man. Eadbald, the brother of Ethelburg-a, maintained friendly relations with the king- of Northumbria ; but the latter was a heathen, and in re- ply to his suit Eadbald frankty declared that a Christian virg'in could not lawfully be joined in wedlock with a pag-an man, lest thereby the faith of Christ should be pro- faned and his sacraments defiled by idolatrous example or compliance. But Edwin succeeded in setting- aside the
i These events seem to have occurred between the years 616 and 618. See Bede, lib. ii. c. vi. p. 85.
Chap. III.] MARRIAGE OP EDWIN AND ETHELBURGA. 297
objection on the score of relig-ion ; he eng-ag-ed that no impediment or interference should be thrown in the way of the princess or an)" of her suite, be the}' men or women, ecclesiastics or la^-men, in the full and free exercise of their religious worship ; and he hinted that if after due deliberation with the ancients and learned of his council, the faith of the bride should be pronounced more pleasing- to God than the religion of his people, he should not be disinchned to adopt it himself.''
So propitious an opening' for the introduction . of Christianity in the most widely extended and Edwin^^nd powerful kino-dom of the island was not to be Etiieiburga.
1 i9ni'' -11 1 raulmus,
neglected. All objections were withdrawn, and Paulinus, the last survivor of the Gregorian mission, was appointed with a proper staff of clergy to accompanj^ the young queen and her attendants to the court of her affianced husband. It appears to have been understood that Paulinus, who for that purpose was ordained bishop by Justus, should be regarded as the supreme pastor of a Northumbrian church, with full authority to preach the new faith to the court and people of the realm. On his arrival, the bishop was received with the cordial welcome befitting the joyful occasion of his advent. The king himself listened with becoming attention to his discourses and ex- hortations ; but, with the ordinary caution of his contem- poraries, delayed his decision until it could be pronounced with safety to his temporal interests. A twelvemonth was allowed to elapse, and the new queen bore him a dauo-hter. The kino* rendered thanks to his g'ods for the safe delivery of his consort ; Paulinus protested that the happy event must be ascribed to the prayers he had of- fered up on her behalf to Christ. Edwin made no objection to the claim ; the divine aid for the promotion of his per- sonal and political views, from whatever quarter it might proceed, was equally acceptable ; and he promised the bishop that if by the like assistance he should obtain the ^•ictory over his treacherous enemy Cuichelm, the king of the West Saxons,' against whom he was about to take
'' Beck, lib. ii. c. ix. p. 87. rowly escaped the dagger of an assassin
' He had, a short time before, nar- hired by his antagonist.
298 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
the field^ he would himself embrace the faith of Christ. Conversion The eveiit of the war answered his most sang-uine of Edwin, expectations ; his enemies fell before him ; the gratification ofreveng-e and ambition opened his ears and his heart to the exhortations of Paulinus ; and, as a first step towards conversion, Edwin publicly renounced idol- worship. No long" time afterwards he was persuaded to convoke a g-eneral assembly of his priests and nobles so- lemnly to discuss the expediency of abandoning* the altars they had hitherto served, and calling" upon the God of the queen and her attendants."
The assembly and its results deserve a more particular The vision Consideration. The intercourse between Edwin of Edwin. qi^(J Pauliuus, dated obviously from some point of time probably anterior to his accession to the throne of Northumbria. At an earlier period of life Edwin had lived for some years in exile at the court of Redwald, king- of the East Saxons," consequently within the reach of the Aug'ustinian missionaries, whose influence then ex- tended over the counties of Kent, Middlesex, and Essex. Acquaintance between him and Paulinus mig'ht easily be supposed to have sprung- up during- this afflictive period of Edwin's life ; nor is it more difficult to believe that the sug'g'estion of a Kentish bride proceeded from the same quarter. While living- in daily apprehension of being* de- livered by his treacherous host into the hands of his per- secutor ^jdelfrid king- of the Bernician Ang-les, a person of strang-e countenance and habit appeared, we are told, before him in the dead of the night, and inquired the cause of his wakefulness, while the rest of the world was wrapped in sleep. Edwin, in return, asked how it could concern him to know the cause of his wakefulness. The strang-er replied, that he wanted not to be told what he well knew already. " But what reward," said he, " would you be- stow upon one who should deliver you from this mortal anouish, and turn the heart of Iledwald, so that he should neither do you any harm, nor deliver ;you up to your enemies to be put to death?" Edwin declared that to so
°' Bede, ubi sup. p. 88. probably a vassal king, of Etbelbert of
" Redwald was a contemporary, and Kent, circ. a.d. 604.
CiiAP. III.] VISION OF EDWIN. 299
g'reat a benefactor he could deny nothing* within his power to bestow. " But," said the g-hostly visitor, " what if he were to promise you a throne, and actually r-iise you to a power and eminence among" the king's of England superior to those enjoyed by any of your ancestors, or of any reigning- prince among" 3'oiu* countrymen ?" Edwin replied, that such benefits would indeed demand the most g-rateful return. " But," said his monitor, " if he who shall thus have veraciously predicted such advantag'es should also offer to 3'our acceptance counsels of life and salvation better and more advantag'eous than any 3'our ancestors or kindred ever heard of^ would you consent to render obedience to his salutar}- admonitions?" The prince without hesitation promised, that should the event answer the prediction, he would assuredly accept the in- structions of his benefactor. The strang-er then solemnly had his hand upon the prince's head, " When hereafter," said he, " this sig'n shall be repeated unto you, remember this interview, and dela^y not to perform that which 3'ou have now promised." He said, and vanished from the sight of the astonished and consoled mourner. The heart of Bedwald was chang-ed from that hour. By his aid Edwin was restored to bis king'dom, and in a few years was raised to that eminence of power and influence pre- dicted b}' his nocturnal comforter."
This story sugg"ests a suspicion either that Paulinus in ])erson had enacted the part ascribed to the Result of g-hostly monitor, or that Edwin was himself a ^'^^ ^'^^o"- party to the pious fraud. Before the meeting- of the council of his realm, Edwin had, we are told, deferred liis conversion from time to time, while anxiously revolving- in his mind the propriety of changing- his religion. One day when, as usual with him of late, he was thus eng-aged in solitary reflection upon this important subject, the ^' man of God" suddenly appeared before him, and so- lemnly laying his hand upon his head, inquired \\ hether he recoo-nised the siffn. The kinp- fell tremblino- at his feet; Paulinus raised him from tht; g-round, and address- ing- him in a tone of ])aternal affection, " By the help of
° Bede, lib. ii. c. xii. p. 92.
300 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
the Lord/' he said, " you have escaped the snares of jouv enemies ; hy the same munificent hand you have obtained the king-dom you desired : and now, in return, it is for you to perform your eno-ag-ement, by accepting' the faith and precepts of Him who deUvered you out of all your temporal adversities, and raised you to worldly honour and power, and who, if you obey his will as it is preached to you through me, will also save you from the pains of eternal torture, and make you a partaker with him in His eternal king-dom ."p
Without, however, discussing the questions of collu- sion on the part of the king, or of wilful impos- ^^oithT ture on that of Paulinus, there is enough in the conversion history of Edwiu's conversion to assure us that of Edwin, j^^^^ ^'^^.^^ ^^ ^^^^ advent of the new preacher,
the latter was favourably inclined to Christianity. The demand of a Christian bride, the promise of unlimited in- dulgence to her and her attendants, the boundless facihties aflfm-ded to Paulinus to publish the gospel, as he under- stood it, to the court and people ; the respect with which the king himself listened to the instructions ol'the preacher, and the easy credulity with which he accepted the sign and avowed the obligations it implied,— all these circum- stances taken together show a mind strongly impressed with one prevailing bias, and hesitating only until ex- ternal circumstances should be propitious for the execu- tion of the foregone intent. The impediment most to be apprehended arose from the possible opposition h^od among of thc national nobility and priesthood. The the Anglo- kino-s of the Teutonic races, of whom the Nor- Saxons. ^|^^^^-^^j,-j^j-^g ^^g^g ^u olfset, wcrc generally clothed with the sacerdotal office ; but besides the royal chief-priest, a college or corporation of priests was ordi- narily chosen from among the most distinguished families, but without heritable privilege or right of caste.*^ ^ As a religious estabUshment,— if it may be regarded in that light, — the sacerdotium of the Anglo-Saxons has left so
P Bede, ubi sup. p. 93. little information touching the status of
t Conf' Grimm, Deutsche Rechts-Al- the priest among the Teutonic nations
terthiimer, p. 243 ; see also Grimm, has come down to us prior to the intro-
Deutsche Mythologie, p. 61. But very duction of Christianity.
Chap. III.] CONVERSION OF THE NORTHUMBRIANS. 801
few historical traces behind itj that we are warranted in beheving- that, independently of the monarch, the}' pos- sessed little influence among- the people, althoiig-h when acting- in support of his authority, they may have had it in their power to render important services. There is no appearance of a properly sacerdotal opposition to the labours of the Roman missionaries in any portion of Great Britain.' The anxiety of the reig-ning" princes ap- pears to have been solely directed to the ascertaining- of the dispositions of their subjects towards the new Facilities of faith. Edwin himself was obviously solicitous conversion. to feel the pulse of his nobles and people before taking- any decisive step in furtherance of the important chang-e pro- posed. In this case, as in that of Ethelbert of Kent, the religious revolution was prepared by the establishment of a powerful interest in the household and affections of the pi-ince. No extraordinary class-privileg-e stood opposed to the chang-e, and, as in the case of the people of Kent at the preaching- of Aug'ustine, the prepossessions of the king-, the example of their queen, and the earnestness of the missionaries achieved an easy victory over the loose superstitions which formed the basis of all the Teutonic relig'ions." Both parties — missionaries and their proposed converts — shared the opinion that the merits of a reli- g-ious scheme were to be tried b}^ the temporal advantag-es believed to result from it ; success in battle, the achieve- ment of political power, the acquisition of wealth, a fruitful season, and other elements of a happy and prosperous life, were reg-arded as proofs of divine favour to nations and individuals ; and the service which promised the g-reatest amount of these advantag-es was reg-arded as the most acceptable to God. The missionaries were lavish of promises of temporal advantag-es. Favourable Method of events were uniform^ represented as answers conversion. to the prayers of the servants of God ; while sinister occurrences, calamities, or accidents, were with like con-
■■ It is deserving of notice, that in the , to the best of my recollection, in any
history of the conversion of Ethelbert other of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, by Augustine we have no hint even of " See also a striking parallel in the
the existence of a pagan priesthood, nor, conversion of Clovis by Remigius, —
with the exception of Northumberland, Hist, of the Germans, p. 511.
302 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
fideiice imputed to the ang'er or the chastisements of Him whom the}^ preached. But perhaps there was no more serious temptation to pious fiction than that which the proneness of these races to beheve in supernatural ap- pearances, omens, charms, and prog'nostics, presented to enthusiastic men, themselves strongly predisposed to hope for, and to expect special interpositions for the promotion of the g"reat work of human salvation. In such a state of opinion and belief on both sides, it can hardly be a matter of wonder that pious frauds should multiply in proportion to the credulity both of the deceivers and the deceived.* The task which king' Edwin had taken upon himself Public re- was, ill fact, accomplished at the meeting* of the nunciation deliberative assembly of the king'dom. The spot of idolatry, ^.j^^^gg^ f^j. ^]^g coiivocatiou lay at no gTeat dis- tance from York, and still nearer to the most venerated temple or sacred gTove of the heathen people. After some discussion, the chief of the sacerdotal colleg'e, whom Bede calls Coifi, addressed the assembly : " If," said he, " any man among* us had a rig-htful claim to the favour of the g-ods, it is I, who have ever been their most devout wor- shipper : yet have my services and prayers been in vain ; they have brought me no gain ; nay, I have found less favour in your sight, 0 king, and have been in all respects a less prosperous man than many other persons present. If these gods of ours were of any use, they ought to have done most good to him who served them most diligently. I therefore advise, that if on examination these new things that are preached to us shall be found better and more effectual than the old, we embrace them without delay." A second speaker contended that inasmuch as human life endured but for a moment, and then passed away ; and considering that the old religion disclosed nothing, either as to the state of man before birth or after death, — then if the new doctrine should be found to afford greater certainty upon so important a matter, it ought to be adopted. Other speakers to the same effect
' The religious state of the Teutonic The reader may be further referred to nations is elaborately described in my pp. .503-57, and pp. 675 et sqq. of the Hist, of the Germans, pp. 771 et sqq. same work.
Chap. III.] SUCCESS OF PAULINUS. 303
confirmed their predecessors ; and it was resolved that Pauhniis himself should be heard. The eloquence of the preacher prevailed ; the chief-priest publicly declared his conviction that the Christian faith was the true path to happiness temporal and eternal ; and with the zeal of a new convert proposed that they should without delay proceed to destroy the idol-temples, with their imag-es and altars. In token of his renunciation of the Destruction sacerdotal office, he mounted a charg-er, armed »/ ^'>^ i^^"'- himself with a spear, and flung' it into the sacred bTpti'smT/ enclosure of the neig'hbouring- temple : after this ^dwin. act of formal self-desecration, he and his companions set fire to the buildino' and burnt it to the g-ronud. The ex- ample of the king* and his nobles appears to have been passively followed by the people. Edwin himself Avas solemnly baptised by Paulinus at York on the 13th of April in the year 627 ; and with him two of his sons by a former marriag'e."
For a further period of six years the labours of Paulinus appeared to prosper abundantly ; and successes of multitudes were g-athered into the Roman fold. PauUnus Throug'h the zealous advocacy of king* Edwin, Erpoald, the son and successor of his former friend Eedwald king- of the East Ang-les,"" was persuaded to embraced Chris- tianity ; and after his death, in the year 631, his brother and successor Sig'bert estabhshed a bishopric at DuuAvich in favour of the Gallic missionary Felix, who continued in undisturbed occupation of the see for a term of seventeen years.'" Meanwhile Paulinus had extended his labours to the people of North Lincolnshire, and won over the pag*an prince and the people of the division of Lindsay, or Lin- dissi, to the Christian faith." In acknowledo-ment of his manifold merits towards the holy see. Pope Ho- rewarded norius I. sent him the archiepiscopal pallium, by Pope and condescended to expound to king* Edwin by an autog'raph letter the hig'h honour and privileg'e attached to that important symbol of spiritual authority.^ B}^ the
" Bede, lib. ii. c. xiii. pp. 94, 95. "' Bedc, ibid.
^ Kedwald had himself accepted bap- " Bede, lib. ii. c. xvi p. 97.
tism, but had afterwards relapsed into y Sec the letter ap. i?ef/e, lib. ii. c. xvii.
idolatry. See Bede, Hi), ii. c. xv. p. 96. p. 98.
804 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book III.
same messeng'ers the pope addressed letters to the Scottish churches, conve3'mg" a grav^e rebuke of the error into which they had fallen respecting- the Easter festival, and requir- ing- them at once to embrace the practice of the catholic church as exemplified in that of the Roman communion/ In the church-history of this period there are plain Rome and traccs of tlic sccret uneasiness with which the the abori- closc proximity of the British and Scottish com- mand Scotch munities to their own flourishing- establishments churches. [^^ Britain inspired the Bomanising- clerg-}-. The Pelagian heresy, so it was whispered, still lurked among* them ; the variance in the observance of Easter stood out in mortifying- contradiction to the proud claim of ma- ternity set up by Bome over all the churches of the West ; while other minor differences of ritual seemed to strengthen the unwelcome presumption of another and a more primitive origin. But these churches had not yet been severed from the Latin communion by any judicial or conciliar act. Bome had not thought lit formally to declare them in schism, but for the present treated them rather as refractory children of the great Latin family. Paulinus was not at leisure to follow up the controvers}" ; and when at length Pope Honorius I. sounded from Bome the trumpet of religious discord, there was no longer a Northumbrian church to repeat the alarm.
In the year 088, Cadwalla ap Gwynneth, the sove-
reig-n prince of the Western Britons, in alliance
ofEXin^and ^^'^th Pcuda, the pagaii king- of Mercia, defeated
downfall of and slcw Edwin in a pitched battle on the river
estabh™!-^ Doii, to the southward of York. The victors
n^entin rano'ed throuo-h every district of the kino-dom,
Northumbria. ^. .^.'^ - i -i i i
sparing neither man, woman, nor child ; and ruthlessly destroying every vestige of civihsation and religion which had sprung up under the hand of the Christian missionaries, with the avowed purpose of con- verting- that lately flourishing- region into a pathless de- sert. Cadwalla, though a Christian by profession, acknow- ledged no bond of religious kindred with the enemies of his race, and repelled every plea for mercy on the score
^ Bede, lib. ii. c. xix. p. 100.
Chap. III.] REVOLUTION IN NORTHUMBRIA. 305
of their common creed. As long- as he mamtained a footing' in the hapless country^ the work of shxug'hter and devastation proceeded without a pause. But entire nations are not easily extirpated : the survivors collected gradually round their native chiefs ; the lig'ht of religion dawned upon them from a more distant quarter; and the overthrow of the Latin establishment in Northumhria afforded an opening* for the revival of Christian faith and practice which no human foresight could have anticipated. After the defeat and death of Edwin^ Paulinus took refuge in Kent with the queen and the surviv- Expulsion ing members of the royal family of Northum- of Paulinus. bria. The son and nephew of Edwin were sent to France for their education, where both died in their childhood ; and his male progenj^ thus became extinct. Paulinus ac- cepted the bishopric of Rochester, vacated by the death of Homanus, who was accidentally drow ned on a voyage to Rome.^ But two sons and a nephew of Edelfrid the usurper, whom Edwin, with the aid of Redwald, had sup- planted and slain, still survived. The nephew, osric and Osric, placed himself at the head of the Deirian Eanfrid. division of the kingdom, and Eanfrid, the elder of the two sons, was acknowledged by the Bernicians as their chief. These princes had passed their earlier lives as exiles among the Scots and Picts of the north, and had been baptised and educated by the recluses of Icolmkil. Thither the sons and relatives of many of the most noble families in the kingdom had taken refuge from the enmity of Edwin, and had been received into Christian commu- nion in the Scottish form. After their restoration to their country consequent upon the downfall of their persecutor, both princes renounced their new profession, and relapsed into heathenism. ^^But,'' says Bede, ^Hhe punishment quickly followed the crime, and by the just judgment of God both fell by the impious hand of His enemy Cad- walla." The attempt to throw off the 3^oke of the com- bined Welsh and Mercians aggravated the ca- oswaid lamities of the unhappy Northumbrians ; till in delivers the the following year (0:Jo), Oswald, the youngest '^'"s^o™-
* Paulinus died at Rochester about nine years afterwards (A.n. 642). VOL. II. X
806 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
son of Edelfrid^ stepped forth as the champion of his people and of Christianity. UnUke his brother Eanfrid^ Oswald had holden fast to the hope of divine support from the faith in which he had been instructed by his Scottish pre- ceptors. He collected around him a small but resolute and compact body of followers^ whom he had manag-ed to inspire with the pious confidence which animated his own heart. Thus prepared^ he fell upon the ferocious Cadwalla before he could collect his forces^ and obtained a decisive victor}^ Cadwalla was slain in the battle, and the North- umbrian king'dom speedity cleared of every enemy.''
The unsparing" devastations of the Welsh and Mer- cians had obliterated almost every vestig-e of missionaries^ Christianity from the face of the land. The from rustic churchcs and religious houses built by the Latin missionaries had been burnt to the g-round ; neither priest nor catechist remained to keep alive the remembrance of the still recent conversion. Os- wald, however, had foug'ht and conquered under the ban- ner of Christ j and he led his new subjects, their swords still reeking- with the blood of their enemies, to the foot of the lofty cross he had caused to be erected upon the spot where he had foug'ht and won. The sig'ht of the trophy of their salvation, temporal and spiritual, revived the dormant devotion of his people, and awakened in all hearts an ardent desire for instruction in the life-g-iving* truths of which it was the auspicious symbol." The affec- tions of the king- naturally reverted to the source from which he had himself derived his knowledg*e of divine truth; and he sent messeng-ers with an earnest request to Seg-er, the abbot of the Scottish colony of Icolmkil, to supply him and his people with a bishop and a qualified staff of clerg-y to instruct them in the principles of reli- g"ion, and to administer the sacraments of the Church. A first unsuitable choice was followed by the appointment of Aidan, a man of exemplar}^ zeal and piety, and richly endowed with those Christian vir- tues which win the hearts of men. At his request, a reli- Lindisfarn. g-ious housc was built for him on Lindisfarn, an
b Bede, lib. iii. c. ii. p. 104. "^ Ibid.
Chap. III.] THE SCOTO-NORTHUMBRIAN CHURCH. 307
island of the Fearn (or Farn) group nearest to the main- land of Northumberland. But the monks who accom- panied Aidan were but imperfectly acquainted with the lano-nag-e of the country ; and Oswald, who had been brouo-ht up at Icolmkil, and was therefore familiar with the Erse lang-uag-e, condescended to act as interpreter be- tween them and his own subjects. The cordial reception which Aidan had met with soon broug-ht with it an influx of spiritual teachers from Scotland^ till every portion of the land enjoyed the privileg'e of a stationary ministry. But in that ag*e all institutions for religious instruction assumed a monastic form ; the clerg-y residing in com- munities, or collegiate bodies, subject to reg'ular life and discipline. The first care of the king', therefore, was to provide his clergy with suitable residences, and to erect churches for the celebration of divine service. For the support of these establishments the king* g-ave liberal contributions of land, and endowed them with domainial possessions upon a like tenure with the estates of the secular nobility. Under the ro^al patronag'e, schools and seminaries for the education of youth sprung* up in every province and district ; the children of the people were catechised, and the adults instructed in the doc- trine, discipline^ and ritual of the church of Scotland.**
In respect of church-g^overnment, there was a re- markable difference between the practice of the Scottish and that of the Latin church. Among- form'of the former, presbyterian ordination was thoug'ht episcopal effectual for the due transmission oftlie episcopal powers. Aidan himself had been consecrated to that office by the imposition of the hands of the abbot and presby- tery of his monastery, no bishop having* been present at, or taken part in, the ceremony. This practice was derived from their sainted prog'enitor Columba, who had himself never received episcopal consecration, yet entertained no doubt of his rig-ht or competency to ordain bishops for the outlying- dependencies and missions of his community. There can be little doubt that the practice was in con- formity with the earliest traditions of the Irish and Scot-
^ Bede, lib. iii. c. iii. pp. 104, 105.
308 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
tish churches. Shocking" as so flagrant an anomaly must have appeared to the prepossessions of the Latin disci- phnarians, it is sing-ular that no objection to the minis- trations of this holy man should have been founded upon it. The reason for such unexampled forbearance may be g-athered from the undesig-ned testimony of Bede to the impreg"nable reputation Aidan left behind him : " It is Apoioo^y of true," he says, ^^ that his ordination was of an Bede^ior miusual charactcr ; . . . 3^et whatever may have Aldan, j^^^^^ j^-^ ^^.^^ positiou in the Churchy tJiis we
do most surely know of him^ that he left behind him suc- cessors like himself sing'ularly endowed with the g'ift of continence, marvellously possessed of love divine, and g-overned by the strictest rules of Christian life ; and al- thoug'h from the remoteness of his position he was neces- sarily ignorant of the ecclesiastical modes of determining* the festivals of the Church, yet was he abundantly as- siduous in the performance of all those virtues of piety and of chastity that mig'ht be learned from prophets, evang^elists, and apostles."^ Abbot Seg"er of Icolmkil, \he Labours fourth in succession from Columba, exhibited of Aidan. j^ his owu pcrsou a model of Christian virtues ; and, like him, his friend and pupil Aidan lived not for this world, its pursuits or affections. Whatever presents he mig'ht receive from the king* or wealthy laymen, he hastened to distribute to the first poor that crossed his path. In the performance of his ministry he always went about on foot, never mounting" a horse except in cases of extreme urg"ency. In the course of his itinerant labours, he did not confine himself to particular localities or con- g-reg'ations ; but wherever he found numbers collected he turned aside to preach, to baptise, to confirm in the faith and in the practice of love and charity towards all men. He was at all times indefatig-able in encourag-ing" religious meditation, and in recommending* the dilig*ent stud}^ of the Scriptures and the use of psalmody. These were, indeed, the favourite and the daily occupations of his life 5 and if, as mig'ht now and then happen, he was invited to the royal table, he eat sparingi^^, and soon took his leave
« Bede, lib. iii. c. iv. p. 107.
Chap. III.] EXTENSION OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH. 809
to resume his diurnal task of reading- and prayer with his clergy and pupils. He was strict in the observance of the fasts prescribed by his church : the sins of the wealthy and the great he rebuked with impartial severity : he never stooped to purchase the favour of men in power^ but distributed that which he occasionally accepted from them to the poor about him, or expended it in the re- demption of slaves and captives, many of whom he en- rolled among' his scholars ; and if, after proper instruction, he found them qualified, he advanced them to be his col- leag'ues and helpers in the ministry/
Merits like these put to silence the formalism of the Latins. Columba and Columbanus, Seg-er and Extension of Fursey, Aidan and Eg-bert, and their succes- the Scottish sors, had gained too hrni a footing* upon the ^ "^'*^ ' holy gTOund they had occupied in their lifetime to be dispossessed b}^ conventional objections or synodal regu- lations. From the date of the overthrow of Latinism in Northumberland by the invasion of Cad walla, the Scot- tish churches attained an extraordinary extension. In the year 633, about two years before the arrival of Aidan, Fursey, an Irish ecclesiastic of Scottish extraction, had preached successfully to the East Angles of Norfolk and Suffolk, and founded a monastery at Boroug'h Castle.^ Three years afterwards (636), Cyneg'ilse, king- of the West Saxons, demanded a daughter of Oswald in marriag-e ; the request was g'ranted, on condition that the bridegToom should adopt the faith of the bride. The terms appear to ■have been accepted without hesitation ; Oswald himself was present at the baptism of his son-in-law, and became his sponsor at the font. Birino, a Latin missionary-bishop, was installed at Dorchester, a villag'e or "Station in Oxford- shire. But in the year 643, Cornwalch, the successor of Cyneg'ilse, was expelled from his king'dom by Penda, the pagan king* of Mercia. He retired to the court of Anna, king- of the East Angles ; and here he resumed the profes- sion of Christianit}'^ he had thrown off in prosperity. When restored to his throne, in 650, he re-established the bishop- ric of Dorchester in favour of Agilbert, an Irish monk, edu-
f Bede, lib. iii. c. v. p. 108. e Ibid. lib. iii. c. xix. p. 122.
310 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book IV.
cated in France ; and the ascendency of Christianity, pro- bably in the Latin form, suffered no further interruption in this important section of the Anglo-Saxon community.'' It appears, therefore, that within the episcopate of „, , ,, Aidan the influence of the Latin and Scottish Angiia and fomis of church-o'overnment and discipline in toTheVonh-^^^ British islands was pretty evenly balanced, umbrian But about two vcars after his death (a.d. 651), church. ^YiQ latter received an important accession of strength by the conversion of Peada, a son of Penda, who had obtained the sovereignty of the southern division of the Mercian kingdom, known among the Anglo-Saxon principahties by the name of Middle Angiia. In the year 642, Oswald of Northumberland had been succeeded by his son Oswy, or Oswin, who inherited with his father's dominions the office of Braetwalda, or king-president, of the Anglo-Saxon association. Peada, anxious for the support of his powerful superior^ obtained the hand of a sister of Oswy, and with his bride agreed to adopt her Finnan of religion. Finuan, bishop of Lindisfarn, the suc- Lindisfarn. ggggor ofAidau, performed the rite of baptism j and an important division of the Mercian kingdom was brought under the spiritual influence of the Northumbrian church. The profession of Oswy appears not to have stood in the way of profitable crime. By the murder of his pious cousin Oswin, he obtained possession of the Deirian division of Northumbria ; and a short time after- wards he wreaked hi» vengeance upon the sanguinary enemy of his people, the pagan king Penda of Mercia. By the defeat and death of this formidable rival, the entire kingdom of Mercia was added to his patrimonial dominions ; the sword of Oswy carried the profession of Christianity into the conquered territories; the mission- aries, Cedd, Adda, Betti, and Diuma, who had preached successfully to the Middle Angles, were transferred to Mercia ; and Diuma was consecrated by Finnan bishop of the united church of Middle Angiia and Mercia.' King Oswy, in the vain belief that he could atone for the
•> Bede, lib. iii. c. vii. p. 109. id. ibid. c. xiv. p. 117; id. ibid. c. xxiv.
» Ibid. lib. iii. c. xxi. pp. 125, 126; p. 129.
Chap. III.] THE NORTHUMBRIAN CHURCH. 311
crimes of ambition and bloodshed by the display Further ex- of extraordinary zeal for rehg-ion, devoted his*^™°^^^^^^^ infant daughter Alfleda to perpetual virg-mity ushment by in a convent which he founded and endowed for ^^i^s ^^wy. her reception when she should be of age to take the vows ;J he provided for a due succession of bishops to govern the Mercian churches ; and though in the year 658 that kingdom recovered its independence under the Christian king Wulfhere, the communion between those churches and* the Northumbrian establishment does not appear to have been interrupted,— indeed^ the successive bishops who presided over the Mercians and Middle Angles were, with a single exception, all of them either Scotchmen or pupils of the school of Icolmkil.'^ The christianising influence of OsAvy extended, indeed, as fiir south as the kingdom of the East Saxons. Since the expulsion of Melitus, in the year 610, that people had reverted to the old Germanic poly- theism. No attempt had since then been made by the Eoman clergy to recall them to a better faith. But in the year 653, their king, Sigbert, was induced by the personal persuasions of Oswy to embrace the rehgion of Christ. Cedd, or Chad, with another member of the Mer- cian presbytery, was consecrated by Finnan of Lindisfarn as bishop of the East Saxons. Chad displa3-ed exem- plary activity and zeal in his new office : he ordained a full complement of priests and deacons ; he built many new churches, and erected two goodly monasteries, where he collected and trained a numerous body of devout men for the ministry, more especially with a view to the maintenance of that scheme of conventual or collegiate life which had hitherto furnished so effectual an instru- ment of missionary success.'
It appears, then, very clearly, that about the middle of the seventh century an independent English
_ , , T 'J IT Independent
church had sprung up, comprehendmg every character of part of the island from the Humber to the ^^e Northum-
r •11 •HIT brian church.
Grampian hiUs, together with the midland dis-
j Dr. Smith supposes this monastery took the veil at the convent of Strenes-
to have been built upon the site of the chalk, or Whitby, under Abbess Hilda, town of Hartlepool, in the county of '' Bede, lib. iii. c. xxiv. p. 130.
Durham,— note 47, p.l29. But Alfleda ' Id. ibid. c. xxii. pp. 126, 127.
812 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book I\ .
tricts of Mercia, Middle Ang-liaj Lindsay, and East Saxony or Essex. The church founded by Paulinus be- tween the years 625 and 633 had been strang-led in its birth ; so that after his secession in the latter year, not a vestig'e of a Roman establishment survived in the north to tell that it had ever existed. From that point of time a period of twenty years had elapsed, within which we perceive no traces of Latin interference or ag-ency in the restoration of the Northumbrian church ; we hear of no such connection or intercourse with Rome, or the latinised clerg-y of the south, as mig'ht warrant an inference dero- g-atory to the perfect independence of the revived church. But althoug'h she derived her orig'in from a source uncon- nected with Rome, there was in the breast of the Scoto- Irish clergy no disposition to secede from the communion of the Latin body, or to quarrel with the spiritual influ- ence they had yielded to the pope within their own pale. The subsisting" differences touched on matters rather of a formal than a substantial character ; but the diverg-ent customs were sanctified b}^ a practice coeval, as they be- lieved, with the earliest ag-es of Christianity, and founded upon apostolic ordinance and example. The ve^siaTsph-it Scottish Christians were inexpert in the arts oi of J^^.s^"*' scientific controversy, and were wholly exempt ivines. ^^^^ ^^^^ dialectic subtlety which had by this-
time well-nig'h banished the true apostolic spirit from the heart and hfe-blood of the Greek and Latin churches. Their missionaries, on the contrary, devoted themselves exclusively to the practical duties of their profession; they occupied themselves incessantly with the study of the Scriptures, the exercises of prayer and psalmody, the labours of preaching" and catechising", and the cultivation of that ascetic self-denial, that resolute self-seclusion from the world and its occupations and enjoyments, which they reg-arded as the closest approach to spiritual perfection attainable by sinful man. But the isolation incident to their remote position in the Christian world left them destitute of those weapons for the defence of their inde- pendence, in the use of which the Latin doctors had arrived at an unenviable proficiency ; they had therefore
Chap. III.] KEVIVAL OF THE PASCHAL CONTROVERSY. 313
little to oppose to the apocryphal statements or log-ical subtleties of" their opponents but their own simple tradi- tions and honest convictions. The organisation of the Scottish churches wns of that primitive congTeg'ational character which resisted centralisation of power. The bond which united them consisted rather in a sentiment of dutiful attachment and confidence than in any sense of alleg'iance to a superior. The idea of a supreme repre- sentative head of the Church on earth was new to them ; and when the doctrine of a Petrine principality was pro- pounded, they were unable to meet it with an ar- g'umentative resistance or denial. Their alleg-ed the^conflict customs and traditions Avere met by statements with the and alleg'ations of fact they were not prepared to contradict or refute ; and when the question came to rest on the preponderance of authority, the balance was found ag'ainstthem : and these humble servants of God felt that no alternative remained but to abandon a position, and to abdicate a function, for the support of which the requi- site credit and confidence had been withdrawn from them. Eanfleda, daug-hter of Edwin and queen of Oswy of Northumbria, when she fled with Paulinus be- Revival of fore the merciless Cad walla ap Gwynneth, re- the dispute mained for some years at the court of Eadbakr^*""' ^'''**'''- of Kent, where she was educated and instructed in the Latin ritual. To that form she continued to adhere after her marriag-e with Oswy ; and in this way it sometimes happened that the king- and the queen celebrated the Easter festival at different times."' \yhile Aidan lived, the spiritual advisers of Eanfleda abstained from all attempts to disturb the subsisthig* religious calm. The spirit of discord was rebuked by the reverential awe which that saintly person had inspired. Yulg-ar objec- tors shrunk from the lustre of his virtues ; the more liberal of his opponents were loth to dwell upon the spots which mig-lit tarnish their brig-htness." But the purely
*" The most shocking anomaly of this keeping the rigid fasts of holy week, kind occurred when on one occasion the " Bede numbers Honorius of Canter- times disagreed so materially, tliat while bury, and Felix bishop of the East the king was celebrating his Easter in Angles, among his admirers: lib. iii. c. feasting and revelry, the queen was still xxv. p. 131.
314 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
personal advantag'es enjoyed by Aidan were not trans- ferable to a successor ; and Finnan found himself at the outset of his episcopate involved in an unmanag'eable controversy, without those aids which were possessed by the Latin disputants in a measure unappreciable by the Scottish churchmen. The year after the death of Aidan (a.d. 652), the discussion about the proper time for the celebration of the Easter festival assumed a more lively tone. The controversy was set on foot by Ro- Ronan. ^^^^ ^ gcottish prcsbytcr^ educated in France. He was followed b}^ the Ang-lo-Saxon monk ^*^^^®'^' Wilfred, the friend and preceptor of the prince Aelchfrid or Alfrid, a son of Oswy. This person had travelled for some years in Italy and France, where he had dilig'ently studied, and formed his own opinions, at the most celebrated seminaries of Latin discipline and ritual. By the influence of the prince, Wilfred was ap- pointed prior of the monastery of Ripon, which had a short time before been assig-ned to a colony of Scottish monks. Finding* the brethren devoted to the traditional usag-es of their church, the prince, at the solicitation of Wilfred, expelled them from their convent, and surren- dered it to his friend and his pupils. Simultaneously with this movement of the Latin party at court,
^^ ^^ ' Agilbert, bishop of the West Saxons, at the request of the prince, took up his residence in Northum- bria, accompanied by his presbyter Ag-atho. The strong party thus assembled now resolved upon decisive steps for the reduction of the Scottish and Northumbrian churches to conformity with the Latin discipline and ritual j and to that end, they proposed a free conference between them- selves on the one part, and the bishops and clergy of the realm of Northumbria on the other, with a, view to deter- mine all points in dispute, more especially those relating* to the celebration of Easter and the form of clerical tonsure.
While the scheme for the restoration of this important nf r pi'ovince to the communion of Rome was ripen-
ence of iug", Finuau, the successor of Aidan, had passed
Whitby, away, and was succeeded by Colman, a devout
disciple of the Scottish school. At his accession to the
Chap. III.] THE DISCUSSION. ;315
g'overnment of the Northumbrian church, he found an uneasy feehng* prevailing- amono- his clergy as to the orthodox}^ of their computation of the Easter festival. With reg-ard to the merits of the question in dispute^ the court appears to have stood nearly indifferent between the parties. The king* was, indeed, anxious for the settle- ment of a quarrel which disunited him from his consort and his son ; and^ with the knowledg'e that the ultimate decision must rest with himself, he saw no objection to the proposed discussion. The Scottish party, when called upon ^' to give a reason for the faith that Avas in them," could not decline the challeng*e ; and it was ag"reed that the colloquy should take place at the convent of Strenes- chalk, or Whitby, in the presence of the court, and under the personal presidency of the king".
At the day and place of meeting* there appeared, on the part of the Latin communion, Bishop Ag*il- The discus- bert, with his friends Wilfred and Ag-atho, aided ^^°^- by the ag-ed deacon Jacob," and Homanus, the queen^s Italian director. The national church was represented by Colman of Lindisfarn, the bishop Cedd, the abbess Hilda, and other clerg-y of the Scottish persuasion. The king" opened the discussion by calling- upon Colman to g-ive an account of the mode of celebrating* the paschal feast according' to his communion, and to state upon what traditional g'rounds that observance was founded. Col- man replied, that the mode of the celebration . was notorious to all men; that it had always of Bishop been practised in that precise manner by the ^o^'"^'^- church from which he derived his commission ; that it had been handed down to them by an unbroken tradition from St. John, the beloved disciple of the Lord; and had been practised by all the churches over which that great apostle had in his lifetime presided. Ag-ilbert, on Avhom the reply de\ olved, professed himself too imperfectly ac- quainted with the speech of the north to be the spokesman of his party ; he therefore proposed that Wilfred, to whom that dialect was familiar, and who was besides perfectly
o Jacob had been deacon to Pauli- through all the calamities of the Welsh nus, and had managed to hold his post and Mercian invasion.
316 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
conversant with the controversy in haiid^ should be heard in his place. The request was g-ranted ; and Wilfred re- Harsh reply plied^ that the mode of keeping- the Easter feast of Wilfred, observed by himself and his friends was that which was practised at Rome, where the blessed apostles Peter and Paul had lived, and taught, and suffered, and were buried; that the same rite was in the same man- ner adopted and performed throughout all Italy, Gaul, Africa, Egypt, Greece, in short, in the whole Christian world ; that it was by all celebrated at one and the same time, excepting only by his actual opponents, and their accomplices in folly and obstinacy, — the Picts, the Scots, and the Britons, — who were vain enough to imagine that the obscure occupants of the two remotest islands of the ocean — and even they not unanimously — could maintain a vainglorious pretence ofexclusive conformity with apos- tolic ordinance against the voice of the whole catholic world.
Shocked by the harsh tone assumed by the Latin ad- Remon- vocate, Colmau calmly inquired " whether it strance of ^as justifiable to apply such epithets to the °r?pTy of^ faithful followers of the beloved friend and dis- Wiifred. (3ipig ^f their common Lord ?" " God forbid/^ said Wilfred in reply, " that I should charge the great apostle with folly for accommodating his practice to the Jewish prejudices he found prevailing among a majority of his converts." Instances of this kind of condescension were, he urged, numerous in the conduct of the apostles, more especially in that of St. Paul. Yet many of the practices they deemed lawful, on account of the prejudices then prevailing in the Church, were no longer so now that the full light of the Gospel had illuminated the whole world ; though, therefore, there was at that time good rea- son why the apostles should deem it expedient to keep the paschal feast according to the law of Moses, to wit, on the fourteenth day of the first moon,p whether that day fell on a sabbath or on any other day of the week ; yet when St. Peter preached at liome,'' he, remembering that the Lord
p See Exod. xii. 6. Ki)pvyiJ.a Tlerpov, a very early apocfy-
1 In allusioii,no doubt, to the so-called phalwork, of the same category as the
Chap. III.] WEAKNESS OF SCOTTISH THEORY. 317
rose from the dead on the first day of the week, thoug-ht that the paschnl feast oug-ht to be kept on that day, — thnt tlierefore, in conformity with the Mosaic ordinunce, the Church should await the fourteenth day of tlie moon ; and if a sabbath innnediately preceded that da}^, the feast shoukl begin on that same sabbath evening-, just as it is now observed ; but if a Lord's-day did not follow on the morrow of the fourteenth day, he (the apostle Peter) waited till the sixteenth, the seventeenth, or any other Lord's-day, so only that such Lord's-day should happen before the twenty-first day of the moon. Thus the Easter Lord's-day could only occur between the fifteenth of the moon and the twenty-first. Now, inasmuch as by the law of Moses the paschal feast is to be observed during* the whole interval between the fourteenth and the twenty-first, there is no disagTeement between the law and the apostle." This rule was that which all the suc- cessors of the apostle John in the churches over Avhich he presided did, after his death^ unanimously agTce to abide by ;' and thus, in like manner, all churches throug-hout the world, the same having- been afterwards confirmed by the g-reat council of Nicaea.
But what most nearly touched the Scottish doctors in the arg-ument of Wilfred, was the charg-e that j thoug-h they professed to follow the Asiatic prac- oTXelcTt-"^ tice as derived from the apostle John, yet that *'^^ theory. their actual usag-e corresponded neither with that nor with the Latin computation. That practice, he contended, was in truth derived from the Jews, and followed strictly their reckoning*. The Scotch, however, had departed from that rule by transferring* their festival to some Sun- day occurring- within the period extending- from the thir- teenth to the twentieth of the first moon, thus entirely displacing* the whole period.' Such a Sunday would not,
" Apocalypse of Peter," the " Itinerary ment; the Jewish mode of keeping the
of Peter," and the Clementine fictions. feast having prevailed in the Asiatic
Conf. Book I. c. ii. p. 28 of this work. churches for ages after the death of
' That is, the time for the observance John. is the same in both cases ; the day « The Quartodecimanians computed
within the period being only chosen vi'ith the period of the feast from the 14th
reference to that on which the Kesur- at eve till the 21st at eve of the first or
rection occurred. equinoctial month.
• This is, however, a gross misstate-
318
CATHEDRA PETRI.
[Book IV.
he affirmed, always occur within the period allowed by the law of Moses for the celebration of the paschal feast; consequently the festival could not be lawfully kept in every year of the nineteen-year cycle of the Alexandrines^ by which both Jews and judaising* Christians were equally g'uided." To this reproach Colman had no better reply at Rejoinder hand than that the holy Anatolius of Laodicsea'' of Colman. j^^d always been their g-uide, and that from him they had learnt to keep the paschal feast between the fourteenth and twentieth day of the moon. That he thought this plea conclusive when fortified by the im- memorial practice of his churchy is clear from the sequel. ^^ Are we" he asked, " to be condemned for following* our holy father and founder Columba and his successors, men beloved of God, who always kept the feast in the manner we now keep it ? Are they, whose sanctity was vouched by many miracles, to be reproached with ig"norance both
" The nineteen-year cycle of the Alexandrines was invented in order to bring the commencement of the lunar year into coincidence with a particular day of the civil or solar year. It was found, namely, that 235 lunar months coincided very nearly with nineteen solar years, so as to bring round the new moon to the same day in the nine- teenth as in the first year of the cycle. The first new moon in each of the nine- teen civil years being easily obtained, and denoted by a number called the Golden Number, there could be no dif- ficulty in finding the new moon imme- diately fireceding the vernal equinox, that moon being the Nizan or Abib of the Jews. It was the practice of the lat- ter to wait till that moon was at the full — that is, till the fourteenth day — and on the eve of that day to sacrifice the paschal lamb, whatever day of the week it might fall upon. The first month, or Nizan of the Jews, must therefore fall within our months of March and April; and the fourteenth day of that moon must be computed from some new moon occurring on or after the 7th of Mai-ch, in order to bring it to the full on or after the 21st of that month. But the 14th of the month Nizan marks the full moon immediately succeeding the vernal equi- nox (21st of our month of March) : now a full moon may occur on the 20th of March, and the next full moon would
not occur till the 19th or 20th of April, on which day the Jews would keep their latest Passover in any year. But as the Latin churches alwaj's waited till the Sunday after that full moon, the Christian feast of Easter might fall seven days later, that is, at the latest on the 26th or 27th of April. Of course, at the earliest, it would not fall till the 22d of March, and then only if the 21st turned out to be a Saturday. The Eastern churches, as far as I am able to understand the question,.ia.lways kept their Easter on the same days as the Jews ; therefore any departure from that day was a departure from the al- leged usage of the Johannite churches. Wilfred seems to have imputed to the Scotch some error in the computation of the particular Sunday to be observed, otherwise there would be no discre- pancy between their computation and that of the Latins. See Ideler, Handb. der Chronol. vol. ii. pp. 175 et sqq. ; Rosenmilller, ad Exod. xii. 6 et sqq. Conf Dr. Smith on the Paschal con- troversy, in his edition of Bede, app. ix. a. p. 694.
* Anatolius flourished in the latter part of the third centui'y, circ. a.d. 278 to the end of the century. His work on the Easter festival is mentioned by Jerome with approbation. That work still exists in an ancient Latin ver-
Chap. III. J VICTORY OF THE LATINS. 319
of the law and the gospel, and with teaching- us what was contraiy to both ?" " Nay/' rejoined Wilfred, Answer of '•^ we deny not the sanctity of your Anatolius Wilfred, or your Columba j but we charg'e you with ig-norance and neg-lect of the precepts of that ver}^ Anatolius upon whom 3'ou rest 3^our case; for he computed his Pasch by the nineteen -year period (of the Alexandrines), a cycle (of lunations) of which you take no notice ; thus repudiating- a rule so far acquiesced in by all parties,''' and celebrating" your Pasch at a time differing- from that adopted by every other body of Christians. But what thoug-h your holy men may have wroug-ht sig-ns and won- ders,— what, I ask, mig-ht be the reply on that day of final judg-ment when they shall claim the benefit of their miraculous works before the Lord? — ^Depart from me, for I know ye not !' Not that it must be so, — God forbid that I should thus harshly judg-e of the dead! — Granted, then, that the}^ were the g-enuine servants of God, — that they served Him uprig-htty in their rustic ig-norance ; being- blameless as long- as no one appeared among- them who mig-ht instruct them in the better way. And verily I believe of them that if a catholic calculator had had access to them, they would have followed tlie command of God. But now, if you and your followers, after having* heard the decree of the apostolic see, in con- formity with that of the universal Church, and confirmed by the sacred letter addressed to you, shall disobey or ne- glect that better commandment, ye shall surely fall into mortal sin. What though your fathers were holy men, should their small number, confined in an obscure corner of the world, prevail ag-ainst the decisions of ^^j^ ^^ the universal Church 1 Should your Columba, the Petrine holy man though he were, be preferred to the p*'^^'"- blessed prince of the apostles, to whom the Lord said, ^ Thou art Peter ; and I will give unto thee the ke3^s of the kino-dom of heaven' ?"
The text thus dextrously reserved to the close of the discussion decided the victory of the Latin dis- victory of putants. One word of authority outweighed all t*^^ Latins.
* Although diifering as to the feria, or week-day, upon which it was to be held.
320 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
the learned arg'uments lavished upon the unlettered ear of the court. Kmg* Oswy^ struck by the quotation, asked Colman whether, in truth, the Lord had thus addressed Peter ? The naked fact was undeniable. " Then," said the king-, " show me any similar authority imparted to your Columba or his saintly successors." The bishop could alleg'e none such. " You are^ then, ag-reed,'* rejoined the king, '^ on both sides, that these words were addressed specially to Peter, and that the Lord did thereby confer upon him the ke3^s of the king'dom of heaven ?" The truth of the allegation was admitted. " Then," said Oswy, ^^ I tell you, that I will not stand in opposition to the doorkeeper of the king-dom of heaven ; nay, I will in all thing's obey his commands : lest by offending- him who keepeth the ke^^s, I should, when I present myself at the g-ate, find no one to open unto me.""
A very superficial acquaintance with ecclesiastical . . history would suffice for the refutation of the
Examination ••!/>, i • i ji , /•
of the Latin pmicipai lacts upou which the arg'ument oi argument, ^^iifred was foundcd. Not to insist upon the apociyphal alleg-ation of a positive apostolic ordinance delivered jointly by Peter and Paul at Rome, nothing- can be more contrary to the fact than the supposed unanimity of observance in the catholic Church so confidently as- serted by Wilfred. It is a matter of notoriety, that the disputes respecting- the proper season for celebrating* the paschal festival continued to divide both the Eastern and the Western churches for many ag-es after the decease of the apostle John ; and so far was it from the truth that the same usag-e had prevailed ever since that time in all the " churches of Italy and Gaul, of Africa, Asia, Eg-ypt, and Greece," that it would be a difficult matter to show that any two of them at any one time had adopted the same practice, or that any definite rule of computation had obtained the suffrag-es of a majority of the Christian world.^ Though Bishop Colman and his friends were not bound to accept this statement at the hands of their op-
" Bede, lib. iii. c. xxv. pp. 131 et sqq. the paschal controversies, ap. Bingham, y Conf. Book I. e. v. pp. 102 et sqq. Antiqq. vol. vii. book xx. c. v. § 2, p. of this work. See also the history of 89.
CuAP. III.] THE LATIN ARGUMENT. 321
ponents, they were unprepared with any direct contra- diction of the alleg-ed facts. They were ig-norant that Poly carp of Smyrna^ the disciple of John, had maintained an analog-ous mode of computation with their own, — that Polycrates, his successor in that see, had defended the like cause ag-ainst Victor of Eome ; and thoug-h they were aware that Anatolius of Laodicsea, at the close of the third century, had written an approved treatise defending- the Quartodecimanian opinion, they did not know that at that very time the churches of Asia, Syria, and Meso- potamia followed g-enerally the same practice, as handed down to them from the earliest apostolic ag-e. Had it come to their knowledg'e that this mode of keeping* the Easter festival had but in a sing-le instance met with any violent expression of dog'matic opposition ;^ had they known that down to the middle of the fourth century no synodal de- cree to which any plausibly leg'al force could be attached had been in existence to brand that opinion as schismatic or heretical ;^ and that until then no penalty had been an- nexed to the practice founded upon it, — the}"^ mig'ht have put a direct neg'ative upon the bold misstatements of Wil- fred, and have affirmed with truth that the differences complained of were not in the purer ag-es of the Church reg-arded as essential to church-fellowship among* Chris- tians," and that they had never been so regarded until the
* That of Victor of Rome in excom- However, in the year 345, the council of
municating the Asiatic churches ; an Antioch (not an oecumenical council)
act severely reprehended by Irenseus. formally and canonically decreed the ob-
Conf Book I. c. v. p. 103 of this work. servance of the Egyptian practice, and
» The council of Nicsea, in 325, had branded the disobedient as schismatics
indeed, at the recommendation of Con- and heretics. Conf Hard. Concil. tom.
stantine, taken the question into con- i. pp. 338, 442, 450; and Co?ic?7. Antioch.
sideration,and had adopted the Gentile Id. ibid. p. 591.
view of the Christian Pasch as distin- ^ See all the authorities upon the
guished from that of the Quartodecima- paschal controversy, fully but concisely
nians or Judaisers ; and had referred collected, ap. Ersch. und Gruber's Cy-
the churches to that of Alexandria, be- clop. art. ' Oster-fest.' I am inclined to
cause that church enjoyed the reputa- think that the error imputed to the Scots
lion of greater scientific attainments was not precisely that of the Quarto-
than any other. But this resolution did decimanians ; for they observed their
not take the form of a canon or synodal paschal feast on a Sunday, in conformity
decree, nor was any penalty annexed with the Nicene practice. It arose most
to neglect of the recommendation. It probably from some misunderstanding
becomes known to us, in fact, for the of the meaning of Anatolius of Laodi-
first time in the narrative of their trans- csea, and it may be from the adoption of
actions, and in the letters of the em- some other cycle (of which there were
peror Constantine; but it is not em- several) than that of Alexandria, bodied among their legislative acts.
VOL. II. y
32'2 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
lust of power had exting-uished all distinction between unity and uniformity in their minds.
Sut the real object of the Latin disputants lay wdde Intent of ^^^^^ simplc questious proposed to the assembly, the Lai^n That object was primarily the establishment of doctors, ^i^g Eoman supremacy in the British islands. From the commencement of their meritorious labours^ the Latin missionaries came prepared to disallow and disown, as far as circumstances permitted, any but a dependent church-constituency. In the very announcement of their mission new churches and old became, in their view, the subjects of Rome. In her name they seized upon the whole jurisdiction, and declined to recog"nise any but a deleg-ated authority, ultimately referable to Rome as the source of all spiritual power. Wilfred, as we have seen, closed his case with the broad assertion, that dissent from the decrees of him who bore the keys of the kingdom of heaven amounted to the crime of disobedience to the commands of God, and must incur the penalty of ex- clusion from His kingdom. " The Lord/' he arg-ued, "had made a discretionary transfer of the keys to St. Peter : he was therefore the literal janitor of the Chris- tian paradise, with power to admit or to shut out whom he pleased. The apostohc g-atekeeper had spoken by the mouth of his representative the pontiff of Rome ; the command of God had gone forth ; there remained no duty but to obey." To the simple and the io-norant the method of literal exposition recommends itself; and thus figures of speech become histories, and metaphors are converted into matters of fact. The Scottish prelates were Retreat of ovcrmatched by the Latins in argumentative the''scotti°sh sciohsm. Unprepared with any reply to the clergy, triumphant " Tu es Petrus" of their opponents, they retired from the field in the same humble unselfish spirit which first prompted them to quit their solitude to spread the gospel among a despairing and deserted peo- ple. Thither they again retreated, wdthout any ambitious attempt to disturb the peace of the flock they had gone forth to seek and to save. Defeat was to them no ground for schism : the authority had slipped from their hands ;
CiiAP. III.] RETREAT OF THE SCOTTISH CLERGY. 323
their occupation abroad was g'one ; and they returned to obscurity, leaving' behind them that g-enuine odour of sanctit3^,the example of a hol}^ and laborious life, — a source of far g-reater advnntag-e to the world they quitted than any that could have resulted from a continuance of their ministry under circumstances that must have led to schism on the one hand, or to an absolute surrender of their own relig'ious liberties on the other." The Scottish and Irish clergy in other parts of Northumbria and the British islands followed their prelates, and retired before the in- flux of Latinism which followed the conference of Whitby. With them the last vestig-es of an independent church- constituency vanished from the land ; Rome became the C3^nosure of religious aspiration : in her name and under her banner the victory had been won ; and the chair of Peter was, it must be admitted, rescued from a g'reater peril than any by which it had been threatened since the first Roman emissary had planted his foot upon British g'round.
<= The character given by Bade of the of those religious persons who, like the
Scottish clergy is the strongest testi- venerable Bede himself, had not yet
mony to the disinterested and self-de- wholly succeeded in merging the truth
nying conversation of these holy men, and substance of religion in the outward
as well as to the profound impression forms of ritual and worship, Conf.
they left behind them upon the minds Bede, lib. iii. c. xxii. p. 135.
CHAPTER IV.
BEITISH CHURCHES IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. (II.)
Submission of the prince and people — New bishops in Northumbria — Wilfred — Chad— Conformity of the Anglo-Saxon churches to the Latin rite — Embassy of kings Egbert and Oswy to Pope Vitalian— Reply of the pope — Appointment of Theodore as archbishop of Canterbury — Decree of appointment — Removal of Chad, and reinstatement of Wilfred in the see of York — Introduction of the Roman canon-law — Benedict Biscop and the Latin ritual — Services, ornaments, church-furniture — Biscop the Ritualist — Character of image and relic worship — Advantage of Rome — Wilfred of York — Elfrida — Edilburga — Wilfred expelled — His appeal to the pope — Papal adjudication — rejected in Northumbria — Im- prisonment and liberation of Wilfred — His restoration — His second expulsion — Council of Nesterfield — Recusancy of Wilfred — Adjudication — Berthuald archbishop of Canterbury in the appeal of Wilfred — Judgment of Pope John VI. — Einal success and restoration of Wilfred — His death, and distribution of his treasures.
What the result mig-ht have been, if the Scottish bishops Submission had added knowledg-e to their zeal, it is difficult
of the to conjecture. It were equally vain to speculate prfnces^anT as to what mig-lit liavc been the effect upon the
laity. mind of the barbarian king", if the principle of literal exposition had been boldly repudiated, or duly con- trolled by an enlig-htened comparison with other portions of the sacred text, or even with the writing-s of the most eminent Christian fathers. Neither can we anticipate the result of a direct appeal to the temporal interests of the prince ag'ainst a system which cast the relig'ious liberties of his people at the feet of a foreig-n master, and esta- blished among- them a priesthood whose influence mig-ht soon supplant the prince in the aflections, and ultimately in the alleg'iance, of his subjects. But such views lay far beyond the limited horizon of that ag-e. There was in the barbaric mind an integ-rity of submission which, after admitting' certain given premises in g-ood faith, recoiled from the cold calculation of consequences. Forecast and
Chap. IV.] BISHOPS CHAD AND WILFRED. 325
scrutiny implied a suspicion inconsistent with the spon- taneous trust they were accustomed to repose in their in- structors and leaders. When^ therefore, King- Osw}-, with his court and people, had determined to earn the g"ood- will of the " doorkeeper of the king-dom of heaven/' their eyes were at once riveted upon his presumed successor at Rome as the only safe channel of communication with that formidable official.
In the first instance, the king- selected Tuda, a con- formist to what was now called the catholic ritual, to be the new bishop of Northumbria ; n^inlted^ and promoted a friar named Eata from the V^^^"^ monastery of Melrose to the abbey of Lindis- farn, there to preside over as many of the Scottish monks of that colony as could be persuaded to adopt the new forms of Easter, the sacerdotal tonsure, and a few other formalities proposed by the court-clergy as the tests of catholic profession.^ Tuda held the episcopate a very short time ; and after his death, by the desire of Prince Alfrid, Wilfred, the hero of the late religious re- wiifred volution, was sent to France to receive episcopal ^^^ c^^<*' ordination.'' But at the same time, under the auspices of Oswy himself, the presbyter Ceadda, or Chad, was sent to Canterbury for the like purpose. Chad, finding- on his arrival that the archbishop Deusdedit had just ex- pired, turned aside to the West Saxons, and was duly consecrated b}^ Yin, or Win, the bishop of that diocese.'' Chad was a pupil of the saintly Aidan, and a dilig-ent imitator of his virtues. AVhile he was travelling- on foot throug-h the leng-th and breadth of the land, instructing" the ig-norant, visiting- every town and villag-e, and turning- aside to each hovel, house, and mansion on his road to preach the g-ospel of Christ, his coadjutor, Wilfred, applied himself with equal assiduity to the task of disciplinarian and ritual reform, introducing- the Latin reg-ulations into the churches, and innovating-, says Bede, " in such wise,
* Bede, ubi sup. c. xxvi. p. 134. Anglo-Saxm (Roman) bishop with two
^ In the place of Tilda, as archbishop British bishops; the reason assigned
of York or Northumbria. being that no others were at hand to
<= The consecration of Ceadda exhi- confer the episcopal benediction— three
bits the singular phenomenon of an as- being the canonical quorum. Bede, ubi
sociation for a religious purpose of an sup. c. xxviii. p. 137.
326 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
that tlie clerg-y who adhered to the Scottish forms either g-ave him the hand of fellowship^ or — returned to their own country ."'^
The victory of Whitby had cleared the British islands
Conformity of an oppositiou, the more formidable to the
of the British Latius that it was in a far higher deo-ree based
churches .., , , i- ^ • r t •
to the upon spiritual and practical views oi relig-ious Latin rite. ^^Ltj. On the Other hand^ up to this period of time the whole strength of Rome had been put forth to promote the substitution of her own pragmatic scheme for that spiritual principle which formed the ground-work of the religious education of the Scots. Every, even the minutest, departure from that scheme made all the differ- ence between catholicity and schism. The theory of the sacramental unity of the Church was indissolubly bound up with the outward forms which upheld it ; and religion was in a manner divorced from its natural alliance with the moral and spiritunl nature of man. With every period of their progress, the anxiety of the romanising clergy to circumscribe orthodox religion within orthodox forms became more and more conspicuous ; and dissent in mat- ters of external discipline or ritual practice became more odious, because more dangerous, than doctrinal heresy.^ From this peril the power of Eoine in England was now delivered; the form and the substance of religious duty flowed into the same channel, and both were comprised in the single precept of allegiance to the chair of Peter. The effects of the revived predilection for the Latin
discipline among the Anolo-Saxon churches and
EgbexTLd people soon became manifest. Three years after
Oswy to Pope tiie conference of Whitby, Egbert of Kent and
Oswy of Northumberland preferred a joint re-
^ Bede, ubi sup. p. 138. The general suasion is manifest in many passages of
conduct of Wilfred does not encourage his great work.
us to believe that he resorted always to ^ It may be remarked, that none of the gentlest means of conversion. The the imputed heresies in the Western contrast between his official demeanour churches, between the sixth and the six- and that of Chad may be taken as the teenth centuries, touched upon any ma- generic difference between the spirit of terial gospel doctrine, excepting those the Scottish clergy and their ronianis- of Berengarius in the eleventh, and of ing competitors. The secret predilec- the Albigenses in the thirteenth century, tion of the venerable historian for the All the rest turned simply upon the de- long-sufPei-ing— and, we may say, spi- nial of Roman supremacy, or the rejec- ritualising— clergy of the Scottish per- tion of Roman formulae.
Chap. IV.] ROME AND THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCHES. 327
quest to Pope Vitalian to consecrate a priest of tlieir joint nomination named Wig'ard^ to the see of Canter- bury, vacant by the death of the hite archbishop Deus- dedit. The letters of requisition are no long-er extant ; but, if Ave may judg-e from the reply of Vitalian, they were sufficiently reverential and submissive. It is ob- vious that the Ang-lo- Saxon princes had desired to have a native primate, familiar with the national lang-uag'e and habits, and capable of preaching- to princes and people in the vulg'ar tong'ue/ But soon after his arrival in Rome, Wig'ard, and most of his companions, died of a pestilential disease then prevailing*. The pope, in his reply to the royal letters, dryty informed the princes of Wi- Reply of g-ard's death, but took no notice of the intent ^itaiian. and object of his mission. Presuming*, as a matter of course, that the choice of a proper person to fill the vacant see rested with himself, the pope excused any delay he mig'ht be compelled to incur in filling' the chair of Can- terbury by the difficulty of finding- at a moment's notice one properly qualified for that hig-h office. He expressed, however, his hig'h approbation of their devotion to the see of Peter ; their laudable eflbrts to convert their people to the true catholic and apostolic faith ; and to that end ad- monished them to give all pains in enforcing* the observance of the rules and regulations of the holy see, whether they reg*arded the celebration of the Easter festival, or other traditions of the hoh) Apostles Peter and Paul. He assured them that the person whom he mig-ht send them should be provided with instructions which would enable him thoroug'hly to root out the tares which the old enemy mig'ht have sown among* their people j"^ and concluded with an earnest exhortation to dedicate themselves and their whole island to Christ, and to deserve his blessing*, temporal and eternal, by establishing* there the ivhole ca- tholic and apostolic doctrine}'
The sequel sufficiently explains the meaning* attached to the terms, ^^ catholic and apostolic faith," ^' doctrine,"
' Bed(^ Vit. Abbat. &c. p. 294, Scottish forinulce of Easter, the tonsure,
^ No doubt in aUusion to tlie linger- sacerdotal marriage, &c.
ing of dissent in Scotland, and perhaps •' Bedcc H. E. lib. iii. c, xxix. pp. 1 38,
elsewhere, especially in respect of the 139.
328 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
Appointment " tradition," in this document. Whatever may of Theodore jjayg ^een the anxiety of the papal court to archbishop^f promote the ascend enc}^ of the purely Roman Canterbury, traditions in all the churches of the Latin profession, it was not till after the death of Gregory the Great that the pontiffs ventured to prescribe their unqua- lified adoption as the sole condition of communion and the test of orthodoxy. After the delay of nearly a twelve- month, Yitahan consecrated Theodore, a Greek monk and a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, to be the chief-pastor of the remote church of Britain. Theodore himself had but recently renounced the pecuhar practices of the Oriental church' from which he sprung- in favour of the Latin form. He was profoundly ig-norant of the g-eog-raphical position, the language and manners of his new flock ; even his orthodoxy was not altog-ether clear of suspicion." But no other person was to be found willing- to exchange his native clime for the unknown and distant ocean-island, or to forsake the warm and sunny Italy for the cold and barbarous regions of the North. The opportunity to latinise the Anglo-Saxon churches was, however, not to be neglected ; and Vitahan resolved that Theodore should not have it in his power to plead any misunderstanding of his mission. The extant decretal of appointment ex- The decree of pressly dcscribes all the powers and functions appointment, of the ucw prelate as flowing spontaneously and exclusively from St. Peter, " Prince of the Apostles, to whom the Lord God hath given power to bind and to loose in heaven and on earth, and unto whom, as also to his suc- cessor, the Roman pontiff", were likewise intrusted the keys of the kingdom of heaven."J The papal letters in terms identify the Roman church with the body of Christ, and the pope of Rome with the person and oflice of Christ upon earth. The parallel is completed by the application of the prophetic oracles relating to the kingdom of the Messiah'' to his representative at Rome ; and the decree of appoint- ment concludes with a solemn anathema against all who
' See Bede, lib. iv. c. ii. p. 142. '' Isaiah xi. 10 ; xlii. 6, 7 ; xlix.
J Ibid. lib. iii. c. xxix. pp. 138, 139; 1, 6-9. Wilkins, Concil. torn. i. pp. 40, 41.
Chap. IV.] WILFRED ARCHBISHOP OF YORK. 329
should at any time invade or abridge the privileges thereby conferred upon the archbishop and his successors.
We think that Theodore thoroug'hl}^ understood the conditions of his appointment. On his arrival in Theodore re- England, he announced himself to his churches moves chad as the delegate of the Eoman pontiff.' When he and institutes took possession of his see, the church of Canter- wiifred. bury had been vacant for a period not far short of five years;"' within which some irregularities had occurred requiring' correction. Wilfred had obtained episcopal or- dination in France; and after his return to England, had taken upon himself the ad-interim administration of the see of Canterbury. In the North, several bishops and clergy had heedlessly accepted orders from the schismatic Church of Scotland ; and the pious presbyter Ceadda^ or Chad, after his appointment to the see of York from King* Oswy, had been consecrated by the bishop of the West Saxons, with the assistance of two bishops of the intercommuned Welsh church." Bishop Wilfred at the same time claimed a prior appointment to that see : and upon both these grounds Theodore adjudged the ordina- tion of Ceadda to be defective ; but, in consideration of his prompt submission, remedied the defect by a " catho- lic" consecration. He declined, however, to uphold his pretensions to the see of York, which he had held up to that time under the royal warrant, and Chad was, at the request of Wulfhere, the Christian king of the Mercians, transferred to the see of Lichfield ; York, with episcopal jurisdiction extending- from the Humber to the Pictish borders, being assigned to his rival Wilfred." These changes and reforms were carried out without opposition ; and Theodore enjoyed, says Bede, the honour of being the first archbishop to whom the whole church of the Anglo-Saxons had offered the right-hand of fellowship.P
Amid the manifold political and religious changes
' " Ab apostolica sede destinatns." May 669.
See the preamble to the council of He- " See p. 325 of this chapter,
rudford, ap. Wilkins, Cone. torn. i. p. 42. ° Bede, lib. iv. c. iii. p. 143, a.d. 669.
"Deusdcdit, the sixth archbishop, died p Scilicet by the suppression of the
on the 14th July 664. Theodore took Scottish schism. Bede, ubi sup. possession on Trinity Sunday, the 27th
330 ' CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
introductioa wHch had occuiTed in Eiig-land since the land- of the Roman ing" of Aug'ustine^ it was not surprising* that Tnto'thT Theodore should have found the outward org-a- chureh of nisation of his church in some disorder. The Engian . ^^^^y^ churchcs had probably never possessed any proper code of ecclesiastical law, or any other rule of discipline than their own particular traditions. The archbishop felt the necessity of a closer bond of union, and resolved upon the introduction of the Roman code of discipline and ritual. With that view, he convoked a g-eneral assembly of the native clerg-y, attended as asses- sors by certain foreig*n ecclesiastics, at Bishop's Hatfield (Herudford) ; and laid before them a book or code, which he described as " the book of rules and orders in ancient times decreed by the fathers" and adopted by the church of Rome. Of the special contents of this volume we have no other intimation but what ma}'' be collected from the short extracts recommended by the nrchbishop for imme- diate adoption. Those extracts were ten in number, and contain no reg^ulations but such as may be g-athered from the extant codices of g'eneral ecclesiastical law. The first upon the list of these excerpta is the most important, purporting* that the Easter festival should be thereafter uniformly celebrated on the Sunday immediately follow- ing* the fourteenth day of the first, or vernal, moon ;'' a step which had the inevitable effect of perpetuating* the schism of the British and Scottish churches.'^ But the result was overlooked as of little importance j the dis- senting- churches had been all along* treated by the Latins as weak and rotten branches, and therefore of no account in the calculation of the additional streng-th to be derived from a closer union of all with Rome.
1 In conformity with the first canon see Book III. c. iv. p. 139 of this work,
of the council of Antioch, a.d. 341. It may with equal probability be conjec-
"■ Bede, lib. iv. c. v. pp. 147-149. It tured that the latter code was no other is not improbable that the "Book of than the digest of canons and conciliar the Canons" presented to the synod at enactments published by Dionysius Ex- Herudford was the identical code quoted iguus at the close of the fifth century, by Pope Agapetus in reply to the appli- but in combination with the papal de- cation of the emperor Justinian on be- cretals and the ordinances of Italian half of the converted clei-gy of Africa, synods subsequently issued under the under the title of the " Aperta et sy- authority of the holy see. -nodalia constituta Ecclesiaa Romanre :"
Chap. IV.] BISCOP AND THE LATIN EITUAL. . 831
The conforming- clerg-y of Northumbria became the zealous coadjutors of the archbishop for the pro- Benedict motion of that object. Among- the able men ^^'"^^ who had accompanied Theodore from Italy, ritual in Hadrian of Naples, abbot of Canterbury, was ^"si^^^- the most disting'uished. Under his superintendence schools were set on foot ; a taste for the systematic study of sacred literature, church-music, and the sciences auxi- liary to theolog'ical and ritualistic education,' was en- courag:ed. The clergy, and a few disting'uished laymen, made frequent pilgTimag'es to Eome, and returned the zealous advocates of the g-org-eous ritual-worship they had there witnessed. The most important of these visitants was Benedict Biscop, a Northumbrian presbyter, a former pupil of Aidan, and the dilio-ent imitator of his_ virtues. At the ag-e of twenty-five Biscop had devoted himself to the Church; he had made a journey to Rome on a pious visit to the holy places ; and* on his return had taken the habit at Lerins, a monastery situate on an island at the mouth of theVar in Provence, a relig-ious seminary at that period in the hig-hest celebrity. He afterwards returned to Rome, and, at the request of Pope Vitalian, accom- panied Theodore of Tarsus to Eng-land as his interpreter. Shortly afterwards he made a third journey to Rome, and returned with a larg-e collection of books, and a rich store of relics of apostles and martyrs. Having", then, on his passag-e throug-h Italy and France, acquired a perfect ae- quo intance with the rites and ceremonies, and new points of discipline, observed in the most orthodox academies of theolog-ical learning- in those countries, he went into Wessex, with the intention of introducing- them into the churches of that king-dom. But the death of his friend King- Kenwalch prevented the execution of this plan ; and he returned to his native Northumberland with a reputation enhanced by his multifarious acquirements and indefatigable zeal in the cause of ritual reUgion.
Meanwhile Oswy had been succeeded on the throne of Northumbria by his son Eg-frid (a.d. 670). On his
» Among the studies of these schools and " astronomia et arithmetica eccle- Bcde enumerates the "ars metrica," siastica:" lib. iv. c. u. p. 143.
332 • CATHEDKA PETKI. [Book IV.
Latin church arrival, Biscop; whose noble birth and princely furniture nurture entitled him to every privilege of audi- ti'on'^rntro^' ence, presented himself to the king ; and in- duced, terested him so deeply by the narrative of his continental experiences and acquisitions, that he immedi- ately assigned to him a tract of land, with seventy families* upon it, for the construction and maintenance of a mon- aster}^ Upon this land he built the religious houses of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, in honour of the apostle Peter (a.d. G74). But as native artists and materials could not be found to supply the requisite decorations and utensils, he undertook a voyage to the Continent, and brought back with him from France masons to erect a stone church for the brethren, together with glass and glaziers to make and glaze the windows of the new building. He imported at the same time church-lamps, and a variety of vessels and vestments for the use of the holy offices ; and encouraged the immigration of foreign artificers, to ini- tiate the native work-people in the manufacture of these and other articles of church-furniture and ornament hitherto unknown in the ritual of the Eng-lish churches. Still dissatisfied with the decorations and devotional Biscop the stiuiulauts that France could supply, he set out Kituaiist— upou a fourth journey to Rome ; and returned his services, ^^-^j^ ^ mucli richer cargo of spiritual merchan- dise ; books without number, and of all sorts ; of the relics of martyrs and apostles a treasure large enough to enrich many churches with their gracious influences. With these he brought over Abbot John, precentor of St. Peter's, to instruct his disciples in the Roman music, and the formulse of daily service as practised in the capital of Christendom. To all these acquisitions he added a letter of privilege from Pope Agathon, with the full con- sent and privity of King Egfrid, for ever exempting his monastery from all extrinsic (episcopal) control and in- tromission. " He brought with him likewise portraits and holy images of the Blessed Virgin mother of God, and
t Hydes, or carrueates, the land at- of land as might be cultivated by one tached to a hoiise or family. This was plough, and maintain a single family, generally supposed to be such a piece Ducange, Gloss, voc. Hida et Hidua.
Chap. IV.] IMAGE AND RELIC WORSHIP INTRODUCED. 333
of the twelve apostles ; delineations of the apocalyptic visions of St. John, and pictures of g-ospel history : all of which he so disposed along* the side-walls and screens of his new church, that all who were ig"norant of letters, whichever way they turned, should always have before their eyes the ever-g-racious effigies of Christ and his saints, calling- up a more lively recollection of the Lord's incarnation, or the perils of the last judg'nient ; so that, having* as it were these things before their eyes, they mig'ht be led to a severer self-examination.""
It is a matter of common experience, that the most effectual mode of instructing* children, or ig*no- Natural rant and unlettered persons, is to exhibit to character their senses visible delineations of the primar}^ and retic subjects of education. Such objects we know worship. may be made to present to the minds of infants and bar- barians the elementary truths we wish to inculcate with a force which no form of words can exert. Such men as Greg-ory the Great and the venerable monk of Jarrow mig'ht reg-ard the use of pictures and effig'ies as a prelimi- nary step only in Christian education ; and indeed in the existing- state of the world in their days, the widest rang*e of speculation could hardly have disclosed any prospect beyond a successful beg-inning" in the knowledg*e and prac- tice of the Christian virtues. That these infants in the faith should ever become adults, or that a time might arrive when the pupils should rise to the level of their teachers, did not enter into the simply elementary calculations of these g-ood men. Neither could it occur to them, that an expedient recommended by obvious utility in the earlier stag'es of religious prog-ress, might in the end lead teachers and pupils back by an easy road to that abject creature- worship from which it was perhaps in the first instance instrumental in withdrawing* them. Charmed with the first effects of this new devotional apparatus, Bede and his contemporaries, whether of the Scottish or the Latin school, could discern no prospective dang-er of this kind. Though the disciples of Columba and of Aidan had been
" BedaYit. Bened. Bisc. in his lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, ed. Smith, p. 295.
334 CATHEDEA PETfll. [Book IV.
satisfied with the simpler methods of ^^ fishing- for men" adopted by their Lord and his apostles, they could not deny that'^the broad cast of Eome had brought a much heavier draug-ht to her nets. But as yet no one had duly reflected upon the possibility of any serious amount of superintendence and caution on the part of the pastors becoming- necessary to neutralise the natural effects of such a scheme of instruction, or to prevent the ever-recurring error of confounding the representative image or symbol with that which it represents or symbolises, and to guard against imparting a sanctity to the former quite distinct from its original purpose. And by this time the error which Gregor}^ the Great had deprecated — an error of which we find no trace in the Scottish churches — had already tainted the whole Latin world ; it had become an essen- tial part of the ^^ pomp and circumstance" of religious worship ; it had contributed to fix the attention of the people ; it had attracted their curiosity ; it had engaged on its behalf all the lurking superstitions of the barbarian character, and brought with it an incalculable increase of influence to those in whose hands the duties of in- structing and -amusing the people were combined. This Advantage acccssiou of Strength was, as elsewhere, of incal- to Eome. culablc advantage to the progress of the Roman pretensions in the British islands : all the stimulants of popular devotion came from Bome ; from her was de- rived that pontifical benediction which sanctioned their use, and almost identified them with the objects they represented; the people were taught to look to her as the fountain-head of pious aspiration, and the sole depo- sitary of the authentic means of grace to the Christian world.
But the final establishment of the Anglo-Saxon
Wilfred churches upon papal ground was reserved to
archbishop the couragc and perseverance of Archbishop
of York. ^iifj.ej of York. That prelate permitted no
motives of forbearance or deHcacy to interfere with his
projects for promoting the spiritual or material interests
of his church. In his apprehension, the supereminent
merits of monastic life amply justified the desertion of
I
Chap. IV.] EXPULSION OF WILFRED, &c. 335
every other earthly duty. Under his sane- ^^^^.^^^ tion, Edelfridn, or Elfridn, the queen of Eg-fridj hadj it is said, registered a vow of perpetual virg*inity/ and had sued for permission to renounce her marriag-e and to retire to a convent. The king- consented with some reluctance, and not long- afterwards mar- ried Edilburg-a, a lady of hig-h birth and still " "^^^' higher spirit. Wilfred disapproved of the match, and publicly reproved the new queen of the vices of levity, frivolity, and rapacity. The latter retorted by maliciously pointing' out to her husband the overgrown wealth and power of the archbishop ; the number of the monasteries he held in his own hands, the sumptuousness of his palaces, the multitude of his retainers.''' " Wherein,'' said she, '' are you greater than he ; you, whose whole kingdom is but his episcopate?"'' These insinuations, confirmed by the morose demeanour of the archbishop, and stimulated by the jealousy of power, produced their full elFect on the mind of Egfrid, and Wilfred was banished from North- umberland^ (a.d. 678).
With a view to provide a remedy against the threat- ening* accumulation of ecclesiastical and terri- . torial influence in the hands of one man, the of'wiifred, king and the prelates of Northumberland in- ^jf jJpp^*^^ vited Theodore of Canterbury to his court. The latter, on his arrival, acceded to the wishes of Eg-frid and his estates ; and upon his own authority as primate of England,' made a new distribution of episcopal powers b}' dividing the whole king-dom into three dioceses,^
^ According^ to Eadmer, the biogra- •" " Et quid amplius ipse tibi quam tu
pher of St. Wilfred. If made before sibi? Totum regnum tuum ipsius epis-
marriage, the vow was a fraud ; if after copatus est!" /3. ibid,
marriage, an outrage. See Smith, ad ^ Bede (lib. iv. c. xix. p. 163) merely
Bedse Op. p. 747. Eadmer tells us, on states the fact of the divorce of Elfrida,
the authority of Wilfred himself, that and the expulsion of "Wilfred ; but makes
Elfrida had spontaneously annulled her no mention of the cause. See H. E.
marriage-vow, and uniformly declined lib. iv. c.xii. p. 1.55.
all intei'course with her husband. If ^ After the appointment of Wilfred,
so, Wilfred cannot be acquitted of the the right of ordaining bishops for the
charge of at least conniving at both per- northern province with reference to the
jury and fraud. decretal of Pope Gregory the Great
" " Subditorum principum turba;" a seems to have been vested in the arch- curious phrase. See Smith's extract bishop. Conf. Book III. c. vii. p. 215 from the biographies of Wilfred, in of this work. Beda Op. pp. 747, 748. » Those of Lindisfarn and Hagul-
336 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV,
and appointing- three new prelates to superintend them. Though rig'ht in substance, the archbishop and the court were, it seems, wrong- in form. The measure was in itself expedient ; but the mode of execution was both contrary to canon-law, and in excess of the primatial powers of the see of Canterbury . Wilfred's remonstrances were treated with neg-lect or contempt, and he announced his intention of appealing- to Rome ag-ainst the lawless proceeding-s of his antag'onists.'' With this intent he embarked for the Continent, and by the wa}^ preached to the heathen Fri- sians with g-reat success. He did not arrive in E-ome till the following- year (679), and met with the reception which commonly awaited all appellants to the holy see. Pope Ag-atho convoked a numerous council in the basi- lica of Constantine, where Wilfred encountered an ag-ent previously despatched by Theodore to justify his pro- Adjudication ceedings before the pope. The synod decided upon the ^^ith the archbishop (Theodore) as to the right appea. ^^ appointing- bishops for the whole of the British islands to the number of twelve, and consequently that the division of Northumbria among- three bishops was within his competency ; but that inasmuch as this had been done in the absence of, and against the will of Wilfred and other bishops,'' and without a regular syno- dal adjudication, the council decreed that he be restored to the see which he had last holden ; that he should him- self elect his coadjutors, whom the archbishop should con- secrate to the new sees, and that the intruders should be forthwith removed therefrom ; lastly, that all persons, wlioever they might he, who should attempt to violate or any way infringe that decree, " should be smitten with an ever-enduring anathema."'*
After this decision, Wilfred remained some months
His rejection ^^ Romc, and sat as archbishop of York in
in North- the great synod congregated by Pope Ag-atho
umbria. gg-g^jj^g^ ^^^ Mouothelitc herctics (a.d. 680).
stad (Hexham), York, and Lindsay, or 751, 752.
Lincoln ; all of which it is tolerably ' What others is not mentioned in
clear Wilfred had held in his own any account of the transaction I can
hands. find.
'• See Abstr. ap. Smith in Bed. pp. ^ Abstr. ap. Smith, ubi sup. p. 753.
CnAP. IV.] RESTORATION OF WILFRED. 337
Hastening- then to cross the channel, he presented hhn- self before his sovereig'n with the papal bulls and letters of rehabilitation in his hand. A council of the nobility and clerg-y of the kingdom was convoked, and the papal letters were read ; but the contents were so unpalatable, that the assembly voted the decree of the pontiff to be null and void ; it was even whispered by Wilfred's ene- mies that it had been obtained by briber}^ The appeal itself was treated as a public offence, the papal imprison- letters as an insult, and Wilfred was condemned ™'^'i*- to nine months' imprisonment. At the moment of his arrest under his sentence, the queen, who was present, snatched his reliquary from his breast, and hung* it about her own as an amulet of sovereign virtue ; his servants were dismissed, his propert}^ taken from him, and his friends forbidden to visit him. But the voice of psalm- ody- and prayer day and night was heard from the cell in which he was confined ; a supernatural light Avhich shone around him revealed the saint to his terrified g'uards ; no fetters, it appeared, could be forged to fit his limbs ; a miraculous cure wrought upon his gaoler converted him into a friend ; and so strong was the sympathy he managed to create in the breasts of all Avho approached him, that the king was at last compelled to transfer him to another prison for safer custod}-. Soon afterwards, the queen herself was seized with a serious illness ; the stolen reliquary itself had, it was whispered, been the instrument of her punishment, and she was easily persuaded that she could not hope to recover her health till she should have restored the stolen goods, and given back Wilfred to his liberty and his ^.,
n ' 1 rm i i • i 't i Liberation.
iriends. Ihe archbishop was accordmgl}- re- leased from his dungeon, and his property returned ; and he quitted Northumbria with but a remote prospect of recoverino- his see or his forfeited domains.^
^ See Exti". from Eddi's life of Wil- by dextrous practice upon the siipersti- fred, ap. P/eun/, H. E. torn. ix. p. 96. tionsofliiswardens, aided by his friends Conf. 5«»7/(, ubi sup. pp. 753, 754. Un- without his prison-walls; of whom pro- less we should altogether reject this bably the abbess of the convent where account of the release of Wilfred, there Ermcnburga was taken ill was the most can be little doubt that it was effected active.
VOL. II. Z
338 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
From this period (681) Wilfred led a mig*ratory life Eestoration 0,111 oiig" the Mercians, the West and the South of Wilfred. Saxons, pursued, as it should seem, by the hos- tility of Ermenhurg-a and her husband. In the latter country he established himself for a short time, and suc- ceeded in converting- the heathen people of Sussex to the Christian faith. In these various labours he spent five years, dating* from his expulsion from Northumbria. But in the year 685 his adversary Eg-frid had been succeeded b}^ his brother Aldfrid, the former friend and pupil of the exiled prelate. About the same time, the ag"ed arch- bishop Theodore, approaching* the verge of life, looked hack with reg'ret upon the still subsisting* estrang*ement between himself and his former friend. The reconcilia- tion, whether proceeding* from contrite scruples or from affectionate recollection of their prior relations, was cor- dial and sincere.*^ The archbishop sent pressing* letters to Aldfrid of Northumbria, to his sister Eanfleda abbess of Whitby, and to Ethelred king* of the Mercians, exhorting* them to receive Wilfred into their favour, and to restore to him the episcopacies, monasteries, and lands, of which he had been disseized. The princes promptly acceded to the request ; Wilfred returned in triumph, and without de- lay took possession of all the power, wealth and influence he had enjo3"ed before his exile ; the intrusive bishops of Hag'ulstad, Lindisfarn and Lincoln having* been removed, or, for the sake of peace, retracting* their pretensions.^ But the autocratic position in the Northumbrian church which Wilfred had assumed, and his pulsion of inattention to the anxious desire of the court ^w*?lf ^d°^ and clerg*y for a due division of ecclesiastical authority and endowments, soon awakened the resentment of both estates. Whether apprised of his re- conciliation with Archbishop Theodore or not, they were far from reg*arding* the reg*ulations of that prelate for the
' Eddi says that the archbishop hum- nish usual in hagiography.
bly sued for pardon, and even desired to s Eddi, ap. Smith, ubi sup. p. 754.
nominate Wilfred his successor in the We hear no more about the division of
see of Canterbury, but that the sai?if. de- the province as approved by the Roman
clined on canonical grounds. But such synod of 679. statements probably belong to the gar-
Chap. IV.] COUNCIL OF NESTERFIELD. 339
g-overnment of the province as annulled by the restoration of Wilfred. Accordino-ly^ in the year 791, Aldfrid pro- posed the erection of Wilfred's monastery of Ripon into an episcopal see, and, of course, the appropriation of its en- dowments to the support of the new bishop. But to this proposition, as well as to the entire scheme of Archbisho}) Theodore, Wilfred opposed a determined resistance, and was ng-nin deposed by the king- with the consent of the clergy of the province.'' Shorn of his power and g-reat- ness in one region of Britain, he carried his zeal and la- bour to another, and was received by his friend Ethelred, king- of the Mercians, with open arms. Here he pre- sided for a time over the Mercian churches, at first as bishop-administrator of the see of Lichfield, and subse- quently, A\ ith a roving- commission, as itinerant superin- tendent of all ecclesiastical affairs in that king'dom. His influence in Mercia was founded fully as much upon the larg-e monastic property he possessed within its limits, as upon his reputed sanctity or acknowledg-ed merits in the cause of relig-ion. But here ag-ain, as in Northumbria, the jealousy both of the court and clerg-y soon council of manifested itself; and when, in the year 703, Nesterfieid Archbishop Berthuald of Canterbur}^, at the re- ordinances of quest of Aldfrid, convoked a g-eneral council of ^m^^^^^^^'J.'^p prelates and clerg*y at Nesterfield, not far from against Ei]5on, little difference of opinion as to the claims Wiitred. of W^ilfred appears to have existed in au}^ quarter. The synod was presided over by Berthuald in person, and Wilfred was summoned to attend ; the assembled fathers inclined strongly to maintain the ordinances of Archbishop Theodore, without notice of the adverse decretal of Pope Ag-atho (a.d. G79). Wilfred appeared, and in his de- fence alleg-ed the pontifical decision by which the ordi- nances in question were set aside in his favour. The plea was, however, unanimously disallowed, and Wilfred was desired to sign a deed of reinmciation, signifying- his ab- dication of all episcopal jurisdiction within the two realms ;
'■ " Ab eodem ipso rege, ct plurimis expelled from their sees; but may pro-
opiscopis," Bede, lib. v. c. xix. p. 207. bably have been called into council us
Who these bishops were is not men- bishops, and may have voted in the con-
tioned. Theodore's bishops had been vocation in that character.
340 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
in consideration of whicli^ he was to be allowed to retain his favourite monastery of Eipoiij provided always he continued to reside there^ and refrained from all attempts to disturb the existing- settlement of the churches. But neither menaces nor persuasion could prevail upon the Recusancy cxilc to acccde to tliesc humiliating' terms. He of Wilfred, accompauied his protest with an ostentatious enumeration of all his merits on behalf of the catholic profession in Britain : " After the death of all those holy men whom St. Greg'ory sent to these islands," he ex- claimed, " was not I the first to encounter and root out the errors of the Scottish schismatics, and to bring* back the Northumbrians to the orthodox observance of the paschal feast and the coronal tonsure ? Nay, but I like- wise taug'ht them the antiphonal chant ; I established the true monastic life according" to the rule of St. Benedict, of which to that time all were alike ig'norant ; and, touching- the proposal you now make to me, I do hereby solemnly appeal to the holy apostolic see, and I challeng-e any one who hath any thing" to alleg'e ag'ainst me to proceed with me directly to Rome, there to abide the judg'ment that . shall be there given in the cause." The arch- ju ica ion. i^jgijQp.pj.ggijg^j^ gj^ J ^]^g king- replied, that by
his appeal to the pope he had pronounced his own con- demnation, and that a preference for any other tribunal over that of the iiative synod was an ample justification of the judgment already pronounced.'
Archbishop Theodore had died at a very advanced
Archbishop ycars afterwards that Berthuald, the learued of Canter- r^bbot of Rcculver, was elected to fill the vacant
bury in the ■ -n i i i Ti i • i • i
appeal of sce.'' Berthuald, like his predecessor, conceived Wilfred, ^i^g powers and privileg'es of \\\e metropolitan church over which he presided to rest upon chartered g-rant, not liable to arbitrary reversal, though it were even b}^ the authority from which it emanated. Though Theo- dore had accepted his appointment from Pope Vitalian,
> Smith, ubi sup. pp. 755, 756; Eddi, lowing year (693). Bede, lib, v. c. viii. ap. Fleury, H. E. torn. ix. p. 139. p. 190.
J He was not consecrated till the fol-
CiiAP. IV.] APPEAL OF WILFRED. 341
and with it a charter of privileg-e imparting- nil the usunl rights of a metropohtan bishop, he beheved himself, so long- ns he acted within those limits, justified in governing his churches as mig-lit seem best for the g-eneral interest ; when he exceeded them, the ordinary canonical tribunal for rectifying' his errors M-as certainly not that of Eome, or an Italian council. The practice of appealing* to Eome Iind not yet so completely obliterated the canonical privi- leges of metropolitan sees as to exempt her pontiffs from occasional alarms at the independent spirit manifested by these prelates in many parts of Latin Christendom. Ber- thuald, like his predecessor, treated the appeal of Wilfred as a contempt of the chartered prerogative of his see ; and upon this gTound he was prepared to defend his proceed- ing's before the pope. Wilfred, on his arrival at Home, complained to John VI. that the archbishop had, in con- tempt of the decree of Pope Agatho, confirmed by those of Benedict II. and Sergius, deprived him of his bishopric of York, and of his monasteries, estates, and jurisdictions in the kino-doms of North umbria andMercia.'' A o*eneral council of Itahan prelates was assembled to adjudicate upon the plaint of Wilfred. The deleg'ates of Berthuald in reply urg-ed the chartered powers of the metropolitan church of Canterbury to o-overn the Ano-lican churches, and contended that Bishop Wilfred had, before a compe- tent council, deliberately declined the metropolitan au- thority of the archbishop, and contemptuously refused to comply with certain g-eneral reg'ulations published by the late primate for the better government of his northern dependencies, fiilsely and injuriously alleging* that such jurisdiction and regulations mig'ht be, and had been, su- perseded by certain papal decrees ^^•hich in fict repealed the privileges of the Ang-lican church, and rendered the appellant independent of all metropolitan control.
A plea to the jurisdiction was of all others most dis- pleasing* to Rome. The defence was therefore Arijudication laughed out of court;' the council declared y/^^P^^^^^jJ" that Wilfred had canonicalhj exculpated him- appeal.
'' See letters of appeal to Pope John ' See Extr. from Eddi, Vit. Wilf. ap.
VI. ap. Hard. Concil. torn. iii. p. 1823. Fleury, torn. ix. p. 143.
342 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
self, and pronounced him free from every offence which could have drawn down upon him the penalties of depri- vation and exile. Pope John YI. confirmed this decision by letters of monition, addressed to the king-s Ethelred of' Mercia and Aldfrid of Northumbria, expressive of his vexation at the dissensions which had arisen in their churcheS;, and more especially of his reg-ret that these disputes should have led to a contempt of the pontifical decrees. There had been, he said, a prior appeal and de- cision of the holy see in the matter of Wilfred, which had been duly acquiesced in and executed by Archbishop The- odore; but the revival of these disputes had now rendered a final settlement indispensable. The pope therefore re- quired the princes to cause a synod to be convoked by Eerthuald, archbishop of CanterburVj " whom," added the pontifl", " we, by the authority of the prince of the apostles, have confirmed in that see." Wilfred was to be invited to attend^ and the bishops Boza (of York) and John (of Hag-ulstad) to be in like manner summoned, with a view, if possible, to make an end of these vexatious dis- putes; but if the parties should be unable to come to terras in their provincial council, in such case the whole matter must be referred back to the holy see ; and that the parties be cited to appear at Eome to plead their re- spective causes before the pontiff in person. " But," he added, " all such persons should be well apprised, that if any one so summoned should delay his appearance, or be g'uilty of the execrable offence of contempt of the pon- tifical court, he must be deg-raded, and disowned by every prelate and faithful man in the Church : for he who is disobedient to his piarent in the faith"" is not worthy to be numbered among- ministers and disciples.""
The papal monition, however, was not followed by the desired submission. Aldfrid of Northumberland and^r[umph coutiuucd implacable. His death, which hap- of Wilfred, pened in the year 705, broug'ht with it no im- mediate chang-e ; his successor ^dulph reig'ued but a
™ " Suo auctori." Whether here the Christ, pope or Clirist is meant is ambiguous " See abstr. of the Life of Wilfred,
—probably the pope in the place of ap. Smith, loc. cit. pp. 757, 758.
Cn-u-. IV.] SUCCESS AND DEATH OF WILFRED. 343
few months ; a sudden revolution raised Osred, a son of Aldfrid^ to the Northumbrian throne^ and his nccession smoothed the way to the final restoration of Wilfred. Meanwhile the latter had been dela^^ed on his return from Rome by severe indisposition ; but after his unexpected recovery and arrival in Eng-land, he procured the con- vocation of a synod of the Northumbrinn churches at a spot on the river Nidd.° Here Eanfleda^ abbess of Whitby and the sister of Aldfrid, produced a will of the late king", reciting' that death had prevented liim from obeying- the papal command for the restoration of Wilfred, and that he had, in token of his repentance, deleg'ated the execution to his son and destined successor Osred. An impression had at the same time g"ot abroad that the dis- turbances which attended the usurpation of ^Edulph were a visitation upon the king'dom for the violated rig-hts of the indomitable saint, A\'ho now, after a strug-g-le of upwards of twenty years, appeared once more to claim the un- divided allegiance of his spiritual subjects. The will of Aldfrid passed uncontested, and the humbled clerg-y of Northumbria sent three deputies from their own body to the exiled prelate inviting' him to return and resume his rig'htful throne, and all other rig'hts and properties of which he had been dispossessed. p
Wilfred continued for four ^^ears in undisturbed en- joyment of his restored power and "stealth. D^ath of Within that period he appears to have accumu- Wilfred, and lated a considerable treasure, which he laid up ' of hL "" in his favourite monastery of Ripon. Shortly wealth. before his death (a.d. 709) he divided his saving's into four parts, one of which he bequeathed, in token of de- votional g-ratitude to his spiritual preceptress, to the churches of St. Mary and St. Paul at Rome ; the rest he divided among* the poor, his monks, and those faithful companions who had adhered to him throug'hout his la- borious and adventurous Hfe. His final victory Avas the victory of the mistress to whose interests he had devoted
° Now a villaf^e about four miles p Conf. Hard. Concil. torn. iii. pp.
•west of Knaresborougb, in the West 1825-182S. Riding of Yorkshire.
344 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
himself; it was substantially a triumph over the inchoate liberties of the national church — the substitution of a distant, arbitrary, and uncertain control for those char- tered rig-hts of self-g-overnment to which the Ang-lo-Saxon prelacy had conceived themselves entitled under their ori- g-inal act of settlement, until undeceived by the successful efforts of Wilfred in putting* a new construction upon the relation thereby created between them and their foundress. Certainly the spirit of independence was not thereby extin- g'uished ; thoug-h quelled for the present, the elements of future strug'g'les remained behind ; and it may be reason- ably questioned whether the submission of the Ang-lican churches to Rome was ever so complete as it was in other branches of the Latin communion.
CHAPTER V.
PAPAL SUPREMACY IN FRANCE AND GERMANY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
Ideas of the temporal and spiritual powers in the seventh and eighth centuries — Divergences — The papal theory — Anglo-Saxon missions — Ecgbert — Wicbert — Wiliibrord — Frisian and Saxon churches founded — Missions of Ecgbert to central Germany — Killian — Colman — Totman — Duke Hedan — Compromise witli heathenism — Emmeramm in Bavaria — Rupert archbishop of Salzburg — Corbinian in Bavaria — Ascendency of Rome — Great extension of Latin Cliris- tianity in the seventh century — Causes — Winfred of Winchester (Boniface) — His devotion for Rome — Winfred among the Hessians — His method of con- version— His reforms — His Anglo-Saxon coadjutors — His missionary colonies — Mode of instruction — Winfred, bj^ tlae name of Boniface, archbishop and legate— His ecclesiastical divisions — Papal confirmation — Charles Martel ob- structs the papal policy — Carlmann invites Boniface to France — Report of Boniface on the Prankish churches — Synods of Salzburg and Leptines — Re- forms— Adoption of Roman canon-law — Adalbert and Clemens in schism — Charges against them — Mei'its of the charges — Difficulties of Boniface in France — His report to Cuthbert of Canterbury — Difficulties and impediments — Boniface archbishop of Maintz and primate of all Germany — Rebellion of Adalbert and Clemens — Heathenism and mai'ried priests — Obstacles to the scheme of Boniface — The remedy — Synod of Verneuil — Condemnation and banishment of Adalbert and Clemens — Synopsis.
It has been remarked" that the idea of spiritual authority in the Transalpine churches on matters of foith ^^^^^ ^^ and discipline partook of all the incoherency and temporal vag-ueness of the barbaric ideas of the temporal t'olenlmeiu sovereio'iity : both rested on the same founda- "^ m the tion^ namely, habitual respect and observance^ dlhth'cen- g'raduallv maturing* into custom. The preroga- turies. tive--if'it maybe so called— of the king's of^^'^^-^°^^^- France and Spain and the Anglo-Saxon princes, left a larg-e marg-in of liberty to all subjects who were strong- enough to claim and maintain it. The hierarchy of those
^ By the writer of these pages, in another work. See History of the Germans, p. 777.
340 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
reg-ions took nearly the same view of their relation to their spiritual chief. The g-reater metropolitans considered their spiritual connection with Rome very much in the same lig'ht as that in which they reg-arded their secular relation to their own sovereig-n^ and were as impatient under the Byzantine absolutism of the papal court as they would have been of the like form of g-overnment in their temporal capacity. Theodore and Berthuald of Canter- bury were contented to act as feudatories of Rome^ but always with an independent command ; nor could they be easily brought to understand the relation of simple dele- g*ates or mandatories of a spiritual autocrat. This remark is of some historical importance^ because it points out the character of the strug'g'le Rome was about to enter upon. The Roman pontiffs had^ on the one hand^ inherited and imported the traditions of the empire into their spiritual king-dom • while on the other^ their Transalpine subjects broug'ht with them into the Church the temper and habits of their barbaric kindred 5 their ideas of spiritual g'overn- ment rarely travelled out of the channel in which their notions of temporal alleg-iance were accustomed to flow ; and with all their reverence for the chair of Peter^ the superior prelates found g^reat difficult}^ in accommodating* themselves to a theory borrowed from the code of the Cffisars. The same views were larg'ely entertained by the clergy of inferior deg-ree towards their superiors. And we have now to trace the steps resorted to by the pontiffs for the purpose of supplanting- the free spirit of Germanic alleg'iance, and substituting* for it a code of Rome-made laws which should exclude all those reserves in favour of free action and self-g'overnment which lay at the root of the national prejudices they had to deal with.
Such was the problem to be solved. It embraced
The theory i^otliing* less than the transfer of the spiritual
of the g'overnment to an autocratic basis altog^ether out
papaf^y- of analogy to that of the temporal sovereignty^
It implied a centralisation of power unknown to king's,
princes, nobles, or people ; a plan which, if successfully
accomplished, could not fail at pleasure to put out of
joint and override the rude systems of secular govern-
Chap, v.] THE ANGLO-SAXON MISSIONS. 347
ment prevailing- in the outer world^ and leave the spiritual monarch in uncontrolled possession of all the most power- ful spring's of human action.
And it is remarkable that the most skilful and zealous ng-ents that could have been found to fig-ht the rj.^^ Ano-io- battle of spiritual absolutism sprang* from that SaxoS school which had in its earlier development ^''^^'o^s- threatened the most serious dang-er to the Latin despotism. While the disciples and followers of Aug'ustine in Eng-- land were struo-o-lino- under their commission from Rome to establish and perpetuate her dominion in that country, the pupils of the gTeat seminary of Icolmkil were spread- ing- a knowledg'e of the g-ospel among' the heathen Fri- sians^ Franks, Thuringians and Bavarians of Germany, in perfect independence of Home, and confirming- their converts upon the traditional bases of their own commu- nion.'' But when the earlier missionaries of that school had passed from the scene, their followers from the same hive, finding- themselves cut off from communication with the church from which they sprang-, looked to the nearest Christian bodies for that support which they soon found was to be purchased only by conformity to their ritual usag'es. And, in fact, such compliance appeared at first sig-ht to be the only sacrifice demanded. No properly dog"- matic differences divided them from the Latins ; and their simple relig'ious feeling's fell in well with those of the devouter members of the national churches wath which they were broug'ht in contact. The result of the confer- ence of Whitby had meanwhile placed the parent church of Scotland and Ireland in a woful minority. The g'ood sense and inteUio-ence of the Christian world had decided ag'ainst them upon the g'reat question of the paschal ob- servance ; resistance to the Latin forms was dying' away among' both Scottish and Irish Christians;'' and it is pro- bable that before the close of the seventh century, few, if an}'^, adherents of the ancient ritual were to be found, except perhaps among* the older members of the commu- nity of lona.
•» Conf. Book III. c. vi. pp. 187, 188 of this work. See also c. vii. p. 215. <: Bede, lib. v. c. xv. p. 200.
348 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
The 3^ouiig'er clerg-y of the Scottish and Irish churches, it is obvious^ had for some time previously in- Ecgbert. ^Ymed to the views of the Latins in matters of ceremonial observance. While Finnan and Colman were unsuccessfully disputing- the ground with Wilfred of York, Ecg-bert, an Ang'lo-Saxon g-entleman of noble line- ag"e, with many other youths of the like and of inferior station, had been attracted to Ireland in pursuit of reli- gious knowledg-e. Here they had adopted the severest ascetic habits, and become animated with an ardent de- sire for the conversion of the heathen. But the duties of Ecg-bert at home, and the affectionate solicitude of the brethren, prevented him from personally taking* part in the g'ood work. In the 3'ear 689, he therefore '^ ^^*' sent his friend Wicberf' into Germany to preach the g'ospel to the wild inhabitants of the mouths of the Ehine, the Elbe, and the Weser. A hurried visit of Wil- fred of York, on his prog-ress to Rome in the year 678, to the court of Aldg-isel, king* or duke of the heathen Fri- sians, had, it was believed, prepared the way for the con- version of his subjects ; but on his arrival, Wicbert found that the patron of Wilfred had been succeeded by Ead- bod, a bitter enem}' of the Franks and their relig'ion ; scarcely a trace of Christianity had survived the change of rulers j the preaching* of Wicbert was disregarded ; and after two years of fruitless labour, he abandoned as hopeless the task committed to him.^
But the purpose of Ecgbert was not to be shaken by a first failure. In the year 692 he despatched ^ ^ ^'^" • twelve missionary-priests, under the direction of a brother nnmed Wilbrord, or Willibrord, to the court of the Frankish mayor of the palace, Pippin of Heristall, to solicit from him a station on the borders of the pagan Frisians, from whence they might carry the gospel tidings into the interior of the country ; so also as to give them access to the Saxon tribes of the Weser and
^ He had embarked in person for the proval of his project, ^cf/e, lib. v. c. ix.
same purpose, but was stranded in a p. 191. storm; an incident which he interpreted « Beile, ubi sup. p. 191.
as an intimation of providential disap-
CiiAP. v.] FRISIAN AND SAXON CHURCHES FOUNDED. 349
the Elbe. Their request was cordially complied with^ and they were stationed amid the ruins of the old Eomau municipium of Ultra] ectum^ tlie modern Utrecht. While Wilbrord and eig'ht of his companions wroug-ht with di- ligence and success among- the heathen dweUing- between the llhine and the Vlie, two of the number were sent to preach in the nearest Saxon cantons. But these devoted men failed to produce any impression on the obdurate hea- then of those districts^ and both perished in the attempt.^ After various disappointments and hardships, the word took root, and beg'an to flourish among* . . the heathen of Friesland ; monasteries were and Saxon founded, and churches were built, in various f^J^^^g^^ parts of the wilderness. In aid of their labours, the indefatigable Wilfred of York consecrated Luidbert, one of the twelve companions of Wilbrord, bishop of the Saxon hordes settled on the Lower llhine; while that eminent missionary himself journeyed to Rome to pro- cure the necessary store of church-furniture and relics for the due supply of public worship. A Christian church was, in fact, in that ag'e as incomplete without its stock of relics as a Greek or Roman temple without its idol. Wilbrord according'ly relurned amply provided with the requisite gear ', and in the year 696 was, at the request of Pippin, consecrated archbishop of the Frisi- ans by Pope Sergius I.^' A new cathedral was built at Utrecht, and amply endowed by the munificence of Pip- pin j new monasteries and churches were founded ; and converts multiplied. A moment of adversity, it is true, darkened the prospect of the Frisian church; but the victor}' of Charles Martel over his rival Eag'infred, and his confederate Hadbod, speedily restored them to their new homes. Charles rebuilt the ruined churches and re- ligious houses at his own charg'e ; and after the death of Kadbod, in the year 716, his son and successor accepted baptism from the archbishop, and thus decided the triumph of Christianity in Friesland, after a struggle of
f Z?eJe, lib. V. c. X. pp. 192,19.3. See s After his consecration, Wilbrord
his account of the death and miracu- assumed the name of Clemens. Conf.
lous recovery of the bodies of the two Bcde, lib. v. c. ii. p. 194. martyrs.
350 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
twenty-seven years from the landing" of Wilbrord, and of forty-one from the first fruitless attempts of Wilfred and Wicbert.''
While Wilbrord and his associates were labourins:
, successfully on behalf of Latin Christianity in
misfion'^to the north-wcstem angde of Germany, a fresh
central inyasiou of heathendom in that vast reg'ion was
(jrermany. , ^ iii - -i
planned and executed by the unwearied perse- v^erance of the abbot of lona.'
In the year 680 a mission consisting* of three priests Kiiiian Col- — KiUiaii or Gilluu, Colman, and Totman — np- man, and pearcd ill tlic disti'ict of central Germany known otman. ^j^gjj^ jjg ^qw, by tlic iiaiue of Thuringia. The missionaries, like their chief, are represented to us as g-en- tlemen of noble birth, who had renounced their secular calling', and yielded themselves to the current of reli- gious aspirations which ran so strong* in the churches of their native land. After visitinof Rome, and obtainino- episcopal ordination from Pope Conon, Killian penetrated into the interior of Germany, and commenced his labours at Wiirzburg*, the castle and residence of Gozbert, king- or duke of Thuringia. The people were specially addicted to the worship of a deity, whom the biographer of Killian calls " Diana ;"J but their superstitions were of the same infirm and yielding- character which marks almost all the forms of Germanic relig-ion. The nation readily submitted to the engrafting' of any new form upon the old stock of prejudice and superstition, but were very reluctant to part with the festive rites interwoven with their ancient wor- ship, or even wholly to dismiss their old divinities from their thoug-hts. The duke and many of his subjects were,
'• Conf. Bede, lib. v. c. xi. p. 193. See stands in the text of that woi'k, append- also Alcuini Vit. S. Willibrordi, ap. ing the notes and authorities as in the Canisium, Lect. Antiq. torn. ii. p. 464; original.
and Vit. S. Bonifaeii a AVillibaldo, ap. J They are said to have sacrificed
Perfz. torn. ii. p. 339. horses to this divinity, and to have de-
' I make no apology for transferring voured the flesh of the victims. Vit. S.
to these pages the following account of Killiani, ap. Canis. Lection. Antiq. torn,
the mission to central Germany from iii. p. 175. See also Eckhart, Francia
a work, published by me some twenty Orientalis, torn. i. p. 276, who connects
years ago, on the early History of Ger- this Diana with the great patroness of
many, and not much known to the witches and witchcraft of the middle
reading public. On examination, I find ages, little to alter, and therefore give it as it
Chap, v.] TIIUKINGIAN AND BAVARIAN MISSIONS. 351
indeed, baptised by Killinn, and for a time the cause of religion seemed to*^ prosper ; but the strict moral censor- ship, which the missionaries did not think fit to temper with the needful reserves, broug-ht upon them the evils which the like severity had incurred in other cases. Duke Gozbert had, consistently with the custom of the coun- try, married his deceased brother's widow ; and Killiau, in private, insisted upon his repudiating" her. The hidis- creet proposal was betrayed to the princess, who, availuig- herself of a temporary absence of her husband, aveng'ed the insult by causing- the imprudent missionaries to be put to death.'' But the crime of Duchess Geilana did not materially impede the proo-ress of conversion.^ , „ ,
TT 1 -i ^ 1 ^ ° p n T J. T>nkQ Hedan.
Medan, the son and successor oi (iozbert, was one of the earliest of Killian's converts ', and Archbishop AVilbrord was permitted, or solicited, to take charg'e of the new Thuring-ian church. Duke Hedan himself for- warded the g-ood Avork by large g'rants of lands, build- ing's and lordships, with the serfs appurtenant to them, to the archbishop for the endowment of churches compromise and relig-ious houses.' The popular resistance with
, T' • ,• .1 heathenism.
to religious innovation was not, however, so easily overcome. The objections of the people arose, not so much from Avhat was enjoined, as from what was pro- hibited by the Christian teachers ; but, as in many parallel cases, the Church yielded to the prejudices of her converts on condition that they abstained from sacrificing* horses to " Diana," and that when they immolated victims, they should be sanctified by laying- them upon the altar, and making- the sig'ii of the cross over them, before they were eaten b}^ the worshippers."
This long- series of campaig-ns ag-ainst pag-anism in the vast reg-ion of Germany had been beg-un Emmeramm under the leadership of the Irish missionaries ^^ i^avana. Colombanus and Gall. Their labours had been confined
^ Vit. S. Kill, ubi sup. p. 181. lichen Eiiropa, vol. ii. p. 24. This sys- ' See the original documents, ap. Eck- tern of accommodation was, as we have hart, Fran. Orient, torn. i. p. 312. Most seen, expressly sanctioned by Pope G re- ef these instruments bear the dates of gory the Great in the earlier nianage- 704 and 70G. ment of the Anglo-Saxon converts. Conf. ■" Conf. Mone, Ileidenth, im Niird- Book III. c. vii. p. 218 of this work.
352 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book IV.
to the Allemannic or Suabian districts;" but they, and those who followed them in the same field of spiritual conquest, had found the path rather obstructed than faci- litated by the remains of Roman Christianity, Avhich still ling-ered amid the heathenish rites which obscured and deg-raded it.° Not long- after the triumph of Gall in AUemannia, the Frankish missionary Emmeramm un- dertook to reform, or rather to republish, Christianity in the country of the Boioarii, or Bavarians.^ His efforts were seconded by Duke Theodo, and received by the people with the liveliest satisfaction ; but an imprudent interference with the domestic affairs of the reig'ning- family in this, as in other instances, proved fatal to the Rupert arch- niissiouary. Emmeramm was put to death ;'^ bishop of and it was not till several 3^ears afterwards Salzburg. ^^^^ Eupert bishop of Worms (a.d. GSO) un- dertook, with the concurrence of Duke Theodo II., to restore order and discipline in the Bavarian churches. He rebuilt the ancient Juvavium of the Homans, — the modern Salzburg", — and was made bishop of the new see ; he erected schools and monasteries, and brought the lands around them into cultivation ; he made frequent visita- tions of all the churches of his diocese ; in imitation of the Saviour, he kept on foot a company of twelve disciples, and with them penetrated into the country of the wild Avars of Pannonia. After a successful career of judicious reform, and munificent provision for the advancement of Christianity, Rupert died in the year 718. Neither in the course of his labours, nor of those of his predecessor Emmeramm, do we meet with any appearance of com- munication with or commission from Rome ; but in that of Corbinian in his succcssor Corbiniauus, a Frankish monk, the Bavaria, counection bccomcs palpable and direct. Cor- binian appeared, in fact, in Bavaria as the avowed emis-
° Including at that time all the can- together with a part of Vindelicia. The
tons of modern Switzerland, theRhgetia river Inn was no longer the boundary,
and Vindelicia of the Romans. as it had been under the Romans.
o See Arnulph. De Miraculis S. Em- i Meginfred, Vit. S. Emmeramm. cc.
merammi, ap. Cams. Lect. Antiq. torn. ix.-xii. ap. Canis. Lect. Antiq. tom. iii.
iii. p. 105. pp. 97, 98. See an absurd legend of
P Comprising the western portion of Emmeramm in Hist, of Germans, pp.
the great Roman province of Noricum, 782, 783.
I
Chap. V] ROMANISM IN BAVARTA. 353
saiy of the Homan Church. He had prepared himself for tlie miiiistr}^ by a residence of some 3'ears at Home ; and had been selected by Pope Greg'or^^ II. to introduce the peculiar reforms in the Bavarian churches best cal- culated to eng-ender a more complete sj^npathy with the g'reat Latin body. He was endowed by nature with com- manding- eloquence, g'reat hardihood, and rig-id severity of purpose. By the devout liberality of Duke Theodo II. and his son, he obtained the means of buildino- and endowing* several monasteries; he erected the hamlet, of Freising'en into an episcopal see, and endowed it with laro'e g-rants of the richest lands in the neig-hbourhood. But the unrelenting' rig-our of his discipline drew down upon him the enmity of a larg-e party in the countr}'. Pilitradis, the widow of Theudebald duke of Southern Ba^'aria, had married his brother Grimoald, a connection leg-itimatised Ij}' the law and custom of the country. Cor- binian, who could be broug'ht to acknowledg'e no law but that of Rome, stio-matised the marriao*e as incestuous, and inexorably insisted upon a separation. His vig'orous remonstrances, aided by spiritual menaces, were for a time successful: but to outward appearance only; the g'uilty pair still continued their intercourse in private. Elated by success, the firmness of the reformer soon de- g'enerated into insolence. The proud spirit of Pilitrudis could no long'er endure the insults heaped upon her by the upstart priest, and she struck at the life of her oppressor. Though the blow missed its aim, Corbinian was compelled to quit the country, after launching- sen- tence of excommunication ag'ainst both husband and wife."" But in the year 725, Charles Martel, the ir- . ,
• -11 '■ <• 1 x-i 1 - 111 Ascendency
resistible prmce 01 the I ranks, invaded the of Romanism duchies of Allemannia or Suabia and Bava- i"^^^'^™- ria. Duke Griinoald fell by the hand of a domestic as- sassin; Pilitrudis and her daug-hter became the prisoners — the latter soon afterwards the wife — of Charles Martel ;
' The Bavarian history of Adehreitcr meagre abstracts in D. Bouq. Vit. S.
gives copious extracts from ^/iWi- Life Corijin. torn. iii. p. 653, and with M.
of St. Corbinian. See that work, parti. Velser, "Res Boiici'," lib. iv. pp. 135-
lib. vii. §§ 18-20, pp. 160-162. Those 138. The original life is in the Acta
extracts have been compared with the Ord. S. Bened. of Mabillon.
VOL. II. A A
354 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
and Bavaria was annexed as a tributary duchy to the Merovingian king'dom. Corbinian returned in triumph to his church, and continued to g'overn it till his death, in the year 730.^
Looking" back upon the series of events connected Extension of witli tlic cxteusion of Latin Christianity in the Latin Chris- British islauds and Germany, we perceive that
tianity in the ,i-r-» • • i i • r I: • i
viith century : the liomau cmissarics had, in lact, seized upon its causes, g'l'ound ah'cad}' either wholly or partially pre- occupied. In the former, Ireland, Scotland, Northum- briaj in the latter, Rhsetia, Thuring'ia, and Bavaria, — were no strang-ers to Christianity. The ocean-islands had, indeed, adopted a more primitive form, unmixed with re- cent Hellenistic or Latin innovations.' The Germanic nations had engTafted uj^on this new religion many of the g"rossest of the older popular superstitions and heathenish practices. The Frisians may be reg'arded as an original acquisition of Home; but an acquisition of the utmost importance to church-communication, and essential to the coherence of the g-eneral plan of spiritual conquest which followed the breaking'-up of the Scottish establishment in Northumbria. If the brethren of loiia had been able to stand their gTound ag-ainst Wilfred and his friends, Rome mig'ht have had g*reater difficulty in appropriating* to herself the merits and the profits of missionary labour in Britain and elsewhere. The victory of the latter, as we have seen, determined the course and current of that stream of missionary zeal which flowed so abundantly from the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and di- verted it so decidedly into the channel marked out for it by Home. Looking- for the causes of this extraordinary success, we find that the eiforts of Aidan and the brethren of lona were the result of religious impulse rather than
s The biographer of Corbinian has apostolic practice discernible in the Ve-
adorned the legend of his hero with a nerableBede's account of these churches
dark detail of the just judgments of God are the three following: the veneration
upon the abandoned adultressPilitrudis. of relics; the predilection for monastic
But the story is altogether incredible. and ascetic life; and the devout belief in
See note 148, p. 758, History of the Gcr- dreams, omens, visions, and supernatu-
inans, and the authorities there quoted. ral manifestations, obviously inherited
' The only variances from primitive from their heathen ancestry.
Chap. V.] ROMANISM IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 355
of systemntic church-craft ; that they rehed upon no out- ward support, and were unprepared to encounter any outward assaults. Unable to discern the political drift of the paschal controversy in the hands of their opponents, or to encounter the dog-matic myth so triumphantly urg-ed ag-ainst them, they surrendered power to save their some- what slender conscientious objections to a mere cere- monial chang'e. Ag*ain, in southern Germany the iso- lated enterprises of Emmeramm and llupert had left some traces behind them ; but they were not of a nature to oppose any materinl obstacle to the sustained and syste- matic efforts of Corbinian and other directly-commis- sioned emissaries of Home, seconded by the irresistible arms of the formidable Charles Martel. The overthrow of Colman and his friends at Whitby had the ultimate effect of throwing" the whole g-ame into the hands of Rome. Ecg'frid and all his fellow-seceders from the Scot- tish forms had cast themselves without reserve into her arms, in the fullest confidence that, under the banner of St. Peter, they Avere fig'hting- the battles of the Saviour. Enthusiastic men rarely reflect upon the remoter conse- quences of their most innocent acts when exposed to the corroding" action of hum'an passions and human ambi- tion. When those devoted men enlisted in the service of Rome, they little dreamt of the dang-er of any one thereafter mistaking" her for the " captain of their salva- tion." The immense advantage of combined movement and systematic support lay upon the surface ; while the dog"matic " communion of saints" stood before them as visibly expressed in that chair, which had hitherto so successfully advanced its claim to be the representative of " sacramental unity" in the universal church.
The days of the venerable Ecg-bert and Willibrord were drawing- to a close, when a g-reater than winfred, or they made his appearance upon the scene of Boniface. missionary labours and strug-gles ; a man in whose mind the identification of the cause of Christ and of Rome was complete and absolute. The Ang-lo-Saxon monk Win- fred was educated at a convent in Exeter, and after- wards studied at the monastery of Netley in Hampshire,
356 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
where he perfected himself in all the secular and spiritual learning* of the ag-e. He had adopted with enthusiasm the dog-ma of the absolute unity of the Church-catholic^ extending- to the minutest particulars of faith and govern- ment^ discipline and ritual. The communion of the see of Rome seemed to him to afford the only centre of union capable of answering- all the conditions of the great problem. By the advice of his friend Daniel bishop of Winchester^ he proceeded to Rome, and placed himself at the disposal of Pope Greg-ory II." That pontiff sent him into Thuring-ia, to supply the places of KiUian and his martyred companions. That country was at that period included within the spiritual jurisdiction of the see of Utrecht ; and Winfred proceeded thither to consult with the venerable Archbishop Willibrord upon the means ne- cessary to streng'then discipline, and root out the corrup- tions and superstitions to which the recent Thuring"ian converts were still addicted. The archlnshop, now in the decline of life, was anxious to retain him as his actual coadjutor and ultimate successor ; but Winfred, faithful to the destination assig'ned to him by his superior at Rome, returned to his post ; and extending* the sphere of his la- bours, met with some success amono- the Saxon cantons bordering- upon his proper province. In all these districts he had to encounter a spurious kind of Christianity, de- based by numerous superstitions and pag'an pollutions. But these errors yielded to the earnestness and eloquence of the preacher ; and in a short time so g-reat was the number of converts, that the dutiful missionary thought it necessary to solicit further instructions and more ample powers from Rome. To that end, he again proceeded, thither, and was there ordained bishop by Pope Gregory II., who upon that occasion changed his barbaric name for that of Bonifacius, b}' Avhich he is ever afterwards de- signated in church-histoiy.
The juncture was extremely favourable to the en- He devotes largcnieut of the papal influence ; and Pope iiimseif to Q^Qorory II. took cverv means to attach the
the service i • -i i • i
of Rome, ncw bishop to tlic spccuil service oi the ponti-
" This pontificate falls between the years 715 and 73J,
Cirvr. V.l WINFRTlD OH BONIFACE. '857
•ficate. Boniface was admitted to the ^^ familiarit}^" of the holy seej neither country nor name were any long'er liis own, — b}" accepting- the inestimable privilege he took upon himself a new nature ; he identified himself with a new service ; he became the exclusive mhiister of the head of the sacerdotal family ; he stood discharg-ed from all obedience or I'esponsibility to any other superior 5 and be- came entitled to have at all times direct personal commu- nication with his lord^ and to take his orders from him alone/ "His histructions/' says his biog-rapher Willi- bald, " were contained in a book in which were written the most hoi}' laws of the ecclesiastical constitutions^ as enacted in the pontifical synods ;" and by them he was directed to frame his own conduct^ and to instruct his Hock by precepts and examples drawn from them.''
Boniface entered with all his heart into the plan and the detail of his spiritual mission. On his way t, ..
1 . T 1 • • 1 Bonitace
to his new diocese^ he Msited the court of the among the heroic prince of the Franks Charles Martel, Hessians. and received from him the strong-est professions of sym- pathy and support. In reliance upon these assurances, and with full faith in the competency of his spiritual powers, he treated the relig-ious prejudices of the heathen Hessians, among* whom he first took up his abode, with very little respect. The formidable missionary was pro- bably knoA\'n to have temporal protectors at his back Avho would amply vindicate his pretensions. He there- fore boldly ventured to cut down the sncred oak of Thor the Thunderer even before the eyes of his astonished wor- shippers. The tree fell beneath the axes of the zealous as- sailants, and the g-od took the insult without the smallest token of displeasure. The spectators reasonably enoug-h inferred that Thor had forsaken his forest-sanctuar}', or had retired with fear or indifference from the scene of his discomfiture. The " apostle of Germany" and his brave companions sawed up the hug-e trunk into beams and
y In strict analojry to the privileges with that whi-h Archbishop Theodore
enJDycd by the " familiares" of princes presented to tiic Anglo-Saxon bishops
and great men of that age. Ducange, ad at the synod of llerudford, :iiid with tlie
voc. "familiaris" and " familiaritas." " Aperta et synodalia constituta ecclu-
." It is most probable that the book si:e Komana;"'of J'ope Agapetiis. Conf.
iu i[iic-stiL>ii was uf the same character note sup. p. 330 of this vokuue.
358 CATHEDEA TETEI. [Book IV.
planks, and framed them into an oratory, which they de- dicated to the Apostle Peter, upon the spot where it had stood/
The method pursued by Boniface for the propag-ation His method ^f the Gospcl in Germany was in all respects of con- the same as that recommended by Greg"ory version. ^^^ Great/ He took care on all occasions to plant a church upon the site of every place of relig'ious resort or popular veneration; he substituted a saint for every idol destro3^ed, or other proscribed object of super- stitious worship ; he permitted the customary feasts and sacrifices, but carefully provided that the g'ames and sports which accompanied them should be celebrated, and the flesh of the victims consumed, in honour of some great Christian festivity. He was a declared enemy of sacerdotal marriag^e ; and, it appears, met with some dif- ficulty and opposition in the prosecution of his scheme for enforcing- the celibacy of his clergy. He introduced the observance of the feast of Pentecost into Germany ; he promulg-ated the rule of Latin canon-law, regulating" the degrees of consanguinity within which la}^ matrimony might not be contracted; and he fixed the rotation of feasts to be observed throughout the 3^ear in strict con- formity with the ritual of the Roman church/
During the absence of Boniface in Rome, Duke He- dan of Thuringia had died, and his sons had relapsed into heathenism. The clergy them- selves, we are told, were infected with heresy.^ Certain priests, " false hrethr en, fornicators, adulterers, — whom," says his biographer, " God hath judged according to the word of the Apostle Paul,"— had seduced the people into all manner of impurities and heathenish abomina- tions ', many persons had forsaken the faith, and the rest knew not whom to follow. The resistance of the married and heathenised priesthood was long and obstinate ', but
-'^ The materials for this sliort sketch p. 403. of the acts of St. Boniface are wholly * Again I take leave to borrow, with
derived from the Vita S. Bonif. a Wil- slight alterations, the accoimt of the
libaldo, ap. Pertz, Moniim. Germ. Hist. ministry of Boniface from my work on
torn. ii. pp. 343, 344. Early German History, pp. 795-808. I
y Conf. Book III. c. vii. p. 218 of this have placed the authorities from which
work. it was compiled, after re-examination,
^ See Eckhard, Franc. Orient, torn. i. at the foot of the page.
CiiAP. v.] BONITACE IN GERMANY. 859
under tlie persevering- efforts of the missionaries, these " false brethren" were at leng-th driven from the field, the decayed churches were repaired, and new ones were built. Success broug-ht him many assistants from all parts of Christendom. But Boniface had a strong- predilection for liis own countrymen, of whose zeal, doci- jjj^ ^^gio- lity and courag'e he had ample experience. He Saxon therefore sent messeng'ers to Eng'land to eng-ag^e ^^^ jutors. fellow-labourers in his vineyard ; and in a short time a colony of devout persons of both sexes from that countr}'- joined him in the wilderness of Germany. Many of these were of hig-h birth, and all were filled with courag'e and piet}^ ; " lettered persons were they, and well instructed in every branch of religious and worldly knowledg-e : Burchard and LuUus ; the brothers AYillibald and Wun- nibald, with their sister Walpurg-is ; Wetta and Greg'ory, and the relig'ious women, Chunehild the niece of Lullus, and her daug'hter Berathg'it; also Chunetrudis, Tecla, and Lioba.'"' The new teachers, as far as their numbers would permit, were dispersed in every hamlet His mission- and homestead of Tharingia ; the women were ^'^ coiomes. settled in convents, under the g'uardianship of Chunehild ; Teela became the prioress of the devout sisters stationed at Kenzing'en and Ochsenfurth on the Mayne, and Lioba took charo'e of a relig-ious house at Bishoffsheim. At the same time monasteries and oratories sprung* up at Fulda, Wiirzburg-, Holzkirchen, Ordruff, Orthorp, Geis- mar, and many other spots ; most of them upon the sites of the old heathen places of worship. *"
The advanfa/jes of this practice were, that it saved harmless that sacred principle in human nature Mode of in- from Avhicli relio-ion itself takes its source : and struction. that it shortened the process of conversion, by simply trans- ferring* the devotion of the new converts, without an}" start- ling* intermediate process, from the heathen to the Chris- tian di\'inities. On the other hand, the disadvantages were serious and alarming*. The custom of substituting* on all occasions a saint for an idol, buildino' churches
b Oi/i/oMt Vit. S. Bonif. lib. i. c.xxiii., <= The " fana," "capitolia," and "de-
— ap. Pertz, ii. pp. 344,345. liiijra" of the hagiographers.
360 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
and altars upon spots where every thing" was calculated to keep alive the memory of the discarded superstitions, broug'ht with it many of those evils of which the mis- sionaries themselves were the first to complain. It is a remarkable fact, that at this very period heathen festi- vities were still observed even in the capital of Christen- dom. Boniface himself boldly charged Pope Zachary with remissness in permitting* mummeries and proces- sions, accompanied with profane song- and clamour, in the streets and public places of the city, especially on the 1st of January j and he reasonably asks by what rig'ht, after that, the pope could find fault with the like practices among- his own iiock.'' Yet it can hardly be denied, that even if the missionaries themselves had been capable of imparting', their hearers were wholly unprepared to re- ceive the doctrines of a purer and more spiritual relig"ion. The predecessors of Boniface had done no more than to obtain from the heathen a public profession of the Gospel, and a certain outward conformity with the Latin rites. Their successors pursued the same plan : they still re- sorted to the old compendious method, rashly trusting* to their own vigilance and assiduity to prune away the vi- cious excrescences which might grow out of this hazard- ous scheme of conversion.
The results bore out in a great degree the confi- T, .. dent expectations of its authors. Converts and
Boniface I i • t i • n i
archbishop churcues multiplied so rapidly that a more and legate, gygtematic Organisation had become necessary. These new establishments were as yet without an acknow- ledged chief j and although Rome might claim a large share in the merits of her emissaries, she was not yet in possession of any corporate or general acknowledgment of supremacy in this great department of spiritual con- quest. But now her " familiaris" applied to Pope Gre- gory III., successor to the second of that name, for the powers requisite for that purpose. The pope gladly com- plied ; and, with the archiepiscopal pallium, sent to Boni- face a commission as papal legate over the churches of all Germany. In the year 788, he went to Bome, and
d Epp. S. Bouif. ep. 132, up. Echliart, Franc. Orient, toni. i. p. 402.
Chap, v.] GOVERNMENT OF BONIFACE. 301
resided there iienrly a twelvemonth^ occupied in org'nn- ising* A\'ith the pope a, strong* and consistent scheme of church-g'overnment^ which was to embrace not merely Great Britain and Germany, but all Christendom, and to unite all under the sceptre of St. Peter's chair. For the two last-mentioned provinces of the i^rojected empire Boniface could undertake to answer to his master ; but both were sensil)le that the Frankish churches would op- pose more serious difficulties.^ Yet much mig'ht be ex- pected from the talents and adroitness of Boniface; more from the ignorance and worldly spirit of the Frankish liierarchy ; and more still from the secret views of the powerful family which presided over the government of France, — views of which it is impossible to believe that either Boniface or his patron were wholly ignorant.'^
The commission of the new archbishop-legate extended over every part of Germany, Avith the exception „. , .
/• -n • 1 1 T 1 n • Ti • r- '^'^ ecclcsi-
ot rriesland. In the nrst mstance, Boniiace asticai visited Bavaria, where lie found the roots of *^'^^^^'^"'*- the old superstitions still rankling in the soil; irregula- rities of all kinds, such as married or heretical priests, depraved teachers, bishops without due consecration, and clergy without canonical orders.^ As the proper remedy for these evils, he prevailed upon Odilo, the feudatory duke of Bavaria, to divide the duchy into four dioceses ; and he appointed to them foiu" of his own most confiden- tial followers. With the same views, he divided the pro- vince of Franconia, or " Francia Orientalis" — by which name the more southern districts of the o-reat Thurino-ian region had begun to be distinguished — into three dio-
^ It is observed by Mannert, in his '' In the year 737 — therefore the year
History of the Merovingian Franks (vol. before the ai-rival of Boniface in Rome
i. p. 31 5), that since the first pallium and — the nominal king, Theuderich IV., hud
legantine commission conferred by Gre- died, and Charles Martelhad neglected
gory the Great upon the archbishop of to fill the vacant throne; a circumstance
Aries, scarcely a single metropolitan had so pregnant with inference, that it could
applied for the confirmation of Rome, hardly have been overlooked either by
till the Anglo-Saxon Willibrord set the Boniface or the pope. Conf. Echhart,
example circa 692. "No appeal," he torn. i. p. 370.
says, "was ever brought before the s " Injusta hpereticse falsitatis secta
legate; and the bishops continued, as et_/o/?(!ca/-?a sacerdotum;" i. e. apriest-
before, to hold their synods under their hood not ordained according to the Latin
respective metropolitans, without re- forms, and living in a state of marriage,
porting to Rome, and without any no- Vit. S. Bonif. a WilliO. ubi sup. p. 345. ticc of her authority."
302 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book IV.
ceseS; under three of his Ang-lo-Saxon associates. These sees were amply endowed by the simpUcity or the muni- tieence of the g-reat lay proprietors, confirmed and aug- mented by the piety of Charles Martel and his devout son Carlmann.'' All these appointments were carefully reported to the pope, and by him returned with the re- Papai confir- quircd ratifications and admonitions : " Cease mation. ^ot, uiost rcvereud brother," — so the pope writes in reply, — " cease not to inculcate the holy traditions of the catholic and apostolic see of Home ; . . . desist not from preaching" the way of salvation / and wherever you may meet with a proper occasion, ordain bishops canoni- caliy in our name and place ; and look to it that the new bishops heej) whole the same ajwstolical and canonical tradition."^ And now indeed the pontiff mig-ht with some degree of confidence reg-ard nearly the whole of Ger- many as enclosed within the Roman fold.
In France, however, the papal projects had up to this
time worn a less promising* aspect. It is true
teirobstru^c- that Charlcs Martel had liberally supported the
tion of papal gffoj.^s of the ^^ apostlc of Germany:" but he
t)olicv 1 */ ■'
intimated, by his conduct in other directions, that he had no mind to saddle himself either with a tem- poral or a spiritual superior within his realm ; more espe- cially that he had a very decided objection to admit any sharer in the vast ecclesiastical plunder or patronag*e which he and his predecessors had so long* dispensed. The re- sentment with which his memory has been treated by the churchmen, shows pretty clearly how little he was dis- posed to promote the further extension of clerical wealth and power. After his death, in the year 741, the roman- ising- clerg-y took courag"e; and from this epoch, every succeeding- year brought forth some event which raised their hopes, and smoothed the path to further acquisition. The earliest of these propitious occurrences appeared Carimann in the sliapc of a messag^e from Carlmann, the BonJface pious SOU of Charlcs Martel, inviting* Boniface to France, to pay a visit to the Frankish court, with a
'> Egilward, in Vit. S. Burchardi ' Viz. the said holy traditions, &c.
Episc. Wirziburg, ap. Eckhart, torn. i. J See the letters of confirmation, ap.
pp. 379, 390, 391. Eckhart, ubi sup. torn. i. p. 378.
CnAP. v.] BONIFACE AND THE FRANKISII CHURCHES. 8G3
view to the reformation of the more manifest abuses in the churches of the realm. The leg-ate complied, and Avrote to Pope Zachar}^, the successor of Gregory III. (741), requesting his permission to convoke a national synod for the remedy of existing* evils. He informed the pontiff that no g-eneral assembly of the Report of churches had been held in Fi-ance for a^^m^?^ ^hetuteo? of eighty years; that during- all that time there theFrankish had been no lawful metropolitan bishop;' that churches. the Koman canon-law had never been promulgated by public authority ; that the greater number of the bishop- rics were held by greedy laymen ; and that others were filled by false clerks, persons of evil repute — rvJioremonyers and pubhcans.' It should be observed in this place, that not only those who lived after the manner of men of rank in that'countr}^, — that is, without any very severe restric- tions upon the number or character of their female asso- ciates,— but also all the married prelates and clergy, fell under these vituperative designations. Pope Zachary, in his reply to the application of Boniface, adopted the like view ; and pronounced it to be law that no bishop could have been more than once married, and that before con- secration ; and if at that time he chanced to be married, he must ever afterwards abstain from cohabiting with his wife.™
After obtaining the requisite permission from Eome, Boniface convoked a synod of the Germanic synods of churches at Salzburg in Thuringia, a spot uponSakburg and the river Saale ; and announced a second assem- ^ '^p*''^^^- bly for the following year, to be held at Leptines, near Cambray, for the Neustrian kingdom." The ordinances passed at these assembhes denounced degrada- ^^^^^^^ tion and other canonical punishments against all clerks leading irregular lives, or keeping wives or con- cubines ; priests were prohibited from bearing arms, or taking part in any military adventure ; they were strictly excluded from the profane sports of the field, and to
'' That is, no one who had taken out ■" Echhart, ubi sup. torn. i. p. 403.
his pallium from Rome. ° H^id. ubi sup. p. 404. These two
' " Scortatores," "fornicatores," " ad- synods are sometimes confounded with
ultcri," &c. each other.
S64
CATHEDKA PETEI.
[Book IV.
that end were ordered to put away all sporting"-dog's and falcons from their premises : the prelates were directed to call in the aid of the civil fower to suppress all heathen- ish practices^ such as profane offering's for the dead^ sor- tileg-e, charms^ incantations^ lustral fires," sacrifices in honour of saints^ " which foolish persons do sometimes perform Avithin the precincts of the churches^ after the manner of the heathen^ thoug-h outwardly in honour of martyrs and confessors, provoking* thereby the A\'rath of God and his saints."'' This first attempt to set bounds to a practice hitherto encourag*ed by Rome was followed by a schedule or short catalog'ue of prohibited practices,*^ with a brief formula of renunciation, and a profession of faith to be made by all new Christians as well as persons
. , . ^ suspected of heathen iiravity. Under the die- Adoption ot , .}■ r* -r» •/' T 1 1 7 7 7
the Roman tatiou 01 iJoniiace, ooth S3'nods adopted the code of canon-lam of Home as the sole rule of faith and
canon-law. . ^ in • -i
disciplme; they declared all marriag'es void which had been contracted in contradiction to that law^ and strictly prohibited the sale of Christians as slaves to pag'ans/
Not the least remarkable, however, of the transactions Adalbert and of the Couucil of Lcptiues was tlic coudemna-
ciemens. fj^j^ ^^^^ dcpositiou of two bishops, Adalbert and Clemens — the former a Frank^ the latter an Irishman — - for repudiating" the leg-antine powers of Boniface, and op- posing-the introduction of the Roman canon-law into the Frnnldsh discipline. Such at least was bej'ond doubt the real offence of these prelates. The indig-nant and vitu- perative tone of Boniface, in his report of this circum-
Charges staucc to Popc Zacliaiy, leaves the moral and Sismatk? ecclesiastical characters of the two prelates un-
bishops touched. Adalbert^ said the imperious accuser,
o "The Nodfyr" or " Niedfyr." See Catician.nd Indie. Superst. in Barb. Leg. Antiq. torn. iii. § 1.5, p. 97. See also Grimm, Deutsch. Mythol. p. 345.
P Hartzheim, Concil. Germ. tom. i. pp. 48-50.
q The "Indiculus Superstitionum," which is so learnedly and amusingly commented upon by Canciani in the
third vol. of his "Leges Barbarorum Antiquse."
"■ In this and several succeeding ages an active slave-trade was carried on between the half-converted borderers of the Frankish dominions and the pagans of the eastern frontier, espe- cially tiie Sclavic tribes of the Elbe and the Avars of Hungary.
CiiAP. v.] ADALBERT AND CLEMENS. SO-J
A\ns an enthusiast and an impostor; lie condemned the interference of the pope with the national church ; he de- nied the lawfulness of dedicating- churches to saints;' he derided pilg-rimaoTS to Rome ; and repudiated auricular confession. Boniface adds a chnrg-e of imposture; he pro- claimed himself^ he says, an inspired teacher, and usurped the })lace of the apostles by pretending- to g'ive absolution for all nnmner of sins.* The offences of Clemens involved a peremptory denial of the lloman canon-law, or, as Boni- face is pleased to describe it, the '' canons of the Church of Christ;" he rejected the sermons and treatises of St. Aug-ustine, St. Jerome, and St. Greg-ory the Great ;" he s})urned the acts of the synods, and " of his own au- thority nffirmed thnt, thoug-h he had two sons born in adidtenj, yet he was still a Christian bishop."''
The last of these articles of impeachment denotes in reality no more than that Clemens maintained vaiue of the his rig-ht to retain his wife after consecration ; charges. and that he asserted the leg-itimncy of the children boi*n to him while that relation subsisted. The terms " adul- tery" and '^^ fornication" are so g-enerally used by the Latin doctors in describino- the matrimonial eno-ao-ements of the clerg-y, that some pams are required to disting-uish between the moral and the canonical offence. In this case, the statement, as ag-ainst Clemens, is upon the face of it a naked falsehood, covered b}" the use of a word put into the mouth of the accused by the enrag-ed accusei", and intended to convey an impudent avowal of g-uilt and depravity.''' It is, however, ob\ious that the real offence of the two recusant prelates Avas their resistance to the imposition of a foreig-n yoke, and the introduction of a
" Probably he reprobated the practice " Probably as appertaining to tradi-
of substituting saints for idols, and de- tion, rather than to revelation,
dicating the temples of Thor or Woden " See the epistle of Boniface to Pope
to St. Peter or St. Paul. Zachary, ap. Hartzheim, Concil. Germ.
» A singular complaint in the mouth torn. i. p. 62. of a spiritual plenipotentiary of the »» Clemens is also charged with main- successor of St. Peter. The false pro- taining that when Christ descended into tence charged was, not that he exer- hell he liberated all who were detained cised the power to forgive sins, but that there, whether they were Christians or he claimed to exercise it independently pagan: an eccentric, but rather harm- of the Petrine commission, and without regard to the Latin canons.
b'ss, exposition of a probably apocry- phal clause in the Apostles' Creed,
36G
CATHEDRA PETRI.
[Book IV.
scheme of canon-law inconsistent with the liberties of their churches and the customs and habits of their people. A more formidable obstacle to the meditated reforms Difficulties ^.rosc from the reluctance of the Franldsh no- of Boniface bilitj — Antrustious and Leudes — to part with in France, ^j^^ revenucs of the sees which the necessities of the princes^ particularly of Charles Martel^ had compelled them to bestow on powerful lay claimants. Boniface^ it is true^ with the consent of the pope, consecrated arch- bishops to the metropohtan sees of Rouen, Rheims, and Sens ; but the Princes Carlmann and Pippin were unable or unwilling- to dispossess the lay occupants of the lands and endowments attached to those sees, and for the pre- sent the appointments remained unexecuted. In other respects the leg-ate met with better success. An assem- bly, both of clerg-y and laity, was held at Soissons in the year 744, in the presence of Pippin himself. Here all the canons of the previous S3^nods were confirmed and republished ; clerical marriag'es were more explicitly con- demned and prohibited ; the new archiepiscopal and le- g"antine jurisdiction in all ecclesiastical matters was esta- blished ; and bishops and people were required to resort to those courts upon all occasions.''
The successes of Boniface are very clearly summed up Report of hi the report of these proceeding's which he sent Boniface to to his friend Cuthbert archbishop of Canterbury,
Archbishop . ^-, r^ a ^ r .^ j i'
Cuthbert of m the year 745, lor the encouragement and m- Canterbury. structiou of the Aug-lo-Saxou prclatcs. " In this sjmod (of Soissons)," he said, " we have confessed and decreed the whole catholic faith in communion with, and in subjection to, the Roman church ; and we have vowed obedience and true service to St. Peter and his vicar. We have resolved to hold annual s^^nods, and to apply for our pallia to the see of Rome ; and that we will in all thing's strive to pay canonical obedience to the precepts of St. Peter, in order that we may show ourselves worthy to be numbered with his flock. We have likewise re- solved, that in every synod the canonical decrees and ecclesiastical laws (as received from Rome) shall be read
* See Hartzheim, Concil. Germ. torn. i. pp. 57, 58.
Cii.u'. v.] BONIFACE PRIMATE. 307
and published ; that the metropolitniis shall examine into the morals and dilig'ence of the bishops ; that^ after each S3modj diocesan assemblies shall be held for carrying- the synodal resolutions into effect ; and, in order to afford to evTry bishop the means of reforming* what is amiss within his diocese, we have directed that he shall publicl}" com- plain thereof to his archl^ishop : for thus, at my own consecration, I swore to the lioman church to act, viz. that if I should find priests or people grievously and incorrigibly departing* from the law of God, / would at all times faitl if idly report such cases to the apostolic see and to the vicar of St. Peter for correction, ; and in the same way, I think all bishops oug-ht to report to their metropolitans, and they in turn to the church of Rome, whenever they meet ^^'ith hindrances with which the}^ are of themsehes unable to contend."^
Though secure of the cordial co-operation of the g*o- vernment, Boniface had still to contend against Difficulties difficulties arising from the pertinacity of the and im- lay holders of ecclesiastical propert}^, and the re- ^^ ^^lents. sistance of a certain party among the clergy to the sweep- ing* reforms he meditated. The only advantage obtained over the former was a reluctant consent to pay a trifling acknowledgment for their tenure of the church-lands ; yet this admission sufficed to keep alive the claims of the plundered sees/ A more important step in advance was gained b}^ the establishment of the legate in Boniface the important see of Moguntiacum, or Mayntz primate of (Mayence), with metropolitan jurisdiction over all the reg'ions in which he had ever preached, as far as the borders of the pagan Saxons and Sclavi, including the dio- ceses of Tong*res, Colonia-Agrippina (Cologne), Worms, Speyer, Maastricht, Wiirzburg, Eichstedt, and Biireburg/ But many years elapsed before the inert resistance of the provincial clergy to the innovations of the legate could be overcome. Adalbert and Clemens persevered in their struggles for the independence of their churches. In
y Hartzheim, Concil. Germ, torn. i. » Olhloni Vit. S. Bonif. lib. ii. c. 14;
p. 67. Eclihart, Fr. Orient, torn. i. p. 485.
^ Ibid. torn. i. p. 71.
868 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book I\'.
other places the new ordinances were ostensibty adopted, but neutralised b}^ negdect or passive resistance. The metropolitan bishops were found unaccountably remiss in applying- to Rome for their pallia ; and the perpetual wars of Pippin ag-ainst the hitherto independent princi- palities of Germany for a long" time impeded or thwarted the scheme of Boniface for a more complete establishment of his g'reat province upon the Roman platform.
In the year 747, his pious friend and supporter Carl-
. manUj the joint-prince, or major-domus, of the
of Adalbert Frauks, retired from the world. In the interim
and Boniface had found leisure and funds for the
Clemens. . , , ,. . ,
erection or several religious houses, more par- ticularly of the afterwards celebrated abbey of Fulda in Hessia. At Rome all his views were adopted without comment or delay ; and mandates were issued in confor- mity with his desig-ns for drawing- the Frankish and Ger- manic churches into the closest dependence upon the holy see.*" But the active resistance of the schismatic bishops Adalbert and Clemens, and the inert opposition of pro- bably a majority of the Frankish clergy, had materially disturbed the project. Of this portion of the priesthood, Heathenisino- the archbishop gives a very unfavourable por- and marriecf trait. " Reueg'ade priests," he sa^^s, " were still priests. fQ^^Y^^ ^y}jQ sacrificed bulls and g'oats to the pag"an g'ods, or themselves partook of the meats offered to idols ; the number of the schismatic clergy who, under the name of bishops and presbyters, deluded and carried aAvay the people, was much g-reater than that of the or- thodox : among- these, there were very many vag-rant, adulterous (married), sacrilegious, hypocritical pretenders, as also many shaven serfs who had fled from their mas- ters j — servants of the devil, living- after their own de- praved lusts, and seducing- multitudes of the people to support them in their resistance to the bishops. These persons, he averred, carried on their nefarious trade in wild and lonely places, or in the cabins of the country-
b Conf. Ep. Zach. Pap. ad Bonif., ap. Ep. GemmuUD'iae. adBonif. ibid. p. 66;
Hartzheim, torn. i. p. 59; Concil. Rom. Ep. Zach. Pap. ad Franc, et Gall. ibid.
de ILx-ret. Adalberto et Clemente, ibid. p. 68 ; Ep. ejusd. ad Bonif. ibid. p. 69. p. 60 ; Ep. Bonif. ad Zach. ibid. p. 6 1 ;
Chap, v.] SCIIEMK OF BUNIFACE. 369
folk, where they mig"ht the more easily practise upon the io'iioraiice of their diipeSj and evade the correction of their bishops.""
It had, indeed, become apparent that nothing" but the energ*etic support of the secular g'overnment Nature of could carry throuo-h a scheme of discipline ^'^^"^^^j^^'^s
• -».-»» to the scn6ixi6
involving- at once the sacrifice of the favourite of Boniface: vices of the higher clergy, the superstitions of ^^^ remedy, their inferiors, and the independence of the national church. It may be admitted, that the state of the infe- rior orders, as described by Boniface, afforded no hope that they could be persuaded to reform themselves, much less to assist in reforming* the hig'her. But a closer study of the documents from which we draw our information leads to the conviction, that the superstitions and corrup- tions complained of were not the principal g-rounds of ap- prehension, but are put forward chiefly with a view to fill the cup of g'uilt to the brim, and cast on the obnoxious in- dividuals and religious parties all the odium it was desired should attach to their cause. Ileflecting- upon the extra- ordinary latitude allou ed to the Roman emissaries in deal- ing' Avith the superstitions and prejudices of their con- verts,'' we naturally conclude that Bonifiice was far less moved by the dang-er from that quarter than from the in- fluence of the schismatic clergy, and the ling-ering- attach- ment to the independence of their churches. This obstacle, in fact, lay directly in the path of the deleg-ates towards the accomplishment of their scheme for " uniting- all the Prankish churches in communion with Home, and in ohcdience and true service to St. Peter and his vicar :" and it was manifest to Boniface that, until this spirit was quelled, the special object of his mission could not be attained, and that till then he must be accounted an " unprofitable servant" by the master whom he ser\ed.
After the retirement of Carlmann, his brother Pippin convoked an assembly of all the estates and synod of prelates of the realm at Verneuil, to cause him- Vemeuii.
<= Epp. Bonif., ap. Eckhart, torn. i. p. the Great to Augustine, — Book III. c. 479; Hartzheim, torn. i. p. 84. vii. p. 217 of this work.
<* Conf. Instructions of Pope Gregory
VOL. II. B B
370 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
self to be recognised as sole major-dom{ls, or prince, of the Franks. Among- the prelacy appeared Adalbert and Cle- mens, attended probably by a retinue of clergy of their party. Boniface perceived, and availed himself promptly of, the opportunity to crush his opponents. He produced before the assembly the papal sentence of deposition and anathema with which he had long* since provided himself, and called for the immediate apprehension of the offend- ers. The motion was approved ; the bishops, and their
Condemna- adherent the presbyter Gotschalk, were com- tion and mittcd to his custody, and forthwith removed
of AddbCTt by him as prisoners to the remote abbey of and Clemens. Fulda, in the heart of the archbishop's peculiar domain. Here the offenders were unlikely to g"ive him any serious trouble 5 and a salutary lesson was read to all who mig-ht be inclined to follow their contumacious courses. There is, however, reason to believe that resistance to the new state of thing's did not altog-ether cease with the de- portation of the ringleaders. Boniface and his coadjutors had still many difficulties to encounter, and the continued support of the prince and the g-overnment alone held out any certain prospect of success. That support, however, was not wanting" ; every political circumstance of the times tended to draw closer the alliance between Pippin and the papacy. The events now to be broug-ht under our observation will dispel the obscurity which may hang- over that connection, and place the interests of the parties and the motives of their conduct in a very sufficient lig-ht.
Hitherto we have endeavoured to bring- the advances of Latin Christianity in Great Britain, France, ynopsis. ^^^ Germany, into their true historical con- nection with the progress of the see of Rome towards that supreme spiritual dominion inherent in the theory, and inseparable from the practice of the chair of Peter. Within a century and a half from the landing- of Augus- tine, the systematic efforts of Rome had been rewarded by the most remarkable successes. Within that time she had drawn round the outer marg-in of Latin Christen- dom a belt of dependencies capable of balancing- or con-
Chap. V.] SYNOPSIS. 371
trolling' any adverse influences among- the older consti- tuents of that body; — a band of adherents fresh and zealous in her cause^ and armed for battle ag-ainst the last remnants of relig-ious liberty or license in the enclosed reo'ions. For all these advantages she was indebted to her Ang'lo-Saxon emissaries. The names of Ecg"frid, Biscop, Willibrord^ Wilfred, and Winfred^ must ever stand hig'hest in the g-rateful memory of the Romish churchy and be entitled to the first places in the calendar of her missionary saints. Their merits are the more con- spicuous, that theirs was the first Christian mission im- mediately connected with, and historically traceable to, the personal procurement of her pontiffs — the first that was sent forth in the name of Rome, by her authority, and for the promotion of her peculiar ends. Up to the epoch of Aug'ustine's mission to Britain, the claims of Rome to the spiritual maternity of Latin Christendom rested upon the infirmest of leg'ends ; but by the suc- cesses of her Ang'lo-Saxon emissaries that claim obtained a certain historical basis ; a colour of truth was cast back upon her antecedent pretensions ', and it is shown how a really unconnected series of facts might, by g-ood manag-e- ment, be construed into a simple continuation of one and the same succession of parental interferences ; — proceed- ing', of course, upon the foreg'one presumption that the parent could never become superannuated, and that the pupils could never come of ag-e.
CHAPTER VI.
APPROACHES OF THE PAPACY TO TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY. (I.)
Connection of ecclesiastical and political history — Merovingian race in France supplanted by the family of Pippin of Landen — The mayor of the palace — Pippin the Short — Pippin, Boniface, and Pope Zachary — Pippin takes the title of Icing — Proximate causes and character of the revolution — Papal parti- cipation— Opinions thereon — The precedent —Vo^e Stephen III. and Aistulph king of the Lombards — Papal policy— Journey of Pope Stephen to Pavia — His flight into France — His reception there — Moral and political effect of this reception — Negotiations, and treaty of Pontyon — Diet of Quiercy-sur-Oise — Coronation of Pippin and his sons — Papal views of the transaction — Pippin invades Lombardy — Submission of Aistulph and treaty of Pavia — Relations of the papacy to the Byzantine empire — Retreat of Pippin — Pope Stephen claims the fulfilment of the treaty of Pavia— Donation of Pippin; its cha- racter, scope, and intent — Aistulph again attacks the " patrimony of St. Peter" — Siege of Rome— Pippin raises the siege — Second treaty of Pavia — Confirmation and final execution of the donation — Death of Aistulph, and ele- vation of Desiderius — Extortions of Pope Stephen — Treachery of Stephen — Paul I. pope — His complaint to Pippin — Charges against Desiderius — Results.
We now connect the progress of papism, as presented to Connection the reader in the foregoing* chapters, with the '^'^i^Y^nd^ most important political events of the eighth political century ; more especially with the transfer of history. ^}^g crowH of Fraiicc from the Merovingian to the Carlovingian race, and the consequent advancement of the papacy from a state of theoretical, if not actual, subjection to that of a temporal and political sovereignty. The name and achievements of Archbishop Boniface form the connecting link ; the part he took, and the character of his ag'ency, will therefore require an attentive exami- nation.
The antecedent history of the Merovingian princes
The Mero- pi'^scnts the cominou phenomenon of a minister
vingian race of State gradually usurping all the powers of go-
suppianted. ygpjiment, Superseding the nominal sovereign,
and ultimately placnig the crown upon his own head.
In the infancy of feudalism, estates, offices, immunities.
i
Chap. VI.] THE MAYOR OF THE PALACE. 373
proceeding" from the free grants of the crown to meri- torious subjects, were resumable at the pleasure of the g-rautor, or at the expiration or cessation of the services for which they were gTanted. But as the relation thus created between the sovereign and the free subject rarely ceased but with the life of the latter, and as in the sub- sisting- state of societ}' the resumption was often attended with difficult}' and danger, the estate by degrees lost its re.'^umable character. In this state of things, the tran- sition from a precarious to an hereditary tenure was na- tural and eas}^ The great feudatories, Antrustions and Leudes, of the Merovingian king's generally engrossed the favours of the crown ; and at leno'th so far outoTew its control as to convert the conditional into an absolute estate in the possessions, lands, and lucrative offices they had thus acquired. The mayor, or high-steward, of the ro3'al household had always been regarded as the prime minister of the sovereign, and the chief of the official and territorial nobility — Antrustions and Leudes. At the epoch of the deposition of the last nominal sovereign, the office and authority of mayor of the palace had become hereditary in the fa mil}' of Pippin of Landen, who died in the year 639. From him it was within the ensuing century transmitted through six descents to Pippin sui-- named " the Short," who, after the retirement of his brother Carlmann, remained the sole major-dom<\s and prince of the Franks.
Within that century the office of mayor of the palace had swallowed up all the powers of the state, ^r,
. I 1 . , J Ine mayor
together with all the attributes or sovereig'iity of the excepting the title. The titular kings had sunk P-'^^'^^^- down into mere state puppets. The popular reverence for the descendants of Clovis had been gradually sub- siding into indifference j and the occasional exhibition of the royal pageant, upon certain state ceremonials, had begun to excite the contempt or the derision of the specta- tors. The interposition of a nominal sovereign between the people and the real ruler was inconvenient to the former, and mortifying to the ambition of the latter. The ma3'or of the palace, and probably all the influential
374 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
classes^ desired the re-annexation of the title to the office of king*. The poor puppet with the long- hair and the flowing- beard was consig-ned to obUvion in the remote and shabby villa assig-ned for his abode ; Pippin himself assumed the state, and adopted the language, of a sove- reig-n prince without contradiction or murmur in any quarter where resistance mig-ht have been seriously dan- gerous; and nothing remained but to bring about the catastrophe of the long and tedious drama.
The caution, however, with which Pippin proceeded Pippin the i^^ ^his Stage of his fortunes seems to show that Short, he did not think himself as yet bej^ond the reach of difficulty and danger. But Pippin possessed in full measure all the qualities which the wild and law- less Prankish nobility and people were accustomed to respect in their princes. He was a gallant warrior, and an experienced statesman. By a brilliant series of suc- cesses against the insurgent Aquitanians, the Saxons, the Allemans, and the Bavarians, he had greatty ex- tended the dominion of the Franks ; he had humbled his domestic enemies, and attached the great bulk of the feudatories to his person and government. And now, in the last stage of his progress, a large and active body among the clergy of his realm rested upon him all their hopes for the accomplishment of a religious revolution, from which they expected to derive an immediate in- crease of wealth and power, and in the distance dis- cerned a boundless extension of spiritual dominion.
With such encouragement. Pippin beg'an by sounding
. the disposition of the estates in reference to the
Bomfac'e, projected transfer of the crown to his own head.
and Pope jjg jj^d for souic vcars past kept the phantom-
Zachary. ,. , , "^ n • i t • J^
king altogether out of sight ; and m the year 761 he assembled a diet of the realm at Attigny in Champagne, at which he assumed the state and cere- monial of royalty without remark or contradiction. In the following year he tried the like experiment with the same success. Archbishop Boniface was present at both assemblies ; and soon afterwards appears on the stage as negotiator with Rome for a purpose at the moment kept
1
Chap. VI.] USURPATION OF PIPPIN. 375
secret. Ag-ain, in the j^ear 752, he despatched his confi- dential friend and destined successor LuUus to Rome, with instructions to lay before Pope Zachary " certain grave matters, some by word of mouth, with others that he had committed to writing- ;" and to request an immediate reply ^^ upon the authority of St. Peter prince of the cqjostles" in order that he (Boniface) mig-ht know how best to meet the views of the holy see.* Not long- afterwards Pippin deputed his chancellor, Fulrad abbot of St. Denis, accompanied by Burchard bishop of Wiirzburg-, a creature of Boniface, to propose to the pope the laconic question, "Whether the Meroving-ian, who still retains the title of king-, but without the power ; or the major-dom{is, in whom by the will of the people all real power was vested, — oug-ht to bear the royal title V The reply of Zachary was prompt and favourable : " He who lawfully possesses the royal power ma}^ also lawfully assume the ro} al title." Not- withstanding- the latent ambig-uit}'^ of the terms, the oracle was deemed satisfactory. But the g-ravity of the question, and the promptness of the reply, presumes previous com- munication ; and we are entitled to assume that the unre- ported messag-e of Boniface had already apprised the pope of what he was required to reply to, and solicited a favour- able response. And now Pippin, fortified by pj .^^ the ostensible approval of the hig'hest ecclesias- assumes the tical authorit}^, and assured by previous experi- '""^^^ ^'^^®' ment of the acquiescence of the people and the support of a powerful party in the Church, boldty assumed the royal title. He and his wife Bertrada were solemnly crowned by Boniface, as leg-ate and representative of the holy see, at Soissons, in the presence of the assembled nobles and prelates of the realm. The unfortunate Childerich III. was deprived of the last attribute of royalty ; he was shorn of his long- tresses and beard, and immured in the abbey of St. Omer, where he died two years afterwards."
• See extr. of letter of Boniface to Annal. Mettens. ibid. p. 331 ; Annal.
Pope Zachary, ap. Eckhart, Fr. Orient. Moissiac. ibid. p. 292 ; Annal. Lauria-
tom. i. p. 496. cens. ibid. p. 138. Conf. Fragm. Hist.
^ The authorities for these transac- ap. D. Bouquet, torn. ii. p. 694 ; and
tions are the following: Annal. Fuldens. the " Genealogia Caroli Mag." ibid. p.
ap. Pertz, Mon. Germ. torn. i. p. 346; 698.
87 G CATIIEDKA PETRI. [Book IV.
Papal writers have been at some pains to exonerate Proximate Boniface and his patron the pope from the causes and charofc of lending" themselves to so eross a viola- of the tion of the sacred rig-hts of king's as appeared to revolution, jj^ involved in the deposition of Childerich 1 11.*^ But a ver}'^ slight inquiry into the position of both parties discloses powerful motives for the course they pursued. Boniface was impatient under the impediments opposed to his contemplated reforms and restitutions by the g'reat feudatories on the one hand, and the recusant churchmen on the other. We find him at this point of time com- plaining- bitterW to the pope of the inertness of Pippin in helping- him to recover the usurped lands of the three archbishoprics, and his backwardness in aiding- in the suppression of the schism ; and avowing- that without the co-operation of the prince he had no hopes of success in either attempt. His only course, therefore, was to fall in with, and promote by all the means in his power, the political schemes of the latter; and that he did so is con- clusivel}^ proved by his prompt consent to place the crown upon the head of the usurper as soon as the response from Rome had furnished him with the all-sufficient au- thority of the holy see. Zachary, on the other hand, was at this point of time looking- to Pippin for deliverance from the vexations of Greeks and Lombards, and the com- plete possession of the territories which he and his pre- decessors had so clamorously demanded.*^ It is moreover not very probable that, if either Boniface or the pope had reg-arded Pippin as unfriendly to the Church, they should have so promptty assented to an odious act of injustice to the leg-itimate line of princes, to whatever state of feeble- ness and inefficiency they mig-ht have fallen throug-h the treasonable encroachments of their own servants. Re- flecting-, then, that the leg-ate was present at both the diets of Attig-ny (751, 752); that the embassy of Fulrad and Burchard followed closely upon that of Lullus ; that the reply of Zachar}^ bears every mark of premeditation ; and lastly, that his vicar and leg-ate Boniface consum-
= See particularly Eckhart, Franc. ^ Conf. Mascou, Hist, of the Ger-
Orient. torn. i. p. 496. mans, book xvi. § 34, p. 334.
Chap. VI. j PAPAL PARTICIPATION. 877
mated the deed, in the nnine of the pope, hy crowDiiig* and anointing- Pippin Avith his oaa n hands, — there can he little room to doiiht the full participation of the hol^- see and its ag'ent in bringing' about a revolution which pro- mised advantag-es of so substantial a kind towards the attainment of the cherished objects of their ambition.
If, however, any doubt should remain as to that par- ticipation, we think it would be removed by the p j deliberate judgement of the annalists of the ag-e. tidpation: In one of these^ we read that Pippin received the °P'"i°°^- title of king- of the Franks " in pursuance of the sanction of the Roman pontiff;" in another, ^^that by the consent of the blessed Zacharias the pope, Pippin the prince was constituted king- of the Franks by Boniface," &c. , again, in a third, that " in conformity with the ordinance of the Roman pontiff Pippin assumed the royal title ;"^ again, in a fourth, we read that, " by the authority of the Roman pontiff. Pippin, from being* mayor of the palace, was con- stituted king- ;" and a fifth writer of the age informs us, that " Pope Zachar}^, by authority of the Apostle Peter, issued his mandate to the people of the Franks that Pip- pin, who already wielded the royal power, should with it enjoy the ro^'al dig-nity.'"' These writers, it should be ob- served, one and all took the view of the transaction the papacy was at all times most anxious to uphold. And, in fact, the appHcation of Pippin substantial^ committed to the arbitrament of the hoi}' see the highest of all political questions — the right of a sovereign to his throne. Such an advantage was not likely to be overlooked by a power which had hitherto perseveringly endeavoured to obliter- ate the distinction between counsel and precept, advice and command.'
* Annal.Bertiji.: " Hoc anno, secun- tate regia utebatur, nominis quoque
Hum Romani pontificis sanctionem, Pip- dignitate frueretur."
pinus rex Francorum appellatus est." ' It may be said that all counsel
f .<4nnfif/.3/e/<en.«.: "Ex consensu beati or advice given "virtute officii" is in
ZachariiP papje urbis Pippinus princeps the nature of precept. Whatever was
a Bonifacio rex Francorum constitui- done by the popes was done " by the
tur," &c. authority of St. Peter," &c. ; and when
B Ann.Laur.: "Secundum Rom pont. invested with that authority, their re-
sauctionemPippinus rex appellatus est." sponses were " as the oracles of God."
'' Annal. Fuld. : " Zacharias papa, ex The popes themselves took no notice of
auctoritate S. Petri apost., mandat [)o- the distinction between the language
pulo Francorum ut Pippinus, qui poles- of advice and command in their own
378 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
The tranquil elevation of the new family to the throne The of the Franks appears upon the whole before us precedent, ^s the natural result of that intimate alliance which had for some time past been g-rowing- up between the Church and the g-overnment of France. The advan- tag-e on the part of Pippin was immediate and palpable^ — he had g-ained a throne : but the pontiff /ia/Z established a precedent which by skilful management mig"ht elevate him to be the arbiter and dispenser of thrones. We repeat^ therefore, that the value of such a precedent could not remain long* hidden from the eagle-g-lance of a power whose existence depended upon close observation of, and prompt practice upon, the natural infirmities of the human character and the public mind of nations.
Pope Zachary died on the 15th of March 752 ; and Pope was succeeded by Stephen, a presbyter of the Stephen and J^omau church. The new pontiif obtained from kingoAhe the Lombard king* Aistulph a ratification of the Lombards, treaty concluded with Eachis by his predecessor. But scarcely a twelvemonth afterwards, Aistulph, in con- tempt of his engag-ements, invaded the so-called duchy of Home with the avowed purpose of incorporating- the city and its territory with the bulk of his dominions.^ In this extremity, the pope appealed for protection to his nominal sovereig"n the heretical emperor Constantine, surnamed Copronymus ; but the latter was too much embarrassed at home by the diflaculties in which his obstinate efforts to extirpate imag-e- worship among- his subjects had in- volved him to attend to the interests of his religious opponent, however closely connected with his own. As to the Lombard prince, supplications, remonstrances, menaces, bribes, had been lavished upon him without suc- cess ; his uniform reply was, " Yield, or await jour fate from the edge of the sword."
Reflecting, indeed, upon the political position of the
The papal pap^cy at tliis moment,'' we find it surrounded
policy, with difficulty. The Lombard princes, it appears,
language; and when their ex -officio sug- to a lawful mandate,
gestions were accepted and acted upon, J Anastas. Biblioth. in Vit. Steph.
the conduct of the recipient was always III.; Baron. Ann. 752, §§ 13, 14.
construed into an overt act of obedience '' See c. i. of this Book, pp. 247-249.
CuAP. VI.] PAPAL POLICY. 379
had completely misconceived their relations to the holy- see. The latter claimed, with astonishing- hardihood, the entire benefit of the Lombard conquests ; while the former naturally conceived themselves entitled to the sovereig-nty of the territories wrested from their adversaries the By- zantines— the duchy of Rome among* the rest — as enemy's property. The claims of the Church as proprietress of the various territories still within the lawful dominion of the emperor, and her liabilities as his subject, were so con- founded tog-ether, that at this distance of time it is difficult to discover whether she herself was sensible of au}^ distinc- tion. All indications tend to the inference that the Byzan- tine g^overnors of Rome were in fact dependents upon the pontiff, whom the weakness of the g'overnment had long- since raised to the political chiefship of the city and its appurtenant territory. That territory the pope dealt with as his own ; he neg'otiated and foug'ht for it as his own ; he entered into foreig-n alliances, and treated or tampered with the subjects of his neig'hbours, for its defence or aug*- mentation ;' and he claimed every inch of g-round won from his own sovereig"n by his sovereig'n's enemies as at once devolving* upon himself in full propert}^™ As it mig-ht serve his turn, he was either the friend or the foe of the emperor, — he was the adversary or the ally of the em- peror's foes. His spiritual influence was freely used for the purposes of this ambidextrous policy; and as long- as its proper drift remained undetected, it was successful. It had overawed the able and g-allant Luitprand ; the feeble Rachis was its dupe and victim : but the rude soldier who now occupied the throne of the Lombards had cast off the trammels of papal influence ; and the foiled pontiff was driven by the short-sig-hted violence of his adversary to throw himself without reserve into the arms of a power whose protectorate mig-ht, under ordinary circumstances, have appeared no less dang-erous than the open hostihty of the Lombards.
But now, by the zeal and activity of Boniface and the far-sig-hted policy of Pope Zachar}^, the relations of the
' Conf. c. i. pp. 245, 246 of this Book.
" As in the case of Perugia; see ch. i. p. 268 of this Book.
380 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
Journey ^oly See with the Frankish king-dom had heen of Pope placed upon a footing- which not only left httle to'oie'^court gTound to apprehend any hostile interference of Aismiph. ^^j^jj ^j^g peculiar views of the papac}^ in Italy, hut, on the contrar}", opened an unbounded prospect of terri- torial acquisition at home and of spiritual influence abroad. Yet Pope Stephen III. was not without hope that the course theretofore pursued mig'ht still avail him to avert the necessity of so critical a step. He therefore prepared to visit the capital of his enemy, and to repeat the experi- ment which had succeeded so well in the hands of his pre- decessor Zachary. Before his departure, he streng-thened the hearts of his people by litanies and prayers for deliver- ance from the imminent peril which threatened them. He carried in his arms the '^ Acheiropoeta," or imagfe of the '^Virg-in Mother of God" made without hands, in solemn procession from her shrine to the church of the Praesepe; '^ and," we are told, " the people followed barefooted and weeping*, strewing* ashes on their heads, and carrying* with them the broken treaty suspended to the cross of CJirist." He g-ave notice to the king- of the Franks that he in- tended, upon the approach of the Lombards to Home, to seek an asylum within his dominions ; but delayed his departure as long* as any hope remained that the storm mig'ht, as on former occasions, pass over without im- mediate injury. But when, in the year 753, he heard that Aistulph had taken Ravenna, and reduced the Greek ex- archate into his possession, he commended his flock ^^ to the g"racious protection of the prince of the apostles," and took the road to Pavia, still hoping* to soften the obdurate heart of the Lombard by a moving* appeal to his relig'ion or his interests. But Aistulph was equally deaf to argu- ment, remonstrance, or censure ; and the pope became Flight of seriously' alarmed lest he mig*ht be detained as the pope, fije prisoner of his impracticable host. In this state of apprehension, Stephen and his suite suddenly took horse ; they hastened with all speed to cross the pass of St. Bernard, and never drew bit until they had reached the monastery of St. Maurice in the Yalais."
" Anastas. Vit. Steph, Pap. ap. Murat. Ss. Rr. Ital. torn. iii. p. 168.
Chap. VI] POPE STEPHEN III. IN FRANCE. 381
That this was a preconcerted movement appears from the circumstance that two deputies from Pippin, in the persons of the abbot Fub'ad of St. Denis tion TtThe and Duke Rothard, were in readiness to meet ^"'"'^ "*" and entertain the pontiff upon his entrance into the Frankish dominions, and to conduct him to the pre- sence of the kino- then resident at Pontvon.° The king-'s sons, Carhnann and Charles (Charlemag-ne), with a hirg-e retinue of lords and prelates, advanced to the distance of one hundred miles from the residence to welcome the pope. When the escort arrived within three miles of the royal villa, the pontiff found the king- with all his court awaiting- his arrival. As soon as he came in sig"ht, the latter dismounted, and went forward on foot to meet him ; Pippin and all his suite then prostrated themselves before him, and in that posture devoutly received his benediction. After that the kins: walked for some distance beside the palfre}" of the pope, performing- the humble office of bridle- g-room. "Then," says the biographer Anastasius, "did the man of God, with all his compau}', lift up their voices with one accord, rendering- g'lory and thanksg'iving- unto Almig*hty God with hymns and spiritual songs, until they entered the g-ates of the palace.''^
The moral effect of this extraordinary reception must
o ThemodernPont-sur Yonne, in the pope, which, the annalists tell us, took
department of that name. place on the following day. Anastasius
P Anastas. ubi sup. The words used says that the negotiation occurred im- by the reporters and biographers are of mediately upon the arrival of the pope, some historical importance, especially and at a /)r?Y'a^e interview with the king, with rtference to the raen'al service The annalists affirm that the subject of said to have been performed to the pope the jjope's visit was not entered upon till by Pippin : '• Cui (Stephano) et vice stra- the following day, and that he then ap- toris usque ad aliquantum locum ejus peared before the king m /;«6//c, clothed sellarem properavit ;" literally, " lie in sackcloth and with ashes on his head, walked a certain space beside his (Ste- craving aid against the enemies of God phen's) palfrey in the place, or capacity, and St. Peter. No hint of these in- of groom." But the greater Frankish cidents is found in the minor Frankish annalists, who give the most detailed ac- annalists. Though Anastasius wrote at counts of the meeting {Annal. Met/ens. an eai'lier period than most of the lat- an. 753; Annal Einhardi; and Cliron. ter, it is nevertheless believed that they Moissiucence, ap. Pertz, torn. i. pp. 331, wrote from much more ancient accounts. 203, 139) are altogether silent as to the But the truth of the statement of Anas- alleged prostration and service, nor do tasius is of less importance than thi> fact they make any mention of the three- that it met with almost universal belief, mile procession. On the other hand, and that it has been converted into a the papal biographer is altogether silent formidable instrument fir the promo- upon the alleged self-humiliation of the tion of the papal scheme.
382 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
have been great at the time. Both parties^ how- pditicTi ever^ may be beheved to have acted upon the effect of the impulse of the moment, without reflecting* on reception. ^^^ construction that mig'ht thereafter be put upon their reciprocal demeanour. But when the pontiff or his successors reflected on the kind of homag-e paid by the most powerful monarch of the ag"e to the vicar of St. Peter, the advantage to be derived from it lay under the eye of the papacy in too bold relief to be easily overlooked. As soon as it became (whether truly or falsely) a matter of universal belief that the g-reat king- of the Franks had fallen down and worshipped — that he had performed the menial office of g-room to the successor of St. Peter, no doubt could, in that ag-e of simple faith or credulity, be entertained of the transcendental dig-nity and authority of him to whom such honour was rendered. It may be admitted that the story of the papal biog-rapher is open to suspicion ; yet it soon became a matter of perspicuous belief, confirmed and streng-thened by the whole course of subsequent events.
The substance and subjects of the ensuing* neg-otiation
between Pippin and the pontiff" is involved in
Negotiations, , ^.^ ,i /> • i - i* i i
and treaty somc obscurity ; the lorm is ostentatiously de- of Pontyon. ggribed by the papal biog-rapher. On the day after his arrival at Pontyon, we are told, the pope and his companions appeared before the king- clothed in sackcloth and with ashes upon their heads. The pontiff" prostrated himself upon the earth before the temporal prince, and ad- jured him, by the mercy of Almighty God and the merits of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, to hasten to the rescue of the church and people of Eome. In this hum- ble posture the pastor of the Christian Church obstinately persisted, until the king- and his two sons had pledged hand and oath to the fulfilment of the papal petition : the supphant then assumed the joyous and erect posture of one who had been suddenly raised from a state of bond- ag-e to liberty and life. Pippin, his sons, his court, and his nobles, swore to cause ample satisfaction to be ren- dered to the pope and the Church ; they eng-aged to re- duce the Lombards to submission, and to insist upon the
Chap. VI.] CORONATION OF PIPPIN AND HIS SONS. 383
amplest restitution of all the "rig-hts and possessions" of the ^^ republic" in Italy.'' The terms of this treaty, if it may be so called, are so larg-e and indefinite that it is difficult to say whether an}" definite understanding' was at this time come to between the contracting- parties. Whatever that understanding- was, the purport of the treaty was soon afterwards confirmed at a full assembly of -^.^^^ ^^ the estates of the realm, held in the presence of Quiercy- the pope at Quiercy-sur-Oise.' The practical ^'^-^'^^^ exposition must be g'athered from subsequent events.
During- the winter of the year 753 to 754, Pope Stephen resided in the monastery of St. Denis coronation near Paris, and was there frequently visited b}'- of pippin Pippin and his two sons. Within that period ^°sons\7^ he was reduced to the verg-e of the grave by a Stephen iii. severe malady ; but was, we are told, by the intercession of holy Dion^'sius, the patron saint of the monastery, suddenly and miraculously restored to perfect health. In testimony of his g-ratitude for this g-racious interposi- tion, Stephen announced his intention to consecrate an altar in the abbey church in honour of the apostles Peter and Paul. The ceremony was performed in the presence of the king* and queen, the two princes, and a numerous assemblag-e of ecclesiastics and persons of all ranks. In the midst of the service, the pope, as if impelled by some sudden inspiration, broke off, and proclaimed Pippin and his consort Bertrada king- and queen of the Franks. He bestowed the like g-race upon the two princes Carl- mann and Charles (Charlemag-ne) ; and after a solemn blessing- upon the whole cong-reg'ation, he addressed the nobles and dig'nitaries present, " binding- them by the authority of St. Peter, by God himself deleg-ated and intrusted to him, that, for all ag-es to come, they should
"> Annal. Moissiac. ap. Pertz, torn. i. the emperor In Italy. But as the pope
p. 29.3 ; Annal. Mettens. ibid. p. 331; certainly never intended that any part
Anastasius, ubi sup. The words used of those territories should be restored
by the latter are the following: " Rei- to the heretical emperor, it Is mostpro-
publiccE jura, seu loca reddere modis om- bable that the term "respublica" merely
nibus." The word "respublica" is am- had reference to the so-called duchy of
biguous. It is generally used to denote Rome and the districts claimed as the
the whole state or empire; and the pro- special patrimony of the Church, mise might in this sense be made to ■■ Anast. ap. Murat. tom. iii. pt. i. p. .
extend to every thing still possessed by 169. The place is named Carisiacum.
884 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
not presume to choose them a king* from any other race or family but that which had now been elected and set apart by Divine Providenceybr the prof ectiofi of' the most holy and apostolic see ; and by him^ the vicar of St. Peter ^ yea^ even hy our Lord Jesus Christ hirnself, b}^ that most holy unction raised up and consecrated unto the royal dig"nity."* The pope thereupon pronounced a solemn sentence of excommunication and anathema upon any transg'ression of the precept which annexed that sove- reig-nty exclusively and for ever to the famil}^ and pos- terity of Pippin/
It is of no g'reat historical importance to ascertain
Papal view whcthcr this act of consecration was sponta- ofthis neous or premeditated on either side. Yet
transaction, ^.j^^j.^ wcrc reasous why it should have been desirable both to Pippin and the pope. The former must have been anxious to streng-then his title^ and to save harmless the principle of hereditary succession, so se- riousty shaken by the detrusion of the Merovingians: a scion of that faniil}^ mig-ht still be forthcoming- to put in an appeal to the ancient attachment of the people; a dis- position whichj it may have been thoug'ht, so solemn an act of appropriation by the supreme pastor of the Church mig'ht exting'uish, and the reig-ning" d^'nasty be invested with a sanctity not enjoyed by that it had supplanted. On the other hand, the pontiff, to whom so lofty a func- tion was tacitl}^ assigned, could not but rejoice at the opportunit}" of exercising a power little less than divine. And, in truth, we are not long left in the dark as to the view taken by the pope himself of this celebrated transac- tion. " You have received," he says, in a letter written shortly afterwards to Pippin and his sons, "that which none of your ancestors or kindred have been deemed worthy to receive; inasmuch as the prince of the apostles has chosen 3'ou among all families and nations to be his own peculiar servants, "" and hath committed all his causes unto your hands : and surely yo2i shall render unto God
*5oron.(ex Areopagiticis) Ann. 754, " '• Peculiares;" a term used in the
p. 590. ninth century in the sense of property,
' Clausula de Pipp. in Franc. Reg. whether applied to persons or thinjjfs.
Consec. ap. D. Bouquet, torn. v. p. 9. Ducaiige, Gloss, ad voc. " Peculiaris."
CiiAP. VI.] PIPPIN INVADES LOMBAEDY. 885
a strict account of the manner in 7vhlch you shall have advocated the rights of the doorheeper of the kingdom of heaven.""
The sequel proves how well Stephen had succeeded in impressing" Pippin with the nature and ex- Pippin in- tent of the oblig-ations thus cast upon him. vadesLom- Tlie first and most important of these lay in the tacit stipulation that he (Pippin) was to reap no benefit^ personal or political, from the labour and expense he Avas called upon to incur. The entire profit was to result to the " respublica/' or to the holy see, in such manner as the pontiff should thereafter determine. Yet the king-, with the utmost promptitude, despatched mes- seng-ers to the court of Aistulph, demanding' the amplest satisfaction to the pontiff and church of Rome for all the injuries and losses he had inflicted upon them. To this demand Aistulph returned a defiant refusal ; and in the spring* of the year 754 Pippin crossed the Alps with an army, to which the Lombards could oppose no effectual resistance in the field. But the consideration that he was fio'htino- for a cause foreio-n from his own or his people's interests probably inclined him to a moderate course, and he once more tried the effect of neg'otiation. His envoys demanded the restitution of the Pentapolis, or five cities of the ancient Picenum, besides the towns of Narni and Cecanum in Umbria, to the church and " republic" of Rome ; for which restitution he offered an indemnity of 12,000 solidi. It is remarkable that all these places and districts had been very recently severed from the Greek exarchate, — districts, in fact, to which Aistulph possessed the clearest title which the rig-fit of conquest can g"ive, and which could be reclaimed by Rome, whether republic or church, only as the subject of the Byzantine Ctesars. But the difficulties that might have arisen from this state of thing-s concerned rather the pope than the king- of the Franks j the most important consider- ation in his case being- how to g-et rid of a burdensome
" Steph. Pap. Ep. ad Pipp. &c, ap. metaphor which so greatlj' alarmed King
D. Buuq. torn, v.: " Pro 'justitia' ipsius Oswy of North umbria. See c.iii. of this
jcmitoris rcgni coelorum." It will be re- Book, p.. 319. membered that this was the formidable
VOL. II. C C
386 CATHEDRA PETEL [Book IV.
oblig'ation at the least expense to himself and his people. But the very moderation of the terms proposed contri- buted probably to weaken their chance of acceptance. Aistulph peremptorily rejected the king^'s ultimatum ; de- claring- that he would yield to the pope no greater boon than his permission to return to Rome whenever such should be his pleasure. Pippin now pushed on to Pavia, where Aistulph had resolved to make his stand till the advance of the season^ the effects of the climate^ and the activity of his own operations on the flanks and rear of the invadersj should compel them to retreat. But the Prankish king- pushed the sieg-e with so much vigour and success that the heart of the Lombard failed him ; and he
consented to the required restitutions^ with the ofAStuTph, additional mortification of paying- the expenses and treaty of the wai'^ bcsidcs au aunual tribute of 5000
solidi, in token of vassalage to the Prankish crown. The treaty was ratified by the oath of the Lom- bard king- and his nobility ; and forty hostag-es from the most disting-uished families in the kingdom were g-iven up as pledges for its fulfilment. Pippin formally trans- ferred the ceded districts to the jJope ; and when he evacuated Italy, left his chancellor, Fulrad abbot of St. Denis, behhid him to enforce the fulfilment of the treaty.'' Thoug-h we are told that a Greek envoy accompanied
the pope to the court of Pippin, no further
Actual rela- x • p - 1 - • ±^
tionofthe mcutiou 01 that pcrsouag-c occurs m tlie course papacy to of j^j^g trausactious at Pontyon and Quiercy.
e empire. j\^g-|.|^gj. -j-^ ^^iQ aCCOUUtS WC pOSSCSS of thoSC
neg-otiations, nor in the terms of the treaty of Pavia, — as far as our information extends, — is any notice taken of the Greek emperor or his rig-hts. The only parties Avho appear to have any interest in the result are, on the one side the pope and the Romans, and on the other the Lom- bards : the only names mentioned are those of Pippin and the Franks, the pope and the Romans, Aistulph and the Lombards. The objects specified in the treaties are, "jus- tice to St. Peter," and '' restitution of the rig-hts of the Roman republic." The bearing- of these facts upon the
'■'■' Anastas. ubi sup. pp. 169, 170; Annall. Metlens. el Moissiac. ap. Pertz, loc. cit.
I
Chap. YI.] TREATY OF PA VIA. 88?
irreconcilable theological quarrel Avhich divided the Greek and Latin churches — to which Ave shall hereafter have occasion to refer more particidarly — leaves no douht that religious alienation, political isolation, and the desire of territorial ag-gTandisement, had obliterated from the minds of the Roman pontiffs all memory or sense of allegiance to their Byzantine masters, and awakened the most san- o'uine hopes of profiting- by their weakness, and sharing" their spoils.
Pope Stephen would fain have persuaded Pippin to tarry in Italy until he should have been put Retreat of into actual possession of the ceded territories. Pippm- But Pippin was of opinion that he had done enough to redeem his costly eng-ag-ements to the pope, and satisfied himself by deputing- to others the execution of the treaty he had extorted. The pope was left in the enjoyment of a mag-nificent " donation" on paper, but destitute of the means to put himself into possession of an acre of the promised land. In submitting- to the mortifying- terms of the treaty of Pavia, Aistulph had no other object than to g-et rid of the invaders, and to g-ain time. No sooner, therefore, A^'as the Prankish heriban dismissed for the season, than Aistulph collected his scattered divisions, and resumed his attacks upon the territories of the Church. The pope, incensed as much at the imputed terg-iversation of Pippin as at the perfidy of the Lombard, ver}^ empha- ticall}^ reminded his Prankish protectors that Stephen they would not be permitted thus to trifle with '^Jahns the
'^ p i 1 • 1 1 1 1 fulfilment
the terms or a treaty to which the holy see was of the a party. " We pray you," he writes, " most *''^'''*y- excellent sons in the Lord, to take compassion upon the holy church of God and St. Peter, and to put her in pos- sesion of all that by your donation you are firmly tied and bound to render unto her. Bemember, and in your heart's core hold fast by, the promises you have made unto the keeper of the g-ates of the king-dom of heaven. Think not that you will be permitted to keep your pro- raise by mere words ; hasten rather to expedite the deli- very of 3^our donation, that you may not mourn your re- missness to all eternity. For the life of this world is short
388 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book IV.
indeed ; like a shadow it becometh shorter^ and like a g'arment it waxeth old. Kather^ therefore^ lay hold of that eternal life which the blessed Peter holds out to you^ in his cause and that of rig-hteousness. Accomplish^ therefore^ the g'ood work you have beg'un ; for know that the prince of the apostles holds your chirog-raph as firmly as he holds the donations therein set forth. And surely ye shall fulfil it^ lest^ when the ^reat Judg'e shall come to judg'e the living* and the dead, and to chastise the world with fire, the same prince of the apostles shall draw forth your broken covenant in judgement ag"ainst you. We therefore adjure you, by Almig'hty God, by His mother the ever-g-lorious Yirg-in, by the blessed princes of the apostles Peter and Paul, and by the tremendous day of judg"ment, that you cause to be delivered up all towns, places and districts, hostag'es and captives unto St. Peter, and all that to jour donation belongs ; because for that purjwse it was that the Lord, by my humility and the mediation of the blessed Peter, anointed you to be kings, that through you the Church might be exalted, and the prince of the apostles receive his rig-hteous due."" It should be observed, that the ceded districts, though
but indistinctly marked out by the annalists,
of the must have comprised by far the larg'est portion
^donation Qf what remained of the late exarchate of E-a-
venna. The pope therefore, by this treaty, with- out shame or hesitation, annexed to his church in full property a territory belonging- dejure (at least as far as he was concerned) to his acknowledged sovereign. That ter- ritory he accepted in the absolute form of a " donation" or free gift, from a stranger, whom he himself had bribed or hilled, without provocation or pretext, to rob both his master and his master's enemy for his own exclusive profit. Pippin acquired none of the rights of the sove- reigns he had plundered, while he adopted more than all the obligations the pontiff could have called upon the latter to fulfil. The pope contracted no temporal duty in return : he was, indeed, quite willing* that his debt should be registered in heaven ; but the payment was to
" Ep. Steph. Pap. ap. D. Bouq. torn. v. p. 488.
CiiAF. VI.] OBJECTS OF THE TREATY OF PA VIA. 389
be soug'ht there likewise. The debt of the church-tem- poral was adroitly transferred to the account of the church- siDiritiial; a state of reciprocity in which the policy of the church of Rome contrived for centuries to retain her spi- ritual subjects.
But Constantino V. (Copron3mius) was reputed a heretic of the blackest die^ therefore entitled to its scope no relig"ious or political sympathy. As a pro- ^"'^ i"*®"*^- tector he was impotent j as a friend not to be trusted : his sovereignty was merely titular^ his power evanescent. Such a position, in such an nge, removed ever}^ considera- tion of loyal t}" or allegiance far out ofsig'ht; and Stephen felt no more serious scruple in appropriating' the plunder of his ostensible sovereig'ii than in wresting* it from the gTasp of the " perfidious" Lombards. Ag"ain, it should not be overlooked that the interposition of the term ^^ res- publica" in the articles of treaty was simply colourable. The donation was taken, not to Rome as a state or body politic, but to the " blessed Peter, prince of the apostles," and to his church ; it was a bond payable to the " door- keeper of the king'dom of heaven," and its redemption was the price of admission to his realm above. The pon- tiff moreover desired it to be understood, that it was with the sole view to insure such payment that Pippin and his sons had been anointed king's ; so that ^' throug-h them the Church mig'ht be exalted, and the prince of the apostles receive his rig'hteous due." After this, we can entertain no doubt that the pope required the annexation of all these extensive territories in full sovereig'nty to the " pa- trimony of St. Peter ;" and that the treaties of Pontyon, of Quiercy, and Pavia, entitled him to demand from both parties, not only a full recog'nition of rig'ht, but also the corporeal possession of all towns, places, and districts comprised in the donation, tog-ether with all hostag'es, captives, and other securities for the full delivery and quiet enjoyment of the same.
But the trials of Stephen III. were not yet at an end. In the winter of the year 754 to 755, Aistulph Aistuiph suddenly appeared with overwhelming" foi'ces ^^jj^J^/^^^^jf before the g'ates of Rome, and invested the city mony."
890 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
on all sides. His wild hordes spared neither churches Siege of nor shrines. The contag'ion of iconoclasm Rome. ]^rj(j infected his troops, and contributed to the wanton destruction of sacred objects : they broke into and plundered the churches ; they threw the consecrated elements which they found upon the altars into their cauldrons, and mixed them in their messes ; they spitted the sacred imag'es on their swords, and flung* them oif into the blazing- temples. The suburbs of Bome, and every house, hovel, or building* that impeded the operations of the besieg-ers, were levelled with the earth. For a period of two months the Eomans defended themselves with des- perate valour. Their proposals for peace were repelled with scorn and menace. Aistulph could be brought to no more favourable terms than immediate and unconditional surrender, and the delivery of the pontiff into his hands : if these terms were complied with, he promised the citi- zens to spare their lives ; if refused, he swore to put to the sword man, woman, and child, and to raze the city to the g'round.^
But for some tune previously to the commencement Pippin raises ^^ ^^^ sicg'c, Popc Stephen had foreseen, and, the siege to tlic bcst of liis ability, provided against the ° ^""^" dang-er. Due preparations were made to sup- port and encourag"e the citizens ; and messeng-ers were despatched to France with pressing' supplications for re- lief from the impending* peril. The sieg*e-operations be- fore Rome, it appears, beg*an in the month of January ; and before the first day of March 755 King* Pippin was encamped in the plains of Lombardy, threatening* the Lom- bard capital with immediate dang*er. Aistulph was com- pelled to withdraw from Rome at the very moment when the citizens were reduced to the extremity of distress, and hasten by forced marches to relieve Pavia. But, sensible that he was overmatched in the field, and with the knowledg*e that the views of Pippin did not extend beyond the deliverance of Rome, and the surrender of his conquests to the pope, with an indemnity for the ex-
y Anastas.Yit.Steiph.lll.aTp.Murat. Bouq. torn. v. p. 490; Fredig. Chron. torn. iii. p. 173; Ep. Steph. III. ap. D. Contin. ibid. p. 3.
Chap. VL] THE DONATION OF PIPPIN. 391
penses of the war, he humbly proposed that the terms of peace should be determmed by the arbitrament of the great nobility and clergy of the Frankish host. This offer was accepted: the arbitrators were appointed; and second treaty the award directed that Aistulph should pay to ^^ ^'^''i^- Pippin one-third of the treasure of his king-dom for the costs of the war, with g-ratuities to the principal officers ; that he should thenceforward punctually discharge the trifling- tribute stipulated by the prior treaty ; that he should deliver to the pope all the lands, cities, and dis- tricts therein comprehended ; and again make oath and give hostages for the performance of these obligations/
These terms were accepted by Aistulph ; and this time better care was taken to secure their fulfilment. _, . ^.
T-, , , 1 1 n r{ -r\ • ' • ^Confirmation
±ulraa abbot oi bt. Denis, as commissioner or andexccu- Pippin, received the surrender of Ravenna and «*J{JJJj°fj*^.. the Pentapolis. The king then caused a formal deed of donation to be drawn up, whereby he made over " to the apostle Feter and the holy Roman church all the cities, towns, territories, and jurisdictions therein named, to be held and enjoyed by the pontiffs of the apostolic see for ever."^ Fulrad, after taking formal possession in the name of the pope, proceeded to Rome, and dutifully presented the deed to the holy father, with the keys of the ceded cities and the hostages taken from the citizens for their future fidelity.
The accidental death of Aistulph by a fall Death of from his horse in the chase (a.d. 756) opened ^^*"igP^^'. a new field to the enterprising genius of the tion of pope. The duke Desiderius of Tuscany and Desidenus. the retired king Rachis became rival candidates for the vacant throne. The former, however, got the start of his opponent, and secured the favour of Stephen. Ful- rad, accompanied by Paul, the brother of the pontiff, re-
» Anastas. Vit. Steph. III. loc. cit. p. glia, Eso, Eorlimpopoli, Forli, Susub-
173; FrccZigf. ubi Slip. p. 4. bio, Monferrata, Commachio, Urbino,
a Anastas. in Vit. Steph. III. loc. cit. Narni, and several places whose names
p. 171, says that the deed of donation have vanished from our modern maps;
was extant in the archives of the holy such as Acerragio, Monte Lucari, Serra,
see in his own times. The ceded terri- Castellum St. Mariani, Bobri, Callio,
tory consisted of the cities of Ravenna, and Luculo. Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Cesena, Senniga-
392 CATHEDEA PETKI. [Book IV.
paired to the camp of Desiderius, and obtained from him a deed of gift in favour of the holy see, comprehending- the cities and territories of Ferrara, Castrum Tiberiacum, and Faenza. Fuh^ad after this joined the forces of Desi- derius with a body of Frankish troops left at his disposal in Italy ; the pope ordered Rachis back to his convent, and his rival was acknowledg'ed king* of the Lombards without further opposition.''
But Stephen could not rest satisfied with his position Extortion of in Italy until the last fragment of the Greek Stephen, possessious was delivered into his hands. Soon after the accession of Desiderius, he obtained from him a verbal cession of the cities of Bolog'na, Osimo, and An- cona ; and endeavoured to prevail upon Pippin, as advo- cate of the Church, to become bound for the fulfilment of this promise. He urg"ed the king* '^ to cause a quick end to be made to the cause of his g'reat patron St. Peter ; and with that view, to command all the other cities which were formerly comprised under one dominion,'' with all their territories, forests and dependencies, in integro, to be g-iven up to his spiritual mother the Church, that she migiit live in perfect peace and happiness ; for that the people of the Church could not move freety beyond their own frontier without the possession of those cities, which had always been connected with them imder one govern- ment."'^ How far he was successful in his attempts to interest the Frankish prince in his ambitious schemes, does not appear; but Desiderius afterwards declined to perform his eng-ag"ement, upon g-rounds with which the Treachery of conduct of Stephen himsclf supplied him. It Stephen III. appeared, namely, that while the pope was ex- acting- from Desiderius new conditions as the price of his support, he was at the same time busy in effecting- the dismemberment of his king-dom. He had not only drawn the g-reat Lombard duchies of Beneventum and Spoletum into the closest intimacy with the holy see, but had encour-
b Anastas. ubi sup. the king that to his certain knowledge
<= The whole exarchate of Ravenna, the late king Aistulph was now in hell,
as lately held by the Greeks. he gives the particulars of the further
^ Ep. Steph. Pap. III. ap. D. Bouq. cessions extorted from Desiderius.
torn. V. p. 499. After duly informing
Chap. VI.] DESIDERIUS. 393
ag'ed them to renounce their dependence upon the crown of Lombard3\'' Alarmed and irritated by such duphcity and treachery, Desiderius hastened to reduce the revoked dukes to obedience. While eng-ag-ed in these operations^ the active and ambitious Stephen passed from the scene; and was succeeded by his brother, the deacon Paul. Desiderius had marched his armies '" -p^p®- throug-h the districts lately ceded to the pope, for the purpose of quelling* the rebellion of his Beneventine and Spoletan subjects. Paul complained of this to His com- Pippin, as an invasion of the territory of the pi^int. Church. '^ With unparalleled eflfrontery, he informed the king- of the Franks that the people of the duchies had thrown themselves upon the protection of the Prankish monarchy; but that now Desiderius, to the g-reat con- tempt and disparag-ement of his (Pippin's) royal dig-nit}^, had dared to waste the towns and villag'es of his clients with lire and sword ; that he had taken prisoner Albinus duke of Spoletum, who had hit a short time before sworn allegiance to St. Peter and to PipjAn, with several of his nobles, and after severely wounding* and ill-treating* them, now detained them in chains.^
But an offence of g'reater mag'uitude remained behind. The king- of the Lombards, said Pope Paul in charges his letter of complaint to Pippui, had entered i^esiderius
11 ,•/• 'i\ l^ . with conspi-
into a treasonable neg'otiation with the recreant racy against Byzantines; and was at that moment engaged the holy see. in concerting* with the emissaries of the emperor an at- tack upon the city of Ravenna both by sea and land. The intelligence, however, does not appear to have pro- duced the desired effect: Desiderius still delayed the sur- render of Bologna, Ancona, Osimo, and Imola ; and the j)ope continued to pour his importunities into the ear of
« "The people of SpoleUim," says him as the price of his friendship and
Stephen, in the letter last quoted, " have support.
taken to themselves a Alike from the hand ' A glance at the map will show that
of the blessed Peter ; and so likewise the the cessions in question almost barred
JJeneuen^me.f have through us commend- the access of the central government
ed themselves to your favour." It ad- to the dependent duchies of the south,
mits, therefore, of no doubt, that the The treaty could not have contemplated
pope had tampered with the loyalty of such an isolation.
tiie subjects of Desiderius, at the very ^ Ep. Paul. Pap. I. ap. I). Bouq. torn,
time he was extorting cessions from v. pp. 503, 504.
394 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
Pippin. He spared neither flatteries nor threats to pre- vail upon the king- once more to stretch forth his arm to enforce the demands of the holy see."" His alarm as- sumed a more livel}^ character as soon as it was found that the Bj^zantines had b}^ every means of active in- trig-ue^ but more particularly by disseminating' the dan- g-erous principles of iconoclasm, endeavoured to disturb the Church in her Ravennatine dependencies. The de- monstrations of a maritime invasion were continued ; and it suited the papal polic}^, whether truly or falsely, to represent every movement of Desiderius as evidence of a criminal compact Avith the spiritual enemy of the Church, and of the protecting* power whose interests the pontiff on all occasions identified with those of his see and the success of his political schemes.
Throug-hout these latter transactions the zeal of Pip-
pin does not appear to have burnt very brig'htly.
At leng'th, however, the persevering* importu- nities of Pope Paul produced some fruits. In the j-^ear 700 Pippin sent Remidius archbishop of Rouen and duke Autchar to the court of Desiderius, to compel him to give satisfaction to the pope — to what extent we are uninformed.' Envoys or representatives of the Prank- ish king- took up their permanent residence in Italy, and became the medium of communication between the holy see and the Lombards. With this state of thino-s the pope appeared to be for the present satisfied.^
■> Ep. Paw?. Pap. I. ep. iv. ap. D. Bouq. p. 522. ubi sup. p. 504. J Ep. Paul. Pap. I. epp. viii. xxiv.
' Ep. Paul. Pap. I. ad Pipp. loc. cit. xxv. xxvi. ubi sup. pp. 509 et sqq.
V
CHAPTER YII.
APPROACHES OF THE PAPACY TO TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY. (II.)
Progress of Rome in the eighth century — State of law and legislation — Accession of Charlemagne — Project of Queen Bertrada — ^Disorders in Rome — Constan- tine and Philip, popes— Stephen IV. pope— Ferocity of faction— Stephen IV. against Desiderius and the Lombards — Remonstrance of the pope against the project of Bertrada — Menaces of the pope — Divorce of Charlemagne and Ir- mengarda — Pope Stephen's decree to regulate the papal elections — Disorders in Rome — The Lombard faction— Paul Afiarta— Humiliation and death of Stephen IV.— Hadrian I. pope— Suppression of sedition— Desiderius invades the " patrimony" — Flight of Gerberga, widow of Carlmann — Desiderius and Gerberga — He espouses her cause — His advance to Rome — Sudden retreat — Charlemagne invades Lombai'dy — Winter campaign in Italy — Foreign policy of the papacy — Approaches of the papacy to political sovereignty — Siege of Pavia — First expedition of Charlemagne to Rome — Charlemagne at Rome — ratifies the treaties of Pontj'on and Quiercy— The donation of Charlemagne — obtained by misrepresentation or fraud — Execution of the deed of donation — Charlemagne " patrician" — Surrender and deposition of Desiderius — Charle- magne king of Italy — Gains of the papacy — Position of the papacy in respect of the lands gi'anted — Actual result.
The donation of Pippin the Short forms an epoch in the history of the advancement of the papacy to ^
1 ' . -r-»<-r» ^ ^ i i. Progress ot
temporal sovereig-nty. Uut Kome had not yet the papacy formally renounced her dependence upon Con- ^"^ t'^*; ^''s'lth
• 1 T- 1111 X) century.
stantmople. it is even probable that a xJyzan- tine o-overnor still resided there; and it is known that the pontiffs continued for some time long-er to date their public acts by the current year of the Byzantine Csesars.^ The senate and people of Rome retain a name and place in histoiy ; nor have we reason to believe that they had as yet publicly or ofRcially recog'nised any constitutional power or authority in their bishop distinct from his spi- ritual functions. But it has been rig-htl}^ observed/ that
» Art de ver. les Dates, torn, i, p. 259; xliii. p. 409. and conf. Fleunj, H. E. torn. ix. liv. ^ Fleury, ubi sup. p. 408.
396 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book IV.
Pope Paul I., after the example of his predecessor Stephen, had systematically confounded his temporal with his spiri- tual faculties. We may add, that in every document of this and the preceding- pontificate the repubhc and the papacy are in such wise identified with each other, as to appear to form one body-corporate, having- no distinct existence or interests. And this was the medium throug"h which it was most important to the advancement of the pontificate that the world at larg-e should view the rela- tion in question. The originally voluntary and sponta- neous chieftainship of the popes was to be made to assume a definite constitutional form ; not so much by express claim or enactment, as by gradually acquired habits of submission at home and g-eneral estimation abroad. 'No course could be better adapted for the purpose than that pursued by the pontiffs of Rome. Thoug-h possessed of no defined prerog-ative wdthin the city or its appendant territory, the wealth and revenue of the State was for the most part at their disposal ; they belonged, indeed, neither to the senate nor the people, but their spiritual character raised them to an eminence immeasurably above both. Such advantages, under proper manag-ement, could not fail to facilitate a de-facto concentration of political power in their hands, amply compensating- by its own indefinite and illimitable character the absence of a formal leg-is- lative prerog-ative. Abroad the state or republic of Rome was known only through the pope ; every recorded trans- action wdth foreign states, Constantinople itself not ex- cepted, passed throug-h his hands, or those of his accre- dited ag-ents : emb-assies, correspondence, negotiations, emanated from him ; all reports were made to him — ap- parently to him alone ; treaties with foreig-n powers were concluded in his name ; hostag-es and securities were deli- vered to nnd held b}^ him : nor is there in all these trans- actions any appearance of participation on the part of the Roman republic, at all distinguishable, relig-iously or politically, from that of the Roman pontiff.
c,, , . It is true that there were anomalies in this
btate or /• i • in i i i
law and statc 01 thmgs that could not but be obstruc- legisiation. ^- ^£ reo'ular p'overnment at home. But in
Cjiai'. VIL] accession OF CHAELEMAGNE. 807
an ag-e in which habit and custom for the most part sup- phed the phice of law, the papacy was in no worse po- sition than that of the races with which it was hrong-ht into contact. In this respect Italy differed httle from the rest of Europe. Systematic leg-ishition was irrecon- cilable with the barbaric character of subsisting- g'overn- ments ; and the popes of Home were as little able to escape the perils and disorders incident to such a state of thing-s^ as the king-s of the Franks or the Anglo-Saxon royaiets of Britain. The prog-ress of civilisation alone can consolidate the diversity of custom and usage into law. The pontifical g'overnment at home stood upon no l^etter foundation than that upon which the contemporary princes of the world had to rely for the obedience of their subjects ; yet it is remarkable, that this defect in its out- ward position was never absent from the mind of the papacy ; and Ave think we cannot err in imputing* to this cnuse the unceasing- efforts in all its relations to g-ive an authoritative pre-eminence to its own positive system of canon-law. We must hereafter recur to this subject, in connection with the progressive consolidation of the papal power. At present we revert to those political events which imparted to pontifical Rome a standing- among- the " king-doms of this world/' and which enabled her to avail herself of her spiritual resources with increased vig-our and effect.
Pippin, surnamed '' the Short," first king- of France of the d}' nasty called after the name of his more Accession celebrated son, died in the year 708. Before ofCharie- his death, he divided the g-overnment between °^^s°^- his sons Charles,— g-ener ally known by the name of " Charlemag-ne,"' — and Carimann. At'^the moment of their accession, a transient feelhig- of jealousy and aliena- tion between the brothers was assuag-ed by the inter- ference of their mother Bertrada, to whom both princes were sincerely attached. Before the death of Pippin,
<= I regret to be obliged by French him " Carolus Magnus," and the Ger- custom to use this awkward appelhition. mans " Charles the Great" — " Karl dcr The original historians always name grosse."
398 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
Tassilo duke of Bavaria had incurred the penalties of herehtz, or treason, by deserting* the standard of his uncle and lieg'e lord.*^ The offence could not be overlooked ; and Bertrada, apprehensive of a sang'uinary rupture between her sons and their refractory cousin, devised a Project of scheme by ^vhich she hoped to effect a recon- Bertrada. ciliatiou, and to consolidate the peace by a closer family union. The duke of Bavaria had married a daug-hter of Desiderius, the king- of the Lombards. The duchess had a sister named Irmeng-arda ; Bertrada neg'o- tiated a marriag*e between the latter and her elder son Charles, with a view, through the influence of the sisters, to preserve the peace between their husbands.^ But events which had in the mean time occurred at Rome overclouded the prospects of the benevolent queen, and so exasperated the fears of the pontiff as to stamp every connection with his Lombard enemy with the brand of treason to the cause of religion and the Church.
After the death of Paul I., in the month of June 767,
Disorders Toto, lord or dukc of Ncpi, a town and district
in Rome, not far distaiit from the city, had procured
and Phi*%^ the clevatiou of his brother Constantine, then a
popes, layman, to the pontifical throne, by the aid of
a party among* the populace of Rome. Christopher and
Serg'ius, two priests of the adverse faction, resorted to king*
Desiderius to expel the intruder 5 and by his influence or
directions the Lombard duke of Spoletum furnished them
with a military force to restore order in the city. Duke
Toto was killed in an attempt to expel the Lombards :
Constantine was deposed and thrown into prison ; and
the Lombards thoug-ht this a favourable opportunity to
set up a pope of their own. For that purpose, they
forcibl}^ drew forth from his cell a humble recluse named
Philip, conducted him to the Latei'an, and installed him
in the pontifical chair. But Christopher and Serg'ius
^ Einhart, Annales, ann. 757; Annal. rissiac. ad eund. ann. ap. Pertz, torn. i.
Laurissiac. ad eund. ann. Conf. the pp. 148, 149; Ann. Fuld. ibid. p. 348;
oath of vassalage under the Frankish Chron. Moissiac. ibid. p. 295. Conf.
princes, ap. Marculf. FormuLTS, ap. Can- Baron. Ann, 770, cum not, Pagi,iio. iii.
ciani, Barb. Leg. Ant. tom. ii. p. 201. p. 61.
<= Ann. Einhart, ann. 770; Ann.Lau-
Chap. VII.] STEPHEN IV. FACTION IN ROME. 399
now protested as loudly ag'aiiist the elevation of Philip as they had before clamoured ao-ainst that of Constan- tine. The Lombard duke found himself unable to main- tain his gTound ag'ainst the insurg-ent populace ; and the involuntary intruder Philip was permitted to retire to his cell. The presbytery then went throug'h the form of a valid election ; and, after a reputed vacancy of a year and a month, raised Stephen, cardinal-priest of St.Csecilia^ to the pontifical throne by the name of Stephen IV.
The victorious faction g'lutted their veng-eance upon the supporters of ConstantinC; as well as upon Stephen iv. their own treacherous allies, with impartial fe- p^pe- rocity. The g'uiltless intruder Philip was drag*- Ferocity of g'ed from his retreat and brutally murdered by the victorious the populace. Constantine himself, his brother Passivus, and other friends^ were deprived of sig"htj and suffered the most barbarous indig-nities. The new pope made no movement to check these enormities ; and not many days after his election summoned a holy synod in the church of the Lateran^ to add further punishment and disg'race to the personal injuries already inflicted upon Constantine and his folloAvers. The blind man was ig'nominiously drag-g-ed before this assembly of Christian fathers, and fiercel}^ interrog'ated touching' the daring* impiety he had committed. The miserable man humbly confessed his error; but ventured to insinuate that his elevation to the episcopal dig*nity from the condition of a layman was not unprecedented^ and imprudently called to mind several cases of a like elevation to the pontificate in justification of that part of his own conduct. " But,'' says the papal biogTapher, " while he was babbling* on in this fashion, the zeal of the holy bishops for the sacred traditions of the fathers was suddenly kindled; they rose with one consent from their seats^ and with many kicks and buffets cast him out of the church. All his acts were burnt^ his ordinations cancelled ; and now all those who had supported or communicated with him cast them- selves upon the g'round, cr^dng- loudly for mercy." '^
These atrocities were no doubt in a g'reat deg'ree
' Anastas. Vit. Steph. IV. ap. Murat. torn. iii. p. 177.
400 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
Pope stephencaused by the fever of alarm into which the against dariiip' attempt of the Lombards upon the pon- and the tifical thi'one had cast the new pope and his Lombards, fnends. They A\ere aware that there still ex- isted in Rome a party favom'able to the Lombard con- nection^ and holding" communication with Desiderius. And now, in addition to former causes of fear and ani- mosity, came the news of Queen Bertrada's scheme for drawing" closer the bonds of amity between the sworn protectors and the mortal foe of the holy see. The news of a union between Charles of France and a daug-hter of Desiderius sounded in the ear of Pope Stephen as the death-knell of the' darling- scheme of temporal ag"g*ran- disement which his three predecessors had pursued with such sleepless vigilance and activit}^ The church of Rome, her rig'hts, her possessions, her patronag-e, formed in his mind, as it had in theirs, one sacred and inseparable trust — one undivided and indivisible representation of the di- vine majesty upon earth ; to the maintenance of which King" Charles, as their advocate and protector, was no less irrevocably pledg"ed than he was to that of the di- vine unity itself. As the Lord had said before him, so now his express imag"e and representative, the pope, declared of himself : " He that is not with me is ag'ainst me ; he that g"athereth not with me scattereth abroad." With all the energ-y of g"rief and indig'iiation Stephen addressed the king" ; treating- the bare idea of an alliance between the plig-hted defender of holy Church and her relentless persecutor as an outrag'e too flagrant, a con- tempt of his eng"ag"ements too flagitious, a pollution too monstrous, to be contemplated without aversion and Remon- ^^o^'^'oi*- " Stccp and sHppery," he exclaimed, strance of '^ is the path that leadeth to destruction : of all a-aSl^^the tcmptatious to siu, woman is the most dang-er- scheme of ous : a marriaofe with a dauo-hter of the im- ■ pious Lombard would be no marriag-e, but a mere intercourse of abomination — a pure sug'g'estion of Satan. Whence, then, this sudden madness, 0 most ex- cellent princes ! Shame that it should be even whispered abroad, that the nation of the Franks^ the glorious race of
Chap. VII.] STEPHEN IV. AGAINST THE LOMBARDS. 401
princes that sits upon the throne of that ilhistrious peo- ple should think to pollute itself with the perfidious^ the filthy Lombards, — that unclean rabble which deserveth not to be named among- the nations of the earth ! 0/let it not o'o abroad that king's so exalted could ever have thoug'ht to defile themselves by so infernal a mixture ! For what part hath lig-ht with darkness; or Avhat por- tion hath the faithful with the unbeliever ? Remember^ most excellent sons, that you are a holy people^ a royal priesthood, sanctified and anointed to he the defenders of your Iwh) mother the Church. Call to mind how ilvdi 3^ou vowed to our holy predecessor Pope Stephen (III.) and unto St. Peter^ that you Mould be the friends of our friends, and the enemies of our enemies. Can it, then^ be that you have really so g'rievously sinned ag"ainst jouv own souls as to contract aUiance Avith the persecutor of the Churchy the invader of her provinces, the deadly enemy ofherpontiif^?"
The pope further reminded the kings that they had sworn true faith and obedience to the pontiff Papai of the holy see ; and he adjured them by the ^''^^^e- blessed Peter, by the only true and living- God, and by the tremendous day of judg*ment, that they and neither of them should presume to take to wife the abhorred daug'hter of Desiderius, or to give their sister to his son ; but, on the contrary thereof, manfully contend against the Lombard until they should have constrained him to render unto the Church all that he owed to her, and make ample satisfaction for all the injuries and miseries he had inflicted upon her people. In conclusion, he informed them that he had laid that his epistle upon the altar of the blessed Peter; and had thereupon ofiered up the holy sacrifice, and sent it wet with his tears direct from the holy place. " If], therefore," he said, " you presume to disobey this our solemn exhortation, be it known to you that you thereby incur the sentence of anathema; and we do pronounce you aliens from the kingdom of heaven : we give you over unto Satan and his torments, to have your portion v.'ith the outcasts here below, and to be consumed in everlasting fire hereafter. But if you shall
VOL. II. D D
402 CATHEDEA PETEI. [Book IV.
receive and observe this our ordinance to keep it^ unto you be eternal benedictions from the Lord our God, and the reward of everlasting- joys with the saints and elect oftheLord."^
But in the interim the apprehended marriag'e had , been consummated, and the papal thunderbolt
Divorce of , , . j . . . ^ x .^ . ^ ^
Charlemagne had misscQ its aun. lu this emerg'ency, acci- and irmen- (jg^t camc to the relief of the pope : the new queen was found to be of so infirm a constitu- tion as to be incapable of bearing* children ; and upon that plea King- Charles repudiated her before the expira- tion of a twelvemonth ; and with the approbation of the Proceres and clergy of the realm, married Hildeg'arda, a noble lady of Suevic extraction, by whom he afterwards had several children.
The g"eneral g'overnment of Pope Stephen IV. at Pope ste- home bore the same character of vig'our and phen's decree firmucss of purposc. Very shortly after his lationYfThe' elcvatiou (a.d. 769), he despatched his minister pontifical Serg^ius into France to announce his election^ and to solicit the king*, Pippin, to send a select number of the bishops of his realm to Rome, there to attend a g-reat council, to be held in the basilica of the Lateran, for the adjustment of certain important matters arising* out of the late disorders, and the adoption of the necessary measures to prevent a recurrence of the like enormities, as also to encounter the evils broug'ht upon the Church by the iconoclastic abominations prevailing* in the East. But before the arrival of Serg*ius at the Prankish court. Pippin had passed away. The new king's, however, cheerfully complied with the request of the pope ; and the council was attended by twelve bishops from France — ^^ men approved for their learning*, well versed in the Scriptures and in the ceremonies of the holy canons." The synod, when assembled, proceeded in the first place (as already noticed) to inflict condig*n pun- ishment upon the principal oflfender and his accessories ; they decreed in the next place that no layman, nor any clerk who had not proceeded reg'ularly to the order of
« Baron. Ann. 770, t. xiii. p. 61. See the letter, ap, D. Bouq. t. v. p. 541.
Chap. VII.]
DISORDERS IN ROME.
403
cardinal (titled priest or deacon) of the church of Rome, should be raised to the pontifical throne ; that no layman, whether soldier or civilian, should participate in, or he pre- sent at, the election of the pope ; that none but cardinal or titled priests and deacons, with the "\\diole cong-reg-a- tion of the clergy, should have ^oice or part in such elec- tion : but that after\\ ards, and before his instalment in the pontifical palace, the chiefs of the militia, the soldiery, the citizens of credit, and the whole populace of Rome, should hasten to salute the new pontiff j and that everv one present should subscribe the authentic act of elec- tion.'^
Some effective measures, to put an end to the disorders incident to the popular right of intervention Disorders in in the election of the pontiff of Rome, were no i^o^^e.
^ Anastas. in Vit. Stepli. III. sen IV. loc. ssep. cit. ; Hard. Concil. torn. iii. pp. 2013-2016. There is much confu- sion in the wording of the several do- cuments from which the acts of this council are compiled. Fleury (torn. ix. p. 4G4) thinks that the militia and gene- ral body of the people were called upon to ratify the choice of the cardinal, or titled clergy and the churchmen gene- rally. Tiie words, however, do not seem to bear that construction. The terms used are the following : " Et priusquam pontifex electus fuerit, et in patriar- chiam deductus, omnes optimates mili- tire, vel (et) cunctus exercitus, et cives honesti, atque universa generalitas po- puli hujus Komanfe urbis ad salutandum eum, sicut omnium dominum, properare debeat." There is, perhaps, a stronger ground for believing that they were not intended to bear that meaning. A power to do an act generally implies a power to decline to do it. In this case, if the militia and people of Rome had been empowered to refuse to ratify the choice of the presbytery, it would have thrown wide open the door to all those disorders the council was most anxious to shut out; it would have rendered the elec- tions uncertain and precarious ; it would have given full play to the factions which already infected the clergy and people; and must have ended in the establish- ment of that mischievous interference most apprelieiided by the government. The wording of the decree, I think, im- plies no more than that, after election,
and beforeenthronementjthe newpontitf was to be produced to the public at large, in order that they might recognise and salute him as their lord and master. I am, howevei", perplexed by a passage in the Decretum of Gratian (Distinct. Ixxix.c. 4), which assigns as a reason for changing the mode of election that "at the death of the pontiff the Church had suffered violence, because the elections had proceeded without the knowledge and consent of the emperor (of Constantino- ple); and that no nuntii from the em- peror were present at such elections, as according to canonical rite and custom they ought to have been, with a view to pre- vent the occurrence of scandals." Then follows an ordinance apparently in con- tradiction to that reported by Auasta- sius : " We therefore decree that when a pontiff is to be consecrated, the bishops and all the clergy being assembled, he that is to be ordained be elected in the presence of the senate and people ; and that thus, being elected by all, he be then con- secrated in the presence of the imperial legates." I can hazard no conjecture as to the quarter whence Gratian gathered his version of the ordinance. Referring it, as he has done, to the reign of Stephen IV., it is an obvious anachronism: inas- much as all intercourse with Constanti- nople had long since ceased. The heresy of Constantine Copronymus would of itself have sufficed to keep any emis- saries of his at a distance, and much more to exclude them from all shai-e in the management of the papal elections. ;
404 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
doubt necessary. The transference of that right to the clergy exclusively may have been warranted by the state of the times^ and the inveterate spirit of faction now al- most indigenous among the population of the city and its appurtenant territories, chiefly those of the Tuscan and Campanian dependencies. A provision was therefore inserted in the acts of the council prohibiting the pro- prietors and indwellers of the castles or strongholds sur- rounding the city from flocking to Rome upon election occasions, to the great danger of the public peace. Such a prohibition indicates a serious state of insecurity, and serves to throw some light upon the strange disturb- ances which embittered the pontificate of Stephen lY. Though deli^ ered from the perils he anticipated from the menacing alhance of his protectors with the family of his deadly enem}^, he beheld with alarm the continued ex- istence of a strong party attached to that enemy both within and without the walls of Rome. At Ravenna, De- siderius had managed to expel the leg'itimate archbishop Leo, and to maintain a creature of his own in the chair of that city for nearly a twelvemonth. Rut the active ministers Christopher and Sergius succeeded in expell- ing the intruder, and restoring the rightful incumbent. The king encountered his opponents by dissimulation and intrigue. Not venturing upon an open attack, he pre- tended a pious desire to visit the holy places j and re- lying upon the party he had kept together within the The Lorn- walls, he appeared before the city with an es- bard faction, ^ort iiot morc uumcrous than became his royal dignity. But, by the dilig-ence of the two ministers, he found the country on all sides in arms, and the gates of Paul Rome closed against him. In this dilemma, Afiarta. gj^ intriguing priest named Paul Afiarta stood his friend, and raised a faction among the fickle populace against the papal party ; the pontiff" became alarmed, and consented to an interview with the king in the church of St. Peter of the Vatican. The first conference went off" smoothly, and the pope returned in safety to his palace. Meanwhile Paul Afiarta and his friends were gaining- strength ; and the pontiff", in still more serious alarm, was
Chap. VII.] STEPHEN IV. 405
tempted to try the effect of a second meeting-, in the hope of persuading- Desiderius to desist from his purpose of entering- the city. But b}^ this time matters were ripe for action : while the pope was detained a close prisoner in the basilica of St. Peter by the Lombards^ and cut off from all communication with his supporters, Desiderius, or his ag'ents within the walls, manag-ed to persuade the popu- lace that the two ministers Christopher and Serg'ius had conspired to murder the pope and possess themselves of the g-overnment of the republic. This g-roundless false- hood so exasperated the people^ that the two ministers with difficulty escaped immediate destruction. Stephen at the moment saw no means to save their lives but by dismissing- them from their offices ; secretly advising- them either to take refug-e in a convent, or, if they could, to join him at St. Peter's. They preferred the latter course, and mth no small difficulty reached their master in his asylum. Having' thus g'otten his more active opponents into his power, Desiderius saw no further advantag-e in detaining- the pontiff. Stephen was permitted to return to the Lateral! 5 while a Roman rabble, under the direction of Paul Afiarta, broke the sanctuary, tore their victims from the altar, and put out their eyes with such barba- rous cruelty that Christopher sank under the infliction, and died in ag-ony a few hours afterwards,'
The spirit of the pope was thoroug'hly broken by these enormities ; and Desiderius, with the aid of his confederate Paul, extorted from him autog-raph tion and letters addressed to Queen Bertrada and her ^*^^^^^ of son Charles, in which he accuses his two minis- ^ ^'^^ ters, and with them duke Dodo, then acting- as Prankish commissioner for carrying- into execution the cession of the territories comprised in the donation of Pippin, of divers acts of treason ag-ainst his (the pope's) person and autho- rity. He is then made to declare that these crimes had so exasperated the people, that when broug-ht before him for trial, he had been unable to save them from personal ill-treatment ; that he himself owed his life to the protec- tion extended to him by his most excellent son Desiderius,
' Ananias, ap. Murut. toni. iii. p. 179.
406 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
who happened fortunately to be at that moment at Rome on a pious visit to the holy places ; and that, without his aid, he would beyond doubt have fallen a sacrifice to the malig'nity of the two traitors, and the diabolical machi- nations of duke Dodo and his Frankish satellites. The letter concluded with a strong- invective ag-ainst the latter, and an assurance that he had received from Desiderius the fullest satisfaction for all the territorial claims of the Church .J
Pope Stephen TV. did not long* survive this severe Hadrian I. humiliation. He died on the 31st of January pope. 772; and was succeeded within the first fortnig-ht of the month of February'' by Hadrian, an ecclesiastic of noble birth, experience, and courag'e. In the interim the party of Paul Afiarta and the Lombards in Rome had apparently lost g'round ; certain it is that in the very outset of his pontificate the new pope felt himself strong- Suppresses enoug'h to cast off the m.ask which his prede- the sedition, cessor had bccu compelled to wear, and to bid defiance to the adverse faction. The Lombard king* made an unsuccessful attempt to carry on the g-ame of fraud and violence which had proved effectual ag'ainst the late pope. His emissaries, however, failed to make any im- pression upon Hadrian ; they were, we are told, driven to admit the sins of their master, and to promise in his name to make due surrender of all the lands and terri- tories he had hitherto wrongfully resumed or neg'lected to surrender. Hadrian accepted this submission; and appointed commissioners to receive the cession of the various towns comprised in the donation of Pippin, or in the treaties or promises subsequently extorted from Desi- derius. But the latter, unable to suppress his hatred of the Frankish yoke, or his resentment ag-ainst the holy see for robbing" him of all the fruits of legitimate conquest, to which he mig'ht reasonably lay claim, had in an evil hour taken a step which led immediately and inevitably to his ruin. Oaths and promises were as vapour compared with
• J See the letter, no. xxvi. Codex Ca- responding with the 9th Feb. in that
rolinus, — ap. D. Bouq. torn. v. p. .537. _year. Ciacone makes the v. id. Feb. to
'' Strictly on the v. id. Feb., or the fall on a Sunday. See Vit. Hadrian I.
Monday after Quinquagesima, 772, cor- p. 545.
Chap. VII.] DESIDERIUS AND GERBERGA. 407
the dazzling" but delusive prospect before him. Instead of the expected cession^ the papal commis- sioners found that he had suddenly possessed invadeTthe himself of the papal cities of Ferrara^ Com- papal terri- macchio, and Faenza; that he had closely in- ^^' vested Ravenna^ and carried away all the inhabitants of the surrounding- country, thus cutting* off the means of subsistence which the besieg'ed mig'ht have hoped to ob- tain from them.'
On the 4th of December^ in the year 771, Carlmann^ the young"er of Pippin's two sons^ had died sud- denly"" at Seltz^ in Alsatia, leaving* a widow, Gerberga, Gerbero-a, and two infant children. The ordi- widow of
^1 r ' 111 • 1 . Carlmann.
nary rule or succession would have assio-ned to the latter the dominions of their parent. But after his death, the Frankish estates made no movement in favour of the sons : Charles was unanimously hailed sole king- of the Franks ; and Gerberg-a, fearing- that the lives of her children were not safe in the custody of their uncle, fled with them to the court of Desiderius, probably in the hope, by his assistance, of reinstating- them in their inheritance. The apparent advantag-e thus offered was joyfully accepted by the intrig-uing- Lombard; oesiderius and the breach with the pope Avas the first-fruit and Ger- of the new alliance. The kino- of the Franks was ^^^^^' at the same time aware that a party in the Neustrian and Burg'undian king-doms had been, even in the lifetime of Carlmann, intrig-uing- to procure a separation from the Austrasian, or purely Germanic division ; and to that end had endeavoured to provoke a civil war between the brothers. That Charles entertained any desig-n ag-ainst the lives of his nephews, is not probable ; but the flig-ht of Gerberg-a, and the shelter afforded to the pretenders by his vassal Desiderius, was, in the opinion of the ag*e, as it was in fact, an act of rebellion. And now the dang-er to which his own interests mig-ht be exposed concurring- with his oblig-ations as official protector of the Roman
' Anastas. in Vit. Pont, ubi sup. pp. Pertz, i. p. 148 ; and Ann. Einhard. 179, 180. p. 149.
■^ Annal. Laurissiac. ad ann. 77 1 , ap.
408 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV. M
church; inclined him to lend a favourable ear to the com- plaints of the pope ag*ainst his faithless and perjured enemy."
Upon the report of his commissioners^ Hadrian ad- Desiderius drcsscd the uiost urg'ent remonstrances to De- espouses the sidcrius. The reply came in the shape of a civil Gei^berga rcqucst that the pope would grant the king- an and her sons. i|^l;gi,yig^y r^^ Pavia, whcrCj lie Said, all matters of difference mio'ht he most conveniently arran^-ed. But the presence of Gerberg-a and her two sons revealed to Hadrian the motive and the probable consequences of the insidious invitation ; the proposal was declined ; and Desiderius without delay threw off the mask. He ad- vanced with his army towards Home, with the two infant princes in his train ; and, with the announcement of his speedy arrival, he bade the pope prepare to impart the royal unction to the sons of the late King* Carlmann."
But in the mean time the vig-orous pontiff had esta- Advance of blislicd liimsclf firmly upon the throne. The Desiderius party of Paul Afiai'ta had been dissolved, and anTsudd^n tlic ring'leaders arrested and banished from retreat. Italy. Hadriaii now entertained no doubt of his ability to hold the city till the arrival of the succours he felt secure of obtaining- from France. His messeng-ers were alread}^ on their road to the court of Charles at Thionville, with the clearest claim to the covenanted pro- tection in their hand ; and he boldly retorted the menaces of Desiderius with a threat of excommunication. At this critical moment of his fate, the heart of the Lombard king- failed him ; and he reconducted his armies to Pavia. Charles had by this time collected an overwhelming* force at Geneva, ready to give effect to neg'otiation, rather than with the immediate desig'n of punishing- his rebel- lious vassal. He contented himself for the present with sending- commissioners into Lombardy to inquire into the truth of the matters of charg-e alleg'ed ag-ainst Desi- derius. Their report left no doubt of the duplicity and falsehood of the Lombard. He therefore demanded im-
" Einhard. Vit. Car. Mag. c. iii., ap. niimenta Germanica." Pertz. torn. ii. p. 44.5; and see also the ° Anastas. ubi sup. p. 184.
Annalists in the same vol. of the " Mo-
Cii.vp. VII.] CHARLEMAGNE IN LOMBAKDY. 400
mediate restitution to the holy see of all the lands and ter- ritories included in the donation of Pippin^ together with three hostages of sufficient rank for the due execution of the mandate ; and he eng'ag'ed, if these conditions were complied with, to pay to Desiderius the sum of 14,000 g'olden solidi at stated terms by way of indemnity.
The motives for this extraordinary moderation have not been disclosed to us.^ We are equally atcijg^j.igjjjj^<^j^g a loss to comprehend those of Desiderius for invades' rejecting- the terms offered, and preparing- to °^ ^^ ^' meet in the field forces so superior in number and dis- cipline to those he could oppose to -them. Be this as it may, the Frankish armies poured across the passes of Mont Cenis and the Great St. Bernard directly upon the Lombard cnpital. Disaftection dissolved the Lom- bard armies ; the best of his troops deserted the standard of their prince ; the Spoletans and Beneventines returned home ; they came at once to an understanding- with the pope, and were taken under the protection of the holy see. The king*, with a remnant of his lately numerous host, took refug'e in Pavia ; while his son Adalg'is, accompanied by the widow and sons of Carlmann, shut himself up in Ve- rona. Leaving- a sufficient force to observe Pavia, Charles pursued the latter in person ; and duke Autchar, who had hitherto proved the faithful companion and guardian of the young' princes, was prevailed upon to surrender them to their uncle. A^erona, however, continued to hold out, and Desiderius defended himself with courage in Pavia. The term of service for which the constituency of the Prankish heriban were bound was about to expire, and little pro- gress had as yet been made by the besiegers. But Charles had obtained an ascendency over the minds of his military retainers which none of his predecessors had enjoyed;''
P ^znAarr?, in his Life of Charlemagne, n We learn from Einhard (Vit. Car. seems to intimate that the king was at Mag. ubi sup. c. vi. p. 446), that Pip- that time, or had but very lately been, pin had encountered the most serious eno'aged in a war in Aquitaine. In such difficulty from this cause ; and that an unsettled state of things, it is not though his work in Italy was attended improbable that he might regard an with much less inconvenience, and was accommodation with Desiderius, upon sooner accomplished, many of his no- terms compatible with his suzerain dig- bles threatened to desert him when their nity, as desirable. See Einh. Vit. Car. term of service had expired. I\Iag. ap. Pertz, ii. cc. v. and vi. p. 445.
410 CATHEDEA PETEL [Book IV.
and he met with little difficulty in persuading* them to prolong" their term of service throug-h the mild winter of Winter cam- Lombard3\ To that endj he g-ave to his camp paignin bcfore Pavia the aspect and character of an Lombardy. ^^^^^[.^1 capital. He scut for his consort Hil- deg'arda and his children to join him there^ and domi- ciled himself and his court with befitting- splendour and magnificence to sustain that character^ and to deprive the besieged of all hope of relief; indicating- at the same time the disposition of the Prankish prince to acquire an interest in Italy^ which, we are inclined to believe, came as unexpected!}^ upon the pope as it did upon the Lom- bards themselves/
A very superficial consideration of the historical facts Eorei n ^^^^ documcutar}^ testimony which have hitherto policy of come under our observation would suffice to the popes. gijQ^y^ ii^.^i thoug-h the Roman pontiffs desired nothing' more ardently than the dismemberment of the Lombard king-dom^ yet that they desired it only for their own profit. In their bitterest invectives ag-ainst the he- reditar}?^ enemies of the Church, they carefully avoid any hint at the transfer of the minutest portion of the spoil to a strang-er, be he ever so serviceable to their projects. In all their numerous and length}^ addresses to the '^ ad- vocates and protectors" of the holy see, the^^^ carefully keep out of sight any prospect of indemnity for the blood to be shed, the labour to be endured, the cost to be in- curred, in helping- them to the propert}^ of their neig'h- bours. With sing'ular adroitness, they contrived that no hint of remuneration of a temporal nature should ever enter into their communications. Yet if the thouo-ht could be stifled in the minds of the sovereig*ns, it was im- possible that it should not occur to the subjects as often as such unrequited expenditure of their blood and trea- sures was required at their hands. All this must have been obvious to a man of Pope Hadrian's discernment and experience : he could not but know that such a g-ame must have an end ; and that then the g-reat problem
' Conf. Anastas. Vit. Pont, uhi sup.; Pertz, i. p. 151. See aAso Eckka]-t,'Frane, Annul. Lauriss, et Einh, ann. 773, ap. Oi'ient. torn. i. pp. 623-625.
Chap. VII.] THE STATE AND THE PONTIFICATE. 411
would arise, liow to escape being- drawn into the vortex of reciprocity in which he mig'ht thereafter become in- volved, and to avoid the manifest dang-er of sinkino- from the state of an unarmed and defenceless all}' into that of a dependent or a subject of the protecting- power.
But no such danger was likely to arise^ unless the pon- tiffs should commit the error of encircling* their j^^. .^^j. brows with the diadem before the world was relation of fully prepared to tolerate the anomaly of a ^^'^J'^Jg^^ Christian bishop wearing* a king'ly crown. The temporal estate of the papacy^ vast as it was, was re- sovereignty. g'arded at the time more in the lig'ht of ecclesiastical endowment than of temporal sovereignty. The title set up by the church of Rome to its territorial possessions was not different in its nature from that of almost every church or convent to the lands attached to it. The privi- leges and jurisdictions enjoyed in right of those endow- ments were in the nature of royalties, and comprehended many of the essential prerogatives which in more modern times are regarded as belonging exclusively to the sove- reign authority. But the difference between the position of the church of Rome and that of all others with refer- ence to their respective endowments consisted in this, that against the claims of the central power the Roman pontiff might set off' the illimitable prerogative of St. Peter's chair; and there was little danger that the oc- cupant of that chair should fall back into the condition of a subject, as long as he could impart to the temporal estate of his see the exemptions and immunities properly belonging to his assumed spiritual character. This was, as we think the sequel will make sufficiently manifest, the all-important position the papacy had to maintain. Cen- turies elapsed before it was full}' established ; but in the interim we may place our finger upon a peculiarity in the relative position of the holy see to the European monarchies which operated so as to secure her incident- ally ag'ainst all duties or liabilities implying- political de- pendence. Popes Zachary and Stephen III. had laid a solid foundation for the doctrine, that a mere inchoate or simjjly j^ossessory claim to thrones and dominions was
412 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
by the jmpal sanction convertible into a solid title to the sovereignty', and that crowns might he conferred, and successions unalterably determined, by the sjyontaneons act of the Roman pontiff:^ doctrines which, if pursued to their ultimate consequences, must not onty emanci- pate the dispenser of crowns from all suhordination to the recipients, but tend to reduce the latter to political as well as spiritual dependence upon the former.
But as yet no serious progTess had been made towards the establishment of this palmary doctrine of Pavia; papal Omnipotence. Charlemn gne had not learnt ^^^f^^- to postpone his temporal interests to his spi- expedition ritual obhg'ations to the holy see. He had ir- to Rome, revocably resolved to take his reward for the hitherto unrequited labours of his predecessors into his own hands, and to place upon his own head the croAvn of Italy. Yet even the mig-hty monarch of the West did not so far trust his own competenc}" to make a valid transfer of the new kingdom as to dispense with the con- currence of the Church. He therefore converted the siege of Pavia into a close blockade ; and leaving* a large body of troops behind to watch the besieged^, he repaired at the approach of Easter to Rome with a brilliant retinue of prelates and abbots, dukes and barons, ostensibly to celebrate the feast of the Resurrection at the shrine of St. Peter.*
The Romans received the kino- with unbounded de- monstrations of jo}^ Thirty thousand citizens, treaties of wc are told, wcut forth to meet him, bearing ^'JPjJ^^^"^ ^"'^ before them the "bandora," or sacred standard of the republic. The whole body of the clergy, with crosses and banners, escorted him to the basilica of St. Peter, where he spent the Easter-eve in devout exercises and prayers. On the following' morning- Pope Hadrian, surrounded by his clergy, took his station at the porch of the church ready to welcome the king. The latter ad- vanced up the flight of steps leading to the pope's station, devoutly kissing each step of the ascent. At the landing
^ Conf. ch. vi. pp. 377 et sqq. and ' ^iW*. et Zawmsiac. Annal.ann, 774,
384 of this Book. pp. 153, 1.54.
CxiAP. VII.] THE DONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE. 413
Hadriiin embraced him^ and saluted him with the kiss of peace ; and taking- him by the left hand, led him into the churchy the clergy sing-ing- yjraises to God^ and chanting* in full choruSj " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The pontiff and the king' then prostrated tliemselves in devout adoration at the shrine of Peter ; the sacred body of the apostle was uncovered ; and Charles solemnly ratified the treaties of Pontyon and Quiercy hy oath upon the relics of the prince of the apostles.
In the course of the week, Charlemagne visited and worshipped at all the holy places in succession ; rpj^^ donation on the fourth day Hadrian repaired to the ofCharie- quarters of the king-^ and opened neg'otiations ^^s^^' for a new deed of donation to the holy see. Why such a deed should have been necessary, it is not dif- ficult to conjecture ; for so it was, that when oUalned^y the pontifi' had rehearsed to Charlemap-ne his misrepre-
sent JltlOD
copy of the treaty to which his father Pippin, his brother Carlmann, and himself, had been original par- ties," that deed appeared to convey to the church of Rome territories which are named in no contemporary docu- ment as portions of the donation of Pippin and his sons. Some of these had never belong*ed to the exarchate of Ravenna, as it existed under the Greek dynasty, nor had ever been comprised within it at any time since the Lombard invasion in the year 5G8. Of this deed, as read by the pope, Charlemag^ne himself was entirely ig'norant. The districts named comprehended all the territories from " the port of Lunee and the island of Corsica, Luriano, Monte Bardone, Berceto, Parma, Reg-gio, Mantua, Mon- selice, the entire exarchate of Ravenna, with the provinces of Venetia and Histria, together with the duchies of Spo- letum and Beneventum.^ But it should be observed, that Spoletum and Beneventum had been in fact all along* in- tegral portions of the Lombard kingdom ; moreover it is known that Pippin did not dismember that kingdom in favour of the pope, and that those duchies were not com- prised in the surrenders which Pippin extorted from
" See chap. vi. pp. .382 and 391 of this " ^«astas. in Vit. Hadrian. Pap. I. ap.
Book. Murat. iii. p. 186.
414 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
Aistulph in pursuance of the treaties of Pontj^on and Quierc3^'^ It is further known^ that at the time of the conclusion of those treaties the pope had as 3'et laid no chiim to the possession of the two duchies ; that they were held by professed feudatories of the Lombard king-dom j and that they continued to form a part of that kingxlom down to the latest period of its existence/ It should be noticed at the same time, that the biogTapher deposes to the fact that the deed of Pippin, Charlemag'ne and Carl- mann was extant in his own da3^s ; and it may be reason- ably supposed that he extracted his enumeration of the ceded territories from its contents. The suspicion of some deception, therefore, cannot but occur to us when we find the same writer, in his account of the transactions with Charlemagne, putting" into the mouth of the pope a to- tally different statement of the contents of the operative documents, and adding- as original portions of the dona- tion of Pippin territories as to which his earlier enume- ration is altoo-ether silent/
That Charlemag'ne possessed any copy of the dona- tion of Pippin, is very doubtful ; if he had, the of the discrepancy bet\A'een that document and the ac- donation of ^^^.j demands of Pope Hadrian could not have
Charlemagne. • i i r t • ^ • -r»
been withdrawn ironi his observation. Uut on the supposition that he was ig'norant of the contents of the earlier donation, the temptation to misrepresentation, for the purpose of bringing* those demands into ostensi- ble harmony with the prior concessions, is very obvious.
" The enumeration of Anastasius him- had subsequently put in a claim, more
self, in his Life of Stephen III., agrees especially the two duchies. The pro-
in few particulars with the statement vinces of Istria or Histria, and A^enetia,
in his Life of Hadrian I. See c. vi, pp. had been conquered from the Greeks at
' 385, 386 of this Book. a very early period of the Lombard do-
" That is, until the dissolution of the mination. It is possible that the south- armies of Desiderius, when the dukes of ern portion of the former region had Spoletum and Beneventum threw them- been retained by the Greeks, and that selves upon the protection of the pope. it formed a part of the Ravennatine ex- See p. 409 of this chapter. ai'chate. But Venetia, otherwise called
y I conceive that the only mode of Eriuli (Forum Julii), had always been reconciling these contradictory state- one of the great duchies of the Lombard ments is to suppose that Anastasius was kingdom. No mention of either occurs mistaken as to the latter enumeration; in theearlier enumeration of Anastasius and that he confounded the contents of of the territories given up by Pippin to the prior donation with the new dona- Pope Stephen III. See the disserta- tion of Charlemagne, which no doubt tion upon this donation, ap. Per<2,Mon. contained territories to which the popes Germ., tom. iv. legum ii. part ii. p. 7.
I
I
CiiAi-. VII.] EXTINCTION OF THE LOMBARD KINGDOM. 415
Tlie king* mig-ht be induced to believe, tbat, in making* the additional gTants, he was only carrying* out the trea- ties of Pontyon and Quiercy, in fulfilment of the ori- ginal pledges given to Pope Stephen III., to which he had been a party. This impression would account for the facility with which Charlemag-ne transferred to the pope nearl}^ the whole of southern Italy/' tog-ether with the Venetian and Istrian dependencies of the Lombard king- dom. Be this as it may, the donation executed by Charle- mag-ne, at the request of Pope Hadrian I., was, in fact, an entirely new grant, comprising*, indeed, much of the older claim, but extending* it to at least double the area stipulated for in the prior donation. This document was formally executed by the king*, in the presence Execution of of the pope, and attested by all the prelates the deed of and dio-nitaries of his itinerant court. The so- o^^'^^^^"- lemn delivery was accompanied by every ceremony which could impart to it the character of a sacramental act. The deed was first deposited upon the altar of St. Peter ; it was then removed to the shrine itself, and placed be- tween the book of the Gospels and the sacred body; after which the kino- and all his attendants made oath unto St. Peter, and unto Hadrian his vicar, that they would faith- fully observe and keep all thing-s therein contained upon pain of eternal damnation. The document was then finally delivered into the hands of the pope, and two copies or counterparts were deposited by the hand of the king' himself in the shrine of the apostle.'' When this care- ful and minute ceremonial was completed, Charlemag*ne appeared in public clad in the robes of the patrician, in accordance with the ceremonial of patriS^^ the Byzantine court, and in token of his inau- g'uration as the temporal " advocate," or sworn protec- tor, of the holy see. Soon after the conclusion of these solemnities, he took his leave of the pontiff, and rejoined his forces before Pavia.
^ The whole, with the exception of still held by the Greeks,
the small territories of Naples, Briin- » It dt)es not appear that he carried
dusium, Tarentum, and the soutliern away with him any authenticated copy, extremity of the peninsula of Calabria,
416 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book IV.
The g-arrisoii of the city was by this time reduced to
extreme distress by famine. All hope of rehef
anddepo- had vaiiished; and Desiderius^ with the survivino-
sition of i-emnant of his adherents, surrendered at dis-
J_)GsiclGriu.s '
cretion. The captive king* and his family were immured in distant convents, where they were permitted to wear a'\\^ay the remnant of their days, under a custody more vigilant than any sing-le g'aoler could exercise, with the advantage of a certain deg'ree of personal liberty. The capture of Pavia was followed by the submission of every province and city of the king'dom. Adalgis eva- cuated Verona, and retired to Constantinople ; and Pope Hadrian hastened to hail the conqueror " king of the Lo7nbard'S." Charlemagne himself, however, varied the Chariemao-ne ^^^H ^^^^ crowucd himself " king of Italy f a king of change — as may hereafter appear — not indiffer-
^^ ^' ent to the papal court. But the exarchate, toge- ther Avith all the territories comprised in the new dona- tion, were punctually delivered into the actual possession of the pontiff. Charlemagne, it is true, had added a new kingdom to his empire ; but Hadrian had reaped even more solid advantages. Besides an enormous addition Gains of the of territorial wealth, he had acquired a moral papacy, asceudcncy of far higher value. In his deal- ings with the greatest sovereign of the age he had, with- out remark or censure, assumed the tone and demeanour of a superior : he had exacted promises j he had imposed oaths ; he had granted titles ; he had received homage susceptible of any extravagance of interpretation : and all this was gained without contracting a single obliga- tion, and without defining either his own position with relation to his benefactor, or his powers as temporal pro- prietor of the vast domains annexed to his see.^
It is a question of very great difficulty to determine either what the legal character of that position was, or what were the lawful powers and prerogatives acquired
^ In this portion of the narrative we torn. v. p. 544; the Annal. Lauriss. ann.
have consulted (besides the Life oflla- 774, ap. Pertz, ubi sup.; and Eckhart,
drian by Anastasius the "Librarian") Eranc. Orient, torn. i. p. 629. the Epistles of Hadrian I. ap. D. Bouq.
Chap, VII.] ACTUAL RESULT. 417
by the pope within the ceded territories. If it intJetcrmi- be asked whether the pontiff, by virtue of this of the papacy donation, acquired the supreme dominion or ,\" 'f '''"''?^ "^
/ X -I- tliG tGmtoriGS
full sovereignty of the districts annexed to the granted. holy see ; or whether he took by it only the " domi- nium ntile/' enabling- him to dispose of the profits and revenues to arise from them, without power to alter the political or municipal constitution ; or, g'enerally to take to himself the temporal g'overnment, — we nnist admit that the course of history has not as yet furnished us with facts enoug'h for a satisfactory reply. It has, in- deed, been contended that Charlemag'ne intended to trans- fer, with the territory, all the rights exercised by the Greek emperor within the exarchate, or by the Lombard king's A^dthin the components of their king'dom. Others have thouo'ht that nothino- more was o-ranted than the feudal renders and tributes payable b}^ tenants to their superior lords. But the deed itself, even if extant, would probably reveal no more than a g'eneral g'rant of 2)osses- sion, without any specification of incidental rig'hts ; and the question must await its answer from the subsequent acts of the parties and their successors. It is, however, remarkable that Charlemag-ne should in the outset have put aside the title assig'ned to him by the pope for the more comprehensive desig'nation of " King* of /to/y/," — • a title certainly not indicating* an intention to part with the ^^ dominium supremum" implied b}^ it.
But whatever may have been the contemporary intent or understanding* of the donation of Charle- Actual mag-ne, certain it is that the holy see became r®^"^*^- thereby possessed of a territorial power and jurisdiction which must ever after rank her with the g-reat dynasts of Christendom. The spiritual empire of the head of the Latin church rested no long*er solely upon the Petrine myth. It was now based on the broader and safer foun- dation of a combined sacerdotal and temporal authority, far more consonant with the character of the times than that unsupported, unarmed, externally helpless priesthood upon which the pontiffs had hitherto been compelled to rel}'; a position, it must be confessed, fraug'ht with incon-
VOL. II. EE
418 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book IV.
veniencej distress, and dnng^er ; and from which there was probably no escape but in the course of temporal ag'^ran- disement to which they so perseveringly and successfully resorted. It may strike us as sing-ular that not a whisper of surprise or dissatisfaction should have been heard when the chief pastor of the Saviour's spiritual king-dom lifted up his head hig-h among- the princes of this world. But the explanation provided by the papacy was for the pre- sent satisfactory. " Our king-doin/' said they, " is not of this world j it is like that of Christ, in all, above all, over all. As all are subject to Christ, so likewise are they subject to his vicar and representative on earth in all that appertains to His king-dom. But that king-dom extends over all; therefore nothing- belong-ing- to this world or its affairs can be above or beyond the jurisdic- tion of St. Peter's chair." In conformity with this theor}^, no amount of temporal dominion requisite for the sup- port of this spiritual prerog-ative was to be reg-arded as in any respect inconsistent with the Saviour's declaration respecting* the nature of his king-dom. It waited simply as the accident upon the principal ; the universality of the spiritual authority conferred carried with it, as its natu- ■ ral corollary, a corresponding- g-rant of temporal power. The premises being- admitted, we think the conclusion sufficiently log'ical to command attention ; at all events, it surpassed the comprehension of the ag-e to emancipate itself from the practical inference.
BOOK V.
CHAPTER I.
THE MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSY.
Genei'al retrospect — Rome in the controversies of the sixth and seventh cen- turies— Monothelite and Iconoclastic controversies — The Monothelite contro- versy; its origin and character — Unguarded conduct of Pope Honorius I. — The Ecthesis of Heraclius — Character of the Ecthesis — Pope John IV. — His apology for Honorius — He condemns the Monothelite heresy — Conversion of Pyrrhus — Address of the Africans — The Type — The Latins reject the Type — Martin I. pope — Council of the Lateran against the Type — Condemnation of Ecthesis and Type, &c. — Excess of jurisdiction — Canon-law of Rome — Ar- rogance of Pope Martin I. — Pope Martin endeavours to recover his influence over the Illyrians — Arrest, imprisonment, and death of Pope Martin I. — Un- canonical election of Eugenius I. — Vitalian pope — He makes approaches to Constantinople — Case of John ofLappas — Constans II. enf)rces the Type — Expedition and death of Constans II. — Relations between Rome and Constan- tinople between the years 668 and 679^ — Roman synod of the year 679— Sy- nodal acts and report— Character of the synod — Assembling of the (so-called) Sixth General Co?»iC(7— Constituency of the council— Proceedings, and their result — Condemnation of the Monothelite heresiarchs — Sentence upon Pope Honorius I. — Concluding acts of the council— Edict of confirmation — Poj)e Leo II. accepts the decrees, and adopts the anathemas.
The preceding Book of this volume has been devoted rather to the external and political history of General re- the papal power^ than to the theoretic develop- ti'^spect. ment of the properly hierarchical supremac}^ Before the close of the eighth century, the Western churches had, upon the basis of purely Eonian tradition and hardihood of assertion, adopted the principle of the chair of Peter. That tradition had been accepted without hiquiry, and manifest progTess had been made in obliteratiuo- all dis- tinction between the spiritual unity of the Christian body and the outward means proposed by Eome for its main- tenance. The annexation of a temporal dominion to the spiritual headship was in all respects the most important
420 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
of the securities demanded of the world for its spiritual alleg-iance ) and hereafter it will become our duty to trace the process by which she succeeded in imparting* to that dominion the inviolable sanctity of the spiritual prero- g-ative she claimed ; and ultimately to expand it into an autocratic scheme, embracing- all "temporal g-overnraent, and implying- the exting-uishment of all spontaneous move- ment in the exercise either of relig-ious or political power. In the division of the narrative to which our attention Rome in the IS uow Called, the subjcct must be viewed in controversies another aspcct. In the strug-g-le ag-ainst Ori- andtv'e^ti cutal thcosophy, we trace with g-reater perspi- centuries. cuity the tkeoretic development of that supre- macy to which the Latin churches had submitted without material resistance. Remembering- that Rome had im- posed upon herself the task of sustaining* the character of fountain of orthodox tradition and sole channel of sacer- dotal authorit}-/ it will be acknowledg-ed that ever}^ reli- g-ious discussion of importance must involve her both as party and as judg-e in the controversy. We have already had occasion to notice her participntion in the g-reat Arian strug-g-le, and her manag'ement of the equally important divero-ences of opinion upon the doctrine of the incarna- tion and of the union of the divine and human nature in the Saviour." We are now called upon to examine the character and results of her interposition hi the two great theoloo-ical movements which ag-itated the Christian world in the sixth and seventh centuries of the Christian era. The Jirst of these — the so-called MonotJielite Siconi*-^ controversy — may be described g-enerally as a clastic con- pevival, under a somewhat different form, of the old Monophysite, or Eutychian, heresy. The second — g-enerally known by the description of the Icono- clastic controversy — arose out of a question relating- to the proper use of imag-es as objects of Christian worship. The objections urg-ed by the enemies of imag-es, thoug-h less of a strictly dogmatic character, were of the hig'h- est interest to relig-ion, as they^ touched upon the g-reat
a Conf. vol. i. Book II. c. i. pp. 285, ^ Conf. Book I. c. ix. pp. 201 et sqq.;
286; — c. ii. p. 294 of this work. and Book II. cc. iv. and v. passim.
Chap. I.] THE MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSY. 421
practical distinction between Christianity and heathenism. The question they really in\'olved was, whether the whole, or the g-reat majority of the Christian body, had not a])os- tatised from the faith, and turned them back to idols. This statement of the question thrilled throug'h every nerve of the Christian body, and khidled passions and animosities which had their natural issue in ruthless Ijlood- shed and persecution.
Honorius I. succeeded to the papal throne in the year 025, his pontificate coinciding* with the last fif- The Mono- teen years of the reio-n of the emperor Hera- thehte con-
t'^t-1 ^i- /•!• ri troversy; its
elms, r rom the conclusion ot his successiui origin and wars ag-ainst the Persians, religion, or rather "'^t^^'^- religious controversy,'' had become the almost exclusi^•e object of his solicitude. While the Arabs under Abubekr and Omar Avere overthrowing- army after army sent to repel them, and wresting- province after province from the empire, the emperor occupied himself with the discussion of theolog-ical questions, and with ing-enious devices for reconcihng' religious differences among- his subjects.'* His attention was at this moment more especially attracted to an o])inion first started by Theodore bishop of Pharan in Arabia, touching- the modus operandi of the divine and human will in the " Log'os." Theodore maintained that there was in all their manifestations such a sameness of action as substantially to identify them with each other;, a view which led Heraclius to iinag-ine a plan for reducing- the remnant of the Monophysite, or Eutychian, party to a conformity with the Chalcedonian formula. With this view, the patriarch Serg-ius of Constantinople and his imperial pupil g-ave their assent to a scheme proposed by Cyrus patriarch of Alexandria for reconciling- Seve- rians, Jacobites, Theodosians, and other offsets of the g-reat Eut^xhian school, founded upon a presumed iden-
<= The mould, we may observe, in which upon the proper subject of our narra-
the religious mind in the East was ge- tive, this advantage, like many others
nerally cast. of an episodic character, muit be sacri-
'' Without denying the occasional ficed to the inexorable law of time and
light which a sketch of the Arab con- space. We must therefore confine our-
quests, and of their effects upon the selves to the incidental mention of such
Christian body in general, might throw connections as they arise.
422 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book V.
tity of the will, divine and Immanj in the Christ ; and they announced it to Pope Honorius as holding- out a flattering" prospect of relig"ious compromise, in which neither party should be called upon to make any ma- terial sacrifice of opinion. The document^ when published, appeared in all respects to be in exact verbal ag-reement Avith the doctrine of Chalcedon. But the seventh article affirmed, ^^ that it is the same Christ and the same Son who produces operations, divine and human, by one and the same theandric manifestation of his will, which will is at once both human and divine ; and that to make any disthiction between the hiunan and the divine, is be3'ond the powers of human discernment."'
This proposition, thoug-h it involved no dog'matic as- sertion of the identity of the two wills, was pro- a"fent o^f perly held to imply it. Sophronius bishop of Pope Hono- Jerusalem first sounded the alarm in the East ; but Sergius of Constantinople was first in the field; he preoccupied the ear of Pope Honorius by a long- and not ver}^ ing*enuous account of the orig-in and desig'n of the movement, and of his own share in it. The ve^ly of Honorius to this communication indicates some misg-iving"; he nevertheless adopted the document, and fully appears to have assented to an absolute oneness of the human and the divine will in the Christ. Yet he recommended the utmost caution in the promulg-ation of the doctrine, and strongly urg*ed that, as the subject was acknowledged to be above human comprehension, all discussion of it oug'ht to be avoided. Sophronius, however, soon afterwards pointed out to him with g'reat earnestness the dang-er to which this ung-uarded act must expose him ; and Honorius applied himself with redoubled industry to suppress the controversy. In his commu- nications with the East he therefore flung- himself back on the Chalcedonian doctrine, and dog'matically affirmed that "^ as there is but one Christ, who, operating- by two natures, works thing-s human and divine, so there ought to be but one doctrine (respecting* him) grounded upon forbearance to teach what is not expressly revealed of
'' Baron. Ann. 633, §vii.; Fleurij, torn. viii. p. 348.
Chap. I.] THE ECTHESIS OF HERACLIUS. 423
him in Scripture^ nor affirmed by the fathers of the Church."'"
But this prudent advice did not suit the dog*matising- humour of the Greeks; neither would the quiet The Ecthesis abandonment of the proposed scheme have *^^ ^^^'^'^^'^s- answered the purposes of the emperor and his advisers^ Serg-ius and Cyj'us. Their definition of the rehition be- tween the nature and the will of the divine Log-os was therefore published^ under the title of ''^Ecthesis" or exposition of faith. Setting- aside the modus operandi, this document affirmed purely and simply the identity of the human and the divine Avill in the following- terms : '^ Therefore we, following- in all thing's the holy fiithers, confess but one will in the Christ 5 and we believe that his flesh, animated by a reasonable soul, hath never made any natural movement, separately and of itself, differing- from or contrar}^ to the spirit of the Log-os which sub- sisteth in hypostatical union with his flesh."^
In all matters of dispute which interest or excite the public mind, however trivial or obscure they character of may be, it is as well, in the statement at least, ^'^^ Ecthesis. to have the common sense of mankind in our favour. The Monothelites lay under a serious disadvantag-e in this respect. The assertion of one will in two natures comes as near as possible to a contradiction in terms ; and their adversaries of the Eutychian party mig-ht rea- sonably call upon them, after that, to renounce the two natures as well. This arg-ument was successfully urg-ed by the Catholic opponents of the Ecthesis ; and they did not scruple to stig-matise the imperial exposition as sink- ing- down into the lowest form of Eutychianism : it was an affirmation and a denial of the same thing- in the same breath ; it made every thing* uncertain ; and could serve no purpose but that of a trap for the unwary on both sides. But before the publication of the Ecthesis, Pope Honorius I. died. He was succeeded by Severinus I., to whom the document was transmitted throuo-h the hands of Isaac, the exarch of Ravenna. How it was treated by
f Baron. Ann. 633, §§ 27 and 42; e Ihid. Ann. 639, § 12; Fleunj, torn.
Flcury, torn. viii. p. 385. viii. p. 411.
424 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book V.
this pontiff^ we have no certain information ;'' his pontifi- cate lasted only two months and three days ; and on the 25th Dec. 638 John lY. was elected to fill the papal chair. In the month of May 041, the emperor Hera- clius passed from the scene of his mischievous activity, and was succeeded by his son Constantine III.' To him Pope Pope John TV. addressed an apolog"etic letter, John IV.; denying" the complicity of the late Pope Hono- is apo ogy ^.^^ .^^ ^^^ heretical raving's of the Monothelites. Honorius. jjg affirmed that he could not have meant to approve the doctrine of a single will, but only to assert that there Avere not two contrary and conjlictvng wills in the Christ. That Honorius had seen his error, hardly admits of a doubt; but the Christian world was unfor- tunately in possession of his reluctant yet explicit consent to the Monothelite opinion, and has declined to withdraw the charg'e of heresy.
In the 3"ear 639 Serg-ius of Constanthiople was suc- Theodore cccdcd by Pyrrhus, a stanch advocate of the pope. He Monothelite doo-ma. But a few months after- Monothelite wards he was banished, without canonical trial heresy, qj. gentcnce of deposition, for a supposed parti- cipation in the murder of Constantine III., the son and successor of Heraclius (a.d. 641). Meanwhile Pope John IV. was succeeded by Theodore, lately the resident, or apocrisarius, of Rome at the court of Constantinople ; a person conversant with the state of parties in the East, and a strenuous opponent of the ncAV heresy. Without delay he forwarded to Constantinople his condemnation of the late patriarch Pyrrhus, and of the Ecthesis of Heraclius ; but declined to approve the elevation of his successor Paul. The new patriarch, like his predecessor, was, in fact, an advocate of the Ecthesis, and rejected the requisition of the pope to remove that document from the churches and public places, where, according- to cus- tom, it had been conspicuously posted. The pope then
•> Baronius and Pagi (A, 639, § ii.) was poisoned by his step-mother Mar- assert, upon insufficient ground, that tina; and her sun Heraclionas raised to the Ecthesis was refuted by Pope Seve- the throne. But the new emperor was rinus. within a short time deposed, he and his
' Who only a few months afterwards mother cruelly mutilated and banished.
CiiAP. I.] ADDRESS OF THE AFRICANS. 425
reduced his demand to a simple request tliat his condem- nation of the Ecthesis should be made equally notorious, and be as conspicuously exhibited to public view. But the emperor Constans III. adhered pertinaciously to the relig'ious policy of his g'randfather ; and the papal remon- strances remained without result.
But accident threw an important advantag-e into the hands of Home. Maximus, a monk of Chrysa- conversion polls near Chalcedon, during* his exile in Africa ^^ I'yrriius. had fallen in with and converted the banished patriarch Pyrrhus, and persuaded him to resort for absolution to Home. Pope Theodore received the penitent with be- nig-nit}^ ; and he absolved and recog'nised him as the legi- timate patriarch of the imperial cit}^ In the East, the bishops of Palestine and C^^prus supported the papal views, while those of the three g'reat ecclesiastical ^^dress divisions of Africa lent their undivided assist- of the ance towards the suppression of the new heresy. ii^^^^s- They addressed the pontiff of Rome as the " father of fiithers/' the '•^ chief of all pontiffs/' the " never-failing- fountain of power/' the " conservator of the faith/' without whom, said they, " nothing-, even in the remotest places, shall be discussed or determined; neither shall any judg-- ment be rendered, except it be first broug-ht to the know- ledg-e of that holy see, and be fortified by its authorit}^" After this ample libation on the altar of Roman prerog-a- tive, the}' besoug-ht the pope to issue a dog-matic condem- nation of the Ecthesis, to inquire into the heresy of Paul of Constantinople, and upon conviction to cut him off from the sacred body of the Church.-" The prelates of the Byzacene province adopted a bolder course. They ad- dressed the emperor Constans directly, calling- upon him peremptorily to renounce the Ecthesis, and constrain the patriarch Paul to revert to the Catholic confession. They reminded him that God had made him emperor, that he mig-ht be the g-uardian of His truth ; that he was bound to use the power g-iven to. him in subservience to his duty to the Church ; that tliat Avas indeed his principal duty ; and that " He by whom king-s reig-n and princes exercise
J Baron. Ann. 646, §3.
426 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book V.
judg'ment" had thus exalted him that he mig-ht put down heresy with a strong* arm, and prefer the maintenance of the orthodox faith above all secular pursuits or interests.''
The resistance to the luckless Ecthesis g'athered The Ti e ^^reng'th from day to da}^ The patriarch Paul involved himself in a public disputation with Serious and Martin, the leg"ates of Pope Theodore, upon the theolog-ical merits of that document ; a step which served rather to provoke than to allay contradiction. Deserted by reason and common sense, the patriarch took refug'e in authority, and finally supported himself upon the decisions of the two g'reat patriarchs, Honorius of old, and Serg-ius of new Rome. The appeal was treated by the pope as an insult to the holy see j by the adverse party in g-eneral as a mere subterfug-e. Alarmed by the almost desperate state of public affairs, and the increasing* disaffection of his subjects, the emperor Constans thoug-ht it expedient quietly to set aside the Ecthesis, yet without in terms renouncing- the heresy sheltered under it. With this view he issued a decree, to which he g'ave the name of the Type (formula), with the professed intent to put down all discussion of the mystery of the two wills. The in- strument contained a naked statement of the questions at issue, and then shortly and peremptorily prohibited all discussion of its substance, or allusion to its terms, by clergy or laity, under the severest temporal penalties.'
It is doubtful whether the publication of the " Type" The Latins ^^^ kuowu at Romc beforc the death of Theo- condemn dorc,"" and it is probable that all the steps taken ^^'^' ag'ainst its author and his accomplices are refer- able to the pontificate of his successor, Martin I. The T3'^pe had, in fact, become an object of unmitig*ated aver- sion in the Latin church. Like the unfortunate Heno- ticon of Zeno, it was universally stigmatised as a device
'' Baron. Ann. 646, §§ 6 and 7. This Fleury follows Baronivis in supposing
letter was, according to Baronius, sent the condemnation of Paul and Pyrrhus
to Pope Theodore at Rome, to be deli- with the Ecthesis and Type to have
vered to the emperor by his apocri- been decreed in a Roman council held
sarins. under Theodore. Pagi, with apparent
' Ibid. Ann. 648, § 2. reason, refers the entire transaction to
1" He died on the 14th of May 649. the reign of Martin I. See Pagi ad Baron. Ann. 648 and 649.
Chap. I.] CONDEMNATION OF THE ECTIIESIS AND TYPE. 427
of Satan for the exting'uishment of the truth, by extending protection to error, — it was a sacrilegious encouragement to men to hold in private, and even to profess a heresy they could not defend before the tribunal of the Church ; an iniquitous attempt to suppress the truth, and a de- testable persecution of its defenders. After the death of Pope Theodore, the Roman clergy and people marked their indignation by electing* Martin, one of the Martin i. papal champions at the conferences held at Con- pop*^- stantinople, to the vacant chair, and consecrating him on the spot, without waiting for the legal confirmation of the emperor. No time was lost by the new pope in fur- therance of the wishes of his constituents. In council of the month of October 04<9 a general council was ^^^ Lateran. assembled in the palace of the Lateran, attended by one hundred Italian and Gallic bishops, together with some prelates of the Latin party in the East. In the interim the patriarch Paul of Constantinople, irritated by the implacable hostilities of the Latins, had caused the altar of the pope, which stood in the palace of Phicidia," to be removed or thrown down, and prohiljited divine ser- vice according to the Latin form within his jurisdiction. About the same time, it appears that the ostensible con- vert Pyrrhus had been persuaded, by some hopes held out to him by the exarch of Ravenna, to retract his late re- cantation, and again to enrol himself in the ranks of the Monothelites. Pope Martin opened the session of the council by a diffuse exposition of the errors of Cyrus of Alexandria, of Sergius, Pyrrhus and Paul of Constanti- nople ; he described the " execrable Type" as an open device of Satan for the suppression of the truth ; he de- claimed furiously ao'ainst the sacrileo-ious overthrow of the papal altar, and the persecution of the legates ; and moved for a canonical decision and sentence against the culprits, together with a due condemnation of the un- speakable heres}^ and its promoters.
In all papal synods the subjects of discus- Condemna- sion were always beforehand rigorously defined *EcthIs£f and marked out by the pontiff himself; the pro- i>pe. ^^^
" Probably the private chapel and altar of the resident apocrisarii.
428 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
ceeding's were directed by him, and the validity of the resolutions and decrees made to depend upon his present concurrence or subsequent sanction. Such a course of proceeding- deprived the acts of these synods of all value independently of such sanction, and placed the members in the position of a mere court for reo-istering* the decrees of the pope. By the directions of Martin, the council, when assembled, proceeded to examine minutely into the theological character of the Monothelite heresy j and in the result that error was unanimously denounced and anathematised. The Ecthesis and Type fell under the like condemnation ; not only all who should maintain the one 7viU in the Log'os, but all who should attempt to evade the censures of the Church by a criminal compliance with the imperial scheme for suppressing* inquir}^ and discus- sion, were solemnly' pronounced to be accursed. The per- sons of the heresiarchs were involved in this sentence ; and Theodore of Pharan — the primal offender — Cyrus of Alexandria, Serg'ius of Constantinople, and his successors P3'rrhus and Paul, were deposed and anathematised in due order, and all their acts and writing's declared void and of none effect."
The progTess of our narrative hardly as yet warrants
any definite historical judgment upon these pro- jurisdiction, ceeding's. It may, however, be borne in mind ^niome'^ that the pope had taken upon himself the office
of supreme judg'e in a cause in which he could not pretend to a scrap of proper^ canonical ^uYisdictiou. It may also be remarked that the terms " canon,'' " ca- nonical," " canon-law," had by this time acquired a signification at Eome havino- no manner of reference to then' ono-inal import. It may be conjectured that in the use of these terms the pontiffs had in mind only the Roman collections of ecclesiastical ordinances under the several titles of" Pubhc synodal constitutions," '^ Godly laws of the Prince of the Apostles," " Book of the Ca- nons," &c., containing-, in all probability, a medle}^ of general and particular ordinances as received in the lio-
" See the proceedings, ap. Baion. Ann. pp. 648 et sqq. 648, for 649 ; and Hard. Concil. torn. iii.
CiiAP. L] MARTIN I. 420
man church, and founded upon maxims and principles drawn indifferently from oecumenical statutes and papal decretals or dicta ; the whole heing* invested with the universal authority currently imputed to the Petrine pre- rog'ative. And in this sense Pope Martin I. understood and applied them. By virtue of this local code he as- smned the character of universal judg'e ; he caused the decrees of his council to be translated into Greek^ and transmitted to the emperor Constans II.; he informed the latter of the utter rejection of the Ecthesis and Tjpe^ and the solemn repudiation of all compromise with he- resy ; and arrog'antly demanded the immediate registra- tion of his censures among- the laws of the tem- Arrogance poral state. As if to give matters a turn still of Pope more offensive to the g'overnment, he took the ^^ "^ ' execution into his own hands, and disseminated copies of his adjudication over all Christendom. He commanded the clergy of Antioch and Jerusnlem to cut themselves off from all intercourse with the advocates of the Ecthesis and the Type ; he deputed a vicar-g-eneral for the dioceses of Syria and Palestine, with powers to try and determine on behalf of the holy see the faith and qualifications of all candidates for the episcopal office ; declaring- at the same time all ordinations made in contempt of the vicarial au- thority, thus nrbitrarily conferred, to be absolutely void.^ Pope Martin I. applied himself with equal zeal to the maintenance of the ancient claims of his see, as ,, . _
. ^ Martin 1.
to the accomplishment oi his more recent en- attempts to croachments upon foreig-n jurisdictions. Arch- J^^JJs^ict^on bishop Paul of Thessalonica had offended him over by sending- in a confession of faith which did ^^^■J'"*^"™- not contain a verbal adoption of the late proceeding's of the Lateran. For this offence the pope suspended him from all sacerdotal function until he should have purg-ed his " contempt of the holy see" by recording- an express curse ag-ainst the Monothelite delinquents. He wrote urg-ent letters to all the bishops of the g-reat Illyrian dio- cese, commanding- them to hold no communion with their
I' Baron. Ann. 649, § 59 ; Flciiri/, Cuncil. torn. iii. loc. cit. torn. viii. pp. 480-483: and con f. Hard.
430 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
metropolitan, to repudiate his ordinances, and to permit him to do no functional act until he should either return to his duty to the holy see, or his place be filled up b}^ an orthodox successor. But the state of the times was un- favourable to the execution of the comprehensive scheme of Pope Martin. The spirits of men were paralysed, and their attention distracted, by the rapid progTess of Arab conquest. The advantag^es he had g'ained in Syria and Palestine were of no avail to Rome, in the prostrate con- dition of those churches. The patriarch of Constanti- nople was not now assailable from that quarter ; and the attempt to re-establish the papal jurisdiction in Illyricum led to no better result than further to inflame the ran- corous spirit of Constans II., and prompt him to instant veng-eance ag-ainst the haug-hty opponent of his cherished scheme of religious compromise.
While the council was still sitting* at the Lateran, Arrest, im- the cmpcror sent his chamberlain Olympius into prisonment, Italy with a prcccpt to all bishops and secular of Pope persons of rank and authority to subscribe the Martin I. u Type." This mandate was accompanied with a secret order to cause Pope Martin to be arrested and sent in custody to Constantinople. For the moment this scheme was unsuccessful. But about four ^^ears afterwards the exarch Calliopas was more fortunate. Martin was at leng"th apprehended and conveyed to the capital by the satellites of the exarch. This violent proceeding- was not altog-ether destitute of leg'al excuse. The pope had been consecrated without soliciting* or Avaiting* for the imperial warrant; Constans was therefore justified in treating' him as an intruder. But no such apology can be pleaded for the wanton cruelty which the ag'ecl and infirm pontiff suffered at the hands of the worthless tyrant into whose power he had fallen. He was transferred from one prison to another for a period of more than two 3'ears, till his death, at Cherson in Scythia, on the 16th of September 655. But the coup-cVHat was for the moment successful ; and the reluctant clergy of Home, after resisting- the impe- rial commands for the election of a new pope as long" as possible, at length, on the 8th of September 654, — conse-
Chap. I.] UNCANONICAL ELECTION OF EUGENIUS I. 431
quently more than a 3'ear before the death of Pope Mar- tin,— filled the chair b}^ the election of the archpriest Eug-enius, as if it had been vacated by death/'
Pope Martin I. coidd exhibit a title to the chair of Peter clear of all canonical objection. The se- ^, . ,
1 1 r 1 '. 1 1 ^ 1 111 Uncanomcal
cular detect it laboured under could have no election ecclesiastical consequence: and as lono- as he ^o^^VP®..
1 / iD JciUSTGDlllS J..
lived, no bishop could, consistently with the g'e- neral law of the Church, be elected in his room. If we should incline, with Fleury, to admit the necessity of the case as an apolog-y for this fatal irreg-ularity in the election of Euo-enius I., we should be driven from our position by what took place at Rome not long* after his instalment in the papal chair. The double apostate Pyr- rhus had been reinstated in the chair of Constantinople ; but survived his restoration little more than four months. He was succeeded by the cardinal priest Peter, a pro- fessed Monothelite heretic. Peter, however, announced his election in due form to the new pope, and directed his synodal letters to be ])ublicly presented to the pontiff in the g-reat church of the Lateran before the assembled clergy and people of Home. Put Eug^enius was saved from the indig-nity of holding* communion with a notori- ous heretic by a spontaneous movement of the assembled multitude. When the imperial messeng-ers approached with the document in their hands, the b3^standers rushed upon them, seized the letters, and flung* them contemptu- ously out of the window, and exacted a solemn eng-ag*e- ment from the pope never to hold communication with the heretical pretender. "■ This contempt of the imperial com- mands remained unpunished ; and it may be confidently believed that, under the protection of the zealous popu- lace, the clerg-y mig'ht, if it had so pleased them, have successfull}^ resisted the revolting- mandate for the impo- sition of a new pope while his predecessor was not only still living", but suffering- in the cause so fondly cherished and boldly vindicated by the people.
1 Anastas. in Vit. Mart. T. et Eugen. 253; and Fleury, torn. viii. pp. 540, 541. Pap., ap. Marat. Ss. Kr. Ital. torn. iii. ^ Ibid. Vit. Eug. Pap. ubi sup. p.
p. 190. Conf. Art de vcr. ^c. torn. i. p. 140.
432 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
But we believe that the latter acted with more sincer- ,^. ,. itv than their ecclesiastical leaders. A spirit
V Italian %' . . . . , m i i.
pope ; 01 Circumspection — to g*ive it the mildest term makes ap- — from this momeiit marks the conduct of the
proaehes . , . , . , f.
to Constan- Koiuan clcrgy ill their relations to the court or tinopie. Constantinople. Pope Eug-enius died on the 2d of June G58 ; and the clerg-y^ with the consent of the emperor, chose Vitalian, a native of Sig'se in Cam- pania, to succeed him. We may be allowed to express some surprise when we find that the first act of the new pontiff was a renewal of that communication with the he- retical Peter of Constantinople which his predecessor had so solemnly renounced. Vitalian lost no time after his inaug-uration in transmitting- his S3^nodal letters both to the emperor and patriarch, announcing' his elevation to the papal chair." But the position of Pope Vitahan was in many respects critical ; and Ave observe throug-hout his pontificate considerable caution and complaisance in his demeanour towards his heretical sovereign. With the example of Martin I. before him, and an obsequious exarch at hand to execute the imperial commands, the stern opposition of his predecessor had no charms for him. The controversy of the " one will" was allowed to sink to a whisper ; and Pope Vitalian was permitted by a return of courtesy to exercise a deg'ree of influence in the ecclesiastical affairs of the East which Martin had in Case of John vaiii eiidcavoured to vindicate as his rig'ht. John
of Lappse. bishop of Liippcc, or Lampione, a district of the province of Crete subject to Thessalonica, had been de- posed by Paul, the metropolitan bishop of that cit}^ John appealed to Rome against the sentence; the synod of the diocese inhibited the appeal ; but the pope, reg-arding- the inhibition as a contempt of his authority, quashed all
s BaroniMS thinks that the letter ad- the pope: " Spiritalem nobis Isetitiam
dressed to Peter was merely hortatory, peperit litera vestra unanimis sanct?e
and not a proper synodalletter imply- fraternitatis " Pagi (ad loe. Barou.)
ing communion (Ann. GS.^i, § 5). The takes pains to prove that Vitalian did
existence of the letter is only known not write on this occasion to Peter, but
from the reply of Peter, which was partly only to the emperor Constans and his
read at the General Council of Constan- son. Fleury, on the other hand, under-
tinople. //arrf. Cone. tom. iii. p. 1347 A. stands the letter to have been a formal
The expressions quoted certainly imply synodal epistle. 11. E. torn. viii. p.
a very friendly tone in the letters of 562.
Chap. I.] CONSTANS II. ENFORCES THE TYPE. 433
proceeding's ag-ainst the delinquent bishop, and com- manded the metropoHtan to reinstate him in his see, with a pecuniary indemnity for all costs and charg'es he had incurred in consequence of the prosecution. The actual result of this exercise of power is not known ; but as Paul afterwards so far assented to the legality of the appeal as to send the minutes of the provincial trial to llome for the pope's inspection, it is not improbable that he withdrew the inhibition and submitted to the reversal of his judgment/
Constans II. was not wanting* in a return of courte- sies to the pope. He received the letters and constans ii leg-ates of Vitalian with gTeat respect j he con- enforces firmed the privileg-es of the holy see, and in ^^® ^^^^' token of his favour presented a superb Ms. of the Gospels, in a case of g'old, to the church of St. Peter at Rome. The costly gift was received by the pope with the most profound reverence, and solemnly deposited in the trea- sur}^ of the church. But the controversial truce did not extend beyond the confines of Italy. Constans was as firmly as ever resolved, by means fair or foul, to compel the adoption of the " Type" among- his Eastern subjects. While his theologians, with the patriarch Peter at their head, were inventing* expedients to reconcile adverse opinions on the subject of the " one will," he occupied himself in hunting- down the adversaries of his own par- ticular scheme for ridding- his g-overnment of the disturb- ances arising- out of these vexatious meddling-s with the popular creed. The " Type" was to accomphsh all this ; but its opponents treated it with derision and scorn ; they defied the tyrant by every form of resistance, and courted persecutions, imprisonments, and mutilations, even death itself^ so they mig-ht but kindle into a flame the contempt and abhorrence with which the people were beginning- to regard the bloodthirsty debauchee upon the throne.
The self-devotion of the fanatics produced Expedition the intended effect. The martyrdoms of Maxi- and death of mus of Chr3'sapohs and his disciple Anastasius" Constans u.
' Ciacone, Vit. Pont. torn. i. p. 4G2; p. 114. Fleunj, torn. viii. p. 603; De Mornay, " These men had represented their
VOL. II. F F
434 CATHEDRA PETRI. , [BookV.
drew after tliem hosts of equally resolute followers and victims ; the public hatred hovered like a thunder-cloud over the head of the tyrant, and he determined to remove himself out of its reach before it should burst upon and overwhelm him. Collecting- a considerable fleet and land force, he disembarked on the coast of Calabria, with a view to the recovery of the long--lost provinces of Southern Italy. But he met with so severe a check from the Bene- ventine Lombards as to divert him from the enterprise. He retired upon Borne ; and after plundering* the city of almost all its remaining- treasures of art and portable public wealth, he finally retreated to Syracuse in Sicily ; and was there slain by the hand of a slavey in the year 668.
From this point of time the decline of the Monothelite party in the East may be dated. The odium ^iTme aid^ which the pcrsecutious, cruelties, and caprices Constant!- of its imperial patron had broug-ht upon that "ween the coufcssion tended to produce a pretty g-eneral years 668 approximation to the Catholic party. Peter of Constantinople, the ing-enious inventor of a threefold will in the divine Logos, was succeeded in the year 666 by the archdeacon Thomas ; between that period and the year 678 no fewer than five patriarchs succes- sively occupied the chair of Constantinople. All these prelates were treated by Pope Vitalian and his short- lived successors Adeodatus, Domnus, and Ag-athon, as professed or suspected heretics ; and their synodal letters, though regularly sent, were as regularly rejected. Con- stans II. had been succeeded by his pacific son Constan- tino IV., surnamed Pogonatus. Four years afterwards (672) Pope Vitalian sank into the tomb, and Adeodatus followed him upon the papal throne. This pontiff held the see for the short term of four years and a few days under six months; and in 676 he was succeeded by Bonus, or Domnus, for the brief period of two years and rather more than five months. But short as these periods
party in the East at the council of the often mistaken for Christian firmness in
Lateran under Pope Martin I. ; and support of the truth. Inordinate theo-
on their return maintained its decisions logical pride has its martyrs, as well as
with that insolent audacity which is so honest conviction.
Chap. I.] ROMAN SYNOD OF 679. 435
were^ the latter pontiffs witnessed the first approaches towards a reHg-ious pacification. Constantine IV. pro- posed to Pope Domnus that a conference should he held between Theodore of Constantinople and Macarius of Antioch on the one side^ and the pope in person, or his leg'ates^ on the other^ for the purpose of determining- the terms of reunion between the East and the West. Dom- nus did not live to reply to the emperor's proposal ; but in the folio Aving* year (679) his successor Ag-athon con- voked a g'eneral council — or what was intended to repre- sent a g'eneral council — of the Western chiu'ches, for the ostensible purpose of deliberating* upon the proposal under his own superintendence.
The synod^ when assembled^ consisted of a large majority of Italian prelates subject to the see Eoman of Rome^ including* the metropolitans of Milan, synod of the Aquileia, and Ravenna. From France we read ^^^^' ^'^^' the names of only three bishops ; and, incidentally, that of Wilfred, titular archbishop of York, who was then at Rome for the purpose of prosecuting- his suit ag-ainst the presumed usurpers of his province.'' All that we know about the proceeding's of this council must be gathered from two letters addressed to the emperor Constantine ; the first from the pope himself, the second fi'om the council over which he presided."' The pontiff sets out by afhrming- the maternal authority of the holy see over all the churches of the West ; the council then sitting- he declared to be a full representation of the whole Latin church ; although some time had been required to collect a sufficient constituency to enable it to sustain that cha- racter. " He was," he said, " sincerely anxious to render to the emperor all due obedience ; and he had with that intent hastened to appoint proper legates to confer with him : not, however, to debate or to discuss matters of
V See Book IV. c. iv. p. 336 of this "the pope and council;" both are ad- work, dressed to the emperor Constantine and
^^ These epistles, or rather treatises, his two brothers, Heraclius and Tibe-
may be studied by those whoso patience rius Augg. The substance is, as usual,
is proof against the dullest prolixity, in very well and shortly given by Fleury,
Hard.Conc. torn. iii. pp. 1074 and 1115. torn. ix. pp. 13 and 16. Conf. Baron.
The second epistle runs in the name of Ann. 680, §§ i. et sqq.
436 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
faith, but solely to lay before him succinctly the articles of the Catholic creed relative to the question then in hand ; and this he stated dog'maticall}^ to be, that ^ as in the Lord Jesus Christ there are two natures, there are like- wise two wills and a twofold 7uodus operaridi.' And from this faith he affirmed the holy church of Borne had never swerved."
The second epistle contained the proper report of the Synodal acts syuod, and was sig'ned by the pope in the first and report, place, and after him by all the bishops, accord- ing* to rank and seniority. They are, in their ag'greg'ate capacity, described as the '^ Council of the Apostolic See ;" their functional competency was — so they desired it to be understood — deduced from the papal authority, and all their acts were supposed to derive their validity from his concurrence and sanction alone. Their faith, they de- clared, was that of Rome ; they implicitly adopted the whole Roman tradition, upon the avowed g-round that their own ig*norance and incapacity to judg-e for them- selves were so profound that they could find no sure refug'e ag'ainst the entang-lements of religious error, but in the closest adhesion to the dog*matic forms handed down to them throug-h the chair of Peter/
The apprehension of heretical contamination was, in Character ^ruth, iucrcascd to a panic by the sense of help- ofthis less ig-norance here expressed. Throug"hout the ^y^^ • whole course of her history the church of Rome was as deeply indebted to this state of religious diffidence as to any other of those numerous foibles which contri- bute to weaken self-reliance, and to reduce the mind of men and nations to a state of quiescent dependence upon intellig"ences destitute of an}^ strong-er claim to authority than that which their own individual or ag'greg'ate judg-- ment, if properly exerted, might have supplied. Yet, in cases like the present, the Roman pontiffs were anxious not to forfeit the support to be derived from these synodal assemblies by depriving- them altog-ether of that appear- ance of spontaneous and deliberative action which was necessary to give a current value to their deliberations.
* Baron, ubi sup. §§ xxxii.-xxxiv.
Chap. I.] THE SIXTH GENERAL COUNCIL. 437
True it was that this council at Rome was, like other Italian synods, in no material sense either a representative or an independent bod}^ : no notice of the meeting* had been given to the bishops of Spain, Britain, or Germany, and only partially to those of France ; but it suited the papal policy to assig'n to it the ostensible functions of a deliberative body competent to represent the sentiments of the entire Latin communion ; and thereby to impart to its decisions, thoug-h purety papal, that authoritative character which belong-s to a properly constituted leg"is- lative body.
The papal manifesto and the synodal report were de- livered to the emperor by separate deputations ; and g'reat care was taken that the instructions o/th?siSh of the envoys should be in both cases in perfect general harmony with each other. The emperor was ^^^^'^^ ' informed that the deleg-ates had no power to enter into any discussion ; that their only duty was to deliver into his hands the confession of the entire Latin church upon the disputed question • that that confession was not sub- ject to any alteration or correction ; and that it was the unanimous resolution of all the " churches of the West and the North" to reg'ard all who rejected it as outcasts from Christian communion. Constantine had in the mean time removed the obnoxious patriarch Theodore, to make room for Georg'e the Syncellus, a person of a more tract- able disposition ; and he had caused a synod of bishops similarly disposed to assemble at Constantinople. At the same time he ordered the patriarch Macarius of Antioch, the champion of the Monothelite opinion, to assemble the bishops of his persuasion in the g'reatest possible number, and freely to examine and report to him upon the matters to be submitted to a g-eneral council by the deputies of Pope Ag"athon and the Western churches. It does not appear that the emperor disclosed to the dissentients the contents of the papal instructions ; he baited his trap with the lure of free discussion, though fully and emphatically apprised that the suppression of all inquiry was the first condition of reconciliation. The Monothelite bishops fell into the snare ; and Macarius, with his friends, took their
438 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Boob: V.
seats in the council^ which was then reg'arded as fully constituted^ and invested with the proper character and functions of an oecumenical council of the Christian church.
The first meeting- was held in the palace of the Trul-
Constituency lum at Constantinople on the 7th of November
of the so- ggo. The emperor, attended by thirteen mem-
caJIed sixth , p, . •! r* , i -in • i
general Dcrs 01 his couucil 01 statc^ presided as judg-e, or councu. moderator. The hig'hest places of honour were assig-ned to the leg-ates of the pope ; the next; to the patriarchs Georg'e and Macarius^ the metropolitan of EphesuSj and the legates of the sees of Alexandria and Jerusalem^ in their order ; the Spanish, Gallic, German, and British churches were unrepresented ; nor does it appear to have been thoug'ht at all necessary to notice them as constituents of the Latin communion otherwise than as represented by the papal leg-ates.^ The latter Proceedings, opcucd the proceeding's by denouncing- the he- and their ' rcsy of tlic " ouc will," but iu coufomiity with resu t. ^jjgij. instructions declining- to enter upon any dog-matic discussion of the controverted doctrine. The emperor, however, called upon both parties to declare their opinions, and to defend them freely by reference to the councils and the writing-s of the fathers. The meta- physical and relig'ious difficulties involved in the contro- versy were not much discussed ; Scripture, and its g-enuine interpretation, was scarcely adverted to at all : both par- ties confined themselves to long- quotations and extracts from the councils and the dicta of the catholic fathers ;
y Baronius and his commentator Pagi I think, however, that the term " lega- (Ann. 679, § i.) were sensible of this tus," used in the four subscriptions of objection to the universality of this so- Adeodatus of Gaul, Wilfred of York, called sixth oecumenical council. Ba- Felix of Aries, and Taurinus of Toulon, ronius tells us that the records of all the denoted simply their official character other preliminary or constituent provin- as presidents of the several Gallic and cial councils held by order of the pope British provincial councils. And in that are lost ; and Pagi adds, that the Gal- character the three French metropoli- lic bishops present at the preparatory tans, like Wilfred of York, took upon council held at Rome had, by their sub- themselves to speak for the bishops of scriptions, vouched themselves as depu- their provinces. There is no evidence ties of the churches of Gaul and Ger- whatever of any special provincial con- many. But, as Fleury properly remarks, vocations for the purpose of collect- W^ilfred of York also took upon himself, ing the sufFi-ages of the unrepresented without a shadow of authority, the cha- churches. See the subscriptions, apud racter of legate of the Anglican church. Hard. Concil. tom. iii. p. 1131.
Chap. I.] CONDEMNATION OF THE MONOTHELITES. 439
and indulo-ed in mutual reviling-s and charg-es of forgery, interpolation, false quotation, suppression, and fraud. Macarius of Antiocli was at first feebl}'^ supported b}^ the patriarch Georg-e ; but when overpowered by the superior learning* or volubility of his opponents, he took his stand upon the authority of the three gTeat patriarchs, Hono- rius of Kome, Sergius of Constantinople, and Cyrus of Alexandria. It was, however, pretty soon apparent to which side the emperor inclined, and the patriarch George accordingly professed himself convinced. He and his clergy declared that the authorities relied upon by the Latins were conclusive. All the Thracian and Asiatic bishops, with the exception of five, deserted Macarius ; and when the latter, nothing daunted, poured out his maledictions upon his opponents — more especially the hero of the adverse faction, the martyred Maximus — reasserted the fidelity of his quotations, and eulogised Honorius, Sergius, and Cyrus as the pillars of the or- thodox faith, he was answered by an almost unanimous sentence of excommunication and deposition, involving him and all his remaining adherents in one general con- demnation.
The success of the Latins was not, however, without serious alloy. Macarius had brought the name ^ ,
r. -r, Tx • • i 1 /^ 11 Condemna-
01 -Tope Honornis so prommently forward dur- tionofthe iup- the eiffht or nine first sessions, that the fa- Monotheiite thers could not avoid dealing with him as they were called upon to deal with the associated names of Sergius and C3a'us. In the thirteenth session it was there- fore resolved that the writings of all these persons, having been found to be at variance with the doctrine of the Apostles, the decrees of the councils, and the concurrent opinion of the fathers, heretical in themselves, and dan- gerous to the welfare of men's souls, they, their persons and their doctrine be blotted from the memory of all Christians, and erased from the records of the catholic Church. The sentence thus concludes : ^^ Sergius there- fore, late bishop of the city of Constantinople, the author of this heresy, Cyrus of Alexandria, P3aThus and Paul of Constantinople, Theodore bishop of Pharan, and all others
440 CATHEDRA PETEI. [Book V.
whom Pope Ag-athon hath condemned^ we do hereby con- demn and drive out of the Church ; and too-ether with these we do pass the like sentence^ and do in like manner doom to eternal perdition Honorius late pope tence upon of oM Mome^ for that it hath been manifestly ?f*Kom? pi*oved^ by his epistle to the said Serg-ius, as ex- hibited to us, that he hath in all thing's followed and adopted the impieties of him the said Sergius." The original letters of Honorius, tog'ether with the writing-s of all the condemned persons, which were to be found in the archives of the church of Constantinople, were publicly consig'ned to the flames ; the names of the martyrs and confessors of the orthodox opinion were restored to their honours in the Church 5 and in the sixteenth session, the anathemas decreed in the thirteenth were read and pro- mulg-ated, including- the solemn curse upon the memory of the " heretic Hotiorms of JRomeJ^
In the eig'hteenth and last session, the fathers drew Concluding ^P ^^^ ag^rccd upou their confession of faith, acts of the to wliich they appended an authentic list of the counci . (jgr^(j ^j^(j living- heretics whom they had con- demned. The list was found to contain the names of Ho- norius, Cyrus, and Macarius, the patriarchs of the three Petrine sees of Pope Gregory the Great,'' besides those of many minor heretics. As each name was pronounced in succession, with the appended anathema, the holy fathers echoed the curse with wonderful zeal and unction. With what feeling-s the papal leg-ates listened to this scurvy treatment of a successor of St. Peter, we are not in- formed. In other respects their triumph was complete. An address was voted to the emperor, eulogising- his piety, reiterating- the anathemas, praising- Pope Ag-athon, — " throug-h whom," said they, " the blessed apostle Peter hath spoken unto us," — and concluding- with a request that he would ratify their proceeding's with the seal of tem- poral law, by his imperial subscription and publication. A synodal letter to Pope Ag-athon was then drawn ujd, informing- him that they had, ag-reeably to his desire, condemned the heretical teachers named in his letters,
' See Book III. c. vi. pp. 204, 205 of this work.
Chap. I.] ADOPTION OF THE SIXTH GENERAL COUNCIL. 441
including- that of Honorius, whom the pope had certainly not named among- the number. In conclusion, they be- soug-ht the pope to adopt their confession of faith, \\ hich act they doubted not would call down the divine blessing* upon himself, the emperor, and the whole estate of the church and republic of Rome.''
The synod closed its sitting-s on the 16th of September in the year G81 j and the emperor without delay i^jpe^iai issued his edict for the execution of the conci- edict of con- liar decrees. The edict followed accurately the fi^™^«°°- terms of the decrees, even to the enumeration of the per- sons condemned, among- whom the name of Honorius of Rome stood out conspicuously; it concluded with an absolute prohibition to all classes of persons, lay or eccle- siastical, by private or public discussion, or otherwise, to revive the disputes now so happily broug-ht to a conclu- sion. Ever}^ transg-ression of this precept was to be visited by the like civil penalties as those annexed to doctrinal recusancy.
Pope Ag-athon died in the month of January 082 ; and was succeeded by Leo II., an ecclesiastic Pope Leo il of g-ood repute for piety and learning-. Owing- accepts the to some unexplained delay at Constantinople, adopts' tiie the new pope was not consecrated till the fol- anathemas. lowing- October. A few months afterwards, he sig-nified to the emperor his " pure and simple" adoption and con- firmation of the decrees of the late council. " After due examination," he declared, " we pronounce this sixth g-e- neral council of the Church to be in strict conformit}^ with the five preceding- councils. We also received with plea- sure the (confirmatory) edict of your majesty ; because, in conjunction with the decree of the council, we are thus put in possession of a two-edg-ed sword for the extirpation of all manner of heresy. We therefore g-ive our entire consent to the definitions of this holy sixth g-eneral coun- cil, and receive it as of equal authority with the five preceding- councils of the universal Church ; and we do
a This very short synopsis of the SO- folio pages. See the abridgments of
called sixth general council may be com- Baronius, Ann. 680 and 68 1 ; and Fleur?/,
pared with the details in the Concilia, torn. ix. pp. 25-65. torn. iii. pp. 1043-1644, — six hundred
442 CATHEDEA PETKI. [Book V.
hereby anathematise the inventors of the new heresy — to wit, Theodore of Pharan, Cyrus of Alexandria, Serg-ius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter of Constantinople, and lastly Honorius, who, instead of maintaining- the brig'ht purity of the apostolic see, did conspire and make common cause with heretics for the overthrow of the true faith."
•> J5aroM. Ann. 683, §§ xiii.-xv. The churches) as forgeries ; but Pa^ri treats cardinal rejects this and other four let- the cardinal's objections as " inep- ters of the same pontiflf (to the Spanish tise."
CHAPTER 11.
THE EAVENNATINE CONTROVERSY— THE QUINISEXT.
Political and religious position of the holy see — Participation of Rome in the sixth general council — Comparative state of the Eastern and Western churches — Death of C. Pogonatus — His successors — Leontius — Tiberius III. — Bardanes — Religious revolutions in the East— Claims of Ravenna — History of the Ra- vennatine patriarchate — The Autocephaly — Conflict between Rome and Ra- venna— Privileges of Ravenna cancelled by C. Pogonatus — Benedict II. pope — Election of Sergius I. — Substitution of saint and relic worship for idolatrous superstitions, &c. — Success of Pope Sergius I. — Origin and convocation of the " Quinisext" council — Objections to the constitution of the Quinisext council — Canons of the Quinisext — Pope Sergius I. rejects the council — Abortive attempts to compel acceptance of the Quinisext decrees — Complaisance of Justinian II. towards the holy see — Mysterious journey of Pope Constantine to Constantinople — Conjectural explanation.
In considering* the political and ecclesiastical position of the papacy subsequently to the fifth g-eneral j . council^ we are struck by the decline it exhibits religious both in spiritual dignity and relig*ious influence, ^hd^^^see^n^ The schism of the "three chapters" had inflicted the seventh a deep wound on the constitution of the papacy '^^'^'^"^y- in the West ; a wound which rankled in the body of the Roman church for more than half a century^ and was with difficulty closed by the zeal and discretion of the gTcat Greg'ory. Within the seventh century the vexa- tious neig'hbourhood of the Lombards^ and the still more weakening- political connection with Constantinople, was not as yet balanced by any external political support; and the pontiffs of Rome had been compelled to trim between the Greek and Lombard bellig"erents in Italy to obtain for their spiritual subjects a precarious immunity fi'om the visitations of war, and the dang-ers of relig-ious contamination. The Monothelite controversy was the climax of misfortune to Rome. The error of Pope Honorius I. drew after it a frank abandonment of the
444 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
Ennodian doctrine of impeccability/ and an incalculable loss of spiritual dig-nity. The abductions of Vig'ilius and Martin had affected only the temporal power of the holy see j the lapse of Honorius shook the foundation of a supremacy gTOunded upon a reputed incapability of doc- trinal error. The, if possible, still more palpable mistake of Pope Leo II., in consenting- to the condemnation of his predecessor, fixed the stig-ma of dogmatic peccability on the chair of Peter j and, while this backsliding* should be remembered among* men, the proud position g-ained for Home by the labour of Leo I., and the learning* or log'ic of Symmachus, could never be recovered.'' But, in truth, the whole attention of the pontiffs of this and the follow- ing* century had been in a g'reat deg'ree withdrawn from the ecclesiastical, and riveted — perhaps by the necessities of their political position — upon their temporal interests. The loss of spiritual dig*nity sustained by the result of the late council was to some extent compensated to Leo II. by court favour. Constantine Pog'onatus gTanted cer- tain important privileg*es to the see of Rome : a material reduction of the sum paj^able to the imperial treasury for confirmation was consented to ; and the customary deliveries of corn hitherto leviable upon the patrimonial estate of the Church in Calabria and Sicily, tog'ether with a few other fiscal burdens, were remitted.
But in other respects the holy see had been treated ^ . . . with no degTee of respect or deference corre-
Participation ■,. •. i,i !• pn
of Rome in sponduig* With the clauns so successiully mam- the sixth ge- failed by former pontiffs. So rapid had been the decline of true theological learning*, so pro- found the decay of g*enuine piety, so absorbing- the pur- suit of merely worldly objects among* the hierarchy and clerg*y g-enerally, that the influence of Rome, g'reat as it was, had to work with far baser materials, and with far less skilful hands, than those at her command when Leo I. convoked, directed, and controlled the g'reat synod of
* Conf. Book III. c. ii. p. 76 of this had been evanescent. But the pure and
work. simple acceptance of the decrees of the
b If Leo II. had dealt with the con- sixth general council left no room for
demnatioa of Honorius as Leo the Great escape. Conf. Book II. c. v. p. 408 of
had treated the twenty-eighth canon this work, of the council of Chalcedon, the danger
Chap. II.] EOMAN INFLUENCE IN THE EAST. 445
Chalcedon. Marcian^ and his wife Pulcheria^ supported that pontiff upon relig'ious rather than pohtical g-rounds ; Pog'onatus took no other than a purely pohtical interest in the proceeding's of the sixth oecumenical synod. Leo the Great could build upon a foundation of solid learning* and an enlig'htened exposition of Scripture ; he addressed himself to a world not yet wholly enslaved to sacerdotal tradition : Ag-athon presumed upon the ig-norance, rather than the inteUig-ence, of his party ; and supported himself almost solely upon traditional lore and patristic autho- rity. The g-reat object of papal ambition in that ag"e was the extension of the temporal estate of the Church 5 while the emperor was thinking- of nothing- but how to put an end to the vexations of relig'ious faction^ and to make the suppression of discordant theological opinions the step- ping'-stone to the extension of the imperial power in Italy. The theological sceptre had thus passed from the hands of Rome. Ag-athon could no longer insist upon a po- tential presidency ; the acts of the council no long-er ran in the name of the pope of Rome ; the council was no long-er convoked by him ; his leg'ates no longer presided over and directed all proceedings ; nor did the fathers re- g"ard themselves as called tog*ether for his purposes^ or to do his work. Constantine presided, directed^ and mode- rated in matters of relig'ion^ as well as in those of form and order; he affected to treat the litig-ants as equally privileged^ and the matters and thing's to be brought under discussion as subject to his scrutiny and approba- tion. He took no account of the attempt of the pope to limit the powers of the synod to the simple acceptance of his definitions ; he permitted and encouraged reiterated discussion of the controverted dogmas, and virtually re- pelled the pretension of Rome to bind down the Chris- tian world to the despotic decision of the Latin chief.
The prospects of Rome in the West wore a more favour- able aspect. Bating the independent attitude comparative of the Spanish prelacy j*" so soon to be altogether ^""^^^^^^ ^^®^ struck out of the list of Christian establishments, Western the Western and Northern churches were draw- churches.
c See Book IV. c. ii. p. 275.
446 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
ing* daily closer around her. In fact^ the ig'norance or credulity of the Christians of the West afforded a better security for their religious coherency than the theological acumen of the Greeks for the maintenance of their own ecclesiastical integ-rity and independence at home, or their influence abroad. In the East practical religion was almost swallowed up by dog'matic formalism, leaving* the heart emptied of every principle of resistance to the baser pas- sions and interests of the moment. Honesty and sincerity are the only permanent securities for liberty or independ- ence in Church or State ; and where these are wanting-, in- dependence, if not a chimera, more frequently turns out a curse than a blessing*. Within the remnant of the Oriental empire still unconquered by the Arabs, the Christian pre- lacy had abandoned themselves to the baneful spirit of theological faction ; and when not eng"ag'ed in denouncing* and persecuting* one another, had become the servile in- struments of a g-overnment infected with every vice en- gendered in the hotbed of despotism. The ultimate results of the g-reat Monothelite controvers}^ must be here shortly adverted to, with a view to the contrast of feebleness and of streng*th in the religious state of the two g*reat divi- sions of Christendom.
Constantine Pog*onatus died in the year 685, and was
Death of succccded by his worthless son Justinian II.
Pogonatus: After a reiern of ten years, — consumed in self-
his successors.' in 'it iij. i j
mdulg-ence, mdolence, and cruelty, — he was de- Leontius P^^^^; mutilatcd, and banished by Leontius, the popular favourite of the day. Within the first three years of his exile, his enemy was supplanted by Tiberius III ^psiniar, who ascended the throne by the title ' of Tiberius III. ; but in the eig*hth year of the reig*n of the latter prince, Justinian II. suddenly reap- peared at the g*ates of Constantinople, and was introduced into the city by the ever-fickle populace. His restoration was the sig-nal for the renewal of those unheard-of cruel- ties which in him had become a second nature; and in Phiiippicus the year 711 Phihppicus Bardanes ridded the Bardanes. ^orld of the tyrant, without mitigation of the tyranny to which all these miseries were ascribable. Bar-
Chap. II.] RELIGIOUS REVOLUTIONS IN THE EAST. 447
danes professed Monothelite opinions ; and the first act of his o'overnment was to aholish or destroy every me- morial of the sixth g-eneral council upon which he could la}^ his hands. At the simple mandate of the new em- peror, a numerous s^niod of bishops was found fully pre- pared to anathematise every enemy of the Monothelite tenetSj and to restore to fame and honours all whom that council had condemned or deposed. The names of Serg'ius^ Honorius^ and all who had suffered with them, were solemnly reinscribed in the sacred diptychs, and their effigies were ag'ain set up in the holy places. Cyrus, the orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, was deposed, and the Monothelite Johannes seated in his chair.
Passing* over the intermediate successions, the see of Rome was at the period of the elevation of Bar- j^^jj^j^^^ ^.g_ danes (a.d. 711) occupied by Pope Constantine. volutions in The former thoug-ht fit to send an apolog-y for *^^ •^^'*- his conduct to Eome ; but the pontiff rejected his expla- nations with contempt j he cast out the emperor's statues from the holy places, and erased his name from the liturg-y of the Church : yet he carefully avoided carrying- his religious resistance beyond the limits of temporal allegi- ance ; and successfully defended the imperial commander Peter against the rebel Christophiles, who, under favour of the religious fermentation in Rome, endeavoured to maintain himself in arms against the sovereign. Three years afterwards a new revolution hurled Bardanes from the throne ; and now Anastasius II. (Artemius), his suc- cessor, professed the orthodox faith. With sycophantic alacrity the clergy of the East hastened to restore the sixth general council to all its pristine dignity and honour. The acts of his predecessor were annulled, and the senti- ments of the new emperor were conveyed to Pope Con- stantine throuofh the exarch Scholasticus of Ravenna. The intrusive patriarch John at the same tune sent ni an ample retractation of the Monothelite error, with a lame apology for his late defection from the faith, and partici- pation in the deposition of the orthodox Cyrus. He con- cluded his excuses by asking pardon for his sins, and entreating the pope to accept his synodal letters in token
448 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
of communion and amity. The example of John was fol- lowed by all the metropolitans and prelates of the East ; and they now professed and taug'ht the doctrine of the two wills with at least as furious a zeal as they had^ under Philippicus^ taug'ht the adverse tenets.
From such a rival^ E-ome, though she might not have Claims of much to gain, could have little to fear. The Ravenna. hypocHtical vaciUatious of the Greek hierarchy justified the simple confidence of the Western churches in the honour and integrity of Rome ; while the alterna- tions of frantic dogmatism and unprincipled sycophancy in the Greeks shut out from their view all the remoter consequences of their own misdemeanours, and threw the advantage into the scale of ignorant integrity and consistency. But this spontaneous self- surrender of the Western churches partook of none of the capricious servility of the Bj^zantine character. A spirit to insist upon ancient rights^ even against the chair of Peter, often caused embarrassment to the course of pontifical govern- ment. The citizens of Ravenna had not forgot- of the°Ra- ten that their city had ranked with the imperial vennatine capitals of tlic empire ; and that the bishop of ' Ravenna had partaken of the proud distinction conferred upon the city when it became the imperial resi- dence of Honorius and his court. The privileges claimed were understood to extend to an exclusive jurisdiction over the ^milian province, resembling* that of Constan- tinople over her Thracian diocese. These privileges The Autoce- wcrc designated by the Greeks by the name of phaiy. ^^Autocephaly" imptying exemption from patri- archal or other visitatorial control.'* After the decree of Valentinian III., it is difficult to conceive on what legal ground Ravenna could claim exemption from the patri- archal jurisdiction of Rome.^ Thoug'h not lying within the Roman vicariate, or ^^ provincise suburbicarige," and therefore not an immediate or ordinary dependency of the holy see, she was obviously included within the vast region embraced by that decree. Yet it seems that Ra-
•■ BengfAam, Ecclesiastical Antiq. vol. i. ^ See abstract of the decree, in vol. i.
p. 277. Book II. c. iv. p. 353 of this work.
CHAr. II.] CONTEST BETWEEN ROME AND RAVENNA. 449
veiiiia had been raised to patriarchal rank when the city became the seat of g-overnment. She is said to have been taken out of the province of Milan^ as Constanti- nople had^ for a like reason^ been severed from that of Heracleia; and when thus separated^ her autocephaly seems to have been^ at least for a time, fully acknow- ledg-ed. It may, however, be doubtful whether the pri- vileg*e extended to exemption from the ultimate pontifical or superabounding* jurisdiction of the pope, or whether it only liberated her from the ordinary patriarchal autho- rity of the holy see. It is even probable that the claim of Ravenna extended only to exemption from the latter jurisdiction. But the popes, not content with asserting- their g'eneral visitatorial powers, — which g"ave them only an indirect and incidental privileg'e of interference, — de- nied not only the self-existence of Eavenna as an inde- pendent church, but also her special patriarchal character. In the exercise of this supremacy, Pope Vitalian had consecrated bishops within the province of Ravenna in the teeth of the remonstrances of the patriarch Maurus. The latter applied for redress to the emperor Constans II., and obtained from him an imperial charter, exempt- ing- the church of Ravenna from all foreign interference, " in such wise that that church should be in no manner subject to the patriarch of old Rome, but be absolutely self-existent and self-governed ; that the bishops of Ra- venna should be no long-er obliged to go to Rome, but should be consecrated by the bishops of the diocese, in the same manner as other archbishops are consecrated, and, like them, receive their pallium from the emperor."^ It appears, therefore, that neither Maurus nor the emperor intended any more than to secure to the ecclesiastical province of Ravenna the or- between dinary canonical privileo-es of all metropolitan ^o™® ^°<* churches ; that, namely, of choosing and conse- crating their own archprelate. On the other hand, it is manifest that the bishop of Rome reg'arded both church and province as simple dependencies of his chair ; the
' See Agnellus, Vit. Pont. Ravenn. ap. Muratori gives the entire charter. Murat. 8s. Rr. Ital. tom.ii. pp. 143-6.
VOL. II. G G
450 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
choice of the prelate to rest^ probably, with the suflfra- g-aiis, the approval and consecration being- reserved to himself. Vitalian, therefore, treated the application to the emperor as an insult to the supreme patriarchal juris- diction of the holy see, and cited Maurus before himself at Rome to answer for the contempt. In his reply, the archbishop maintained that the independence of his church had been secured by ancient and positive ag-reement with the holy see ; he rejected the citation, and bade the messeng-ers of the pope faithfully report this answer to their master. Vitalian took no notice either of the alleg'ed compact or the charter of Constans, and excommunicated the archbishop in due form. The latter retorted the in- jury with the like solemnit}^ ', and to the close of their lives both pontiffs treated each other as aliens and out- casts from Christian communion.^
The relig'ious revolution ^\hich followed upon the ac- cession of Constantine Pog'onatus . completely o/Rav^rTna chang'ed the position of the two sees. The ob- canceiied by noxious gTaut of Coustaus II. was rcvcrscd by
U.Pogonatus., . ^ , niii- f
nis successor : he cancelled the claim or auto- cephaly ; he directed the charter, " surreptitiously" ob- tained b}^ the late archbishop, to be delivered up ; and ordered that for the future the pontiff'-elect of Ravenna should repair to Rome to receive consecration at the hands of the pope. At the same time he prohibited the usual honours to the memory of Maurus ; but exempted the Ravennatine church from the customary payment to the holy see for investiture.'' Constantine was in truth anxious to uphold the work of conciliation beg'un at the g'reat council of 681. The alliance of Rome was of more importance than the rig-hts or honours of the capital of a precarious dependency. He had the sagacity to per- ceive that the support of the head of the Latin church must be more conducive to Ryznntine interests in Italy than the g-oodwill of any individual or section of the hierarchical body. He therefore strove to maintain the
e Agnelhis, ubi sup. ; and see the im- in Vit. Leo II. ap. Murat. torn. iii. p. satisfactory " observations," p. 145. 145.
*• Or grant of tlie pallium. Anctstas.
CiiAP. II.] LEO II. BENEDICT 11. CONON, SERGIUS I. POPES. 451
pacific understanding' established with Leo II. ; and when^ in the year 084^ that pontiff was succeeded by Benedict ii. Benedict II., he dispensed with the expensive p^p^- and dilatory proceeding's hitherto requisite to obtain the imperial confirniationj and directed that on every occasion of a papal election, instead of the customary embassy to Constantinople, the exarch of Ravenna should be empow- ered to issue the imperial warrant for the consecration of the pontiff-elect.' As a further testimony of his high re- g'ard and reverence, he dedicated his two sons, Justinian and Heraclius, to the service of the holy see, by the deli- very of the long' hair which, in accordance with custom, was cut off from the heads of youths when the}^ arrived at the ag'e of manhood, into the hands of the pope in token of the filial relation of which that act was a symbol and a pledo'e.-*
The death of Constantine Pogonatus in 685 opened the succession to the elder of these youths, Jus- papai tinian II. Between the new emperor and the elections. holy see the same relations of amity continued for some 3^ears to subsist. At home the papacy was not altog'e- ther free from domestic disturbances. The archbishop of Cao-liari in Sardinia was infected with the like schis- matic spirit of autocephaly with the prelates of Ravenna. He was, however, speedily reduced to submission.'' But a more threatening' demonstration occurred in the choice of a successor to Benedict II. himself. The armed popu- lation, or militia, of Rome refused to concur in the elec- tion of the nominee of the clergy^ and put up a candidate of their own. After many days of fruitless conference, fortunately unattended with any breach of the peace, the affair was happily settled by both parties abandoning- their respective favourites, and agreeing' to the elec- conon tion of Conon, a very respectable but extremely P^pe. infirm old man.' The new pope soon sank into the tomb ; and his death was, as usual, the sig'nal for a renewal of
' Anastas. in Vit. Bened. II. ubi sup. that he Avas ahnost incapable of per-
p. 146; conf. Fleurij, torn. ix. p. 75. forming the duties of his office. He sat
J Ibid, ubi sup.; conf, Ducange, Glos. only ten months and twelve days. Co-
voc. " Capilli." non sat eleven months and twenty-threo
^ Ibid, ubi sup. p. 146. days. Anastas. ubi sup.
• Benedict II. himself was so feeble
45*2 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book V.
the contentions which had attended his own election. People and clergy separated into two factions^ each of which put forward its own candidate, and took up a mi- litary position, with a view to intimidate each other rather than to commit themselves to actual warfare. The more Election of moderate on both sides at length seceded from Sergius I. the factious, and elected Sergius, the precentor of the Koman church. Meanwhile Paschal, one of the adverse candidates, had put himself in communication with the exarch Platys of Ravenna, and eng-ag'ed to pay him the sum of one hundred pounds of g'old as the price of his patronag-e. Allured by the prospect of so rich a bribe, Platys furtively appeared in Rome, resolved at all events to secure the promised treasure. But finding- that the interest of Serg-ius was in the ascendant, he extorted from the successful candidate the bribe he had no long-er any prospect of obtaining* from the unlucky Paschal. The pope-elect met with some difficulty in raising* the money ; Platys was, however, at leng-th satisfied, and Serg'ius was, with his consent, installed and consecrated."
The payment of this exorbitant demand does not seem materially to have crippled the pecuniary re- of saint and sourccs of the ucw poutiff. Hc expended larg-er ^^forTdoTa^-^ sums upou the repairs and internal decoration trous super- of his churclies than any of his predecessors ; stitions, cScc. j^g introduced new ceremonies into the ritual, and increased the pomp and show of public worship ; a display in harmony with the habitual policy of the Roman church. It should be borne in mind, that thoug'h the spurious Christianity introduced by the Lombard con- querors into Italy was in a g-reat degree extinct; and thoug-h the majority of that people had within the seventh century slidden gradually into the Latin profession, — still many heathen practices remained to be overcome. Arian- ism, in alliance with the old popular superstitions, still lurked in the habits and prepossessions of the new con- verts. The zeal and assiduity of the Latin clergy had suc- cessfully combated many of these evils. In lieu of their ancient groves and fountains and rude altars, the papal
" Anastas. in Vit. Sergii I. ubi sup. p. 148.
CuAi". II.] POLICY OF POPE SERGIUS 1. 463
cliurclimen had provided the people with statety temples : relicSj imag'es, processions, and a show}^ ritual offered an acceptable substitute for their bloody sacrifices, their riot- ous festivals, and their idolatrous mummeries. Princes and people slipped g'ently into the smooth path of relic and imag'e worship, recommended to them as substitutes for the numerous objects of superstitious reverence they had been required to abandon. The}^ now put that trust which they had formerly reposed in charms, amulets, and incantations, in the power of the saints and the virtues of their relics ; they became as eag'er as the devout Franks themselves for the possession of these efficacious remains, and vied with each other in the erection of shrines and churches for their due honour and worship."
This course of religious policy, considered with refer- ence to the objects in view, such as they were, p^jj^ was recommended by its obvious expediency, of Pope Any expenditure of treasure for the purpose of ^^^"s^^^ ^^ captivating' the senses, — perhaps ultimately of fixing' the attention of a semi-barbarous race upon the hig-her doc- trines and nobler practice of the Christian profession, — could not fail to brino- with it a rich increase of influence and wealth to the priests of the shrine. The mainten- ance of the honours supposed to be due to the imag'es of the Virg'in mother and the saints was a measure of at least equal importance. Serg'ius I. took advantag'e of the relig'ious sympathy which in these respects subsisted between his church and his Lombard neig'hbours to elimi- nate the last remains of the schism of the "three chap- ters," which still lurked in some districts of the Lombard king'dom. Nearly a century and a half had elapsed since that unhappy experiment upon the settled faith of Chris- tendom had been tried. Murmurs were already beg'in- ning' to be heard in some quarters ag'ainst the abuses of imag-e-worship ; and Pope Sergius mig-ht, on that g-round alone, be more keenly sensible of the importance of com- bining- the undivided force of rehgious prepossessions for
" See the history of the restoration the bones of St. Benedict by the Frank- of the Abbey of Monte Casino, ap. Paul. ish relic-venders, Ibid. lib. vi. c. 2. Conf. Diac. lib. vi. c. 40; and of the theft of Hist, of the Germ, p. 816,
454 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
the defence of a practice by this time intertwined with all the devotional habits of his spiritual subjects^ and es- sential to the whole course of the religious policy of the hol}^ see." In this effort the pope^ we are told^ Avas emi- nently successful; and Serg-ius enjoyed the prospect of unbroken religious peace througiiout the vast extent of his patriarchal influence.
It is not to be denied that the Roman pontiffs were Origin and justified in reg"arding' the Eastern churches as convocation the propcr foci of relig-ious strife. As long- as Quinisext their comiection with the B3^zantines lasted^ coimcii. they were never safe from the disturbing* influ- ences of Greek tergiversation and dishonesty. Thus^ in the year 691, the emperor Justinian II. was informed by his restless ecclesiastics that as the two last g-eneral councils had omitted to publish any positive ordinances or canons, no rule existed for the practical application and execution of the g'eneral principles of ecclesiastical o'overnment the fathers had then and there laid down. With a view to suppl}^ this defect, the emperor was per- suaded to summon an extraordinary assembly of the Oriental churches, which was to be reg'arded as an adjournment of, or supplementary to, the two preceding- general councils : all acts and proceeding's to be there adopted were to flow out of those councils, and to derive their authority from them ; so that the convocation should not assume an oecumenical character in any other respect than as part and parcel of the g-reat synodal bodies they undertook to represent. They ag-reed, in short, to reg-ard themselves as a sort of executive council, invested with the powers necessary to fi-ame the body of rules required for the practical execution of the principles of ecclesias- tical g'overnment and discipline previously established. And in that view of its functions, the meeting* afterwards became known to the Latins as the ^^ Quinisext" Council,
" Paul the Deacon has hit upon the were supposed to threaten to the hon-
true motive for the suppression of the ours of the divine " Theotokos." See
writings of Theodoret, Theodore, and Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. 14; andconf.Book
Ibas. Eutychians and Catholics were IV. c. v. p. 157 of this work, equally alarmed by the dangers they
Chap. II.] T^E QUINISEXT COUNCIL. 455
and to the Greeks as the (rvvolog vivkKryj. The fathers met in the Trullum, or vaulted hall^ of the imperial palace at Constantinople^ from which circumstance it is very com- monly known b}^ the name of the council of the Trullum. The first session was held on the 31st of Aug-ust 091; and in that and the following- sitting's no fcAver than one hundred and two canons Avere enacted. But as it is not proposed in this place to advert fully to the manner in which the fathers of this council dealt wdth the whole system of church-leg-islation^' we confine our remarks to a few of the more prominent characteristics of this body of ecclesiastical law^, in their bearing- upon the interests of the Latin church and her pontiff.
The pretence set up by the Greeks, that this synod was an adjournment or continuance of the two objections prior o-eneral councils, is altoo-ether untenable ; to.^iie
r ^ ,i^_ - . , ? 1 1 ®i 1 ^ rv 1 constitution
the fifth havmg- been held nearly 140 years^ and of the the sixth only eleven years, before its convoca- Quinisext. tion. Thoug-h in strictness it might not be necessary that the members attending- should be the same either in respect of persons or numbers, yet in this case the dispa- rity is so g-reat in both respects as to leave no room for that identity of mind and purpose Mdiich must always subsist betAveen an original and an adjourned meeting- of a deliberative body. A more important objection arises out of the non-participation of the Latin church. There is but scanty evidence that any notice of the intent of the con- vocation was g-iven to the great Western patriarch ; and certain it is that the acts of the council were not signed by a single prelate of that great division of Christendom'' to Avhom any representative character could wdth decent probability be assigned.' Spaces are, indeed^ left in
P Further remarks upon this subject rian says that the legates of the holy
must be reserved for a future opportu- see were present; but there is nothing
nity, more especially in our proposed in the signatures to confirm him but
ecthesis of the ecclesiastical law of the this anomalous "locum tcnens," whose
ninth century. pretensions to represent any body or
q Unless we reckon Basilius bishop any thing are negatived by every other
of Gortyna in Crete, as a province of circumstance in the transaction. But
the eparchia of Illyricum (Jrientalc, to conf. Anustas. ubi sup. p. 149; and the
the AVestern patriarchate. This person subscriptions, ap. Hard. Cone. torn, iii,
signs as " locum tenens totius synodi S. pp. 1 C99 et sqq.
Rom. ecclesia)." Anastasius the libra- ' I have looked carefully through the
456 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
blank for the signatures of the pope^ and the archprelates of Thessalonica, Ravenna, Sardinia, and Corinth ; but there is no g-round to beheve that these spaces were ever filled up by any of the g-reat ecclesiastics for whom they were reserved. The Latins were therefore at full liberty to reg-ard the proceeding's as incomplete and void, even if the fathers of the council had not evinced in the whole course of their deliberations an almost total disreg-ard of the opinions and interests of the Latin communion. This supercilious spirit is plainly broug-ht to lig-ht in drawing- up their catalog'ue of the fathers whose writing's should be admitted as of canonical authority in the Church. Among- these no sing-le name of a Latin father appears but that of Cyprian of Carthag-e.' It can hardly be sup- posed that, if that church had been either personally or virtually represented, such an omission could have been perpetrated. But even while thus canonising* their own pecuhar body of tradition, the subtle Greeks could not abstain from attacking- that of their Western brethren. Up to this moment, it may be observed, the question of sacerdotal matrimony had never been made the subject of g-eneral conciliar deliberation, nor even of public dis- cussion, between the two divisions of Christendom. The meddlesome subtlety, however, of the Quinisext fathers now raised the question by a direct comparison of the Roman practice with their own in respect of the mar- riag-e of ecclesiastics; without perhaps perceiving* that they were thereby drawing* a line of separation between them- selves and the Latins, which, but for this impertinence, mig'ht for ag^es have remained in convenient and peaceful obscurit}^
The extreme feebleness of the reasoning* by which Canons ^^^J maintained the validity of their own prac- of the tice, could not but add contempt to the dislike with which Rome always contemplated the mi- nutest departure from her own pecuhar discipline. The Greeks fully admitted that indelible taint of impurity
signatures in my copy of the councils his works, torn. iii. p. 359.
(as above), but do not find any signature » See canons i. and ii. among the
" loco Ravennatis," as there ought to be " Canones Trullanas," ap. Van Espen,
according to Van Espen's reading. See torn. iii. pp. 360, 361.
CiiAr. II.] COLLISION WITH THE LATINS. 457
which, in the opinion of the more rig-id Latin doctors, at- tached to the matrimonial connection,' and acknowledo-ed the principle, that the mediating' priest ong-ht to be tree from such taint. Consistent!}^ with this profession, the Latins very g'enerally held it necessary to eradicate the evil, and to prohibit the marriage of all orders of the priesthood without distinction. Supporting" themselves upon the same g-rounds, the Greeks vainty dreamt that by restricting' matrimonial intercourse they could divest it of its inherent character, and present their priesthood without the reproach of sensual contamination."
In the same litig'ious spirit, the council declared the Roman custom of keeping' every Saturday as well as every Wednesday in Lent as a day of collision rig'id abstinence from food, to be contrary to ^^'jj*® the apostolic rule ; and they ordered that that church should be admonished to reform its practice."" Some irritation mig-lit naturally have been felt by Rome at the reiteration of the name of Pope Honorius among- the heresiarchs condemned by the sixth g-eneral council j^" but that feelino' must have been stimulated to resent- ment by the xxxvi"' canon, Avhich revived the ancient pretensions of Constantinople to equality of rank, and resuscitated the question of political attribution in op- position to spiritual pedigree.'' The xxxviii% indeed, imparted, ipso Jhcto, conformable ecclesiastical privileg-e to every city which it might please the emperor to ad- vance to higher rank, whether municipal, provincial, or
' Conf. vol. i. Book II. c. i. pp. 262 et ap. Van Espen, torn. iii. p. 368. The de-
sqq. of this work. fensive allegation that the Lord and his
" The Greeks admitted that the Latin apostles had sanctioned marriage did
practice was a rule " exactaj perfecti- not on their own principle apply to the
onis;" a clear admission that their own priesthood; for if it did, they could
did not come up to that standard. They not justify their restrictions, because the
decreed that no clerk or presbyter should sanction pleaded imposed none. The
marry after orders; if married before, root of the error, we conceive, lies in the
he might retain his wife, provided gross misconception of the nature of the
she was his first and only wife, and a matrimonial connection from which
virgin at the time of marriage. But a both parties set out. temporary abstinence from connubial " Can. Trullan. Hard. Cone. iii. can.
intercourse was made a canonical quali- Ivi. p. 1682. See also Van Espen, nhi
fication for the celebration of the divine sup. p. 390.
offices; and when a presbyter was made " See can. i. Hard, ubi sup. p. 16.58.
a bishop, he was to banish his wife, if he -^ Conf. vol. i. Book II. c. v. pp. 399-
had one, from his presence for the rest 405 et sqq. of his life. See Can. Trullan. can. xii.
458 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
metropolitan '/ a provision which threw spiritual rig-hts into the backgTound, and in a g-reat measure placed them at the mercy of the sovereign.'' This canon was probably all the more offensive to Kome^ because it introduced and recognised as law the very principle upon which the rank of the patriarch of Constantinople rested ; a principle at all times contemplated b}^ Rome with unmitigated disgust and alarm. The fathers, however^ at the close of their sittings signed the acts of the council in the order of their respective rank — the emperor at the head^ the four patri- archs in succession^ leaving* a blank space for the signa- ture of the pope j and^ in their proper places^ three similar spaces for those of the bishops of Thessalonica^ Ravenna, Sardinia, and Corinth. Soon after the conclusion Sergmt I. of the acts, Justinian sent off a duplicate origi- rejects the j^q^] ^q Popc Scrg-ius, reciuirino' him to si^n and
council, -*- o / i o ^ o
return the document. But to this demand the pope returned a peremptor}^ refusal. We are not in pos- session of the grounds alleged by the pontiff at the time in justification of his disobedience ; but where so much appears upon the face of the document itself to awaken the suspicions and excite the apprehensions of Rome, the reasons of the refusal may be very readily apprehended/ Stung- to the quick by this contemptuous treatment of his mandate, Justinian II. despatched orders to attemptTto Zacharias, his protospatharius, or officer in com- compei the mand of the Ravennatine army, to arrest Pope
acceptance ^-^ . , ^ -i • • a • i r^ , •
of the feergms, and send hnn m chains to Constanti- ^ec"eeT* noplc. In obcdicnce to the imperial command, that officer marched an arm}^ to Rome, and en- camped outside the walls of the city. But soldiers and citizens were equally disgusted at the sacrilegious at- tempt : the former broke into open mutiny j and, supported
y The clause as quoted in Hard. Con- rvirots koI ri tS>v iKKXyianaffTiKWf irpay-
cil. ii. p. 607 (Concil. Chalced.), is part fiaroov to|is aKoXovdeircc. Id. ibid. torn,
of the xvii"> canon. It runs thus: ft Se iii. p. 1675. The verb KaivSoo is here
ris €K 0a(nXiK7]s i^ovcrias iKaiviadr] irSxis, obviously used in the sense of " to de-
■5) avTts KatvLaOfiT), ro7s Tro\iriKo7s Kal vote," " to change to higher rank," " to
SrifjiualoLs Tinrois Koi twv eKKXriaiaffTiKicv dedicate to higher purposes."
TvagoLKiSiv 7}'ra.i^is cLKoXovdeiTca. TheQuini- ^ Conf. Van Espen, vol. iii. pp. 379-
sext thus quotes this canon: ei" tls e«: 381 ad TruUan. Cone.
PacriXiKvs i^ovaias iicaivladT] ir6\is, ^ au- ^ Conf. Sower, vol. iii. p. 152. Tis KaiviaOri, rois ttoAltiko^s Kal Sr]iJ.oalois
Chap. II. ] COMPLAISANCE OF JUSTINIAN. 459
b}^ the populace^ compelled Zacharias to take refug'e from their indio-nntion under the protectmg* mantle of the pon- tic'himself. The latter, anxious to save the minister of his nominal sovereig-Uj exerted himself to assuag-e the tumult, and with some difficulty persuaded the populace to permit the offender to leave the city.'' It was obvious that no impression could by such means be made upon the ecclesiastical position of the papacy ', and within four years of the close of the Quinisext council, Justinian, as alread}" noticed, was deposed, mutilated, and banished. He lived in exile till the year 699 5 but by boldness and promptitude recovered a throne which he afterwards pol- luted with every imaginable crime that disg-races human nature. In the year 701, Sergius was succeeded by John, sixth of that name. During- this pontificate we hear of no attempt to compel the acceptance of the Quinisext statutes.'' But in that of his successor John VII., Jus- tinian renewed the experiment ; and this time, in a spirit of reasonable forbearance. A copy of the decrees was sent to Rome, with the request that the pontiff would consider them in council; and that after due deliberation he would sanction such of them as he should think rio-ht, and ob- ject to those he miglit see reason to disapprove. The pontiff, however, declined the office of censor thus thrust upon him, as he mig-ht reasonabty suspect, not without desig'u, and sent back the document in the same state as that in which he received it, without sio-nifyino- either adoption or rejection.
Constantino succeeded to John YII. on the papal throne,'' in the month of December 708. It is remarkable that this Constantino was the se- o^'jusSar venth in succession of popes all natives of Greece ]^- towards
a ' • , • . • , the holy see.
or byria ; a circumstance pointmg* to some re- maining" influence of the imperial court in the pontifical elections. Yet in all these pontiffs the sentiment of na-
'• Anastas. in Sergio, ap. Murat. vol. ^ Sisinnius intervened, but for a few
iii. p. 149; Ciacone, Vit. Pont. torn. i. daj's only. He died within the month
p. 489; Paul. Diac. lib. vi. c. 11. of his election or consecration, in No-
•= According to Ciacone, John VI. vember 708 of our calendar. Ciacone,
reigned three years, two months, and in Sisinnio. twelve days.
460 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
tionality yielded to the sense of official oblig*atioii ; with this difference^ perhaps, that their resistance to imperial irreg'ularities or innoA^ntions was rather of a passive than an active character. We are not^ indeed, informed of the ultimate fate of Justinian's recommendation on be- half of the Quinisext decrees; but we learn that at this point of time a more cordial feeUng than heretofore sub- sisted between the pope and the emperor. Justinian be- came not merely indulgent, but, after his own savage fashion, complaisant to the holy see. The pope having* complained of the contumacious conduct of Felix arch- bishop of Ravenna, the emperor obligingly caused that prelate to be deposed, imprisoned, and blinded : he at the same time put to death certain officers of the arch- bishop; and reiterated the decree of Pogonatus cancel- ling the charter of privilege granted by Constans II. to the see of Ravenna.'
But perhaps these characteristic proofs of imperial Mysterious f^vour wcrc as mucli calculated to inspire ter- journey of ror as confidcuce in the mind of the pope. At staStine°to ^^^ cvcuts, they scrvcd as an introduction to a Constant!- sccuc of mystcry, to which we have only a con- ^^^ ^' jectural solution to offer. In the fourth year of his pontificate, Pope Constantine received an order from the court to repair to Constantinople. He obej^ed with- out delay, and took the road to Naples with a numerous retinue of clergy. Scarce^, however, had he turned his back upon Rome, when the exarch Rizocopas appeared in the city ; and, for no assigned cause, put to death Saulus, a cardinal-deacon of the Church, and three principal offi- cials of the pontifical court. After this tragedy, the pope without delay embarked and pursued his voyage. In every city where he landed, he was, by order of the court, received with extraordinary demonstrations of reverence ; and on his approach to Constantinople he was met by Tiberius, the eldest son of the emperor, accompanied by the patriarch Cyrus and his clergy, and all the great offi- cers of the imperial court, at the distance of seven miles from the city, and conducted in state to the residence
^ Anasfas. iibi sup. p. 152. Conf. pp. 449, 450 of this chapter.
Chap. IL] POPE CONSTANTINE AT CONSTANTINOPLE. 461
assig-ned to him in the palace of Placidia. After some days of repose^ lie received a summons to meet the em- peror at Nicomedia in Bithynia. Constantine obeyed^ and was received by Justinian with the most marked re- spect and courtesy. The emperor, we are told, prostrated himself at the feet of the pontiif, and afterwards em- braced him amid the joyful acclamations of the assembled people. On the following- Lord's-day, the pope and the emperor communicated tog'ether; and on that occasion Justinian solemnly entreated the prayers of the pontiff for the remission of his sins. This was to all appear- ance the last scene of the comedy enacted at Nicomedia. Constantine was eiven to understand that he miofht now set out on his return as soon as it should please him. Not a moment was lost in availing" himself of the permission ; and he arrived safely in Rome about a twelvemonth from the date of his departure for the East.^
For these gTotesque demonstrations of cruelty and ostentation the papal biographer assig'ns no conjectural motive. The outrag-e inflicted upon the arch- ^^'^p^'^^^'^^o"- bishop of Ravenna, the sudden deportation of the pope, the murder of four of the cardinal-clerg-}^ of Rome, the extravag'ant display of respect lavished upon the pontiff, the scenic performance at Nicomedia, and the dismissal of Constantine with as little ceremony as that which ac- companied the summons, — all these incidents pass before us rather like romance than history. Still there are some reasons to believe that much more passed at the confer- ence at Nicomedia than appears upon the foce of the narrative. The unswerving" obedience of the pope after the murder of his friends at Rome, his perseverance in his journey, notwithstanding" the infirm state of his own health and the death of several of his companions on the voyag-e, are strong" indications of the terror inspired by the preliminary measures of the emperor. The obstinate determination of the latter to carry throuo-h the decrees of the Quinisext council, however disg'uised under the cloak of moderation or deference, was too notorious not to have struck the pope as the probable, if not the ascer-
f Aiiastds. ubi sup. pp. 152, 1^3.
462
CATHEDRA PETRI.
[Book V.
tained^ motive for the summons. And when we reflect that in the course of time the Trullan decrees made their appearance in the pubhc code of the Latin churchy thoug'h, it mig'ht be, to the exclusion of some of the more offensive articles/ we shall probably have no g"reat difficulty in ar- riving* at the conclusion that some understanding* was established at the interview of Nicomedia, having- for its object the acceptance of those decrees in some such form as to reconcile them with the scheme of decretal law upon which the whole structure of the Roman church-
g'overnment rested.
s Anastasius himself, in the preface to the acts of the so-called seventh ge- neral council (Nicsea II. a.d. 787), ad- mits that the see of Rome had adopted the Quinisext decrees as far as was
consistent with the older canons and decretals of the pontiffs. Hard. Concil. tom. iv. pp. 19, 20. Conf. Van Espen, Dissert, ad Synod. Quinisext. tom. iii. p. 359.
CHAPTER III.
THE ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVERSY. (I.)
Elevation of Leo III. the Isaurian — Oi'igin of the iconoclastic controversy — Primi- tive opinions as to image-worship — Sudden rise of image-worship — Causes of the rise of image-worship — First breathings of the controversy — Argviments — Controversy stimulated by the Arab conquests — Aversion of Arabs and Jews to the use of images — Eai'lier steps of Leo the Isaurian against images — Germanus on image-worship — Pope Gregory II. on image-worship — Reply of the iconoclasts — Inveterate character of the controversy — Leo's second edict against images — Insurrection — Papal denunciations of iconoclasm — Gregory III. — His insolent address to the emperor — His fabulous portraits, images, &c. — Ignorant vituperations of Gregory III. — Gregory defies the em- peror— Impotency of the empire in Italy — Council at Rome against the image- breakers — Leo confiscates the patrimonies of the Roman church, &c. — The pope retains his nominal allegiance to the empire — State of the papacy at the death of Gregory III,
Three j'^ears after the death of the tyrannical Justinian II., his conqueror Phihppicus Bardanes was Elevation of himself deposed by Artemius, or Anastasius II. Leo iii. (the (a.d. 714) ; and within the following- four years ^'^^"^^^^)- the latter 3^ielded up the throne to Theodosius III. But at that moment the capital of the empire was threatened both b}^ sea and land by countless hosts of Arabs, under their caliph Suleiman. The feeble emperor and his sub- jects concurred in o])inion, that he was unequal to the g'overnment in so critical a state of public affairs; he therefore surrendered the sceptre into the abler hands of Leo, an Isaurian soldier of fortune, who, by long- and me- ritorious services, had acquired the respect and confidence of all classes, but more especially of the army, which he for some time commanded with ability and success.
The emperor Leo III., better known in history by the name of Leo the Isaurian, ascended the ori,rin of the throne of the East in the month of March 717. icolioeiastic His first achievement was the total defeat and '^^^^'^^'^^^^y- destruction of the Moslem fleet and army before Con-
464 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
stantinople, after sustaining- a pertinacious sieg"e of four- teen months. But for the purpose of our narrative^ the name of Leo the Isaurian is chiefly interesting- as it connects itself with a controversy of hig-her importance to the history of the poUtico-religious scheme of Home than any that had hitherto disturbed the peace of the Church. This controversy and its issue are known to the Latins by the name of the '^Iconoclastic, or imag-e- breaking-^ schism." It arose out of a very g-eneral opi- nion among- the Christians of the East adverse to imao-e, picture and relic worship^ and a widely-spread project for the total and simultaneous abolition of these practices throug-hout the Christian world; an attempt which en- g-endered hatred more intense^ and a fanaticism more mischievous, than any preceding- diverg-ency of relig'ious opinion. The merits of the questions debated on both sides do not enter into the purview of our history; but as public opinion is a material element in determining* the course of human events, we cannot avoid adverting* to the state of the g-eneral mind upon the subject of re- presentative worship, and the steps by which visible and material objects of relig-ious reverence came to eng-ross so larg-e a share in the devotional practices of the Chris- tian Church.
It is g-eneralty admitted, that within a period of more
. . than three centuries from the first publication
view™a7to of the Gospcl neither imag-es nor any other
image- yisiblc objccts of relig'ious reverence were ad-
worsliiT) . •
mitted into the public ritual of the churches, or adopted into the exercises of private devotion. The reasons for this abstinence from all external or represen- tative worship are sufticiently obvious ; for, in the first place, if any such practice had been permitted, the Chris- tian community would have inevitabl}^ exposed them- selves to the charge of that idolatry which they repro- bated in the heathen ; and would have thereby practically abandoned their protest ag-ainst the besetting- sin of an unconverted world. In the next place, the judaisino* Christians, and with them all who adopted the literal exposition of the second commandment^ could not but
CuAT. III.] ORIGIN OF IMAGE- WORSHIP. 4G5
reg'ard the exposure of iinag-es^ pictures^ relics, or other visible objects of devotional reverence, as a positive breach of the rig-id and uncompromising- law of God. Some of the earlier fathers carried this severity of exposition so far as to pronounce unlawful the exercise of the imitative arts of sculpture and painting-, not only because they were, in fact, the ministering- arts of idolatry, but from an opinion that the absolute and unconditional prohibition to make or set up any imag-e or representative object of worship, was intended to encounter and to strang-le in its birth the criminal predilection of mankind for sym- bolism, and its ordinary consequence — idolatry.
But when Christianity was once safely lodg-ed under the protecting- wing- of the laAV, a chang-e in ^^^^^^ ^j^^ this state of public opinion becomes almost im- of image- mediately apparent. The empress Helena dis- ^^^^'^'p- interred the wood of the '''• true cross ;" and the discovery sharpened the appetite for similar memorials of the Sa- viour, his holy mother, and his inspired disciples. Stories g-ot abroad of an autog-raph letter of the Lord, sent by Himself to Abg-arus, king- or prince of Edessa i"" Nico- demus was reported to have made an imag-e of the divine humanity; not long- afterwards portraits of Christ and his mother were ascribed to the hand of the evano-elist Luke ; an orig'inal statue of the Lord himself was re- ported to be still extant at Cnesaroea Philippi in Syria. These statements g-ave encourag-ement to other inventions of the like character; effig'ies of sacred persons and thing's multiplied with surprising- celerity, and were exhibited for the reverence of the faithful, without a whisper of objection on the part of the Church or its ministers. It mig-ht be trul}^ said that Christians had with one consent fallen down and worshipped g-raven imag'es.
It is not difficult to comprehend the causes of this sudden revolution of the relig-ious mind. From the ag-e of Constantine the Great till the epoch the^rSlof of the Arab invasion, the Christian community image- had, for more than three centiu-ies, been relieved from all fear of the reproaches or the evil example of the
» Euseb. H. E. lib. i. c. xiii. VOL. II. H H
466 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book V.
heathen; and the reason founded on that apprehension for persisting- in the renunciation of representative worship ceased altog'ether. In the same deg-ree as this fear van- ished from ^heir thoughts, the clergy became ahve to the incidental advantag-es to be derived from the use of im- ag-es and pictures. In consequence of the almost total decay of literature, both among clergy and laity, pic- tures and statues, and visible representations of sacred ob- jects and subjects of Scripture-history, became the readiest, almost the onty mode of conveying* instruction, encourag- ing* devotion, and strengthening* religious sentiments in the minds of their people. Neither is it altogether impro- bable that, in the absence of other means of instruction, the whole scheme of Christianity, thus divested of exter- nal forms, might have fallen into oblivion, or have become so inextricably confounded with the mythic superstitions of the heathen converts, as to be scarcely disting*uishable from the grossest pag-anism. The introduction of imag*es and pictures of the Saviour and his saints may therefore at least have had the merit of excluding* merely heathen forms, and directing* the relig'ious sentiments of the ig*- norant to the contemplation of worthier objects of ado- ration.'' By the substitution of the hallowed personag*es of the Christian revelation for the profane and fabulous objects of heathen idolatry, it was believed that a suffi- cient distinction between the tAvo antag*onistic practices was established ; the line was thought to be thus drawn in a manner the most intelligible to the apprehensions of the multitude : and, indeed, it is hkely that in such a state of the public mind as that in which this theory found favour, whatever the dang*er of a virtual relapse into idolatry, something* was g*ained on behalf of spiritual relig-ion; and that thoug-h the outward shell or husk
•> Many persons contend that there ultimate object must always be the is a twofold method of inculcating reli- promotion of spiritual religion, the real gious truth open to the Church, namely, issue to be tried between the patrons the exoteric or formal, and the esoteric and the adversaries of representative or spiritual; and that the former being worship must be, whether the admis- left to the discretion of the Church as sion of images, pictures, &c. into Chris- an external visible body, she is at full tian worship is at all, and in what de- Ijberty to choose the best and readiest gree, consistent with the attainment of of the two modes of clearing the path that ultimate object of all religious in- to religious knowledge. But, as the struction.
.Chap. III.] THE CONTROVERSY OF IMAGE-WORSHIP. 467
which enveloped the sacred fruit may have been thereby hardened and rendered less accessible, it was nevertheless preserved entire for the enjoyment of a future and a wiser generation.
Towards the close of the sixth century, the question of imag-e-worship had alread}^ attracted the attention of the Western churches. Serenus, bishop of Mar- pj^st breath- seilles, as mentioned above/ had, in ag'reement ingsofthe with the earlier fathers, put in an emphatic pro- ^^^^^^''^^^y- test ag'ainst the admission of pictures and imag-es into his churches. His followers boldly maintained that .
ji 1 • I' ^^^ • • i • i Ij. Arguments.
the proper objects oi christian worship dwelt not in any temple made with hands ; that their only true shrine was in the heart and affections of the worshippers ; that visible representations of the Godhead were incon- sistent with his nature and attributes, deg-rading to his honour, and destructive of g-enuine spiritual religion in the heart. They reg-arded the Mosaic commandment as absolute both in its terms and effect; and g-ave to the words, '^ Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, &c. ; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor wor- ship them," a sense extending* the prohibition to all ex- ternal and factitious objects of devotion, whether divine or human. Christian or pag-an. " If," said they, " the Jew lay under the curse for setting* up images, whether of the true God or the flilse gods of the heathen, then, by strict consequence, the Christian lay under the like penalty for exposing" images of Christ, whether in his character of God or man." Against this mode of stating- the question, Gregory the Great opposed the argument from expe- diency and convenience. Without denying the danger attending the practice, he thought he could hold fast the benefit without incurring the penalty. He maintained that the practice did not necessarily lead to idolatr)^ ; that it might be avoided by proper precaution ; and that the danger was less serious from permitting, than the inconvenience that must arise from prohibiting the use of images.
The question rested in this state from the death of
c Book III. c. vii. p. 222 of this work.
468 CATHEDEA PETKI. [Book V.
Greg'ory the Great^ in the year 604, down to the year 726. In the mterim the Arabs had overrun and s^thmSTted^ subdued the three g-reat dioceses of the East, by the Arab ^^id now One of the most serious practical incon- veniences so earnestly deprecated by the earlier churches recurred with augmented effect. By an exag*- g-erated devotion to imag-es, the Eastern world had, with more than a mere show of reason, exposed itself to that charg'e of idolatry which their earlier instructors had so seriously reproved in the heathen ; a charg-e of which their actual accusers stood so remarkably clear : and thus from the moment the Mohammedan adversary set his foot upon their soil, they found themselves involved in the same odious categ"ory with other worshippers of false gods and idols. From the year 640, to which epoch we may assign the completion of the conquest of Syria, Pales- tine, and Egypt, the Christian population had, for a period of more than eighty years, been surrounded and closely watched by the devout adversaries of their faith ; and had obtained from their Moslem conqueror no more than a scornful toleration of their relig'ion and its rites, upon the severest and most burdensome terms. The Jews now beheld with mahgnant joy their old persecutors and task- masters involved in the like servitude with themselves. To that vindictive race, no opportunity of retaliation is unwelcome ; and thus it happened that, amid the uplifted voices of the infidels, none were more clamorous than those of the Jews. The majority of the Christian com- munity listened to their blasphemies with the bitterest resentment. But the iron had entered into the souls of many : they hesitated, doubted, and cast their images behind them ; some probably in a spirit of contrition for past error, the majority from that feeling of wounded pride engendered by the discovery that they had been so long the dupes of a miserable and anti-christian super- stition. Aversion In the year 721 the cahph Yezid cast the
of Arabs flj-gt gtouc at the Christian images. He issued tTthe^^iIse an edict for the ejection of all images and pic- of images, turcs from the tolerated churches. This insult
Chap, in.] ARABS AND JEWS AGAINST IMAGES. 4C9
was imputed by the exasperated worshippers to their old enemies the Jews. It was affirmed that so diaboHcal an outrage upon all that was most holy could have been sug'g'ested by none but an apostate or a Jew. Their opponents^ however, reg'arded the edict with a more fa- vourable eye; and among* these the emperor Leo the Isaurian stood foremost. For some years before his eleva- tion he had commanded the imperial armies on the Sy- rian frontier, and had had opportunity enough to contrast the lofty theism of the Arabs with the coarse devotion of the Christians for their imag'es and relics. He saw and felt the difficulty of establishing- any intelligible distinc- tion between image- worship, as it was practised in the East, and the most abject idolatry. How, indeed, was that distinction to be maintained, when, to the eye of an undiscriminathig* adversary, all public worship was ac- companied by every external token which the heathen and the infidel were accustomed to regard as constituting the essence of idolatry ? Arabs and Jews had but one name for all kinds of representative worship. The afflicted Christian knew and felt the scorn with which both tnust treat his most elaborate apologies ; they woidd, he knew, point in derision to the prostrate worshipper and the image before him — to the censer, the burning tapers, the altar, and the offering upon it : yet the only defence he could set up consisted of a refined distinction between the symbols and the thing represented, which he equally well knew Avould find no avenue to the understandings or the feelings of the objectors. There was but one path open to him, which might relieve him at least from half his difficulty, and that path lay in a strict adherence to the divine commandment; he would then have but one po- sition to defend— one battle to fight. Fleury indeed re- marks, that the emperor was too ig'norant to comprehend the difference between absolute and relative worship ; but it would ^probably be equally just to say, that, in common with many men of a later and more enlightened age, the emperor Leo saw no good reason to adopt a distinction where the difference, if not distinctly perceived, and ever present in the mind of the worshipper, must lead to idol-
470 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book V;
atry, and if devoutly apprehended, would be altogether useless.''
Many years before the emperor Leo took any steps for Earlier mea- the suppression of imag'e-worship, he is known sures of Leo to have reg-arded the practice as a cr^dng- na- against tional siu. But the critical state of public images, affairs deterred him from any active interfer- ence with the popular predilection for images 5 though in the mean time his agents and preachers succeeded in withdrawing many persons from the grosser practices of iconolatry. " But," saith his bitter opponent John of Damascus, "he at length (a.d. 726) assembled his senate, and vomited forth the absurd and impious dogma that images and pictures of devotion partake of the nature of idols, and ought not therefore to be adored b}^ the faith- ful, lest ignorant and heedless persons should thereby be seduced into paying to the images that worship which is due to God alone."* The intent of the emperor is so far correctly described ; and the edict issued upon the prin- ciple he had adopted tended in the first instance only to remedy the apprehended evil with as slight a shock to the popular prejudices as was consistent with the purpose in hand. All images and pictures of worship in the churches were ordered to be removed from the lower and more ac- cessible places the}' occupied to greater height and distance from the worshippers, so that they could not be touched or kissed, and yet not be rendered useless for the pur- poses to which they were originally appropriated, — the in- struction of the ignorant, and the comfort of the afflicted. A still more formidable enemy of the imperial scheme
appeared in the person of the patriarch Ger- on images uiauus of Constantinople.*^ In direct opposition and image- ^q the principle of the decree, he stoutlv main-
tained that the adoration of the images of Christ and his saints could in no conceivable sense be regarded as idolatrous, or that it could ever become so. " For,"
^ No really spiritual worshipper ^ Baron. Ann. 726, § 4.
would care to have before him a repre- ^ In consideration of his services, both
sentative symbol, who felt himself capa- the Greek and the Latin churches have
ble of immediate access to the subject raised him to the rank of saint. of the symbol itself.
Chap. lU.] GREGOKY II. ON IMAGE-WORSHIP. 471
said he, " when Christ took upon himself the form of a man, and was born of a pure and hoty virg-in, the God- man Christ became in his own person the proper object of personal adoration; consequently, if the worship of the divine orig-hial would not have been idolatry, so neither can it be idolatry to adore the imag-e or picture which represents that person." He affirmed further, that " the precept to adore imag-es had been handed down in the Church by the clearest tradition." He adopted with the simplest credulity the tale of a miraculous portrait of himself sent by the Lord to the toparch Abg-arus, and quoted other ieg*ends of the like authenticity that had obtained a place in the popular creed; with a view to show, not merely the lawfulness, but the oblig-atory cha- racter of imag'e-worship.^
In every stag'e of his opposition to the edict of Leo the zealous patriarch was ably supported by ^ q^^_ Pope Greg'ory II. "How," he asked, "can gory ii. on theij love Christ who insult the visible effio;ies ^^^^^r^ of his divine person? Do not they who dis-^ honour the imag-e dishonour him whom that imag-e re- presents ? For, that he came among- us men in a visible form, visibly lived, visibly wroug-ht many miracles, visibly suffered and rose ag-ain for our salvation, — all this is surely sufficient to justify his followers in making* visible representations of his natural body." The same arg-u- ment he — somewhat loosely— affirmed applied to the holy Yirg-in, the apostles, the saints and martyrs of the faith. The word ^ idolatry,' he contended, was not applicable to such service ; " no kind of divinity being- ever imputed to the imag-es themselves, as is done by the heathen to their idols ;'^ neither do Christians sacrifice to them, nor apply to them that name which is above all other names. Be- sides, these imag-es are only another kind of writing- ; they are merely visible symbols throug-h which the true
B Baron. Ann. 726, § vi. p. 335. divine powers to the images of Christ
h Sed quiere? The confusion of object and his saints. The distinction is ahnost
and subject here imputed to the heathen evanescent. The heathen thought nei-
seems to be equally chargeable upon the ther more nor less highly of ttieir images
Oriental Christians, who, like the Latins than the Christians of the East thought
of the subsequent ages, always imputed of theirs.
472 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book V.
believer adores Him whose birth and death; whose g-lori- ous resurrection and ascension^ are thereby made percep- tible to our senses; bring-ing*, as it were^ in a written book, the Son of God before us, whereby the soul is re- joiced in the remembrance of his resurrection, or softened by reflecting" upon his ag'ony and passion."'
But after the allied patriarchs had exhausted the
The sec nd g'^'^^i^ds of defence turning" mainly upon the
command- distiuctiou between absolute and relative wor-
«^!?*t'^°T ship, the intrinsic nature of Christian imao-es,
encountered. \' ^ . , ni-ii
and the authority oi tradition, they had still to encounter the intractable terms of the second command- ment. Greg"ory II. afiirmed that that ordinance had no application to Christians ; that it had reference solely to the heathen nations by whom the Jews were surrounded, and to the idols worshipped by those nations ; such idols being- the mere work of men's hands, and the objects represented being- in fact demons and evil spirits, and effigies neither of God nor of godly men. So far, indeed, from there being- any solid objection to images of holy things, God himself had directed certain symbols to be set up in his sanctuary for his own special service : such were the tables of the law, the ark, the cherubim over the altar, the table of showbread, &c. Yet even Chris- tians have never allowed an}^ visible image of God himself: such a representation was always regarded as unlawful : the Christian worshipper is in this respect indeed bound by the commandment as rigidly as the Jew himself, — he never paints God, any more than the Jew paints Jeho- vah, because the divine form is as inconceivable as his nature is ineffable : but when Christ appeared in the flesh, the case was altered ; as to him the commandment was by that act repealed. And so it would be in relation to the eternal Father himself, if he had ever assumed a form visible to human eye : but inasmuch as " no man hath seen God at any time," therefore it is unlawful to make an image of him. ^
» See the entire epistle of Greg. II. Baron. Ann. mod, cit. ; and the address
to Germanus, ap. Baron. Ann
v. -XX.
J See the documents at length, ap. 342
726, §§ of Pope Gregory III. to the Eoman xv.-xx. Council, Ann. 732, §§ 17 and 18, p.
Chap. III.] CHAEACTER OF THE CONTROVERSY. 473
The industry of the victorious party in this g'reat con- troversy has so effectually succeeded in destroy- ^epiy of the ing- every original writing- from which the re- iconoclasts. plies of their antagonists can be collected^ that we are driven to the g-arbled and vituperative statements of the latter to discover the answers returned to these arg-u- ments. From the extant documents it appears that they either altog-ether denied the distinction between absolute and relative worship^ or that they repudiated it as inap- preciable in itself], and therefore dangerous. In com- mon with the Jews and Arabs, they urged the notorious fact, that it had been practically inoperative j and that in strict consequence the Church had become polluted by the grossest superstitions and idolatries : that, in fact, miraculous powers had been, and were still, ascribed to the images of Christ, the Virgin, and the saints : that when such an opinion was once afloat among the vulgar, there was an end of the speculative distinction — the image was of necessity converted into something far above a mere instrument of devotion; the wood, the stone, the board or canvas, acquired a sanctity of its own quite independent of the object represented. In the state of mind which such practice inevitably engenders, no pre- caution could guard men from trespassing be^^ond the evanescent boundary-line between allowable and idol- atrous service. Lastly, the practice of image- worship w^as in so many ways injurious to spiritual religion, as to forfeit all claim to toleration in any form of Christian worship.
A more critical question had never been raised since Christianity became the reliction of the Roman
•1 • • i-Ti,xl, Inveterate
world ; nor is there an instance in wnicli botn character of parties w^ere more unequivocally in earnest, ^^^^^g^g^y''*^' The abstract or metaphysical character of all the antecedent disputes of itself tended to restrict the dis- cussion, however stormy, to the clergy and their imme- diate partisans. But in the case before us, the question to be dealt with came directly home to the individual con- science : it implied the attack and the defence of senti- ments the most sacred ; a war of principles enshrined in
474 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book V.
the recesses of the intellect, the heart, and the affections of the whole religious world. On the one hand, an enor- mous national apostasy was charged; on the other, an intolerable sacrilege was to be avenged. Every element of immitigable relig-ious war was at hand ; and the for- tunes of the reigning prince — perhaps of the state itself — were staked upon the issue. Though the weaker in point of numbers, the iconoclasts were led by a man of high reputation and intrepidit}^ The immediate con- sequence of the moderate edict of 726 was a formidable insurrection in the Greek islands. The rebels collected a numerous fleet and army, and ventured to lay siege to Constantinople. But the regular forces of the empire adhered to their indomitable chief, and a decisive victory over the rash assailants was speedily achieved. Punish- ments, or — as the defeated part}^ g'enerally call the seve- rities which follow upon unsuccessful resistance — perse- cutions, were unsparingly inflicted. In the elation of triumph, the emperor and his friends, as usual, forgot the rule of moderation they had hitherto observed. Their religious opponents had become their political enemies ; and their ultimate safety was now involved in the suc- cess of measures originalh^ resorted to for the satisfac- tion of their private consciences.
In the year 730 the emperor issued a second edict, Leo's second ^J whicli he Commanded the total expulsion of edict against images from all the churches of the empire. images, rpj^^ imperial party went beyond the precept j the most sacred efligies and pictures were every where ruthlessly broken or torn to shreds, or pubhcly committed to the flames, under the eyes of the enraged worshippers. . Heedless of danger and death, men, women, ' and children rushed to the defence of objects as dear to them as life itself. They attacked and slew the imperial oflicers eng-aged in the work of destruction : the latter, supported by the regular troops, retahated with equal ferocity; and the streets of the metropolis exhibited such a scene of outrage and slaughter as can alone pro- ceed from envenomed religious passions. The leaders of the tumult were for the most part put to death on the
Chap. III.] GEEGORY III. POrE. 475
spot; the prisons were filled to repletion with delinquents; and multitudes^ after suffering* various corporeal punish- mentSj were transported to places of penal banishment.''
Unable to divert the emperor from his purpose^ or to arrest the fury of iconoclasm, the patriarch Ger- papai de- manus surrendered his pallium into the hands nunciations. of the sovereign!, and was permitted to end his days with- out further molestation.' He was succeeded in the chair of Constantinople by Anastasius, a convert to the impe- rial opinions on imag'e-worship ; but when the new pre- late ventured, according- to custom, to send his inaug'ural letters to Pope Greg'ory II., the storm of indignation, which had been fast g'athering- in the West, burst upon his devoted head. The pontiil^ in his reply, reviled him as a heretic ; and threatened that, unless on receipt of his admonitory letters he renounced his error, and returned to the bosom of the catholic Church, he would pronounce him an irreclaimable reprobate, depose him from the epis- copate, and strip him of all sacerdotal office, dig-nity, or authority .'" It is probable that, before the death of Gre- gory II., orders had arrived from the court to put the decree against images in force within the Italian depend- encies of the empire. In the month of Feb- Gregory iii. ruary 731, that pontiff was succeeded by his p^p®- namesake Gregory III. The emperor, it appears, had addressed justificatory letters to the pontiff of Rome ; but whether before or after the death of Gregory II., seems not certain. This document, hke every other from which the genuine arguments of the party might have been
•^ It is unnecessary to quote authority Baronius and the fanatical Jesuit
for these matters of notorious historical Father Maimbourg have collected them
detail. We cannot bring ourselves to with great diligence for the edification
believe the monstrous stories of cold- of the faithful.
blooded and malignant cruelty circula- ' Baronius and Maimbourg repeat the
ted by the Greek writers of the eleventh stories of the later Greek writers, af-
and following centuries. The credu- firming that Germanus was deposed,
lity of the age, and the obvious malig- tortured, and then strangled, by order
nityofthe reporters, taken together with of the emperor. Fleury {torn. ix. p. 227)
the assiduity of the orthodox clergy in takes no notice of these tales; and Paul destroying every record, defence, or Warnefrid (lib. vi. c. 49) mentions the
apology that may have been offered by resignation of Germanus without fiir-
the iconoclast party, throws upon them ther particulars. Anasta.sins tlie Libra-
a strong suspicion of forgery and slan- rian copied Paul. Conf. Vit. Greg. II.
der. Fleury does not appear to value Murat. torn. iii. p. 158. them more highly. But the credulous '" Aiiastas. iu Vit. Greg. II. ubi sup.
476 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
collected, has perished, and its contents are now known only in the mutilated, and probably g-arbled, extracts of the adversary. From all that appears, we infer that the emperor relied upon all or most of the g-rounds, for the rejection of imag*es, to which we have already adverted. The pope, Greg^ory III., upon whom the task of reply- ing- to the imperial manifesto devolved, did not advance any new arg-ument : but the tone of his communication was disloyal and offensive in the extreme; every sentence breathed a spirit of insolent and seditious defiance un- paralleled in the correspondence of the bishops of Rome with the temporal sovereig-n, and equalled only by the marvellous credulity and ig'norance it displayed.
" Ten years of empire," said the pope, ^' passed away His insolent before you discovered that imag*es were unlaw- address to ful. By what rig'ht, we would ask, do you the emperor, ^^^^y affcct to treat them as idols? You say that we are forbidden to venerate thing's made by men's hands. But you are an unlettered person, and oug'ht therefore to have inquired of your learned prelates the true meaning' of the commandment. If you had not been obstinately and wilfully ig-norant, you would have learnt from them that your acts are in direct contradiction to the unanimous testimony of all the fathers and doctors of the Church, and in particular repug"nant to the authority Fabulous 0^ ^^^^ ^^^ g-eneral councils."" Bepeating- the portraits, arg-umcuts dcduccd from the decorations of the images, c. ^^^^^ ^^^^ mercy-scat of the Jewish Temple, the visible appearance of Christ in the flesh, his visible life and death, and the sacrament instituted in commemora- tion of his bodily presence among- us men, he informs the emperor that the impression of that presence was so strong- upon the minds of his disciples, that " no sooner had they cast their eyes upon him than they hastened to make portraits of him, and carried them about with them, exhibiting* them to the whole world, that at the
° In none of which, however, does a Great, I have not met with any men- word about images or image-worship tion of the practice of image-worship occur. The " unanimous testimony of in the fathers of the first six centuries the fathers" is equally at fault. Ex- of the Christian era. cepting in the works of Gregory the
Chap. III.] GREGORY in. ON IMAGE-WORSHIP. 477
sig'ht of them men mig'ht be converted from the worship of Satan to the service of Christ, — but so only that they should worship them, not with an absolute adoration, or latricij but onty Avith a relative veneration." In like man- ner,— so the pope assured his correspondent, — pictures and imao-es had been taken by the disciples of the proto- mart}^' Stephen, and all other saints of note ; and in the same way dispersed over every part of the earth, to the manifest increase of the g*ospel cause."
" If," said Greg'or^^, " you had taken the trouble to in- quire, all this would have been explained to you. r
-r» • i 1 • • 1 1 J nil Ignorant
±>ut, m truth, it is due only to your unparalleled vituperation dullness of apprehension'' that you have not long- ^^ ^^^'S- ^i^- since embraced the truth. Turn, then, from the evil of your ways, unless you wish to become a laug"hing--stock to the veriest children in the faith ! Go, we pray you, into the schools for infants, and there proclaim yourself a destroyer of holy imag'es, and verily they shall, one and all, fling- their hornbooks at your head ; and rig-htly, for if you will not be taug-ht b}^ the wise, it is fit you be schooled by the foolish and the unlearned." By a strano-e perversion or confusion of scriptural facts, the pope com- pares the emperor with " the impious Uzziah, who," he tells him, " sacrilegiously removed the brazen serpent, which Moses had set up, out of the temple, and broke it to pieces" (!).'' Leo was, in fact, worse than other heretics, many of whom sinned from mistake or ig-norance ; but he, with his e3^es open : he had sinned ag-ainst the lig-ht itself; his frenzy was directed ag-ainst objects seen, known, handled, and revered by all. The emperor, he continues, had called for a g-eneral council. " Well," exclaims the pope, " but where are we to look for the God-fearing- em- peror to preside in such a council ? And, indeed, what need of a council at all, if you would but hold your peace ?
" This account seems to be a simple had some confused recollection of the
exaggeration of the legends relied on by story of Uzzah or Uzzia (who was pun-
Germanus. Pope Gregory III., how- ished for laying hands on the ark), and
ever, has the merit of the earliest pub- confounded it with the act of ITezekiah,
lication of this new edition of these who broke in pieces the brazen serpent
legends. expressly to pi-event the people from
P 'AvaiaBtjffia. paying divine homage to it. Conf. 1
■1 I presume that the learned pope Chron. xiii. 9, and 2 Kings xviii. 4.
478 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
.... Cease but your clamour, and there will be no call for synods ; retain, if 3^ou please, your opinions about imag-es, and we will absolve you from the sin of silence ; for we have authority to absolve both in earthly and in heavenly thing-s."
Heaping- every calamity which had befallen the Church „ jjj and state in Italy upon the imprudence and dJfifs the folly of the emperor, the pontiff then derisively emperor, jjlludcs to the pcrsoual mcuaccs in which Leo had indulged ag-ainst himself. "You have," he says, ^^ dared even to threaten us. . . . You have boasted that you will send j^our officers to Rome, that you will break in pieces the statue of St. Peter, that you will send us away in chains, as your predecessor Constans did unto our predecessor Martin : but know that your jurisdiction does not extend to the pontiffs of this see ; for they are the arbiters and judges oj the 7vhole Christian common- wealth both in the East and the West. But with the best will, you have not the power to carry your threat into execution ; assail, insult us as you please, we have only to retire twenty-four stadia from Rome at your approach : follow us whither we g'o, if you list — you might as ra- tionally pursue the wind ! Take, therefore, a lesson from the fate of your infamous predecessor Constans (II.)- He was a heretic ; and thus it hnppened, that when his servant Nezeuxius was told by the faithful bishops of Sicily that he had been denounced as a heretic by the Church, that zealous man slew him within the walls of the temple of God.' But Martin is to this day reverenced as a saint, — and would to God we were honoured by such a death as his ; but we have other duties. The whole of the West looks to us for help j and we put our trust in Peter, whom every region of the world worships as a god on earth. Come, then, if you dare, and repeat j^our outrag-es ; lift up your hand against his holy statue, and you shall find to your cost that the people are prepared, not only to de- fend their own cause and his, but to retaliate upon you the mischiefs you have perpetrated in the East. You
■^ Whence Gregory III. obtained this unknown. It is not to be met with in version of the death of Constans II. is any other writer.
Chap, ni.l COUNCIL AGAINST THE IMAGE-BREAKERS. 479
may, indeed, succeed in driving- us out of Rome ; but the pontiff will be beyond your reach : . . . . then, if you persist in your designi to throw down the statue of the prince of the apostles, may the innocent blood which shall be shed fall upon 3'our head, and yours only !"*
Greg'ory was, as we have seen,* at this moment in a convenient position to hold this defiant lang-uag-e impotency of with safety. The army of Ravenna, upon which the empire alone the emperor could reckon for the execu- ^^ ^•^' tion of his desig'ns ag'ainst the pope, could no longer be used for such a purpose. The Lombard dukes of Bene- ventum and Spoleto had joined in alliance with the pope even ag*ainst their own sovereign ; and their territory could be reached in a few hours from the city. The imperial troops had been removed from Rome for the defence of Ravenna and Naples; and the government was thereby wholly surrendered into the hands of the urban mag-istracy, under the presidency of their bishop. A militia for the protection of the republic was speedily levied, and trahied by the joint authority of the magis- trates and the pontiff. The late Pope Gregory II., prior to his decease, had repaired and streng-thened the defences of the city; and every preparation for resistance to the threatened attack was completed. Yet the temporal in- terests of the pontiff still pointed to the maintenance of the Byzantine connection, as long- as it could be retained without a total sacrifice of relig-ious character. The patrimonies of the Church in the Neapolitan and Sicilian provinces were at the mercy of the emperor ; while the possessions of the holy see in the Decapolis, Romag-na, and Lombardy, were in the power of King" Luitprand. The advances of the latter had been always a subject of deep apprehension to the pontiffs of Rome ; and to have severed the tie which still bound them to the only mili- tar}^ power at that moment capable of checking- the pro- g'ress of Lombard ambition was not to be thought of."
» See the prolix original, ap. Baron. his allegiance to the emperor. But there
Ann. 726,tom. xii.pp. 346etsqq. Conf. is not only no valid authority for the
Flenrys Abstract. fact, but the improbability of such a
t Booli IV. c. i. pp. 319 et sqq. stop is abundantly apparent upon the
" Some later writers have affirmed surface of the political history of the
that Pope Gregory II. had renounced times.
480 CATHEDEA PETEI. [Book V.
But the vituperative letters of Greg-ory had been re- Councii jected by the emperor with well-merited con- at Rome tempt. The presbyter Georg-e, whom the pope ^^?mage- ^ had Selected to deliver them, shrank from the breakers, perilous task, and returned with them in his hand to Home. For this act of cowardice he was severely censured, and condemned a second time to incur the risk he had attempted to evade. But on this second journey he was by the emperor's command detained a prisoner in Sicily, and the papal missive was ig-nominiously taken from him."" Greg'ory revenged the insult by a threaten- ing* demonstration ag'ainst the religious reforms of the emperor. A solemn council was convoked at Rome, con- sisting- of all the bishops of the Lombard and Byzantine territories in northern Italy, to the number of ninety-three prelates. The assembly was held in the actual presence of the sacred relics of the apostle Peter, and was attended by the whole body of the city clergy, the consuls, and a vast concourse of people; and a decree was framed, unani- mously adopted and signed by all present, to the effect that " if any lierson should thereafter, in contempt of the ancient and faithful customs of all Christians, and of the apostolic church in particular, stand forth as a destroyer, defamer, or blasphemer of the sacred images of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and of his mother, the immaculate ever-virgin Mary, of the blessed apostles, and all other saints, he be secluded from the body and blood of the Lord, and from the communion of the universal Church."'' Successive messengers were despatched to court with Leo confis- uiouitory letters, officially notifying the above cates the pa- rje^ee to tlic empcror and all the Eastern
trimonies of , , -r» j_ • l^
the Roman churchcs. But ou cvcr}^ occasiou the messen- church, &c. g.gj.g ^gj.g arrcstcd, and their despatches taken from them ; they themselves were detaiiied for many months in custody, and ultimately dismissed with dis- grace and contumely to their employer. A numerous fleet and army were, at the same time, fitted out for the
^ The contents of the letters must seizure of their despatches. Anastas. in
have transpired. The detention of Vit. Greg. III. ; Murat. iii. p. 1 58.
the messengers was, in every instance " Anastas. ubi sup. we read of, accompanied by a forcible
Chap. III.] THE PAPACY AT THE DEATH OF GREGORY III. 481
subjug-atioii of the obstinate recusants in Italy : the ar- mament was, however, disabled by a sudden tempest on its outward voyag-e ; and Leo was compelled to postpone his desio-ns for enforcing- the execution of his edict ag-ainst imag-es in the Italian dependencies of the empire ; though he indemnified himself, as far as possible, by the confis- cation of all the estates belong-ing- to the church of Home in Calabria and Sicily. Under any other state of circum- stances, no step of the court could have tended more effec- tually to dissolve the connection of the empire The pope and the pontificate. But as long" as the ambi-P«'''^^^^f^,/"
r •11 1 nominal alle-
tious Lombard retnmed the power to arrest the gianee to the progress of territorial acquisition, in which the empire. whole heart and soul of the papacy was engaged, or to endanger that which was already won, nothing could be further from the contemplation of Home than the over- throw of the imperial power in Italy, feeble as it was. So decisive a movement could not but have been attended with disturbances inconvenient, if not obstructive, to the whole pohcy of the papal court ; more especially since, by a fortunate concurrence of circumstances, the pope was under no positive compulsion to obey the commands^ or to consult the wishes, of his nominal sovereign.
The last year of the pontificate of Pope Gregory III. was, as already observed," disturbed by the ^_ .^
„" „T-' 1 i 1 xi • State of the
eftorts 01 Luitprand to counterwork the m- papacy at the trigues of the papal court with the vassal dukes ^^^^^^^ °|jj of Beneventum and Spoletum. But the pontiff had laid the foundation of that mote powerful political connection which was soon to supersede that trouble- some and hazardous trimming to which the papacy had hitherto been compelled to resort ; more perhaps by lust of temporal dominion than by its pretensions to univer- sal spiritual autocracy. Luitprand could not, however, neglect the expressed wishes of his powerful neighbour and actual ally Charles Martel. His armies were vvith- draAvn from the vicinity of Rome ; and Gregory III. departed in peace on the 28th Nov. 741.^
» Book IV. c. i. p. 264. y Ciacone, in Vit. Greg. III. p. 513.
VOL. II. I I
CHAPTER lY.
ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVERSY. (II.)
Constantine V. (Copronymus) emperor — Religious truce with Rome — General synod of the Greek church on image-worship — Character of the factions — Their mutual hatred — Stephen of St. Auxentius — His interview with Constan- tine V. — Murder of Stephen of St. Auxentius — Constantine's embassy to Pippin of France — Leo IV. and Irene — Constantine VI. and Irene — Nego- tiation with Rome — Convocation of the (so-called) seventh general council (Nicffia II.) — Deliberations and resolutions of the council — Restoration of image-worship — Pope Hadrian I. accepts and ratifies the decrees of Nicsea — Protest of the Gallic churches — The " Libri Carolini" — Apology of Pope Hadrian I. — Great synod of Frankfort — Condemnation of image-worship — Concurrent relations of the pope to the Prankish and Byzantine courts — Byzantine arrogance — Papal cupidity — Mutual disgust — Papal principle of secular acquisition — Negotiations between Charlemagne and the Byzantines — Emperor Nicephorus averse to image-worship — His toleration — Insurrection — Revolutions at Constantinople for and against image-worship — Michael I. — Leo V. — Theodore the Studite — His adulation of Pope Paschal I. — Value of these encomiums — Reception of the Studite memorial at Rome — Michael II., the Stammerer, convokes a general council — Opposition of the Studites — Grounds of opposition — Reply of Michael II. to the Studites — Insolence of the Studite party — Value of the Studite testimony to the supremacy of Rome — Embassy of Michael to Louis the Pious — Moderation of Michael II.
The emperor Leo the Isaurian died six months before . the mayor of the palace Charles Martel, and
Constantine , , /• i /» r^ ttx t
V. (Copro- about nve before Cxreg'ory Hi. Lieo was suc- nymus) cecded by his son Constantine, nicknamed Co- ™ ' pronymus by the enemies of his creed and per- son. Constantine Y. was inspired with a devout hatred of imag-e- worship, and he was probably even less under the control of prudential considerations than his father. The beg'inning* of his reig'n was inauspicious. A dang'er- ous insurrection, under the banner of imag"e-worship, threatened his throne. The rebellion was quenched in rivers of blood. But after the restoration of tranquillity, few persons were made to suffer for their share in the late disturbances J the people were amused and conci-
Chap. IV.] GREEK SYNOD ON IMAGE-WORSHIP. 483
liated with public shows and g'ameS; and cajoled by a promise that the question of im a o*e- worship should be shortly submitted to the impartial consideration of a ge- neral council of the Church.*
As soon as the state of public affairs permitted the emperor to attend to domestic matters, he gra- Rei,v;oug ciously received and g"ave audience to the en- truce with voys of Zachary, the successor of Greg'ory III. This was no time for the revival of religious disputes ; the new pope dutifully announced his election to his so- vereig-n, and continued, to all outward appearance, to acknowledg"e his dependence upon the throne of Constan- tinople. In truth, the menachig" attitude of the Lom- bard king- Luitprand at this moment absorbed all other cares ; while at the same time the emperor was too ear- nestly bent upon the recovery of the eastern provinces of the empire from the Arabs to desire a renewal of re- ligious hostihties. This unpremeditated truce lasted for a period of thirteen years. An advantageous peace was at length concluded with the Saracens ; and Constantine found himself at leisure to redeem his engagements to both parties to the controversy in hand by the convoca- tion of an oecumenical council for the final adjustment of the great question of image-worship. In General the 3'ear 754, a general synod, consisting* of^y°^j^Jj|^^*^'^J^ three hundred and thirty-eight bishops, met at on image- the palace of the Hiera at Constantinople 5 and, worship. to the best of our information, were permitted to discuss the subject with all ostensible freedom. But the records of this synod no longer exist ; and all that can now be gathered about it must be taken from the mouths of envenomed adversaries. Whether any difference of opi-
* The self- refuted slanders vented inconsistent with the character for un- against the memory of Constantine V. mitigated animal ferocity, cruelty, and by the Byzantine writers, more especi- tyranny, it has been attempted to fas- ally of the monk Theophanes, are par- ten upon him. Fleurij (torn. ix. p. 292) aded by Baronius and his commentator quotes Theophanes with reluctance and Paj;;', adann. 741, torn, xii.pp. 459,460. circumspection. Gibbon, notwithstand- Theophanes rails more like a maniac ing his disclaimer, thinks that "where than a person of sound understanding. there was so much smoke, there must But the almost uniform success of have been a little fire," — Decl. and Fall, Constantine, his undisturbed r?ign, his vol. vi. p. 83, ed. Milm. and Smith, administrative ability and activity, are
484 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book V.
nion existed in the assembly, or what arg-uments were urg-ed on either side, cannot be ascertained. This much, however, is certain, that it was unanimously resolved that no worship oug-ht to be paid to imag-es ; that the act of bowing" down before or worshipping- any created being* or thing", is robbing" God of the honour due to Him alone ; that men thereby fall back into idolatry ; and, g"enerally, that im a g"e- worship is inconsistent with the spiritual re- lig"ion of Christ. They therefore strictly prohibited the making" or setting" up of any image of the Saviour, the Vir- g'in, or other Saint ; but reserved to the sacred persons all that spiritual devotion which the Church had ever decreed to them. The proceeding"s concluded, according- to cus- tom, with a g'eneral anathema ag"ainst all who should dis- pute the authority of this "great seventh general council"^' The mass of mankind generalh^ attaches itself to some Character sing'lc aspect of cvcry question that closely of the touches its interests or feeling-s, and g"ives to factions. ^1^^^ ^'g^ ^j^g jjjQg^ exag"^erated form it is capa- ble of assuming". The imag"e-breaker took it for g"ranted that every image of Christ, the Virg"in, or Saint, was as much an idol as the effigies of Jupiter, Mercury, or Venus; while, on the other hand, the imag"e-worshipper fell into the opposite extreme of paying- to those imag-es a homag"e in no outward or practical respect disting-uishable from the veneration or adoration due to the orig"inals. In this dis- position, the former faction accused their adversaries of Mutual the foulest idolatry ; while the latter described hatred, their oppoucuts as an assemblag"e of being-s too vile to tread the same earth with themselves, — an aban- doned horde of blasphemers and murderers of all that was adorable in heaven and on earth. The demeanour of the iconoclasts, while the power rested Avith them, g-ave colour to the most odious misrepresentations of their tenets and motives. After the first moderate move- ments against that which they believed to be an objec- tionable practice, they plung"ed headlong" into a course
'' The only remaining record of this which is recited in art. vi. Cone. Ni-
eouncil, whose claim to universality csea II. ap. Hard. Concil. torn. iv. pp,
stands upon grounds equally valid or 323 et sqq. invalid with the six preceding, is that
Chap. IV.] MUTUAL HATRED OF THE FACTIONS. 48o
of provoking* and contemptuous outrage ag-ainst the venerated objects of popular devotion, affording- thereb}^ plausible evidence of an impious mind. The distinction between the honour due to the imag-e and the subject it represented was as unintellig-ible to the mass of the imag-e- worshipperSj as that which the latter attempted to esta- blish between absolute and relative worship was to the common herd of imag*e-breakers. But the demeanour of the parties proved in reality no more than the intensity of their mutual hatred ; the impiety charg-ed was in nei- ther case very different from that which they mutually strove to fasten upon each other: neither faction was^ inchned to tax its passions and prejudices on behalf of truth or sober inquiry ; and neither would consent to dis- pense with an atom of the stock of combustibles wherewith the flame of mutual hatred w^as kept alive. The swarms of monks which peopled the cities and deserts of the East beheld with dismay the relig-ious ferment settUng; down into an ominous tranquiUity under the iron hand of Con- stantine V. Shrieks of horror and disgust resounded from every pulpit and cell ; reg-ardless of life or safety, they painted the emperor as an abandoned apostate — a Julian— a Valens— a monster of impiety : he was by turns an atheist, an Arian, a Nestorian, a Eutychian— one who in his sing-le person combined every heresy that had ever polluted the Christian faith and endangered the souls of men. The iconoclasts retaliated in lang-uag-e borrowed from the fiercest scriptural denunciations against idols and idolaters, without the remotest regard for the differ- ence between the objects represented in one case and the other. The spirits of persecution and martyrdom flowed into one another ; the tormentor of to-day was ready on the morrow to take his turn on the rack or the scaffold ; and thus, without any vital or essential difference, both factions ardently thirsted for each other's blood."
<: It should be borne in mind, that that by the argument of the image- neither faction denied the doctrine of worshippers, their practice ni('c/A< become saint-worship; nordolfinditany where idolatrous, if at any time the distinc- stated that the iconoclasts objected to tion between relative and absolute wor- the reverence of relics, or questioned ship should be absent from the mind of their efficacy. It may also be noticed, the worshipper.
486 CATHEDKA PETKI. [Book V.
The rig'id ascetic Stephen, abbot of the monastery of ste hen of ^*' Auxcntiiis in Bithynia, stood forth as the St. Auxen- champion of imag'e-worship/ So gTeatwas his
tius.
reputation for zeal and piet}^, that the emperor thoug'ht him worth the honour of a personal refutation. His inter- "^^^ vvheu summoncd to the presence of Constan- view with tine, he returned a defiant and insulting* reply, the emperor, rpj^^ former, who was animated with the^like fa- natical spirit, now commanded the interview he had in the first instance condescended to solicit ; and Stephen was conducted to the palace by the officers of the court. On his way to the audience, he borrowed, and concealed under his habit, a coin bearing" the effig^y of the reig-ning* sove- reig-n. The disputation g-rew warm ; the emperor roughly described all imag*es of worship as idols, and their worship- pers as idolaters: Stephen pronounced the imperial opinion to be a damnable heresy ; he denied that he or his com- munion adored the wood, the stone, the g'old, or the silver of which the imag-e was composed : " But," said he, ''you break them in pieces ; you treat the imag'e of Christ as you would treat that of the false g*od Apollo ; the like- ness of the ever-blessed Mother of God as that of the demon Diana \ you destroy, you tread them under foot, you burn them !" The vehement saint then drew forth the coin from his bosom, and exhibited it to the emperor. " Whose imag'e and superscription is this ?" he asked. Constantine admitted them to be those of the emperor. '' If, then," rejoined the abbot, " I were to cast this imag-e and superscription upon the g-round and tread it under foot, what, I pray, mig-ht be the penalty?" The by- standers unanimously exclaimed that such an act would be treason to the name and imag'e of the sacred majesty of the empire. " Then," exclaimed the saint, with a pro- found sig'h, '^ what should be done to the man who treads under foot the holy name and majesty of Jesus Christ and his divine Mother, as represented and inscribed on their sacred imag-es? Ouo'ht he not to be at once delivered
^ Stephen strenuously maintained the defenders of that practice thought it distinction of absolute and relative wor- requisite to fence around their theolo- ship, with which even the most frantic gical position.
CuAP. IV.] STEPHEN OF ST. AUXENTIUS. 487
over to the devil and his ang*els ?" The saintly aspiration was devoutly expressed by casting- the coin to the earth and stamping- upon it with his foot.
The emperor was not prepared with an answer to this coarse but plausible sophism.* The treasonable apolog'ue of Stephen would have cost him his of Stephen life — -for which, however, he cared very little — . °f '^^r
1 n T ' n r 1 Til Auxentius.
but tor the mterierence oi the emperor. In the prison to which he was led away^ he exhorted and com- forted his friends, and reviled his sovereign with ten- fold acrimony and with the manifest intent to sting- him into the last act of tyrannous violence. Whether with the intent of indulg-ing- his anxious desire for the crown of martyrdom or not, is not very apparent j the saint was turned out of his prison, and instantly torn limb from limb by an enrag-ed mob of iconoclasts, who do not ap- pear ever to have been punished or even blamed for the murder.*^ The emperor dissolved the monasteries, and stripped their churches of all imag-es ; those monks who turned upon their persecutors were tortured, exiled, or put to death, and a deceitful peace was restored, which left all the elements of discord fermenting- beneath the surface of the religious world.
In Italy the fortunes of the B3'zantine power con- tinued on the decline. Since the failure of the constantine expedition, from which Leo the Isaurian had ^- ^<^"^^ ^^
r 1 , . i' LL j_iii embassy to
lormed g-reat expectations, no attempt had been pippin of made to interrupt the communications between France.
e He might have replied, " The image Christian martyrdom in this heroic act and superscription I reject is a forgery of self-sacritice. But it is to be appre- and a counterfeit, condemned and de- hended that the unselfish devotedness nounced by the prince it pretends to for which this description of martyrs represent : that which you have trodden give themselves credit veils from their under foot is a genuine current coin, mental vision the dark and gloomy pas- stamped with a true effigy, and issued sions which revel in their hearts — that by the authority of the earthly sove- indomitable spiritual pride which, while reign whose image and superscription it hardens them against suffering and it Ijears." death, shuts out compassion or charity
' i?aron. Ann. 754, §§ 26 etsqq.; with for the sufferings of opponents. As long
Father Pagi's extracts from the Life of as persons of this stamp are supported
St. Stephen Junior (as he is styled), by a by the applause of a party, conscience
deacon of Constantinople, written about never complains; and thus they are ever
forty-two years after his alleged mar- ready to accept from the disguised fiend
tyrdom. Conf. Fleury, torn. ix. p. 41 1. within a forged passport to Paradise. We wish we could discern the spirit of
488 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
the Eonian pontiffs and their Lombard or Frankish pro- tectors. Now, however, Constantine V. made a tard}^ effort to recover by neg'otiation what had been lost by the weak- ness and folly of Byzantine manag-ement. Pope Paul I., the brother of Stephen IV., was at this point of time urg-ing- with indecent vehemence the surrender of the last rein- nant of the exarchate to the holy see ; and the emperor, with a view to dazzle the Frankish barbarians, and, if possible, to lure them into an alliance ag-ainst the papal encroachments, despatched a mag-nilicent embassy, with rich presents, to the court of Pippin, the recently-crowned king* of France, to propose a close alHance between the two states, which was to be cemented b}^ a marriag-e between Leo, the emperor's son, and Gisela the daug-hter of Pippin. Pope Paul, who beheld in the success of this proposal the ruin of his hig-h-wroug-ht hopes of a speedy transfer of all that remained of Byzantine ter- ritory in northern Italy into his own hands, spared no pains in prejudicing- the Frankish prince ag-ainst both Greek and Lombard. The emperor he depicted as a here- tic and a persecutor, Avith whom no Christian prince could hold any intercourse or have any dealing's ; the Lombard, as a perjured tyrant, whom it behoved the king-, as the patron and protector of the Church, to reduce by force of arms to the minutest fulfilment of his late covenants with the holy see.^ Pippin received the imperial envoys with civility, but declined the proposed alliance. The reasons alleg-ed by the king" were probably connected with the relig-ious differences pointed out by the pope. Pippin entertained the embassy at Gentilly, where he was celebrating" the Easter festival. The questions of imag-e-worship, and the insertion of the ^^Jilioque" mto the Nicene symbol, were, it seems, discussed in the presence of the papal leg-ates ; and, in the result, the Byzantine embassy was dismissed Without any satisfactory repl3^'' After a reign of nearly thirty-four years, the emperor
s Epp. Paul. Pap. I. in Cod. Carolin. pt. ii. pp. 76 et sqq.
ap. Z>. Bouq. torn. v. ep. xiv. pp. 120, '< I adopt this incident from Fleury
121; ep. XV. p. 124; ep. xvii. p. 129; ep. (H. E. torn. ix. p. 438), with some hesi-
XX. p. 126; ep. xxiv. p, 142; ep. xxxiv. tation, p. 159. The same, ap. Murat. torn, iii.
CiiAP. IV.] EECONCILIATION WITH ROME. 489
Constaiitiiie V.^ surnamed Copronjnnus, was Leo iv. and succeeded (a.d. 775) by his son Leo IV. The !>••;"«• new emperor maintained the rehgious polic}' of his fa- ther; but died after a short reig-n of live years (a.d. 780), leaving- the throne to his son Constan- constantine tine VI., an infant of the ag-e of nine years vi.andirene. under the guardianship of his mother the empress Irene ; a woman whose personal attractions and abilities were equalled only by her ambition and profligacy. During the lifetime of her husband she had been strongly suspected, if not actually convicted, of addiction to image-worship. After his death, she cast off the mask she had hitherto been compelled to wear ; she by degrees reintroduced the proscribed images ; she published an ordinance for liberty of conscience and free discussion ; she recalled and rein- stated the monks whom Constantine V. had banished; and in the year 784, she placed her favourite Tarasius, though still a layman, upon the patriarchal throne of Constantinople. Anxious to justify this flagrant irregu- larity, she despatched an embassy to Pope Hadrian I. to explain the transaction, and to express her de- Negotiation sire to earn the restoration of communion with ^i* Rome, the holy see by the reinstatement of the holy images in their former honour and worship. The envoys were, as might have been expected, received with the warmest welcome by the pontiff. Some formal objection was, it is true, taken to the uncanonical elevation of a layman to a patriarchal throne,' and a more serious protest entered against the title of "universal patriarch" assumed by Tarasius ; but in consideration of the critical state of reli- gion in the East, and the fltness of the person chosen to encounter the difficulties of the times, the papal repug- nance was got over ; yet upon the express understanding that all the estates of the Church conflscated by preced- ing emperors should be restored to the holy see, and that Tarasius and his sovereign should purge all pre- vious errors by their zealous efforts for the extirpation of that " execrable heresy" which had deprived the holy
» Ep. Had. Pap. I. ad Taras. Concil. torn. iv. p.
98.
490 CATHEDKA PETKI. [Book V.
imag-es of the honours they had enjoyed ^^ from the be- ginnmg'."^
To that end the imperial envoys proposed the convo- Convocation cation of a general synodj at which the pontiff of tbe (so-^ himself was requested to preside. To this invita- generai Join-tion the pou tiff demurred, but promised to send cii, Nicaea II. legates to represent the holy see. The convo- cation of the proposed synod was, however, dela3^ed by the disaffected state of the arm}^; and it was not till three years afterwards that the taint of iconoclasm could be eradicated from the various corps quartered in the metro- polis and the principal cities of the empire. But even after these purifications, it was not thoug'ht expedient to expose the assembled fathers to the caprices of the fickle populace of Constantinople ; and the council was trans- ferred to Nicsea in Bithynia, where it was formally in- aug"urated and opened on the 24th of September in the year 787, in the presence of the leg-ates of the pope, the patriarch of Constantinople, two deputies of the Oriental patriarchates, and three hundred and seventy - seven bishops, collected from every part of the empire.''
Althoug-h Pope Hadrian I. omitted no form of words . which could give colour to his own virtual pre-
Deliberations . , • ii • • ji i
and resoiu- sidency m this, as m every other g"eneral coun- tions of the q[\ i yg^ [^ appears beyond doubt that the Greeks
council -^ •J 1 1 •'' ,
took upon themselves without contradiction the
\ Ep. Constant, et Irenes ad Had. ends; and then the questions arise, — Pap. I. in Cone. Nicsea II. ap. Hard. Were they contained at all in the ori- tom. iv. pp. 21 et sqq. — Apol. Taras. id. ginal epistle sent by Hadrian to the em- ibid. p. 23. See especially the letter peror and empress; or, might they not of Hadrian to the emperor and em- have been fraudulently inserted to save press. Ibid. p. 79. Anastasius accuses harmless the pontiff from the charge of the Greeks of having mutilated this having connived at the irregularity of epistle, with a view to save the credit Tarasius, to found an implied promise of or the pride of the court and patriarch the restitution of the confiscated estates, of Constantinople. The Latin version and to keep up the Roman protest certainly contains a great deal more against the title of "oecumenical patri- than the Greek original. The restora- arch," without endangering the success tion of the estates of the Church, the of the religious movement for the re- protest against the title of " oecumeni- storation of image-worship ? cal patriarch," and the objections to '' The authorities are carefully col- the election of Tarasius, are not con- lected hy Fleury, tom. ix. pp. 515-527; tained in the latter. It is singular, if and see Baronius and Pagi, ad ann. not suspicious, that all these topics are 780-787. Conf. Gibbon, ed. M. and S. inserted at the close of the Latin ver- vol. vi. pp. 163 ct sqq. sion, and come in where the Greek ' See his letters as above quoted.
CiiAP. IV.] RESTORATION OF IMAGE-WORSHIP. 491
entire direction of the proceeding's.'" The Western churches were no otherwise represented in this so-called g-eneral council than by or throug-h the leg-ates of the pope." The order of proceeding* was prescribed and directed b}^ Ta- rasius ; and all the forms observed in preceding- g-eneral synods were scrupulously followed. There was, however^ but one thing- to be done.' A period of scarcely thirty-three years had elapsed since three hundred and thirty- eight bishops of the East had solemnly denounced imag-e-wor- ship as derogatory to the honour of God; his virg-iu mother, and all the saints,— as idolatrous in itself, and obstructive of human salvation. They had decreed the total abohtion of imag-es and every kind of representative Avorship ; and they had, upon g-rounds equally tenable with those upon which the preceding- councils had based their oecumenical character, constituted themselves, and assumed the name and title of, a seventh general synod of the whole Christian body. Now, however, many of the identical prelates who had set hand and seal to the decrees of 754 eagerly tendered their recantation ; they alleged duress, seduction, fraud, artifice — any plea— in mitigation of their error, and, with the zeal of apostates, urged, with frantic vehe- mence, the condemnation of the tenets they had professed and taught for the greater part of their lives. Restoration The restoration of images, with all the honours ofimage- of adoration and worship which had been there- "^^''^^P' tofore paid to them, was unanimously decreed ; a general anathema was pronounced against the iconoclastic opinion and practice ; and all the acts and writings of the here- tics, more particularly the records of the council of 754, were carefully collected and committed to the flames. Seven sessions were consumed in prohx discussion and
m The Latins confined themselves to the convocation or its object. The oecu-
a simple demand of conformity with the menical character, therefore, can only
sentiments expressed by Hadrian in his be sustained by supposing that the chair
letter to Tarasius. Hard. Cone. torn, iv, of Peter might at its pleasure, and with-
]Q3 out notice or concurrence, talve upon
" Besides them, not a single prelate itself to represent the Church universal;
from Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and by assuming, as of course, that both
or England, had received either sum- the Greek and Latin churclios admitted
nions or seat. It is barely a matter the right of Rome to take upon herselt
of conjecture whether the Western that character.
nions
of CC-j
churches had received any notice of
492
CATHEDRA PETRI.
[Book V,
vehement declamation. In the fifth, the archpriest Peter moved that an image of the Saviour be on the morrow introduced into the assembly, to be devoutly saluted and adored by all present. The motion was adopted, and the assembly fell down and worshipped — a g-raven image." Hadrian I. promptly ratified the decrees of this seventh general council, and sent copies of its acts and Hadrian I. dccrccs to Charlemagne, and the bishops of ratiTes thlf ^I'^^^ce and Germany, for their adoption. The decrees of rcccptiou which thesc documents met with in Nicsea. ^jjQgg j-ealms belongs to the most remarkable and interesting features in the religious history of the period. The acts of the Nicene fathers were examined with attention and minuteness, and — peremptorily re- jected. The document by which this solemn protest is vouched passes under the title of the " Libri Carolini." It was published about the j^ear 790, in the name and by the authority of Charlemagne himself, and purports to contain a refutation of the conflicting errors of the councils of 7-54)- and 787. The author or authors ex-
° Hard. Cone. torn. iv. p. 322. It is not said that the act of adoration was actually performed; but the resolution passed without a dissentient voice, and we may presume of course that it was complied with. The solicitude of the interlocutors, especially in the fifth and sixth sessions, to substantiate the dis- tinction between the material image and the sacred person or thing repre- sented, is remarkable. Upon this point the entire debate turned. It was per- ceived that the whole difference be- tween absolute, or idolatrous, and re- lative, or spiritual, devotion, before or in the presence of a representative image, depended upon their success in establishing the distinction clearly and universally in every Christian mind. Unless they could accomplish this practical point, the image must be- come a trap to the unwary and the ignorant worshipper, and the Church must charge upon its own shoulders all the consequences of conducting the re- ligious conscience in a path beset by so many spiritual dangers. For it could not escape attention that, unless the worshipper could be made to appre- hend with unerring distinctness and
precision what it was that he wor- shipped in the image, the visible object must, in the great majority of cases, supersede the spiritual object, and the worshipper be thereby seduced into absolute or idolatrous worship. The difficulty was seriously increased by the very general idea of a miraculous power or efficacy residing in the effi- gies of the Saviour, the Virgin, and the Saints; an opinion which of necessity transferred to the wood, the canvas, or the stone used in the manufacture, all the sanctity — it might be said, the di- vinity— of the object represented. The only mode of rendering images innocu- ous, and yet preserving their use in the sense of Pope Gregory the Great (see Book HI. c. vii. p. 223 of this vol.), is to prohibit rigidly all outward acts of adoration, retaining them only as me- morials of the founder and the heroes of the faith. This seems to have been the original intention of Leo the Isau- rian ; but the fury of party spirit, and the great difficulty of preventing the forbidden practice, soon diverted him from his purpose, and drove him to the shorter but very dangerous measures he afterwards adopted.
Chap. IV.] PROTEST OF THE GALLIC CHURCHES. 493
amined Avith unsparing- severity every step in protest of the the arg'ument by which the fathers of Nicsea had Ga,iiic arrived at the conclusion tliat worship oug-ht the"'''Libri to be paid to imag-es : they disputed their inter- Caroiini." pi'etations of holy writ ; they ridiculed the miraculous tales upon which the}' relied; they impeached them of the grossest ig'norance, superstition, and credulity; and they protested ag-ainst the presumption and vanity which had prompted them to impose their partial definitions on the whole Christian world, as if they alone had been its sole representatives. " What infatuation/' they exclaimed, ^^that a particular church should presume to bind the whole Christian world by its anathema ! What raving- madness, that a part should dare to pronounce a solemn curse upon the whole ! This is indeed cursing* without rea- son— rag*e without power — judgment without jurisdiction." Political jealousies and resentments swelled the storm of ang-r}?- feeling- ; and it is hinted that Pope Hadrian and his party in the Nicene council had sacrificed relig-ion and conscience to the material and temporal interests of their church. p Therefore, while they condemned the in- solent and irreverent act of the council of 754, in dis- placing- and breaking- to pieces the imag-es of Christ and his saints, they denounced with equal severity the attri- bution to them of those outward and formal tokens of devotional homage they had always regarded as unlaw- ful ; consequently, no decree of any council to such effect could have validity or currency within the Prankish realms, but must be absolutely rejected.''
P The recoveryof the forfeited estates paid to them; but the wanton destruc- of the Church in Sicily and Calabria, tion of images they condemned as an probably. The Protestants of the Libri insulting outrage upon a religious usage Caroiini, however, expressed equal dis- of great antiquity and utility, and knew approbationof the decrees of the image- of no language strong enough to con- breakers. Images and pictures, they vey the sentiments of disapprobation said, had for ages past been used with and disgust at the conduct of the coun- great and salutary effect in France, oil of 754 in decreeing their expulsion where they had been retained in pur- from the churches, suance of the wholesome counsels of i The prohibition of Charlemagne Pope Gregory the Great in his pastoral included all acts of adoration, service, letter to Serenus of Marseilles. But the veneration, and worship of every kind — French churches had, they affirmed, " omnimodum cultum," e. y. praying, adhered to the letter of that advice, bowing, kneeling, burning incense or and had never permitted any external tapers before them, or any of those honours in the nature of worship to be marks of devotion by which men sig-
494 CATHEDJIA PETRI. [Book V.
Pope Hadrian received this uncivil document with extraordinar}^ forbearance. He rephed to it in Pope^H^- a very diffuse apolog-y for the decrees of the Kite rian to Couucil of Nicsea ; professing" to have adopted ar eraagne. ^j^^^^ solelj hccausc he had believed them to be in conformity with the ancient practice of the Roman church, and the expressed opinion of Pope Greg'ory the Great ; and he urg-ed that if he had not sanctioned them, the Greeks mig-ht have reverted to the shocking* heresy of iconoclasm, to the imminent peril of men's souls. But cir- cumstances, he said; hod since occurred to delay his final approval of the council ; neither had he given an}^ definite answer to the Byzantine court upon the subject : for that, infoct, the Greeks had delayed the folfihnent of their spe- cial e7igagements with the holy see ; the metropolitan and other jurisdictions of the church of Borne had not been surrendered ; and her patrimonial possessions sequestrated during" the predominance of the iconoclastic heres}^ had not been restored. He therefore proposed, with the permis- sion of Charlemag"nej that his letters of acknowledgement to the emperor, for the restoration of the sacred imag*es, should convey a severe rebuke for this breach of faith ; that the emperor be pressed closely upon the subjects of jurisdiction and patrimony; and that, if he continued obdurate, he should be at once published a heretic.""
The attempt of Pope Hadrian to involve Charlemag"ne in his quarrel with the emperor and his mother of rmnkfo°rt ^^^uc docs uot appear to have been followed by any practical result." But the g'enuine rever- ence of the Western sovereig'u for the holy see, and the anxiety of the pontiff to maintain a g'ood understanding" with his powerful protector, disinclined both fi'om pushing* the difference upon the subject of imag*e-worship to the
nify their adoration of God and Christ. ■■ Hard. Cone. torn. iv. pp. 818 et sqq.
Fhury, torn. ix. pp. 579 et sqq. Conf. « The courts of France and Constan-
Cent. Magd. cent. viii. pp. 641 et sqq.: tinople were at this moment not in the
see also the account of the synod held best humour with each other. Irene
at Paris in the year 825 upon the sub- had negotiated a marriage between a
ject of image-worship, published for daughter of Charlemagne and her son
the first time in 1596 ; though im- Constantine ; but from some caprice
pugned by Baronius, subsequently re- had subsequently changed her mind,
printed from an authentic Ms. ap. and married him to an obscure Arme-
D. Bouq. torn. vi. pp. 338 et sqq. nian girl.
Chap. IV.] CONDEMNATION OF IMAGE-WORSHIP. 495
length of a rupture. But in the year 794 the question of imag-e-worship was broug'ht forward at a g'reat synod of the Frankish churches, probably without premeditated de- sig'n. A council, consisting* of three hundred French, Ger- man, and Spanish prelates, had been convoked in that year, at the royal villa of Frankfort-on-the-Mayne, to discuss the alleg'ed heresy of the Adoptionarians, a revival of the Nes- torian theory of the incarnation, with some slig-ht difference of form. Felix bishop of Urg^el in Spain, and Elipandus archbishop of Toledo, lay under accusation as the authors of the new heresy. After a minute inquirv, the opinion of the Spanish prelates was condemned. But, that business accomplished, the acts of the second Nicene council were incidentallv brouo-ht under the notice of the synod. " The doctrine," says the second canon, ^^ enounced at the late synod of the Greeks held at Constantinople (Ni- caea) concerning* the adoration due to imag'es nation of beino- brouo-ht under the consideration of this image-
o o worsniD,
council, that, namely, they who refused to pay unto them the like adoration as to the holy Trinity should be adjudg-ed anathema, the fathers of this council do hereby declare their rejection and contempt of adora- tion or servitude in any form paid to such imag'es, and do unanimously condemn the same."'
It should be observed, that leg-ates from Pope Hadrian were present at this council ; that they approved the acts and canons ; and that the pontiff himself took no
' Hard. Cone. torn. iv. p. 904. It is ration. Fleury chooses to render tho probable, as Fleury observes (torn. ix. words " adorationera et servitutem" in p. 607), that this canon was suggested this clause by the terms " cette ado- by some misstatement of the doctrine ration et cette servitude;" which, to my of the second Nicene council, which mind, alters the real sense of the pass- certainly took good care to guard itself age, and makes the latter clause to against the charge of paying to images have specific reference to the kind of the same kind of worship as that duo to adoration and service described in the God or Christ or the Holy Spirit. But first. But the Caroline books contain his version of the canon is, I think, not the clearest condemnation of every kind quite candid. The fathers of Frankfort of adoration or service to images ; and appear to me to have put the exagger- it is not imaginable that the fathers of ated proposition in the former clause Frankfort should so soon have forgot- of the canon, with a view to intensify ten their prior opinions, as now to re- the contrast between their view of strict themselves to the denunciation of image-worship and that of the Nicene that which all the world acknowledged fathers. Tho word used in the second to be an enormous heresy, equivalent to or prohibitory clause is "omnimodis," idolatry, in any manner or form, scilicet, of ado-
496 CATHEDRA PETRI. - [Book V.
^ , obiection to any sino-le article or canon amono'
relations of them all. A glance at the relative position of theVrXkishthe pope, the emperor, and the mig-hty king- and Byzan- of the Franks, will, we think, explain the un- tine courts, ^g^.^] submission of the pontiff under relig"ioiis contradiction. The attitude of Charlemag'ne had become threatening' to the B^^zantines. His assumption of the crown of Italy had placed him, in most respects, in the threatening' position abdicated by the Lombards. He had pushed his conquests eastward to the very confines of the Byzantine dominions on the Danube and the Save ; and now had g'ood cause of offence in the capricious rejection of an alliance touching* the honour of his family. The Byzantine court at the same time beheld with indig-na- tion the transfer of an integ'ral portion of her dominions in Italy to the vassal bishop of Rome. That court had Byzantine Icamt nothing* by misfortune : like fraudulent arrogance, traders, the Caesars still placed their hopeless losses to the credit of their account ; and insisted upon the dominium siipremum of vast countries in which they had not for ag-es possessed a foot of g-round. Charle- mag-ne himself was, in their view, at best a barbarian vassal ; the pope a political traitor, whom it behoved them to cajole or coerce as opportunity ofiered or expe- Papai diency mig'ht sug'g-est. The pontiff, on the other cupidity, hand, intent upon robbing' his nominal sove- reig-n, demanded a rig-ht to the produce of his political industry as perfect and indefeasible as that which the nominal head of the holy Roman empire claimed to every reg-ion and province which had at any time formed a part of that empire. We have already seen, that while Leo the Isaurian and Constantine V. were striking' heavy blows ag-ainst the relig'ious influence of Rome, the pon- tiffs were eng'ag'ed in appropriating* to themselves every inch of the imperial territory in Italy they could lay their hands upon : the emperors retaliated by the seques- tration of the estates of the Roman church within their remaining' Italian and Sicihan dependencies, and permit- ting" her spiritual jurisdiction over the extensive dioceses of Macedonia^ Greece^ Epirus^ Prfevalitana^ Dardania,
Chap. IV.] PRINCIPLES OF PAPAL ACQUISITION. 497
and 1113'riciim, to pass into the hands of the national pre- Licy and their patriarcli. In these respects the Mutual successful issue of the iconoclastic controversy disgust. does not appear to have improved the position of the papacy; the confiscated estates were not restored^ and the Greek hierarchs were less than ever disposed to abdicate their natural jurisdictions for tlie benefit of the Western patriarchy fi'om vihom the}^ had now little to fear and no- thing* to expect. The resentment of Hadrian I. at the dis- appointment of his hopes, leads to a strong- suspicion that his concurrence in the extravagant theory of imagfe- wor- ship adopted by the second council of Niccea was prompted rather by political than relig"ious motives. . Certain it is, that when he found that he had been overreached by the wily Greeks, he was quite prepared to pronounce sentence of heresy ag'ainst the empress and her son, if Charlemag'ne should encourag'e him to hope for his assistance in reco- verino- the territorial losses his see had sustained during- the prog'ress of the controversy.
The pontiffs of Kome mig'ht, it may be thoug-ht, have reasonably reg-arded the g-reat g-ains achieved throug'h the Frankish alliance as an ample set- cipieJ'ol?" off ao-ainst these losses. But it was not so ; secular
-~ Tiii 11 ••! acquisition.
the papacy did not acknowiedg'e any principle of reciprocity or compensation in their accounts with the people or the rulers of the world : they received, but never pnid ; and even that which they received was, in the con- templation of Rome, always accompanied with a perpe- tual covenant for undisturbed enjoyment, at the peril of the bodies and souls of the grantors. The breach of this implied covenant was as much a heresy as doctrinal error. 13ut as long- as any thing was to be gained, or any loss retrieved, by the aid of the secular arm, the pontiffs wisely forbore to put forward this unqualified warranty. For the moment Hadrian full}' appreciated the value of his alliance with Charlemagne for protection against the resentments and intrigues of the Byzantines ; to that connection he looked for the chance of reestablishing his spiritual power in the East, and the recovery of the patrimonial territo- ries in southern Italy and Sicily. Contrasting this posi-
VOL. II. K K
498 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
tion with that in Avhich he stood towards the Caesars of Constantinople^ we majj therefore, readily imagine what would have been the fate of the Caroline books, or of the second canon of Frankfort, had they appeared under the patronag'e of Constantine and Irene instead of that of Charlemag-ne.
The Greek historians hint at a project of the empress to streng-then her own power ag'ainst the court factions Negotiations of Constantinople by a marriag'e with Charle- between niag'ne himself.'' Embassies passed between the and'ti^f '^^ two courts; but whatever may have been their Byzantines, objcct, before any definite understanding* could be arrived at, Irene was deposed by her minister Nice- phorus. The envoys of the king* to the late empress were, however, civilly received and entertained by her succes- sor ; and a settlement of boundary in Italy, in some re- spects advantag*eous to the empire, was ultimately ag*reed upon. A treaty of alliance was, it seems, at the same time under neg*otiation ; but in the interim Charlemagne had assumed the imperial crown of the West. Embassies ' still continued to be exchanged between the two empe- rors, and treaties were concluded with three successive Ceesars of Byzantium ; but the latter could not be pre- vailed upon to concede the title of emperor and Augus- tus to the barbarian prince ; nor could they cast oft* the suspicion that the powerful monarch of the West intended this assumption of imperial rank and title as a first step towards the acquisition of the empire to which, in their minds, that title was exclusively appropriate."'
We have no doubt that so vain a project had no place The emperor amoug the political schemcs of a monarch so Nicephorus; distinguished for practical good sense as Charle- magne. The suspicion itself was the offspring of the jealous vanity and constitutional timidity of the court of Constantinople. Nicephorus dabbled in religious con- trovers}^ with the same morbid zest as his predecessors. But he struck into a different path for the success of his
u Theophanes, Chronog. a.T^. D. Bouq. Einhardi, ann. 803, 806, 812, pp. 191- ton}. V, p. 188. 193, ibid.; Annal. Fuld. ann. 803, 811,
" Einhardi, Vit. Car. Mag. ap. Pertz, ibid. pp. 353-355. torn. ii. p. 451, §§ 7, 33. See also Annal.
Chap. IV.] RELIGIOUS REVOLUTIONS. 499
schemes. The new emperor was averse from
,1 , • n • ' 1 . 1111 averse from
the practice ot iinag'e-worship, probably be- image- cause its triumph had been the g-lory of his yrship: predecessor's reig'n ; he reprobated the violent methods adopted by Irene^ and published an edict of g'eneral toleration in favour of those who, like himself, mig'ht object to the prevailing' ritual. But toleration is the bane of fanaticism ; and the Studite monks of Con- stantinople, under their ring-leader Theodore, made the welkin to rino- with exclamations of horror and disofust at this sacrilegious attempt to re-open the floodg'ates of iconoclasm. At their instigation the populace insurrec- of the city rose in the mass, and were with ^'O"^- difficulty reduced to submission ; the monks themselves were expelled, and the rhigieaders of the sedition were incarcerated. Nicephorus, and his patriarchal namesake and nominee, drew upon themselves the foal charg-e of Manicheeism, the epitome of everj^ heres}^ that had ever polluted the heart of an apostate; Irene was elevated to the rank of a saint and martyr ; and the death of Nice- phorus (a.d. 811) in battle with the Bulg*arians was hailed by the frantic Theodore and his monastic bev}^ as a deli- very from the dominion of sin and Satan.'''
His successor, Michael I. (Rhang'abe), reversed the relig-ious policy of Nicephorus. The patriarch Revolutions of Constantinople hastened to excuse his com- at Constan- pliance with the heresy of his late master on aiTa^iinst the usual plea of compulsion, and poured out image- his devout orisons for the success of the holy ^°'^ '^" cause of the sacred images." In the year 813 Michael resig-ned the crown to Leo V., surnamed the Armenian, a soldier of fortune, and a devout adversary of image- worship. Again the city and court of Constantinople became the arena of fierce and often bloody contests for and against iconolatr}^ The patriarch Nicephorus he- sitated at a second apostasy, and was deposed; in his place the emperor installed Theodatus, like his predeces-
^ Baronius, Ann. 802, § G, from the ^ See this ilisgusting effusion of hy-
furious invectives of Theophanes and pocrisy and effrontery, ap. Baron. Ann. Theodore the Studite. 811, §§ 20-43; more especially § 41.
500 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
sor a layman^ in the patriarchal chair ; and the new pon- tiff instantaneously became^ in the hands of his adver- sarieS; the representative of every vice that disg-races human nature. According* to invariable custom^ Theo- 'datus sent his inaugural letters to the reiginng* pontiff of Eome, Paschal I. In the interim, however^ a close alli- ance had been struck between the Studite faction and the papal court. The indomitable Theodore, archimandrite of the Studite community, unsheathed the sword of con- troversy with fanatical alacrity. The reasonable desire of the emperor for the convocation of a g'eneral council, at which the contradictory decisions of two equally qualified and equally numerous g'eneral synods (a.d. 754 and 787) should be discussed and reconciled, was defeated by the furious declamations of Theodore and his friends; and the emperor contented himself for the present with the banishment from the metropolis of images and monks together. Though he maintained the policy of toleration in the provincial cities and districts, the Studites and their leader found means from their prisons to keep alive the flame of religious discord, and even to open a confi- dential communication with Rome, where their hopes of ultimate triumph appear, b}' this time, to have centred.
Theodore continued to pour forth from his place of Theodore the confinement, where he appears to have enjoyed Studite. every indulgence consistent with safe custody,^ the most unmeasured and venomous aspersions upon his sovereign. He issued appeals to the passions of the populace 5 indited and despatched hortatory letters to the four patriarchs of Christendom descriptive of his own sufferings and those of his friends in the cause phantfJad'u- of tlic holy imagcs ; and addressed to Pope Pas- iationofPope(.i^al I. a memorial and supplication, omitting-
Paschal I . . ..^
no phrase of Oriental adulation which might conciliate the well-known favour of Rome for those who flattered her pretensions. The pope figures in this address as ''the great light; the prince of all the priests of the
y We altogether reject the tales of and his copyists. Such rigour is totally
inhuman cruelties and persecutions in- inconsistent with the freedom of com-
flicted on thecaptive advocates of image- munication and the unity of effort to
worship by the mendacious Theophanes which these same writers depose.
Chap. IV.] STUDITE SYCOPHANCY. 501
Lord ; the apostolic chief^ chosen by Grod himself to be the supreme jMstor of his Church ; the doorkeeper of the kiiig*- dom of heaven ; the rock upon which the catholic Church is built: he is Peter, and rules all-g-lorious in Peter's chair 5 he is prince over all, established in and by God." Other addresses of Theodore and his faction may match these in extravag'ance. The pope " is to be adored as the supreme lig-ht of the world j the universal pope that sitteth upon the hig-hest of the apostolical thrones, and made manifest as the true successor of the prince of the apostles by his sympathy with the suffering- churches : he is more- over, and hath been from the beginning, the clear and unpolluted source of divine truth ; the sure and only haven of refug-e from the storms of heresy ; the divinely- appointed city of refug'e unto salvation." Then, as if struck by the immensity of the distance at which all other mortals stand before the majesty of St. Peter's chair, he exclaims : " Of a truth it is a bold thing- for us, miserable and unworthy being-s, thus to approach with our profane praises that divine name which hath, by the tong-ue of Christ himself, been pronounced ^ blessed.' "^
We ma}^ perhaps form the safest judg-ment of the true value to be attached to the encomiums of the y^^j^^ ^^ Studite faction upon the pope of Rome, by com- these enco- paring' them with the parallel eulog-istic ex- """"^s- pressions adopted in their correspondence with the three bishops of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Thus the first of these patriarchs is addressed as '^ the in-all- things most \\o\y fruiter of frit hers, the light of light, the most Messed the pope of Alexandria." The same adula- tory phrases are bestowed upon the patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem ; and the latter more especially is assured that he is, in fact, the frst of all the j)atriarchs, though but theffth in nominal rank ; for that his seat was es- tablished upon the very spot where He, the g-reat bishop of souls and universal pontiff, Avas born, lived, and suf- fered, was buried, and rose ag-ain, and was received up into heaven ; where, therefore, the supreine patriarchal dignity must needs reside.""
^ Baron. Ann. 818, §§ 1, 2, p. 604. » Ibid. Ann. 817, § 20, p. 590.
602 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
Attributions of so universal a character are necessa- rily exclusive of all concurrent claims, and when
Reception o{ "■,.■, , .^ • ■, t • . r
the studite applied to morc than a snig'le subject^ or ne- memoriai ccssitj neutralise one another.*" But the cor- respondence of the Studites with the churches of the East was probably unknown to Pope Paschal; and when the s^^nodal letters of the patriarch of Constan- tinople arrived, they were rejected with disdain ; while those of his opponents met with the most gracious recep- tion. The memorialists had, however, ig-norantly flattered themselves with the belief that there was but one opinion among" the Western churches upon the subject of imag'e- worship 5 and had proposed a g-eneral council for the pur- pose of g"iving* expression to that opinion. But the pope knew that the g-round was hollow beneath him, and wisely abstained from the untimely measure sug-g-ested by his friends in the East. In his reply he confined himself to expressions of warm approval of their efforts, and sym- pathy with their suffering's in the g'ood cause ; with an earnest exhortation to persevere unto the end in opposi- tion to the heresy of the court.""
Thoug-hthe votaries of imag-e- worship g'ained nothing* Michael the ^y their appeal to Rome, they were soon after- stammerer wards relieved from the pressure of real or con- ''"gjnemi ^ structivc pcrsccution by the death of the emperor council. Leo the Armenian (a.d. 820). His assassin and successor, Michael IL, surnamed the "Stammerer," beg"an his reign by a general amnesty ; he reinstated the monks, restored their property, and issued a decree of perfect re- ligious toleration, to continue in force until the contro- versy should receive its proper solution at the hands of an impartially selected and independent general council of the Christian Church. The emperor was in earnest, and
•> Cardinal Baronius is very disagree- rison that might raise either of them ably affected by the address of Theodore above the other; yet, inasmuch as the to the patriarch of Jerusalem; but he bishop of Rome alone possessed the rather thinks that he meant to say no power to serve his interests and those more than that the Christian Church be- of his party, he prostrates himself some- gan at Jerusalem. It seems tolerably what lower before the majesty of Rome, clear that Theodore wished to convey to and uses the terms most likely to corn- each of his correspondents the highest mand the sympatliies of the pope, opinion of his oificial dignity, conse- <= Baron. Ann. 818, § 13, and passim, quently he avoids all terms of compa-
Chap. IV.] OPPOSITION TO A GENERAL COUNCIL. 503
appears to have persuaded himself that he mig'ht appropri- ate to himself the g-lory of reestablishhig- religious peace, after nearlj'^ a century of the most embarrassiug- and perni- cious dissension. Without any of those previous inquiries which^ in like cases^ appear requisite to ascertain the dis- positions of the contending- parties^ he issued his sum- monses to the prelates of the empire. But the opposition Studite party at once avoAved their uncompro- of the mising- opposition to any proposal that might ^^"'^^^^^• brino- them into the most distant communication with their antag-onistSj or have the effect of re-opening* a ques- tion they maintained to have been finally settled by oecu- menical decree (a.d. 78?) ; they vehemently denied the rig'ht of the temporal sovereign to convoke a council, or at his pleasure to set the Chiu^ch in motion for the discus- sion or determination of religious questions, — that func- tion, they maintained, belonged exclusively to the Church at large ; and they aftirmed, that when any difficultv A^as apprehended, the emperor was bound by ancient custom to take council of Rome, and abide Ijy her decision. " For," said they, " that is the supreme Church of Christ on earth, in which Peter sat in the beginning" ; and unto whom the Lord had said, ^Thou art Peter, and upon this rock A\'ill I build my Church.' "
The Studite party had by this time ascertained that a g'eneral assembly of the churches must seri- Grounds of ously endanger their dogmatic position. Under opposition. favour of the court, and encourag*ed by the tolerant po- licy of the emperor, there was the most imminent peril of what they most dreaded — a free discussion. The pope, they now found, could not command the suffrages of the AYest : a really oecumenical convocation would, in all pro- babihty, register the adoration of images, pictures, and symbols of every kind in the catalogue of heresies. They therefore prudently took their stand upon the decrees of Nictea (78?) and the papal alhance; and in aid of their position they alleged two principles not hitherto dogma- tically admitted by any considerable party in the Ori- ental churches— ^rsf, that the temporal sovereign is in- competent to set the.ecclesiastical powers in motion 5 and
504 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book V.
secondly, that for any such purpose the previous assent of the pope of Rome; as supreme president of the whole Church; is indispensable. Thus prepared, they impor- tuned the emperor to restore the sacred imagoes to their places and their honours, to expel the bishops of the opposite party, to reinstate their friends in their forfeited sees, and to revoke his decree of toleration. Michael Reply of treated the petitioners with much courtesy, but Michael II. declined to put power into the hands of persons from whom no mercy to the members of his own com- munion was to be expected. He had, he said, himself never bowed down before an imag'e ; but as far as he was concerned, others mig'ht, in that respect, do as they pleased, provided they granted to others the liberty they claimed for themselves. In all parts of the empire, there- fore, they who worshipped imag'es were free to set them up where and however they pleased, excepting" only in Constantinople ; but as that city was the place of his imperial residence, he had resolved to mark his own per- sonal and conscientious opinions by prohibiting- them altog'ether within its purlieus.'^
The cool civility of the sovereig^n convinced the peti- insoience of tioiicrs that he would not be easily driven from the studite his Conciliatory policy. The edict of toleration, party, ii^gy perceived, was silentty undermining* their influence ;^ and they expressed their rag'e and apprehen- sion in terms of such disloyal and contemptuous vitu- peration as they thoug'ht must impel the court into those measures of repression which would once more elevate them to the dig'nity of martyrs and confessors.^ The seditious violence of the petitioners was punished by sim- ple banishment. Thoug'h interrupted by civil war, Mi- chael persisted in his project of a g*eneral council ; and was ag-ain encountered by a peremptory and insolent
^ Baron. Ann. 821, § 39, p. 26. that " the on/y Access to the Saviour and
^ " Quae utilitas si nos, qui Dei tem- his saints was through their holy images;
pla et suraus et dicimur, inutiles facti that therefore all who reject his image,
sumus, et inanimas domus servamus." reject Christ, and are the very worst
Baron, ubi sup. § 48, p. 29. of heretics; for by their contempt of
f Theodore, the champion of image- the type they signify their rejection of
worship, put the finishing hand to the the prototype." Baron. Ann. 823, §25,
profession of iconolatry : he maintained p. 54.
Chap. IV. VALUE OF STUDITE TESTIMONY. 505
denial of his rig'ht to interfere, directly or indirect^, in matters of religious concernment: "The apostles and their successors/' it was contended, " were alone competent to judg-e and determine upon divine thing-s ; and who those successors were was equally manifest : frst, namely, he who occupied the highest chair, to wit, that of old Home; ncxt,t\\e bishop of the second see, that of Constantinople, or new Rome ; in the third, fourth, and fifth places, the bishops of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem : these were the crown of the ecclesiastical pyramid, and. in them resided the exclusive rig-ht of adjudicating- upon spiritual matters and thing-s : the emperor's sole duty was to sup- port them with the civil power ; to stamp their decrees with the seal of secular law, and to suppress all carnal resistance or contradiction." They frankly informed him that the only course open to him was without delay to suppress the prevalent heresy, to turn out the recreant bishops, and to put their sees into the hands of their own friends. After that, they said, they would not object to a synod, provided it were convoked by an orthodox pa- triarch, with the concurrence of his four colleag-ues, more especi-dlly that of the g-reat pontiff of Rome, to whom of rig-ht belong-ed the siqyremc jwiver {siimma jjotestas) in all oecumenical synods. =
These professions of subserviency to Rome cannot be reg-arded historically in any other Hg-ht than as vaiue of the expression of party attachment, and the de- ^tudite ^st^- sire of the weaker to purchase at any price the supremacy support of the strong-er power. Destitute of of^io^ie- all authority to speak for the majority, even in their own church, it is' a simple imposture to assig-n to the raving-s of the Studites and their champion the character of histori- cal evidence, or to present them to the world as authentic expositions of ecclesiastical law.'' The sole object of that
e Baron. Ann. 823, §§ 9-15, pp. 48- over the very unorthodox association
51 The zeahius cardinal exults in the of Constantinople with the other apos-
orthodoxy of Tlieodore, and extracts tolical sees; and the equally unortho-
frora his effusions a complete theory of dox supposition that the concurrence ot
Koraan preroo-ative as to the convoca- the latter was in any respect necessary
tion, management, and control of the to complete the powers ot the pontitt ot
councils of the Church. It is surprising Rome. i . ,
that he should have so easily passed ^ Baronius has, however, adopted
506 CATIIEDEA PETRI. [Book V.
party was to multiply obstacles to the free discussion of the question of imag-e-worship. They were determined at all hazards to maintain the decrees of 787^ and were anxious to eng'ag"e the pope in the like uncompromising* defence of the second Nicene council. The emperor Mi- chael, however, was well informed of the reluctance of the Gallic churches to adopt the extremes proposed by the Studite party ; and in the year 824 despatched a
solemn embassy to the Western emperor, Louis
of Michlei the Pious, with a view to eng-ag'e his relig'ious
to Louis sympathies ag'ainst the more serious abuses of
im a g'e- worship. After describing- the coarse and deg'rading" superstitions to which that practice had g-iven rise within his own dominions," Michael vowed that he had caused all images and pictures in the churches to be removed from the lower and more accessible places to others where they were beyond reach of the touch or osculation of devotees, yet so visible as still to serve their proper purpose of instruction to the unlearned, without offering* them to the adoration of the ignorant and super-
this course throughout his great work. sing hymns to them, and adore them, Whenthecreditof his authorities comes and supplicate aid from them. Many under our consideration, we often find persons clothe them in white raiment, that it rests upon phrases and opinions and cause them to hold their childi'en of a lilie partial and unauthoritative over the baptismal font. Others again, character. when they embrace the monastic pro- ' Though not immediately connected fession, and cut off their hair, cause it with the narrative, we may be allowed to fall into the lap of an image (in to- in a note to give an extract from the ken of spiritual adoption), instead of letter of the emperor, descriptive of the consigning it to some ancient of the practices complained of. Without plac- order to be kept by him. Again, many, ing any undue reliance upon Byzantine both of clergy and laity, are guilty of veracity, we accept his account with the the extravagant superstition of scrap- remai'k that it has never been contra- ing off the outside colour from their dieted. " We further take leave," says images, mixing it with the sacramental Michael II., " to inform your highness elements, and administering it in that that many of our clergy and laity have state to the communicants. Again, of late gone back from the apostolic others place the bread and wine in the tradition, and have become the inven- hands of an image, and pretend to re- tors of strange and wicked delusions. ceive them from it. Again, others spread In the first instance they effaced the pictures of saints upon altars in private symbol of the cross from the churches, houses, and celebrate the sacred mys- and afterwards they substituted images, teries upon them ; and many other and now they burn lamps before them, things do they in the churches contrary and fumigate them with incense, and to our religion, and to the great scan- hold them in as high honour and wor- dal of the more learned and sober- ship as if they were made of the iden- minded among ourselves." Baron. Ann. tical wood upon which Christ our God 823, §§ 10, 11, p. 66, cum not. Pagi. was crucified for our salvation; they
CuAr. IV.] MODERATION OF MICHAEL II. 507
stitious, or allowing" lamps to be kept burning' before them, or fumig'ations of incense to be performed in their honour. " For we think/' said the emperor, " that the persons who practise or encourag*e such pernicious inven- tions ought to be expelled from the Church of Christ. Yet because we have set our faces ag*ainst such doing-s, certain persons have had recourse to old Rome, and have traduced our church and true religion by denying' our orthodoxy; in proof whereof, however, we herewith send 3^ou our confession of faith."
In ever}^ essential point of doctrine, that confession was strictly orthodox. But while it adopted Moderation the first six g-eneral councils, it passed over of Michael ii. in silence both the iconoclastic council of 754 and the second council of Nictea of 787 ; thereb}' tacitly disa- vowing- the extreme tenets of either part3\ Michael, in fact, took his stand much upon the same g*round as that chosen by the Caroline books and the synod of Frankfort (794), and closed in accurately with the doc- trine of Greg'ory the Great in his instructions to Serenus of Marseilles. He expressed at the same time an ex- ceeding- aversion from schism, and the hig-hest reverence for the holy see ; and intimated that his envo3"S were in- structed on their return to visit Rome, and to convey to the holy pope of that city certain rich presents, to be offered on the shrine of the g-reat intercessor Peter prince of the apostles. •"
This embassy g-ave rise to transactions between the emperor Louis the Pious and the papacy of sufficient importance to form the subject of a fifth and concluding- chapter of this Book.
i Baronius, Ann. 824, § 29. The mingling so much good orthodoxy with cardinal is highly scandalised by the his blasphemies against images and audacity of the heretical emperor in their worshippers.
CHAPTER V.
ISSUE OF THE CONTROVERSY ON IMAGE-WORSHIP.
Ecclesiastical relations with Rome during the reign of Charlemagne — Louis I. the Pious — Gallic view of the question of image-worship— Commission of in- quiry and report — Substance of the report — Censure passed upon Hadrian I. and Gregory 11. — Proposals of the commissioners to the emperor Louis — Gallic estimate of papal authority — General exposition of the report, &c. — Letter of Louis the Pious to Pope Eugenius — Inconsequential issue of the emperor's proposal — Claudius Clemens, bishop of Turin — The reforms of Claude fall to the ground — Subsidence of the iconoclastic disturbances — Theo- philus emperor — John Leconomontis — Restoration of images in the East by the emperor Michael III. — Epoch of 844.
The death of Pope Paschal I.^ in 824^ had placed Eu-
Ecciesiasticaig"eiii^is H* ^V^^ the papal throne. Political relations ovcnts^ of wliicli wc shall take occasion here- diiring°the ^ft^r to g'ive a more detailed account, had reign of cemented the connection between the court of Charlemagne. -pj,^^j^^g and the papacj, and added to the influ- ence of the secular power to an extent unprecedented in the annals of papal Rome since the downfall of the em- pire of the West. A spirit of self-reliance had sprung* up among" the French clergy simultaneously with the de- velopment of the empire of Charlemag'ne. His acute dis- cernment of the religious wants of the times had placed on the spiritual thrones of France and Germany a class of men of theological and secular attainments greatly in advance of their predecessors, — it may, indeed, be added, of the ag'e in which they lived. As long* as he occupied the throne, ecclesiastical and secidar legislation proceeded hand in hand. The high spiritual reg-ard in ^\ hich the see of Rome Avas held alike by church and state, was not allowed to interfere with the fullest freedom of movement
Chap. V.] GALLIC VIEW OF IMAGE-WORSHIP. 509
in the religious body. The interpositions of Home, Avhen they occni'red, were treated with respect ; and althoiig-h the GaUie bishops held themselves at liberty to deal freely with all questions of faith or discipline which arose in the course of their ministrations, they still regarded them- selves bound to report their proceeding-s to Rome, and to take counsel of the chair of Peter in all matters of more than ordinary doubt or difficulty. In the year Louis the 814, Louis I., surnamed the Pious, had sue- i''f'"s. ceeded his renowned father upon the imperial throne of the West. But the cliaracter of the new emperor was cast in a widely different mould. Louis was wanting* in all those vig'orous and self-reliant qualities which subdued the hearts and spirits of men to his g'reat predecessor. His religious education had tended to weaken rather than to streno"then his natural character. His mental constitu- tion was singularly liable to religious disturbance ; and his feeble judgment inclined him to lean upon authority rather than upon independent inquiry or per-
1 •4.- TT'^T, i. ^1 ;i -4. l^4.^ The Gallic
sonal conviction. Hitherto the authority oi the church Carohne books and the council of Frankfort on image- had remained unimpeached in the church of ^^'^' France. All the more learned of her clergy — probably the majority of the whole establishment— zealously maintained the unlawfulness of imag-e- worship in any shape. They re- jected the Greek distinction between absolute and relative worship; they disavowed all uses of iinag*es but those of instruction and encourag'ement to devotion ; and rigidly denounced the performance of all external acts of homag-e to any visible objects as symbols of religious contempla- tion. The embassy of the emperor Michael powerfully affected the minds of Louis and his clergy. The disgust- ing- abuses brought to light b}^ the statements of the Byzantines produced a lively zeal for the purity of their own practice, and awakened a strong* desire to see the precise line which divides the legitimate use of images and pictures from the idolatrous abuses prevaihng in the Oriental churches fully and finally determined.
For that purpose, the emperor Louis, with the con- currence of his clergy, besought Pope Lugenius II. to
510 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
sanction by his license, and become a party to,
The emperor n -, :' ^ • / • p -i - !:•
proposes a a lonnai investigation oi the great questions committee of involved ill the docti'ine of imag-e - worship, inquiry, c. -^^^^ ^^^^ purposc, he proposed that the inquiry should be conducted by a select commission consisting- of the most learned divines of the catholic communion of France ; and that they should be instructed to search the Scriptures and the writing's of the Christian fathers, with a view to collect the ag'gTeg'ate suffrages of the Church as the groundwork of a future and definitive set- tlement of all questions at issue between the fanatical image-worshippers and the equally fanatical image-break- ers.^ Pope Eugenius gave the required permission with- Commission ^^^ delay, aiid without any recorded objection." of inquiry The commissioiiei's accordingly met at Paris in and report. ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ of November 826^ and, after dihgent inquiry, made their report to the emperor Louis with a freedom of censure which we must take for the result of that increase of self-reliance which the advance of infor- mation and knowledge had engendered. The reign of Charlemagne, among its manifold merits, could boast of none more justly than the liberal patronag'e extended to learning and learned men, the endowment of schools, and the general provisions made for the education of the
* The pontifical advocates contend, and that of Rome ; and that to that with some appearance of reason, that end they regarded the opportunity as the application of the emperor Louis favourable to make the pope a party to to the pope for his license (licentia) to the inquiry, and to bind him to its ra- the proposed inquest is satisfactory suits. It is obvious that they tliought evidence that it was unlawful to hold a general synod premature; and that any kind of inquiry having relation to without a previous inquiry, under the matters of faith or doctrine M'ithout sanction of the holy see, no definite the previous permission of the holy see. issues could be proposed to the council Baron. Ann. 824, §§ 9, 31, 32. In the for discussion or adoption. Hence the reign of Charlemagne, however, there necessity of a license or permission is at least equally satisfactory evidence from the pope for the proposed inves- that no such license was regarded as tigation.
essential to the legality of public or ^ Baronius (Ann. 824, § 33) says, private inquiry. There is not a tittle that he reproved the rashness of the of evidence to show that the discussion emperor and his advisers for opening which produced the Caroline books, or afresh an inquiry already determined the convocation of the great synod of by immemorial tradition ; yet yielded, Frankfort, was preceded by any appli- in order that he might not be supposed cation for leave or license to the holy to act arbitrarily rather than accord- see. But we see no reason to doubt ing to reason. The cardinal quotes no that the G allic clergy were anxious for authority, nor can I find any, for this a uniformity of doctrine respecting the statement. use of images between their own church
CriAP. v.] CENSURE UPON HADRIAN T. 511
people. The clerg-y of France no long-er laboured under the thraldom of ignorance ; conscious of the power, they no lono-er doubted the rio-ht to investio*ate for themselves the most profound questions of theology, and to censure error wherever they believed it to lurk, whether in the head or the members of the Christian bod}'.^
The commissioners opened their report by a deliber- ate censure of the letter of Pope Hadrian I. to ^, ,
y-, , ,. T -T- ^ 1 ir r • bubstance of
Constantme and Irene on behali oi nnag-e-wor- the report. ship.'' Thoug-h they approved his condemnation ^jJ^J'jr^^j"^"'' of those who laid violent hands upon, or alto- g-ether prohibited the use of, imag'es, yet the}' reprobated the sanction he had given to the bestowal of tokens of adoration or worship, the application to them of the epi- thet "holy," and his ratification of the decrees of a s3^nod which upheld such reprehensible usag'es.^ His quotations from the fathers of the Church in support of those prac- tices, they said, were strang-e and little to the purpose ; tending* rather to mislead than to enlig-hten those whom he addressed; inasmuch as they were adduced, not to show that imag-es and pictures oug-ht not to be dishon- oured or broken in pieces, but that they mig-ht be adored and called " holy," and that they were capable of impart- ing* to the worshipper a certain special g'race (quandam scmctimoniam'). The emperor Charles, they further re- marked, had in many respects disapproved that S3'nod/ and had fi^eety communicated his objections to Pope Ha- drian I.;^ but that, instead of correcting- what was found amiss, he (Hadrian) had defended the superstitious de- crees of the synod article by article, to the g-reat scandal of the faithful, and to the manifest disparag'ement as well of the pontifical dig'nityas of the truth itself. The pontiff had professed to be g-uided by the precepts of the holy
•^ The Caroline books, the canon of error otherwise than by an implicit re- Frankfort, and the report of the com- liance upon the doctrine of Rome. See missioners of the emperor Louis, fur- ch. i. p. 43G of this Book, nish a remarkable contrast to that plain •* See ch. iv. p. 490 n. (J) of this Book, avowal of ignorance which a century "^ The second Nicone council to wit. and a half before induced them to adopt f By the promulgation of the Caro- the whole Roman tradition, because line books.
they felt their own incompetence to k See ch. iv. p. 493 of this Book, escape the entanglements of religious
512 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
pope Greg'oiy (the Great) ; it was manifest that he had misunderstood the doctrine of that holy man : they be- lieved^ indeed^ that he had erred not so much ag'ainst better knowledg-e as from positive ig-norance j 3"et unless he had fortunately^ thoug*!! accidentally, found a partial support in the institutes of that blessed person, he must inevitably have fallen headlong- into the g^ulf of super- stition.
The commissioners took the liberty of commenting" and with equal severity upon the letters of Pope Gregory II. Greg'or}^ II. : they compared the decrees of the second council of Nicaea with the Caroline books, and adverted to the epistle of the preceding- year from the emperor Michael to their own pious sovereign. From these documents, and other authentic reports that had come to their knowledg-e, they had conceived the most serious alarm at the extent to which that " wicked cus- tom and pestilent superstition" (imag*e-worship) had taken root and flourished : they could now understand why the emperor Louis wished for its abolition ; more especially since it was found that the popes, whose special duty it was to keep others in the rig-ht path, had themselves strayed far away from it. And althoug-h the emperor had set on foot this inquiry for the satisfaction of his private conscience, and for that reason had thoug-ht it re- quisite to obtain the consent of the pontiff; yet as, before that, he had the will to inquire without the power, so now, being' providentially furnished with authority from him who had himself swerved from the truth, that erring authority itself must wilhng'ly or unwilling-ly yield to the force of truth.^
^ This passage is ambiguous. It may sion into the general proposition, that no be doubtful whether the commissioners assembly or synod whatever, touching are describing the state of mind of the faithordoctrine, could have any validity emperor Louis — that is, his private without the prior sanction of the holy doubts of his competency, as a layman, see. I think the ' power' here alluded to forhis own personal satisfaction to seton does not denote the ecclesiastical power foot so important a theological inquiry ; to discuss and to determine the points or whether they meant to state it as a in issue; but the necessity, in this par- matter of ecclesiastical law, that the pa- ticular case, of the papal concurrence, pal license was essential to all inquiries for the purpose of settling one uniform of that nature. The papal writers, of practice regarding the use of images in course, understand them in the latter the Latin church. Without that con- sense, and expand the apparent admis- currence, he would have been deprived
Chap. V.] KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS. 51;3
But with all this freedom of reprehension^ they ad- vised the emperor in his dealing-s with the pope ^^ ,
., ^ , Ml • 11 1 roposais
to avoid, as much as possible^ casting- blame ofthecom- upon him personall}' ; and they sug-g-ested that ^^l^'^^l^^ there were others upon whom the whole charg'e emperor of these misdoino-s mio-ht be laid without cans- °"'^" mg scandal in the Chvrch :^ they thoug-ht that by sparing* the pontiff, and yet not shrinking' from a frank profession of what he believed to be the truth^ the emperor would best consult the interests of church union, as well as those of the holy see itself: by such means the pontiff mig-ht be g'entl}^ led to adopt sounder views ; and they advised that an answer should be sent to the emperor of the Greeks in conformity with their report, and that at the same time the pope should be furnished with a copy of the extracts they had made from the holy Scriptures and the fathers of the Church for the use of their master. With a view to arm him at all points, they subjoined the draug'hts of two letters ; one to accompany the book of extracts, and the other to be proposed to the pope as the pontifical reply to the emperor Michael touching* the ob- jects of the late embassy. In order, however, to dissipate all question as to their own convictions, the}' declared it to be their opinion that the images of the saints ought not to be abrogated nor broken, nor altog^ether set aside ; yet that they oug"ht by no means to be made the objects of worship or superstitious reverence, but be retained only in memory, and for the love of those whom they represent, according* to the strict tenor of Pope Greg-ory the Great's decretal upon the whole question.^
of the means of bringing the discussion J See the entire report, ap. D. Boiiq. to any profitable issue; and he con- Hist, de Fr. tom. vi. pp. 338-341. And tended, that as soon as he obtained it conf. Baron. Ann. 825, §§ 7 to 18. Ba- the pope was bound to acknowledge his ronius flouts this remarkable document, error if the decision should be against Bellarmine flatly denies its genuineness. him. The Jesuits Lahhe and Sirmond omit it ' Meaning the Greeks, who had not from their collections. Pa^e admits that cleared themselves of the imputation the practice of the Galilean church was, of iconoclasm to the satisfaction of for many ages afterwards, in conformity the commissioners; and whose reputa- with the terms of the report. It is now, tion for general orthodoxy was not so however, on all hands admitted to be a well established as to make it incon- genuine document. It was, indeed, first venientto shift the whole sin upon their discovered and anonymously printed at shoulders. Frankfort in the year 1596, by Pro-
VOL. II. L L
514 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
It is, however, somewhat startling- to find that, with all this anxiety to spare the sensitiveness of the estimate pontifical court, niore especially after admitting* of papal jjj some sort the ri^ht of the pope to the initi- ^ ^' ative in all inquiries of a religious character, the commissioners should advise the emperor to assert an independent and unqualified rig'ht to search the Scrip- tures and the writing's of the " divinely inspired fathers;" and that they should express an opinion that in so doing* the holy see is bound to approve of the act, "because that see itself was subject to the dictates of Scripture and of the holy catholic fathers, and ought therefore to be care- ful how it refused a reason to a reasonable inquirer: that, in fact, he (Louis) had duties to perform which must be grounded upon personal conviction, and therefore re- quired personal research : that he was bound to pity and relieve the distracted churches of the East ; where it so happened, that while one party would not endure images, the other not only set them up but bowed down to them and worshipped them ; yet that both parties heaped up quotations from Scripture and the fathers in support of such contradictory views : that in the performance of this duty he (Louis) had an absolute right to the sup- port of him to whom the Almighty had committed the vicariate over His whole Church, — of him to whom a name is given above all other names in the ranks of the pontificate ; who is alone ordained to be called ^ uni- versal,' not to do his own will, but to do the will of his apostolic founders : that he (the pope) had therefore no alternative but to stand forth for the correction of these evils, and the bringing back the strayed sheep to the path of truth : that when Satan, as then, went abroad to de- stroy in men's hearts the holy law of charity, it was the duty of the whole order to go forth to battle against him ; but more especially was it the duty of him who by apostolical authority and the reverential deference of the
testants; but whatever suspicion might Fleury's account, or abstract, is unusu-
have attached to it from that circum- ally meagre ; H. E. torn. x. p. 269. D.
stance has since been dissipated by the Bouquet, it should be mentioned, does
discovery of an undoubted Ms. copy not publish the two draughts proposed
in the library of the learned Thuanus. by the commissioners.
Chap. V.] RESULT OF THE COMMISSION. 616
Christian world is exalted to the universalit}^ : for even he cannot he called 'universaV if he doth not combat with all his might on helialf of universal truth "^
It is not easy to determine with precision the views entertained by the commissioners of the proper General functions of the papacy Avhich these documents ^^ ^fgf^j.g"j disclose. That the Gallic clergy were disposed of the com- to uphold the universal primacy of the chair of missioners. Peter in some sense, is obvious ) yet it is equally so that they were far from conceding* a prerog'ative independent of the ecclesiastical body corporate. Granting- the uni- versality of function, yet it is apparent that the Church was the equally universal monitor and adviser of the pontiff. They addressed him with the freedom of a co- ordinate rather than a subordinate authority, and seem to treat his function rather as a ministerial than a judicial or self-acting' power. His responsibility to the Church is assumed in principle, thoug-h not affirmed in any specific form of words. The universality, thoug-h broadly assented to, is treated as dependent upon the due execution of the duties attached to the office ; it is made to rest rather on the personal and official merits of the holder than upon the Petrine commission. They believed that by neg-lect of duty that commission would be virtually cancelled, or rest in abeyance until satisfaction be made to the Church. Consistently with this opinion, the powers vested in the chair of Peter were therefore not of a nature to transform the Church into a merely derivative institution, destitute of all life or self-action, but such as it mig-ht please the representative of St. Peter to impart : that chair was, indeed, held to be the reg'ular instrument for setting" the ecclesiastical authorities in motion ; yet this was not to preclude the self-action of the hierarchy, or any constituent portion of that bod}^, where it was requi- site to support or to rectify the movements of the pon- tifical powers.'
^ Baron. Ann. 825, §§ 15 to 20, pp. those of his communion that the Church
75, 76. was a merely derivative and depend-
' Baronius (Ann. 825, § 20) is more ent association, without life of its own
than usually sore at the touch of these but what it borrowed from the Petrine
documents. His business was to satisfy source.
516 CATHEDEA PETRI. [Book V.
Louis the Pious appears, however, not altogether to
have relished the bold councils of his commis-
Louisthe sioucrs. After mature consideration, he des-
Pious to patched envoys to Rome furnished with a letter
the pope. ^ , "^ „ - , , ^^
to the pope oi a somewhat aiiierent tenor to that drawn up for him by his late advisers. The letter avoids the tone of counsel or remonstrance ; the emperor disclaims all intention to dictate to the pope, and places his own interference solel}^ upon the g-round of religious duty. ^' He could not," he said, " conscientiously omit to lend his aid to the pontiff: but the matter of images having been brought under his notice by the Eastern emperor, he could not avoid dealing with it ; he had therefore chosen the course he had pursued as in his judgment the best; and herein he had all along acted strictly in aid of the holy see, with the knowledge and consent of the pope himself, and was therefore entitled to his utmost confidence and approbation.""" His en- voys were at the same time furnished with a copy of the extracts; but with injunctions to use them with great circumspection, and to quote such only as they knew could not be contradicted or refuted by the pope : they were to be cautious in their personal demeanour ; to avoid irritating* him by contradiction or resistance, but rather to draw him into their views by bland and gentle speech. If, with the usual " Eoman pertinacity," the pontiff should decline every approach to an accommoda- tion, there was no help for it ; but if he should show a disposition to negotiation or compromise, they were then to propose a joint embassy to Constantinople ; and to ap- point time and place for the envoys of the emperor Louis to meet those of the pope, that both might proceed to their destination together."
The sequel of this transaction is not upon record.
Pope Euffenius appears from beffinning" to end
Inconsequen- ^ P ^ ^ r^ i • i i
tiai issue of as a passivc personage. Certainly no step was
the emperor's takcu to Carry iuto effect the proposal of Louis
proposa . ^^^ Pious during his short pontificate ; and in
"" D. Bouq. torn. vi. p. 342 ; Baron. " D. Bouq. and Barontus, ubi sup.
Ann. 825.
CiiAi'. v.] CLAUDIUS CLEMENS. 517
that of his successor^ Gregory IV., matters of a more absorbing* interest occurred to eng-ag-e the attention of the papal court. It is not improbable that Louis himself soon became convinced of the impracticability of his pro- ject. The histor}^ of the Oriental churches held out no encourag'ement to any scheme of union based upon com- promise. The fate of the " Henoticon/' the " Ecthesis/' and the " Tyipe ;" the failure of the successive attempts of Leo the Isaurian^ Constantino V., Nicephorus, Leo the Armenian^ and Michael Balbus^ — mig'ht concur in sup- pressing* every expectation of success in his mind. All those attempts had proceeded on the presumption that some neutral g-round mig'ht be marked out^ upon which both parties mig-ht meet^ if not in amity^ yet in mutual forbearance and toleration. The scheme of Pope Gre- g-ory the Great offered perhaps the fairest chance of ac- ceptance; but the fanatics on both sides rejected every middle course with equal abhorrence. It was manifest that the battle in the East must now be foug"ht out, and the issue of orthodoxy be staked upon insensate clamour and brute force. But in the West^ the powerful hier- archy of France had placed its foot firmly upon pontifical g*round ; they had hoisted the banner of Pope Greg-ory the Greatj and under it were enabled in a measure to re- concile resistance and even censure of the pope with their loyalty to the see of Peter.
But that loyalty was still a strong' and g-enuine sen- timent ; and this is sufficiently proved by the ^. active protection extended to the holy see when ciemens its vital prerog-atives were assailed. In the ^^[JJ!?^^ latter years of Pope Paschal L, Claudius Cle- mens^ bishop of Turin, had protested more loudly against the prevalent taste for imag*es and image-worship hi Italy than any of his contemporaries. In process of time his dissent took a wider sweep, and he denounced with equal vehemence every kind and form of symboUcal worship : he rebuked the practices of adoring- the cross, of Idssing- or fumigating- the relics of saints ; he proscribed images and pictures of every description, and repudiated their
518 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
use for any purpose, whether of devotion or instruction ; he caused all symbols or representative objects to be cast out of his churches and publicly committed to the flames. Step by step he was led on to deny the spiritual efficacy of many other outward acts of religious duty g-enerally reg'arded as meritorious ; for instance, pilgrimag'es to Rome, the shrines of saints, and other spots reputed holy. The last step in the prog"ress of dissent or reform led him to deny the supremacy of the chair of Peter, and to proclaim the apostolic commission to him and his successors to be in no wise constitutional, but func- tional and ministerial only; dependent, therefore, for its force and vitality upon the due performance of the duties attached to it.
The schism of Claude of Turin created a sensation The reforms ^^ Fraucc the rcvcrse of what mi^ht have been of Claude fall expected from the late opposition to imag*e- totheground.^^j.gjj-p ^^ ^^^^ kiug-dom. And if he had re- stricted his censures to that practice, even the act of casting- out and destroying* imag-es mig'ht have been over- looked." But when he attacked the favourite devotion to the holy cross, refused the accustomed reverence to re- lics, proscribed pilg-rimag-es, and reduced the Roman pri- macy to a mere presidential and moderatorial office, their wrath knew no bounds. The dilemma to which they had reduced themselves by their repudiation of imag'e-worship was cast in their teeth by the extreme j)arties on both sides. Thougii it were true that relics were neither pic- tures nor statues — thoug'h they were utterly unlike "any thing" in the heavens above, in the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth" — yet both advocates and oppo- nents mig"ht return the derisive reply : " If you kiss and fondle the dry bones, the shrivelled skin, or the tattered g"arments of the Saviour and his saints, why should 3^ou object to do the like reverence and worship to those effi-
o The celebrated Archbishop Ago- be destroyed, to prevent the growth of
bard of Lyons not only denied the law- idolatrous practice. Fleury, tona. x.
fulness of image-worship, whether ab- p. 273; and conf. PagVs account of the
solute or relative, but maintained that, different views and opinions of the
as soon as the people showed a dispo- French controversialists, ap. Baron.
sition to worship images, they ought to tom. xiv. pp. 70-90.
CuAP. v.] DECLINE OF ICONOCLASM. 519
g-ies to which antiquity has imputed a living* resemblance to the sacred persons they are verily believed to repre- sent ?" A sense of this difficulty appears in most of the writing's by which the Gallic champions strove to put to silence the formidable heresy of Claude. While some who went out to battle for Rome were drawn into a closer approximation to the Nicene doctrine^ others were thrown off to a g'reater distance. But it is obvious that the Gallic divines were ready rather to compromise their dogmatic consistency than to abandon or endanger their connection with the chair of Peter. The pontiff^ on the other hand^ prudently refrained from interfering* with his defenders, merely because the weapons they used were not attempered in the Roman forge. Time and the course of events justified this forbearance; and Claude and his innovations passed away without further injury to the papal cause, or perceptibly advancing" the interests of a purer religious practice in the world.P
In the West, the controversy of iconolatry died off of itself, or became absorbed in the contempla- ^ ^ .,
,,^, T . , . .. 1 • 1 Subsidence of
tion 01 the more mterestnig perspective wnicn the icono- had alread}^ beg-un to dawn upon the mind of '^{j^^^^^.g'''^' the Gallic and Germanic hierarchy. In the East, a different state of circumstances led to a like result. Theodore, the abbot of the Studite community, died in exile in the year 826. During" the latter years of the life of Michael II. (the Stammerer), the faction of the image-worshippers had ceased to disturb the peace of the metropolis. In other parts of the empire, they were per- mitted to bow down before their images without molesta- tion. But Theophilus, who succeeded his father TheophUus in the year 829, appears to have deserted the emperor, tolerant policy of the latter. He forbade the use of images, pictures, or religious symbols of any kind ; he directed them to be ejected from all the churches of the empire, and the pictures which ornamented the walls of the sacred buildings to be erased. The carvers of images, and the painters of holy portraits — a numerous class of
P See Baron. A. 825, §§ 5G-63. Claude versy he had kindled, of Turin died in the heat of the contro-
520 CATHEDRA PETRI. [Book V.
artists — were objects of his special aversion.'' The monks became frantic^ and were probably treated with as little regard to humanity as to sound policy. The govern- ment expelled them from their convents, and drove them to desperation by adding* the stings of hunger and desti- tution to their native fanaticism. The prisons, we are informed, were filled with a motley crowd of bishops, priests, monks, and image-painters, ready to endure the scourge, the scaffold, or the rack, so they might but be permitted to exhibit with all publicity their affection for the holy images, and their contempt and scorn of the imperial heretic. The sufferings endured by these faith- ful witnesses are described in lively colours by the ortho- dox Greek writers, but without alleging specific facts enough to justify the exaggerated terms in which they depict them.
Amid the confusion of conflicting invective, it is diffi- john Lecono- cult to distinguish the aggressor from the vic- montis. ^ijj^^ Q^i^g emperor and his friend John Lecono- montis, patriarch of Constantinople, were assailed by the sufl^erers in every form of insolent invective or malignant slander. The latter was the object of special invective: he was, we are gravety told, a professed necromancer, a juggler, a whoremonger, a defiler of religious women ; but all his crimes were committed in secret, for he had taken care to hide his abominations from the public eye in the recesses of a building expressly constructed for the indulgence of his hidden lusts and debaucheries. Yet it is singular that neither the cruelty nor the vigilance of Leconomontis and his master had the effect of excluding image-worshippers from the palace itself, or even from the intimate association of the monarch. Methodius, a devout member of the religious opposition, was at this very time living in the palace, apparently upon good terms with Theophilus and the imperial family. The empress Theo-
1 A monk named Lazarus was the red-hot irons, to deprive him of the use
most popular among these artists. He of his fingers ; but all to no purpose — ■
was frequently and cruelly scourged for the blessed saint went on painting as
his perseverance in producing holy pic- vigorously as ever, and survived his
tures, yet went on painting as if nothing persecutor many years. Fleury adopts
had happened, till at length the emperor this tale from Theophanes, H. E. torn. x.
oi'dered his hands to be seared with p. 334.
CiiAP. v.] EPOCH OF THE YEAR 844. 521
dora, and her daug'liter Theoctista^ were known to be attached to the practice of imag'e- worship ; but the re- sentment of the emperor went no further than to deprive them of the dolls they kept hidden in small boxes under their pillows for occasional worship when unobserved/ Tims it appears that even during- the reig'n of the zea- lous iconoclast Theophilus, the court itself had imbibed a strong- taste for the prohibited devotion ; and when^ in the year 842, that prince was succeeded by his son, Michael III., surnamed the Sot, no ob-imlges^in°he stacle existed to the reintroduction of imag-e- Tvj^'iu^* J'^jj worship in all its pristine extravag"ance. The empress mother, the patrician Bardas, and the powerful eunuch Theoctistes, concurred in the work of restitution : the monks were recalled, the prisons emptied, and the martyrs of the late persecution restored to honour and estate. A sing-le opponent held out ag"ainst the universal apostasy; the reprobate Leconomontis was found to have a conscience, and to prefer the resig'nation of his hig-h office, and the very means of continuing- the indulg-ence of his alleg-ed vices, to the trivial compliances so familiar to his predecessors which mig'ht have saved him from ruin.^
The triumph of im a g-e- worship in the East restored for the present peaceful relations between the Epoch of the Greek and Latin churches. That event, we year 844. find, coincides accurately with an epoch of hig'h import- ance to the progress of the pontifical power. In the year 843 the empire of Charlemag-ne was disintegrated by the treaty of Verdun between his three g*randsons ; and to the following- year we trace the publication of the false decretals of Isidore Mercator, or Peccator ; a pro- duction which imparted a momentum to the sacerdotal scheme hitherto unparalleled in the history of hierarchical pretensions. In the ensuing* Book it will, however, be
' Theodora was once detected in the merit of a voluntary resignation; but act by the court buffoon, and betrayed the stories they tell wear every appear- to her husband ; but she evaded his ance of gross slander, and are in them- anger by a falsehood, and administered selves so frivolous, that it is impossible a severe whipping to the luckless fool. to attach any credit to them. See the Fletiry, tom. x. p. 332. narrative of Fleurij from Theophanes,
* His enemies do not grant him the pp. 401 et sqq.
522 CATHEDKA PETRI. [Book V.
necessary to revert to the relations subsisting' between the different sections of the Latin church and its chief, with a view to exhibit the series of external causes which contributed to those striking* chang-es in the law and constitution of that section of the Christian body which transferred the claims of the papacy to a new and, politi- cally speaking-j a far strong-er basis than that which ex- isting" ecclesiastical law, the policy of states, or the simple prepossessions of the people could supply.
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX TO VOL. II.
BOOK IIL
CHAPTER I.
DATE ^ rAGB
Confusion of form and substance in religion .... 1
The representative church 3
The representative unity ........ 3
Rome proposes herself as the sole representative of Christian unity 4
Impersonation of Christian unity in the Roman pontiff . . 4
467. Simplicius pope .......... 5
Affairs of Italy. Influence of the papacy in the Italian churches 6
472 (?) Simplicius deposes Gaudentius of Aufina 6
Rebukes and censures John archbishop of Ravenna, and with-
di-aws Gregory of Modena from his jurisdiction . . . 6, 7
Actual relation of the see of Ravenna to that of Rome . 7 482. Simplicius appoints Zeno archbishop of Seville apostolical legate
in Spain .......... 8
The vicarial appointment, its object and effect .... 8
State of the Oriental churches in the pontificate of Simplicius . 9 457- \ Church of Alexandria — Proterius — Timotheus ^Im-us expelled — 476.) Solifaciolus elected — Zeno emperor — Basiliscus . . 10,11
474. Restoration of jElurus 10
471.\Acacius patriarch of Constantinople — Rejects the decree of
476. j Basiliscus 10
Restoration of Zeno . . . . . . . . .11
Correspondence between Rome and Constantinople — Simplicius
and Acacius . 11, 12
Simplicius takes the lead in the restoration of the Chalcedonian
confession in the East . . . . . . . .13
477. Disturbed by the ordinance of Zeno in favour of Constantinople 13 Protest of Pope Simplicius ........ 14
Papal theory of ecclesiastical privilege . . . . .14
Antagonistic theories of church-privilege . . . .15
Disturbances in the Eastern churches 15
482. Death of Solifaciolus and election of Johannes Talaia at Alex- andria ........... 16
Objections to the election of Talaia ...... 16
He defies the court and patriarch of Constantinople — Attaches
himself to Rome 16
Acacius negotiates with Peter Mongus with a view to a scheme
of union with the Eutychian parties 17
Mongus accepts the conditions proposed . . . . .17 Pope Simplicius condemns the election of Mongus to the chair
of Alexandria 18
And protests against the scheme of union with the heretics 19
524 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
482. Publication of the Henoticon, or act of union, by Zeno and Acacius 19 The Henoticon, its substance . . . . . . .19
Equivocations of Peter Mongus 20
483. Death of Pope Simplicius 21
Accession of Felix III 22
Acacius not the enemy of the Chalcedonian confession . . 22 Correspondence between Rome and Constantinople— its purport
and character ......... 22
Apology for Acacius 23
He is assailed both by the Catholic and the Monophysite parties 24 Remonstrance of Pope Felix III. against the Henoticon — to
Acacius .......... 25
To the emperor Zeno ....... 26
484. Citation and precept to Acacius to appear before the pope at
Rome to answer the appeal of Talaia 26
Character and intent of the citation ...... 27
Rome and the Acoemetan monks of Constantinople — The papal
project defeated .*....... 28
Seduction of the legates of Felix III. ...... 28
Synod at Rome and condemnation of the legates for heresy and
treason. 29
Success of the Henoticon in the East 30
Pope Felix III. passes sentence of excommunication and deposition
upon Acacius ......... 30
Apologetic manifesto of Pope Felix 31
Defect of ecclesiastical law as applicable to the proceedings against
Acacius, how supplied by the pope . . . . .32 Pope Felix alleges the spurious exposition of the sixth canon of
Nicrea in justification of his proceedings against Acacius . 32
Novelty and illegality of the proceedings against Acacius . . 33
State of the canon-law applicable to the trial of bishops . . 34
Special canonical defects of the proceedings against Acacius . 34 Reinstatement of Peter the Fuller in the see of Antioch . .36 Eflfect of the reinstatement, &c. . . . . . .36
The name of Pope Felix struck out of the diptychs — Completion
of the schism 37
Roman management of the controversy . . . . .37 Contrasted position of Rome and Constantinople in the struggle
for power .......... 37
488. Death of Acacius — Fravitta and Euphemius his successors . . 39 Euphemius attempts a reconciliation with Rome — He is repelled
by Pope Felix 39
491. Death of Zeno — Anastasius I. emperor 40
492. Death of Felix III.— Gelasius pope . . . . . .40
CHAPTER II.
PAPAL PREROGATIVE UNDER POPES GELASIUS AND STMMACHUS.
491. Anastasius emperor 41
His disposition towards the litigant parties in the Church . . 42
492. Pope Gelasius I. declines episcopal communion with Constanti-
nople . 43
The patriarch Euphemius makes approaches to the pope . . 43
Which are rejected by Gelasius 44
Double aspect of Roman church-policy 44
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. 525
DATE PAGE
492. Rome admits no distinction between communion and subjection . 45
493. Mission of Faustus and Irenacus ....... 45
Papal instructions to Faustus ....... 46
Monition of Pope Gelasius to the emperor Anastasius . . .40 Pope Gelasius claims canonical exemption from the ecclesiastical
legislature 47
Papal sophistry 48
Co-operation with the see of Rome, a constructive acknowledgment
of subjection 49
Forced construction of the acts of Acacius by the pope . . 49
Rome/>re5M»ies a universal assent to her claim of supremacy . 50
Papal dealing with existing canon-law ... . . 51
Letter of Pope Gelasius to the emperor Anastasius I. . . .52
Relative dignity of the royal and pontifical offices . . 52
Paramount dignity and authority of the pontificate . . 52
Pontifical argument in support of that dignity . . .53
Papal impeachment of Acacius 53
Demands implicit obedience as preliminary to conciliar
inquiry .53
Repudiates the plea of political expediency . . .54 Gelasius and the compromising bishops of lUyricum . . .54 495 1 Excommunicates the archbishop of Thessalonica . . 55
or [Error of the Illyrian bishops as to the alleged jurisdiction of
496. ) Rome 55
494. Roman synod and declaration of pontifical rights . . .56
Scope and object of the declaration of right — Letter to the
lUyrians 56
Gelasius impeaches Acacius of prevarication and rebellion 57 Tergiversation of Acacius . . . . . • ^ 'i?
His contempt of the see of Peter . . . . • !" 5«
Adjudication . . . . . . . . .J
Takes the charge against Acacius ^»'o confesso . . .58 The holy see in all cases the sole judge both of the law
and the fact 58
Acacius cannot complain of irregularity — estopped by his own irregularities ....... 59
Constantinople a provincial suflfragan of Heracleia, and no more .......... 60
Repudiates the apologies put forward on behalf of Acacius 60 Synods no more than instruments for the publication of the decrees of the holy see ...... 61
Epitome of the Gelasian declaration of right . . . 61, 62
Scope of the document 62
Result 63
496. Death of Gelasius I 63
Anastasius II. pope — His pacific character . . . . .63 Death of Anastasius II. — Symmachus and Laurentius — Contested
election 64
Domestic position of the church of Rome at the close of the fifth
century .......... 65
Government interferences in the election of the popes . . .65
Under Odovaker . 65, 66
Law of Odovaker to prevent the diversion of church-funds, &c. . 66 Offensive character of this ordinance . . . .67
Effect of the ordinance ....... 67
Religious faction in Rome ........ 68
Claims of Symmachus and Laurentius referred to Theodoric the Great 68
626 CHEONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
496. He decides in favour of Symmachus 68
Law against canvassing for the papacy, &c. . . .69
Impeachment of Pope Symmachus ...... 70
Peter of Altinum administrator of the holy see . . . .70
Dealing of Theodoric with the Church and clergy . . 70, 71
Theodoric convokes a synod of inquiry into the charges exhibited
against Pope Symmachus 71
The " Synodus palmaris" ........ 71
501. Tumult, and retractation of his submission by Pope Symmachus . 72
The synod declares its own incompetency to try the pope . 73 Theodoric throws the responsibility of the public peace
upon the synod 73
The papal plea for evading inquiry 74
Decision of the synod — The fOfe irresponsible to qny human
tribunal ......... 75
Papal irresponsibility ecclesiastical only, not civil or political, at
this period . 75
Eunodius on papal impeccability. ...... 76
Relaxation of the powers of the civil government as against the Church . . . .77
502. Synod of the year 502 77
Repeals the laws of Odovaker for the regulation of the
papal elections and against bribery . . . .78
Re-enacts the law against bribery . . . . . 78
Synodal encroachment upon the civil legislature . . 78
Remonstrance of the Gallic prelates against the proposed
trial of Pope Symmachus ...... 80
603. Synod of the year 503 80, 81
Adoption of the Ennodian doctrine of impeccability, <fec. . 81
Declaration of episcopal privilege ..... 81 Summary of ecclesiastical privilege as declared by these
synods 82
Rights of the civil state asserted within the same pei-iod . 82 Anomalous relation of the Church to the State in the reign of
Theodoric the Great 83
CHAPTER III.
PAPAL PREROGATIVE UNDER HORMISDA.
State of the Oriental churches — Decayof discipline— Subserviency
to the court 84, 85
Religious parties in the East 85
Decline of the moderate party in Rome 86
503. Personal rupture between the emperor Anastasius and Pope Sym- machus 86, 87
Insolence of Pope Symmachus towards Anastasius — Treats him as
a Manichaean heretic 88
Revival of Ultra-Eutychianism 89
511. Religious commotions at Constantinople 89
Alienation of the emperor from the orthodox party . . 89, 90
611. Violent deposition of the patriarch Macedonius . . . .90 Timotheus patriarch 91
512. Supplicatory address of the Orientals to Pope Symmachus . . 91 They excuse their communion with the advocates of the Heno-
ticon 92
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. 5Q7
DATE PAGE
512. Rome repudiates all compromise 93
Efficiency and consistency of the Roman policy ... .93 Submissive disposition of the Christian world — Its nature and
causes ........... 94
614. Coelius Ilormisda pope — Triumph of Eutychianism . . .95 Downfall of the moderate party in the East — Strength of Rome
in the Dardanian and Illyrian provinces . . . ,96
Insurrection of Vitalian 96
Anastasius proposes a general council for the pacification of the
Church 97
515. Papal legation — Instructions to the legates 98
Defence of the emperor Anastasius against the exorbitant demands
of Rome 99
The church of Constantinople refuses her consent to her own de- gradation 99
Anastasius suspects the pope of secret communication with the
Vitalian insurgents . 100
Drift of the Roman proposals . . . . . . .101
516. The emperor sends envoys to the pope with a view to the convo-
cation of a general council ....... 102
Reply of Pope Hormisda 102
Impolicy of the court, and defection of the Illyrian bishops . 103
The Libellus of Pope Ilormisda 103
Illyi-iau schism — Excommunication of Dorotheus of Thessalonica 104
517. Papal legation of the year 517 ....... 105
Instructions to the legates 105
Character of the instructions ...... 106
Offensive measures of Hormisda in the matter of Dorotheus 107 Arrest and deportation of the legates of Hormisda . .108 Orthodox monks of the East driven by persecution into the arms
of Rome 109
517. Congratulatoi'y rescript of Hormisda to the monks of the East . 110
Pope Hormisda 's principles of church-government . . .111
Ele'inentar)/ 2^rinciples oi the ^a.^?L\ ^OYieY . . . 112
Policy of Hormisda, its scope and character . . . 112-13
5] 8. Death of Anastasius I. and revival of orthodoxy in the East . 113
The revival independent of Rome . . . . . .114
The emperor Justin I. makes advances to the pope . . 114-15
Haughty reply of Hormisda .115
Libellus and legation of Hormisda to Constantinople . . .116 Submission of the Greeks and triumph of Rome . . . .117
Ostensible character of the submission .... 117
Its real character . . . . . . . .118
Religious advantage of Rome 118
CHAPTER IV.
JUSTINIANIAN PERIOD. (l.)
Subserviency of Constantinople
Appeal of the Syrian fanatics to Rome
Relations of Count Justinianus with Pope Ilormisda . 523. Death of Pope Hormisda — John I. pope — Persecution of he
Theodoric the Great protects the Arians of the East
Tyranny of Theodoric
526. Death of John I.— Election of Felix III.
. 120 . 121
. 121 esy . 122 . 123 . 123 . 124
528 CHEONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
626. Suspicions, malady, and death of Theodoric the Great . . . 124
Imperial policy 125
Amalasuintha and Athalaric 125
530. Re-annexation of Rome to the empire 126
Reigning pontiflFs between the years 527 and 536 . . . .127 State of the Roman church within that period — Boniface II. 127-8
531. Bribery, and decree of the senate of Rome against it . . .128
532. John II. pope — Reiterated edict against bribery . , . .129 Secular interposition for the correction of ecclesiastical abuses . 130 Church-policy of the emperor Justinian . . . . ),„,
Scope of his ecclesiastical laws )
Objects of the Justinianian laws . 131
Secular and political character of these laws .... 132
Of the limits of the ecclesiastical and secular power in respect of
church-legislation in the Justinianian period .... 133 Relations of Justinian to the Roman pontiffs . . . .134 Ambiguous language of Justinian — Title of " universal patriarch" 134-5 Probable intent and meaning of that language . . . .136 534. Pope John II. accepts the imperial declaration as an acknowledg- ment of the universal primacy of Rome 137
Attachment of the Gallic churches to Rome 137
534. The Africans renew their communion with Rome .... 138
535. Their address, how received and replied to by Pope Agapetus . 138 Roman practice of confounding the " canons" of the Church-ca- tholic with the usages and constitutions of the particular church of Rome 139
536. Agapetus pope, his dangerous position and deportation to Constan-
tinople 140
Intrigues of the Eutychian empress Theodora at Constantinople —
Anthimus patriarch . . . . . . . .141
Deposition of Anthimus — Mennas patriarch 142
Imperial principle of church-legislation ..... 142
Course of proceeding described 143
Sylverius pope 143
Intrigues of Theodora and Vigilius 144
Intrigues of Belisarius and Antonina 144
Deportation of Sylverius, and election of Vigilius . . .145
538. ]\Iurder of Sylverius and recantation of Vigilius .... 146
Canonical defects in the title of Vigilius to the papacy. . 146-7
CHAPTER V.
JUSTINIANIAN PERIOD. (ll.)
Effect of the Italian conquests of Justinian . 549. Deportation of Vigilius to Constantinople
The emperor condemns the Origeuists .
Controversy of the "three chapters" raised .
Justinian condemns the "three chapters" .
Dilemma of Pope Vigilius — His " judicatum"
He proposes a general council — Withdraws his "judicatum" . 153
Imperfect constitution of the council, and breach of compact by
the Greeks 154
553. Opening of the council — The pope absents himself . . . 155
His excuses disallowed 155-6
. 149 . 149
. 150 . 151 151-2 152-3
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
520
DATE PAGK
553. Condemnation of the "three chapters" — " Constitutum" of Pope
Vigilius 156
Rejected by the emperor ........ 157
The council strike out Vigilius from the sacred diptychs, and pub- lish their condemnation of the three chapters . . . 157 Submission of Pope Vigilius . . . . • . .158
His retractation, and ratification of the decrees of the council 158-9 Contemporary opinion respecting the papal participation in the
convocation and validity of a general council . . . 159
Operative reasons for desiring the papal concurrence . . . IGO
555. Release of Vigilius — His death — Election of Pelagius I. . . IGl
Agitation in the Western churches Ifi2
Decline of the papal authority . . . . . . .162
Spiritual power of the papacy, how aifected by the late proceed- ings against the Chalcedonian decrees . . . . .163
Pelagius I. claims the support of the military power . . .164 Pope Pelagius on the right and duty of religious persecution 164-5 Narses declines all interference to compel religious conformity in
Italy 166
Pelagius and the seceders . . . . . . . .167
Objections of the Western churches ...... 167
Historical inferences from the incidents involved in the contro- versy of the " three chapters" ...... 168
Actual state and prospects of the papacy . . . . .169
Brighter aspects . • .170
559. John III. (Catellinus) pope — Imperial oppression in Italy . . 171 Heresy and death of Justinian I. ...... 171
fl^o' [Justin II. emperor — Conquest of Italy by the Longobardi . .172
CHAPTER VI.
CONTROVERSY OF THE " TUREE CHAPTERS."
The Roman clergy resume their independence — John III. — Bene
diet I
State of the Lombards in Italy . Defenceless state of Rome .... 582. Byzantine project of alliance with the Franks Disaffection of the Italians .... Gregory the apocrisarius .... John the Faster patriarch .... Assumes the title of oecumenical patriarch . Pelagius II. rebukes the presumption of John the He reasserts the universal primacy of Rome Pelagius on the title of universal bishop The pope's objections considered . Inconsistency of Pelagius .... Apology for Constantinople .... Retrospect of the state of the churches of Spain, and Britain
Spain ......
Conversion of King Reccared .
Claim of Rome to a share in the convcrsioi considered
State of the Prankish churches .
573.
585.
587.
586.
Faster
Gaul, Germany
of the Spaniard
173 174 174 175 175 176 176 176 177 178 178 178 179 180
181
181
182
183 184
VOL. II.
I\I M
530 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
586. Relation of the Frankish clergy to Rome and to the civil
government 184
Secularisation of the Frankish clergy . . . .185 Privileges of the Frankish clergy — Source of their attach- ment to Rome 186
Germany ; state of Christianity in that country . .187 Irish and Anglo-Saxon missions in Germany . . . 187 Britain and British Christianity subsequent to the Anglo- Saxon conquest . 188
690. Elevation of Pope Gregory the Great to the papacy . . .189 His qualifications, and difficulties of his position .... 190
His foreign and domestic policy . . . . . . .190
Origin and progress of the theory of clerical celibacy . . 191-2 Gregory the Great on the celibacy of the clergy . . . .193
His secular administration ........ 193
591-] Progress of the Lombards under king Agilulph .... 194
615. 1 Agilulph and Theudelinda in alliance with Rome . . . 194 Justification of the alliance, and its results . . . . .195
Controversy of the " three chapters" in Italy .... 196
541. Establishment of the metropolitan see of Justiniania Prima . . 197 592. Gregory in the cause of Hadrian of Thebes . . . . . 1 98
The cause of Honoratus of Salona . . . . . .199
Equivocal termination of the dispute ...... 200
582- 1 John the Faster, patriarch of Constantinople, assumes the title of 595.) " oecumenical bishop" . ....... 200
592. Remonstrance of Pope Gregory ....... 202
595. Protest and appeal of Gregory against Cyriacus of Constantinople 203 His reply to the emperor Maurice . . . . . . 204
Rescript of Gregory on the three Petrine sees .... 204
Sentiments of Pope Gregory on the Petrine primacy . . . 205 His personal humility ......... 200
Assumes the titular designation of " servus servorum Dei "— Repudiates the title of " universal pope" .... 207
Precautions of Gregory against the ambitious design of Cyriacus of Constantinople ....... 207-8
Latent equivocations of Gregory on the Petrine primacy . . 209 He renounces communion with Cyriacus of Constantinople . .210
CHAPTER VII.
GREGORY THE GREAT.
Pope Gregory's dealings with the Latin churches, &c. . . . 211
His scheme for the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons . . .211
597. Mission of Augustine ....... 212
His success 212
Means of conversion adopted by Augustine, and the results 213 Regulations of Gregory for the government of the Anglo- Saxon church . . . . . . . . 214
British and Irish or Scottish churches .... 215
Augustine's conference with the British bishops . . 216 603. The conference broken up by the haughty demeanour of
Augustine ........ 216-17
Pope Gregory's instructions to Augustine . . .217
II is toleration of pagan rites, and patronage of images and religious symbolism . . . . . . .218
CIIllONOLOGICAL INDEX. 531
DATE PAGE
603. Papal presents of sacerdotal robes 219
The dalmatic and the pallium . . . . . .219
Ecclesiastical government of Gregory the Great .... 220
Corruption of the Frankish churches 221
Image and relic worship . . . . . . .221
Sereuus of Marseilles against image and relic worsliip . 222 He is rebuked by Gregory ...... 222
Prevalence and intensity of the practice of image-worship 223
The conventual system under Gregory the Great . . . 224
Exemptions from episcopal control ..... 224
Tendency of these exemptions ..... . 225
Influence of Pope Gregory in Fiance 225
Intercourse of Gregory with the Spanish churches . , . 226 Papal interference in the cause of Januarius and Stephen . . 227 Canon- law as applicable to the proceedings of Gregory in the cause of Januarius and Stephen .... 228
Legal defects of the papal proceedings .... 229
Canonical defects of the same ...... 229
Civil and canon law regai'ded as ancillary to the prerogative
of St. Peter's chair 230
Pope Gregory's superintendence over the African churches . . 230 Moderation of Pope Gregory . . . . . . .231
592. The emperor Maurice foi'bids his soldiery to turn monks . . 232 Remonstrance of Gregory I. . . . . . . . . 233
Pope Gregory's idea of the relation between the spiritual and tem- poral powers ......... 234
His ordinance respecting the admission of soldiers into the monasteries ........ 234
602. Murder of the emperor Maurice and all his family by Phocas . 235 Gregory's congratulatory letters to the usurper . . 235
His peculiar views of the revolution .... 236
604. Ilis death 236
Apologetic character of Gregory the Great . . . 237
His equivocal relation to the court of Constantinople . 237
Judgment upon his conduct in the aifair of Phocas . . 238
Sabinian pope 239
606. ] Boniface III. pope — Decree of Phocas ..... 239 or [ Authenticity of the decree questionable .... 239
607. j Construction of the decree of Phocas .... 240
Results 241
PontiflFs between the years 608 and 625 . . . . .241 625, Ilonorius 1 241
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
THE TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY.
Approaches of the papacy towards political sovereignty . 243-4 Relative position of tlie nations of Christendom to each other
and to the papacy ....... 244-5
Objects of papal ambition throughout the seventh and eighth cen- turies 215
532 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
625. Plan of inquiry into the history of the period .... 246 Position of the papacy in relation to the Greeks and Lombards . 247
Lombard history — Reign of Agilulph 24S
616. Reign of Adalwald 249
625- 1 Arioald— Rothari 249
662. j Rodoald — Aripert — Bertarid and Godibert 250
P_,q" [ Succession of popes from 604 to 649 — Honorius I. — Martin I. . 250
649. Pope Martin I. and Constans IL . . . i . . .250 654. Deportation and death of Martin I . 251
661. Constans IL in Rome — His death . . ' . . . 251-2
662. \
671. [Reign of Grimoald — Bertarid restored— Kunibert . . 252-3
686.)
Gradual extinction of Arianism in Lombardy .... 253
In the duchies of Beneventum and Spoletum . . . 254
Re-establishment of the monastery of Monte Casino . . . 254
The patrimony of St. Peter 255
Its exposed position ........ 256
7l2-|Ansprand and Luitpraud 256
744. ] State of the Lombard government 256-7
Papal succession from 654 to 716 257
Papal policy within that period 258
Invasions of the patrimony of St. Peter by the Lombards . . 258 Rome and the Byzantine connection ' . 259
726. Leo the Isaurian prohibits image-worship . . . . . 259 Progress of saint and relic worship in the West .... 260
730. Rebellion against the iconoclastic ordinances of Leo the Isaurian
in Italy 261
Gregory II. saves the exarchate 262
He defeats the religious reforms of Leo the Isaurian . • . 263
Successes of Luitprand — Gregory III 263
Luitpraud before Rome 264
He dismembers the " Patrimony" 264
741. Zachary pope — He procures restitution of the confiscated towns . 265
He protects the exarchate 265-7
Ascendency of Luitprand — His death and character . . . 267
744. Hildebrand king— Rachis 268
750. Ascendency of Pope Zachary, and abdication of Rachis . 268-9
Aistulph and Zachary 269
Secularisation of the papacy 269
A necessary consequence of its vast territorial endow- ments, &c. . 270-1
General plan of contemplated acquisition 271
Prospective connection with France 271
CHAPTER II.
SPAIN AND FRANCE IN THE SEVENTU CENTURY.
I. The churches of Spain in the seventh century .... 272
Constitutional powers of the Spanish clergy . . . 273
Papal confirmations unknown to the Spanish churches . 274
Communications of the Spanish churches with Rome . 275
684. Independent action of the Spanish churches in the Mono-
thelite controversy ....... 276
CHEONOLOGICAL INDEX.
533
DATE
C88.
PACK
Their reply to the papal censure 277
Roman influence in Spain at the epoch of the Arab iuvasion 278
II. Latin Christianity among the Franks 278
Conversion of the Franks — Its character .... 278 Modes of conversion . . . . . , . 279
State of the Frankish clergy ...... 279
Christianity among the Franks 280
Priestcraft among the Franks 281
Moral condition of the Frankish clergy .... 281 Civil and political condition of the clergy .... 282
Clerical judicatures 283
Clerical prerogatives and immunities .... 283
Power and habits of the Frankish bishops . . . 284
The mayor of the palace, his powers, &c. . . | _„ .
The Leudes — Antrustions )
The bishops a constituent estate of the realm . . 285-6 Advancing privileges of the clergy ..... 286
Declining influence of Rome in the French churches . 287
Elements of reformation ....... 287
Principle of church unity ...... 287
Rome the "mother," &c. — Vantage-ground of Rome . 288
CHAPTER III,
BKITISn CnURCIIES IN TUE SEVENTH CENTURY. (l.)
The British churches 289
565. Scottish or Irish church — Patrick — Columba .... 290
Origination of British and Scottish churches .... 291
Differences between the British and the Latin churches . . 292 Antagonism .......... 292
610. Laurentius archbishop of Canterbury assumes the primacy of all
the churches of Great Britain 293
His complaint .......... 293
Apostasy of Eadbald 294
The sons of Sabert 294
The missionaries resolve to quit the island ..... 295
Successful artifice of Laurentius .... ... 295
Recall and restoration of the missionaries ..... 296
619. Melitus and Justus archbishops . 296
Edwin of Northumberland 296
IMarriage of Edwin and Ethelburga ...... 297
Paulinus ..... ...... 297
Conversion of Edwin ......... 298
The vision of Edwin ......... 298
Result of the vision 299
Character of Edwin's conversion ....... 300
The priesthood among the Anglo-Saxons 300
Facilities of conversion ........ 301
Method of conversion .....•••• 301
Public renunciation of idolatry . . . . . • • 302
Destruction of the idol-temples, and baptism of Edwin. . . 303 Successes of Paulinus rewarded by Pope liouorius I. . . .303
Rome and the aboriginal IJritish and Scotch churches . . . 304 633. Overthrow and death of Edwin— Downfall of the Roman establish- ment in Northumbria 304
534
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
633. Expulsion of Paulinus — Osric — Eaufrid 305
634. Oswald delivers the kingdom 306
He sends for missionaries from Scotland 306
Aidau sent — Lindisfarn 307
Scottish form of episcopal ordination ...... 307
Apology of Bede for Aidan 308
Labours of Aidan 308
655. Middle Anglia and Mercia added to the Northumbrian church . 310
Finnan of Lindisfarn 310
Further extension of the Scottish establishment by King Oswy . 311
Independent character of the revived church of Northumbria . 31 1
Non-controversial spirit of the Scottish divines . . . .312
Unequal to the conflict with the Latins .... 313
652. Revival of the Paschal controversy 313
Rouan— Wilfred— Agilbert 314
654. The conference of Whitby 314
The discussion 315
Argument of Bishop Colman 315
Harsh reply of Wilfred 316
Remonstrance of Colman, and reply of Wilfred • .316
Inconsistency of the Scottish theory . . ► . 317
Rejoinder of Colman 318
Answer of Wilfred 319
He alleges the Petrine power .319
Victory of the Latins 319-20
Examination of the Latin argument . . . . . 320-1
Intent of the Latin doctors . ....... 322
Retreat of the Scottish clergy 322
CHAPTER IV.
BRITISH CHURCHES IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. (ll.)
Submission of the Anglo-Saxon princes and people . . . 324 New bishops nominated by King Oswy ..... 325
Wilfred and Chad 325
Conformity of the British churches with the Latin rites . . 320
657. Embassy of Egbert and Oswy to Pope Vitalian .... 327
Reply of Vitalian 327
Arbitrary appointment of Theodore of Tarsus to be archbishop of
Canterbury 328
Papal decree of appointment 328
Theodore removes Chad, and institutes Wilfred archbishop of York 329
670. Introduction of the Roman canon-law into the church of Eng- land 330
Benedict Biscop and the Latin ritual in England . . . .331
Latin church-decoration and furniture introduced . . . 332 Biscop the ritualist — his services ...... 332
Natural character of image and relic worship .... 333
Advantage to Rome 334
Wilfred archbishop of York 334
Elfrida— Edilburga 335
678. Expulsion of Wilfred, and appeal to Rome 335
Adjudication upon the appeal of Wilfred ..... 336 His rejection in Northumbria ....... 336
CHEONOLOGICAL INDEX.
535
678. His imprisonment and liberation . 081. Restoration of Wilfred . .... G91. Second expulsion of Arclibishop Wilfred 703. Council of Nesterlield supports the ordinance: Theodore ......
Recusancy of Wilfred .....
Adjudication ......
G92. Berthuald archbishop of Canterbury in the appeal of Wilfred 701(?) Adjudication of Pope .John VI. upon the appeal
Final restoration and triumph of Wilfred . . . . 705. Death of Wilfred, and distribution of his treasures
. 337
. 338 . 338 of Archbishop
. 339 . 340 . 340 340-1 341-2 . 342 . 343
fi89. (592. 716.
CHAPTER V.
LATIN SUPREMACY IN FRANCE AND GERMANY FOUNDED.
Ideas of temporal and spiritual government in the seventh and
eighth centuries — Divergences The papal task (theory) .....
The Anglo-Saxon missions .....
1 Ecgbert— Wicbert— Willibrord ....
Frisian and Saxon chui-ches founded .
Ecgbert's missions to central Germany . 686. Killian, Colman, Totman .....
Duke Hedan — Compromise with heathenism 652(?) Emmeramra in Bavaria ..... 689. Rupert archbishop of Salzburg ....
715- 1(?) Corbinian in Bavaria
730. j Ascendency of Romanism in Bavaria .
Extension of Latin Christianity in the seventh century — Its
715-) Winfred, or Boniface
731. 1 He devotes himself to the sei'vice of Rome .
Boniface among the Hessians ....
His method of conversion .....
His reforais ........
His Anglo-Saxon coadjutors ....
His missionary colonies .....
■, Mode of instruction ..'...
738^ [ -Boniface archbishop and legate ....
■ • His ecclesiastical divisions .....
Papal confirmation ......
Charles Martel — Obstructs the papal policy
Carlmann invites Boniface to France . 741. Report of Boniface on the state of the Frankish churches 743. Synods of Salzburg and Leptines ....
Reforms
Adoption of the Roman code of canon-law .
Adalbert and Clemens ......
Charges against the schismatic bishops .
jMerits of the charges ......
Difficulties of Boniface in France .... 745. Report of Boniface to Archl>ishop Cuthbert of Canterbury
Difficulties and impediments .... 747 (?) Boniface primate of Germany — See of Main tz 747. Resistance of Adalbert and Clemens
345 346 347
348
349
350
350
351
351
352
353
353
354
355
356
357
358
358
359
359
359
360
361
362
362
362
363
363
, 363
364
364
, 365
365
. 366
. 366
. 367
. 367
. 368
536 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
747. Heathenising and married priests 368
Nature of the obstacles to the scheme of Boniface — The remedy . 369
Synod of Verneuil 370
Condemnation and banishment of Adalbert and Clemens . . 370
Synopsis 370
CHAPTER VI.
ADVANCEMENT OF THE PAPACY TO POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY. (l.)
Connection of ecclesiastical and political history . . . . 372 The Merovingian race supplanted in Prance by the family of Pip- pin of Landen 372
The mayor of the palace 373
741-\Pippin the Short 374
768. J Pippin, Boniface, and Pope Zachary 374
752. Pippin assumes the royal title 375
Proximate causes and character of the revolution .... 376 Papal participation — Opinions ....... 377
The frecedent 378
Pope Stephen III. and Aistulph king of the Lombards . ,378 The papal policy in this age 379
753. Journey of Pope Stephen III. to the court of Pavia . . . 380
Flight of the pope into France 380
His reception at the coui't of France . . . . . .381
Moral and political effect of the reception 382
Negotiations and treaty of Pontyon, &c. . . . . .382
Diet of Quiercy-sur-Oise ... . . . . . . 383
754. Coronation of Pippin and his two sons by Stephen III. . . . 383
Papal view of this transaction 384
Pippin invades Lombardy 385
Submission of Aistulph, and treaty of Pavia .... 386
Actual relations of the papacy to the empire .... 386
Retreat of Pippin — Stephen claims fulfilment of the treaty . . 387 Character of the donation of Pippin ...... 388
Its scope and intent 389
756. Aistulph again invades the " patrimony" — Siege of Rome . .390 Pippin raises the siege — Second treaty of Pavia .... 390
Conformation and execution of the " donation" 391
Death of Aistulph, and elevation of Desiderius .... 391
Extortion of Stephen III 392
Treachery of Stephen III 392
Paul I. pope — His complaint to Pippin 393
Charges Desiderius with conspiring against the holy see . 393 Results 394
CHAPTER VII.
ADVANCEMENT OP THE PAPACY TO POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY. (ll.)
Progress made in the course of the eighth century . . . 395
State of law and legislation 396
768. Accession of Charlemagne 397
Project of Queen Bertrada 398
Disorders in Rome — Constantiue and Philip popes . . . 398
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
537
768. Stephen III. (IV.) pope — Ferocity of the victorious faction Pope Stephen against Desiderius and the Lombards Remonstrance of Stephen against the scheme of Bertrada Papal menace ........
770. Divorce of Charlemagne and Irmengarda Pope Stephen's decree for the regulation of the pontifical elections Disorders in Rome — The Lombard faction — Paul Afiarta
772. Humiliation and death of Stephen III.
Hadrian I. pope
Suppression of the sedition . Desiderius invades the papal territory .
771. Flight of Gerberga, widow ofCarlmanu Desiderius and Gerberga
He espouses the cause of Gerberga and her sons . Advance of Desiderius upon Rome — His sudden retreat Charlemagne invades Lombardy .....
Winter campaign in Lombardy .....
Foreign policy of the popes ......
Approaches of the papacy to the temporal sovereignty . Siege of Pavia — Charlemagne's ^rsi expedition to Rome Ratifies the treaties of Pontyon and Quiercy The donation of Charlemagne
Probably obtained by misrepresentation or fraud
Character of the donation, &c
Execution of the deed of donation .
Charlemagne patrician ......
Surrender and deposition of Desiderius
Charlemagne king of Italij — Gains of the papacy .
Indeterminate position of the papacy in respect of the gr ten-itory .....
Actual result
773
774.
399
400
400
401
402
402
403-4
. 405
. 406
. 406
. 407
. 407
. 407
. 408
. 408
. 409
. 410
. 410
. 411
. 412
. 412
anted
413
414 415
416
417 417
BOOK V.
CHAPTER I.
THE MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSY.
General retrospect 419
Rome in the controversies of the sixth and seventh centuries . 420 Monothelite and iconoclastic controversies ..... 420 The monothelite controversy, its origin and character . . .421 Unguarded conduct of Pope Honorius I. . . . . . 422
639. The Ecthesis of Heraclius 423
Chamcter of the Ecthesis ........ 423
638. Pope John IV.— His apology for Honorius 424
He condemns the monothelite heresy ...... 424
Conversion of Pyrrhus — Address of the Africans .... 425
648. The T>/2:>e 426
The Latins condemn the Type 426
649. Martin I. pope 427
Council of the Lateran against the Type, <fec 427
Condemnation of tlie Ecthesis, Type, &c 428
Excess of jurisdiction — Canon-law of Rome 428
Arrogance of Pope j\Iartin I. ....... 429
Pope Martin I. endeavours to recover his jurisdiction over Illyricum 429 VOL. II. N N
538 CHEONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
653-1 Arrest, imprisonment, and death of Pope Martin I. . . . 430
655. J Uucanonical election of Pope Eugeuius 1 431
658. Vitalian pope — Approaches Constantinople 432
Case of John of Lappse ........ 432
Coustans II. enforces the Type 433
668. Expedition and death of Constans II 434
Relations between Rome and Constantinople between the years 668 and 679 434
679. Roman synod of the year 679 435
Synodal acts and report . 436
Character of this synod 436
680. \ Assembling of the sixth gerieral cotmcil 437
681. J Constituency of the so-called sixth general council . . . 438
Proceedings, and their result ...... 438
Condemnation of the monothelite heresiarchs . . . 439 The like sentence upon Pope Honorius of Rome . . 440
Concluding acts of the council 440
Imperial edict of confirmation . , . . . . 441
682. Pope Leo II. accepts the decree and adopts the anathemas . . 441
CHAPTER II.
RAVENNATINE CONTROVERSY — THE QUINISEXT.
Political and religious position of the holy see in the seventh cen- tury 443
Participation of Rome in the sixth general council . . . 444 Comparative state of the Eastern and Western churches . . 445 685- \ Death of Constantine Pogonatus — His successors — Leontius —
711. J Tiberius III.— Bardanes 446
Religious revolutions in the East ....... 447
Claims of Ravenna 448
History of the Ravennatine patriarchate — The autocephaly . . 448 Contest between Rome and Ravenna ... ... 449
Privileges of Ravenna cancelled by Constantine Pogonatus . . 450 684. Benedict II. pope 451
686. Papal elections — Conon pope 451
687. Election of Sergius I .452
Substitution of saint and relic worship for idolatrous supersti- tion, &c 452
Success of Pope Sergius 1 453
691. Origin and convocation of the Quinisext council .... 454 Objections to the constitution of the council . . . 455
Canons of the Quinisext 456
Wanton collisions with the Latins 457
Pope Sergius I. rejects the councU 458
699- \ Abortive attempts to compel the acceptance of the Quinisext
701. 1 decrees 458
708. Complaisance of Justinian II. towards the holy see . . . 459
710. Mysterious journey of Pope Constantine to Constantinople . . 460
Conjectural explanation . 461
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
539
CHAPTER III.
THE ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVEBSY. (l.)
DATE
717. Elevation of Leo III. (the Isaurian)
Origin of the iconoclastic controversi/
Primitive views as to images of worship
Sudden rise of image-worship
Causes of the rise of image-worship
First breathings of the controversy
Arguments .......
Controversy stimulated by the Arab conquests
Aversion of Arabs and Jews from the use of images 726. Earlier steps of Leo the Isaurian against images
Germauus on images and image-worship
Pope Gregory II. on image-worship
The second commandment, how encountered
Reply of the iconoclasts ....
Inveterate character of the controversy
730. Leo's second edict against images Insurrection ......
Papal denunciations of iconoclasm
731. Gregory III. pope ..... His insolent address to the emperor Fabulous portraits, images, &c. . Ignorant vituperation of Gregory III. . Gregory III. defies the emperor . Impotency of the empire in Italy
732. Council at Rome against the image-breakers Leo confiscates the patrimonies of the Roman church, &c The pope perseveres in his nominal allegiance to the empire
741. State of the papacy at the death of Gregory III. .
PAGE
. 463 . 463 . 464 . 465 465-6 . 467 . 467 . 468 . 469 . 470 . 470 . 471 . 472 . 473 . 473
1 474
. 475 . 475 . 476 . 476
. 477 . 478 . 47!) . 480 . 480 . 481 . 481
CHAPTER IV.
ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVERSY. (ll.)
Constantine V. (Copronymus) emperor
Religious truce with Rome
General synod of the Greek church on image-worship .
Character of the factions ......
Mutual hatred
752. Stephen of St. Auxentius
His interview with the emperor Constantine V. .
Murder of Stephen of St. Auxentius ....
Constantine sends an embassy to Pippin of France
775. Leo IV. and Irene
780. Constantine VI. and Irene .... . .
Negotiation with Rome ......
787. Convocation of the (so-called) vii"' general cotmcil (Nica^a II
Deliberations and resolutions of the council
Restoration of image-worship .....
Pope Hadrian I. accepts and ratifies the decrees of Nicica 790. Protest of the Gallic churches (Libri Carolini)
Apology of Pope Hadrian to Charlemagne . 794. Great synod of Frankfort
Condemnation of image-worship .....
. 482
. 483 . 483 . 484 . 484
i486
. 487 487-8 . 489 . 489 . 489 . 490 . 490 . 491 . 492 . 493 . 494 . 494 . 495
540 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX.
DATE PAGE
794. Concurrent relations of the pope to the Frankish and Byzantine
courts 496
Byzantine arrogance — Papal cupidity 496
Mutual disgust 497
Papal principle of secular acquisition 497
Negotiations between Charlemagne and the Byzantines . . 498
702. The emperor Nicephorus averse from image-worship — Edict of
toleration — Insurrections 498-9
Revolutions at Constantinople for and against image-worship —
Michael I.— Leo V 499
Theodore the Studite 500
His sycophantic adulation of Pope Paschal I. . ... . 500
Value of these encomiums 501
Reception of the Studite memorial at Rome ..... 502
820. Michael II. (the Stammerer) convokes a general council . . 502
Opposition of the Studites . . 503
Grounds of opposition . 603
Reply of Michael II • 504
Insolence of the Studite party 504
Value of Studite testimony to the supremacy of Rome . . . 505
824. Embassy of Michael II, to Louis the Pious 506
Moderation of Michael II 607
CHAPTER V.
ISSUE OP THE CONTROVERSY ON IMAGE-WORSHIP.
Ecclesiastical relations with Rome during the reign of Charlemagne 508
814. Louis I., the Pious 509
. 509
I 510
. 511
. 512 . 513 . 514 . 515 . 515 . 515 . 517 . 518 . 519 . 519 . 520 . 521 . 521
Gallic view of the question of image-worship The emperor proposes a committee of inquiry, &c. Commission of inquiry and report ....
Substance of the report — Censure upon Hadrian I. And Gregory II. .
Proposals of the commissioners to the emperor Louis - Gallic estimate of papal authority
General exposition of the report . ...
Letter of Louis the Pious to the pope ....
Inconsequential issue of the emperor's proposal . Claudius Clemens bishop of Turin ....
The reforms of Claude fall to the ground Subsidence of the iconoclastic controversy . Theophilus emperor .......
John Leconomontis .......
842. Restoration of images by Michael III
Epoch of the year 844
829
END OF VOL. II.
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