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liLccI T
ECCLESIASTICAL AND CIVIL HISTORY
PHILOSOPHICALLY CONSIDERED,
WITH REFERENCE TO
THE FUTURE RE-UNION OF CHRISTIANS.
THE FIRST THREE BOOKS,
COMPRISING THE PERIOD FROM THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
TO THE DEATH OF WYCLIFFE.
BT THE REV.
GEORGE TOWNSEND, D.D.
Canon of Durham,
Author of the Arrangement of the Old and New Testaments,
Scriptural Commuuion with God, Sfc. Sfc. 8[c.
Isaiah xlvi. 9, 10.
'Eyai zlfLi 6 0£os — avayyiWwv irpoTipov to 'i<T\aTa nrpiv yiviadat. Sept.
Ego sum Deus — annnncians ab exordio novissimum. Viilgate.
I am God — declaring the end from the besrinning.
OeHicatelr to Horlr Hinttsas.
3^.
VOL. II.
LONDON: FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUI-'s CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE.
1847.
LON D<l N GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. John's square.
CONTENTS
OF
VOL. 11.
BOOK THE THIRD.
THE HISTORY OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE ECCLESIAS- TICAL POWER, FROM THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN TO THE DEATH OF WYCLIFFE, AND ITS PERVERSIONS BY PER- SECUTION.
CHAPTER I.
Progress of the Ecclesiastical Power. — State of the Canon Law. — From the year 560 to 681.
PAGE
The Third Council of Constantinople. Plan of this Book . . .1
The several novel acts of papal power, the aggressions on the Churches,
and the policy of each Bishop of Rome to be pointed out . • Ij 2
One good effect of the lamentable controversies among Christians was, that certain common truths Were now generally believed, and that Paganism was nearly destroyed . . . . . . .2
60. Pelagius I. (560) ; persuades Narses to pimish the disturbers of the see of Rome, on the pretence that separation from the apostolic see was schism, and that schism was a political evil . . . ,2
61. John III. (574) ; commands the Gallican bishops to restore a deposed brother. He is resisted ; the controversies in the Church make ortho- doxy a political question. Death of Justinian . . . . 3, 4
62. Benedict Bonosus (578) . . . . . .4
63. Pelagius II. (590) ; the first election of a Bishop of Rome since the vmion of the Church with the empire, without waiting for the consent of the emperor. Pelagius first urges the argument of the impossibility of the failure of the faith of St. Peter's successors . . . .4
He refuses to communicate with the Bishop of Constantinople till he resign the title of Universal Bishop, which had been conferred by a national synod ......... C
64. Gregory the Great (604) ; Plebeians not to be ordained. The bishops of the Church generally noble. Gregory of high rank. He declares the decisions of the four first comicils to be of equal authority with the four gospels. He exhorts the Bishop of Ravenna to convert heretics by per- secution, that is, by temporal punishments. The Benedictine mona.steries established. Gregory writes letters to many bishops, and to the Bishop of Ireland. The worship of God is now celebrated by each country in its own language. Great authority and influence of Gregory. He sends
A 2
iv Contents.
PACE
Augustine to England, ten years after tliat most fatal event to the happi- ness and Church of England, the retreat of Theonas, the Bishop of London, and of Thadiocus, the Bishop of York. Gregory commits the great errors of exempting monks from the jurisdiction of bishops ; of interweaving Pagan ceremonies with Christian worship ; and of approving the use of images. He compiles the canon of the mass ; and is said to be the first to speak of purgatory. Estimate of his character . . 6— 1 S
65. Sabinian (C0« or 607) • • • • • • .13
66. Boniface III. (608); accepts from Phocas the title of Universal Bishop, and declares no episcopal election valid without the papal approbation . 13
67. Boniface IV. (615) ; procures from Phocas the grant of the Pantheon. The rise of Mahomedanisra. Conformity to Rome is called the unity of the Church. The deference to the see of Rome by Augustine and Mellitus, the precedent for the subsequent submission of the English bishops and clergy ...... 13—16
68. Deus dedit (617 or 618) ; claims the power of working miracles . ]«
69. Boniface V. (625) ; sends the pall to Justus, Bishop of Rochester. The pall gradually becomes, from having been a token of friendship, a pledge
of submission. He establishes the right of sanctuary , , 16,17
70. Honorius (640) ; though condemned for his opinions by a general council, strengthens his authority over England. Wherever the Romish agents now proceeded to convert, they found Christianity had preceded them. The Catholic Church, therefore, was not identical with
the Church of Rome. Honorius begins the custom of processions 17? 18
71. Severinus (640) ; orders the levying of money for the decoration of Chm-ches ......... It)
72. John IV. (642) ; condemns the Monothelites . . . . 1 <)
73. Theodore I. (649) ; demands that the Bishop of Constantinople be sent
to take his trial at Rome . . . . , . 19, 20
74. Martin I. (654) ; appoints vicars over bishops . . . .20
75. Eugenius (657); confers on bishops civil jurisdiction, with power to im- prison . . . . . . . . 20, 21
76. Vitalian (672); his authority over England confirmed at the Council of Whitby, and the establishment of the Roman ceremonial by Archbishop Theodore; yet Theodore acted independently of Rome in condemning Wilfrid. The useful system of dividing dioceses into parishes is begun in England. The Catholic Church not willing to submit to Rome. Vitalian makes the use of the Latin service general. Ecclesiastical history is little else than the record of the aggressions of the Chui'ch of Rome, and the resistance of the Catholic Church to its usurpations 21 — 25
77. Adeodatus (676) . . . . . . . .25
78. Domnus (678) ; the influence of Rome acknowledged by the empex-or Constantino V. . . . . . . . .25
79. Agatho (682) ; commands the restoration of Wilfrid, and desires the emperor to hear his legates as God Himself . . . 25 — 27
The Third Council of Constantinople .... 27 — 33
State of the Church at this time ..... 33, 34
CHAPTER 11.
Progress of the Ecclesiastical Power from the Third Council of Constantinople, 681, to the Second Council of Nice, 787.
The ecclesiastical power must be considered as episcopal as well as papal 35—39
80. Leo 11. (683) ; attacks and overthrows the Church of Ravenna 39, 40
81. Benedict II. ( 685, or C86) ; requires that the popes, when elected, should be immediately consecrated without waiting for the consent of the emjteror ........ 40, 41
82. John V. (686) ; strengthens his power by conferring new privileges on the monastic orders . . . . . . .41
Contents. v
PACK
83. Ccnon (G87) ; tlie Emperor Justinian the Second permits the clergy to nominate and elect the popes. The feudal custom of saluting the slipper tii-st used . . . . . . . . .41
84. Sergius (701) ; promotes pilgrimages to Rome as a source of revenue. Rejects the decisions of the Quiui-sextiue Council , . 42, 44
<S5. John (705); nature of the papal influence at this time. It divides, but
does not vet absolutely goveru, England. Case of Wilfrid . 44 — 47
{]li. John VII (707) ........ 47
«7. Sisinnius (708) ........ 47
88. Constautine (715); entirely subdues Ravenna, and is the first to excom- municate the emperor . . . . . . .48
89. Gregory II. (732); the first to require an oath of obedience from a brother bishop. He dares to promise eternal life to all who obey him, and threatens damnation to the disobedient. The absurd conduct of the Eastern Churches strengthens Rome. Gregory declares himself the temporal prince over Rome and its dependencies. The causes and con- sequences of this act ....... 48—53
90. Gregory III. (741) ; image worship established with the approbation of the people. The emperor abandons the government of Italy, and the papal power is proportionately strengthened . . . 53 — 55
91. Zachary (752) ; concludes a treaty of peace for the first time as a temporal prince, without reference to the imperial power. Disputes with the Lombards. Virgilius is excommunicated by Zachary for affirming the existence of the antipodes . . . . . . .55
92. Stephen II. (752); died soon after his election. His successor is called
93. Stephen II. He became a temporal prince in consequence of the weakness of the Greek emperor. The pope from this time ranked among
the sovereigns of Europe . . . . . . .57
94. Paul (767) ; extends the temporal power . , . .58
95. Stephen III. (772) ; the see an object of ambition to the nobles and princes of Italy. The pope assumes the power of dissolving marriages 58—60
96. Hadrian (795) ; extends the power of his see over Ravenna, and other cities ........ 60—62
Hadrian the first pope who coins money. The controversy on image- worship, and assembling the Second Council of Nice . . 62 — 65 Sessions and canons of that council ..... 66 — 69 It does not mention the superiority of the pope over the bishops, but the empress saluted him as the fii-st bishop of the world . . 69, 70
CHAPTER III.
The Poiver of the Popes, ivith the circumstances which con- tributed to the success of their progressive usurpations y from the Second Council of Nice, 7S7, to the Fourth Council of Constantinople, in 869.
Hadrian continues to extend the temporal dominion of Rome over the
cities of Tuscan Lombardy . . . . . -71
Proofs of respect in one age, are considered in another as proofs of homage 73
97. Leo III. (816) ; openly disclaims the rights of the emperor, and trans- fers his nominal allegiance to Charlemagne, who sends him in return the spoils of the Huns. .... . 73, 74
The dissensions in England between the Saxon kings, and the crowning of Charlemagne at Rome, increase the power of Leo . . 75, 76
He restores a Northumbrian king to his throne. The usurpation of this power a precedent for future similar efforts . . . .76
98. Stephen IV. (817) ; crowns the King of France, who falls prostrate before him . . . . . . . . .76
99. Paschal (824) ; assumes the right of conferring on the Emperor Louis
the privileges of the ancient emperors . . . . -77
vi Contents.
PAGE
100. Eugenius II. (827); the allegiance sworn to the Emperoi- Lothaire is neutralized, by a clause of i-eservation saving the faith promised to the pope 78
Image worship is decreed by Eugenius against the general wish of the Catholic Church of Christ ; and resistance to the Roman see commences in the diocese of Claude of Turin . . . . . .80
101. Valentine (827) J commences the custom of saluting the slipper as a token of homage ; and the ceremony of inthronization at the papal installa- tion . . . . . . . . .81
102. Gregory IV. (844); interferes in the dissensions of France, and is said
to have restored Louis to his throne . . . . .82
103. Sergius II. (847) ; resists the power of Lothaire, and appoints the Bishop of Metz, vicar over the Churches of France and Germany . . 83
104. Leo IV. (855) ; the first to assume the regal custom of dating his decrees from his accession to the pontificate . . . .84
On the number of witnesses sufficient to convict a bishop of crime (note) . 84
105. Benedict III. (858) ; note on Pope Joan, and reasons for rejecting that story . . . . . . . . .85
106. Nicholas I. (867) ; the Dictatus Papse of Gregory VII. are all to be found in the rescripts of Nicholas . . . . .87
The decretals now quoted for the first time — the causes of their reception, and the state of the world at this period .... 87 — 90
Kings deposed by bishops before the age of Nicholas I. . . .91
Nicholas the first pope who was crowned . . . . .92
Nicholas claims authority over the Greek emperor . . . .93
The papal authority rested on the right of appeal to the Bishop of Rome from other bishops. Summary account of the origin of the episcopal power over civil causes ...... 94 — 96
The result of the episcopal authority must have been the existence of many decrees, as well as canons . . . . . . .96
Nature of the false decretals . . . . . .97
Bishop Hopkins on the decretals (note) . . . . .98
Origin of the true and false decretals. Summai'y of the Prolegomena of Blondel to his Vindicise ...... 99—102
Probable author of the decretals ...... 103
Ecclesiastical maxims of the decretals ..... 105
Exaltation of the episcopal, but more especially of the papal power, the chief object of the decretals ....... 106
Original form of the collection ...... 107
Their effect on the universal Church . . . . .108
Reasons for the first quoting of the decretals by Nicholas I. . .109
Controversy between Ebbo, Hincmar, and Nicholas . . 110 — 112
Nicholas declares the imperial laws to be inferior in authority to the eccle- siastical canons . . . . . . . .112
Rothade, the Bishop of Soissons, appeals to Nicholas I. against his own metropolitan, Hincmar ...... 112, 113
The forged deci'etals are appealed to, as decisive of the controversy . 114
Submission to Rome was identified with the fear of God . . .115
Hincmar submits to Nicholas, and Rothade is restored . . .115
Nicholas declares the right of the popes to receive appeals from all coun- cils— declares the false decretals to be equal in authority to Scripture — and exercises power over various emperors, kings, patriarchs, arch- bishops, and councils ...... 115 — 119
Nicholas I. the true founder of the principles which subsequently established
the power of Gregory VII — the Dictatus Papse (note) . . 120, 121
Rome corrupted while it preserved the truth : its increasing power 121, 122 The three chief pillars on which the power of the papacy rested, were the right to receive appeals, the right to send vicars or legates, and the right to make the monks independent of the jurisdiction of the bishops — the effects of these three claims to authority . . . . . 1 23
107. Hadrian II. (871) ; the history of the aggressions of popery, and of the resistances to its usurpations, now becomes the history of the civihzed world ........ 124, 125
Contents. vii
PAGE
Hadriau attempts to place Louis, the son of Lothaire, on the throne by his own authurity ........ 125
Hadrian writes to the Greek emperor, BasiHus, to summon a general council — the causes and results of the meeting of the Eighth General Council — the Fourth of Constantinople — its acts and canons — Photius refuses obedience to Rome ..... 125 — 133
CHAPTER IV.
The general Power of the Churches merged in the Influence of the Church of Rome. — First Council of Lateran.
Resistance to Rome was for a long time as general before the time of Wycliffe — as resistance to arbitrary power may be traced in the history of England ........ 134
State of the world and the Church between the Fourth General Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Lateran, 254 years, favourable to the extension of the power and authority of Rome . . 135 — 137
The legal abrogation of the principles of Nicholas, and of the maxims of Gregory, ought to be demanded in the present age by the members of the Church of Rome, from the pope and the bishops . . .137
The first attempt to regulate the succession of princes is made by Hadrian
137, 138
France, in consequence of the early and constant resistance of its bishops to Rome, has never known the bondage of Spain or Italy . .138
Conduct of Hincmar of Laon ..... 139,140
108. John VIII. (882) ; the right is now claimed to elect, or confirm the election of the emperors . . . . . . .141
Dissensions in Italy and France . . . . . 141,142
Possible origin of the story of Pope Joan . . . . .142
Excommunication completes the separation of the long divided Eastern and Western Churches ....... 143
Usurpations over the French Church resisted . . . .144
Nobles are not to be permitted to sit in the presence of a bishop . . J45
The pope is said for the first time to have presided at a council , .146
109. Marinus or Martinus II. (884). . . . . .146
110. Hadrian III. (885) ; decrees that the consecration of the popes shall take place without waiting for the confirmation of the emperor . . 146
111. Stephen V. (891) ; crowns the Duke of Spoletum, emperor, on con- dition that he confirms to Rome the donations of Pepin, and ordains that
all decrees of the Church of Rome be irrevocable . . . 147
He asserts the su])remacy of Rome over all Churches, and declares the infallibility of his see ....... 148
112. Formosus(896) . . . . . . .148
113. Boniface VI. (896) 149
114. Stephen VI. (898) ; is said to have dug up and insulted the body of his predecessor Fnrraosus, which, however, was saluted by the images of some saints — note on the weeping images of 1796 . . • 150
115. Romanus(898) . . . • . . .151
116. Theodore II. (898) . . . . . . .15]
117. John IX. (903) ; commands the Eastern bishops not to communicate witli those ordained by Photius . . . . .152
118. Benedict IV. (903) ; is obeyed by the Galilean bishops . . 152
119. Leo V. (903) and . . . . . . .152
120. Christopher (904) ; both died in prison as the result of dissensions and rivalry . . . . . . . 152, 153
121. Sei'gius III. (910); the apostohcal succession is traced less easily in the Church of Rome than in other Churches, because of the contentions of its bishops — at this period of its history they overthi-ew, deposed, and i"escinded the ordinations of each other ..... 153
viii Contents.
PAGE
Vice did not at this time injure the papal monarchy . . .154
122. Anastasius (913 or 914) . . . . . .155
123. Lando (914) . . . . . . . .155
Christ, says Baronius, seemed now to be asleep in the ship of the Church . 155
124. John X. (928) ; the first pope who heads an army . . . \b(j
125. Leo VI. (929) ; Italy secularly ruled by the Italian nobles . . 157
126. Stephen VII. (931) 157
127. John XI. (936) ; all Europe convulsed by the contests of petty chieftains . . . . . . . . .157
128. Leo VII. (939); the direct temporal power of the popes is at this time much weakened, as the result of the dissensions in Italy — the spiritual power continues till it restores the temporal . . . 158
129. Stephen VIII. (942) ; gives the pall to a boy five years of age, made an archbishop by his father, an Italian noble — he terminates a contest between the nobles of France and their king, by threatening excommu- nication to both ..,..,. 159, 160
130. Marinus III. or Martinus (946) ; a great patron of monasteries 159, 160
131. Agapetus II. (956) ; the power of bishops now equal to that of kings 160
132. John XII. (963) ; deposed for his vices . . . .161
133. Leo VIII. (965) ; disgraceful convulsions among the influential bishops and nobles at Rome — restores to the emperor the power of nomi- nating the pope . , . . . . . . 1 64
134. John XIII. (972) ; the Romans are permitted by the emperor to nominate their bishops, who soon offends them by his pride. The Emperor Otho restores the pope, and adds to his possessions — Otho, the son of the emperor, crowned at Rome by the pope . . . 165
The custom of baptizing bells is said to have now been introduced . . 165
135. Benedict VI. (974) ; on the death of the Emperor Otho, the opposite faction seize and strangle the pope . . . . .166
136. Domnus, or Donus II. (974 or 975) ; transubstantiation not yet known
to the Church of England . . . . . . .166
137. Benedict VII. (983) . . . . . . .166
138. John XIV. (985) ; the wretched dissensions continued . . 167
139. John XV. (996) ; the first instance of the canonization of saints — the canons of the universal Chm-ch pleaded by Gerbert in France against
the pope ......... 169
140. Gregory V. (999) ; dissensions between the nobles of Italy, the Em- peror Otho, and the pope — the spiritual power still maintained . . I70
141. Sylvester II. (1003), formerly Gerbert, the supporter of the canons
of the Church — makes the first public appeal in favour of the crusades . 171
142. John XVII. (1003) 171
143. John XVIII. (1009) 171
144. Sergius IV. (1012) ; the resistance of the bishops to the papal autho- rity neutralized by their appeals to the pope . . . .172
145. Benedict VIII. (1024) ; a son of the Count of Tusculum — the apos- tolic see treated as a family property of the Counts of Tuscany . 172 — 174
146. John XIX. (1033) ; the papal dignity is sold to the highest bidder, yet the spiritual power remains unweakened. First instance of vivi- comburation under the ecclesiastical power since the Priscillianists — the canons of Orleans, &c. (note) . . . . . .175
147. Benedict IX. (1045) ; strange state of the papacy— its power at a distance — its venality at Rome — the first mention of Hildebrand . 1 76
Alberic, Count of Tusculum, makes his son Theophylact pope, at the age of ten years . . . . . . . . .177
Gratian, Arch priest of St. John, purchases the papal see of Benedict IX. . 178 Account of the abbey of Clugny, and the popular rehgion of this period
178, 179 Hildebrand, a monk of Clugny, assists Gratian to depose Benedict 180, 181
Motives of his conduct ...... 181 — 183
Effects of the conduct of Hildebrand ..... 183
148. Gregory VI. (1046) ; influence of Hildebrand — triumph over the nobles of Italy . . . . . . . . 1 84
Contents. ix
PAGE
Gregory VI. being called to account by the eniperoi" for the mode in which he obtained the papacy, defends his conduct, but resigns the pontificate — he retires to Clugny, attended by Hildebrand . . . .185
149. Clement IT. (1047) • • • • • • -186
150. Pamasus II. (1048) . . . . . . . 18G
151. Leo IX. (1054) . . . . . . . l-'i?
Bruno, Bishop of Toul, elected pope — he refuses, under the influence of
Hildebrand, to accept the pontificate without the sanction of the Church
at Rome . . . . . . . . .188
His resolution to destroy the power of presentation by laymen . . 1 89
Vai'ious kinds of real or supposed simony (notes) .... 189
The more imperious language of the papal bulls now first used (note) . 191
The Church of Rome, at this time, a kingdom of this world— its servants fought as secular soldiers . . . . . . .191
Attempt to reunite the East and West ..... 192
The Patriarch of the East anathematized by Rome . . . . 1 93
152. Victor II. (1057) ; approaching triumph of the theocracy . . 194 Guizot's division of the progress of the Church through the four stages
— imperial, barbarian, feudal, and theocratic .... 194 Overthrow of the power of the Italian nobles . . . .195
The Emperor Henry III. appeals to the pope to excommimicate a rival sovereign, Ferdinand, the King of Castile and Leon, and thus strengthens the assumptions of the papacy . . . . . .196
153. Stephen IX. (1058) ; the election of a pope prohibited by Stephen on
his death, till the return of Hildebrand from a mission . . . 197
154. Benedict X. (1058) ; Stigand obtains the pall from Benedict X. who was of the Italian aristocratic party, opposed to Hildebrand . . 198
155. Nicholas II. (lOGl) ; council against Berengai-ius, in favour of tran- substantiation, the doctrine which opposes alike, l-eason, Scripture, and
the senses ......... 199
The election of popes given to the College of Cardinals . . . 200
Increase of the power of Rome under Nicholas II. . . . 201 — 203
156. Alexander II. (1073) ; the nobles of Italy become divided between
the Gregorian and imperial parties ..... 203
The temporal triumph of the sceptre or of the crozier over the world, now
the question at issue ....... 204
The first plenary indulgence or remission of all their sins, granted to the
Normans in Italy who defend the pope ..... 205 Importance and value of England to the papal empire — reasons for the
blessing of the pope on William the Conqueror (notes) . . . 206
Stigand deposed as an enemy to the Gregorian party . . . 208
InflexibiUty of Hildebrand . ..... 208
Visit of Lanfranc to Rome ....... 209
An independent sovereign, Henry IV. of Germany, cited to Rome . . 210
157. Gregory VII. (1085); materials for the Hfe of Gregory VII.— remarks
of Mr. Burke on Jacobinism, applied to the papacy (note) . . 210
Friends and enemies of Gregory VII. . . . • .211
Gregory VII., the Napoleon of the Church . . . . .211
The Church at this time was one great secular empire, as if Christ had comphed with the temptation of Satan, and accepted a temporal and universal dominion . . . . . . .212
Youth of Gregory VII. . . . . . . .213
Discipline of the monastery of Clugny . . . . .214
Gregory VII. the monk made emperor — Causes of the success of emmcnt characters (note) ........ 215
The weakness of states the greatness of Rome — no appeal to the em- pei-ors to sanction the nomination of the popes after the election of Gregory VII. ........ 216
State of Europe at this time, of Spain, Portugal, France, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, the North of Russia, Prussia, Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, and Germany ........ 217 — 222
Rome made the tribunal, by claiming and receiving the power of appeal . 222
X Contents.
PAGE
The equality of bishops and of episcopal Churches destl'oyed by the papal supremacy ........ 223
Bishops declared to be amenable to Rome .... 225 — 227
Gregory requires Spain to acknowledge his authority over the lands reco- vered from the Saracens ....... 227
Feudal oath to the pope (note, &c.) ...... 228
Abstract or abridgment ifrom Baronius of the chief acts of Gregory VII. towards bishops and abbots, churches and councils, states and sovereigns, from the year 1073 to the year 1085 .... 229—256
Independent, ecclesiastical sovereignty, in every country projected by the
pope — origin of the claim to the right of investiture . . . 257
Assumptions of Gregory VII. and the meek language of his bulls (note) . 259 Final establishment of the celibacy of the clergy, and of transubstantiation
260, 261 The sacredness and excellence of marriage ..... 262
Progress of the laws in favour of the celibacy of the clergy . . 263
Providence discoverable in the permission of the evil of clerical celibacy . 265 Origin and progress of the doctrine of transubstantiation . . 266, 267
Providence discoverable in the evil of permitting the establishment of tran- substantiation ........ 269
Ecclesiastical and political questions now identified .... 270
Roman councils under Gregory VII., their acts, results, &c. . . 275
Prayers in their own language refused to the Bohemians . . . 275
The souls of slaves and sovereigns of equal value before God . . 276
Power of Hildebrand over England proved by the superiority now implied in the granting of the pall (notes) ..... 277 — 279
The receiving of the pall by Stigand from Benedict, and not from Gregory
or Alexander, one chief cause of the Norman Conquest . . . 280
Origin of the granting of the pall to archbishops by the pope, and history of the pall from the legendary account of Joseph of Arimathea to Thomas Becket ....... 281, 306
Gregory VII. first made the receiving the pall a law of the papacy . 293
The language of the popes in granting the pall shows the pi"ogressive power of the papacy ........ 294
Stigand refuses to ask the pall from the Gregorian party (note) . . 294
The papal pretensions increase with the papal power . , . 296
The deposition of Stigand ....... 305
Character and laws of Lanfranc, the successor of Stigand . . . 307
Character of Gregory VII. . . . . . . . 307
The sincerity of persecutors more to be dreaded than their hypocrisy . 308
This is the curse of Rome, that having been wrong, it will never change . 309 Sincerity, cruelty, death, and character of Hildebrand . . .311
158. Victor III. (1087) 312
Character and conduct of Lanfranc (note) . . . . .313
Perpetual encroachments and perpetual resistance constitute the history of
papal Rome . . . . . . . .314
William the Conqueror jealous of the pi'iesthood .... 315
159. Urban II. (1099) ' . . . . . . .316
The pope the umpire between the national parties .... 317
The truce of God and the first crusade .... 318,319
History of Anselm . . . . . '. . 320—330
Divided allegiance the curse of the pious papist . . . .321
Appeals to foreigners to remedy national, real or supposed evils, woi-se
than the political disease . . . . . . .331
Anselm's resistance to the temporal sovereign encouraged by the pope . 337 The constant revision of ecclesiastical laws perpetuate truth, prevent the
permanency of error, and enforce the discipline of the Church . . 338
Character, conduct, and death of Anselm .... 339, 340 An English national synod commits the crime of enforcing clerical celibacy
— apostolical truth is not necessarily united with apostolical authority . 341 Excommunication, a political weapon . ... 342
Communion with Rome, identified with subjection to Rome . . 343
Contents. xi
PAGE
The pope presumes to censure the kings and bishops of England for holding national synods ........ S44
National synods partially supplied the place of parliaments . . . 345
The power of Rome increased by the frequency of appeals . . . 347
Oaths of obedience and allegiance to the pope now exacted from all metro- politans ......... 348
161. GelasiusII. (1119) . . . . . . .348
Disputes of Rome between the Gregorians and Imperialists . . 349
162. Calixtus II. (1124) . . . . . . .349
Councils at Rome — disputes for precedency between York and Canterbury
— triumph of the Gregorian party — question of investitures settled 350—352 The Ninth General Council ....... 353
Retrospect of the period from 969 to 1123 ..... 353
Dean Waddington on the disputes respecting investitures (note) . .354
The apostolical succession more certain in England than in Rome . . 355
Political influence of Rome in some respects useful at this time . . 356
The preservation of the Church of Rome in the dark ages, a less evil than
its extinction ........ 357
Possible design of Providence in permitting its continued existence, though
at present unreformed, and note from Baronius .... 358
CHAPTER V.
Increased Power of the Church of Rome over the Catholic Church. — Laws against Heresy. — Origin of Scholastic Theo- logy. — Second Council of Lateran, or Tenth General Council.
163. HonoriusII. (1130) . . . . . . .359
The Archbishop of Canterbury complains to the pope against the papal
legate ......... 360
Attempt to give the force of statute law, to the canon law . . . 360
Gratian retires to the convent of St. Felix to complete his laborious work
on the canon law . . . . . . . .361
Cruelty of the populace against real or supposed heretics . . .361
The intolerance of a heretic-burning mob, worse than the intolerance of a
priestly tribunal — the canon laws against heresy are still unrepealed . 362 The theology of the primitive Christians, and the difference between the
Catholic Christian and the heretic ..... 363
The discussions on theological questions encouraged the right of reasoning
and the liberty of inquiry, which the Church now seemed anxious to
repress ......... 364
Origin of the scholastic theology, and note from Brucker . . . 364
Mode of quoting from Thomas Aquinas (note) .... 3C5
The Aristotle mania of scholasticism, and submission of the schoolmen to
the Church. Notes on Guizot and Dr. Hampden . . . 367
Unavoidable collision between reason and authority . . . 368
History and condemnation of Abelard, Gilbert Porretanus, and Peter
Lombard ........ 369—372
The scholastic theology ruined spiritual teaching, and strengthened the
power of Rome (note from Sir James Mackintosh) . . . 373
The scriptural teachers despised by the scholastics at that time, as the
more evangelical or scriptural preachers are despised at present (note
from Sharon Turner) ....... 373
The Roman canon laws, the fetters of the Church .... 374
164. Innocent II. (1143) . . . . . . .375
Anecdote and iniluence of St. Bernard ..... 375
France under an interdict ....... 376
xii Contents.
I'AGE
Arnold of Brescia — tlie opponents of Rome not always right in their own opinions ........ 376, 377
Tile Tenth General Council — Second Lateran Council, its canons, «S:c. 378 — 380 The power of Rome still increases and extends to Ireland . . 380, 381
Wars in Italy . . . . . . . .382
CHAPTER VI.
The Power of the Gregorian Party in the Catholic Church still continues to increase. — Character and Influeiice of St. Ber- nard.— Frequency of Appeals to Rome. — Thomas Becket. — Third Lateran Council, or Eleventh General Council, 1179.
165. Celestine II. (1144) . . . . . . .384
The papal lejjateship restored to the Archbishop of Canterbury . . 384
166. Lucius II. (1144) . . . . . . .385
Disputes at Rome ........ 385
167. Eugenius III. (1153) . . . . . . .386
Attempts at reformation before Wycliffe — the efforts of Arnold of Brescia
and Wycliffe premature ...... 386, 387
Resistance to the pope deemed to be resistance to God, to Christ, and to tlie Virgin . . . . . . . . .387
The power of Rome increased over France, Spain, and England — the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury over Ireland, usurped by the pope ........ 388, 38y
The power of Rome increased by the influence of St. Bernard — his cha- racter, &c. &c. . . . . . . . 389—394
The repentance of Rome to be desired — the deaths of Bernard and Eugenius ........ 394, 395
168. Anastasius IV. (1154) ...... .396
Rome still strengthened by appeals to its authority — its exactions and
modes of extorting money ...... 396, 397
169. Hadrian IV. (1159) . . . . . . .398
Ireland granted to England ...... 398, 399
The pall not anciently sent from Rome to Ireland . . . .401
England conquered the people, Rome conquered the clergy, of Ireland (note) 402 Origin of the influence of Thomas Becket ..... 403
170. Alexander III. (1181) ...... .405
Brief review of this pontificate ...... 406
Contest between Henry II. and Thomas Becket .... 407
Priesthood the blessing, priestcraft the curse of mankind . . .411
The claims and usurpations of the Church of Rome are always urged under
the plea of grievances . . . . . . .413
Ecclesiastics amenable to the canon law alone for civil offences and great crimes . . . . . . . . .414
The constitutions of Clarendon. The decisions of the Church and State of
England against papal usurpation . . , . . .415
Enumeration of the constitutions of Clarendon . . . 416,417
Object of Rome in protesting against any secular interference in ecclesias- tical affairs . ........ 416
If the constitutions of Clarendon had been made permanent, the supremacy
of the pope, but not the general ignorance, would have been removed 418 — 421 Papal unity is obedience to the pope — papal liberty is ecclesiastical ex- emption from secular control . . . . . .419
Sei-mon of the Archbishop of Liseux at the Council of Tours . .419
Buying and selling between the faithful and heretics, prohibited by the Council of Tours . . ■. . . . . . 420
Contents. xiii
PAGF.
Tliirty poor outcasts for religious opinions perish in the higliways and fields
in England (note) ........ 420
There is a time for every thing, and for the removal of the greatest e'S'ils . 421 The history and sincerity of Beeket — meaning of conscience — sincerity
no test of truth ....... 422— 124
Contrast between the power of the Church at present, and in the time of
Beeket . . . . . . . . .424
The assumption of canonization one great cause of papal power — the
canonization of Edward the Confessor, and the penance of Henry II. 425 — 428 The philosophy of the day. The warlike spirit of the times. Emperors,
kings, and people implicitly submit in peace to Rome, which resolves to
extirpate heresy ....... 429 — 431
The heretics differed from each other, but not so much as they differed
from Rome ....... 431, 432
The Third Council of Lateran — its acts .... 433 — 43(;
CHAPTER VII.
The Power of Rome at its greatest height. — Fourth Council of
Lateran.
171. Lucius III. (1185) . . . . . . .437
Origin and progress of the laws against heresy, and establishment of the
first courts of the inquisition ..... 437— 440
Lucius III. the originator of the inquisition .... 441
In England the inquisition was not given up to the friars, but remained with
the bishops ......... 442
List of real or supposed heretics from the decretals . . . 445 — 449
Other heretics before the age of Lucius III. , . . 449 — 452
Definitions of heresy : chiefly from papal writers . . . 452 — 454
The severe language of the Fathers, and of the canon law, against heresy
and heretics is appropriated by the Church of Rome to the rejecters of
its own worst heresies — selection of those laws till the time of Lucius
III. ........ 454—460
Manner of quoting the Roman canon law, &c. (note) . . 456, 457
The object of Rome at this time, by extirpatmg all whom it called heretics,
was the centralizing all human power in the papacy (note) . . 460
The ecclesiastical laws against heresy as severe and persecuting as those
against paganism . . . . . . . .461
The bull of Lucius III. which estabhshed the inquisition . . . 461
Consequences of this bull ....... 463
Difference between the inquisition and the former episcopal tribunals against
heresy^ . . . . . . . . 464—467
Sketch of the rise and progress of the inquisitional power from Constantine
to Lucius III. ....... 467 — 471
The chief object of the Council of Tours, to prevent opposition to the papal
supremacy. ........ 471
Beeket one of the chief supporters of this object . . . 472
172. Urban III. (1187) 473
173. Gregory VIII. (1188) . . . . . . .473
Scripture perverted by the persecuting papal bulls .... 473
174. Clement III. (1191) . ' . . . . . 1 474 The crusades identified with hatred to heresy .... 474 The papal supremacy begins to be a question of money . . . 475 Scotland interdicted for the disobedience of its king to the pope . 475
175. Celestine 111. (1198) . . . . . . '475
Political objection to a papal legate — heresy .... 476
The papal influence, however, frequently useful to check regal injustice . 476 Appeals to Rome in matrimonial causes a chief source of its power . 477
X iv Contents.
PAGE
Just complaints of King Richard against the papal power . . . 477
Conclusion of the work of Baronius at the year 1198 — estimate of his work — the time at which he wrote ; and the beautiful prayer to God with which it terminates ...... 478 — 482
Baronius concludes his beautiful prayer to God with a painful, and to a Px'otestant a most mournful and idolatrous prayer to the blessed Virgin — possible grief of the Virgin Mary over such prayers — strange opinion on this point among members of the Church of Rome — one of the most indecent books ever published is dedicated to her glory by the learned Jesuit, Sanchez ....... 482—484
176. Innocent III (1216) . . . . . . . 484
Greatness of Rome under this pope ..... 484—490
Tiie various oaths of feudal fidelity to the pope — the oath exacted from John, King of England (note) ..... 487 — 489
Innocent III. the chief, because the severest, enforcer of the decrees of the inquisition ........ 490—492
Excommunication, &c. of Raymond of Thoulouse .... 493
Crusades against the Albigenses ...... 494
Sincere piety with demoniacal cruelty and treachery of the crusaders . 495
Innocent III. author of the beautiful and exquisite hvinn Veni Creator Spiritus — the Holy Spirit invoked by singing that hymn, when the Albi- genses were cruelly and savagely burnt and murdered by the crusaders 496. 497 Disputes between Cardinal Langton, John, and Innocent III. . 497^501
Langton opposes the pope as every Archbishop of Canterbury and peer of England should still do . . . . . . . 501
Avarice of Innocent III. . . . . . . . 502
The history and laws of Innocent explain the meaning of the words " Catholic claims" and "justice to Rome," that they denote only " papal supremacy" ....... 503, 504
The principles of Innocent III. must be rescinded .... 504
Learning of Innocent, and his labours before and after his elevation to the pontificate . ... . . . . . . 505
His sermon before the Council of Lateran .... 506, 507
Perseverance in error, and not the former existence of error, is the curse of Rome — its consequences seen in Ireland .... 508, 509
Causes of the election of Innocent III. ..... 512
His unwillingness to accept the pontificate — his motives and conduct 513—517 The Fourth Council of Lateran, &c. ..... 517 — 523
The third canon of that council ..... 523 — 526
This canon was not then made the law of the Church for the first time — it was only a confirmation of former laws, and like them, though it may be for a time disused, it is still binding on Rome . . . 527 — 529
The arguments against its authority as urged by the Roman Catholic bishops (notes) . . . . . . . 529 - 533
The Waldenses and Albigenses did not deserve the cruelty and wicked murders by which they were persecuted .... 534 — 537
Pedigree of the Waldenses — Mr. Faber's work on this subject (note) . 537
Their generally blameless and holy chai'acter (notes) . . 538, 539
Untenable hypothesis of the infidel Gibbon ..... 539
Dr. Gilly's valuable work, Waldensian Researches .... 540
Opinions of Turner and work of Mr. Maitland . . . . 541
Death of Innocent III. (note) ...... 542
Contents. xv
CHAPTER VIII.
The Political Influence of the Church of Rome continued. — Its moral Poioer begins to decline. — First General Council of Lyons.
PAGE
177. Honorius III. (1227) • • • • .543 The assumptions of Nicholas and the Gregorian policy continued . . 643 Avarice and cruelty become now more than ever the characteristics of Rome 544 The observance of many of our Church festivals commanded by a Council
at Oxford ......... 545
The cruel edicts of the Emperor Frederic enforced by burning, &e. — the
persecuting third canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran . . 545
The papal legate demands two prebends from each cathedral . . 546
178. Gregory IX. (1241) . . . . ... 546
A political crusade is commanded against the chief religious crusader, the
Emperor Frederic, without any charge of heresy — the moral influence of Rome consequently begins to be lessened . . . 547, 548
The war against heresy, however,stiil continues — thedecretals of Gregory IX. 549 The Council of Toulouse and its disgraceful and most intolerable laws against heretics — this is sometimes called the beginning of the inquisition (note). ..... ... 549—551
The Dominicans appointed by Gregory IX. to be the chief inquisitoi"s . 551 The exactions of Gregory IX. and his placing foreigners in the benefices, with his crusade against Frederic, lessen the moral influence of Rome — conduct of many English gentlemen (notes) . . . 552, 553
The peers of England at Merton refuse the supercession of the common law
by the canon law, in the case of post-nuptial children . . . 553
The appropriation of the revenues of the benefices to the monasteries, and the consequent poverty of the parochial clergy begin to prevail — the law which enables the bishop to command the owners of the great tithes to endow the vicarages more amply, may still be probably considered a part of the law of England — its enforcement would remedy the evil of the poverty of the clergy (note) ...... 554
England the purse of Rome at this period .... 555, 556
The parochial clergy the intellectual strength of England — they resist the exactions of the papal legate ..... 556, 557
The pecuniary demands of Rome — manners of the times . . 557, 558
179. Celestine IV. (1241) ; wishes to reconcile the imperial and papal factions, but dies ........ 559
180. Innocent IV. (1254) . . . . . . .560
Frederic, the emperor, though not deemed a heretic, deposed by a council
under the influence of the pope ...... 560
Synopsis of the Thirteenth asserted General Council — the First Council of
Lyons (notes) ....... 561, 562
Exultation of Innocent on the death of Frederic .... 563
Laws of Innocent against heretics (notes) ..... 564
Appeal of Frederic before his death to France and England against the
political autocracy of the pope ...... 565
The empire set up to sale by Innocent ..... 566
The time had not yet come to break off" this wretched yoke . . . 571
The papal exactions in England, France, and Ireland begin to excite
resistance to the political and temporal, but not to the spiritual power of
Rome ........ 572—574
Grossetete resists the institution of an Italian to a canonry in his cathedral 575 A tenth of the revenues of the whole Church of England demanded by
Innocent IV. — the demand is rejected by the influence of Grossetete . 576 The revenues of the foreign clergy provided for in England by the papal
authority, exceed by two-thirds, the king's revenue . . . 576
xvi Contents.
PAGE
The opponents of Rome ever were, and will be, the friends of the liberties
of the people, and of the privileges of the crown .... 57(i
Character, learning, services, and death of Grossetete, 1253 (notes) . 577
Death of Innocent in the following year, 1254 .... 578
Character of Innocent IV. — sincerity of error the curse of the Church —
Scripture misquoted in the papal bulls .... 578, 570
CHAPTER IX.
Temporal Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome in Europe. — Second Council of Lyons, 1274.
181. Alexander IV. (1261) ; uninteresting period of papal history . 580 The truth of the stigmata of St. Francis affirmed by a papal bull — the
monks permitted to supersede the parochial clergy . . . 581
Money demanded for temporal purposes under the threat of excommunica- tion . . . . . . . . .582
The Archbishop of York excommunicated for refusing to admit Italians
into his benefices — the way was being prepared for Wycliffe . . 683
The papal excommmiications begin to be despised by the laity . . 583
The blasphemous assumptions by the pope, oi the power to excommunicate for political causes, in party disputes between a king and his barons, caused the meeting of the knights and burgesses with the nobles and prelates in England ; and may be called therefore the evil which was overruled, to the establishment of the representative government and liberties of England ......... 584
Beginning of the decline of the moral influence of excommunications, &c. . 584
182. Urban IV. (1264) ; threatens the German electors with excommuni- cation if they do not elect Conradin to the empire . . . 585
183. Clement IV. (1268) . . . . . . .585
The Gregorian policy continued — all benefices declared to be at the papal
disposal — the declaration resisted in France by an edict called the Prag- matic Sanction — this decree the foundation of the former Gallican liberties ......... 586
Murderous crusades— papal excommunications for political offences in the question between the king and de Montfort in England . . 587, 588
A bull of Clement grants the king the tenth of the English eeclesiastical revenues — Rome feared by both parties in the state, plunders both in town and country, by holding the balance between them . . . 588
184. Gregory X. (1276) . . . . . . .588
Union of the Churches at this time in spite of the papal misconduct . 589
The Fourteenth General Council — its chief acts and decrees, &c.(notes) 591 — 593 Laws of Gregory X. in the Sixth Book of the Decretals — his death at
Arezzo ......... 594
CHAPTER X.
Resistance by the Sovereigns of Europe to the more presumptuous Aggressions of the Church of Rome. — Increased severity of the Laws against Heresy. — Council of Vienne in Dauphiny, 1311.
185. Innocent V. (1276) ; the importance of the pope's office prevented the election of incompetent ecclesiastics ..... 595
Innocent died five months after his election ..... 595
186. Hadrian V. (1276) . . . . . . .596
187. John XXI. (1277) • . . • . . .596
Contents. xvii
PAGE
The Churches of Europe during these short pontificates held councils inde- pendently of the popes ....... 596
188. Nicholas III. (1280) . . . . . . . 596
The formation of the papacy into a temporal kingdom, and the statute of
mortmain in England diminish the papal influence, though the pope now obtains the appointment of the archbishopric of Canterbury (note) . 597
The common law still enforced against the canon law . . . 598
189. Martin IV. (1285) . . . . . . .598
The Emperor of the East, Michael Palseologus, excommunicated . . 598
To question and define the extent of any long established power, implies
the diminution of that power ...... 599
The bishops of England sanction the taking away the cup from the laity,
and thus begin to supersede the positive commands of Christ . . 599
The statute " Circumspecte agatis " limits the power of the ecclesiastical
courts ......... 600
The murderer of a priest at Padua is fined only one penny — the causes of
this injustice ........ 600
190. Honorius IV. (1287) -601
The diverting of the subsidies for the crusades from their object by
Honorius lessens the influence of the pope . . . .601
The doctrine of the sufficiency of the Scriptures condemned as heretical . 602 Strange mixture of truth and error in the Church at this time . . 602
Belief in transubstantiatiou the foundation of priestly influence in the
Chm'ch of Rome ........ 603
191. Nicholas IV. (1292) . . . . . . .603
The Gregorian policy still pui"sued, but injuriously to Rome . . 603
192. Celestine V. (abdicated 1294); Moroni, a hermit, made pope — solitude
not the best school for sovereigns ...... 604
193. Boniface VIII. (1303) . . . . . . .605
This pope most distinguished for his talents, accomplishments, know- ledge of the canon law, and rigid adherence to the Gregorian principles and poUcy ......... 605
Austerity was now confounded with piety — Boniface ofi"ended by neglecting the general opinion ....... 606
Quarrel between Boniface and Philip of France .... 606
The Colonnas excommunicated without any charge of heresy, and a crusade declared against them ....... 607
Two swords representing the spiritual and temporal power borne before Boniface . . . . . . . . .608
Pretensions of the clergy at this time — obedience to the pope preferred
to obedience to the statute law of England (note) . . . 608
Impossibility of separating between the papal-temporal and the papal- spiritual power ........ 609
The clergy of England outlawed for their obedience to the pope . . 609
The King of England acted more vigorously than either Henry VIII. or Elizabeth — the clergy submit ...... 610
The mediation of the pope as a good jurist, but not as pope, between England and France, accepted ....... 610
Imperious bull, "Clericis Laicos" of Boniface against France (notes) .611
His bull Unam Sanctam, &c. (notes) .... 612, 613
Influence of Boniface weakened by his conduct to France, and assumption
of authority over kings and kingdoms (notes) . . . 614 — 617
Charges against Boniface by Philip of France (note) . . . 617
Capture of Boniface and gross insults offered to him — his death and character ........ 617—619
194. Benedict XI. (1304) ; annuls the acts of Boniface against France and,
the Colonna family . . . . . . 619 62
195. Clement V. (1314) . . . . . . .620
Disputes in the Church during the vacancy in the pontificate — an appeal is
made uselessly to a general council ..... 620
Promises of the pope elect to Philip of France, and condemnation of the Knights Templars (notes) ..... 620—622
VOL.11. a
xviii Contents.
PAGE
An oath of communion with Rome called by Clement an oath of fidelity . 623 The Council of Vienne (notes) ..... 624— 020
England was now the treasury of Rome— the sums paid to the papal exchequer from England, &c. ..... 626 — 628
The pope and the king mutually uphold their several and separate exactions 628
CHAPTER XL
The first great effort of the Universal Church to limit the usurped Supremacy and Authority of the Bishop of Rome. — Death of Wycliffe. — The great Schism. — Council of Con- stance,
196. John XXII. (1334) . . . , . . .629
Difference between the study of ancient and modern history considered in relation to prophecy ...... 629
Permanency of the papal system — an Utopian theory . . 630
Debasement at this time of the common people — the time had arrived when the general ignorance was to be lessened, but Rome never suspected its failings nor its danger . . . . ... . 631
Protestantism always existed, before the word Protestant was known . 632
Disgraceful and cruel punishments of this period . . . 633
Certain friars found guilty of heresy, and actually burnt for preferring coarse hoods to fine hoods, when coarse hoods were disapproved by the pope . . . . . . . . ' 634, 635
Discussions on the poverty of Christ ..... 635
Disputes between the pope and the emperor — appeals to a general council
636, 637 The popes availed themselves of the proper fear among Christians of offending God, and called every enemy of their temporal power by the hateful name of heretic ....... 637
The bulls against the friars for wearing the wrong hoods, published in the year of the birth of Wycliffe, 1324 . . . . .638
The pope called antichrist, and accused of heresy — his indignation . . 638
The Church weakened by dissensions, and the way for Wycliffe is becoming more effectually though gradually prepared .... 638
Falsehood of the assertion that " Gospel light first beamed from Bullen's eyes" . . . . . . . . .639
The error of John XXII. on the subject of the beatific vision, destroys the
doctrine of the papal personal infallibility (notes) . . . 639
The King of France threatens to burn the pope as a heretic — the pope recants his doctrine ...... 640, 641
The pope himself made the first attack on the papal infallibility . . 641
The pope, the King of France, and the Emperor of Germany unite in
declaring the superiority of a general council to the pope . . .641
The bishops in England compelled to deny the papal power in their tem- poralities . . . . 642
Case of Orleton, Bishop of Hereford, &c. . . . 642, 643
197. Benedict XII. (1342) . . .... 643
The papal power now weakened by its dependence on France . . 644
Contests in England between the king and Archbishop of Canterbury . 644
Benedict dies in the eighteenth year of Wycliffe .... 645
198. Clement VI. (1352) . . . . . . .645
The papal influence lessened by the opposition of France and Germany;
and by the resistance in England of Grossetete, Bishop of Lincoln, to the papal provisions ........ 645
The " statute of provisors " enacted against papal appointments to English benefices . . ... 648
Contents. ^ix
PAGE
199. Inuocent VI. (1362) .... The papal power limited by the cardinals . '. ' ' ' f^^
The pope mediates in vain between England and France '. ' ' a,o
The "free companies" compel the pope to grant them absolution", and to
pay them a large sum of money . . ' „ ,
The decline of the temporal influence of the papacy i'n France and c'ermanv'
and the passmg of the statute of prsemimire m England, prohibitine ao-
peais to Rome m questions of property . & ' i' "»"g ap
The mendicant friars appeal to Scriptm-e, and pre'pare the way for Wv-
cufle s translation . . . ^ j "* »i j^
Innocent VI. dies in the 32nd year of Wyciiffe " ' * ' ff J
200. Urban V. (1370) ... ' ' ' ' ^^^ Character of Urban . . . [ ' ' ' .651 The Greek Church reconciled for a short tinie to R(ime ' ' " ?J! 1 he last nistance of imperial degradation ' ' * ^^|
201. Gregory XI. (1378) . . ' ' ' ' • ^^'^ Conduct of Gregory XL towards the Florentines— its effects VnotesV fi-^i tit Gregory XI. publishes four bulls against Wyciiffe ^ ^ ^^^'S
Sget"' ":'''""'" "' ^"""'' '''' ^'^'^^^ of-Grego;y Xl.,* and of ^%iSe S':^'^™'"^"* «f E^g'^^-i ^t the commencement o'f the laLourS' ^'^ Wyciiffe appointed one of the commissioners to the papal court rnotP«^ «fii' S Comp^uts of the Commons of England against the^pal exae* " 663
pope^; '^^"" Rome-the final success of scripWal opposition to
Nineteen real 'or supposed en-ors of Wycliff; submiUed to Gregory XI^^"*' 666 T^^chffe mh.s "Tr.alogus" surnames the pope "antichrist" ° ^ ' S
liansubstantiation the great provocative to infidelity ' ' ««,
Disadvantages against which Wyciiffe had to contend ' " 'S
-Bulls of Gregory against Wyciiffe . ' ' rpI
VnT'rT^ '^f^'"" *'f Gregorian policy and the nationalmind of England fairly begun-character of Wyciiffe not so bold as that of
Events which contributed to 'the security of WycUff^ ' ' «??' ^ZJ
Gregory XI. dies in the 54th year of Wychffe ' " ' ' ?1
202. Urban VI. (1389) "i "'ycnne . . ^ gy2
Cl,p|,t,an councils mu.t be sum„,oM<l by princes, not by pope, ' "'"' 2
All Chnstian controversies relate either to faith or disciolinTlb. „,«„• ' " » «o.su«iciency of Scripture, and the suprT^ir'r noi-s«VrS:;S
Tweuty-foui; conclusions of Wyciiffe condemned in the CouicU of London ' lit
"^.^nliStirofHteStr-y"''' "'"""' '^ "" »"'■- "i^e of '"^ Death of Wyciiffe, December 30, 1384 " ' * ' ^^^
^ «srd:.?s:"i '"■""" *^"^* '«'-«' »"<" "'» conde„„.«„„ •""
"■.:i.Ke1Sl:„::!?^.S'jt;icli -- ''-'''' .Neerrors-of.hebhS:'"" Why the mediaeval period is justly and properly called « The Dark Ages" .'
690 691
jjx Contents.
PAGE
Wvcliffe, his great and unappreciable services, in spite of many errors to tC Church^f Christ-neither Wycliffe nor other reformers deserve ^^^
ThT?aSttS7eSes of Rome, ^ught to be discussed as freely as the' ^^^
If SrtS: Itt clneT His glory, ^11 Chur;hes, sects, and partie^ '
would confess their mutual errors, and seek for union . . • ^J^
The martyrs died for the general cause of Christ's Church, and not for their ^^^
If ^ef rouldttu"^ io earth, they would endeavo;r to lessen the mutual ^^^
Ch'rSttdyingpS^^^^^^^^ been offered ^^^
in vain ..•••'*'
ECCLESIASTICAL AND CIVIL HISTORY,
BOOK IIL
THE HISTORY OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE ECCLESIAS- TICAL POWER, FROM THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, AND ITS PERVERSIONS BY PER- SECUTION.
CHAPTER I.
Progress of the Ecclesiastical Power — State of the Canon Law — From the year 560 to 681.
We have now arrived at that period when the whole Catholic book hi.
CH" AP T
Church of Christ began to acknowledge more openly, though — 1. ' '» still very slowly and gradually, the authority of the Church of Rome ; to submit to its spiritual ascendancy, and to yield to its usurpation of civil and temporal power. That the manner in which the Bishops of Rome were enabled to impose their yoke upon the Catholic Church may be more plainly traced throughout, I shall still proceed to point out the several novel acts of power by which their already conceded influence was consolidated ; or by which new aggres- sions were made upon the privileges of the independent episco- pal Churches. I shall survey, as briefly as possible, the principal incidents which occurred in the Churches, and the particular policy of each successive Bishop of Rome, as the connecting
VOL. n. B
2 Pelagius declares separation from Rome to be Schism.
links between the councils which were holdcn from the second of Constantinople, to that of Trent. I may here ob- serve, that the continued controversies among Christians, and the convulsions of the empire which resulted from them, were attended with the good effect of nearly banishing the grosser deeds, and absurder tenets of Paganism, from the empire. Certain immutable principles are always taken for granted, whenever any considerable controversy is proceeding. When the measure called "the Reform Bill" was under dis- cussion some time ago in England, men of all classes took for granted during that discussion, that representative government was a blessing. All their arguments on either side were founded on this supposition. No man imagined that an arbitrary despotism was advisable. So it was in the controver- sies respecting the divinity of Christ. All the controversialists took for granted that Christ lived, died, rose from the dead, and was more than human. The very existence of Paganism appeared to be gradually forgotten. It was fading away before the agitations which arose from Christianity ; and the mind of man was rescued from the belief in the monstrosities of the Pagan creed, and directed from permitted vice to re- commended virtue. We cannot deny, that while the surface of the Universal Church was agitated by the storm, there was much piety, holiness, virtue, and Christian hope, in the hum- ble believers who were seeking rest to their souls.
LX. Pelagius /., died 560.
From the episcopate of Pelagius, the first Bishop of Rome after the second Council of Constantinople, to Agatho, the Sicilian, in whose time the third Council of Constantinople, the next universal council, was held, nineteen bishops held the see of Rome, and one hundred and six years elapsed. During this time, while various temporal rulers nominally possessed the civil government, the bishops of the city ruled, and rendered still more secure the increasing authority of the see.
Pelagius is memorable for endeavouring to persuade Narses, the general of Justinian, to punish, by the secular arm, the persons who were condemned by the see of Rome. To punish evil, he justly observes, is not persecution, but
Opinions of rulers, sometimes made the criterion of orthodoxy. 3
justice. Separation from the apostolic see is schism; awe? book ill.
it is an evil. Schismatics, therefore, ought to be punished » v— -^
by the secular power. The great defect in the argument is the fallacy of the premises — that separation from Rome is schism. He begs Narses to apprehend and banish, or imprison, the disturbers of the peace of the Church. Vi^'i-comburation had not yet become the general panacea to procure peace, at the expense of fi-eedom of inquiry. The in- fluence of the see, however, in the time of Pelagius, was much weakened among the Galilean and western bishops, by the suspicion of his orthodoxy. He was supposed to be unsound in the faith of the first four councils, because he had refused to sanction the decisions of the fifth. The conclusions of this council were not received in the west, till some time after the death of Pelagius.
LXI. John III., died 574.
The Galilean bishops refused to restore a deposed brother at the mandate of this bishop. TJie continued interference of the emperor in the religious controversies of the day, re- specting the person and nature of Christ, together with the perpetual enactment of the laws against heresies, rendered orthodoxy a political question. Parties in a state are often formed by the mere expression of opinion by a ruler. One class supports it, and is befriended ; another opposes it, and is hated. Rewards, power, influence, rank, and advance- ment are withheld from enemies and granted to friends ; and truth or falsehood are merged in the question as to the actual opinions of the ruler. Papist and Protestant were drawn on the same hurdle to the scaffold in the reign of Henry for opposing the king's opinions. The nation was shocked at the inconsistency : but that particular execution rendered more service to the cause of truth than any other, because it compelled all parties to look to other sources of religious conclusions than the will of an arbitrary ruler. Truth must flourish, where it is protected by freedom, and oppressed by authority. Justinian died in the episcopate of this bishop, suspected, after all his orthodoxy, of the crime of heresy. He had commanded his subjects to agree with
B 2
4 Election of the Bishop of Rome ivithout imperial consent.
BOOK III. him, or be punished. Justin, his successor, commanded >_ jj^ them to cease from their disputes. The former emperor per- secuted ; the latter was tolerant.
LXII. Benedict Bonosus, died 578.
Nothing very important characterized the episcopate of this bishop. He is said to have died of grief on witnessing the success of the Lombards, whom Narses had now invited into Italy.
LXII I. Pelagius II., died 590.
Many delays had hitherto taken place in the elections of the Bishops of Rome, by the difficulty of procuring what was then deemed essential to their appointment — the consent of the empci'or. One of the first results of the success of the Lombards over the power of the Roman see was, the elec- tion of the bishop without waiting for that consent. Though an apology was made for this omission at the time, a precedent was afforded which could not be forgotten. Pelagius was made Bishop of Rome without the consent of the imperial Roman power. — The authority of the Roman see was strenuously enforced by this bishop in two instances. In the course of the controversy respecting the condemnation of the edict of Justinian on the Three Chapters, the Bishops of Istria had objected to the decisions of the Bishop of Rome. Pelagius, taking the opportunity of a suspension of hostilities between the Lombards and the Imperialists, writes to the bishops of Istria *, and urges upon them, for the first time, the memora- ble argument, that as Christ had prayed to God that the faith of Peter might not fail, therefore Peter could not err ; and consequently, that as the successors of Peter inherited the privileges of that apostle, they could not err. To this inference the Istrian bishops were not inclined to defer ; and Pelagius, in reply to their objection, confesses, that as St. Peter changed his decision in the course of his seeking after truth, so it was possible the Bishop of Rome might change. But the pretension to infallibility was advanced, and it was not
' His correspondence with tlie bishops of Istria may be seen in Labb. Coucil. V. 940, seqq.
Iiifatiibilily and supreniacy first claimed by Bishop of Rome. 5
forgotten in the progress to greater domination. The Istrian book ill. bishops were invited to return to communion with the see of v "^^ • ^\ liome, and thus to preserve the unity of the Church. On their continued hesitation, the more effectual argument of actual force was exerted. The Exarch of Ravenna, Zama- ragdus, was requested to punish these episcopal disturbers of the peace of the Churches. He complied with the petition ; and sending over his troops to Grado to seize the persons of four bishops, tore them from their refuge in the Church ; and imprisoned them in Ravenna, till they conformed to the opinion of Pelagius. The people on their return home re- fused their communion ; and the unity of the Church was again disturbed by their re-adopting their former opinions. Such was the result of the first attempt to govern the Churches of the Catholic Church, by the plea of Roman infallibility.
The second memorable effort on the part of Pelagius to maintain the supremacy of his see, was made on the occasion of the re-assumption of the title of Universal Bishop by the Bishop of Constantinople. — The Emperor Leo had conferred this title on Stephen. Justinian had granted it to Mennas, Epiphanius, and Anthemius. It was not therefore novel; neither was it, indeed, a higher title than had already been given to the bishops of the true Catholic Churches in other instances ". It was conferred by a council summoned by the emperor at Constantinople, to consider the accusations against Gregory, the Patriarch of Antioch. Pelagius, on hearing of the conferring of the title, nulHfied by an edict the acts of the council ; and commanded his representative at Constantinople not to communicate with the bishop, to whom he had also written in great indignation, till he had resigned the title. The bull on this subject, in the BuUarium Magnum, is probably not genuine, though Baronius, Binius, and others, urge it as authentic and genuine against the objectors to the papal .authority ^. Whether spurious or not, it is still so ancient that it may be said to show the extent of the papal claims at a very early period; for it certainly existed before the eighth century. It bears internal evidence.
- See Bingham, book ii. cap. ii.
■* See Labbe, Coneil. v. 948 ; liarou. Auna!. a.d. 587, § 7- 13 — 15.
6 Lmv of Valens, 364, that no Plebeian be ordained.
BOOK III. indeed, of its spuriousness, because the world at this time P^^^' ^'. was not prepared to endure such language as, that a regu- larly summoned council should be called a conventicle ; with many other strange affirmations. The attempt, however, to condemn a national synod, and to excommunicate a bishop who adopted a title conferred by a council, was made ; and it became a precedent for interfering with national synods, which was followed in after-ages with fearful effect, as another foundation-stone of the edifice of papal domination. In the last year of this bishop, the Goths in Spain renounced Arianism, and adopted the faith of the Catholic Church, as it is to be found in the decisions of the first four general councils.
LXIV. Gregory I. the Great, died 604.
A law of Valentinian and Valens, passed in the year 364, had commanded that no plebeian should be ordained. Whether this absurd and iniquitous enactment was obeyed, we have no means of judging. The succession of bishops, however, from that time to the age of Gregory, appears to have been taken from the class whose means had afforded them the higher and more liberal education. They were the companions of princes, the senators and legislators of their day. The Church of Rome had already committed many errors, more especially when it adopted the folly of Gnapheus of Antioch, in rendering undue homage to the Virgin ; and to honourable and religious men, whom it dignified with the epithet of saints. Its present ambition, however, was worthy of its greatness, and was devoted to usefulness according to its knowledge, as well as to the enlargement of its authority. Rome had not yet united itself with ignorance, and hatred of the holy Word of God ; nor fettered itself by a creed, originally imposed upon it by the authority of an individual bishop. Whatever had been the effect of the laws of Valens and Valentinian, Gregory, the sixty-fourth Bishop of Rome, was of noble rank, wealthy, learned, and reli- gious. Though he was the inmate of a cloister, ac- cording to the ascetic notions of his age, he had been sent by Pelagius as an ambassador to Constantinople ; and returned to his monastery after the completion of his ser-
Decisions of the first four Councils equali:::ed with the Gospels. 7
vice. He had declined to accept the episcopate of Rome, to book hi.
which he was appointed after the death of Pelagius ; but was ^ ^J—1j
compelled to accept it by the entreaties and even the violence of the people. He committed, at his accession, when he pre- sented his confession of faith, according to the custom of the day, to the bishops and patriarchs of the Church, the fatal error, of equalizing the first four general councils with the four Gospels, by affirming that he held them in equal reve- rence with the inspired writings. The interference of the emperor prevented his prosecuting his plans for re-uniting the Istrian bishops to the Church of Rome. He exhorted the Exarch of Ravenna to punish the Donatists, the remnant of whom were living in peace with their Catholic neighbours in Africa; and to convert the heretics by civil persecution; though he protected the Jews, when the Gallican bishops attempted their conversion by force. The providence of God was more pecuHarly observable at this time in the establishment of the Benedictine monasteries, as the refuges of learning, and the preservers of the sacred Scriptures, till better times returned to the churches ; and Gregory exerted his influence in pub- lishing severe, yet useful rules for the regulation of monasteries in general. He restored discipline among the clergy, and set the example which was more energetically followed by his successor Hildebrand, of writing letters to princes, kings, and magistrates, in order to prevent simony in the churches. He persevered in upholding the unnatural laws of celibacy ; and was rejoiced at the conversion of the Lombards to the true Cathohc doctrine. Ireland, from the earliest times, had embraced the pure Christianity of the primitive Catholic Church, before the Bishop of Rome had claimed or affected supremacy. The Bishops of Ireland wrote to Gregory on the persecution, to which they were now subjected. He invites them in return to assent to the decisions of the Bishops of Rome respecting the Three Chapters. They had not, how- ever, followed his counsel many years after. The public ivorship of God was celebrated till this time in the native language of every country ; but as many foreign nations re- ceived the Gospel from papal missionaries, the superstitions which were gradually introduced into the Roman Church, were propagated with it. The monks, who had become the great instruments in giving religious instruction to people
8 The mission of Augustine a misfortune to England.
BOOK 111. who spoke a language different from their own, were often ig-
vJ^ ' '> norant of the languages of those whom they converted. From
this circumstance not only arose the custom of celebrating the services of the Church in Latin, but also many of the signs, gestures, and mummeries which were used to indicate such acts of devotion, as the congregations were required to perform ; many of which continue to be still in use. Gregory maintained, on all occasions, the authority of the see of Rome ; but his influence rather consolidated than extended its power, as he did not attempt to enlarge it by any new encroachments or usurpations. He restored, however, bishops who had been deposed ; and acted as the sovereign bishop of the Church over all whom he could govern. He frequently remonstrated with the emperor; though he acknowledged him to be the ruler over priests, as well as over soldiers. He declared the title of Universal Bishop, which was still re- tained by the Bishop of Constantinople, to be impious, blas- phemous, ambitious, and profane ; and rejected the same appellation when it was courteously proffered to him by an eastern bishop. He assumed that title which has ever since been retained by his successors — the proudly-humble epithet of " Servant of the Servants of God."
But the name of Gregory is more especially memorable to the English as the sender of Augustine the monk, to preach the doctrine, and establish the discipline and customs of the Christians of the Church of Rome, among the people of England. Very much is it to be lamented, that the Bishop of Rome authorized his retainer to undertake this mission. Christianity had been taught in this island from the com- mencement of its career. It was weakest in the eastern part of the Island, to which Augustine was chiefly directed ; but it was fully established in the western parts, where seven bishops presided over the Church in Wales. It had, also, been preached with great success in the northern parts of the Island \ So entirely, indeed, had it prevailed before the conquest of the country by the Saxons, that many British Christians suffered in the persecution by Diocletian. Three British bishops were at the Council of Aries, a.d. 314 ■\ Others were at Ariminum in Italy, where 400 bishops ^ met
• See Usher's Primordia, pp. 781, ^ Id. pp. 98. 1 15. 195. 782, edit. leiiO. ^ Id. p. 19«.
Christianity in England before, and at, the arrival of Augustine. 9
in the year 360; and there is reason to believe that others book m. were at the Council of Nice ^, where the limits of the jurisdic- ^^''^''" ^ ., tion of the Bishop of Rome were accurately defined, and in which Britain was not included. Councils were held in the fifth century in Britain against the doctrines of Pelagius. The religion of the people w'ho were reduced to slavery under the Saxons, was still Christian ". Christianity was still tole- rated on condition of the payment of an annual tribute ; and only ten years before the arrival of Augustine, Theonas, Bishop of London, and Thadioc, Archbishop of York, in the year 588, had retired to the western side of Britain. It is not improbable that they intended to return ; for though many, yet not all their clergy, had retired with them. Even at the moment of the landing of Augustine, Christianity was not a strange religion in the kingdom of Kent. The Queen Bertha was Christian. A bishop resided in the palace. She wor- shipped in the Church of St. Martin in Canterbury; and there can be little doubt that, if Augustine had never landed in England, the more primitive Asiatic form of keeping Easter, with the general truths of Christianity, would have speedily prevailed. The greater unanimity which would have resulted to the British Christians from the non- arrival of xVugustine with the novelties of the Roman worship, would probably have more speedily effected the conversion of the Saxon pagans®. — So it was, however, that the embracing
' Id. p. 195. communicare quam paganis. — Beda, * Such, indeed, wastheaversionwhich Eccles. Hist., lib. ii. cap. 20. the Scottish Christians showed to all ^ As for those British Christians tliat cauie from Rome, that Daganus, a who retired into the western part of Scotch bi«liop, refused ncit only to eat Wales, and into Cornwall, two of their with them, but even to lodge in the same bishops assisted Wini, Bishop of Win- house. Beda, Eccles. Hist., lib. ii. Chester, at the consecration of Ceada, cap. 4. And the same author further Bishop of York. They were proba- declares, that in 633, thirty-six years bly Cornish Bishops, for it was the after the coming of Austin, the British Cornish Christians who paid the Christians not only rejected all com- Saxons tribute, to continue their sys- niunion with them, but regarded them tern of worship unmolested. — Beda, with unqualified repugnance. Indeed, Eccles. Hist., Ub. iii. cap. 28. to this day, says our historian, the The Cornish Cliristians were very Britons contuiue such aversion to the numerous, and had kept up their rites faith and worship of the Enghsh, that and usages till the latter end of the they will have nothing to do with it, seventli century, when Aldhelm was and will not communicate with any of made Bishop of Sherborne, for writing them, more than they will with pagans, against them, and for bringing many to Usque hodie m(d-is sit Britoimm, lidem the Catholic observance of Easter. — religiouemquc Auglorum, pro nihilo Beda, lib. v. cap. 19. habere, neque in aliquo eis magis With regard to those who had fled
10 Extent of Christianity in Britain at the arrival of Augustine. BOOK III. Christianity by the Kentish and Western Saxons, must be
CHAP I . . . . , .
V ^ ' ') said to be chiefly owing to Augustine. The Romish writers
have ever taught, that the mission of Augustine was a legiti- mate reason for our acknowledging in this island the papal supremacy ; and the influence of Rome has never been banished from among our people. The letters of Gregory, written before Augustine came to England^ compel us to be- lieve, that the Bishop of Rome was more anxious to secure the Saxons as his spiritual subjects, than to provide for their welfare ; he would otherwise have become the correspondent of the bishops who were already established in the Eastern part of the island. He would have restored their authority, and have endeavoured to extend their influence. But the queen was a French woman. Her chaplain, Luidhard, was of the same nation. Gregory wrote to the mother of Bertha, the Queen, informing her that " he had heard that the English nation would gladly become Christian ; but that the
iuto Wales, the diocesan bishops were subject to the Archbishop of Caerleon as their metropolitan ; and though their number and districts cannot be ascertained, it is certain that no less than seven of their bishops met Augus- tine at tile second conference, whom Baronius allows to have been orthodox in their faith, though he accuses them of schism. (Inett, vol. i. cap. i. § xi. p. 12.) But that Austin and his suc- cessors were well convinced of their purity of doctrine is evident from their desii-e of communion with them, and their submission.
The faith and discipline of the Churches in Ireland, and in the north parts of Britain, at the time of Aus- tin's mission, was the same witli those of Wales and Cornwall, among which there was reciprocal commu- nion ; and if we may credit Beda, the British and Irish-Scottish clergy had done much towards restoring Christianity in various parts of the island at the coming of Austin. — Beda, lib. iii. cap. 4.
About the year 565, thirty years before the coming of Austin, Columba came from Ireland, and converted the Picts of the northern districts of Britain. — Beda, ut supra, and Chron. Sax. Ann. 5{J0. Beda also says that the southern Picts had been converted many years before by Nynian, a British
bishop ; and these accounts are corro- borated by Asser, with some very in- considerable difference in the date of Columba crossing from IrcLand, which he places in the year 565. — Asserii Annal. Ann. 565. Script, xv. p. 143.
For the account of the conference between Austin and his followers, and the Bx'itish bishops, and his haughty and tiireatening language to them, with their firm, dignified, and ap- propriate reprehension, which the proud missionary received from the Abbot of Bangor in reply, see Beda, lib. ii. cap. 2. Antiq. British Ch. caj). V. p. 359. Cone. Brit. vol. i. p. lOJJ. Wharton's Angl. Sacr. ii. p. 543 ; from all which it will appear that, not- withstanding the shock which the British Christians had endured from the inundation of the hostile Saxons, the true faith had been preserved in several districts ; that, particularly in the isle which Beda so frequently speaks of by the name of Hy or lona, so famous for its monastery — in Mona, or Anglesey; throughout Wales and Cornwall ; in Ireland and Scot- land, there was a sufficiently able and fervent remnant of the faithful to have restored the original Church, and speedily to have converted the Saxon intruders, had no mi.ssion from Rome been sent to eclipse the zeal and efficiency of the native church.
Gregory desired to govern, not to convert the English. 11
clergy, their neighbours, did not take charge of them." The book III. " becoming Christian " might denote becoming members of ^^^^i^p^ the Church of Rome ; and the knowledge of the independ- ence of the Archbishop of the Britons at Caerleon-upon-Usk, might have been the cause of his appeahng to Augustine, rather than to Dinoth (the abbot who subsequently met Au- gustine), to the Archbishop of the Britons, or to any bishop or priest who had not already acknowledged the supremacy or the primacy of Rome.
Gregory re-urged, in his letters to the Bishop of Con- stantinople, the argument in favour of his supremacy, from the words of Christ to St. Peter. He wrote letters to the Bishops of Spain and France, of Italy and Africa, urging them to remove abuses and to restore discipline. He accom- plished a truce between the Romans and the Lombards ; and began that fatal system which was so contrary to the canons and laws of the primitive Church — of exempting monks from the jurisdiction and superintendence of their bishops. The monastic orders became, in consequence, the peculiar supporters of the papal against the episcopal power; and every usurpation of the Bishop of Rome was actively and strenuously defended by these vassals of the Holy See. After the Monastic orders, the Inquisitors, and latterly the Jesuits, claim the same privilege. TJie Catholic Church never can be at peace till this usurpation be removed ; and all Christians, with the several dioceses of the Universal Church, be restored to the jurisdiction and superintendence of their own diocesans, independently of the Bishop of Rome.
Another evil was inflicted on the Churches by this Bishop. Gregory permitted the ceremonies of the pagan worship to be interwoven with the Christian service of the true God. He only changed the names of the objects of their worship. The first teachers of Christianity inculcated the doctrine — that the religion of Christ permitted no compromise with evil. The corruption of Christianity was shown in the timid compliance with custom, fashion, and idolatry, lest the aus- tere truths of religion should give offence. The removal of this temporizing and debasing mode of preaching, or en- forcing the religion of Christ, must be also effected before the souls of men can be rendered acceptable to their Creator. The light that was in the converted pagans became darkness
1.2 Gregory sanctions the use of images, and compiles the
BOOK III. by this permission of evil; and the greatness of that dark- .^__^_:, ness was shown by their speedily relapsing for a time, into the grossnesses of their former religion. — Another evil in- flicted by Gregory on the Catholic Church was his condem- nation of the conduct of Serenus of Marseilles, when he broke the images which the Franks in his diocese had been permitted to retain. Gregory declared that images served the place of books to the ignorant, and were therefore useful, though they were not to be worshipped. — The episcopate of this celebrated bishop is rendered still further memorable by his conduct to the centurion, Phocas, the murderer of his master, the Emperor Mauricius, and the usurper of the imperial diadem. Gregory, on hearing of the success of Phocas, eulogized and congratulated him in the most fulsome terms of praise. His conduct prepared the way for the sub- sequent more express grant of temporal power, which Phocas made to the successor of Gregory in the see of Rome. — The memory of this bishop is still further remarkable, as he was the pi'incipal compiler of the Canon of the Mass. He was the tirst who spoke of the doctrine of purgatory. Many of his writings, which are very voluminous, are still read with respect. In the services of the Church of England are em- bodied many of the prayers and thanksgivings which he incorporated in his Sacramentary. With much that must be condemned as absurd, superstitious, or frivolous, much is to be found in his labours which entitles him to our homage and admiration. He was surnamed by many " the last Bishop ;" that is, the last spiritual ruler of Rome, who aimed at no personal honours for himself. He was the connecting link between the disinterested bishops of antiquity, and the more interested rulers who succeeded him. His name is identified, more than that of any other Bishop of Rome, with the Christianity of England, and the confirmation of the papal authority ; and happy would it have been for mankind, if all his successors in the papal see had been as disinterested and well-intentioned as the virtuous, active, zealous monk, with all his faults, fancies, and superstitions. Happy would it be if they had avoided his errors and imitated his virtues — if they had blessed their people as he did, and been renowned like him for unbounded charity, diligence, humility, and blamelessness. Holiness, eloquence, and knowledge were
Canon of the Mass— his wisdom and his folly. 13
combined with ascetic devotion. Foolish answers to foolish hook hi. questions, as in the case of the conversion of the Saxons by v^"^ ' \ Augustine ; and dreams and visions, were blended with the highest attainments of his age. Spanheim says, that in com- piling the Mass, and other things, Gregory confesses "his departure from the customs of the Apostolic Church \"
LXV. Sabinian, died 606 or 607.
The abject superstition of this age — the natural result of the ignorance induced by the successful invasion of the bar- barians— was shown in the mode by which the books and writings of Gregory were preserved, when the populace had been excited by the ungrateful Sabinian, his successor, to destroy them. They only ceased from their attempt in com- pliance with the request of his friend, Peter the Deacon, w hen he informed the people that these writings were divinely inspired; for that he himself had seen the Holy Ghost, in the shape of a dove, whispering in the ear of Gregory. Nothing w^orthy of record is related of Sabinian.
LXVI. Boniface III., died 607 or 608.
This bishop is celebrated for assuming the title of Univer- sal Bishop after it had been conferred on him by Phocas, the emperor. This assumption is generally considered to be the great commencement of the papal supremacy. Boniface immediately exercised the power by summoning a council at Rome ; and declaring that no election of a bishop should be deemed valid, unless the Bishop of Rome confirmed the ap- probation of the people, clergy., and patron, or lord of the city ^
LXVII. Boniface IV., died 615.
The Christianity of this period must have been sadly de- graded from its originally aggressive, uncompromising oppo- sition to heathenism and evil. Gregory a few years before requested Augustine to consecrate to Christian saints the
' Spanheim, cent. vi. p. 357. The VII. encountered much difficulty in
churches of Milan, France, Spain, and ini])osing the Roman form upon them,
other places retained their own Litur- ^ Labb. Concil. v. 161(i. gies for some ages after, and Gregory
14 Rise and progress of MaJwmetanism.
BOOK III. festivals of heathen deities ; and though he had requested
^ .. Ethelbert* to destroy the idol temples, he afterwards sent
Mellitus, who was appointed Bishop of London about the year 604, to command more conciliatory measures. The Saxons, in their various provinces, appear, as Beda shows, to have changed their opinions with much facility from the inci- piently paganized Christianity, to the more matured paganism with which it was commanded to symbolize. The river of the waters of life was contracted to a narrow stream, which the rocks of idolatry, the shallows of formality, and the stagnant pool of ecclesiastical usurpation began to make repulsive to the admirer of the purer Word of God. — This Bishop of Rome procured from Phocas the grant of the Pantheon *, which had been dedicated by Agrippa to Cybele and the other pagan deities. He made the heathen temple a Chris- tian Church. He cast out the deified men and women of heathenism, to substitute in their place the deified men and women of a corrupted Christianity. He sprinkled the place with the water which man had blessed, and called holy. He forsook the fountain of living water which God had sent down from heaven, and alone called holy. — In the time of this bishop, idolatry began to prevail more and more in the West, and the new curse of Islamism extended itself in the East. Mahomet had seen to what absurd lengths the dispu- tations among Christians were carried; and it is probable that any designing person might now have successfully practised a crafty imposture. The superstitions studied and taught by the monks paved the way for his enterprise. The division of the eastern and western churches served to promote his object. His accomplices were men well quali- fied for seconding the bold plot. Among the chief of these were Sergius, a Nestorian monk, an excommunicated heretic, who had fled into Arabia embittered with rage against the orthodox Christianity of the day ; John of Antioch, who had been exiled for Arianism ; Baira, a Jacobite ; Abdiah or Ab- dallah, a Jew ; besides Othman and Abubeker, and others of his own tribe and countrymen. This, however, is not the place to discuss the question of Mahometanism ; or to inquire into the truth of Mr. Foster's theory, that the Mahometans
' Beda, H. E., 1. xxx. * See the note of Binius in Labb. Coneil. v. 1G17.
Conformity ivith Borne in called the unity of the Church. 15
may be regarded as a Christian sect. It must be sufficient book hi. to say, that the extension of Mahometanism in the East, ^^hap^ strengthened the Christianity of the West. The influence of Rome was co-extensive with its corruptions; and the Asiatic customs which had prevailed in Ireland, Scot- land, England, Wales, and France, began to be more effectually superseded in all these countries by the pertina- cious perseverance of Rome, demanding submission to its influence and customs as the Apostolic See, and denomina- ting conformity to its injunctions, the unity of the Church of Christ^. — The deference paid to the Bishop of Rome by Augustine and Mellitus, became the precedent for still fur- ther deference and submission among their successors ; till the primacy of Rome became dominion, courtesy vas- salage ; and journeying to Rome was exacted as a token and proof of inferiority and feudal homage. — The Bishop of Rome sent letters by Mellitus to the clergy, king, and people. They have not been handed down to posterity; and we have, therefore, no proof that they were received as the mandates of a superior. Every bishop, as the member of the one episcopate, which includes the whole government of the holy Catholic Church, is entitled to address letters of kindness, courtesy, and Christian advice, in the same manner to any sovereign or nation under heaven. There is not suffi- cient proof to convince us, that Baronius rightly informs us of the cause of the journey of Mellitus to Rome — that he might learn from Boniface whether the Church of West- minster had been consecrated by St. Peter in person. Ailred of Rievaulx" (whom Baronius calls Scriptor Gra- vissimus), in his life of Edward the Confessor, believes in the descent of St. Peter for that purpose, on the testimony of the waterman who conveyed the Apostle over the river. — We meet, in the time of this bishop, with the first instance of an English bishop proceeding to Rome. He went there to con- sult with Boniface on some things believed either by him or by his biographer^, to be essential to the welfare of the Church. A council was called on the subject of English
'" See the letter sent to the Scottish ^ Beda, ibid Venit Melhtus
bishops by Laurentius, Mellitus, and Romam, de necessariis ecclesise Angli-
Justus, in Beda's H. E., ii. 4. canae tractaturus.
" Ap. Decern Script, col. 385.
16 The pall sent from Rome to Avyuntine.
BOOK III. affairs. The interference of the Bishop of Rome in the ^JH^VP^ affairs of England, has been uninterrupted from the time of Augustine to the present day. Augustine was the founder hi England of that co7njjliance with the customs of Rome, in which the Romish Church declares, the unity of Christ's Catholic Church consists. Mellitus, the earliest coadjutor of Augus- tine, returned to Rome after he had been made Bishop of London ; and thus another stone was laid in the fabric of papal power.
LXVIII. Deus dedit, died 617 or 618.
The power of working miracles appears from Platina to have been assumed by this bishop. If this be true, the most important step of all was taken to enlarge the power of him- self and his successors. No act of temporal authority, or novelty of spiritual usurpation, however, is recorded of him.
LXIX. Boniface V., died 625.
This Bishop of Rome continued to exercise superintendence over the missionaries whom Gregory had sent into England, and strengthened the pretensions of his successors by writing to Mellitus, who had succeeded Laurentius, after Augustine, in the metropolitan see of Canterbury ; and by sending the pall to Justus, who had been made Bishop of Rochester. — With respect to Justus and the pall, we learn from Beda that Mel- litus, Justus, Paulinus, and Ruffinianus were the earliest and most efficient of the coadjutors of Augustine in his mission to England. We read, in the same section, that Gregory, about the year 601, sent a pall to Augustine, with letters, in which the Bishop of Rome, calling him his fellow-bishop and brother % gives him directions respecting the appoint- ment of bishops. In the letter which is given by Beda, we read, that he had sent him what Mr. Soames justly calls the "insidious compliment of the pall," with authority to appoint twelve suffragan bishops, and to select an Archbishop of York '. I must refer to others for an account of the pall, and the causes of its transmission from the Bishop of Rome to such metropolitans or bishops as were in terms of personal
* Lib. i. cap. 29. ' Bampton Lectures, vol. liii p. 150.
Origin of the sending the pall from Rome to bishops. 17 friendship uith himself, or in communion with his see. It is book hi.
. . C 1 1 A p. 1 .
sufficient here to say that the pall was originally a part of the ^ .^1-1j
imperial ornaments, and dress of state. The Emperor Con- stantine allowed the Bishops of Rome, and other emperors subsequently allowed other metropolitans, to assume this decoration. The Bishops of Rome, in imitation of the im- perial example, sent to some of their bishops an ornament of a different description, but of the same nature. Eusebius affirms, that Linus, long before the age of Constantine, sent a pall to a brother bishop as a token of friendship or com- munion. Others relate that Symmachus, a.d. 514, began the practice. Whatever may have been the origin of the cus- tom, it had by this time become a token of consent and approbation from the Bishops of Rome, of the appointment of an episcopal brother. 1 1 was a compliment ; a pledge of affection ; a symbol of identity in faith, government, dis- cipline, opinion, and observance. As the primacy of Rome changed into ascendancy, supremacy, and dominion, the giving of the pall became an indispensable token of supe- riority, and a badge of slavery; and as all pretensions even- tually assume the form of questions of money, the fees which were demanded by the Bishops of Rome, and paid by the bishops who consented to their usurpation over their churches, became one of the most intolerable burthens upon the resources of their respective sees. This bishop continued his claim to dominion upon the now generally admitted argu- ment of the words of Christ to Peter. He also strengthened the power of his see by establishing, in imitation of the civil law of sanctuai^y , the right of asylum for accused and guilty persons in churches and at altars.
LXX. Honorius, died 640.
This bishop diminished the influence of his see, by use- lessly endeavouring to effect the restoration of Adaloaldus, the Lombard, who offended his nation by his cruelty and despotism. The Lombards preferred Arianism with liberty, to Orthodoxy with slavery. He also offended by embracing the Monothelite heresy, which the Catholic Church subsequently condemned in the next general council. The question was — whether Christ possessed two wills ; one human, one divine, —
VOL. II. c
18 Authority of Honorius in England.
BOOK III. the subtilty was oriental, broached by Theodorus of Palestine, CHAP. 1.^ — or whether the human will was absorbed in the divine, so as to be merely an instrument of the divine operation ? Hono- rius, on the usual request being made by Bishop Sergius of Constantinople, who appealed to him for his approbation, decided in his favour; and thus inflicted on the see of Rome the severest blow which their claim to infallibility either afterwards, or before, received. The Bishop of Rome had never been condemned by a general council till this time. Britain seems to have been an especial object of attention to the Bishops of Rome, from the day of the mission of Augus- tine to the present time. Honorius continued the influence of his see in these islands by sending letters to Honorius, the successor of Justus in the see of Canterbury, and to Paulinus, with the palls to each ; at the requests of Eadbald and Edwin. He speaks of himself as the inheritor of the authority of St. Peter ' ; and assumes the power of permitting the survivor to ordain the successor of the deceased, without soliciting the consent of the Bishop of Rome. No objection was made to this act of usurped authority ; and the claim to power over the Church was strengthened by the silence of both bishops. Honorius wrote also to Edwin, King of Northum- berland, exhorting him to study - the works of Gregory. One great argument against the identity of the Church of Rome with the Catholic Church at this time, arises from the fact — that wherever the Romish missionaries advanced in the West, they found that Christianity had preceded them, with other usages than those enforced at Rome. Christianity had pene- trated into Ireland. The Scots or Irish, however, observed Easter in the Oriental, not in the Romish manner. Honorius wrote, requesting them to conform to the custom of his see. They refused obedience to his mandate. The Bishops of Rome eventually, but slowly and gradually, obtained con- formity to their decisions. The Scots are said to have com- plied with the Roman custom in 726. To Honorius several splendid cathedrals owe their origin ; and a custom of annual processions round churches to commemorate their consecration was instituted by him.
' Beda, H. E., ii. 18. '' Id. ii. 17-
Theodore requires the Bp. of Constantinople be tried at Rome. 19
LXXI. Severinus, died 640.
He renewed the confidence of the churches in the faith and orthodoxy of the see of Rome, by condemning in council the MonotheUte doctrine which had been approved by Honorius. This may be inferred, at least, by the confes- sion of faith of the sixth general council, which approves the decrees of Severinus against the Ecthesis, or expo- sition of faith proposed to his subjects by the Emperor Heraclius ; in which anathemas were uttered against those, who maintain the doctrine of the twofold will in Christ. The levying of large sums of money for the decoration of churches, was ordered by Severinus.
LXXII. John IV., died 643.
Some Scotch bishops, at this time, consult with the Roman e on the righ Monothelites ^.
see on the right observance of Easter. John condemns the
LXXIII. Theodore I., died 649.
This bishop proceeded further than his predecessors, by demanding of the Emperor Heraclius, that Pyrrhus, the Bishop of Constantinople, be sent to Rome to take his trial for heresy. The demand was rejected. Not only so ; Victor, Bishop of Carthage, wrote to Theodore as his brother and equal ; while the high-sounding titles of Father of Fathers, and Universal Pope, were given to the Bishop of Constanti- nople by his partizans, as well as to Theodore by the ortho- dox. The attempt at usurpation, however, though rejected for the present, became an irresistible precedent when Rome waxed stronger. The influence of Rome was much increased at this time, by the recantation of his errors by Pyrrhus at Rome, by his being publicly and solemnly re-admitted to communion ; and by the sentence of no less solemn ex- communication when he relapsed into Monothelitism. — Theo- dore also excommunicated Paul, the successor of Pyrrhus. The Churches of the East continued stedfastly to oppose the
^ See Ussher's Primord. p. 1161, and the passages there mdicated.
c 2
20 Martin I, appoints papat vicars over bishops.
^rr? AP^T^' ^^*^^^^^ ^"cl constitutions of the Church of Rome, respecting
*^ V ' the ceHbacy of the clergy and other impositions, as well as
the claim to the universal pontificate ; and in Italy, the Exarchs of Ravenna, the Patriarchs of Aquileia, and the Bishops of Lombardy and Istria, denied the right of do- minion which had been assumed by the Roman see. The Church of France, also, long resisted the growing power and arrogance of the Church of Rome. The conversions of the several states to the Anglo-Saxons, continued with some interruptions *.
LXXIV. Martin /., died 654.
This bishop ventured to take another bold step to extend his authority in the Catholic Church. He appointed a vicar to exercise patriarchal jurisdiction over the provinces which were governed by bishops who had been canonically ap- pointed, but whose opinions were not approved by him ; namely, Macedonius and Sergius, the Monothelite Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem'. The attempt failed, but the Bishops of Rome, to this day, constantly send vicars into churches where bishops, canonically ordained, professing the faith of the first four general councils, exercise episcopal juris- diction. Martin successfully appealed to the kings of France to send delegates from that country to Constantinople®. They were, however, prevented from proceeding thither. Martin, therefore, wrote to the emperor, condemning the Monothelitism which Constans approved. The influence of the see was much increased by the firmness with which he endured the anger of the Emperor, and the Exarch of Ravenna ; even to imprisonment, exile, cruel persecution, and death.
LXXV. Eugenius, died 657.
The letter ^ of this bishop announcing his nomination to the emperor, contained no submission to the imperial edicts, notwithstanding the fate of his predecessor ; though he does not appear to have condemned him so decidedly as Martin.
* The progress of these events is ^ See Labb. Concil. vi. 20. 26, &c. narrated by Beda, and from liim by all ® Id. col. 383. our ecclesiastical historians. ' See Baron, ad an. fJ55, § 10.
The poioer of imprisoning granted to bishops. 21
The influence of the see, however, even if he had wavered, book ill. would have been upheld by the people, who refused to per- — ^ — ' mit their bishop to receive the letter of Peter, the new Bishop of Constantinople. An act by which the power of the Church of Rome ivas considerably increased, was the grant by Eugenius of civil jurisdiction to bishops^ with the power of immuring offenders in prison.
LXXVI. Vitalian, died 672.
During the long episcopate of this Bishop of Rome, two events took place which materially extended his power over England. — The first was, the Council at Streaneshalch, or Whitby, where King Oswy professed to be so fully persuaded by the now common argument, of the transmission of the power of St. Peter to the Bishops of Rome, and the ability of St. Peter to exclude him from heaven ; that he determined to adopt the Roman calculation in keeping Easter, and to reject the advice of Colman, and the Asiatic customs. — The second was the tacit acquiescence of the English in an act of usurpation by Vitalian such as had never been before at- tempted. Oswy and Egbert had sent Wighard to Rome for ordination as Archbishop of Canterbury. He died at Rome before his consecration. Vitalian wrote to Oswy a letter, fidl, as the custom was, of quotations from Scripture, so applied as to confirm, apparently by divine sanction, the opinions of the writer on questions of ecclesiastical discipline and Christian faith. He exhorts him as a member of Christ, to follow the rule of the prince of the apostles ; both in the observance of Easter, and in all other points which Peter and Paul, the two lights of the world, had given * -, and informed him that he would send into England as soon as possible, some person who should pluck up the tares in that part of the field of God. It has been fully shown by a living writer *, that the faith professed at Rome and in England, was the same in all the great points taught and believed by Chris- tians ; the tares, therefore, could only mean the differences in minuter matters, in which all that Rome taught was to be
* In omnibus piam regulam sequi quae tradiderunt sancti Apostoli Petrus perenniter prineipis Apostolorum, sive ct Paulus. — Beda, lib. iii. cap. 29. inPaschacelebrandanijSive in omnibus ^ Soames's Anglo-Saxon Church.
22 Roman ceremonial established in England by Theodore.
BOOK III. observed. He obliged tbe queen by gratifying her with a CHAP. I. gQi(jgj^ ornament in which were some fiHngs of the chains with which St. Peter was bound. Rehcs, at that day, were invaluable. They were more esteemed than the Pigot, or other costly diamonds are at present by jewellers, ladies, or princes. They were as much esteemed as they were useless. In the course of the year after the death of Wighard (March 26, 668), Theodore, a monk of Tarsus in Cilicia, was selected by Vitalian for the archbishopric of Canterbury. A more admirable choice could not have been made, both for the interests of England, and the advancement of the Papal ambition. Theodore was recommended to the notice of Vitalian by Adrian, a monk of Naples, whom the Bishop of Rome wished to send to England. He was a man of genius, learning *, and piety. Having been educated in the Oriental customs, his tonsure differed from that of the Western monks ; so that he was compelled to wait on the continent till his hair was grown. As Vitalian doubted whether he was en- tirely devoted to the Romish customs, he withheld ordination till Adrian had promised to accompany Theodore to England. Theodore was then ordained but deacon, and three months after, bishop. He remained some time in France, and having obtained from Vitalian a general grant of every power, privi- lege, prerogative, and jurisdiction which had been given to Augustine ; and which he judged necessary to promote the good of the Churches in England ; he arrived in Canterbury attended by the magistrate whom Egbert, king of Kent, had sent to France to welcome him. Theodore was zealous, fond of power, and attached to Rome. He established his oivn authority, and with it the Roman ceremonial. He ex- tended his power over all England. He refused to recognize Chad as a bishop, because he had been ordained by those who still adhered to the British calculation in celebrating Easter ; and demanded that he should be re-consecrated by himself. He held the celebrated Council of Hertford, where he required all the clergy of England to observe uniformly the decrees of the holy fathers; and when they declared
' Beda tells us he knew Greek, of literatura, et Grsece instructus et
which language even Gregory the Latine, probus moribus, et retate vcne-
Great was ignorant. Theodore, he randus. — Beda, Hist. Ecclcs., lib. iv.
says, was — vir ct sceulari et divina cap. 1 ; see also cap. 2.
Dioceses in England first divided into parishes. 23
individually that they were willing so to do, he produced, it book hi. is believed, that body of canons mentioned in the thirteenth . '^ " ', session of the Council of Chalcedon, which had been afterwards confirmed by a novell of Justinian. He selected from them ten canons to which he more especially commanded obe- dience ^ — He pronounced sentence of deposition against Wilfrid, though this bishop was as devotedly attached as himself to the papal authority. He thus proved himself to be independent of the foreign influence, though he owed to it both his appointment and consecration; and he thus affirmed also the right of the churches to their own self-government, whatever might be the undefined and undefinable primacy of the Apos- tolic See ; which he neither opposed, denied, nor confessed. He summoned another council at Hatfield, in which the Church of England received, as it still does, the first four general councils ; and it added to them the fifth, which we may be still said to reject, as the Monothelite opinions have no place among us. In addition to these acts of usefully em- ployed power, he begun in England that admirable system of parochial division in the dioceses, which had been commenced by Justinian in the East; adopted by Honorius on the Continent; and which have been universally received in England from the time of Theodore to the present day. The builder and endower of a Church was permitted to nominate the clergyman, while the bishop had power to approve or reject the nominee'. Four hundred years before the Norman Conquest, parishes were endowed in England by the owners of the lands, who
2 The ten canons are — VIII. That the ambition of bishops
I. The observance of Easter as at be cheeked.
present. IX. That the number of bishops be
II. That no bishop invade the dio- increased in proportion to the number cese of another. of the faithful.
III. That bishops do not interfere X. Certain laws on marriage passed, with monasteries — the law which Beda, H. E., iv. v. ; Labb. Coucil. made kings and bishops hostile to the vi. 536.
monks. ^ ggg h^q Preface to Soames's An-
I V. That monks do not wander un- glo-Saxon Church, where the origin of permitted from their monasteries. parishes is discussed, and the argu-
V. That clergymen remain with ment rendered applicable to the con- their own bishops. troversies of the present day ; and
VI. That no clergyman officiate also his interesting narrative and re- without permission of the bishop of the ferences from p. 75 to 87, second diocese. edition. I hereby beg to thank Mr.
VII. That synods be held twice a Soames humbly, respectfully, and sin- year — the one peculiar law of safety, cerely, for the instruction and satis- and of perpetual reform and vigilance faction I have derived fi'om his la- in churches. hours.
24 Repentance and penance are not the same.
BOOK III. were neither believers in transubstantiation, nor advocates of
CHAP I . . . .
\ '- the infallibihty of Rome. So utterly false is the affirmation,
that the revenues of the Church in England were originally given by the state ; and that the state bestowed them on the members of the Church of Rome. — Theodore may be called the founder of Anglo-Saxon literature. He began in England that cultivation of learning which gradually extended to France, and improved the general civilization of Europe. He rallied learning, zeal, blamelessness, and devotedness around the cause of sound religion. He could not foresee the eventual results of his complying with the error so common to his age — the admission that the Bishop of Rome was vested with greater authority than other bishops. The power of the pope had displayed itself rather in recommending and then ordaining Theodore, than in commanding the English to adopt him. Though he thus far complied with the error of his day, he preserved the independence of his see ; and he was not canonized in consequence, as so many inferior partizans of the papal authority were. Though he was an objector to the doctrine of a later age — the necessity of sacramental confession, and declares that confession is to be made to God alone, yet he compiled a volume much esteemed by the Romanists — the Penitential, in which he endeavours to apportion punish- ments to crimes. His learnino- had not taught him the true evangelical doctrine — that repentance and penance are not the same ; and that God requires only the spiritual homage of the heart as the result of faith in the Atonement ; though man may punish offences by fine, penalties, and bodily dis- cipline. Whatever discipline may be thus believed by a Christian to be useful, may be regulated by his own con- science, rather than by the decrees of a Church, or the com- mand of a priest or bishop. No man has exercised a more permanent influence upon the English Church than the archbishop whom Vitalian sent into England ; and no event of that period strengthened the gradually encroaching ambi- tion of Rome, so much as the sanction to its usurpations by the virtue, piety, zeal, and character of Theodore. — The con- test between the Independent Episcopal Churches and the Bishops of Rome still continued. The Catholic Church was still unwillinff, however it respected in its various dioceses the Church of Rome, to submit to her arbitrary and despotic
The encroachments of Rome resisted by the Catholic aturch. 25
assumptions of autho?^ity.— John, Bishop of Lappa, appealed book hi. to Vitalian against his metropolitan, when the usual or most ,^J^ frequent reply was given by the Bishop of Rome.— Maurus, Bishop of Ravenna, being excommunicated by Vitalian, ex- communicated, as he had an equal power to do, the Bishop of Rome in return. He died possessed of his see, and charged his clergy with his last breath, never to submit the liberties of their Church to the authority of Rome.— The suc- cessor of Maurus procured an imperial rescript to exempt his see from all subjection to Rome ; and so, indeed, it has ever been. Several superstitious practices owe their origin to regulations made by Vitalian, and the universal me of the Latin language in divine service was by his command. Ecclesiastical history is httle less for many centuries than the record of the continued attempts at usurpation by the Church of Rome on the Cathohc Church ; and the continued resist- ance of the Catholic Church to the demands of the usurper.
LXXVII. Adeodatus, died 676.
The power of Rome was increased by the conversion of the Lombards in Italy, from Arianism to the orthodox faith.
LXXVin. Domnus or Bonus, died 678.
The influence of Rome was acknowledged at this time by the Emperor Constantine V. Though he called both the Bishops of Constantinople and of Rome by the same titles of honour, as Universal Bishop, or Universal Patriarch; yet he paid the deference which implied submission. He wrote to the Bishop of Rome, on caUing a general council to settle the Monothehte controversy. The peace of the empire was broken by the continual discussions of the ecclesiastics ; and the pressure of the barbarians, whether the Saracens or others, was rendered more effectual. The Bishop of Rome died before the letter of the emperor was received.
LXXIX. Agatho, died 682.
The episcopate of this bishop ivas characterized by two events ivhich had a permanent influence upon the Catholic
26 Power of Rome in England strengthened by Wilfrid.
^CHAp"/' <^^«^c^- Wilfrid, the Bishop of Northumberland, the firm " . ' and zealous advocate, on all occasions, of the papal preten- sions, especially at the Council of Whitby, where Colman was rejected by Oswy ; appealed to Rome against the sentence of deposition pronounced against him by Theodore. The Bishop of Rome, as was usually done, declared in a council in favour of the appellant. The people of England, with their sovereign, their archbishops and bishops, acted as their descendants did in the reign of the Norman sovereigns, and in the time of Henry VIII. — they despised the papal mandate, and believed themselves to be competent to their own self-government. They proceeded further than this, and imprisoned Wilfrid. Yet the country was convulsed and agitated throughout by the controversy ; though neither all the zeal, piety, and honourable activity of Wilfrid after his release, could procure the acknow- ledgment of the papal authority. — The precedent, however, was not forgotten ; and in after-ages the sentence of the Bishops of Rome upon an appeal to their tribunal was more regarded. A second appeal by Wilfrid met with no greater success. . He sought papal interference * as a mere experiment. There was a rising deference for the Roman see ; and he thought it might serve him. The legal Christian commonwealth, how- ever, which England had now become, (for Christianity was established by law, as the religion of the state and people,) rejected all foreign superiority ; though it confessed the Bishop of Rome to be among the most eminent of the sons of God. Wilfrid was subsequently received into much favour by Theodore; but the decision of Agatho in his behalf^, was never regarded by the king, the bishops, or the people. Wilfrid, after being ejected from his see, is said to have de- voted himself to the propagation of the faith ; and at the same time of papal dominion, among the Frieslanders, the inhabi- tants of Utrecht and of Guelderland. Missionaries from England, Scotland, and Ireland, were also active in Westpha- lia, Denmark, Sweden, and among the tribes of Germany and other northern nations, in the work of conversion ; with a mixture of monkish legends, papal traditions, and a belief in the omnipotence of the hierarchy of Rome ^ Agatho
* Soamea, p. 89. ' Labb. ConcU. vi. 579, seqq.
« See Beda, H. E., iv. l.'J ; Eddii Vit. Wilfr. cap. xl.
The imperial consent to the papal elections disregarded. 27
advanced another step towards absolute power, by holding book ill. papal elections icithout the imperial consent, and in his \
letter he recommends the emperor to hear his legates even as God himself.
At this time the third Council of Constantinople was as- sembled by the emperor, Constantine V., to whom Pope Agatho had addressed a long epistle concerning a controversy in which the higher orders of the eastern and western churches had been contending for fifty years. The circum- stances which gave rise to it were as follows. The Emperor Heraclius, during his long war with Persia, had passed some time in Armenia and Lycia, where the Monophysite doctrines were prevalent ; and he thought the obstacle to a reconcilia- tion of those sects with the Church was the question — whether Christ, having in one person two natures, had two wills also ? On his return he consulted Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, on the subject, whose opinion was, that it was not contrary to the doctrine of the Church to assert that Christ was actuated by one volition only; whereupon, an exposition of faith was promulgated by Sergius, under the influence of the emperor, in which was contained the doc- trine of one will ; and it was confirmed by a Council at Alexandria, a.d. 633 ^ Among many other eminent ecclesiastics by whom the new theory was supported, were Honorius, Patriarch of Rome, as previously signified ; Cyrus, Patriarch of Alexandria ; Macarius, Patriarch of An- tioch ; with Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, successive heads of the see of Constantinople. Upon Cyrus having had articles prepared, in which the doctrine of one will was distinctly alleged, preparatory to a union of the Severians, a Monophy- site sect, with the Church : Sophronius, a monk of Palestine, and afterwards Patriarch of Jerusalem, who happened to be at the time in Alexandria, began a decided opposition to the doctrine ; and the controversy was continued with great violence and obstinacy. The attempt of the emperor to put a stop to it by his edict, called the Ecthesis, before men- tioned, was in vain. Maximus, a friend of Sophronius, roused the African Church on the occasion. Pope John IV. refused to accept the Ecthesis; and his successor, Theodore, not only negatived the doctrine, but formally excommunicated ^ See Labb. Coucil. vi. 953.
28 Causes of the assembly of the Sixth General Council. BOOK III. the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Emperor Constans II., by
CHAP I . . .
^^ — ^.— ' an edict called (twttoc) the type, sought to restore tranquillity, A.D. 648, in which silence was recommended without any ex- pression of opinion on the disputed point. That Martin having condemned the heresy in a synod, the first held in the Lateran at Rome, a.d. G49, suffered martyrdom in consequence, has been already intimated; such support was the Church of Rome continuing to receive from persons of the highest rank and station in the empire. Martin not only anathematized the doctrine of Christ being actuated by the operation of one will only, but he also condemned the two imperial decrees — the Ecthesis of Heraclius, and the Typus of Constans. This decisive conduct of Martin restored for a while the commu- nion between the sees of the East and West, which sub- sisted during the episcopates of Vitalian and Peter of Con- stantinople ; but the dispute broke out with all its former virulence in the reign of Constantine V., to whom Agatho's epistle on the subject was dispatched ; in order to propose a settlement of the question by a general synod. In consequence of which, in the year 680, the emperor summoned the Third Council of Constantinople ^, of the particulars of which I here give a summary in the usual manner.
« Id. col. 231.
29
Synopsis of the Sixth General Council.
|
The Third General Council of Constantinople. |
|
|
Date. |
A.D. 680—681. From Nov. 7, 680, to Sept. 16, 681 9. Eighteenth session. |
|
Number of Bishops. |
One hundi'cd and sixty'. The Patriarchs of Alexan- dina and Jerusalem not present. |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
Constantine V. 2, sumamed Pogonatus. |
|
Presidents. |
The Emperor, and his representatives ^. |
|
Why and against what opinions. |
The controversy concerning two wills or one will in Christ *. |
|
Against whom. |
The Emperors Heraelius and Constans II. — Popes Vigilius and Honorius. — Cjtus, Sergius, PjTrhus, Paul, Peter, and Macarius, Patriarchs. — Theodore, Stephen, and Polychronius, Bishops*. |
|
Chief acts,decrees, and canons. |
No canons. Confirmation of the acts of the five General Sj-nods. The Epistles of Agatho read and sanc- tioned. Macarius heard in defence of Monothelism. Evidence of primitive Fathers read against the heresy. A Confession of Faitli agreeable to the Nicene and Con- stantinopolitan, ratified ''. |
|
Penalties. |
Anathema, deposition, proscription. The sentences confirmed in a special edict of the emperor, the clergy being deposed, the nobles proscribed, and others exiled, who refused to conform to the faith. The dead were anathematized. The books of Cyrus ordered to be burnt ^. |
|
Sufferers. |
Honorius, Pope of Rome. Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, Patriarchs of Constantinople. Cyrus, Patri- arch of Alexandria. Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch. Theodore, Bishop of Pharan. Polychronius and Stephen, Bishops. Constantine, a monk ; with their numerous followers ". |
|
Emperor. |
Constantine V. |
|
Pope. |
Agatho 9, not present, represented by legates, two presbyters, and one deacon. |
30
Memoranda on the Sixth General Council.
The council assembled in a part of the palace at Constan- tinople, called the Trullus. It was convened, as the mem-
9 Cave, i. 605, and Venema, v. 47, state that the sessions continued till Sept. 16, 681. Du Pin, cent, vii., affirms that the sittings continued from Nov. 680 till Nov. 681. See also, Caranza. Cent. Magd. cent. vii. c. ix. p. 414. Baronius, viii. 541. Mosheim, ii. 194 ; and Platina's Chronology, who dates the accession of Agatlio, A.D. 702, which being at variance with every other authority, can only be ascribed to an error of the press.
^ The number of bishops present, personally, or by their representatives, is not certain, owing, perhaps, to the length of time which the council con- tinued its sittings ; and many who were in attendance at first being called to their respective dioceses before the decrees were signed.
Du Pin, vi. 66, and the Magd. Cent., cent. vii. c. ix. 419, have probably stated only the number present at the con- clusion of the sittings, as they agree in the council consisting of 160 ; while Gesnei", p. 512, quotes various num- bers from 150 to 289. Spanheim, SeccuI. vii. 1228, fol. Lugd. I7OI, sets the members down at 289. Platina, also, in Vit. Agath. the same. Cave, i. 605, agrees with Spanheim and Pla- tina ; and Venema. v. 48, says, it is generally thought that 289 bishops were present.
The patriarchs of Jerusalem and Alexandria were unable to attend on account of their provinces being over- run by the Saracens ; but each sent de- puties.
Legates of Pope Agatho and of the Roman synod attended, the pope sending four, and the synod three.
Baronius, viii. 541, enumerates dif- ferent numbers according to various authors whom he quotes, and observes, that the Greek annals have 289, as well as Cedrenus and Theophanes ; though Photius says, I70 ; Paulus Diaconus, 150 ; Theodore Balsamon, 171 ; and that the last acts were signed by 166.
^ Platina in Vit. Agath. says that ambassadors were sent by the pope to Constantine to request that the council might bo convened ; and that they were kindly received. The synod was called accordingly ; and when it met, that the books of the ancient fathers
were ordered to be brought out of the library, out of which were read the opinions and decrees of the early Church.
Zonaras, p. 123, states, that Agatho summoned the council with the assist- ance of the emperor.
Caranza, p. 602. — Sacra sexta et universalis synodus sub Constantino, cuj usque nutu et voluntate conventus is erat indictus.
The Magdeburg Centuriators, cent, vii. c. ix. 414 ; Venema, v. 47 ; Cave, i. 605 ; Du Pin, vi. 66, 67 ; Du Plessis, Myst. Iniquit. p. 123 ; Mos- heim, ii. 194, all concur in the council having been summoned by the em- peror.
' The emperor with his magistrates were honoured with the highest seats ; but the middle seat was appropriated to the gospels — eminentiori loco Con- stantinus imperator cum suis magis- tratibus positus erat, locus vero medius synodi ex more datus sacrosanctis Dei Evangeliis super sedem oniatam po- sitis, Christum ipsum reprsesentanti- bus. — Baronius, viii. 642.
The emperor presided, but not as judge, says Bellarmine — Intei'fuit in hac synodo etiam Imperator Constan- tinus, cum nonnullis viris illustribus, et prsesedit, id est, primo loco sedit, sed non fuit ullo modo judex, aut formaliter praeses, nam nullara senten- tiam tulit, et ultimus omnium sub- scripsit, non definiens, sed consentiens. — Bellarmme, De Conciliis, c. xix. ii. 44. edit. Cologne, 1620.
The emperor, on whose left were the legates of Agatho ; and on his right George, Patriarch of Constantinople, and the rest of the patriarchs. — Ve- nema, V. 47.
Du Pin says, the emperor presided at the first eleven sessions, and at the last, vi. 66 ; see also Grier, 114. Mys- tei'ium Iniquitatis, 123. Cent. Magd., cent. vii. c. ix. 439. Caranza, 592.
* The questions about the two ope- rations and the two wills in Christ, appear to have divided the eastern and western churches m the seventh cen- tury. That which implied the unity of will in the person of Christ was the Monothelite heresy, or a simple modi- fication of Eutychianisra ; the other implied two wills, or energies, har-
Memoranda on the Sixth General Council.
31
bers signified in their acts, by the command of the emperor ; book iii and at the request of Agatho, Bishop of Rome. Bellarmine
CHAP. I.
raonized in his person. — Grier, p. 114.
Monothelitamm causa concilium habere constituit. — Platiua, in Vit. Agatho.
Causam autem prsebuit controversia de duabus in Christo voluntatibus et operationibus, quae ad annos circiter quadraginta sex et amplius, in Ecclesia agitabatur et Ecclesias Orientis et Occidentis non modo turbarat, sed etiam divulserat. — Cent. Magd., cent, vii. c. ix. 419.
* Heraclius, in the year 639, issued an Ecthesis, or decree of faith, forbid- ding to say that there is but one ope- ration in Christ, lest it should be thought to imply his two natures ; or to aver, that there are two operations, as that would imply two contrary wills. — Grier, p. 1 15.
Constans II. forbade to speak either of one or two operations or wills, for the purpose of giving his favourite opinion the advantage. — Cave, i. 56G. 574.
Honorius was created pope in 626 ; and in 633, he approved of the act of CjTus of Alexandria, who confirmed by a synodical decree the confession of one will in Christ ; at the same time he disapproved of what Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, did, who, at Alexandi'ia, openly accused Cjtus of error, and withdrew from communion with him. — Cave, i. 578. Du Pin, cent. vii. vol. vi. 17.
Cyrus, first Bishop of Phasis, but promoted to the Patriarchate of Alex- andria about the year 630, by the favour of the empei-or, attached his name to the Ecthesis, or sjTnbol of faith of Heraclius, in 639, in which the emperor enjoined silence on the ques- tion.— Cave, i. sa;c. Monoth.
Sergius was made Pati'iarch of Constantinople, April 18, 610, (Art. de Verif. les Dates, i. 250,) and m 639, he held a sjmod, and confirmed the Monothelite heresy by ratifj'ing the Ecthesis of Heraclius, in which year he died.
Paulus was elevated to the Patri- archate of Constantinople in 641 ; and in 648 he prevailed on the Emperor Constans to issue an edict called Typus, commanding that silence be observed by all, concerning either the one or
two wills in Christ. Sergius was con- demned for heresy by the Council of Rome, A.D. 648, and by a Lateran Council of 649. He is said to have repented of his error before death, in 651. Pj'rrhus, Patriarch of Constan- tinople, having renounced the Mono- thelite heresy, but re-embracing it, was also condemned by the two synods befoi-e mentioned. Upon his having incurred the displeasure of the em- peror, he was displaced and retired mto Africa ; and Paul was raised to the see in his stead, both of whom were Monothelites.
This doctrine is said t6 have been first broached by Themistius and Severus, and there is a letter of Vigi- lius, written to the Empress Theo- dora, in which it is declared that there was but one will in Christ; though Du Pin considers the letter a forgery. — Du Pin, vi. 64, 65. Cave, i. 522. Zonaras, in Canones, &c., p. 123. Baron. Ami. Eccl. viii. 542. Mosheim, ii. 194.
^ The definition of the council touching the faith was signed by the legates from Rome on behalf of Pope Agatho ; by George, Patriarch of Con- stantinople ; by the legate of Peter of Alexandria ; by Theophanes of An- tioch ; by the legate of the Patriarch of Jerusalem ; by the respective le- gates of the Archbishops of Thessalo- nica, Cyprus, and Rf.venna ; and by the deputation sent by the Council of Rome ; and by 160 bishops. — Du Pin, vi. 70; Cent. Magd., cent. vii. 453, who say that 162 bishops subscribed.
The preface, or address by which the council was opened, was delivered by Zonaras.
No canons were passed ; and for a more copious account of the proceed- ings than is given in the annexed table and notes, see Venema, v. Cave, i. 605—607. Baronius, viii. 542—560. Cent. Magdeb., cent. vii. c. ix. 420 — 455, vol. vii. Caranza, 592 — 618. Mosheim, ii. 198.
' Macarius, who had persisted in an obstinate defence of Monotlieliti.sm before the council, was ordered to be deposed without hope of restoration, and also that he should be banished. — Du Pin, cent. vii. vol. vi. 69.
The Magdeburg Centuriators say.
32 Tlie Mo7iothelite heresy a modified Eutijchianism.
BOOK in. says the emperor presided, but not as judge. Baronius in- CHAP. I. fornis us that the emperor, with his magistrates, held the most honourable place ; but the middle seat was appropriated to the gospels. The questions about the two operations and two wills, says Grier, seem to have much disturbed the eastern and western Churches during the seventh century. That which implied the unity of will in the person of Christ was termed the Monothelite heresy ; being a simple modifica- tion of the Eutychian doctrine. The orthodox opponents of this declared, that two wills, or energies, harmonized in his person. Mosheim and the Magdeburg Centuriators affirm, that there were legates at this council, not only from the Bishop of Rome, but also from the Synod of Rome, by which the Monothelite heresy had been previously con- demned '.
Little more is to be said concerning the acts of this council than what has already been briefly mentioned in the preceding synopsis. On account of the obstinate defence of the Mo- nothelite opinions made by Macarius, it is said by some, that the council required that he should be deposed without hope of restoration ; and also, that he should be banished. On this point the Magdeburg Centuriators say, that the emperor asked the assembly, whether Macarius should be restored upon repentance? To which the synod replied, that he so violently maintained his opinion, that he ought not to be restored. The doctrine of two wills, as explained in the epistle of Agatho, after a long and patient investigation, was established ; and the heresy of those who supported a con- trary opinion was unanimously denounced.
Neither at this council, nor at that summoned by Jus-
that the emperor enquired of the Theodorus, Sergius, Honorius, Cyrus,
judges if Macarius, upon repentance, Paul, Pyrrhus, Polychronus, and
should be restored ? But that the Petei*, anathematized. — Caranza, 598 ;
synod repHed, that he must not be re- and all the preceding authorities,
stored, since he still maintains his ^ Honorius, with the others, was
opinion so violently. — Imperator per certainly condemned ; and by the
judices quasrit, an Macarium liceat in legates from the Bishop of Rome, as
propriam sedem restitui, si abjecto well as by the deputies from the
errore veram sententiam amplectatur ? Synod of Rome ; there being no dis-
Sed synodus respondet, Non posse tinction drawn between his guilt and
eum restitui, cum adhuc mordicus that of the other Monothelites. — Vup-
defendat suara opinionem. — Cent. vii. Espen, iii. 424. Mosheim, ii. ]94.
c. ix. 441. Venema, v. 49. Cent. Magd. ut supra.
* Macarius, banished, deprived, and ' Upon all these points, see the
deposed without hope of restoration, notes to the tabular synopsis.
The Quini-sextine Council opposes the See of Rome. 33
tinian at Constantinople, in the year 553, were any canons book hi, respecting the discipline and rites of the Church, nor the ^<^hap. i. morals of the clergy, enacted ; it will be proper, therefore, in the present place, to mention that a council was convoked in the year 691, as a supplementary synod to the fifth and sixth, for the purpose of passing such decrees as the good government of the Church might seem to require. In conse- quence of its being held as a sequel to the fifth and sixth general synods, it received the name of the Quini-sextum. It is called by the Greeks the Sixth Trullan Council, from its ha^^ng met in the TruUus palace at Constantinople. It passed 102 canons, many of which oppose the practices, the discipline, and the authority of the Church of Rome, the en- croaching power of which is distinctly objected to by name ; and several of these enactments are directly levelled against its customs. Sergius, the Bishop of Rome, refused to ac- knowledge the canons on this account ; and Baronius, Binius, Allatius, and other servile defenders of the Roman hierarchy, call it a pretended council, though it was attended by the papal legates who subscribed to all its decrees, except those which were against the encroachments of their Church ^
Numbers of national and provincial synods were held in many cities of Asia and Africa during this period, as well as several of importance in Italy, France, Spain, and Britain; in many of which, particularly the British, which have been collected by Spelman and Wilkins, the innovations and cor- ruptions of the Romish Church are strongly censured. The surrender of the Emperor Constantine to Pope Agatho, of the tribute or tax which had been demanded by all preceding emperors for confirming the election of every pope, is an important fact connected with this age ; and though it was a custom which succeeding emperors were unwilling to yield, the popes fiercely resisted the imperial demand till their object was fully confirmed.
The advantages resulting to the Saracens from the con- troversies of the Christian Church at this period, afford a sad demonstration of the evils of theological disputes. The Church was torn asunder by vain and useless quarrels, and
- See Spanheim, p. 392, seqq. VOL. 11. D
34 Absurd disputes, and state of the Church.
BOOK TIL the apostacy of Mahomet began to take its unopposed pos-
s • '. session of the world. The religion of the Arabian impostor,
under Abdalmelech, rapidly spread westward through Africa to the Atlantic, and the Christian Churches were made desolate. Syria and Armenia, with the greater part of the East, suffered under the same affliction. Constantinople, though for the present it successfully defended itself, was repeatedly and fiercely assailed ; and the superstition and folly which now began to be too much substituted for apos- tolical purity and simplicity by the monastic orders, may be imagined from the fact, that while the Scriptures were gradually becoming less known to the people, and less fre- quently referred to by the clergy, as their best authority; and while the provinces of the East were thus uniting under the Mahometan apostacy ; the most learned of the monks and of the clergy were seriously engaged in discussing the proper mode in which the heads of ecclesiastics should be shaved. Synods were held in Spain, Italy, Gaul, and Britain, for the discussion of this supposed important topic. The members of the Latin or Roman Church were distinguished by the tonsure of St. Peter. Those of the East adopted the so- called tonsure of St. Paul ; while the Irish clergy were derided by both the West and East, as wearers of the tonsure of Simon Magus. The darkness of the night of Europe began to deepen. Genius, learning, and literary energy seemed to have perished utterly, on the outside of the walls of monas- teries and convents ; while within them, though one part of the employment of the monks consisted in transcribing the works of the ancients, the books of Scripture, or the writings of the orthodox fathers, few and rare were the lights whose beams shone forth upon the world. The superstition which gave to the children of the Church the routine and stone of the monastery, instead of the doctrine and the bread of life, daily gained strength. Architecture was the only art that flourished. Ignorance and priestcraft were establishing their irresistible and hopeless despotism ; and that despotism ruled by terror among its friends, by the relentless persecu- tion of its enemies, and by a slowly matured system of impo- sition, fraud, and error ; which has not even yet ceased to fetter the reason, or to terrify the souls, of the greater portion of the Catholic Church of Christ.
CHAPTER II.
Progress of the Ecclesiastical Power from the Third Council of Constantinople, a.d. 681, to the Second Council of Nice, A.D. 787.
One hundred and six years elapsed from the sixth general book III.
CHAP II
council held at Constantinople in the year 681, to the seventh \^ — ! held at Nice in 787. The see of Rome during this period was ruled by sixteen bishops. I shall continue to mention the several novel acts of power by which each enlarged the authority of his own see, and of the episcopal influence gene- rally.— We must not, however, confine our notion of the gradual increase of ecclesiastical domination obtained by the Church of Rome alone. The ignorance and barbarism which followed the invasion of the several tribes that overrun the Roman empire may be said to have divided the more active and thoughtful portions of mankind into the two great classes of soldier and priest. The monasteries were the places of education — the retreat of the learning which re- mained— the refuge of the fainting literature of antiquity. The establishment of the Benedictine monasteries at that pecuKar period (a.d. 529), when their founder retired to Monte Cassino, and made the care of education one great object of his institution, has been justly considered a most providential departure from the mere asceticism ^, the soli- tary piety, and comparative uselessness, of the heremetical or monastic life. The clergy and bishops were educated in these retirements. Their knowledge was power. Their ambition, their ascendancy, their desire to promote the good
^ Upon the services rendered to StudiisMonasticis,4to,Ven. 1715, where literature by the order of the Bene- the subject is learnedly and honestly dictines, see Mabillon, Tractat. de treated.
D 2
36 The Ecclesiastical and Papal power not to be confounded ^!^P.^ ^]]- of mankind, their humble devotion to the cause of Chris-
CHAP. II. . . ^
' -, ' tianity, (though they contmued to add their unscriptural
changes of the former faith,) were aUke promoted by and founded on that best instrument of all power — intellectual superiority. They alone were acquainted with the art of writing. They alone could manage political correspondence ; frame useful laws ; and soften the harsh collision and hatred between the more refined and self-indulging conquered Romans, who had been the victims of their own sybaritism ; and the sterner, hardier, self-denying conquering barbarians, who had been propelled by necessity, restlessness, enterprise, or dissensions, from their native seats, to invade and possess the provinces of Rome. TJie ecclesiastical power, therefore, of this period was not wholly papal, it was episcopal and conciliar, though it began to be principally papal; and the Bishops of Rome may be said to have done or commanded few things, for which a precedent could not be found in the actions of their episcopal predecessors.
Within the period, for instance, of the sixth and seventh general councils, we read of the first deposition of a sovereign. Childeric the Third had become, in France, unacceptable to his rude people. The active and ambitious Pepin was pre- ferred as their sovereign. The Bishop of Rome was consulted, whether the weak prince should continue to rule, or the energetic subject wield the sceptre. The reply of Zachary was not a decree, but an opinion. This opinion, however, had the force and influence of a sentence of arbitration ; and Childeric was deposed. This became the precedent for sub- sequent acts, on the part of the Roman pontiffs, of the posi- tive deposition of princes. Previously, however, to this decision of the Roman bishop, Vamba, a Spanish king, when he supposed himself to be dying, had received the last sacra- ment, and been clothed, according to the superstitious cus- tom of the age, in a monastic dress. He recovered from his illness. The Council of Bishops at Toledo in 681 — the year in which the third Council of Constantinople was held — de- cided that he could reign no longer. They made the cessa- tion of the royal power, which was, of course, supposed to continue through all sicknesses, and recoveries from sickness, till death ; dependant on their own opinion. Fleury calls
Enquiry into the real origin of the Papal deposing power. 37
this, deposition. Mr. Hallam regards it as an abdication ; and suspects ^ a fraudulent contrivance between the Council of Toledo and the successor of Vamba. Whichever it might be, the fact remains the same. A king ceases to reign, who would otherwise have retained his power; because the bishops taught his subjects that they could no longer tender him their homage. Religion was the plea. Their own influence was the cause of the withdrawment of their obedience by the people.
Neither of these precedents, however, appear to Mr. Hallam to have been the commencement of the deposing power which was subsequently exercised so fearfully by the Bishops of Rome. He considers the deposition of Louis le Debonair, who had undergone, when in a state of imprison- ment, a public penance ; to be the real origin of this power. This event took place after the seventh General Council in 844). If Mr. Hallam, therefore, does not assign the origin of the greater secular power of the Church to either of these events, much more will he not regard the edicts of Justinian, as I have done, to be the true commencement of the eccle- siastical power. Mr. Hallam, the author of the History of the Popes ^, and the author of the History of Popery *, with some others, place the commencement of the temporal power of the popes at a later date than this edict of Justinian. They begin that power from the several concessions made to it by the princes of Europe. These, however, are rather effects than causes. My wish would he from causes to trace effects as they gradually concentrate the ecclesiastical power, from time to time, until actual despotism was established. Mr. Hallam acknowledges, that as the egg contains the bird^ or the acorn the oak % so the principles of papal power before the seventh century contained the axioms and dogmata of Bellarmine. Dean Waddington observes, that while the entire ecclesiastical body was exceedingly aggrandised, the seeds were sown from which the disease (of papal usurpations) was afterwards engendered; but time was required to give
2 See Hallam's Middle Ages, ii. 220, Authority, &c. from the French," 8vo,
note, Labb. Concil. vi. 1225. 1838.
^ " The Power of the Popes, or an ' One vol. 8vo, Parker.
Historical Essay on their Temporal ^ Middle Ages, ii. 228. Dominion, the abuse of their Spiritual
38 The Edict of Justmian the true origin of Papal power. BOOK III. them efficacy ^ Mr. Hallam, and the other authorities here
c^xi A P TT
V ^ — ' alluded to, have each given a very general account of the
origin of papacy. I give no general account. I wish to show the actual aggressions which became precedents for temporal usurpation, until the popes, by these continual accessions of moral strength, obtained sufficient courage to act as princes. The manner in which I have conducted the inquiry has been to examine the progress of the ecclesiastical power, of which the episcopate of Rome was regarded only as a section, to the promulgation of the code of Justinian. No point of time, I believe, can be fixed upon at which so many circumstances combine, to supply a firm foundation for the structure of ecclesiastical dominion as the date I have chosen. The Romish hierarchy of that time was able to discern the ad- vantages which were possessed by the ecclesiastical powers of the empire. From that time it seems to have become the established policy to lose no opportunity of increasing the power, which was implied in the very name of Rome. The many new privileges which Justinian bestowed on the clergy, in addition to those before enjoyed, could in no other patri- archate or province be exercised so free from all control as by the pontiff of old Rome. The grant of civil jurisdiction over monks and nuns was no where else an authority so absolute, or turned to so much advantage, as in the hands of the undisputed head of the Western Church. The trustee- ship of the estates of prisoners, of minors, of persons insane, of foundlings, of stolen children, of women helpless and oppressed, and of orphans; which, with many other such trusts, had been conferred on the clergy ; necessarily invested them with much power over public property. The superin- tendence, also, of public morals, the providing for the unfortunate, and various other administrations of the civil law were, at this period, thrown into the hands of the clergy ; and in such an uncontrolled pontificate as that of Rome, formed a broad foundation of temporal power. Judicial authority, so far as it had been conceded to episcopal courts, was, comparatively speaking, of small account in other pro- vinces under the disunited and contentious patriarchal sees of the East ; but by the changes and circumstances which were
" History of the Church, 8vo, chap. xiii. p. 224, and note.
Opinion of Mr. Hallam on the Papal poiver considered. 39
taking place in the Western world, it became of great value to book hi.
the hierarchy of Rome. All bishops were honoured by the - .,_ -"
Justinian code with exemption from oaths, and from ap- pearing as witnesses. In criminal cases they were also made the judges of the clergy; and to them appeal might be made in all civil proceedings ; but it was the extensive jurisdiction which the unsettled state of the West served to confer on the BisJiop of Rome, which made these privileges great means of secular strength, in addition to his other extensive authority. After the incursion of the Lombards, the influence of the emperors over the ecclesiastical power of the West, gradually became more and more feeble. The Gothic dynasty in Italy, as long as it lasted, was not willing to provoke the anger of the Church, by interference with either its claims or its cus- toms; and the superiority of knowledge possessed by the spiritual authorities, gave them great advantages in all nego- tiations with the rude government of the invaders. After the re-conquest of Italy by Justinian, friendship with the Church was a policy necessary to establish and maintain the exarchal governorship. Rome, Naples, Liguria, and the southern parts of Italy, depended chiefly on their own re- sources for protection ; and the patriarchs were naturally looked up to by the people of those states as their princes. The elements of secular power were certainly not yet entirely consolidated. Though, as citizens, the popes were nominal subjects of the emperors, yet, upon the estimate fairly taken of the judicial power, the territorial possessions, the adminis- tration of revenues, and the great popular control possessed by the Roman see, at the date which I have selected ; it is hardly sufficient to say of the temporal power of the papacy, with the many peculiar advantages with which geographical position and moral circumstances favoured the ancient im- perial see ; that " the tree was in the seed, or the bird in the shell," till the times of Pepin and Charlemagne. Rather might it be said, that the one was now widely branching, and the other ravenous for prey.
LXXX. Leo II., died 683.
Upon the advancement of Leo II. to the pontificate, he was in no respect indifferent to the example of his predeces-
40 The Bishops of Ravenna subdued by the Pope.
BOOK III. sors, in strengthening the power of the holy see. In the ^HAF^. jgj-^gj. Qf ^jjg Emperor Constantine, which confirmed his elec- tion, he styles him " The most holy and blessed Archbishop of Old Rome, and Universal Pope ;" and desires that " he will send without delay an apocrisarius or nuncio, to reside in the imperial city, who, representing him, might act there in his name." — In his letters to the metropolitans of the West, Leo condemned Honorius, his predecessor, as a heretic. The adulation of the emperor increased his power. TJie in- dependence of the Church of Ravenna, which had often proved a check to the usurpations of the Roman pontiff, be- came next the object of attack. Leo obtained an imperial edict which extended the authority of the see of Rome over the bishops of that province ; and immediately prohibited all the Churches of Ravenna from commemorating the anniver- sary of Maurus, a late primate there, who had resisted the encroachments of Rome ; and whose charge to his brethren when at the point of death, was to preserve the freedom and integrity of their province; on which account he had been honoured as the tutelary saint of the exarchate. The Bishops of Ravenna were now required to repair to Rome to have their elections ratified, and to receive ordination from the pope '.
LXXXI. Benedict IL, died 685 or 686.
Benedict was elected within a few days after the death of his predecessor in July, 683, but on account of the imperial decree which had been granted to Agatho, by which the con- firmation of the election of popes by the emperor was given up, having been resumed; a delay of twelve months within a few days elapsed before the ordination of the new pope, which took place June 26, 684. This circumstance was made a plea for increasing the papal power. Constantine compli- mented Benedict by sending him the hair of his two sons, Justinian and Heraclius, which the pope is said to have re- ceived, attended by the Roman clergy and the army. This ceremony is reported to have been borrowed from an ancient pagan custom, of dedicating the hair first cut from the heads of young persons to some deity ; and those to whom it was
' Labb. Coiicil. vi. 1243, Art. de Verif. Its Dates, i. 254.
I
Oi'dination of Popes decreed to be independent of the Emperor A\
dedicated became thereby adopted as parent. Thus, the two book hi.
young princes were to honour and reverence the pope as a ^ ,"
father ^ This was esteemed a high mark of distinction, and in favour as he was with the emperor, Benedict did not fail to make it the means of some more decided advantage. The delay which had taken place in his own ordination, afforded him the opportunity of pointing out to the emperor the evil which might arise to the Church, by continuing the custom of confirming the election of the pope by the imperial edict. He begged, therefore, that the emperor would permit to the Prince of Apostles and his Church ; that every pope, as soon as elected, might be ordained by his spiritual brethren. Constantine, without hesitation, complied with the demand ; and immediately issued an edict to the clergy, the army, and the people, to declare his determination. Baronius, in refer- ence to this proclamation of the emperor, says, "Thus did the good and pious Constantine, out of the great regard and veneration he had for the Prince of Apostles, set his Church at liberty."
LXXXII. John v., died 686.
Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and a great part of Africa were now severed by the Saracens from the empire, which was weakened also by ecclesiastical divisions. The monastic orders in the midst of the general weakness increased in power. John V. foresaw that they were destined to become effectual instruments in subjugating the surrounding nations to papal dominion ; he took them, therefore, as much as pos- sible under his peculiar protection, and bequeathed large sums at his death to the monastic institutions '.
LXXXIII. Conon, died 687.
The indulgence which Benedict IT. had obtained from the Emperor Constantine, that the election of the Bishop of Rome might be confirmed by the clergy and people, and ordination immediately take place, seems to have been super- seded for a time ; for the confirmation of the election of Conon was referred to Theodore, the Exarch of Ravenna.
* See Baron, a.d. 684, § 7. « Labb. Concil. vi, 128(j.
42 Clergy alone commanded to nominate arid ordain the Pope.
BOOK III. The privilege, however, having once been obtained of ex- CHAP. II. e^pting xhe election of the Bishop of Rome from the im- perial sanction ; the resumption of the confirmation was but a temporary interruption to the papal claim of freedom from the imperial interference \ Justinian the Second, the present emperor, commanded that the clergy should nominate and elect the popes, which election should be approved by the magistracy of Rome, by the heads of the people, and by the army, who were each to sign the decree of his election, which was to be sent thus signed to the exarchs ; and the magis- trates, people, and army were to publicly declare their assent by acclamations, and saluting the new pope by kissing his foot. When this ceremony was first introduced is not ascer- tained ; but twenty-four years after this time, we read that the same Emperor Justinian kissed the foot of Pope Constantino upon their meeting at Nicomedia. At present the presump- tion had not been carried so far as to require all who ap- proached the papal throne to perform this act of submissive homage. During the short time in which Conon enjoyed his dignity, he obtained from the emperor two rescripts, by which certain taxes paid by estates of the Roman Church in Sicily and other parts were reduced ; and at his death, he, like his predecessor John V., left thirty pounds weight of gold to the monks and clergy.
LXXXIV. Sergius, died 701.
Sergius was compelled, in spite of the imperial decree which exempted the Bishops of Rome from the power of the exarchate of Ravenna, to procure from the exarch a confirm- ation of his election for one hundred pounds weight of gold, before he could secure to himself possession of the see. Pilgrimages to Rome to visit the shrines of St. Peter and St. Paul, were now extolled as proofs of great holi- ness. The Romish emissaries were zealous in promoting them as a source of great emolument and homage to the papal throne. Ceadwalla, King of the West Saxons, as Bede informs us, ardently desired to be baptized at the tombs of the apostles, and to die at Rome ; having learnt that from the place where these tombs stood, the entry into heaven was
> Sec the note of Binius upon the election of Conon, in Labb. Concil. vi. 128D.
The Pope rejects the decision of a Council. 43
open to all mankind. He went accordingly, and was bap- book hi. tized by Sergius on the eve of the festival of Easter, in the ^^^^- "; year 688, dying, as he had desired, a few days after receiving the holy rite, on the 20th of April ^ He was buried in the Church of St. Peter at Rome, where Sergius caused a stately monument to be erected to his memory, with an epitaph, giving an account of the motives of his journey to Rome, with his name, quality, and age. Sergius increased the power of the popes by rejecting with success the decisions of a large council. In the year 691, Justinian II. convened the Quini-sextum Synod as before mentioned, at which ninety- two canons were passed to restore the decayed discipline of the churches. The second approved the eighty-five aposto- lical canons which this council received ; but which Sergius refused to acknowledge, because Pope Gelasius had rejected them as apocryphal. The Xlllth canon condemned a practice commanded by the laws of the Roman Church, that the clergy abstain from marriage intercourse'. The LVth canon of this council forbade the practice of fasting on Saturdays, as practised by command of the Church of Rome. By the LXVIIth*, the laity as well as the clergy were commanded to abstain from things suffocated, and from blood ; and by the LXXXIInd, it * was forbidden to paint Christ in the figure of a lamb, or in any other than that of a man.— Displeased with these five canons, but especially with the Xlllth and LVth (respecting fasting), the Bishop of Rome declared the council to be null and void. A copy of the proceedings signed by the emperor, by the four patriarchs of Constantinople, Alex- andria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, by his own legates, and by all the bishops of the synod, was dispatched to him for his sanction. This he refused to hear read. This conduct the emperor regarded as arrogant and presumptuous ; he there- fore dispatched his chief sword-bearer, Zachary, to Italy, with an order to apprehend the pope, and convey him prisoner to Constantinople. The soldiery, a body of whom had surrounded the palace, were ready to protect him from vio- lence, on seeing which, the sword-bearer threw himself at the feet of the pope, and begged his protection. The soldiers desired to assure themselves by a sight of his holiness, that he
3 l^'uf' "• ^-.r- 7- * Id. col. 1172.
Labb. Coucil. vi. 114H. s Id. col. 1177.
44 Bishops of Rome begin to resist all attempts to rule them.
BOOK III had not been secretly carried off from the city. During these CHAP. II. proceedings the sword-bearer of the emperor sought safety ^ ^ under the pope's bed ; but after the rage and zeal of his par- tizans had been appeased by the appearance of Sergius, the messenger of the emperor was suffered to quit the city with- out further vengeance, than the insults of the army and
people.
The emperor, by repeated acts of tyranny and cruelty, had endangered his throne ; and the hatred he had incurred pre- vented him from taking revenge on Sergius, and those who had mutinied in his cause at Rome. CalUnicus, the Patriarch of Constantinople, had been ordered to be put to death ; and Leontius, a patrician, incited by CalUnicus, and certain monks, usurped the title of emperor. Leontius having made Jus- tinian his prisoner without opposition, carried him in triumph to the Circus, and after cutting off his nose, banished him. At the same time his two favourite ministers had been seized and burnt alive. Justinian being thus deposed, Sergius died before his restoration.
Berctuald, or Brightwald, at the death of the celebrated Theodore in 690, on the recommendation of Sergius to the Saxon kings of England, was made Archbishop of Canter- bury, being the first Englishman who enjoyed that dignity. Theodore, before his death, had succeeded in establishing the ceremonies of the Romish Church throughout England and Scotland; and thus extending the moral and political as well as the ecclesiastical influence of the pontificate. The northern nations were also converted by Wilbrod, an Eng- hshman, who was ordained by Sergius to proceed as a mis- sionary among them. Christianity became identified there with the form in which it was taught at Rome, and to be a Christian was now to be a Roman. But the grosser corrup- tions of Romanism had not yet begun.
LXXXV. John VI., died 705.
Few events strengthen a government more than an unsuc- cessful rebellion. The Church of Rome had now obtained so much power, that though it was not able to claim absolute independence of the civil or imperial authority, it began suc- cessfully to resist the attempts made to rule it, contrary to
Nature and extent of the Papal power at this time. 45 its own will. When the intelligence of the election of John book hi.
pTJ Ap TT
VI. arrived at Constantinople ; the imperial usurper of the ^ J. — '->
day, Tiberius Apsinarius, commanded the Exarch of Italy to proceed to Rome, and expel the new pope from his see. As soon as the exarch made his appearance, he found the Italian soldiery, who were devoted to the pope, assembled from all parts ready to resist any attempt which might be made to depose his holiness. The gates were closed against the officers of the em- peror. To prevent any act of violence being committed on them, the clergy and friends of the pope were compelled to interpose ; and those who came to put in execution the im- perial mandate, were suffered to depart without an encounter. These repeated instances of successful opposition to the civil poiver, prove the high degree of authority which the popes were at this time prepared to assert.
The power of the Bishop of Rome, however, at this very time, though he was thus enabled to defy with impunity the emperor of the East, was neither regal, imperial, sacerdotal, nor supreme over the Churches of Christendom. It partook, indeed, of the nature of all; but it was only conventional, except in its immediate neighbourhood, where it was political as well as religious. The devout Christians of the age were wilHng to examine its decrees, to receive its letters or man- dates wdth kindness and respect, and to defer to its authority when they were satisfied that it deserved their homage.
The nature of the papal influence at this time, however, is best shown by the manner in which the appeal of an English bishop to the see of Rome was now received by the pope ; and his decisions in the case of that appeal entertained by the Church and sovereign of England. Theodore, the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, had died in 690. Before his death a reconciliation had been effected between him and Wilfrid, who had been expelled from the see of York, and banished in pursuance of the sentence of a council pronounced by him. Theodore wrote to Aldfred*, King of Northumberland, in favour of Wilfrid, who restored him in consequence to the see of York. On being reinstated, he claimed the revenues of Ripon also, on a plea of their having been made over to him by Agatho. He refused, moreover, to conform to the system
•' See on Aldfred, Thorpe's Lappenberg. Mist. Anglo-Saxons, i. 187.
46 Papal decrees concerning Wilfrid despised in England.
BOOK III. followed by all the other Enelish bishops. These indications
' ^ — '. of a wish to oppose the Church and the court, caused the
king again to depose and banish him. He appealed to Ser- gius, who ordered that he should be restored to his see, and to all the possessions he had ever enjoyed. Aldfred neglected the decree of Sergius and abided by his own. Theodore had recommended Wilfrid, also, to the King of Mercia, from whom he now sought protection, and was kindly received. The see of Lichfield soon became vacant, to which he was in- ducted, and which he held till 702, when charges were brought against him before another council, five miles north of Ripon, at which King Aldfred, Archbishop Berctuald, and nearly all the Bishops of England were present ; and by which he was unanimously deposed. Wilfrid went to Rome to complain in person to the pope. The king and the arch- bishop considered his appeal from them and their council, to the pope and his council, to be an aggravation of the offences before brought against him. He is acquitted by the papal council, and returns to England with letters from the pope to the Kings of Mercia and Northumberland, and also to Berct- uald. The archbishop received him kindly, and promised his intercession. Kenred, King of Mercia, on whom he next waited, at the recommendation of Ethelred, who, in his absence, had resigned his palace for a monastery, showed him every attention ; and sent two envoys with him to the court of Aldfred, begging in his behalf the Northumbrian king's attention to "the writings of the Apostolic see." Aldfred received them with civility, and told the envoys he would willingly have embraced any opportunity of serving them on their own account ; but " as for Wilfrid," says he, " concern not yourselves about him and his affairs. . . . What I myself and the archbishop approved, and almost all the bishops of England decreed, I never will alter for luhat you call the writings of the Apostolic see '." Aldfred died very soon afterwards. Berctfrid, regent of the kingdom, caused a council to be called on the affair of Wilfrid, at which all the bishops of the heptarchy, with many abbots and nobility, were present. Berctuald presided, and presented the letters of the pope in favour of Wilfrid. The judgment of the pope and his council was very warmly censured and opposed by
7 Edii Vit, Wilf., cap. Iv.
The Papal decrees in favour of Wilfrid rejected. 47 John of Beverlev, and by most of the bishops present. BOOK ill.
** . CTTAP TT
^Ifrida, abbess of Streneschall (Whitby), sister to King ^ ^ — 'j
Aldfred, highly esteemed for her sanctity, appealed to the synod on behalf of Wilfrid. The regent declared that Aldfred on his death-bed had vowed the restoration of Wilfrid if he recovered ; and charged him, in case of his death, to see it performed. These considerations caused the bishops who opposed Wilfrid to relax; and it was at length agreed that he shoidd hold the see of Hagustad (Hexham), with the abbey of Ripon, in possession of which he died four years afterwards. — The particulars of the charges against Wilfrid are not stated ; but from his first deposition, and what fol- lowed ; it may be plainly inferred, that his offence was the wish to substitute the papal for the English discipline, and thus to estabhsh the authority of the popes over the English Church. He had been supported hj four papal decrees, which were uniformly rejected during the struggle which lasted nearly forty years. The evidence furnished by this affair sufficiently proves, that at the commencement of the eighth century, though much of the Romish form of worship had been introduced, the government of the English Church was quite distinct ; and owned no supremacy above itself and its kings '.
LXXXVI. John VII., died 707.
This pope is said to have been of a more timid character than the Bishops of Rome generally were. He neither re- jected nor accepted the canons of the oriental council which were sent him by the restored emperor, Justinian 11. He is said to have placed pictures both of the fathers and of himself in the churches. The power of the Church was increased in his time by the restoration, by the Lombard, Aribert, of certain possessions in the Cottian Alps.
LXXXVII. Sisinnius, died 708.
Died twenty days after his election. He purposed, if he had Uved, to have rebuilt the walls of Rome.
* Dr. Lingard, in his History of the that which is here stated, is the view Anglo-Saxon Church, has endeavoured of nearly all English writers, to give another turn to the subject ; but
48 The Emperor for the first time renders homage to the Pope. LXXXVIII. Constantine, died 715.
BOOK in. Constantine increased the power of the popes by over- ^^^^- "; coming the last attempt of the see of Ravenna to maintain its independence. He induced the emperor to reduce its bishop, FeUx, and his people to submission, by representing them as enemies and rebels to the Prince of Apostles. Pom- pous titles at their commencement, often denote the posses- sion of power, though their long continuance is often compa- tible with the utmost degree of weakness. Anastasius informs us, that the extermination of the people of Ravenna, in the attempt to enforce obedience, was a "just judgment of God '." In 710, this bishop was ordered, or invited \ by the emperor to a personal interview in the city of Nicomedia. On this occasion the emperor prostrated himself on the ground and saluted the pope's foot, thus performing the highest act of homage. The precedent was followed in after-ages, and be- came the usual mode of expressing the veneration exacted by the Roman bishops. This pope was the first who ventured to exert that boldest act of authority which was the precedent and cause of so much evil. The Emperor Philippicus, who succeeded Justinian II., was a Monothelite. Constantine excommunicated him immediately on his election. Onuphnus commends the action, and eulogizes him as the first bishop who ventured openly to resist an emperor. He commanded that the name of the imperial heretic should not be used in any pubhc or private writing ; and should be razed and de- faced in all charters, and on all coins. The peculiarities of the Church of Rome began, therefore, more especially to appear in the reign of this bishop— intolerance and cruelty, with spiritual usurpation at Ravenna, the assumption of high titles, descriptive of the most arrogant pretensions, and the exercise of a rebellious influence against the civil ruler, under the pretension of zeal for spiritual truth, manifested by ecclesiastical resistance.
LXXXIX. Gregory II., died 733.
This bishop increased the power and authority of his see by being the first to require an oath of obedience from a
9 Labb. Concil., vi. 1394.
» In capite sese prostravit, pedes osculans pontificis. Ibid.
The Popes pronounce damnation on those who disobey. 49
Christian bishop. Winfrid, the Englishman, who was made book nr. the legate of the pope for the conversion of the northern <^hap. ii. nations, when he was consecrated bishop at Rome, took the name of Boniface, and swore obedience to the Bishop of Rome. In his letters to Charles Martel, and to many of the Germanic states, Gregory calls Boniface " the Apostle of Germany \" He commands all persons to whom his letters come, to attend to the instructions of Boniface ; promising to those who obey him, eternal life ; and to those who refuse obedience, eternal damnation. This kind of language was subsequently used with great effect, as the sanction to every eoepression ef the will or opinion of the Roman pontiffs. The churches, the bishops, the monks, and the clergy were, at this time, most amply endowed by the piety, the devotion, and the superstition of the age. Their power increased with their wealth. The Bishop of Rome was more wealthy and more powerful than any other. Gregory first received from Ina and OfFa, Kings of the West Saxons and Mercia, the Romish or Peter-pence, which was only abolished by Henry the Eighth '. England was always regarded as the exhaust-, less well of the papal wealth, as it will again be if it return to its ancient yoke. In 726, Boniface appealed to the pope for his decision, among other matters, on the two following questions — First, whether sons or daughters offered up to God by their parents, and placed in monasteries, may, when of age, quit the monasteries and marry ? Secondly, whether men whose wives are incapable of conjugal duty, may raoxxj others ? To the former the pope answers * — The children so consecrated must observe celibacy, and live continently, whether it is their own choice or not. To the latter — It is lawful, if the husband cannot refrain, for him to marry : the decision in the former case being in direct contradiction to Scripture ' ; and in the latter, denounced with anathema by the Council of Trent ^, and consequently, under the curse of the Church of Rome at present.
* The correspondence of our coun- * St. Chrysostora, Horn. ii. in tit, tryman, Boniface, has lately heen pub- i. 6, 0pp. xi. 739, edit. Benedict, lished by Dr. Giles, in one vol. 8vo. ^ If any one shall say, that matri-
* See Cowel's Law Diet., in v. Peter- mony confirmed, not consummated, is pence ; Spelman's Glossary, in v. not dissolved by the solemn profession Romescot. of religion, let him be actui'sed. Cone.
^ Edit. Serar. cxxvi., edit. Wurdt. Trent., sess. xxiv. can. 6. ''xiv. If any one shall say, that clerks in
VOL. II. E
50 The Church of Rome sanctions the use of Images.
BOOK III. The absurd taste of the Greek emperors for dogmatical CHAP. II. controversies, and the unfortunate part they incessantly took in them, may be justly regarded as another of the chief causes of the power of the Bishops of Rome, and of the Churches of the West'. The unscriptural and unapostolical use of images had long prevailed among other corruptions in the Churches of Christendom. The practice is forbidden by the Giver of revelation, because He will be worshipped in spirit and truth, to such extent, and in such manner, that the only appeal which shall be ordained by Him to the senses of man, shall be by the sacraments alone. The worship or the homage paid to images, was now justly brought. into disre- pute by the victories of the Mahometans ; who were in some measure regarded in the days of their success, as they have since been by a modern author *, rather as a corrupted Chris- tian sect, than as heathens and pagans. The devotion to images, therefore, began to be opposed in the Eastern Churches; Leo III., the emperor, declaring himself the head of the opponents, and publishing an edict to the empire con- demning the custom. This edict was disregarded. The em- peror summoned the council called silentium, and in pursu- ance of its decisions, issued another edict by which the veneration of images was unequivocally condemned. Ger- manus, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who had defended the use of pictures and images, and who refused to comply with the imperial decree, which commanded their removal from the churches, was deposed, and his dignity transferred to Anastasius. Gregory retaliated by excommunicating the emperor, and absolving his subjects from their oath of alle- giance. A synod at Rome, in opposition to that of Constan- tinople, sanctioned the worship of images. When Leo found that this idolatry could not be otherwise prevented, he ordered the images to be cast out of the churches, and broken to pieces. The decree of the emperor was sent to Scholasticus, the exarch of Ravenna, with orders to publish it in Italy.
holy orders, or regulars, having solemnly where the conduct of Leo the Isaurian
professed chastity, may contract matri- and Gregory II., with the defence of
mony, who perceive they have not Gregory by Bossuet, are amply dis-
the gift of chastity, though they have cussed.
vowed it, let hira be accursed. — Cone. * Forster's Mahometanism Unveiled,
Trent., sess. xxiv. can. 9. 2 vols. 8vo. London. ^ Power of the Popes, &c., p. 12,
Italy revolts in favour of Images. 51
Allien it was proclaimed in Ravenna, the people rose in de- book hi.
fence of the images, and attacked the soldiery. The homage ,^ — '
paid to images was universal ; and the Bishop of Rome did but defend and support the popular opinion against the im- perial decree. As the emperor, too, had published an edict requiring the payment of a poll-tax about the same time, the Bishop of Rome was regarded as the defender of the united temporal and spiritual interests of Italy '. Notwithstanding the con\'ulsions which attended these disputes in Italy, the emperor refused to rescind his decree. He even ordered the Bishop of Rome to be apprehended and brought to Constan- tinople, that he might be prevented from stirring up the people of Italy to rebellion, and resistance to his edict. The exarch was commanded to put the order in execution. Finding that the pope was too well guarded by the people to effect his apprehension secretly, the exarch made an open attempt to obtain his person. The king of the Lombards, perceiving that this struggle between the emperor and the pope was in favour of his designs upon Italy; sent a strong body of troops to prevent the pope from falling into the hands of the exarch. Gregory supposed that the disturbances which had taken place in the exarchate, would induce the emperor to desist from enforcing his decree in Italy. A new exarch, however, was appointed, with peremptory instructions to pubHsh the edict in all the cities of Italy, and especially in Rome ; and to threaten those who did not comply with it as rebels and heretics, and deal with them as such. The pope was sure that the multitude were ready at a word openly to revolt, and he no longer hesitated to condemn the exarch as a heretic. The people were inflamed with the persuasion that their religion was at stake ; and that the emperor, instead of being its friend, had become its enemy. They threw off all subjection. To make the insurrection as formidable as pos- sible, the pope wrote to Luitprand and all the Lombard dukes, exhorting them to continue stedfast in the Catholic faith, and to league against the emperor; who was represented as not content to renounce Christianity himself, but meaning to force all his subjects to abandon it also. The struggle was con-
' Want of room compels me to omit peror and the pontiff, the capture of the convulsions of Italy consequent Ravenna by Luitprand, the appeal of upon this dispute between the em- the Pope to the Duke of Venice, iScc.
52 Gregory declares himself the ruler over Italy.
BOOK III. tinued by attempts on the part of the pope to overcome the
^ — 1^- '■ authority until the year 732, when he died \
This pontiff still further extended the power of his see, by asserting, "that Rome, its dependencies, and the adjacent countries, were in his power, as a temporal prince, by the gift of the people ^" An author cited by Bower, asserts that under Gregory, "the Romans shook off the yoke of the Eastern empire, sakited him their Lord, and took an oath of allegiance to him ; that Gregory accepted the sovereignty which they of their own accord offered him ; and thus was he happily raised, not by arms, armies, or intrigues, but by the free choice and affection of the people, to the station and rank of a prince ^" Bower, who has discussed at length the conduct of Gregory towards the emperor, closes his re- marks with saying, " that the popes having from the beginning made it their study to extend by all means, even the basest, their jurisdiction and power, the history of the popes may be justly styled a history of papal usurpations and encroachments on the liberties of mankind *." — The author of" The History of the Power of the Popes," defends, with Bossuet, the conduct of Gregory ; and affirms with Baronius that he preserved the empire over Italy, to the emperor. Whatever may have been the motiv^es, or the prudence, or the conduct of Gregory, it is certain that the power of the see of Rome was increased by this bishop, in consequence of the rash manner in which Leo the I saurian attempted to enforce his decrees. The excom- munication of that emperor by the pope was regarded as an act of virtuous zeal in defence of public liberty; and the ecclesiastical usurpation, therefore, was strengthened by the popular approbation. The sentiment afterwards sanctioned by Baronius, that " Gregory had left a noble example to posterity by teaching the people not to suffer an heretical prince to rule over the Church of Christ *," was now generally approved ; and the alienation of the Italians at this time from the em-
' This controversy, and indeed tlie ^ Ubi autem eundem neque verliis
whole historical question,is well treated scriptisve a coeptis potuit revocare,
by Spanheim in his Historia Imagi- neque beneficiis continere quin in de-
num, § 5, p. 86, 8vo, Lugd. Bat. 168G. terius laberetur, tempus advenisse
2 Spanheim, Wright's edition, 8vo, ratus, ut seciiris ad radicem admove-
Cambridge, p. 408. retur arboris infelicis, Apostolica auc-
^ Hist. Neapol. lib. v. p. 94, ap. toritate, "Succiditeeam," clamat. Quo
Bower. tonitru excitati fideles occidentales
* History of the Popes, vol. iii. p. 291. niox desciscunt penitus a Leonis Im-
The Church of Rome strengthened by adopting Images. 53
j)eror was so complete, that many authors have assigned to book hi.
the pontificate of Gregory II., the re-establishment of a form v .J. — »'
of the Roman republic. In 730, a short time previous to the death of this pope, and apparently without his concurrence, the Romans formally erected themselves into a republic; though it was especially subsequent to the year 731, and down to 741 *, that is to say, under the pontificate of Gregory III., that the expressions "Republic of the Romans," " RepubUcan Association," " Body of the Roman Army," were accredited phrases ^ The pope was considered as the head of this rejuvenescent republic ; and no poiver is so great as that of an ecclesiastical despot supported by the populace, under the name and pretension of the supporter of the public liberty. The soldiers refused to obey the emperor at the expense of the pope. The populace supported him. The reUgion of the age was identified with veneration for his per- son and office, and few controversies, therefore, strengthened the power of the Bishops of Rome so much as that; in which, contrary to the usual custom, the truth was to be found with the Eastern, and the error with the Western Churches *.
XC. Gregory III., died 741. The weakness of the emperors enabled Gregory III. to
perio, Apostolico Pontifici inhaerentes. and absolved all his subjects from their
Sic dignum posteris idem Gregorius oath of obedience, as the promoter of
reliquit exemplum, ne in Ecclesia iconomachy. By a Roman sjTiod, the
Christi regnare sinerentm* haeretici worship of images was approved as a
Principes, si ssepe moniti in errore per- custom of Christ and the Apostles,
sistare obstinato animo invenirentur. This extraordinary defence of image-
— Baronii Annales, in an. 726, vol. ix. worship by the high authorities of the
p. 99. West, greatly increased former super-
* See Anastasius, in Greg. II. stitions. Instead of the people being ' Ibid. Reipubhca Romanomm, taught to search the Scriptures and
Compages Reipublicae, Corpus Christi obey the Gospel, they were enjoined to
deletum exercitiis Romani. obey the decrees of the Romish Chm-ch,
* The Emperor Philippicus, and and to pay implicit obedience to the John, Patriarch of Constantinople, pope ; and the doctrine now preached commenced an open rupture with the was the supremacy of the successor of Roman Church by the removal of St. Peter, the worship of images, invo- images from the chiu-ch of St. Sophia, cation of saints, the torments of pur- The controversy had previously for gatory, masses for the dead, cehbacy, some time slumbered. It now burst confession to priests, traditions, relics, forth with greater vehemence. The and many other superstitions. — The Councils of the East and West were subject of which a sketch is given violently opposed to each other. The above is treated at great length by council,calledby the Greeks' Silention,' Molanus, De Imaginum adoratione, passed an edict which condemned all 1C27, on the one side, and by Span- use of images. Gregory II. in revenge heim, in the work already quoted, ou excommunicated the Emperor Leo, the other.
54 Government of the city of Rotne abandoned by the Emperors,
BOOK III. cement the power which the Bishops of Rome had now ^_ ' : acquired as the real, though not even the nominal heads of the Roman repubUc. Though the government of Rome was but the shadow of a repubUc, the ItaUans loved to present themselves under this title to the sovereigns of Europe, as a mode of ranking themselves in the list of independent states. Gregory III. sent two ambassadors to the mayor of the palace, Charles Martel, to invite him to declare himself in favour of the Roman republic against the emperor of the East ". The popes did not fill in person the office of first magistrate of this republic. They left the insignia of its power to a prefect, a duke, or a patrician. On taking possession of his see, Gregory III. avowed his zeal for image-worship, and dispatched two several legations to Constantinople, to remon- strate with Leo and his son Constantine, who from the year 720 had been made a partner in the empire ; both of which failed in convincing the emperor that such worship was taught by Christ or his apostles. The pope summoned a council at the tomb of St. Peter, which was attended by ninety-three bishops ; who issued a decree for the establishment of image- worship " agreeable to the ancient practice of the Apostolic Church ;" and excommunication was fulminated against " all who should thenceforth presume to pull down, destroy, profane, or blaspheme the sacred images." The emperor sent a fleet to bring the rebels to Constantinople ; but the fleet was wrecked in the Adriatic before it reached its des- tination '.
We may observe here, generally, that the weakness of the emperors, and the consequent power of the popes, at this time, arose from the abandonment of the provinces of Italy by the imperial sovereign. The emperors kept no garrison in Rome ; and the Eternal City, continually menaced by the Lombards, solicited more than once through the organ of its dukes or its pontiffs, but in vain, the protection of the exarch, and the power of the emperor. The Byzantine historians of this period scarcely ever speak of Italy. One of them, Theo- phylactus Simosata, wrote the history of the empire from the
" Baronius ascribes this embassy to to which add Labb. Coneil. vi. 1472. Gregory II. Bossuet removes tlie mis- ' Vit. Grog. 111. aiictoi'e Aiiastas.
take. — Def. Cler. Gall. p. ii. lib. vi. c. ap. Labb. Coneil. vi. 1-J(i3. 18. Apud Power of the Popes, p. 18 ;
Treaties of peace concluded by Popes ivithout the Emperors. 55
year 582 to 802, without once naming Italy, Rome, or the book iii. Lombards. Deserted by their master, the Romans of neces- ^hap. ii. sity attached themselves to their pontitFs, who were generally Romans, and thus merited such attachment. Fathers and defenders of the people, mediators between the great, heads of the religion of the empire, the popes united in themselves the various sources of authority and influence which are con- ferred by riches, benefactions, supposed virtue, and the high priesthood ".
XCI. Zachary, died 752.
The view which has been taken of the weakness of the Greek emperors, and the consequent power of the Bishops of Rome, is confirmed by the circumstance that Zachary was the first pope who was consecrated without the confirmation of the civil power \ He concluded, also, a treaty of peace with the King of Lombardy without any reference to the imperial government. His personal authority appears to have been very great. The King of the Lombards invaded the exarchate, and the exarch implored the pope to interpose in behalf of the country. Zachary undertook a journey to Pavia for the sake of a personal interview with King Luit- prand, who complied with his entreaty in favour of the exarchate. On the death of Luitprand in 747, the Lombards deposed his son Hildebrand, who had shared the throne from 736, and raised Rachis, Duke of Friuli, to the throne. Rachis entered the territory of Rome, and after taking several for- tresses, laid siege to Perugia. The pope immediately set off for the camp of Rachis, and not only won him over so far as to induce him to restore the places he had taken ; but by ex- postulations on the vanity of human grandeur, and the danger to which he exposed his soul in the future world, by aggressions on the holy estate of St. Peter, so affected his mind, that he resolved to lay down the insignia of royalty, and become the inmate of a monastery *. In the year 752, Pepin dispatched emissaries to the pope with a request to
2 Power of the Popes, p. 19. so. — See Art. de Verif. les Dates, i.
* His immediate predecessor, Gre- 257-
gory III., on his election wrote to the * Labb. ii. 1491; Baron. Annal. a.d.
exarch, requesting that it niiglit be 750, § 1, 2. confirmed. He was the last who did
56 The weakness of the Greek Emperors.
BOOK III. liave his answer to. the question — "Who best deserved to be CHAPJiL styled king, he who possessed the power, or he who was only possessed of the title?" The answer of Zachary was favourable to the ambition of Pepin; but whether the Bishop of Rome intended his answer to be considered a decree, as Bellarmine affirms, or as an opinion, as others believe, need not be discussed *. The personal influence of Zachary may be said to be among the causes of the greatness of the Roman pontiffs.
The God of nature and the God of revelation are but one and the same being. The demonstrations of truth by science, therefore, never can clash with the discoveries by revelation. Zachary gave a lesson to all theologians to avoid confounding the opinions of their age with undoubted physical truths. It was generally believed, at that period, that there were no antipodes. The Bishop of Rome excommunicated Virgihus for affirming the contrary proposition.
XCII. ^Stephen II.% died 7^2.
A presbyter, named Stephen, was chosen as the successor of Zachary, but he died four days after his election, without receiving consecration.
XCIII. Stephen IL, died 757.
The power of the Bishops of Rome was enlarged by Stephen II. more extensively than by any of his predeces- sors. The pope, from this time, became a temporal prince, ruling as an earthly sovereign over cities, towns, and pro- vinces. Yet his becoming so was not the result of unprinci- pled ambition, as many historians would have us believe ; but the consequence of the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed by the weakness of the Greek emperors, to whom the Bishop of Rome still professed a nominal subjection. Astolphus, the successor of Rachis, took possession of Ra- venna, and drove from that city the officers of the emperor.
^ Childeric was succeeded by Pepin, the Franks to Pepin, see the note of
according to Gratian — quia fuit tanta Binius in Labb. Concil. vi. 1493 ;
potcstati inutihs : and the word inutilis Baron. Annal. a.d. 751, § 2.
is interpreted by the Gloss to be — mol- * As this pope did not receive con-
lis effcniinatus, et muUeribus deditus. secration, he is not numbered among
On the transfer of the kingdom of the Roman pontiffs.
The Pope acknowledged as a temporal prince. 57
He then turned his arms aarainst Rome. The Bishop of book hi.
CHAPII
Rome applied to the emperor for assistance. Constantine v_ — ^^ — '> Copronymus, the emperor, requested the pope to negotiate with Astolphus, and if he was not successful with him, to apply to Pepin, the King of the French'. The pope accordingly, after a vain attempt to influence Astolphus, proceeded in person to France. Pepin received him with all respect and homage. The Pope conferred on the king and on his sons the title of Roman patricians, which Charles Martel had previously borne. He solemnly anointed Pepin, Bertrade his queen, and his two sons, Charles and Carloman ; and pro- nounced a blessing on all the French nobles who attended the ceremony. Pepin, in return, took a solemn oath to pro- tect the Church of St. Peter ; and to cause Ravenna, and the other cities which Astolphus had seized, to be restored. As Pepin was neither their sovereign nor their possessor, but thus promised to be their recoverer, — there is no improbability in the history, that when he had obtained them from Astol- phus, he required him to yield the exarchate, and the other cities, not to the Emperor, but to the pope ; and that, when Astolphus violated this promise, Pepin, upon receiving a letter of pressing entreaty and adjuration for aid from the Bishop of Rome, took possession of the disputed territories, and ceded them in perpetuity to the pope. When ambassa- dors from the emperor thanked Pepin for re-conquering the disputed provinces, he rephed, that he had gained them for St. Peter, and not for the emperor. The cities thus obtained by the pope were Ravenna, Bononia, Imola, Faventia, Romandiola, and many others ; and from that day to the present the pope has ranked among the sovereigns of Europe as a temporal prince^.
The real power of the pope at this time was founded upon the most superstitious belief that he possessed all the autho- rity which Christ could give to his Church and its ministers. He appeals to the celebrated " Thou art Peter ' ;" and tells Pepin that he shall be deprived of the kingdom of God, if he
' Joannes Silentiarius a Constantino, impetraturum. — Sigonius, Hist. Regn.
cum legatis Pontificiis rediit, narrans Ital. lib. iii. p. 77} edit. Franc. 1591.
iraperatori placere ut ipse ad regem * See the correspondence between
l)roficiscens quantum precibus atque Stephen and Pepin and his sons, in
auctoritatc proficiscere posset, expe- Labb. Concil. vi. 1630, seqq.
riretur, se itmcris ab illo securitatem ^ Id. col. 1639.
58 The papacy an object of ambition to secular princes.
^^aVti' ^^^^ ^^^ comply with his petition, or rather command — that
' -^ — ' he would oppose Astolphus. He does not, however, omit
that kind of flattery which was generally so adroitly adminis- tered by the popes, in conjunction with their ecclesiastical fulminations. He tells the French that they are the first nation under heaven, and therefore they are commanded to deliver the Church of St. Peter from its enemies '.
XCIV. Paul, died 7e>7.
This pope enlarged the power of his see by obtaining from Desiderius, whom the Bishop of Rome had been the principal means of raising to the throne of Lombardy, various other cities and territories in addition to those which had been secured after the subjugation of Astolphus. He complained of the delay of Desiderius to Pepin and his sons : and because the union of Pepin might possibly have diminished his influ- ence, he contrived to prevent an intermarriage between their children ^ The monks of the East who had refused obedience to the edicts of the Greek emperors respecting images, were at this time nearly annihilated by the severity with which they were persecuted. The opinion of any ruler, in fact, was the law to his people ; non-agreement with that opinion was treason and heresy, and both were punished with relentless and cruel death.
XCV. Stephen III., died 77'2.
The greatness of the see of Rome was now increased by its having become an object of ambition among the nobles and princes of Italy. All who contended to obtain it, were desirous, whether as candidates or possessors, to extend and uphold its authority. On the death of Paul, Toto, the Duke of Nepi, forced his brother Constantine, who was a layman, into the apostolic chair. With numerous friends well-armed for the purpose, he compelled the Bishop of Palestine, by threats against his life if he refused, to qualify him ; who, in conse- quence, ordained him subdeacon and deacon on the same day,
1 "Declaratum quippe est, quod vi. 1641. super omnes gentes quue sub ccelo sunt ^ Id. col. 167fi, and the following
vestra Francorum gens Apostolo Dei pagcs,wliich contain his correspondence
Petro prima extitit." — Labb. Concil. with Pepin respecting Desiderius.
The poiver of Rome increased by France. 59
and by him, with two other bishops, the Sunday following book III.
he was created a bishop. Stephen's first effort afterwards was x l^J '
to gain the sanction of Pepin, who was then engaged in a war with Aquitaine, and unable to attend to papal affairs. In the mean time, as might have been expected, Rome was thrown into a state of popular tumult ; in which Duke Toto, of Nepi, and Constantine, were thrown into prison. A party, during the disturbance, brought forward a Lombard monk, named Philip, and with the usual acclamations, elected him pope in the room of Constantine. The clergy and heads of the people declared this to be no less scandalous than the attempt to impose Constantine on the Church. Philip was, therefore, deposed, and Stephen the Third chosen '. Stephen enlarged the poiver of his see by requiring from Desiderius the fulfil- ment of the treaty of Pavia, by which cei'tain cities ivere to be resigned to Rome. — When he was endeavouring to evade their surrender, a grand embassy from the kings of France, the two sons of Pepin, arrived at Rome to assure the pope that they were resolved to secure him in the quiet possession of all that their father had conferred on St. Peter and his successors. The Lombard king, finding upon this that he could not break the league between France and Rome by any collusion with the pope ; caused proposals of marriage to be covertly made between his daughter and Charlemagne, and also between his son, and the sister of the two kings of France. Charlemagne was already married, and the pope rightly and justly refused his sanction to the proposed union. Bertrade, however, the mother of Charlemagne, was anxious to promote the alliance ; and Charlemagne, therefore, con- sented. The pope was resolved to exert all his influence to prevent this connexion, and two legates were dispatched with all haste to use prayers, and threaten anathemas and eternal torments if his admonition was disregarded. But Queen Bertrade having resolved on the marriage, in order to gain the consent of the pope, made a journey to Rome, and was received with the highest marks of distinction, as the dowager queen of Pepin, and the mother of the two French kings. To overcome the opposition of the pope to the marriage, she stipulated that, before the daughter of Desiderius proceeded
■* See Anastasius, ap. Labb. Concil. vi. 1704 ; Baroii. a.u. 767, § 5.
60 The power to dissolve marriages claimed by the Popes.
BOOK III. to France, her father should give up the places he had held V ^' '> from the apostolic see ; and solemnly engage to live in peace with the pope and his subjects. The places in dispute were consequently delivered up to Stephen before Bertrade left Italy ; and all other terms required by his holiness for the security of his temporal possessions settled. The marriage took place, and the same unholy assumption of power to dis- solve the bands of marriage, contrary to the laws of God, which eventually cost the Bishop of Rome the loss of his best province— England, now proved another foundation of his increasing dominion *.
XCVI. Hadrian, died 795.
The temporal power of the see of Rome attained still greater height under Hadrian, than under any of his predecessors. Charles, afterwards called " the Great," or Charlemagne, ascended the throne of France four years before Hadrian obtained the pontificate. The early attempts of this prince to infuse a military bias into the minds of his people ; his energy and activity, his great attachment to Christianity in the form in which it then prevailed, pointed him out to the Bishop of Rome, as the sovereign who would be most effec- tually able to protect the newly obtained possessions and privileges of the see, against any attacks either of the Lom- bards or of the emperors. Hadrian consequently endeavoured to ingratiate himself into the favour of Charles. When Charles, with an inconsistency and injustice which form one of the few blots in his character, sent back to the King of Lombardy his daughter, to marry whom Charles had divorced his wife ; Hadrian positively refused to support Desiderius, and dispatched messengers to France to inform its sovereign, of the attempts of the deposed queen and her father to foment a civil war in France. Desiderius consequently marched against Rome, intending to take the city by surprise. Measures of defence had, however, already been concerted. Charles promised the assistance of a powerful army. The people of the country flocked to the assistance of the pontiff, and the enterprise was defeated. The influence of the fear, which the
* See Labb. Concil. col. 1717 ; Baron, .v.u. 770, g 8.
The fear of divine wrath influences political movements. 61
Bishop of Rome was able to impress upon the minds of his book in.
opponents, was remarkably shown in the conduct of Desi- ^ ^^j ;
derius. He attempted to negotiate with the pope. Hadrian refused to listen to any proposals for peace till every territory, place, and town, which had previously been ceded by Pepin to Rome, had been given up. This decision was enforced by the sentence of excommunication and denunciation of heavenly vengeance on all who should move against St. Peter and the Church. Three bishops were sent with this threat, and the king was so deeply impressed with the apprehension of divine vrrath, that he immediately withdrew his army to Lombardy.
A singular circumstance took place at this time, which, in a superstitious age, was assigned to the peculiar interference of the Almighty in behalf of his servant the pontiff. When Charles arrived at the Alps on his march from France to the assistance of the pope in Italy, he found the passes so strongly guarded by the French officers who had joined his oppo- nents, that he resolved to return home in despair. The night, however, before he thus intended to give up his enter- prise, the Lombard troops were panic-struck, and left their posts without any apparent cause, in the utmost precipitation and confusion. Charles instantly marched on to Rome, re- ceived the surrender of Verona, and many other cities on his way, and made a splendid entrance into the Eternal City. After performing his devotions to St, Peter, and assisting at the festival of Easter, he still further added to the real or supposed grant of Pepin to the pope, many other territories and provinces '.
* Anastasius mentions Corsica, Sar- these places. The tinith is, that the
dinia, Lignria, Sicily, Venice, and Be- donation of Constantine, in which allu-
neventum. (See the passage in Labb. sion is made to the argument, Tu es
Concil. vi. 1738.) This, however, was Petrus, which was first urged by Leo
impossible. Sicily was not in the pos- in 440, is a forgery. The donation of
session of Charles, neither was Sar- Pepin in 753, never existed in an
dinia. Venice acknowledged at this authentic form, neither does the deed
time the Greek emperor. Beneventum of its renewal in 754. Anastasius, who
was an independent dukedom, which wrote a century afterwards, is the
was not ceded to the popedom till first who relates their contents. Ha-
1047 ; and the act of ccsion at that drian, in his letters to Charles, 789,
time by Henry the Black makes no certainly alludes to the donation of
allusion to the donation of Charles. Pepin ; but he speaks of it as an act
Neither did the Bishops of Rome pre- unfulfilled, tend at this time to govern either of
62 The Pope for the first time claims the power of coining.
BOOK in. Tfie greatness of the pontijf was still furthe-)' increased by
,^ ; the ultimate annexation of Ravenna to the see of Rome, by
the decision of Charles; after seven years petitioning and remonstrance on the part of Hadrian against the Bishop of Ravenna ; who claimed the privilege of executing the office, and possessing the power of the exarchs. The fact is striking, as it illustrates the general pretensions of the bishops of the age. Hadrian was the first pope who proved his rights as a temporal sovereign by that act of authority, which is always considered to be demonstrative of royal or supreme power. In the course of the last six years of his pontificate he coined money. Some of his coins are still extant. We must, how- ever, observe, that the Dukes of Beneventum, and others, did the same with the consent of the emperors.
The tumults, confusions, councils, exasperations, and end- less mutual persecutions which were caused by the Icono- clastic controversy at this time, and during the preceding century, are the disgrace of Christians, and if it were possible, of their religion. I have purposely avoided any detailed account of the proposers, admirers, and executors of that great wickedness of the Christian — the relapsing into the worship of images — the representing Him whom no man hath seen at any time, as an old man with a globe in his hand ; the identifying the homage which the soul should pay to God alone, with the mental satisfaction which is derived from gazing on the sculptured or painted form of a beautiful woman in the representations of the Virgin Mary; or the confounding the devotion of the affections of the heart, with the associations derived from the images of real or supposed saints ; which now led to the calling of the second Council of Nice ; in which the violation of the second commandment was sanctioned by the apostolic succession, and by the whole Christian Church, if that Church is indeed to be considered as being represented by a general council. — The apostasy was not, it is true, universal, though it was so general that it became the duty of every individual Christian to consider, whether his duty to God and to Christ, permitted him to continue a member of his wandering Church. — The pious Israelite fled with horror from the cherubic calves of Bethel and Dan to worship in Jerusalem. The pious Christian was
Image-worship adopted in the East. 63
justified in turning with no less contempt and horror, from BOOK III.
human forms of wood, stone, and canvass; to worship in > .^ — >
soHtude, or in the wilderness.
From the changes which were thus prevailing in the West, we turn to the state of affairs in the East. Constantine VI. died in 775, and left Leo IV., who had reigned already with his father twenty-four years, in possession of the throne. His reign after this was prolonged only five years. Constan- tine VII., his son, was only nine years old at his death. The empire was consequently committed to the government of his mother Irene, as regent. Irene shrunk from nothing which could further her own designs, among which were the establishment of image-worship and the monasteries ; which her husband and his father had entirely, and with great cruelty suppressed. The patriarchate of Constantinople be- came vacant by the death of Paul, a.d. 784. Tarasius, her secretEiry, was as zealous in the cause of image- worship as her- self. She determined on putting him, though a layman, into that holy station. This being in direct violation of the canons of the Church, required more than ordinary stratagem and fraud to carry into execution. He was ordained on Christmas-day, 784 ®. She wrote to the pope to make known to him the introduction of Tarasius into the episcopate, and also her design to summon a general council for the restoration of images, at which she invited his holiness to be present ; using the flattery and exclusive titles which the Bishops of Rome either adopted or desired. The other three patriarchs were also addressed in an equally flattering style by Tarasius on his promotion. The pope, in his answer to Irene, applauded her design for the restoration of images in the churches, the worship of which his holiness takes this opportunity elaborately to defend. With regard to the ordination of Tarasius, he complains of its being uncanonical, and therefore he "dared not approve of it but upon condition that he undertake to restore the ancient practice of the Catholic Church \"
The council, according to the summons, met in July, 786 but the officers and men of the young emperor's guards had
« Art. de Verif. lea Dates, i. •2«4. ? Baron, a.d. 784, § 7. He retained his see till 80fi.
64 Summoning of the Second Council of Nice.
BOOK III, served under Constantine Copronyraus, and Leo VI., and ^^i^^l^ were zealous Iconoclasts. Surrounding the church, there- fore, where the council met, they threatened the patriarchs and bishops with death as idolaters, desirous to bring the memory of the good and religious emperors, Constantine and Leo, to dishonour; as enemies to the empire, the Church, and, if they persisted, to God Himself. Alarmed at this bold declaration, the council desisted proceeding, and the members retired home. Irene was not, however, to be deterred from her purpose by this military insurrection. The force which opposed her design was disbanded, and the city garrisoned with legions of Asiatic troops. Yet as the Icono- clasts were strong in Constantinople, she thought it prudent to decline holding the council there, and it was convened in the following year at Nice in Bithynia.
Synopsis of the Seventh General Council.
|
CouncU VIII. |
The Second Council of Nice. |
|
Date. |
A.D. 787. September 24th to October 23rd ». |
|
Number of bishops. |
Three hundi-ed and fifty 9, or three hundred and seventy-seven. |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
Constantine VII. and Irene, at the instigation of Tarasius ^ |
|
President. |
Legates from Rome ; Tarasius of Constantinople con- ducted it 2. |
|
Why and against what opinions. |
Against the decrees of a council held at Constantinople in 754, at which were present 338 bishops, who unani- mously decreed that images were not to be worshipped, nor to be erected in churches ^. |
|
Against whom. |
The bishops of that synod. |
|
Chief decrees and canons. |
The worship of images solemnly decreed at the seventh session. Twenty-two canons passed as hereafter enume- rated*. |
|
Penalties. Deposition — separation — anathema. |
|
|
SuflFerers. |
Many of the bishops of the former council recanted. None especially condemned. |
|
Emperor. |
.Constantino VII. Irene, regent. |
|
Pope. |
Hadrian, not present ; but represented by two legates, Peter Vicedomus and Peter Hugomeus. |
* Most writers concur in dating this council in the year 787, and this date is satisfactorily corroborated by the circumstances under which it assem- bled ; though Caranza (p. 670) says it met in the year 780 ; Gesner, vol. i. p. 562, and vol. ii. p. 121, says, a.d. 788, ut Sigebertus annotavit. That a council had been assembled at Constantinople
VOL. II.
in the year 786 by Constantine and the Empress Irene, which had no sooner met than it was dispersed by the insur- rection of the Iconoclasts, supported by the ai-my ; and that the emperor and his mother Irene, after disbanding the insurrectionary forces, and collect- ing bodies of troops from the eastern provinces, summoned the council to
F
66 Tarasius of Constantinople presided at 2nd Council of Nice.
The Council had Seven Sessions.
I. The confessions of those bishops who had signed the decrees of the former council in 754, against the worship of
Nice the following year, is a fact on which most historians are agreed ; and Van Espen, vol. iii. p. 418, with some others, state the sittings to have com- menced September 24; see Cave, vol. i. p. 649 ; Platina, in Tabula in Vit. Hadr. I.; Grier, pp. 121. 127; Du Pin, vol. i. p. 309, vol.vi p. 134 ; Zo- naras, p. 210 ; Magd. Cent., vol. viii. p. 587 ; Howell, vol. i. p. 46 ; Baro- nius, vol. ix. p, 391.
9 The number of members is vari- ously stated. According to Du Pin, vol. i. p. 309, and vol. vi. p. 134, the archbishops and bishops present were 250, and of priests and monks, 100. Ehingerus, Synop. Canon. Apostolo- rum, &c. (Wittenberg, 1614); and Zo- naras, in Canon. &c., p. 210, each write 367 members. The oppressions of the Saracens prevented the patri- archal sees of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem from being represented; see Bellarmine, de Cone. c. v. vol. ii. p. 8 ; Cai'anza, p. 683 ; Cave, vol. i. p. 649 ; Platina, in Tabula in Vit. Hadr. I. ; Gesner, vol. i. p. 562 ; Cent. Magd., vol. viii. p. 589 ; Howell, vol. i. p. 47 ; Venema, vol. v. p. 200 ; Baronius, vol. ix. p. 409.
The Magdeburg Centuriators state that 318 bishops subscribed the ana- thema against those who denied that images are to be worshipped and held in honoui', vol. viii. p. 603.
Van Espen states that the oriental patriarchs sent legates to the council : — " Ad tempus prsefixum convenere et legati Adriani Papse, et trium patri- archarum orientalium, scilicet, Alex- andruii, Antiocheni, et HierosoljTiii- tani, et ultra ter centum Episcopi, cum pluribus Abbatibus." — vol. iii. p. 417.
' "Accedente hue divino zelo et nutu Constantini et Irenes fidelissimo- rum nostrorum Imperatorum." — Bin- ius, vol. iii. p. 96.
" Indicta fuit auctoritate Imperato- rum Constantini et Irenes Constantino- polim. Igitur ad jussionem Impera- torum Episcopi in unum congregati sunt Nicsese." — Van Espen, vol. iii. pp. 417—420.
" Jussu Iraperatoris." — Binius, vol. iii. p. 102.
" Imperantibus piissimis et Christo deditissimis Dominis nostris, Constan- tino cum matre sua Irene." — Binii, vol. iii. p. 1.
Tarasius advised the emperor and dowager empress to summon the coun- cil.— Bai'onius, vol. ix. pp. 394. 409 ; Cave, vol. i. p. 649 ; see also Carauza, pp. 676, et seq. ; Cent. Magd.. vol. viii. c. ix. pp. 611.615.
^ Vicedomus and Hugomeus held the first place as papal legates ; see Du Pin, vol. vi. cent. viii. p. 133 ; Cent. Magd,, vol. viii. p. 588 ; Grier, p. 127.
Gibbon says that the papal legates were only casual messengers, and he affirms Tarasius to have been president. — Milman's edit. vol. ix. p. 164, and note 79.
"Adrianus Papaper legates suos prce- sedit." — Bellarmine, deConc.vol.ii. p. 8. Van Espen declares that Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, presided, vol. iii. p. 420, and considers the le- gates from Rome only as ordinary members. He further states that the empress presided at the sittuig at which the decrees were confirmed, p. 426.
Tarasius, under the favour of Irene, who was the chief mover in the affair, presided over the synod. — Venema, vol. V. p. 199 ; see also Baronius, vol. ix. p. 394 ; Binius, vol. iii. p. 3.
The stiniggle for precedency between the eastern see of Constantinople, and the see of Rome, was severely contested about this time, and it continued to in- crease in violence on the part of Rome, as the progress of the Saracens was weakening the eastern empire. Gre- gory II. had some time before excom- municated the Emperor Leo, and de- prived him of the allegiance of his subjects in Italy and the West, on which subject Baronius seizes the op- portunity of recording what has ever since remained a maxim of the Roman Church — Girgorius reliquit exemplum, ne in Ecclesia Christi regnare sinerentur heretici principes. (vol. ix. p. 99.) The
Acts of the Sessions of the 2nd Council of Nice. 67
images, were received ; but their admission again into their book hi. former places postponed until they had reduced their con- ■^"'^^" ""
contention, therefore, about precedency in the second Council of Nice, as found in the several writers, arose from the desire to give Rome the preference; though there is abundant evidence of Tarasius having presided, according to usage, in his own city.
^ According to Caranza, the council was called against those who opposed images in the churches, and who cast them out — " celebrata contra eos qui imagines in Ecclesiis damnant et ejiciunt." p. 676.
" Adversus eos qui Imaginum hostes, sen Christianorum accusatores erant." — Balsamon apud Howell, vol. i. p. 47. Sancti namque Patres adversus ima- ginum impugnatores convenerunt prin- cipis jussu. — Baronius, vol. ix. p. 409. The emperor summoned this council because he was angry at the decision of one which had met in the year 754, by which images were forbidden to be retained in churches. — Binius, vol. iii. pp. 4. 96.
Not so much, say Venema and Du Pin, to investigate tinith, as to confirm the worship of images. — Venema, vol. v. p. 200; Du Pm, vol. vi. p. 134.
The first Bishop of Rome who took up the cause of image-worship m a peremptory manner, was a SjTian who took the name of Constantine, and who preceded Gregory II. He set the first example of reducing the secular sovereigns below the pontifical power, by the deposition of the emperor Philip- picus, in consequence of his having commanded images to be taken down in the churches of the empire; and his successor, Gregoiy II., acted up to the same despotic spirit in his conduct to Leo III.
* In the first session, held in the church of St. Sophia, after declaring the cause for which the synod was summoned, the letter of the empress Irene and the emperor was read, by which their consent was given to the assembling of the fathers.
The second session was opened by the reading of Pope Adi-ian's letter to Irene and Constantine, in which he elaborately defends image-worship ; and in Gregory of Neo-Caesarea pre- senting himself, confessing his error in having been before an opponent of image- worship.
In the third session, after much objec- tion, Gregory of Neo-Caesarea was ad- mitted a member of the council, upon reading a retractation of his former faith, and his profession in favour of the wor- ship of images. The former council, A.D. 754, which forbade images, was then rejected.
The fourth sitting was devoted to extracting authorities from Scripture and the Fathers which favom-ed image- woi-ship. After which, Euthj-mius, Bishop of Sardis, in the name of the council, read a profession of faith, in- cluding, with the articles concerning the Trinity, praj-ing to saints, to crosses, to relics of saints, and to their vene- rable images ; and closing the action of the day by a laudatory address in honour of images and relics.
Session V. Several anathemas were passed against Iconoclasts, who were represented as having done the same work of heresy which Nebuchadnez- zar had committed in taking away the Cherubim from the mercy-seat ; and after citing some other instances of sacrileges, the bishops commanded images to be restored, and some to be brought into the church in which they were assembled, that they might honour them.
Session VI. Some further acts of the former council held against images were eondenmed, particularly that in which it had assumed the title of The Serenth Holy General Council, which it was contended was contrary to the usual law of councils, since it had been disapproved of by the Bishop of Rome, and numerous other bishops, many of whom had anathematized i*.
Session VII. It was defined what sort of homage should be paid to images, that they may be kissed and reverenced, that incense and wax- candles may be burnt before them, and that it is to be believed that the wor- ship paid to them passeth to the object they represent.
In the Greek editions of this coun- cil, by Anastasius the library keeper, it is said that the twenty-two canons were passed at the seventh action or session of the memb('rs ; and that an eighth session was held in Constantinople after leaving Nice. The acts of the synod,
68 Alcuin the author of the Caroline Books.
BOOK III. fessions to writing, and given proofs of sincere penitence. A
^ .^J. — ' discussion arose whether they should be received or not? It
was at length determined that they should be *.
II. The bishops bring their written confessions. Hadrian's letter to Constantine and Irene read, in which he defends the worship of images ; and hints that the Roman Church had the tradition from St. Peter. This letter is approved by the whole synod.
III. Gregory of Neo-Caesarea, openly condemns his error in having signed the former decrees, and declares that he be- lieves images ought to be venerated. The Oriental bishops do the same, and are admitted into their former dignities. The first six general councils received. The letters of Tara- sius and the answers read. The Council of 754 condemned, and anathema pronounced, signed by 318 bishops.
IV. V. Passages from the Scriptures and the writings of the fathers, adduced in proof of the truth of the opinion that images ought to be worshipped.
VI. The decrees of the former Council at Constantinople on the same subject discussed one by one, and declared to be refuted. Decided that the worship designated Latria, is not to be given to images, that belonging only to God and Christ.
VII. The decrees of the first six councils approved. A symbol of faith composed. All heretics whatever anathema- tized. The worship of images solemnly decreed; and those who do not receive this decision anathematized. The wor- ship prescribed is external, such as prostration of the body, incense, burning of lights, kissing and veneration, but not adoration.
and testimonies in behalf of images, their new creed, and mode of worship,
liaving there been read before the em- The chief of this episcopal commission
peror and empress, the lords and the was Alcuin, of York, then the tutor of
people, the great lords and the people Cliarlemagne, who was most probably
received them with acclamations again the author of the Caroline Books,
and again repeated. See Du Pin, vol. vi. pp. 134 — 140;
The acts of the council being brought Venema, vol. v. pp. 200, 201; Van
to Rome, were there copied and sent to Espen, vol. iii. pp. 418—427; Baro-
Charlemagne, who appointed a board nius, vol. ix. pp. 394 — 407 ; Binius,
of bishops to examine them, by whom vol. iii. pp. 1 — 104 ; Cent. Magd., vol.
a treatise was composed to vindicate viii. pp. 590 — 610 ; Cave, vol. i. pp.
their own Church in the rejection of 310, 311 ; Labbe, vol. viii. pp. 39 —
images; and to refute the jiroofs alleged 590. by the Council of Nice ia favour of * Labb. Concil. vii. 99.
Canons of the Second Council of Nice. 69
VIII. Seems to have been a meeting for the purpose of book hi.
receiving the ratification of the emperor, and sending synodi- ^ ,^_! — >
cal letters. Twenty-two canons were also issued.
I. Confirms the ancient decrees and anathemas of councils, with the other penalties of deposition and suspension.
II. That none be ordained bishop without being examined whether he knows the Psalter, the Gospels, the Epistles of St. Paul, and the canons ; and if he be competent to instruct the people in their duty to God and their neighbour.
III. Elections of bishops made by princes null, but to be made by bishops.
IV. V. Against taking money to excommunicate, and against simony.
VI. Renews the fifth canon of Nice for holding synods, provincial and diocesan, twice a year.
VII. Orders relics to be introduced into churches.
VIII. Forbids admission or baptism to Jews unless they were sincere in their conversion.
IX. X. Orders worship of images. That clerks be not admitted into churches without the assent of the bishop.
XI. That stewards be placed over churches and monas- teries.
XII. Forbids the goods of monasteries to be given away, or sold, improperly.
XIII. XIV. XV. Relate to the ordering and repairing of monasteries.
XVI. Relates to the vestments of bishops and other ecclesiastics.
XVII. Forbids the building of chapels, &c. without suffi- cient funds.
XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. Relate to the internal economy of monasteries, and the conduct of the inmates.
Not a word is mentioned of the superiority of the Bishop of Rome over other bishops.
In this council the legates of the pope were treated as chief personages, though Tarasius, by the empress's will, under- took the conducting of the different sessions. He had been raised from the laity to the patriarchal dignity, contrary to all rule and precedent, for the sole purpose, as before inti- mated, of supporting her views. She was desirous of re-
70 Power of the Pope increased by the Empress Irene.
BOOK III. taining power in Italy; and the Bishop of Rome having taken V ^ ' ; such a strong and formidable position, her policy was to con- ciliate him by all means in her power, so as to secure as far as possible his co-operation. She, therefore, paid him the respect of naming him president of the council, under the appellation of the first bishop of the world. He was written to by the synod, and signed the decrees and canons, although they conveyed no greater authority to him over other prelates than he had before ; but the empress's admission, prompted by her ambitious designs, was a sufficient basis for further encroachment when opportunity offered.
CHAPTER III.
TJie Power of the Popes, with the circumstances lohich con- tributed to the success of their progressive usurpations, from the Second Council of Nice in 787, to the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 869.
The pontiJBcate of Hadrian continued eight years after the book hi. Second Council of Nice \ Ever intent on enlarging the ^^^^'^^\- authority of his see, Hadrian still further increased its power, at this time, by availing himself of the continued friendship of Charles. In the year 787, Arichis, Duke of Beneventum, organized a conspiracy with the Greeks, and with certain Lombard princes, to banish the French from Italy. Charles became acquainted at an early period with the intrigue, and hastened for the third time to Rome. The Duke of Bene- ventum, finding his design discovered, sent his son Romald, or Romuald, on an embassy to Rome, with ample presents and many promises of implied submission for the future. Charles was disposed to believe and to forgive. Hadrian is said to have diverted him from his purpose, and to have per- suaded him to revenge the conduct of Arichis by laying waste the dukedom. Many cities were taken, and Bene- ventum itself was only spared on condition that Grimoald, another son of the duke, with many of the nobles, should be delivered up as hostages ^ Of the cities thus taken, Charles surrendered Aquinum, Alpinum, Capua, and, if credit may be given to the letters of Hadrian, several other cities in Tuscan Lombardy, to the Bishop of Rome. Capua, however, with some cities in Campania, were restored to Grimoald, who had consented, and was faithful to his en- gagement, to repel every attempt made by the Greeks to
' I have inserted a tabular view West ; and thougli it is not univer- of tlie Second Council of Nice, though sally considered a general council, its decrees were not received in the ^ Baronins, ann. "J^T.
72 Hadrian defends the worship of images.
BOOK III. drive out the French from Italy. Though the pope thus ^1;[^^j21L lost Capua, and some of the cities he had obtained, for a time, yet the authority of his see over the churches of the West was strengthened by the very loss itself; for these cities were but the price of the treaty by which Grimoald opposed Irene on behalf of Charles, and the young emperor of the West. Their union would have been the weakness, their disunion was the strength, of the pontificate \
Though Charles was incessantly engaged in war, he de- voted much attention to religion. Hadrian, about this time, transmitted to him the acts of the Second Council of Nice. On perusing them, Charles expressed much astonishment at the ignorance of the Greeks, at their proceedings in making image-worship an article of the Christian faith, and con- demning all who did not worship them. He himself under- took the confutation of the council and its doctrines, in a work comprising one hundred and twenty heads of accusa- tion, which are comprised in four parts, called " the Caroline Books," published in the year 790 *. His work severely reprehends the conduct of the synod ; and it no less sharply rebukes the empress, the primate Tarasius, and other individual members for their blasphemously imputing to the holy apostles, a practice repugnant to the sacred Scriptures. Hadrian undertook to answer the Caroline Books, and to defend the proceedings of the council ; but the Gallican bishops in a council subsequently held at Paris, pronounced his answer to certain things quite absurd, incon- gruous, and deserving of censure, in which judgment Du Pin agrees. At this time, however, religion was politics ; Hadrian took care, therefore, to assure Charlemagne, in his preface, that though he defended the synod " for the sake of main- taining the practice and traditions of the Roman Church," yet he was not on terms of friendship with the emperor, "though he might," he says, "approve his conduct with
* See Art. de Verif. les Dates, iii. stolide sive arroganter gesta est." It 7Cfi. also finds a place in the collection of
* The imperial book was printed Goldastus, entitled, "Imperialiadecreta in 1549, 8vo (without name of place de cultu imaginura in utroque imperio, or printer), under the following tam orientis quam occidentis, promul- title, " Opus inlustrlssimi viri Caroli gata," p. 67, 8vo, Franc. 1608 ; sec Magni contra synodum qute in parti- also Cave, Hibt. Lit., i. 634.
bus Gruecise pro adorandis imaginibus
Tokens of respect interpreted to be acts of homage. 73
respect to images." The decrees of this council were opposed book hi. throughout England as well as France. .'
Hadrian died December 25th, 795 ', having presided over the see of Rome nearly twenty-four years. Charles ordered prayers to be offered for the peace of his soul, through all parts of his own extensive dominions. He sent also liberal presents with a letter to Offa, King of Mercia, requesting that the same requiem might be performed throughout the British Churches. In this letter he expressed his great affection and friendship for the deceased pontiff. It was during the episcopate of Hadrian that Offa had undertaken a pilgrimage to Rome to atone for the crime of having treach- erously murdered Ethelbert, King of the East Angles. All those acts of deference, affection, or goodwill on the part of these temporal sovereigns of Europe, became the precedents for similar tokens of respect and distinction being required by future popes from successive rulers of the same countries. These proofs of respect were subsequently interpreted to be acts of homage; and every act of royal courtesy served to strengthen the claims of the see of Rome.
From the death of Hadrian to the next oecumenical Coun- cil, a period of seventy-four years elapsed, in which time twelve popes successively presided over the see of Rome, all of whom increased the power of their see.
XCVII. Leo III., died 816.
The next day after the death of Hadrian, Leo was elected pope®, and ordained on the following. He immediately wrote to Charles, and sent the keys with the standard of the city of Rome, desiring him to dispatch a lord of his court to Rome, to receive in the name of the Roman people his oath of allegiance. He thus intimated that the emperor was no longer their liege lord and sovereign, but that their obedience was transferred to Chr.rles ^ When two powerful rulers are united, the power of each is increased. Charles, in return for this first bold act by which the Bishop of Rome openly dis- claimed subjection to his ancient sovereign, expressed great
^ Pagi, A.D. ^05, § 1. Quercit. ; Marca, De Concordia, iii. ii.
* Baron, A.D. TJb, § 40. § 'J ; Coiutii Aimal. ad au. § 26.
' Ep. Alcuiui, No. Ixxxiv., edit.
74 Leo III. increases the poiver of his see.
BOOK III. satisfaction at the homage and fidelity professed by Leo. CHAP. Ill, j^g immediately remitted to Rome vast treasures and pre- sents— the spoils of Ringa and other cities of the Huns, who were now totally subdued. This wealth Leo employed in beautifying and enriching the churches of Rome, and in building the magnificent banqueting room in the Lateran — the Aula, or Basilica Leonina *.
The authority and power of the see of Rome were increased by three events in the time of Leo, all of which are dwelt upon with much eulogy by those who assert the supremacy of the see of Rome over the churches and sovereigns of the earth. They were these — the mission of Kenulph, King of Mercia, in the year 796; the crowning of Charles, and saluting of him as The Great, and emperor of the Romans; and the restoration of Eardulf, after his deposition by his subjects, to the kingdom of Northumberland.
In 796, Kenulf, King of Mercia, sent an abbot to Rome to congratulate Leo on his accession to the dignity of the apostolic see. He commanded his ambassador to entreat the pope to restore the metropolitan see of Canterbury to its ancient jurisdiction, which Offa, the late King of Mercia, had greatly dismembered, by withdrawing from it certain dioceses ; and by causing their bishops to acknowledge the Bishop of Lichfield, for whom he had obtained a pall from Hadrian, as their archbishop. This misunderstanding, which was likely to cause a schism among the prelates of England, was satisfactorily ended by Leo acceding to the request of Kenulf".
In 799, Paschalis and Campulus, two nephews of the former pope Hadrian, used Leo with great violence. He re- paired to Charlemagne to solicit his protection. At the same time Grimoald, Duke of Benevento, to whom Charlemagne had restored his territory on the death of his father, had allied himself with the Greek forces, with a design to recover Italy from the French. These disorders caused Charles once more to proceed to Rome. The two conspirators against the pope were sentenced to banishment, and the peace of the country was restored.
The circumstance now occurred by which the pontificate
^ Pagi, A.D, 71)6, § 7, n. Anglo-Saxons, toinslated by Thorpe,
'•* See Lapiienljerg's Hist, of the i. 239.
Charlemagne crowned by Leo at Rome. 75
of Leo was rendered as memorable as any which had pre- book hi.
ceded it. On Christmas-day in the year 800, before a full v J. ,"
assemblage of the clergy and nobles of Rome, in the grand Basilica of the Lateran, the pope, by his own authority alone, placed a brilliant crown on the head of the king, who was saluted by the people of Rome as their emperor, by the title of Charles Augustus, Emperor of the Romans '. The holy unction was then received by both Charles and his son ; and Baronius and Bellarmine both allege this act to be indis- putable proof of the supreme and unlimited power of popes, over all the princes and kingdoms of the earth. It was in this instance, as in nearly all the other events which united to strengthen the dominion eventually claimed by Rome, that the act of power exercised by the pope was the result of the circumstances of the day ; and not the declaration of any abstract right. The claim to supremacy followed the isolated, though ultimately, numerous acts of authority, and did not precede them. Where sovereignty is granted by the people, or obtained by military conquest, the claim to rule precedes the deeds of tyranny : where sovereignty is slowly and gradually usurped, all is mildness and assumed gentleness, till the mask may be thrown aside, and the chains of despotism be rivetted. Gratitude to Charles for his protection, the con- sciousness of safety from the resentment of his Greek sove- reign, with the undefined and undefinable dignity of the spiritual headship, founded on the submission of so many churches and cities to the ecclesiastical usurpation of the pontiffs ; were sufficient to justify the aspiring bishop to crown the successful protector of his person, his see, and his possessions.
The next great act of power recorded of this pope is the restoration of Eardulf, King of Northumbria, who had been deposed and expelled his kingdom by his subjects in the year 808. The account is given by Eginhard, secretary to Charlemagne. " The King of the Northumbrians," he tells us, " by name Eardulf, being driven from his kingdom and country, came from the island of Britain to the emperor, and having acquainted him with the affair he came upon, goes to Rome, and is restored to his kingdom by the legates of the pope, and our lord the emperor." Baronius informs
' Baron, ad an. g 3, seqq. Pagi, ad an. § 8, seqq.
76 Every usurpation became a precedent.
BOOK HI. US, that the emperor being conscious of his own want of
> .^ ,■ authority to restore Eardulf, but knowing also that the pope
possessed this power, sent the deposed prince to Rome, to be by him restored to his kingdom and dignity. This strenuous advocate of the justice of the claims of the papacy to dominion over the churches of God, requests us to observe, from this history, the great regard which the English paid to the pope. It is, however, very uncertain whether the Northumbrians paid any regard whatever, on this occasion, to the united request or direction of the pope and of Charlemagne. It seems, indeed, much more probable that they convinced the papal legates, that it was beyond the authority of both em- peror and the pope, to interfere in ordering the affairs of their kingdom. Had the restoration of Eardulf been actually effected by the joint mandate of Leo and Charlemagne, some one of our historians would have noticed the transaction. None of them have done so. Matthew of Westminster, on the contrary, affirms that Alwold, who drove Eardulf from the Northumbrian throne, died after a reign of two years, and was succeeded by Eandred, who reigned thirty-two years *. The chronicle of Mailros states, that after the ex- pulsion of Eardulf, Northumberland continued many years without a king ; and William of Malmesbury and Harps- field say, that the kingdom of Northumberland continued involved in the utmost confusion and anarchy from the murder of Ethelred in 794 to the year 827, when it became subject to Egbert ^ These evidences seem to signify that the interference of the pope and emperor did not influence the English people, though the usurpation was a precedent for future efforts.
XCVIII. Step?ien IV., died 817.
Two years before the death of Leo III., Lewis le Debon- nair succeeded his father Charlemagne as emperor of the West\ The first act of Stephen IV. was to require from all
' Matth. Westm. Flores Hist. Angl. and Deira appended to Lappenberg's
p. 152. Hist, of the Anglo-Saxons, shows that
^ Maimesb. de Gest. Reg. Angl. p. the stoi-y is of a very dubious cha-
1, c. iii. ; Harpsf. Hist. Eccl. sfec. viii. racter.
c. 21, An examination of the gcncalo- ' See Pagi, a.d. 814, § 26.
gical tables of the kings of Bernicia
Paschal defines and increases the power of Lothaire. 77 Romans an oath of obedience to this emperor. The pope book hi.
PH AP HI
set out immediately afterwards to France in order to confer v _^ ,'
^vith him personally. Leiuis did homage to his holiness by meeting him on the road, dismounting from his horse, and falling prostrate three times before him. The pope then dis- mounted, and after raising the emperor from the earth, thanked the Almighty for being granted to embrace a second King David. On the Sunday follo^nng he crowned the emperor and empress at Rheims with magnificent diadems of gold, enriched with jewels which he had taken with him from Rome. The emperor in return lavished presents of great value on the pope; and bestowed on St. Peter, says the annalist, a v'illage on the borders of France, to be for ever enjoyed by his successors *. These events strengthened the influence of the pope over France, at that time the most powerful state in Europe. Stephen died suddenly, after pre- siding only seven months over the see of Rome.
XCIX. Paschal, died 824.
In 822 Lothaire was made King of Italy. In the year following he was crowned at Rome by Paschal, with the greatest solemnity on Easter day, at the tomb of St. Peter, and received with the title of Augustus. Paschal assumed the right of conferring on the emperor the same power over the Romans, and the city of Rome, which had been exercised by the ancient emperors.
C. Eugenius II., died 827.
The power of the popes increased like that of the ocean when encroaching on the land. Slowly and imperceptibly advancing, it defies the attempt to mark accurately its exact encroach- ment at any one moment of its progress. We know^ its rest- lessness ; but we only then perceive the demonstration of its might when we see the removal of landmarks ; and the sub- stitution of barren sand, shells, and sea-weed, for the rich foliage and pleasant field. Eugenius seemed to have lessened the power of his see by the circumstances which followed his
* See Pagi, ad an. § 8, and the passages tlu re given fi-om Theganus and Eginhard.
78 The oath of allegiance neutralized by reservations.
BOOK III. election. Hadrian had conferred on Charlemagne, in grati- CHAP. III. ty(jg ^Q jjjjjj for protection and rich endowments, the right which had been claimed by Odoacer in 483, of confirming the election of the popes. He exercised the supreme autho- rity, either by himself or his delegates. He received homage from the Bishops of Rome. They were subjected to his sceptre. The very possessions they obtained from him were justly considered to have been granted only in feudal owner- ship. The civil dissensions of France weakened the power of the sovereign. The unanimity, the superstition, the igno- rance of the people of Italy — the talents of the popes — the decline of the Eastern empire, strengthened the temporal as well as religious (for it was more than ecclesiastical) power of the Bishops of Rome. The popes, however, did not avowedly throw oif their feudal obedience to the successors of Charlemagne. They endeavoured only to evade com- pliance with the terms of their own treaties ; and, as usual, they eventually succeeded, though in many cases they failed in the attempt". Paschal, the predecessor of Eugenius II., had dispensed with the confirmation of his election by the emperor. Eugenius attempted to follow his example. Lo- thaire refused to submit to the evasion, and came to Rome to exact the usual homage. He published a constitution which acknowledged the authority of the pope in subordina- tion to that of the emperor ; and decreed the right of appeal from the pontifical to the imperial tribunals ^ He exacted, also, an oath from the Romans to be faithful to himself and his successors ; but he consented to a clause of reservation, which it was soon found neutralized all his precautions. Obe- dience was pledged to the emperor, saving the faith promised to the pope. Though Eugenius, as it is said, concurred with the demands of the emperor, the mere circumstance that the son of the emperor was compelled to appear in Rome to en- force submission, was only another proof of the increasing power of the popes.
The pontificate of Eugenius is, however, more peculiarly
s The history of the demands of the from all acknowledgment of a superior
kings of France to govern Rome, and in ecclesiastical elections, may be read
the pontiffs, and to confirm the elec- in the works of De Marca and Bai'o-
tions of popes, the evasions of their nius.
demands, the partial compliances, and ^ Ap. Pagi, ad an. 824, § 3. the eventual exemption of the popes
Image-worship is expressly forbidden in Scripture. 79
memorable than any other of the long train of ecclesiastical book hi. rulers. In this poiitificate the first instance was given o/^l_^^l^" resistance by the pope to the ivish of the Universal Church ; and in this pontificate, also, began that resistance to the autho- rity of the see of Rome, which, though for a time overpowered, and apparently subdued by severe and unrelenting persecu- tion, may be said, in its consequences, to have ended in the Reformation ; and which ^^-ill still proceed till it has accom- plished the overthrow of popery, the restoration of the see of Rome to its ancient Catholic purity, and the general unity of Christians, as the long predicted one fold under one shepherd.
The worship, and even the bowing down before images, as inducing the mind to rest on the external rather than on the spiritual, on the visible rather than the invisible, and thus defeating the great design of revelation, is expressly forbidden in the Scriptures. The churches, therefore, and their more pious members, were deeply offended by the attempt to com- pel submission to this wicked innovation on the Catholic faith. In the pontificate of Eugenius, the last and greatest effort was made by the Universal Church to procure the rescinding of the decrees which enforced this practice. Am- bassadors were sent from Michael, Emperor of the East, to the emperor Le^ns and the pope, to propose that a synod should be assembled in France. The proposal met the ap- probation of Le^ns, and a council was consequently sum- moned to meet in Paris in 825. By this council it was decided, that " the images were not to be broken nor cast out of the churches ; but they were not to be served, nor worshipped." Bishops were sent from this coimcil to Euge- nius, together with a letter from Lewis to entreat his com- pliance with the decision of the Galilean bishops. The pope, however, refused to comply with the conclusions of the council. He would listen to no terms of compromise. The worshippers of images had refused to assist at the council ^ The pope opposed his own obstinacy to the will of England and France, to the whole of the churches of the East, to the
* Nee inter suos familiariter de his fice licentia, et impertita ab ipso auc-
disputare quae spectant ad fidera Ca- toritate. — Baron. Annal. an. 824, vol.
tholicam, et ecclesiasticam disciplinam, ix. p. 7-13. nisi impetrata ab ipso Romano Ponti-
80 Claude, and his diocese of Turin.
BOOK III. letters of the emperors, and to the most respectful remon-
CHAP, 111 . . .
"^ ^ — ' strances of the Gallican bishops ; and it thus became evident
from that day to the present, that union could only be pre- served with Rome at the expense of submission to unscrip- tural decrees.
At this period flourished Claude, the celebrated Bishop of Turin. He had been promoted to the government of that see about the year 819 % by the emperor Lewis. He was probably present at the Council of Paris which condemned the worship of images, as most of the bishops of France and Germany were there ; and among them Agobard, the Bishop of Lyons, and Jonas, Bishop of Orleans, who was one of the deputation employed in conveying to the pope the deci- sions of the council, and with both of whom Claude must have been well acquainted. The diocese of Turin consisted of two parts, the city of Turin and the adjacent territory ; and that part of the valleys of the Cottian Alps which were occupied by the Valdenses, whose ancestors had probably left Italy for Piedmont before the incursions of the Teutonic tribes, prior to the breaking up of the Roman empire, under the persecutions of the third and fourth centuries, which extended from Aurelius to Decius and Dioclesian \ Turin and its dependencies were devoted to the worship of images. The other portion of his diocese which had preserved the purer and simpler faith of the Catholic Church from the ear- liest antiquity of the apostolic age, to which they are trace- able, and whose faith had been confirmed and established by Vigilantius, the antagonist of Jerome *, were encouraged in their resistance to the decisions of Eugenius by their diocesan. The purer faith of this age is demonstrated from
' See Cave's Historia Litteraria, Dr. Gilly, my brother at Durham, and
vol. ii. p. 16, col. 2. The general date my early and dear associate, is 817. Cave does not speak decidedly. ^ Vigilantius was a native of Lyons
Circa ann. 819, a Ludovico Imp. ad in Aquitaine, and is shown by Mr.
Ecclesige Taurinensis prsesulatum pro- Faber to have been the originator of
movebatur. A valuable account of the term Leonists, by which the people
Claude, with a critical disquisition re- of the valleys were known. A volume
specting his writings, is given by Ma- entitled " The Life and Times of Vigi-
l)illon in his Vetera Analecta. lantius," has lately been published by
^ I must beg the reader to refer to Dr. Gilly, in which the few particulars the admirable work of the deeply which have been preserved respecting learned Faber, the ornament of the that individual, are collected and ex- present age, for satisfaction on the sub- amined with great care and skill by ject of the Valdenses ; and still more the author, to the labours of my excellent friend
Tlie Churches in the Cottian Alps resist Rome. 81
the still remainine: works of Claude of Turin. They mieht book hi.
• • CHAP III
have been appealed to upon all the great points of our reli- < ^^ ,'
gion, such as justification by faith, and other important truths of the pure faith of Christianity, by a Lutheran, or a member of the Church of England ^ The Christian religion ever teaches the same doctrines. It does not change to please either zealots, reformers, or usurping pontiffs. All have their faults, and the inspired teachers alone are per- fect. Yet the one uniform truth of the faith of Christianity, both in doctrine and discipline, was maintained by the Wal- denses. The Church in the wilderness was preserved. The promise of Christ that a visible permanent Church should be preserved, as a witness of the truth, was fulfilled in their instance. Errors they had * ; but the errors of the Church of Rome were heresies, theirs did not affect the essentials of the Christian religion; and the Church of the Cottian Alps resisted the progressing corruptions of the Church of Rome, and defied its power till it conquered by patience under tri- bulation, and by the endurance of the most severe persecu- tions which ever afflicted a society of Christians.
CI. Valentine, died 827.
Among the honours paid to the Pontifex Maximus at Rome, one was the saluting of the imperial slipper. Gratian resigned the title. The power which it implied was assumed by the Bishops of Rome long before they assumed the title. Valentine revived the custom of saluting the slipper as the general token of homage. Gorgeous ceremonies at courts imply strength or weakness, according to the circumstances of the hour. The magnificence of the Greek emperors is well shown by Gibbon to have been but the disguise of the latter. At this time the ceremony of inthronization ivas first introduced at the installation of a pope ; and the homage of the attendant senate, nobility, and clergy was paid in the form of prostration, and salutation of the slipper, amidst the acclamations of the people. In the present instance these ceremonies denoted increasing power.
^ See the extracts in Mr. Faber's * See the conclusion of Mr. Faber's work on the Vallenses and Albigenses. woriv.
VOL. II. G
82 The Pope claims superiority over the French bishops.
CH^>,^.m. GIL Gregory IV., died SW.
The adoption by this pontiff of the cause of the rebellious sons of Louis le Debonnaire, is said to have caused the failure of the attempt made by their father, to crush the treason. The power of the Bishops of France at this time, was shown by the condemnation to public ignominious penance, of the emperor Lewis. Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims, commanded his sovereign to make a public recitation of his crimes, among which were, the marching of his troops in Lent, and the convocation of a parliament on Ascension-day. The monarch submitted to the sentence, and refused to receive the homage of the nobles till he had been canonically absolved. The pope claimed to be superior to the very bishops by whom these penances were appointed. Baronius affirms that Lewis regained his throne by the pope's authority. Bossuet discusses the question in his defence of the liberties of the Gallican Church.
Cin. Sergius II., died 847.
Sergius was ordained on the day of his election. This was resented by Lotharius, who had now succeeded his father, Louis le Debonnaire, in the throne of the empire. He resumed the right of the crown, which claimed to confirm the election of a pope before his ordination. He probably de- sired to humble the pontifical power, which had shaken the throne in the preceding reign. His son was, therefore, sent with an army to chastise this insubmission to his authority. The young prince, attended by many bishops and persons of distinction, advanced within nine miles of Rome, giving up the country through which he passed to the pillage of his soldiers. On being met by the nobles and magistracy of Rome, he was conducted to the pope, who welcomed him to the Vatican. He was led to the door of the church, and there met by his holiness, who ordered the door to be closed. The prince was then informed that he would not be per- mitted to enter unless he gave assurance that he came as a friend and for the good of the state. The reply being satis-
' Baronius, following several ancient stated, is clearly shown by Pagi, a.d. historians, supposes that he died a.d. 843, § 5, 6. 84;-{; but that the true date is as above
J
The Pope appoints a Vicar over the Churches of France. 83
factory to the pope, the doors were re-opened ; the royal book III. retinue was admitted; the election of Sergius was ratified; chap. ill. and it was required only that the elector's should act more regu- larly for the future. Previously to leaving Rome, the prince was croMTied, and anointed with great pomp, as King of the Lombards. Many Bishops of Italy thought this a favourable opportunity for laying complaints before the king, respecting the many acts of tyranny exercised by the popes over them and their sees. A council was consequently summoned, at which Sergius was cited to appear, who, according to Anastasius, answered the complaints against him with so much wisdom and prudence, as to confound and silence his opponents ". Before the councils w^ere dismissed, Drogo, Bishop of Metz, a son of Charles the Great, moved that an oath of allegiance to the young king, Louis, should be taken by the pope and the Roman nobility. This Sergius very sternly opposed, declaring that he w^ould neither take the oath, nor suffer the Romans to do so. It was at length agreed that they should take an oath of allegiance to the Emperor Lotharius, which acknowledged him their liege lord, while it denied to the King of Italy all power over them, except in the emperor's name '.
Observing the sway which Drogo had obtained in the church, as well as the estimation in which he was held by the emperor, Sergius appointed him Vicar of St. Peter, over all the churches of France and Germany. The Bishop of Metz, however, knowing the jealousy of the Gallican bishops of the papal encroachments, exercised no authority over them or their churches in consequence of his appointment ^ Louis renewed, while in Italy, the imperial edict which required that the election of the pope should be confirmed by the emperor before ordination. Near the end of the pontificate of Sergius, the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the suburbs of Rome, were plundered by the Saracens, who entered the Tiber with a fleet, and can-ied off many prisoners, and much treasure; but neither this calamity, nor the firmness of the emperor, materially lessened the power of the pontifl'l
" Anastas. in Vit. Sergii II. ap. bishops of Gaul and Germany, hv
Lahb. Concil. viii. 1793. which he conferred this dignity upon
' See Anastas. apud Baron, a.d. Drogo, are given by Sirmond, and
844, § 9. Pagi, ad an. § 5. from him by Pagi, a.d. 844, § 7.
* The letters from Sergius to the
G 2
84 The Pope's decrees dated from the year of his pontificate. BOOK III. CIV. Leo IV., died 855.
CHAP. III. '
Leo increased the influence of his see by the great venera- tion which was paid to his private character. He fortified Rome, built that part which is called the Leonine city, and laboured eight years for its general prosperity. The son of the emperor having been created King of Lombardy, came to Rome to receive the pontifical sanction to his appointment ; though the pope had been compelled to wait two months for the imperial sanction to his own election to the pontificate. Rome was now the general refuge of the scanty literature of the age. In the year 853 ^, Alfred, afterwards King of England, when only four years old, was sent from England by his father Ethelwolf, to be educated under the superintendance of Leo. Happy would it have been for mankind if the con- tinuance of this union had been possible.
Leo demonstrated the power of his see by becoming the first to date his ecclesiastical decrees, and the decisions of a council, from the year of Ms pontificate, instead of dating them from the year of Christ \ Anastasius, Bishop of Aquileia, was deposed by a council after he had been excommunicated by the pope. He declared that the pope had no authority over him or his see. The council is said to have been held in the seventh year of the most holy and universal Pope Leo. The precedent of assuming a regal prerogative v)as set, and it was never laid aside. The bishops of the Church of England, in conformity with an act which soon became an universal or very general custom, adopt the same mode of speaking in legal instruments to the present day.
" Pagi, ad an. § 26. Sim. Dunelm. nesses, who shall swear to the truth of
col. 120 and 139; Ethelr. Rivall. col. their charges on the Holy Evangelists.
359, ap. Twisd. Decern Script. In the common copies of this decree,
' One of the most celebrated decrees these words follow — Sicut nobis B.
of this pope respected the number of Sylvester tradidit et R. S. tenere
witnesses necessary to convict a bishop videtur ecclesia. This expression is
of crime. So little dependance, how- not to be found in the Roman edition,
ever, can be placed upon the tradition- nor in the MS. of the Vatican. The
ary documents relating to this period, decree, therefore, dependsfor its autho-
that the several copies of the letter to the rity on the sanction of the will of Pope
bishops of Britain in which this decree Leo alone. The decree, however, is to
is contained, differ from each other in be found in the Canon Law, 2 q. 4. It
the sanctions on which the decree is further ordains, that if any bishop, even
founded. Leo ordained that no sentence so accused, shall plead his cause in
of condemnation be passed on a bishop, person at Rome, none shall presume
unless in the presence of twelve of his to pass sentence upon him. — See Labb.
brethren, and on the evidenceof seventy- Concil. viii. 31, and Art. de Verif. les
two approvable (" idoneos testes") wit- Dates, i. 2fi4.
The story of Pope Joan unsupported by satisfactory evidence. 85
CV. Benedict III. \ died 858.
The power of the see of Rome ivas increased by the firmness of the electors of Benedict, who persisted to reject his rival
^ I proceed at once from Leo IV. to Benedict III. I do not insert in the list of popes the celebrated Pope Joan, because the existence of such a person does not rest upon any contemporary evidence, but only on the authority of a mutilated MS. of an author who lived two centuries after this period. Some useful lessons,however, may be derived to the students of history from a brief consideration of the cii'cumstances con- nected with the possible origin, long reception, and eventual x'ejection of the strange story. The history of Pope Joan may be briefly told.
In the year 746, Winfrid, the vene- rable apostle of the North, laid the foundation of the great Abbey of Fulda, or Fulden, which long con- tinued to be the most renowned semi- nary of learning in Germany. In this monastery, it is said, a young woman became a student, disguising her sex, being passionately attached to an En- glishman, an inmate of the monastery. In company with her friend, she is further said to have studied in several universities, and finally to have settled at Athens. She left Athens after the death of her companion, and proceeded to Rome, where her gi'eat merits, as dis- played in public lectures, especially on theology, and her learned disputations, elevated her to the pontifical chair. During a solemn procession on her way to the Lateran, in the public street, near the Church of St. Clement, she died suddenly after giving birth to a child ; since which time very pecu- liar precautions are taken to prevent the occurrence of such a scandal ; and certain monuments which commemo- rated the event, have been not long removed from public observation at Rome.
Such is the story. It obtained
credit through five centuries from the time it was first published to the world by Marianus Scotus, a monk of Fulda *, about the year 1083, to the time when it was questioned by Onuphrius Pan- vinius about 1566, in his notes to Platinaf, who however credited the narrative, and dedicated his book to Pope Pius V.
I shall only observe that the history is not supported by any contemporary writers, and it is principally on this very satisfactory ground that Bayle J, Blondel, and Pauviuius, with their protestant successors, have rejected it. Lupus Ferrariensis, Ep. 103, to Benedict III. ; Odo, in his Chronicle ; Rhegino, in his Chronicle ; the Annals of St. Bertin ; Hincmar, Ep. 20, to Pope Nicholas I.; Photius, lib. de pro- cess. Spiritus Sancti (a bold impugner of papal t^-ranny, traditions, image- service, and delusions), and Metro- phanes of Syria, lib. de divinitate Spirit. Sanct., were all contemporary writers of this period. They omit aU allusion to the story, and declare that Benedict III. succeeded Leo IV. On the authority of the contemporary emitters of the story, all later writers, with few exceptions, have regarded it as a fable. No author has pretended to assign a probable cause for the story. I think it not impossible that Marianus Scotus may have imagined that it reflected honour on the monas- tery of Fulda, and therefore he in- vented it, or received it from the tra- ditions of his brother monks. From Marianus it was copied into tlie Chronicle of Martinus Strempus Po- lonus, the Dominican, in 1277? though it is wanting in many MSS. of these authors. The account was foisted into Sigebert's Chronicle, written in 1112, for it is not found in the original
* Cave's Hist. Litteraria, vol. ii. p. 144.
-}■ See the notes to the account of Pope John VIII., the name given to the traditionary Pope Joan, by Pla- tina. 1 refer to the 4to edition of
Platina, printed at Cologne, p. 134, where Onuphrius Panvinius' ai'guments are given at length.
+ Articles — Papesse — Polonus — Blondel.
86 The story of Pope Joan an argument against tradition. BOOK III. Anastasius, the deposed and excommunicated Bishop of
CHAP. III. ..,..,. .11^, ,. , .^^ ' Aquileia. Anastasius was supported by the envoys from the
emperor and a strong party of the people, who conducted
him to the Lateran palace, where, having placed him on the
copy of that work at Gemblours*. From these obscure sources it was handed down from author to author 5.
The possible origin, long reception, and eventual rejection of this narrative prove to us the facility with which his- tories and events may have been forged and interpolated at this time — the invalidity of the defence of histo- rical circumstances on accumulative evidence, the candour of Protestant writers, who are not anxious to res their opposition to the Church of Rome on any other foundation than that of truth ; and the undoubted wisdom of a course opposite to that which has been too generally adopted by the Church of Rome. The advocates of that Clnirch have too frequently de- fended every opinion or tradition which has been received through many ages by their Church. The long reception of a proposition, however disputable or questionable, has been generally considered as a sufficient reason for retaining it against all arguments. Let them learn from the History of Pope Joan, that they may sometimes wisely question the truth of allegations which are defended by a long train of honourable, learned, orthodox, pious, zealous defenders of their Chm'ch. They may believe that eminent histo- rians, archbishops, bishops, and other writers worthy of every respect (such are those who have affirmed the truth
of the narrative of Pope Joan), may still have been in eiTor on other dis- putable subjects. If they will receive those propositions only which rest on satisfactory evidence, instead of a sup- posed infallible traditionary authority, many opinions might be rejected, and a solid foundation be laid for union on the basis of truth.
The question relating to the supposed statue of Joan, the causes of its re- moval, and the story of the precautions which have been adopted by the elec- tors of the pontiffs, to prevent the oc- currence of a similar event, may be seen in the authors to whom I have already referred. I would add to them Pagi's Notes on Baronius. The ex- planation given by Mabillon of the Sedes Stercoraria is this — that in a part of the election of the popes, he was taken to a perforated porphyry chaii", and then raised from it to continue the procession. The words were then uttered from the psalm — " suscitat de pulvere egenum, et de stercore erigit pauperem." The chair hence obtained its ignoble appellation. The custom is now discontinued. Pagi, a.d. 853, § 14, seqq. A satisfactory note upon the same question, in which the evidence on both sides is carefully weighed, is given by Giesler, ii. 20 ; and the lite- rary history of the enquiry may be seen in Walch, Bibl. iii. 548, 549, seqq.
* See Butler's Lives of the Popes, note a, vol. vii. p. 236, July 17.
^ Milman's note, 130, on Gibbon, chap, xlix., tells us that one hundred and fifty witnesses, or rather echoes of the story, may be produced. A list of authors who have defended the story may be seen in Part II. of an anony- mous History of Popery, 2 vols. 4to, published about the middle of last century. The authors of that book strenuously contend for the truth of the story, and affirm that Marianus Scotus was not the first who mentioned it, but tlijit Radulfus Flaviaconcis, who lived 930, also refers to it. There is a long treatise on the subject also in
the fourth volume of the Harleian Mis- cellany, entitled, " Pope Joan : a dialo- gue between a Protestant and a Papist, manifestly proving that a woman, called Joan, was Pope of Rome, against the surmises and objections made to the contrary by R. Bellarmine and CtBsar Baronius, Cardinals ; Flori- mundus Ramondus, N.D. ; and other Popish writei's, impudently denying the same, by Alexander Cook, 1625. Re- printed." It would be difficidt to answer some points in this treatise, if the absence of contemporary evidence were not considered a sufficient refuta- tion of the story.
Pope Nicholas I. the I'eal author of the Dictatus Papce. 87
pontifical throne, he not only ordered Benedict to be stripped book hi. of his dignities, but to be unmercifully beaten. The imperial , ' ^' : envoys threatened the bishops with death if they did not perform on Anastasius the ceremony of consecration, rather than consent to which, they declared themselves ready to suffer death. The envoys perceiving that neither terrors nor rewards would induce the bishops and clergy to accept Anas- tasius, he was at length expelled from the palace. Benedict, who had been dragged to prison by the partisans of Anas- tasius, was then brought from his place of confinement and ordained. Ethelwulf continued with his son Alfred in Rome twelve months, during which stay he was lavish in his presents to the holy see, for which the monks bestow on him high commendations ^.
Michael, Emperor of the East, also sent an embassy to Benedict on his election, with presents of great value.
CVI. Nicholas /., died 867.
The pontificate of Nicholas I., surnamed the Great, was one of the most remarkable in the long list of the papacy. This Bishop of Rome exercised that same authority over bishops, kings, emperors, and states, which has ever produced despo- tism when received with submission ; or civil wars and general convulsions when it met with resistance. The twenty- seven dictatus which Binius has collected from the pontifical epistles of Gregory VII., and which are regarded as the maxims, or principles, on which the power of the Church of Rome was founded, in those ages when the thunders of the Vatican were feared throughout Europe, are to be found, in principle and substance, in the Rescripts of Nicholas, and are engrafted from thence into the Canon Law. This was the pontiff who first quoted, as authentic, the decretals which, though now generally or universally considered spurious, were received for many centuries as the gospels of the Roman Church. It will be necessary, therefore, very briefly to consider the causes of their general reception, and the state of Europe at this time.
All government is founded upon opinion, and opinion is only the general influence of the reception of a mass of con-
•' Pagi, ad an. 855, § \\.
88 Causes of the great influence and power of the episcopacy.
Bc^OK III. elusions, or inferences, derived from facts, circumstances, or
^ ^^ ,■ principles. The government of the nations of Europe and
the East, at this time, was not so much papal as ecclesiastical. The resistance to the papacy in every quarter, hitherto pre- vented the uniform ascendancy which it subsequently attained by means of these decretals, which were first adopted by Nicho- las. This ecclesiastical government was founded on the opinion, that the power of the Almighty to inflict both pre- sent and future evil, or to bestow either present or future good, was delegated in some mysterious manner, to the pas- tors and servants of his churches. The consequence of this opinion was, the profoundest veneration for the ecclesiastical power in general, amounting almost to the belief in, and a desire for, a Theocratic government \ This opinion was of slow growth. It may not be imputed to the facts and cir- cumstances of usurpations and acts of power exercised either by bishops or popes alone ; but to the mixture of the truth of the original and pure Christianity, with that desire of the human mind in all ages, and under all circumstances, to please and to propitiate the Deity, which appears even in the most vicious minds, inventing apologies to justify to them- selves the very crimes in which they revel or indulge. These, with other facts and circumstances arising from the blending of the remembrances of the early miracles which established Christianity, with the difficulty of perceiving the boundary between faith and error, when doubtful opinions were proposed by ecclesiastical authority ; combined to give that power to the episcopacy which preceded the power of the papacy ; and which now began more evidently to fade away before the genius of Nicholas ; and which was entirely eclipsed by the more lofty aspirations of Gregory.
It will be useful to look at the state of the Christian world, and to see, also, the actual instances of the exercise of the ecclesiastical power by the bishops of different countries about this time.
The full exercise of papal authority in the present day, in the midst of the unrepealed pretensions of the Church of Rome, is prevented by two things — the divisions of opinion
' See Ili.story of Popery, p. 4, 8vo, if its statements had been supported London, 1838. A most useful book, by the i-equircd references, which would have been more valuable
state of the ivorld in the days of Nicholas I. 89
respecting the duty of submission to its authority among book hi. legislatures, whether they be monarchical or democratical ; ^ — ^ J — > and the no less marked divisions of opinion, also, among the people of the various nations ; which is becoming more and more, among all nations, the tribunal to which all legislatures must be subject. In the age of Nicholas, the several legisla- tures of Europe and of the East, were not identified with the will of the people, but with the will of the prince, chieftain, warrior, or successful soldier, whom ancestry, war, stratagem, or ambition had placed at their head. The people were uniformly ignorant of the art of governing, and the refine- ments of literature. They were consequently dependent for all that portion of their influence which did not arise from military prowess or extravagant expenditure, upon the wis- dom and knowledge of the priesthood. The ascendancy of the priesthood followed. The warfare between Nicholas and the episcopal order was a contest for ecclesiastical supremacy, both aiming, unconsciously perhaps to themselves, at temporal dominion.
The states of Europe were so divided and harassed by internal dissension, that, while the friendship of the bishops was essential to the repose and peace of the people, and their alliance was consequently courted by all parties ; opposition to their power was deemed blasphemy, and none dared to interfere with them unless they contended with each other, and desired the approbation of the laity for their defence.
In England, the Northmen or Danes were infesting the coasts, or depopulating the country. They had gained a footing in East Anglia. They were conquering Northum- berland. They were alternately attacking every assailable portion of England, from the Tweed to the Thames. Wales and Ireland were victims to the same plague. Little opposi- tion to bishops, or to Rome, could proceed from tribes who were struggling for existence, and who suffered in common with their episcopal and monastic guides.
In France and Germany, the empire of Charlemagne, forty- four years having elapsed since his death to the time of Nicholas' advancement, had become divided into five sove- reignties, each jealous of the other. Of these Louis II. had succeeded to the empire in the year 855. Lotharius, one of his brothers, had the kingdom of Lorraine. Charles,
90 The great power of episcopacy before the age of Nicholas I. BOOK III. his other brother, had the kingdom of Provence. Charles
CHAP III
<^ ,,-! — '' the Bald, their uncle, had the kingdom of Neustria or Nor- mandy. Louis, their other uncle, had the kingdom of Bavaria. No resistance to papal influence could, therefore, be expected in that quarter.
In Upper Italy, independent towns, owning no individual as their superior, were jealous of each other, and anxious to secure the favour of the Bishop of Rome. Middle Italy was their own. Southern Italy, depressed by the oriental barba- rians, who had ravaged so many provinces, was prostrate in its ecclesiastical affairs before the see of Rome.
Venice had but a nominal existence, and was sheltered only from the pirates of Istria by the difficult and shallow marshes of the Lagunes.
Spain was bowed down by the Arabs.
77/6 East was governed by the Emperor Michael, a rash, drunken, ferocious, cruel, and profligate boy. There was no balance of power, no union of states, no general coalitions of princes and nations bound by one cause against a common enemy, or interested in forming one common treaty of war, commerce, or defence. All was anarchy ; and the influence of the churches, which unavoidably partook of the general degradation, but which retained the inextinguishable, though pale and glimmering light of truth, till better days should come, was the only hope of Europe and of the world.
In this state of things, then, and for many years which pre- ceded it, the authority of the bishops became irresistible. We meet with many examples of their possessing power long before the days of Nicholas ; and many instances are recorded in which the bishops, and not the pope only, exercised their power as the heads of the people, in reproving, exalting, or condemning their temporal sovereigns, without the sanction of the Bishop of Rome.
A council, for instance, of all the kingdom of Spain at Toledo, in 633, consisting of seventy bishops, made many canons, the last of which defends the king against rebellion ; at which it was also decreed, that wicked kings, who live in great sin, should be excommunicated *.
In 682, the bishops of Spain again assembled in council at
•' Can. Ixxv. ap. Lab. Concil. v. 1723.
i
Kings deposed by bishops before the age of Nicholas I. 91
Toledo, and took upon them the power of determining the book in. succession of the crown. Vamba, the king, was deposed, and ^harih. after performing sentence of penance, was compelled to retire to a monastery. Ervigius was immediately raised to the throne. On this occasion the bishops made the following decree : " We have read this act, and think it right to give it our confirmation ; wherefore, we declare that the people are absolved from all obligation and oath by which they were en- gaged to Vamba ; and that they should recognize for then' only master, Ervigius, whom God has chosen ^"
A council at Saragossa passed a canon in 689, that when kings died the queens should lay aside their civil habits, and be placed in a monastery ^ The dominion of the papacy was rejected by the Church of Spain about the year 708, which Binius alleges to have been the cause why the Saracens con- quered it afterwards ^.
The bishops of France reproved their kings, and deposed them in their councils without consulting the Bishop of Rome.
Louis the Pious having recommended a reform in church discipline, gave great offence to the ecclesiastical authorities, who were desirous to promote the influence of the epis- copal power. His three sons, Lotharius, Pepin, and Louis, each of whom reigned over an independent kingdom, were excited to revolt. A council was summoned by Ebbo, Arch- bishop of Rheims, in 833, to take into consideration the state of the empire, the result of which was, the deposition of the Emperor Louis, who was obliged by Ebbo to make a public confession of his crimes. He was, however, after- wards restored, and those who excited the rebellion were punished ".
At a council of bishops and priests held at Aix-la-Chapelle in 842, the question was submitted — " Whether Charles the Bald, king of Neustria, and his brother Louis, king of Bavaria, might, or might not, divide the empire of their brother, Lothaire, between them ?" After enlarging on the crimes and misgovernment of the emperor, the synod de-
^ Fleury, lib. xl. § 29, torn. ix. p. xiv. auct. anonymo, ap. Marq. Freheri
Gl. Labb. Concil. vi. 1221, can. 1. Corpus Franc. Hist. ii. 463, fol.
' Can. V. ap. Labb. Concil. vi. i;il4. Hanov. 1613, Art. de Ve'rif. les Dates,
* Baxter's Churcli History, \i. 202. i. 557. ' See the Vita Ludovieii Pii, cap.
93 Pope Nicholas the first Pope who ivus crowned.
BOOK III. clared that the protection of God was withdrawn from him :
. ^J ,■ but before sanctioning the occupation of his realm by his
hostile brothers, a public vow to govern it according to the will of God was required. The decision was then de- clared : — " Receive the kingdom by the authority of God, and govern it according to his will. We council, we exhort, we command you so to do \" In pursuance of this decree the government of several provinces was immediately and permanently given up to Charles and Louis, a portion of the empire being still retained under the sceptre of Lothaire till his death.
At the Council of Savonieres (" apud Saponarias"), a.d. 859, a complaint was presented by Charles the Bald against Wenilo, Archbishop of Sens, which contains the following remarkable declaration of the power which the episcopacy at that time exercised : — " By his own election, and that of other bishops," says the appealing monarch, " and by the will, and consent, and acclamation of the rest of my subjects, Wenilo, with the other bishops and archbishops, consecrated me king according to the tradition of the Church, and anointed me to the kingdom with the holy chrism, and raised me to the throne with the diadem and sceptre. After such conse- cration and regal elevation, I ought to have been degraded by no one without the hearing and judgment of the bishops by whose ministry I was consecrated to royalty, who are called THE THRONES OF GoD ! In them God sits ; by them He makes known his judgments ; and to their paternal corrections and penal authority I was ready to subject myself, and am now subjects"
Such was the power of the bishops in several countries when Nicholas was elevated to the pontificate. The authority and power of the see of Rome did not lose influence under the circumstances of this miserable period.
Immediately on the election of Nicholas, the Emperor Louis, who had left Rome, returned to assist in the ceremony of his consecration. We do not read that any pope prior to Nicholas was crowned on his accession to the popedom *. TJiat ceremony, however, was performed at the installation of
' Baron. Annal. a.d. «42, § 1, seqq. see also'Art. de Verif. les Dates, i. 10*5. Art. de Vcrif. les Dates, i. IG;}. 558. Baron, a.d. 859, § 2«.
^ Can. iii. np. Laljb. Coneil. viii. 679; ^ Labb. Concil. viii. 251.
Pope Nicholas clahna authority over the Greek emperor. 93
Nicholas. The emperor was present and assisted at the ser- book ni.
vice. The pope afterwards went to Quintus, near Rome, to .__! J .'
visit the emperor, who met him on the road with a pompous retinue. At their meeting the emperor dismounted, and per- formed the office of page to his holiness, by attending him the remainder of the distance on foot, and leading his horse by the bridle. The same act of reverence was paid on his return by the emperor attending on foot, and performing the same menial oflfice *.
The Emperor Michael, soon after the elevation of Nicholas to the dignity of pontiff, ivas addressed by him in a style of more than papal imperiousness. Ignatius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the son of a former emperor, had been deposed ; and the celebrated Photius, a layman of illustrious family, and in high repute for learning and talents, had suc- ceeded him in his dignity. The high rank of the two rivals caused no small disturbance in the city and provinces be- tween the friends of each ; and the new pope seized the opportunity of exercising his authority over the disputants. Nicholas dispatched two legates to Constantinople with let- ters, one of which was to Photius, who had written to inform him of his elevation ; the other to the emperor, in which he expresses himself very angrily at the deposition of Ignatius, without any prior consultation of the apostolic see. He cen- sures, also, the appointment of a layman in defiance of the canons, and of the decrees of the Roman pontiffs. He intreats the emperor to restore to the Roman see the patri- monies of St. Peter in Sicily and Calabria ; with the authority and jurisdiction which his predecessors had exercised over old and new Epirus, lUyricum, Macedonia, Thessaly, Achaia, both Dacias, Mysia, Dardania, and Pr^evalis, and that he will give up to the Roman pontiff the ordination of the bishops of Syracuse \
In another letter to the emperor, written in 867, in answer to one in which Michael complained of the treatment he had received from the apostolic see, the pope tells him that on no occasion has he used him ill ; but that he had only admonished him for the good of his soul, as it was incumbent on him to do. In proceeding to answer the emperor's reproaches, he
* Labb. Concil. viii. 252. subject in Labb. Concil. viii. 268, and
•'' See the correspondence upon this the following pages.
94 The papal power rests on the right of appeal.
BOOK III. styles them " blasphemies against God and St. Peter." The
V ^1 '■ emperor, in reference to one of his former letters having used
the expression, " we commanded you ;" the Bishop of Rome at this professes great indignation. The words " we pray," " we entreat," " we exhort," " we beg and conjure," he tells the emperor, and not the imperious expression we command, were used by former emperors in addressing popes ^ These autho- ritative reproofs to an emperor came from one just sprung from the lowest rank in the Christian ministry to the summit of ecclesiastical dignity. This struggle for power, and the wonderful incidents and contrasts of fortune connected with it ; the plots, disasters, escapes, and circumventions ; the mutual treacheries, with their temporary and alternate ad- vantages and disadvantages, and the inveterate envy and malice which it has entailed on the nations of Christendom for the last thousand years, and which are yet operating with little mitigation of their original rancour, form altogether a history unequalled as a subject for philosophical and religious contemplation. Its details, however, are too voluminous to be sufficiently abridged on the present occasion, as arguments concerning the evils of schisms among Christians.
I have already mentioned some acts of power exercised by the bishops of various churches at and before this time. I shall briefly survey the origin of their power, that we may better understand the controversy which cannot be said to be even yet decided between the bishops and metropolitans of England and France on the one side ; and the popes of Rome on the other. The whole question of papal jurisdiction may be said to rest on the right of appeal to the pope, as the final judge of causes and persons from every part of the Christian world.
First. At the commencement of the establishment of Christianity, all Christians, whether converted from among .Tews or Gentiles, and whether lay or clerical members of the churches, were equal. They were tried, if they offended, by their brethren, and by the pastors of their churches.
Secondly. They were commanded, also, not to go to law.
Thirdly. But when disputes arose among them, they were enjoined to refer such disputes to their own society.
'' Ep. viii. Labb. Concil. viii. 293, seqq.
Chngin and progress of the temporal powe)^ of bishops. 95
Fourthly. But they sometimes were compelled to dispute book iti. •wdth their Pagan or Jewish neighbours. ». '^ " /
Fifthly. Before the emperors became Christian they ap- pealed to the public law, or they suffered patiently.
Sixthly. The emperors became Christian.
Seventhly. The Emperor Constantine granted the Chris- tian bishops and churches power to give to their decisions the validity of law.
Eighthly. But these decisions were confined to — 1st, Spiri- tual matters. 2ndly, Temporal matters brought before the episcopal tribunals. 3rdly, Civil questions in which both parties were clerks, and even then hable to appeal.
In 398, Honorius granted to all litigants who wished it, the choice of bringing causes before the bishops of the pro- vince in civil matters only ; and in 408, he decreed that the sentence of the ecclesiastical power might be executed with- out appeal to the civil authority, but the episcopal tribunals had not permission to order coercive measures to be put in execution against laymen.
In 452, Valentinian III. decreed that clerks, by their own consent only, should be judged on secular complaints before the archbishop. This decree was confirmed by Arcadius, Honorius, and Theodosius. Marcian also enjoined that plaintiffs who were so disposed, might bring their causes be- fore the praetorian prefect, rather than the archbishop.
Justinian still further enlarged the sphere of ecclesiastical authority. First, He enacted that, in civil suits, the monks and other ecclesiastical persons should go before the bishop of the diopese ; and within ten days, if either party were not satisfied with his decision, the civil magistrate might be appealed to, as equal to the bishop, or as his assistant judge. Secondly, That in criminal causes, the sentence pronounced by the temporal judge must be sanctioned by the bishop. Thirdly, He exempted all bishops from lay jurisdiction.
This power became further increased by the following grants of Charlemagne. First, That there should be no appeal from the decision of a bishop by either of the two parties who brought any cause before him, also that the bishop might have the right of imprisonment, called the Jiis carceris.
96 The episcopal power counterbalanced the papal influence.
BOOK III. Secondly, The exemption of the whole clergy from civil CHAP. III. . . .. . •^' ^
' ^, ' jurisdiction.
Thirdly, That if the judges and magistrates do not obey the bishop, he shall appeal to the king ; and the bishops, counts, and judges were commanded to act in concert for the maintenance of peace and justice.
In addition to this judicial power, which was extended to the episcopacy generally, many bishops had large territorial possessions attached to their sees, in which they administered justice.
Throughout this progressive increase of the general episcopal power, the see of Rome, as the seat of empire, partook of the gene- ral increase of authority, together with advantages which gave it a much larger proportion of the power than any other see. About the time of the accession of Nicholas, the distribution of ecclesiastical power among the other parts of Christendom, had seemed to counterbalance the influence of the Roman Church, and to prevent its injurious preponderance ^
The consequence of all the gradual accumulation of deci- sions in the questions and causes which were brought before the churches and bishops, must have been this : that long before any canons, even those which we have sufficient reason to believe were the laws of the churches founded by the apostles, were committed to writing, there must have existed a large mass of decrees made by the principal bishops in every part of the world ^ Of these, many were committed to writing ; many were preserved by memory longer than others. As the empire began to be oppressed with the weight of its barbarian ravagers ; as it was the interest of many to misrepresent the decrees ; as various bishops, as well as the Bishops of Rome, would be desirous to extend their authority by traditionary and unwritten laws, which would
'' The increase of papal power within their independence, was boldly and
the Church was balanced in a great commonly asserted.— Waddington, i.
measure by the general augmentation 424, note, 2nd edition,
of episcopal authority and influence « Fuerunt mores usu ecclesiae re-
which accompanied it. The entire cepti ab initio, priusquam in jus
ecclesiastical body was much aggran- scriptum redigerentur. Et qui formu-
dized, but in such measure that the las a se scriptas apostolorum nomine
head did not immediately exceed the venditarunt, judicio suo usi sunt, quid
proportion of the principal members, ab Apostolis profecto censeri par fuit,
The power of the bishops in the time &c.— Thorndike's Origines Ecclesias-
of Charlemagne, under the name of ticse, p. 17<>, fol. Lond. 1674.
I
The nature of the Decretals. 97
be written for the first time when they were disputed, as all book iif.
these causes would operate with increasing power, according ^ j ,'
to the increasing power of the churches, we cannot be sur- prised at two circumstances which have excited the curiosity of the few students who are interested in the history of these ages. One is, the publication of the canons and decretals which rest not on sufficient authority to induce us to receive them as authentic and genuine records ; the other, that a collection of canons and decretals should be palmed upon the world, the whole or the greater part of which should be false, spurious, and unworthy of credit. Neither can we be surprised that in an age of ignorance, the superstitious and false, while they were questioned by the few ; should be eventually received as of equal value with the more authentic, till the criticism of a more enquiring age discovered the fraud. What might have been thus anticipated has taken place. The more genuine canons have been considered in a previous portion of this work '. The false decretals must be regarded as the chief foundation of the extravagant assump- tion of the Gregories, Innocents, and Bonifaces of the ensuing centuries. It will be necessary, therefore, to con- sider their origin, their nature, their objects, and some parti- culars which first brought them into notice, and stamped them, though with counterfeit and temporal, yet with undis- puted and continued authority \
The decretals purport, then, to be authoritative decrees and letters of the earlier Bishops of Rome, recorded in the pontifical book of Pope Damasus ^ The principal topics among them all are the authority of bishops, and chiefly of the Roman see ; the supremacy of St. Peter, and therefore of the Bishops of Rome as his successors, and the dignity of
' In the Latin Church, we read of Van Espen, vol. iii. p. 1 . De Antiquis
the Vetus Canoniim Latinorum Edith, Canonum Codicibus.
which was superseded by the collection > The last writer who has submitted
of Dionysius Exiguus in the beginning to the world the result of his researches
of the sixth century. The Church of into the authenticity and genuineness
Africa had its canons as well as the of these decretals, is Bishop Hopkins of
Church of Spain, which latter were col- the Protestant Episcopal Church of
lected by Isidore of Seville ; and, in Vermont, in the United States of Ame-
790, Pope Hadrian presented to Char- rica. The title of his work is, " The
lemagne a collection of canons, com- Church of Rome in its Primitive Purity,
posed of the collection of Dionysius compared with the Church of Rome at
Exiguus, and the epistles of several the present day." — Republished in
popes. — See Butler's Essay on the Loudon, 1839, Riviugton.
Canon Law, Works, vol. ii. p. 120 ; - See Bishop Hopkins, p. 49.
VOL. II. II
98 The Church of Rome must officially reject the Decretals.
BOOK III. the Chvirch of Rome as the mother and mistress of all ^^^5 ^^^' churches. If they are genuine, the testimony of antiquity might be said to support those demands of the Church of Rome which have ever been considered most objectionable by the churches of the Cathohc Church, both in the West and East. If they are neither genuine nor authentic ; if they can be demonstrated by the most impartial enquirers, the most learned antiquaries, and the most critical examiners into ecclesiastical history % to be fraudulent; we may not only reject them with justice, but we may rightly call upon the Church of Rome to reject them also, and to become again, as it once was, the apostolical episcopal Church, co-equal with the other apostolical episcopal churches of the earthly kingdom of Christ.
In the early ages when Christianity was spreading from nation to nation, many questions relating to the discipline of the newly established churches may be conceived to have arisen, and in difficulties of this kind it was frequently neces- sary to appeal to some primitive apostolic Church for instruc- tion. The preceptorial replies, in which questions of im- portance were answered from these highest sources, were regarded as authority equivalent to the canons of the Univer- sal Church; and in 494, a synod was held in Rome, under Gelasius, which decreed that the epistles of instruction which that apostolic see addressed to provincial churches, should be held as of equal authority with the canons \ In the East,
^ " If the decretals are genuine," ticse luce probari potuisse decretales
says Bishop Hopkins, " they would be illas epistolas, a quocumque, seu Mer-
entitled to great weight in settling the catore, seu Peeeatore fabricatas, et
antiquity, if not the divine right, of antiquis Romanaa urbis pontificibus
this your fundamental doctrine. But circiter annum Christiante epochse
here, brethi'en, is the difficulty. These octingentesimumsuppositas: adeo enim
decretal epistles are forgeries, and ad- perspicacibus viris deformes videntur
mitted to be so by all your own en- hoc saltern tempore, ut nulla arte,
lightened men. For proof of what is nulla cerussa, aut purpurissa fucari
here asserted, I refer to the extracts possint. Eas omnes, saltem plerasque
below, where you will find that although earum repudiarunt eruditissimi quiquo
Binius and Turrian wrote in defence tractatores Catholici — Baronius, Bel-
of them, the great mass of your emi- larminus, Perronius, Contius, Anto-
nent scholars united in their condem- nius Augustinus, Lorinus, Sirmoiidus,
nation. The language of youi- famous Dueseus, Petavius, Marca, Bossuetus,
Labbe is particularly strong. ' They ut alios mode, sive antiquiores, sive
are so deformed,' saith he, 'that no recentiores, silentio obvolvam. — Obser-
art, no paint, whether white or red, vatio Philip Labbe, ap. Mansi Concil.
can disguise them.' " Mirum est viris i. 86.
doctissimis Turriano, Binio, et quibus- * Ibid. p. 87. Antiquo juri univer-
dam aliis in tanta eruditionis ecclesias- salis ecelesise assensu roborato succes-
Origin of the true and false Decretals. 99
the ancient sees of Jerusalem, Caesarea, Antioch, Alexandria, book hi. and others, had been founded by the apostles, and from these — 1-^-^ — > the oriental churches might derive information when neces- sary. In the West, Rome was the only Church which claimed apostolical descent; and from having been for a long time unrivalled as the metropolis of the western world, as well as the ancient seat of empire, its preceptorial epistles or decre- tals were necessarily extended far and wide \ The veneration with which they would be received, contributed much to promote the influence produced by the subsequent attempt to forge documents of this description. The value of the pre- ceptorial epistles of Rome throughout the Latin Churches was also enhanced by the fact, that none of the canons of the four first general councils were extant in the Latin language. Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, were in the eastern empire. The canons of the Universal Church which were decreed at synods held in those cities, were therefore all re- corded in the Greek language ; and it was not till after the Council of Chalcedon, in the year 451, that we read of a Latin translation of the canons. This was called the Priscan Version ^ Another translation was that of Dionysius Exiguus, who attached to his volume some of the ancient decretals ; and the true decretals being thus joined with the canons of the Universal Church, contributed much to bring the whole col- lection into general esteem, as equivalent in value to the canons themselves with which they were accompanied ; inde- pendent of the decree of that Council of Rome by which they had been so pronounced. But after the time of Charlemagne, the power and influence of the popes acquired such a height, that their decretals, without further sanction or confirmation than their own authority, were regarded as paramount, and
sit Jus Novum, quod ab anno 836 pub- desiderium injecit, ut labantem Ro-
licari coepit, et adnitente Nicolao I. et manaj Ecclesise auctoritatem in Gallis
caeteris Romanis pontificibus, paulatim restauraret.
usu invaluit per occidentes provincias. Ibid. p. 90. Contenderat tamen
Ibid. p. 89. Riculfus autem, a quo Nieolaus literis ad Universos Gallite
publicatum fuisse docet Hincmanis, Episcopos datis 865, ut decreta ilia
Ecclesiam Moguntiacam tenuit ab reciperentur, e magno conatu Gallica-
anno 787 usque ad annum 814, et norura Episcoporum argumenta repu-
sedem Apostolicam devote eoluit ; ut lerat. — Waddington, p. 467, note,
testis est auctor pi-a^fationis ad Bene- * See Gieseler, i. 333, et seq.
dicti Levitaj coUectionem. Quod for- * Id. 333. tasse illi epistolanun interpolandarum
II 2
100 Work of Blondel on the Decretals.
BOOK ITI. even more to be consulted than the canons themselves, which ^ '■ they threatened almost to supersede ^
The Spanish Church towards the end of the sixth century, possessed a collection of universal and provincial canons, in the Latin language, which Isidore, Bishop of Seville, (a dis- ciple of Gregory the Great, highly reputed for extensive literary attainments and great historical research,) was at much pains to complete, with the addition of many important decretal epistles of the Roman Church up to the year 636 ^ Isidore acquired fame by this, the most valuable collection of Latin canons and decretals ; and his name, in times when there were few capable of discriminating, and fewer, certainly, dis- posed to inquire deeply into such a fraud, might be prefixed to a collection without much danger of detection. So much for the true decretals, especially those compiled by Isidore of Seville.
That Isidore of Seville could not be the author of the decretals in question, is fully demonstrated by the celebrated Blondel. The work of this writer on the decretals is regarded as one of the most elaborate, profound, and decisive efforts of criticism '. It is proved in his " Prolegomena " to the work : —
1st. That the collector of the decretals was not any Bishop of Spain prior to the year 760.
2nd. That it is not probable that the person by whom they were collected was a Spaniard.
3rd. He shows it to be very probable that a Germanic Frank, or a Gallic Frank, was the collector of the decretals.
4th. He endeavours to ascertain by whose counsel the name of Isidore was prefixed to the collection of decretal epistles, and concludes, after examining a long train of cor- roborative evidence, that the name of Isidore Mercator, or Peccator, was placed in the title of the collection by com- mand of the emperor, Louis the Pious, and his son Lotharius, after the year 829.
5th. He shows, by many arguments, that the subject of
7 Waddington's History of the Sancta Veteri Romana Ecclesia adxer- Church, chap. xxi. p. 467, note (a). sus s'mcerce antiquitatis parackiractasi,
8 Gieseler, vol. i. p. 333; vol. ii. 65. &c. Per Davidem Blondellum, Cata-
9 It is entitled, " Vhidicia; )>ro lamienseni," 4to, Geneva;, 1635.
Conclusions of Blondel on the Decretals. 101
the epistles is not suited to any age but that in which they book hi.
1 1 1,- f U T. •** CHAP.III. are supposed by him to have been written. ^ ^ /
6th. That the anachronisms respecting the consuls and their consulships are evident proofs of imposture. By can- vassing the dates of the true papal epistles recorded in the annals of Baronius, and comparing them with the chronolo- gical indictions, or consulates, he has fully detected and exposed numerous discrepancies ; by which the spurious and fraudulent character of the decretals is rendered unques- tionable.
7th. The adoption of the Vulgate edition of the Scriptures, which is constantly referred to, is made another proof of their being forged, and consequently that decretals professing to bear date long before the time of Jerome, must have been written after his time.
8th. The sameness of style in which the whole of the epis- tles are wTitten is made a proof, also, that they could not have been written by the various authors whose signatures they severally bear.
9th. He proves by their use of certain most objectionable expressions, the great improbability that they could have been written by the early Bishops of Rome.
10th. He shows that they refer to many authorities after Isidore, which are cited as having flourished before him.
11th, Anachronisms committed by the author of the Pseudo-Isidorian epistles throughout, from the first epistle of Clement to the pontificate of Gregory the Great, are traced and exposed.
12th. He produces evidence that none of the ancient writers to whom the decretals are imputed, transferred into their own writings opinions and passages borrowed from these supposed decretal epistles.
13th. That there is no proof of any of those ingrafted in this collection having been known till the year 830.
14th. The false decretals are supported by none of the ancient fathers.
15th. All who have received these epistles as the work of the early Bishops of Rome lived after the year 830.
16th and 17th. He then examines the testimonies in favour of and against the authenticity of the epistles.
Though these pretended early records are now acknow-
102 Spuriousness of the Decretals.
BOOK III. ledged by the Roman Church to be spurious, the following V ^' j' additional evidences of that spuriousness may yet further satisfy those who have no means of consulting Blondel, and the other authorities from which they are condensed, of the treacherous foundation on which the claim to infallibility has been principally raised ; and how desirable it is that the power and authority which owe their existence to this source, should cease to be asserted, when the title on which they rested has been so long resigned.
Though a great portion of these decretal epistles are as- cribed to the ancient pontiffs of the Roman Church, from Clement, a.d. 90, 100, to Siricius, a.d. 385 — 398, all wri- ters until the year 830 are silent concerning them.
Dionysius Exiguus, who with great care and diligence col- lected the constitutions of the early bishops of the apostolic see, does not mention them.
The fragments of councils, pontiffs, fathers, and authors, more recent than the time of Isidore, which are found scat- tered throughout the decretals, at once declare them to be counterfeit.
The style of the epistles, which is wholly barbarous, abounding in solecisms, and marked by the same uniformity of diction, is a fact which sufficiently proves that they were all drawn up by the same hand.
No heresy of the first three centuries is noticed by them, and they are silent also, concerning the Gentile persecutions of those ages during which they profess to be written.
Though these decretals are asserted to be the writings of the Roman pontiffs, nothing confirming them is found in the Roman registers, and it is highly improbable that laws con- cerning Rome and Italy should be unknown there, and be brought from Spain or Gaul '.
With respect to the real author of the decretals, Blondel endeavours to prove that a man of the name of Isidore, a Spaniard, brother to Eulogius of Cordova, was driven into exile from his country by the commotions of the ninth cen- tury ; and that some impostor assumed the name of Isidore, to induce the ignorant to believe, that these feigned epistles were rescued with difficulty from the barbarians, and brought from Spain as an invaluable treasure into Germany.
' Blondel's Prolegomena, Dissert, i. sect, iv.
1
Probable author of the Decretals, Benedict Levita. 103 Others attribute the work to Riculph of Mayence. who book hi.
. CHAP III
lived in 814, and from the Gallo-Frankish and Longobardic — ^^J — '' idioms which the spurious productions contain, Blondel has made it appear that many of them were from the pen of a Ger- man-Frank ■. Benedict Levita, and Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, both of whom flourished when they were first brought forward, not only affirm them to have been brought from Spain by some impostor, but to have been first published by Riculph. This is also said to be proved by certain records of the Church of Mayence. Yet this account cannot be de- pended on, as there are allusions in the real or spurious epis- tles of Urban and John III. to the synod of Paris, which was held in 829, fifteen years after the death of Riculph. Blon- del, therefore, after much laborious research, attributes the work to Benedict Levita, who, about the year 850, compiled Three Books of Capitularies, and inserted among them in various places portions of these forged decretals ^ Cave be- Keves it probable that they were either forged by Riculph or collected by him, and afterwards reduced by Benedict Levita, with some additions, to their present form; and that his object was to defend the authority of the Roman see by fic- titious testimonies, purporting to be deduced from a pretended antiquity. But, whatever may have been their origin, they do not descend below the pontificate of Pope Deus-dedit, or 61-1. Two reasons may be assigned for this : one, that they might thus be more feasibly imputed to the venerable Isidore of Se^ille, who died in 636; the other, that if they had referred to times nearer the date of their pubhcation^ they might have been more easily shown to be forgeries, even in that uncritical age. The whole collection of Isidore contains, in addition to the pontifical epistles, the order for holding a council, a version of the apostolic canons, and the decrees of many synods, both Greek and Latin, which are found in almost all the collections of councils *.
2 Certe hominem fuisse Germano- et Hincmarus Rhemensis, quorum hie
Francum ex Gallo-Francorum et Lon- de Hispania allata fuisse refert, im-
gobardomin idiotismis recte notat Blon- postoris, ut videtui",fraude halluciuatus.
dellus, ex Ecclesiae vero Moguntinte — Cave, Hist. Lit., ii. 22. scrinio, idque Riculphi cui-a primum * Baluzii Capitularia, i. 80.3. prodiisse, disei-te testantur hujus fere * See Cave, Hist. Lit., ii. 22. temporis Scriptores Benedictus Levita,
104 Object of the author of the Decretals.
BOOK III. BaroniuSj who must be regarded by the friends of the CHAP. III. Qhm.(.jj Qf Rome as a competent authority, while he defends very cautiously some parts of them, assigns the first importa- tion of the decretals from Spain into France and Germany to Isidore Mercator ; and believes that their authority was asserted as early as the year 865, and that the Gallic bishops complained during that year to Pope Nicholas, that causes were removed, by virtue of the decretals, from the proper tribunals, that is, provincial synods, to Rome ^
It is obvious, says a modern writer ®, that their compiler, whoever he may have been, was highly dissatisfied with the actual constitution of the Church. What displeased him most was, that any spiritual person, especially a bishop, should be liable to deposition, or even accusation ; and he seems to have made little distinction between the spiritual and secular tribunals in this respect. He says, in his preface, that many evil disposed persons had ventured to bring com- plaints against and to oppress priests and bishops; that with a view to mitigate this abuse, the fathers of the Church had passed several ordinances, but as these decrees had fallen into disuse, it had been enjoined upon him by eighty bishops (of Spain) to collect and republish them. He further observes, that Isidore (so called) contemplated the absolute irresponsibility of bishops is clear from the letter he has given under the name Pope Anaclet ^. " The judges ought not," says he, "to be harassed with calumnies and accusa- tions, for if every crime committed were to be punished in this world, the divine tribunal would be quite ousted of all jurisdiction." Again, " Christ went in his own person (not by deputed authority) to expel the priests from the temple (!) ; whence it follows, that the chief priests, that is, the bishops, can be judged by God alone, and not by human judges, and that their honour ought not to be called in question by men, who are of evil conversation, but rather that they should be borne with, by all the faithful." And further on, he says, " No man abandons his servant to the judgment of a stranger, why then should God do otherwise? If any one stretches
•'• Baronius, ad ami. 805. ' Quoting Labbe, Cone, i. 514. 521.
" Scliniidt, i. G7I, et seq.
Ecclesiastical maxims of the author of the Decretals. 105
forth his hand against a prince, he is held guilty of treason ' ; book hi. how then should he not be equally guilty when he doth the -.'
like against the apple of God's eye^ ?"
In the third letter, under the name of Anacletus, he says, that "it often happens that the people are afflicted with evil pastors as a punishment for their sins, in order that they may be overtaken by swifter destruction." The following is a general rule which he lays down, also, in the course of the same epistle, "When a teacher and pastor of souls falls away from the true faith, he must therefore be called to account by the faithful, but for mere evil conversation and manners, he must rather be borne with by all than judged of any, for God alone hath power to sit in judgment upon the rulers of his Church." Thus no secular person was allowed to be competent to bring any charge against an ecclesiastic, because they are not of his order, not " his peers," nor was any but a bishop competent to prosecute a bishop, and even then, so many conditions as to the testimony requisite are introduced, as to render it almost impossible to effect con- viction \
Metropolitans had hitherto been the customary authorities over bishops. To free the suffi-agans from all control, the chief aim of the decretals appears to have been to annihilate their jurisdiction. In order to succeed in the degradation of the metropolitans^ the power of the pope wa^ exalted. Among other things it was maintained, that no metropolitan ought to interfere in the affairs of his subordinate bishops except in the presence of all. If he do otherwise, he is to be admo- nished, and if he be incorrigible and disobedient, his contu- macy is to be brought before the apostolic see, where alone cognizance of the case may he taken, where all episcopal decrees for judgment are to be terminated, and which is competent to punish his offence, and to strike terror into others similarly dis- posed '.
The proposition which the decretals chiefly seek to esta- blish is this, that a definitive sentence against a bishop can only be pronounced by the pope ^ ; and consequently, every
" Lfesse Majestatis. * Epist. I. Hygini, id. coll. 567.
' Qui enim tetigerit vos, tangit pu- 581.
l>illum oculi mei. — Zech. ii. 8. ^ Iil.apudOpusculaHinemar. Rliem.
> Epist. II. Stcphaii. A.n. 734. ii. 581. 821.
106 Exaltation of the papacy the chief object of the Decretals.
BOOK III. means are employed to promote appeals to his holiness. All
V ^ greater and more difficult causes, it is maintained, must be
determined by the pope in person*. Among these he in- cludes the deposition of bishops, and even, as it seems, their translation \ Because, also, the power of metropolitans was exercised chiefly in summoning and presiding over provincial councils, it is asserted, that the right to convoke councils belongs exclusively to the pope, and that no council is valid which had not been either assembled or confirmed by papal authority^. The ordination of bishops had always been a part of the office of the metropolitans, and in order to weaken their authority in this privilege, the decretals insisted that it must always be exercised in the name of the pope ', by all the bishops of the province ; in order, as it is alleged, that nothing against the welfare of the Church may be effected by the tyrannical power of one person \ " For the apostles commanded," as the epistle declares, "that the holy see should protect, defend, and liberate the bishops ; inasmuch as it was by the disposition and appointment of the same apostles, under divine authority, that bishops were established; so it should be for all future time, that by this holy see, to which all their causes and jurisdictions were reserved, as the last resort, they (the bishops) should be protected against all vexations of perverse men '."
Du Pin and Van Espen, popish authors, confirm the con- clusions of Blondel, and honourably record their testimony as to the character of the decretals.
The supposed epistles of the early popes, says Du Pin, were totally unknown to Eusebius, Jerome, Augustine, Basil, and the primitive fathers.
They are compiled of a medley of passages extracted from fathers, councils, letters of popes, canons, and imperial ordi- nances, says the same eminent writer ; and he continues to remark various anachronisms and proofs of spuriousness, in which he follows Blondel.
Van Espen, in the second part of his commentary on the canon law, discusses at some length the question respecting these decretals. He enquires whether they are true, or false,
' Labbe, Concil. coll. 518. 529. ' Auctoritatc Apostolica.
s Id. coll. 614, Epist. Calisti. * Epist. II. Aiiaclct. id. col. 621.
B Id. in Prajf. col. 6. ' Epist. II. Sixti, id. col. 557.
Original form of the Pseudo-Isidorian collection. 107
forged, and spurious. Not only Gratian, he says, but Bur- book hi.
chard of Worms, Ivo, and all others, for seven centuries, ^ .^ -'
received them \
The beginning of the preface, says Van Espen, is read thus: " Isidorus Mercator, a servant of Christ, to his fellow- servant and father in the bond of faith, greeting." Many, pro- ceeds the author, believe with Petrus de Marca, that it was at first Avritten " Isidorus Peccator" because formerly the most solemn manner was, that bishops, for the sake of humility, subscribed themselves peccatores ^
The Pseudo-Isidorian collection has undergone, says Gieseler, many alterations, and hence is seldom found un- corrupted '. This is the case even in the only complete edition of it *. Some inquiries concerning its original form are to be met with in Ballerini\ It consisted of three parts — 1st. Sixty-one Epistolae Decretales of the popes of the first three centuries, from Clement to Melchiades. Two of these, from Clement to James, were in existence before : fifty-nine Pseudo- Isidorian. 2ndly. Canons of councils chiefly from the genuine Isidorian collection. 3rdly. Decretal epistles from Sylvester to Gregory the Great; of these, thirty-five are Pseudo-Isidorian, the rest mostly from the Isidorian collec- tion. Many of the decrees are taken from the Liber Pontifi- calis, and as their object is to give credibiHty to the work, they must be left out of the question in determining the object of the imposture. Spittler shows fi:"om Blascus, that such impositions were by no means uncommon in that age ^
That this was not the first instance in which a stratagem so full of guilt and mischief had been resorted to in support of the inordinate pretensions of the Bishops of Rome, is proved by the following occurrence. Eunodius, Bishop of Ticinium (a.d. 511), writing in defence of the synod of Palma, called together by Theodoric to decide the dispute between Symmachus and Laurentius, first asserted that the Bishop of Rome was subject to no earthly tribunal. After-
1 Van Espen, Comment, in Jus Ca- tolis usque ad Zachariam I. Isidoro
nonicum, iii. 454, 455. edit. fol. Lovan. auctore." Paris, 1523, fol. (reprinted
1753. The whole of this dissertation is Colon. 1530, fol. Paris, 1535, 8vo.) worthy attentive perusal. ^ L. c. p. iii. c. 5. 8. Spittler, !. c.
* Van Espen, ut supra, p. 452. s. 221.
' Gieseler, ii. 65, note ]. ^ Blascus, 1. c. cap. 15. Spittler, 1. c.
* J. Merlini Concilia Gencralia, 43.252. Gieseler, ii. 65, note 1. under the title, " Pontifieum ab Apos-
108 Effect of the forged Decretals on the Universal Church.
BOOK III. wards, to give this principle an historical basis^ forged gesta : of former popes were put forward ; and instances in proof of this illicit practice are given in Gieseler ^
It is impossible to relate the pernicious effects which have resulted fi'om these frauds, during the long period of their asserted authenticity, when there were none to question the sacredness of their character. They were the principal cause of a total change in the system of ecclesiastical polity by which the Universal Church had been governed. This was effected by three chief means.
First. By making bishops responsible to the pope only ; and by exempting them from any accusation, except of one against another, and by no appeal being final except to the holy see.
Secondly. By making the right to summon provincial councils an exclusive prerogative of the pope, and thus by the overthrow of metropolitan jurisdiction, extending his power over every province.
Thirdly. By the total exemption of the pope from being amenable to any human tribunal whatsoever; and by this declaring him free from responsibility except to God *.
The necessity for holding provincial councils was in effect abolished, by appeals to Rome being suffered to set aside whatever they had decreed. The course of justice was dis- turbed, and its efficacy done away by the concentration of all spiritual authority in the irresponsible Roman hierarchy. More effectually to subdue all churches to this state of sub- jection, the acquiescence of the episcopacy in the objects of the Decretales Epistolce, was obtained by relieving them from all secular jurisdiction, as well as from metropolitan control. Yet the authority of the bishops generally is, with some in- consistency, upheld to a degree which appears to clash with the power of the Bishop of Rome. The decretals are, there- fore, represented by two parties in opposite views. Some say they were written to uphold the power of the bishops ; others, that they were written to uphold the power of the pope. How are these two opposite opinions to be recon- ciled ? Both theories are defensible from the nature of the decretals. It is probable that the compiler, whether Riculph,
7 Vol. i. p. 339, notes 15, 16.
* See Waddiiigton's History of the Church, p. 223, note.
TVhy the Decretals were first quoted by Nicholas I. ] 09
Benedict Levita, or Isidore Mercator (or whoever else might book iti.
put together the genuine and spurious documents of which ^ \ ' ,*
the book is composed), did so with a view to please the two great parties whose interests it was the design of the work to serve, and thus to gain rewards from both.
The reception or non-reception of these epistles and edicts, and the reception or non-reception of the principles derived from them, may be considered as the one great cri- terion by which the papist who advocates the loftiest preten- sions of the papacy, may be distinguished from the catholic of the Church of Rome, who adheres only to the opinion that the Bishop of Rome must be regarded as the centre of unity. The more particular arguments by which Du Pin further demonstrates the spuriousness of these celebrated decretals, are worthy the attention of every student. They are, however, too long to be enumerated in this place, neither is it, indeed, necessary to dwell much further upon them. The decretals (I wish I could add the principles founded upon them) are now rejected by common consent. They are no longer quoted with approbation, even by those authors who are most favourable to the claims of the court of Rome. The strictest papist who would defend the maxims which they advocate, seeks for other sources of his argument than this, which for many centuries established the greatness of Rome, and ruined the ancient discipline of the Universal Church of Christ.
We are now, then, to consider the causes for which these decretals were quoted for the first time by Nicholas I. The first quotation of them by this Bishop of Rome is the reason why we discuss the subject in this place. We must con- sider the circumstances under which the Bishop of Rome and Hincmar of Rheims, the great opponent to his claim to universal supremacy, both referred to their authority ^.
The Gallican bishops had been increasing their authority in temporal affairs from the time of Charlemagne, whose suc- cessors, from their jealousy of each other, often appealed to the clergy for support, and thus afforded the opportunity for the further exercise of episcopal power. The synod of Paris, in 826, declared that princes had long mixed too much
^ Van Espei), iii. 455.
110 Power of Ebbo and Hincmar in France, 833 — 853.
OH AP ttt' ^^ ecclesiastical affairs, and that the clergy took unbecoming
^ V • interest in secular matters ; and at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 836,
the evils of the time were attributed to these mutual encroach- ments'. When the sons of Louis the Pious rebelled against their father in 833, Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims, was active in ex- citing that rebellion, and in assisting at the synod by which Louis was deposed ^ On the subsequent restoration of the king, the authors of the conspiracy were punished ; and Ebbo is said by some to have been deposed for the part he took in that rebellion, while others affirm that he resigned. These contrary opinions may be reconciled by the probability that when he saw his deposition unavoidable if he did not resign, his chorepiscopi advised resignation, and he consented.
Ebbo was succeeded in the archbishopric by Hincmar^, a noble Gaul, educated in the monastery of St. Denis, near Paris, and appointed Archbishop of Rheims in 845. In 848 Hincmar took an active part in the synod which condemned Gotteschalc *. In the year 853, a synod was held at Soissons, in which he procured the confirmation of his own election, and the deposition of the presbyters who had been appointed by Ebbo after his resignation or expulsion from his see \ About this time, Theutberga, wife of Lothaire, king of Lorraine, had been induced, by threats and intimidations, to confess herself guilty of the crime of incest, at the instigation of the
' Waddingtou, p. 240, note. Labb. twenty-one years, by Hincmar. Cruelty
Concil. vii. 1580, seqq. 1591. and persecution were episcopal as well as
^ See Gall. Christ, ix. 34, edit. fol. papal offences. Gotteschalc taught also, Paris, 1751. Ebbo, Rhemensis Epis- the death of Christ for the elect only, copus, suasions coepiscopoinam, seip- and the impotence of free-will towards sum judicans episcopatu indignum, eo holiness, without preventing and co- se abdicavit. — Baron, ad annal. 835, operating grace, vol. ix. p. 833. The opposers of these tenets were
^ Gall. Chi'ist. ix. 39. Ebbo died learned and numerous, among whom
13 kal. April, 851 ; and was succeeded may be mentioned Rabanus, Hincmar,
))y Hincmar, who was elected in the Haymo, and Erigena; and among the
council holden at Beauvais, in May, supporters were Remigius, Bishop of
845. Lyons, Lupus, Abbot of Ferrax'a, Ra-
* See Gall. Christ, id. col. 42. Got- tramnus, Prudentius, and other emi-
teschalc taught the doctrine of predes- nent scholars.
tination ; viz. a predestination to life The most complete history of this
and death. He comprehended his important controversy is furnished by
tenets in several articles extracted Archbishop Usher in his work, " Got-
from the writings of Augustuie ; and teschalki et Predestinatianse Contro-
presented a formal profession of it to versise ab eo motae historia, una cum
the council of Mentz in 848. On this duplici ejusdem confessione, nunc pri-
account he was first punished by public mum in lucem edita." 8vo, Hanov.
scourging, and then confined in prison 1662. for the remainder of his life, a term of ' Labb. Concil. viii. 80.
Hincmar resists the usurpation of the Pope. Ill
kins; ; who was desirous to obtain a divorce from her, in order book hi.
f^HAP TTT
that he might marry one of his mistresses. By an edict of • ,J >'
a council held in 860, she was consequently condemned to pubUc penance and a separation from her husband ^ Three years afterwards, Hincmar was present at a council at Metz in which the marriage of Lothaire with Waldrada, his mis- tress, was discussed. The synod was condemned by Pope Nicholas in another synod summoned by him at Rome, to which city Theutberga, the divorced queen, had repaired, and made her case know^n to his holiness '. In the same year, Hincmar, in his office of archbishop, deposed Rothade, Bishop of Soissons, in pursuance of an act of council ^ Rothade appealed to the pope ", and Hincmar summoned a second council, by which his deposition was confirmed, and his appeal to the pope censured. Hincmar distinguished himself by a long and able defence of the acts of the council against the asserted right of the pope to annul them. Rothade, after resisting a third summons by Hincmar to appear be- fore a council of his province, and persisting in his appeal to the pope ; was imprisoned to await his sentence. Hincmar then ordained another bishop in his room. The pope in- fen'cd from the proceedings in France, that the dignity and privileges of the apostolic see were disregarded. He there- fore wrote to Hincmar to require the restoration of the de- posed bishop within thirty days, and to desire both Rothade and Hincmar to appear personally before him. In case of neglect on the part of the archbishop, a threat of suspension from mass was to be put in execution against him and all the bishops, who had acted with him in council on that occa- sion. Hincmar and his threatened coadjutors sent Odo, Bishop of Beauvais, with the acts of the council. They re- quired him also to justify the judgment they had given, w^ith a request to Nicholas that he would confirm it. This greatly increased the anger of the pope, who expressed surprise at their ha\4ng presumed to judge and depose one who had appealed to the apostolic see ; and in defiance of the appeal, appoint another in his place. He declares himself deter-
^ Labb. Concil. viii. 739, seqq. condemned.
' Id. col. 764 for the proceedings ^ Id. viii. 736. 761-
of the council of Metz, and col. 766 for ' The form of appeal is given by
that of Rome, in which the former was Baronius, a.d. 863, § 81.
112 Hincmar defends the French ecclesiastical councils. BOOK III. mined not to bear with such infringement of the rights of
CHAP III . . . .
• ,^J — <■ the pontificate, which to his last breath he avows himself
resolved to maintain. He commands that Rothade be forth- with set at liberty, and his journey to Rome be no longer impeded, or the sentence which disobedience and obstinacy deserve, will be renewed against Hincmar and all the bishops of the council. In this remonstrance Nicholas protests that the imperial laws are inferior in authority to the canons ; and consequently, that the state ought to be ruled by the Church, and emperors and princes by the pope and ecclesiastical authorities '. The issue of this contest may be said to involve the entire temporal as well as spiritual supremacy of Rome. The doctrine laid down by Nicholas in this dogma, proves that he discerned the mighty consequences which awaited the success of this openly declared usurpation. He perceived the submission of the Gallican princes to the eccle- siastical power of France ; and that he had only to subdue Hincmar, the leading churchman of the West, whose influ- ence was dangerous to the claims of Rome, to obtain entire ascendancy over the churches and states of France, Spain, Germany, and the other kingdoms of the western empire.
In a letter to Rothade, therefore, after dismissing the Bishop of Beauvais, the pope encourages him, in defiance of all opposition, to persist in his appeal to the apostolic see. The bishops of France, finding his holiness inflexible, upon receiving his reply to their despatch, met in council at Ver- berie. The council was attended by the king. It was there determined, rather than come to an open rupture with Nicholas, to release Rothade and permit him to go to Rome. By this concession, however, the bishops did not remove the anger of the Vatican ; and by a further justification of their measures, which was drawn up by Hincmar, the rage of Nicholas was rather increased than pacified. The pope in all his expostulations had reproached them with acting in opposition to the canons ; and Hincmar was desirous to prove to his holiness, that it was Rothade, and by implica- tion the pope himself, who had violated the canons of Sar- dica, by encouraging the appeal to Rome after condemnation of the bishop by a council of his own province ; that all that
' See Labb. Concil. viii. 775, and history of these transactions is detailed the decretal epistles there cited. Tlie in the following pag;es of this work
Rothade appeals to Rome against Hincmar. 113
the canons allowed the Bishop of Rome to do was, to book hi.
• • • • CH'VPIII
order re-examination to be instituted in the provmce, and v l^J ,'
to send legates to be present at the new trial.
Hincmar then adds, that Rothade, being at liberty, might proceed to Rome to prosecute his appeal as soon as he pleased; but if his holiness should think proper to reverse the sentence which the council had recorded against him, after his case had been fully investigated by his metropolitan and his brother bishops, then not only would provincial but even national synods be of no further use ; and further, that the greater offenders, when so condemned, would appeal to Rome that their sentence might be annulled. With regard to himself, he assured his holiness that if their decree were rescinded, he should decline to sit in judgment, in future, on any transgression of the ecclesiastical laws. He would only take upon himself to admonish, and if his admonitions were not regarded, he would then leave the matter to the decision of the apostolic see.
At length, Rothade made his appeal to Rome, and deputies were sent by Hincmar and the French bishops to witness the character of the proceedings, without having any commission either to bring charges against Rothade ; or to vindicate the transactions of the French bishops, by whom he had been deposed. The result was, that after having performed divine service on Christmas-eve, 864, the pope entered the reading desk, and having read the memorial of Rothade, declared him worthy of his episcopal dignity, and ordered him to resume it.
Charlemagne having extended to metropolitans the right of imprisonment in case of contumacious resistance to their authority, Hincmar possessed this privilege, which he de- fended, as well as the acts of the three several councils which he had held on the affair of Rothade. He therefore refused to comply with any of the pontifical commands, as regarded his own appearance, to plead before the apostolic see in justi- fication of what he had done and sanctioned ; and replied to the constant threatenings of excommunication, by appealing to the universal canons ^
2 The facts and observations con- he conducted it, are reported at lai'ge
tained in this account of the dispute in Baronius, from the years 863 — 865.
between Nicholas and Hincmar, or The nature and importance of the
rather, the GalHcan bishops for whom controversy could not be convejed by
VOL. II. I
114 The forged decretals first appealed to by Nicholas I.
BOOK III. It was under these circumstances that the forged decretals
> ,^J '■ were first heard of in any ecclesiastical controversy \ The one
question between Hincmar and Nicholas, or in other words, between the bishops of all Europe and the pope, was this : If a bishop exercised his power over his clergy and people, and one whom he condemned appealed to the pope, had the pope authority to hear the cause by summoning the parties to Rome ? or had he only the right to send a legate to the province or diocese in which the question arose, that it might be reheard by his deputy, as an impartial assessor, whose distance from the scene of contention preserved him from prejudice, fear, or favour?
Hincmar and the Galilean clergy contended against the claim of the holy see, and Nicholas appealed to the false decre- tals as decisive of the controversy. Hincmar affirmed that the instances of papal power produced from them by Nicholas were irrelevant, or doubtful *, but he and the bishops of Gaul did not deny their authority. They maintained that, as they were not found in the usual books of canons, the appeal to Rome which they enjoined, could not be affirmed on their authority alone, against the precedents which sanctioned the decisions of cases by the churches and bishops in the provinces in which offences occurred ^
The pope, however, prevailed in the controversy by that perseverance which has hitherto been found, in all ages, to be one of the most powerful weapons of the papal see ; and Hinc-
fragments given as notes ; and the tolis Romanorum pontificum testimo-
whole is far too long to be introduced nium petit, ad probandum quod nititur,
on the present occasion ; but as a por- nimiioim, graviores causas judicioapos-
tion of ecclesiastical history, it contains tolicae sedis definiendas esse. — Baro-
much interesting matter for contem- nius, Annal. vol. x. p. 280, where
plation, which ought to be understood Nicholas quotes the decretals.
by every one who isanjtious to become It is also enjoined that the decretal
acquainted with the leading events and epistles be received by all, and they
conspicuous characters of the age are affirmed to be of greater authority
which it concerns. than the apostolical canons. — Ibid.
^ Ex his vides. Lector, perspicue * The canons of the French Chm*ch
satis, Nicolaum de illis loqui epistolis in the time of Hincmar did not contain
Romanorum pontificum, quas Isidori the decretals of Isidore. The com-
collectio continet, dementis scilicet et niand to appeal to Rome is not
aliorum, qui tempore persecutionis found in the early canons of Nice,
Romanse ecclesise proefuerunt, usque Antioch, and of the Universal Church;
ad Sylvestrera papam, quas non ob earn which uniformly attribute the power
causam esse rejiciendas optime docet, of deciding causes I'especting bishops,
quod non sint cum aUis scriptse in cor- to synods of the provinces in which
pore Canonum. Ceterumhaec illis adeo the cases originated. — Van Espen, iii.
esse Romanara ecclesiam ostensurus, 4/5.
ex I'eceptis in corpore Canonum epis- ' Van Espen, iii. 455.
Submission to Rome identified ivith the fear of God. 115 mar rescindine: his double sentence on Rothade, in 865, book hi.
CH VP III
restored him, in compliance with the injunctions of the pope % - — l^J — ' to his dignity. In the year following, Hincmar presided at the third council of Soissons, and restored Wulfade, and the presbyters who had taken part with Rothade \ All this was done at the command or urgent desire of the pope. Hincmar was anxious to avoid disunion. The peace of the churches was supposed to be identified, in that age, with union with Rome. The pope, as the successor of St. Peter, was regarded with a veneration which neither vice, weakness, nor ambition appeared to lessen ; nor virtue, talents, nor accomplishments to increase. The abstract principle of religion, considered as " the fear of God," included homage to the authority of the principal bishop of the West; and the popes, and their numerous adherents, had sedulously, through many centu- ries, inculcated this belief.
From the time when Nicholas had recourse to the decretals in his attempt to encroach upon the power of the metropoli- tans, their importance became established ; and until the great controversy which produced Protestantism, they were used as vouchers for any new claim that any pope chose to assert, without their legitimacy being disputed.
In consequence of the compliance of Hincmar with the de- cision of the Bishop of Rome, which the circumstances of the time only rendered imperative on the Rhemish metropolitan, Nicholas sent the imperious and insolent Arsenius ^ Bishop of Orta, in Tuscany, into France, to restore Rothade to his see. He was the bearer of letters to Charles the Bald, Hinc- mar, and the bishops. The chief object of these letters was to affirm his right, as the successor of St. Peter, to receive appeals from national as well as provincial councils ; and of confirming or annulling their decisions as the apostolic see
* The papal proceedings connected ^ Ughellii Ital. Sacra, i. 735, edit,
with the restoration of Rothade are Coleti. The whole history of this
collected by Labbe, viii. 783, seqq. pontificate, the controversies between
Rothade, however, was compelled to Nicholas and Hincmar, and Nicholas
confess his error and implore the for- and Photius, the conduct of the bishop
giveness of his metropolitan, before he of Orta, Arsenius, and the question of
was permitted to obtain restitution of the false decretals, and their origin,
his privileges. — See Du Pin, de Antiq. are well worthy the attention of the
Eccl. Disciplina, p. 239. student, and deserve to be made the
' Ibid. col. 808. subject of a separate volume.
I 2
116 Nicholas declares the decretals to be equal to Scripture.
BOOK III. should think fit. He maintained this privilege as the exclu- • ; sive right of the see of Rome by virtue of the false decretals, which he affirmed to be equal in authority to the ancient canons, and even Scripture. He there tells the Gallican bishops that they could not have been eligible to try Roth- ade, inasmuch as he had, from the time of his deposition, announced his appeal to the Roman see ; and he declares all appeals from superior to inferior tribunals to be null and void. To Hincmar he proceeds to say, that as he did not come in person to accuse Rothade at Rome, he must either acquiesce in his restoration, or be cut off for ever from com- munion with the Catholic Church. Hincmar submitted ; and his submission in the present case was a most fatal event to the cause of the independence of the metropolitans, bishops, and churches of Spain, France, England, and Germany ; for the false decretals became the chief portion of the canon law ; and gradually obtained the same authority on the continent, and in England, which an act of parliament possesses at present over the subjects in this empire ^
Though so much has been said of this Bishop of Rome, we cannot understand the extent of his influence in Europe, nor the nature of his claims to supremacy, unless we still further consider the positive acts of the exercise of his power.
Nicholas exercised positive authority over emperors, kings, patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, and councils ; or, in other words, he presumed to attempt to rule in every part of Christendom over every native legislature, and every civil and every ecclesiastical authority, which is entitled to give laws to nations.
He exercised authority over emperors. He rejected an appeal made by the emperor Louis in favour of two arch- bishops who had been deposed by the mere sentence of Nicholas. The letter of the emperor was even treated with contempt by the pontiff. Louis proceeded with an army to Rome to revenge the insult. The emperor, seasonably for the pope, was suddenly taken ill of a fever, and the emissaries of Nicholas were careful to seize on this opportunity of work- ing on his superstitious fears. This produced the desired
^ To the references already cited from Labbe's Councils, add Baron, a.d. 8C5.
Nicholas exercises authority over emperors and kings. 117
effect ; and Louis sent his empress to invite the pope to a book hi. conference, which ended in his marching back without exe- k \' J cuting his purpose *.
Nicholas despised also, as we have seen, the authority of the emperor of the East, in the matter of Photius, the patri- arch of Constantinople.
In his reply to the letter of the emperor Michael in 867, which complained of the treatment he had received from the Roman pontiff, Nicholas tells him that he did but ^^ admonish and rebuke him for the welfare of his soul." We have seen that when the emperor, in one of his letters to Nicholas had used the phrase ^^we commanded you," the pope expresses much displeasure ; and reproves Michael by reminding him that " we pray," " we entreat," " we exhort," would have been much more becoming than we command '.
He governed or influenced kings. Writing to the Bishops of Lorraine, he says, that Lotharius had dismissed Theutberga and married another wife without waiting for the judgment of the apostolic see, to which he had promised to submit. He therefore desires, that the king may be summoned to ap- pear before them and his legates to plead his cause in person, on pain of being cut off from communion with the faithful *. He dispatched Arsenius, Bishop of Orta, on a mission to Lo- tharius, to inform him that he must dismiss the mistress he had married, and take back his wife, or he would that instant pronounce sentence of excommunication against him. The king thought it advisable to submit ; and the legate obliged him to swear that he would break off all correspondence with Waldrada, and treat Theutberga as his lawful wife. The same oath was taken in the king^s name, by order of the legate, by twelve of the chief nobles of the kingdom \
Lotharius, in 866, in a letter to Nicholas, styles him " The most holy, most blessed, and angelic lord Nicholas, sovereign pontiff, and universal pope :" he begs that he be not excom- municated; and declares that he will be subject to none but God, to St. Peter, and to his most holy lord and father, pope Nicholas \
1 Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. iv. * Annal. Bertin. et Metens. ad ann-
p. 297, et seq. 8G5, 866. Nichol. Epist. 58.
- Baron, ad ann. 8G7, u. 83. ^ Barou. a.d. 8CG, § 38. 3 Nichol. Epist. 23.
118 Conduct of Nicholas I. to kings, patriarchs, and councils.
BOOK III. In one of his insolent letters to the same king, " we coin- CHAP. Ill, mand thee," says Nicholas, " by the apostolic authority, not to suffer any bishop to be chosen for Treves and Cologne before a report be made to our apostleship \"
He wrote generally to the kings of France in a haughty, imperious, and even threatening style ^ His object was to raise the Church above the State. With that view he taught the novel doctrine that subjection is not due to bad princes ; and he left every bishop to determine whether his prince were good or bad, a lawful prince or a tyrant.
He interfered to influence the succession of kingdoms. On the death of Charles, king of Provence, brother to the emperor Louis, he sent Arsenius to settle, according to his desire, the succession of the kingdom ^
Nicholas was no less presumptuous in his conduct to patri- archs. When Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, was expelled from his see to make way for Photius, he appealed to Nicholas. The pope declares his unalterable resolution of supporting Ignatius as the legitimate patriarch. He exhorts the emperor to disown the blasphemous letter he had sent him, and order it to be publicly burnt ; otherwise he will excom- municate the author of it in a council of all the bishops of the West, and cause the letter to be fixed to a stake and burnt to his shame and disgrace in the sight of all the nations of the world that flock to the tomb of St. Peter ". In retaliation for this load of insult, Photius summoned a council at Con- stantinople, before which he charged the pope with numerous distinct heresies, and the sentence of excommunication was retorted upon him. The pope, however, succeeded in re- storing Ignatius to the see for life ; and Photius was deposed and banished. The conduct of Nicholas to Hincmar of Rheims, has been already mentioned.
Neither was this Bishop of Rome less insolent towards arch- bishops, and to the Provincial councils over which they pre- sided, or at which they had assisted. The archbishops, Theutgand of Cologne and Gunther of Treves, were delegated by king Lothaire, and the bishops who had been present at a council of Metz, to proceed to Rome and deliver to the pope the acts of that council, which had sanctioned Lothaire
•^ Gratian, Dist. l.xiii. c. 4. "Id. ad ami. 8(jr), 86G.
■ Annal. Bertin. ad aim. 865. ■' Nichol. Epist. 9— IG.
Ravenna subjected to the see of Rome. 119
in divorcing his former wife and marrying another. The book hi.
. CH VP 111
pope asked the two archbishops if they still abided by what 1— L.J — ' they had done ? They answered, that " what they had signed with their hands they would not deny with their lips." The pope dismissed them, and caused the acts of the Council of Metz to be read before a council which was then sitting in the Lateran palace, by which Theutgand and Gunther were without further ceremony deposed. The bishops com- plained to the king, and to the emperor his brother, of the gross treatment they had received as the representatives of their king and a national council. They also signified that the deposing of metropolitans without the consent of their princes, and of other metropolitans, was a novelty in the Church ; and it was not only a breach of the fundamental canons, but an encroachment on the prerogatives of princes, as well as an insult oflTered to the king of Lorraine, whose deputies they were. The menaces of the pope, however, pre- vented all hope of redress *.
Nicholas cited also, by his own authority, John, archbishop of Ravenna, to appear before him to answer complaints of having deposed certain bishops of his province without the knowledge of the apostolic see, which claimed jurisdiction over it. The archbishop disregarded the summons, and sentence of excommunication was passed upon him. Not intimidated, the archbishop resolved to maintain the indepen- dency of his see ; and set out for Rome, accompanied by several persons of distinction from the emperor Louis, for that purpose. But the pope gained over these attendants, together with many of the people of Ravenna ; and the see became, from that time, without any further resistance, as it now is, entirely subjected to Rome ^
Such were some few only of the acts of power by which this ambitious pontiff governed or influenced the states and churches of Christendom ; we cannot, therefore, be surprised to find that the decretals were so generally received. Neither can astonishment be excited that we should be able to select, from his numerous epistles, a mass of dogmas or rescripts which became established rules for guiding the conduct of all his successors.
' Baron, a.d. 862, § 38. - Auastasius in vitji Nicolai paptc.
120 Nicholas I. the founder of the power of Gregory VII.
Between the LVIth and LVIIth epistles of Gregory the Seventh, we find twenty- seven maxims, called Dictatus PapcB, which have been ascribed to that pope ^ Whatever may have been the origin of the actual collection of the twenty- seven maxims, it is certain that they are not only to be found in the letters of Gregory ; but that they may be, and for the most part have been, collected by Cochlaeus, from the re- scripts of Nicholas. I regard this bishop, therefore, as the real founder of the future power and influence exercised by Gregory VIL, who made the extension of the supremacy of Rome, his passion and sole study. Gregory, like Nicholas, quoted the false decretals. These celebrated twenty-seven sayings condensed the presumptions and pretensions of the see of Rome, into one brief code of papal aphorisms. The lightning which Gregory the Seventh darted upon the em- perors, princes, bishops, churches, and states of Europe, was prepared in the thunder-cloud which the magician Nicholas I. gathered in the darkened sky of Christendom *.
^ Binii Concilia, &c. vol. iii. pars ii. p. 297,fol. Col. Agrip. 1618.
Pagi justly observes, that they have no connexion with the epistle which precedes, or that which follows them ; and endeavours to prove them to be supposititious. — Pagi, a.d. 1077, § 8.
Baronius refers them to a council at Rome, held in the year 1076. [Baron. Annal. xi. 475.] Pagi is not satisfied with this authority, and endeavours to prove that they are spurious from the silence of the enemies of Gregory, from the twenty-third maxim, and from other arguments. The latest writer on the subject, who, though anonymous, wiU be considered as a sufficient authority by many, the editor of the Roman Catholic, or Dublin Review (xii. 316), rightly informs us that the development of the principle, that the Bishop of Rome, as head of the Chm'ch, was necessarily superior to kings and princes, is to be judged by the letters of Gregory, in which all the circumstances of the particular cases are detailed. He has omitted, however, to observe, that the twenty- seven maxims have been deduced from those very letters by the friends and not the enemies of the Roman Church; that they, as well as the rescripts of Nicho- las, have been incorporated into the
canon law, which has been for a thou- sand years, the chief legislator of the Church of Rome ; that these maxims have been regarded by Baronius and his admirers as undoubted axioms ; that they have never, even to this hour, been denied, repealed, or objected to, by the authorities of the Church of Rome; that it would have been heresy worthy of the stake to have rejected them ; and, therefore, unless they are formally and officially denied by the authority which has adopted them, or unless they are rejected from the code of laws, of which they have been so long considered a component pai't, we are justified in regarding them as the fundamental maxims of the policy or pretensions of the Church of Rome. * To prove this point, I had col- lected and ajipended to the twenty- seven maxims of Gregory, as they are given by Baronius (and which I sub- join here), parallel dogmata extracted from the rescripts of Nicholas, and the places where these several dogmas are found in the canon law. The collation of these documents sufficiently justified the affirmation that Nicholas was the founder of the active supremacy which the see of Rome exercised over empe- ror.s, kings, metropolitans, bishops, states, and churches ; and that the
Rome cori'upted ivhile it preserved the truth. 121
Here, then, I conclude the pontificate of Nicholas I. From book hi. this time to the council of Trent, the papacy was the chief . \' ; ruling power among the nations of Europe. It corrupted ivhile it preserved the truth. The Church of Rome was not an unmixed evil, till the day when it endeavoured to prevent the universal diffusion of the Scriptures committed to its in common with the other churches of Christendom;
care.
and when its canon law, as we shall see, justified and com- manded the extreme severity of the faggot and the stake, as a fitting punishment for those who read the sacred pages with- out its own permission ; or dared to use their reason so far as to judge of truth by evidence ; or to question the authority of a church, which enforced its absurd additions to the creeds by treachery and cruelty. The occasional weakness of the papacy is by no means inconsistent with this view of its estabUshed dominion. The government of England has con- tinued to be a monarchy both before, and after, the time of the Conquest to the present day. The changes of dynasty, the weakness of some princes, the childhood of others, the gradual
Gregories, Bonifaces, and Johns of a subsequent age, acted only on the principles, and pursued the policy of Nicholas. I omit them, however, as unnecessary to the elucidation of the subject. I. The Roman Church is fomided by the Lord alone. II. The Roman pontifF alone is by right called universal. III. He alone can depose and restore bishops. IV. His legate presides over all bishops in comicil, though inferior in degree, and can pass sentence of deposition upon them. V. The pope can depose the absent. VI. We ought not, among other things, to dwell in the same house wth those whom he has excommunicated. VII. It is lawful for him alone, as circumstances ret^uire, tu make new laws, to build new churches, to change a chapter to an abbey, and, on the contrary, to divide a rich see, and unite a poor one. VIII. He alone can use imperial honours. IX. All princes are to kiss the feet of the pope only. X. His name alone may be repeated in churches. XI. It is the chief name in the world. XII. It is lawful for him to depose emperors. XIII. It is lawful for him to transfer bishops, as circumst-nnces may require, from see to see. XIV. In anv church he desires
he may ordain a clerk. XV. One or- dained by him may govern another church, but not in hostility, nor must he take a superior degree from another bishop. XVI. No STOod ought to be called general except by his command.
XVII. No chapter nor any book to be held as canonical without his authority.
XVIII. His decision is to be with- stood by none, but he alone may annul those of all men. XIX. He can be judged by no one. XX. None may dare to condemn such as appeal to the apostolic see. XXI. To him must be referred the greater causes of all churches. XXII. The Roman Church never has erred, nor ever will err hereafter, as the Scripture witnesseth.
XXIII. The Roman pontiff", if cauoni- caily ordained, is without doubt made holy by the merits of St. Peter, as, by Eunodius, Bishop of Pavia, it is con- fessed ; also, as is contained in the de- crees of the blessed Pope S\"mmachus.
XXIV. It is lawful to accuse, subject to his command or permission. XXV. Without assembling a synod, he can depose or reinstate bishops. XXVI. He is not to be esteemed a catholic who dissents from the Roman Church. XXVI I. He can release the subjects of his enemies from their alle^^iance.
132 CJiristianity identified with the papacy.
BOOK III. encroachments of the barons of former ages, and of the
<^ yJ — '■ representatives of the people in later ages, and even the
brief usurpations of the long parliaments of Cromwell, of his son, and of the council of state ; do not prevent us from speaking, in general terms, of the monarchy of England. So it is also with respect to the ecclesiastical power of the papacy. The churches of Christ, throughout Christendom, were as much subdued into one monarchy under the dominion of Nicholas, as the kingdoms of the Heptarchy (or octarchy), or the counties of England which composed them, were sub- dued by William the Norman. The principles of the gra- dually formed domination of the Bishop of Rome, were com- pletely developed in successive pontificates. The long succession of bishops who followed Nicholas were either weak or powerful, energetic or timid ; but whatever they were, the papal monarchy was from this moment unchange- ably the same. The history of the papacy is nothing else, from this period, but a narrative of continually increasing power, originating in the belief of the people in the principles now developed. Christianity was identified with the papacy. Kings and their subjects united in the conviction of the earthly omnipotence of the priesthood, episcopate, and papacy. The divine power was with all, but the highest earthly manifestation of that divine power resided at Rome. The people appealed to the ecclesiastical power against the real or supposed despotism of their sovereigns ; and the kings of the earth dared not exercise the tyranny which had characterized their unconverted ancestors. Sovereigns were protected against the caprice and rebellion of their people, when they acknowledged the superiority of the common power of the Church. The influence of the ecclesiastical papacy was rendered resistless by three sources of legislative authority, which were so ordered, that the power of Rome established itself in the heart of every country, and prevented the formation of any system of laws independent of its own policy. Because our duty to God became identified with obedience to the principles of the papacy, whatever supported the papacy was supposed to be pleasing to God; whatever opposed the papacy was declared to be hostile to God. The support of the papacy was held to be religion, devotion, piety ; and therefore to those who believed it, peace of mind and zeal
The three great pillars on which the papacy rested. 123
for Christ. To oppose the papacy was heresy, wickedness, book hi.
irrehgion, intidehty, infamy, mental reproach, and general , ^ — ;
abhorrence. Because no one action or duty of civil life can be entirely separated from religious motives, and a desire to please God in all things ; therefore, the adoption of any political party, the espousing any political question of war or peace, the claim to a throne, or the increase of popular liberty, became right or wrong, religious or iiTeligious, in that proportion only in which the papacy was pleased or displeased. The Bishop of Rome, like all other human beings, was pleased or displeased, as the power, wealth, supremacy, and interest of his see was increased or diminished. The three chief piUars on which the maintaining this superhuman elevation reposed, were the three claims of the right to receive appeals from all other courts, whether spiritual or temporal ; the right to send judges into every country under the name of legates or vicars, who should hear causes ; and the right to establish in every land a body of ecclesiastics who should be subjected to, and swear obedience to, the papacy alone ; while they remained independent both of their ecclesiastical or civil rulers. The first of these assumed privileges, constituted the tribunal which suppressed and kept down the struggles made for liberty or truth, by subjecting them to the judgment of a foreigner; and which, in all ages, was especially injurious to the English or Saxon nations, because their ideas of liberty were derived from the will of the people ; and the ideas of liberty entertained by the foreigners, were derived from the will of the prince. The second suppressed the struggles for liberty and truth at home, by subjecting domestic controver- sies to the will of a foreigner, who judged all questions by the same criteria. The third divided, and therefore weak- ened, the eiforts of the people to obtain domestic government, by maintaining in the heart of every country an ecclesiastical monastic army, at the disposal of the foreign enemy. This was the triple chain with which force and strength bound the Prometheus of the English nation to the barren rock of popish supremacy through so many ages. These were the fetters which made every bishop and every prince of Chris- tendom exclaim in vain, like Prometheus, to the powers which were above them all ; to witness the degradation which they, as gods, suffei'ed from an usurping god, who governed, by the
124 State of the Church from Nicholas I. to Council of Trent.
J^OOK III. thunder of the banishment from Olympus, the opponents of
* ^^ — ' his unjust pretensions. The remainder of the history relates
only the continued efforts to obtain dominion on the part of the popes; the no less continued resistance of bishops, churches, and princes, and the infliction of interdicts, excom- munications, and anathemas, which were only then effective, when nations submitted to the intolerable usurpation. From the time of Nicholas I. to the period of the Council of Trent, all was encroachment and resistance, enlarging the creeds, abridging the commandments, and making God Himself not incarnate to teach truth, suffer, and submit to the Herods and Pilates of the world ; but incarnate to teach falsehood, to inflict suffering, and to make the Herods and Pilates of Europe and of the East, the victims, the slaves, and the vas- sals of him who, though of the earth, earthy, sate in the highest place of the bloodstained Church of God, boasting himself that he was God.
CVII. Hadrian II., died 872.
The principles upon which the supremacy of the Church of Rome was founded being thus developed, and its power having been thus exerted over the civil and ecclesiastical rulers of mankind, we shall find that the remainder of the history, both of the civil and ecclesiastical power, out of Italy, is only the recapitulation of the perpetual resistance on the part of princes and bishops, to the continued pressure upon them of new claims, usurpations, doctrines, decrees, and privileges by the pontiffs ; till the last, so called, general council, which confirmed the pretensions of the Bishops of Rome to uni- versal dominion over Christians. This council did not cease to sit till the Church of France had established its right of self-government, provided it maintained a limited deference to Rome, and remained in communion with its bishop ; nor till the Church of England had revised the whole body of its faith, discipline, and laws ; and established its right to self-government, without any submission to the Bishop of Rome, and without expressing any desire to remain in com- munion with his Church. It will only be necessary to keep in view the effects which the principles laid down in the false decretals and rescripts of Nicholas, exercised upon the laws
i
Right mode of considering history. 125
and happiness of nations. The vulgar mode of regarding book hi. history as a succession of the picturesque incidents of wars, P^^^'^^V battles, sieges, victories, treaties, customs, and manners, has more charms for the common mind ; and less for the philoso- pher and student of the government of the world by the pro- vidence of God ; than has the survey of the influence of true or false principles upon human happiness : but the opinions of the monk in his cell, or the teacher in the church, gradually leaven, and then govern society, till they become embodied in the forms of armies, ambassadors, and revolutions. The whole history of Europe, from the day of the rescripts of Nicholas, and their adoption by Hadrian, his successor, is one continued detail of the results of their adoption by the pon- tiffs ; and of their rejection or reception by kingdoms, rulers, and churches.
Hadrian maintained the policy of Nicholas, though not with equal energy. He endeavoured, after the eighth general council, to exclude Charles the Bald from succeeding Lothaire in the government of the empire, which he, wished to confer on Louis, the son of Lothaire. He commanded the nobles, on pain of anathema and excommunication, not to support Charles. He proclaimed that the holy see was in favour of Louis ; and that the arms which God had placed in his hands were prepared for his defence. This is the first attempt made by a pope to set a prince on a throne by his own absolute autho- rity. His threats were in this first instance ineffectual. Hincmar and his coadjutors had secured possession of the throne for Charles before the legates of Hadrian had arrived ; and though menaces were used to compel abdication, the king and Hincmar repelled them with so much firmness that the pope desisted, though with no small reluctance ^
The schism in the Church of Constantinople, caused by the contention of Ignatius and Photius for the see, was still raging. On the accession of Hadrian to the pontificate, en- voys from the emperor Basilius were dispatched to Rome with the acts of a synod which had been held by Photius against Pope Nicholas. Tlie death of Nicholas occurred pre- viously to the arrival of the deputation ; and they were de- livered to Hadrian. The pope caused the contents of the de-
* Fleury, lib. lii. sec. «— 22.
126 Hadrian requires the sworn obedience of the East.
BOOK in. crees to be examined by scholars well versed in the Greek ^^^^•^^\- tongue. He then assembled a council at Rome, which, in the presence of the envoys from the East, decided that the acts of the Council of Constantinople, by Photius and the em- peror Michael, against the authority of the Roman Church, should be committed publicly to the flames. Photius was also condemned and anathematized, unless he submitted to the decrees of Pope Nicholas, and all who refused to commu- nicate with Ignatius were excommunicated. The book con- taining the decrees sent from Constantinople, was then trodden under foot by the pope and bishops of the council, and with anathemas and curses consigned to the fire.
We are now brought to the next great council which is re- garded as a general council by the Church of Rome, though not by the Oriental Churches which are not in communion with Rome. It is called the Fourth Council of Constantinople, and the eighth (Ecumenical Council. Upon this occasion, Hadrian, acting upon the now more generally, though not universally, acknowledged assumption, that the Bishop of Rome was the head of all bishops, and the Church of Rome the mistress of all Churches, ventured to usurp a power which had been unknown to the boldest of his predecessors. He wrote to the emperor Basilius ", requiring him to summon a general council at Constantinople '. To destroy the influence of Photius, then fully established in the patriarchal dignity of the imperial city, and to uphold that of Ignatius in this coun- cil, whose cause had become identified with the interests and greatness of the Bishop and Church of Rome, Hadrian had the boldness or the presumption to draw up a declaration of subjection, obedience, and veneration * to the see of Rome , which he commanded his legates, the Bishop of Ostia, Stephen of Nepi, and the deacon Marinus, to submit to the emperor and to the Oriental Bishops, that it might be signed by all before they could be permitted to take their seats in the council. This novel and unheard of^ requisition excited surprise : but the declaration was translated into Greek, and
6 Pagi in Annal. Baron, iii. 681. omnes ad subjectionem, obedientiam,
' The words of the letter were, et reverentiam Romanse sedis obliga-
" Volumus, per vestrse pietatis iudus- bantur, qui vellent synodo interesse,
triam, Constantinopoli numerosum &c. — Gesner, de Conciliis, l2rao, Witt-
celebrari concilium." — Pagi, ut supra. bergse, 1601.
* Legatis suis libelluni tradidit, quo ' P^ig^ ''i- 681-
Paucity of Bishops at the Eighth General Council. 127
after some hesitation subscribed by the supporters of Ignatius, book hi. The supporters of Photius were necessarily excluded, and I
the attendance at the council was consequently small. This very circumstance, however, elicits the approbation rather than the censure of the historian who records the transaction. Twelve bishops only attended the council at its commence- ment. Their number slightly increased as its acts proceeded. The historian, Anastasius, remarks upon the subscriptions to the tenth act of the council, that, as the friends of Photius were not permitted to be present, and those only were there who favoured the opposite party, the people must not be scandalized at the paucity of the attendance ; for the words of Christ were applicable to them, " Fear not, little flock." Every act of folly, usurpation, and dominion, every new pre- tension as well as every new opinion, was thus defended, not only in the letters of the popes and bishops, but also in the general and historical writings of the age, by texts of Scrip- ture forcibly torn from the context, and thus violently com- pelled to supply the place of arguments. , The practice in question is not confined to the Church of Rome.
I subjoin a synoptical table of the circumstances of the eighth council, as usual. I remark only that the rescripts of Nicholas were confirmed, and the twenty-seven maxims of the papacy irrevocably strengthened by various canons, which gave the sanction of a real or supposed general council, both of the East and West, to the pretensions of the Bishop and Church of Rome. These canons became another component part of the general canon law, and as such governed the Universal Church.
128 The Fourth Council of Constantinople.
Synopsis of the Eighth General Council \
|
Council IX. |
Fourth of Constantinople. |
|
Date. |
A.D. 8G9 *. |
|
Number of bishops. |
The number attending varied, from the first session at which were present not more than seventeen ; at the last meetuig there were one hundred and two *. |
|
President. |
Bahanes ; but the legates of Rome were treated with high I'espect *. |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
Basilius, the emperor ^. |
|
Why and against what opinions. |
To restore Ignatius to the see of Constantinople, and to depose Photius. |
|
Against whom. |
Photius and his followers. |
|
Chief decrees and canons. |
Ten sessions, and twenty-seven canons. The seven General Councils approved. All heretics anathematized. Image-worship confirmed. That proper honour be paid from princes to bishops. For other acts of the council, see the following particulars and notes ". |
|
Penalties. |
Anathema — condemnation '. |
|
Sufferers. |
Photius. The bishops ho ordained. Those who adhered to his cause. |
|
Emperors. |
Basilius, of the East. Charles the Bald, of the West. |
|
Pope. |
Hadrian II., not present, but represented by three legates — Donatus, Bishop of Ostia ; Stephen, Bishop of Nepi ; and Marinus, deacon ^. |
' There are four councils which are denominated the Eighth General Coun- cil. The first in 861, in which Igna- tius was deprived at Constantinople. The second in 8G9, under Hadrian II., at Constantinople, when Ignatius was restored. The third in 880, which the schismatics esteem the Vlllth, in
which Photius fraudulently regains the see. The fourth, that of Florence, in 1055. — Binius, vol. iii. p. 813.
2 Binius, vol. iii. p. 813 ; Venema, vol. V. p. 476 ; Petrus de Marca. De Concordia, &c., vol. i. p. 7> note, edit. 1788 ; Cave, vol. ii. pp. 1. 47. 79 ; Labbe, Concilia, vol. viii. p. 9G2 ;
129
TJie Acts of the Eighth General Council.
I. The twelve bishops who had suffered in consequence of their fidelity to Ignatius were cited. The emperor's exhorta-
BOOK irr.
CITAP. HI.
Du Pin, vol. vii. p. 92; Platina in Tab. dates it 914; Gesner places this coun- cil after that of Rome under Hadrian II. in 871 ; see vol. i. p. 603 ; Cent. Magd. vol. ix. p. 426, also place it after the Roman s>aiod in 871.
3 Binius, vol. iii. p. 813, says 102 bishops were present ; Platina in Tab. ut supra, says 300. Not more than 12, together with Ignatius and the legates from Rome, and the oriental patriarchs, were present at the opening, but they increased to 102, or 110. Venenia, vol. v. p. 447 ; Pagi in Annal. Baron, vol. iii. p. 681.
None were admitted who would not subscribe the libel sent by the pope, and the Photian Bishops were excluded. Cave, vol. ii. pp. 47 — 79 ; Van Espen, vol. iii. p. 447; Du Pin, vol. vii. p. 92. * The emperors were present neither to preside nor to determine, but to preserve order. Imperatores Augusti, una cum pluribus patriciis, viris claris- simis prpesto fuerunt, non ad prsesiden- dum, vel aliquid decidendum ; sed potius ad tuendam synodum, omnem- que inordinationem ab ea propul^an- dam, qua intentione alii Imperatoi-es aliis fficunienicis conciliis interfuerunt. — Binius, vol. iii. p. 816.
His peractis Bahanes famosissimus patricius et prEepositus, qui in synodo judicis et cognitoris munus gerebat. — Binius, vol. iii. p. 818, who says, p. 821, that the emperor presided.
Platina in Tab. says, that Donatus and Stephen, bishops, and Marinus, deacon, presided in the name of Hadrian.
Praesederuiit vero Legati Papse. Imperatorquidem nonnunquam adfuit, etiam preesidere dicitur, sed honoris causa, et tanquam defensor ecclesiae. — Venema, vol. v. p. 477-
Hie primo synodus exegit a legatis Romanse sedis literas, quibus notam facerent potestatem suam, ut praeside- rent in synodo. — Caranza, p. 746.
^ Hanc sacrosanctam synodum Ha- drianus Pontifex indixit, Basilius vero imperator auxilio et opera sua promo- vit. — Binius, vol. iii. p. 813.
Platina says, that Hadrian allowed it to be held. — In Vit. Adriani iSocundi, p. 310, edit. 1645.
VOL. II.
Ipse tamen Basilius, ipsa synodus, et alii testantur, eam jusm et auctoritnte impei-atoris esse coactam. — Venema, vol. V. pp. 476, 477-
Missis ad Basilium literis, jussit papa, ut generalis celebratur synodus, cui legati sui jirresideant, et in qua cuncta synodi Photianse exemplaria igni comburerentur. Paruit mox Ba- silius Imperator, et synodum Constan- tinopolitanam, vulgo Gilcumenicam VIII., convocavit, in qua per legatos plenissime dominatus est papa. — Ve- nema, vol. V. p. 448.
Ejus (Hadriani) auctoritate indictum a Biisilio concilium C. Politanum IV. anno 869, quo Photius ejusque fautorcs diris devdti. — Marea de Concordia, vol. i. p. 7.
Cave, vol. ii. p. 79, says, that it was sunmioned by command of Basilius.
Potitur imperio solus Basilius, pins quidem princeps, qui tot scelerum atque etiam erroris Iconoclastarum perttt'sus, tot malis ope generalis concilii medici- nam facere constituit. Quamobrem synodum VIII. omnibus patriarchis indixit. — Van Espen, vol. iii. p. 477. — Basilio Deo amicissimo imperatore nostro, qui universalem synodum con- gregans. — Concilia, vol. viii. p. 977 ; see also Du Pin, vol. vii. p. 92.
" Quid vero dec<:m actionibus sit peractum enarrasse nihil attinet. Illud in genere notetur, imaginum cultum religiosum fuisse stabilitum, et episco- porum dignitatem ac auctoritatem iuisse miriiice elevatam, supra quam- cunque civilem, can. XIV. " Qui divina gratia episcopalem sortiuntur dignitatem, ox'dinem coelestishierarchiae referunt in terris : quare mcrito sanci- raus, ut digno in lionore, tarn a princi- pibus, quam a cleris omnibus, habean- tur." Canon XXII. definit— " Ne- niinem laicorum, principum, vel po- tentum seniet inserere electioui vel promotioni patriarchal, vel raetropolitse, vel cujuslibet episcopi." Photius, quod notasse suffecerit, vi in synodum duc- tus, silentium tenuit, et synodum ac Romanorum pontificum decreta eon- stanter recusavit ; quare depositus est, anatheniati et dii'is devotus, seripta ejus, ot in favorem ejus, sunt Hamniis tradita. Conditi quoque sunt, pro
130 Acts of the Eighth General Council.
BOOK iii.tion read, and also Hadrian's epistle. The definitions of the
CHAP. III. Qj.jgj^|-al patriarchs concerning the deposition of Ignatius,
which agreed to his condemnation previously ; and the libel
containing an anathema against the Iconomachs and Photius
are approved. The legates of Constantinople had not arrived.
II. The bishops who had been ordained by Methodius and Ignatius, but had fallen into the error of Photius, acknow- ledged their lapse, and brought a libel of supplication. They were, with the consent of the synod, received again into communion by Ignatius. The presbyters, deacons, and sub- deacons were also received.
III. The archbishops of Ancyra and Nice refused re- admission because they would not sign the libel from Rome. Afterwards were read the epistles of Basilius, Ignatius, and Hadrian.
IV. Two Photian bishops, Theophilus and Zachary, were with difficulty admitted to the synod, who also affirmed that Photius and themselves had been received by Pope Nicholas and the Oriental patriarchs ; but were convicted of falsehood by the Roman as well as the oriental legates, and were thrust out of the council with disgrace. The epistles of Nicholas were read, in which he says, " That no man ought suddenly to be raised from the laity to the sacerdotal office, which is con- trary to the decrees of canons, and ought not to be defended from the examples of Tarasius and Ambrose."
V. Photius having been forcibly brought to the council refused to answer any questions, and was in consequence con- demned.
VI. The Photian bishops summoned, and the letter of
more, aliqui canones ecclesiastici, qui justificet circa sibi objecta : respondet Grsece extant quatuordecim, sed ex hypocrita, Justijicationes vieoe non sunt versione Anastasii viginti septem. — de hoc mundo : suadetur ut poeniten- Venema, vol. v. p. 478 ; Van Espen, tiam agat qua solvatur anathemate, vol. iii. p. 447. at ille pertinaciter taeet, et sic e con- In octavo Concilio CEcumenico, fidei spectu se subducit. Quibus confectis, definitiones quae a septem conciliis synodus anathematis telum in Photium oecumenieis prsecedentibus confectse contorsit. — Van Espen, vol. iii. p. 447. sunt, iterum renovatse et confii'matEe ^ Hadrian II., see Caranza, p. 754 ; fuerunt. — Van Espen, vol. iii. p. 448 ; Binius, vol.iii. p.8l3. — Cuncta hie acta Concilia, vol. viii. pp. 974 — 1 1 45 ; Du sunt ex nutu papae, et decreta secundum Pin, vol. vii. p. 92 ; Caranza, p. 745 ; mandata legatis ab ipso data. — Venema, Cave, vol. ii. p. 79 ; Gesner says, that vol. v. p. 477-
there were ten sessions, vol. i. p. 604 ; No mention is made of the pope in
Venema, " in decern actiones distinc- the canon, which restricts appeals
ta," vol. V. p. 476. to metropolitans and patriarchs. — Ve-
' Blande rogatur (Photius), ut se nema, vol. v. p. 478.
1
Photius refuses to acknowledge the papal supremacy. 131 Pope Nicholas read, which contained the condemnation of book hi.
CH" \P TTl
Photius. They were exhorted by the emperor to confess * — l^J — .* their error ; but being obstinate, seven days were allowed them for consideration, although the Roman legates urged con- demnation.
VII. Photius summoned to give his answer, but he ob- stinately refused so to do. The bishops were then called in, but all efforts to induce them to sign the libel sent from Rome were unavailing. The pastoral staff was taken from Photius, and he and his followers anathematized.
VIII. The writings of Photius, and the acts of his council against Pope Nicholas and the patriarch Ignatius, burnt by the emperor's command. Iconomachic bishops introduced, convinced of eiTor, confessed, and were received. Anathema pronounced against all Iconomachs.
IX. The legate of Alexandria was present, who confirmed the former acts, they having been read to him. Many who had been brought forward as false witnesses against Ignatius, being penitent, were received, and the false legates whom Photius had caused to sign the acts of his synod were examined.
X. The acts signed, and twenty-seven canons read which related to ecclesiastical discipline. The principal ones are, the Third, which requires that the same adoration be paid to our Saviour's image as to the Book of the Gospels ; because, as our salvation is to be obtained by the words contained in that Holy Book, so in images we learn by the features and colours what the Scripture teaches by the letters ; and therefore they ought to be honoured according to ancient tradition, vnih. worship, corresponding to the original ; and as we honour the Gospel and the figure of the cross, so ought we to honour the images of the Virgin Mary and the saints. It ends with an anathema against those who do not. Also, the Fifth, that no man shall be promoted from the laity to the episcopal dignity, unless he have passed one year as reader, two years as sub-deacon, three years as deacon, and four years as presbyter.
The Tenth, that none separate from the communion of his patriarch until he have been condemned.
The Fourteenth, which provides for the honour of epis- copacy, by enjoining the bishops not to meet great men and
K 2
132 Chief canons of the Eighth General Council.
BOOK III. princes at a distance from their churches, or to alight when v_J^^_ J they meet them, or to prostrate themselves before them.
The Seventeenth consists of three parts, — That patriarchs have power to summon their metropohtans. That Bishops be not prevented by princes from coming to these councils. That it is not necessary for the celebration of councils that princes be present, because the sacred canons never sanctioned it except at general councils. It renews the sixth canon of the first Nicene Council.
The Twenty -first. That all honour and respect be paid to patriarchs, especially to him of Old Rome, and next after, to those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem ; that it is unlawful to attempt to turn them out of their sees ; that all who dare to write anything or cast any obloquy against him shall be condemned ; and if a prince attempt to depose him, he shall be excommunicated.
The Twenty-second. That bishops shall be elected by bishops alone, without any interference on the part of princes and great men, who are to ratify the bishops' choice.
Tlie Twenty-third forbids the exercise of authority by a bishop in any other church than his own.
The Twenty-sixth settles, that appeals be made to the metropolitans, and after that to the patriarch ; and in the de- cision of the case the provincial bishops and neighbouring metropolitans are excluded'.
After this, some Bishops of Constantinople complained to the emperor that their Church was made too subject to that of Rome ; and they wished to retract their signatures which had been given to the libel sent by Hadrian. This they found it difficult to do. An ambassador from Bulgaria came to Con- stantinople, and the emperor summoned the Roman legates, together with Ignatius, and the deputies of the other patri- archs. The envoy inquired to what Church they were to be subject ? The legates claimed their obedience to Rome ; but neither the emperor nor Ignatius gave their consent to this. In consequence of the dispute concerning this question, a schism took place between the eastern and western churches, which has never yet been healed.
9 See Labb. Concil. viii. 1 126—1 1 44.
J
The real object of Hadrian at this Council. 133
Though the pope was not present, every respect was paid book hi.
him in the persons of his legates. He had professed himself — 1. J i
desirous of doing justice to Ignatius, who had been deposed; but the real object he had in view was to obtain authority over Illyricum, Macedonia, Epirus, Achaia, Thessaly, and Sicily, all of which had been removed from his jurisdiction by the emperor Michael and Photius. He had demanded that they should again be subjugated to his authority, but he did not succeed: and he disguised his anger under the semblance of justice to an oppressed patriarch.
CHAPTER IV.
The general power of the Churches merged in the influence of the Church of Rome. First Council of Lateran.
BOOK III. Hadrian lived two j^ears after the fourth Council of Con-
V ,_; ," stantinople. His success in compelling the bishops of that
council to sign a declaration of their deference to the Bishop of Rome, emboldened him to proceed still further in his attempt to enforce the principles and decrees of his prede- cessor Nicholas. As we may now, for the reasons I have already mentioned, consider the maxims of the papacy as fully developed ; I shall only show, as briefly as possible, the manner in which the Bishops of Rome attempted to compel the submission of states, monarchs, churches, and bishops, to their half human, half divine dominion. I shall mention also, at the same time, the degree of the resistance offered to their demand of supremacy over the universal Church, in every suc- ceeding period. Those students of history are much mis- taken, who imagine that WicklifFe was the first reformer, or that Luther was the founder of the Reformation. Resistance to Rome was as general and as uniform, though it was over- powered for many centuries, as resistance to arbitrary power and political tyranny may be traced in every page of the history of England. WicklifFe followed in the train of the Hincmars and other Bishops, whether of France, Milan, Ra- venna, Constantinople, or elsewhere, who dauntlessly opposed the Bishop of Rome ; and Luther was but the voice of the mind of Europe, which had bowed down with indignation under the pontifical yoke. The iron sway of the Norman kings of England suppressed the passionate ardour of the English, for the more free institutions of their Saxon ancestors. The establishment of our now common privileges, of taxation with representation, and the participation of the mass of the
The papal usurpation was opposed in all ages of the Church. 135
community in political power, is but the conclusion of the book hi. uniform demands of our ancestors, that their laws should be ^' ' enacted with their own consent alone. The temporary sup- pression of the will of the people could not change the prin- ciples of liberty, nor prevent the eventual triumph of its ad- vocates. So it was with the Reformation. The mass of events which is comprised under that name, some of which were most objectionable, was but the termination, in a large portion of Europe, of the continued and uniform resistance to the domination of the Bishop of Rome. That resistance was sup- pressed, and burnt out in Spain, Italy, and many other places. It will, however, again revive even in those countries ; and Rome must change, in spite of her own laws, or be de- serted by the most strenuous advocates of her supremacy.
The events of the period which intervened between the eighth Council of Constantinople, and the first of Lateran, may appear at first sight to be inconsistent with this view of the establishment of the papal supremacy. It extended through two hundred and fifty-four years, and included fifty-nine Bishops of Rome. It commenced with the attempt of Hadrian to extend over France, Bulgaria, Constantinople, and the East, the arrogant decrees of Nicholas ; and the success- ful resistance to those decrees. The most earnest friends of the pretensions of the Church of Rome are compelled to adopt the most eloquent severity of language to describe the times which followed. Popular ignorance was then darkest. Pontifical wickedness was intolerable. The Bishops of Rome having obtained the authority of temporal princes, were re- garded as temporal sovereigns. The power of the clergy and people to elect their bishop was superseded. Sometimes, as we shall see, the pope was elected by the influence of a cour- tezan ; at other times by the barons of the neighbourhood. The sovereigns of Germany were solicited to destroy the des- potism of the petty chieftains ; and the election of the pon- tiffs remained with them, till another Nicholas under the in- fluence of Hildebrand resisted the secular authority. True religion is granted to prevent superstition. The end of the world was supposed to be near. The desire to please God, and to meet the Judge of the world with joy and not with grief, was identified still more with profound homage to the bishops and servants of God ; and neither the absurd prac-
136 Theory of the papal supremacy over kings.
BOOK in. tices, the mutual dissensions, nor the profligate lives of many, ^^^- ^^; could lead the unreflecting and superstitious crowd to separate from the communion of Rome. While they condemned and resisted, they venerated and trembled at her authority. The principles which had been slowly and gradually taught by the predecessors of Nicholas and Hadrian had become the re- ligious creed, as well of the thoughtful as of the ambitious and careless ; and the conduct of Hildebrand, who refused to grant to the emperors the privilege of receiving ttie pledges of political fidelity made by the bishops, whom they had en- dowed with the wealth of provinces, and entrusted with power equal to their own over their subjects, was approved by the masses of his contemporaries, as the proof of faith to Him, who required the bishops of His Church to suffer rather than to ride. Thousands were found who doubted the prudence of this policy on the part of Hildebrand ; but all were unani- mous in believing that some kind of power, superior to that of princes, was entrusted by Christ to the Bishops of Rome, for the benefit of the Universal Church. This power was not capable of definition, and was, therefore, of uncertain limit. All the actions of man may be included under religious sanc- tions in one sense, for all are moral or immoral. When the power of deciding upon morality or immorality was granted to a human being who claimed divinity because he was an ecclesiastic ; and who, being human, was governed by human motives, by which, unconsciously to himself, he de- cided on the lawfulness of all actions ; it then became evident that politics became religion, and religion became politics. Because, too, the king and the peasant are equal in the sight of God, and as immortal men are equal in the sight of the servants of God ; it became evident that kings and em- perors were liable to be subjected to ecclesiastical censures and their consequences, no less than the meanest of their sub- jects. Thrones, crowns, and sceptres were, therefore, to be made subject to the papacy. The theories of ecclesiastics became the foundation of the international laws of Christen- dom ; and the axioms propounded by the bishops, and the pontiff at their head, were gradually matured into a code of resistless despotism. Nicholas anticipated Hildebrand ; and the intermediate follies, dissensions, and weaknesses of the see of Rome, had no other effect on its power, than the usur-
The abolition of the papal supremacy the duty of princes. 137
pation of Cromwell, the profligacy of Charles II., or the book hi.
folly of James II., had upon the power of the English ^ .^ — '>
monarchy in the days of Trafalgar and Waterloo. The claims of ecclesiastical power were, it is true, sometimes dor- mant, but they were at length made influential to the over- throw both of liberty and truth throughout Europe; and the solemn lesson is given to princes and states, that the temporary obsoleteness or oblivion of the demands of church- men, as the possessors of a divine right to govern the con- sciences of princes by their authority, is not a sufficient security against their revival, and the consequent retrograda- tion of mankind. There is not, there cannot be, any security against the return of the evils that are past, but that which, I again and again repeat, must be granted by Rome, and demanded by the adherents to its communion, the solemn and legal abrogation of the principles of Nicholas, and the maxims of Gregory.
I deem a knowledge of the facts involved in the continued enforcement of their authority by the Bishops of Rome over sovereigns and states, and over the churches and bishops which unitedly constitute the true Catholic Church, together tvith the resistance which was so generally made to the exer- cise of that authority, to be so important to the development of the reasoning with which I shall conclude this essay; that I shall proceed, as briefly as possible, with the survey I have begun, and notice the principal results which the maxims of Nicholas had upon the happiness and peace, the religion and liberty of the world.
The first attempt of papal ambition to regulate the succes- sion of princes, was made by Hadrian after his successful effort to influence the attendants at the eighth reputed general council at Constantinople. It was, however, unsuccessful. Upon the death of Lothaire II., king of Lorraine, in 869, his uncle, Charles the Bald, was called to the throne by the nobility and the bishops. Hadrian declared that the brother of the deceased monarch was entitled to the crown. He threatened excommunication to the adherents of Charles; and commanded Hincmar of Rheims, who had crowned him, to support the opposite party. Charles, however, had ob- tained the throne of Lorraine, and had secured the friendship of his brother Louis of Bavaria. Thus strengthened, he
138 France never so much the vassal of Rome as Spain and Italy.
BOOK III. resisted every attempt of Hadrian to depose him. Though the
V '^^: Bishops of Rome now claimed authority over the princes and
sovereigns of Europe, their power was fully acknowledged only when it became the interest of the contending states to appeal to, or to submit to his arbitration. His authority was believed as a principle of religion ; but it had not become an influential principle, independent of the will of some one of the parties who sought his support. Charles the Bald had consulted the ecclesiastical authorities, when his ambition prompted him to dispossess his nephew. He hesitated to expose his dominions to the possibility of invasion by his neighbours, by venturing to act in hostility to the decisions of the pontiffs. He was too weak to make the attempt. When, however, he believed that he was sufficiently strong to despise this evil by the decision of the bishops and nobles of Lorraine, and by the alliance of his brother, king of Germany ; he then ventured to resist, and summoned the pen of Hincmar of Rheims to defend his opposition to the pontiff. The controversy between the two parties elicited the opinions of the Gallican bishops, and nobles of the day. Two letters had been sent from the pope to the king, two to the nobles, two to the ecclesiastical authorities, and two to Hincmar individually ; on the crown having been disposed of to Charles the Bald, without the consent of Hadrian. Hincmar writes as if commissioned by all the parties to give a general reply. He says, " the conduct of your holiness is quite unprece- dented •" " Charles is no usurper, no tyrant, names which your holiness is pleased to bestow upon him •" *' they say to me, you must tell the pope that he cannot be both king and bishop •" " all are shocked at the terms of perjury and tyranny in your letter ; and say what it would serve no good purpose to let you know : but I must inform your holiness that the king is determined to maintain, at all events, his claim to the kingdom of Lorraine, and that no censures nor excommuni- cations will divert him from it '." Their united resistance was successful, and France, principally in consequence of this early opposition to the popedom, has never been so entirely the vassal of Rome as the provinces of Italy and Spain.
This, however, was not the only instance in which the pon-
' Art. de Verif. les Dates, i. 558.
i
The kings, bishops, and councils of France resist the pope. 139
tiff was successfully resisted by the sovereign and Bishops of book hi. France. Carloman, in the same year, rebelled against his .^^' ^^: father, Charles the Bald, and was taken prisoner. The pope interfered in behalf of the traitor. He wrote to the king to release him from prison ; to the nobility, to forbid them to bear arms against the rebel on pain of excommunication ; to the bishops, to declare all their proceedings null till his legates had inquired into the affair on the spot '. Carloman, however, was condemned to death, though the sentence was commuted to loss of sight instead of loss of life. Even this was in opposition to the injunctions of Hadrian.
Neither was the pope more successful in attempting to sub- due to his supremacy the Bishops and Councils of France. Hincmar, Bishop of Laon, the nephew of Hincmar of Rheims, was charged with appropriating to himself the proceeds of a benefice which the king had granted to a clerk named Luido. On refusing to restore them, the king ordered the cause to be tried by the civil law, or in a court composed of laymen. The bishop refused to submit to the decision of laymen, and was supported in his refusal by his uncle, the Archbishop of Rheims. In spite of this he appealed privately to the pope against the general conduct of the king in this affair ; and more especially against the appointment of a person named Nortman, to another benefice in the gift of the king. A council was called at Verberia^ by the king, at which Hincmar of Laon attended. Perceiving the judgment of this council to be against him, he appealed to the pope, and requested per- mission from the king to proceed to Rome. The king re- fused his consent, and for a short time imprisoned him. Other complaints were subsequently laid against Hincmar, who was deposed by a council of bishops notwithstanding his continued appeals to Rome. Their sentence was pronounced with reference to the Council of Sardica. Hincmar of Rheims, with the bishops, was willing that a legate from the pope should be present in the province in which the alleged offence had occurred, as an assessor in the cause ; but they would not sanction the appeal in person to Rome. This de- gree of usurpation was not finally established till a subsequent age. Hadrian, on hearing of the appeal to his jurisdiction by
2 See Ep. xxix. xxx. ap. Labb. Coneil. viii. 929, seqq. •'' Id. col. 1527.
140 Hincmar of Rhcims opposes the jmpal supremacy. BOOK III. Hincmar of Laon, commanded by letters that he be per-
CIIAP IV ^ ^ r
>^ .^J '■ mitted to appear at Rome. Charles, to whom the letter was
addressed, had again recourse to the pen of Hincmar of Rheims, whose letters are still extant. Hadrian had sent his letter by Actard, the metropolitan of Tours. The letter was written in that peculiar style of command, blended with milder expressions, and with quotations from Scripture made applicable by his imagination to the purpose, which charac- terized the mandates and bulls of Rome. ^' Where," says Hincmar in his reply, " did he who dictated the letter brought us by Bishop Actard, find it written, that a king, w^ho by the laws, both civil and ecclesiastical, is the avenger of crimes ; can be commanded by apostolic authority to send a criminal to Rome, who has been legally convicted and condemned ? I wrote to you formerly, and now write to you again, lest you should forget that we Franks, come of a royal race, are not the vicegerents of bishops, but lords and masters of the world." " We, therefore, entreat you never more to write such letters to us, or to the bishops and lords of our king- dom, that we may not be obliged to treat with contempt both the letters and the bearers." "When what the holy see writes is agreeable to Scripture, to tradition, and the laws of the Church ; we are willing to embrace it. If it interferes with these, know that we are not to be frightened into it by menaces of excommunication and anathemas \" The bishops of the council answered a letter addressed to them at the same time in the same manner; and Hadrian, finding that his de- mand of submission was premature, apologized for the imperious style of his letters, throwing the blame of their composition on his secretary, who had written them during his indisposition '.
CVIII. John VIIL, died 882.
The pontificate of this pope was remarkable for the con- trast between his pretensions and actions. The former were the principles not merely of the papacy, but of the ecclesias- tical power generally, which had not yet become merged in the influence of Rome. The latter was the consequence of the political events of his times. The Emperor, Louis the
I Art. de Ve'rif. Ics Dates, i. 265. ^ Labb. Coneil. viii. i)'^6.
The Popes claim the right to elect the Emperors. 141
Second, died in 875. Charles the Bald proceeded immediately book iii. to Rome at the invitation of the pope, according to a private P^^5 ^^' understanding between themselves, and was crowned by him on Christmas-day, in the Church of St. Peter ". In his speech on this occasion, the pope told the assembly that he had elected him according to the will of God revealed to Pope Nicholas. From this time the popes claimed a right to elect, or confirm the election of the emperors. He was in the next place accompanied by the pope to Pavia, where he was also crowned as King of Italy, by the Archbishop of Milan ; and, according to Sigonius, the title of emperor became afterwards a mere grant from the hands of the pope ^ Charles is said to have lavished on Pope John VIII. presents of great value, with still greater promises, on condition of his setting on his head the imperial crown ; and it is affirmed that, by means of secret agents on the spot, he kept up a close intimacy with the holy see. On his coronation, the pope extorted from him the rights and customs of the kingdom of Italy, with the revenues of many monasteries, the countries of Calabria and Samnium, all the towns of Benevento, the duchy of Spoleto, Tuscany, Arezzo, and Chiusi. The seigniory of Rome was also to be a part of the price of his being made emperor. The power of the pope in Italy was by this intrigue exceed- ingly increased ; and the precedent bringing the emperors into subjection to popes was fully established.
The southern provinces of Italy were, at this time, a prey to the Saracens. Sergius, Duke of Naples, joined these enemies ; and his brother Anastasius, who was bishop of the city, treacherously seized the person of Sergius, and sent him as a present to the pope, after depriving him of his eyes. His holiness highly extolled the unnatural act of cruelty and treachery, quoting, in justification of it, the Holy Redeemer"; and rewarded Anastasius with the dukedom, making him pnnce as well as bishop. No sooner was the patricidal bishop ' entrusted with secular authority, than he himself was guilty of the same rebellious act he had so murderously visited in the case of his brother; and in league with the Saracens, he invaded the dominions of his holiness. The
fi Art. de Ve'rif. les Dates, i. 266. 559. « Sec Art. do Ve'rif. les Dates, i. 266. ' Soe some remarks on this assump- ' Uglielli, Ital. Sacra, vi. 70, edit, tion in Art. de Ve'rif. les Dates, i. 266. fol. 1720.
143 Possible origin of the story of Pope Joan.
BOOK III. Emperor Charles, accompanied by Richilda, his wife, hastened ^AP. IV. ^^ ^j^g assistance of the pope, who met them at Vercelli, whence they proceeded to Tortosa, where Richilda was crowned empress by the pontiff; but the death of the em- peror, who was poisoned by the Jew Sedechias, his phy- sician ', prevented the pope being relieved from his enemies. Left in this helpless state, his holiness was reduced to the terms of paying yearly tribute to the Saracens, to preserve Rome from their destructive hands.
Lewis IL, surnamed le Begue, on the death of Charles was immediately crowned by Hincmar of Rheims (8th Dec. 877, at Compeigne), but was desirous that the pope should repeat the ceremony, and confirm his title, which was done with the accustomed pomp. His holiness would only permit him, however, to be styled king ; nor would John consent to crown Adelaide his queen ; neither could he be prevailed upon to declare his reasons for this refusal ^
Carloman, King of Bavaria, on the death of his uncle Charles the Bald, proceeded into Italy with a numerous army, of which country many of the Lombard nobility acknowledged him king ; but his younger brother, called Charles the Gross, opposed his pretensions, and forced him to retreat. Carlo- man died soon afterwards, and was succeeded by his second brother, Louis, who renounced his claim to the imperial title, and also to the kingdom of Lombardy, in favour of Charles the Gross. On this treaty between the brothers, the pope, who stood neuter, wrote to Charles to offer him the imperial crown, which he received from his holiness in the church of St. Peter, on Christmas-day, 880 ^ The pope, in return, pressed him to rescue the capital from the ruin and slavery with which it was threatened. The Saracens were in posses- sion of strongholds in the neighbourhood of Rome ; and John, sacrificing all other views to his own personal safety, not only reversed the decrees of his predecessors, as well as those of a general council, but paid no regard to his own solemn oath. On account of his pusillanimity he was styled, not pope but popess. This, Baronius hints *, might give
' Art. de V^rif. les Dates, i. 560. otherwise called Judith, a woman of
^ Mabillon has shown that the pope's low origin,
refusal arose from the fact of Lewis ^ Baron. Annal. a.d. 881, § 7-
having put away his first wife, Aus- * Baron. Annal. a.d. 882, § 4. gard, that he might marry Adelaide,
The dispute on Bulgaria completes the Greek schism. 143
rise to the story of Pope Joan ; which, though ascribed to the book hi.
middle of the ninth century, was not heard of until the end > .^ — -"
of the thirteenth.
Another act of this pope was the excommunication of Anastasius, the flagitious Duke and Bishop of Naples, whom he offered to pardon if he would seize some of the Saracen chiefs. A list of their names he sent by his legate Marinus, in whose presence he was also requested to have the throats of others cut ^ John, during the twelve years of his pontifi- cate, crowned three of the descendants of Charlemagne, though to one of them he refused the title of emperor, and would give only that of king.
When the Bulgarians were converted to Christianity, about the middle of the ninth century, a contention arose between the see of Rome and that of Constantinople, with regard to which of their jurisdictions Bulgaria was to be annexed. Hadrian II. had claimed it for the former ; Ignatius, for the latter. The question was discussed in the fourth Council of Constantinople; and despite the remonstrances of the pope's legates, Bulgaria was attached to the patriarchate of Con- stantinople. John VIII. was so desirous of having that terri- tory under his immediate jurisdiction, that he offered to the Emperor Basil that he would acknowledge Photius as the legitimate Patriarch of Constantinople, provided Bulgaria were ceded to him. Basil, to whom the question was referred by a synod held in that city, seemed willing to favour the claim of John; but the Bulgarian Bishops and their king refused to be transferred to the papal see. The pope, there- fore, excommunicated Photius. This act completed what is called the Greek schism ; or the separation of the eastern from the western churches. The pope sent another legate to Con- stantinople, named Marinus, to protest against the acts of the council lately held there ; and to declare that he abolished them. Basil ordered the legate into close confinement, but finding him firm and intrepid, he released him after thirty days, and sent him off to Rome. John, greatly exasperated at this contempt of his authority, solemnly confirmed the acts of Hadrian II. a.d. 869, and again specially condemned Photius in a council assembled at Rome for that purpose, by
'^ Ughelli, Ital. Sacra, i. 78.
144 Usurpations of Pope John over the French Church resisted.
BOOK III. which all the sentences of Nicholas I. again st him were re- CHAP. IV. , , ^ , B ° . ' newed and connrmed .
At a council held at Pontion near Vitri, in the diocese of Chalons-sur-Marne, in France, a.d. '^7Q, a letter was read from the pope, appointing Angesius, Archbishop of Sens, Primate of all France, and of that part of Germany on the French side of the Rhine. Though opposed by the Galilean episcopacy, the emperor Charles, who was present at the council to support the papal policy, gave his full sanction to the appointment ; and became the partizan of the pope in promoting this new act of authority over the French and German churches. So great was the power delegated to this primate, that he was styled a second pope. He was commissioned to act as the representative of the holy see throughout the important por- tion of the empire over which he was appointed ; to acquaint all archbishops and bishops with the decrees of the papal hierarchy ; to report to the pope what had been done or not done, in compliance with his ordinances, and to uphold all the principles and claims of Rome as the vicegerent of St. Peter. These acts of power met with the usual resistance. The six archbishops and forty-three bishops who composed the council, protested against such unconditional control ; and Hincmar of Rheims, who was always foremost in resisting the unreasonable pretensions of Rome, published a treatise, to show how repugnant such usurpation was to the canons ; and how destructive it must prove both of metropolitan and episcopal privileges. The appointment, however, notwith-
^ John, in 878, dispatched legates clerks, and laymen, who had incurred
to Constantinople to command the re- pmiishment on his accoimt ; and,
call of all the Greek bishops, priests, moreover, he offered to declare all cx-
and missionaries from the Bulgarian communicated who refused to commu-
provinces, and to threaten Ignatius nicate with the holy patriarch ; all who
with excommunication and suspension, should give ear to any calumnies
if he did not withdraw them all from against him, or look upon him in any
the country within a month. Ignatius other light than as the spiritual guide
died before the arrival of the embassy, and mediator betweeu God and them-
and to their surprise, they found the selves ; if he would give up Bulgaria
exiled Photius restored to all bis to the holy see. John VIII. was ready
patriarchal dignities. The legates were to cancel and reverse the solemn acts
induced by rich presents to acknow- of his infallible predecessors, Nicholas
ledge Photius; and when the pope was I. and Hadrian II., together with cer-
informed that Basil had reinstated tain decrees of various councils by
him, he offered to receive him as a which Photius had been tried and
bishop, a brother, and a colleague, and condemned. — Johan. Epist. 199, ap.
to absolve him from all ecclesiastical Labb. Concil. ix. 134, scqq. censure, as well as all bishops, priests.
Nobles ?iot to sit in presence of a bishop. 145
standing this resistance, took place. Hincmar was merely book ih. permitted to write to the pope in the name of the emperor and '^^" ^^>' council, to complain not only of the infringement of the canons of Sardica on which the right of the ultimate appeal to Rome was pretended to be founded ; but also of the subversion uf ecclesiastical discipline, and injury to the Church, which these innovations were producing. In the close of this letter the pope is fervently entreated to conform to those canons by w'hich it is ordered that Bishops are only to be judged on the spot, and that priests are allowed to appeal only to their metropolitans, or the bishops of their respective provinces ^
This pope had excommunicated Lantbert, Duke of Spole- tum, and Adelbert, Marquis of Tuscany, on the ground of their having usurped some lands belonging to the Church. In revenge, the two nobles entered Rome, seized the pope, threw him in prison, and pillaged the city. On retiring with their plunder, they released his holiness from his confinement. The pope, on his liberation, pronounced on them, according to custom, the most fearful anathemas *. He then hastened to France by sea, where Louis III., a.d. 878, had succeeded to the empire on the death of Charles ; and under the sanction of the new emperor he summoned a council of all the bishops of France and Germany, to meet at Troyes, to which were invited the three princes, Carloman, Lewis, and Charles, sons of the late emperor. Thirty bishops only, and one of the princes, obeyed the summons. The chief object of the council was to enforce the excommunications and anathemas on the two hostile nobles, to which those present assented. Among other canons of this council, it was ordained that secular nobles, whatever their rank, should not presume to sit down in the presence of a bishop. A former sentence against Formosus, late Bishop of Porto, was also confirmed ; and he with his party were excommunicated, degraded, and anathe- matized '.
John VIII. presided in person in a council at Ravenna, at which one hundred and thirty bishops were present, and numerous canons passed for the better regulation of the
^ Dubois ill Hist. Paris, lib. viii. c. drawn up by the jiope himself, in Labbe,
1. See the proceedinjjs of this council ix. 30.Q. in Labbe, ix. 280, siqcj. " Id. ix. 306, seqq.
" See the aet-ouut of this transaction
VOL. 11. L
146 The English school at Rome released from taxes.
BOOK IT I. Italian provinces. This is considered the first instance of the ^_ ^^ ; pope having personally presided at any council ^
CIX. Marinus, or Martinus II., died 884.
Marin us, by which name he represented Nicholas I., Hadrian II., and John VIII., severally, as legate at Constan- tinople, distinguished himself on being raised to the pontifi- cate (December, a.d. 882), by reversing the decrees of Ha- drian and John, by which Formosus had been condemned. Marinus not only restored Formosus to his episcopal functions, which he had sworn never to resume, but absolved him from the solemn oath which had been administered to him on the occasion. He had debarred himself by another sacred obliga- tion from ever again entering Rome ; and from this, and all his pledges made sacred by the Gospel being called in as wit- ness of his promise, this pope released him, and proclaimed him innocent of the crimes of which synods had convicted him^. He is said to have relieved the English school at Rome from all taxes, at the solicitation of Alfred the Great ''.
ex. Hadrian III., died 885.
He commenced and concluded his brief period of supremacy by enacting two decrees : one, providing that if Charles the Emperor should die without male issue, none but natives of Italy should reign over that principality, or be honoured with the title of emperor*: Secondly, that t?ie consecration of every new pope should take place without waiting for the presence of the emperor, or imperial envoys. Hadrian repulsed the overtures of the Emperor Basil in favour of Photius, on which account the emperor charged him with unwarrantable pride, arrogance, and presumption ; and accused both him and Marinus of sacrificing the peace and prosperity of the empire to their own private malice and personal ambition \
' Labb. ix. 1235. ' Luitprand, in his Lives of the
2 Auxil. de Ordinat. Formos. lib. ii. Popes, very summarily [dismisses Ma- c. 20 ; Labb. Concil. ix. 357. I'inus and his successor : —
3 Matt. Westraon. ad ann. 883, p.
171 ; et Sim. Dunelm. ap. Decern Marinus sedit unum annum, menses
Scriptt. col. 130, ad ann. 884. quinque,
* Platina in Hadrian III.; Sigonius, Hadrianus III. sedit unum annum,
lib. V. de Regno Ital. Labb. Concil. menses quatuor. ix. 359.
i
TJie decrees of the Church of Rome irrevocable. 147
CXI. Stephen V., died 891.
Amidst all the distractions of the time, the papal power over states and kings continued to increase. The day after this pope was elected, he was inaugurated without waiting to apprise the emperor. Leo, called Philosophicus, succeeded Basil in the empire of the East, and wrote to Stephen for a dispensation to permit him to bestow on his brother Stephen, a deacon, not then sixteen years of age, (who received his ordination from Photius,) the patriarchate of Constantinople. Stylianus, metropolitan of Neocaesarea, and a number of eastern bishops and other clergy, united in favour of the boy-patriarch. The pope did not refuse, but while he de- sired explanation on some points, and therefore hesitated, he died suddenly ^ The imperial throne of the West became vacant at this time by the death of Charles the Gross. Three claimants appeared for it ; Berengarius, Duke of Friuli ; Wido, Guido, or Guy, Duke of Spoletum ; and Arnulph, King of Germany, natural son of Carloman. Arnulph was unable to leave Germany on account of wars in which he w^as then engaged. The two Italian dukes had recourse to arms, and it was not till Berengarius was obliged to fly, that Stephen interfered on either side. He, however, immediately crowned Guido emperor, with the usual solemnities ; but 07i condition that he should confirtn those donations lohich were affirmed to have been given by Pepin, Charles, and Louis I. ^ Through the influence of Stephen also, Louis, son of Boso, a powerful noble of the country, was crowned and anointed, at the age of ten years, King of Burgundy and Provence, by the bishops of that kingdom.
Among the chief acts of ecclesiastical power by which this pontiff has ranked himself among the great usurpers of papal supremacy, may be reckoned his famous decree, " That ivhat- soever the Church of Rome doth decree, must be for ever and irrevocably observed by all ^" He also wrote to the em-
« Namely, 7th Aug. 891. talis, 4to, Gorichemi, 1662, p. 183.
' Quare, post aliquot certaraina, in * Enimvero, quia in speculum et
quibus superior evaserat, amio 891 cxemplura S. Romana Ecelesia, cui nos
Romse coronatur, ea tamen lege, ut Christus prseesse voluit, proposita est,
donationes quae Pipini, Cai-oli, et Lu- ab omnibus quicquid statuit, quicquid
dovici primi dicuntur, Stepbanus ab eo ordinat, perpetuo et irrefragabiliter
coiifirmari velit. — Mysterium Iniqui- observandum est. — 4 Dist. xix.
L 2
148 The iveahiess of princes the strength of popes.
BOOK in. peror and bishops of the East, and to the bishops of Spain,
^ J ,■ in which epistles he asserted supremacy over every Church in
the world, and declared the infallibility of the Roman Church \
The emperor, Charles the Gross, sent the Bishop of Ver- celli and other bishops to Rome, to depose Stephen, on account of his non-compliance with the still existing custom of sending to inform the emperor of his election, and waiting for the royal sanction. He appeased the emperor by a special legation \
CXI I. Formosus, died 896.
This pontiff, on his condemnation by John VIII., had bound himself by oath never to exercise the functions of a bishop, and at the same time, never to appear in the city of Rome. Marinus, by virtue of his apostolic authority, ab- solved him from these oaths, and restored him to his bishopric of Porto. From this see he was translated to that of St. Peter. This is said to have been the first instance of a pope being called from another see ^ The weakness of princes was still the strength of popes. The kingdom of Aquitaine had been usurped by Eudes, or Odo, on the death of Louis the stammerer. Formosus supported the right of Charles the Simple, the hereditary claimant, who was consequently crowned King of France by the archbishop of Rheims in 893.
On the death of Wido, or Guido, a destructive war broke out in Italy between his son Lantbert, who was crowned em- peror by the pope, and Berengarius. The pope promised Arnulph, King of Germany, the imperial crown if he would expel both the belligerents from the country. Arnulph soon proceeded with a powerful army into Italy, and after many difficulties obtained possession of Rome. The pope received him at the entrance of St. Peter's church, and immediately crowned him emperor of the West, at the tomb of St. Peter. An oath of allegiance, rather remarkable for the terms in which it is framed, was exacted from the Roman nobility
5 Spanheim, Eccles. Annal. by G. Verif. les Dates, i. 2(J7- Wright, p. 428, 8vo, Camb. 1829. ^ See Art. de Verif. les Dates, i.
» Annal. Fuldens. a.d. 885 ; Art. de 2C7.
The Eastern bishops disregard the decrees of Rome. 149
on the occasion '. Notwithstanding this solemn adjuration, book iit.
the whole countiy, upon the retreat of Arnulph, was again < LJ '
in arms, till the influence of the pope restored peace, by the division of Lombardy between the two rival factions.
The legation from Constantinople, sent to negotiate with the preceding pope concerning the consecration of the young prince Stephen, as patriarch, and to treat on other subjects, arrived in Rome soon after the elevation of Formosus. The pope, however, remained inflexible in his refusal to grant the required dispensation ; but the decrees of the popes for- bidding the advancement of any who had been ordained by Photius, were entirely disregarded by the eastern bishops, who unanimously acknowledged the young patriarch \ For- mosus, through the influence of his legates, caused a decree to be passed by a council at Vienna, that no ecclesiastics of any rank whatever should be suflfered to admit females into their houses '\
Eudes, or Odo, paid no attention to the threat by which Formosus attempted to displace him from the sovereignty of Aquitaine, which he continued to hold till his death in 898, in resistance to all the zeal and efforts of the pope to place Charles on the throne ^ Though Luitprand, Fulco, Arch- bishop of Rheims, Auxilius, Flodoard, and others, speak in high terms of the character of Formosus ; his body is said to have been disinterred by order of one of his successors, for the sake of grossly insulting his unconscious relics, which were shamefully dragged through the streets and thrown into the Tyber ^
CXIII. Boniface VL, died 896.
This pope, after, as all historians state, a most flagitious life, died of the gout at the end of fifteen days from his elec- tion. Baronius and his followers do not allow him a place in the list of popes, contrary to Flodoard and others.
■* Juro per hsec omnia Dei mystcria, * Concil. ix. p. 427.
quod salvo honore et lege mea atque ^ Concil. ix. p. 434.
fidc'litate Domini Formosi Papte, fidelis ^ Flodoard, lib. iv. c. 2 ; Annal,
sum et ero omnibus diebus vitse meie Metens. ad ann. Labb. ib. 435.
Aruolfo Iraperatori, etc. — Annal. Ber- ' See Acts of Stephen VI. next
tin. et Fuldens. ad ann. 896. pagc.
150 Images are said to have saluted the dead body of Formosus.
CXIV. Stephen VL, died 897.
This pope is accused by Baronius of intruding himself into the holy see in the room of Boniface. This is the bishop who is said, immediately on his accession, to have ordered the body of his predecessor Formosus to be dug out of the grave, to be decked in pontifical robes, and placed on the papal throne in the midst of a synod which he assembled at Rome. He is then said, addressing the dead man, to have asked, " When thou wert Bishop of Porto, why, with a spirit of ambition, didst thou usurp the Roman Catholic seat?" Having then stripped off the vestments, he commanded the two fingers and thumb used in consecration to be cut off, and the body to be thrown into the Tyber ^
* Oiiuplirius Panvinius, in his Anno- tations on the Hfe of this pope, deems tlie account of the disinterment of the body of Formosus, its being placed in a council in the pontifical chair, and being interrogated by Stephen, a fable. " Quaj vero de ejus cadavere ex sepul- tura a successoribus eruto dicuntur, proculdubio fabuUe niagis quani vero similia sunt, quod ex illorum, qui -de ea re scripserunt, diversitate et repug- nantia facile liquet." — Onuph. Panv. Annot. in Platin. p. 145, edit. 4to, Colon. 161 1.
I cannot stop to enquire if the story be true. I must hasten on through the dull detail before me. I would not pursue the tedious narrative any longer; but if I omit the continued resistance to the continued papal aggression, I shall do injustice to those reformers who were justified by the continued tradition of the universal Church, as well as by the Holy Scriptures and by reason, in their opposition to the supre- macy of Rome. I will abridge and condense as much as possible. The monotony of the present part of my journey through history would be in- tolerable if I did not hope to render the result of my travels useful to others. The reader who is disposed to examine fully into the truth of this statement may consult Platina, in Formoso et Stephano VI. ; Luitprand, lib. i. c. viii.; Sigonius, de Regno Ital. lib. vi. ; Mornay du Plessis, Mysterium Iniqui- tatis, sen Hist. Pap. ^c. 4to, Goi'i- chemij l(j(J2, pp. 184, 185; Baronius, ad
ann. 897, art. 2; and I might add many others, each of whom have mentioned the affair with too many corroborative particulars to leave much reason to doubt that Stephen was guilty of this absurd and wicked outrage. Luitprand affimis, that when the body of Formo- sus was placed in its niche in the church, some images of saints saluted it. " This," says the historian, " I have often heard from many very pious men of the city of Rome." Hoc namque a religiosissimis Roraanae Urbis viris perspepe audivi. It is the last sentence in the book, ap. Labb. Concil.ix. 475.
When the French troops marched into Italy against Rome in the years 1796-7, many pictures of the Virgin Mary, in churches and edifices in Rome, and in various other parts of the country, are attested by many wit- nesses to have wept, winked, and opened and shut their eyes with sur- prise, gi'ief, and horror. The account of these prodigies is written in choice Italian, and has been translated into English, after a large subscription for the benefit of the faithful. It is enti- tled, " Official Memoirs of the Juridical Examination into the authenticity of the Miraculous Events which hap- pened at Rome in the years 1796-7, &c." Translated by the Rev. B. Ray- mond, 12mo, London, 1801.
I believe both stories equally. " Who shall decide when doctors disagree V says the English poet. The difficulty, however, is greater in the present in- stance. The imajies must have cen-
Decrees respecting Formosus rescinded and re-enacted. 151
At the desire of the Emperor Lantbert, Stephen reversed J^JJ^K ill.
the decree of Pope Hadrian, and renewed one of Eugene II. , ■ ^ '
by which the deputies of the emperor were to sanction and continue present at the consecration of future popes. After a Uttle more than a year he was expelled from the see, thrown into a dungeon, and there strangled '.
CXV. Romanus, died 897.
Platina and other writers mention this pope as having rescinded the acts of Stephen against the corpse of Formosus, and declared his proceedings contrary both to law and jus- tice ' ; he lived three months and a few days after his elec- tion, and nothing further is said of him.
CXVI. Theodore II., died 898.
Occupied the see twenty days. He restored to their several ranks those who had been ordained by Formosus, and caused the body of that pope to be taken out of the river, and entombed in the Vatican with great solemnity.
CXVII. John IX., died 903.
Soon after the election of John, Berengarius proceeded with an army to Rome, and compelled the pope to crown him emperor. After he had retired from the city, John assembled a council for the purpose of declaring that the ceremony having been performed by force, Lambert alone w'as entitled to allegiance as emperor. The acts of the synod which had been held by Stephen VI., to treat the body of Formosus with indignity, are said to have been burnt by order of this council ^
sured Stephen if they approved For- answer; " our withers ai'e unwrung." mosus. Luitprand tells us, that some " Art. de Verif. les Dates, i. 268 ;
images (qusedam imagines) only made Baron. Annal. 900, § 6. their bow to the body of Formosus. * " Stephani pontiiicis decreta et acta
Some of those, perhaps, preferred his statim improbat, abrogabatque." Pla-
rival Stephen. Who shall decide then, tina then goes on to remark : " Nihil
even among the popes themselves, when enim aliud in pontificali cogitabant
sauits vary, and images difter ? Do quam et uomen et dignitatem majorum
the quarrels of earth extend to heaven ? suorum extinguerent, quo nihil posset
Do they even animate the stone of the esse pejus et angustioris animi." — Dc
statue, the paint of the picture, or the Vit. Pontif. p. 68, edit. 1511. marble busts of the dead I Let Rome - Labb. Coneil. ix. 502.
15,2 John IX. makes various changes in the German sees.
BOOK m. In a letter to the bishops of the East, John forbade them to
• -^ — ' communicate with those who had been ordained by Photius.
He reversed, also, a decree of his predecessor Stephen V. concerning Augrim, Bishop of Langres, whose election Stephen had declared illegal, and appointed another in his room ; but whose election John pronounced legal, and reinstated him. He made various changes in the sees of Germany. He ap- pointed an archbishop and three bishops to superintend Moravia, which had been attached to the province of Saltz- burg. Theotmar, the archbishop of this see, made great complaints of this infringement of his rights, as being con- trary to the laws of the Church, and accused the pope of having been induced by money to exempt the Moravians from subjection to his see. Hatto, also. Archbishop of Mentz, writing to inform him of the death of Arnulph, and the election of his son, Louis IV. only seven years old, to the throne, represented, at the same time, the evils consequent on his having made the Moravian Church independent of the bishops of Bavaria ^ He died in December, a.d. 900.
CXVIII. Benedict IV., died 903.
We pass by the interference of Benedict between Beren- garius and Lambert. In the case of Augrim, mentioned in the preceding pontificate, the pope assembled a council in Rome, which was unanimously of opinion that injustice had been used in expelling Augrim from the see of Langres. Benedict wrote to the Gallican Bishops to recommend his restitution, which took place accordingly. No other acts worthy of observation are attributed to him. He died in the beginning of October, a.d. 903.
CXIX. Leo v., died 903.
This bishop was driven from his see, after two months' oc- cupation, by one of his own priests, named Christopher, by whom he was throv^'n in prison, where, according to Sigonius, he died ot grief, Dec. 6th, 903.
5 Labb. Concil. ix. Vdd. 498.
Impossible to decide ivhich Pope was the true Bishop of Rome. 153
BOOK III.
CXX. Christopher, died 904. chap. iv.
Obtained possession of the see by violence. He held it seven months, and was expelled by Sergms III. (in June, 904), who first confined him in a monastery, and then in a dun- geon, where he died, like his own victim, Leo, from the severity of his rival.
CXXI. Sergius III., died 910.
Alas for the apostolical succession in the Church of Rome ! It may be traced, if the ancient accounts are to be depended upon, in the Church of France to the age of the apostles. It may be traced to the earliest ages in the Oriental Churches, and in those of Aries, Milan, and Ravenna. In our own country it may be traced^from the present age to Augustiuj from Augustin to the Archbishops of Aries, who consecrated him to be the Metropolitan of all England, and from thence to the contemporaries of St. John. But, alas for the Church of Rome ! The regular succession is lost among the contend- ing popes and bishops of this period, who opposed, deposed, and overthrew each other; and who rescinded the decrees, and cancelled the episcopal, presbyterial, and diaconal ordi- nations of their rivals. Stephen VII., in the year 896, com- manded that all who had been ordained by Formosus should be deposed from their respective orders, and ordained again by himself*. The same custom was continued by the suc- cessful competitors for the pontifical chair, when they had ejected their opponents. To such an extent was this practice carried, that Auxilius wrote a treatise on the intestine divi- sions of the Church of Rome, and the consequence of such divisions on the ordinations, depositions, and reordinations of the Roman pontiffs, and on the validity of the ordinations by the deposed and reordained. It was scarcely possible at this period, in the contentions for the temporal dominion, result- ing from the deference paid to the see of Rome, to tell which pontiff was the canonical bishop of the apostolic see ; or what
* cuiictos quos Formosus or- . . . cuiictos ab eo ordinatos depo-
dinaverat, gradu proprio dopositos, suit et rcordinavit. Chron. Farfonso,
Stephanus ituruni ordiuavit. — Luit- ap. Murat. Ror. Ital. Script. III. ii.
prand, dc Pont. Koni. Vitis, ap. Lubb. lUi, fol. Mcdiol. 172(». Coiicil. ix. 4/5.
154 Liberty flourishes when controversies are free.
BOOK III. bishops were rightly ordained, or which priests were the
_^ ,■ legitimate dispensers of the sacraments \ Yet the world was
taught to believe that the salvation of the repentant and of the faithful, depended upon the succession of the teachers, instead of their own faith in the truth of God.
This was the disastrous period when the Church was at the mercy of the more powerful of the dukes, or petty chief- tains of Italy ^ I have no wish to draw aside the veil which time has suspended over the vices and follies of this age. I do not wish to repeat the reproaches or lamentations of Ba- ronius and others over the melancholy condition of the
• Church, when half-civilized barbarians and their " all power-
ful" courtezans regulated the succession of the Church. The mercy of God was continued to the humble believer who sought Him ; and we may be assured that millions of Chris- tians deplored the degradation of the Church.
Sergius III. was debased by every vice. Adelbert, the Marquis of Tuscany, having seized the castle of Angelo, sur- rendered it to his mistress Marozia, who, with her mother and sister, governed Rome. Marozia became the courtezan of Sergius as well as of Adelbert ; yet such ivas the power of the Bishop of Rome, that an appeal was made to him by the em- peror against the Patriarch of Constantinople. Vice did not destroy the papal supremacy. So dense was the torpor, that religious controversy, that great elicitor and establisher of truth, was extinguished. It is in churches as in states. Liberty flourishes in the latter, so long as parties in the state discuss questions of legislation and reform, and do not ex- tinguish each other ; and truth flourishes in the former, so long as controversy (which is only the effort to discover or confirm truth) is permitted to examine evidence, and affirm
' Sunt hsec infelicissima ilia tempora, cum alter alterius res gestas intrusus quisque Pontifex aboleret, qute dam- nans et execrans hujus temporis auc- tor Auxilius nomine, suo proseeutus est stylo; de quo litec Sigebertus, cum agit de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, viris illustribus : " Auxilius (inquit) scripsit Dialogum sub persona Inf'ensoris et Defensoris, divinis et canonicis exem- plis munitum, contra intestinara dis- cordiam Romanas ecclesice, scilicet, de ordin<ationibus,cxordinationibus, su])er- ordinationibus Ronianorum Pontifi-
cum, et ordinatorum ab eis exordina- tionibus, et superordinationibus." Hsec de argumento, in quo Auxilius suo ver- satus est commentario. Perpetrata sunt ista ab invasoribus et intrusis in Apostolicam sedem, Pontificis nomen usurpantibus, et illegitime thronum Apostolicum invadentibus. — Baron. Annal. 908, § 3; see further Morinus, de Ordinationibus, p. 348. Mabill. Ana- lecta, p. 28, edit. fol.
^ invasionibus et grassatio-
nibus tyrannorum Romana vehementer perturbatur ccclcsia. — Baron, ibid.
strong language of Baronius respecting this period. 155
or deny conclusions. Not only did the Emperor of Constanti- book itt. nople submit to his decision, but Sergius exempted Hamburgh CHARTV. from the see of Cologne. Never let it be forgotten, that the obedience of the churches of Europe to Rome was most profound, when papal vice was most flagitious, and the general igno- rance at its lowest depth of barbarism and darkness.
CXXII. Anastasius III., died 913, or 914.
This pope granted to the Bishop of Pavia permission to ride on a white horse, and to have the cross carried before him, and to sit also in council at the pope's left hand. The petition and the consent imply mutual or common degradation.
CXXIII. Lando, died 914.
Six months terminated the pontificate of Lando. The per- nicious effects resulting from all authority in church and state being given up to the notorious Theodora and her two daughters, are the topics which take the lead of everything else at this time. "Then," says one of the most earnest pleaders for the purity and excellency of the papacy, " it ap- pears, Christ slept in the sJiip with a deep sleep ; and vjhile these fierce ivinds were blowing, the ship laboured in the waves. He, I say, slept, who, feigning not to perceive these things, permitted them thus to take place so long as no avenger arose. And what seemed worse was, that the disciples were wanting who should have roused the Lord thus sleeping, by their clamours : they all snored together ^"
CXXIV. John X., died 928.
John was raised to the seat of supremacy by the courtezan, Theodora the younger, sister of Marozia. His first act was to form a coalition with Constantine VIII. and Berengarius. To induce the latter to confederate against the Saracens, John promised to confirm his right to the empire ; and accordingly
'' Dormiebat tunc plane alto (ut geret vindex, Et quod deterius vide-
apparet) sopore Christus in nave, cum, batur, deerant qui Domiuum sic dor-
hisce flantibus validis ventis, navis mientem clanioribus excitarent disci-
ipsa fluetibus operiretur. Dormiebat, puli, stcrtentibus omnibus. — Baronius,
inquam, qui ista non videre dissimu- x. 663. ians, sincrct sic fieri, dum non exsur-
156 John X. the first pope who heads an army.
BOOK III. crowned him again in the church of St. Peter, amidst the ac-
V • ; clamations of the clergy and nobihty. Succours from the
East also arrived, and John took the field with the emperor, being the first pope known to head an army. The expedition was successful. Italy was much disturbed during the ponti- ficate of John. Berengarius was murdered. Rodulph, King of Burgundy, seized on Lombardy, and was crowned at Pavia, by the Bishop of Milan. The Italian nobility drove him from his throne, on which, with the aid of papal in- fluence, they placed Hugh, Count of Provence, with whom the pope allied himself ^ He is said also to have leagued very zealously with Charles the Simple, King of France, against his rebellious subjects. Sisenand, Bishop of Com- postella, in Spain, who was looked upon as a man of much sanctity, was engaged by John to perform his daily devotions at the tomb of the holy apostle St. James, for the protection of his holiness during his life and at the hour of death. A dispute between the Churches of Spain and Rome had arisen in consequence of the former having adopted the Mosarabic missal, which in some points was different from the Roman. John consented that, with some slight alterations in the form used in the consecration of the host, Spain should continue to use the altered missal.
An embassy was sent by the Emperor Constantine, and Nicholas, Patriarch of Constantinople, to heal the breach between the eastern and western Churches ; and union was once more partially established. In 921, Richerius, abbot of Prom, had been chosen Bishop of Tongres. Hilduin had nevertheless been ordained by. Herman, Archbishop of Co- logne ; and both parties appealed to the pope, who assembled a council, which declared in favour of Richerius. Both parties were present in obedience to a summons from his holiness, who himself ordained Richerius to the see, and ex- communicated and deposed Hilduin ".
As John owed his rise to one notorious prostitute, so his fall was effected by another. Marozia, daughter of Theodora, jealous both of the pope and of the Marquis of Tuscany, Guy, the son of Adelbert, whom she had married, was
'^ Luitprand, lib. ii. c. 3, and lib. iii. Cologne, to this abbot Richerius, in c. 4. Labi). Concil. ix. 574.
" See the lettei- from Herman of
I
The vices of the popes did not affect their spiritual power. 157 anxious to remove both. She prevailed on her husband to book ill.
CH AP TV
enter the palace with a band of assassins. The pope's brother ._^ — .'
was murdered on the spot, and the pope dragged to a dun- geon, where he was soon destroyed by poison or suffocation *•
CXXV. Leo V]., died 929.
Italy was now governed by its nobles. Marozia, who had married Guy, Duke of Tuscany, raised Leo, called the Philo- sopher, to the see of Rome. He governed the Church seven months, and died 3rd February, 929.
CXXVl. Stephen VIL, died 931.
The same influence raised Stephen to the see. He reigned two years. No particular act of power is recorded of him.
CXXVII. John XL, died 936.
This pontiff is said to have been the son of Marozia and of Alberic of Tuscany, as Muratori affirms; but as others say, of Pope Sergius III.^ The celebrated abbey of Clugny, for Benedictine monks, was founded in his pontificate. He granted it a charter at the request of Hugo, King of Bur- gundy. Alberic, another son of Marozia, by Adelbert, Mar- quis of Tuscany, headed the Romans in a rebellion against Hugh, King of Italy, who, by a marriage with Marozia, had made himself master of Rome. The king escaped ; but Ma- rozia his queen, together with the pope, fell into the hands of Alberic, who confined both in prison during the remainder of their lives ^ All this, however, did not destroy the deference paid to the head of the see of Rome, though the pope urns only twenty-five years of age. All the great countries of Europe were convulsed by the contests of petty chieftains. Those of Italy were unheeded.
CXXVIII. Leo VIL, died 939.
Italy remained much disturbed by the contest between Hugh and Alberic. The pope at length restored peace by
' Alt. de Verif. les Dates, i. 260. ^ Luiti>raiid, lib. iii. c. 12 Art de
- ll)id. i. 270 Verif. Its Date.s, i. 270.
\h^ Papal spiritual powei' the foundationof papal temporal power.
BOOK IIL securing the dukedom of Rome to the latter. Leo addressed
^ ,^J .' a letter to the kings, dukes, and ecclesiastical powers of Germany,
exhorting them to correct abuses in their Churches. In answer to a question proposed by several bishops of Germany, he declares it to be no sin to put enchanters, wizards, and witches to death ; and in reply to another question from the same prelates, he condemns the marriages of priests as crimi- nal, and orders those to be deposed who contract matrimony *. He rebuked the abbot of the monastery of St. Martin in Tours, for suffering females to enter his gates ; and com- manded all who should presume in future so to do should be excommunicated ^ Gerhard, Bishop of Lorch, was made his vicar-general in Germany, and all the metropolitans and bishops of that country are enjoined to obey his commands ". All this was done though the convulsions which had long prevailed in Italy had reduced the papal temporal power to a shadow ; and though Alberic, with the title of consul, or patrician, selected the popes, and held them in dependence. The pope might now be called the Bishop of Rome only ; but the spiritual influence of the bishop was acknowledged in other sees. The poiver which ultimately subdued Europe was now merely spiritual. The popes were never so weak in direct temporal power as at this moment. The indirect temporal power, which was identified with the spiritual power, was continued. The distinction of Bellarmine ^, that the pope, as pope, possesses no direct and immediate temporal power % but only spiritual, was now exemplified. The indirect temporal power, dependent on the acknowledgment of his spiritual power, led the way to the asserting, as the opportu- nity occurred, of direct temporal power. The states of Europe which permit the spiritual power of the popes to be acknow- ledged in their kingdoms, however weak the pontiffs may appear to be in any one, two, or more generations ; may be assured that such spiritual power is always combined with indirect temporal power ; and according to the divisions of kings and people, which constitute national weakness, will it be identified with direct temporal power. In the utter, total,
^ Labb. Concil. ix. 506. tatem, sed solum spiritualem ; tamen,
* Id. 594. ^ Id. 595. ratione spiritualis, habere, saltern indi- ^ De Potestate Pontiff', lib. v. c. 1. recte, potestatem quandam, earaque
* Non habere directe et immediate summam, in tempoi'alibus. (Pontificem) ullam temporalem potes-
Chi-istianity, as the leaven of societij, little regarded. 159
resolute, perpetual exclusion of the spiritual power of Rome, book in. consists the whole safety, strength, union, and purity of states, ^^P- ^^'• churches, and religion, throughout the Christian world.
CXXIX. Stephen VIIL, died 942.
An Itahan noble. Count Hubert, made his son, Hugh, a boy five years of age. Archbishop of Rheims. He received the pall from Stephen VIII.'' Rodulph, Duke of Burgundy, made himself master of the city, and appointed an eligible person, named Artold, who, after holding the see a few years, was driven out, and the young metropolitan was restored, and consecrated by a council, held at Soissons '.
Stephen interfered in a contest between the nobles of France and their king, Louis d'Outremer, who, in 939, suc- ceeded his father, Charles the Simple, in the throne. The pope in a letter commands them, by virtue of his apostolic authority, to lay down their arms, and acknowledge Louis ; threatening them with excommunication if they did not com- ply, and acquaint him with their having done so. Yet this Bishop of Rome possessed little temporal poiver\
CXXX. Marinus IL, or Martinus, died 946.
Scio, Bishop of Capua, was severely censured and threatened with excommunication and deposition by this pontiff, if he did not restore a certain church, with its revenues, which he had conferred on one of his deacons, to some monks, who were about to build a monastery. Scio was further com- manded, on pain of excommunication, to have no intercourse at the altar with the deacon to whom the property had been given, until he had resigned it as charged \ All writers speak of Marinus (whom some call Martinus III.) as a great patron of monasteries, to which he granted various privileges and exemptions \ The monasteries were, at this time, the last refuge both of clerical ambition and clerical piety. ' The true Christianity which was to be the salt of the earth, or the leaven of society, was but little known. The salt ivas in a mass by itself; the leaven was undiffused. Yet the monas-
« Gall Christ, ix. 51, edit. 1751. ^ Leo Ostiensis, lib. i. cap "0
^ A^ ^fv-f t', n . • o,n ' ^"^^ ^^^^'"f- '^« I^^te^Vas above.
Art. de V^rif. les Dates, i. 270.
:w
160 The power of bishops now equal to ihat of kings.
BOOK III. teries were the useful preservers of both the Scriptures and .- .^J ', the classics, till the better days, when both could be as gene- rally appreciated as they had been, and as they ought to be. There is but httle unmixed evil. To the monasteries, too, we are indebted for much valuable literature, and for inestimable monuments of art and science.
CXXXI. Agapetus IL, died 956.
Hugh and Artold had each a pall, as Archbishop of Rheims, and both laid claim to the see ^ Agapetus ordered a council to assemble at Ingelheim, to decide the dispute, to which he sent Marinus, his legate, to preside in his name ^. Artold at- tended the council ; but Hugh, who was in possession, re- fused to comply with the summons, and was excommunicated. Marinus presided soon after at another council, held at Treves \ which confirmed the sentence of that of Ingelheim, and pronounced Hugh guilty of treachery and rebellion. The bishops who ordained Hugh were also excommunicated and suspended. The pope confirmed these sentences, and excom- municated Hugh a third time, in a council held in Rome ", on the return of the legates. The dignity of the pall having been conferred on each of the two rivals, is a circumstance which enforces an inference, which the advocates of papal infallibility are left to reconcile with that infallibility as they may think best.
Agapetus settled a long and invidious dispute between the Archbishops of Saltzburg and Lorch, who each claimed juris- diction over Pannonia. He attached the eastern portion, with Moravia, to Lorch, and united the western to Saltzburg ". He added privileges, also, to the see of Hamburgh, and made the archbishop of that province his vicar over all Germany. Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, received from him a pall. The canons of Odo, in which the King of England and his nobles are admonished to obey the archbishops and bishops with all humility, are enumerated by Spelman '. The power of archbishops and bishops was at this time as great or greater than that of kings. Odo was the archbishop who ex- communicated Edwy, the result of which was, the revolt of
•' Gall. Clii-ist. ix. 51. * Labb. ix. 634. " Id. fiU!.
fi Labb. ix. (,23. ' Id. (i:i2. * Coucil. i. 415. Labb. ix. (>().0.
TJie Pope in distress, submits to the German imperial power. 1 61
his subjects. The ecclesiastical everywhere conquered the book hi civil power.
CHAP. IV.
CXXXII. John XIL, died 963.
A son of Alberic, who had succeeded his father in the dukedom of Rome, usurped the papal chair on the death of Agapetus. He was then only eighteen years of age, and for the name Octavian, he adopted that of John '. He began his career by invading, at the head of a considerable army, the territory of Pandulph, Prince of Capua, who, aided by Gir- ulph. Prince of Salerno, gained a complete victory over the young pope. This defeat entirely quenched his zeal for military glory ; and he resigned himself to sensuality. Beren- garius, King of Italy, had given his son, Adelbert, joint authority with him in the government. They exercised their power with so much tyranny, that the pope, instead of appeal- ing for aid to the nobles of Italy, applied to Otho, King of Ger- many. The legates were authorized to offer to him the im- perial crown, if he would relieve the church and state from the oppression which crushed them. This may be considered as the recommencement of an imperial temporal power, for a short time, over the popes. Otho accepted the proposal, and on reaching Pavia with his army, was hailed by the chief princes and bishops of Italy. On proceeding to Rome, he was crowned and anointed with the usual forms and solemnity. He promised, on oath, to defend the see of St. Peter, with all the donations and possessions belonging to the Church, against all enemies. The pope and Romans, on the other hand, swore allegiance to him as their legitimate sovereign. The empire was thus transferred to the German princes ^
Being relieved from danger, and the possession of his do- mains being secured, the young pope again plunged into the most depraved course of debauchery and vice. His solemn oath of fidelity to the emperor, for deliverance from the oppression of Berengarius and Adelbert, was broken by his openly treat- ing with the latter, and admitting him into the city. The emperor, in consequence, returned to Rome ; and having ex- pelled the enemy, summoned a council, to examine into the conduct of the pope, who had fled on the approach of the
1 Art. de Ve'rif. les Dates, i. 271. 2 Labb. Coiipil. ix. 643.
VOL. II. M
162 John XII. is deposed by an imperial council at Rome.
BOOK III. imperial army. Thirteen cardinal priests, three cardinal u_ ^' ; deacons, the archbishops of Hamburgh and Treves, the bishops of Minden and of Spire, nearly all the bishops of Italy, with many other ecclesiastics and nobility, composed the council, over which Otho himself presided. The pope was summoned to answer the charges against him. He did not appear. On the emperor enquiring why it was that his holiness absented himself from so venerable and august an assembly, surprise was expressed at the question, as the open vices and crimes of the pope were notorious throughout the city. A list of his enormities was then enumerated, among which were murder, sacrilege, perjury, and incest with his own sisters. A letter was then sent to him, containing the charges, which the emperor and synod invited him to ap- pear before them and to refute ; they pledged themselves, that all respect and protection should await him. John returned a very brief answer, containing an excommunication of the whole assembly. The synod had dispatched two cardinals pre- vious to the decision of the council, to inform him of the measures about to be passed ; but the pope had departed no- body knew whither, and they returned to Rome with the letter. The emperor then addressed the council, on the total disregard of the allegiance John had sworn on the body of St. Peter, and of his shortly afterwards raising sedition in the city, and arming himself against his deliverer and sovereign. The council concluded their judgment upon him in substance as follows : " We therefore beg that this monster, without one single virtue to atone for his numberless vices, may be driven from the apostolic see; and that one who will prove agood exam- ple, be set in his placed Such were the proceedings at Rome ;
' See the acts of this Council in Luitprand, vi. G — 11 ; Labb. Concil. ix. 648 ; Baron, a.d. 903, § 3, seqq. The legitimacy of this council is aclcnow- ledged by Platina and Onuphrius Pan- vinus, and otliei' more ancient autho- rities, thougli some modern writers have set it down as a, pseudo-synod ; and Leo VIII. as a pseudo-pope, because he was elected by it : but the evidence of the older writers, supported by the facts and circumstances by which it is corroborated, places the conduct of John XII., and the transactions of the council against him, on too good a foundation to be shaken by modern
prejudices. See also Gratian, p. i. Dist. Ixiii. c. 24. In synodo congre- gata Romae in ecclesia sancti Salva- toris, ad exemplum B. Hadriani, apos- tolicae sedis antistitis, &c. anno 963.
Baronius wishes to throw discredit on the authenticity of this constitution of Gratian, in consequence of the ex- pressi(m, et ut ipse sit patricius et rex. But Peter Damian, Discept. sj'nod. A.D. 1062, says, Tu hoe negare non potes, quod Henricus Imporator factus et Patricius Romanorum, a quibus accepit in electione super ordinando pontifice principatum. — Baron, a.d. 1062, § 30.
Disgraceful contentions at Rome. 163
yet at this very time, so great was the ecclesiastical power, that book hi. Dunstan was convulsing England by enforcing the celibacy ^ ^' ' of the clergy. The nobility, clergy, and people of Rome, on the breaking up of the council, renewed their oath of alle- giance to the emperor.
CXXXIII. Leo VIIL, died 965.
Order having been restored by the emperor, and the elec- tion and consecration of Leo being complete to the satisfac- tion of the Romans *, a great part of the German army was ordered home. This was no sooner done, than the depraved libertine, John, who had been condemned by the council, began to attempt openly to revenge himself. The promise to share the immense treasures of St. Peter with those who should assist him in recovering his lost dignity, induced num- bers of the fickle multitude to rebel. The emperor had re- tained sufficient strength, however, to overthrow them in the first engagement. Another oath of allegiance from the dis- affected, with hostages for its performance, being given, re- stored the city once more to tranquillity. As Otho was de- sirous to return to Germany, he, with the approbation of Leo "VIIL, set the hostages at liberty, and proceeded on his journey. He had not been long absent, before the deposed libertine began to lay new schemes to reinstate himself. This was to be done by the assassination of Leo, in which some of the most distinguished of his mistresses were to be chief agents. These abandoned women had not much difficulty in finding accomplices among the higher classes ; and the young debauchee had soon a sufficient number of partizans to seize upon the Lateran palace, into which they carried him in triumph. Leo escaped, and joined the emperor, who was de- tained at Camarino. Two of his friends were, however, seized, one of whom was doomed to the loss of his right hand, while the other was deprived of his tongue, his nose, and two of his fingers ^ John, immediately on his restoration, sum- moned a council, which deposed Leo, and declared all his or- dinations to be null and void. Those, also, who had been concerned in raising Leo to the see, were degraded, anathe-
* Luitprand, lib. vi. c. 2, namelv, ^ Luitprand, ut supra. 22 Nov. 963.
M 2
164 Power to nominate the Pope again conferred on an Emperor.
BOOK III. matized, or deposed *'. John did not long survive this revenge.
V 1^ J ; His deathblow was given to him under circumstances
which justified all the accusations made against him, and proved the justice of his deposition ^
The death of John did not put an end to the rebellion which he and his companions in debauchery had excited. They elevated Benedict the Protoscrinarius, to the papal seat, 14th May, 964. This caused the return of the emperor to Rome, to redress the treachery of the faction. They sur- rendered to the emperor, and Leo was restored by another synod. In this assembly Benedict was required to seat him- self on the floor. His pastoral staff was taken from him and broken. Being stripped of all his pontifical insignia, he was permitted to go into banishment as a deacon ^ A constitu- tion, or decree, to confer on Otho, and his successors for ever, the power of nominating the pope, is said to have been enacted at this synod, which, though it is registered in the canon law, is thought by some to have been a forgery. In this decree, Leo yielded to Otho all the countries and territo- ries given to the Roman Church by other princes and empe- rors ^ During the whole of this time monasteries were built, celibacy enforced, bishops were made, who, with dukes and counts, assumed and exercised royal prerogatives. The factions of the Guelphs and Gibbelines originated at the present time.
CXXXIV. John XIIL, died 972.
In conformity with their oath and decree, the Romans, on the death of Leo, sent an embassy into Saxony, to request the emperor to appoint another pope, but, satisfied with this instance of their obedience, he permitted them to make choice of a successor. They chose Benedict, who had been deposed, and was then in exile. Before the news reached him, he died; and John XIII. was unanimously chosen. He was then Bishop of Narni, from which see he was translated to the pontificate, 1st October, 965. John soon offended the
" Baron, a.d. 964. ^ Pagi, a.d. 964. See the questions
^ Baronius does not deny that he respecting it discussed by the Bene-
was liilled — dum se cujusdani vii'i dictines. — Art. de Vt?rif. les Dates, i.
uxore oblectaret, annal. 964. 272. s Luitprand, lib, vi. cap. 2.
Otho restores to Rome the •cities taken by Berengariiis. 165
Roman nobility by his haughty behaviour. They drove him book iit. from his see, and he sought refuge in Capua. Still, however, P'^'^^ " ^^; the temporal vexations of the popes did not prevent the exercise of their spiritual power. He remained ten months under the protection of prince Pandulph, when he was recalled; but during his absence he conferred on Capua the dignity of a metro- politan city '. Beneventum had, also^ been made an archi- episcopal see by the emperor, Avho had at this time founded many other sees in Italy. The emperor Otho, who had en- dured so many provocations from the perfidy of the Romans, marched into Italy, for the purpose of restoring the pope and putting down the rebels, inflicting the severest punishments. He then repaired to Ravenna, accompanied by the pope, and there held a council, which was attended by most of the Bishops of Italy, France, and Germany ^ At this council, Ravenna, with its revenues, and all the other donations of Pepin and Charlemagne, which Berengarius and Adelbert had seized, were again solemnly made over to St. Peter. Before the emperor left Lombardy, another council of the Bishops of Italy, France, and Germany assembled at his desire to in- stitute a new metropolitan see in the city of Magdeburg, and to found bishoprics in the cities of Brandenburg, Posna, Mersperg, Missein, Zittau, and Prague, which, with other sees already existing, and others to be created, when required by further conversions, were to be subject to the Archbishop of Magdeburgh, who received the pall from John XIII. Still further to insure his submission to Rome, the dignity of Primate of Germany was conferred upon him \
Otho, the son of the emperor, visited the tombs of the holy apostles, by invitation from the pontiff, and was accom- panied by his father. On this occasion he received the imperial croAvn from the pope, and became a partner in the empire, on Christmas-day, 967 *.
The privileges which had been conferred on the monastery of Glastonbury by King Edgar, in a council held in London, in the year 971, are said to have been confirmed by John XIII. ^
The custom of christening bells with the name of some
1 Labb. ix. 662. * Will. Malmesb. de Reg. Augl. ii.
2 Labb. ix. 667. 8, vol. i. p. 245, edit. Hardy, Lond. ' Id. col. 676. 1840.
* Art. de Ve'rif. Ics Dates, i. 272.
166 Quarrels between the Tuscan nobles and the Popes.
BOOK III. saint, in order to associate in the mind the idea, that the ^ ' ; voice of that saint to whom any bell was consecrated, was calling the people to worship, was an invention of this age ^
CXXXV. Benedict VI., died 974.
The emperor Otho I. who had reduced the Italian states to better order than had prevailed before his reign, was no sooner in his tomb than the Tuscan faction began again to revive sedition. Crescentius, son of the younger Theodora, with many of the nobility, became impatient of submission to the emperor, and entering the Lateran palace with vio- lence, made the pope their prisoner. He is reported to have been strangled in the castle of St. Angelo. No other act of power during this pontificate is recorded, except the exten- sion of the privileges of the see of Saltzburg '.
CXXXVI. Domnus, or Bonus II., died 974 or 975.
Cincius Amabricus Augenus, a son of Theodora', was now at the head of one of the strong seditious parties of Italy. He had caused Benedict VI. to be put to death, and raised a deacon named Franco to the see. Franco being opposed by the Tuscan faction, made his escape to Constan- tinople with the property of the apostolic treasury. Of Domnus, who was chosen by the Tuscans, nothing remark- able is related. At this period, the doctrine of transubstan- tiation may be shown, from the homilies of -^Ifric, who lived in the reign of Ethelred, certainly to have been unknown to the Church of England ', although this has recently been disputed by Dr. Lingard in his History of the Anglo-Saxon Church.
CXXXVII. Benedict VIL, died 983.
The emperor, to whom the power of electing had now been given, requested Majolus, the Abbot of Clugny, to accept the holy see. This ecclesiastic refused the oiler, and the depu- ties of the emperor joined the Tuscan party in promoting Benedict VIL, of whom nothing is recorded but a decree in
^ So says Baronius, a.d. 968 ; but two hundred years before this time.
Martene, de Antiq. Ecclesise Retibus, ' Labb. ix. 71 !•
iii. 368, ed. Rotom. 1702, has shown * Ap. Muratori, iii. ii. 332,
that the custom existed in France about ' See Soames's Bampton Lectures.
The spiritual power uninjured by political disputes. 167
council against simoniacal ordinations \ The spiritual power book hi. remained, in spite of imperial interference in the papal ;
elections.
CXXXVIII. John XIV., {Franco, or Boniface VII. ; John, son of Robert,) died 985.
The pope who took the name of John XIV. was promoted to the pontificate from the see of Pavia, in November, 983. He occupied the chair of St. Peter about seven months. Franco, who had fled to Constantinople after plundering the holy treasury, hearing of the death of Otho II., made his appearance in Rome ; and abetted by his faction, put John to death in the castle of St. Angelo. To render his death certain, and thus to prevent any attempt at insurrection by the friends of John, he commanded the public exhibition of his dead body ^. He did not long enjoy the benefit of this murder. His death was sudden, and his tyranny and vice were revenged upon his body after death, which is said to have received numberless dagger wounds, and to have been dragged through the kennels, and left unburied in the street. This pope is called in the catalogues which deign to mention him, Boniface VII.*
John, the son of Robert, is said by some writers to have followed Franco, or Boniface VII., in the list of popes, but neither of them are generally considered to have been law- fully appointed \ He is styled John XV. ^
CXXXIX. John XV. {or XVI.), died 996.
On the election of John XV., Crescentius, a Roman noble, persuaded the citizens to reject the authority both of the pope and of the emperor. The fortress of St. Angelo had fallen into his possession ; and the pope, alarmed for his own safety, fled to Tuscany. Otho III., King of Germany, pro- mised to relieve Rome, but Crescentius assured him that he
* Labb. ix. 1244. mortales nequitia superans. See Giese- 2 Art. de Ve'rif. les Dates, i. 273. ler, ii. 80, note I?.
* Apud Barou. ad an. 985. Im- * Tlie chronicle of St. Maxentius mediately on the death of Otho II., says, that tlu'cc apostolici died in the Boniface VII. returned, and John year 985 at Rome ; John XIV., Boni- XIV. died in prison 984; Boniface VII. face VII., and John the Elect.
is styled horrendum moiistrum, cuuctos ■' Art. de Ve'rif. les Dates, i. 273.
168 The first canonization of Saints by the Pope.
BOOK III. should be free from molestation, and he returned. A quar-
r*HAP TV • •
< ^J -■ rel having arisen between the Duke of Normandy and Ethel- red, King of England, the pope sent a legate into England, in 991, to mediate between them ^
In a council of the Lateran assembled by this pope, an account was read of the miracles of Ulderic, Bishop of Avigusta, and it was decreed that, as a saint reigning with Christ in heaven, Ulderic might be worshipped. This was the first instance of the canonization of saints \ So great was the spiritual power of Rome when its temporal power loas lowest.
The celebrated Hugh Capet had been placed on the French throne, and the see of Rheims having become vacant, the pope appointed Arnulf, natui'al brother of the Duke of Lor- raine, and uncle to the late king, the legitimate heir to the throne, metropolitan of that province, thus endeavouring to obtain his acquiescence in the change of dynasty ^ Hugh was a descendant of Childebrand, brother of Charles Martel. The Carlovingian line was thus excluded Irom the throne. Arnulf took the usual oath of allegiance to Hugh Capet, and entered on his archbishopric, but shortly after he opened the gate of the city to his brother, then at war for the crown. The bishops of the province complained to the pope of this perfidy on the part of Arnulf, and declared their intention to hold a synod on the subject. The party of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, had gained his holiness to their side, and the lega- tion from the bishops was treated with disrespect, and returned. Under these circumstances that celebrated Council of Rheims met in 991 '. In the first session, Arnulf was convicted of high treason ; and in the second, he was solemnly deposed, and delivered the crozier and ring to King Hugh, who, with his son Prince Robert, were present, and assisted at the council. The celebrated Gerbert, afterwards Pope Sylvester II., was then appointed to the archbishopric, in a manner that
'' Will, de Malmes. de Reg. lib. ii. were collected by Gerbert, and were
c. 10. published in the Magdeburg Centuria-
'' Labb. Concil. ix. 741. See further, tors. See Cent. x. c. 9, p. 457, et seq.,
Benedictus papa, xiv. De Servorum and also Labb. Concil. ix. 738. They
Dei Beatificatione, i. viii. § 2. 0pp. i. were pronounced by Baronius to be
23, where the subject is fully discussed, spurious, but their authenticity has
* Labb. Concil. ix. 734. Gall. Christ, been set at rest by several satisfactory
ix. 59. authorities. — See Mansi Concil. torn.
' The acts of this memorable synod xix. p. 107, et seq.
The canons of the Church pleaded by Gerbert, against Rome. 169
evinced the highest degree of contempt for the opposition of book hi.
the Roman pontiff to these proceedings. A long and important ^J — -"
controversy ensued between the pope and the Galilean bishops who composed the council, in which King Hugh took a part, and in which the independence of the council was ably vin- dicated, and the justice of its decrees maintained by Gerbert, and by Arnold, Bishop of Orleans '. It was at length agreed that a council should assemble at Monson ', in 995, before which the proceedings of the Council at Rheims should be examined ; and it was before this assembly that Gerbert par- ticularly distinguished himself by his able support of the canons of the Universal Church against the usurpations of Rome ; and though finally deposed by a council in which papal influence prevailed, his resistance to the power of Rome was maintained with ability, vigour, and decision, on the ground of the efficacy of the canons against the despotic claims of the pontiffs to an unlimited control over all churches \
CXL. Gregory V., died 999.
This pope was the nephew of the emperor Otho III., and a Saxon. Soon after his ordination he crowned his uncle em- peror (May 31, 996), who, after the Romans had solemnly sworn allegiance to him, returned with his army from Rome into Germany. On his departure, the ambition of Crescen- tius was again inflamed, and under the plea of restoring liberty to Rome, by setting aside the imperial jurisdiction,
* See Gieseler, vol. ii. p. 81, notes the tmth, says Spanheim, was Ger-
19, 20, who says, Arnold was accused bert, a man of extensive learning, the
of having betrayed Rheims, a.d. 989, preceptor of Otho III. and Robert I.,
to Charles, Duke of Lorraine, who pre- son of Hugh Capet. He was raised to
tended to the ci-own. Hugh Capet at the papal see by the name of Sylvester
first applied to the pope, but after- II. No one had delineated, with more
wards having got Arnold m his power, tinith and feeling, the mournful appear-
he held the council referred to. Au ance of the Church, the tyranny of the
attempt was made at first, by certain popes, antichrist sitting in the temple
monks, to prove from the Pseudo-Isi- of God, and the mystery of iniquity, than
doriaua, that Arnold ought first of all Gerbert did before he himself became
to be restored to his bishopric, and pope. The fidelity of Gerbert excites
that all imjotki ejjiscoporum belonged to the spleen of Baronius; he calls him at
the see of Rome. This was especially that time, " a mad, foolish, raging,
opposed by Arnulphus, Episcopus Au- blaspheming, heretical, and schismatic
relianensis. At length, Arnulf of man," yet he was afterwards a pontiff,
Rheims acknowledged the offence, and and he then, at once, became infallible,
voluntarily resigned his place. — Spanheim, Eccles. Annal. bv G.
2 Labb. Coneil. ix. 747. Wright, pp. 440, 447, edit. 1829. '
•' But the most strikuig witness of
1 70 Obedience to Rome a principle of honour and religion.
BOOK III. and substituting the authority of the native princes of Italy,
■ ) he assumed the title of consul and prince of the republic.
On this usurpation Gregory fled, and Crescentius gave the see to Philagathus, Bishop of Placentia, who took the name of John, and is said to have bid most money for the dignity, and to have obtained that money by the plunder of his own see *. He was styled by the imperialists, Antipope. The emperor returned with a force sufficient to restore order ; and with Gregory, who awaited his arrival at Pavia, he marched direct to Rome. Crescentius not having force sufficient to resist the emperor, retired to St. Angelo, where being made prisoner, he was condemned to lose his head.
Gregory, on being restored, held a council at Rome, in which it was decreed, that Robert L, King of France, should repudiate his queen Bertha, on account of his having been godfather to one of her infants. The marriage on this ground being declared incestuous, he was sentenced to a seven years' penance, on pain of being cut off from the communion of the faithful. The same sentence was also pronounced against Bertha. The bishops, too, who had assisted at the marriage, were suspended, until forgiveness was granted on their peti- tion. No regard was at first paid by either the king or Bertha to the sentence ; but such was the spiritual power of the papacy, or so great was the dread of excommunication, where adherence to the see of Rome was a point of honour, as well as a principle of religion; that the king's servants are said to have shown such antipathy to touch any thing used by him and the queen, that it was with difficulty they could be supplied with the necessaries of life \ It is said that all the bishops went to Rome in company with the king and queen, to obtain absolution from the pope.
* See his various acts mentioned in de eadem Berta fieri praeceptiim est, the Italia Sacra of Ughelli, ii. 206. can. i. And the consequence is stated His hands and ears were cut off, his by Peter Daniian. Undique populum eyes put out, and he was compelled to terror invasit, ut ab ejus miiversi so- ride on an ass, with his face to the tail, cietate recederent, nee prseter duos sibi
* Concil. Rom. ann. 998 ; Mansi, servulos ad necessarii victus obsequiura xix. p. 225 ; Can. I. Labb. Concil. ix. remanerent. Qui tamen et ipsi omnia 772. Ut rex Robertus consanguineam vasa, in quibus rex edebat vel bibebat, suam Bertam, quam contra leges in percepto cibo, abominabilia judicantes, uxorem duxit, derelinquat, et septem pabulum ignibus exliibebaut. — Apud annorum poenitentiam agat. . . . Quod Gieseler, ii. 82, note 22.
si non fecerit, anathema sit. Idemque
Sylvester II. declares the King of Hungary perpetual legate. 171
BOOK III.
CXLI. Sylvester II., died 1003. chap^.
On the death of Gregory, the emperor Otho recommended to the pontifical seat his preceptor, Gerbert, who had con- tended against the learned, zealous, and eloquent John XV. at the council of Rheims, of which see he had been appointed metropolitan. The emperor had previously appointed him to the archbishopric of Ravenna ^ His pontificate rather ex- ceeded four years, in which time his principal act of poiver was his sending to St. Stephen I., King of Hungary, the crown used to the present time in crowning the Kings of Hungary ; and Avith which he added to the title of king, that of perpetual legate to the holy see. He granted also the honour of having the cross borne before him, as a mark of distinction on ac- count of the labour he had bestowed in the conversion of his subjects. Among his numerous letters, of which a collection, containing one hundred and sixty, was printed in Paris, in 1611, is one in which he exhorts the universal Church, in the name of the city of Jerusalem, to rescue from the infidel power the holy places where Christ was born, where He preached his Gospel of salvation, and where He died to save mankind. This is the first public appeal for exciting a cru- sade.
CXLII. John XVII. \ died 1003.
Concerning the character or actions of this pope, history says nothing. He occupied the see not quite five months.
CXLIII. John XVIII., died 1009.
According to a special agreement made with Otho I., the Archbishops of Magdeburg were to be consecrated by none but the pope. As soon as this pontiff had possession of the holy see, he appointed a legate to ordain in his name a new metropoli- tan of that province, named Taquino. Bamberg, in Germany, was made a bishopric, in his time, by Henry, King of Bava- ria ; but instead of being placed under the jurisdiction of a
* The Life of Sylvester II. has ^ The antipope John, mentioned in been recently published by Dr. C. the previous page, does not enter into F. Hock, of Vienna. This work is the list of pontiffs ; this pope, there- reviewed in the D«W«« 7?€ri€ir, January fore, is styled John XVII. — Sec Art. to May, 1839. de Verif. les Dates, i. 274.
172 Resistance of the French bishops to Rome.
BOOK III. German metropolitan, it was annexed to the see of Rome \ v___^J_^' In consequence of John XVIII. having promoted the tempo- rary union of the eastern and western Churches, his name was added to those of the patriarchs of Constantinople, in the celebration of mass in the churches of that city*. Elphege having been, at this time, raised to the see of Canterbury, went to Rome to procure a pall ; and is said to have been received by this pope with more than common marks of distinction '"• Elphege was a pious and disinterested ecclesiastic, who sacri- ficed his own life some years after, to protect his people from the Danes.
CXLIV. Sergius IV., died 1012.
The French Church still continued to be jealous of papal en- croachment. Hugh, Archbishop of Tours, complained of Sergius sending a legate to consecrate a monastery, founded in his diocese '. The xVrchbishop of Hamburg, however, and the Bishop of Verdun, having a dispute regarding the parish of Ramsola, referred the case to his holiness, who gave judg- ment in favour of the archbishop. These instances of appeal neutralized the resistance of the bishops.
CXLV. Benedict VIIL, died 1024.
This pope was a son of the Count of Tusculum. He is said to have been raised to the see by his family, while Sergius was yet living ^ His right was disputed by a rival, named Gregory, who drove him from his seat. He fled to Germany, and appealed to Henry the Second, who, though he had been on the throne since 1002, had not been crowned. The Ro- mans hearing that the king was on his march to restore Benedict, recalled him ; and the coronation of Henry and his Queen Cunegunda, was celebrated in 1014, at Rome, with more than usual splendour'. All the donations of Pepin, Charlemagne, and the Cthos, were severally confirmed by the diploma of the present emperor ; but, at the same time, the
* Labb. Concil. ix. 783, seqq. and ^ Yet this is disputed by some
810. writers. See Art. de V^rif. les Dates,
9 Ap. Baron, ad ann. 1009. i. 274.
1" Ostern. inVit Sancti Elpliegl, ap. ^ On Sunday, 24th Feb., according
Warteni Angl. Sacr. ii. 130. to Muratori.
» Gall. Christ, i. 755, edit. 1C56.
Friendship between the Pojie and the Emperor. 1 73
claim of the emperor, or his special commissioners, to be book iii. present at the consecration of the sovereign pontiffs, was re- ['H^P- ^^- newed. The emperor is said to have commanded the creed to be sung after the Gospel, in the church of Rome, as in other churches. The Romans had refused to do so, on the plea that Rome had adhered to the rule of St. Peter, and left other churches, who disagreed with their custom, and were infected with heresy, to sing the creed *.
The Saracens having again become troublesome, the pope required all bishops and friends of the Church to raise forces to expel the invaders. A strong army, with a fleet of armed vessels having been raised, his holiness took the command, gained a decisive victory, and relieved the country *.
This pope is said to have taken revenge on a synagogue of Jews, who had derided the worship of the cross on Good- Friday. A violent storm happened to visit Rome at the time, by which many lives were lost, and great damage done ; and the Roman priests ascribed these diastrous consequences to the insult the cross had received from the Jews''.
In 1019, by invitation from the emperor Henry, Benedict visited him in Germany. On this occasion he consecrated a new church, which had been built by the emperor in Bam- berg, when that diocese was confirmed to the pope and his successors ^
In a council held at Pavia, he spoke strongly concerning the libertinism of the clergy, and canons were passed for the stricter enforcement of the decrees which forbade females to live with clerks. Other canons of this council declare the children of clerks to be slaves to the Church to which their fathers belonged. It was also decreed that no vassal, either clerical or laic, should make purchases of land as a freeman. These decrees were signed by his holiness, by the Archbishop of Milan, by several bishops, and ratified by the emperor, who, by desire of the pope, embodied them in an imperial edict, as the law of the empire *.
In a letter to the Archbishop of Lyons, and to twenty-two other prelates of France, they are severally ordered to excom-
* Berno Augien. de Missa, c. ii. ^ Leo Ostiensis, ii. 47, ap. Labb. ap. Isower. ibid.
5 Labb. Concil. ix. 810. « Id. 819, seqq.
« Id. 810.
1 74 The deepest temporal degradation of Rome
BOOK III. municate all persons who usurp any possessions of the rao- CHAP. IV. jjas|-gj.y of Clugny, declaring them all to be excommunicated by him, who shall be guilty of such a trespass. With this pope, the apostolic see begins to be treated as a family property of the Counts of Tuscany. Resistance to Rome as a Church was now unknown '.
CXLVI. John XIX,, died 1033.
So degraded had the papal dignity now become by the fac- tions and parties of Rome, that it was disposed of as mer- chandise to the highest bidder. John XIX. was brother of the former pope, Benedict VIII., and though only a layman when Benedict died, was able by money, and the influence of his family, to obtain possession of the apostolic chair ', and that without any weakening of the papal spiritual influence. Basilius, the emperor of the East, at this time sent an em- bassy to Rome for the special purpose of obtaining the con- sent of the pope, to allow the patriarch of Constantinople to style himself Universal Bishop of the East. The request was accompanied by presents of great value. The answer, however, after much discussion was, that none but the suc- cessors of St. Peter in the Roman see could use such title.
By the death of Henry 11. the sceptre fell into the hands of Conrad II., w^ho, having restored some towns which had declared themselves independent of the apostolic see, was honoured, together with his queen Gisela, with a splendid coronation, Easter, 1027. Among other distinguished per- sonages who were present at the august ceremony, were Canute, King of England, and Rudolph, King of Burgundy, the former of whom, in conformity with a prevailing supersti- tion of that age, had made a pilgrimage to Rome. Canute wrote from Rome to the bishops and nobles of England, to tell them of his successful application for the remission of such tolls and taxes as were levied on his subjects, in passing
^ Labb. Concil. 810. ut quemcunque pro siio libitu imprre-
* Johannes iste, cognoraento Ro- sentiarum ad pontificatus officium
manus, frater illius Benedict!, cui in delegerint, mutate nomine quod illi
episcopatum successerat, largitione pe- prius fuerat, aliquo magnorum pontifi-
cuniae repente ex laicali ordine neo- cum nomine ilium appellari decernant;
phytus constitutus est Preesul. Sed in- re vera quem si non meritum rei, saltern
solentia Romanorum adinvenit palli- nomen extollat. — Glaber Radulph IV.
andaj subdolositatis ridiculum; scilicet, c. 1, ap. Gieseler, ii. 83, n. 26.
does not wealcen the strength of its spiritual usurpation, 1 75 through the dominions of certain princes, either for the sake book hi.
CHAP TV
of trade or pilgrimage, to Rome; and that the pope had also ^ ^ — ''
promised to diminish the exorbitant charges which had been made on his archbishops for palls ^ The pall began to be an object of ambition. A bishop of Girona, in Spain, offered to redeem thirty papal subjects annually from Saracen slavery, if the sovereign pontiff would permit him to wear the pall on twelve solemn anniversaries every year. The permission was granted to him, but not to his successors. No power is so esteemed as that which confers imaginary honours ; for ambition is more powerful than avarice. The spiritual power of Rome, notwithstanding the corrupt manner in which the see was obtained, was obviously increasing. So strangely, too, was it sometimes exercised, that Odilo, Abbot of Clugny, was threatened with excommunication, because he declined to accept from John, the rich archbishopric of Lyons '. Yet the Galilean Church resisted the papal domination, though faintly and weakly. The Bishops of France, in a council held in Limoges, in 1031, complained of the encouragement given to persons, excommunicated by them, to go to Rome as pilgrims, where they obtained the papal absolution. The pope replied, that he did not desire to be the cause of any misunderstanding or schism ; and accordingly rescinded the absolution of the count of Auvergne, requesting the bishops to inform the count, that, instead of his absolution and blessing, his curse should attend him, if he failed to satisfy his bishop by whom he had been excommunicated *. In other instances, too, this pope acceded to the decrees of the Galilean Bishops ^
2 Wilkins, i. p. 297. Spelman's ^ Dach. Spicileg. torn. ii. ap. Bower;
Concil. i. 515. Canute in this letter Gall. Christ, iv. 82, 83.
refers only to the spiritual power, "i Labb. Concil. ix. 901. 908.
which he had been taught was vested ^ In the pontificate of this pope we
in the Roman pontiff, as the reason of read of the first instance (after the
his admiration and veneration of Rome: murder of the Priscillians in Spain, by
hoc maxime pati-avi, quia a sapientibus vivicomburation) of the burning of
didici, sanctum Petrum apostolum mag- heretics. This cruelty was committed
nam potestatem accepisse a Domino not by the papal, but by the eeelesias-
ligandi atque solvendi, clavigerumque tical or episcopal power. The Mani-
esse regni coelestis ; et ideo specialiter chean heresy was said to have been
ejus patrociniura apud Deum expetere discovered at Orleans. A clerk, named
valde utile duxi. Herbert, who was prosecutmg his
He speaks of the archbishops of studies in that city, became intimate
England havmg received the pall from with certain persons who appeared to
the pope as a custom only, not as an be devout, benevolent, and humble
admitted law — dum secundum morem Christians. He was deceived. They
apostolicam sedem expeterent, p. were discovered to be abominable here-
298. tics, who privately assembled to sing
176 First introduction of the name of Hildebrand.
CXLVII. Benedict IX., died 1045.
We now arrive at the period when the first mention is found in history of the name of that remarkable man, who has stamped on the records and character of the Church of Rome the im- pression of his own inflexible austerity, his stern and unre- lenting perseverance, and his proud and cruel intolerance. It will be necessary, if we would understand the conduct, and results of the conduct, of Hildebrand, to pay more peculiar attention to the circumstances of the age in which he lived. The condition of the Roman see was more extraordinary at this time, than in any preceding portion of its history. At a distance from Rome, the spiritual power of the pope was re- garded with veneration, as divine or superhuman. Within the walls of Rome itself, all was venality, murder, and violence. Gregory, Marquis of Toscanella, in the year 1012, had pro- cured the election of his son, Benedict VIII., to the papal see, in opposition both to the imperial and popular parties. This pope reigned twelve years. Owing to this long papacy, and the absolute authority exercised by Benedict, the family to which he belonged became extremely powerful at Rome. The minds of all parties, too, being corrupted by their in-
litanies to demons, which they con- tinued till the devil himself, in the shape of a small beast, descended among them. Other charges, equally probable, were alleged against them. Herbert, before he was undeceived, endeavoured to convert his master, a knight named Arefaste. He being more cautious than Herbert, reported the matter to Duke Richard of Nor- mandy, who communicated it to King Robert. The king commissioned Her- bert to obtain some more authentic information of their alleged crimes. He did so. Various examinations of the heretics took place in private be- fore the king and his prelates. The supposed heretics could only be induced to confess their holding opinions, which are ncjw adopted by the generality of Christians who are not in communion with Rome. After much labour on the part of the prelates to induce them to repent, they were degraded from their orders, consigned with all the solemn mockery of mercy to the secu- lar power, and burnt to death outside
the walls of the city ; after the queen had displayed her zeal in the cause of religion, by thrusting out the eye of one of the accused, who had formerly been her confessor. With these mise- rable sufferers, ten canons of Orleans were consigned to the flames. Four laymen, also, were added to the nura ber. The last writer who has discussed this subject, is the deeply learned, zealous, laborious Mr, Faber. His statements have been criticised by Mr. Maitland. I purposely refrain from expressing here my opinion of the con- troversy.— Faber's Vallences and Albi- genses, p. 125 — 146. Let us not sup- pose that these murdered Christians were destroyed by the papal influence. They were burnt by the ecclesiastical or episcopal influence, wliich arrogated to itself the divine right to govern con- science by authority ; and would have pleaded the apostoUcal succession to justify the burning of the body of Thomas, to save the soul of John. They cruelly murdered, to do God ser- vice. John xvi. 2.
The Counts of Tusculum claim the papacij as a right. 1 77
fluence, John, the brother of Benedict, had been proclaimed ^^*^K ill. pope, as John XIX.. The election was contrary to the < — 1,J — i canons, and was highly and justly displeasing to all who respected the ancient discipline, when they saw the same person, in the same day, an unordained layman, and Bishop of Rome ". On the death of John XIX., Alberic, another Count of Tusculum, impatient of any resistance to the domi- nation which had now been so long assumed by his family, pretended that the papacy belonged by right to the Counts of Tusculum. He nominated to the pontificate his son, Theophylact, at the very early age, it is said, of ten years \ Those who objected to this nomination, whether overcome by courtly favour, bribes, or hope of future benefits to themselves, offered little resistance to the election ; and the young pope, changing his name, according to the now long established custom, assumed the title of Benedict IX.
It was well for the popes of Rome, as it had previously been for their predecessors, the Caesars, that the great- ness of the monarchy does not always depend upon the personal character of its rulers. The vices of the Caesars did not prevent the enlargement, for many years, of the power of pagan Rome ; and if the personal vices of the pope could have destroyed the spiritual power of papal Rome, it would have been ruined by Benedict IX. The detail of his dissolute and shameless profligacy would weary and disgust the reader, as it wearied and rendered indignant the Roman citizens, and the most zealous friends of Rome ^
The Archbishop of Milan, on being excommunicated by the young and dissipated pontiff, derided the sentence, and retained possession of the see till his death. On returning from Cremona in 1044, where he had been to meet Conrad II., the debaucheries and excesses of the pope became so intolerable, that the people drove him from the see. He was restored by the emperor, and again repeatedly driven from and restored to his dignity. Two parties, at this time, convulsed the seat of the papacy — the Tusculan, and the Ptolemasan,
® . . . uno eodemque die laicus ct says he was " puer ferme decennis."
pontifex fuit, ... is the expression of " A good account of the state of
Romoald of Salerno, in Art. deV^rif. Italy at tliis time is given in Sir Roger
les Dates, i. 276. Gricsley's Introduction to the Life of
' Sir Roger Griesley doubts whether Gregory VI 1. Benedict IX. was so young; but Glaber
VOL. II. N
178 Account of the Abbey of Clugny.
BOOK III. The Ptolemaean party, prevailing for a time, elected to the > — 1-,,-^ — ■ see, John, the Bishop of Sabine, who assumed the name of Sylvester III. The Bishop of Sabine was violently ejected at the end of three months. Benedict was again restored by the soldiers of his family ^ Gratian, the Archpriest of St. John ante portam Latinam, who enjoyed the favour of the young pope, and who had amassed immense wealth, in- duced Benedict, under these circumstances of popular odium, and difficulty of retaining peaceful possession of his see, to transfer to his hands a burthen to which he was evidently not equal. He placed at the disposal of Benedict large sums of money ', and procured his own election by the Roman people. It is on this occasion that we first meet with the name of Hildebrand.
The monastery of Clugny Avas the most celebrated of any at that time. It was situate on the Rhone, not far from Macon. Its abbots had been distinguished for their piety and sanctity, according to the notions of devotion at this time ^, which mistook celibacy for chastity, austerity for piety, and severity for spiritual religion. It would be easy to show, from the historical records of the age, that in every part of Europe this mode of pleasing God was adopted by the zealous and the devout. Devotion is the dedication of the affections of hope and fear, to an invisible power. Igno- rance is the parent of superstitious devotion, or of the sepa- ration of the aifections from reason. Religion was designed to prevent superstition, and is the parent of the rational devotion. At this time, however, whether we look to Italy, England, Scotland, Clugny, or any other part of Christen- dom, all the zealous religionists who would have condemned the personal degradations of Benedict, while they still vene- rated the holy see, were thus fanatical, austere, self-tormentors.
^ Sir Roger Griesley's Introduction dictines, then fallen from their former
to the Life of Gregory VII., p. 87, integrity, anno 913. He obtained of
where see the references. the popes and emperors the concession
1 Baronius, from Otto of Frisingen, that all sucli abbeys as would come
tells us, that the money given by Gra- under the compass of his reformations
tian to Benedict was a tribute from (which were in all about two hundred)
England^ — eis a sancta sede cedere, should be called the congregation of
pecunia persuasit, Benedicto redditibus Clugny; and that they might call their
Anglice, quia majoris videbatur esse chapters, and dispatch their common
auctoritatis, relictis. business, when, and as often as they
^ The Abbot of Clugny, named Odo, pleased. — Tanner's Notitia Monastica,
was the first that i-eformed the Bene- Preface, p. ix. ed. Nasmith.
The popular religion of this period. 179
They were sincere in the superstition or in the religion by book hi. which they would please God, and save their souls. In Italy, . — 1. J — »' for instance, Peter Damiani ^, Bishop of Ostia, is recorded to have armed himself against the allurements of pleasure, and the artifices of the devil, by wearing, when young, a hair shirt under his clothes ; and by inuring himself to fasting, watching, and prayer. He became a monk of the order of St. Benedict, and belonged to Fonte-Avellano, because of the austerities they practised. They ate pulse and herbs. They went barefoot, and used severe discipline. His love of poverty made him abhor and be ashamed to put on a new habit, or any clothes that were not threadbare. His principal care was to cherish in his disciples a spirit of solitude, charity, and humility. Damiani was the contemporary and con- fidential friend of Hildebrand, and one who possessed con- siderable influence over him. So was it also in England. Wulfstan, another contemporary of Hildebrand, on taking holy orders, practised on himself greater austerities than the monks in their cells *. In Scotland, Malrubius " led an eremitical life, entirely occupied in penitential works, and in the exercise of holy contemplation. The incursions of the idolatrous Nonvegians induced him to quit his desert in order to administer comfort to his countrymen, and convert the barba- rians. He began to preach to them the truths of the Gospel ; but death was the recompense of his charity. The Norwe- gians cruelly murdered him. All was zeal, holiness, devotion, and austerity : and many other instances might be selected to show that voluntary rigour was practised in all countries by the particular friends and contemporaries of Hildebrand. But more especially were these proofs of sincerity, devotion, and zeal, demanded from the inmates of the monastery of Clugny. Odilo was at this time the abbot of this place. It is recorded of him, that he laboured to subdue temptation by rigorous fasting, and by wearing haircloth next his skin, with studded iron chains. He had succeeded St. Mayeul, who had practised the same austerities in 994, and died at the age of 87, after being 56 years abbot, in the year 1049, four years after the elevation of Gratian to the see.
3 Acta SS. Bolland, Feb. 23, torn. » ^^ta SS. BoUand, Au£r. 27, torn. vi. iii. p. 406. p. 132.
^ Warton, Angl. Sacr. ii. 24fi, seqq.
X -2
180 Hildebrand, a monk of Clugny.
BOOK III. While Odilo was Abbot of Clugny, Hildebrand'', whether CHAP. IV. ^^ j^^ ^^ noble origin is uncertain % at the age of sixteen ob- tained admittance as a student of the canon law, and an observer of monastic discipline. He was studious, ambitious, and, according to all the accounts of the age, religious, after the fashion of the time. Indeed, it is impossible to believe that he could have obtained that ascendancy over his brethren, and the influence which everywhere attended him, if he had not adopted the general austerity and severity ^ And it is im- possible to suppose that the early transactions in which Hil- debrand took part, could be inconsistent with the two sources of influence upon the human mind at this period — deference to the spiritual authority of Rome, whoever might be the pontiff, and personal severity in conquering the natural in- dulgence of the human affections.
It is necessary to keep these points in view if we would understand the zeal, the severity, and the undauntedness of Hildebrand ; and more especially, if we would comprehend the first transaction which is recorded of him, in the twenty- fourth year of his age, when he took part with Gratian in effecting the resignation of Benedict IX. He had left Clugny at the age of twenty-three, after having there witnessed, not only the painful austerities of his abbot, Odilo, but the first effort of the spiritual power of Rome in exempt- ing a monk from his vows. Casimir, King of Poland, the son of Wenceslaus, disgusted with the factions in his own country, retired to Clugny. He there professed the monastic state, and was ordained a deacon. His countrymen, unable to settle the government, sent a deputation of nobles to in-
6 His biographer, Paul Bernried, Salvator ait, (Luc. Xi.) Ignem veni
declares his name to have been pro- mittere in terram, et quid volo, nisi ut
jihetical of his conduct. Hildebrandus ardeat ? Quoniam ergo vir iste, ignito
enim Teutonicse linguae vernacula nun- eloquio Domini, repulsuruserat a Donio
cupatione perustionem significat cupi- Dei ignita jacula inimici, non incon-
ditatis terrenw, qualem Psalmista sibi grue prsetulit incendium appellatione,
divinitus impertiri precatur, dicens, quod exhibituiiis erat ferventissima
(Psal. XXVI.) Proba me, Domine, et charitatis et veritatis attestatione. —
tenta me ; ure renes meos, et cor Paul. Bernried. de rebus gest. Greg,
meum. Apte vero in baptismo datum VII. ap Muratori, Rerum Ital. Scrip-
est hoc nomen, dicente Johanne Bap- tores, iii. 317-
tista, (Marc, i.) Ego quidem vos bap- ' Sir Roger Griesley, p. ^9, where
tizo in aqua in pcenitentiam ; qui autem see the references, venturus est post me, fortior est me, * Lucullus, when frugality could cujus non sum dignus calceanienta charm,
portai'e. ipse baptizabit in spiritu Had eaten turnips in his Sabine
sancto et igne. De hoc igne, ipse farm.
Hildebrand assists Gratian in procuring the papal chair. 181
vite his return. Odilo, in spite of the profligacy of Benedict, book hi. and notwithstanding his own dignity, piety, reputation, and ^'HAP. i\ . age, deemed himself unable to permit the return of Casimir. He therefore referred the delegates to the pope, who granted the king a dispensation on the following conditions : — the nobles of Poland were required to pay to the apostolic see one penny for each of their vassals and themselves ; all of them were to shave their heads in the manner of monks ; they were, also, to wear on the chief festivals of our Saviour and the Virgin, linen cloths over their shoulder, like the priest's stole. To these terms the deputies agreed ; and Casimir being re- leased from his vows, threw aside the cowl for the crown. On his return to Poland as king, he assembled a general diet, from which a solemn embassy was sent to thank his holiness in the name of the kingdom, and to pay him the stipulated price. To all this proceeding, which took place in 1041 % and the sanction of Odilo, Hildebrand was witness. Two years after he was high in favour at the court of the emperor ; where he was alike distinguished for his severe manners and profound ecclesiastical learning. He was thence sent by Odilo to Rome, to effect reforms in the convents of Mount Aventine. He cultivated the friendship of the Tusculan party, and of Benedict ; and may be believed, in our present more critical and inquiring age, to have possessed all the knowledge of his times, from the accusation of skill in magic advanced by the ignorant and superstitious of his own age. He remained at Rome till that event took place, to which I have already referred, the resignation of the see for money by Benedict IX. The part which was taken by Hildebrand in the negotiation which ended in the resigning of the pontificate by Benedict IX., has generally been considered as inconsistent with his subsequent severity against simony. I am compelled to regard it in an opposite point of view. The Counts of Tusculum, and the conduct of Benedict, had so degraded the see of Rome, that the time had evidently arrived when the great contrast between the spiritual authority of the pontiffs, and the personal degradation of the pope, would compel some effort on the part of the zealous friends of the religion of the age, to remedy the evil which thus exposed the common
' Baron, ad aim. S S.
182 Probable motives of Hildebrand.
BOOK III. Christianity to contempt. Hildebrand professed himself the
^ ..J — '* great opponent of simony. He was the negotiator with
Peter Damiani, of the resignation of Benedict, and the eleva- tion of his successor, Gregory VI.* The character of the new pope, formerly known as John Gratian, gave promise of a better reign ^ Whether Hildebrand had, at this time, conceived the design of rescuing the pontificate from all tem- poral interference, whether of counts, dukes, emperors, or of the people of Rome, cannot be ascertained. The probability is, that it was in his case as in that of other ambitious, yet zealous men. He mistook his ambition for the desire to be useful, by carrying his own plans into effect. Continued success changes the character of measures which, at the first, had seemed to be imprudent, rash, and useless ; and makes them appear to be prudent, wise, and prosperous. Hilde- brand, in after-times, found it necessary that some rallying cry should be raised against those whom he desired to depose from their further interference with the affairs of the Church. He could not adopt the cry of. The Church is in danger, for they were its friends, nor the cry of Heresy/, Heresy ! for the emperors would have burnt the heretics as readily as Hilde- brand himself, as Frederic and Sigismund in after-times, or as King Robert at Orleans. He selected, therefore, Simony and Incontinence ! By the former, he condemned any inter- ference of princes in the elections of bishops ; and thus rendered the Church, first independent of their power, and then supreme over their councils. By the second, he raised, and by the revenues of the Church maintained, a papal army in every country of monkish and clerical celibates — the de- voted soldiers, not of their kings, but of the popes ; not of their native powers, but of their adopted Italy. The time for these things had not yet come : but the defence of his conduct by Baronius is this, that the removal of such a pro- fligate as the young Tusculan pope, ought not to be called the sale or purchase of the see ; so much as the removal of an intolerable nuisance and disgrace. Benedict could not be deposed. He ought not to have been assassinated. No
' This pope is not generally num- recognize the pontificate of John, who
bered among the pontiffs. Hildebrand, sncceeded Benedict IX. under tlie
however, took the name of Gi-egory title of Gregory VI. VII., that he might more effectually « Art. de Verif. les Dates, i. 276.
states cannot be governed on one principle only. 183
tribunal could bring him to account. The emperor protected book hi.
him ; his family defended him. No remedy seemed, at the > .^J — '>
momentj preferable to that of inducing him to resign the pontificate. The men most venerated in their age acquiesced in the arrangement ; and strange as it will appear, that the great opponent of simony, or, more properly, of the presenta- tion by the laity, to the higher preferments of the Church, should be first introduced to our notice as the negotiator in the most simoniacal transaction of the period ; yet the motive for his conduct in all cases was the same. He desired, by negotiating the resignation of Benedict, to destroy the in- fluence of the Counts of Tusculum. When he opposed the emperors, he professed to have the same object in view, the prevention of any influence in spiritual appointments, but that which M^as of a spiritual nature. He left the memorable lesson to the world, that the human race, whether in Churches or states, cannot be ivisely governed by one principle or influence only. Hildebrand made the ecclesiastical power finally supreme over kings, by destroying the civil power in religious matters ; as effectually as if the laity did not constitute the larger portion of the Church. Neither crime, nor virtue, nor good, nor evil, were spared to attain this purpose ; and the result on the liberties, happiness, and religion of Christian states has been intolerable. This lesson, also, he left to the world, that the priesthood is to be dreaded for its error and its ambition, even when it is most sincere. Hildebrand was probably sincere, but his principle was erroneous, and his policy ruinous to the independence of all princes and govern- ments. He desired to remedy one great evil, and he sub- stituted another in its place. He rescued the pontificate from factious nobles, and imperious despots. He riveted a worse yoke upon Europe ; and the Christian people of the fairest portion of the world have not yet broken their bonds.
CXLVni. Gregory VI., died 1046.
On obtaining the papacy, to which he succeeded without any form of consecration, John Gratian assumed the name of Gregory VI., and appointed Hildebrand to the office of pon- tifical secretary, and shortly after, to the rank of subdeacon
184< Influefice of Hildebrand now indispensable to the Pope.
of the Church of Rome. It is probable, also, that he was made Bishop of Orvieto by this pope. The influence and learning, the zeal and prudence, of Hildebrand, seems to have rendered him indispensable to the papal councils at this time. The unsettled state of Italy had filled the country with armed bands of robbers and freebooters. The papacy had sunk as a temporal power to its lowest depth of degradation. Sufficient authority, however, was left to it, to enable the new pontiff, who at once, without any ceremony of election, took possession of the see, to attempt the restoration of peace to the surrounding country. Robbery, and a w^andering military life, were allowable proofs at this time of courage and honour. Sacrilege, too, owing to the large possessions which had been entailed on the churches and the bishops, was unavoidably connected with the violent pursuits of the military. The pope, then, became very unpopular, in spite of the justice of his proceedings, on account of the esteem in which the very lawlessness of such enterprises was held. The first duty of a magistrate is to restore and to maintain peace. This was done. The freebooters in question were accustomed to rob the pilgrims who visited Rome of the offerings they were bringing to that see and its bishop. Finding excommu- nication to be disregarded, and the spiritual authority of the Church despised by these robbers, he adopted other methods so severe, that he nearly exterminated the bands that wasted the country. Their number and power may be understood from the observation of the historian — that he recovered to the holy see the castles of the Church which they had long occupied ^ These vigorous proceedings gave great satisfac- tion to many ; by others he was stigmatized as a homicide. He conducted the expeditions in person, leaving a coadjutor at Rome to exercise the episcopal functions.
It is impossible to censure, or to approve rightly, human actions, unless all the circumstances of the manners, customs, places, knowledge, and ignorance of the time in which they happen, are considered. The usurpation of the pontificate
^ Casti'a Ecclesise Romanse per ipsos piled from various authors, all of whose
oecupata, et longo tempore ah ipsis original authorities are given, is the
dctenta, recuperavit. principal source from which I shall
I refer to the catalogue of popes in collect my suhsequent narratives ; see
Muratori. The extract is from J. G. also Art. do Ve'rif. les Dates, i. 27(». Eccard. Muratori's Catalogue, com-
Gregory VI. resigns the pontificate. 185
by the Counts of Tusculura, and the consequent occupation book hi. of the see of Rome by a young and lawless profligate, was an > — ^ J — /* intolerable evil. The bribing of that young profligate to resignation was an evil also. Both were unjustifiable wrongs to the Church and people. The sincerity, however, with which Gregory acted, under the continued influence of Hil- debrand, may be ascertained from the remarkable circum- stance mentioned by one of the accounts preserved by Muratori. When suffering under severe illness, and des- pairing of life, he solicited the cardinals that his body might be buried in St. Peter's. Objections were made to the pro- position, because he had shed so much blood during his short pontificate. On hearing this, the pontiff immediately directed the cardinals to be summoned to his presence, and made them an harangue, in which he affirmed that he had acted not unjustly, but rightly and holily * against the spo- liators of Italy; and quoted, as the custom has ever been, the sacred Scriptures in defence of his policy. He recovered from his sickness, and we may suppose ^, persevered in his active and useful career. The difficulties of his situation may be imagined, when we remember that Benedict IX. still remained at the Lateran, and Sylvester III.^ continued at the Vatican. While he was thus engaged, the emperor, Henry III., who had now succeeded Conrade, came into Italy, to restore the imperial influence over the papal sae. A council was called at Sutri, which carried into effect the emperor's determination to depose the three candidates for the popedom, and to appoint another. Gregory had been invited to pre- side at this council. He did so. When he was requested to defend himself from the charge of purchasing his dignity, he frankly confessed the irregularity of his appointment, and quitting his chair, unrobed himself in the council, gave up his pastoral staff, begged forgiveness, and renounced all claim to the apostolical dignity \ He was then exiled to Clugny, and Hildebrand attended him. He wished to remain in Lombardy, but the emperor insisted on their
* Some curious particulars respect- collected by Muratori are not explicit iug these events arfe preserved by in their dates.
William of Malmesbury, pp. 344. 34(!, " John, Bishop of Sabina.
ed. T. D. Hardy. ? Concii. ix. 943 ; Baron, ad ami.
* I say suppose, for the accounts 1046, § 12. are very confused, and the authoriti<.'s
186 Clement II. and Damasus II. poisoned.
BOOK III. retiring into France. Gregory soon after died at Clugny, P^^^' ^^; leaving to Hildebrand his wealth, and his resentment against
the imperial interference in the spiritual affairs of the Church.
Hildebrand succeeded to Odilo, in the priorship of the
monastery of Clugny.
CXLIX. Clement II., died 1047.
The king and the bishops who composed the council of Sutri, on the deposition of Gregory VI., Benedict IX., and Sylvester III., went together to assist the people and clergy in choosing a fit person to fulfil the pontifical duties. On consulting the citizens it was declared that no one among the Roman clergy was worthy of the holy appointment. The king then nominated Suidger, Bishop of Bamberg, one of the prelates in attendance. This nomination being unani- mously approved, Suidger reluctantly consented to the wish of the king and people, and took the name of Clement. He attacked simony by means of a council, at which strict canons were passed for the prevention of the offence. He survived his appointment only nine months, being poisoned by an emissary of Benedict IX. *
Boniface, the Duke of Tuscany, continued the traffic in ecclesiastical benefices ; but the great struggle for the inde- pendence of the Church had begun. The object of the ecclesiastical power was first, as we shall see, to obtain eman- cipation from princes, and then to secure equality with them, and at length to soar to that ascendancy which is not even yet removed from many of the kingdoms of Europe ^
CL. Damasus II., died 1048.
The profligate Benedict IX., who had sold the see to Gregory VI., again took possession on the death of Clement II. Halinard, Archbishop of Lyons, was strongly recom- mended by the citizens of Rome ; but he disappeared from public life to avoid the intended preferment. After eight months delay, during which time Benedict IX. kept posses- sion with impunity, though officially deposed, the emperor appointed Popponius, Bishop of Brixen, who lived only
* Labb. Concil. ix. 946. Civilization of Europe, 8vo, second
' Sir Rogei'Griesley, p. 95; Guizot's edition, p. 158.
Whether Bishops could accept their office from laymen. 187
three weeks after his appointment. He was supposed to book hi. have been poisoned by some of the Benedictine faction. - l,^j; ;
CLI. Leo IX., died 1054.
The emperor being again entreated by the people of Rome to commend to their approbation one worthy of the papacy, convened his bishops and principal nobility to an assembly at Worms. Some progress had been already made in the emancipation of the see from secular influence ; for the Counts of Tusculum had appointed the popes without regard to public opinion. The council was unanimous in the nomi- nation of Bruno, Bishop of Toul, one of their number. Bruno urged every possible plea against accepting the dig- nity. He is declared, by two of his biographers ^, to have spent three days in fasting and prayer, to be enabled to decide rightly on the pressing importunities of the emperor, and of the high dignitaries and nobles by whom he had been chosen. The question ivas now more freely discussed, whether a Christian bishop was justified in accepting the episcopal office under any cir- cumstances from a layman ; or from any other than from the spiritual power of their own Churches. Hildebrand had be- come so distinguished by the part he had already taken in this controversy, that we might naturally expect he would be in some manner found to exert his influence on the present occasion. Various accounts are given of the mode in which Hildebrand exerted his power ^ By some he is said to have been present at the council of Worms itself. If so, he might have there persuaded Leo to declare that he would only accept the office of pope, if he were freely chosen by the people and clergy, that is, by the Church at Rome; or Bruno, having previously adopted the conclusions to Avhich Hildebrand, in common with a large party, had arrived, might have made the declaration as his own conscientious resolution ; or the story may be true, that Bruno, on leaving the council at Worms, either visited Hildebrand at Clugny, or was met by him on his way to Rome \ The facts
' Wibert. in Vit. Leonis IX. lib. Gricsley and Bower, as well as the
ii. c. ii. ap. Murat. Rcr. Ital. iii. 291 ; original works already cited.
Bruno, in Vit. Leonis IX. ; Labb. ix. * It is thus recorded by Baronius :
947. Ilildebrandus, Leonem adiens, semula-
^ See the references in Sir R. tione Dei plenus, constanter eum de
188 Election of Leo IX. confirmed by the people at Rome,
BOOK III. alone seem certain, that extreme deference was paid by the CHAP. IV. pQpg ^Q Hildebrand ; that Bruno himself concluded he could not be rightly deemed pope till he had been chosen by the Church at Rome ; that Hildebrand proceeded with Bruno to Rome ; that both were habited as pilgrims in token of their humility, or indulgence of the pride which, unconsciously to itself, clothes itself in the garb of virtue ; and that both were received in all places on their way, and on their arrival at Rome itself, with enthusiastic acclamations of joy and triumph. TJie monk and the bishop were united with the popidace and the authorities. The incipient theocracy began to be blended with the democracy, as the reaction from the Tusculan, or aristocratical usurpations ; and the consequences of the alliance have not yet ceased to perplex even the modern governments, which most desire to profit by experi- ence, and to benefit their people. On arriving at Rome, Bruno walked barefooted to the tombs of the apostles, where he spent some time in devotion. He then addressed the populace, with apparent humility, on the manner in which he was introduced to them. He told them the conditions on which he had offered to take charge of his high commission ; and that if not unanimously elected, he should willingly return to his diocese. His address was answered by general applause. He was immediately, with one consent, elected (Feb. 2), and after a few days was enthroned with much solemnity and festivity (Feb. 12, 1049).
Presentation to sees and benefices by the laity had un- avoidably become so common, in consequence of the attach- ment of feudal duties and services to the holding of large landed possessions : that few ecclesiastics were innocent of accepting their appointment from the laity, and of making some return for the presentation. This simony, therefore, had prevailed to such a degree among all ranks of the western clergy, that to attack the practice was like waging war with the whole body. Leo IX. commenced his attempts to remedy the evil, at the fountain head. He summoned a
incepto redarguit, illicitum esse inqui- exacerbetur, quodque libertas ecclesire
ens per manum laicam summura pon- in eleetione canonica renovetur, se pol-
tificem ad gubernationem totius eccle- licetur effecturum. Inclinatus ille ad
siae violentei" introire. Verum si suis monitum ejus purpurani dcponit, . . .
se credere velit consiliis, utruniquc, ct Ad ann. 1049, § 2. quod raajestas imperialis in ipso non
I
Various kinds of real or supposed simony. 189
council at Rome, which was attended by most of the bishops book hi.
• • CH A.P IV
of Italy, France, and Germany. The laws against this de- « -'
scription of simony *, and various others, were put in force against several bishops. Those who were guilty of simony were stigmatized as heretics — that is, they were declared guilty of that crime which was united w^ith infamy, and con- demned as the worst offence ; and those who had received ordination from them were suspended, and punished by public penance. Further rigour was urged, but was opposed, because in some dioceses none would be left to perform the public duties. The council passed some rigid canons for remedying other abuses in the Church, and for correcting the immoral lives of ecclesiastics.
Leo continued to proceed in the best and most canonical manner. This council was immediately followed by others at Pavia, Rheims '% Mentz, Siponto, Vercelli, and elsewhere, for the purpose of restoring better discipline, and making examples of the more guilty. At Mantua, however, in the year 1052, the bishop raised a mob to prevent the synod from proceeding, and the pope was compelled to dismiss the council.
No less vigilant was Leo IX. concerning doctrine than he
* Three desci-iptions of simony are cseteris hereticis differunt." — Baron, mentioned by Baronius: miinusamanu, Ann. 1049, vol. xi. p. 159. bribery, or purcliase of a benefice, or This decree was embodied in the expending money in any manner to canon law, which gradually accumu- obtain it. Munus ab ohsequio, rendering lated to its present mass, by incorpora- any homage or service to another, with ting the decisions of councils, the bulls the same object. Munus a lingua, of popes, and decrees of bishops. — See obtaining a benefice by flattery, /aror Boehmer., vol. ii. 21, 1. q. 1. — VII. adulationis. He justly condemns them Simoniacorum haeresis cseteris damna- all. This classification is borrowed bilior esse probatur. from Peter Damiani, Opusc. xxii. c. 1. * The Church of France, mindful of See Bowden's Life of Gregory VII., the resistance which Hincmar and vol. i. p. 289. others had formerly made to the sub- But the real object which the bishops jection of their privileges to the pope, of Rome now had in view was not the still opposed the unlimited power now suppression of simony, but the over- set up by the Roman pontiif. Tantxe throw of all laical interference in the itaque perversitatis viri incentoris sui appointment to benefices. They forgot callida suggestione instructi, Regi that the people are the Church, and Francorum suggerunt regni sui decus that the laity, when their teachers did annihilari, si in eo Romani pontificis not teach the scriptural doctrines they auctoritatem dominari permitteret, vel were to receive, were entitled to bestow si eidem, ut decreverat, occurrens pra>- their lands on those conditions which sentise suse favorem ad cogendum con- they deemed best. — Baron, vol. xi. p. ciliumexhiberet,&c. — Upon the council 241 , ann. 1057- at Rheims, see the observations of Bow- Further, the same great historian den, vol. i, p. 149 ; Baron, a.d. 1049, writes thus : " Simoniaci in nullo a § 23.
190 Triumph of the doctrine of transubstantiation.
BOOK III. was regarding discipline. In 1050 he summoned a council ^', at Rome to discuss the tenets of Berengarius. The ignorance of the age permitted the mighty triumph of the doctrine of transubstantiation, of which I shall not at present speak par- ticularly. It is sufficient now to say, that the doctrine of the corporeal presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, was not known to the English at this time. This is evident from the sermon by ^Ifric, who is generally held to be the same individual who became Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of the tenth century, MSS. of which are extant in the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, and which has been frequently published. The following is a specimen of his language : — " Christ is called bread, and a lamb, and a lion by signification. He is called bread, be- cause He is our life ; a lamb for his innocence ; a lion for his strength. Yet, according to true nature, Christ is neither bread, nor a lamb, nor a lion. Why then is the holy Eucharist called Christ's body, or the wine his blood, if it be not truly what it is called ? Truly the bread and wine which are consecrated, show one thing outwardly to men's senses, and another thing they declare inwardly to believing minds ; outwardly, bread and wine are seen both in appear- ance and in taste ; yet they are truly, after consecration, Christ's body and blood by a spiritual sacrament ^"
The patriarch of Antioch sent in his adherence to the faith and authority of Rome. The Bishop of Carthage wrote, also, in the fifth year of Leo, appealing to his authority in aid of the unfortunate condition to which the Church of Africa was reduced. Leo, in his reply, affirms the potver of summoning all councils, and deposing all bishops, to be the prerogative of the Roman pontiff alone. This letter may be considered as the link which connects the pretensions of Nicholas I. with the enforcement of those pretensions by Gregory VII. We can have but little doubt that it was written under the influence of Hildebrand K
^ The bread, the watex*, and the ^ The student of history will under-
wine, when united, form a symbol of stand better the style which the bishops
the Trinity. Hostia sit ex frumento of Rome now began to adopt in theii*
Sana et integra. Vinum sit mundum correspondence with their brethren, if
et aqua muuda, ita ut inter vinum, he reads this epistle in the words of
hostiam, et aquam Trmitas sit signifi- the original. I therefore subjoin it
cata. — Baron. Annal. 1050, vol. xi. p. to this note. Tt is the third in the
180. third book of the lettei-s of Leo IX.,
I
The Church of Rome had now become a kingdom of this world. 191
The Church of Christ in Rome had now become a king- book ill.
CHAP IV
dom of this world, therefore its servants fought. They > ^^ — i
fought not with prayers and tears for conquest over them- selves, and that they might succeed in persuading others, but with swords, and spears, and battle-axes of iron, as the soldiers of laymen were used to do. The soldiers of the Church fought in this manner against the Normans in Apulia, of whose success Leo was jealous. They were de-
and is given at length by Baronius, A.D. 1053, § 37. It is incorporated into the canon law, and it is the first of the more imperious bulls given in the Bullarium Magnum. It is confiiTned by the Council of Trent, Session XXV. ad fin., by Gelasius I., &c.
Leo episcopus, servus servorum Dei, Thomaj Confratri charissimo et coepi- scopo, salutem.
I. Cum ex venerabilium canonum auctoritate recolimus ccv. episcopos concilio interfuisse Carthagiuensi, et nunc a tua fraternitate audivimus quinque vix episcopos superesse in tota Africa, utique tertia hujus comip- tibilis mundi parte, compatimur tantse vestrte imminutioni totis viribus animi. Cum autem ipsas Christianitatis reli- quias ediscimus interna et mutua dis- sensione discindi et dispergi, et adver- sus se invicem zelo et contentione prin- cipatus inflari, nil aliud nobis primo dicendum occurrit, quam illud S. Amos vatis: Parce, Domme, parce, obsecro; quis suscitabit Jacob, quia parvulus est ?
II. Sed quamvis in tali tantoquo defectu religionis pliu'imum dolearaus, multum tamen gaudemus quia sanctse Romanaa ecclesiaj matris vestrte sen- tentiam requiritis et expectatis, super qufestionibus vestris, et quasi rivulis ab uno fonte erumpentibus, et in suo se cursu per diversa spargentibus, ad ipsius fontis primam scaturiginem re- verti debere, optimum putatis, ut inde resumatis directiouis vestigium unde sumpsististotius Christianae Religionis exordium.
III. Noveris ergo proculdubio, quia post Romanum pontificem, primus Archiepiscopus, ct totius Africa; maxi- mus Metropolitanus est Carthaginen- sis Episcopus ; nee, quicmuque sit illc Giunmitanus episcopus, aliquam licen- tiam consecrandi Episcopos vel depo- nendi, scu provinciale Concilium con-
vocandi habet, sine consensu Cartha- ginensis Archiepiscopi, cujuslibet dig- nitatis aut potestatis sit, exceptis his qute ad propriam parochiam perti- nent ; csetera autem, sicut et alii Afri- can! Episcopi, consilio Carthaginensis Archiepiscopi aget. Unde charissimi Confratres nostri et coepiscopi Petrus et Joannes recte sentiunt de Carthagi- nensis Ecclesise dignitate, nee consen- tiant errori Gummitanse Ecclesise.
IV. Hoc autem nolo vos lateat, non debere pra;ter sententiam Romani Pon- tificis universale Concilium celebrari, aut episcopos damnari vel deponi, quia etsi licet vobis aliquos episcopos exa- minare, definitivam tamen sententiam absque consultu Romani Pontificis, ut dictum est, non licet dare ; quod in Sanctis canonibus statutum, si quasi'itis, potestis invenii'e. Quamvis enim om- nibus general iter apostoUs dictum sit a Domino : Qusecunque ligaveritis in Terra, ligata erunt in Ccelo, et qusecun- que solveritis in Terra, soluta erunt et in Ccelo; — tamen non sine causa specialiter et nomiuatim dictum est beato Petro apostolorum principi, Tu es Petrus, ct super banc petram fcdificabo ecclesiam meam, et tibi dabo Claves Regni Coe- lorum. Et in alio loco, Confirma fra- tres tuos, scilicet quia omnium Eccle- siarum majores et difficiliores causa? per sanctam et principalem B. Petri sedem a successoribus ejus sunt dcfi- niendai. Jam vero quia interrogata etiam confratrum nostrorum Petri et Joannis episcoporum decrevimus re- spondere, optamus ut sanctam tuam fraternitatem jugitcr invigilantem uti- litatibus sanctoe catholicie ecclesise, atque devote i)ro nobis orantem,sancta ct individua Trinitas semper conservet, charissime Frater.
Dat. XVI. Kalendas Januarii, anno Domini Papse Lconis Noni quinto, indictione Scptima. Mag. Bullar. Rom. Tom. Prim. p. 49. Lugduni, 1692.
192 Attempt to re-unite the Eastern and Western Churches. BOOK III, feated. The lofty courtesy of the victorious Normans, how-
C'HAP TV »/ •/ y
* .1 — '■ ever, obtained the favour of the pope, and possibly prepared
the way for the subsequent benediction which his successor bestowed on the expedition of William of Normandy to the shores of England '.
We have taken but little notice of the great oriental division of Christendom, because its history is summed up in few words. The noble-minded and learned Photius had refused, as we have seen, to submit to the anathemas of Hadrian, or to the decision of a council which had taken an oath of alle- giance to Rome, before it deliberated on the conduct of the Roman pontiff. The breach had never been healed. The refusal of the Emperor Basilius, and of the Patriarch Photius, to give up Bulgaria to the episcopal jurisdiction of John VIII., had rendered the division still wider; and by insisting on the degradation of all who had been ordained by Photius, before the hope of reconciliation could be allowed, it became irreparable. About this time, however, Constantine Mono- machus, and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Ceru- larius, wrote to Leo IX. once more expressing their desire of the union of the two Churches. The pope consequently de- spatched three legates to Constantinople, Humbert, Cardinal of the White Forest; Peter, Bishop of Amalfi; and Frederic, Chancellor of the Roman Church. In his reply to the letters from the East, Leo expressed displeasure that Ceru- larius, the patriarch, should have disagreed with him on the subject of consecrating unleavened bread in the Eucharist. The emperor received the legation with great cordiality. The patriarch, however, was offended at the pope's reproof, and refused to see the legates, who increased his displeasure by condemning many other practices in the Eastern Church. A monk of Studium, named Nicetas, defended the use of leavened bread only ', the holiness of the Sabbath, and the
8 Peter Damiani, one of the most si a, ille vero ab ecelesia exercendus ;
pious and zealous adherents of the ille sacerdotis, in manu regura et mili-
Church in this age, objected to this turn, sed ad nutum et patientiam sacer-
appeal to the sword. Baronius defends dotis. — Baron, a.d. 1053, § 14.
the conduct of Leo, and quotes the ^ Nicetas and Humbert were the
bull of Boniface VIII., and the extra- principal controversialists on this
vagants of Gregory IX., in support of point. Baronius informs us that his
his advocacy. Uterque gladius est in predecessor, Antony Caraffa, the libra-
potestate ecclesire, spiritualis scilicet rian, deemed the reply of Humbert to
et materialis; sed is quidem pro eccle- Nicetas worthy of preservation. It was
The Eastern Patriarch anathematized by Rome. 193
marriage of priests; but the emperor having lost a great part book hi.
of his territory in Italy, and wishing on that account to cul- / \; ;
tivate the goodwill of the pope, obliged the monk Nicetas to recant his doctrine ; and commanded him also to anathema- tize all who dared to question the primacy of the Roman pontiff over all churches, or to deny the faith of Rome to be orthodox. As Nicetas proved to be thus flexible, the em- peror hoped that the patriarch would follow his example. Every effort, however, to induce him to submit to the legates was ineffectual. He remained firm to his purpose, declaring that nothing should tempt him to degrade the imperial see by subjecting it to papal dictation. This conduct rendered the healing of the schism an impossibility. The recrimina- tions were many and mutual. The legates, before their departure, visited the Church of St. Sophia, attended by a great concourse of clergy, senators, and people ; in whose presence they insolently issued a solemn sentence of excom- munication against Cerularius, the patriarch. They placed the parchment upon the high altar, and with an imprecation upon him they w^ent out of the church. No sooner had they left the city, than the patriarch requested they might be recalled, that he might confer with them. A messenger was sent by the emperor to overtake them. They returned the following day. A council was summoned by Cerularius to which they were invited. The emperor not being asked to be present, forbade the assembling of any council at which he was not a personal witness of the proceedings. Much confusion ensued. The emperor admonished the legates to secure a safe departure without delay. They did so. It was then found that the sentence of excommunication had been altered, as if passed against the whole Eastern Church, instead of against Cerularius, and his immediate partizans. This had been done with a design to inflame the multitude, and cause them to take summary vengeance on the legates. The plot failed. The emperor, to satisfy himself, sent after the legates to procure a true copy of the excommunication, and thus detected the alteration. The sentence, afler enu- merating many heretical practices with which it charges the
found in the records of tlie Vatican, volume. — See Baron. .\.D. 1053, § 22, Baronins lias printed all its solemn seqcj. ; Pagi, ad ann. § 12. triHing at the end of his eleventh
VOL. II. Q
194 Progress of the Church through four stages.
BOOK III. patriarch, ends as follows — " May Michael, the false patriarch, v^ — V— — >' now charged by many with the worst crimes ; and with him Leo, called Bishop of Acris ; and Constantine, Michael's treasurer, who has profanely trodden on the sacrifice of the Latins, — may they and all their followers be anathematized with the above-mentioned, and all other heretics ; nay, with the devil and his angels, unless they repent. Amen. Amen. Amen." After being recalled, and after the treacherous design of Cerularius' party against them had been discovered, the fol- lowing supplement to the above was issued when the legates took leave of the emperor and his court — " Whoever shall find fault with the faith of the holy see of Rome and its sacrifices, let him be anathematized, and not looked upon as a Christian Catholic, but as a prozymite heretic *." — How is it possible that the Churches can be united until these anathe- mas are rescinded ? Leo died in the year 1054 % before the legates returned.
CLIL Victor IL, died 1057.
The principles of Nicholas, and the false decretals, had now leavened the democracy of all Christendom, with the conviction that the bishops of Rome were entitled to their homage as the representatives of Christ, and the depository of a divine power. Many circumstances had hitherto prevented the full development of these principles ; but the time had now arrived when the proud triumph of a human theocracy, was to realize the dreams of the deepest midnight of this darkest of ages. That appeal was made to the pope in the pontificate of Victor, which established the superiority of the mitre of the Bishop of Rome over the crowns of all the sovereigns, states, and princes of Europe.
The progress of the Church to this height is traced by a distinguished modern author ^ through the four stages of the Imperial Church, the Barbarian Church, the Feudal Church, the Theocratic Church. The Imperial Church, or the Church under the influence of the converted emperors, held divided
* Quieumque fidei sanctse Romanaj 1054, § 26.
et apostolicse sedis, ejusque sacrificio, ^ Baron, ad ann. § 46. Pagi, ad ami.
pertinacitercontradixerit, sit Anathema § 3.
Maranatha, nee liabeatur Christianus ^ Mons. Guizot, History of the
CathoHcis, sed Prozymita hsereticus — Civilization of Europe, lect. vi. Fiat. Fiat. Fiat. — Bax'onius, Annal.
Hildebrand destroys the power of the Italian princes. 195
power with the Roman magistracj^ The Barbarian Church, book hi.
or the Church under the antagonist power of the barbarians > — L^! I
who invaded the empire, gradually changed the new pagan- ism into a corrupted form of Christianity. Darkness and light so blended the one into the other, that Christian spirituality, which had been granted to illumine the understanding, exalt the affections, purify the motives, and regulate the life, became obscured, so that spirituality was changed to childish timidity of God; and by strange doctrines, invented by devout ignorance, and supported by fancied or pretended miracles, the affections were depressed to the love of an order, or attachment to a saint ; while the noble freedom which gives the motives and the life to the only happiness of man, by regarding religion as the highest exaltation of the intellect, and the best privilege of a reasonable being ; was degraded to the mental slavery of hair shirts, penance, and all the folly of the holy idiotcy. This barbarian religion was adapted to a barbarian age. Yet the austerity of the barba- rian age produced the broad lands and territorial possessions of the feudal age. When kings became monks, monks be- came kings. When princes were made bishops, bishops unavoidably became princes. A great struggle had conse- quently taken place between chief and priest, baron and monk, councils of ecclesiastics and senates of warriors and rulers. Still the ecclesiastical power increased in worldly authority, till the Theocratic Church was formed, which Nicholas had imagined, and Hildebrand had planned, ma- tured, and completed.
The first achievement of Hildebrand was to destroy the power of the neighbouring princes over the see of Rome, and then to overthrow the power of the greater sovereign of his age, the emperor of Germany. To effect these objects, he had already procured the accession of John by bribery, against the profligate Benedict IX. He had directed the measures of Leo IX. He commanded the universal homage of the people, and he now struck the last blow against the feudal influence of the princes of Italy, and the counts of Tusculum, by appealing to the emperor against the re-elec- tion of Benedict IX., who again resumed the pontificate on the death of Leo. It was essential to the success of Hilde- brand, that he should destroy one temporal power by the aid
o 2
196 Henry III. solicits the eoc communication of a king. BOOK ni. of another. This last attempt of the counts of Tusculum to
CHAP. IV. .
> .^ — '' secure the see of Rome to then* own family, was overthrown
by the policy of Hildebrand. No sooner had Benedict IX. emerged from his retirement on the death of Leo, than Hilde- brand, finding himself unable to resist the persecutions and acts of vengeance which marked the momentary triumph of the Tusculan faction, repaired, at the request of the people of Rome, to Germany, to concert with the emperor the nomina- tion of a new pontiff*. The person chosen by Hildebrand was Gebhard, a great statesman, a wealthy and powerful nobleman, a relative of the emperor, Bishop of Eichstadt, and esteemed by the emperor as one of his most confidential advisers. After many difficulties, all of which were overcome by Hildebrand, Gebhard accompanied him to Rome, where the clergy and all classes received him with great homage, and he was consecrated with the title of Victor II. About this time Benedict IX. died, and Victor commenced his duties with the same spirit as his predecessor. His first council against simony and other evils was held at Florence, at which the emperor was present. He had come into Italy to suppress the power of Godfrey, count of Tuscany \ Matilda, the daughter of the countess, now only eight years of age, may be justly supposed at this time to have imbibed that hatred against the emperors, afterwards so useful to Hildebrand. Hildebrand, though as yet but subdeacon of the Roman Church, was sent as legate to France, further to reform the Galilean Churches ; and councils were summoned at Lyons, at Tours, where Lanfranc opposed Berengarius, and at Toulouse, where Berengarius was again condemned ". The emperor was the patron of these popular assemblies, and he now committed that error which became the source of the subsequent degradation, under the papal power, of his family, his son, and his dynasty. Ferdinand, the king of Castile and Leon, had assumed the title of emperor. At the Council of Tours, ambassadors from the emperor Henry III. complained of this conduct. Hildebrand wrote to Victor, stating the complaint of the emperor. He requested thati Ferdinand might be excommunicated, and his kingdom placed under an interdict if he did not discontinue the title.
* See Bowden, i. I7I. " Pagi, ad aniial. Baron, a.i). 1055, §j
5 Id. i. 175. 5, C.
Stephen X. requests Hildebrand to nominate his successor. 197 Ferdinand was also informed by Hildebrand of the complaint book hi.
. . CHAP IV
against him, and the measures proposed to be taken if he did > ^^ — ."
not desist. The king consequently complied with the com- mand of the pope, and the pope thus demonstrated to the Avorld that the papal influence had become superior to the imperial. The emperor died '' during the sitting of a council at Toulouse. Victor was present at his death, and acknow- ledged his son, then only seven years of age, his successor. This son was Henry IV., whom Hildebrand, even when in exile himself, humbled by his spiritual authority to the very dust. Victor died in Tuscany in the following year, 1057 ^
CLIII. Stephen X., died 1058.
Frederick, the chancellor of the Church of Rome, whom Victor had preferred to that dignity, was considered by the clergy and people to be the best qualified of all the candi- dates for their suffrages. He was brother to Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine. The Church was jealous of the interference either of Tuscany or Germany, and hastened to an instant election. Frederic was immediately consecrated in the Church of St. Peter amidst unanimous rejoicing*. He pur- sued the same rigid system of discipline as had been intro- duced into the Church by his two predecessors, Leo and Victor ; and held several councils for preventing the mar- riage of priests. He distinguished himself during his pontifi- cate by the promotion of men of learning and moral character. He is reported to have contemplated a change in the imperial dynasty by removing Henry IV., and placing upon the throne his brother, who by a recent marriage with Beatrice, widow of Boniface, Duke of Tuscany, had added that dukedom to Lorraine. To provide sufficient funds for the accomplish- ment of such an object, he ordered the treasures of the monastery of Monte Cassino to be carried to Rome. By the terror of a supernatural visitation, he restored the property with additional donations of great value, and gave up his design on the empire. He sent Hildebrand into Germany on a mission to the empress Agnes, then regent, and issued a decree prohibiting the appointment of a successor to the see,
' Baron, a.d. 105G, § l,seq.i. » Id. § 10.
^ Barou. ad an. § 1.
1 98 Increasing influence of Hildebrand.
J^OOK III. iti case of his death, till the return of Hildebrand, and de-
^^ ■- — ' siring that his advice might be taken when the see became
vacant '.
CLIV. Benedict X., died 1058.
The aristocratic party, on the death of Stephen, made an effort to obtain possession of the pontificate. They disregarded the dying request of Stephen, respecting Hildebrand, and elected John Mincius, Bishop of Veletri. He assumed the name of Benedict X. The cardinals and many persons of consideration, opposed this violation of the decree which enjoined the presence of Hildebrand; and anathemas were issued against those concerned in the election of Benedict. The effort was useless. Benedict occupied the see into which he had been thrust, nearly ten months ^ By some negotia- tion which has never been divulged, Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, obtained from him the pall. Stigand is said to have retained the see of Winchester, after his election to the archbishopric; as Leo IX. kept possession of the bishopric of Toul, and Victor II. of that of Eichstadt, after their respec- tive elections to the apostolic see. Benedict was deposed by the Council of Sutri. He found all opposition useless, against the united influence of Hildebrand, of the emperor, of the count of Tuscany, and of the cardinals.
CLV. Nicholas U., died 1061.
The conduct of the party, by whose means Bene- dict X. had been forced upon the Church, compelled the defeated party to appeal once more to the imperial, or Ger- man court. Gerard, Bishop of Florence, was consequently nominated by the empress-regent. Hildebrand, while at Florence, on his way from Germany, heard of the election, and assembled at Vienna the fugitive cardinals and bishops who had left Rome. Gerard was consequently elected at Vienna by the unanimous voice of the cardinals and their supporters. He adopted the name of Nicholas II.' He then summoned a council to meet at Sutri, at which the car- dinals and most of the bishops of Italy were present, with
1 Baron, ad anil. 1058, § I. ^ Leo Ostiensis, iii. 12; ap. Pagi,
^ Pagi, ad ann. 1058, § 6. a.d. 1058, § 7-
Transubstantiation against reason, Scripture, and the senses. 199
Duke Godfrey, who was charged in the name of King Henry book hi.
to displace Benedict, and assist in enthroning Nicholas, v .^ '>
Sentence of excommunication was then pronounced against the usurper ; and Benedict seeing the force prepared to dis- lodge him, resigned ; and throwing himself before Nicholas as soon as possible after the ceremony of his coronation, was absolved from the excommunication, but deprived of all epis- copal and priestly dignity. He was committed to a monas- tery, and is supposed to have died soon after.
A council was called at Rome at which the principal bishops, abbots, priests, and other clergy of Italy, France, and Germany were present, and at which Nicholas presided in person. The principal subject of discussion respected the mode of the presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Berengarius, the opponent of transubstantiation, defended his conclusions ; but at length professed to have been convinced of his errors by the arguments of Alberic, a monk of Monte Cassino. He offered to subscribe and main- tain such confession as the council should be pleased to dic- tate ; and a profession of faith was drawn up agreeable to the modern doctrine of the Church of Rome on this subject. He is stated to have then thrown his own writings, and those of John Scotus, into a fire prepared for the purpose, in the midst of the council *. Accounts of this triumph over reason, Scripture, and the senses, were circulated wherever the opposite doctrine had been circulated \ Lanfranc dis- tinguished himself at this council by his severity against Berengarius ^
* Pagi, A.D. 1059, § 3. who — contra hanc fidem venerint —
* The recantation of Berengarius seterno anathemate dignos esse pro- is recorded by Baronius, § 16, an. nuntio. On this subject see further, 1059. He begs jmrdon for saying " Acta Coucihi Romani sub Gregorio — panem et vinum quce in altare po- Septimo in causa Berengarii, ab ipso nuntur, post consecrationem solum- Berengario conscripta, cum ipsius TOodo sacramentum, et non verum postea reeantatione," in ilartene and Corpus ct Sanguinem Domini nostri Durand Thesaur. Nov. Anecdot. iv. Jesu Christi esse, nee posse sensualiter 103.
nisi in solo sacrameuto manibus saeer- *■ I purposely avoid discussion on
dotum tractari, vel frangi, vel fideliura the subject of Berengarius and tran-
dentibus atteri. — It is not, h(nvever, substantiation, as topics well known to
sufficient with the Church of Rome to all. Few things are more painful to a
compel its adherents to support what dispassionate observer of the effects of
it believes to be truth. It demands of that system, whether it be called priest-
them that they anathematize the sup- craft, popery, or ecclesiastical tyranny,
posed opposite eri'or. Berengarius, which compels the suljmission of the
therefore, is made to swear that all soul to authority without evidence.
200 The Elections of the Popes taken from the clergy and people.
BOOK III. It is impossible to judge rightly of the events of history, CHAi'. IV. ^,^iggg ^g enquire into their causes ; and one great evil has ever resulted to states and Churches from their making general laws, to prevent the repetition of accidental or occa- sional vexations. The objects of an ambitious sovereign, demagogue, or aspirer after power, are never more effectually promoted than by the establishing some new principle, as the only remedy for such vexations. The same council at Rome which had condemned Berengarius altered the mode of the election of the pontiffs. They had hitherto been chosen by the clergy, nobles, and people. The party of the nobles had elected Benedict X. contrary to the usual mode. To prevent a repetition of these popular tumults, a new principle of election was proposed and adopted. It was decreed that the pope for the future should be selected by the cardinal bishops alone, to whom the cardinal priests and deacons should be added ; and that the approbation of the rest of the clergy, and of the body of the faithful, should be afterwards de- manded. TJiis decree, which gave the election to a few, and the approbation only of the elected to the many, trans- ferred the power of the pontificate to the college of cardinals. The cardinals at this time were but twenty-eight in number ; and we may believe were deeply interested in the support of the plans and projects of Hildebrand, so far as he had per- mitted them to be known. The rights of the emperor were preserved by a clause at the end of the decree : but ex- perience soon proved, as in other instances, that all such clauses of reservation are useless, so long as the ambition which procured the enactment of the principle which they are only intended to define, regulate, or limit, remains in activity. The authority of the emperor, as well as the power of the people, were both nominally saved, but were both in reality destroyed''.
Other decrees were passed at this Roman council against those who ordained, or were ordained, simoniacally ; also, on
upon the minds of the scholar, the died in soHtude, in exile, after passing
student, and the conscientious Chris- the evening of his life in prayers and
tian, whether ignorant or learned, austerity. He clothed his piety in the
Berengarius three times recanted, and dress of the age. His heart was right
three times retracted his retractation, with God.
He resigned his preferments, endured ' Sec Pagi, a.d. 1059, § 4.
the loss of all things, and at length
The poiver of Rome still further ino'eased. 201
the celibacy of priests, and on the keeping of concubines by book III.
the clergy. These concubines were generally the wives of J ^^ ,'
the clergy, who were stigmatized by that name.
Nicholas further extended the power of Rome by sending legates, in conjunction with the Archbishop of Milan, to re- dress the corruptions which had crept into that Church. Milan had hitherto refused submission to Rome. The people, apprehensive that their object was to subject their Church to that of Rome, surrounded the palace in which the legates sojourned, and threatened them with death if they attempted to interfere with the independence of their Church. On being assured by the legates that they had come only to assist the archbishop in promoting their benefit, the assembly permitted the council to meet. At this synod it was dis- covered that scarcely one of the clergy was known who had not paid for his ordination ; and it was, therefore, deemed impolitic to commence punishment where all were culpable. The bishops and clergy engaged on oath to dismiss their concubines, and to discountenance simony for the future *.
While the legates were employed in Milan, the pope him- self was ens:a2;ed in endeavourino: to relieve the dioceses of Southern Italy from the evils which had nearly annihilated religion in those parts. He held a council at Melfi, the capital of Apulia, against simony; and to inflict penalties upon what was termed incontinence, that is, the marriage of the clergy '.
The next decisive measure which extended the power of the see of Rome took place in Apulia. Nicholas, attended, as he uniformly seems to have been, by his favourite Hilde- brand, held a council at Beneventum '. The Normans, who had taken possession of the Italian provinces, were desirous to secure them by holding them in feudal tenure from the pope. Nicholas, therefore, granted to Robert Guiscard their chief, states in fee, which he had conquered, or might conquer, in Apulia, and Calabria, and in Sicily, then occupied by the Saracens. He conferred also on him, by his own authority, the title of duke, put a standard into his hand ; and declared him the vassal of the apostolic see, and standard-bearer of the holy Church. The oath of submission by Robert made
* Bowdcn, i. 208. " Leo Ostiensis, iii. 13. ' Sec Pagi, a.d. 1059, § 13.
Ife^
202 The Normans assist the Pope against the Italian nobles.
BOOK III. the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily fiefs of the pontiffs. The
, ^^ 'precedent for the transfer of nations and provinces became
established ; and even Muratori himself is unable to defend the transaction from any source of argument but the dona- tion of Constantine to Sylvester. That forgery was now implicitly believed, and the usurpation of the temporal sove- reignty was founded on the now exploded fraud ^ All this was done under the influence of Hildebrand, who had laid down the principle, that the pope was the emperor of the West ; being the prince who resided in the head and centre of the civilized world, to which belonged the right of investiture of all those kingdoms which it had formerly either created or subdued.
The alliance with the Normans, and their submission to the pope as their feudal chief, enabled Nicholas to establish his power in Italy still more efficiently. Palestrina, Tuscu- lum, Nomento, Galeria, and almost the whole Roman terri- tory, became the prey of his new allies*. These districts had maintained in some measure a distinct power and independ- ence which had frequently been dangerous to papal despotism. The first use which Nicholas made of his Norman allies, was to require a body of soldiers to accompany him to Rome under his command. With this force he laid waste the country of those who had been most troublesome in thwarting the progress of the papal temporal supremacy ; and he so effectually^subdued them, that the population may be said never to have been fully restored.
The power of the see was still further increased by the just care of Nicholas to prefer the best and most learned men ; and to procure the condemnation of the marriages of the clergy, and the real or supposed abuses of the day, by coun- cils, and by bishops in France and Italy. At a council which he held in the Lateran palace in 1061, Aldred, Arch- bishop of York, Guiso, Bishop of Wells, and Walter, of Hereford, were present ; the former to obtain the pall, and the two latter to have their election confirmed by the pope, and receive from him ordination. The two bishops succeeded in their object without difficulty; but the petition of the archbishop was rejected, on account of his holding the see of
- Gricsley'b Life of Gregory VII., p. 138. ^ Bowden, i. 206.
The empire divided between Gregorians and Imperialists. 203
Worcester as well as that of York, and he left Rome wdthout buok ill. the pall. The three bishops are stated to have fallen into pHAP. iv. the hands of Italian banditti, who plundered them of all their means of pursuing their journey. They consequently returned in that destitute condition to Rome, and Nicholas, pitying their misfortune, supplied them with necessaries for their return, and gave Aldred a pall *. He died at Florence soon after this council.
CLVI. Alexander II., died 1073.
The ecclesiastical power was now so great in consequence of the universal identification of Christianity with the authority of Rome, and of the bishops who were in communion with the pope, by the great mass of the people in all the countries of Europe ; that Hildebrand now^ ventured, on the death of Nicholas ', to assemble the cardinals at Rome, and to procure the election of Anselm da Badagio, the Bishop of Lucca, as pope, under the title of Alexander II. ^ The imperial party sent a deputation to the young emperor, offering him a crown of gold, and the dignity of the Roman patrician. The counts of Tusculum and Galeria were the heads of the deputation. The nobles, or aristocratic party, were evidently becoming divided between the Gregorians, and imperiahsts. Three large parties can seldom co-exist for any length of time under any government. Henry assembled a council at Basle, and Cadolaus, or Cadislaus, Bishop of Parma and chancellor of the empire, was elected pope, and assumed the name of Honorius II. The two parties of Gregorians and imperialists, or the two contending principles of government by the spiritual or temporal authorities, were now aiTayed in open war. The question was no longer to be discussed, whether this or that country was to be ruled by its own sovereign, or by its ecclesiastical ruler ; but whether all Europe was nomi- nally to retain in each country its own temporal ruler, while it
•
* See an account of these trans- full exammation of the question Lv
actions in Baronius, § 25, an. Pagi in his criticism upon that year,
1059. Baronius has mistaken, how- § 6, seqq.
ever, the date of this event. There * Benno (as quoted by Sir R.
were two councils at Rome, one in Griesley, p. 144) attirms that Nicholas
1051), the other in 1061. Aldred was was poisoned by Hildebrand. jiresent at the latter, not at the former. '"' Leo Ostiensis, iii. 21. — See Baron, a.d. 1059, § 35, and the
204 The Emperor summoned to Rome by the Pope.
BOOK \u. submitted in reality] to the yoke of the foreigner. The ques-
^ J- — '' tion was, whether all Churches were to be ruled by their own
bishops only, or by the Bishop of Rome. Henry was the most powerful prince ; Alexander the most powerful bishop. Both demanded authority over the services of the same per- sons— the bishops, nobles, and people. The contest was now to be decided by the triumph of the prince or the pope, whether the crozier or the sceptre should conquer.
Negotiation, and some attempts to compromise disputes, generally precede the declaration of open war. The war between the emperor and the Bishop of Rome may be said to have been long going on ; but the first open battle between them in that war may be said to have consisted in the sum- moning of Henry to Rome by Alexander, there to defend his conduct ; and for this battle, the leaders on both sides were not yet prepared. Some preliminary negotiations were necessary, that time might be gained on both sides.
Benzo, Bishop of Alba, on the part of Henry and Cadolaus, appeared at Rome, and demanded the abdication of Alex- ander. He appealed to the decree which gave the power of election to the cardinals. Hildebrand compelled him to leave the city \ Cadolaus, on hearing this, marched (14th April, 106.2) with an army towards Rome. He was defeated, at the moment of victory, by Godfrey, Duke of Tuscany, and by Hil- debrand. The people, or rather the populace of Rome, forgave none of the imperial party ; and Hildebrand took a fearful and bloody revenge on his opponents. The theocracy he was about to establish so perfectly, was founded on the democracy of Rome and of Europe ; and its basis was laid in blood, and in unrelenting executions.
The next step which Alexander and his followers ventured to take, was the seizure of the person of Henry. This was effected by inducing him to dine on board the bark of Hanno, Archbishop of Cologne, lying on the Rhine, and then hurrying hiiji down to Cologne. Henry leaped overboard, anticipating
' Sii' R. Griesley's Life of Gregory tion of his election, but that Hilde-
VII., p. 143. This book contains the brand actually struck the newly-elected
last account of these proceedings. Car- pope for his servile abandonment of
dinal Benno relates that Alexander the principles of ecclesiastical suprc-
professed his willingness to suspend niacy, whicli he was endeavouring to
the exercise of his functions, until he establish, had obtained the emperor's approba-
England ahvays one chief object of attention to Rome. 205
personal violence, but Avas brought back by Count Egbert, book hi. He became reconciled to the proposition, that a council p"''^^- ^^; should be summoned at Cologne to inquire into the contend- ing claims of the rivals for the pontificate \ Alexander was then acknowledged as lawful pope in the presence of Henry. This was followed by the assembling of a diet, in which Hanno procured for himself the appointment of guardian to Henry during his minority, with the powers of regent. The Empress Agnes, the mother of Henry, finding herself thus deprived of power, went to Rome, where she also acknow- ledged Alexander ; and obtained from him absolution for the part she had taken in promoting the cause of Cadolaus.
The influence of the pontiffs was now increased by other circumstances. The Normans of Italy under Roger, brother of Robert Guiscard, in 1065, were extending their conquests in Sicily. Being desirous of continuing the friendship of the pope, they sent to him large portions of their rich booty. His holiness gave them in return remission of all their sins. This is said to have been the first instance of what is called plenary indulgence. At the same time he sent them a banner from the prince of the apostles.
England, on account of its wealth and importance, more especially since the mission of St. Augustine, had ever been an object of attention to the see of Rome. Communion with Rome, however, at this period, does not seem to have implied submission. It denoted only deference, respect, and that same kind of homage or desire of peace, which we might anticipate from a bishop in Scotland or America; if the Arch- bishop of Canterbury were to write to him or his Church, inviting his acquiescence in some arrangement respecting the common faith ; which could be proved to be consistent with the principles of episcopal government which they both held
« This question was proposed to nihil est concessum sive penuissum ''
Alexander in the course of the discus- &c.— Baronius, § 19, 20, ann 1064 ' sions respectmg his title to the papacy: There is much obscurity in the nar-
" Qua ratione, Frater Alexander, abs- ratives concerning this dark period
que niandato et asseiisu Domini mei Baronius assigns this answer of Hilde-
Regis, recepisti papatum T' and the brand to the year U»(J4; and refers for
Archdeacon Hildebrand, with his his authority,' to the Cardinal of An-a
bisliops and carduials, answered : gon's Life of Alexander. On verifyui.'
' Firmissime tene, et nullatenus du- his reference by the edition of Miiri'-
bites, quod in elcctione Romanorum tori (torn. iii. pars i. p 30'') I jo
Pontificum, juxta sanctorum patruni not find any indication "of the date
canonicas sanctioncs, rcgibus penitus The question is of little importance
206 Reasons of the Pope for blessing William the Conqueror.
BOOK III. in common. This degree of respect was not sufficient to CHAP. IV. g^|.jg£y ^jjg ambition of Alexander, or rather that of his adviser, Hildebrand. Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury, under Edward the Confessor, had received a pall from Bene- dict X., who had been elected after the death of Stephen IX., eight years before, by the popular party, but contrary to the approbation and wish of Hildebrand; neither can we learn that Stigand had requested a pall from Nicholas II. or from Alexander, both of whom acted under the influence of Hilde- brand. In the year 1061, also, Tosti, the Earl of Northum- berland, the brother of Harold, had threatened the pope, Nicholas II. », that if he would not give the pall to Aldred, the Archbishop of York, the King of England would withhold the Peter-pence which his kingdom had so long paid to Rome. The Normans of Italy, also, had lately united them- selves to the see of Rome, as feudal holders of the conquered provinces; and it had become the determination of Hilde- brand, and therefore of Alexander, to subdue all nations, by every possible means, to the dominion of Rome. All these motives' united to decide Alexander II. to comply with the request of William of Normandy, that he would sanction (against the advice of many of the cardinals) the expedition of the Normans against England. William sent Gislebert, Archdeacon of Lizieux ', to obtain the sanction of the pope to his proposed enterprise. Alexander not only gave his approbation, but sent William the standard of St. Peter. The subsequent success of JVilliam greatly increased the papal power in England^.
9 Will, of Malmes. lib. iii. ^ Pagi, ad an. 1066, § 5.
1 Another motive, too, might have » The emperor, Henry IV., besides
prevailed with Alexander. The Nor- giving all his vassals permission to
mans in Italy were now beginning to embark in this expedition, whicli so
be troublesoine to him, and he had much engaged the attention of Eu-
sent Godfrey, Duke of Tuscany, to rope, promised his protection to the
prevent further injury. By sending duchy of Normandy dunng the ab-
WilHam of Normandy to England, he sence of the prince ; and thereby ena-
perhaps believed that he should pre- bled him to employ his whole force in
vent the iunction of the Normans of the invasion of England.-Guil. Pictav.
- •" -. 1 •»!_ j.i._:, . „ mo «/i;+ niioi>r»if Hilt flip niost. im-
vent ine lunciioii ui mc i-i^^i^..^^^^ w. •-_ ?, t. . ^i
Neustria, or Normandy, with their p. 198, edit. Quercit. But the most im-
brethren of Italy. Richard, brother portant ally whom William gained by
of Robert, the Norman Duke of Cala- his negotiations was the pope, who had
bria, was refused the rank of patrician a mighty influence over the ancient
by tiie pope. He, therefore, marched barons, no less devout m their religious
against Rome, but was repulsed by the principles than valorous m their raih-
nope and Godfrey.— See Baronius and tary enterprises. The Roman pontiff,
Pagi, with their references. after an insensible progress during
The Pope requested to send legates to a council in England. 207
Interference in matrimonial causes has ever contributed to book hi. the influence of Rome. It was so at present. Henry, King ^"AP. iv. of Germany, had married Bertha, daughter of Otho, an Italian marquis, and after two years' union wished to divorce her. A council was convened at Mentz to sanction his de- sign. The pope immediately despatched Damiani to Mentz to threaten with the censures of the Church any, of whatever rank, who should consent to the wish of the king. The council met, and terrified with the threat of the legate, one and all opposed the divorce ; and the king never afterwards attempted to put away his queen. The submission of the council demonstrated the influence of Rome more than any other event of the day *.
The archbishops of Mentz and Bamberg were summoned to Rome by the pope, together with several bishops of Ger- many, in 1069, to answer charges of simony of which they had been accused to the pope. They were all convicted, but upon their oath never more to be guilty of the practice, Alex- ander pardoned them. The papal influence was supreme over bishops and councils.
In 1070, a request was made by William the Conqueror to the pope, that he would send legates to attend a council which he purposed to assemble for the puq^ose of adjusting the affairs of the Church in England. Peter and John, car-
several ages of darkness and ignorance, began now to lift his head openly above all the princes of Europe ; to assume the office of a mediator, or even ar- biter in the quarrels of the greatest monarchs ; to interpose in all secular affairs ; and to obtrude his dictates as sovereign laws on his obsequious dis- ciples. It was a sufficient motive to Alexander II., the reigning pope, for embracing William's quarrel, that he alone had made an appeal to his tribu- nal, and rendered him umpire in the dispute between him and Harold ; but there were other advantages which the pontiff foresaw must result from the conquest of England by the Norman arms. That kingdom, though at first converted by the Roman missionaries, though it had advanced some steps further towards subjection to Rome, maintained still a considerable inde- pendence in its ecclesiastical adminis- tration ; and forming a world within itself, entirely separated from the rest
of Europe, it had hitherto proved inac- cessible to those exorbitant claims which supported the grandeur of the papacy. Alexander, therefore, hoped that the French and Norman barons, if successful in their enterprise, might import into that country a more de- voted attachment to the' holy see, and bring the English Churches to a greater conformity with those on the continent. He declared immediately in favour of William's claim, pronounced Harold a perjured usurper, denounced excom- munication against him and his adhe- rents ; and the more to encourage the Duke of Normandy in his enterprise, he sent him a consecrated banner, and a ring with one of Peter's hairs in it. —Baker, p. 22, edit. Hj8A. Thus wore all the ambition and violence of that invasion covered over safely with the broad mantle of religion. — Hume's History of England, i. 339, et seq. 8vo. Lond. 1808.
* Pagi, ad ann. 1069, § 1.
11^
208 Stigand deposed for resisting the Gregorian party.
BOOK III. dinals, and Ermenfred, Bishop of Zion, were sent to England ^^^' ^^; accordingly. The council met at Winchester, and the king and legates jointly presided. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Stigand, was accused of holding two sees, Winchester and Canterbury, at the same time, and of the crimes of perjury and murder. He was deposed. The historian of these events assures us, that Stigand had offended Alexander and several of his predecessors, by not having procured a pall. The reason has been assigned. Stigand had never joined the Gregorian party, and having been by that party several times excommunicated at Rome ; his off'ence was heightened by paying no regard to the sentence, but exercising his epis- copal functions as if no such sentence had been passed. The opportunity w^as now presented of sacrificing him to make room for Lanfranc, the friend of Hildebrand, and the oppo- nent of Berengarius. He was accused of simony, the crime which was so freely imputed to those ecclesiastics whom Hilde- brand considered to be hostile to his plans for elevating the papacy. The act of simony laid to his charge, was that of attempting to annex the see of Winchester to that of Can- terbury. This charge, even if it had been true, was not only the same offence of which many of the Gregorian party were equally guilty ; but as the diocese of Canterbury was different from the metropolitical charge, the annexation of Winchester to form one episcopal see, would not have made the diocese of the archbishop larger than many others. The resolution, however, had been taken to depose him ; and he was not only deposed, but to prevent the danger which might possibly arise from his influence with the Saxons, if he were permitted to be at large, he was imprisoned in Winchester for life \
In another council at Windsor more Saxon bishops were deposed, for no other crime than that they were Englishmen '*, as is affirmed by one of our modern historians. I would rather say, they were deposed for belonging to the anti-Gregorian party, now beginning to be so influential in the Church.
The inflexible disposition of Hildebrand appeared even in his treatment of Lanfranc. Desirous to be excused from a journey to Rome to obtain the pall, Lanfranc wrote to Hilde- brand, by whose counsel Alexander, as well as his four pre-
5 See Pafji, ad ann. 1070, § 1, seqq.
'"' Lingard's History of William I., p. 42, second edition.
Hlldebrand's authority over England. 209
decessors was governed, begging him to exert his influence book hi.
to prevent the necessity of his appearing at Rome in person. ^ ,^ >
Hildebrand, in reply, insisted on his undertaking the journey. He intimated that other measures might be considered as well as the matter of the pall. Lanfranc consequently set out with Thomas, Archbishop of York, and Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln. They were all received with marked attention by the pope. The two companions of Lanfranc are said (but the story is improbable) to have been deposed by his holi- ness ; who is reported to have given their croziers and rings to Lanfranc, with the power to return them if he pleased : and that he immediately restored them. While at Rome, Lanfranc obtained a special bull from Alexander, by which possession of the cathedrals of England was confirmed to the monks. During this visit to the apostolic see, the dispute between Canterbury and York concerning the primacy, was ordered by his holiness to be determined by a council of the English bishops ; and a council was accordingly held in the foUov/ing year, the whole of the bishops, abbots, and many of the clergy of the kingdom being present, upon which occasion the primacy was adjudged to the see of Canterbury. Alexander, on the return of the bishops to England, wrote to the king, whom, after praising for his piety and zeal, he advises to consult Lanfranc, and abide by his counsels ; as he had vested him with power to give decisions as binding as though he himself were present in person. He wrote also to the monks of Winchester at the same time, and as this epistle may be looked upon as a general specimen of the authority assumed by Rome over the monasteries of England after the conquest, it may be con- sidered an evidence of the extent of the subjugation of the island to the dominion of Hildebrand, resulting from the Norman conquest '.
In the year 1073, the Saxons, who had revolted from Henry, in consequence of the oppression of his ministers, complained to the pope that the king was selling the greater preferments of the Church to those who would pay the highest price. The pope, by the advice of Hildebrand, as it
^ Cjetenim si quis audaci temeri- sciat se ii*acundiam Apostolicse Sedis
tate, vel pravo studio, hunc statum et incurrere, et, nisi cessit, anatheniatis
ordinem ecclesioe vestrae mutare vel in se judicium provocai'e, — Wharton's
confundere attemptaverit, proculdubio Anglia Sacra, i. 321.
VOL. II. P
210 The Papist most dangerous when most sincere.
BOOK III. is conjectured, cited his majesty to appear before him in per-
V ,^J ; son to answer for his conduct. The archbishops of Cologne
and Bamberg had gone to Home upon business connected with the king, and they were commissioned to deliver to his majesty the papal summons. This was the beginning of the great battle between the power of the Church and the power of the empire. Henry was highly incensed at the insult. It was the first time that an independent sovereign had been treated as if he were amenable to the papal tribunals. The pope, however, died^ before there was sufficient time to revenge the indignity.
Alexander was the first who conferred the mitre on abbots. Egelsinus, Abbot of Canterbury, is the first who had the honour bestowed upon him. VVradislaus, Duke of Bohemia, is reminded by Gregory VII. that he is the first layman per- mitted to wear that mai'k of distinction". Alexander reigned — that word now describes the holding of the see of Rome — eleven years and seven months. He must be regarded as one of those popes who consolidated m.ost substantially the power of the hierarchate.
CLVII. Gregory VIL, died 1085.
We are at length brought to the pontificate of that Bishop of Rome who has exercised greater influence over the human race than any king, conqueror, or sovereign, in ancient or modern times '. Whether for good or evil, according to the
8 Pagi, ad ann. 1073, § 3. Leo IX., Victor II., Stephen X., ' See Greg. Epist. I. xvii. ap. Labbe, Nicholas II., and Alexander II. I X. 18. principally depend on Baronius, be- * For the sketch of the life of Hil- cause he is the standard writer whom debrand, I have consulted the Lives of the members of the Church of Rome Gregory in Muratori, Sir Roger Gries- approve, and he unconsciously demon- ley, the Dublin Review, No. XII., strates the truth, that the members of Butler's Lives of the Saints, the " Acta his Church are sometimes injurious in Sanctorum," May 25, which contain proportion as they are honourable and much that is to be found in Muratori; sincere. Mr. Burke remarks of the the account by Cardinal Benno, in the Jacobins of his day, that in pro]iortion first volume of the Fasciculus Rerum as they are theoretically and philoso- Expetendarumet Fugiendarum, Radul- phically right, they are morally and phus de Diceto, Urdericus Vitalis, politically wrong. By the word philo- Wharton's Anglia Sacra, Bayle's Die- so]>hicallij, he referred to the false phi- tionary (article, Gregory VII.), and losophy of the infidel democratical many others who relate the transac- school. We may accommodate the tions in England during the adminis- expression with justice to the Church tration of the pontificate under Hilde- of Rome. The world has cause to brand, pending the several periods of dread its zeal and sincerity alone. In
The biographers of Hildebrand or Gregory VI I. 211
opinion of those who admire his actions or detest his memory, book hi. no individual excepting Nimrod, if he was the founder, as -.'
Mr. Faber affirms ^, of the heathen corruptions of patriarchism, or Mohammed, the originator of the antagonist corruptions of Christianity ^ ; has engraven his name so deeply on the column of history as an arbiter of the destinies of mankind. The name of Hildebrand, as Bayle S and Gibbon \ and Cave * have alike remarked, is either adored or detested whenever it is mentioned ; and all ages, from his own day to the present, admire or abhor his actions. His life has hitherto been written principally by his admirers or enemies. Though both of these are still to be found, who will either eulogize or con- demn him as indiscriminately as either his great detractor, Cardinal Benno, who accuses him of magic ; or as Caesar Baronius, who rejoices to relate his miracles ; it is in the pre- sent age alone that the philosophical historian ' can be found, who will " nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." We may now safely reject the charge of magic with his friends ; or doubt the miracles with his enemies ^ We may calmly and dispassionately examine the circumstances which formed his character; and ths serene, firm, and even fearful manner ** in which this Napoleon of the Church subdued kingdoms, deposed the sovereigns who offended him, and presented their dominions to the vassals or tributaries who
proportion as the papist believes him- 1840, which exhibits a clear, calm,
self to be religiously and devoutly and dispassionate statement of the
right, he becomes morally and politi- actions and motives of this important
cally wrong. Hildebrand was the de- individual.
poser of kings and the curse of the ^ Gregory VII. who may be adored
Church, because he was firmly and or detested as the founder of the papal
fully convinced that the Bishop of monarchy. — Gibbon, Milman's edition,
Rome was the human possessor on vol. xii. p. 259.
earth of the authority of God Himself. ^ Hinc tot anathematum fulmina,
2 Origin of Pagan Idolatry. &c., quse pr»terita deploravit aetas, et
^ See Forster's " Mahometanism erubescit, aut admiratur prsesens. —
Unveiled " for the development of the Cave, Hist. Litteraria, vol. ii. p. 151.
theory that the religion of Mahomet is ^ E. g. Miller's Philosophy of
a corruption of Christianity. Modern History.
* No pope was ever so well or so ill * Among the former, Pandulphus of spoken of as Gregory VII. — Bayle's Pisa disgusts us by his fulsome udula- Dict., art. Greg. VII. The reader tion and blind partiality, while the ex- will judge of the mass that has been cess to which tlic abuse and scurrility written respecting Hildebrand, when I of Benno and the Bishop of Alba lias remind him that Bayle informs us extended, deprives them altogether of from the Acta Sanctorum, of fifty wri- any title of credit.— Sir R. Griesley, ters on the life of Gregory VII. We p. 371.
must not forget here to mention the ' See " History of Popery," 1 vol.
Life of Gregory by Bowden,8vo. Lond. 8vo.
p 2
i
212 TTie Church had now become one great secular empire. BOOK III. pleased him. The dreams of Nicholas were realized. He
CHAP TV • •
^ ,^ ' had imagined that the empires of this world were granted as
a temporal dominion to the Son of God ; and were conse- quently bestowed on his representative Peter, and after him on the bishops of Rome. In reading the history of Hildebrand, or Gregory VII., when, after directing the affairs of his four pre- decessors, we find him at length to have himself assumed the sceptre ; we seem to be reading the consequences which would have resulted to mankind if the temptation of Christ by the evil spirit had been successful ; and if the Founder of the Christian Church had accepted as his temporal dominion, the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them. "All these are given unto me, and the glory of them ; and to whom I will, I give them," was the affirmation. If we can imagine the result of the yielding to this temptation, we should only have the precise picture which is presented to us in this strange his- tory. The words of truth, the mercy, the benevolence, the humility, the patience, and the suffering which characterized the Bruiser of the serpent's head, instead of being received as the spiritual remedies for spiritual diseases, would have been rendered subservient to the purposes of worldly ambition, and raising a visible and powerful secular Church upon the earth ; before which every knee should bow, and eveiy tongue confess to the glory of the god of this world, but not to the gloiy of God the Father. If we can imagine the evil spirit ruling the human race in such a man- ner as to gratify his own malignity by inflicting upon man- kind the greatest misery, and producing the greatest amount of crime ; we should see the professed servants of God influ- encing the minds of men to actions contrary to the will of God, and ruinous to their own spiritual and permanent hap- piness, by reasonings which are drawn from revelation, perverted to secular purposes, and stifle both humanity and remorse, while they are intended to satisfy the conscience. We should see the austere monk in power, tormenting his own body in order to gain deference from the people; extinguishing revelation to prevent their examination of his claims to their obedience ; inflicting intolerable seve- rities over those who presumed to doubt; arraying one class of mankind against another, by compelling the adherents of the prince to contend with the adherents of the priest ;
Formation of the character of Hildebrand in Clugny. 213
ruling by division, enforcing ignorance, rewarding religion book hi. by "worldly honour, and encouraging piety by increasing 9^'^^' ^^; riches. No writer ever has estimated, nor ever can estimate, the amount of crime and of misery which has resulted to mankind, from the establishment of the policy of Hildebrand. The whole Church of Christ, with few exceptions, seemed to have been changed into one vast secular empire, of which Hildebrand was the autocrat ; monks were the peers ; cardinals the ministers of state ; bishops the senators ; emperors and kings themselves merely the first commoners ; nobles the sub- jects ; and the people the victims and the slaves.
We cannot rightly understand the character of Hildebrand unless we consider his infancy, youth, and education.
" The childhood shows the man,
As morning shows the day."
Whether he was a native of Rome or a Tuscan of Soana ', he was born at the time when the controversy respecting the powers of the pontificate, and the pretensions of the secular princes to interfere in the election of the popes, was at its height. He was educated in the strictest principles of defer- ence to the asserted authority of the bishops of Rome ^ He was admitted, as we have seen, to the monastery of Clugny. The rule of St. Benedict, in itself sufficiently severe, had been rendered still more severe by the stricter rule established at Clugny. The zealous, firm, and fervid character of Hil- debrand was still more thoroughly imbued, within the walls of Clugny, ^^^th the principles of attachment to the supre- macy of Rome ; and with devotion to the ascetic observances which, in that age, constituted piety ; and which obtained that ascendancy over the minds of others, most gratifying to an ambitious spirit. The monks had long been the aristo-
' constantior est sententia, combined the words of the 72nd Psalm,
fuisse patria Soanensem,e Tuscire civi- Dominahitur a mari usque ad mare,
tate, natum humili loco, parente fabro. from casually putting together, while
Baronius, ad ann. 1073, § 16. See he was an infant, some broken pieces
the evidence on both sides collected of wood thrown aside by his father, a
in Bowden, i. 126. carpenter. It is not improbable that
2 educatum fuisse ab infantia the child expressed in this manner, at
sub protectione Sancti Petri, &c. — the commencement of his learning to
Baronius, ut supra. read, the impression on his mind pro-
Among other things mentioned by duced by his instructors respecting the
his biographers, he is said to have controversies of the day.
214
Self-denial different from self-tormenting.
BOOK III. cracy of the ecclesiastical empire. The self-denial which is / commanded to accelerate our spiritual improvement, and to promote our spiritual happiness, was changed to the self- tormenting, which injured health without destroying the passions ; and ruined the body without benefiting the soul. Odilo ^ was the Abbot of Clugny at the time when Hilde- brand was received as a novice, or on probation. Odilo was celebrated for his severity as a disciplinarian, and Hildebrand became renowned for his piety. I therefore conclude that Hil- debrand observed all the new ordinances which distinguished the monastery of Clugny * ; and that the monastic austerity,
^ Many of his sermons are still ex- tant in the Bibliotheca Patrum, and in the Anecdota of Marten, v. 622. See Butler's Lives of the Saints for the character, &c. of Odilo; and Bowden, i. 128, 129.
* See the account in Butler, in his Life of Benedict, March 21. The ori- ginal convent of St. Benedict was founded at Monte Cassino,near Naples, in 529, in the thii-d year of the Em- peror Justinian. An account is given in the notes of the monastery of Clugny. I subjoin from the History of the Reli- gious Orders, a specimen of that solemn trifling which the monks mistook for I'eligion. " In making the bread for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, they chose the wheat grain by grain, and washed it with great care. Having placed it in a bag kept solely for that purpose, it was carried to the mill. He washed the mill-stones, covered them with curtains above and below, and dressed in the priest's white gar- ment, he covered his face with a veil, his eyes only being seen. The same precaution was taken with the flour. They did not sift it till the sieve had been well washed ; and the protector of the Church, if he was priest or deacon, finished it, being assisted by two other friars who had the same ordei's, and by a convert named ex- pressly for this purpose. These four persons, when matins were ended, washed their face and hands. The first three were re-dressed in white robes, one wetted the flour with very clear water, and the two others baked the wafers in the oven." Many other observances equally minute and trifling are recorded, even to the placing of the elbows, and the position of their
feet as they sate together. — Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monastiques Rc- ligieux et Militaires, vol. v. chap, xviii. p. 5— 13, 4to. Paris, 17 18. I extract two examples of the discipline of Clugny : Sedens ad lectionem ita sedet ut ulna sit inter se et alium juxta se- dentem, anteriora frocci sui semper in gremium attrahit, ut pedes possiut bene videri. Girones quoque, vel quos qui- dam sagittas vocant, colligit utrinque, ut non sparsim jaceaut in terra. Q,uo- cumque incedit, semper demisso eapite incedit, et si aliquaudo visus fuerit erecta cervice non negligitur innota- tus.
Stans autera ante Domnum Abba- tem, vel ubicumque steterit, id etiam non negligit, ut habeat pedes sequaliter compositos, et nunquam ab invicem inter standum divaricates. — See the Antiquiores Consuetudines Clunicensis Monasterii, collectore J. Udalricho, Monacho Benedictino, ap. Dacherii Spicilegium, Paris, IG'61, part iii., c. xi. p. 124, et c. xix. p. 128.
The monasteries were, in fact, the palaces of the ecclesiastical empire. Very useful were they as the refuge of literatm-e, and the depositories of the manuscript copies of Scripture and the classics. The populace was governed by the influence of the monks. Mis- taking austerity for devotion, and celi- bacy for chastity, they venerated the monastic character as that which alone was religious. With the monks and ecclesiastics alone was the knowledge of law, medicine, and theology. The Church, too, at this time, was the re- fuge of the poor against the nobles, the protector of the common people, the home of the contemplative, the peaceful, and the pious. The monks
Formation of the characters of great or successful men. 215
united to that strange devotedness to trifling enactments BOOK III.
which so generally marks these institutions, contributed to !__ J
form the character of Hildebrand. He was the monk made emperor. He blended the severity and trifling of the one, with the loftiness of view, and enlargement of mind, required in the others. At the same time that he was reducing Ger- many ^, Spain ^, France ", Bohemia *, and Venice ', to various degrees of obedience, demanding feudal oaths of allegiance from the haughtiest military chieftains of the age * ; reproving alike the bishops of Africa * and the North ', and enforcing the supremacy of Rome, the mother, over her daughter Con- stantinople ', as if he were the ruler of the West and East — the spirit of the monk of Clugny still appeared in his edicts to the bishops of Sardinia, ordering them to shave their beards in the occidental, and not in the oriental manner ^ We cannot understand the character of the popes of this age unless we thus keep in view the loftiness of their projects, and the minutenesses of their finvolous enactments. They dazzled and bewildered the sovereigns by their presumption. They fettered the vulgar by changing trifles into sins. They governed kingdoms, and enslaved souls.
At the time of the death of Alexander II., Hildebrand had been for twenty years as something greater than the popes, who acted entirely by his counsel ^ On the day of the death
beganwiththeloveof repose. They were man, and that history is essentially
corrupted by wealth. They descended successive. If we look at the records
to ambition. They became powerful, of any man, of Oliver Cromwell, of
They provoked the envy of nobles by Cardinal Richelieu, of Gustavus Adol-
their possessions, and of kings by their phus, we shall see of each of them,
attachment to Rome. They were that he enters on his career, he pushes
ruined by prosperity and impolicy. forward through life, and rises. Great
'" Baron. Annal. ad ann. 1073, § circumstances act upon him ; he acts
38 — 42. upon great circumstances. He arrives
^ lb. § 28—35, at the end of all things, and then it is
' lb. § 65 — 67. w'e know him ; but it is in his whole
* lb. § 48. character, it is as a complete, a ' lb. § 44 — 47. finished piece, such in a manner as he ' lb. § 56. is turned out, after a long labour, from ^ lb. § 57- the workshop of Providence. At the ^ lb. § 41. outset he was not what he thus be-
* lb. § 43. came, he was not completed, not ' lb. § 54. finished at any single moment of his
* It is not necessarj' to believe, with life. He was formed successively, themajority of writers, that Hildebrand Men are formed morally in the same planned his career of ambition from way as they are physically. They the first. The remarks of Moiis. change every day. Their existence is Guizot are just, that there is a moral constantly undergoing some modifica- chronologv in the life of a successful tion. The Cromwell of 1650 wa« not
216 The weakness of states is the greatness of Rome,
BOOK in. and interment of Alexander, Hildebrand was elected to the >. _ ^ • ; vacant see. Many voices called out his name during the very ceremony of the funeral. When he endeavoured to check this interruption, he was prevented from so doing by a friendly cardinal, Hugo Candidus, who encouraged the popu- lace to persevere in their choice '. After the interment was over, the clergy and people assembled in the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula. The clergy proclaimed Hildebrand, and the people assented. In remembrance of his early friend, Gregory VI., he assumed the name of Gregory VII. Resolved as he may have been to overthrow every power which inter- fered with the election of the popes and bishops, he sent legates to the court of Germany according to the canon of Nicholas II. ; and the ambassadors who came from Germany to inquire into the truth of the accusation of his procuring the see by bribery or simony, confirmed his election. Being only a deacon, he was ordained priest and consecrated pope on the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul ^ After his election, the practice wholly ceased of appealing to the emperors in any manner, in the nomination and enthronement of the popes. No sooner was Hildebrand securely settled in the papal see, than he immediately began to act as the undisputed and indisputable sovereign of every country in Europe. The iveakness of the states of Europe has ever been the strength of Rome. He ascended the papal throne in the year 1073, a period when the condition of Europe was peculiarly favourable to the realization of his plan of universal empire over the civilized portion of mankind The effects of his pious pre- sumption still influence all Europe ; and it will be necessary, therefore, very briefly to survey its condition at the time of
the Cromwell of 1640. It is true there I am contented, after reading them, to
is always a large stock of individuality, believe that the detail in the Dublin
the same man still holds on ; but how Review, No. XII., is correct. I always
many ideas, how many sentiments, how wish to refer to the writer who is in
many inclinations have changed him ! communion with the Church of Rome,
what a number of things he has lost that I may judge the Romanists out of
and acquired ! Thus, at whatever mo- their own mouths. The editor quotes
ment of his life we may look at a man, in a note Bonizon, Bishop of Sutri (ap.
he is never such as we see him when his Rerum Boicarum Scriptores), as the
course is finished. — Guizot, pp. 184, winter most to be depended upon. See
185. also Bowden, i. 314.
' The accounts of his election, as '^ June 29, 1073 : his election took they are recorded by his friends or place on Monday, 22nd of April, the enemies, are very contradictory. They day following the death of Pope Alex- are collected by Sir Roger Griesley. anaer.
Condition of Europe at the accession of Hildebrand. 217
the accession of Hildebrand, as we formerly did in the case of book hi. Nicholas I. Then the vision of universal ecclesiastical «.- .. ^' ; dominion was but conceived. Now it was perfected. The whole of Europe was divided in both cases into petty states, jarring lordships, and contending provinces. No balance of power between jealous and mutually dangerous kingdoms was imagined. Some powerful general principle is ahvays necessary to combine nations. Commerce was but little known. War was an art though not a science. Military prowess was honour. Success in battle was the chief ambition ; and the only bonds of union which prevented universal anar- chy, were the two principles of submission by the people to the ecclesiastical authority ; and the exercise of that authority beyond all the limits even of the canon law, as circumstances and events permitted new claims, and sanctioned every usur- pation. Great and intolerable as the evil of the incessant encroachments of Rome was, some benefit may be shown to have accrued from their exercise ^ When, indeed, the pro- found ignorance of the barbarous and cruel military chieftains of this age is considered; it is not, perhaps, too much to say, that the government of Europe, for a time, until that igno- rance was removed by the spiritually secular, or by the secu- larly spiritual Church, was as essential to the eventual im- provement of mankind, as the submission of the ancient Church to the severe though temporary discipline of the Mosaic law, was requisite to the half-civilized Israelite before the coming of the Messiah. The common Judge of the world was then predicted to be coming. He then came in his humiliation. He is now to come in his glory. In both cases He is to come. In both cases his Church is to be brought through the changes of miracle as the foundation ; prosperity as the progress ; apostasy, or lukewarmness, as a result ; terminating, after a partial recovery, in the manifesta- tion of a happier period.
We will enquire into the state of Europe, and hence gather the proof that the Bishop of Rome had formed the great plan of subjugating churches, bishops, states, and sovereigns to his dominion ; and the consequences of the success of that plan of subjugation upon every portion of the Western
* Sec the chapter on this subject in Saints ; and an eloquent passage in Guizot ; also Butler's Lives of the Soutlu-v's Letters to Charles Butler.
218 Condition of Spain, Portugal, and France at this time.
BOOK III. world. With respect to the condition of Europe \ we may
V ^ • ; observe, that no state was sufficiently powerful to resist the
aggressions of Rome.
In Spain, a small society of Christians had taken refuge in the mountains of the Asturias. With this exception, the Peninsula was overrun by the Saracens. These, however, had so strengthened themselves, that by this time the king- dom of Navarre had been founded. The active talents of the Saracens had conveyed from Asia to Europe all the knowledge and improvement to which they themselves had attained, and could impart ; and the small Christian states under the counts of Barcelona, Castile, and Arragon in the north of Spain, gra- dually swelled into importance and power. Don Rodrigo % the successor of Don Pelago, the first who resisted the Moors, began the kingdom of Leon, to which all who were hostile to the Mauric dominion fled for protection. The Peninsula was gradually recovered from the Moors by the Christians in the course of the eleventh century, and the Koran was displaced by the Gospels.
In Portugal, Alphonso, king of Leon and Castile, gave Henry of Burgundy the countries south of Gallicia for his services in Spain ; and many Christians from the mountains embraced the choice afforded them of exchanging their soli- tudes for the plains of the Douro \
On the extinction of the Carlovingian princedoms in the tenth century, France included four races, distinct in lan- guage and manners. The northern districts were inhabited by tribes of Germans. Normandy by the descendants of Scandinavians. The midland provinces contained a people of Latin extraction. The South was possessed by races marked by Proven9al and Troubadour habits and language. These, at the time of the accession of Gregory, had merged into two divisions. Northward, the country was characterized by the language called Norman-French ; southward, by the Proven9al, to which the modern poetical Italian is akin.
1 I am happy to say, that after in this instance say, pereant qui ante
drawing out a schedule of the different nos nostra dixerunt. I rejoice to
countries of Europe, to enable me to avail myself of his favours, submit to the reader a more complete ^ " Roderick, the last of the Goths,"
view of its several sovereignties, I by Southey, and the " Vision of Don
found that this had been previously Roderick," by Sir Walter Scott, are
done by Mr. Sharon Turner. (Hist, both founded on these events. Engl. vol. i. p. 28, 8vo edit.) I cannot ^ Sharon Turner's Hist. Engl, i, 52.
Condition of Hungary, Norway, Sweden^ and Denmark. 219 Normandy, Bretasne, Flanders, and Aquitaine, were little book hi.
** o -^ -^ ■*■ r^xj A "p TV
better than feudatory provinces, abounding with dukes and v.^ ^^ ;
counts, who owned the king at Paris as their feudal lord. By perpetual quarrels which these dukes kept up one with another, the Parisian government was safe from their hostile incursions; and after the eleventh century it became a settled policy of the kings to consolidate them all under one royal dynasty *.
Hungary, which before had been a terror to Europe, whose people lived in huts built with reeds, by its sudden and entire adoption of Christianity, caused a strange sensation in the Morld. The splendid crown bestowed by the pope on their chief had a great effect on the feelings of the people, whose men of the highest caste, at this time, could neither write nor read. The spirit of piety and general homage towards the Roman Church was much increased by this event. Pil- grimages, which in the eleventh century were everywhere the custom, were much encouraged by the Hungarian revolution ; and this wonderful change in the face of Europe, opened that free passage to Constantinople and Palestine, which subse- quently favoured the march of the Crusaders.
With respect to the northern powers, we may observe, that Norway Avas greatly weakened by the ill success of Harold Hardrada, an enterprising Norwegian chief, who had laid claim to the English crown, and made a descent on the coast of Yorkshire, where he perished with his followers in his contest with Harold.
Sweden was at this time an obscure but advancing king- dom. Active English missionaries, under the auspices of the English episcopacy, were successfully diffusing Christianity into the more remote parts of the country. The Swedish language, says Dr. Clarke in his Travels, is so like the Eng- lish in the Oland Isles, that his servant could understand the inhabitants, and make himself intelligible to them.
The English missionaries were everywhere to be found. Canute the Great, in the beginning of the eleventh century^ introduced numbers of English into Denmark to teach Chris- tianity to his subjects in that pagan country. He went through France and Lombardy to Rome. The journey made
* Sharon Turner's Hist. Esigl. i. 52, 53.
220 Condition of the north of Europe and of Russia. BOOK III. his people known, and was beneficial to the civilization of his
CH \P IV
> — L^J /■ countrymen. Sweyn, to whom the Danish sceptre fell, was
unpolished, and imbued with the fierce barbarism of his northern extraction ; but in return for the frequent plunder of the English monasteries and churches committed by his subjects, courageous missionaries from England, by their persevering labour, softened the rugged and ferocious cha- racter of Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland. Sweyn became mentally improved. Seeing as well as feeling the beneficial effects of the Gospel, he sent into Sweden, Norway, and the Isles, many preachers whose names now stand high in the calendar of saints. England, by means of its fiercest ravagers, was providentially made the means of propagating Christianity through the North.
The shores of the Baltic, both on the North and South, in the early part of the eleventh century, were infested with a warlike, idolatrous, and savage race, designated by the gene- ral name of Sclavi. The Ogors, migrating out of their Sibe- rian settlements in consequence of the progress of the Turkish hordes, the Sclavi fled into the neighbouring districts of Bohemia, Moravia, Servia, Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania, Silesia, Pomerania, and other parts of the northern continent of Europe, till those countries became, for the most part, peopled by a race of Sclavic origin. In the time of Hilde- brand, the Sclavi wrote for instruction to Rome. These rude and scattered sects ivere the last idolaters of Europe which Christianity was required to subdue. Odin and Thor had been vanquished. Hungarian paganism had yielded ; and it was not till the twelfth century that these emigrant hordes were taught by the victorious Christians, that their deities, Radigast and Peroun (the Thunderer), were as feeble pro- tectors in battle as their goddess Seva, all of whom they gave up at length for the name of Christ.
With respect to Russia^ the Scandinavian Vikingr, or Sea- kings, began the foundation of the Russian nation in the settlements of Novogrod and Kiow, about the end of the ninth century. Intellectual and moral cultivation spread through the Sclavic tribes in these regions. Greek merchants had penetrated to the Dnieper. Kiow, in the eleventh cen- tury, was the rival of Constantinople ; and the Baltic was frequented by Greek adventurers. Vladimir, whose idols
Condition of Prussia, Poland, Bohemia, and Moravia. 221 would not be appeased with human victims, sent ten of his book hi.
• 11 i''/»i • mi CHAP. IV.
Wise men to study the rehgion ot other nations. Ihe < .,
Mahommedans were heard without emotion. The Latin Churches of Germany did not come up to their idea of splendid devotion ; but those of Constantinople captivated their minds, and from that time the Greek system became the religion of Russia ^ Vladimir, about a.d. 1000, after having been baptized in the Greek Church, married a Greek princess.
Prussia must not be omitted in this survey. Another of the Sclavic tribes, called Prusci, occupied the country from Courland to the Vistula, whose habits, manners, and physical character, were totally distinct from the Tartar races of Europe. Their hatred of Christianity was long in being overcome, and it was at last only at the point of the sword that, in the twelfth century, they submitted to the religion of civilized Europe. T7ie7/ ivere the last Europeans who, as a nation, were brought to acknowledge Christianity.
With regard to Poland, its government, between the ninth and eleventh centuries, from being monarchical had become an aristocratical feudalism, acknowledging the Emperor of Germany as their sovereign. Its origin was chiefly Sclavonian. It was converted early to Christianity, having, in the eleventh century, eight bishops' sees. Its duke, Casimir, had become a monk, and was recalled from Clugny, as before has been related ^
The Bohemians were of the same fierce and indomitable Sclavonic stock as the Poles and Prussians. The Christian religion had been planted among them as early as the ninth century ; but their habits were warlike, and they are de- scribed as being engaged in continual hostility with their neighbours.
As to Moravia, a mixture of races constituted this nation, and a more placable disposition, susceptible of piety and integrity, distinguished them from the kindred nations of the Sclavic race.
The throne of Germany being inherited by a child five years of age, afforded an opportunity to the factious and the
5 See L'Eveque, pp. 148—155.
« See Acts of Benedict IX,, a.d. 1038—1041.
222 Rome made the chief tribunal by the power of appeal. BOOK III. ambitious who had influence in ecclesiastical or secular affairs,
CHAP TV
1 .■ to keep the country in a state of anarchy. The German
bishoprics principally established by Otho, had grown from wildernesses to princely estates. The monastic institutions of the empire, too, had been raised by donations and legacies to a degree of princely wealth. The weakness of the temporal power had placed the country at the mercy of the ecclesias- tical. The pope was their chief, and he commenced, as we shall see, that warfare with the emperor, which was so long carried on, upon both sides, with relentless violence.
Such was the state of Europe at the accession of Hildebrand. It is evident that no opposition to the designs of the eccle- siastical power of Gregory could be effectual on the part of any prince who now reigned. All unsuccessful resistance strengthens the ruler against whom it is directed. Henry IV. was the prince who waged open war with Hildebrand, and the defeat of Henry was the establishment of the power of Gregory. Let us now consider briefly the principles of Gre- gory, and the manner in which he proceeded to subdue Europe to submission to the ecclesiastical power.
We have seen that the decretal epistles in the pontificate of Nicholas exalted the power of the bishops, while they de- graded the laity. The power of appeal to Rome in greater causes had been reserved. The first object, therefore, of Gregory seems to have been entirely to subdue the whole episcopate of Christendom to unreserved and unlimited sub- mission to himself, and with them the temporal sovereigns. The preceding popes under the influence of Hildebrand cared but little for the restrictions imposed by the decretals on their plenary authority. The authority M^as acknowledged. All parties who felt themselves aggrieved, had been permitted by the decretals to appeal to Rome ; and Rome, therefore, by being the ultimate tribunal for all Christendom., became the principal tribunal. It consequently became the supreme and most powerful judge ; and as it arrogated that divine authority to which ail temporal authority must bow, it only remained for the Bishops of Rome to reject all restrictions imposed upon their own supremacy ; and to determine what amount of jurisdiction they would assume to themselves; and what amount they would leave to the metropolitans or bishops.
J
All episcopal Churches are equal. 223
The whole controversy between episcopacy and papacy rests book hi. upon this point — whether the former is inferior to the latter. > — !._ — ; It is equal. The Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of New York, is as much entitled to rule over the Bishop of Rome, as the Bishop of Rome is entitled to rule over them. Till this truth — the equality of episcopal Churches — is established, there can be no union in Christendom, As the bishops, however, by the authority of the Decretals were declared to be superior to the laity ; and as the power of appeal from the bishops to the pope became the universal law in the Churches of Europe ; while the bishops in their several dioceses had acquired much temporal jurisdiction, the popes claimed the same jurisdiction over the bishops themselves. They became their spiritual, temporal, civil, legal superiors ; and they demanded the same submission from them, which they had respectively demanded in their dioceses, as the holders of large possessions ; and as the feudal equals, in right of those possessions, of the counts, earls, dukes, marquises, and barons of the feudal system. As these nobles held land of their feudal chief, subject to cer- tain services, so the bishops held their possessions ; and the popes regarded themselves, by divine right, to be the head of all bishops, as the sovereign of each state was the head of his tribu- tary nobles.
We must consider this matter at somewhat greater length. We have already seen, that, about the period of the publica- tion of the false decretals, the episcopal authority, and with it that of the popes, acquired a vast impulse. The popes, down to the age of Gregory VII., sometimes rested satisfied with their share of the power thus acquired. The bishops were emancipated from all secular and nearly all clerical control ; and the pope had obtained a very wide acknowledg- ment of his supreme appellate jurisdiction. But the plans of Gregory w^nt much further. To carry out his projects, it was necessary that he should establish himself as absolute sovereign of the Church, and reduce both bishops and clergy to unconditional submission. Building, therefore, upon the advantages which the currency of the false decretals had hitherto procured for the papal authority ; he proceeded to set aside the protections which they had provided for the bishops ; and thus to bring both metropolitans and suffragans under the yoke. Schmidt explains the changes introduced
224 Rome made by Gregory the tribunal to judge Bishops.
BOOK III. by Gregory VII. in the policy of the see of Rome, as hitherto CHAP. IV. fQ^jj(jg(j upon the false decretals of Isidore ^
The feehng of Gregory VII. respecting the state of the Church, and the measures necessary for its purification from real and alleged abuses, is forcibly expressed in a letter to Duke Godfrey of Bouillon. " As a punishment for our sins," says he, " the whole world is abandoned to iniquity ; so that all, particularly the prelates of the Church, endeavour rather to increase the confusion, than protect men against it, and to reform them ; and while they either follow after their own gain or their vain honours and emoluments, they set them- selves up as enemies against all that belongeth to the faith, and the justice of God ^"
Gregory, therefore, thought that it behoved him to take a very different course from that which his predecessors had followed on the principles of the false decretals ; the author of which contended that evil pastors ought to be patiently borne with, provided only, they did not transgress in matters of faith. The favourite maxim of Gregory was — " Cursed is he who keepeth back his sword from blood ^" The main design of the false decretals was to render the deposition of a bishop almost impossible. Gregory looked upon this power to depose as the foundation of all Church discipline. It was the intention of the decretals that the Roman Church should be regarded as the common mother of the bishops ; that she should receive them into her bosom, and protect and defend them against their accusers ; but it was settled in the mind of Gregory, that Rome was the common tribunal for the episco- pacy, the bar to which they might be summoned without charge or accusation, from all parts of the world, to be there indicted, tried, and sentenced.
In these sentiments Gregory VII. had been forestalled by Peter Damiani, who writes in a letter to Pope Alexander II., " Two things are of frequent occurrence in the apostolic see,
' See Schmidt, vol. ii. p. 297, et seq. qui prohibet gladium suura a sanguino.
I am indebted for these remarlis to See Epist. Greg. lib. ii. epist. Ixvi. p.
one of the most learned historiogra- 117} lib. iii. epist. iv. p. 131, and lib.
phers of the age, T. Greenwood, Esq. iv. epist. i. p. 148. In each instance
^ Epist. Greg. VII. lib. i. ep. ix. he gives a paraphrase of the text,
p. 12, ap. Labb. Concil. tom. x., to showing that he understood it as a
which edition the succeeding references punishment denounced on those who
to these epistles apply. did not censure evil livers.
9 Jer. xlviii. 10. — Maledictus homo
Bishops made amenable to Rome. 225
which, with deference to your holy wisdom, appear to us by book hi.
all means to require correction. The first is, that to almost v — 1.^; ,'
every page of the papal decretals an anathema is subjoined. The second is, that every son of the Church, whether he be lay or spiritual, is prohibited from exposing the errors of his bishop \" Now it was upon this very score that the false decretals grounded the security of the bishops, as its most solid foundation ; and, therefore, none but a bishop was permitted to be the accuser of a bishop. " But," says Da- miani, in continuation, " eveiy bishop says, ' I am a bishop, a chief shepherd of the Church; I must not be harassed by the complaints of the sheep which are placed under me: if I have but the true faith, my bad morals must be endured in patience.' " This sentiment is an exact repetition of the false decretals. To this Damiani replies, " If a bishop who sins in and before the face of the Church, will not submit to be warned by the Church, what power have the laws of the Church to put a stop to the transgression ? If the sons of the Church dare not open their mouths, are we then to fetch our witnesses from a distance where their conduct is not known ?" That the arguments of Damiani had produced their effect, may be inferred not only from the principles of Gregory VII., but from what Alexander had already done ; for, as early as the year 1070, the latter had summoned to Rome the Archbishops of Mayence and Cologne as well as the Bishop of Bamberg. Against the bishop a formal charge of simony was exhibited, which, however, he contrived to elude by costly bribes which he had brought with him ; yet he, together with the two archbishops, received a severe reprimand ^
Gregory had acted on these principles through the whole of the twenty years preceding his election, when, as Archdeacon of Rome, he governed so many of his predecessors. He con- tinued to do so after his own election. He devoted his life, says one great modern historian, to the execution of two projects. First, To fix in the college of cardinals the freedom and inde- pendence of the election of the pope ; and for ever to abolish the right of the Roman people. Secondly, To bestow and
' Pet. Damiani, ist. lib. i. ep. xii. = Lamberti Schaffenburg. Cliroii. ad ad Alex. Pap. ii., p. 12, edit. Venet. aim. 1070. 1783.
VOL. II. Q
226 Gregory VII . the autocrat of Europe and Western emperor.
BOOK III. resume the Western empire, as a fief or benefice of the CHAP. IV. Church, and to extend his temporal dominion over the kings and kingdoms of the earth \ But these great designs could not have been attempted, much less could they have been executed, had he not been actuated by zeal arising from the conviction that he was the undoubted successor of St. Peter ; and thus entitled to the homage which he exacted, and the powers which he presumed to exercise. His resolution seems to have been to realize the wildest dreams of his pre- decessors ; and to become, by the alternate use of the ana- themas of the Vatican, and the sword of his allies, his dependants, or his tributaries, the autocrat of Europe and the emperor of the West.
The modes by which ambitious individuals in all ages attain to power are the same. There must be the assertion of an abstract principle, the declaration of great benefit by the establishment of that principle, and the consequent alleged injustice, wickedness, and folly of the people who deny it ; and this must be followed up by the affirmation or insinuation, that the zealous individual himself is the only person competent to bestow or to perpetuate the proposed principle, and its anticipated results. These are the means by which the chief revolutions of history have been effected. Unless there be some pretensions of this nature, there can be little or no usurpation : for men would be deprived of the zeal and activity which project innovations ; and cause political disturbances, by exciting the two antagonist powers of re- sisting, and of promoting change.
The abstract principle which Hildebrand asserted was, the superiority of the ecclesiastical over the temporal power ; the supposed good which he proposed to effect, was the greatest which he could submit to the world, — the salvation of the souls of the people, by delivering them from the guilt of simony ; and the competency to effect the benefit he proposed, was to be found in the supremacy of himself, as the deposi- tary of the ecclesiastical power, and the inheritor of the authority of Christ. His principles, as exhibited in the twenty-seven maxims, we have already considered. They are summed up in that one ivord which still divides and convulses
3 Gibbon, vol. ix. pp. 197, 198, Milman's edition.
Gregory VII, prefers the Saracen to any antipapal power. 227
the world— the supremacy of Rome. He affirmed the abstract book hi. principle of power over nations, as in the instance of Spain. ^ — L^l — •' He affirmed the right to dethrone princes for the benefit of the people, as in the case of Henry ; and he rested all his pretensions on his fitness and competency to do all, as the inheritor of the authority of Christ. Like other ambitious usurpers, he based his power upon the proposal to benefit the masses of the people ; and he proceeded to crush all the intermediate authorities between the papal head and the sub- missive tail. Acting on the three principles of ecclesiastical superiority, popular benefit, and his own competency, he proceeded at once to affirm his power, and to subjugate bishops, churches, states, and sovereigns.
Immediately after his election, and before he could receive the customary sanction of the head of the empire, he sent his friend, the Cardinal Hugo Candidus, into Spain. The mis- sion on which he was despatched was the most extraordinary on which an ambassador had been hitherto known to be em- powered— to submit to one community the will of the sove- reign of another. It was neither more nor less than to de- mand of the Spanish nobles who were zealous for the honour of their country, to recover back from the Saracens the pro- vinces of which they had obtained possession ; in order that they should hold under the see of Rome the temtories they might resume from the common enemy. He informs them that the kingdom of Spain belongs to St. Peter *, and there- fore to the apostolic see ; and he assures them in a subsequent letter, that he would prefer the continuance of the dominion of the Saracens over the country ; rather than that the Church of Rome should be deprived of its rights by its own children. These letters of Gregory prove to us that the claim to domi- nation over the princes, churches, and countries of Europe, was the result of deliberate conviction, founded, it is true, on error ; but, without doubt, religiously and sincerely believed. Various French nobles assisted the Spaniards in recovering their provinces ; and four years after, some of the conquerors
* Non latere vos credimus regnuin titise non evacuata, nulli mortalium,
Hispaniae ab antiquo proprii juris S. scd soli apostolicse sedi, ex wquo per-
Petri fuisse, et adliuc, (licet diu a Pa- tiiiere. — Epist. Greg, ad principes His-
ganis sit occupatuni,) lege tamen jus- panise, Epp. lib. i. ep. vii. Labb. col. 10.
Q 2
L
228
Feudal oath of allegiance to the Pope.
BOOK III. are said by Baronius to have held their possessions of the
V J ,' holy see after the Saracens had been expelled *.
Every part of the world as well as Spain began to feel the influence of Gregory. In a letter which he wrote to the Church at Milan, he calls the Church of Rome not merely the mother of all Churches, in the usual form, but the mother of all Christianity ". The Emperor of Constantinople wrote to him on the subject of healing the great schism between the Churches. Gregory, in reply, calls the Church of Con- stantinople the daughter of the Church of Rome, and pro- mises to send a legate. He reproved the Venetians for their parsimony. He dictated to the Duke of Bohemia the con- duct he should observe towards the Bishop of Prague, and demands of him to pay tribute to Rome. Richard, the Nor- man prince of Capua, took an oath of fealty to Gregory, similar in its language to that which is still exacted from the bishops to the popes '. He engages to pay an annual tri-
* Bai'on. Annal. 1073, No. xxxiv. On the condition of Moorisli Spain at this time, see Miller, vol. ii. p. 543.
^ Quod audiens sancta Romana ec- clesia mater vestra, et totius Christiani- tatis, sicut scitis, magistra . . . — Greg. Epist. lib. i. ep. xv. ap. Labb. col. 17-
^ I subjoin the words of this oath because of its feudal nature. If an oath must be any longer taken to the pope, let it be an oath of communion with Rome so long as Rome teaches truth, and not an oath of allegiance. This also must be done away before there can be peace between the states and Churches of Christendom, and the Bishop of Rome.
Jusjurandum fidelitatis quod fecit Richardus princeps domino suo Gre- gorio papee.
" Ego, Richardus, Dei gratia et sancti Petri, Capuce princeps, ab hac hora et deinceps ero fidelis sanctse Romanae ecclesine et Apostuliete sedi, et tibi, domino meo Gregorio, univer- sali papee. In consilio vel in facto, unde vitara aut membrum perdas, vel captus sis mala captione, non ero. Consilium quod mihi credideris, et eontradixeris ne illud manifestem, non manifestabo ad tvuini damnum, me sciente. Sanctse Romanae ecclesiae tibique adjutor ero, ad tenendum, , et
acquirendum, et defendendum regalia sancti Petri, ej usque possessiones recta fide contra omnes homines, et adjuvabo te, ut secure et honorifice teneas papa- tum Romanum, terram sancti Petri, et principatus nee invadere, nee acquirere quairam, nee etiam deprsedari prresu- mam, absque tua tuonimque succes- sorum, qui ad honorem sancti Petri intraverint, certa licentia, prseter illam quam tu milii concedes, vel tui conces- suri sunt successores. Pensionem de terra sancti Petri, quam ego teneo et tenebo, sicut statutum est, recta fide studebo, ut illam sancta Romana an- nualiter habeat ecclesia. Omnes quo- que ecclesias, quae in mea persistunt dominatione, cum earum possessioui- bus, dimittam in tuam potestatem, et defensor illarum ero ad fidelitatem sanctse Romanae ecclesiae. Regi vero Heni"ico, cum a te admonitus fuero, vel a tuis successoribus, jurabo fideli- tatem, salva tamen fidelitate saiictae Romanae ecclesiae. Et si tu vel tui successores ante me ex hac vita mi- graveriut, secundum quod monitus fuero a melioribus cardinalibus et clericis Romanis et laicis, adjuvabo ut papa eligatur et ordinetur ad ho- norem sancti Petri. Hsec omnia su- prascripta observabo sanctae Romanae ecclesiae et tibi X'ecta fide ; et hanc
Acts of Gregory VIL over Bishops, Churches, ^c. 229
bute, and to be faithful to the emperor, with reservation of book hi. his fealty to the pope. chap. iv.
The reader who has not many opportunities of studying ecclesiastical history, will perceive the extent of the wonder- ful authority of Hildebrand, and the manner in which no part of the Christian world escaped his influence, from an abstract which I have compiled from Baronius of his prin- cipal actions, as they respect the four greater objects over whom he exercised control— bishops, churches, states, and sovereigns. The numbers refer to the sections in Baronius, where the several subjects are descanted upon more fully, according to the several years of this pontificate. It is only necessary to add, that as the conduct of Gregory was imitated by his successors, this arrangement may be regarded as a specimen of the manner, in which the subsequent con- tmuous usurpations of the papacy were opposed (for they were always opposed) or received, in the several countries of Europe.
Abstract of the chief Acts of Gregory VIL, abridged from the Annals of Baronius, and classed as they relate severally to Personal Transactions, to Bishops and Abbots, to Churches and Councils, to States, and to Sovereigns.
1073.
Personal Transactions.
XII. to XV. Authorities for the history of the pontificate of Gregory VII.
XVI. Whether a native of Soana or Rome uncertain.
XVII. His education alleged to have been at Rome. XIX. In early life intimately attached to the archpriest
John, afterwards Gregory VI., who purchased the see from Benedict IX., Hildebrand being the agent. He passed some years as a monk at Clugny ; was made subdeacon of Rome by Leo IX., and afterwards promoted to the archdeaconship of Rome.
I
fidelitatemobservabotuissucepssoribu.s octavo Kalend. Octobris indictio.iP
ad honorem sancti Petri ordinatis, si duodecima.-Barouii Anna! ad 107-i
raihi hrmare volueruut investiturani a § 56. • • <«, te mihi concessam. Actum Capuae,
230 Acts of Gregori/ VII. towards Bishops and Abbots, 1073.
BOOK III. XX. to XXIV. He was nominated pope by the mourners CHAP. IV. ^^ ^i^g grave of Alexander ; borne off to the Church, and elected. He sent to inform the king before his consecration, who readily confirmed the choice.
XLIX. to LII. He proceeded on a tour through the south of Italy, in which parts he continued some time ; and be- stowed favours on Beneventum and other places. At Monte Cassino he stayed to concert measures with the abbot of that powerful monastery for securing his control in that part of the country.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
XLI. Thedaldus, who had been raised to the see of Milan by the imperial party, summoned by Gregory to prove his right to that see.
XLII. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, is expostulated with by Gregory on the disobedience of English and Scotch kings and princes.
LII I. to LV. Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, had retired to the monastery of Clugny, but the pope revoked the act, and in- duced him to return ; warning him, at the time, by letter, to receive no favours from the king till he had been brought to terms with the pope.
LVII. Cyriacus, Bishop of Carthage, writes to Gregory on the distress of the African Christians from the plunder of their churches by the Saracens; and this bishop is cen- sured for not exciting his people to repel the invaders by violence.
LIX. Rules laid down for the shaving of the beards of the clergy and monks.
LXII. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, with other bishops, required to observe certain rules in all ordinations.
LXIII. Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln, having sent a pres- byter who had committed homicide, for a dispensation to re- sume his duties, was refused. The guilty party, however, was to be permitted, on his repentance, to receive an income from the Church.
LXV. LXVI. The Bishop of Chalons, and the Archbishop of Lyons, are authorized by Gregory to ordain an Archdeacon of Autun, in defiance of King Philip of France.
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Churches, Councils, ^c. 1073. 231
Acts toivards Churches and Councils. chap, iv!
XL. XLI. The Church of Milan complains of disorders and troubles, which are imputed by the pope to simony and heresy, of which the king is declared to be the guilty source, and he is consequently threatened with the vengeance of the holv see. \
LXI. LXIL The Churches and monasteries of southern Italy are reduced to submission in a diplomatic tour taken by Gregory for that purpose. This was a step indispensably preparatory to the reduction of the other more formidable states and Churches of the world, to the papal dominion.
LXXIII. to LXXXIII. The Churches of Bulgaria endure great affliction, which is ascribed to their dereliction from the jurisdiction of the see of Rome to that of Constantinople, in the time of Hadrian II., and to be regarded therefore as a just judgment.
Acts towards States.
II. The regency of the empire, which had been wrested from the hands of the Empress Agnes in 1063, and held by Hanno, Archbishop of Cologne, a firm partizan of Hilde- brand, for eleven years, is resigned to Prince Henry on his comino; to asre.
XXVIII. to XXXVII. Legation sent by Gregory to Spain to demand the unqualified obedience of the princes of that nation to St. Peter, by virtue of an alleged prescriptive right.
XLVI. XLVII. Legation to Bohemia to demand an annual tribute from the dukedom to the successor of St. Peter ; and to prescribe rules for the government of the Bohe- mian Churches, in order to efiect also their submission.
LX. LXI. The Sardinians receive notice that their island is, from ancient title, a portion of the inherent domain of St. Peter ; with warning to observe invariable fidelity.
LXIV. to LXVII. The Galilean bishops are desired to make known to the people of all ranks, that, under pain of a general anathema, if their king would not renounce simony, they must all renounce obedience to him or to Christianity.
XLIV. XLV. The Venetians reminded of their inattention
232 Acts of Gregory VII. towards Sovereigns, 1073.
BOOK III. to certain admonitions and warnings^, and called to account ^' : for their parsimonious contributions to St. Peter.
LXVIII. LXIX. The Saxons much disaffected, are pre- vented from open rebellion by the influence of Gregory.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
I. to VI. Previously to his death, the former pope, Alex- ander, had issued a summons to require King Henry to appear before him at Rome to answer charges of simony during his minority ; and by a council called by him to meet at Mentz to advise him on the occasion, the pope was censured ; but by his death the affair passed over without further proceedings on either side.
XXXVIII. More severe threatenings are vowed against Henry; and the words of vengeance are closed with the favourite text of Jeremiah xlviii. 10, if the king continued to act disobediently to the holy see.
XXXIX. The kings and princes of Spain required to own themselves under the authority of St. Peter.
XXIV. The Empress Agnes, mortified at the regency of the empire and the guardianship of the prince being taken from her by the emissaries of the pope, retires to Monte Cassino ; to which monastery she proved a munificent bene- factress.
XLIII. Overtures from the Emperor Michael expressing a wish for the reunion of the Churches, are treated with great attention, in order, as it afterwards proved, to induce an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the apostolic see.
L. The Prince of Beneventum, Landulph, is induced to execute a treaty of feudal submission and humility, to the prince of apostles.
XLIV. XLV. The Duke of Venice receives especial notice, that for such distinguished honour as the permitting of the Bishop of Venice to rank with the four patriarchs, and for many other dignities and favours granted to him and his city, the return made to the prince of apostles is by no means so ample as it ought to be ; and that in future it must be con- siderably more liberal.
LVII. An oath of feudal allegiance is exacted from Richard,
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Bishops and Abbots, 1074. 233
Prince of Capua, in acknowledgment of the sovereignty of St. book hi Peter. chap, iv.'
LXIV. to LXVII. The King of France threatened with vengeance, if contempt of St. Peter and St. Paul is longer exhibited.
1074. Personal Transactions.
XIII. to XXVI. Gregory vindicates the purity of Matilda's life, and in a brief memoir appears as her devoted encomiast.
XXVII. XXVIII. The character of Gregory maintained to be immaculate, in spite of the many rumours and calum- nies to the contrary.
LIV. Gregory being very indulgent to holy females for the sake of encouraging their zeal in things conducive to the welfare of the Church, declared to be the only fault on which scandal could indulge itself
LV. LVI. In a letter to Beatrice and Matilda, Gregory alleges that he had incurred the hatred of certain bishops whom he had caused to be corrected for carnal sins and worldly-mindedness ; and that they, out of revenge, had been the authors of that detraction, of which they, the persons addressed, as well as himself, though pure and true, had been the victims.
LX. Gregory informs Beatrice and Matilda that his health had greatly declined, and begs them to continue their love to St. Peter.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
V. VI. The Archbishop of Bremen is accused of want of fidelity and obedience to the prince of apostles, and is sum- moned to Rome to answer his ingratitude and his numerous offences.
XXXIV. The Bishop of Beauvais is held up in the synod of Rome by Gregory as a perfect model of clerical chastity and Christian purity, to the reproach of all the clergy there I)resent.
LI. Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, who had suffered deposition under the new system of discipline introduced
234 Acts of Gregory VIL towards Churches, Councils, ^c. 1074. BOOK in. by Lanfranc, was restored to his dignity the following
CHAP. IV. ",„„
V year. . p i
LVII. Hanno. of Cologne, the champion of the pope ni Germany, slain by a mob, and his loss much bewailed at Rome.
Acts towards Churches and Councils.
X. The Church of Rome exultingly alleged by Gregory to be miraculously supported by the love of the three illustrious ladies, Agnes, Beatrice, and Matilda, in its violent persecu- tions by evil princes, and other powerful enemies.
XXX. The marriage of the clergy denounced, and severe decrees against simony enacted by a council at Rome, held to put down both.
XXXV. to XXXVIII. The Churches of Lucca resist the dictates of Archbishop Anselm, and are summoned to Rome to answer for it.
XLVII. The pope, by a dispensation, releases Alphonso, King of Spain, from his vows to consecrate himself to God by seclusion from the world within the monastery of
Clugny.
XLVIII. XLIX. Hugh, Abbot of Clugny, on his way to Rome to attend a council, escapes unhurt from a frightful gulf into which his mule leaped with him over a lofty pre- cipice.
LVIII. LIX. The bishops of England summoned to meet all the heads of the western Churches without fail, in a council at Rome.
Acts towards States.
XXII. XXIII. The Normans in Italy greatly oppress the
Neapolitans, and the neighbouring princes and abbots are
excited to resistance by an express deputation from the pope.
XXXIX. The Normans and Saracens reduce Italy to
great distress, and Gregory makes great preparations to
expel them.
XL. to XLIII. Gregory employs his influence in every kingdom and state of Europe, to incite every people to co- alesce in a grand crusade to recover Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the possession of the infidel powers, and prodi- gious preparations are made by all for the expedition.
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Bishops, Abbots, S^c. 1075. 235
,„_,_ BOOK III.
iU70. CHAP. IV.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
IX. X. Herman, Bishop of Bamberg, is summoned to appear at Rome to answer to charges of simony ; but showing contempt for the authority of the pope, he is de- posed ; though afterwards pardoned.
XI. Henry, Bishop of Spire, having been suspended for alleged delinquencies, dies suddenly, and his death is believed to be the proof of divine vengeance.
XII. Decrees are published, ordering presbyters, deacons, and subdeacons who have wives to dismiss them from their dwellings, and all incontinence is threatened with the severest punishments.
XIII. Gregory sends new decrees against simony to all archbishops and bishops of the West, with letters to declare the deep concern of his heart for the purification of the Churches.
XV. XVI. Sigebert, Archbishop of Mentz, opposes Gre- gory.
XVII. The crimes and accusations for which the servants of Henry, King of Germany, are declared to be excommuni- cated.
XXVIII. Loss suffered by the popedom on account of the death of Hanno, Bishop of Cologne, one of the most zealous promoters of its measures in Germany.
Acts towards Churches and Councils.
I. to III. Great synod convened at Rome for the avowed object of striking at the root of simony, and various other vices, alleged to predominate in the western Church.
IV. to VIII. The mind of Gregory affirmed to suffer much anguish on account both of the corruptions with which the Churches were infected, and the immorality prevalent among the clergy.
XIV. Proceedings of the Council of Mentz, in which province incontinence is stated to have reached a grievous height.
XXIII. The reform of abuses in the Church is every where urged by the pope.
236 Acts of Gregory VII. towards States and Sovereigns, 1075.
BOOK III. XXXII. to XXXIV. Gregory uses great efforts by means CHAP. IV. . . r . . . .
• . '' of emissaries, and by promotmg foreigners to its highest dig- nities, to bring the Church of England under submission, in which the primate Lanfranc acts as his chief agent. A synod is called in St. Paul's, London, to issue decrees for effecting passive obedience to the supremacy of Rome.
Acts towards States.
XXVI. Russia and Poland brought under the jurisdiction of the pontificate in spiritual affairs, and the success of Rome in reducing other states of the North to submit their ecclesiastical orders to the discipline of his holiness.
XXIX. The object which Cincius, the Roman prefect, is supposed to have had in view in seizing the person of the pope.
XXX. XXXI. Ravenna resists the usurpations of Gregory. The designs of the antipope, Clement III., declared.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
VI. Sancho, the King of Arragon, receives from Gregory instructions for the improvement of Church discipline in his country.
VII. Sweyn, King of Denmark, is admonished concerning the course to be pursued for promoting Christianity, and extending conversions through the countries under his in- fluence.
XVIII. to XXI. Gregory adopts a mild and paternal lan- guage in letters addressed to King Henry, who answers the pope with the frankness of a confidential friend.
XXII. Henry having been successful in subduing the rebellious Saxons, is charged with changing his tone, and treating the friendship of Gregory disrespectfully.
XXIV. Geisa having invaded Hungary, sends a legation to the apostolic see, and is sanctioned by the pope in his expulsion of Solomon, the former king.
XXV. Legation of Gregory to the Duke of Poland, to require that the administration of the Churches there be improved.
XXVII. The right to admonish all princes, asserted to be inherent in the successors of St. Peter.
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Bishops and Abbots, 1076. 237
BOOK III.
1076. CHAP. IV.
Personal Transactions.
VI. Gregory claims merit for using the power to vanquish his enemies with great moderation and forbearance.
X. XI. The accusations against Gregory before the Coun- cil of Worms, summoned in behalf of King Henry.
XXIV. The epistle of Gregory, to which his twenty-seven maxims are subjoined.
XXV. The pope declared to be amenable to no excommu- nications promulgated by any synod or any authority what- ever.
XXX. Sentences of excommunication, if uttered by the king's party, declared to be rebellious ; and that those against whom they are passed are not to observe them.
XXXIV. Gregory professes to have the welfare of King Henry at heart, and to suffer great anguish of mind at not being able to reclaim him from the evil course into which he has been seduced.
LVII. The death of the Countess Beatrice, and the great loss sustained by the Church, deeply lamented.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
VII. VIII. Vindication of Gregory against his biographer, Cardinal Benno, and other assailants, and against the attacks of Rainerius in his Life of Henry IV.
XIII. XIV. Notice of the decrees of the synod of Rome against Henry, from Domnizo's Life of Matilda.
XXII. XXIII. Bishops excommunicated by the synod of Rome for combining with the king against the pope.
XXVI. Penance of William, Bishop of Utrecht, one of the principal friends of Henry.
XXVIII. Fate of sundry bishops and other persons who had continued faithful to the cause of the king, and active in the opposition to his enemies.
XXXIII. Herman, Bishop of Mentz, is consulted on the part of the apostolic see, as to what measures are most likely to prove successful in reducing the king to obedience to the pope.
238 Acts of Gregory VII. towards Churches and Councils, 1076.
BOOK III. XXXVII. The bishops of Tuscany are specially apprized CHAP. IV. ^f ^^^ excommunication of the king.
Acts towards Churches and Councils.
IV. A warning to Churches not to despise the admo- nitions and injunctions of the apostolic see.
V Concerning the assembling of a council at Rome.
VII Former decrees for the purification of the Church from simoniacal offences, and the clergy from incontinence, and matrimonial intercourse, renewed.
Acts towards States.
IX The several states of Germany called upon to send representatives to meet the bishops in a synod at Worms.
XVII. XVIII. The faithful in Christ of every country required" by Gregory to confirm their professions by sup- porting the holy see, and punishing its enemies.
XXIX. Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine, slam m battle, with an account of the conflicts of that country sent to the pope by Herman, Bishop of Mentz.
XXX to XXXII. Gregory addresses a general epistle to the fkithful of every Church, claiming their earnest support, and forewarning those who are indifferent to his call, of the future fate they will incur.
XXXVIII to XL. Legation from the pope to his adhe- rents in Germany, to stimulate them to assemble a general diet to support his influence and overthrow the king.
LIV. Gregory addresses a general epistle to the Maurita- nians.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
I. to III. King Henry threatened for his contempt of the proceedings of the pope against him. ,. , .
XII. The king excommunicated and anathematized by a svnod held at Rome for disobedience to the pope.
XV XVI The legates of Gregory sent to reprimand Henry and threaten his ruin, are silenced by the fortitude, contempt, and magnanimity of the king.
XIX. to XXIII. The decree of excommunication passed
Acts of Gi-egory VII. towards Sovereigns, 1076. 239
by the synod against the king, with other measures, put in book hi operation by the pope and his party to subdue the kino- by ^P- ^^'■ intimidation, and by separating his adherents from the cluse '~^
in which they had embarked.
XXXI. The king apprized by the pope of the decrees against him.
nnnTY"/^? V' ^'""'^ P^^^^'^^ ^^^^^^^^ to be no king until he had made his peace with the pope, and received from him absolution for the offences with which he stood charged by the synods of Rome. ^
XLI to XLIV. Henry sends ambassadors to the pope to attempt a reconcihation. They are dismissed without an audience.
XLV.toXLVII. Henry submits to the conditions pro- posed to him, and dismisses the excommunicated counsel-
XLVni. The king proceeds into Italy to have a personal interview with Gregory, with a view to pacify him by a qui escence in any reasonable demands. . ^
XLIX. The perilous journey of the king and queen on crossing the Alps in the depth of a severe winter ^
con;nr'"'''^'^''f'r' of the king, on their satisfactory contrition, receive absolution. ^
\]\ ^rZ^^'U- "'''*"' ^'^"-'' ^"^ establishes kingdoms. J^ll. The Kmg of Arabia sends an embassy to Rome to
o^flienTs^f;" ^'^ '-'" ^-^-^ '^^'- ^« ^^- - terms LV. to LVII. Roger, Duke of Sicily, solicits the pope to confer on him certain dignities, and to confirm royal rights.
1077. Personal Transactions.
HI. to VI. The pope and Matilda, with a large body of military and other attendants, proceed to the strong fortress of Canusium; there to secure themselves from anv hosti e
Z::t^:l^l^-''^ '-'' ^-^ '-^-^ ^ ^-^^able
240 Acts of Gregory VII. towards Bishops and Abbots, 1076.
BOOK III. XII. Gregory very anxious to establish his own innocence CHAP. IV. ^£ ^Yie various accusations of which he had been declared guilty, by the Council of Worms.
XVIII. Much intercession is used by Matilda, and the other ladies in the court of Gregory, and also by the Abbot of Clugny ; to induce less rigour in his behaviour to the king.
XLI. XLII. Gregory writes to his legates and partizans in Germany to instruct them concerning the policy they are expected to pursue in order to weaken the attachment of the people to the king ; and signifies an intention of soon making a journey to that country.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
XXVII. A number of bishops who took part with the king are some excommunicated, and some suspended.
XL. Many of the bishops and others who were under sentence for supporting the king, send in their submission to Gregory and receive his pardon.
XLIII. to XLVIII. Letters of Gregory to the Archbishop of Treves, and to the suffragan bishops of his province, to instruct them in the policy to be pursued towards the partizans of the king within their several jurisdictions.
1077. Acts towards Churches and Councils.
XXI. The great benefactions of Matilda to the Church of Rome, and her devotion and services to the cause of religion, are recorded with high commendation.
XXV. Legation from Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, to Gre- gory, to describe the suffering of the Churches in those parts in consequence of schisms and commotions ascribed to the furious conduct of the royahst party.
XLIX. to LII. Legation to England to endeavour to per- suade the English bishops to act more in subordination to the dictates of the apostolic see. Also, the convocation of a synod at Langres, chiefly to pass measures of prohibition, to prevent
Acts of Gregory VII. towards States and Sovereigns, 1077. 241
the laity from conferring investitures, and the clergy from ^^^p "I* receiving them from secular hands. ' . '
Acts towards States.
II. Lombardy receives the king with great affection ; and incensed at the ill-treatment he had suffered from the pope, the nobility offer him the command of any force he might desire, to resent the insults he had received. He is willing to try concession and conciliation.
XXII. After failing in his attempt to obtain honourable terms by a personal interview, Henry hastened back to Lombardy, and the nobles more enraged at the degradation to which he had submitted, and the treachery which had been employed, urge him to vindicate himself, by arms, and supply him with an ample force for the purpose.
XXVIII. The legates persuade the German princes to assemble a diet, and to unite in arms to depose the king.
XXXI. The result of the diet was immediate rebellion, for the purpose of transferring the crown to a nominee of the pope.
XXXII. to XXXVII. The insurrection which the emis- saries of Gregory had kindled in Germany, increase the re- sentment of the king and his Lombard friends ; who retaliate by electing to the popedom Guibert, Archbishop of Ravenna, declaring, at the same time, the tyranny of Gregory to have rendered him unworthy the divine office. Of this opposition, and the taking his legates prisoners, Gregory bitterly com- plains.
XLIX. Legates sent to England on a mission to the king.
LIII. Legates sent to Venice to confer with the patriarch, and duke of that place.
LIV. to LVII. Legates sent with letters from Gregory to Spain, France, Aquileia, and Corsica.
LIX. The religious state of Denmark under King Sweyn, whose death occurs at this time, is a subject of grief to the Roman Church ; to which he had professed his friendship and humble submission.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
I. King Henry, under much alarm at the excommunication and anathema issued by the pope against him, is resolved to
VOL. II. u
242 Acts of Gregory VII. towards Sovereigns, 1077.
BOOK III. proceed without delay to Italy, through the rigour of a bitter
^ L.1 /winter, to endeavour to appease his enemy, and to obtain
absolution.
VII. VIII. A deputation from Henry waits on the pope to ascertain on what terms absolution may be obtained. Gre- gory replies evasively.
IX. X. The king goes to Canusium. He is compelled to leave all his attendants outside the walls, in which, on enter- ing alone, he remains several days a prisoner, without an interview, suffering from cold and hunger.
XI. Several bishops and abbots in the suite of Gregory sent to state to the king the conditions on which he may receive absolution ; at the severity of which announcement the king is startled, but seeing no chance of escape except by compliance, he professes gratefully to accede to the terms.
XIV. XV. Gregory, disappointed at his conditions being readily accepted, is desirous to impose harder, which, after much suspense, he makes known by messengers, but which the king disdains to comply with; and is left in an almost perishing state from hunger.
XVI. XVII. Epistle of Gregory concerning the penance and absolution of the king.
XVIII. Absolution is at length granted through the inter- cession and importunity of Matilda, and the friends of Gre- gory ; and the king obtains his release.
XXIII. XXIV. Grieved at sufferings to which the king had been exposed within the ramparts, and exasperated at the perfidy of the pope, the friends of Henry on his return urge him to immediate revenge ; and a supply of men and money is promptly afforded.
XXVI. New anathemas, and threats of vengeance on the king and all his friends, follow his warlike movement.
XXIX. XXX. The pope commands the princes of Ger- many to convene a diet, at which the king is summoned to appear to answer the charges of the pope's legates, but de- clines to attend.
XXXII. The king and Guibert, the Archbishop of Ra- venna, accused before the diet of conspiring against Gregory ; and the former of perjury.
XXXVIII. XXXIX. Rudolph, Duke of Swabia, elected
I
Acts of Gregory VII. toioards Bishops and Abbots, 1078. 243
King of Germany by the diet, and Henry declared to be book in. lawfully deposed by the same authority. ■^ .^ — '
LXI. to LXIII. The penitence and public absolution of Sweyn, King of Denmark, previous to his death.
LXIV. Ladislaus, created King of Hungary by the favour of the pope, is required to pay devotion and reverence to the apostolic see.
LXVI. The Empress Agnes, mother of King Henry, dies in the month of December. She had remained for twenty years a widow. Her great piety, and benefactions to the holy see and the institution of Monte Cassino, are commemo- rated by a monument and epitaph in the Vatican Basilica.
1078. Personal Transactions.
VIIT. to X. The mind of Gregory much troubled at the slander published by his biographer, Cardinal Benno ; and the thirteen other cardinals who side with him unite in condem- nation of his conduct ; against all of whom the pope publishes decrees of excommunication.
XII. to XIV. Gregory writes to the Archbishop of Treves, one of the most zealous friends of Henry, desiring that he may be admonished to adopt a different course ; that an end may be put to the distractions by which the nation is tormented.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
XIX. XX. All bishops forbidden, under pain of the highest censures, to receive investiture from the hands of emperors, kings, princes, or any secular persons whatever. Gui- bert, Archbishop of Ravenna, who had been raised to the pontifical dignity by the emperor in opposition to Gregory, and who exercised the functions of pope, is declared, in a council held at Rome, to be deposed from all his dignities as archbishop ; and with him Cadolaus, Bishop of Parma, a bold opponent of the despotic acts of Gregory, was deposed also.
R 2
244 Acts of Gregory VII. toivards Churches, States, t^c. 1078.
BOOK III. XXI. Many bishops of France, who had been suspended
..J — ' by their metropolitans, appeal to the pope ; and on their
acknowledging the Archbishop of Aries as Vicar of St. Peter, and head of the Gallican Church, they are all restored to the exercise of their functions and emoluments.
XXII. to XXIV. Gebehard, Archbishop of Saltzburg, a fervent partizan of the king, is accused at Rome of wasting the treasures of his Church in aid of the royal cause. He is declared a schismatic, and is sentenced to confiscation and banishment.
Acts towards Churches and Councils.
I. to VII. All the Churches of Lombardy, with those of the Pentapolis, and other states, which acknowledged Gui- bert as pope, and refused submission to Gregory, excommu- nicated in a synod at Rome, convened to punish the heads and members of these and other Churches which opposed the ■ pope.
XVI. The churches of South Italy, with Monte Cassino, and other rich monasteries, pillaged by the Normans, for which the Prince of Capua is threatened with the vengeance of the prince of apostles.
XVIII. The churches and monasteries which had been robbed, receive large donations from Jordanis, Prince of Capua.
Acts towards States.
IV. Certain states cited to appear, by authorized repre- sentatives from each, to answer complaints of the pope against them.
V. The Normans, having committed depredations on the territories of St. Peter, are again excommunicated.
XXV. The Danes and Norwegians being insufficiently provided with instructors in the Catholic faith, are invited by Gregory to send their young nobility to Rome, that they may be more properly taught.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
III. Accusations against King Henry and all his sup- porters are made by Gregory in a synod at Rome, by which sentences of condemnation are pronounced.
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Sovereigns, 1078. 245
VII. The king deprived, by a decree of the council, of his book ill. kingdom, which is given to Rudolph, Duke of Swabia, and all <^'Hap. iv. his subjects are forbid to hold Christian communion with him.
XV. Nicephorus, having been crowned emperor of the East, is excommunicated as a usurper and tyrant ; as was also the Patriarch of Constantinople, Cosmas, who crowned him.
XI. The support which the king receives, and the success of his arms, induce Gregory to send legates to Henry and to Rudolph to propose a reconciliation.
XV. The respect and condescension paid by the Emperor Michael to the pope, and the rich presents sent by him to St. Peter, cause Gregory to support his cause.
XVII. The Prince of Capua is reprimanded and threatened for the sacrilege committed by his army, which has the effect of making him repair the loss.
1079. Personal Transactions.
III. The representations of Benno, and the thirteen other cardinals, prejudicial to Gregory, affirmed to be wicked inventions and falsehoods.
XIII. XIV. Great regret expressed by Gregory that Lan- franc, Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, of Lucca, Bernard, Abbot of Marseilles, and others of his confidential friends, had not obeyed his call to the synod.
XV. Gregory, after the death of Berengarius, seeks to unite the Church by engaging all Christians in one common effort against the Saracens.
XVII. Gregory much vexed and incensed that the monks of Clugny prefer their fidelity to their duke to his injunc- tions.
XXIII. Many new reports spread by the royalist cardi- nals, charging the pope with various crimes, and exposing many acts of treachery of which he had been guilty. Gregory writes to the Germans to assert his own innocence and inte- grity, and to assure them that the accusations proceed wholly from the malice of his enemies.
246 Acts of Gregory VII. toimrds Bishops, Churches, .Sfc. 1079
BOOK 111. ^ 7 ^. , , ^,,
CHAP. IV. Ads towards Bishops and Abbots.
IV. Bruno, who in the council against Berengarius, was one of the foremost to accuse him of heresy, is rewarded by the pope with the bishopric of Signia.
VIII. IX. Gregory requires from the Patriarch of Aquileia, instead of the usual pledge of canonical obedience, an oath of allegiance such as princes demand from feudatory subjects.
X. Some of the chief bishops and laity of the king's party excommunicated by the synod at Rome.
XIX. Gregory endeavours, in writing to Lanfranc, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, to have the English Church brought under the influence of the apostolic see more than it had been, and styles the archbishop his very dear friend.
XXI. Hubert, legate to England, is sent back with letters from King William and Lanfranc.
XXX. XXXI. Letter of Gregory on the martyrdom of Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow.
Acts towards Churches and Councils.
I. II. New oaths substituted for the usual professions of canonical obedience hitherto made to the Roman pontiff, by which metropolitans are required to perform allegiance to the pope as their supreme head, by the synod held at this time in Rome.
XI. XII. Gregory extorts from the Council of Rome a decree to exempt the privileges of Clugny from all authority and all claims of every earthly power.
XIII. XIV. The Churches of England, Lucca, and others, having failed to send representatives to the great council at Rome, great regret is expressed by Gregory, that those whom he accounted among the most faithful friends of the prince of apostles, should not have displayed greater promptness on an occasion so imperative.
Acts towards States.
V. VI. Certain oaths are administered to the respective representatives of King Henry and Rudolph, who attend the council at Rome in behalf of the rival sovereigns.
XXIV. Dalmatia having quarrelled with a neighbouring
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Sovereigns, 1079. 2i7 state, Gregory commands the hostile parties not to presume book iit.
PH \P TV
to take up arms against one another, but to abide by his — "-.1 — <' award between them.
XXVI. to XXIX. Gregory sends a legation into Spain with certain reliques for the king, and requires homage to St. Peter. Legates sent to England for arrears of Peter's pence, and to demand homage from the king, whose answer is, that the custom of the country as to the tribute-money shall be observed ; but submission is peremptorily refused.
Acts toivards Sovereigns.
V. to VII. The pope continues to harass King Henry with excommunications and anathemas, which are at length disregarded : but the question of the right to the throne is to be decided by a German diet, at which legates are to be present.
XYIII. Ladislaus, King of Hungary, is written to by Gre- gory to urge his munificence and obedience to the sovereign apostle ; in which the confidence of Gregory is fully ex- pressed.
XIX. to XXII. The King of England is required to pay the arrears of Peter^s pence, and to do homage to the pope, to which former request William consents, but refuses homage, as all his predecessors had done. William refuses also to permit the English bishops to attend at Rome ; and Gregoiy declares him guilty of great audacity, but inflicts no punishment.
XXV. Canute, on coming to the throne of Denmark, sends ambassadors to Rome to tender his submission to the pope, and to obtain the favour of St. Peter, which had been so beneficially bestowed on his predecessor.
XXVI. to XXVIII. Alphonso, King of Spain, is honoured by a legation from Gregory, with a present of a gold key filled with some filings from the chain with which the apostle St. Peter had been bound in prison ; but his dutiful submission to the holy see is demanded at the same time.
XXXII. Ladislaus, King of Hungary, is urged by legates from Gregory, to promote image and saint worship.
248 Acts of Gi'eyorij VII. toivards Bishops and Abbots, 1080.
BOOK HI.
CHAP. IV. 1080.
Personal Transactions.
XXXIII. to XXXV. Gregory, beset on all sides with enemies, endeavours, in a letter addressed to his friends in Calabria and Apulia, to secure their goodwill.
XLIII. The body of St. Matthew is said to have been dis- covered at Salerno. After the death of Rudolph, Gregory con- gratulates the Salernitans on the fortunate event.
XLIX. Gregory writes to all quarters to justify his own conduct, and to strengthen his cause. His letter to the King of Spain and several others, written about this time, show the great disappointments he had experienced ; and the unhappy state of his mind in consequence.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
II. Certain bishops, who had sworn oaths of fidelity to King Henry, are absolved from their allegiance.
V. The antipope, Clement III., and Thedaldus, Archbishop of Milan, pronounced guilty of schism. The sentences of anathema against them are renewed.
VI. The bishops of England informed of the confirmation of the canon against fictitious penitence, of the passing of which they had been previously apprised.
VII. On the faithful observance of canons which enjoin the consent of the apostolic see in the election of metropoli- tans.
XV. Letters from Gregory to the British bishops con- cerning a dispute between the monks of Dol in Bretagne, and those of Tours.
XXV. Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, vindicates the pope from the accusations published against him by the fourteen cardi- nals attached to the king and Clement III., the latter of whom is accused by Anselm of haughtiness.
XXVI. to XXVIII. Guibert, the antipope, and Cadolaus, accused by Cardinal Deusdedit of being the chief auhors of the grievous schism by which the Roman Church was now distracted. Hugh Candidus, formerly a confidant of Gre- gory, and his legate to Spain to reduce the princes
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Churches and Comicils, 1080. 249
of that country to submission, is excommunicated by the book hi. pope for supporting his rival Clement III. chap. iv.
XL. Richard made Archbishop of Ravenna, and Clement III. again anathematized.
LIV. The Archbishop of Toledo obliged to satisfy the pope concerning his marriage, before he will confirm his ap- pointment.
LVII. Gregory admits Bernard as eligible to be conse- crated to the archbishopric of Toledo.
LXVII. to LXIX. Legates from the Patriarch of Armenia to Rome concerning contentions there, regarding images. The pope condemns certain errors in the Armenian Church.
Acts towards Churches and Councils.
III. The decrees against investitures being received from laymen of any class, renewed in a synod at Rome.
XVI. to XVIII. Council of royalist bishops and clergy assemble at Brixen, at which many Italian princes attend, and by which Gregory is sentenced to deposition.
XXIV. The Council of Brixen denounced by the pope as a Satanic conventicle.
XXXII. to XXXV. Letters from the pope to secure the submission of the Churches of Calabria and Apulia.
XLI. The Churches of Germany are exhorted by the pope, to use their influence in defence of the apostohc see.
LIIl. The Churches of Spain required to follow the laws prescribed to them by the Church of Rome, and none else ; and to rehnquish all the ancient Gothic customs.
LV. The princes and nobles of Spain admonished to exert themselves in assisting the bishops and clergy to protect the Church of Christ from molestation, committed by Jews and other adversaries.
LX. Gregory writes to the Church of Rheims to recom- mend resistance against all aggressors.
LXV. Council of Lyons, at which most of the Gallican bishops were present, and Bruno, also, founder of the Car- thusian order of monks. Nearly at the same time, councils were held at Meaux, Avignon, and other cities, for im- proving the discipHne of the French Church, at none of which the legates of the pope attended.
LXVIII. Concerning the affairs of the oriental Churches.
250 Acts of Gregory VII. towards States and Sovereigns, 1080.
Acts towards States.
VI. The Norman states in the south of Italy (for depreda- tions committed on the territories of St. Peter, and the lands of Monte Cassino,) are denounced by a general anathema, and restitution is commanded to be made.
XXI. King Henry writes to make known to the Romans the great provocations of the pope, which have caused him to have recourse to arms, and to visit their city for the sake of redress.
XXIII. The states of Europe addressed by King Henry on the conduct of the pope. Clement III. is declared more worthy of their reverence. His letter to England partially condemned by Lanfranc.
XLVI. Gregory addresses a letter to the Swedish nation through King Sweyn, on the want of clergy in that country, and the advantages they will derive by putting themselves under the care and authority of the apostolic see.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
I. Wratislaus, King of Poland, petitions Gregory to permit divine service to be celebrated in the language of the country, which is refused.
IV. Emperors, kings, princes, dukes, and all secular rulers and governors, forbidden to grant investitures to bishops.
VIII. to XI. Rudolph, Duke of Swabia, is presented by the pope with a splendid crown as King of Germany, the laAvful king being declared by the pope to be deposed, and all his subjects are absolved from their allegiance to him ; every person, also, who aids, assists, or countenances him is sentenced to be under excommunication and anathema.
XIII. XIV. The king publicly proclaimed to be forsaken of God, and a reprobate, whom all are forbidden to befriend or notice.
XIX. to XXIII. King Henry makes known to Gregory by letter, the decree of deposition which has been pronounced against him; and insists on his relinquishing the chair of St. Peter, which he charges him with having much dishonoured
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Bishops and Abbots, 1081. 251
by false and malicious deeds, accusing him of being a per- book ill. nicious enemy to the empire and to all mankind. > ^ — '"
XXX. to XXXII. The pope (fearing the powerful opposi- tion which the king was making to his authority, in order to obtain the friendship and protection of the Norman power in Italy,) sends to Robert Guiscard, whom he had excommu- nicated a few years before, full remission for all his sins ; and invests him with the right of all cities and territories con- quered by him in Italy, to be held as feudal grants under the liege authority of the successors of St. Peter.
XXXVI. to XXXVIII. The Emperor Michael of Con- stantinople desires the friendship of the pope, in the hope of its being a means of preserving the small remnant of his empire in the West ; and legates are interchanged between them.
XLII. Rudolph loses his life in a battle with Henry, at which victory Gregory is greatly dismayed.
XLV. Gregory writes admonitory letters to William I., his queen, and son.
XLVII. to LII. Alphonso, King of Spain, is greatly enraged at Gregory forbidding him to marry a relative to whom he had engaged himself, declaring the kindred too near.
LXI. to LXIV. Paternal admonitions from the pope to the King of France, with certain commands to be observed.
1081. Personal Transactions.
XII. XIII. The pope much disturbed at his anathemas not having prevented the success of the king, and the faithful of all ranks urged to flock to the relief of the holy see.
XVIII. Gregory lavishes high encomiums on the piety, fortitude, and constancy of the Countess Matilda, amidst the schisms and troubles of the Church.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
XVII. The motive of Clement III. and all the bishops who hold with him declared to be avarice, and upholding simony.
II
252 Acts of Gregory VII. towards Churches^ States, ^r. 1081.
BOOK III. XX. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, urged to visit P^^^' ^^; Rome, to aid by his presence the cause of Christianity.
XXV. The bishop of the diocese having excommunicated the Count of Anjou, who offers the pope a bribe to absolve him from the sentence, which Gregory refuses, and confirms the act of the bishop.
Acts towards Churches and Councils.
II. III. Council at Rome, by which the king and all his party are found guilty of a new heresy dangerous to the whole Church, and all receive condemnation.
XIV. to XVI. The schism and heresy of the king and his party, including the antipope, Clement III., declared to be the cause of all the evils which afflict the Roman Church.
XIX. The great falling off from the revenues of the apos- tolic see, particularly on account of the decrease in the number of pilgrims, is ascribed to the indifference of the Galilean and other bishops in not promoting this object. They are desired to be more zealous in this duty.
Acts towards States.
IV. The states of Germany and Italy alleged to suffer greatly from the death of Rudolph, and the recommendation of measures to remedy the loss.
VI. Gregory enjoins that the Germans may be encouraged and exhorted to greater fidelity to the holy see.
VII. Obedience of the Christians of the empire to the prince of the apostles, more to be desired and inculcated than their fidelity to their sovereigns.
XXI. XXII. Many of the states of Italy and France in- volved in contentions with the pope, and the conduct of Gre- gory towards them.
XXIII. The kingdoms of the Visigoths are favoured with congratulations from Gregory, on their renouncing their pagan practices and errors, and embracing the tenets and discipline of the Church of Rome.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
I. Renewal of the decrees against King Henry and all abettors of his schism, with an avowal of the policy of de-
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Churches and Conncih, 1082. 253
posing schismatic princes and rulers, who treat with contempt book iir the authority of the apostoHc see. chap, iv.'
VI. Duke Guelph admonished to be prepared with suffi- ' ' cient mihtary aid, in case of the holy see needing help.
VIII. IX. Gregory congratulates Robert Guiscard on a victory over the troops of the Emperor Michael, gained by the Normans.
X. to XII. King Henry, on his march to Rome, defeats the army of the Countess Matilda, and lays siege to the citv. Gregory calls upon Robert Guiscard to hasten to the relief of the apostolic see.
XXIV. Bertramnus, Count of Provence, acknowledges his submission to the pope by an oath of fidelity; and is very munificent in his donations to St. Peter in return for the remission of all his sins.
XXVI. The authority asserted which the successors of the apostles have a right to exercise over all sovereign princes and magistrates who transgress in any manner against its' decrees, or neglect its warnings.
XXVII. to XXXI. Canute, King of Denmark, who sufl^ers untimely death in a rebeUion of his people, in resistance to his endeavour to impose the payment of tithes upon them has the honour of martyrdom and canonization conferred upon him by Gregory. His zeal in the cause of Christianitv and his faithful obedience to the sovereign apostle, are held forth as an example to other kino-s.
1082. Acts towards Churches and Councils.
II. A fire in the Church of St. Peter at Rome, kindled by the imperial party, is said to have been extinguished by Gre- gory on his making the sign of the cross.
Ill Gregory sends letters to a synod at Rome to clear himself from all the accusations of his enemies.
V. VI The Church of Tarracona stated to" be in a verv mournful condition, from the heresy and simony of its bishop; and from the schism and dissension existing amon ' us members, caused by a contest for the see between rival
254 Acts of Gregory VII. toivards Bishops, Churches, ^c. 1083.
BOOK III. Acts toivards Sovereigns.
V ,,: — '■ j^ King Henry, with a force of Germans and Lombards,
again invests the city, and subjects it to depredation.
IV. Gregory justifies himself for having made Rudolph king, by accusing Henry of homicide, heresy, perjury, simony, &c. and by his present attack on the holy city.
VII. Gregory advances Hermannus of Lorraine to the throne of Germany, again anathematizing Henry, and de- claring him unworthy to reign. ^ i ■ v,
VIII. to XIII. Concerning a legation to Constantinople with a golden bull, and other valuable presents to the emperor.
1083. Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
I. The antipope, Clement IIL, obtains possession of the chair of St. Peter, supported by a great number of cardmals and other clergy, of the imperial party.
XI. Desiderius, Abbot of Monte Cassino, waits on the king at Rome, and becomes one of his supporters.
XIII. Clement III., being in occupation of the palace, and protected by the king in exercising the pontifical functions, at the request of his majesty, enlarges the privileges ot the monastery of Monte Cassino, by a golden bull.
Acts towards Churches and Councils. V. VI. The Church of Rome is reduced at this time to a most unhappy state, by the civil war and schism which still rage with great violence. The clergy and laity fly to the monasteries for protection.
XII. It is publicly declared, that the power and authority of the holy see cannot be lessened by the acts of any pontiffs ; but that which was done by Nicholas one hundred and twenty-five years before, shall be done by Gregory and by all his successors.
Acts towards Sovereigns. I. Part of the city being in the entire possession of King Henry, Gregory and his party are closely shut within the walls of Rome.
Acts of Gregory VII. towards Sovereigns, 1084. 255
II. The king grants to the bishops free ingress and egress book iir. in going to and from the synod held by the Gregorians. chai\_iv.
III. IV. Discussions of the synod, on the subject of ^ Henry receiving the imperial crown.
VI. to IX. The king perseveres in a strict blockade of the city ; and the obstinacy of Gregory in not coming to some terms by which the sufferings of the inhabitants may be relieved, causes much offence to many of his best friends. The synod also is prematurely dissolved, on account of the pope persisting in unavailing measures of rigour. The Nor- mans, also, are not willing to act on the offensive.
1084. Personal Transactions.
XI. XII. Gregory, to excite the citizens to revenge, pre- tends to have been visited by divine apparitions, and to have had preternatural communications.
XVII. Gregory commits to Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, power to grant absolutions to any Lombards without restric- tion.
XIX. to XXII. In consequence of information received from soothsayers, that Gregory's successor would be named Odo ; the Bishop of Baieux, of that name, aspires to the papacy, and makes preparations to carry his object into effect in the Isle of Wight.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
I. II. Rome is taken by the king; and the Emperor Alexis, by a liberal supply of money, hopes to induce him to recover Italy from the Normans, which he declines.
III. to X. Henry is crowned emperor by Clement III. in St. Peter's ; but in consequence of the mortality among his soldiers, he resigns Rome to the Normans.
XIII. The Emperor Henry returns into Germany, leaving the pope in the hands of his allies, the Normans,
XIII. Alexis, Emperor of the East, equips a fleet to attempt the recovery of his possessions in Italy. The fleet is destroyed by the Normans.
256 Acts of Gregory VII. towards Bishops, States, ^c. 1085.
BOOK III. XVIII. The pope writes to the King of England to beg CHAP. IV. ^jjg release of the Bishop of Baieux, whom he had imprisoned. XXIII. Gregory and the Count of Flanders inexorable enemies, between whom the Bishop of Soissons mediates.
1085. Personal Transactions.
XI. Account of the death of Gregory at Salerno.
XIII. to XX. Stories of strange miracles performed by Gregory.
Acts towards Bishops and Abbots.
X. Funeral of certain bishops of the king's party, denomi- nated on that account schismatics.
XXI. to XXIII. On the choice of a fit person to succeed Gregory in the government of the holy see.
Acts towards Churches and Councils.
IV. to VI. Council of Quintilenburg, by w hich it is decreed that in all things the pope shall be obeyed, and that all men are subject to him, and he subject to none.
VII. to IX. Council of Mentz summoned by the emperor in order to pass decrees in opposition to those of Quintilenburg.
XII. All persons desirous to restore peace to the Church.
Acts towards States. I. to III. The injustice of Gregory towards the king severely censured, and the conduct of his majesty defended before a general assembly of the papal and antipapal parties in Germany, by Wecilo, Archbishop of Mentz.
Acts towards Sovereigns.
XXIV. to XXVII. The death of the Norman prince of Italy, and the great benefactions bequeathed by him to the monastery of Monte Cassino.
XXVIII. Roger Guiscard, at the death of his brother, is installed in the dukedom of Sicily, which he consents to hold as a feudal tenure under the Prince of Calabria.
Origin of the right of investiture. 25 7
This brief view of the pretensions and assumptions of book iji
. CHAP IV
Gregory over bishops. Churches, states, and sovereigns, suffi- v ^J — >
ciently shows us the nature and extent of the fearful power, which the autocrat of Rome had now established over the greater portion of Christ's holy Catholic Church. The his- tory of his principal act of power, the deposition and humili- ation of Henry, is too well known to require us to dwell on that transaction. By demanding the surrender of the right of investiture from the emperor, he projected the establish- ment in every country of an independent ecclesiastical sove- reignty ; and laid the foundation of that implacable jealousy towards the hierarchy which produced so much confusion in the five following centuries. The denial, indeed, of the right to invest, or to confirm the bishop in his office by the temporal prince, was an act of ingratitude to the sovereigns ; by whom the territories for which their feudal homage was to be paid had been originally granted to the bishops in their respective kingdoms, and especially in Germany.
In the time of Otho the Great, one century after the age of Nicholas the First, who more clearly defined the pretensions of the papacy to be the government of mankind ; when the power of the hierarchy, in spite of those pretensions, had become weak, in consequence of the rapid successions and conflicting disputes among the popes — the ecclesiastical power was increased in Germany by large additions of lands and territories. In the military policy of the northern nations, which they brought with them into Europe, the sovereign or chieftain who granted to a dependent or follower a portion of land ; required some acknowledgment of the services which the new holder was to render, either to himself or to the community. Among the laity, these tenures of lands were originally granted for life only ; as they were to the ecclesias- tics. In process of time — the dates of these events cannot be accurately ascertained — they became hereditary. The territories allotted to the ecclesiastics could not become here- ditary, in consequence of the celibacy of the clergy. In the time of Otho the Great, (the endower of the Church in Germany,) as well as in the time of his predecessors, and for some ages after his death, the bishops of the Churches were elected by the clergy and the people. They
VOL. II. s
lb
258 Lands granted by sovereigns on certain conditions.
BOOK III. were sometimes nominated by the sovereign, sometimes CHAP. IV. pjjijgjj upon by public acclamation to assume the vacant see, sometimes named by the electors who chose them. There was then no schism in the Church. The error or the truth which prevailed in one part, prevailed to a greater or less degree in all ; and every Church being then in communion with Rome, every bishop generally sent word to Rome of his nomination and election. The temporal prince, however, confirmed the election. The lands of the see did not belong to the new bishop till they had been regranted to him by the sovereign. They were supposed to have lapsed, or to have returned to the prince on the death of the last bishop, who was no longer able to keep his promise of observing the services, on which the land had been originally granted. On the accession of the new bishop, he made application to the tem- poral sovereign for the lands. They were accordingly re- granted. As some ceremony, such as giving a turf of grass, a broken bough, a staff, a knife, or some other moveable article, of little or no value, took place on the appointment of a layman to a fief, as such lands were called ; so also it was with the ecclesiastic. The emblems of the service which the new bishop was required to perform, and of the authority of the prince to demand such services, were the ring and the crozier. Strange, trifling, and absurd as the question may appear to be, whether these two emblems should be permitted to pass through the hands of a layman ; this, and this alone, was the point on which Hildebrand proceeded to disturb the peace of Europe. The greatest questions, however, are de- cided by the observance or the non-observance of an apparent form. The nomination and election of bishops had fallen into the hands of the ecclesiastical, and they were now gra- dually becoming the property of the papal, power. If the Bishop of Rome could prevent the interference of a sovereign altogether in the appointment of bishops ; then the bishops M'ould become like the monks, the mere vassals and servants of Rome. This was the real controversy between the pontiff of Rome and the western world. With respect to the Em- peror of Germany, the imprudent impetuosity of Henry* was
" Miller's Philosophy of Modern Histoi'y, vol. ii.
Meek language of the haughty assumptions of Gregory VII. 259
the character best suited to favour the enterprises conceived book hi.
by the calm, yet daring and systematic, ambition of Hilde- .__l^ j ,•
brand. Forgetful of the proceedings which had so clearly indicated the designs of Rome, of the decree of Nicholas, and of the election of his successor ', Henry incautiously appealed to the pontiff against the insurgents of Saxony ; and the Saxons having immediately retaliated by bringing numerous accusations against their sovereign, Gregory seized the op- portunity of constituting himself the judge of the emperor. The pontiff accordingly sent his legates to a German diet to upbraid the monarch with his crimes charged against him by the Saxons ; to accuse him, also, on his own account, of im- piety in maintaining the right of investing bishops with the temporalities of their sees ; and to require that he should attend a synod, shortly to be convened, and there answer to all these allegations. Henry, it is true, dismissed the legates wdth disdain ; but the seal to the authority of Hilde- brand had been affixed by the emperor himself; and his deposition ', or resistance, was but the unavoidable conse-
9 Pfeffel, torn. i. pp. 214, 215.
' I subjoin, as a curious specimen of the meek and lowly language in which the despotism of HUdebrand was clothed, the bull of deposition and excommunication pronounced against the emperor of Germany, Henry IV. ; the absolution of his subjects from their oath of fidelity ; and the confirmation of the election of Duke Rudolph to the kingdom of the Teutonic nation.
Gregorius Papa VII. &c. — Beate Petre, apostolonim princeps, inclina, quaesumus, pias aures tuas nobis, et audi me, servum tuum, quem ab infan- tia uutristi, et usque ad hunc diem manu iniquorum liberasti, qui me pro tua fidelitate oderunt, et odiunt. Tu mihi testis es, et Domina mea, mater Dei, et beatus Paulus, frater tuus, inter omues sanctos, quod tua saucta Romana ecclesia me invitum ad sua gubernacula traxit, et ego non rapinam arbitratus sum ad sedem tuam ascen- dere, potiusque volui vitam meam in peregrinatione finire, quam locum tu- um pro gloria mundi, sseculari ingenio
arripere. Et ideo ex tua gratia, non ex meis operibus, credo quod tibi placuit et placet, ut populus Christianus tibi specialiter commissus, mihi obediat, specialiter pro vita * tua mihi com- missa, et mihi, tua gratia, est potestas a Deo data ligandi atque absolveudi in Ctelo et in Terra.
I. Hac itaque fiducia fretus, pro ecclesite tuse houore et defensione, ex parte omnipoteutis Dei, Patris, et Fihi, et Spiritus sancti, per tuam potestatem, et authoritatem, Henrico regi, et filio Henrici imperatoris, qui contra tuam ecclesiam inaudita superbia insun'exit, totius regni Theutonicorum, et Italiaj gubernacula contradico.
II. Et omnes Christianos a vinculo juramenti quod sibi faciunt, et facient, absolvo, et ut nullus ei, sicut regi, ser- viat iuterdico. Dignum est enim, ut qui studet honorem ecclesise tuse im- minere, ipse honorem amittat, quem videtur habere.
III. Et quia sicut Christianus con- tempsit obedire, ncc ad Dominum re- diit, quem dimisit, jjarticipando ex- communicatis, meaque monita, quue
Such is the reading of the printed edition, but wc should probably read
S -2
260 Celibacy of the clergy established.
BOOK III. quence of the collision between the power which was acknow- e HAP. i\ . ]g(]gg(j i^Q have been only of earthly origin, and to end with earthly objects ; and that which was affirmed to be of heavenly origin, and to end with heavenly objects. The pretensions of a corrupt hierarchy, and the errors of an age of ignorance, must be overthrown by the union of scriptural truth, and disinterested spiritual zeal. The triple crown conquered, and will ever conquer, the diadem of the secular monarch, and the spear of the mere soldier. It will never eventually triumph over the conclusions of the Christian philosopher, the sword of the Spirit of God, nor the indepen- dent episcopacy of the Catholic Church.
There were, however, other triumphs by this remarkable man, more wonderful even than those by which he humbled to the dust the potentates and sovereigns of Europe. These were the triumphs over the best feelings of human nature, in finally establishing the celibacy of the clergy, as the law instead of the custom or recommendation of the Church ; and the tri- umph over reason, by establishing the doctrine of transubstan- tiation. They were all effected by the same means — the fears of the common people that the anger of God in the future state would follow the denunciation of his supposed represen- tative. When the Emperor Henry and his nobles ventured to despise the threatened excommunication by Hildebrand, then the autocrat, or theocrat, commanded the people (and they obeyed him) not to acknowledge as a bishop, or as a priest, the ecclesiastic who received investiture from the tem- poral sovereign ^ When the clergy refused to submit to the
pro sua salute sibi misi (te teste), sper- second council held in Rome in Lent
nendo, seque ab ecclesia tua, tentans 1075, under pretence of redressing the
earn scindere, separando, vinculo eum abuses of investiture to bishoprics and
anathematis vice tua alligo, et sic eura other ecclesiastical preferments, which
ex fiducia tua alligo, ut sciant gentes prevailed in consequence of princes
et comprobent, quia tu es Petrus, et and laymen receiving money for such
super tuani Petram Filius Dei vivi promotions. The substance of the de-
sedificavit ecclesiam suam, et portte cree is as follows : Si quis deinceps
inferi non prievalebunt adversus eam, episcopatum vel abbatiam de manu
&c. alicujus laicse pei-sonaB suscepei'it, nul-
Acta Anno ab Incarnatione Domini latenus inter episcopos vel abbates
1075. Indietione decimaquarta. Mag. habeatur, nee ulla ei, ut episcopo vel
Bullar. i. 52, fol. Lugd. 1692. abbati, audieutia concedatur ; insuper
* The authority on which Gregory ei gratiam B. Petri et introitum eccle-
issued his commands and threats to siie interdicimus, quousque locum,
the people, was derived from a decree quem sub crimine tarn ambitionis
which he compelled the bishops, ab- quam mobedientire, quod est scelus
bots, and other clergy to pass at his idololatrias, cepit, resipiscendo non
\
Triumph of Gregory FIT. over reason and Scripture. 2G1
law of celibacy, (though the great majority of them, who de- book ill. sired to possess over the minds of the populace that gratifying ^^^J^- ascendancy which results from admiration of austerity and self-control, had abstained from marriage in compHance with the vulgar belief,) Hildebrand commanded that the married clergy should be regarded as unordained persons ^ ; and that the people should receive from them neither the sacraments nor ordinances of the Church, nor regard their instruction as teachers. He was again obeyed. When Berengarius was condemned for denying the presence of the bones of Christ in the baked bread, after the words of the priest had been pronounced over it at consecration, the people were com- manded to withhold their veneration for his ministry \ The Church was obeyed, and the triumph* over nature and reason, and therefore the triumph at the same time over the Scriptures, which govern the one and direct the other, was perfected and completed.
I have frequently observed, and the proposition, indeed, is the basis of all the reasoning upon which I. would propose a plan for the eventual reunion of Christians, that the iVlmighty governs the world by producing good from evil. The pros- tration of kings and emperors before the throne of the popes
deserit. Similiter etiam de inferioribus taught that the two elements were to
ecelesiasticis dignitatibus eonstituimus. be spiritually and indeed taken syin-
Item, si quis imperatoinim, regum, boUcaUy, and in remembrance of the
dueum, marchionum, comitum, vel sacrifice of the body and blood of the
quililjet secularium potestatum aut Redeemer, had been repeatedly con-
personarum, investituram episcopatu- demned in comicils held during the
um, vel alieujus ecclesiasticse dignitatis, several pontificates of Leo IX., Victor
dare prsesumserit, ejusdem sentential II., Nicholas II., Gregory VII., :ind
vinculo se adstrictum seiat.— Hug. Urban II., from a. d. 1050 to 1094, of
Ilaviniac. Chron. Virdun. in Labbei which the following are the chief :— at
Bibl. Nov. MSS. torn. i. p. 196, quoted Rome, Brienne, Vercelli, and Paris in
by Gieseler. lOoO ; at Florence and Toui-s in
* Gregorius P. ceiebi-ata sjnodo 1055 ; at Rome in 1058, in 1078, and simoniacos anathematizavit, uxoratos 1079 ; and at Placentia in 1094. On sacerdotes a divuio officio removit, et most of these occiisions the people laicis Missas eorum audii-e interdixit, were commanded, under pain of e.\- novo cxemplo, et, ut multis visum est, communication and anathema, to reject inconsiderato praejudicio. Quoted by the truth, and believe in the idolatrous Gieseler. intcrpreUation of the mystery.
* Though until the fourth council of = Under that young and' ambitious Lateran, in 1215, the bread in the priest (says Gibbon) the successors of cucharist was not declared to be tran- St. Peter reached the meridian of substantiated into the body of Christ, greatness. He may boast of two most and the wine into his blood, and ini- signal triumphs over sense and Im- posed to be so received by communi- maiiity — the establishment of transub- cants as an article of the Romish faith, stantiation, and of the Inquisition.
yet the doctrine of Berengarius, wliich
262 The sacredness and happiness of marriage.
BOOK III. was attended with some advantages. It is certain that it J prevented the relapsing of nations into paganism. It no less certainly extended the knowledge of Christianity (such, indeed, as it then was, and in many countries still remains — the trea- sury of the priesthood, rather than the spiritual joy of the people) ; and it preserved it till a better age and more advanced wisdom shall restore its apostolical purity. The authority of the popes suppressed infidelity in ages when infidelity would have destroyed Christianity ; because the ignorance of the age would have presented no barrier to its progress. I would rather believe all the stories of the Talmud, or all the miracles of the Acta Sanctorum, than be an infidel, imagining the world made itself, and that the God of Israel, like Baal of old, is on a journey afar from his own world ; or, peradventure, he sleepeth^. And it may be justly doubted, whether Europe could ever have recovered from the shock, if the infidelity of philosophical France as it was in the last century had assailed the mass of the people of Europe in the ages of Nicholas and Hildebrand. God does all things in wisdom. Hildebrand, and Nicholas, and Leo, " with all their company," were essential to the development of his great designs.
We may discover, too, though it has not been hitherto observed, some traces of the same plan of wisdom in the permission of the two other large masses of evil accomplished by this bishop of Rome — the establishment of the celibacy of the clergy, and the doctrine of transubstantiation. Marriage, says one of our most noble writers, is the nursery of heaven \ The virgin oflTers her prayers to God ; but she carries but one soul to Him. Marriage is a sacrament, too, in the Church of Rome, though the priest is not permitted to partake of it. So holy in its origin, so sacred in its obliga- tions, is " this only bliss of paradise that has survived the fall," that we might have supposed marriage would never have been desecrated by any superstitious prohibition ; though the days of persecution, or intense dedication to arduous duties, might have sometimes induced the willing sacrifice of its felicities, among the servants of God. The prohibition of marriage, though not the voluntary abstaining
'' 1 Kings xviii. 27- Marriage Ring, Works, vol. v. p. 253,
'' Jeremy Taylor, Sermon on the Hcber's edition.
Origin of the laivs against the marriage of the clergy. 263
from marriage, is consequently denominated by St. Paul, a BOOK ill.
doctrine of devils ^ He declares marriage to be honourable > — L^! J
among all, without exception ; and he is believed to have ad- dressed his epistle to the Hebrews to the pastors of the Church ^ Yet the notion that the state of celibacy betokened a superior sanctity, was introduced among the most early ante-Nicene Christians '. St. Paul had recommended his own condition as an unmarried man to the converts during the troublesome period in which he wrote ; though he asserted the honour and dignity of the marriage state. The Hebrew Christians are supposed to have derived their ideas of celibacy from the Essenes ; and the Gentile Christians from the Gnostics; who philosophized before the Christian era in the schools of Alexandria ^ In the third century, however, marriage was permitted to all orders of the clergy, though they who continued in a state of celibacy obtained a higher reputation for sanctity \ The first regulation in favour of the celibacy of the clergy appears in the canons of the Council of Ancyra, about the year 308. It was there ordained, that those deacons who had not, at their ordina- tion, declared that they wished to marry, should be set aside from the ministry if they should afterwards engage in matri- mony *. At the council of Neocaesarea, a little before that of Nice, a further progress was made. It was then deter- mined, that if a priest should marry, he should be deprived of his rank ; but those who were already married were allowed to retain their wives, unless they should have been convicted of adultery ^ That the clergy should separate from their wives was first proposed, as we have seen, at the Council of Nice, in the year 325 ; but this being strongly resisted by Paphnutius, a confessor of great reputation, who was himself unmarried, and distinguished for chastity, the measure was rejected ^ The opinion, however, that the
* SiSa(TKa\iai(; dainoviwv, either Christianity," — though some of its re- doctrines disseminated under diaboli- fei-ences have been discovered to be cal influence, or impious and devilish erroneous ; and many of its deductions doctrines. — 1 Tim. iv. 1. and inferences, untenable.
" Heb. xiii. 4. — The Greek is r/'/iiot; ^ Miller's Philusophy of Modem
6 yd^ioQ : if £(Trw be understood instead History, vol. ii. p. 257, &c.
of iari, the sense is improved. ^ Moshcim, cent. iii. part ii. chap. ii.
' I beg to refer more particularly * Summa Cone, et Pont. perCarran-
for an account of the evils resulting ziim, p. 42, edit. Salam. 1551.
from this notion to the Church, to the * lb. pp. 49, 50.
numbers of a work entitled " Ancient '' Socratis Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. ii.
264 Progress of the laws against the marriage of the clergy.
BOOK II r. clergy should be celibates, gradually prevailed in public
> ^ • • estimation ; and Pope Siricius, in the year 385, issued a
declaration, by which it was recommended as most becoming their character K In the beginning of the fifth century, com- pulsory celibacy was attacked, with other superstitions, by Vigilantius, who was, however, overpowered by Jerome, the great monk of the age ^ The exhortation of Siricius was, about the year 405, converted by Innocent I. into a peremp- tory order ^ Many councils, too, added their authority to that of the papacy ; and celibacy was generally considered, even when it was not enforced, to be what Paley calls, a duty of imperfect obligation *. In the Greek Church a coun- cil was assembled in 692, by which the clergy in general were prohibited from marrying ; and the bishops were re- quired to separate from their wives. The inferior clergy, however, were still permitted to live with their wives whom they had previously married \ Still, all the efforts of popes, bishops, and councils, were for a long time unavailing. The austere discipline gradually fell, as it again will, into disuse ; and the canons enforcing its observance began to be gradually forgotten \ A general reaction had taken place, till the prohibition was revived, and enforced by the immediate predecessors of Hildebrand ; and so sternly and generally was it enacted into a law by his means, that the decree has never been rescinded. His indiscreet zeal was condemned*, as contrary to the opinions of the fathers ; and one century at least elapsed before the decrees of Iliidebrand were obeyed in England. All his decrees, says one of our oldest historians, availed nothing ; for the priests, by the king's consent, still lived with their wives as formerly ^ Four centuries only can be reckoned during which this absurd discipline was prevalent in England ; yet it was at length generally enforced in our own country, as it still continues to be, among the
' Carranza, p. 129. laws as becomes their state." — Wilkins'
** Mosheim, cent. V. part ii. cli. iii., Leg. pp. 169 — 1 7 l,ap. Sharon Tunior's
and more especially the recent work Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. p. 475.
upon " Vigilantius and his Times," by ^ Carranza, p. ;{99.
Dr. Gilly. ^ See Croly's Inquiry into the priii-
" Cai-ranza, p. 160. cipal Points of Difference between tlie
1 Thus /Elfric, at the end of his two Churches, p. 253.
catalogue of clerical duties enforced ' Sigebert, Chron. ann. 107J.
upon the clergy, adds, " Neither a wife * Hist. Petroburg. ann. 1127, mi.
nor a battle becomes them, if they Spelman, Concil. ii. ,'{6.
will rightly obey God, and keep his
Providence discovered in the laws against clerical marriages. 265
priesthood of these countries, which cannot maintain com- book ill. . . . ... CHAP IV
munion with Rome unless they submit to the prohibition. ^ — l^J — '.
When the celibacy of the clergy was at last fully enforced, popes and bishops were more powerful than kings and princes ; and it is this circumstance which makes me see the providence of God in the enactment of Hildebrand. The celibacy of the clergy has been at all times productive of more scandal, suspicion, and crime, than any other discipli- nary enactment of the papal power ; but much greater evil would have resulted eventually to the world, if they had been permitted to marry at the period when Hildebrand began to subdue the sovereigns of Europe. The priesthood would then have become an hereditary caste, maintaining, without hope of redress, the power and property they had acquired. They would have become, like the Brahmins of the East, a distinct and separate body. They would have perpetuated all the corruptions of Christianity. They would have so blended the military and sacerdotal character, that the final emancipa- tion of the intellect and reason of man would have been rendered hopeless in Europe, as it has so long been in India. The celibacy of the clergy prevented this greater evil. The law which commands it is but a point of discipline ; and the day will arrive when the indignation of mankind at the con- tinued attempts to perpetuate the domination of the canon law of Rome, shall at length compel the rescinding of these decrees. Then it will be remembered that not only reason. Scripture, and society demand their repeal ; but if they require inferior authorities to guide their decisions, Gre- gory the Great ®, Pius the Second ', Panormitan, the great canonist ^ and a host of others, declare the reasonableness of marriage, and the propriety of adhering to the scriptural laws of God, rather than to the ecclesiastical traditions of the erring Church of Rome.
The next great triumph of Gregory was the conquest of human reason, by decreeing the belief in transubstantiation as the doctrine of the Church of Christ. I learn this most useful lesson from the picture before me — that an individual student, or Christian, may be right, when the whole of the
'' Rc'spoiis. ad intoiToji;. S. Augus- count of the Council of Bazil. tini, cnibDiliod in Bcda's Hist. Eccl. ** Dc Clei'icis Coujugatis.
' Sue his Lite in i'laiiua, and Ac-
266 Origin of enforcement of the doctrine of transubstantiation. BOOK III. visible Church with which he is acquainted may be wrong*.
CHAP IV • JO
V .^ /■ The utmost respect, devotion, love, zeal, and reverence ^, have
ever characterized devout men when they have spoken of the holy sacrament. How, indeed, is it possible, so long as we retain the remembrance of the wonderful event which it com- memorates, to speak in language too solemn, respecting the great mystery of the atonement ? or to express our sense of the value of that blessing which we derive from the Omni- present, in our act of obedience to his own command, when we partake of the bread and wine ? This just reverence, however, degenerated by degrees into superstition, and thence became degraded into idolatry. So early as the fourth century many changes had been introduced into the public worship. New rites were added to the ancient Christian form, more adapted to please the eye, and strike the imagination, than to kindle in the heart the flame of genuine piety. In many places the bread and wine were held up to view for the first time, before their distribution, that they might be seen by the people, and contemplated with a certain religious respect ; and this was the origin of the superstitious veneration of the elements. In the ninth century curious questions and subtle disqui- sitions arose concerning the manner in which the body and blood of Christ were present at the eucharist. It had hitherto been universally believed that both were present, because both were administered in the sacrament ; and the sacrificial terms which had been selected for the communion services had given the idea of a real sacrifice in the offering up of the bread and wine, and of partaking of that real sacrifice when the bread and wine were eaten and drunk by the wor- shipper. All these powerful expressions did not teach the corporeal presence of Christ, with his blood, flesh, bones, nerves, and whole person, as it was subsequently defined. The belief of the spiritual presence, and of the union of the soul of the worshipper with the God and Saviour of the Church, sufficiently justified the most expressive language, such as that of St. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians, when he affirms that the Christian is a member of Christ ; of his body, of his blood, and of his bones. When the darkness of
^ See Soanies' Mosheini, vol. iii. ii. note 3, for an account of the con- p. 121, book iv. cent. xvi. sect. 1, cli. troversy on this subject.
Progress of the doctrine of transubstantiation. 267
the universal ignorance, however, was deepest, the figurative book ill. expressions which related to the notion of a sacrifice, began P^^^*- 1^; to be interpreted literally, and not figuratively ; as if Christ, who had ascended into the heavens, which have received Him until the time of the restitution of all things ', actually came down in person materially and bodily, though still invisibly ; and uniting Himself with the particles of the visible bread, dwelt in the manufactured and broken portion, taking possession of the same, immediately that the words of consecration were spoken ; or else, that the very bread became, on earth, a portion of that very body, which, prior to the words of consecration, had existed in the invisible world. This strange doctrine is said to have been thus more clearly proposed, about the year 831, by Paschasius Radbert, a monk, and afterwards Abbot of Corbey. In the year 845, an improved edition of his treatise, which was presented to Charles the Bald, gave occasion to a violent controversy, Charles having directed that a clear exposition of the Lord's Supper should be prepared by Bertrarnn, or Ratramn, and by Johannes Scotus, whose statements were adverse to the notion of Radbert ^ Radbert, however, only outstripped his age a little in the progress of absurdity. The doctrine possessed too powerful recommendations of the import- ance of the clergy, and of wonder to the laity, not to be gradually adopted ; and, accordingly, when Berenger of Tours began, towards the middle of the eleventh century, to revive the doctrines of Bertramn and Scotus, he was so strenuously encountered by the Church, that he submitted to repeated retractations. Berenger had been attacked by several pontiffs ; but the last proceeding was that of Gregory VII., who yet did not take any notice of his renewed tergiversation. It is, indeed, questionable whether Gregory did not agree with him in his private opinion*. Mosheim represents Gre- gory as having acted with great moderation and candour in this controversy ; but according to his own account, Gregory
> Acts iii. 21. The Greeks used tlio Haye, I7O8, ap. Miller, vol. ii. p. 261,)
words jU£ra/3oX)/ and fitTa(!T0i\t'no(7iQ, was adopted in an after age.
though in a metaphorical sense only. - Mosheim, cent. ix. part ii. eh. iii.
The word fitrovaniXJiq, however, cor- sect. 19 — 21.
responding to the word transubstauiia- •* See Bowden's Life of Gregory, ii,
tioa, (Monuniens Authentiques de la 242, and the following pages, lleligion dcs Grecs, <!si.c. par i. Aymon,
I
268 Providence discoverable in the permitting the great evil BOOK III. had, before he became pope, opposed the new doctrine with
CHAP IV I 1 ' 1 I
> .J '■ the utmost vehemence ; and he was afterwards engaged in a
more interesting struggle for dominion *.
Such is the usual account of the origin of this hitherto un- dying controversy. The doctrine of transubstantiation, it is true, was not declared to be the faith of the universal Church ; neither was the term authoritatively adopted till the year 1215. Its adoption became, however, the proof of orthodoxy ; the test by which the more zealous and attached adherents of the Church of Rome became distinguished in all following ages. And herein it seems to me that a peculiar providence may be observed. The one characteristic doctrine of Christianity round which all other truths may be said to revolve, or on which they all depend, may be declared to be justification before God, by faith in the atonement of Christ, leading to love and obedience. The doctrine of transubstantiation is the case of the jewel, the chest of this pure gold, the casket in which this gem is deposited. An age of deplorable igno- rance can only be governed by appeals to the senses. Its very religion, therefore, requires emblems, images ; and in common doctrines, language founded upon them. Revela- tion, indeed, always requires a spiritual service ; yet the first dispensation which did so require it, instructed the people in sacrifices, ceremonials, and pompous rituals. When the Chris- tian Church was merged in ignorance, the people became unable to comprehend the spiritual. They fled to the literal meaning of the words of Scripture in their devotions, ser- vices, and doctrines. They literally mingled ashes with their bread, instituted the offering of prayers seven times a day, and lay on sackcloth and ashes. As they interpreted literally the spiritual language of the devotional parts of Scripture, so also did they interpret literally the doctrines of Scripture respecting the sacrament of the eucharist. They changed the nature of the sacrament from the outward visible sign of an inward spiritually given grace ; to the outward, yet invisible reality of an inward corporeally given Christ. Cruel as the per- secutions were by which these notions were subsequently main- tained, yet the doctrine of the atonement was preserved by the controversy. The papal judge, and the heretic victim,
* Moshc'iiii, CLiit. xi. part ii. cli. iii. sect. 2. Philnsoiiliy of Muderii History, sect. 13, Ulc, ctiit. xiii. part ii. ch. iii. vol. ii, ii[). 257 — 200.
of the doctrine of transubstantiation. 269
would have alike contended to the death for the truth — that book nr. Christ died for man. In this age of darkness the Scriptures .^^'^^' ^'; became obsolete. Spirituality was not understood ; and the doctrine which changed the faith of the soul into the faith of the senses, so that the eyes of the body, not the eyes of the soul, saw in the eucharist, Him who is invisible, was suited to the intellect of the age ; while it preserved the truth to that better period which the spirit of prophecy has revealed to us as the future condition of man in the present life, that they shall worship God in spirit and in truth. This great evil, the enforcement of the doctrine of transubstan- tiation, must run its course : and when the blessing of God has been so granted to scriptural education, to the diffusion of Scripture, and to the ordinances of his various Churches, that the souls of men shall long for the early spiritual truth ; then the language in which the Romanist himself commemo- rates the death of Christ will be changed ; and all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, will rejoice to remember his death, and kneel at the same altar.
It may be asked how all this was done. Power never commends itself to the approbation of a community so much, as when it is sanctioned by the decision of a deliberative assembly. The councils of this age may be called the parliaments of the papal, or rather of the ecclesiastical, sovereignty. Between the pontificate of Benedict IX. and the death of Hildebrand, more than one hundred councils were held in different parts of Europe, though principally at Rome, to frame various canons, which were, for the most part, embodied in the canon law. They relate to the subjects of in- vestiture, simony, the celibacy of the clergy, the condemnation of Berenger, and the upholding the doctrine of transubstan- tiation ; to the privileges of Churches, the t7'iice of God *, the election or deposition of bishops, and various other points of faith and discipline. At Barcelona, in 1068, a council was held for substituting the Roman for the Gothic ritual in Spain. At Paris, in 1074, an abbot was beaten in a council for defending a decree of Gregory forbidding the hearing of mass from the married clergy. At Rheims, in 1049, a decree passed, confining the term "apostolic" to the see of
^ See I)u Gauge's Glossary on the expression Trcuga Dei, and Labb. Concil. X. 395.
270 Political questions now merged in ecclesiastical.
BOOK III. Rome^ alone. At Llandaff, in 1056, a royal family was K ^ • ; excommunicated for offending a bishop ; so great was the ecclesiastical power even in that remote part of Europe. In 1072, a council was held in England to confirm the pri- macy to the archbishop of Canterbury ; and in 1078 a council at London decreed that Bath, Lincoln, Exeter, Chester, and Chichester, should be made episcopal sees. Other councils were held at Sens, Rheims, Pavia, Mayence, Leponto, Tours, Brienne, Vercelli, Paris, Augsburg, Bamberg, Narbonne, Worms, Florence, Compostella, Thoulouse, and other places in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, England, and the north. As the unity of the Church, notwithstanding the decrees issued against transubstantiation and celibacy, was still unbroken, the decisions of a council in one country were regarded as influential, if not authoritative, in another. It might be said there were no politics, no mere political dis- cussion on subjects of a purely secular nature at this time. Ecclesiastical topics alone occupied the attention of all ; and the questions of peace or war themselves were discussed and decided with reference to the interests of the Church, or some point of faith or discipline. The decision of the Councils of Brienne, for instance, of Vercelli, or of Paris, in 1050, of Tours, in 1055, and of Anjou about the same year, against the supposed errors of Berengarius, were as binding on the mass of the Churches as those held at Rome itself. By means, therefore, of councils, and principally of the ten councils which he summoned at Rome, Hildebrand procured the confirmation of all the edicts and decrees which enslaved the Christian world, under the plea of preserving the liberties of the Church. It can only be necessary to notice very briefly in synoptical tables, the leading details of each of the nine remaining councils. Of the first against simony I have spoken sufficiently.
i
I
Roman councils under Gregory VII.— their results. 271
Council.
Date.
Acts and decrees.
Results.
Numbers present.
The Second Council of Rome under the personal con- trol of Gregory VII.
A. D. 1075.
Excommunication of Robert Guiscard, the Norman Prince of Apulia. Nomination and investiture of bishops taken from princes and all laymen. Decrees against the marriage of the clergy confirmed. Many bishops oi Germany and Lombardy suspended for alleged simony ; and five nobles of King Henry excommunicated for pre- ferring persons to vacant bishoprics, and taking fees.
The decree against investitures disregarded by the king ; and great opposition to the same, as well as to the canons against marriage, throughout Germany, France, &c.
The Council was composed of about fifty bishops, Italian and English, but chiefly ItaUan, with a great number of abbots, and other clergy Gregory was president.
BOOK HI.
CHAP. IV.
Council.
Date.
Acts and decrees.
Results.
Numbers present.
The Third Council of Rome under the personal control of Gregory VII.
A. D. 1076.
The kmg and many bishops in his interest excom- municated, after Gregory had been deposed by the Council of Worms, and officially proclaimed so before the assembly by Roland, of Padua.
Great division of the princes and bishops of Germany on account of the contest at issue between the Church and
state.
Most of the Italian bishops, abbots, and clerfry with some bishops of Germany in the uiterest of the Pone with some German and Italian nobles. '
272 Roman councils under Gregorij VII.— their results.
BOOK III. CHAP. IV.
Council.
Date.
Acts and decrees.
Results.
Numbers present.
The Fourth Council of Rome under the personal control of Gregory VII.
A.D. 1078.
Guihert, Archbishop of Ravenna, and all bis suffraffans and abbots, were summoned to this Council, to answer for their conduct in promoting; schism in the Roman Church. Many excommunications for alleged simony. A resolution is passed to send legates to Germany to assist in a diet against the king.
The Bishops of Ravenna and Lombardy treat the summons of the Council with disdain ; and vigorously support the king in his struggle with the Pope.
Most of the same bishops and nobles of whom the former Council had been composed.
Council.
Date.
Acts and decrees.
The Fifth Council of Rome under the personal control of Gregory VI 1.
Results.
Numbers present.
A. D. 1078. Met in November.
Nicephorus, usurper of the throne of Constantinople, and Constantine, sonin-law to Prince Robert Guiscard, both excommunicated. Berengarius, alarmed by the threats of the Council, abjures his doctrine. The right to the throne of Germany to be decided by a diet, to be attended by the Pope's legates, whom the rival kmgs swear to protect.
Continued resistance of the royal party to the Pope. Berengarius, when safe, again maintains his doctrine.
One hundred and fifty bishops, great numbers of abbots and other clergy, ambassadors from the two rival kings.
Sixth and Seventh Councils of Rome under Gregory VII. 273
Council.
Date.
Acts and decrees.
Results.
Numbers present.
BOOK III.
The Sixth Council of Rome under the personal control j CHAP. IV. of Gregory VII.
A. D. 1079.
The doctrine of Berengai'ius again condemned ; and the elements in the eucharist declared to be not types spiritually received, but the substantial and real body and blood of Christ Himself. Numerous excommunications.
The two rival sovereigns consent, by their ambassadors at this Council, to abide by the judgment of the apostolic see in settling their respective claims to the throne.
The Council was fully attended by the bishops and nobles of both parties.
|
Council. |
The Seventh Council of Rome under the personal con- trol of Gregory VII. |
|
Date. |
A.D. 1080. |
|
! Acts and decrees. |
The sentences against all the Lombard bishops re- newed and confirmed. Renewal of the decrees against lay investitures of all kinds, and the acceptors of them. The king again excommunicated and deposed for refusing to resign his crown to Rudolph, in whose favour the pope and his legates decide. Decrees against feigned penance, and lay investitures. Re-excommunication of the Nor- mans. |
|
Results. |
Extraordinary address of Gregory to the Apostles Peter and Paul, delivered to the council upon the power of the ; hierarchy to give and take away empires, kingdoms, prin- ■ cipalities, dukedoms, and the estates and possessions of all men ; intended as a justification of the decree of the coun- cil for excomnmnicating, proscribing, and deposing King ' Henry. Dated March the 7th, 1080. j |
|
, Numbers present, and remarks. |
By the great exertions which were made to compel at- ! tendance, the meeting was composed of all the chief eccle- siastics and nobles of Italy and Germany. Indeed, this may be said to be the year iu which Gregory seemed de- termined to leave nothing undone that personal energy, legatiue missions, and all other means might do to overcome all resistance ; and to bring every surrounding nation i into submission to his own will. 1 |
VOL. II.
274 Eighth and Ninth Councils of Rome under Gregory VII.
BOOK III. CHAP. IV.
|
Council. |
The Eighth Council of Rome under the personal control of Gregory VII. |
|
Date. |
A.D. 1081. |
|
Acts and decrees. |
The chief objects of this council were to repeat the condemnations against the king and the anti-pope Cle- ment III. ; and to deter all from joining them, or agreeing with them, by excommunications, depositions, and anathemas against every adherent of their cause. |
|
Results. |
The results were an increased vigour and success on the part of the king. |
|
Numbers present. |
The numbers and importance of the members greatly declined. |
|
Council. |
The Ninth Coimcil of Rome under the personal control of Gregory VII. |
|
Date. |
A.D. 1083. |
|
Acts and decrees. |
This council met at the entreaty of the adherents of Gregory in Rome, who were enduring great distress from the siege of the city by the king. Gregory had retired to the citadel of St. Angelo. The council used all means to persuade him to peace with the king ; but he still per- sisted in calling on heaven for fiery vengeance on his head. Though almost his prisoner, Gregory insisted on a renewal of all former excommunications, depositions, and anathe- mas. |
|
Results. |
The council, angry with the implacability of the pope, did nothing. |
|
Numbers present, and remarks. |
The Bishops of Apulia and Campagnia, with the eccle- siastics of Rome, composed the council. They had re- mained stedfast to his cause from the commencement of Gregory's public life ; and the king had shown a desire for peace, by granting the members of the council free ingress and egress to and from the city during the close siege, though his enemies. |
Jl
Ancestry of the Countess Matilda.
or--
|
Council. |
The Tenth Council of Rome under the personal control of Gregory VII. |
|
Date. |
A. D. 1084. |
|
Acts and decrees. |
Fresh decrees of excommunication and deposition against the king and Guibert are issued amidst the flames of the city and the blood of the Roman people. Every means was used by the council, to produce temporary intimidation. |
|
Results. |
After performing mass, and affecting to work miracles, Gregory left the city to die in exile. |
|
Numbers present. |
The few enthusiasts belongmg to the Hildebrand faction who kept up his cause in Rome. |
BOOK III. CHAP. IV.
The first of these councils, held in 1074, passed the much opposed decrees against simony, or investitures by the secular authorities, against the marriage of the clergy, and the wives of the clergy, both of which were designated by opprobrious and contemptuous epithets ^ The Countess Matilda', Prince Guisulph of Salerno, and the Marquis of Ozzo, ancestor of the Princes of Brunswick and d'Este, were present at this council.
I will mention but one other act of despotic power on the part of Hildebrand, which has also become a part of the canon law, though it was opposed to the conduct both of his predecessors and successors. In 1080, AVratislaw, Duke of Bohemia, expressed a wish to Gregory, that the offices or prayers of the Church should be performed in the Sclavonian
" See its canons in Labb. Concil. x. 315, seq.
'' The family of the Countess Ma- tilda of Tusculum was descended from Trullus, a Roman patrician, who, in the year 521, had become Lord of Tusculum. Trullus himself sprung from the Octavian family, was the father to the martyr Placidus.and related to the Emperor Justinian and his consort Theodora. His daugiiter, Silvia Portia,
married Ilduinus, Duke of ^lilan, and became the mother of .\neius Marzius, who afterwards assumed the name of Malespina. Gi-egory the Great was his relation. His descendants in the course of time became masters of Tusculum, with the title of Count, and gave many pontiffs to Rome, amongst whom were Adrian I., Sergius III., John XI., John XII. in 956. — Gries- ley's Life of Gi-egory VII., p. 5.
3
276 The Soul of the Slave and of the Prince equal before God.
BOOK in. tongue, which was at that time a common language of the ^^ii^L^I; north of Europe. The pontiff forbade it. « I will never consent," he said, " that Divine service should be performed in the Sclavonian tongue. It is the will of God that his Word should be hidden, lest it should be despised if read by every one. If, in condescension to the weakness of the people, the contrary has been permitted, it is a fault which ought to be corrected. The demand of your subjects is imprudent. 1 shall oppose it with the authority of St. Peter. You ought, for the glory of God, to resist it with all your power '."
Hildebrand is not the only ecclesiastic who has held that the Gospel of God should be taught with reserve, and who has forgotten that the soul of the mechanic and peasant can be rendered as wise unto salvation by the Word of life as that of a bishop or an emperor. He imagined, as too many of the apostolical succession have done, that he promoted piety by destroying liberty ; that he increased happiness by diminishing knowledge. Alas for mankind in any country, if the race of rulers, whether in Church or state, shall presume to legislate <is if the soul of the slave was inferior in the sight of God to the soul of the prince I The presumption, however, was but a proof both of the deeper corruption, as well as of the increased power of the Church. Very different had been the decision of John VIII. in the year 880. When a similar request had been made to him by Methodius, Archbishop of Moravia, he replied by blessing God that the Sclavonian character had been invented, enabling every man to praise God in his own language. Defending his conduct by the examples of the Apostles, he remarked, that he apprehended no danger from the use of the public services in the vernacular dialect, provided that they read the Gospel in Latin first, and then interpreted it to the people, according to the practice of some other Churches. A very different policy, too, from that of Gregory was pursued by Innocent III. in 1215. In the Council of Lateran, held in that year, it was ordained, that if persons of different nations, speaking different languages, dwelt in the same city, the bishop of the diocese
1 Ep. lib. vii. ep. xi. ap. Labb. Concil. x. 234.
Powei' of Hildebrand over Europe and England. 277
should provide ministers for them capable of performing book hi. service in their respective tongues ^ < ,^ '
Thus was the civilized world subjected to the chief bishop of the West. Hildebrand now seemed to possess a human omnipotence, to which all events were known, and by which all ecclesiastical and almost all civil power was scanned, overruled, or subdued. His correspondents, tributaries, legates, or agents, were found in all states and Churches. The expression in the Oriental mythology of the supporters of the burning throne addressed to the aspirer over the government of the universe, seemed best to describe him. He was the earthly Almighty^, sitting as god on the throne of God, and giving laws from that throne, which, like the laws of the heavenly Deity, constituted to the human race, right or v^^rong, vice or virtue, truth or falsehood. The rejection or reception of these laws not only gave present estimation in society ; but decided in the world to come the salvation or damnation of the soul. It was, indeed, a fearful power for man to exercise. We shall soon consider its effects on the happiness of mankind ; but w^e must now^ complete our view of the pontificate of Hildebrand, by surveying very briefly the influence which Rome possessed over England, at the period of which we are speaking.
Ecclesiastical, civil, or indeed any power, uniformly displays itself in conferring honour, as well as enforcing obedience. The honours which are thus conferred may be variously estimated, according to the circumstances of the bestower and receiver. A sovereign prince sends an order of knight- hood to another prince. The gift in this case implies not superiority, but approbation, favour, affection, gratitude, or esteem ; and the receiving it implies no inferiority. If the same prince bestows an order of knighthood on a person who is not equal to him in rank, the gift implies a power on the part of the prince, which is not possessed by the receiver. It is conferred as a token of the approbation of a superior. It is received as a tacit acknowdedgment of inferiority to
^ This subject is treated with his vernacular language, usual learning by Arclibishoj) Usher, * " Earthly Almighty ! wherefore
in a volume treating expressly on the tarriest thou ?" — See Southey's " Curse
translations of the Scriptures into the of Kchama."
278 The origin of the gift of the Pall uncertain.
BOOK III. the bestower. If the order of knighthood be granted to one CHAP^JT. ^i^Q ^Qgg ^Q^ j-^g -j^ ^YiQ dominions of the bestower, the gift
implies superiority of rank ; but no claim of submission. If it be granted to a subject, it not only implies that the bestower is superior, and the receiver inferior ; but its very acceptance denotes that the claims of the bestower to the faithful allegiance of the receiver are thereby strengthened ; and that the homage of the receiver should henceforward be more profound, and his services more faithfully rendered. A sovereign prince, too, would not receive an order of knighthood from one whom he deemed an usurper, with whom he was at war, or whom, for any cause whatever, he held in contempt. If, too, a subject, or an inferior, desired to express his disre- gard, or indifference, or opposition to his prince, he would decline to accept from him any offer of honour; he would reject it with indifference or disdain ; and if to seek the favour was regarded as a proof of homage or service, he would still more carefully shun it, lest its offer should be deemed an intrusion upon his independence ; or its acceptance be regarded an abandonment of his principles or honour.
Strange as it may at first sight appear, these remarks will afford us the probable solution of the great problem respect- ing the conduct of the Bishops of Rome, under the govern- ment of Hildebrand *, towards England. The outward mark or token of the great order of knighthood, the proffering of which was intended to imply sovereignty or supremacy on the part of Rome ; and the acceptance of which was no less designed to imply the acknowledgment of inferiority, homage, or service on the part of the receiver; was the pall, of which we have already spoken. So long as the pall was a part of the imperial dress of the emperors in the East, as it is said to have been, the sending it from the emperors to the bishops, to be worn by them, was a token of honour con- ferred by a prince upon a subject ^ The Bishop of Rome assumed the privilege of granting the same favour. The time when he did so is uncertain. Equally uncertain are
■* I introduce the subject at this greater than the pope, who acted en-
])lace, because, as I have already ob- tirely by his counsels, served from Mr. Hallam, p. 254, Hil- ^ See Butler, and his references,
debrand, during the pontificate of Alex- Lives of the Saints, vi. 132, June 8. ander II., was considered something
The granting of the Pall implied an assumed superiority. 279
the conditions upon which it was given or received. It was book hi. given by the Bishops of Rome to other bishops and metro- pHAP. i\ ,. politans only. But the bishops and metropoUtans of the Church of Christ were originally all equal, as were the apostles themselves ; and the Churches which were founded upon their doctrine and communion were all equal, and inde- pendent of each other; and the pall, therefore, might have been given and received upon the same terms of equality as one sovereign prince who is at peace with another sovereign prince, might give, or receive, in token of amity, an order of knighthood. Of this, however, I find no certain proof. I am compelled by the most careful and impartial evidence of the documents before me to conclude, that the giving and receiving of the pall denoted superiority on the one side, and inferiority on the other ^ ; and it is this consideration
^ Speaking of the ecclesiastical supre- macy as exercised in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, Soames says : — " To the exercise of any ecclesiastical authority above that of the see of Can- terbury, we are expressly assured they were utter strangers." Eodem anno (temp. Hen. I.) venit in Angliam Guido, archiepiscopus Viennensis, functus (ut dicebat) legatione totius Britaunise, ex prsecepto et authoritate Apostolicse se- dis. Quod per Angliam auditum, in admirationem omnibus venit : inaudi- tiim, scilicet, in Britannia, cuncti scientes, quemlibet Jtominum super se rices apostoli- cas gerere nisi solum archie.plscopum Can- tuaricB. Qua propter, sicut venit, ita reversus est, a nemine pro legato sus- ceptus, nee in aliquo legati officio func- tus, — See his Bampton Lecture, p. 175, where further authorities on the subject are also quoted.
On the question of the pall being in- tended by Rome as a badge of submis- sion to the authority of the apostolic see, Mr. Soames, after showing that the Enghsh episcopacy were required to swear canonical obedience on their con- secration to no other authority than that of the Archbishop of Canterbury during the Saxon ages, observes, " The metropolitans themselves were, indeed, in the habit of receiving a pall from the papal see, an insidious compliment which eventually undermined the inde- pendence of their several Churches." —
Bampt. Lect. ut supra, p. 150.
Consult, also, notes 16, 17, P- 178, et seq., where after supplying certain evi- dences of the original use and significa- tion of the pall, Mr Soames (p. 181) remarks: — " As for the confirmations which metropolitans anciently sought from the Roman see, they were nothing more than announcements of their seve- ral consecrations, and confessions of their faith. On receiving these, and being satisfied with their correctness and orthodoxy, the Bishop of the capi- tal, that is, of Rome, admitted the parties respectively into communion with his Church. The Roman Bishop himself sent similar credentials to the other patriarchs, as vouchers for his own claims to communion with them. " Quod ad patriarchas attinet ; respon- deri potest, confirmationem illam non esse signum jui'isdictionis, sed tantum susceptionis in communionem, et testi- monium quo constabat suraraum pon- tificem consentii-e consecrationi jam peractse. Quippe usu receptura erat, per illas tempestates, ut patriarchse, et ipse etiam Romanus pontifex, recens electus, litteras de sua ordinatione mit- terent, quibusaddebatur professio fidei, in synodiciseorumcpistoiis conscripta." — Pet. De Marca, Archiep. Paris, de Concordia Sacerdotii et Imperii, Paris. 1669, ii. 191, apud Soames, ut supra, p. 182.
280 Stigand, one chief cause of the Norman conquest.
BOOK III. which affords me the clue to the real cause of the most
V— ^^' ^^;' important event in the history of England.
At this period Stigand was Archbishop of Canterbury. Stigand had received his pall from Benedict the Ninth, or, as some lists count him, the Tenth. Benedict was the last Bishop of Rome of the imperial, or rather, anti-Hildebrandine, or anti- Gregorian party. In this capacity he had been excommuni- cated three several times by the Gregorian pontiffs. He was consequently regarded as a schismatic by Hildebrand, who was resolved to reduce all Churches, bishops, and arch- bishops beneath his dominion. He had, however, no means of coercing the English, or compelling the submission of Stigand, until an opportunity was presented by the petition of William the Norman, who requested Alexander II. to bless his projected expedition against England. Hildebrand at that moment was the Archdeacon of Rome ; he was also present at Rome. Alexander acted under his influence \ The expe- dition was blessed ; and it was successful. Five hundred years elapsed before a similar blessing was bestowed upon a similar expedition (a.d. 1588), and it was unsuccessful. Haif- a-day of God, as days are declared by inspiration to be measured with the Almighty, elapsed before the power and influence of Rome over the chief Church of the West was overthrown. The pontiff and Normandy succeeded ; and the result was, the formation of the stern, severe, unbending character of the English, which conquers only by a perseverance as enduring and indomitable as the patient craftiness of Rome itself. The pontiff and Spain failed ; and the result has been the triumph of that perseverance in the establishment of the wonderful
^ " How completely every thing was Hildebrandum. Tuis eoeptis tuisque
subject to Hildebraiui's iiitiuence al- conatibus semper obtemperare coii-
ready," says Gieseler, is seen from Petr. tendi, et in omnibus tuis certaminibus
Daniiani's Epigrams de Papa et Hilde- atque victoriis ego rae non commili-
brando (in Baronius, ami. lOGl. tonem sive pedissequum, sed quasi ful-
r> -i 1 „„,i *„ „^«^♦..,^*.,„ nicn inieci. Quod cnim certamen un-
Papam rite colo, sed te prostratus J . i- , •
* , . ' '■ quani ccepisti, ubi protnius ego non
rr ' i- • 1 1 • ,. ™ *„ f„„;+ ;„o^ essem et litiijator et judex ? Ubi scili-
Tu lacis nunc domnium, te tacit ipse ^ ,. " . •" -^ ^
y, ' '■ cet non aliam auctoritatem canonum,
nisi solum tuaj voluntatis sequebararbi-
Viveve vis Romx>, clara depromito trium, et mera tua voluntas mihi cano-
voce : uura erat auctoritas. Nee unquani ju-
Plus Domino Papce quam Domno pareo dicavi, <iuod visum est mihi, sed qiiod
Papse. ])lacuit tibi. — See Gieseler, ii. 90, note
Compare Ejusdem Epist. II. 8, ad 12.
Christianity in England before Augustine. 281
union of ancient truth, unquenchable liberty, sufficient BOOK III.
discipline, and accessibility to Scripture, which unitedly con- ^—v-i ''
stitute the glory of the present Church of England. Had it not failed, England would have been reduced to the rank of Spain or Italy, to be now the victim of a priesthood, fetter- ing the souls of man by tradition and legend to the past; and preventing the magnificent development of enterprise and intellect which has made England the first among the nations from that day to the day when it trampled upon the greatest effort of infidelity at Waterloo ; as it had previously defeated the greatest effort of Rome, and the now forgotten, but once thought invincible, because blessed, Armada.
The consideration that the granting of the pall by the pope implies supremacy, will make us value the argument, that Christianity very generally prevailed in England before the arrival among us of Augustine, who received the first pall from the pope ; and it will fully explain to us the causes of the approbation of Hildebrand to William and his expedition. He sanctioned the invasion of England that he might over- throw the presumption or independence of Stigand, and, therefore, of the English Church.
As Christianity had been first planted in the East, so also had it been dispersed from the East, and not from Rome, in the first ages of its history. The testimony of the Talmudic writers to the poverty of Joseph of Arimathea, after he had lost his wealth among his countrymen by espousing the cause of Christ, has escaped the notice of those who are inclined to believe his comine to Eno-- land to be a legendary tale. I cannot venture to state that the affirmations that this personage came to England are true ; but on comparing the several accounts *, I see no absurdity in supposing that a wealthy senator, who had lost caste among his people, and whose enormous wealth — for he was said to be the richest man in Jerusalem — had been con-
*^ Alfovd (alias Griffith). — See An- with original information, relative to
naks Eceles. et Civ. Britan. Saxon, et Joseph of Arimathea and the com-
Angl. i. 13 (fol. Lcodii, 1603) ; and panions of his emigration, and maiiv
also pp. 46— G2, and again p. 7('. where interesting particulars of his alleged
the various authorities will be found, abode in England, and death.
282 The Pall not received by the ancient British Bishops. BOOK III. fiscated, should have taken refuge in the remotest part of
CHAP. IV
the empire, where he might find a shelter from his perse- cutors, and possess his opinions in peace. This seems to me to be not more improbable than that a once wealthy, but now bankrupt London merchant, should take refuge in the prairies of America, or in the wastes of Van Diemen's land. However this may have been, we know that Christianity in its more Oriental, and not in its Occidental, or Roman form, prevailed among the Britons, who, for that very reason, were not subjected to imperial Rome ; and that, in that early age, "we hear nothing of their receiving the pall from Rome, either as equals or inferiors. No giving of the pall is related between the years a.d. 59 and 65, when there was a possi- bility that St. Paul himself preached, as I firmly believe he did ; and that from him, also, the succession of bishops began in this island. We read nothing of the pall in the time of Lucius, a.d. 167, whose existence and whose Chris- tianity is attested by Usher from twenty-three several his- torians ^ Baronius ' informs us of the mission of Lucius to Eleutherius, Bishop of Rome, but he makes no mention of the pall. Not only were many heathen temples converted by Lucius to the use of Christianity ^, but he is said by Polydore Virgil to have built a church in Westminster *, also a chapel in Dover Castle, dedicated to our Saviour *, and a church in the suburbs of Canterbury ^ He is reported to have been a great benefactor to Cambridge " ; and in propa- gating the Gospel in all parts of England, and even abroad, he is stated to have been very active. TertuUian and Irenaeus, both of the second century, testify that the Britons had received the faith in their time ' ; and Bede affirms that the Britons were constant in their professions, without any heretical corruption ^ At the Council of Aries, in the year 314, three English bishops signed the twenty-two canons that were passed. Eborius, Bishop of York, Restitutus, Bishop of London, and Adelfius, Bishop de Civitate
'•' Ant. Brit. Eccles. p. 20. ^ Radulph. de Diceto.
* Baron. Annal. 1083. "^ Caius de Autiq. Cantab, p. 51.
2 Galfrid. Monmouth, lib. v. c. i. ' Irenaeus, Tertul. advers. JudEeos,
* Pol. Virg. Ang. Hist. lib. i. cap. vii.
■• Lcland. Assert. Arturi. fol. 7- * Eccles. Hist. lib. i. cap. iv.
Difficult to trace the origin of the Pall. 283
Colonia Londinensium '^ ; neither of whom are said to have book hi. received the pall. chap^.
Tertullian puts the proof of Churches being apostolical upon the succession of bishops from the apostles \- and though we have no authentic account of the creation of bishops in England before Elvaniis, who was the chief person in the em- bassy sent by Lucius to the Bishop of Rome, a.d. 175,, and who was ordained, after receiving baptism by the hand of the Bishop Eleutherius, his companion, Medwinus, having been at the same time baptized and ordained a teacher ' ; yet thus, according to the instructions of the twelfth Roman pontiff, bishops were ordained, and the ecclesiastical order of things settled in England : and from that time there has been no in- terruption to the episcopal succession in the British Church, though no mention is made of the receiving of the pall from Rome.
Much has been said by Romanists of the present day ', on the conversion of the English by St. Augustine. I have thought it desirable, therefore, to show that a succession of bishops had been continued unbroken in England for up- wards of three hundred years before Gregory I. sent Augus- tine hither to introduce the novelties which had been engrafted by the Roman Church on the primitive system of Chris- tianity. In the time of Augustine we first read of the trans- mission of the pall to England.
Most exceedingly difficult is the attempt to trace this mark of ecclesiastical honour. The pall seems to have been at first, after its use had been derived from the custom of re- ceiving it as a token of favour from the emperor, a continued appendage to the archiepiscopal paraphernalia ; first, in the East, and then with the Bishops of Rome in the West. In the East, it had been used more than a century, as a part of the costume of those who had the charge of provinces ; and as a decoration denoting superiority over suffragan bishops '. Perhaps nothing by way of emblem, in the progressive stages
' Sirmond. Cone. Gall. torn. i. p. I'J. ' O'Coiinell in his Address to the
* De Prsescript. cap. xxxii. People of England, September, 183f». ^ See Stillingfleet's Antiq. of the * It was called bv the Greeks io^io-
British Churches, where the whole (popiov. — See Suicer'sThesaur. 1. 159(L
f|uestion (of which an abstract only can sub voce.
be here given) is treated at great length.
284 Description of the Pall by Harpsfield and De Marca.
BOOK III. of its history, from its introduction into the Latin Church v^ ' ^ ' about the middle of the sixth century, could more aptly illus- trate the gradual encroachment of the papal polity upon the simplicity of primitive Christianity, till it assumed its meri- dian ascendancy under Hildebrand, than this badge. The pall, says Harpsfield % is a small piece of woollen cloth, which is put on the archbishop's shoulders when he officiates, and which lies over the rest of his habit. It is not ornamented with any rich dye, but is just of the same colour as when the sheep wore it. It is sent by the Bishops of Rome to the metropo- litans, after having been laid on St. Peter's tomb. The cere- mony is supposed to signify two things — first, that by looking upon the homeliness of the pall, the archbishop may not be vain of the gold and gems with which he may be adorned ; and secondly, that the pall being an emblem of humility sent as consecrated by St. Peter, the high priest of Christ may remember both St. Peter's humble demeanour and adhere to his doctrine. Peter de Marca, archbishop of Paris, describes the more modern pall as a white piece of woollen cloth, made round like a border and thrown over the shoulders, upon which there are two other borders of like material and form, one of which falls down the breast, and the other upon the back, each having a red cross ; several crosses of the same colour being upon the upper part of it, about the shoulders. It was tacked on with three gold pins *.
The first mention made of sending the pall as an eccle- siastical honour from the Bishop of Rome to another bishop, is said to be in the letters of Symmachus, Bishop of Rome, in the year 501 ^ This is the earliest date of its use in the
'" Hist. Eccl. Angl. p. 58. Pannoniorum sedem fore raetropolita-
* De Concord. Sacerd. et Imperii, nam. Idcirco pallio, quod ex apostolica
vi. 6, 7' caritate tibi destinamus, quo uti debeas
'' Diebus vitas tuse pallii usum, quem secundum morem ecciesist; tuoe, solerter
ad sacerdotalis officii decorem et ad os- admoiiemns pariterque rolunms, ut in-
tendendam unanimitatem, quara cum telligas, quia, ipse vestitus, quo ad mis-
B. Petro Apostolo universum gregem sarum solemnia ornaris, signum prce-
Dominicarum ovium, quce ei commissse tendit Crucis, per quod scito te cum
sunt, liabere, dubium non est, ab apos- fratribus debere compati, mundialibus
tolica sede, sicut decuit, poposcisti, illecebris in aft'ectu crucifigi —
quod utpote ab eisdem apostolis fun- Epist. Symmachi P. ad Theod. Laurea-
datao ecclesise majorum more libenter coiisem (Mansi viii. p. 228, circa a.d.
indulsimus, ad ostendeudum te magis- 501). See Formula in Liber Diurnus,
trum et archiepiscopuni, tuanKjue sane- cap. iv. tit. iii., an abbreviation from
tam Laureacensem ecclesiam provincitc tlic same epistle.
Earliest authentic account of sending the Pall. 285
Western Church. Eutychus, when made Bishop of Con- book iit. stantinople % alluded to the burthen of bearing the sheep on .. ' ^' : his shoulders, which is represented by the pall. Du Pin, however, affirms that this twelfth letter of Symmachus to the Bishop of Laurea, in Pannonia, to whom the pall is said to have been sent, is a forgery ^ Indeed, the whole of our progress through this part of the history is so bewildered with these forgeries that little dependence can be placed on one-half of the documents on which we are compelled to rely. We see men as trees walking. All is confusedness founded on realities, and ending in no valid inferences : but as a general takes ten thousand men into the field, and loses half his number in the contest, though he gains the victory, so it is with the great inferences to which the student arrives in history. He gains the victory by arriving, as we shall do, at the establishment of certain truths. He loses half his arguments in the effort, because he cannot depend on the documents on which they are founded. He gains his victory with the remainder.
The earliest authentic account of the pall being used to give distinction to foreign metropolitans in the West, seems to have been in the year 543, when Auxanius having ob- tained the archiepiscopal chair of Aries, and being made legate of Vigilius, requested the honour of the pall *. Vigi- lius hesitated to consent until he had obtained the approbation of the emperor, lest Justinian might account it a failure in duty and respect ^ Two years after, upon sending Auxanius the pall, Vigilius reminds him to pray for the Emperor Justinian and Theodora for consenting to his being legate, and having the privilege of the pall.
Upon the death of Auxanius, Vigilius conferred on Aure- lian, his successor, the same honour, and in his letter accom- panying the pall he observed, that thanks were due to Beli- sarius for having obtained the emperor's consent ^
* The wjuo^optov (pallium) distin- " Eccles. Hist. cent. vi. p. 3.
guished the bishops in the East long ' De Marca, lib. v. c. 30. 33. 36 •
before it was adopted as a badge of lib. vi. c. vi. sec. 10.
subjection by the Bishops of Rome. — - Vigilius ad Auxan. epist. i.
See Gieseler, vol. i.cap. V. § 99, p.293, -^ Vigilius, epist. v. in the Gallia
note 1. Christiana, i. 41.
386 The Pall, why returned to the Emperor.
BOOK III. The next instance on record is that of Pelagius, who gave
OITAPTV • 0-' ^o
V ^_ ■ the pall to Sapaudus, the next Archbishop of Aries. Britain,
at this moment, was only known at Rome as the vendor of its own children as slaves ; some of whom Gregory, who was afterwards pope, saw, admired, and punned upon in the market at Rome. Pelagius * made Sapaudus his vicar, and presented him with the pall. The language which he used on this occasion is undoubtedly that of a courteous superior rather than of an equal. The pope affirms that the see of St. Peter is superior to that of others, and yields to him the use of the pall with readiness and affection ; giving him, how- ever, directions in language which could only be used by an official superior '\
The next grant of the pall was in 595, by Gregory the Great to Vigilius, the m.etropolitan of Aries, who consecrated Augustine Bishop of England. This was done with the con- sent of Childeric, King of France, without waiting for the permission of the emperor °. But the following year Queen Brunichild having solicited the honour of a pall for Syagi'ius, Bishop of Autun, Gregory delayed the grant till he was authorized by the emperor. He then wrote, " that the em- peror having given his consent, he had sent the pall as she desired," stating, also, the great dignity conferred thereby'.
The reason of the consent of the emperor being necessary on the grant of the pall is explained to be, that, as it was a part of the imperial costume, it was unlawful to wear it without leave of the imperial court ; it being high treason, by the law of Rome, to wear any part of the imperial habit with- out licence \
De Marca concludes, also, that the pall was not used in the Church so early as the time of Theodosius II. ; and in the Greek Church the gift of it was confined to the civil autho- rity, as Liberatus Diaconus relates, who further says, that
■* Gallia Chi'istiana,i. 41. '' Prisca consuetudo obtinuit, ut
^ Usum quoque pallii tibi alacriter honoi' Pallii, nisi exigentibus causarum
affectioseque concedimus. — Gallia meritis, et fortiter postulaiiti, dari iion
Christiana, ibid. debeat. — Gratian, 2 Dist. 100. Greg. I.,
** Pallium tibi transmisimus, quo a.p. 597-
fraternitas tua intra ecclesiam ad sola * De Marca. lib. v. c. xxx. sec. 3 ;
missarum solemnia utatur. — Gratian, lib. v. c. 33. 3fi ; lib. vi. c. xi. sec. 10.
fi Dist. 100. Gregory I., ad. 595.
Grant of the Pall by Gregory to Augustine. 287
Anthimius, patriarch of Constantinople, being expelled his book iit. see, returned the pall to their imperial majesties'. ^ — 1^^! — >
It is stated, too, by De Marca, that the Roman pall was given to none of the Gallican bishops, except the metropo- litan of Aries, before the year 600 ; but that the pall enjoined by the Council of Mascon in 581, to be used by Archbishops of France, was not the Roman, but the Gallican pall \
Gregory the Great, in his patriarchate, freely bestowed the pall upon metropolitans without exacting any thing but a subscription of the Catholic faith ; and we find in Gratian the rule laid down, that the only condition required, as late as the year 873, for obtaining the distinction, was a previous confession of faith such as communion demanded ^ That the object was Christian fellowship is evident from the con- stant use of the expression fraternitas tua accompanying the gift; and we might have believed, that to preserve and extend communion was the chief aim of Gregory the Great in bring- ing this token into such general use, if the language of au- thority had not been so generally introduced.
We are now arrived at the era of Augustine's mission into England. When Gregory conferred on this missionary the pall, he informed him that he had sent it as a mark of his esteem for the great service he had done in converting the English. He then directs him to institute tAvelve sees within his province, and intimates that the Bishop of London shall also have a pall from the apostolic see \ In this address to Augustine, as in all other instances, we have the same expression of fellowship or communion blended with authority. Augustine brought into England many of the notions, customs, and assumptions still retained by the
^ Pallium reddidit imperatoribus ; tur, nee decretalium pontificum Ro-
that is, to the Emperor Justinian and manorum constitutorum, secundum
to the Empress Theodora. — Lib. Dia- morem, feceris mentionem ; sed uec
con. Breviar. e. 21. illam propria subscriptione munieris,
' De Concordia, lib. vi. c. vii. sec. 1. nee aliquem, qui banc jurejnrando
- Optatum tibi pallium nimc con- firmaret, miseris. — Gratian, 4 Dist. 100.
ferre nequivimus ; quia fidei tuae pa- John VIII. circa ann. 8/3.
ginam minus, quam oporteat, continere ' Bede's Eccles. Hist. lib. i. c. 29.
reperimus; cum videlicet iu ea, nuUam Gregorlus ad Augustinum Anglorum
sanctarum universalium synodorum,in Episcopum, lib. xii. ep. 31. quibus fidei nostrse symbolum contine-
288 Christianity in England at the arrival of Augustine.
BOOK III. Church and Bishops of Rome ; but Christianity, as the
^ ^J ■ learned Jesuit Alford may be said to have fully proved*, had
never been extirpated in England. The island, even in the dark interval between the murder of Vodin, Bishop of London, in the year 436 % produced its saints and martyrs. Nor did the succession of its early race of bishops cease till the year 586, when Theonas, the last Bishop of London before the time of Augustine, fled to his Christian friends in Wales, with Thadiocus, the Archbishop of York, ten years only before the arrival of Augustine. Proofs, too, may be found in Alford and others, that the religion was not, as indeed it could not have been, exterminated during this short interval. The King of Kent, to whom Augustine was invited to preach Christianity in the Roman or Galilean form, may have been a pagan, but his queen, Bertha, maintained a Galilean bishop at her court ; and the aggregate of the people could not be said to have required the services of the Roman mis- sionary. With him began the deference to Rome which was unknown to the bishops who had fled into Wales, and who there maintained the purer form of Christianity which they and their ancestors had professed in England. With him began that acceptance of marks of honour from the Roman pontiff, which implied, on the part of the receiving bishops, inferiority to the Bishops of Rome, and which was denoted by the acceptance of the pall.
From the time of Augustine to Stigand, thirty-two bishops " or archbishops filled the see of Canterbury. Of
these,
■* This work is but little known, of London, however, and therefore the
though, without exception, it contains knowledge of Christianity among the
the best mass of materials extant for people, continued thi'ough all tlie days
the early history of England. It is in of the pagan darkness— "adeo ut Ar-
four volumes, folio. The title is, chiepiscopos suos Londinum semper
" Fides Regia Britannica, Saxonica, habuisse dicitur per annos trecentos,
Anglicn, una ilia, eademque sancta quanquam latentes et clancidum ; ad
Catholica, Romana ; sive Annales ec- ipsum niniirum tempusquo Augustinus
clesiastici, in quibus Britannorum, hue appulit a Gregorio missus." — God-
Saxorum, Anglorum, Orthodoxa Fides, wyn, De Prisesulibus Anglia, p. 170.
a Christo nato ad aun. 1189, historica ** According to Godwyn, but thirty-
demonstratione deducitur atque pro- four according to Ralph de Diceto.
batur. Auetore R. P. Michaele Al- The two omitted by Godwyn are Gliso
fordo (alias Griffith), Anglo, Societatis and Brixhelmus, between Odo and
Jesu Theologo." — Leodii, 1663. Dunstan. I give the succession, toge-
^ Vodin was murdered for prohibit- ther with the facts to which I have
ing the marriage of Vortigern with alluded, in a tabular furm.
Rowena. The succession of bishops [See the following tables.]
Gift of the Pall to the Enylish Archbishops.
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Four forms of oaths taken by the Bishops to the Popes. 293
these, some are said to have been consecrated at Rome. We book hi.
must conclude that they received the pall, though no bulls or v ^^ ;
other evidence remain upon the subject. Concerning others, the import of the rescripts, or bulls, which accompanied the presentation of the pall, is preserved. The custom of pre- senting and receiving the pall, did not become the law of the Church till the time of Gregory VII. Four forms of oaths have been proposed at various times by the pontiffs to be taken by the bishops. The first feudal oath, however, was drawn up by Gregory VIL, though the oath of submission to all papal decrees and rescripts enforced by Nicholas was a precedent for all that followed. The law, that the pall should be accepted by every metropolitan to enable him to consecrate bishops ; and that every metropolitan should take the oath of allegiance to the pope as his ecclesiastical feudal chief, completed the subjugation of the Churches to Rome'.
' In the year 859, Nicholas I. having united the two archiepiscopal sees of Hamburg and Bremen under one ju- I'isdiction, and having appointed Ans- C'harius to be the first metropolitan of the province, (with the additional authority of legate of the apostolic see, whose commission he extended over the Danes, the Swedes, and many of the Sclavonic and other Northern nations,) the pope demanded of him, upon the presentation of the pallium, the following oath — Porro te Pallio uti uunnisi more sedis concedimus apos- tolicae, scilicet, ut successores tui per semet ipsos, vel per legates sues et scriptum, fidem nobiscum tenere, ac sanctas sex syuodos recipere, atqae decr/rta omnium Romance sedis prcesulum et epistolas, quce sibi delatce fuerint, Tenerahiliter obserrare atque perficere omnibus diebus suis, scripto se et juramentoprofiteantur. — Rembert.Vit. Anschar. c. xxx. xxxvi. et Aunal. Ful- deiis. ad ann. 857 ; Hartzlieim, Coucil. German. II. p. 172, ap. Gieseler.
In the pontificate of Alexander II., an oath was required from Wibert, on his ordination to the archiepiscopal see of Ravenna, which may certainly claim Hildebraud for its author. The terms of it are as follows ; Consecra- tione rite celebi'ata, sacramcnto se obligavit, se fidclem esse Papic Alex- andro ej usque successoribus, (jui per meliores esscut ekcti Cardinalcs. —
Bonizonis Liber ad Amicum, lib. vi. in CEfelii Rer. Scr. Boic. ii. 810.
The oath of which this is the rudi- ment, was afterwards amplified and strengthened on the occasidu of the Patriarch of Aquileia bemg conse- crated by Gregory to his new dignity in the Council of Rome, in the year 1079; of which the following is a copy: Ab hac hora et inantea fidelis ero B. Petro et Papse Gregorio, suisque suc- cessoribus, qui per meliores cardinales intrarerint. Non ero in consilio, neque in facto, ut vitam, aut membra, aut papatum perdant, aut capti sint mala captione. Ad synodum, ad quam me vocabunt, vel per se, vel per suos nun- cios, vel per suas literas, veniam et canonice obediam ; aut, si non potero, legatos meos mittam. Papatum Ro- manum, et reijada S. Petri adjutor ero ad retinendum et defendendum, salvo nice ordine. Consilium vero, quod mihi erediderint per se, aut per nun- cios suos, sive per literas, nulli pandam, me sciente, ad eorum damnum. Le- gatum Romanum eundo et redeundo honorifice tractabo, et in necessitatibus suis adjuvabo. His, quos nomiiiatim excommuuicarerint, scienter iwn comtnu- niaibo. Romanam eccleslam per sa'cu- larem militiam fideliter adjuvabo, cum inritatusfuero. Hire omnia obserrubo, nisi quantum sua certa licentia rcmisertt. — Labb. Coucil. x. 379.
294 Stigand would not ask his Pall from the Gregorians.
Stigand refused to apply for a pall from the Gregorian party. He not only did so, but he persisted to act as arch- bishop when he had been three times denounced as a schis- matic by the three successive popes (Remigius says five)^ who were governed by the power of Hildebrand ^ The language of the several bulls^ will show the progressive power of Rome. Hildebrand resolved to perfect that power. His dominion could not be established till England was entirely subdued. To effect this the Archbishop of Canterbury must be made to submit to the Gregorians, or be deposed from his see. The pretence for a hostile movement towards England, its archbishop, and its independent though defer- ential Church, was wanting. The predecessor of Alexander II. under the influence of Hildebrand, had complimented the King of England ', Edward the Confessor, on the uniform attachment of the English, and their sovereigns, to the
" Remigius, a monk of Feseamp, in Normandy, was advanced by the king in 10r»7 to the see of Dorchester, the jurisdiction of which extended at the time over a large portion of the mid- land parts of England. He was conse- crated to his see by Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, and made a profession of canonical obedience to that prelate as his metropolitan. Upon the deposi- tion of Stigand, and the translation of Remigius to the see of Lincoln, the latter was requii'ed to abjure his pro- fession wiiich had been made to Sti- gand, and give a new declaration of his faith and submission. In this instrument he affirms that Stigand was regardless for nineteen years of repeated citations to Rome, and of the suspensions and prohibitions of the several popes, Leo, Victor, Stephen, Nicholas, and Alexander. The official document in which these accusations are contained, as given by Inett, has the following woi'ds : Post paucos annos Robertum archiepiscopum par- tira vi, partim insidiis expulit, metro- polim invasit ; pallium quod ipse a sede apostolica detulerat cum cseteris, ablatum usurpare non metuit. Qua temeritate Romse audita, a Romanis pontificibus stepe vocatus, tandem damnatus et excommunicatus est. Ipse tamen xix. annis in sui cordis obsti- natione permansit : quo tanti temporia intervallo prsefatie Romanse ecclesisc
pontifices Leo, Victor, Stephanus, Ni- colaus, Alexander legates suos, suis quisquetemporibuSjin Anglican! ten-am transmiserunt, et ne aliquis ad eum ordinandus accederet, apostolica auc- toritate prohibuerunt. — Professio Re- migii, MS. Cotton, Cleopatra, E, 1, quoted m Inett's Hist. Engl. Church, vol. i. ch. xxii. sec. xvi. p. 387.
The Saxon Chronicle informs us, that Pope Benedict X. on his accession to the see, forwarded the pall to Sti- gand ; and a copy of this Saxon Chro- nicle, which has not been collated by Gibson for his edition, supplies us with the exact date, mlviii. xiii. Kal. Mali. Her Benedictus papa sende Stigand thone pallium. " Now Benedict the pope sent the pall to Stigand." MS. Cott. Calig. A. XV. fol. 128, b, in the British Museum ; see too the Chro- nicon Saxonicum, ex MSS. Codicibus, p. 170, and the 4to, Oxford, 1692.
3 See Radulphus de Diceto (apud Decem Scriptores, by Twysden), who has preserved them all. The substance of his work is to be found at the end of Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. ii.
1 Claret enim, Anglorum reges, pro reverentia et devotione quam exhi- buerunt beato Petro, gloria et honore floruisse ; ac ipsius patrocinio famoso triumphos obtinuisse. — Epist. Nicolai II. to Edward the Confessor in Alford's Annals, iii. 559, as also in Spelman and Baronius.
Language of the Popes on giving the Pall. 295
Church of Rome ; and nothing had been done to offend that book m.
Church by any opposition to its increasing authority, except- < J. — '
ing the indifference to its decrees shown by Stigand. The people of England made no complaint against their arch- bishop, to justify the interference of the pontiff. The Saxon princes were unable or unwilling to effect his deposition. The very attempt, also, on their part, to accomplish this object would have injured the great effort of Hildebrand, to exclude all temporal authority from the election or consecra- tion of bishops. No alternative remained but to effect the deposition of Stigand by the ruin of a dynasty ; and to employ a partizan who should establish the ecclesiastical supremacy of Rome in return for the support of Rome in advancing his own political greatness.
The language of Gregory I. in presenting the pall to Augustine w^as, " Since the new ^ (or pretended) Church of England has been brought under your auspices to the grace of God, we grant to you the use of the pall -" and he pro- ceeds to direct the division of the country into bishoprics, w^hich should be subjected to the authority of Augustine '. Pope Boniface tells Honorius that the survivor of the arch- bishops of York or Canterbury, is to have the power of ordaining the successor to the deceased * ; and on sending him the pall, he says, " We command that all the realm of England be subjected to your jurisdiction '." Vitalian in- forms Theodore, the Tarsian, that he commends to his pro- found wisdom and holmess all the Churches in the island of Britain ®. Gregory II. sending the pall to Tatwin, writes to
2 Bede tells us, that " Quia worn formly guilty. Anglorum ecclesia," were the words. ' The words of the bull are too well R. de Diceto says that the expression known to be repeated. I mention was, " Quia vana Anglice ecclesia ad them to show the identity of the idea omnipotentis Dei gratiara j)erducta of supremacy, and not of communion, est." If the former be the right read- or brotherhood only, with the granting ing, the bull would imply that England of the pall. Quse (or qui) tua' ditioni had never before been converted to subjac<:ant, is the expression of Gre- Christianity. If the latter reading be gory. The same Gregory sent the correct, it would imply that England pall to France, Spain, Sicily, and Hun- had been christianized, but that its gary.
Christianity was not maintained in that * Is qui superest, habeatpotestatem
form which Rome appi'oved. 1 think alterum ordinandi,
it probable that the latter reading is * Tare jurisdictioni subjici prsecipi-
correct. The word nora would imply mus omnes Anglire ecclesias et re-
an ignorance of which Gregory could giones.
not have been guilty. The word vana ^ Commendamus tuae sagacissimse
would bespeak a presumption and ex- sanctitati omnes ecclesias in insuld
clusiveness of which Rome is uni- Britannise positas.
296 Papal pretensions increase with the Papal power. BOOK III. him, "We command every man throuo-h all England to be
C'HAl'. IV. . '' ci &
^ ., ' obedient to thee, and to acknowledge thee to be the primate
of the whole island '." The language of the bulls increased in strength with the increasing deference paid by the Churches to the see of Rome. This was in the year 731. Ten years after we find that Pope Zachary sent Boniface into France on a legatine mission ; and at a synod held at Orleans, or perhaps Auxerre, a canon was passed which enjoined that all Chris- tendom for the future should own the Church of Rome as the centre of communion, and live in subjection to St. Peter's see ; that metropolitans should apply to Rome for their pall, and pay a canonical obedience to St. Peter's injunctions \ Their pretensions increased with their power. Till this time, as De Marca affirms, the metropolitans of France had only made use of the Galilean pall, except the Archbishop of Aries as Vicar of Rome^ Boniface now desired to subject them more decidedly to the see of Rome ; and to bring them under an unprecedented dependency, endeavoured to establish a law to compel them to bring the pall from Rome. The Galilean bishops, however, determined to preserve their archiepiscopal liberty as it had been provided by the canons, demurred to the canon of 742 ; and Boniface, the celebrated Englishman, (or as he is more generally called Winifred,) who had applied to Pope Zachary for three palls for the three several Archbishops of Rouen, Rheims, and Sens, wrote to Rome to countermand the order, in consequence of which Zachary remonstrated with him for submitting to the French archbishops '. Boniface replied, that he had explained that the pall was meant only as a dis- tinction between the metropolitans and suffragans ; that it suggested an exemplary life, and a defence of metropolitan privileges ; and two years after the passing of the canon, the Galilean Archbishops consented to receive it from Rome, according to the explanation given by Boniface. To conquer their metropolitans was to subdue their Church ; and Rhaba- nus Maurus, therefore, justly tells us, that the pall was bestowed upon archbishops to show that they represented the
^ Pra'cipinius ut omuis homo totius edit. Serrarii. Angliie tibi obediat, et sciat tu prima- ' De Marca, lib. vi. c. vii. sec. i. turn totius iusukic. ' Zacliar}', opist. v.
* Bonit'ac. ad Cutlibert. cpist. cv.
The Palls eventually bestowed as a proof of authority. 297
pope, and acted by the authority of the apostolic see ^ book hi. Upon which De Marca says, " We here learn why popes ^ — l.^J — -■ have been so diligent in sending palls to the Gallican bishops — it was to create an opinion that their metropolitan privileges, assigned by the canons, were owing to their being representatives of the pope."
The same language of authority, but in terms still more usurping, was used by Hadrian in conferring the pall upon Adelard, a.d. 793. This archbishop had requested the pope to command that the bishops whom Otfa, King of Mercia, desired to subject to the Archbishop of Lichfield, should be made obedient to Canterbury. " To thee, and to thy succes- sors, Adelard," says the pope, "we concede that all the Churches of the English should be subject. If any one shall attempt to oppose this our authority, we decree, by our apostolic power, whether he be archbishop or bishop, that he be deposed from his order ; if he be a priest or a deacon, he is to be degraded from his ministry ; if he be a layman, whether he be a king or prince, or of high or low degree, let him be rejected from the holy communion ^"
The same importance was attached to the use of the pall in France and in the East. When Nicholas I. reproached Hincmar with ingratitude in foro^ettino; that the favour of the pall had been granted to him by pope Benedict, he replied that the pall was no enlargement of his jurisdiction, as Nicholas wished to signify ; and that he merely took it because he thought it might procure some respect from his disorderly neighbours, who had not a due regard for the old canons.
In 872, at the eighth general Council of Constantinople, a canon was passed to compel metropolitans to receive confir- mation from their respective patriarchs, either by imposition of hands, or by the reception of the pall. This canon is not in the Greek text of the council. It occurs only in the version of Anastasius *. But from this time the metropolitans
' Rhab. Maur. lib. de Ordiu. Auti- tam rex (the word of course refen-ed
phon; Propter apostolicam vicem pallii to Offa himself) qiiam princeps, aut
honor decernitur. quajlibet sive magna sive parva sit
* Si ([uis contra banc ex persona, a sacra connnunione se no-
apostolica auctoritate statuimus ut si vei'it alieuum.
archiepiscopus vel episcopus fuerit ... * De Marca, lib. vi. c. vii. sec. 5.
Si autem ex nuniero laicoruni fuerit,
298 The Pall, the chief emblem of the Papal usurpations.
BOOK III. of Europe had new conditions of servitude imposed on them by
' .^^ — '' the see of Rome. They were compelled to promise obedience
to Rome under their handwriting ; and that they would execute the orders of the pope in every thing required of them, provided it were in conformity to the canons *; though before the new law introduced by Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz, in the synod held by him a.d. 742, the metropolitans were under no subjection whatever to the apostolic see. At their consecration they were obliged to make a public pro- fession of their faith, and give promise to the bishops of their province that they would keep the canons. No pro- mise of obedienc e to Rome was enjoined ; and so contrary tvas any submission of this sort to the practice of antiquity, that Leo I. opposed it, as injurious and degrading to the apostolic dignity ®. Even the new law of Boniface, by which a promise of obedience and subjection to the see of St. Peter was, after much opposition and difficulty, at length consented to by the metropolitans, was limited to canonical obedience \ Thus matters rested till the pontificate of Nicholas I., who, as we have seen, on the authority of the pseudo-Isidorian decretals, asserted that obedience was due to all papal decrees, as such\ This principle was the grand point which Nicho- las aimed to establish. The object of it was to destroy the in- dependence of the metropolitans, and thus to gain uncontrolled ascendancy over the provinces of the earth. The pall was the instrument by which this prodigious design was to be achieved. This plan of Nicholas, like all his other great attempts, was well matured. He had yet no canon to support his pretensions. The false decretals, and the donation of Constantine, were his chief authorities. Upon the strength of the latter of these forgeries Nicholas asserted, that the use of the pall was settled upon the successors of St. Peter, by Constantine ^, it having been a right vested in emperors only before that donation.
Nicholas had now only to act on the assumed authority of the forgery, and to obtain an ex post facto canon for his in-
' Ibid. sec. 6. * Epist. ad Univers. Gall. Episcop,
^ Ut supra. A.D. 865. See Gratiau 2, c. xv. q. G.
^ Per omnia prrecepta Petri caiio- '^ De Marca, de Concord. Sacerd. et
nica sequi. — De Marca, ut supra. Imp. lib. vi. c. vi. sec. 6.
The oath of obedience changed into an oath of allegiance. 299
demnity. He did so. He united the two sees of Hamburg book III.
and Bremen. He made Anschar metropolitan of the New ^ .^ — ''
Province, and Vicar-General of Rome. He accompanied the appointment with the pallium, demanding the oath of submis- sion to the see of St. Peter ^ ; and thus, in 866, three hundred years after the introduction of the pall, as an acknowledgment of communion and brotherhood in the faith, we see it gradually and almost imperceptibly converted into the means of trans- ferring to the pope all appeals, which had formerly been made by suffragans to their metropolitans ; of entirely abolishing provincial synods, by making the see of St. Peter an universal ecclesiastical court of appeal ; of thus completing the down- fall of metropolitan jurisdiction, by the introduction of an oath of submission to the pope as their sovereign pontiff; and thus overturning the whole system of Church government as established 07i the authority of the universal canons. It was a little cloud in the time of Gregory the Great, rising out of the sea like a man's hand. In the time of Nicholas I. the heavens had become black with clouds. In the reign of Gregory VII. the storm began which convulsed the Christian firmament, till the morning star of Luther, and the dawn of the reign of Elizabeth. In this as in other instances, Nicho- las cut away every impediment to the fonvard march of Hildebrand, who used too well the two-edged sword which his predecessor had made ready for his hands. He changed the metropolitan oath of obedience, into an oath of feudal alle- giance, and attached new clauses to the forms of submission. Gregory, in 1079, in a synod at Rome, added to the former confession of faith and attestation of canonical obedience, the oath of allegiance which a subject swears to his prince '.
> Anschar had already received a their days, according to the oath thus
pall as Archbishop of Hamburg from sworn. — See Gieseler, voL ii. p. 173,
Gregory IV., but without any further note f.
condition than the customary profes- ^ Jq Regesto, Greg. VII. lib. vi. ;
sion of faith. When Nicholas I. united and in the letter of Gregory to the
the two dioceses of Hamburg and subdeaeon Peter, we find a clause in-
Bremen however, he required Ans- troduced in the form of the oath of
char to receive a new pallium, which metropolitans, very unlimited in its
he sent to him with the demand, that application, by which the foreign me-
he and his successors should leceive tropolitau is required to swear that he
and maintain all decrees and rescripts will observe and maintain the ndes of
of the Bishops of Rome, whether fmm the holy fathers {reoulas satu-toi-um pa-
themselves ortheirlegates,and that they trum), in which may be comprised anv
should observe and pei'form them all Isidorian decretal, or unheai'd-of pre-
300 Stigand prevented general submission to the Gregoriuns.
BOOK HI. The form of consecration of archbishops introduced by Gre- — "^^ — '' gory, was speedily incorporated in the decretals, and became the common law. In another synod Gregory passed a canon forbidding bishops to swear homage to the civil sovereign ; and in the thirteenth century these oaths of allegiance made by metropolitans and bishops to the supreme see of Rome had so effectually been established throughout the Western world, and were acted upon with such stringency, that no archbishop was allowed to call a council, bless the chrism, consecrate a church or a bishop, or ordain a clerk, until he had received his pall from the see of Rome ; and submitted to all the obligations to the sovereign pontiff prescribed by the laws of Gregory VII.
We have no particular account of the language employed in the papal bulls between the time of Adelard and Stigand. Alexander II., the contemporary of Stigand, commanded that the archbishop should not exercise his functions till his elec- tion had been confirmed by the holy see. This law was passed under the sanction of his adviser Hildebrand, then Archdeacon of Rome. Stigand disobeyed that law. He prevented, by so doing, that universal submission to the see of Rome which Hildebrand was resolved to establish. He refused to apply to the new ecclesiastical dynasty for the pall, which the influence of Hildebrand was establishing at Rome. If he had done so he would have merged his metro- politan authority in that of the pontiff, by receiving, as a ' token of submission, the badge which he had received already as a pledge only of communion and respect. The false de-
cept that may be brought forward to more acquirere postposuisti. Te ip-
support the most extravagant aggres- sum non ignorare putamus, <|uara dis-
sions. tricte sanctorum patrum censura in
See, concerning the oaths of sub- eos judicandura statuerit, qui post mission and allegiance demanded of consecrationem suam per tres con- metropolitans upon their receiving the tinuos menses, pallium, quod sui sit pall, note d, p. 199. ofKcii, obtinere . tepuerint. Proinde
By a decree of Gregory VII., metro- apostolica tibi prsecipimus anctoritatc,
politans were declared disqualified for ut quia sanctorum patrum statuta parvi
their functions unless they applied for pendisti, nullum deinceps episcopum,
the pall within three months after con- vel saeerdotem ordinare, sen ecclesias
secration : Illud nisi nos apostolica prtesumas consecrare, donee oneris tui
mansuetudo dctineret, severius in te supplementura, pallii videlicet usum,
animadvorsum sentires, quod hucusque ab hae sede, impetraveris. — Grog,
pneclarius tute dignitatis insignc, vide- VII. lib. ix. Regest. epist. i., apud
licet pallium, ab apostolica sede pro Labb. CoucU. -v. 275.
Unconditional submission to the Pope refused by Stigand. 301 cretals had long since designated the pope as the universal book ill.
. CHAP. IV
bishop of the Church ; and the honour of the pallium now > .1 — i
consisted in unconditional submission, and unqualified archi- episcopal obedience to the decrees of the autocratic pontiff^. This kind of obedience was refused by the head of the English Church. We must consider further, therefore, the circum- stances of the history, and its singular consequences on the independence of England.
Edward the Confessor, having lived many years in Nor- mandy, had become much attached to Norman manners, customs, and opinions. He surrounded himself, as much as possible, with Norman courtiers, bishops, and clergy, and by so doing gave much offence to his English subjects. In the year 1048, he appointed to the see of London, Robert, a monk of Jumiege, in Normandy. The influence of Robert at court was very great ^ and much jealousy was conse- quently excited among the Saxon nobles. Stigand at this time was Bishop of Winchester, and the intimate and per- sonal friend of Godwin, the principal nobleman of the
* The principles introduced in the pseudo-Isidorian deci'etals have now become gradually infused and en- forced in all the ordinations of the Western Church. The metropolitans had been pei-fidiously deprived of their rights, and having lost all power, could receive the pallium only on the most abject submission. By a com- parison of the oath of allegiance im- posed on metropolitans by Gregory, with the oath of submission dictated by Nicholas on granting the pall, it will further appear how decidedly the former was guided by the principles of tlie latter.
Nicholas so laid down his system in his answer to the Bulgarian ambassa- dors, that though it may be said to have been at the time rather in con- templation than in operation, he speaks of it with as much confidence as though it were not a new design of which he himself was really the author. Yet the account which he gives to the Bul- garian embassy, is the first known do- cument that exhibits the plan by which the ecclesiastical and civil world were to be subjected to pontifical domina- tion, by reducing all metropolitans to vassalage by the grant of the pall. In the year 866, Nicholas I , in his con-
ference with the deputation from Bul- garia, unfolded his project, and in somewhat more than 200 j'ears after, we find that by the extraordinary energies of Hildebrand, that which Nicholas so unceremoniously described as then in practice, was accomplished with almost insuperable difliculty. His description of the system then to be established is as follows : Archiepisco- pus accepta licentia, et pallii usu, ordinet ipse sibi deinceps episcopos, qui successoi-em suum valeant ordi- nare, &c. Episcopi, qui ab obeunte archiepiscopo consecrati sunt, simul congregati constituant archiepiscopum in throno non sedentcm, et prsaeter corpus Christi non consecrantem, prius quam pallium a sede Romana perci- piat ; sicut Galliarum omnes, et Ger- maniae, et aliarum regionum archi- episcopi agere comprobantur.— Nicol. ad Consulta Bulgar. c. 73 ; apud Juris Pontificii Veteris Epitome, Antoni Augustini, Archiop. Tarracon. torn. i. hb. iii. tit. vi. c. 6, p. 87.
* . . . . amore antiquo, et recente honors primas jam partes in conciliis regis vendicabat, et quos vellct, potuit deprimerc, quos liberet evertei'e. — Will, of Malmesbury de Pont. ap. (lOdwyn de Prrcsulibus, p. hC.
302 Whether the banishment of a Bishop implies deposition.
BOOK III. national party ; while Robert, Bishop of London, was no
v^ ._^ ' less the personal enemy of Godwin. After much dissension,
in consequence of the refusal of Godwin to punish the citizens of a town, without trial, upon the accusation of a foreign nobleman ; Godwin, chiefly through the instigation of Stigand, was restored to favour at court, and Robert fled to his monastery in Normandy. He was shortly after banished by a general assembly, or parliament as we should now call it ; and Stigand was made archbishop, upon the theory, that banishment implied deposition. The Church of Rome, or rather the court of Rome, refused to acknowledge the truth of this theory. Robert went to Rome, and returned to his monastery in Normandy, provided with letters of acquittal and restoration. He had, however, been banished by the laws of England ; and the real question now was, whether the civil law of a free state, or the ecclesiastical law of a foreign Church, was to govern England. It is the same question which, in ten thousand forms, ever has, and ever will agitate the world, till the siipremacy of Rome conquers the world, or is resigned, or becomes obsolete. Robert died in Nor- mandy soon after his return, and Stigand, without any further ceremonial, retained possession of the see.
At the time of his elevation, Leo IX. was pope. We have an evidence that the pall was given to Stigand either by Leo, who died two years after, or by Victor, who held the see three years, or by Stephen IX. In the year 1060, Benedict X. was appointed for a short time to the see, and was de- posed in the manner related in the survey of his pontificate. He was, however, for the time the reigning pope, and from him Stigand (the record is still in the British Museum, see note 8, p. 294) received the pall. The deposition of Benedict, and the election of Nicholas II. as his successor, were effected by the management of Hildebrand, who convened a council of bishops and nobles at Florence *, under the sanction of Duke Godfrid, with whom he proceeded to Rome. Nicholas then ex- communicated Benedict ^ as an usurper, and with him all his followers, of whom Stigand must be supposed to have been one of the chief. The excommunication had no more effect
5 •' Primates Romanorum," says cum suis fautoribus omnibus excom- Baronius. municans. — Baronius, ad ann. 1059.
•* . . . invasorem Romansc sedis,
Stigand the archiepiscopal opponent of Rome. 303
upon Stiarand than a similar denunciation would have at pre- book in.
sent upon the archbishop of Canterbury. Whether he was > ^ ,*
avaricious, or whether he was justified in holding the see of Winchester with the see of Canterbury, as the historians of the day alleged against him ; these were not the reasons of his despising the excommunication of Nicholas. He had been appointed by the king and the nation, and he ivas the last archiepiscopal representative at that time in Europe, who was anxious to remain in communion with Rome, and to re- spect the Bishop of Rome as the first bishop of the West ; but who would not confess the pope to be the supreme ruler to whose dictates himself and the people were to submit, as if they were of divine authority.
Alexander II. succeeded. This pontiff is said to have been still more under the influence of Hildebrand. Nicholas had been contented with excommunicating Stigand in general terms. Alexander proceeded further, and suspended him as a schismatic '. Stigand despised the sentence of deposition, as he had previously despised that of excommunication ; and he continued to exercise his office of Archbishop of Canter- bury. Under these circumstances Edward the Confessor dies. Harold succeeds. William claims the throne. A short time before these events, the pope had granted a banner to the Norman, Roger Guiscard, of Sicily, and received a large reward from his treasury of plunder in return. The double motive of treasure promised by William, and of the successful reduction of the Church of England under the more despotic power of the Hildebrandine theory, sufficiently explain the blessing of Alexander upon the expedition. Harold had proved the light estimation in which his party held the despotism of the Church of Rome, by still retaining his friendship for Stigand. The appeal of William to the pope demonstrated to Alexander and to his subtle adviser Hildebrand, that the most opportune period had arrived when his own enemy might be deposed for contumacy, as the former pope had decreed ; when Harold * should be de- posed, the treasury of St. Peter be enriched, the Church of
' . . . ab Alexandre papa tanquain " Haroldus judicium papse parvi-
schismaticus suspensus est. — Chron. pendens, potius circum se militiam
Abbatum et Episc. Elien. MSS. Wood, collif^it. — Baronius from Ingulph. and
ap. Godwin de Prtesulibus, p. 59, note. Matth. of Westminster.
304 Hatred to Stiyand the cause oftlie Papal blessing on William.
England he made submissive by means of another metropolitan, and the general cause of Rome strengthened through Europe. All this was to be effected by the success of one mighty expe- dition. The appeal of William was successful. The banner was sent to him as it had been sent before to Guiscard. The blessing of the pope was given. The expedition against England was successful; and five hundred years elapsed before the independence of the Church of England was res- cued from the grasp of Rome, and recovered to the sove- reign and people, from the tyranny of the policy of Hilde- brand.
Every circumstance which preceded, attended, or immedi- ately followed the battle of Hastings, proves to us that the independence of the Church of England under Stigand, when he refused to submit to the sentences of excommunication by Nicholas, or of deposition by Alexander, as they were each directed by Hildebrand, was the real cause of the bless- ing of the pope being bestowed upon Wilham, and there- fore one principal source of his success. Aldred, the Arch- bishop of York, had been graciously received at Rome by Nicholas. He was in favour with the pope. He had been the friend and fellow pilgrim to Rome with Tosti, the brother of Harold. Stigand had not refused to crown William. Wil- liam refused to be crowned by him, because he was not acknowledged to be Archbishop of Canterbury by the pope ". The country had been deeply injured by the influence of the Normans whom Edward the Confessor had placed in high offices. These were now the friends of William. Stigand, however, exerted himself to the utmost to uphold the liber- ties of the people, and in this respect he acted in conjunction with Aldred of York. Aldred, however, had received the pall from the Gregorian Nicholas ; and William, therefore, paid to him the homage he refused to Stigand. Immediately after the battle of Hastings, when it was necessary that William should proceed with some caution, he took no hos- tile measures against Stigand. In the spring of 1067, the
' ... id testatur Guillelmus, In- Stigandus facere recusasset .... sed
gulphus, et alii antiquiores onines rerum quod idem Stigandus ejus sedis invasor,
Auglicie Scriptores, non coronatum a in Anglia pessime audiret ab omnibus,
Stigando, sedem Cantuariensem turn et jam fuisset ab Alexandre sacris sus-
illegitime oceupante, sed ab archiepis- pensus. — Baron, ad ann. 1066. c()[>o Eboraceusi Aldredo, non quod id
Deposition of Stigand. 305
Conqueror crossed the Channel to Normandy. His suite book iir.
was composed of Prince Edgar, Stigand, Agehioth abbot of ,^ ,*
Glastonbury, and others of the nobility, whose influence in his absence he had most reason to dread. The respect paid on this occasion to Stigand by the king, is evidence of the awe in which he held him, on account of his influence over the English. William always rose from his seat when he entered the room : and on his journey through Normandy, the clergy and nobility were everywhere required to meet him in procession \ This outward homage, however, may be justly suspected of insincerity. It was the evident interest of William to conciliate his new subjects ; and Sti- gand, as a hostage for England, must not be insulted. But four years did not elapse from the battle of Hastings before the anger of the Vatican was displayed, in carrying into effect the double sentence of Nicholas and Alexander. Three legates were sent from Rome to call a council at W^inchester, to depose, according to Baronius ^, Stigand, the invader of the see of Canterbury ; who under that title had accepted his pall from Benedict the pseudo-pontiff. Baronius, who had no reason to disguise the truth, relates the real and only cause of his deposition. He was degraded from his rank and office, because he had not done homage to the party of Hildebrand, and by so doing betrayed the cause of the independence of the Church of England. The reason of his deposition was his disobedience to the canon laws of the Church of Rome. Three crimes were alleged against him : that he held the bishopric of W^inchester in conjunction with the archbishopric of Canterbury ; that he used the pall of his predecessor while he was yet alive ; and that he was the friend of Pope Bene- dict IX. whom the Hildebrandine party had excommunicated. Hume has sufficiently shown the futility of these accusations ; though he has not sufficiently explained the real motives by
» Thorn's Chronicle, p. 1787. Tlie through Kent, author of this work was a monk of St. '■' AlexanQer Papa legatos a latere Augustine's, Canterbury. Thoriiaflords misit in Angliani, qui, congrcgata illic many evidences of the noble resistance Synodo Vintuniensi, gradu deponerent to the progress of the invading army, Stiganduni invasorem ecelesiie Can- made by the abbot and Stigand, with tuariensis, qui co titulo, quod palhum whom the Normans wex-e obliged to accepisset a Benedicto pseudo-ponti- treat ; and give hostages not to com- fice, diu retinuisset illam ecclesiam. — mit depredations on their march An ann. 1070.
VOL. II. X
306 Lanfranc strengthens the cause of the Papacy.
BOOK III. which the Conqueror and the court of Rome were each
^ ^ • ; actuated in their measures against Stigand.
The crimes of which the archbishop was accused " were mere pretences," says Hume. " Stigand's ruin was resolved on; and was prosecuted with great severity. The legate Ermenfroy degraded him from his dignity ; the king confis- cated his estate and cast him into prison, where he remained in poverty and want during the remainder of his life, which was shortened by hunger. Like rigour was exercised against all the other English prelates." Wulfstan, Bishop of Wor- cester, was the only one of the English episcopacy who escaped the general proscription, and remained in possession of his dignity. Aldred, Archbishop of York, died a little before of grief and vexation. He left his malediction on that prince, on account of the breach of his coronation oath ; and of the extreme tyranny with which he saw he was determined to treat his English subjects.
The writers of the Church of Rome exult over the suffer- ing of Stigand \ The sees of England were immediately filled with foreigners, attached to the new policy of Rome. Lanfranc, the defender of the doctrine of transubstantiation, the opponent of Berengarius, the intimate friend of Hilde- brand, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Lanfranc compHed with all the demands of Rome. He proceeded in person, but after some reluctance, to that city. He was received with equal affection and respect by the pope, whose pupil he had been at the abbey of Bee. He accepted from the hands of Alexander his highest honour, the archiepiscopal pall, with all its new Gregorian conditions ; and subjected England and its Church to the holy see more effectually than it had hitherto been. Learned, munificent, blameless in conduct, zealous in maintaining the views he believed to be right, Lanfranc was a worthy instrument of the ambition and policy of Hildebrand. Sincere, though wrong, in his theology — convinced that he was upholding the cause of Christianity when he defended the mode in which it was taught by the Church of Rome — he satisfied his erring con-
' . . . hie finis nequissinii hominis pius Rex Edwardus, Deus ultorem
ac sordidissimi, qui diu ab ipso tem- regera externum immisit, vindicem
pore invasor alienae sedis, nullam cum acerbissimum ejus scelerum, — Baron.
Romana Ecelesia habere meruit com- Annal. munionem. At cum hsec tolerasset
Character and Laws of Lanfranc. 307
science most, when he most effectually destroyed the inde- book hi. pendence of the Church he governed. We are much mis- ^^hap^jt. taken if we suppose that the hypocrisy of Rome is more to be dreaded than its sincerity. He permitted the clergy who were already married to retain their wives ; but com- manded permanent celibacy to the unmarried, and forbade the bishops to ordain for the future any but the unmarried. He established the belief in transubstantiation. He wrote com- mentaries on the Psalms and Epistles, and is said to have corrected the Vulgate. A better choice could not apparently have been made by Hildebrand to promote the designs of papacy upon the proud island which he had resolved to sub- due. Popery was planted upon the havock and devastation left by that conquest, which had been sanctioned by its san- guinary benediction. The liberties of the Anglican Church were lost; but the indignation of the ecclesiastics and people of England must have been lessened, when they saw the grossness of the usurpation veiled, and softened, and alle- viated by the united learning, virtues, talents, and generosity, which distinguished the clerical instruments of the usurper.
Here, then, we end the review of the pontificate of Gre- gory. The ecclesiastical power had now become so fully merged in the papal •poiver, that the supremacy of Rome was tacitly or openly acknowledged, excepting in Ireland, by all the metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops, and with them by nearly all the clergy of the Catholic Church of Christ \ It was acknowledged, though not defined. It was limited wherever it was resisted, in proportion to the perseverance with which it was opposed. // ivas omnipotent and most arrogant, where it was received with most implicit sub- mission. I have said sufficient respecting the personal cha- racter of Gregory. He appears to have been a man of no less fortitude under suffering, than boldness in action, and sincerity in motive. He had imbibed in his earliest years the conviction that St. Peter, and the Bishop of Rome, his presumed successor, possessed, by divine right, the power and authority of Christ Himself upon earth. His letters
* Gregory's great design consisted Church, and the Church uncondition-
in using the elements of power put ally responsible to Rome, and thus to
into his hands, by making sovereigns concentrate both the secular and eccle-
uncouditionally responsible to the siastical power in himself.
V '>
308 The sincerity of persecutors to be dreaded.
BOOK 111. are full of eloquence, and noble and pious thoughts ^ They ^^^- |_^- fully prove his sincerity. The last admirers of his general policy have rested their defence ® of his conduct and motives as exhibited in these letters. I doubt not the validity of their reasoning. Gregory was sincere ; but his sincerity, like that of his brethren, was the sincerity of those whom Christ describes as thinking they do God service when they killed his disciples. It was the sincerity of Saul, the persecutor, haling men and women to prison, and breathing out threat- ening and slaughter. This apostle of the high priest when on his way to Damascus, was as sincere as when he was the apostle of Christ to the Gentiles, upholding the faith he once persecuted. Sincerity implies only conviction, not faith; integrity of principle, not freedom from error. Like Crom- well, in a later age, he was the representative of a certain mass of error, which was the reaction from a mass of oppo- site or antagonist error. His career began with earnest zeal to overthrow a supposed or real evil ; and it ended M'ith unanticipated power. Gregory saw, says his apologist^, the line of conduct which he ought to pursue from the beginning. He believed that the " Head of the Church was, by unavoid- able circumstances, superior to kings and princes" — "the manner in which this idea is to be developed, is to be judged solely by his letters." From them, the system adopted by Gregory is proved to be, " that the Church of God should be independent of every temporal power : the altar is re- served to him alone, who, by uninterrupted succession, de- scends from St. Peter: the sword of the prince is subject to, and derived from, him, because it is of this world" — "the Church ought to be free, hj means of her chief— of the first man in Christendom — the pope." "The pope holds the place of God, because he governs his kingdom upon earth. As the things of the world are moved by the emperor, in like manner the things of God are moved by the pope." " The world is enlightened by two great luminaries, one of which is larger, the sun ; the other smaller, the moon. The
* Butler's Lives of the Saints — Me- worst principles of the papacy through-
moir of Gregory, May 25. out. There can be no peace for the
•» See the article on Gregory VII. world, while the old usurpation over
in the Dublin Review, No. XII. the Churches is thus commended. Voight, the advocate of Gregory, as ' The author of the Eulogy on Gre-
well as his reviewer, defends also the gory in the Dublin Review, p. 311.
Perseverance in error the curse of Rome. 309
apostolic authority is like to the sun ; the royal power may book hi. be compared to the moon. As the moon gives not light pHAP. iv. save from the sun, so emperors, kings, and princes come from the pope, because he comes from God." — Such are the extracts made by Voight from the letters of Gregory, and they form the best and only apology for his actions. He loas most sincere, ivhen he was most wrong. He was raised up to repress great evils ; but he established greater evils in their place.
The policy which for a certain time may be useful in restraining the violence of arbitrary, cruel, or ignorant princes — which may serve to subdue the lawlessness of military banditti, or to check the turbulence of a super- stitious people, was, and is, totally unsuited to the manage- ment of well ordered government ; or to a scripturally enlightened and free people. This is the curse of Rome, not that it has been wrong; but that having been wrong, it will never ^ never change its policy, opinions, or decrees. As the indig- nant civilization of the world forsook the pagan superstitions till no victims were brought to the altars *, so will it be with that Church which claims " the right divine of priests to govern ivrong," to teach error, to boast their apostolical de- scent as the sanction for absurdity ; to inflict damnation in the future state upon the rejectors of their folly ; and to punish man on earth before they consign the body to the grave, and the soul to torments. The sincerity of error is the greatest curse to mankind. Hypocrisy is more cautious. It shrinks from the unavoidable danger attendant upon the collision between truth and falsehood. But the sincerity of error can blind the eyes with zeal, inspire the tongue with eloquence, and nerve the arm with strength. Like the volcano to the peaceful and lowly hamlets at the foot of the mountain, it overwhelms with resistless and fatal ruin the spiritual religion, which desires only to fear God and be at peace. The hypo- thesis is false, totally false, which makes Rome a hypocrite. The curse of the Christian Catholic Church is the fatal sin- cerity, which confounds the pope with the Saviour, the Church with the Scripture, and the priest ivith both. This, and this alone, is the true secret of the dark slavery which gradually- crept upon Europe ; which was deepened by Nicholas, whicli
* See the often quoted passage from Tertullian.
310 Prohibition of Scripture essential to Popery.
BOOK III. arrived at its midnight gloom under Hildebrand and Inno- ; cent III.; and which began to be dispersed by WickhfFand Luther.
Hildebrand believed that he was the representative and the vicar of Christ, that he, or the Church which he governed, could not teach wrongly. He subdued the world beneath his feet, as the inheritor of the power of God. The celibacy of the clergy was but the greater perfection of the partakers of divinity. The investiture of bishops by princes, was an intrusion into the sanctuary of the King of kings. The mem- bers of the priesthood were no longer, after their ordination, English, German, French, or Italian. They were the unmarried brethren of the family of the rulers of mankind^ governing in the name of God, and upholding the honour, interests, and influence of one unerring caste, as much superior to other men as Deity is superior to kings. This ivas the policy, this the theory, tins the sincerity of Hildebrand. One family should speak one language ; let them, therefore, and let all whom they can govern, pray to their Father in Latin. One family should have but one director ; let them, therefore, be orally instructed by their elder brethren, and let the Bible be withdrawn from its superintendence over the motives, affec- tions, and actions ; lest the younger children of the laity dis- cover that their elder brethren, the priesthood, have guided them erroneously ^ If God command it, no sacrifice of loyal feeling, human kindness, or natural affection, is too great to please Him. If God be omnipotent, the very omni- potence is partaken by the priest who inherits his authority ;
^ Gregory (see p. 275,) was applied therefore, what you thus imprudently to by Vratislaus, Duke of Bohemia, to request, by the authority of the blessed permit the service of their Church to St. Petei", and we command you for be performed in the Sclavonic, or native the honour of God to resist this rash- tongue. In pronouncing his negative, ness with all your power." — Epist. it is proper that the terms of his re- Gregor, lib. vii. epist. xi. ap. Labbe, fusal of this permission should be p. 234.
observed. " It has pleased the Al- A similar application had been made
mighty," he says, " that the Scripture 200 years before by I'ulcher, Prince
should be obscure to some, and not of Moravia, to John VIII., who, in
understood by all, lest it should fall into consequence, confirmed a decree of
contempt; — nor must it be alleged that Nicholas I. which forbade the ordina-
all were allowed in the primitive times tiou of any bishop or priest who did
to read the Scriptures, it being well not understand the language of the
known that, in those early times, the country ; thus solemnly enjoining that
Church connived at many things which which Gregory solemnly, iw ^/td name
the holy Fathers disapproved and of St. Peter, prohibited. — Johau. Epist.
corrected when the Christian religion 247. was firmly established. We prohibit.
Sincerity, cruelty, and death of Hddebrand. 311
and as nothing can be hard to the Ahnighty, even the bring- book hi.
ing Christ doAvn from heaven at the Mill of the priest is not > ^ — i
too difficult. All this was believed, and believed with sin- cerity. Sincerity was not only attended with errors which need not be further repeated, but it emboldened Hildebrand to anathematize his sovereign in the name of God. Sincerity exalted the papal power over the ecclesiastical power, which had become, indeed, the partaker of its errors ; and was now compelled to submit to its dominion. Sincerity rendered him severe, vindictive, and inexorable'. It endued him with patience to pursue the victim he resolved to punish. It disguised revenge under the name of justice to the cause of God. It inspired him with firmness in exile, imprisonment, and death ; so that his last words of resignation to suffering, clothed his motives in the language of Scripture : " I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore I die in banishment ^." Sincerity enabled him, if he had indeed the emotions of human nature, at the sight of agonizing suffering, to suppress these emotions ; and to preside with appalling serenity of countenance, and placid calmness of manner, at executions, massacres, and tortures ^ In the same propor-
^ History of Popery, p. 62. vindicavit. Gentium, cui omnia re-
2 The inflexibility with which Gre- miserat, persequi coepit : et novem de
gory continued to assert his righteous- hominibus Centii in patibulis suspendio
ness to the last, as described by his interfecit ante portas sancti Petri. —
biographer, Paul Bernried, seems more VitaetGestaHildebrandi,Auct.Benone
to correspond with his character than Gardin. p. 80, apud Fascic. Rerum Ex-
the confession which is reported by petend. edit. Edw. Brown. Sigebert, Matthew Paris, and Floren- The son of a widow, having been
tius Wigomieusis, to have been made condemned to penance and a year's
in his latter moments — That it was banishment, and having completed
through the inst'ujat'wn of the devil tlutt his term of exile, the widow leading
he had caused so much disturbance in her son in a halter to the foot of the
tfie Christian world — in extremis positus pope, and expressing a desire to re-
confessus est Deo et S. Petro et toti ceive him again on his holiness signi-
ecclesise, se valde peccasse in pastoral! fying himself satisfied that he had
cm-a, et, suadente diabolo, contra hu- expiated his offence, he bade her be
manum genus odium et iram conci- gone and let him ;vs^ He afterwards
tasse. Dimisit ac dissolvit vincula sent his officers to apprehend the son
omnium bannorum suorum imperatori of the widow, and put him to death,
et omni populo Ghristiano vivis et de- They replied with one voice, that he
functis, &c. had fulfilled the penance and exile,
* Gentium filium pnufecti Stephani, and having thus expiated the offence,
prius fidelem suum, m carcerem misit, they could not do it. On this, without
et in vase undique aculeis vestito, regard to laws, ordinances, or repent-
mille et mille mortibus cruciavit. Qui ance, he ordered the foot of the widow's
postquara evas^it, ipsum Hildebrandum son to bo cut off, the effects of which
cepit. De cujus captione antcquam caused his death three days after-
evaderet, omnibus qui captiouis illius wards. — Life and Acts of Hildebrand
cooperatores fuerant, hoc debitum by Cardinal Benno, p. 81, or Fasc.
publico remisit, quod postea infideliter lier. p. 80, ut supra.
312 Sincerity must be united ivith truth.
BOOK iil.tion as Hildebrand was sincere, and in the same proportion
^__U J ;■ as the zealous members of his Church are sincere also ; in
that same proportion they dishonour God, injure man, sup- press truth, and degrade reason. Their piety is a crime against man. Their virtue is a crime against their own hap- piness, peace, and freedom. What may be the state in the world to come of those among them who may be thus sincere, we know not. The inquisitor and the victim, wretched as the system of belief and polity was during the ascendancy of the ecclesiastical and papal power, would have willingly changed places, inflicted the same torments, or undergone the same sufferings, for both were equally sincere. But this great lesson we learn from the history before us, that the principal object which ought now to be pursued, is the re- conciliation of sincerity with truth. While of Hildebrand we may assert with safety, that though his religion might have saved his soul ; it gratified his ambition, soothed his sor- rows, stimulated his zeal, chilled his affections, and hardened and demonized his heart.
CLVIII. Victor III., died 10^7.
Hildebrand died in the year 1085, the same year in which Edgar Atheling, with two hundred English gentlemen who had been dispossessed of their estates by the Normans, pro- ceeded to the Holy Land. At the time of his death he was an exile from Rome at Salerno. The princes of Europe were but beginning to learn the lesson of implicit submission to the papal power. Even William I. and Lanfranc themselves, though they had both been advanced to the highest places among their brethren, as the Sovereign and the Archbishop of England, could not be induced to yield to the Bishop of Rome that full extent of homage which the pontifical ambi- tion demanded. After Lanfranc had been a short time in England, the reluctance he evinced to execute all the exorbi- tant requisitions of the pope, drew from the latter remon- strances and reproaches, which seemed unjustifiable to the former, who accordingly retorted, and the ancient friendship which had subsisted between them became considerably weak- ened. The king and Lanfranc seem to have understood each other on the policy of delaying, rather than positively
Lanfranc the servant, but not the slave of Gregory VII. 313
refusing, compliance with the demands of the pontiff. They book ill. professed the most profound reverence for the apostoHcal . ' : injunctions, and made the unsettled state of the country a plea for their delay in executing the proposals of the holy see. Though Hildebrand was greatly dissatisfied to see his authority least effective where he expected and desired to have it most observed, he concealed his disappointment and resentment, and equal jealousy and caution was kept up for some time on both sides *."
* When Gregory pressed Lanfranc to visit Rome, in order that he might communicate to him secrets of the first importance, which he coukl not commit to writing (Cone. x. c. 30G), Lanfranc made the unsettled state of England, the time and toil of so long a journey, and the unwillingness of the king to permit his absence from the kingdom, his pleas for declining to comply with the desires of his hoUness (Epist. Lanfr. viii. Opera, p. 305). When Gregory was firm in his seat, and the civil and ecclesiastical powers of the Continent had become subser- vient to his authority in 1076, he sent his legate Hubert, to inform William that England was the patrimony of St. Peter, and that he expected an oath of fealty from him as sovereign lord (Lanfr. 0pp. p. 307). Tlie opinion of the king was so different to this doc- trine, that he gave Gregory by letter to understand " that his predecessors had never given any oath of fidelity to the bishops of Rome, that he had never promised any thing of the kind, and that as to fealty, he would pay no such demand." (Wilhelra. Epist. ap. Lanfr. 0pp. p. 304.) Gregory, morti- fied by this resolute conduct of the king, resented it by loading Lanfranc with reproaches of obligations due from him to the holy see ; and by re- newing his summons to the archbishop to appear in Rome within four months without fail. (Id. epist. viii. p. 305 ; Greg. Epist. lib. ix. ep. 20, Cone. x. 291.) The king and the metropolitan appear to have concerted the plan of this defence against the proceedings of the pontiff ; for the excuse this time was, tliat " by the laws of England no man could go to a foreign country without licence from the king, and that his majesty would not permit him to stir from his see." (Ibid.) To allege a royal law in prejudice to a divine right, was a thing so
directly opposed to the opinions of Gregory, that the atfx-ont was too great to be borne. However, to still further try the effect of words, he gave the king an opportunity of con- sidering the marvellous power " which God had given him to correct as well as admonish kings" (Greg. Epist. lib. vii. ep. 25) ; but finding William did not see things in the same light as himself, and as the continental kings had done ; he wrote to Hubert to tell the conqueror, that of all the kings of theearth, pagan kings not excepted,none had ever dared to attempt to oppose the apostolic see as he had done. Where was one to be found so impudent and irreverent as to forbid archbishops and bishops from obeying the summons of the holy see ? If he continued this conduct, he was told that the anger of St. Peter would speedily be launched against him. (Greg. Epist. lib. vii. epist. i. col. 218.) These things went on between the pope and the English Church for eight years. In 1082 the great struggle of Gregory was past. His grand schemes were crossed, and he was rapidly sinking. In his de- spair, he wrote with much bitterness to Lanfranc : " Though you have fre- quently been invited to Rome," says the mortified pontiff, " upon mattei-s of import to the Christian faith, yet out of pride, or negligence, you continued to abuse my patience : the fatigue of the journey ought to be no excuse; you have urged no canonical impediment. If you come not before the Feast of All Saints, I shall suspend you from your oftice." (Baron. Annal. 1081, § 19.) This contest ended by Lanfranc again justifying his former conduct, and denying his claim to obedience fnmi him as Archbishop of England. (Lanfr. Epist. viii. Oper. p. 305, edit. Ducherii, fol. Paris; or p. 29 of the re- cent edition bv Dr. Giles, 8vo, Oxon. 1844.)
314 Encroachments, and resistance to them, the history of Rome.
BOOK III. As a powerful or wealthy commoner in our limited monarchy ^ r ^^' ™^y ^^ elevated by his sovereign to the peerage, and consider himself bound therefore in gratitude and honour to support and uphold the measures of his sovereign to the utmost of his power ; but still refuses his obedience so far as to betray the privileges of the people, break the written laws, violate the dic- tates of conscience, or infringe the rights of his newly-adopted order — so it was that the ambition of the pontiffs was frequently opposed and checked by the very men whom they raised and honoured, when they exacted more from them than they could justly yield. The imperial, regal, and ecclesiastical power of the several countries of Europe, were all in their turn caressed, courted, and favoured by the pontiffs, and they all in their turn desired to be grateful. The misfortune, however, of Rome was, " that its appetite did grow by what it fed on." Claim led to claim, and one act of power led to another, till the yoke became unendurable. Its whole history is the narrative of perpetual encroachment and perpetual resistance — of encroach- ment upon the ecclesiastical as well as civil power ; and of resistance by those who desired, but in vain, to be the friends and upholders of its dominion. Hildebrand was succeeded by one of those of his own party whom he had named as worthy of the pontificate.
Victor III. continued the war against the imperial party with much success, and confirmed in a council at Beneven- tum ^ the decrees passed against investitures. Guibert, how- ever, who had been made pope by the imperial party, re- mained in the pontifical see one year after the death of Gre- gory, and neither he nor Victor interfered in the affairs of England ^ The scruples of Gregory, however, with respect
* Labb. Concil. x. 418. sent the state of the popes and the
* I agree with Gibbon in his re- city." — Gibbon, xii. 259.
marks on the succession of pontiffs Gibbon accordingly confines himself after Gregory VII. After remarliing to these objects. I shall briefly direct that Gregory died in exile in Salerno, attention to the continued clashing be- lie observes, "Six and thirty of his tween the papal power of Rome and successors, till their retreat to Avig- the ecclesiastical power of England, non, maintained an unequal conflict 1 omit, therefore, all reference to the with the Romans. Their age and dig- contests between Matilda and the em- nity were often violated ; and in the peror ; the war between Guibert and churches the solemn I'ites of religion Victor ; and the combination between were polluted with sedition and mur- the pope, Genoa, and Pisa against the der. A repetition of such capricious Saracens. It is sufficient to say, that the brutality, without connexion or design, pope was now a great temporal prince, would be tedious and disgusting ; and the chief ruler of Europe, and the ar- T shall content myself with some events biter fur 500 years between all the na- of the twelfth century, which repre- tious and princes of the civilized world.
England divided into archdeaconries.
31{
to the sincerity of the English clergy, led him apparently to book in. apprehend, that the unsettled state of the country might chap, iv! afford his rival an opportunity of forming a party in opposi- tion to his authority ; and the lukewarmness of the king and Lanfranc served to increase his apprehension.
A jealousy of the power and influence possessed by the clergy over the people of England, was evidently dreaded as much by William as by the pope, and he consequently diminished it in every possible direction. He withdrew from the clergy all public trusts, which had been chiefly placed in their hands. He placed Norman abbots over the monas- teries, and gave the lands belonging to them into secular hands upon the feudal tenures of baronage and knight's fees. He united with Lanfranc in the subdivision of dioceses into archdeaconries and rural deaneries ^ ; and, in short, converted
' Though many of the changes m- trodueed into the administration of the Enghsh Church by the Norman king and his chosen metropolitan, Lanfranc, were for the purpose of supplanting the more ancient Saxon customs, and sub- stituting a system more in conformity with the new projects of Hildebrand'; yet William and the primate seem to have been aware of the impolicy of permitting the power which had fallen into their hands to pass over into the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome. Under the Saxons, the authorities of Church and State had gone on hand in hand. By the laws of Athelstan, Ed- gar, and Edward the Confessor, in the county courts, the united presence of the bishop of the diocese and of the magistrate of the county were required, the former to explain the laws of God, the latter those of the realm. (Spel- man's Prcef. ad Cone. Brit., citing Lambard. Leg. .Atheist, pp. 45. 53. Leg. Edgar, pp. 62. lOL 111. 138.) William and Lanfranc caused the ec- clesiastical and civil appeals to be separated ; and a law was enacted, by which bishoi)s and archdeacons were forbidden to hear ecclesiastical causes ui the civil courts, and by which con- si-story courts were ordered to be held for the time to come in the respective dioceses. (Concil. Brit. ii. 14.) By this change it became necessary, also, for the government to provide for civil appeals, by the periodical attendance of itineiunt judges to hold county and
hundred courts; and for business of the more weighty kind, the king's bench, the exchequer, and the common pleas were established. This separa- tion of the courts and setting up of the consistory, changed the forms of eccle- siastical proceedings so much ; that to bring the affairs of the Church to suit those of the state, and to preserve in the new system the analogy to the an- cient division into counties and hun- dreds, the bishops divided their dioceses mto archdeaconries and deaneries, making the courts of the archdea- cons agree with the secular division of counties from which they severally took their titles ; and the districts of the rural deans bemg also answerable to the hundreds, into which counties were divided. Some conformity to the an- cient division was preserved in the new regulations (Harpsfield, Hist. Eccles. p. 258 ; Bishop Stilhngfleet's Duties of Parochial Clei-gy, pp. 14G, 147) ; though these changes were made, in all probability, at the instiga- tion of the court of Rome, and with a view to bring England under the same consistorial regimen which had ex- tended itself wherever the subtle influ- ence of Rome had been diffused. In- deed, it was one of the finely contrived movements in the compound machinery of Nicholas and Hildebrand, by which the Churches and states of the Chris- tian world were to be guided in all their motions and directions. The un- willingness of William and Lanfranc
316 The Spanish Bishops resist the Papal aggressions.
BOOK III. the ecclesiastical as well as civil departments of the state into
V 1, J ; one entire feudal property, of which he himself determined
to be sovereign lord, without admitting the pope to any share whatever in the control which he exercised over both Church and state.
CLIX. Urban IL, died 1099.
Otho, the Archbishop of Ostia, one of the three mentioned by Gregory on his death-bed as a person able and eligible to succeed him, was chosen by Matilda and the Gregorian party to succeed Victor *. He had gained the favour of Gregory by the satisfactory execution of a mission into Germany, where he had been sent as his legate to excite the people to rebellion against Henry. In the first year of his pontificate, he issued a bull to endow with its ancient privileges the city of Toledo °, in Spain, which had been recently recovered from the Moors by Alphonsus. Bernard, a Benedictine monk, was unanimously chosen metropolitan of the see, as well by the clergy as by Alphonzo the Sixth, king of Leon and Castile. Urban vested him with legatine authority over all the other provinces of Spain. The Spanish bishops of Nar- bonne and Tarracon opposed this grant, but in vain. They contended that the former Archbishops of Toledo had never any power in their provinces, as the bull asserted ; but the pontiff would listen to no objections, and Bernard was not a man to abate any thing of the utmost rigour of discipline, warranted by the authority which his office conferred *.
In 1089, this pope called a large counciP at Rome, which excommunicated the emperor, Clement III. the antipope, and all the bishops of Germany except five, who were op- posed to the emperor, and consequently adherents of the Gregorian party. Urban then went into Apulia, and assem- bled a council in the city of Melfi \ He was here met by
to be curbed by Gregory, and the de- organization of the papal system was sire of the English episcopacy after- effected, by which Celestine III. and wards to assert an independence of Innocent III. were enabled to over- pontifical control, were great barriers come the integrity of the guai'dians of to the progress of the spiritual nionar- the English Church, cliy of Rome. Though at the end of * Labb. Concil. x. 420. the eleventh and beginning of the ^ Id. v. 1635.
twelfth centuries some advances had ^ See Pagi, a.u. 1088, § 7j ^t Labb.
been made in the settlement of the Concil. x. 459.
consistory courts in England, yet it ^ Labb. Concil, x. 474.
was not until 200 years after, that the * Id. col. 476.
The Pope the umpire betiveen national parties. 317
Roger Guiscard, Duke of Calabria, and all his nobles, in book in. M'hose presence the decrees of Gregory against lay-investi- ^^^j^- tures were renewed. Several other laws to enforce celibacy, repress simony, and limit the facility of ordination, were also enacted. But the chief incident of this meeting was the investing of Roger Guiscard with the dukedom of Cala- bria and Apulia, after his oath of fealty to Urban, and of homage to the apostolic see, and after having been presented with the divine standard of St. Peter.
The imperial party in Italy was much weakened by the rebeUion of Conrad, son of the emperor, who, in the absence of his father in Germany, consented to be crowned king of Italy, and so betray his trust.
The King of France had incurred the anger of his nobles and bishops by divorcing Bertha, and marrying Bertrada, who had deserted her husband Fulco, the Count of Anjou. The French bishops complained of the conduct of the king to the pope. Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons, who had been excommunicated by Victor III., Mas received into favour by Urban, and made his legate of France \ A commission was granted to him to enquire into the conduct of the king. He summoned a council at Autun (a.d. 1094) \ by which^Philip was excommunicated, and the same sentence was also pro- nounced against the emperor, and the antipope, Clement III. The king sent a deputation immediately in his behalf to Urban, who suspended the sentence. The pope was now re- sistless as the umpire of national disturbances.
Tlie great council of Placentia "^ was summoned by the pope in 1095, at which all the bishops of France, Italy, and Germany were desired to be present. About 200 attended, with nearly 4000 other ecclesiastics, and 30,000 laymen \ King Philip, by ambassadors, appealed for further suspension of the sentence pronounced against him, which was granted \ The faithful were forbidden to attend any services performed by clergymen who had not put away their wives, who are abusively termed concubines ; and to add all possible igno- miny to his sentence, Clement III. was anathematized as an usurper of the apostolic see, with lighted candles \ Am-
\ \f'^'- ^.r"- ""' ^^^- ' ^'^"''^' Hist. Eccles. lib. liv. kiv
J-'^-.^^g. s Labb. Concil. X. col. 501.
Id. col. 500. 9 Id. col. 501.
318 Establishment of the Truce of God.
BOOK III. bassadors were sent from Alexius Comnenus, emperor of the ' J. — '' East, to make known the grievous sufferings of the Chris- tians in the East, from the depredations and persecutions of infidels. The pope urged the powerful nobles who were pre- sent to combine in affording the relief so earnestly entreated. Numbers declared their readiness to engage personally in the expedition for their rescue, on which preparations for the crusade were immediately commenced.
Another council was summoned to meet at Clermont, in Auvergne, in November of this year, 1095, at which Urban presided, and preached sermons yet preserved '. Twelve archbishops and eighty bishops are said to have been present, besides a great number of abbots and inferior clergy. William Rufus was at this time too much offended with the pope to permit any bishops from England to attend. Lorraine, Ger- many, and Hungary, also, in consequence of the many insults and provocation of which the emperor had to complain, de- clined sending any members to the council. At this assem- bly, Philip, King of France, was again excommunicated for not dismissing Bertrada. Among the decrees, one was passed which declared it unlawful for a bishop or priest to take an oath of allegiance to any layman ; another, forbidding kings and princes to grant investitures, and the clergy of every country from receiving preferment from the hands of any secular person *. By another it was ordered, that every class of the clergy should part ivith their ivives on pain of suspen- sion *. — A law which had been passed by a council of Aqui- taine in 1041, and had since been re-enacted by several sub- sequent councils, entitled the " Truce of God," was likewise confirmed by this council, with injunctions for the strict observance of it. By this useful law it was provided that every lord, and all his vassals, should abstain from arms, from fire, rapine, and every kind of violence on one another for four specified days of every week; and- from its being esteemed a treaty of a very sacred character, it was called Treuga Dei — the truce of God *. By this council the first
1 Labb. Concil. x. 512. 514. document on this subject is the Senno
2 Canon. 15 — 17. et Confirmatio SS. Patmm, a.d. 1041, ^ Id. 9 — 1 1. by Rajiubaldus Arelatensis Archi- * See especially the Concilium Ro- episcopus, Benedictus Avenionensis,
tomagense, a.d. 1096, canons 1 — 4, Nitardus Nicensis, Abbas Odilo, and ap. Labb. Concil. x. 599. Tlie oldest all the Gallic clergy to the clergy of
The First Crusades. 319
crusade, which had been partially agreed upon at the coun- ^^^^ Yy
cils of Placentia and Clermont, was decided upon, chiefly > .^ — *'
from the representations of Peter the Hermit ; who in his pilgrimages to Jerusalem, had witnessed the miseries to which the Christians of Palestine were subjected from the unresisted devastations and conquests of the barbarians in that part of the world. Urban consequently seized upon the occasion solemnly to exhort all to take up the Cross. The bishops were enjoined, by his special command, to preach and promote unanimity in this holy warfare, through their re- spective provinces. Those who engaged in the enterprise were absolved from all unrighteousness and sin ; and the certain reward of eternal happiness in the world to come was promised to all who lost their lives in the cause of the holy Cross \ The history of these enthusiastic expeditions is too well known to require further notice, than as remarkable facts, which serve to illustrate the intellectual and spiritual condition of the popes and princes, and of all whom they then governed.
Lanfranc died in 1089, two years after the accession of Rufus, much and deservedly lamented by the English. The king at his death kept the see of Canterbury vacant three years. Other vacant bishoprics, also, were not filled up, while the revenues of all were consecrated to the king's use. The pope did not interfere, because the schism at this time at Rome between Guibert and Urban, and the war between the imperialist and Gregorian party, prevented it. Anselm, at this time, was Abbot of Bee in Normandy.
Italy recommending the Treuga Dei : ^ Urbanus dolens, quia Saraceni
— Quicumque hanc pacem et Treuvam occupaverant Sanctam Civitatem Hie-
Dei observaverint, ac firmiter tenue- rusalem, prtedicavit remissionem pec-
rint, sint absoluti a Deo Patre Omni- catorum, et vice sibi tradita a Deo
potente, et Filio Ejus Jesu Christo, et omnibus dedit, quicunque Hierusalem
Spiritu Sancto, de S. Maria cum clioris tenderent, et civitatem et terram trans-
virginum, et de S. Michaele cum choris marinam, quae a Saraeenis possideba-
Angelorura, et de S. Petro cum omni- tur, liberarent. Adjiciens etiam hoc,
bus Sanctis. Qui vero treuvam pro- ut si quisquam in via, sive in pugna,
missam habuerint, et, se sciente, in- pro Christo moreretur, in nuinero
fringere vokierint, sint excommunicati martynim absolutus ab omnibus pec-
a Deo Pati-e, etc. maledicti et detestati eatis suis compufarctur. Et dum totus
hie et in perpetuum, et sint damnati raundus post eum curreret, avidus re-
sicut Dathan et Abiron, et sicut Judas, missionem peecatorum accipere, et in
qui tradidit Dominum, et sint demersi numero SS. martyrum esse, couti"-it ut
in profundum inferni, sicut Pharao in hoc prajdieans privdictus sunmnis pon-
medio maris, si ad emendationem non tifex devenerit Thyetum. — In Mura-
venerint. — Martens et Durand. Anec- torii Script. Rerum Ital. ii. pt. ii p
dot. i. 161. 872.
320 Piety and sincerity of Anselm.
BOOK TIT. During the vacancy of the see of Canterbury, Hugh Lupus, V _^ ; the Earl of Chester, was seized with sickness, and he re- peatedly requested Anselm to come over into England and visit him ". Anselm was a pious, sincere, and good man ^ Though he was a zealous Gregorian, and desired, as his subsequent conduct proved, to raise the mitre above the crown, rather than to see the crown above the mitre — though he believed in the doctrine of transubstantiation, and other errors, as points of faith which had now become incorporated in the Articles of the Church of Rome ; his meditations, prayers, and directions to the clergy on the right mode of preparing the sick and dying for death, may be still read with profit and advantage. To the question by the minister — Do you expect to be justified by faith alone ? the answer is directed to be given in the aflfirmative \ He had, however, imbibed the now prevailing notions, that the cause of God and the salvation of his own soul were both identified with obedience to the Bishop of Rome ; and he ivas made miserable, as we shall see, by the contest of feelings which his divided allegiance produced when he was subsequently elevated to the chief post in the English Church. He repeatedly refused the invitation of Lupus ^, lest he should be suspected of aspiring to the vacant archbishopric \ While he thus hesitated, some circumstances occurred which induced his brethren in the monastery of Bee to request him to leave them. He then visited England, and attended the Earl of Chester, whom he
" Anselmus, in quem Normauorum unwarrantable pretensions of Rome,
et Anglorum etiam oculi, tanquam in which the EngHsh Church and nation
splendidissirauni ecclesiie sidus aspi- afterwards held in abhoi'rence.
Cerent, et quavis sine dubio infula dig- * See Anselmi 0pp. p. 194. The
num datis ad eum litei-is, missis- dialogue proceeds thus : —
que nunciis, ut in Angliam trajiceret, p^.^^jg ^^ ^^^ ^j^j mortem
operique pio manum apponeret, mag- Christi salvari ?
nis precibus obsecravit. — Alfordi An- rji-gdo'
nales, iv. 113 ; see also Eadmer's Life, ^ * ^^^ superest in te anima;
p. 13, edit. Gerberon, iol. Par. 1721, j^^ ^^^^ g^,^ ^^^.^^ ^^^am fiduciam
appended to his edition of the works of ^^^^^ constitue; in nulla alia re fidu-
b. Anselm. , ,. , clam habeas : huic morti te totum
7 Had Anselm lived to see a papal committe : hac sola te totum con- legate convening councils m his tege : hac morte te totura involve, province, and presiding in them, it is
not too much to suppose that he would " Hugonis preces semel iterumque
have repented of the ill-bestowed zeal rejicit. — Alford. Anuales Eccles. iv.
and attachment which he had exhi- 114 ; Baron. Annal. a.d. 1093, § 11,
bited in jiromoting all the aggrandize- seqq.
nients of popery. By the misemploy- ^ Angliam intrare noluit, ne se hujus
ment of his acknowledged piety and rei gratia intrasse quispiam suspicare-
learning, he opened the way for those tur. — Eadmer, lib. i. p. 34.
Divided allegiance the curse of lite pious Papist. 3.21 found convalescent. While he continued in Ensrland, the BOOK in.
■ P H \ P T V
nobles and bishops complained to the king of the continued . " ^ " vacancy of the see of Canterbury, and Anselra was requested to compose a form of prayer for the nation. The king at this time became ill, and Anselm attended him at his palace near Gloucester. The bishops, also, waited on him, and en- treated him to appoint a successor to Lanfranc. He at length nominated Anselm, who was, says his biographer Eadmer, taken as by force to the Church amidst the accla- mations and eulogies of the people. Now began, however, that series of contests between the kings of England and the archbishops of Canterbury, which convulsed England till the murder of Becket. Anselm refused to receive investiture from the hands of the king, by accepting from him the ring and the pastoral staff ^ Earnest and vehement protestations against this decision Avere made by the bishops, who were pre- sent when he thus refused to receive investiture. They were evidently no supporters of the Gregorian pretensions, which at this time were convulsing the rest of Eurojje. They drew him apart from the multitude, and expostulated with him in the most energetic language, but in vain ^. He pleaded his age, and desire of repose *, his attachment to his monastery of Bee, his responsibility to his sovereign in Normandy, and his canonical obedience to the archbishop of the province in which his monastery was situated. They then brought him to the king, who was still suffering from sickness. Rufus, stern and cold-hearted as he seems to have been, was moved almost to tears ^; and implored him, with many arguments, to accept the vacant see. The bishops, at the" king's command,
- Collier says, that Anselra made all could they not be equally conscientious
"decent oppofifion" imaginable. He and sincere in mistaking Christ's vicar
would imply by this expression that for Christ, and therefore for God ;
Anselra was insincere. I have already and rendering to this god the homage
declared ray opinion of Gregory, An- which they beheved to be superior to
selm, Becket, and all the Gregorian the homage they owed to Cfesar ?
party. They were sincere, and they ^ q^,;^ ^gjg ? qyj,^ intendis ? Quid
thought their duty to God was so iden- contraire Deo niteris ? Vides omnem
tified with homage to the pope, that Christianitatem iu Anglia fere periisse;
they were required to prefer allegiance omnia in confusionem venisse. — Ead-
to the pontiff to allegiance to their mer, p. 35.
king ; if their duty to one seemed in * Id. p. 36.
their conscience to clash with their '" Contristatus est rex pene ad suffu-
duties to the other. If men could sionem oculorum ; et di.\it, Oh ! Au-
think conscientiously that they did selmo, quid agis ? — Eadmer, p. 35. God service by killing His Apostles,
VOL. II. Y
322 Anselm accepts the archbishopric of Canterbury.
BOOK III. threw themselves at his feet ; and on his still refusing the CHAP. IV. pastoral staff, they took him by the right hand, and dragged him to the couch where the king was lying ®. The king stretching forth the pastoral staff, Anselm closed his hand. The bishops endeavoured to open his hand by force, till he complained of the pain. The pastoral staff was, at length, forced into his still half-closed hand, and retained there by the bishops. The multitude shouted, " Long live the arch- bishop." The bishops, with the higher clergy, began the Te Deum, and carried rather than led him to the nearest church. Anselm, to the utmost of his power, continued his resistance, and repeatedly uttered the words, "the election is void," " the election is void '." Neither did he consent to accept the archbishopric till the king had procured his release from all his continental obligations. It does not, however, appear that he refused to accept the investiture in the usual mode, by receiving from his temporal sovereign the ring and staff, either in obedience to the law of Gregory VII. in 1078, or to that of Victor III. in 1087, or to the law of Urban in 1090. The Archbishops of Canterbury had not yet compromised the independence of the Church of England. Their communion with Rome implied great respect, deference, and allegiance, but not even yet implicit submission to the gra- dually encroaching superiority. The Church of France, too, supported the decisions of Anselm. The Abbot of Bee, in reply to a beautiful letter from Anselm, commanded him to accept his new office, before Urban could have consented to the election ^ Anselm received investiture on the 6th of May, 1093 ; but before his consecration he demanded the restoration of the church lands, and claimed to guide the king in spiritual matters, as he would submit to the king in all temporal affairs. He declared that he would acknow- ledge Urban II. as pope, whom the king had not yet acknow- ledged ; and he desired to apprise the king of this decision, before any difference of opinion on the matter could cause division between himself and his new sovereign. The king objected much to the restoration of all the archiepiscopal
•* rapiunt igitiir liominem ad quod facitis — nihil est quod t'acitis."
Regem Eegrotum. — Eadiner, p. 35. — Ibid.
' ipso, modis quibus poterat, * See Anselmi Epp. lib. iii. epp. 1
resistente, atque dicente — " Nihil est and 2, 0pp. pp. 362, 363.
Anselm requests permission to go to Rome for the Pall. 323
lands, yet he would not refuse compliance with every request book hi. of the archbishop ; who behaved throughout the whole pro- .'
ceedings with the utmost fairness, gentleness, and firmness. A synod, council, or parliament of the whole English Church was held at Winchester ". Anselm did homage to the king ^, according to the custom of the country at that time. The lands of the archbishopric were restored to him, and he was consecrated at Canterbury in the presence of the Archbishop of York, and nearly of all the bishops of England; who attended for the purpose of paying him yet higher honour on the 4th of December in the same year.
Thus far all had proceeded with comparative smoothness ^ ; but now began the collision between the regal and ecclesias- tical power. The cause was simply that which has been already stated. The ecclesiastical poiver,SiS it was represented by the archbishop, had become identified with the pontifical authority ; communion with Rome had been gradually changed into submission to Rome. The pledge of attachment to the common Christianity which was held at Rome, and which had been required, or perhaps taken for granted, on the presentation of the pall, had been turned into an oath of allegiance to the foreign pontiff; and Anselm solicited per- mission to go to Rome for the pall. Rufus could not be ignorant of the transactions which had so lately taken place on the continent. He must have known of the deposition of Henry of Germany, the alienation of the people from their rulers, the aggressions of the papacy on the rights of princes, and the danger in which his own throne, so lately acquired by his father, would be involved, if he incurred the resent- ment of the Bishop of Rome. This danger threatened him on his least opposition to the decrees of the pope ; and he no doubt imagined that the peace of the Church and kingdom of England depended on his retaining the supreme power over both in his own hands. He had abused that power by refusing for three years to fill up the see of Canterbury, yet it was certain that the non-interference of the foreigner
' Labb. Concil. x. 597. i"g the money which Anselm proffer-
* Homo regis factus est. — Eadmer, ed, and which was less than the king
p. 37. expected, with other minor matters. - I pass by the discussions respect-
y2
324 Ansehn a Gr'egoj'ian, or a Papist.
BOOK TIL during these three years had secured peace to the country.
V ^' ; The schism between Guibert, the antipope, and Urban, had
also contributed to this tranquiUity. Contest between them, prevented obedience to either. No foreign pretensions had been urged upon the Church; and though the canon law was neglected in consequence ; the common law of the land, how- ever ill-regulated or undefined, was preferable to that painful clashing of duties which resulted from the conscientious desire to obey Christ and Caesar ; when the duty to Christ was iden- tified with obedience to an ambitious or erring foreigner. But popery urns now Christianity, and Christianity was popery ; and the lessons of experience could not have been afforded to mankind for their subsequent guidance, if the battle had not been fought in these ages between the independent rulers of states, and the claims of the human pretender to divine authority over churches, sovereigns, and the consciences and reason of individuals.
Anselm requested permission to proceed to Rome. So long as he had not received the pall, so long his allegiance to the king was undivided ; for he had taken no oath of obe- dience to the pope, and his investiture had been received from his temporal sovereign. Rufus appears to have believed that an Archbishop of Canterbury could have then as faithfully and efficiently presided over the Church of England without any pall, or without any oath of allegiance to the Bishop of Rome ; as Sutton or Howley preside over it in the present day. Anselm thought otherwise. Anselm was a pious and good, though, in this instance, most mistaken man. An- selm was a Norman, a foreign monk, and a Gregorian ; or, as we should now call him, a papist. He believed that neither God could be honoured rightly, nor his king served faithfully, nor the Church of England governed lawfully ; unless he obeyed the law of a foreign court, and swore allegiance to a foreign bishop : Anselm demanded permission, as we have said, to proceed to Rome to swear allegiance to Urban. The king refused^; and informed him that the acknowledgment of any pope, without his per-
' Baronius (anno 1094) says, that Occasio (persecutionis) ex eo manavit, the king preferred Guibert to Urban — quod rex faveret potius Guiberto, etc.,
Modern and ancient Papal controversies the same. 325 mission, was an infritis-ement of the riehts of his crown : book in.
r^HAPlV
and that, whoever should attempt to deprive him of the ^^ — "
power of either choosing between the candidates for the papacy, or of acknowledging, or not acknowledging, a pope at his own pleasure, should be considered as one who would deprive him even of the crown itself*.
Anselra remained firm to his purpose. He had acknow- ledged Urban to be pope while he was Abbot of Bee, and he considered that he still owed him allegiance as Archbishop of Canterbury ; nor would he depart from the obedience and subjection which he believed to be his right to offer \ The king replied in terms which ivere identical with many expressions used in our more modern controversies : so long has this fatal contest endured, on the same subject. He affirmed, that the fidelity which was due to the king, and the obedience required to be observed to the apostolic see, were incompatible with each other ^ Anselm affirmed them to be quite compatible, and begged that a national council might be summoned on this very point — whether he could, or could not, reconcile his allegiance to his temporal prince with the duty and obedience which he had sworn to the Bishop of Rome ^ And he added, with the same integrity, honour, and sincerity which had characterized him throughout ; that if the two kinds of duty implied by the two oaths were proved to be inconsistent with each other ; he was willing rather to leave England than to renounce his duty, even for an hour, to St. Peter and his vicar on earth ^. The king complied with his request. A council was held at Rockingham ^ Anselm there justified his past conduct. In reply to those who recommended him to submit to the king in all things, he quoted the texts
whereas he was only angry with An- contra suani voluntatem posse sorvare.
selm for making any request of this See the conversations detailed at consi-
nature. — See further, Eadmer, p. 40. derable length by Eadmer, pp. 41,
* This appears to be the meaning of 42.
a somewhat obscure expression in ' . . . . utruni, salva reverentia et
Eadmer — Quicumque enim regiaj dig- obedientia sedis Apostolicie, posset
nitatis, ei consuetudines toUit, coronam fidem terreno rogi servare, an non ?
simul et regnum toUit. — Eadmer, p. * Quod si probatura — fatcor malo
41. ten-am suani— exeundodevitai"e,quara
* . . . . ab illis obedientia, et sub- Beati Petri ejusque vicarii obedien- jectione. tiam, vel ad horam abnegarc.
* . . . . protcstatus est ilium ne- " a.d. 1094, March !lth. — See quaquam fidem, quam sibi debebat, Labb. Concil. x. 494, from Eadmer, simul ct Apostolicie sedis obcdicntiam, p. 40.
!•
326 A natiotial council condemns the conduct of Anselm.
BOOK III. so usually urged to justify decisions similar to his own, ?"^f ^^'; " Thou art Peter \" and, " Render to Ceesar the things that be Caesar's, and to God the things that be God's." His reasoning was received with respect and attention by his brethren; but their decision, and therefore the decision, it may be said, of the Church of England at that time, required submission to the temporal sovereign ; without regard to any opinion which the archbishop might have formed respecting the claims of the Bishop of Rome. While the bishops, how- ever, condemned the conclusions of Anselm, they refused to comply with the king's request, that he should be deposed from his see, though they consented to abjure his authority. The lay barons, also, refused to pass sentence of deposition upon him. It was an unhappy discussion, the germ of much future evil. The archbishop would have melted the crown into the mitre : the king would have melted the mitre into the crown. The two will ever flourish together when the episcopal mitre and the regal crown are ruled by the law of God alone ; and when both unite to reject the papal power, ivhich would blend both into one ornament for its own tiara.
We cannot, at this moment, fathom the motives of all the actors in these strange scenes ; yet we may, perhaps, conjec- ture the motives of Rufus in adopting a measure which appears to one of our modern historians to be absurd or
^ See on this text, and its meaning, — Augustinus de diversis, serm. 108,
accoi'ding to the interpretation of the et in Evang. Joamiis Tract, cxxiv.
fathers, the admirable compendium of sec. 5, ap. Gieseler, vol. i. p. 262, note
Bishop Hopkins, London, 1839. The 26.
argument against the construction put St. Jerome also says, Petra Christus upon the passage, as used in support est, qui donavit Apostolis suis ut ipsi of the universal supremacy of the quoque petraj vocentur — Tu es Petriis, Bishop of Rome over the Church of etc. (in Amos vi. 12.) At dicis : super Christ, is decisive of the futility of the Petrum fundatur ecclesia : licet idip- pretence — Ecclesire Petrus Apostolus, sum in alio loco super omnes apostolos propter apostolatus sui jjrimatum, ge- fiat, et cuncti claves regni coelorum rebat figurata generalitate personam, accipiant, et ex a;quo super eos forti- Quando ei dictum est — Tibi dabo tudo ecclesise solidetur ; tamen prop- claves regni cceloj'um, etc. Univei'sam terea unus eligitur, ut capite ciiustituto significabat ecclesiara; estsM/)erjL5e<»'awi, schismatis tollatur occasio. — Hierony- unde Petrus nomen accepit. Non enim mus adv. Jovinian. lib. i. The words of a Fetvo })etra, sed Petrus a petra, sicut Christ to St. Peter are a prophecy, and non Christus a Christiano, sed Chris- a commission. A prophecy that the tianus a Christo vocatur. Ideo quippe Church should be built upon the con- ait Dominus ; Super hanc petram cedifi- fession of his Messiahship ; and a cabo ecclesiam meam ; quia dixerat Pe- commission to Peter to fulfil the pro- trus — Tu es Clirlstus, FUius Dei rivL phecy, by being the first preacher of Super hanc ergo, inquit, petram quam the gospel to the Gentiles, confessus es, ajdificabo ecclesiam meam.
The Pall given by the Pope to the Idng, and by him to Anselm. 327
ludicrous \ The great object of Rufus seems to have been book hi
to prevent the archbishop from taking the oath of allegiance v — :_ J ,'
to the pope on the acceptance of the pall. He, therefore, resolved to apply to the pope for the pall, that he himself might present it to the archbishop. I cannot imagine that any king, who must always be supposed to be guided by thoughtful counsellors, would do any thing, however absurd or ludicrous his measures may appear to be, without some adequate motive. If the king supposed that he could secure the archbishop by presenting the pall to him — if w^e can believe that the king imagined he could prevent Anselm from taking the feudal oath to the pope by himself presenting him with the pall — we discover some reasonableness in thus pri- vately sending to Urban, whom he thus acknowledged to be pope, for the archiepiscopal pall, that he might himself present it to Anselm, and thus supersede the necessity of his proceed- ing to take the oath of allegiance at Rome. Urban sent the pall to Rufus. After many discussions between the various par- ties, Anselm was received into favour, and w'as requested to receive the pall from the hands of the king. The archbishop, however, refused to do so, affirming, as consistency might seem to require, that the pope alone, as the successor of St. Peter, could confer that honour. It was then ordered, that the pall should be laid in a silver box, with much ceremony, and accompanied with long processions, on the altar at Can- terbury. Anselm consented to take it from the altar as from the hand of St. Peter. He came barefooted in his archiepis- copal robes to meet the pall, which was laid on the altar ; and after being kissed with great humility and reverence by all present, Anselm took it from the altar in the manner which had been agreed upon, and celebrated mass in the palP.
In the course of the discussions at Rockingham, Anselm had been called and treated as the primate, not only of England, but of Ireland and Scotland * ; and about this time, Murchertac, King of Ireland, sent to Anselm to consecrate
2 Lingard — "There is something maimer that his reader, without sus-
ludicrous in the result of the contest." picion, adopts the conclusions intended
That author tells the truth, but not the by the Romanist historian,
whole truth. He makes the worse * Eadmer, p. 45.
appear the better reason, smoothly ^ Sec Bi'ady's History of England,
relating questionable matters in such i. 227.
328 Anselm again insists on going to Rome,
BOOK HI. Malcolm, a monk of Winchester, Bishop of Waterford, which CHAP. IV. ^^g accordingly done. He consecrated, also, the Bishop of Dublin \ Anselm, by quoting Stigand as his precedent for consecrating the churches in the dioceses of other bishops, which were built upon estates belonging to the see of Can- terbury, acknowledged him as the legitimate primate of England '.
A new office of devotion was said to have been drawn up at this time, 1096, and introduced into the English Church, by Anselm, in honour of the conception of the Holy Virgin. He was enjoined to do this, as the legend declares, by an apparition of St. Nicholas walking on the sea in a storm ; when the ship in which Anselm was crossing from Brittany, was in danger of sinking. On his pledge to institute this feast the sea became instantly calm ^ In a provincial synod of London in 1328, the observance of this festival was renewed by a constitution, on which occasion. Archbishop Mepham, who introduced it, said he was treading in the steps of his venerable predecessor iVnselm. Durham cathedral was com- menced at this time by Bishop Carilelf, who at the council of Rockingham objected to the proceedings of Anselm.
Notwithstanding all the efforts made by William Rufus to retain Anselm in England, the archbishop still determined upon prosecuting his journey to Rome. The bishops and nobles of the kingdom in vain expostulated with him, by reminding him of his oath to the king. He declared that this oath was taken, as all others must be, with the reservation of his duty to God, ivhich duty he had identified with allegiance to the pope. The conduct of Rufus in seizing the revenues of abbeys and other ecclesiastical benefices had been most unjust; and he probably feared, in addition to other motives, that if Anselm persisted in going to Rome, and there laying the complaints of the Church before the pontiff, he might be excommunicated, as some continental sovereigns had been ; and that the disaffected part of his people might be strength- ened in their resistance to his government. He peremptorily assured Anselm, that if he left the kingdom, he would confis-
5 Alford. Anmil. a.d. 10!)6. ^ See Pet. de Natal. Catalog. Sanc-
« Collier's Eecles. Hist. i. 267, a'ld tor. lib. i. c. 41, quoted iu Bishop Gib-
Labb. x. 6 1:5, both from Eadmer, pp. son's Preservative against Popex-y, vol.
45, 46. iii. tit. xii. sec. 5.
The Pope commands the King of England. 329
cate the revenues of his see to the crown. Anselm still per- book hi. sisted in his resolution ^ He went down to Canterbury, and 'Hap.iv. addressed the monks, the clergy, and the people. He as- sumed the pilgrim's staff and dress before the high altar, and commending all to Christ, took his departure amidst the tears and sighs of the multitude *. Thence, says Eadmer, his biographer, they went to Dover, where they found a priest waiting for them by the king's order. They were detained at Dover by contrary winds fifteen days. During the whole of this time the king's messenger ate at the same table and lived with the archbishop. When the wind on the fifteenth day was at length fair, the priest stopped the archbishop on the shore, and commanded him, in the king's name, not to leave England till he had inspected the baggage he was about to take with him. The satchels, or boxes, were then searched, amidst the astonishment and curses of the specta- tors. Nothing, however, was taken ; and Anselm setting sail, safely arrived in France, and proceeded to Lyons. He there addressed a letter to the pope, in which he detailed at length the conduct of Rufus ; and the impossibility of his previously attempting to visit Rome. He complains of the new burthens imposed by the king upon the archiepiscopal lands, and the violation of the canons \ He affirms the necessity of appealing to the see of Rome, and implores the pope to permit him to withdraw to his former tranquillity and retirement.
On the receipt of this letter. Urban pressed him to come to Rome, not only that he might there relate the affairs of England more fully, but that he might attend the Council of Bari ^ On his arrival at Rome, a.d. 1098, he was received with much honour. The pope wrote to Rufus, and com- manded him to restore the lands of the see, and rectify the other abuses of which Anselm had complained. The arch- bishop sent letters, also, to the same effect. Before an
* The detail of these transactions ^ Legem autcm Dei et canonicas
and negotiations is most interestingly ct apostolicas auctoritates, voluntariis
told by Eadmer. consuetudiuibus obrui videbam. — Tlie
' . . . . peram et baculum, peregri- letter is in Alford, iv. 152, from Au-
nantium more, coram altari suscepit : sclm, Ep]>. lib. iii. ipp. 37.40, 0pp.
comniendatis<|ue omnibus Christo, in- pp. 380, 381.
genti fletu ct cjulatu prosccutus, ogres- * Labb. Concil. x. 611. sus est. — Id. p. 49.
330 Rufus, though excommunicated, refuses to restore Anselm.
BOOK III. answer to these letters was received, he again requested the
> ^ J ,' pope to allow him to resign his office. Urban commanded
him, by virtue of his obedience, to retain it, and assured him that he would smite the king with the sword of St. Peter, in the ensuing Council of Bari ; which he had commanded to be held in October. The council was held, and Rufus was excommunicated and anathematized. The sentence, however, was revoked by the pope at the entreaty of Anselm ; who went down upon his knees to obtain its suspension.
The time had not yet arrived when the King of England felt himself compelled, by the fear of losing his throne, to submit to the increasing power of the Church. Rufus, how- ever, thought it most advisable to propitiate the pontiff, though he retained his anger against Anselm for appealing to a foreigner against his authority. On receiving the papal letters, he wrote in answer, that he would not permit Anselm to return to England ; and that as he had sworn to confiscate the revenues of the archbishop if he presumed to leave Eng- land without the royal permission, he would assuredly keep his word. Urban learned from the messenger, that no other cause of offence was urged by Rufus against Anselm, than that he had appealed to Rome. He bade him return to England, and assure the king that the sentence of excommu- nication should be issued in a council which he was about to hold the third week after Easter, if he did not comply with the demands of the apostolic see. The ambassador replied, that he was intrusted with some instructions, which he would only communicate privately to the pope. The result of those private communications appeared in the council of 1099. The cause of Anselm was discussed. The King of England, how- ever, did not, and would not, restore Anselm to England, nor give up the revenues of the see. Anselm was not com- manded by the pope to return. A decree was passed at the council, after a most vehement declamation against Rufus, by Reinger, Bishop of Lucca, in which a censure was con- veyed by implication against the King of England, but with- out mentioning his name. All lay persons who should give investiture to priests, and all priests who received investiture from laymen, were excommunicated '. The council was dis-
^ Canon. 1, seqq. ap. Labb. col. 615.
Papal remedies ivorse than political diseases. 331
solved : and Anselm was permitted by the pope to return to book hi.
•^ 1 r^ CHAP TV
Lyons, where he remained an exile from England till the ^ — 1^,J — '< death of Urban in 1099, and till the death of Rufus two years after.
Such was the result of the first appeal to the pope made by an Archbishop of Canterbury against the conduct of the King of England. The actions of Rufus were most unjusti- fiable. But he should have been made amenable to the laws of his realm by his people, and by his peers ; and the Church should have been contented to suffer rather than to revolt and rebel. The appeal to the foreigner to rectify the evils -of an independent state has been proved by all history to be a remedy, whatever may have been some advantages, worse than the disease.
In the same year with Urban II., died also Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury. Till this time, though there was much general resemblance between the several liturgies adopted by the various Churches ; each episcopal see, according to the custom of the primitive Churches, retained its own Kturgy, sanctioned by its own bishop. Osmund combined the prin- cipal liturgies into one form *, which was received, and long continued, by the whole Church of England. The power of altering or amending the form of pubhc prayer, has never been again committed to the bishops of the respective sees. // has been consigned to the convocation, or parliament of the Church, as it ought to be. We permit the sovereign, with the advice of his council, to commend both psalms and prayers to the use of the people ; but the convocation, the ecclesias- tical part of the senate, alone gives that permanent custom to the Church which the parliament, or lay senate, at their recommendation^ changes into a law.
CLX. Paschal IL, died 1118.
The magnificent usurpation continued. The Gregorian party — the ultra-papal supporters of the divine right of the Bishop of Rome to govern kings. Churches, bishops, and states — were in the ascendant, and the pontificate still gained strength daily. On the death of Urban, Rainerius ', a
* In usiim Saruin. * Labb. CoiK-il. x. (i'JO.
332 The strength of the Gregorian party increases.
BOOK III. Tuscan, who at the age of twenty, when he was sent on a CHAP. IV. jjjJssJq]^ from his monastery of Clugny to Rome, had attracted the notice of Gregory VII., and had been promoted by him to the dignity of cardinal, was elected to the see by the title of Paschal II. Two circumstances occurred about, or soon after, his election, which most materially contributed to sus- tain the power of the Gregorian party. The success of the crusade — the fall of Jerusalem on the 15th of July, 1099 — which was considered as a papal conquest"; and the death of Guibert, the antipope,who had been supported by the imperial party for twenty years. He died about twelve months after the election of Paschal. He had been an active and ener- getic opponent of Gregory VIL, Victor III., and Urban II. He held possession of St. Peter's and the Lateran palace, and officiated as pope during a great part of the pontificate of Urban II. Three were successively chosen to succeed him. Albert, his first successor, fell into the hands of Paschal on the day he was chosen, and was sent a prisoner to the monastery of St. Lawrence. Theodoric, after possessing the mere title fifteen weeks, was made prisoner, and consigned to the monastery of Cava. Magninulph, an archpriest, was then elected by the Guibertine party, with the title of Sylvester IV., and died suddenly. The strength of the papacy at this time, consisted in the attachment of the com- mon people. Philip, King of France, with Bertrada, were excommunicated in a council at Poitiers^; though the Duke of Aquitaine, enraged at the act having been passed, ordered his attendants to put every member of the council to the sword, and was only disobeyed because of the expedition with which all dispersed, except two abbots, whose lives were spared. The king, however, was compelled three years after to beg for absolution. He came barefooted to Paris in the depth of winter to take an oath of obedience to the decision of the council. It is said that he obtained permission after- wards to live with Bertrada, and the rights of their children were never called in question **.
The effects of the papal or ecclesiastical sentence of excom- munication at this time, upon all the domestic, social, loyal, and honourable feelings, is best learned from the affairs of
« Gieseler, ii. 174. ' Labb. Coiieil. x. 720.
^ History of the Popes, p. 123.
Temporal dominion cannot be entrusted to the priesthood. 333
Germany. The contest proceeded there between the im- book hi. perialists and Gregorians. Henry, afterwards Henry V. pf ^^P- IV- Germany, was encouraged to rebel against his father. When the aged emperor expostulated with his son, and re- minded him of his duty, the prince answered, that an excom- municated person could be considered neither as a king nor as a parent. The bishops of Germany followed the defeated emperor to the castle of Ingelheim. They insulted him in the severest language, and tore the imperial tiara by force from his brow. Before he died he was reduced to actual beggary, and supplicated in vain for a small appointment in a church built by himself. The petition was rejected. When he at length died broken-hearted, and abandoned by all, the dead body was not only disinterred ; but the clergy of Liege were anathematized for venturing to bury his remains ; and this act has been defended almost in our own days '. So stern, so bitter, so unendurable is the curse of the perversion of a true religion, by a sincere but erring priesthood. Christ could have struck with death Pilate and Herod. The priests of Chrisfs Church must learn, that to teach and to suffer are better proofs of their divine mission, than to threaten and ana- thematize. The kings of the earth may learn, that the sceptre of temporal dominion is never safely entrusted to the priesthood. The Christian priesthood may be justly per- mitted to counsel both princes and people ; but never, never to hold the temporal dominion, and to rule in political affairs. While their principles must be professedly religious ; their motives, and therefore their conduct, are always in danger of becoming identified with their own worldly dignity, greatness, and interests ^
At the death of Rufus, and at the accession of Paschal to the pontificate, Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was at Bee. His residence there endangered the throne of Henry, who had unjustly superseded his brother. Robert, his brother, was at this time in the Holy Land. He was a
' Apud History of the Power of the tlie manner in wliich the various con- Popes, p. 120. tests between the imperial and ]iontiti-
* I purposely omit the contests be- cal powcre proceeded on the continent, tween Henry V. and Paschal. The The history of the conflicts between preceding view of the efforts of Gre- the imperial and ecclesiastical powers, gory VII. and his immediate successors, ought ever to be the grammar of in- must be considered as a s]iecimeu of struction to states and sovereigns.
334 Power over England always one great object of the Papacy. BOOK III. firm adherent of the pope, who had now, by the death of
PHAP TV I. jT ■' y J
> ^^ '■ Guibert, attained the whole power of the papacy. Henry did
not dare to endanger his usurped dominion by venturing to oppose Paschal, his elder brother Robert, and Anselm '. He dreaded the result of excommunication, which would have both armed the continent against him, and have alienated his people from their allegiance ; and, as they believed, consigned his own soul to damnation for maintaining the political privileges of his monarchy against the successor of St. Peter. He, therefore, recalled Anselm, with an apologetical letter for permitting the Bishop of London to crown him * ; and invited him to return to his archbishopric. Anselm com- plied with the king's request, and was welcomed by the people with every mark of respect and kindness. He attended the court ; but maintained, with his former firmness, his refusal to be reinvested in his see by the king. He declared his resolution to be guided in all things by the late council at Rome, which forbade the receiving of investi- ture by the temporal sovereign. The king was deeply offended; but the power of the Church compelled him to temporize. Both parties sent ambassadors to prosecute an appeal to Rome, and Anselm was replaced in his see *.
Tlie Church of Rome, from the very earliest ages, has had the most esjjecial desire to retain England in subjection ; and till the yoke was thrown off — we m,ay hope finally — by Eliza- beth, it proved this desire by incessant encroachments, which produced no less incessant resistance. When Gregory dispatched Augustine to England, as Archbishop of Canter- bury, he appointed him legate of the island ; and from that time the archbishop was to be regarded as the pope's legate. This decree is said to have been enforced by Formosus ^ In
' This is the view taken of these not noticed by the author of the Saxon
matters by Alford. — Henrico igitur. Chronicle, nor by Asser, wlio was at
cum Roberto fratre, et Paschali papa that time Bishop of Sherborne. The
pugnandum erat, si Anselmo in inves- writers of ecclesiastical history who
tituraruin jure adversetur, etc. — Al- mention the same since Malmesbury,
ford, Annal. Eccles. iv. 173. have all quoted him as their sole au-
* Et precor ne displiceat tibi quod thority ; and as he lost no ojiportunit}' regiam benedictionem absque te sus- that might serve to establish the cepi. — Epp. iii. 41, p. 382. supremacy of the pope in England, so
* Eadmer, p. 57. it seems he, for that purpose, on the •^ The bull or rescript which Mai- present occasion, annexed inferences
mesbury says Formosus sent to Ed- to facts which were unauthorized, ward on the filling up of several The facts which relate to the trans- bishoprics then vacant in England, is actions between Formosus and the
Archbishops of Canterbury the only acknowledged legates. 335
this year, however, Guido, the Archbishop of Vienne, after- book hi. ^Yards Pope Calixtus, was sent into England with legatine — L^ — '' authority. Guido was a notorious Gregorian. He had con- tended with great industry in favour of the papal usurpa- tions ; or, as they were then denominated — the rights of the Church in the matter of investitures ^ He was probably sent, therefore, to strengthen the decisions of Anselm, and to confirm the authority of the Church over the king. The people of England, however, were jealous of the innovation on the privileges of the see of Canterbury ; and refused to submit to his mission. Two legates, it is true, had been previously sent — Hermanfrid, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, because Stigand was under the censure of the pope ; and Hubert, in the reign of William the Conqueror, who was but an ambassador on temporal business ^ The resistance, in this case, was successful, and Guido was recalled. Anselm, in this year, a.d. 1101, was the principal upholder
royal and ecclesiastical powers of Eng- land at this time, may be gathered from Asser, the Saxon Chronicle, Ra- dulphus, de Dieeto, and others, and are briefly these : Plegmund was chosen to fill the see of Canterbui'v in 889, which he enjoyed till 917- Soon after his appointment he went to Rome for his pall, taking with him presents of considerable value. It was in the pon- tificate of Formosus that he visited Rome, which continued from 890 to 897- On this occasion he seems to have consulted Formosus on the es- tablishment of new bishoprics in Eng- land. The uniform custom till that time had been that every archbisliop of Canterbury since the time of Augus- tine became, e.x officio, the legate of the apostolic see — " inauditum in Britannia, quemlibet hominum super se vices Apostolicas gerere, nisi so- lum archiepiscopum Cantuarise" (Ead- mer, p. 58); and in the Council of Cal- culth held 180 years after the death of Augustine, it was affirmed, "a tempore Augustini pontificis sacerdos Romanus nuUus in Brltanniam missus est, nisi nos." (Concilia Spclm. i. 195.) The com- mission of Formosus to Plegmund to act as legate of Rome, was a mere acquiescence in a long established cus- tom which he had no power to gainsay or deny. But out of these facts Mal-
mesbury has sought to make it appear, that the negligence of the royal head of the English Church in not fiUincr vacant sees, had caused an interdict of the kingdom. The silence of contem- porary writers on the subject is alone sufficient to prove this an unfounded declaration. It is true that the ar- rangements could not be all completed for allotting, endowing, and filling up the proposed new dioceses for several years ; and Wharton observes, that a fragment of history is extant, supposed to have been written by a monk of Abingdon, which affix-ms, that in 904 seven English bishops were consecrated. This is agreeable to what is said by Dieeto, Spelman, and others, and re- conciles the anachronisms in the story of Mahnesbury; but at the same time, lays him under the conviction of perverting facts to indulge his preju- dices.— See Asserii Aunal. 901. 909 ; Angl. Sacra, par. i. p. 554 ; Cressey's Church Hist. ann. 894 ; Saxon Chron. ann. 909 ; ^lalmesb. de Gest. Ancl. lib. ii. fol. 26.
^ . . . quern locum merito suo asse- cutus est, quia magna industria pro ecclesiarum jure, in annuli baculique traditione certaverat. — Alford. Annal. iv. 176.
« Collier, i. 280 ; Pagi, a.d. 1100, § 16.
336 AnsehTi's conduct the precedent for Becket.
BOOK III. of the throne of Henry against his brother Robert, though
V l^J ,■ he still refused to do homage to the king.
The ambassadors who had been sent to Rome, to ascertain the pope's decision respecting investitures in England, now returned. They brought back a letter from Paschal, in which all the Gregorian principles are reaffirmed to the utmost. He endeavours to prove that the right of inves- titure is inalienable from the apostolic see. He refuses the right of investiture to the king ; and again identifies the sub- mission of the king to the decision of the pope, with his obedience to the law of God. He actually has the audacity to tell him, " If you still wish to govern, become subject to God ^." The king seems to have been maddened by this letter ; and though he had so lately acknowledged the great service which Anselm had rendered him by compelling Robert, who trembled at the fear of excommunication, to return to Normandy ; he resolutely commanded Anselm to consecrate the bishops whom he had invested, and to become his liege subject ' ; or depart from the realm. Anselm answered, that he would abide by his former decision with respect to his obedience to the pope. That he would obey the king as much as that decision permitted: but that he would not leave England, but retire to his see, and there defy any violence which might be intended against him ^ This conduct of Anselm evidently afforded the precedent which ivas subsequently followed by Becket^. Many of the king's ministers in this emergency were anxious to disengage the king from any further regard
" Si vis diutiiis imporare, sul)clitus ii. p. 43, n. 40. Deo esto. The same pride and obstinacy found-
' . . . exegit ab eo, ut aut homo ed on tlie same Hildebrandine doc-
suus fieret, et eos quibus, etc. trine, dictated the behaviour of Becket
2 ... ad ecclesiam meani ibo, et to Heniy II. "Kings receive their faciendo qute me debere facere intel- authority from the Church," says the ligam quisnam mihi vel meis aliquam prelate to the king, "and not the veHt violentiam inferre considerabo. Cliurch from them, but from Christ."
3 In the dispute between William " God had appointed that ministers II. and Anselm, the reasoning of Hil- should not be judgfed by secular princes debrand decided the latter. In one of or laws." " Who can doubt whether his epistles to Pope Urban, he seems the ministers of Christ ought to be ac- to glory in the abject condition which counted the fathers and masters of he had imposed on himself by exile, kings and princes, and of all the faith- and by refusing to submit to a secular ful ? How absurd is it for the son sovereign. " He could not," he said, to command the father, and the scho- " with safety to his soul live in a lar his master !" — Hoveden's Annal. country where he saw the canons of fol. 284.288; Baron. Annal. llfi(!, § the Church forced to give way to the rJO.
laws." — Anselni's Epist. Eadmer, lib.
Disputes betiveen Paschal and the King of England. 337
to the see of Rome \ Tlie time, however, had not arrived for book hi. this bold step. It is probable, indeed, that if the king had ^^AP. i\ . done so, he would have lost his kingdom ; for the common people appear, by their conduct to Anselm, to have been fully convinced that the cause of the pope was identified with the glory of God, and the salvation of their souls. The lever still rested on the unseen world, by which the papacy moved this world at its pleasure. It was resolved, therefore, to make another effort to conciliate the pope. It was decided that three bishops should proceed to Rome as ambassadors from the king, and that • two monks, Baldwin of Bee, and Alexander of Canterbury, should accompany them on the part of Anselm. On the public audience of the representatives of the Church and king, the pope declared, that he preferred the forfeiture of his life to compliance with the king's request ^ These were bold words. They are such as are more usually adopted by those who are firmer in their intentions, than in their actions, and final decisions. The conduct of Paschal, towards the close of his life, under his oppressions from the Imperialists, did not justify the adoption of these expressions. After the audience, letters were sent to the king and to the archbishop. Those to the king were to the same intent as the former ; those to Anselm encouraged him in his resistance, and confirmed the exemption of the see of Canterbury from the power of any legate. On the arrival, however, of the ambassadors in England, the three bishops declared that the private opinions and professions of Paschal were inconsistent with the contents of these letters. The monks affirmed that the pope's private and public con- clusions Avere the same. This inconsistency produced a further suspension of any settlement of the quarrel till the pope should be again consulted. The king, in the mean time,
* Eadmer, and see also Collier, i. allow to Paschal the same honour and 284, foUo edition. obedience which his predecessors had
* As WiUiam had refused to swear granted to the pope, but he refused to allegiance to Gregory, so did Henry I. diminish for him the dignities and pre- to Paschal. He even threatened to rogatives of the crown. '' Habita igi- withdraw from all spiritual obedience tur,''(saystheking,)"charissime Pater, to him — fidelitatem facere nolui (said utiliori deliberatione, ita se erga nos the Conqueror to Hildebrand) nee volo: moderetur benignitas vestra ne (quod quia nee ego proraisi, nee antecessores invitus faciam) a vestra me cogatis meos antecessoribus tuis id fecisse recedere obcdientia."'
comperio : and Henry 1. consented to
VOL. II. Z
338 Clerical celibacy enforced by a National Council.
BOOK III. invested two newly elected bishops, one to Salisbury, and the
^^ — ^ '■ other to Hereford, with the pastoral staff.
The great and chief safety and strength of a nation consists in those laws which secure to the people the power of expressing their opinions, on the principles and measures of their civil riders. The same privilege ought ever to be secured to the people in ecclesiastical matters. This privilege existed in every age, and in every episcopal Church, from the earliest period. It ever existed in the Church of England till the discussions which arose on the controversies in the reign of Anne, and at the commencement of the reign of George I. These privileges are now but too obsolete. Every age has its peculiar errors : but as the perpetual discussions of political subjects in a civil senate, promote and elicit truth, wisdom, and strength ; so also, the continued examination of, and enquiry into, ecclesiastical laws and religious conclusions, would encourage perpetual elucidation of truth, prevent the permanency of error, uphold the influence of public opinion, and enforce the discipline of the Church. A national council was held in 1102, during the suspension of the disputes between the king and Anselm, in which some useful enact- ments were passed ; while others of a most objectionable kind were decreed. Among these, the fourth canon peremptorily ordained the celibacy of the clergy ^. God's own ordinance of holy matrimony had hitherto resisted all attempts to con- found celibacy with chastity, or marriage with vice. The marriage of the clergy in some of the canons of the councils of this period is called " detestable." To refrain from marriage was declared to live the life of angels. The argument would be correct if the future world and the present world were the same ; or if, in the resurrection, our body of glory was the same with our body of humiliation. But now experience has too amply proved, that greater evils accrue from enforced celibacy than permitted marriage. " Aspiring to be angels, men rebel." They rebel alike against the impulse of their nature, the good of society, and the laws of God.
The time, however,had now arrived when the long discussion between the imperial and civil, and the ecclesiastical and papal
« Labi). Concil. x. 729.
TJie controversy between Anselm and the king continues. 339
powers, respecting investitures, Avas to be terminated. After book hi.
the Council of London, the king commanded the archbishop ^ .^ -'
to consecrate the two bishops whom he, the king, had in- vested. Anselm consented to consecrate one, because he had declined accepting the pastoral staff from his temporal sove- reign. He refused to consecrate the other. The angry king punished the bishop who was guilty of the supposed con- tumacy to himself; but he was still compelled to temporize with Anselm till his ambassadors returned from Rome. He even visited him during the Lent of 1103, at Canterbury, after the return of the usual answer from the pope ; and even per- mitted the archbishop himself to proceed to Rome in order to obtain the consent of Paschal that the king of England should grant investitures. Anselm proceeded accordingly ; and remained at Bee in Normandy, where he was visited with great respect by Adela, the Countess of Blois, mother to King Stephen ; and also, though he continued to resist the king, by Henry himself. The controversy in the mean time pro- ceeded. Letters were received by Anselm from the Queen of England, from Paschal, and from the people, a.d. 1104, who seem to have passionately desired his return. It became absolutely necessary that either the state or the Church, the king or the archbishop, should yield ; for Anselm had warned the Countess of Blois of the danger of excommunication, which the king had incurred. He began to believe it to be his duty to proceed to this extremity, which, in the state in Avhich the king's affairs were at the time, might have placed his brother Robert on the throne of England; and the report began to be spread that the sentence would be speedily issued. Expostulatory letters continued to be sent to the king from England ; and to Anselm, to urge him to return, at all hazards, to his see. A petition by two hundred of the priest- hood in their habits was presented to the king, but without redress ; and the English bishops united to implore the arch- bishop to return. As the king and Anselm, however, had both consented to appeal to the pope, Anselm still refused to leave his place of refuge till the arrival of the final answer from Rome. The king had punished many of the clergy for certain alleged offences against the canons, by his tem- poral authority. Anselm expostulated with him, and both parties were so exasperated by the continuance of this
340 Death of Archbishop Anselm.
BOOK III. prolonged controversy, that civil war, the deposition of the
V 1^ J ,■ king, a general rebellion, the severest measures against the
clergy, or a total separation from Rome, appeared to be the alternatives presented to the contending parties. The agents of the king and Anselm at length, a.d. 1106, brought the final answer. It was decided that the Church should retain the right of investiture, but that the bishops should do homage to the king \ At this time Anselm was sick in his favourite monastery. Henry visited him there. A victory gained by the king in Normandy was imputed to the blessing of God upon their reconciliation. Anselm, on his recovery, returned to England, where he was received with rapturous demonstrations of joy. The queen herself headed the pro- cession of his friends, and ordered the preparations for his triumph on the road. So terminated the first great contest between the king and the Church, on the subject of in- vestitures. The same concessions to the civil authorities were soon after granted by the ecclesiastical power on the continent; and were confirmed at the Council of Rheims, and subsequently by the First General Council of Lateran.
Anselm died honoured and beloved, three years after this victory over his sovereign. His learning, piety, and virtue, w^ere acknowdedged by all. If he had not believed that firm- ness in resisting all interference by the laity, in the granting of investitures, was his bounden duty to God, he might have been charged with ingratitude in refusing a favour to the queen, who had so courteously befriended him ; in spite, too, of the flattering language of her letters \ The queen wished the archbishop to present Ernulphus to the abbacy of
7 . . . . investiturasque ecclesiarum the king, and to various bishops, are
Anselmo in perpetuum in manum re- undated. Much liglit would be thrown
misit ; eodem concedente ut propter upon the history of tliis period if they
hominium regi factum nuUus arceretur were rightly arranged. His work on
a benedietione. — Malmesb. de Pontif. the causes why God became man, as
lib. i. 227, apud Alford. Ann. iv. 219. well as his Sermons and Meditations,
* Speaking of his letters, she says, abound with benutiful thoughts. He
Non his desunt Frontonica gravitas defended, however, especially from the
Cicei-onis, Demosthenis,autQ,uintiliani. Fathers, the doctrine of transubstan-
In his sane doctrina quideni redundat tiation, and was a zealous woi-shipper
Pauli, diligentia Hieronymi, elucubra- of the Virgin Mary. After a life of
tio Gregorii, explanatio Augustini. austerity and ascetic penitence, he
In the Paris edition of Anselm's died on sackcloth and ashes, set. 76,
Works, (folio, 1721,) are many beau- 1109. An interesting and touching
tiful letters to the Queen Matilda ; account of the last moments of the
but these, with numerous other letters archbishop is given by his friend,
to his friends and contemporaries, to Eadmei", p. 26,
Compulsory clerical celibacy a yreat crime. 3il
Malmesbury. He refused to do so, because he had offered book hi. Anselm a bribe. chap^.
In the year before the death of Anselm, another council was called in London ^, at Avhich the most severe and atro- cious laws were again passed to compel the non-marriage — I will not call it as it is usually called — the celibacy of the clergy. This was a national synod, rightly and duly called. The archbishops, the bishops, and the clergy, by their majority, represented the English Church. Alas for the arguments which identify apostolical authority with apostolical truth ! Alas for the theories which represent the Fathers of the Church, in any age, as infallible, because their mission from their Lord is divine! The errors of the true Church — the follies of the best, holiest, wisest, noblest assemblies that can meet together upon earth — are the principal sources of political and ecclesiastical evil. This yoke and badge of slavery, absurdity, and folly, was not fastened on the neck of the English priesthood by Rome alone, but by their own hands ; and the subdued minority, even if it had been reduced to one individual, would have been right, as we now in this day acknowledge, against the whole body of their brethren. Celibacy may be sometimes justly encouraged by a Church. But to enforce it is a monstrous crime. In this synod immediate separation from their wives was commanded ' to the clergy. Their wives were prohibited to meet them, either in their own houses or elsewhere. Six witnesses were required to dis- prove the allegation of informers, that they ever met their husbands. The clergy who refused obedience to the law were declared infamous. If they attempted to discharge their duties, they were to be excommunicated. The officials of the clergy were commanded to swear, that they would take no bribes to relax these laws. Those who had hitherto refrained from putting away their wives were subjected to penance ; and those who relapsed were fined or imprisoned. Many of the clergy refused to acquiesce in those abominable enactments ; but the opinions and manners of a nation depend upon their laws. Laws eventually become changed, in the course of two or three generations, into customs, if they are not repealed ; and custom, if not constantly checked,
» Labb. Concil. x. 7oG. • Canon ii. col. 756".
342 Excommunication made a political weapon.
BOOK III. is the most tyrannical enforcer of an unjust or absurd law.
CHAP. IV. rjijjg married clergy, soon after the holding of this synod, nearly ceased, till the reign of Edward VI., when wiser and opposite laws again permitted their marriage.
Anselm died at Canterbury in the year 1109. The last act of his life was to write a letter to the archbishop elect of York, who had long been endeavouring to emancipate himself and his see from the canonical primacy of Canterbury, to ex- postulate with him on his delay. He wrote also to Paschal to beg him not to send the pall to Thurstan till the canons of the English Church in this matter had been obeyed ; and he sent another letter also to the English bishops, commanding them, under the penalty of excommunication, never to acknowledge him, till he had professed obedience. Excom- munication was now beginning to he a familiar weapon to enforce political opinions in political quarrels ; and it will ever be so, when the Almighty is supposed to enlist in the squabbles of kings and bishops. Henry enforced the de- cision of Anselm, though he desired to appoint the Arch- bishop of York without further difficulty. He permitted the pope's messenger, therefore, to give Thurstan the pall, after he had sworn canonical obedience to Canterbury ; for he declared himself unwilling to incur, for an hour, the Divine displeasure, by subjecting himself to the excommunication pronounced by Anselm. So deep and so implicit was the deference universally paid, in this its palmy hour, to the ecclesiastical authority. The piety of the age continued to be ascetic. About this year Goderic retired to his hermitage at Finchale, near Durham, where his devotions and his actions were equally miraculous. We shall consider the effect of his miracles on the controversies of the day, when we come to the age of Thomas Becket.
Five years elapsed between the death of Anselm and the appointment, in 1114, of his successor, Ralph, Bishop of Rochester. In this interval the noble university of Cam- bridge began to be distinguished as a seat of learning, by the preaching and lecturing of the Abbot of Croyland, and four of his monks ; who devoted their large revenues to instruct the youth of the day, and to the rebuilding of their monas- tery, which had been burnt down.
Commwiion ivith Rome identified with subjection to Rome. 343 The kinsr was most uniustifiable in retainino' the revenues book hi.
. . • • CHAP IV
of Canterbury in his own hands ; and omitting, through the > ,^ >
long period of five years, to fill up the see. We may almost believe that if he had not feared the power of the people, he would have retained them as a fief of the crown in perpetuity. The king was wrong in oppressing the Church, the pope was wrong in ruling as a temporal sovereign over sovereigns. The laws of each country are the proper regulators of both the sovereign, and the people. But when we remember that the influence of Rome continued through the whole of the barbaric period of our history — when successive kings were as rude and violent as they were ignorant, we may believe that the power of the pope has been overruled to the pre- serving the Church of England, till the day when it began to be the instrument of that great good, which England is intended to accomplish for mankind. No persons of English origin were, at this time, promoted to the higher ecclesiastical bene- fices in England or in Normandy.
The conferring of the pall upon the archbishop by the pope was now considered indispensable to his performing any of the duties of his office. The popes required the candidate for the honour of the pall to attend at Rome in person. The Bishops of England, however, with the Church of Canter- bury, sent commissioners to Paschal to solicit the pall without the personal attendance of the new archbishop. This was con- sented to, but with great reluctance, by Paschal, who sent over with it Anselm, the nephew of the late archbishop. In compliance with the usual custom, the ambassador was met by the archbishop and his suffragans at Canterbury. He proceeded in great pomp of procession to the church, and laid the pall on the high altar ; whence the archbishop reverently received it, and solemnly made his vow of canonical obedience and fidelity to the Bishop of Rome. Communion had become subjection, and continued to be so till the yoke was broken four centuries afterwards by Cranmer, ivho took the oath to the pope under a public, solemn, open reservation of his duty to his temporal sovereign. Expostulatory letters were sent from Paschal, by Anselm, with the pall, upon the refusal of the English to receive his legates. Guido had not been acknowledged as legate, neither was Anselm, nor many others after him. This encroachment continued to be re-
344 The Pope reproves the king and bishops for holding synods. BOOK III. sisted : and the leeate sent, even in the time of Mary, was
CHAP. IV. . o J J 7
' ^J — '' required to return, because the Archbishop of Canterbury
was the only papal legate recognized by the canon law of the Church of England ^
The most presumptuous attempt, however, which had yet been made to intimidate the King of England, and to rule over the English Church, took place this year, 1115. The king summoned, at Westminster, his nobles and bishops to consult on public affairs. When the assembly met, Anselra delivered a letter from Paschal to the king and bishops ; in which he had the insolence to reprove the sovereign and the bishops for their venturing, without his authority, to hold synods, and to manage, within their own realm, the discipline and government of the Church, without any consultation with the see of Rome. The letter is extremely useful as a record, demonstrating the continued independence of the English Church in spite of the papal pretensions, and their management of the Church Avithin themselves '. It proves that they decided, even at this time, questions of Church government at home, without acknowledging the necessity of appealing to the pope ; or having any recourse to a foreign authority. The suffragan bishops swore canonical obedience to their metropolitans alone; who were the only prelates whom the ever-gradually increasing usurpation of Rome required to attend at Rome forthe pall. Anselm quotes the decretals to confirm his pretended authority *; and dares to reproach the king for translating bishops, which ought not to be undertaken without the papal permission \ The king con-
2 In General Councils of the Western non ab alia, sunt terminandse. Vos
Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury oppressis apostoliese sedis appellatio-
had the precedence of all other arch- nemsubtrahitis; cumsanctorumpatrum
bishops. — Burns' Eccles. Law, voce conciliis decretisque sancitum sit, ab
Bishop, i. 197, apud Hart's Eccles. omnibus oppressis, ad Romanara sedem
Records, p. 20. appellandum. — Alfordi Eccles. Angli-
* See the admu'able view of this canae Annales, vol. iv. p. 254; see also
matter in Collier. Pagi, ad an. § 12.
■* Vos autem (inconsultis nobis) ^ Vos, prseter authoritatem nostram,
etianiepiscoporumnegotiadefinitis,cum episcoporum quoque mutationes facere
Martyr Victor, ecclesice Romause pon- pnesumitis ; quod sine sacrosanctse
tifex, dicat : quamquam, comprovin- Sedis Roraante authoritate ac licentia
cialibus episcopis, accusati causam fieri novimus oranino prohibitum. Si
pontificis scrutari liceat ; non tamen ergo in his omnibus, sedi apostolicae
definire, inconsulto Romano pontifice, dignitatem ac reverentiam servare
permissum. Zephyrinus quoque martyr consentitis ; nos vobis, ut fratribus et
etpontifcx,Judicia,iuquit, episcoporum filiis, charitatem dcbitara conscrvamus;
majoresque causae a sedc apostolica, et ct quae vobis ab apostolica sedc conce-
National Councils supplied the place of Parliaments. 345
suited the bishops on the contents of the letter; and the book hi. Bishop of Exeter was sent to Rome to expostulate \\ ith the . '^^" ; pope on his pretensions. The result is not related. The pope had lately made the attempt to send a legate into France to hold provincial councils ; and had suspended, and even excommunicated, the bishops of Normandy for not appearing at his summons. The bishops of France, however, had never been the mere vassals of Rome. They despised his excom- munication; and as the people did not desert them, the sentence was, as it always will be, powerless.
This year, 1116, a council of spiritual and temporal persons was held at Salisbury, which has sometimes been considered as the first parliament. The truth on this point has been overlooked by most historians. Secular as well as spiritual affairs were so entirely managed by the ecclesiastics, who were generally either men of the noblest birth and highest rank; or else of that commanding talent which enables the more humbly born, to compel the admiration of their contem- poraries, and to obtain influence in their day ; that the coun- cils of the Church might now be called the parliaments of the country. They were commanded to be held twice in the year ; and few matters of public interest could escape discus- sion in these assemblies.
In this year, 1116, Paschal convened a council in the Lateran ^, to which all the bishops of the Western Church were invited. On this account it has been called a general council. The pope, at this meeting, condemned with an eternal anathema his own act and deed, which he had publicly ratified by taking the consecrated wafer, on a former occasion, at the altar of St. Peter — that he would never anathematize Henry. Bruno, of Segni, called upon all to return thanks to the Almighty for having heard Pas- chal, with his own mouth, forswear himself in regard to a supposed heretical writing which he had signed in the camp of Henry. Some cried, if the privilege granted were heretical, he who conferred it must be a heretic. An altercation ensued on the application of the term heretic to his holiness.
dcnda sunt, beuigneet dulcitcr, Domino dictum et apostolicum exempluni, pe-
pnestante, concedimus. Si vero ad- dum in vos pulverem excutiemus. — Ut
hue in vcstra deccrnitis obstiuatia per- supra, p. 255.
niancrc ; nos secundum cvangclicum * Sec Baron, ad ann. § 1 — C.
346 Archbishop of Canterbury confirmed in the Papal legateship.
BOOK III. To pacify the assembly, and to settle the contest, Paschal CHAP. IV. (jggij^j.gj — ^\^Q whole world knew that heresy never had in- fected the Roman Church ; for it was of this Church that Christ spoke when He prayed that Peter's faith might never faif. What a strange power ! A word from Scripture, however distorted to suit any purpose, was sufficient to silence a council; and the pope was permitted to absolve himself from an offence, and still to retain his reputation as an in- fallible or divine ruler.
Undismayed with the ill success of his persuasions, ex- postulations, and threats to bring the English throne and Church under submission, Paschal was still determined to make another attempt to introduce his legates into England. The king was in Normandy, and Anselm was sent, as legate, to settle a dispute between the two archbishops. The king gave him a very courteous reception at Rouen, but would not suffer him to proceed across the Channel until the English bishops gave their consent. A great council was conse- quently assembled in London before the queen. The bishops, lords, abbots, and others present, resolved una- nimously to remonstrate against the legateship. The Archbishop of Canterbury was despatched to acquaint the king with the decision of the council ; and thence proceed to the pope, to remonstrate against the appointment of Anselm. The answer of the council was sent to Paschal, who was at Beneventum, by messengers who accompanied the English archbishop ; the chief of whom was Herbert Losinga, Bishop of Norwich. Paschal received them very graciously : but when he found them determined not to admit his messenger, he confirmed by letter, ambiguously worded, to the see of Canterbury, all the privileges it had enjoyed from Augustine to that time. Anselm was immediately re- called; but having a further commission to execute in England, namely, a settlement of the tribute called Peter's pence, he requested the king to permit him, before his return to Rome, to pass over into England on that business. This also the king refused, and Anselm returned to Rome ^
Another circumstance occurred, too, about this time,
' Du Plessis, pp. 2G3— 265, edit. » Eadmcr, lib. v. pp. 1 10, 117, edit. Gorcum, 1(J62. Selden.
Appeals to Rome the chief source of Us continued poiver. 347
which gave Paschal an opportunity of interfering in the book III. affairs of the Enghsh episcopacy. Thurstan, Archbishop of v \' : York, as previously intimated, had refused, on his election, to acknowledge the Archbishop of Canterbury as his canonical superior, according to the decision of a council in 1073'. The archbishop consequently refused to consecrate him ; and the king would not permit him to hold the see. Thurstan appealed to Paschal, who wrote to the king, saying, that though he would not allow the privileges of Canterbury to be infringed ; he would not suffer those of York to be pre- judiced. He, therefore, begged his majesty to do what justice required to the Archbishop elect of York. The answer was unmeaning, but the appeal had been made, and the policy of Rome encouraged all appeals. They increased its influence, enlarged its revenues, and confirmed its nominal supremacy.
The emperor, Heniy V., who had been excommunicated by the Lateran Council, wished to have the sentence cancelled. He, therefore, marched an army towards Rome. The pope having declared that he himself had observed the treaty, but that the bishops had excommunicated him ; and that he could not revoke the decree unless in their presence ; Henry became so provoked at this prevarication, that he took possession of the territories of the Countess Matilda, in Lombardy, which she had bequeathed to the pope, but w hich Henry claimed as an imperial fief. Matilda had died two years previously. The emperor proceeded to Rome, taking the strongholds on the route. The pope fled precipitately into Apulia. The Romans were soon compelled to open the gates to the imperial forces ; and Henry was received with great rejoicing by the multitude with Cencius and Ptolemy at their head, two popular citizens who had been excom- municated by Paschal for their steady adherence to the emperor. A meeting of the clergy, lords, and citizens, was called to meet the emperor in the Basilica of the Vatican. He told the assembly that he was come to endeavour to effect a peaceable treaty between himself and the pope, and to receive the imperial crown again from his hands; it having been conferred before, as some said, by force. The clergy
^ Sec iioutifiuatc of Alcxiindcr II., supra.
348 Oaths of obedience to the Pope taken by Metropolitans. BOOK III. refused to comply with any of his demands without the
r'T-TAP TV ■>■ v •^
V ^I I authority of Paschal, by whom the Archbishop of Braga,
Maurice Bourdin, had been sent as legate to treat with Henry. This legate was induced to perform the ceremony of a second coronation. Paschal consequently summoned a council at Beneventum, and condemned Bourdin as a traitor to the apostolic see. The heat of the season compelled the emperor to retire into Tuscany, on which the pope, assisted by the Normans, marched unexpectedly to Rome, and sur- prised the Germans who had been left in possession of the city. While preparing, however, to defend the city against the return of the emperor, the pope suddenly died '.
All the principles of Nicholas had been enforced by Pas- chal. The exaction of an oath of obedience and allegiance from all metropolitans had noiv become a custom, as well as a law of the Churches. This pope began the custom of dating his letters from the era of his election to the pontificate.
CLXI. Gelasius II., died 1119.
John of Gaeta ^, a learned Benedictine, who had been secretary to Urban II., was elected by the Gregorian party, without any notice being sent to the emperor or his friends. A troop of Imperialists consequently entered the church of the Benedictines at Rome, where the new pope and cardinals were assembled, and carried off John of Gaeta, who had taken the name of Gelasius, prisoner to the house of Cencius Frangipani. Many cardinals and clergy were at the same time imprisoned, stripped of their canonical vestments, and, with the pope, unmercifully beaten. A counter-revolution was soon raised; and Gelasius being rescued, was taken to the Lateran and crowned.
In the midst of these disorders, the emperor unexpectedly entered the Leonine city at the head of his army. Gelasius made his escape by sea to Gaeta, near Naples, and was kindly received by the Norman princes. The emperor sent envoys to offer his protection, provided he would return and renounce all right to investitures. If he rejected this offer,
' On the exact date of his death, ^ ^ life of this pope, written by Pan- sec a learned discussion in Pagi, ad dulfiis Pisanus, is printed in the Acta an. 1118, § 1. Sanctorum.
Contests between the Gregorians and Imperialists at Rome. 349
he should proceed to the appointment of another pope. The book hi, answer of Gelasius was unsatisfactory to the empei'or ; he, > — 1~.J — '' therefore, caused Maurice Bourdin, Archbishop of Braga, to be elected, who, as legate of Paschal, had crowned him in the Vatican. Bourdin took the title of Gregory VIII. on his election ; and now, as pontiff, repeated the ceremony of the coronation of the emperor.
The emperor having left Rome, Gelasius returned ; and as he was about to celebrate mass, the royal party, with Cencius as their leader, forced open the church. A fight ensued between the Gregorians and Imperialists, during which Gelasius escaped from the church and proceeded immediately to France, where he was honoured by the king and bishops as legitimate pope. He died soon after his arrival in France, at Clugny, from whence he had intended proceeding to Rheims, Avhere he purposed to have held a council ^
Some short time before his death, the iVrchbishop of Can- terbury had sent agents to him to learn his opinion respecting the dispute between himself and the Archbishop of York. Gelasius is said by Eadmer to have purposed adopting several new and unheard-of measures respecting England. Collier conjectures that he designed to have settled in Eng- land another legate besides the archbishop. Paschal had attempted this ; and the design was completed in the reign of Stephen.
CLXII. Calixtus II., died 1124.
Guido, Archbishop of Vienna, having been recommended by Gelasius as his successor, the Gregorian cardinals and monks assembled at Clugny, and privately elected him with the approbation of their party in Rome. His first act was to call a council at Thoulouse against a sect of heretics who opposed infant baptism, the Eucharist, the priesthood, and marriages. He then summoned a council at Rheims, where he was met by 15 archbishops, 200 bishops, and a great number of abbots and other ecclesiastics. Simony, lay in- vestitures, sacrilege, benefices, and celibacy of the priesthood, were severally discussed, and canons were passed relative to each. The influence of the Church was now increased by
» Pagi, ad ami. 1118, § 15.
350 Thurstan attends the Council of Rheims.
BOOK III. the appeal of Lewis, King of France, against Henry I. of ^H^^- ^^; England, for having seized and kept in custody a Norman duke, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the said King of France. The council, however, decUned to interfere.
The emperor was expected at this council to conclude the long dispute on the question of investitures. He did not appear. Deputies were sent to him to invite an interview. He desired that the pope should meet him at the Castle of Mouson. Calixtus left the council; but, as the emperor was encamped with 30,000 men near to Mouson, he stopped short of the proposed place of meeting, and sent an embassy to offer absolution from all sentences of excommunication, if he entirely renounced the claim of investiture. Henry re- plied that he could not so dispose of a prerogative which had belonged to his ancestors for ages past ; and the pope finding further negotiation would be useless, returned to Rheims, and stated the result of his journey. This produced a renewal of the excommunication against the emperor, in which sentence the antipope, Gregory VHI., and all who gave countenance to the proceeding of either the emperor or the antipope, were included.
The dispute between the archbishops of Canterbury and York was again revived in 1119. The former refused to ordain Thurstan to the see of York unless he paid the required canonical obedience to him as primate. York had remained vacant two years. Thurstan had been permitted by the king to attend the Council of Rheims, on his pledge neither to ask nor to accept consecration from the pope ; and the king wrote to Calixtus to explain the conditions on which he had permitted Thurstan to be present at the council. In disregard of his own promise, and of the open injunctions of the king, Thurstan received consecration from the pope ; and the king resented the insult by the immediate banishment of Thurstan. The pope waited on Henry, who was then in Normandy, and after a fruitless attempt to reconcile Lewis and Henry, Calixtus confirmed to the English king all the privileges of the Church of England; among which its inde- pendence of legatine authority was included. The oppor- tunity was not omitted by the pope of pleading in favour of the restoration of Thurstan. The king signified that his oath precluded him from recalling the archbishop. The
The Hildebrand'me party conquer Bourdin the antipope. 351 pope offered absolution from the oath. His maiesty expressed book iir.
CHAP IV
astonishment at the proposal, and promised, after due con- ^ ^ — -"
sideration, to send his reply. He soon after sent to inform Calixtus that he could not accept his absolution — that if oaths and promises could be cancelled by absolutions, faith among men would soon be destroyed — that no man should learn of him to break his oath or promise *. Thurstan was at length allowed by the king, under certain restrictions, to enter his see ; and by an act of Calixtus, the see of York was declared independent of Canterbury, though it does not seem that the decree was observed.
After remaining in France about twelve months, Calixtus proceeded into Italy, As the emperor was now in Germany with his army, Bourdin, the antipope, retreated from Rome to Sutri. Though Calixtus was received with much welcome by the Hildebrand party in the city, he did not think himself safe while his rival held Sutri. He, therefore, went to Apulia to solicit the protection of the Norman princes, who con- sented to afford him whatever aid he might require to expel the antipope. An army was consequently soon in motion, and the emperor being unable at the moment to succour his Italian friends, Bourdin was given up by the people of Sutri to save themselves and their city. He was treated with the utmost contumely, though Calixtus is praised by his friends for saving his rival's life. Bourdin was stripped of his clothes, and his body was clothed with sheep-skins dyed with blood, as a scarlet robe. In this state he was mounted on a camel with his face towards the tail, and carried into Rome amidst the shouts of the Hildebrandine mob. He was afterwards kept in close confinement till he died. He had performed the duties of the pontificate for three years, and occupied the Lateran palace a great portion of that time. Many churches had acknowledged him as lawful pope, and during the whole of his career his functions were exercised in the city of Rome, without any formidable obstruction from his opponents ; and apparently without any public measures to invalidate his acts of authority. It was now as in former schisms, might determined right ; and violence superseded the dictates of justice.
Upon the removal of his rival, Calixtus sent Leo, a monk of Clugny, to the kings of France and England with the
' Eadmcr, Nov. lib. v.
353 Settlement of the question of Investitures.
OH AP T v' ^^^^' After despatching his business with the French court,
' v-^ — ' Leo waited in Normandy for an answer from Henry to his
application for leave to visit England. Permission was granted on condition that he came there as a private person, and not as legate from the pope. He was received by the king as the representative of Calixtus with suitable respect. Having told his errand, he was proceeding to other topics, but his address was cut short with the declaration, that his majesty meant to maintain all the privileges belonging to him, and particularly exemption from all legatine interference. So jealous was England to preserve its remaining independence. With this answer the legate was dismissed ; and satisfied that no authority or jurisdictitm beyond that established over the English Church would be conceded by the king, he set out on his return.
In 1122, in consequence of overtures from Calixtus con- cerning a settlement of the disputes that had so long sub- sisted between the empire and the Church, about investitures, the emperor assembled a council at Worms. In this council it was proposed, on the part of the emperor — that no bishop or abbot should be elected without the consent of the emperor ; and that the elect should not be consecrated till he had sworn allegiance for fiefs and lands held of the empire, and been invested with the staff and ring by the emperor.
The terms proposed by the other side were — that the emperor should invest the elect with all his temporalities by the sceptre only, without the staff and ring, which were de- clared to be spiritual tokens exclusively ; that homage should be done by bishops and abbots for demesnes which they held of the empire ; and that, in like manner, investitures within the empire, but out of Germany, should be performed within six months.
The emperor consented to forego the use of the staff and ring in all future investitures ; and with the consent of all present a treaty was prepared according to the terms sub- mitted on the part of the pope. In order, also, that the settlement of this long perplexing contest might be rendered more public, a general council was appointed to meet in the ensuing March, 1123, in the Lateran palace. This was the First General Council held in the West which is esteemed (Ecu- menical. All the others had been held in the East. The oriental Churches, for that reason, or rather, in consequence
Ninth General Council.
353
of their not having been parties in the disputes which it met book hi.
to determine, do not acknowledge it to be oecumenical. I ^ ^^ — -'
annex a tabular view of its proceedings.
Synopsis of the Ninth General Council ^
|
Council X. from Jerusalem. |
First Lateran Council. |
|
Date. |
A. D. 1123. March 18 to April 5 «. |
|
Number of Bishops. |
Three himdred ; while of abbots and other clergy there were at least six hundi-ed ^. |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
Calixtus II. « |
|
President. |
The Pope. |
|
Why and against what opinions. |
To settle the question of investiture ^. |
|
Against whom. |
None individually. |
|
Chief decrees and canons. |
The claim of the emperor to the right of investing bishops was compromised by a restriction, that he no longer use the insignia of spiritual authority in the cere- mony, but the sceptre only ; and that ecclesiastics elected throughout the Teutonic empire, receive their temporal investments from his hands, and do him homage for them. There were XXII. Canons, by which the enactments of former councils were renewed, to abolish the marriage of the clergy. The Xlth Canon was intended to inflame the crusading spirit ^ |
|
Penalties. |
Anathema. Excommunication *. |
|
Sufferers. |
The married clergy who reject their wives. |
|
Emperors. |
Henry V. of Germany. John II. Comnenus, of Con- stantinople. |
|
Pope. |
Calixtus II. |
* This is the council esteemed by There were no Eastern bishops present the Latins the Ninth (Ecumenical, at it. From this to Trent, the Greek
VOL. II.
A a
354 Retrospect of the period from 969 toW 23.
BOOK in. The period we have now considered, the two hundred CHAP. TV. ^^^ fifty-four years which elapsed between the last general council assembled at Constantinople, and the first general council, as it is reputed to be, in the Lateran ; when the ecclesiastical papal power had attained its greatest height, though not its greatest domination; is one of the most important periods in the history of the Church. We see within this space the disgraceful dissensions and errors between the Bishops of Rome, degrading the apostohcal succession; and rendering it totally impossible for all subsequent theologians to appeal with justice to that suc- cession ; as the exclusive channel of the grace of God to the Churches. Popes were degraded. The bishops whom they
Church does not receive any council as (jeneral. The Fourth of Constanti- nople is the last they acknowledge as (Ecumenical. — See Platina, in Vita Calixti II.; Van Espen. Caranza does not notice this council.
6 Cave, vol. ii. p. 263 ; Concilia, vol. X. p. 803; Bellarmine, vol. ii. p. 9; Du Pin, vol. X. p. 33 ; Binius, vol. iii. p. 466; Grier,p. 167; Venema,vol. vi. p. 64.
7 See the authorities supra : others say 997, of all kinds, in which Bellar- mine and Grier also nearly concur.
8 See Binius, Grier, Venema, &c.
» The compromise which was made, gave to the emperor the privilege of investiture by the sceptre only, de- barring him from using the staff and ring in the ceremony. The emperor consented not to interfere with any elections which take place in his pre- sence otherwise than to prevent simony and compulsion ; and his privileges of investiture are confined to his Teutonic dominions. The election of bishops was also ordered to be confined to the clergy and monks. The emperor on his part promises implicit obedience to the Roman see, and assistance when it shall be required.
1 The transactions of the councd are described by some as more military than ecclesiastic— Gesner, vol. ii. p.
133.
In quo h« fuerunt pacis conditiones inter pontificem et imperatorem con- stitutse.
Item, ut christianis, qui in Palsestina contra Saraccnos bella gerebant, aux-
ilium mitteretur. — Concilia, vol. x. p. 893.
Other canons were passed relating to discipline.
Conditi sunt, prseter pacti inter Henricum et papain confirmationeni, nonnuUi canones disciplinte ecclesias- tic£e et expeditionis sacrse promovendse. — Venema, vol. vi. p. 66.
2 Waddington, with his usual dis- crimination and good sense, remarks on the settlement of this conflict, " which," he says, " in addition to the usual calamities of international war- fare, had excited subjects against their sovereign, and children against their fathers, which had convulsed the holy Church, and overthrown its sanc- tuaries, and stained its altars with blood — that, on a calm histori- cal survey of the circumstances of the conflict, and of the crimes and errors which led to them, we are little disposed to load with unmixed repre- hension any individual of either party. The crimes, indeed, and the passions which produced them, were equally numerous and flagrant on either side. On the one were tyranny, and profli- gacy, and brutal violence ; arrogance, obstinacy, and imposture on the other: pride, and ambition, and injustice, on both. Yet our prejudices naturally incline to the imperial party, because the same or equal vices become infi- nitely more detestable when they are found under the banners of religion." —History of the Church, cliap. xvii. p, 309.
Apostolical succession more certain in England than in Ro7tie.35o consecrated, and the priests whom those bishops ordained, book hi.
• • ■ PTTAP TV
were deposed from their offices, according to the triumph of . .J ,'
a faction, or the movement of a popular, an imperial, or an aristocratical army, in their neighbourhood. Other popes, other bishops, other priests, were appointed in their places. It was impossible to decide which was the true descendant from the apostles ; and it is no less impossible to believe that the grace of God was withheld from the pious worshippers in the gradually corrupted Church, because a Stephen de- posed a Formosus, after death, and cut off the dead fingers, which had been extended in consecration over the bishops he appointed, from the disfigured carcass. The apostolical suc- cession from Augustine to the present day has been continued in England. The Church of England has done all it could to observe the ancient discipline, and God has blessed it abundantly ' : but if the Church of England had been unable to obtain the sanction of any one of the episcopal order to a purer and wiser mode of worshipping God, than the Church of Rome, or than the bishops who had been in communion with the Church of Rome, approved; the Great Head of the Church would still have accepted the prayers of the people, and blessed the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments. So it was, however, that the apostolical suc- cession has been more dishonoured, disgraced, and degraded at Rome itself; than in any other country where the episcopal descent has been traced. Folly, cruelty, worldly ambition, and the continued accession of error, marked every later cen- tury of its progress, in spite of the holiness of some popes ; and the zeal, prudence, and good government of others.
This was the period which saw the degradation of the papacy by the government of noble courtezans, and their no less noble paramours, as the world calls those noble who bear the names of distinguished ancestors. The see of Rome was dishonoured by the alternate success of imperial, aristocratic, or popular factions. The chair of St. Peter became saleable : and we can only suppose that it was necessary for the eventual happiness of man that the tur-
' But see an argument in the Dublin apostolical succession in the Chui'ch of Review, in which the reviewer derides England. the notion of the continuance of the
A a 2
356 The political influence of Rome useful at this period.
BOOK III. bulent violence of the rulers of the age, and the popular
\_ ,^ /ignorance of the common mass, which together threatened
to extinguish the influence of religion, and to suppress the free circulation of the sacred volume ; should be restrained by a power of the same nature with their own, but which was less brutal than the military laity, and less ignorant than the half-civilized descendants of the invaders of the Roman empire. Therefore it was, that the providence of God per- mitted the Church and Bishop of Rome to become influen- tial over all other Churches and bishops. The re-assertion by Gregory, both before and after his accession to the ponti- ficate, of the principles of Nicholas — the assistance, by the pope's blessing, to the conquest of England, as the result of the resolution of the Gregorians to overthrow the independ- ence of its Church, when Stigand, its archbishop, refused to pay homage to the Gregorian party ; on their changing custom into law, respect into homage, and communion with Rome into subjection — have influenced the whole of Europe even to this hour. The controversy still rages. The yoke is not yet broken. No subject is so interesting as thus to trace the emerging of the ecclesiastical power of Rome from its degradations under the caprice, simony, and oppressions of its neighbours ; and to observe its extending power eclipsing all other authority among its contemporaries, till emperors, kings, and princes, as well as archbishops, bishops, and their followers, were excommunicated and deposed ; and till the very ceremony of investing with their revenues the ecclesias- tical subjects of princes, was torn from them by the solemn edict of the Church, under the influence of the Bishop of Rome. It is in this light that the accomplished, though partial, credulous, and therefore unsafe historiographer of this period considers the decree of the First Council of Lateran respecting investitures*. He had once been com- pelled to exclaim, when speaking of the century before the ascendancy of Gregory VII., in allusion to the subjects I
^ Cujus memoria summa cum bene- cessoribus iiiconcessa perficere; Eccle-
tlictione inecclesiacatholieaperseverat, siamque impei-atorum tyrannide servi-
utpote saiictissirni poiitificis, cui Deus tutis jugo depressara vindicare ad per-
dederit, brevis licet temporis pontifi- petuam libertatera. — Baronius. catu, adeo gloriosa peragere et prsede-
Baronius on the corruptions of this period. 357
have mentioned — " What was the appearance of the Holy book III. Roman Chm-ch ? How most foul, when the most powerful v \ ' /' and the most degraded prostitutes ruled and governedat Rome; by whose will the sees were changed, and bishoprics given away; and, what is horrible to be related, their lovers, false pontiffs, were thrust into Peter's chair, who are not inscribed in the catalogue of Roman pontiffs except to mark the times. For who could possibly say, that they were legitimate Roman pontiffs who were thrust in by these prostitutes without any law ? There is no mention of the clergy either electing, or afterwards giving their consent. The canons were all reduced to silence, the decrees of pontiffs suppressed, ancient tradi- tions proscribed, and the former customs in electing the pontiffs, and the sacred rites, and the early usage, entirely extinguished \"
Yet all this passed away, and the feeling of exultation is almost enviable, with which the annalist describes the recovery of Rome from this degradation, about the time when Gregory VII., as Hildebrand, began to be influential. He contrasts the storms and tempests through which the Church had passed, and the incipient triumph when its sacred character began to be regained in the time of Leo IX. He imputes the change to the providence of God ; and he was right in doing so. But he mistook the means for the end. He imagined that the prosperity of the Church of Rome, was the object of the preservation of the Catholic Church of Christ. It was preserved as a preventive of a greater evil, than its own existence, in the darker ages. It is preserved at present as the depository of a certain mass of truth which will shine forth more clearly after its superincumbent errors shall have been removed. It may possibly be preserved to
* Quse tunc facies sanctse Ecclesiae tis hujiismodi intrusos sine lege legi-
Romanse ! quam fosdissima, cum Romte tinios dicere posset Romauos" fuisse
domiiiareutur potentissimse Eeque ac pontifiees ? Nusquam cleri elicentis
sordidissimse meretrices ! quarum ar- vel postea consentientis aliqua nicntio
bitrio mutarentur sedes, dai'entur epis- canones omnes pressi silentio decreta
copi, et, quod auditu horreiidum et in- pontificum suffocata, proscriptte anti-
fandum est, intruderentur in sedem quie traditiones, vcteresque ineli<Tendo
Petri earuni amasii pseudo-pontifiees, summo pontifiee consuetudines sacri-
qui non sint nisi ad consignanda tan- que ritus, et pristinus usus prorsus
turn tempora in catalogo Romanorum extincti. — Baron, a.d. 912 § 15. pontificum scripti. Quis enini a scor-
358
Baronius on the corruptions of this period.
BOOK III. be the chief episcopal Church in the West, if its first faith
> J ; shall be restored ; to hold the first place in future councils ;
and to preach the truth which once it persecuted *.
6 Hie rogo te, Lector, mecum con- sidera rem bene actam, divinitusque dispositam inveniri, si post innumeras tempestates, adversariorum ventorum impetu agitatas, post frequentes in scopulos illisiones, in syrtes ejectiones, et piratarum aggressiones, diligenti studio, aceurata solicitudine perlustrata navis, quae millies periisse debuerat, nulla sit inventa laesione quassata, nullo aperta foramine, nullo denique alicujus niomenti affecta detrimento. Ecce post tot tantosque enumerates superius turbines, quibus (ut antiquiora mala prsetermittemus) per centum annorum
curricula fuit miserandis casibus eccle- sia Romana exagitata, concussa, elisa, jactata, ut vix tabula juncta tabulae humana existimatione superesse videri potuisset; ista ipsa obtutu lynceo intus ibrisque ab adversariis earn perire cupientibus, perspecta, livoris lucerna pervestigata, quae recta quaeque etiam apparare facit obliqua, et bona cuncta mala videri ; nullo revera sit inventa errore ejus compago resoluta, ut eadem penitus esse cognita sit, qualis fuerat ab exordio ante procellas, quibus obrui videbatur in omnibus Integra. — Baron. A.D. 1054, § 36.
CHAPTER V.
Increased power of the Church of Rome over the Catholic Church. — Laws against Heresy. — Origin of Scholastic Theology. — Second Council of Lateran, or Tenth General Council.
CLXIII. Honorius II., died 1130. Sixteen years only elapsed before the next General Coun- book iti.
• . . . C'H \P V
cil. In this short period, however, thirty-one considerable > \ ' ' councils were held in the several countries of Europe. They treated chiefly on discipline ^, on the marriage of the clergy ^, the reformation of manners ^, the deposition and excommuni- cation of bishops *, the establishment of sanctuaries *, the reconciliation of kings who had quarrelled % and on other matters affecting the interests of Churches and states. Very interesting are the accounts of these assemblies, bespeaking, as they do, the state of the countries, people, and religion of the times ; but we have, alas ! in our language, to our shame and disgrace be it spoken, no general ecclesiastical history.
Lambert, Bishop of Ostia, succeeded Calixtus (Dec. 24, 1124). He compelled Roger Guiscard of Sicily to submit to him ; and reproved, against the advice of St. Bernard, the Bishop of Paris, for placing the diocese and the king's lands under an interdict. He extended the papal power in England, by commissioning a legate, John de Crema, to act in this kingdom. The king is supposed to have consented to this arrangement through the persuasions of his daughter, the
' At London, 1126. At Nantes, ^ At Narbonne, 1134.
1127. At Rouen, 1128, &c. « At Burgos in 1135, to reconcile
- At London, 1126. the kings of Navarre and Castile. At
^ At Paris, 1129. Westminster, Oxford, Worcester,
■* At Ravenna, 1128. At Chalons Northampton, and many other cities
sur Marne, 112!). At Pisa, 1134. and towns of England and Scotland.
360 Attempt to make the canon law the statute law in England.
BOOK III. Empress Matilda. This legate was also the bearer of a letter v___^^l_^ to David, King of Scotland, to desire that he would order the bishops of his kingdom to assist at any councils which his legate might deem necessary to hold. After a tour through the different sees of the island, the legate returned to London, and held a council, at which he presided ; though the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, by his right as primate, summoned the council. It sat three days, and seventeen canons were passed for the remedy of abuses. The fourth canon ordered that no benefice should be received from any layman. By the thirteenth it was decreed, that strict celibacy should be observed by the clergy ^
The insolent behaviour of the legate, who is said to have been avaricious, proud, and cruel, was so offensive to the English Church, that the Archbishop of Canterbury pro- ceeded to Rome for the purpose of complaining to the pope ; and to submit to the court of Rome, that the canons of the universal Church gave him the authority to preside at councils held within his own province. This step led to the confirma- tion of the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury as the legate of Rome in England.
Honorius began his dominion over Churches, states, and sovereigns, by the excommunication of the hereditary Count of Normandy. He ended it by excommunicating Conrad of Franconia, for having claimed the throne in opposition to Lothaire, who had been elected by a majority, and acknow- ledged by the apostolic see. Anselm, Archbishop of Milan, who had crowned Conrad, King of Italy, and the two patri- archs of Aquileia and Grato, who had acknowledged him, were also excommunicated.
The year before the death of Honorius, the Archbishop of Canterbury, as legate of the see of Rome in England, held a large council in London, at which all the bishops of the kingdom are said to have attended. The clergy who wei'e married were again ordered to put away their wives within a given time. The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Corbel, requested the king to punish those who refused to comply with the injunctions of the council, or, in other words, to give to the canon law the force of the statute law. They committed
7 Labb. Coiicil. x. 914.
Cruelty of the Papal populace in the middle ages. 361
to his hands the enforcement of their decrees. Henry took book hi. advantage of their petition by permitting the clergy to retain ? \ ' '. their wives upon payment of large fines. He thus raised a large sum of money ^
The retirement of Gratian about this time, 1130, into the monastery of St. Felix, in Bologna, in order to compile his work on the canon law, and thus to reconcile the discordant canons of the Church % in which the chief laws against heresy are collected and digested into order — the retirement, also, in this year, 1130, of Abelard, from his more public station as the teacher of innumerable students, in conse- quence of his own folly, and the revenge of the kindred of Heloise, to the monastery of St. Denis — the murder of Arnulphus, an eminent preacher at Rome, at the instigation of the priesthood, whom he offended by declaiming against their wealth and luxury — the burning of certain heretics, or persons so called, a few years after, a.d. 1140, at Cologne, not by process of the public law, but by the populace, in excess of zeal \ together with the atrocious burning alive of 1300 persons by Lewis VII. ^, and the severe reproof of the action by St. Bernard — remind me of the contest which was now commencing, not against the temporal encroachments of Rome, but merely between reason and authority, the bar- barous manners of the times, and the necessity of preventing the excesses of the populace by defined laws. So great was the influence of the Church over the masses of the people, that the populace burnt real or supposed heretics in the streets, in excess of zeal, without examination or trial. St. Bernard condemns the illegal and irregular manner in which they were put to death, even whilst he censures their opinions ; and we may infer, therefore, that greater advantages would result to
* Huntingdon, p. 230. Coneil. Lon- parts, and numerous compilations
don. can. v. ap. Labb. Coneil. x. 918. existed. The model for the work of
^ Scripsit Gratiauus, circa annum Gratian is said, by Alban Butler, to
1151, Decretorum Canonicorum Col- have been that made by certain monks,
lectanea ; seu Concordantiam discor- a copy of which is now in the kind's
dantium canonum,ex SS. Patrum dictis, librai'y at Pai'is. — Life of Ivo, Butler's
synodorum canonibus, spuriis Rom. Lives of the Saints, May 20, note (a).
P. P. Decretalibus, aliisque Pseudepi- ' See Pagi, a.d. 1146, § 17.
graphis collectam. — Cave, Hist, Lit. ii. ^ Ludovicus Rex Vetriacum cas-
216. trum Comitis Theobaldi cojpit, ubi igni
But Gratian had retired twenty-one admoto, eeclesia incensa, ct in ea mille
yeai-s pi-eviously. Ivo, Bisliop of Char- treccnta; anima;, divcrsi scxus ct aita-
tres, had already published a code of tis, sunt iguc consumptie. canon law, divided into seventeen
362 Unchangeableness from its follies the curse of Rome.
BOOK 111. society from the legal and regular infliction of the same sen- CHARV. ^gjjpg_ Tj^jg -g g^-iii ^Y\xe, though the manners of the people had been produced by the odious laws which identified punishment for opinion with the duty of the state to God. The populace were so generally influenced at this time by the priesthood, that though the proofs of the exist- ence of purer opinions on the peculiar doctrines of the Church of Rome— purgatory, the worship of saints, images, and the decisions of the Church respecting transubstantia- tion— were traceable ' through the greater part of Europe ; the united influence of the priesthood, the populace, and the severe denunciations of the canon law against heresy and heretics, endangered the lives of all who presumed to teach other doc- trines, than those which the Church of Rome espoused. They were in danger from popular excess. The intolerance of a heretic-burning mob is even more imbearable than the intole- rance of a priestly tribunal. Both are unendurable evils, but it is not improbable that the publication of the canon law, which Gratian now retired to complete, prevented even worse evils than those which had so long desolated the Churches. The people, the priest, the bishop, and the law ; the king on the throne, and the peasant or mechanic in the field or in the streets, w^ere generally debased with the same false zeal; and, strange as it may appear, the pope himself was more tolerant than many of the bishops. The Bishop of Pans was reproved by Honorius for his severity to his sovereign in placing an interdict on his possessions, and it was removed at his remonstrance. The crime of Rome is, that many cen- turies after the shadow of an excuse for intolerance has ceased —when the populace would no longer burn a heretic or any other person for rehgious opinions, and when the opinions it would punish inflict no evil on society, the canon laws are still unrepealed by the same authority which enacted them. Though they are not altogether received in many countries S they are partially received in all which adhere to the communion of Rome. The sanctions by which they are enforced are severe and cruel, yet no council is called, no papal bull issued, to change, rescind, or palliate either their principles or their conclusions.
3 See Milner on the Cathari, cent. ^ Sco the Dissertations of Charles xii. chap. iii. Butler on this subject.
k
The theology of the Primitive Christians. 363
About the time of Gratian's retirement to his tAventy-one book hi.
CHAP V
years' seclusion in the monastery at Bologna, for the purpose > — !,,,_ — ) of completing the code of laws which riveted for four cen- turies the chains of pontifical authority on the Churches of Europe ; that great collision began between pontifico-eccle- siastical authority, and the efforts of human reason to throw off the fetters of dogmatic theology. The theology of the primitive Christians may be defined to have consisted in these three things — the simple reception of the facts now nearly all collected in the Scriptures ; the inferences or doctrines strictly deducible from those facts, without venturing upon deep and abstract philosophical speculations ; and those rules of holiness which are essential to the government of the motives and conduct, with those rules of discipline which were most useful to the order and harmony of their daily increasing societies. The only difference between the Chris- tians who constituted the mass of societies which collectively constituted the Church Catholic ; and the Christians who were denominated heretics, consisted, in the deducing by the latter of certain inferences from the same facts ; which were first questioned, and then rejected by the former. The history of the Church, from the Ascension of our Lord to the time of Anselm and Gratian, is only the narrative of the manner in which the decisions of the Churches were formed and pro- nounced, till the whole authority became concentrated in the ecclesiastical papal power of the Bishop of Rome. That power had now rendered the world subservient to the clergy, and the clergy to the pope. Europe had become one immense and regular theocracy \ The Church noio governed human thought, human liberty , private morals, and individual opinions. It addressed itself, by its authority alone, to the inward man, to the thought, to the conscience ^ That very authority, however, not being based, like the c\y\\ authority, upon the hypothesis, that resistance on the part of the governed must be reduced by physical force alone, independently of all con- sideration of the reasoning by w^hich that resistance might be defended ; unavoidably permitted the evil which it seemed most zealous to prevent. It denied the right of inquiry, and desired to deprive individual reason of its liberty, yet it
^ Guizot's Civilization of Europe, p. 2a4. * Id. p. 153.
364 Origin of the Scholastic Theology.
BOOK III. appealed to reason incessantly \ The perpetual councils —
> ^J !> provincial, national, general, the incessant correspondence of
its monks, bishops, and zealots, engendered and maintained in the Christian Church at all times, that mental activity and energy which never have been nor can be entirely suppressed ; till it has established all that truth tvhich is suitable and useful to society.
Passing by, then, the implicit faith of the early Church, in which few speculations on abstract or abstruse questions were discussed, excepting, as some new heresies required the more accurate definitions (as in the Arian and Macedonian contro- versies) of some already adopted article of faith; we find that Origen, at Caesarea, and before him Justin Martyr and Cle- ment of Alexandria, had blended philosophy with theology, by accommodating the doctrines of Christianity to the maxims of Platonism. They thus adopted errors which were generally avoided by those who were contented with proving the truth or certainty of the mysteries of Christianity, by passages from Scripture. Origen was the first to compile what may be called a body of divinity \ Next to him, and after the several controver- sies which were decided by the first great councils, the author of the work ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, but who wrote at the end of the fifth century, treated various theolo- gical questions according to the principles of the Platonic philosophy ^. Boethius, the last of the ancients ', may be called the link between the ancient philosophy of paganism and the scholastic philosophy of Christianity ; as he was well versed in the philosophy of Aristotle, and made use of his maxims to explain the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarna- tion— a mode of reasoning which engaged him in discussions
' Guizot's Civilization of Europe, autem hoc effieere impossibile esset,
p. 154. nisi varia et fluctuans vocibus atque
* On Principles. Translated, but notionibus affingeretur significatio, vo-
witli alterations, by Ruffinus. — See cibus terminisque obscuris, ambiguis,
Brucker, Philos. vol. vii. p. 543 ; also incertis, nihilque solidi significantibus,
Du Pin. rem assertam dubiis sensibus involvere
3 Bruciier gives the following ac- coactus fuit. Hinc ilia Origeniante doc- count of the origin and causes of his trinse incertitude, hinc tot ineertse in- obscurity — Incertus in systematica co- terpretationes, accusationes, excusa- gitandi artificio fluctuabat Origenes, et tiones, bisque similia. — Brucker, His- syncretisticis studiis detentus, non quid tor. Philos. vii. 547. systematis nexus postulabat, sed id ' See Du Pm, cent. xii. p. 192, and animum intendebat, ut dogmata, immo Sir James Mackintosh's Dissertation, opiniones quoque, inter se diversissimse, pp. 87 — 89. uno sub jugo ire cogerentur. Cum
I
Method of quoting from Aquinas.
365
on very subtle and intricate questions. After him, John of book iti. Damascus was the first who undertook to discuss all kinds of v^^" theological questions, and to reduce them into one entire body. In the ninth century, John Scotus Erigena applied Aristotle's method and principles to the resolution of several questions relating to points of divinity ' ; but his subtle notions having led him into error, his doctrines and method were rejected by contemporary and by most subsequent divines. These studies were more neglected in the tenth century, and the philosophy of Aristotle was not taught in the public schools, though it was read in the Arabic schools in Spain ; till it was introduced from that country by the European Christians, who made versions of the writings of Aristotle from the Arabic into Latin, and thus, m the eleventh century, gave birth to the scholastic theology \
* Du Pin, cent. xii.
' Sir James Mackintosh, p. 93. But see more especially the view of Thomas Aquinas, and the scholastic philosophy in the Encyclopaedia IMetropolitana, book xi. part ii. p. 797—81 1, and Sharon Turner's History of England, vol. iv. chap, xi., and especially Hampden's Bampton Lectures for 1 832. 1 fully agree with Turner in his eulogy ou Thomas Aquinas, p. 552, and with the anony- mous author of the article m the En- cyc. Metrop. p. 793, col. 2, in fin. Dr. Watson, the late Bishop of Llandaff, apologizes for recommending the works of Aquinas to the student of divinity. He need not have done so. The theo- logian will find, that though there are some absurdities, the study of the Summa Theologise will amply repay his labour.
As the work is neither much known nor valued by Protestant readers in general, I subjoin here a brief account of its plan, and also of the mode in which it is quoted by his contemporaries. I refer to the Co- logne edition, in one large, closely printed thick folio, 1604, of the Summa Totius Theologiaj. This book may be called the best compendium extant of the schoolmen, and of Augustine, on all points of divinity. It consists of three parts — the first, treating generally of God, his nature, works', and attributes ;' the nature and powers of angels and demons; fate, freewill, providence, predestination, &c. &c. • The first division of part the second
treats de ultimo fine humante vitte, and de virtutibus et vitiis, &c. &c.
The second discusses questions in moral philosophy— of man as a being subject to laws ; virtues, vices, grace, freewill, faith,,hope, «&c.
The third part treats of the incar- nation, the Sacraments, expiation, contemplation, action, &c. &c.
To these there is added a supple- ment, to complete the work, which was left unfinished ; treating of the Sacra- ments, the events that shall follow the resurrection, &c. The whole is com- pleted by most copious and curious in- dexes, comprismg scriptural authorities ; the second, of the principal subjects; and a thirdjof all the propositions, doctrines, and miscellaneous subjects discussed or introduced throughout the book, I subjoin the mode of referring by means of these indexes to the seve- ral parts of the book, where the propo- sition the reader wishes to find is pointed out. Thus, '
In principio Deus creavit ccelum et terrum, la. q. 46. 2. co 3. 0°. q. 61. 3. 3"; that is, this passage is explained in part first, question forty-six, ai-ticle second, in the body of the article, and in the 3rd article of the same ques- tion throughout ; also, in the same part, in the 61st question in the third article, in reply to the third argument adduced.
Whether Balaam prophesied, &c &c. 2. 2f. q. 172. 6. im. Second divi- sion of part 2nd, ques. 172, art. 6, reply to 1st argument. [The
366 The Aristotle-mania of Scholasticism.
BOOK III. The maxims of Aristotle were about that time insensibly
v__l^_ 'j introduced into divinity, and applied not only to decide and
illustrate ordinary questions ; but to form a great number of new ones, unheard of until now. The teachers and writers of these times, called the Schoolmen, were themselves igno- rant of the Greek of Aristotle. They were properly theo- logians, employing a borrowed philosophy to define and support the system of Christian belief which was embraced by their contemporaries. The founder of that system, so far as it was independent of Aristotle, was Augustine. The system of the faith, or belief in the Church, may be, there- fore, called a mixture of conclusions respecting grace, faith, and predestination, as inculcated by Augustine — of conclusions on the Trinity and the nature of God, sanctioned generally by the Fathers and councils — of certain notions borrowed from Platonism — and of speculations and modes of treating all these, derived from the methods of Aristotle. There con- sequently arose, about the time immediately preceding Gra- tian, a passion, which is rightly called by the great historian of philosophy, the Aristotle-mania*. Aristotle rivalled the Church ; but the Church was so powerful, and the unity of the Church was so universally and justly and jealously pre- served; that every teacher was anxious to prove that every opinion he taught was consistent with the conclusions which had been already adopted by the majority of Christians, and by the ecclesiastics who Avere in authority. The vjorld was submissive to the Church, the Church was submissive to Rome, Heresy was a crime punishable with tumultuary death by the populace, and with legal death by the tribunals. The scholas-
The foui-th index is a collection of doetore of the Church, quot«d by
propositions or assertions, with the Aquinas. It is, in short, a book which
proofs refutmg the heresies of the ought to be in the possession of every
dissidents from the Roman Catholic theological student, who by means of
Church, and, it may be added, fx'om the an assiduous and prayerful perusal of
Church of England. the Holy Scriptures, and regard both
The fifth is an index of the subjects for the primitive Church and the
treated in the Epistles and Gospels for Church of the Reformation, seeks for
the Sundays and Festivals. truth, and is enabled by God's grace
After these is a collection of axioms to distinguish truth from error, on the Sacraments, &c., with a Cate- * Nihil vero magis omnem veram
chism, both by Augustinus Hunneus. philosophandi rationem perdidit, et
The whole concludes with a short and scholasticos in devia abl'e coegit, quam
excellent address to students in divinity, 'Apt(TrortXo)uai'j'a, quae inter eos obti-
and a Hst of the authors, philosophei-s, nuit. — Brucker, Hist. Philos. iv. 885. orators, poets, councils, fathers, and
Submission of the reasoning schoolmen to the Church. 367
tics, therefore, of the day forbore to attack received opinions, book hi. or any rehgious creed. Their inquiries could not be restrained. ^ — l^J — ^ Their conclusions, therefore, must be submitted to the Church. They were metaphysicians. They were theologians. The science of metaphysics is the science of mind, its powers and operations ; and the speculations on mind to which that science leads, blended then, as in all ages, with those inqui- ries respecting Deity ; which are safe only when a higher guide than mere reason is permitted to direct us, and unsafe when that higher guide is rejected. They exercised their intellect. They dared to reason, but they were unwilling to forsake their higher guide, whether Aristotle, Scripture, or tradition as found in councils and Fathers. They would not, they dared not, oppose authority. They were contented, therefore, first, to demand the free use of reason ; and when they found that this free use of reason led them to clash, unwillingly, with consti- tuted authority : they then proceeded further, and endeavoured to prove all their conclusions consistent with the foregone con- clusions of the Church, with the Scripture, tradition, and existing authority ^ This view of the origin and progress of the scholastic philosophy is confirmed by the history of the several great teachers of the schools. The Church, as Dr. Hampden ^ has shown, though it was now binding reason in
* This is the view taken of the inci- of individual reason, when it now began pient attempts to reason freely, imme- to claim its lawful inheritance. It was diately prior to the age of Gratian. the teaching and ^vritings of these While the popes, says Guizot, sought giants of their days, that first put in to usurp the government of the world, motion that desire for intellectual while the monasteries enforced a better liberty which kept pace with the re- code of morals and a severer form of form of Gregory VII. and St. Bernard, discipline, a few mighty though solitary If we examine the general character of individuals protested in favour of hu- this movement of mind, we shall find man reason, and asserted its claim to that it sought not a change of opinion, be heard, its right to be consulted in that it did not an'ay itself against the the formation of man's opinions. The received system of faith ; but that it greater part of these philosophers fore- simply advocated the right of reason to bore to attack commonly received work for itself ; in short, the right of opinions — I mean, religious creeds. All free inquiry. — Guizot's Civilization of they claimed for reason was the right Modem Europe, pp. 194, 195. to be heard. All they declared was, ^ Bampton Lectures for the year that they had the right to try these 1833: "The Scholastic Philosophy con- truths by their own tests, and that it sidered m relation to Christian Theo- was not enough that they should be logy." Dr. Hampden has incautiously merely affirmed by authority. John expressed himself in speaking of ccr- Erigena, or Scotus as he is more fre- tain conclusions now generally believed quently called, Roscelin, Abelai'd, and to be true, as if they were derived from othere, became the noble interpretei-s the scholastic philosophy, i-ather than
368 Collision between authority and the use of reason.
BOOK Tll. chains, and thought in hnks of iron ; could not prevent its
* .^ — '- victims from endeavouring to escape from the fetters,
it had thrown around them. Among the churchmen themselves, there had ever been the feeling of indepen- dence ; and now that the power of Rome over Europe had induced that repose which always follows submission to authority ; though there was no liberty, and though all trembled at resistance to authority, yet reason began to act, and authority began to be alarmed. Heresy was discovered in spite of all disavowals of the crime, and the Church endeavoured to repel or subdue the offence. In this colli- sion between reason and authoritv, we are offended with the picture of Hincmar, a learned theologian, scourging with his own hand Gotteschalc, the follower of Augustine, and the defender of predestination. Ratram and Paschasius, Lanfranc and Berenger, disputed on the doctrine of the change of the bread into the body of Christ. The terms they used were de- rived from the philosophy of the age ; and the doctrine of tran- substantiation became established, by the application of meta- physical terms to describe the nature of the change by which the bread, after consecration, was considered to be different from the same bread before the words were spoken ^ We are broug-ht to the time of the retirement of Gratian. Ros- celin, the pupil of Robert of Paris, and the tutor of Arnold of Laon, had disputed with Anselm, who wrote a treatise against his blasphemies on the subject of the Trinity and Incarnation ^. None of the works of Roscelin are extant. He erred on the subject of the Trinity. Like Berengarius, he professed to be anxious to submit to the Church. He recanted his errors in the synod of Soissons in 1093, and then re- tracted his recantation ". He was desirous to exercise his reason, but to reconcile its use with deference to authority.
from Scripture. He has, however, fully " Liber de Fide Trinitatis et de luear-
proved that the language of Christian natione Verbi ; contra blasphemias
theology, from the time of the ninth Ruzelini, sive Roscelini." It is found
century to Luther, whether in or out in Gerberon's edition of Anselm's
of the Church of Rome, has been and Works, p. 1, fol. Par. 172L still is, most materially influeneed, and * Doeuit enim Roscelinus tres in
very often most improperly, by the Deo pcrsonas esse tres res ab invicem
schoolmen. separatas sicut sunt tres Angeli, ita
' See Hampden's Lecture VII. tamen ut una sit voluntas et pi)testas.
* The title of Anselm's Treatise is— —Cave, Hist. Lit. ii. 178.
Abelard condemned brj the Council of Sens and the Pope. 3G9
He was the instructor of Abelard, and is said to have been book iti. the founder of the Nominahsts '. v \ ' '
Abelard was among the great assertors of the privilege of reasoning. St. Bernard was the representative of the autho- rity of the Church. Abelard, in the year 1121, had been compelled, in a council held at Soissons, to cast one of his books on theology into the fire. He thus submitted to the authority of the Church. He still, however, continued to teach the same doctrines ^ Certain extracts from his writings were made by William, the Abbot of Thierry, and condemned. St. Bernard advised Abelard to retract them. He accused Abelard of making degrees in the Trinity, with Arius ; of preferring free-will to grace, with Pelagius ; and of dividing Christ, with Nestorius. A council was held at Sens. St. Bernard, after some hesitation, had consented to be present. Abelard feared, as Otho of Frisingen asserts^, an insurrec- tion of the people. They could not, perhaps, have been easily prevented from tearing him to pieces, or burning him as a heretic ; if he had been condemned for his supposed heresy. He, therefore, made an appeal to Rome, much to the indignation of St. Bernard ; who wrote very angrily to Inno- cent II. on the subject. The Archbishop of Sens, with his suiTragans, wrote to the pope to approve this censure. The po])e imposed silence on Abelard as a heretic, and excom- municated both him and his followers. He then directed the bishops, together with St. Bernard, to imprison Abelard, and to burn his books. Abelard composed an apology, declaring his unwillingness to maintain any opinion which the Church deemed to be an error ; that he had always spoken publicly, being conscious of no bad designs, and that he would willingly correct or erase whatever had been erro- neously proposed or defended. He then submits a long explanation of his opinions, and conjures the faithful to put a charitable construction on his writings. After he had written
* Hunc autem Roscelinum Nomina- feared au insurrection of the people. Hum primum fuisse conditorem, cam- He had reason to do so. The people of que sectam discipulum Abaelardum St. Giles's, Lanji;uedoc, had seized and propagavisse. — Brucker, Hist. Philo- burnt Peter dc Bi-uys. — " Quo (I'etro) soph. ii. 674. apud S. yEgidiuni zelus Fidelium i^ara-
* A very good account of Abelard mas Dominicse crucis ab co succensas, and his writings is given by Du Pin, eum eoncreniaudo altus est." — Baro- oentury xii. p. 92. nius, Ann. 1126, vol. xii. p. 171.
* Apud Du Pin, p. 102.— Abelard
VOL. II. B b
370 Heresies of Gilbert Porretanus,
BOOK III. this apology he set out for Rome, but was detained at Clugny CHAP, v.^ jjjy ^YiQ abbot. He persuaded him to become reconciled to Bernard, who had accused him of despising the Fathers *, and of publishing also strange notions respecting the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. This latter point, indeed, seems to have been uniformly the topic on which Rome, and all whom it denominated heretics, most widely differed from each other in this age — at the time of Luther, and Mary too, as well as at present. Abelard returned to Clugny, and was permitted by the pope, who found that he had many friends at Rome ^, to reside there, at the request of the abbot, Peter the Venerable. He soon after removed for his health to the monastery of Marcellus, at Chalons, where he died in the year 1143, in the sixty-third year of his age.
Gilbert Porretanus, Bishop of Poitiers, was another cele- brated instance, during the time that Gratian was at Bologna, of a learned ecclesiastic using his reason ; yet submitting, whether satisfied or the contrary, to the authority of the Church. He also pubhshed several offensive speculations respecting the Godhead. He affirmed, among other things, that the Divine essence was not God — that the properties of the Divine Persons were not the Persons themselves. He was accused of error by St. Bernard, in the council of Paris in 1147 ". He maintained, that that which constituted God the Father, was different from that which constituted Him God. A second council was called at Rheims in the following year ^ in consequence of some difficulties ; and Gilbert was there compelled to retract certain of his propositions. The reading or transcribing of his books was forbidden till they had been corrected by the Church of Rome. He promised to connect them himself, but this was not deemed to be sufficient. He was permitted to return to his diocese ; but many of his fol- lowers remained firm to their opinions, and were denounced by St. Bernard as heretics. He died soon after the publica- tion of the Decretum of Gratian in 1154.
Though those celebrated schoolmen had thus submitted to the Church, and though the populace vied with their ecclesias- tical rulers, in some instances, in their desire to seize and to
♦ Epistles of St. Bernard.— Letter '• Labb. Concil. x. 1105. clxxx. ^ Id. col. 1107.
^ Id. Epist. cxciii.
Peter Lombard unites authority with reasoning. 371
burn heretics ; yet there were never so many opponents to book hi.
the ever-increasing influence of the Church of Rome * in the ^ .^J — ^
several countries of Europe as at this time. The taste for metaphysical discussion was so universal among the Church- men themselves ; that though the spiritual power for- bade the mind to think for itself, to use its own faculties to examine, to discuss, to object ; so that implicit, unlimited, un- reasoning obedience to spiritual power was another definition of the term rehgion ^ — though every man who was instructed in a school of philosophy was taught to think as his superior thought — it soon became evident that some compromise must be effected between the two antagonistical principles — that human reason must and would be exercised in matters of rehgion ; and that the Church or its rulers were unable to suppress every mental effort. The disputes of the day in- creased rather than diminished. Every one * had recourse to the most subtle topics of the Aristotelian logic and metaphy- sics ; and the discussions became more and more full of intri- cacies and difficulties. At this time, therefore, a temporary remedy was found, by which authority permitted reasoning, but directed it into the channel which ivas best suited to its own purposes. Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, produced the very work, which was exactly such an exposition of Christian doctrine, as might have been expected from this conflict between reason and authority. He compiled an elaborate collection of passages from the Fathers, chiefly from Hilary, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine; on the principal questions then debated by the schoolmen ^ Little reasoning of his own was introduced. He was the supporter of the existing powers. He wished with them that the human mind should make no further progress ; and he felt, therefore, that even his own reasoning might be dangerous to the despotism he valued. He avoided all reference to the opinions of heathen philoso- phers, excepting once to Aristotle ; and then not by way of
* See Du Pin's Chapter on the here- Rome ; though few of tliese were free
tics of this age, Mosheim, Jones, Mil- from other erroi-s peculiar to them-
ner, and all the historians, for accounts solves.
of the Cathari, Paterini, the Albigen- " Hampden, Lectiu'e 1., p. 38.
ses, and the followers of Peter Bruys; • Du Pin, century xii. p, 192 ;
of his disciple, also, Arnold of Bres- Hampden and Brucker, as quoted
cia, Tanqueline, Terrick, &c. all of above,
whom opposed the principal eiTors of * Du Pin, ut sup. ; Hampden, p. A'^.
Bb2
372 Character of the " Book of Sentences,'^ by Peter Lombard.
BOOK III. authority. He endeavours to show that he follows only CHAP. V. recgived opinions, and not his own speculations. His work was, probably, partly written in imitation of a treatise on the Orthodox Faith, by John of Damascus, in the eighth cen- tury. This book begins with the profession of its writer, that he sought to establish nothing of his own ; but to say only what the wise and good had said before him. It was highly esteemed as a record of the opinions already sanctioned by the Church ^ Or it was possibly written — and this I believe to have been the real state of the case — in imitation of the work of the great endower and upholder of the University of Oxford, Robert Pulleyn, who flourished about this time, was a friend of St. Bernard, and resided on the continent; having taken refuge there from the wars which distracted England, some years before Peter Lombard published his work \ The sen- tences of Pulleyn, or Pullus, however, consisted rather of the sayings of the inspired writers, than the opinions of the Fathers ^ Others, however, are of opinion, that Peter Lom- bard followed the plan of, or dei'ived his principal assistance from, the work of Abelard", entitled "ThelntroductiontoTheo- logy." To whatever source it may be owing, " The Book of Sentences," (such was the title of Lombard's work,) reconciled the two conflicting powers, namely, the rising spirit of inquiry, and the authority of the Church. It permitted disputation, but marked out the channel of thought. It gave the liberty of commenting and discussing without limit ; pro- vided the intellect confined itself within the range of esta- blished authorities'. It prevented the full, the free , the noblest development of thought and intellect, by not making that range, within which the mind might expatiate, the Scripture of truth alone. It fettered the Scripture itself by making the Fathers the walls, gates, and circuit within which the Scripture was confined. It thus prevented all originality, b}^ compelling
3 This is Dr. Hampden's opinion. Brucker, Hist. Philos. iii. 767- * See liis Life, and the discussion of ^ Hujus operis, says Cave, speaking
the time when he flourished, in Cave, of Abelard's Introduction to Tlieology,
Hist. Litter,, vol. ii. p. 223. subsidio egregie instructus Petrus Loin-
' Valde se commendarunt ejus Sen- bardus, Sententiarum libros, ex SS.
tentiarum lib. viii. eo quod rationibus Patrum, prpecipue D, Augustini, scrip-
potius et Scripturse dictis, quam Pa- tis compilavit. — Cave, Conspectus Ste-
trum, in decidendis qujestionibus utitur culi Scholastici, ap. Hist. Litter, vol. ii.
testimoniis, neglectisque subtilitatibus p. 275.
metaphysicis, nugisque dialectieis, gra- ' Haiapdeu's Bampton Lecture, p.
viora et solidiora consectatur. — 4C.
Effects of the Scholastic philosophy on the povyer of Rome. 373
the inquirer to arrive at no other conclusions, than those BOOK III.
Cl-f A P V
which could be traced to some received opinion. And be- ^ .^ — '■>
cause under this system the conclusions of the reasoner must unavoidably clash with some inferences which the Church had already sanctioned; the expedient o^ distinctions was invented, by which an acute logician could maintain his own hypothesis, and preserve his devotion to the prescriptions of authority. The consequences were most fatal to the progress of the human mind. The master intellects w hich arose from among the people, instead of devoting their talents to the spiritual improvement and advancement of their contemporaries ; dis- cussed metaphysical questions, became divided into nomina- lists and realists *, and encouraged at once the two great enemies of Christianity — the pride of intellect, and the intole- rance of worldly ambition. The scholastic theology ruined spirituality % strengthened the power of Rome, and riveted the fetters of the Church on the necks of the people. The scho- lastic theology enlisted learning, talent, and genius, to defend
" I am perfectly aware of the truth of the remark of Sir James Mackin- tosh, " that the controversy between tlie nominaHsts and realists, treated by some modern writers as an example of barljarous wrangling, was in truth an anticipation of that modern dispute which stUl divides metaphysicians — whether the human mind can form general ideas ; and whether the words which are supposed to convey such ideas, be not general terms, represent- ing only a vast number of general per- ceptions, questions so far from frivo- lous, that they deeply concern both the nature of reasoning and the struc- ture of language, on which Hobbes, Berkeley, Stewart, and Tooke, have followed the nominalists ; and Descartes, Locke, Reid, and Kant, have, with various modifications, and some incon- sistencies, adopted the doctrine of the realists." — Sir James Mackintosh, p. 103. But these reflections only con- firm the truth of my own opinion. Neither Des Cartes, nor Kant, nor Aristotle, nor all the metaphysicians that ever existed, or can exist, have converted one soul from the error of his ways, or brought a sinner to God. " Aristotle," I again quote from Sir James, " rivalled the Church ;" he might have added— and superseded
Scripture. But the Church safely allowed considerable latitude to the philosophical reasonings of those who were only heard in colleges or cloisters, on condition that they neither im- pugned her authority, nor dissented from her worship, nor departed from the language of her creeds. — Sir James Mackintosh's Dissertation on the Pro- gress of Ethical Philosophy, by Whe- well, p. 104.
^ We find from John of Salisbury, says Mr. Turner, History of England, vol. iv. p. 527, note 62, that the moi-e scriptural teachers were not only denied to be philosophers, but were scarcely endured as clergymen. They were called the oxen of Abraham, and Ba- laam's asses — Nee modo philosophos negant, imo nee elericos patiuntur, vix homines sinunt esse, sed boves Abrahaj vel asiuos Balaamitos dun- taxat nominant, imo derident.-^Mctal. p. 746. And the clei-gy of the Church of England, the true evangelical preachers of the Gospel of Christ, when they preach according to the spirit of the ministrations and services of the Church of the Rofornuition ; are still spoken of with the same kind of con- tempt by their papal and semi-papal opponents.
374 The Roman canon law the fetter of the Church.
BOOK III. the ever-encroaching despotism of the see of Rome ; neither
^^J 'j would the yoke have been broken till this very day, if it had
not pleased God to enable His servants, in His own time, to emancipate the Scriptures from their prison. The long suc- cession of scholastic divines from Abelard to Luther, fully . prove to us the nobility and greatness of the human mind ; but the union of reason with authority, on any other basis than inspiration alone, deepened the darkness of the people for three centuries ; till Luther uncovered the lamp of truth that was going out in the temple of the Lord. The common people were either persecutors in defence of received opinions, or wanderers in search of truth. They believed, therefore, many truths, while they embraced many errors ; because their apostolic guides were talking false philosophy, instead of ex- plaining the Holy Scriptures. Learned men were reduced to silence, or permitted only to flatter authority. The kings of the earth were terrified. The Bishop of Rome, placed in the seat of God, was venerated as God. Councils were but echoes of his voice, or the registers of his decrees. Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people ; for the light of the priesthood which was among them was darkness, and how great, therefore, was that darkness ! Still more to increase the gloominess, it was at this — this moment of heaviness, that the code of canon law — which confirmed all the pretensions of the papacy, elevated the clergy over the civil power, and exalted the ecclesiastical authority to legal dominion over all laws, states, and sovereigns — was presented in its more perfect state to the world. At the end of the twenty-one years, during which the events I have now digressed to relate took place, the Decretum of Gratian appeared, and retained for three more centuries an unbroken authority over the whole Churches of the Catholic Church of Christ. It still confines and fetters the noble states of the south of Europe in its Mezentian embrace. So long as the dead carcass of the canon law is fastened to the living _ body of Chi'isfs Holy Church ; so long will the corruption of the dead infect and contaminate the living. When shall we be able to say of the Churches that are still clasped in the embrace of that unrepealed code of laws which sanctions persecution to the utmost wherever there is strength to persecute, " Why seek ye the living among the dead ? He is not here. He is
Anecdote of St. Bernard. 375
risen?" — We shall now, however, pursue the regular order of book hi.
narrative, as briefly as possible, and consider the publication J ^^J ;,
of the code of Gratian as an event in the pontificate of Euge- nius III. Some short view of the scholastic philosophy was necessary to illustrate the state of the mind and intellect of Europe at the death of Honorius, and the accession of Inno- cent II.
CLXIV. Innocent IL, died 1143.
Honorius died in the beginning of the year 1130 ^ and was succeeded by Gregory, Cardinal of St. Angelo. A schism of nine years' duration between rival candidates for the chair of St. Peter, gave much peace to England. Petrus Leonis, or Anacletus IL, grandson of a converted Jew, a man of great wealth, which he lavishly distributed, was elected pope by a majority of cardinals. His ordinations, however, were even- tually cancelled, and himself declared to be schismatical ; prin- cipally, it is said, by means of St. Bernard, the leader of many councils, and the most influential ecclesiastic of the age. The manner in which the influence of the pope, and of his deci- sions, was maintained by Bernard, is shown by a singular anecdote ^ The Duke of Guienne had acknowledged Ana- cletus. Bernard attended the pope's legate, who proceeded to Guienne, to reconcile the duke to Innocent ; and to per- suade him to restore some bishops who had been banished by him. The duke refused to comply with his request. Ber- nard attended at the services of the Church when the duke was present. When the consecration of the wafer was over, Bernard placed the wafer upon the chalice, walked out of the Church, and after fiercely expostulating with the duke on the indignity of his refusing to comply with the requests of the servants of God, he added, " The Son of God, the Lord and Head of the Church which you persecute, is come in person to see if you will repent. Here is your Judge, at whose name every knee bows in heaven, earth, and hell. Here is the revenger of your crime. Will you despise Him ?" The duke fainted. Bernard raised him up, and repeated his admoni-
* The exact date of this event and cussed by Pagi, a.d. 1130, § 1. the duration of liis pontificate, both of - Sec Du Pin, cent. xii. p. 4[i ; also which have been questioned, are dis- Baron, ad ann, 1 135, § 1, seqq.
376 Arnold of Brescia opposes Rome.
BOOK III. tions. The duke consented to the restoration of the bishops^ CHAP. V. ^^^ ^j^g schism was healed at Guienne. Such was the effect of the belief in the doctrine of transubstantiation in this age over the minds even of persons who possessed the best educa- tion next to the priesthood. Can our surprise be excited that this tenet should be the favourite criterion by which the Church of Rome decides between its friends and its enemies ? The creators of the Creator felt that they could claim and pos- sess the homage due to Omnipotence^ when their more than omnipotent power was thus believed and venerated. The power of Rome was near its height.
In consequence of a dispute with the King of France, Innocent presumed to lay his kingdom under an interdict, or suspension of the divine services, and cessation of the Sacra- ments ; excepting in the last extremity \ During an interdict, the people were under excommunication. Excommunicated persons on earth were banished from happiness when they died. The prince and the bishop quarrelled, and the people were damned. This was believed, and the power of princes began to exist only by sufferance.
The greatest strengthener of all government is an unsuc- cessful rebellion. The continuance of the schism between the supporters of the two antagonist popes, and the outrage on the happiness of mankind which now began to be com- mitted by Rome, unavoidably compelled resistance ; though the learning as well as the ignorance of the world, and though the power of the democracy, as well as the power of the nobles and princes of Europe, were generally in its favour. One of the disciples of Abelard, Arnold of Brescia *, rejecting the mysticism of the day, and the doctrine of transubstantia- tion, denounced the temporal power, the wealthy endowments, ambition, and despotism of the clergy. He became a pro- fessed reformer both of the secular and ecclesiastical power of the Church. The bold appeals of Arnold were supported by that virtuous and exemplary conduct which is generally characteristic of reformers in religion ; and an active rebellion against the authority of the Church began to divert the attention of the pontiffs from their incessant usurpations over
^ Pagi, jid aim. 1141, § 3. by Neauder in his Life of St. Bernard,
' The hititory of Aniokl and his of which a translation into Enghsh has ojiinions, arc examined at some length lately apjicared.
The opponents of Rome not always right in their oivn opinions. 377
the rights of princes and Churches, to the defence of their book iit.
own government. This bold reformer was not destroyed till v '^
the year 1154, when he was burned to death by Adrian IV., in consequence of the terror with which the citizens of Rome regarded his interdict on their city. A cardinal was killed in a tumult. The city was deprived of the privileges of religious worship from Christmas to Easter ; and the fickle or super- stitious citizens deserted their leader. Sixteen years before this event, Innocent opposed the errors both of Peter of Bruys, Arnold of Brescia, and other supposed heretics, by summoning the Second Council of Lateran \ The objects of the council, however, were not wholly religious. It condemned the party of Anacletus, while it branded as heretics the fol- lowers of Arnold and Peter of Bruys. It declared that all lay persons who receive tithes are sacrilegious, and incur the danger of eternal condemnation ^ It deprived usurers of Christian burial ^ I shall observe here, that while the Chris- tian of the Church of England in the present day must con- demn certain doctrines now taught by Rome, such as the wor- ship of the Virgin, purgatory, transubstantiation, and the supremacy of the pope by divine authority over the Churches of the Catholic Church ; he will also disapprove many of the opinions which were taught by the various persons whom the Church of Rome condemned, during this time, of errors and heresies. Rome taught the world that two and two made five. Various sects and parties condemned by Rome affirmed that two and two made three. Both were wrong. Both were sincere in their error. Both would have persecuted their brethren to please God. Let us thank God that we belong to a Church which teaches that two and two make four; though it refuses to persecute its brethren who believe them to equal either five or three. I subjoin a brief view of the Second Council of Lateran.
5 A.D. 1139, ap. Labb. Coucil. x. 999. ' Can. 13. See Godolphin's Abridg- •" Can. 10. ment of Ecclesiastical Law, p. 216.
378 The Second Lateran Council.
Synopsis of the Tenth General Council.
|
Council XI. from Jerusalem. |
Second Lateran Council. |
|
Date. |
A.D. 1139, April 20th 8. |
|
Number of bishops. |
One thousand '. |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
Innocent II. |
|
President. |
The Pope. |
|
Why and against what opinions. |
To condemn heresies, repress schismatics, and correct depraved morals. In consequence of the schism caused by the rival pope. |
|
Against whom. |
Ai-nold of Brescia and Peter de Bruys ^ |
|
Chief decrees and canons. |
Thirty canons enacted, the greater part of which relate to discipline. Canon VII. forliids the hearing of mass from married priests, annuls their marriages, and exacts penance. X. Orders that laics return the tithes to the bishop under pain of excommunication. XV. Anathema against those who lay violent hands on a clergyman: no absolution, except in case of necessity, but upon appear- ance at Rome. The orduiation of Anacletus the antipope, and all other heretics and schismatics, annulled *. |
|
Penalties. |
Excommunication. Anathema. |
|
Sufferers. |
The married clergy. |
|
Emperors. |
Conrad III. of the West. John II. Comnenus of the East. |
|
Pope. |
Innocent II. |
8 Cave, Hist. Lit. ii. 265 ; Venema, vi. 70 ; Labb. Concilia, x. 1110; Du Pin, X. 206.
5 The foregoing authorities.
1 Peter de Bruys denied the efficacy of the eucharist, the utility of bap- tism to young children, and of prayers for the dead. He also contended that
churches should be destroyed, and crosses deprived of all worship and veneration. Arnold, besides, agreeing in some things with Peter, held that temporal power and possessions should be taken away from bishops, clergy, and monks. Petrus eucharistto, bap- tisnii parvulorum, precumquc pro mor-
Canons of the Second Lateran Council.
379
The Third Canon renews the former penalties against book hi. those who hold communion with excommunicated persons. ' 'j
By Canon IX. monks are forbidden to study the code of Justinian which had laid dormant three centuries, having been recently discovered in the ruins of Amalfi, and the regular study of the system had become a favourite study at Bologna and Florence.
Canon XX. enjoins sovereigns, in the execution of justice, to consult the clergy.
Canon XXIII. is against those heretics who condemn the Sacraments.
tuis efficaciam denegavit, templa diru- enda, crucesque omni cultu et venera- tione spoliandas coutendebat. Arnal- dus, praeterquam quod iu nonnullis cum Petro sensit, episcopis, clericis, mona- chisque dominia et possessiones, quas vocant temporales, adimendas esse censuit. — Cave, vol. ii. p. 265.
Arnaldus de Brixia, omnia lacerans, omnia rodens, nemini parcens, cleri- corum et episcoporum derogator, mona- chorum persecutor, laicis tantum adu- lans. Dicebat enim nee clericos pro- prietatem, nee episcopos regalia, nee monachos possessiones habentes, aliqua ratione posse salvari, cunctaque htec principis esse, ab ejusque beneficentia in usum tantum laicorum codere cpor- tere. Prseter hsec, de sacramento al- taris, de baptismo parvulorum, nun sane dicitur sensisse. — Otto Frisingens. ap. Concil. x. 1001.
Peter de Bruys held —
First. That baptism was of no advan- tage to infants, and that adult persons only should be baptized.
Secondly. He condemned the use of churches and altars, and he wished them to be overthrown.
Thirdly. He rejected the venei'ation of crosses, and held that they should be broken.
Fourthly. That the mass was use- less, and that none are obliged to cele- brate it.
Fifthly. That alms and prayers for the dead ai'e of no avail. — Du Pin, vol. X. p. 87.
Petrus de Bruis negat parvulos in- fra intclligibilem cetatem constitutes, Christi baptisniate posse salvari, ncc alienam fidem posse illis ])rodt'sse, qui sua uti non ])ossunt. Delude teniplorum vel ecclesiarum fabricam fieri non de-
bere ; factas insuper subrui oportere ; nee esse necessaria Christianis, sacra loca ad adorandum. Tertio, cruces sacras confringi prsecipit et succeudi : quia species ilia vel instrumentum, quo Christus tarn dire tortus, tarn cru- deliter occisus est, non adoratione, non veneratione, vel aliqua supplicatione digna est : sed ad ultionem tormento- rum et ejus mortis omni dedecore de- honestanda, gladiis concidenda, ignibus succendenda est. Quarto, non solum veritatem Corporis et Sanguinis Do- mmi quotidie et assidue jjer sacramen- tum in Ecclesia oblatum negat, sed omnino illud nihil esse, neque Deo ofFerri debere decernit. Quinto, sacri- ficia, oblationes, eleemosynas, et reli- qua bona pro defunctis fidelibus a vivis fidelibus facta, deridet, nee ea quempiam mortuorum vel in medico posse juvare affirraat.— Labb. Concilia, X. 1000, lOOl.
2 Vax-ii sunt conditi canones ad dis- ciplinara, per schisma collapsam, in- staurandam. Inter quos sunt, qui nostram merentur attentionem, uti, qui simoniam, mvestituras laicas, et eonjugia clei-icorum, proscribunt. Laici etiam jubentur decimas aut ecclesias adeniptas, reddere ecclesiie ; omnis usura damnatur, tanquam divinis ct humanis legibus contraria. Deniquc de Treuga Dei definitum est, pace gavisuros Presbyteros per omne tem- pus, nee non clericos, monachos, pere- grines, mercatores, rusticos, cuntes et redeuntcs agricolas. Quoad reliquos, inducise sunt stability a Mercurii su- prema die usque ad diluculura dioi Lunrc, ab Adventu Domini usque ad octavas Epipliania^, a Qiiinquagcsiiiia usque ad octavas Pascluu. — Vcnenia, vi. 71.
380 Appeals to Innocent II. by English Canons.
BOOK III. Canon XXV. deprives of their benefices those who have
CHAP V
» .^_ * received them from the hands of the laity.
By the XXVIIIth Canon it is ordained that canons are not to exclude rehgious persons from the election of bishops. Du Pin says, " Persons of know^n piety ;" but it seems more probable to have intended the inmates of the establish- ment below the order of canons, because the Eighth (Ninth) General Council, c. 22, prohibits the interference of princes and others in the election, and confines it to bishops and monks. This appears to extend it to others of the clergy.
The influence of the Church of Rome in England was increased by the usurpation of Stephen four years before the Second Council of Lateran. He strengthened his claim to the crown by promising immediately to fill up the vacant sees, and to grant other privileges to the clergy ; and his title was consequently confirmed by the pope. It was fur- ther strengthened by an appeal which the canons of St. Paul's Church made to Innocent respecting the election of the Bishop of London '. The dean and his party made a counter appeal. The election was cancelled as being made without the know- ledge and consent of the dean. These appeals afforded a pretext and an opportunity for Innocent to send Albericus, the Bishop of Ostia*, as legate to England. He made a visitation of several dioceses. The king and the peers long hesitated whether they should acknowledge his authority. Albericus presided over a synod at Westminster, and shortly after over one at Canterbury, on the election of an archbishop. He commands the clergy and people of Canterbury to select proper delegates to whom the power of election might be committed, and to send them to London ; to a synod which he purposed to hold there. Theobald, the Abbot of Bee, in Normandy, was elected, and proceeded to Rome, after his consecration by Albericus, to receive the pall. The weakness of the usurper betrayed the Anglican Church to the foreigner. He had the title of Legatus Natus bestowed on him, though Henry, Bishop of Winchester, the king's brother, had both the character and authority of the pope's legate. Theobald, with the Bishops of Winchester, Coventry, and Exeter, and the Abbot of Evesham, were present at the Second Council
3 See Le Neve's Fast!, p. 176. * Pagi, a.d. 1138, § 11.
Poiver of Rome extended to Ireland. 381
of Lateran. They were honourably received, and brought a book hi.
copy of the canons into England as an addition to the laws v ^^ ^
of the Church \ Stephen having imprisoned two bishops for not surrendering their castles to him, was summoned by his brother, as legate from the pope, to answer for his con- duct in a synod at Winchester. The legate affirmed that any charges against bishops should be debated in a synod, according to the canons, before they could be found guilty and punished. The king's advocate, Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen, affirmed that the canons did not permit bishops to hold castles. The bishops threatened to appeal to Rome. Stephen answered that he would himself make that appeal. The synod was dissolved without coming to any decision. The time had not yet come when the crown was to be laid at the feet of the pope's legate ^
The legate, though he possessed only an usurped power which the Bishop of Rome had taken upon himself to confer upon him, behaved well and wisely in endeavouring to me- diate between Stephen and the empress respecting their rival claims to the crown. The Archbishop of Canterbury, however, having sworn homage to Stephen, refused to recog- nize the empress ; but, in a synod at Westminster, at which the legate presided, Henry of Winchester, the king's brother, though the archbishop was present, pronounced the empress to be the Queen of England, in preference to his brother Stephen. The legate soon after changed his party, and absolved from excommunication the members of the council who had condemned the cause of the king. These occurrences made the interference of the pope acceptable. The confusions of the nation were removed, the authority of the king was acknowledged, and the war was suspended.
In the pontificate of Innocent, the poiver of Rome was extended over Ireland. Celsus, Archbishop of Armagh, in 1139, sent his crozier to Malachy as his successor. There is no account of his having been otherwise appointed. He went immedi- ately to Rome for his pall. This Innocent refused to grant, till he had an order to receive it from a general council of the kingdom, which he was desired to convene immediately on his return home. This wish to have the warrant of a national
^ See Collier's History of this Coun- ** See the account in Labb. Concil. cil, and the authorities adduced by him. x. 1014.
383 Capua given by the Pope to Sicily.
BOOK III. council before granting the pall to the Irish archbishop, was F^^J' ^; at variance with the practice which made the will of the pope the sole and absolute authority in the dispensation of this official badge to metropolitans. I mention it here on that account ^ Though Pope Innocent might not deem the appointment of Malachy to be strictly canonical, yet as the authority of the canons had for ages been considered as inferior to the rescripts of popes ; the sending Malachy back to Ireland for the consent of brethren, was a novel act at this period. St. Bernard, too, in his Life of Malachy, states that such was the esteem and respect with which he was received by Innocent; that the pontiff took the mitre from his own head, and put it upon that of St. Malachy ; and that he appointed him his legate for all Ireland.
The few last years of this pope were passed chiefly in war- fare with the Italian princes. I omit, however, particulars both of these, and of the schism with Agapetus. I shall only say, that in 1140, Innocent attempted to force Apulia, and its neighbouring principalities, from Roger, King of Sicily, who had received his royal honours from Anacletus. The pope failed in his enterprise, and was carried prisoner to the camp of the prince. To purchase peace and his own liberty, he reinvested Roger with the title of king over all the states in his possession, on condition of his swearing allegi- ance to the vicar of St. Peter ; and consenting to pay a yearly tribute to the holy see. By this treaty the principality of Capua, which, till that time, had been an independent state, and which, with its prince, Robert, had always been, and was even then, a faithful ally of the popedom ; was transferred to the Sicilian sovereign. All the other cities of southern Italy submitted by capitulation or force, and thus was the sove- reignty, which has since been called the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, fully established ^
It was in 1141 that Innocent quarrelled with the King of France, to whose friendship and generosity he had been in- debted for an asylum during the several years of his expulsion from Rome by his rival Anacletus. The pope, without consulting the king, invested and ordained Aimeric, one of his favourite
^ SeePagi, a.p. 1137, § 19, 20, who » Baron. Aiinal. 1140, § 14 ; Pagi, has some good observations upon the ad ann. § 10, seqq. date of this event.
France placed under an interdict.
383
cardinals, as Archbishop of Bourges. The king was desirous book hi. to have his own friend, Cadurcus, raised to the same dignity ; , ^^' ^: and was so much displeased and offended at the insult, that he refused to suffer Aimeric to set foot in his kingdom. The pope was determined to compel the king to submit to the appointment he had made ; and consequently interdicted the performance of divine service in any church of France in the presence of the king ; and this interdict remained in force till after the death of the pope, which occurred September 24, 1143'.
9 Baron. A.D. 1141, § 3; Pagi, ad an. §3.
This Pope Innocent was the man who had tlie celebrated picture painted of the Empei'or Lotharius kneeling be- fore him to receive his crown, to which the followins; distich was attached : —
Rex venit ante fores, jurans prius
urbis honores; Post homo fit Papje, recepit, quo
dante coronam. This picture had a conspicuous place assigned it in the Basilic of St. Peter.
CHAPTER VI.
The power of the Gregorian party in the Catholic Church still continues to increase. — Character and influence of St. Ber- nard.— Frequency of appeals to Rome. — Thomas Becket. — Third Later an Council, or Eleventh General Council, 1179.
CLV. Celestine II., died 1144.
BOOK III. Six popes governed the western portion of the Churches of CHAP. VI. |.j^g Catholic Church ; and forty years elapsed between the Second and Third Lateran Councils. During the whole of this period, notwithstanding the four antipopes who were supported by the imperial party against Alexander III., the power of the Church of Rome continued to increase. The first of these was Guido de Castello, a Tuscan, who was elected unanimously'. He removed the interdict imposed by his predecessors on the King of France. The controversy be- tween Theobald and Henry of Winchester respecting their legatine authority was still continued. Celestine restored the legateship to the archbishop ^ A council was held in London against the depredators of the possessions of the clergy '. It was a lawless period, and much injustice was committed by the military retainers of Stephen, of which a fearful picture is drawn by the writer of the Saxon Chronicle, evidently an eye-witness. The robbers of churches were justly excom- municated, for the sacraments ought not to be given to the violent and impenitent spoliator; yet we may hesitate to
1 Pagi A.D. 1143, §4. circumstance mentioned by the authors
2 Du Pin says, that Ivo, Bishop of before me, Alford,Baronius,Conier, and Frescati, was sent over this year, 1144, Pagi. I cannot verify the reference, as legate. He gives no authority for but I beheve Ivo died this year,
the assertion, and I do not find the ^ Labb. Concil. x. 1033.
The Romans resist the temporal power of the Pope. 385
say with the historian, that the offender was consequently book hi. eternally damned *. -'
CLXVI. Lucius IL, died 1144.
Lucius the Second succeeded Celestine. His pontificate is remarkable for the attempt made by the Italians to carry into effect the principles of Arnold of Brescia, who at this time, though an exile at Zurich, possessed great influence at Rome. Arnold had taught that temporal dominion, and the possession of territorial power, were inconsistent with the spiritual avocation of the pontiffs. On the election of Lucius, therefore, the Romans refused to acknowledge him as their prince, though they professed themselves willing to pay him all reverence as their bishop '\ They consequently elected Jordano ^, son of Peter Leo, as chief patrician, and invested him wdth the royal power. They expelled all civil officers appointed by the pope, substituted others, and claimed the temporal revenues as the right of their new prince. Both parties sought the protection of the Emperor Conrad. The popular party offered to put him in possession of the city, with all its fortifications. The pope had sent Guido, Chan- cellor of the Roman Church, as the legate to Conrad, who, though not able to afford any assistance in subduing the rebels, was favourable to the cause of the pope. A senate was re-established by Jordano and the people, by w'hich edicts were issued after the ancient custom. These changes gave the pope great alarm ; and in order to recover his temporal possessions, he put himself at the head of an army of priests and soldiers, and proceeded against the capitol, where the senate was then sitting. The attempt to take the patrician and people by surprise failed. The pope and his troops were vanquished, and in a few days after Lucius died from the v/ounds he received, having held the see somew^hat more than eleven months. These events had no effect in diminishing the power of the popes, excepting for a short time, in Italy ^
* Robert of Mai'mion, for his con- Alf'ord, iv. 33.
duct to the monks of Coventry, was '■> Baron, a.d. 1144, § 4 — 9.
excommunicated — et excommuuicatus "^ Pagi, a.d. 1144, § 8.
morte depascitur sempitex'na, says ' Baron, ad ana. 1145, § 1.
VOL. II. C C
386 Attempt at Reformation before Wycliffe.
CHAP vi' CLXVII. Eugenius III., died 1153.
Lucius was succeeded by Bernard, Abbot of St. Anasta- sius, a disciple of St. Bernard, who was born at Pisa. The citizens of Rome were making at this time great efforts to throw off the yoke of their bishop. The senate consisted of fifty-six members, over whom Jordano, the chief patrician and popular magistrate, was elected president. Lucius having lost his life in his attempt to suppress the restoration of the secular authorities in the city, Eugenius, soon after his election, fled from Rome to France, (where he was hospitably received by the king,) to avoid being compelled either to ratify the establishment of the popular magistracy, or share the fate of his predecessor ^
In our brief and cursory view of the events which have taken place from the Ascension of Christ to the present day, which were to be overruled to the production of the greatest possible good, by bringing about " the times and the seasons which the Father had set in his own power,^' I could not but be struck with the remark of a modern writer '. (He is speaking of the efforts by which the Italian cities obtained independence.) How inany unknown and disastrous efforts must have been made before the successful one ! It is only after a vast number of unknown attempts apparently hope- less— after a host of noble hearts have fallen into despair, convinced that their cause was lost — that it triumphs. The truth of the remark is evidenced by the numerous attempts at change within the four centuries, before the great change (which restored the early faith to the more influential portions of the Catholic Church) called the Reformation.
The efforts to obtain political and religious liberty at this moment — for the object of the insurrection in Rome was thus twofold — were made by the followers of Arnold of Brescia. If the people had succeeded, and established the opinions of their leader, they would have overthrown much of error and despotism, but they would have established much error also
* Baron, ad ann. 1145, § 11—22. mitting and overruling evil for good.
^ Guizot (Civilization of Europe, p. He makes man too much the arbiter
213), the magnificent generalizer of of his own destiny ; instead of consider-
the inferences deducible from history, ing him as an instrument in the hands
whose deficiency arises chiefly from his of the divine power who has ordered
not sufficiently keeping in view the all from the beginning, ultimate object of Providence in per-
Attempts of Arnold of Brescia and fVycliffe premature. 387
in their place. The evil under which they groaned began to book ill.
be intolerable ; but the disease of mankind had not effected its , i^^ ,'
purpose. So it was, also, with the attempts at reform under WyclifFe ". The labours of that noble servant of God were blended with many errors. The time had not yet come when the Reformation was to be effected. The times of the human race, like those of each individual, are in the hand of God ; and the Lord reigneth — the earth may rejoice ; and the multitude of the isles — England, Ireland, and their dependent isles — may be glad thereof.
Eugenius returned from France, and armed against the citizens of Rome the inhabitants of Tivoli. He was only per- mitted, however, to occupy the city by recognizing the senate. The tumults did not entirely cease, and he again fled to France. Arnold of Brescia, in his absence, returned to Rome from his exile, followed by 2000 Swiss. He pro- posed to restore the consuls, tribunes, and the knights of the ancient time. He might as well have proposed to restore the kings, the dictators, or the emperors. He proposed, also, to allow the pope no civil authority or power, and to make the emperor paramount over the bishops, and their own acts of government. Eugenius, in 1149, again returned, again fled, and again occupied the city in 1153, when he died \ These events, which were attended with many mutual unjustifiable atrocities, had no effect in diminishing the influ- ence of the papacy. It was now too deeply identified in the minds of all nations with the desire to please and serve God. Resistance to the bishops of Rome was deemed by so many to be resistance to God, and to Christ, and to the Virgin Mary, whom they venerated as much, and often more than either ; that all these efforts at resistance were hopeless.
The power of the Church of Rome over the Churches of France, Spain, and England, became, about this time, even more decidedly established. The Archbishop of Rheims, 1146 ^, was deprived of his pall for crowning Louis at Bourges, the bishop of that city claiming the privilege. The bishops of Spain were again commanded, 1152, to obey the Archbishop of Toledo as their metropolitan. Henry, the
*" Le Bas, Life of Wycliffe, pp. 340. contain the authorities on which these 359 — 3(i2. statements are based.
' The annals of Baronius and Pagi * Pagi, ad ann. § 7.
c c 2
388
Papal usurpation over the see of Canterbury.
BOOK III. Bishop of Winchester, exercised the legatine power over his CHAP. VI. ^^^ metropoHtan, the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the Council of Rheims, 1148^, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of Worcester, Bath, Chichester, and Exeter, were present. Theobald, the archbishop, attended, contrary to the express command of Stephen, for which he was banished on his return. By way of retahation, he had the insolence to publish an interdict on all the plr.ces in England which acknowledged the authority of the king. The Archbishop of York was deposed by Eugenius, against the opinion of his cardinals, because, as the sentence stated, he had been nomi- nated by the king before his election by the chapter *. Another papal innovation ivas, also, now made upon the rights and privileges of the see of Canterbury. The Irish prelates had formerly been consecrated by the primate of England \ Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, having sat three years, resigned his archbishopric to Pope Gelasius ; and two years after took a journey to Rome to procure two palls — one for Armagh, the other for a city not then consecrated, but of which see, the erection had been proposed by Celsus, the former Archbishop of Armagh ^ Innocent II. made Malachy his
3 Labb. Concil. x. 1107.
* The capitular election of metropo- litans was now exercised in England; and the account to which such elec- tion was to be turned by the sove- reign pontiff was obvious, in the pro- motion of Henry Murdae to the see of York. William, a canon of that Church, a relative, also, of King Stephen, was chosen by a majority of the canons. Murdae was Abbot of Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire. He was a fellow monk with Pope Eugenius under St. Bernard. The cause of Murdae was espoused with vehemence by Bernard, who in his ccxxxviiith epistle written to Eu- genius, tells that pope that it was said that tiot Etigenius but Bernard was pope. He also speaks loudly against the elec- tion of William, whom he calls secular, having no title to the dignity, and otherwise loads him with reproach. Murdae appealed to Rome ; and so much at fault was the court of Rome itself for a plea in favour of Murdae, that neither Innocent, Celestine, nor Lucius, could find an excuse sufficient to justify them in ejecting William.
It was, therefore, left for the ingenuity of Eugenius and Bernard to invent a new objection by which a legitimately elected metropolitan might be deposed. This they accomplished. William was expelled on the ground that he had been nominated by the King of Eng- land before having been elected by the majority of the chapter. Alberic, Bishop of ()stia, passed the sentence, and this, and no other complaint was alleged. This seems to be the first instance of the court of Rome pre- suming to overthrow the freedom of election by the chaptei-s of cathedral Churches. — Stub. Act. Pontif. Ebor. col. 1721, ap. X. Script. ; also John of Hexham, col. 273, and Gervase of Canterbury, col. 1363, in the same volume.
^ Chronic. Norman, p. 983, quoted by Collier, i. 340.
^ For an account of Celsus, see But- ler's Lives of the Saints, St. Malachy, Nov. 3. Collier says, Celsus erected a new metropolis iu Ireland. Butler corrects this, and supposes that Tuam was intended.
The Irish Church ruled by Canterbury before Henry 11. 389
legate for Ireland, but refused his request about the palls, book hi.
Nine years after, Malachy set out for Rome, but died on his , ^^ ,'
way thither, at the monastery of Clairvaux, in France, 1 148, of which his friend and biographer, St. Bernard, was then abbot. Three years after, Eugenius sent John Papyriiis, his legate, into Ireland with four palls, for the erecting of four archbishoprics, assigning to each metropolitan five suffragans.
In the present day, the mistake is too frequently made, that the invasion of Ireland by Henry II., under the sanction of the bull of Pope Adrian IV., was the commencement of the power of the Church as well as of the state of England over that country ; whereas, the spiritual jurisdiction of Canterbury was acknowledged for many ages prior to that time over the Irish Churches; till Eugenius exercised the new power of sending the palls, and thereby engrossing the future control of the episcopacy of that country \ The successor of Euge- nius only completed the pontifical usurpation by sending Henry, as his son in the faith, to reduce the inhabitants of Ireland to the dominion of his papal father ^
One principal circumstance contributed at this period to exalt the power of the Church — the character, influence, and austerity of St. Bernard. St. Bernard, the great upholder of the papal chair of Innocent II., the chief preacher of the crusades, the denouncer of the heresies of Abelard, Henry, Arnold of Brescia, and Gilbert Porretanus, was not only venerable for his learning, eloquence, or cheerful piety ^, but for his asceti- cism, and his attachment to the Roman see. His language respecting the papacy describes his veneration, love, and devotion. His treatise on Consideration is addressed to Pope
^ The insidious and silent manner Cliurch was projected by placing
in which the popes acquired power may Malachy, first in the see of Down and
be partly understood by the circum- Connor, as a step to the primacy, stance of the Irish Church being at * The four archbishoprics were
last compelled to surrender an inde- Armagh, Cashel, Dublin, and Con-
pendence which it had preserved from naught. Baronius tells us, that in the
the pontificate of Leo the Great till Vatican library a fuller account is found
that of Eugenius III. ; throughout a of these sees — plenior descriptio, &c.
succession of more than one hundred When will the treasures of the Vatican
and twenty popes, by the artful intro- be thrown open \ When will the jea-
duction of one Cistercian monk into its lousy of Rome cease ? ei)iscopacy ; for the express object, as ^ Erasmus says of him, he was —
the result would seem to prove, of its Christiane doctus, et sancte facundus,
overthrow. It was hai'dly possible for et pie fcstivus. — Erasm. in c. i. Rom.
human sagacity to suspect, that the p. 243, ap. Butler, Aug. 20. ruin of the independence of the Irish
390 Bernard exalts and increases the influence of Rome.
BOOK III. Eugenius. He urges on him the necessity of considering CHAP. VI. ^g|| ^j^g duties and the dignity of his office; and reminds him that he has no arbitrary dominion over the Churches. He tells him that the civil government and the spiritual govern- ment of the Church cannot well co-exist: but when he describes the spiritual dignity, he labours for language to express his opinion of the excellence of the pontifical power. He calls upon him to be humble, though he holds the supremacy over the Churches. " Who art thou ' ?" he exclaims. " Thou art the Great Priest, the Highest Pontiff, the Prince of Bishops, the Heir of the Apostles ! Thou art Abel in primacy, Noah in government, Abraham in patriarchal honour, Melchizedek in order, Aaron in dignity, Moses in authority, Samuel in judicature, Peter in power, Christ in divine appointment over the Church ! Thou art he to whom the keys are delivered, to whom the sheep are entrusted ;" and so he goes on to affirm, that whatever be the rank of other bishops, the pope is more glorious than all ^. If these extravagant affirmations had been made by a worldly-minded sycophant, who was anxiously seeking only temporal advancement and earthly greatness, the effect upon the people Avould have been but slight: but when they were uttered by one who was the admiration of his contemporaries for his ascetic virtue, in an age when this kind of piety was esteemed to be superior to all other, his errors became truths to the vulgar. The face of Bernard, says his biographer, was emaciated, and exceeding pale and wan, and his whole body was attenuated — visible marks of his austere penitential life. He punished himself for taking satisfaction in his conversation with some secular friends, by praying prostrate at the foot of the altar, twenty- five days in sighs and groans'. He went to his meals as to a torment, and the sight of food seemed often his whole refec-
1 Quis es ? Sacerdos magnus, sum- quanto et difJerentius utrumque prse mus ])ontifex. Tu priuceps episcopo- caeteris nomine heereditasti. Habent rum, tu ha^res apostolorum, tu pritnatu ilii sibi assignatos greges, singuli sin- Abel, gubernatu Noe, patriarchatu gulos, tibi universi credite ; uni unus, Abraham, ordine Melchisedek, digni- nee modo ovium, sed et pastorum, tu tate Aarou, authoritate Moyses, judi- unus omnium pastor. — Du Mesnil, catu Samuel, potestate Petrus, unc- vol. iv. p. 387.
tioue Christus, Tu es, cui claves tra- '^ See further of this hyperbolical
ditae, cui oves creditte sunt. Sunt phraseology, in the last quoted note,
quidem et alii coeli jauitores, et gre- ^ Butler, Lives of the Saints, p. 232,
gum pastores : sed tu tanto gloriosius, Aug. 20.
Character and conduct of St. Bernard. 391
tion *. Though his devotion, according: to our more scriptural, book hi.
and therefore more enlightened views of the way to please ^ — l^^J :
God, was useless and unrequired' — though we shall now hesi- tate to believe, among other miracles, that he excommunicated the flies in the Church of the monastery of Foigni, in the diocese of Laon, and they all died — though his devotion to the Virgin Mary was the chief act of his life that could have offended her, if she is indeed cognizant, as so many of our brethren imagine, of the actions of her votaries ^ — though he identified the wafer with the Son of God, and thus anticipated the decision of the Council of Lateran, that the bread in the Sacrament was transubstantiated — though he called on Lo- thaire to punish schismatics ' — though he misled the crusaders by vainly promising them success, and imputed the failure of his prediction to the sins of the people — though he was an enthusiastic devotee of the pope, and though we see, there- fore, in his actions and in his writings.
Much that we love, and more that we admire. With all that we abhor —
St. Bernard will ever be reckoned among the great and the good. He opposed the more cruel advice of his contemporary^ who advocated the extirpation of the Jew-s. He boldly expostulated with Celestine on his indulgence to a monk who had offended his bishop ^ He corresponded with religious persons in every part of the world, extended the rules and discipline of his monasteries, and laboured without ceasing to extend the form and spirituality of Christianity, as he was able to understand it. He warns one against revenge ", another against too much severity \ He dissuades one from going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem because he could be more useful at home ^ He comforts another under persecu- tion'. He charges others in many letters to peace, virtue, charity, humility, and a life of spiritual devotedness to God. He wrote to Pope Innocent, complaining boldly and freely of the consequences which would result from the frequent
* Butler, Life of St. Bemai-d, p. 242. » Id. Ixxx. 5 Butler, Aug. 20, p. 241. ' Id. Ixxix.
* Id. pp. 243. 252. 255. 259. * Id. Ixxxii. ' Epist. S. Beruardi, cxxx. ' Id. Ix.xxiii.
* Id. ccxxxi.
393 The Bishops now had the power to imprison heretics.
BOOK in, appeals to the pope against the metropolitans and bishops,
> ^.^ — '' and the destruction of discipHne which followed in the several
dioceses of the universal Church \ He mediates between the pope and the King of France, and expatiates on the folly of schism, and the danger of raising the question on the relative limits of the regal and sacerdotal powers ^ The bishops at this period had the power of fettering and im- prisoning heretics. They dealt with them as incarnate evil, and showed them no mercy. They considered that pity was, in itself, a dangerous error ; and St. Bernard seems to have been of the same opinion, though he does not appear to have advocated the wholesale murders and burnings of his imme- diate successors. He writes a severe letter to Ildefonsus, the Count of Toulouse, on the protection which he had afforded to Henry, the disciple of Peter de Bruys. He accuses Henry not only of error, but also of criminality ; and assures the count °, that authority is entrusted to him to extirpate this plant of bitterness, with the assistance of the bishop, and especially of the Cardinal of Ostia. The next generation witnessed more severe proceedings against these unfortunate people. Bernard went to Toulouse and preached against the errors of the Henricians. He is said to have been most influential among them \ He was then recalled to his monas- tery. Henry was seized, bound in chains, and delivered to the bishop. Bernard did not interfere, but wrote to the people of Toulouse to exhort them to reject all heretics, and to receive no preachers, especially the ignorant and strangers, but those only whom the pope or their bishop approved *.
Though Bernard did not rise above the spirit of his age in not condemning all punishment of the body for the conclu- sions of the mind, when those conclusions did not encourage the wickedness which destroys society ; he willingly incurred the resentment of the influential monks, as well as the anger of the pope, Mdien he deemed that his duty required it. His apology to William, the Abbot of Thierry, proves the
* Epist. clxxviii. adhortans eos ad perseverantiam, et
* Id. ccxix. monet, ut solicite fugiant et ejiciant
* Id. ccxli. hsereticos, nee quosvis admittant prte- ' Du Mesnil, vol. iv. lib. 1. sec. ix. p. dicatores, praisertim ignotos et exti-a-
377- neos,nisi missi vel a papa, vel ab eorum
* Henricus tandem captus et cate- episcopo prEedicaverint. — Du Mesnil, natus episcopo traditus est. Sed Ber- vol. iv. lib. 1. sec. ix. p. 377-
nardus ad Tolosanos dedit^ epistolam,
4
Bernard, called " The Last of the Fathers ^^ 393
former ^ ; his treatise on Consideration the latter. The other book III. treatises of Bernard, his Sermons, and Discourse on the Love P^'^J" / of God, may be read with dehght and advantage. He has been called the " Last of the Fathers," because he adopted the manner of the ancients, and not of the scholastics. The expression is absurd, for those who followed him were as pious, holy, zealous, and spiritually-minded as himself, and in many respects more free from error. Taylor, Hall, Bull, Usher, Barrow, and Pearson, deserve the name of Fathers in the Church of Christ, as much as many who bear that noble title. The epithet, however, denotes respect to his person, and estimation of his waitings. His language is animated. His sentences are redolent of Scripture. The kings and princes of the earth regarded his arbitrations of their differ- ences as laws. The bishops revered his knowledge, and deferred to his advice. The popes regarded him, and with justice, as the firmest supporter and consolidator of the holy see. The common people venerated him as the best, holiest, humblest, wisest, ecclesiastic of his age \ His great error was that which is common to all mankind, atid which is more peculiarly characteristic of the zealous supporters of the Church of Rome. When he condemned the errors of others, he forgot that it was possible that he might have errors of his own. He did not believe that councils, bishops, and popes, might perchance be wrong; and, therefore, that to enchain and im- prison, or even to burn, a real or supposed heretic, was an absurdity and a crime. His fault was that of his age. His virtues were his own. Christianity makes none perfect. One only is perfect, the God whom St. Paul and St. Peter, even in the hour of their divisions, desired alone to serve ; as if it were designed to prove to us, that the universal possibility of error, should demonstrate the necessity of universal toleration.
8 Du Pin, cent. xii. Life of St. claustra in diversis orbis ecclesiis, po-
Bernard. tissimum vero pro Romana est opera-
1 Barouius says of Bernard:— Vere tus ecclesia. Qui et apud imperatores,
apostolieus vir, iramo verus apos- reges, aliosque principes, pro omnium
tolus missus a Deo, potens opere et sublevatione, atque ipsorummet priu-
bermone, illustrans ubique et in om- cipum salute, tot tautaque peret^erit.
nibus suum apostolatum sequentibus Et qui dieendus sit totius ecclesite
siguis, ut plane nihil minus habuerit Catliolicoe ornamentura simul ac ful-
a magnis apostolicis. Hie vivens jam cimentum ; Gallicante vero in primis
centum sexaginta monasteria ubique ecclesiag prtedicandus sit summnm
terrarum erexit. Sed ista minora cen- decus, summa gloria, summa felicitas.
senda respectu illorum quae extra — Vol. xii. p. 378, ad anu. 1153.
394 Bernard, Cranmer, Fisher, Hooker, some of my own family,
BOOK III. He died at his monastery worn out with labour. He had ^^^' 11' composed and pubKshed a work on the Canticles^ and his comfort on his death-bed was derived from his contemplations on the verse, " By night, on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loveth ;" which he illustrated by the words of St. Paul % " We are not the children of the night." His comfort, like that of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity, was derived from the exercise of the best earthly privilege which God has given to man — the study of that Holy Book w^hich contains the lessons of immortality, and which is the con- necting link between the present world and the future. Some of my Protestant brethren may be offended with the affirma- tion, that the death of Bernard may be compared with the death of those who derived their consolation and hope from the same sacred sources ; while they abhorred the conclusions of the Church of Rome. True it is, that the personal piety of the papist must never render us indifferent to the intolerable consequences of his being invested with power — never should induce us to adopt the falsehoods, which may be believed with sincerity, and therefore with personal piety. We may, how- ever, admire his virtue while we abhor his opinions. All we desire of the Church of Rome is, that it retain its scriptural and primitive faith, and give up its unscriptural additions to its fulness; that it retain its piety, and resign its uncom- manded self-tormentings. Bernard, in his monastery of Clairvaux, comforting his parting spirit with the remem- brance of Him whom his soul loved ; Cranmer, pondering his vacillation, and punishing his unshrinking right hand in the bright red flame ; Fisher, pale and withered from his cruel imprisonment, when he denied the king's supremacy, and declaring that the words he read from the New Testament of a bystander — " This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" — were sufficient to enable him to die in peace ; Hooker, contemplating the order of angels ; the last dying child which sunk in death, gazing on vacancy, and crying with fainter and fainter tones, as if the veil of the temple had been already rent, and the various angels were seen, " What a number! what a number' 1"
' 1 Thess. V. 5. dying. I hope to meet again her, and
^ These were the last words of one my father, and my many friends and
of my own dear sisters when she was kindred, from whom the providence of
and all vjho die in ChriH, are equally the Saints of God. 395
the humble and reposing communicant of the English Church, book hi.
who avoids alike superstition or excitement; ay, and the . l^J ,*
last nobleman, gentleman, ecclesiastic, mechanic, peasant, shopkeeper, and shopkeeper's wife or child *, whose obituary and happy death is recorded in a journal, or discoursed of among their friends — all, all drink of the same cup of suffering, enjoy the same consolations, and understand the same felicity as the martyr Stephen, who died in peace with man, praying for his murderers, and commending his soul to his Redeemer — '•' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." If they so die, we may weep, smile over, hate, abhor, and avoid their real or supposed errors; but they have all one Lord, the Creator, one faith in the Atoner, one baptism from the Sanctifier ! They are children of the same Father, aspiring to the Father's blessing. Why should we any longer, in this our short pilgrimage, fall out by the way ? TVhy will not Rome repent ? Why should we not endeavour to have but one bond of communion upon earth; and that bond be the same which will unite us in one Church, in the worship of Christ in heaven ?
Eugenius died on the 8th of July, 1153 \ He had recov- ered many towns Avhich had long been lost to the holy see, and his epitaph commemorates his doing so in an expression which in our day has occasioned much discussion ^ Bernard died on the 20th of August in the same year.
God has separated me for a short time craft, over the ti-uth, liberty, and reU-
only. Si mode dignus ero, I add, with gion of Christ's Holy Catholic Church;
Bishop Louth, in the language of his but the victim and the persecutor may
epitaph on his daughter. meet before God. As they sleep in
* He sees with equal eye, as Lord one grave, they may awake to one re-
of all, surrection : — at least, \ hope so.
A peasant perish, or a monarch * See Pagi, a.d. 1153, § 2.
fall. * Regalia muita longo tempore
St. Bernard comforted himself with amissa Beato Petro restituit. — Baron,
the words of the song of Solomon, and Anna), xii. 377.
thought of Him whom his soul loved. For the meaning of Reqalia Petri,
The dying weaver will express the see the pages of the Bishops Doyle and
same tliought in the language, perhaps, Phillpotts, and the work of Sullivan
of the neglected Watts — and Phelan,on the evidence before the
Thou, whom my soul admires above House of Lords. Its use in the epitaph
All earthly joy, all earthly love. of Eugenius certainly proves that it
Where is the difference ? We may could not refer to spiritual privileges
thank our God that there shall be or superintendence only. The towns
neither Popery nor Protestantism in which the pope recovered as a part of
our immortality, but the peace of God his temporal dominion, had never for-
through Christ alone. Popery must feited their spiritual obedience to their
be resisted to the death in this world, bishop, as the usurpation, by ambitious priest-
396 The amhliious appeal to the Popes against their Kings.
BOOK III.
^^- CLXVIII. Anastasius IV., died 1154.
The pontificate of Anastasius IV. lasted only about seven- teen months. His compliance Avith the nomination by Frederick \ of the Archbishop of Magdeburg, was supposed by his reproaching cardinals to have weakened the claims of the holy see. The pretensions, however, of the Bishops of Rome were more strengthened by the frequent appeals now made to Rome. One of the principal appeals made to Anastasius was that of Hugh Pudsey;, Bishop of Durham, against Henry, the Archbishop of York. On the death of William de Sancta Barbara, Bishop of Durham, in 1153, Hugh Pudsey, a young man, the king's nephew, treasurer of York, was elected in his place. Henry, the archbishop, objecting to his age and demeanour, refused to consecrate him. The electors and the elected appealed to Rome. When they arrived there, Euge- nius, the fellow pupil at Clairvaux, under St. Bernard, with Henry, was dead, and Anastasius possessed the see. The archbishop fell sick and died at Winchester, and Pudsey was consecrated by Anastasius ^
William also, the Archbishop of York, who had been de- posed, again appealed to Rome. The chapter of York elected him a second time to obviate any objections. He declined insisting on the validity of his former disputed election. He was honourably received, consecrated, and presented with the pall by Anastasius. The question of papal supremacy began to be a question of money ; and the ambitious and the dis- contented began to appeal to the papacy more and more against their own princes. From this time the custom of appealing to Rome began to be more frequent, and very large were the sums of money extracted by this practice from England, and from other Churches. The profits that accrued to the chancery and other courts of Rome, impoverished the English, and enriched the popes and their adherents. When the sweets of the gains accruing to Rome from these appeals had been once experienced, scarcely any controversy arose in any
' I purposely omit in this brief nar- of Gregory V^II. illustrates the reign of
rative of the rise and progress of the every subsequent pope, papal power, the contests between the * See Pagi, a.d. 1154, § 10. Le
imperialists and the papalians, the cini- Neve's Fasti, p. 307- sades, &c. The view of the pontificate
Stephen, Bishop of Tournay^ opposes appeals to Rome. 397 country which was not instantly made the subiect of an BOOK III.
PTTAPVT
appeal to Rome. The papal emissaries, to whose inspection > .J — 'i
everj' western nation was now subjected, were too vigilant to suffer any royal or clerical disputes to escape the judgment of the supreme court. To manage these appeals, proctors, notaries, agents, and advocates, were required in all distant localities; while judges, civilians, canonists, scribes, clerks, referendaries, and other functionaries, great and small, were no less constantly employed at Rome. All required payment. Bulls, briefs, citations, sentences, references, with innumerable other processes, were multiplied and extended indefinitely, to the frequent ruin of both plaintiff and defendant ^ The greater weight of these charges began to be first felt in Eng- land at the time of Anastasius, two years before the death of Stephen: who was a traitor to his people by subjecting them to the popes, to secure to himself the usurped throne. Before this time they were comparatively unfrequent and unusual \ Stephen, the Bishop of Tournay, who flourished at this time, inveighed also against the abuse of appeals to Rome. He not only censured the substitution of the study of the canon law, after the publication of Gratian, for that of the Fathers. He bitterly condemned ^ the appeals made to the holy see by inferiors to avoid the correction of their superiors ; and de- manded, as the bishops of France had previously done, that the authority of the bishops should not be impeded and ren- dered nugatory, by the power of appealing to Rome. He complained that the Churches were impoverished by the expenses of obtaining bulls from Rome. The seals of many of the bulls were made of lead. Lead being required to cover the Church of St. Genevieve, which had been burnt by the Normans, he applied to the King of Sweden, and to the King of Denmark, and his bishops, to send him money to purchase lead ; which at this period was generally procured in England. The Churches, he says, are roofed by the Eng-
^ See a treatise eutitled " The usque quo Heuricus extitit Wintoni- Romish Horseleech," a collection of ensis episcopus. — Gervase of Canter- surprising items of expenses paid use- biu'y, ap. X. Scriptt. 1667, i" fin. This lessly and needlessly to Rome, while Henry, brother to King Stephen, be- England was subjected to its dominion, came Bishop of Winchester in the year pp. 33, ct seq. 112».— See Le Neve's Fasti, 285.
' Inusitatae enim erant in Anglia ^ Epist. cclv. ap. Du Pin, cent. xii.
appellationes, sicut prjelibatum est, p. 16'J.
398 Ireland granted by Hadrian to the King of England.
BOOK III. lish lead. They are unroofed by the Roman lead ^. A.nastaslus ^ ^ died on the 2nd of December, 1154'*, and was succeeded im-
mediately by Nicholas, a native of St. Albans, in England \
CLXIX. Hadrian IV., died 1159.
Nicholas had been the legate of Eugene to the people of Norway, and was at Rome when Anastasius died. His cha- racter so much recommended him to the people, that he was unanimously chosen to the pontificate ^ He assumed the name of Hadrian IV. He strengthened the power of the Roman see, and suppressed the political republicanism and religious opposition of Arnold of Brescia, by burning that reformer'. He maintained the personal pretensions of the pontiffs to superiority over princes, by reproving as guilty of arrogance and insolence, Frederick, the Emperor of Germany, for presuming to place his name before that of the Bishop of Rome. He was justified in doing so, for the master is higher than the servant ; and Hadrian had previously degraded Frederic to the rank of his feudal groom, when he required him, not in vain, to hold the stirrup of his horse in the pre- sence of his whole army ^
The name of Hadrian is familiar to the student of English history in consequence of his memorable donation of Ireland, as one of the islands of the ocean, to the King of England, Henry II. The Church of Ireland, we have already seen, after having been so closely united with that of England, that its bishops received consecration from the Archbishops of Canterbury ; shook off its allegiance to that see ; became more closely united with Rome by the exertions of Malachy,
^ Anglico plumbo teguntur ecclesise, inomnimoruni compositioneprasclarus.
nudantur Romano. — Vita Adriani, ex Card. Arragon. ap.
* Pagi, A.D. 1154, § 1. Muratori, Scrip. Rer. Ital. vol. iii. pt.
^ Concerning the pai'entage and i. p. 441.
early history of Hadrian, see Bromp- ' See Vit. Adrian, ut supra. The
ton, col. 1047, and Knyghton, col. 2393, reader should consult Neander's Nar-
both of which winters are to be found rative of " St. Bernard's Controver-
in the Decern Scriptores. sies with Abelard and Arnold of
" Erat enim vir valde benignus, Brescia," in his Life of St. Bernard,
mitis, et patiens ; in Anglica et Latina p. 124, for an estimate of the opinions
lingua peritus, in sermone facundus, of those reformers,
in eloquentia politus, in cantilena prse- * For the correspondence between
cipuus, et prsedicator egregius, ad iras- Hadrian and Frederick, see Labb.
cendum tardus, ad ignoscendum velox, Concil. x. 1147, seqq. hilaris dator, in eleemosynis largus, et
Letters of Hadrian and Henry respecting Ireland. 399 and received four palls from the hands of Hadrian's leorate BOOK ill.
■ • CHAP VI
for the four metropolitans of Ireland. The professed objects ^^ ;
of Pope Hadrian in the gift of Ireland to Henry, were to bring " the rude and uncultivated people of Ireland/' as he calls them, "to the truth of the Christian faith, and to enlarge the bounds of the Church." The true meaning of these and many other ambiguous expressions in the pope's letter, is not easily discerned. It was written the year after Becket was made chancellor, in the second year of Henry II. Henry, on the accession of Hadrian, had written to him a congratulatory letter; in which he urges him in general terms so to govern the Churches that all may bless his nation ; and that his own country especially may have reason to rejoice in his eleva- tion ^ The notion which a king may be supposed to enter- tain by these expressions, would probably refer to the antici- pation of the temporal greatness of his kingdom being increased ; for he sent a solemn embassy to Rome, and solicited Hadrian to permit him to invade Ireland, to subju- gate the country, and to reduce to the faith and to the way of truth its less than human inhabitants \ To this uncourte- ous letter, so far as it described the Irish, Hadrian, their self- chosen lord, sent the celebrated reply. He congratulates Henry on his desire to honour the Church, instruct the ignorant, and take counsel of Rome; and assures him, that such virtue must command success. He then proceeds to say — " You have signified to us, dear son in the faith, your desire to subdue Ireland and its people to Christian laws ^ ; and to render from each house the annual penny to St. Peter; and that you will maintain the rights of the Churches unal- tered. We approve your design. We grant your petition. That you may accomplish your great objects, invade the island, and execute there whatever pertains to the glory of God, and the salvation of the people, we grant that the people of the
' Ecclesias omnes ita reficere, quod mines illos bestiales, ad fidem et viam
beatam omnes dicant generationes ves- reducere veritatis. — Matt. Paris, ap.
trse beatitudinis nationem. Alford, vol. iv. p. 35.
I fix the date of this letter in 1155, ^ ad subdendum populum
contrary to the opinion botii of Baro- legibus Chi-istianis. The letter from
nius and Alford, for the reasons as- Hadrian to Henry, in which that
signed by Collier, i. 345. monarch is encouraged to invade Ire-
' rogavit papam ut sibi land, is preserved by Ralph de Diceto,
hceret Hibernise insulam hostiUter in- col. 529, in the Decern Scriptores. trare, et terram subjugare, atque ho-
400 Exhoriation of Hadrian to Henry U.
BOOK III. land receive and venerate you as their lord '." — Hadrian then ^ • proceeds to give the reason for his thus assuming to give away the island of Ireland to his petitioner \ "It is indeed true/' he says, "that all islands Avhich are illumined by Christ the sun of righteousness, are a portion of the patrimony of St. Peter ^, and the Holy Roman Church, which law your excellency recognizes. Go on then. Study to improve this nation. Labour both by yourself and others who are quali- fied for the office, in faith, word, and deed, that the Church may be there honoured, and the religion of Christ be planted and extended. Whatever pertains to the honour of God, and the good of souls, let it be so ordered that you obtain reward in heaven, and imperishable renown upon earth." Such is the substance of the bull of Hadrian, which has been the charter of the English possession of Ireland. Fourteen years elapsed before the king acted upon its assumptions. The real meaning of the usurping pontiff, who thus suddenly after his elevation to the holy see presumed to command the Irish nation to transfer their allegiance, and to submit im- plicitly to a new sovereign, has remained enveloped in much mystery. The appeal of the King of England to Hadrian to exercise the unhallowed power of subjugating to him a peace- able and friendly nation, over whom he^had never before pre- tended to exercise any jurisdiction ; was a circumstance so unheard of, as to seem too dishonest to succeed, unless craftily managed. The bargain, novel as it was, from the barefaced manner in which the king asks the favour, and the pope grants it ; has the appearance of having been transacted on both sides, as though it were nothing new. The popes
* . . . illius terrse populus te reel- Scriptores is beyond suspicion, and has
piat, et sicut dominum veneretur. been followed in these observations
■' I give but few clauses to show the upon the transaction to which it re- confidence with which Hadrian pro- lates. The whole clause is worth ceeds to dispose of an entire nation of transcribing. " Sane Hiberniam et people, as if he were superuaturally omnes insulas, quibus Sol Justitise vested with the ownership of the world. Christus illuxit, et qute documenta Collier, in his ti-anslation, has followed fidei Christiause receperunt, ad jus the order of Hadrian's letter as it is beati Petri et sacrosanctse Romanae printed in Alford. The author of the ecclesite, quod tua etiam nobilitas History of Popery, a book which loses recognoscit, non est dubium pertinere." much of its value by the references — Decern Script, col. 530. having been omitted, places the asser- ^ Jus must here denote that right, tion of the pope's power to give away power, privilege, by which Peter, and all islands, before the grant. The copy therefore the pope, is the inheritor of of the bull as printed in the Decern the honour of Christ and God.
The Pall not anciently sent from Rome to Ireland. 401
now claimed by the newly-published canon law, as well as by book hi.
the old decretals, a superiority over kings. This act of the '^ ' ,'
English king in asking for Ireland as a gift from the pope, and the act of the pope in making the present, are instances calculated strongly to confirm the doctrine of the decretal and canon law, as to the papal supremacy. Henry, on his part, fully acknowledged by his appeal, the superiority of the pope to the king ; yet his own crown, by the same law, was placed at the disposal of Hadrian, and the authority thus usurped was subsequently exercised upon his son John. Hadrian boldly asserts his right to all isles of the ocean, far and near, wher- ever the Christian faith had spread, and insists that the king himself is well aware that they belong to him, and are at his disposal. Having thus unscrupulously declared himself the sovereign of all islands, he proceeds to declare his motives for putting the King of England in possession of Ireland. Many of his expressions are so obscure, that they are almost incomprehensible ^ Suffice it here to say, that by the cession
" As early as the reign of Theodo- sius tlie Younger, Christianity, through the diligent and successful labours of Patrick, and his coadjutor Palladius, had overspread the whole of Ireland. Confessio Patricii, Works, Edit. Jac. Warus, London, 1G58 ; Usher's Ec- cles. Antit^., 4to, Dublin, 1639 ; Irish Antiquarian Researches, by Sir W. Betham, Dublin, 8vo, 1826 ; Bernard. in Vit. S. Malachise, c. x. St. Patrick fixed upon Armagh as the seat of his bishopric. The violence and distress which the English Churches suffered from the incursions of the Saxons, and other pagan adventiu'ers, caused their priesthood to withdraw, with their congregations, for the sake of personal safety, among their Christian brethren in Wales and Ireland (see Gildas and Bede), where the Gospel had been plant- ed in a more tranquil region. For six centuries the Churches of Ireland flourished without being torn and afflicted with similar calamities to those with which the Churches of Eng- land and other nations had been as- sailed. From the foundation of the see of Armagh, whose bishops were always acknowledged as the primates of Ireland, neither these primates, nor the successive metropolitans of Dublin, Tuam, nor Cashel, had been ever dis-
VOL. II.
tinguished by that plenitude of honour with which the pall was supposed to dignify metropolitans. All the func- tions of primate and archbishop were performed in Ireland without either palls or legates, or any other interven- tions of Rome. Nothing, therefore, could more unequivocally prove the independence of tlie Ii-ish prelacy, than the total absence of the pall ; either as a token of union, or, as the court of St. Peter meant it, as a badge of subjec- tion, from the first introduction of Christianity into the sister isle until the middle of the twelfth century. — Bernard, in Vit. Malachite.
The biographer of Malachi, St. Ber- nard, has inadvertently unveiled the mystery of the great liberality of Ha- drian to Henry Plantagenet. " Your majesty knows very well," says the pope, " that all the islands of the ocean, which have embraced the Christian faith, belong of right to St. Peter ;" and he bids the king reduce the Irish to the Christian faith and to obedi- ence. When we remember that Ireland was anciently called the island of saints, we may justly wonder what were the peculiar sins which caused the pontiff Hadrian so much anxiety, to have " the rude and uncultivated people brought into the way of sal-
D d
402 Causes of the interference of the first Popes loith Ireland.
BOOK III. of Ireland, the dominion and power of Home ivas greatly
, 1^__,' enlarged and strengthened. Few doubted at the time that
the Bishop of Rome was empowered to act as Hadrian had done ; and let us hope that the words of the bull which served as the deed of gift, may be prophetic of the day when the monarchs of England may be honoured as the dispensers of a better form of Christianity than that professed by Hadrian — the Christianity of their fathers before the corruptions of Rome began ; when Ireland was the island of saints in the West — the Christianity of a scriptural creed which they have so long rejected ; because they hated the hands by which the book of life was opened to them, and the lips by which the truth of God was spoken to them.
Another act of Hadrian was no less presumptuous than the granting of Ireland to Henry. Many will esteem it still more so. Henry had taken a solemn, though unwilling oath, at the command of his father, that he would not set aside any part of his father's will ^ The observance of this oath
vation." St. Bernard has explained tliat the primates of Ireland had been guilty of the unpardonable iniquity of having wives, and being fathers of families. The archbishops and bishops also of the island had never, for up- wards of six centuries, complained to Rome to redress this heterodox griev- ance. On the contrary, the prelates and clergy were so lost to a due sense of shame, as to prefer matrimony to celibacy ; and to make a common practice of following this example of their primates. This furnishes sufficient reasons for the inference, that great necessity existed for " the truth of the Christian faith" being better taught among the rude natives.
Not only, too, was the marriage of the clergy general, lint we learn from the same authority, that for many generations the sons of the mariied primates had been chosen to succeed their fathers in the see of Armagh. The appointment of the rigid Cistercian monk, Malachi, to the primacy in 1132, was the first .step taken by Rome to rectify these ancient customs of the Irish Chui'ch. Malachi had been pre- viously introduced into the island as Bishop of Down and Connor; and upon the death of Celsus, was consequently on the spot watching for the opportu-
nity of presenting himself as a candi- date for the primacy, which he seized as soon as an opening occurred. Mau- ritius, a descendant of the former pri- mates, was his opponent. It was with the utmost difficulty that the papal influence, strengthened by the popu- larity and exertions of St. Bernard, could overcome the resistance to his appointment, which was made by the friends of Mauritius. A firm and un- varied attachment to the canonical I'ites of the primitive Church ; a con- tempt for that plenitude of honour which appertained to the pall, as well as for that plenitude of assumed power whii-h foi'bade metropolitans to exercise their official duties unless authorized by the popes or his legates ; a participation in the blessings of the holy estate of wed- lock with their secular fellow-Chris- tians— these things, with the resistance offered to the despotic intrusion of the Romish clergy, to whom they bore the utmost repugnance; these were the true reasons of the overthrow of the last free and independent Church of the western world. England conquered the people, but Rome conquered the clergy.
"> The body was to remain imburied till he consented. The nobles urged him not to l)e guilty of tlie sacrilege of leaving it unburied.
Origin of the influence of Thomas Becket. 403
he believed to be contrary to his interests. It was not con- book hi. trary to virtue, to religion, or to morality. Hadrian granted ^hap. vi. him a dispensation from its obligations.
It was now in the pontificate of Hadrian that we first meet the name, as a public functionary, of Thomas Becket \ We shall find him celebrated in the next pontificate for his appeals to the successor of Hadrian, and his contests with his temporal sovereign. I may take this opportunity, there- fore, of relating here the origin of his influence with the king ; and also of his conduct to his benefactor. They have not been sufficiently observed by his biographers. He was now Chancellor of England, but not yet Archbishop of Canter- bury. His influence with the king probably originated in the advice he gave to Theobald, the archbishop, to withhold his assent from the attempt of Stephen to obtain for his son Eustace, after his death, the throne of England ; contrary to the agreement made in a solemn council, by which it had been secured to Henry. Becket, at that time, 1154, was Arch- deacon of Canterbury ^ His father, who had been sheriff of London, was the intimate friend of Theobald. They had both come from the same part of Normandy \ On the death of his father, who died in 1138, when Becket was twenty-one years of age, Theobald invited the young man to become an inmate in his family ; and under his auspices Becket was presented to various preferments, till he was made Archdeacon of Canterbury. This post was considered to be most influential next to those appointments in the Church which entitled their holders to a seat in the parlia- ment ; and it was probably in this station that he obtained the first notice of Henry.
The conduct of Becket to the king, which appears to have been so ungrateful, I consider to have originated from the bias which he received in the university of Bologna. He proceeded thither, by permission of Theobald, to study the canon law at the very time when Gratian resided there, pre- paring his Decretum for publication. He would there imbibe all the more decided opinions respecting the power and
* The more modern form, Thomas a ' The author of the anonymous Life,
Becket,is unsupported bv any authority printed by Giles, ii. 73, says that Gil-
of antiquity, and is here abandoned. bcrt Becket was a native oi' Rouen.
' Le Neve's Fasti, p. 11.
D d 2
404 Becket studied at Oxford, Paris, and Bologna.
BOOK III. authority of Rome. The members of the several Churches, CHAP. VI. jj^ spite of all the papal usurpations, were still not unanimous respecting the extent of that authority. Rome has ever been resisted. Implicit submission to Rome has ever been partial, never universal. Becket, like Anselm, was opposed by his own brethren when he endeavoured to exalt the ecclesiastical, too much over the temporal power ; but his studying at Bologna, his probable intimacy with Gratian, his deference to Theo- bald, his frequently being employed by him in embassies to Rome, where his Gregorian principles would be still more strengthened, all predisposed him to exert his great powers for the advancement of the papal usurpations. Under the patronage of Theobald, before he went to Bologna, he had studied at Oxford. He then devoted himself to the obtaining a more complete knowledge of the canon law at Paris. On his return to England, he was elected to a high judicial office in the city of London "^ ; and distinguished himself at an early age by his capacity in public affairs. After this, he was admitted into orders, and after living some time as a parish priest at Oxford ^, he proceeded to improve his know- ledge of the canon law at Bologna, and rendered himself the accomplished jurisprudent, which enabled him to fulfil his embassies to Italy with honour, and to commend himself to the favour and intimacy of his sovereign.
Before his elevation to the archbishopric, no quarrel had taken place between the king and Becket. Nothing, I be- lieve, but the most absolute necessity would have induced Henry to contend with the principal ecclesiastic of his kingdom. I infer this from the language he addressed to the predecessor of Becket when he came to the throne. A dispute had occurred respecting the archbishop Avho was to crown him. It had been reported that he was to be crowned by the Arch- bishop of York. He denies this ; and declares that he would act as the archbishop required him to do ; and that nothing should induce him to offend the archbishop *. The witness
2 Butler's Lives of the Saints, De- sicut mandastis, Lincolniensis episco-
cember 29. Butler calls it clerk or pus, si praesentiam vestram habere non
.secretary to the court of the city. potero quam multuni desiderarem —
* Vit. S. Thoiuae, auct. Will. fil. nee in his, nee aliis, quanidiu coronam
Steph. ap. Giles, i. 185. portabo, vestram offendani gratiam
'' " Sciatis," he says, " quod nuUo nee diviuam dignitatem." — See the
modo me ibi coi'onabit; nee alibi, con- Letter in Alford, Annal. Eccles. iv, 71. tra dignitatem vestram — me coronabit.
The power of the Popes frequently greatest away from Rome. 405
to this letter was Thomas Becket himself, who had recently book hi.
CH -\P VT
been made chancellor; and who could not therefore be ignorant — 1^_ — .' of the king's desire to maintain to the utmost the honour and privileges of the see of Canterbury. Not only so, the power of the Chu^rch was now so great that we cannot believe he would willingly offend it. We may give to Henry the benefit of this concession, in his ensuing controversy with Becket. It was evidently his interest to conciliate the pope, and to remain at peace with the Church. The power of the Church, however, was greatest, as it so often has been, at a distance from Italy. Though Hadrian had conquered the Roman republicans, by placing Rome itself under an interdict, William the Bad of Sicily had compelled Hadrian to recognize his title ; and the firmness of Frederic induced the bishops of Germany to take the oath of allegiance, and for a time to receive from himself the investiture of their sees. Hadrian died September, 1159^, at the very moment when he pro- nounced the excommunication of the Emperor Frederic.
CLXX. Alexander III., died 1181.
Hadrian was succeeded by Roland, Chancellor of the Roman Church, a native of Sienna, in Tuscany, Cardinal Presbyter of St. Mark ". Though his election was so vehe- mently opposed by the minority of the cardinals, that a troop of armed men, hired by his rival Octavian, drove the electors from the Church — though both bishops, Roland, who assumed the name of Alexander III., and Octavian, who assumed the name of Victor, mutually excommunicated each other as schismatics and apostates — though the emperor of Germany, Frederic Barbarossa, summoned a council in favour of Victor, and held the stirrup of his horse in token that he acknowledged his superior claims to the pontificate — though four several antipopes, Victor ', Paschal % Calixtus ', and Laudus ', divided with Alexander the allegiance of Christendom till the last year but one of the long pontificate
^ Pagi, A.D. 1159, § 4. 8 Calixtus renounced his claim, after
•* Baron, ad anu. § 29. an arduous struggle for the dii^nity,
' Victor died while contending for August, 1178. the see, April 22nd, 11(54. ' Landus, who took the name of
* Paschal died during his contest Innocent 111., was made prisoner by
with Alexander, September 20th, 1 168. Alexander, and confined for life.
406 Popes are declared to be not subject to Councils nor Churches.
BOOK III. of this Bishop of Rome — Alexander must still be regarded as ^— ^ ' / one of the principal completers of the still increasing power of the holy see. He conquered, as so many of his predecessors had done, by firmness and perseverance under the most adverse circumstances. His pontificate beheld the King of Eiigland whipped at the tomb of a rebellious ecclesiastic by the monks of his metropolitan cathedral. The emperor, after many years of opposition, hatred, and open war, acknowledged his supre- macy ; and held the stirrup of his horse as the token of alle- giance, as he had previously held that of his rival. When the Romans conjured him to sacrifice, in the siege of the city by the Germans, 1167, his title, to their safety ; he declared that the sovereign pontiff is not subject to the judgment of any mortal, neither of kings, nor of people, nor of the Church itself ^ He had previously told the ambassadors of the em- peror, when they informed him that their master had sum- moned a council at Pavia to decide on the validity of his election to the pontificate; that none could summon a council without the sanction of the Bishop of Rome ; and that the emperor, therefore, had exceeded his authority. He obtained from the King of England, as one chief result of the contest respecting Becket, the allowing of all appeals from England to Rome, the chief source of the papal power over its more distant depen- dencies; and he consolidated that power by commencing those more intolerable and inflexible decrees against heresy and heretics, which constituted the staple bolts of the fetters, which bound the reason of man in the dungeons of the papal darkness.
The story of his granting the sovereignty of the Adriatic to the Doge of Venice, as a compensation to the republic for its hospitality ; as well as the story of his placing his foot upon the neck of the emperor, and repeating the words of the ninety-first Psalm — " Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder ;" and the reply of the emperor — " Not to thee, but to Peter ;" with the retort of the pope — " To me, and to Peter," have both been denied. They do not seem to be sufficiently supported by contemporary evidence. Let them be resigned. We cannot resign what is of more importance, the history of Becket, and our review of the laws against heresy. The former
^ Vit. Alcxandr. Pap* III. by Cardiu. AiTagon. p. 458, iu the Collection of Muratori.
Henry II. desirous to honour the Church. 407
is interesting to us, as it illustrates the clashing nature of the book hi.
two opposite systems of Saxon and papal law, which divide . '_^ ;
the allegiance of the civilized world. The latter is interesting to us as membei's of the Catholic Church, ivhich is based upon the foundations of truth, received upon proofs convincing the reason ; and not upon authority appealing to persecution, instead of satisfactory evidence.
The contest between Henry II. and Becket, his Archbishop of Canterbury, may be called the most important and instruc- tive event in the history of England. We have mentioned Henry's letter to Theobald, expressing to him the king's respect and love for the Church. Henry is described by Hume as the greatest prince of his age for wisdom, virtue, and ability. Lingard represents him as checking his am- bition by caution, and as uniting, under a fascinating outside, a heart that could descend to the basest artifices*. Whether he were wise or subtle, we may be certain, that neither wis- dom nor subtlety would permit him to endanger his throne ; alienate one-half of his people, and needlessly violate his oaths and promises to the Church and bishops ; as he is sup- posed to have done by the admirers and friends of Becket. In the second year of his reign, he granted and confirmed to God and the Church all the customs which his grandfather Henry had given; and he commanded that holy Church should have and hold, freely and undisturbedly, in peace and integrity, of him and his heirs ; whatever had been given and granted by the charters of his grandfather *. No man com- mits a crime without a motive. It is impossible to believe that Henry would wantonly, needlessly, and contrary to all those solemn engagements, resist the Church in the height of its power. He had permitted a council at Oxford, before his contest with Becket, to condemn as heretics, thirty poor per- sons who had taken refuge in his country. He had inflicted the first punishments hitherto pronounced in England against these miserable refugees; and we can only believe, concerning
3 The chief events of Henry's reign suetudines, et donationes, et libertates,
are amply discussed by Lord Littelton et liberas consuetudincs, habeat et
in his voluminous history of that mon- tcneat, libere et quiete, bene et in
arch — a work of great and deserved pace, et intep;re, dc me et heredibus
reputation. uieis, sicut Henricus avus mens cis
^ Quarc volo, et firaiiter prsccipio, dedit. — Spelman. Coucil. ii, 74. quod saucta ecclesia omnes illas con-
408 Henry II. compelled by his duty to his people to oppose Rome.
BOOK III. the collision into which he was brought with the Church,
> ^ .' that some of its influential ecclesiastics, and not the wise or
subtle monarch himself, must have been the originators of the dispute.
The friendship of Henry to the Church was further proved by his conduct immediately preceding the elevation of Becket. He had united his forces to those of the King of France against the Emperor Frederic, in favo\ir of Alex- ander HI/ He had visited Alexander in the monastery of Bobbio, paid him homage, saluted his slipper, presented him with money, and received from him the kiss of peace, the token of friendship, intimacy, and alliance '^. Refusing to place himself on a chair of state prepared for him, he sate with his barons at the feet of the pontiff'; and a short time after held the stirrup on one side of the horse, while the King of France his feudal brother groom, performed the same office on the other side, while his holiness mounted. Is it probable that he would rashly or needlessly quarrel with the pope, who could command Louis and Frederic to unite their forces both against his provinces in Normandy, and the kingdom of England ; unless he had been compelled, by an overwhelming sense of the duty which he owed to his crown, to prevent its total degradation ; and to his people, to prevent their abject slavery to an ever usurping priesthood ?
Becket was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on Whitsunday, 1162, and was cruelly and shamefully murdered in his cathedral in December, 1171. The eight years and a half during which he held the archbishopric, may be said to be the most important in the annals of England. It was the time of trial between two opposite systems of polity — between the civil power and the ecclesiastical. The question was to be decided, not whether the pope or the king, the papal crown or the regal, should be highest ; the King of England would have trembled at the thought, that the Bishop of Rome should not be regarded as higher than the kings of the earth, in an undefined and undefinable sense; but the question was, whether the subject should be greater than the sove-
^ Baron. Aniial. a.d. 1162, § 12. prseparato sibi faldistorio sedere decli-
•>.... post oscula pedum aureis naus, cii-ca pontificis pedes in terra
oblatis muneribus, ad oscula pontificis voluit cum baronibus suis humiliter
est receptus. — Baron, a.d. 1162, § 14. considere. — Ibid. ' The narrative proceeds .... in
Probable causes of the promotion of Becket. 409
reien, the canon law than the statute law, the clergy than the book hi.
° , . 3 tsj CHAP. VI.
magistrate and judge? ^ — ^, <
The first bounden duty of the legislature in every country must be to protect life — so to punish miu-der that murder may be prevented ; and to permit no reasoning, no theories of religion, no claims to greater liberty, a purer creed, or any abstract pretensions whatever ; to interfere with the rigid and impartial protection of the lives even of the commonest subject in the realm. Before Becket was elevated to the archbishopric, the influence of the canon law, by which the clergy were rendered amenable to their bishops and ordinaries alone, and not to the common law of the realm, had produced the greatest interruption to the happiness and peace of the king- dom. The king had already demanded that those clergymen who had been guilty of plunder, theft, murder, or other great crimes, should be tried and punished in the secular courts ; after they had been degraded by the ecclesiastical courts. He considered that ecclesiastical punishments, were not suffi- ciently preventive of the crime of murder. The king believing that Becket^ would assist him in effecting this reform, resolved to make him archbishop. As he had already acted as chancellor, he was probably acquainted with the old Saxon laws. He was an Englishman, and would therefore, it might be thought, be attached to the interests of the common people ; which were so universally protected by those more free institutions. His military reputation, (for he had served in the expedition, undertaken in the year 1159, against Tou- louse, at the head of 700 gentlemen of his own dependants,) the gratitude he must have felt towards the king for his con- fidence ; the attachment he had displayed to Henry before his elevation to the crown ; his splendid style of living when he was chancellor ; his popularity, generosity, and attention to the comforts of his guests and visitors, be3^ond what was usual in that age ' ; might all have induced the king to believe that he was not animated with the temper of a Gregorian monk: but that he possessed more enlarged and patriotic veiws of the increasing aggressions, of the ecclesiastical upon the regal authority. In addition to all this, he had been sent by Archbishop Theobald to Rome to obtain from the pope the restoration of the legatine power to the see of Canterbury. The
« Brady's llibtory of England, i. 379. ' See the details in Brady, as above.
410 The assumptions of the ecclesiastics at this time.
BOOK III. king, induced by these and many other favourable considera- v-__^__; tions, nominated Becket primate of all England, in May, 1163. The suffragans of the province unanimously approved the king's choice. Becket was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester. He was known personally as well as by reputa- tion to Alexander, who sent him the pall by the hands of Becket^s uniform friend and chaplain ; the companion of his subsequent exile, and the witnesser of his death, John of Salisbury ^
If these were the motives which induced Henry to promote Becket to the see of Canterbury, no disappointment could have been greater than that of the King of England, when the whole demeanour of the archbishop became so soon changed upon his elevation to the archbishopric. Then fol- lowed the unrequired surrender of the chancellorship, the hair shirt, the dirty swarming sackcloth, the Benedictine habit, the early matins, the washing of the feet of pilgrims, the weeping at the mass; with the frugal archiepiscopal table so strongly contrasted with the sumptuous fare provided for his baronial and other noble guests. All these pronounced to Henry the downfall of his hopes, and spoke intelligibly, though silently, that Becket was the votary of Rome ; the supporter of the canon law of the Church against the common law of England ; and that the whip of scorpions was to be continued. The ecclesiastics had become a caste. They were not merely set apart from the rest of their brethren to instruct the people, to administer the sacraments, to pronounce the fit- ness or unfitness for the reception of the Lord's Supper. They were the dispensers of God's blessings for political purposes. They commanded the thunders of God's wrath, and the light of his countenance, at their pleasure. They did more. They brought down his own holy Presence corporeally, in the same flesh and blood which He had temporally assumed on earth; and who should presume to judge the commanders of the invisibly, though personally manifested Redeemer of man ? Thus claiming to be more than God, they proved them- selves to be in other respects the same, or less than other men.
^ Reference has already been made these are many of the letters of John
to the recently collected edition of the of Salisbury, the elegant author of the
epistles and biogr'aphical accounts of Policraticus. Becket, edited by Dr. Giles ; among
Character and power of the ecclesiastics at this time. 411
They were the same, for the age was lawless; and many of book hi. the priests, while some affected an ascetic austerity which ^ — 1,,J — -' was useless, were as lawless in their vices as their unordained brethren. They were worse, for they claimed to be more holy than others, while they separated morality from religion ^ A hundred murders, it is said, had been perpetrated since the king's accession, by ecclesiastics. They were committed by holy priests. They were unpunished. If the murders had been committed by the profane laity, the murderers would have been executed. Holiness became the apology for murder. Priesthood is a blessing — priestcraft a curse to mankind. All deep-dyed crimes were committed with im- punity by ecclesiastics, who claimed to be exempted from trial on criminal accusations in the king's courts of justice, because of the sacredness of their character; and whose claims were allowed for no other reason than the fear of incurring the censure which the Church would inflict upon that magistrate ; who dared to incur the accusation of heresy, by infringing on this most injurious authority.
The first offence given by Becket to the king, was his acting on that law of the decretals which decides, that lands once granted to the Church can never be justly alienated. Becket, in his own courts, demanded the Castle of Tonbridge from the Earl of Clare. He then excommunicated one of the king's tenants in capite — the lord of the manor of Ainesford, for presuming to eject a clerk whom the archbishop had pre- sented to the living of that manor; when the lord of the manor claimed the right of presentation. The offence was evidently cognizable by the common law. Excommunication is the punishment for spiritual offences. At that time ex- communication was the most temfic punishment that could be inflicted. It reduced a man to infamy, beggary, hatred, and unpunishable insult. The king insisted on the rescinding of the decree. Becket replied that the pronouncing or with- holding the sentence of excommunication belonged to the
- . . . The clei'gy had greatly mul- than a hundred murders had been
tipHed m England, and many of them committed by men of that profession
were consequently of very low cha- who had never been called to account
ractcrs ; crimes of the deepest dye, for these offences ; and holy orders
murders, robberies, rapes, and adul- were become a protection for all enor-
teries, were daily committed with im- niitics. — Neubrigen. p. 31)4, ap. Hume,
puuity by the ecclesiastics. It had ii. 29, edit. Loudon, 1810. been found, on inquiry, that no less
412 Excommunication a spiritual punishment only.
BOOK III. priest, and not to the king — that is, the priest, or the Church, ^^r ^^' possessed the power of inflicting a more terrible earthly punish- ment for a civil offence ; than the sovereign could inflict for a criminal offence, and the king could grant no remedy. Ex- communication, or banishment from the sacraments, when justly pronounced by the priest, ought to be considered as the severest punishment that can be inflicted ; but it ought to be regarded as the spiritual punishment for a spiritual offence, and no civil consequences ought to follow. So much ought the contrary theory to be adopted, that if the delin- quent, Avho is thus given back out of the Church to the world, derides the Church and its ministers for so doing ; they are required to submit to the insult, and to leave the matter to that God in whose name they have spoken.
This, however, was but the commencement of the crimes committed by Becket against the common law. When the king demanded that the clergy who were guilty of murder, or other great crimes, universally cognizable by the general laws of all nations, which commit the care of life to the supreme legislature of the state ; and that such clergy, after degradation, should be committed to the secular courts, — though the other bishops were of opinion that this ought to have been done, — Becket refused to permit a double trial for the same murder ; and justified his decision by the assertion, that the bishops could not expose any man to death, for they could not be present at a sentence of blood. This remark in a layman would have been considered hypocrisy. With the student of the canon law, and its distinctions, it was only casuistry. The king requested to know whether the clergy would obey the royal customs or laws ? The answer was in the affirmative, with the proviso, " saving their order" in all things. When the bishops perceived the king to be indignant with the answer, (which would have been a very proper one, if it had referred to the denial of the episcopal power in general, or to any of the privileges conferred by Christ upon his ministers; but which was most improper when it referred to the present dispute, and therefore may be said to have merely denoted their claim to give ecclesiastical im- punity to the crimes of the wicked members of their order,) they consented to omit the clause. Becket was immoveable. He placed his firmness on the foundation of his duty to God,
The usurping claims of Rome urged under plea of grievance. 413
and declared that he would curse an angel from heaven if he book hi. advised hira to make such an acknowledgment. He declared v ^ ' / he was ready to die for the liberties of the Church ^ Becket was sincere in his terrible energies, and his sincerity was the point and edge of his cursing. It has always been the policy of Rome to urge its most presumptuous claims, under the plea of suffering some intolerable injustice or grievance. No doctrine of Christianity was involved in the dispute. The only ques- tion was that which to this very day agitates the civilized Christian world. The archbishop quoted the canon laws^ as if they were superior to the laws of the realm. He spoke of the liberties of the Church as if those liberties consisted in the freedom of an irresponsible tyrant trampling on the liber- ties of all others, in the indulgence of his own caprice. He identified, as others had done, Christ with the pope, the Catholic Church with Rome, and the acceptableness of the soul in the sight of God with subjection to the canon law. He declared, on a subsequent occasion to the Earl of Leicester, in the council of Northampton, 1165 *, that as the soul is of more worth than the body, by so much the rather was he bound to obey God than an earthly prince. Becket was quite right in this declaration. To obey God rather than man, is the noblest motive which can actuate the human soul. The only question ivill be, whether God is obeyed or not ; and whether God requires the kind of obedience which the zealot is willing to pay to Him. The obedience which Becket offered was compliance with the canon law, rather than compliance with the common law. He was beginning the Catholic question.
But this Avas not all. An ecclesiastical magistrate at York, a dean, had fined a burgess of Scarborough a certain sum of money, and adjudged his wife to penance as an adulteress, without any proof, contrary to the common law. The dean was summoned before the king, certain bishops, and lay peers. When sentence was to be pronounced on him for his injustice, the ecclesiastical judges decreed only that the money be returned. The chief justice, a lay peer, would have it decreed, that some satisfaction be rendered to the
' The usual historians give tlie ac- obodire quam terreno rcgi. Nee hw
count of these transactions. nee ratio permittit ut tihi patrcm jutli-
* Quanto dignior est aninia quam cent vel condeniiient. — Labb. Coneil.
corpus, tanto magis Deo et mihi teneris x. 1437.
414 The common law inferior in authority to the canon law,
BOOK III. defendant. This was refused, because the plaintiff was an CHAP. VI. , . ,. < ^ I ecclesiastic.
In an action at Dunstable, a priest was inadequately punished for a libel. The common law was compelled to submit to the canon law, which inflicted the lesser penalty \ — An ecclesiastic of Worcestershire was accused of debauching a daughter, and murdering her father. The archbishop refused to permit the offender to be tried in the king's court. — Another ecclesiastic stole a silver chalice from a church in London. The king required that the offender be tried in the ordinary court. He was tried in the archiepiscopal court, and a severer sentence than would otherwise have been inflicted was pronounced to please the king. To remedy these and other grievous mischiefs; before proceeding to extremities, Henry summoned the Council of Westminster, and subsequently, the Council of Clarendon. The result is too well known. At the Council of Westminster the king demanded that the clergy should be tried in the king's court for crimes ; and he demanded of the bishops whether they would submit to the law of his grandfather ^. The archbishop replied with the usual reservation. The bishops adhered to him, but were afterwards divided. Alexander finished the dispute, by sending Philip de Eleemosyna to request Becket to comply with the king's request without the clause. Becket obeyed the pope, though the canon law ought to have been equally binding upon both the Bishops of Rome and Canterbury ; and he promised to obey the king upon the faith of an honest man ^
The submission of the archbishop was made privately to the king at Woodstock. That the convention between the ecclesiastical and regal power might be more solemnly guaranteed ; Henry summoned a general parliament, or judi- cial assemblage of his peers and bishops, at Clarendon. The
'•" In this instance, the canon law bus conveuire debere. That judges in
seems to have been more just tlian the those courts be episcopi, comites,
common law. This, however, is not vicedomini, &c. The causes they dealt
tlie question. Napoleon had no right in, and order of proceeding — agantur
to make even just laws for England, prinio debita verse Christianitatis jura,
Neither has the Bishop of Rome the secundo regis placita, postrenio causse
privilege to do so. singulorum. — Historical Vindication of
" The laws of Henry I., says Tvvys- the Church of England, chap. v. sect.
den, are express, for they approve the 9, p. 101.
ancient institution, that — generalia ' " Bona fide, et sine malo ingenio." coniitatuum placita certis locis et vici-
Nature and character of the Constitutions of Clarendon. 415
preamble of an act of parliament explains the causes and BOOK ill.
object of its proposed enactments. So it is in the preamble v ^^ ;
of the Constitutions of Clarendon, which were ratified by all, and even by Becket himself, though with much persuasion, and after much difficulty and delay. The preamble then professes to declare, " that on account of the dissensions and discords which had often arisen between the clergy and the justices of our lord the king, and the barons of the realm," concerning its customs and dignities, the following recogni- tion of such customs has been made. The constitutions, or several articles, then follow. They were affirmed to be such of the customs of Normandy, and of the ancestors of Henry, and of his grandfather, as ought to be observed and kept in the realm ^ The Constitutions of Clarendon may be called the solemn decision of the Church and state of England against the usurpations of Rome, of the popes, and of the canon laio. Long before the unfortunate word Protestant — which being used by all seceders from Rome, adequately describes none — was adopted among us, the clergy and people of England, even when they were in constant communion with Rome, protested in this memorable document against the domination of the Bishop of Rome. It is true that the effort to throw off the yoke of submission to its dominion, was at this moment ineffectual. The ecclesiastical power of Rome triumphed after this for more than three centuries, but this record is left us of the principles of our illustrious ancestors ; and we have reason to rejoice that we have now established by law that exemption from Rome, for which, in the present in- stance, King Henry, the Church, and the peerage of England contended in vain. I shall briefly mention the various articles of these Constitutions, with Pope Alexander's appro- bation or condemnation upon each of them ; the true cause of the irreconcileable quarrel which ended in the murder of Becket, and the degradation of the king.
The first provided that questions respecting patronage should be tried and decided in the king's courts '. — As
" They are printed in Labbe's Coun- poi-secutor of the Albigenses.
eils, X. 1425, and elsewhere. Among " . . . . " controversia ti-actetur et
the names of those present, I observe terniinetur." tliat of Robert, Earl of Leicester, the
416 The Constitutions of Clarendon.
BOOK III. one ereat object on the part of the Church of Rome was
CHAP Vf •
^ ^ ' ; to secure the claim to appeals, the expression terminetur,
which seemed to exclude the right of appeal from the king's courts to the papal courts, was probably the cause of its condemnation.
Secondly. That churches which are the fee of the crown should not be granted in perpetuity without the king's consent.
Thirdly. That the clergy be tried for civil misdemeanors in the king's courts, and for ecclesiastical offences in the ecclesiastical courts ; and the protection of the Church was to cease if the Church found the accused party guilty of the crime '.
Fourthly. The departure from the kingdom of all arch- bishops, bishops, and clergymen, was forbidden, without regal permission, or security for good behaviour. — This was intended to prevent appeals to Rome, and possibly the oaths of allegiance to the pope, from which all the confusion began.
Fifthly. It was provided that any favouritism on the part of the ecclesiastical courts^ should be rectified by a jury.
Sixthly. It was directed that excommunicated persons should be considered subjected only to ecclesiastical punishment*.
Seventhly. None of the king's tenants in capite should be excommunicated without the king's consent, legally given in his courts of justice.
Eighthly. Appeals in ecclesiastical causes were to be made from the archdeacon to the bishop, thence to the arch- bishop, thence to the king, whose legal decision was to be final.
This is the present law. The king or the sovereign is, in all cases, and over all persons, ecclesiastical as well as civil, supreme. No appeal to the pope from the decision of the king, is legally binding on the subjects of this realm. The Constitutions of Clarendon
1 Si clericus convictus vel confessus * I consider this to be the probable fuerit, non debet cum de csetero eccle- meaning of the original, which is ob- sia tueri. scure. The clause was condemned as
2 This was allowed by Alexander, interfering with the claims of the pi'obably because the trial by jury was Church to command secular punish- to take place before the bishop. ment to the excommunicated.
The Constitutions of Clarendon. 417
were the restoration of Saxon ecclesiastical independence, book hi.
and the anticipation of the eventual re-establishment of- J. — '>
the monarchical over the papal authority. They were an incident in the history of the Catholic question.
Ninthly. It was decreed that a jury should decide whether disputed questions were more properly ecclesiastical or temporal ; and actions were to be brought according to the verdict, in the regal or episcopal courts.
Tenthly. It was provided that the king's tenants in capite might be interdicted from Divine service if they offended the Church ; but not excommunicated unless after sen- tence in the king's courts.
Eleventhly. The higher ecclesiastics were commanded to observe the conditions on which their lands were granted to them.
Twelfthly. The election of bishops is provided for. They were to be elected by deputations from the chapters in the Chapel Royal, with the consent of the king, and the approbation of his council. Before consecration the bishop elect was to do homage and fealty to the king ; but a clause provided that this be done "saving the privilege of his order." The revenues of sees during vacancies were to be paid into the royal exchequer.
Thirteenthly. The king and the bishops were mutually bound to respect and defend the lands of each other. The lands of the bishops were to be protected by the common law. The lands of the king by the terrors of excommunication.
Fourteenthly. It is forbidden that chattels forfeited for treason should be protected by the Church, and thereby detained from the king's exchequer.
Fifteenthly. That all actions for debt should be considered as civil, and not ecclesiastical suits ; whatever were the circumstances of the contract.
Sixteenthly. It was decreed that the sons of " rustici " should not be ordained without the consent of the lord of the manor. This article, with II. V. XI. XIII. and XIV., were allowed by the pope. All the rest were condemned as hostile to the liberties of the Church *.
* Rome had now set up a new plea perpetuation of its sovereign control for further aggrandizement, and the over kings and governments. Its policy VOL. II. E e
418 Henry II. resisted the papal and the ecclesiastical power. BOOK III. Such were the Constitutions of Clarendon. They all were
CHAP VT
> ^ — '' confirmed by the peers and the bishops, and they became,
therefore, for the time, the law of the land. The events which took place four hundred years after, again made them the public law of England. Yet the providence of God decreed that the great controversy between the ecclesiastical and monarchical powers should not be decided by these Constitu- tions. Becket agreed to them, with the rest of the peers, temporal and spiritual. Even if he had remained firm to his signature, if he had rejected his interpretation of the archiepiscopal oath to the pope, which bound him to the Gregorian policy ; the people of England were so much attached to the foreign pontiff at this time, that many of them would probably have been ready, as they subsequently were in the reign of John, to join with any invader whom the pope had commissioned to attack the kingdom. But even if this had not taken place, if the Constitutions of Clarendon had become law ; one part only of the gigantic evils which the Anglican Church was doomed to suffer by its own error and ignorance, would have been done away. It would only have removed the supremacy of the pope, in all matters of appeal from the regal to the papal courts. This, it is true, would have been a great advantage, yet it would have been but one. The real contest which the churches were now waging was not with the pope alone, but with the ecclesias- tical power generally ; as that power was wielded by erring councils and imperious bishops. Shortly before the sum- moning of the assembly at Clarendon, a council had been summoned by Alexander at Tours. The king gave his con- sent to the attendance of the English bishops. Becket, who was met before he approached the town by all the cardinals,
was based on protestations against over the world. It, therefore, in
every other power of a secular nature order to secure and strengthen its im-
infringing on some ecclesiastical privi- mense spiritual and temporal greatness,
lege, and thus persisting in one en- began now to complain of the liberties
croachment after another. It could of the universal Church being invaded,
hardly go on further to make complaints The Church would be naturally led to
on its own account, after it had sub- join in the cry, and thus a fui'ther con-
dued bishops and churches, sovereigns solidatiou of authority would be ac-
and nations, to its will. The head of quired over nations and secular govern-
the Roman Church under such para- ments; by a general combination of all
mount ascendancy as it had acquired, ecclesiastical orders in defence of every
could not with any pretence talk of its alleged infringement on the liberties
liberties being too abridged, after it of the Church, had engrossed such unbounded control
Papal meaning of ecclesiastical unity and liberty. 419
except twoj who were in personal attendance upon Alexander, book hi. was placed next to the pope at the meeting of the council '. CHARJ^. He was attended by many of his suffragans, abbots, and priors. They may be justly said to have represented the Church of England \ At that council, ten canons were pro- mulgated as an addition to the canon law of the universal Church '. Arnulph, the Bishop of Liseaux, was commanded by the pope to open the proceedings ^ He did so in a very eloquent address, which commanded general approbation. He insisted much on the unity and liberty of the Church ". By unity ^ he probably meant obedience to Alexander ; by liberty, the freedom of ecclesiastics from secular control. He then proceeded to recount the evils under which the Church laboured, and declaimed against the ambition of schismatics, meaning probably thereby Octavian, pr Victor and his party ; and against the violence of tyrants, or the princes who had not submitted to the pope. He exalts the dignity of the bishops as the opponents of heretics, and the upholders of the unity of the Church. He affirms, that the people were to receive from their fulness, as they in their turn received from Christ ; and he illustrates his meaning by an analogy between the fulness which descended from Christ to the bishops, and from the bishops to the people ; and the oil which descended from the head of Aaron, or Christ, to the beard of Aaron, which denotes the prelates of the Church, and thence to the robes of Aaron, which are the people. He quotes many passages of the Holy Scriptures to illustrate this dig- nity of the bishops. He speaks with religious contempt and pity of the Emperor Frederic, and exhorts the bishops to persevere ; and concludes, in very devotional language, by comforting those who had suffered for the cause of the Church \ The council then proceeded to business. Alex-
^ Turonis jam appropiuquans, civi- curious and courtierlike. He contrasts
tatem ingressurus, auditoejus adventu, his own inability with the duty he
mox universa civitas commovetuv, et owes to the pope. Q,uis ego sum qui
obviam exeunt universi, non solum in auribus tot tarn prudentiuni, tam
cives et indigenaj — P^ig'j a.d. venerabilium personarum quemlibet
1163, iv. 609. mihi debeam usurpare sermonem ? Sed
" This view is taken also by Collier, et quis ego sum, qui maudato Romaiii
vol. i. p. 349. Pontiticis audeam obviare \ — See also
7 Labb. Concil. x. 1418. Labbe, x. 1411.
" jul)ente papa, says Baronius, " I'arag. iv. in the speech as given
A.D. 1163, § 3; and the allusions in his by Baronius.
speech to this command are very ' The conclusion itself is perhaps
E e 2
420
Persecuting cano?is of the Council of Tours.
BOOK III. ander aa;ain excommunicated his rival Victor ; and the council
OTT \V* VT
V " ^' ; decreed the observance of the ten canons, among which the
IVth^, repeating the substance of the XXIVth and XXXth of the Second Council of Lateran, 1139, condemns the here- tics of Toulouse ; compares them to serpents, commands the bishops to be vigilant, to anathematize them, and to com- mand that none should shelter or protect them. No commu- nion of buying or selling ivas to take place betiveen heretics and the faithful, that all the consolation derived from affection and society being taken frdm them % they may be compelled to depart from their heresy. Whoever opposed this law was to be anathematized. The heretics who were discovered were to be apprehended, committed to prison, and deprived of all their property*. Many of the canons were useful regulations. This, however, was one of those which marked that incipient severity against the unfortunate inhabitants of Gascony and Toulouse ; which ended in the atrocities of the Albigensian crusade, and in the fearful establishment of the thought-searching and thought-punishing Inquisition. Eng- land had already partaken of the crime of persecution. The University of Oxford \ the council of ecclesiastics, and the king himself, had already permitted thirty poor miserable outcasts
lost. The speech terminates abruptly.
• mea sententia, says Baronius, fine
carere ipsa videtur oratio. But it is the same in the copy given by Labbe.
2 Labb. col. 1419.
' The language of the original is — solatio saltern liumanitatis amisso — which Collier translates, " being thrown out of all advantages of civil society." The expressions imply much more than this.
* omnium bonorum amissione
mulctentur. — Ibid.
* Gei'ard, the leader of these emi- grants, and their teacher, who answered for the rest before the council, stated, that they were Christians, and believed the doctrine of the apostles ; but their answers respecting Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Marriage, are said to have been perverse, and given vfith con- tempt. The council turned them over to the secular power, therefore, to be punished. The king caused them to be branded in the forehead, and then publicly whipped out of Oxford, and forbade all his subjects to relieve
them, so that in a little time they all perished in a miserable manner. Du Pin calls them Vmidois; and Mezeray says, the Vaudois of this age, 1157, held nearly the same opinions as the Calvinists. All writers agree that, in the midst of their sufferings, they be- haved with great calmness and temper, and blessed God who had called them to suffer for righteousness' sake. They sang, on being led to receive their sen- tence, " Blessed are j'e when men shall hate you, and persecute you, for my name's sake ;" which serves to show that their imputed crime of heresy was of a very innocent character, and that Rome had succeeded in its combination of ecclesiastics and seculars for the rooting out of all who disobeyed its decrees. These are said to be the first victims who suffered death in England for religious opinions, since it received Christianity. — Chrou. Hem- ingf. Hist. Angl. Script, p. 494, ap. Inett, vol. ii. chap. xii. sect. 8. See also Du Pin, Eccles. Hist. vol. viii. ann. 1160. Mezer. ann. 1163.
Popery, the heaviest of all God^s judgments. 42]
to perish in the highways and fields ; though they committed BOOK III.
no injury, nor denied Christianity, but maintained some .^J — >
opinions which were condemned by the ecclesiastics of the day; and now its Church and king, by consenting to the decree of the council of Tours, increased their guilt, and par- took of the degradation and punishment, which will ever follow the forcible suppression of peaceful reasoning. Becket was murdered, the king dishonoured, and the nation subdued for four successive centuries, to " the ivorst of superstitions, and the heaviest of all God's judgments — Popery"
It was well, therefore, that the Constitutions of Clarendon were eventually rescinded. Though they would certainly have rescued England at this early period from its vassalage to the Bishop of Rome, and re-established at home the majesty of the native law ; they would still have left England the slave of the ecclesiastical power, as that power was embodied in the conciliar and canon law. The nation would have im- plicitly received, as we find it did, the decrees of the councils of Lateran ; which improving, or rather extending the canon of the Council of Tours, determined the anathematization of heretics ; and their extirpation by the tribunals, by beggary, hunger, sword, and fire ! It would have retained among its laws the decrees which took away the Scriptures from the people, because some readers of the sacred page had not found therein the papal supremacy ; wdth the laws which made transubstantiation an article of faith, and which decreed that auricular confession was a necessary preliminary to the re- ception of the Holy Sacrament. The time had not yet come when the people could hear the light. It was necessary that the heavy yoke of Rome should still co-exist with the unscrip- tural errors in question. When, however, the fulness of the time arrived, and the burthen of the papal usurpation became intolerable, the same spirit of resistance and inquiry which rejected the supremacy in the twelfth century, rejected, also, the other great spiritual errors of the churches. There is a time for every thing — for the permission of evil, and for the removal of evil. God reigns, and the multitude of the nations may be glad thereof. God does all things in their season and in their order, wisely and well ; and one employment of our immortality will possibly be, the contem- plation of the plans of his providence, by which He is still
433 The conduct and sincerity of Becket.
BOOK III. leadina; his Church through the wilderness, not only to a
CHAP VI 1 'J
y .J .' heavenly, but to an earthly rest.
The repentance of Becket for agreeing to the Constitutions of Clarendon, his voluntary penance, and absolution by Alex- ander ; the frivolous pretences by which Henry (who did not dare to bring the archbishop to trial for high treason, nor to refer to the true motives of his own indignation) attempted to impoverish and ruin his tormentor; the adherence of the temporal peers to the king, and of the spiritual peers, with some exceptions, to the archbishop, in 1165 ; Becket's exile to France ; the king's severity towards his family and friends ; the intention of Henry to join the antipope, 1166 ; the partial and insincere reconciliation of the king and Becket; the rejection by Becket of the legates sent from Alexander at the king's request ; the appointment of Becket to the legatine authority ; his excommunications of his opponents ; his eventual recon- ciliation to Henry, (who feared an interdict,) and his return to England ; the exasperation of the king, and the rash expres- sions when the bishops whom Becket excommunicated on his arrival in England, appealed to him in Normandy, with the result of those expressions upon certain noblemen of his court, who proceeded to Canterbury and murdered Becket in his cathedral — all these things are familiar to every student of history, and need not be further insisted upon in this place. Two things only are worthy of remark — the undoubted sin- cerity of Becket, and the result of this great controversy in the success of the papal or ecclesiastical pretensions to superiority over kings and their subjects. The Constitutions of Claren- don were overthrown, and the legality of appeals to the pope was established as a principle of the public law. Every object, in short, for which the most staunch Gregorian could contend was obtained. Alexander imposed his own terms of penance on the king, and the pope became — though the English often objected to, and expostulated against, the con- duct of his successors in various instances — the unrestrained and irresistible supreme head of the Anglican Church ; till the sceptre was wrested from his hands by the sturdy mo- narch, who resisted the Bishop of Rome, while he still professed to adhere to the doctrines of his Church.
The expression, " the sincerity of Becket," will offend many, but I argue this sincerity from the usual proofs
Definitions of conscience — Becket conscientious. 423 which would lead us to infer sincerity in all similar cases ; of ^^^S ^^}'
CHAP. vl.
opposing the enactments of man from supposed obedience to . '
the laws of God. Conscience is defined by Locke to be, our own opinion or judgment of right or wrong. Others define it to be an innate sense, or instinct, by which a man is enabled to distinguish between right and wrong, fit or unfit, good and evil, as an animal decides without instruction on the right choice of food. Whether it be the result of education, or of unavoidable and innate bias, it is certain that the con- clusion which we believe to be right or wrong, is so gene- rally the result of the first instructions we derive from others ; that the most free, deliberate, thoughtful use of reason, can seldom separate wrong conclusions from right premises, by its own unaided efforts. The right premises on which Becket acted were the same as those on which every good Christian, whether he be Puritan, Papist, Sectarian, or Churchman, will ever act — the conviction that God is to be obeyed rather than man ; and that, as the soul is more worthy than the body, by so much more is God to be obeyed than an earthly prince*. The instructions he had received in his infancy, youth, and manhood, were those which were now uniformly impressed on the minds of all men by the clergy, and by religious per- sons generally — that obedience to God was to be shown by obedience to the pope. The words of God were uttered by the pope '. Early education ; the common mode of inter- preting Scripture ' ; the constant application of Scriptural language to clothe his repentance, grief, and resolutions to persevere in the path he deemed to be right ^ ; all convince me of his sincerity. He made a solemn declaration to his sufiragans that he had invoked the aid of the Holy Spirit before he condemned and excommunicated the exactors,
8 This was his reply to the Earl mcerore," he exclaimed, "donee visita-
Marshal in the council of Northamp- verit me Oriens ex alto, ut per ipsum
ton, as already quoted. et dominum papam merear absolvi."
' "Regis,ettuum,etaliorumjudicium The historian, describing his grief,
declino," he said to the Earl Marshal at then proceeds to mention the power
Northampton, " sub Deo solo, a domino of the pope to absolve. Becket
papa, judicandus." — Labb. Concil. ut sent, he says, to the Roman pon-
supra. tiff, to whom it pertains to heal the
* He quoted the usual sentence — Tu broken in heart, &:c. — ad Romauorum
es Petrus — to the king. mittit Pontiticcni, utpote cujus est
" I give but one instance. When sanare contritos corde, et alligare con- he had agreed to the Constitutions of tritiones eorum. — See Alford, iv. ii. Clarendon, and inflicted on himself a 121. voluntary penance — " Silebo, sedens in
434 Sincerity no proof of right opinions.
BOOK III. defenders, advisers, and promoters of the Constitutions of
» ^ <■ Clarendon '. The temper of the times, the spirit of the age,
the progress of improvement, or whatever else may have been the absurd terms, by which a politician of the hour would have declared the consummate wisdom of the day in which he lived ; were all in favour of Becket. The heretics were the despised, the poor, the persecuted. They held much error among the truths they espoused, and amidst their opposition to the papal supremacy ; and we may justly believe, therefore, that the conscience of Becket might be satisfied that he was right, and that he was, therefore, sincere. Any opinion, I again observe, may be entertained sincerely. St. Paul was as sincere before his conversion, when he was a persecutor, as he was after he had fallen to the ground on his way to Damascus ; overpowered by the manifestation of the God of his fathers, who appeared to them in the wilder- ness, as to him in Syria. The Lancastrian and the Yorkist, the Whig and the Tory, the supporter of popular rights and the supporter of regal prerogative, may all be sincere. The advocate of the worst pretensions of the Church of Rome in the darkest ages, or in the present day, may be sincere ; and very difficult it sometimes is, to know how to apply to cir- cumstances the principles that are in themselves true. And the great, the only danger of the relapsing of civilized man under that old yoke, arises, not from the hypocrisy of its supporters ; but from the mistaken sincerity which still retains the canon law, founded upon this theory, that man doeth God service by punishing the body for the benefit of the soul.
We can form but a very inadequate notion, in the present day, of the power of the Church in the time of Becket. T7ie laity are scarcely able, in this present age, to bear the least rebuke from an ecclesiastic. To reject the most notorious offender, as it is the bounden duty of the clergy to do, from the sacrament of the Eucharist; would be considered by many an indictable offence, a libellous action, an unpardonable effort of priest- craft, or a violation of the personal privileges which the up- holder of an Established Church ought to possess ; however
* Invocata Spiritus Sancti gratia, SufFraganeos suos, ap. Hoveden, a.d. publice condemuavimus et cessavimus 1165, and Baron. Annal. a.d, 1164, universes observatores. — Epist. ad § 6.
Causes of the canonization of Edward the Confessor. 425
unworthy he may be of its spiritual blessings. We have pro- f,^^^ ^\-
ceeded through the abuse of a just principle, to an opposite ^ .^ — •
extreme. But, in the time of Becket, the sentence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, or of the Bishop of Rome, was re- garded as the voice of God ; and so identified with Christianity itself, that the greatest moral courage was necessary to resist this authority. Every thing ivas believed ivhich the Church of Rome chose to teach. No learned man dared to write against it, no philosopher to reason, no Christian to object, no ignorant man to inquire 5 unless they possessed the rare talent, which is divine rather than human, to submit in the cause of truth to degradation and infamy, as well as to injustice and cruelty. The very love of the olden liberty of England was now enlisted in the service of Rome. The English people adored the memory of Edward the Confessor *, the last of the Saxon kings ; and he had also many admirers among the Norman race. All classes in England, therefore, united to venerate him. The pope had flattered this general feeling by canonizing Edward. (1161.) The extraordinary power was now assumed by the Church of Rome of declaring to the Church, that certain persons whom the pope had suffi- cient reason to believe holy ; were undoubtedly admitted into everlasting happiness, and were also, rightly and properly, ob- jects of invocation as intercessors between God and man before the throne of God. In the early days of the Church, the names of good men, especially if they had been martyred, were inserted in the sacred diptychs, or rolls of names which were read or commemorated in the churches. The custom was similar to that still in use in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and in some private Collegiate Chapels, on the commemoration days ; or days when the partakers of their bounty commemorate the gifts and graces of their benefac- tors. The custom was perverted from commemoration into beatification, or pronouncing the person blessed. The beati- fication was changed into canonization, or declaring the beatified
^ His bull, or decree of canonization, pope says in his bull, that the king, as
is addressed, not to the universal well as the prelates, had solicited the
Chiu'ch, but to the archbishops, bishops, canonization of Edward — tarn clarissi-
abbots, priors, and other rulere of the mus in Cliristo tihus uostcr Honricus,
Church in England. Becket was an &c. quam vos ipsi, nobis instantius
Euglishman. The majority of the porrexistis, &c. — BuUar. Magn. i. 67. other ecclesiastics were Normans. The
426 Causes of the canonization of Edward the Confessor.
BOOK ui. person a mediatorial intercessor, or saint, who could pray for : his adherents. The triple custom, thus insensibly changed, was at first common to all metropolitans. It had now, as we might have expected, become the peculiar privilege of the pope. Since the time of Alexander, at least, the privilege has been assigned only to the Bishop of Rome. Alexander exerted this privilege in the present instance by canonizing Edward the Confessor, and in so doing materially strength- ened the influence of the Church. He enrolled a favourite king among the saints. He qualified his presumption, by complying with their request so far as he had power with God so to do ^ But he proceeded as if God had given him the power, and declared Edward to be enrolled among the venerable confessors whom God had honoured and glorified ; and assured them they were right, piously to worship, and studiously to venerate him, whom the holy see commended to their devotion and worship. He requires them to honour the new saint, so that by his intercessions they may deserve to obtain pardon ; and to inherit a glorious reward in eternal happiness *. Two years after this canonization, the body of Edward was removed, or, as the expression is, was translated by Becket, in the presence of the king and of his court ; to the shrine where he was to be worshipped. The body was said to be uncorrupted. The assertion, whether it was a pious fraud or not, was intended to affirm that the Almighty approved the joint action of Alexander and Becket; and that the peculiar protection of God would be granted to their friends, and withheld from their enemies. Miracles, also, were wrought to prove the same point. Goderic, the hermit of Finchale, near Durham, a man eminent for most incredible acts of austerity, who worked many miracles, maintained an active correspondence with Becket, and received fi*om the archbishop an indulgence to relax his austerities ; predicted, it was said, and believed, his exile, restoration, and death. This gifted saint sanctioned all the proceedings of Becket ; and the will of God was demonstrated to be in favour of the pope and of the Church, by the descent of a crucifix from the high
' postulationes vestx'as, quan- * ut ipsius intercessiouibus apud
turn cum Deo possunius, liberali aiiimo districtum Judicem mereamiui veiiiam
admittamus. — Exordium to the Bull of obtinere, et gloriosum in aetcrna beati-
Canonization. tudine prsemium invenire. — Ibid.
The penance suffered by Henry II. 4^27
altar, to move by an invisible power round the Church ; out book ill. of the side of which crucifix a beautiful child came, and ?^^"\^' ^ ^: placed himself on the top of a figure of the Virgin, and after bestowing its blessing on the saint, returned to its place \
Strange as it may now seem to us, the credulity, simplicity, or devotion of the age, believed all these things. The strongest minds were overcome, and we ought not to wonder, therefore, at the voluntary penance by which one of the most powerful and daring of the Kings of England ^ on arriving within sight of Canterbury, stripped off his robes, and with naked feet, and covered M'ith a coarse tunic, entered the city. Fasting, weeping, and praying, Henry passed the whole of a night and a day, without sleep, at the tomb of Becket \ He is said to have then submitted to receive upwards of eighty lashes from the monks. Very amusing are the criticisms of Harpsfield and Alford on the indignation of Goodwin and Parker, at the flogging which Henry received from the Becket-avenging monks of Canterbury. He was not compelled, they say, to receive these lashes. Oh, no ! he was only commanded six things by the pope — to acknowledge Alexander alone; to permit freely all appeals to Rome ' ; to go to the Crusades, or to pay for the omission ; to recal the exiles ; to restore the revenues to Canterbury ; and to abolish the Constitutions of Clarendon. He was not commanded by the Church to per- form this penance at the shrine of Becket; and it is unjust, therefore, to impute to the Church of Rome, to the Bishop of Rome, or to the clergy of the Church of Canterbury,
' See a Life of St. Goderic, written and had brought her witli him to attest
by Reginald, a monk of Durham, on the fact; and heai-d, saw, and did many
the eve of publication by the Surtees other remarkable things which are
Society ; also the Acta Sanctorum, gravely told, and were impUcitly be-
May 21. Of St. Goderic it is related, lieved.
that an angel made his bed — lectum * " Priecipio tibi," says the decree of
composuit — on his way to Rome. He Henry agaiust appeals to Rome, " quod
inspired wild beastswith respect, passed si aliquis clericus vel laicus, de bailliva
fifteen days and nights without sleep, tua Romanam curiam appellaverit, eum
rolled himself among briai-s and thorns, capias, et firmiter custodias, donee
stood all night up to his neck in the voluutatem nieam percipias.
river, checked an inundation of the ' apud quod sepulcrum, solum
Wear with his staff, commanded the eum diem, noctemque insequentem, in
plundering hares and stags to venerate jejunio, precibus, ct lacrymis vigil per-
his gai'den, commanded a cow to attend severavit. — Harpsfield, sajc. xii. c. 17-
him to its pasture and to return, re- * Yet even at this hour of his degra-
ceived a visit from John the Baptist, dation, he was permitted to demand
who informed him that he had deli vei'ed securities of the suspected. St. Goderic's mother from purgatory.
J^^ St. Goderic's mi
428 The degradation of Henry II. the triumph of Rome,
BOOK III. treason, for striking the king ; priestcraft, in degrading the
^ ^^ '■ king ; or disloyalty, in complying with the wish of the king.
The naked, fasting, Aveeping, wakeful sovereign voluntarily demanded the infliction of that penance. He solicited the bishops and the monks to flog him. If they scourged him as Raymond of Toulouse was scourged, the royal blood must have marked the pavement of the Church. But he was in the full prime and strength of manhood bodily, whatever might have been the infancy or the weakness of that man- hood mentally ; and he could spare the loss of blood. He entreated that he might undergo the penance. Flog then — flog the King of England ! Not with eighty lashes, as many imagine ; but with three hundred lashes ^ Scourge the King of England ! The royal will commands it. Do not rebel against the will of the sovereign ; but render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. He has opposed the Church and the pope, and the Church requires to be satisfied by penance, even if it be voluntary penance ; and the voice of the Church is the voice of God. Scourge then the King of England ! Render to God the things that be God's ! And he was scourged — and the degradation of the King of England was the triumph of the Church of Rome ; till the better hour arrived, when the repentance of the soul, as in the early days of Christianity, was no more confounded with the infliction of stripes and penance on the body. The power of Rome was at its height.
" Still to new heights Rome's restless wishes tower ; Claim leads to claim, and power advances power ; Till conquests unresisted cease to please, And rights submitted, left it none to seize."
In the remainder of the ecclesiastical history, till the sceptre over the civilized world passed from Rome to England, we read of little more than the continued enactment of new laws against heresy ; and the power of the monastic and mendicant orders. Every influence had now submitted to Rome. The philosophy of the day had been enlisted in its service. The warlike spirit of the times urged on the crusades against the enemies of the Church. Emperors were changed into grooms
® Virga ab episcopis quinquies, a — Harpsfield, ut supra, ap. Alford, singulis monachis (quorum numerus iv. ii. 263. erat supra octoginta) ter csesus est.
The tares of heresy not permitted to grow with the wheat. 429
and tributaries. Kings were scourged by monks at the book hi.
tombs of holy rebels. The generalittj of the common people L^^ >
were no less attached to the Church. Rome, while it hum- bled the pride of temporal sovereigns, provided, by the Truce of God, rightly and wisely for the protection of the husband- man and the plough. The peasant was always safe if he was quiet. The monarch was never safe, for he was unavoidably exposed either to rebellion from his subjects, or to invasion from his neighbours. The pope had become the arbiter of the destinies both of kings and of states. All seemed to be submission to the decrees of the Church ; and but one enemy remained yet to be subdued. To the conquest of that enemy every effort of the Church was directed ; and the remaining history of the ecclesiastical power is little else than the story of resolute attempts on the part of Rome to destroy those, not who really were, but those whom Rome called heretics ; and to extirpate that doctrine, whether true, or false, or doubtful, which Rome was pleased to call heresy.
The free use of Scripture, and the no less free use of reason, which had been the happy privilege of the early Christians, before the domination of Rome presumed to deny both ; had led, as we still see they do in our own age, in spite of the discipline of the Churches, to the dissemination of much truth, and much error. Instead of permitting the tares to grow together with the wheat, and encouraging to the utmost the cultivation of the latter — instead of being con- tented to be despised and to suffer, after appealing to, warning, and endeavouring to persuade mankind ; the Church of Rome, in the resistless plenitude of its power, 2)roceeded to pull up the tares, and to punish with torture and death, the opponents of its faith and discipline. It resolved to root up and to burn the tares of hei'csy and heretics. It is useless to discuss at length the truth or falsehood of the imputations, cast upon those whom the Church called heretics. All were heretics who doubted concerning the Catholic, that is, the Romish faith, or who neglected to observe those things which the Church of Rome commanded, or decreed should be observed '. Other definitions of heresy may be given ^ , but
^ Heereticus est qui dubitat ilc fide varc decreverat. — Ljaidwode — De Catholica, et qui negligit servarc ea Ha^reticis. qute Romana Ecclesia statuit, seu ser- - See, for tlie numerous and various
430 Origin of the names of heresies and sects.
BOOK III. all may be included, or summed up in the refusal of obedience CHAP. VI. ^^ Jlome. The most opposite and contradictory accounts are given of the real or supposed heretics^; but whatever may have been their various errors, they were all described and condemned as persons who were known or believed not to have embraced the decisions and opinions of the ecclesiastical rulers of the Church. The innovations of these ecclesiastical rulers were more heretical, because more novel and contra- dictory, than many of the doctrines of the heretics themselves. It would be absurd to attempt to justify the opposite errors of both parties. The Christian will be comforted by ob- serving how much scriptural truth was maintained by both in common. Though some nobles, and even bishops, were said to be heretical in all countries, the heretics were gene- rally the poorer people : and being so, we may justly believe that they maintained the Christian doctrine in greater purity than those who were always perverting it by false learning ; or wresting it to the purposes of avarice or ambition. They were known by various names, which alluded either to their declarations, that they abhorred the innovations of Rome ; or that they were of the poorer and depressed classes of society. They were Cathari, as pure, or free from the encroaching errors of their superiors; Paterini, from their sufferings; Petrobrussians, Henricians, Arnoldists, from their leaders ; Insabbati, from their wooden shoes, or sabots. Sometimes they were named from the countries or cities in which they abounded ; Lombards, Albigenses, Bulgarians, Bohemians. They were called by opprobrious and disgraceful epithets, as might have been expected, and especially Manicheans. Like the Church of Rome itself, they were not free from error. They may, however, be said, with few exceptions, to have maintained the same truths which distinguished the primi- tive Church up to the Council of Chalcedon ; which are now held by such of the episcopal Churches as are not per- mitted by Rome to hold communion with her ; and which are not anxious to do so, till there has been a revision of her articles of faith, a surrender of her claims to domination, and a formal resignation of her pretensions to punish the body
definitions of heresy, and of the con- ^ See the references, Gervase, Hove- ti'adictions whicli they include, the den, &c., in Collier, subsequent section on heresy.
Heretics differed from each other as much as from the Church.^!
for the benefit of the soul. They held the sufficiency of BOOK III. Scripture as the one source of faith and religious conclusions ; ' ;
the apostles' creed; two sacraments; three orders — bishops, priests, and deacons. They rejected, with the episcopal Churches at present, images, transubstantiation, relics, masses for the dead, purgatory, monasticism, and the papal supre- macy *.
The confusion arising from the numerous epithets by which the heretics are distinguished, sometimes embarrasses the student of history. The subject may, perhaps, be illus- trated by what we see in England at this hour. Baptists, Arians, Wesleyans, Independents, Swedenborgians, and Quakers, all differ from each other ; and depart to a greater or less extent from some truths of the Gospel. They disagree more among themselves, in many instances, than with the Church of England. They are all known by the general name of Dissenters, among those who, either from ignorance, indifference, or contempt, give themselves no trouble to become acquainted with the peculiar tenets of each ; and they are stigmatized by many with terms of reproach or scorn. So it was, also, with the supposed or real heretics of this period. They differed among themselves. They rejected the authority of the Church. The various epithets described their peculiarities. Some one most expressive term of re- proach, such as Manichean, described the mass. Let us now imagine that the doctrines of toleration, being either unknown or disregarded, the whole English nation resolves
* Venema, Hist. Eccles. torn. vi. comedunt, &c. Appellamus eos idcirco
sec. 115 — 126. Manichseos.
The usual term of reproach by See the refutation of Mr. Hallam's
which they were designated was Ma- opinion that the heretics of this day
nichees, or Manicheans. The chief are were justly called Manicheans, in
principally known by the name of Jones's Ecclesiastical Lectures, vol. ii.
Albigenses, from the city of Albi. Lect. xl. xli.
Mr. Hallam, in his History of the AIbigeois,Albigentium,was the name Middle Ages, vol. iii. chap. ix. part ii. given to the whole teixitory of the pp. 461 — 465, quotes from Planta's Viscount of Albi, Beziers, and Car- History of Switzerland, an extract cassone; hence became from this time from a MS. Chronicle of the Abbey of a name, at fii-st, against all those Corbey, of the twelfth century, a com- who fought against the crusaders, and plcte explanation of the reason for then for the Cathari. — History of Lan- which the heretics were called Mani- guedoc, iii. 553.
cheans. It was not because they In this contest, when Arnold was
maintained the absurdities of Manes ; asked by the crusaders. Quid facie-
but it was given as a term of reproach mus, Domine ? Nou possumus discex'-
because they refused to worship images, ncre inter bonos viros et males : i. e.
saints, and relics, and lived abstemi- between the Romanist and the heretic:
ously — nolunt imagines venerari, reli- he replied, Ctedite eos, novit enim Do-
quias sanctorum avereantur, olera muius qui sunt ejus.
432 The Heads of the Church resolve to extirpate heresy.
BOOK III. to extirpate these heresies and heretics. Let us imagine the V^ J > king and the archbishop popular among the influential por- tion of the people, supported by the bishops, assisted by the convocation, strenuously aided by the nobility, the army, the gentry, the yeomanry, and even the peasantry of the country upheld by the laws of ages, and honoured for their zeal in identifying their resolutions with the laws of God — let us, I say, imagine that all these commence a war of cruel raock- ings, and scourging, and torture, and death, against all dis- senters of whatever name, opinions, or behaviour. Legal severity and treachery in their beginnings, are always dis- guised under the mask of moderation and candour. The tribu- nals, or the preachers, who would be sent forth to execute the public justice, as these intolerant mandates would be called, would begin by exhorting the incorrigible to change their conclusions; and to be converted to the opinion of the majority. As the matter related to religion, the assumed moderation of those who would attempt to enforce the deci- sions of the Church, would be encouraged and supported by the convocation, with the archbishop at its head ; in order to give its decrees ecclesiastical sanction, for the intended sup- pression of heresy. The war would begin, and the result would be, the temporary extermination of the opposition to the arbitrary despotism.
Such was the conduct of the universal Church, or of the greater part of the Churches of which it was composed. It was not Alexander only who began the crusade against heresy, in this hour of darkness. The heads of the whole Church resolved to extirpate heresies and heretics. The Emperor Frederic was their bitter foe. The Kings of England and France sent the Bishops of Berry and Narbonne, of Bath and Poitiers, writh a cardinal legate, and several other ecclesiastics; to restore the heretics to the Church, or to expel them from its communion. The confessions of faith by the heretic? were declared to be unsatisfactory, and they wpre excommunicated *. A general council, the convocation of the universal Church, was summoned by Alexander. The Archbishops of Dublin and of Tuam, with five or six Irish suffragans, and other pre- lates from Scotland, obeyed the summons ; and swore, on their arrival in England, on their way to Rome, that they would do nothing against the interest of the king or king- ' Hoveden, ap. Collier, vol. i. p. 390.
Third Council of Lateran.
433
dom. Four English bishops— Durham, Norwich, Hereford, book m.
and Bath, attended the council. The more bitter war against .^J — .'
heretics and heresy, which has continued even till our own times, may be said to have begun from the holding by Alexander the Third Council of Lateran ^
Synopsis of the Eleventh General Council.
|
Council XII. |
Thu-d Lateran Council ''. |
|
Date. |
A. D. 1179. March 5th to the 19th «. |
|
Number of Bishops. |
Three Inmdred^. |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
Alexander III. * |
|
President. |
The Pope 2. |
|
Why and against what opinions. |
To decide upon the election of popes. To settle ques- tions of discipline. To adopt measures for the suppres- sion of heresies ^. |
|
Against whom. |
Cathari — Publicans — Paterini — Albigenses, and others *. |
|
Chief decrees and canons. |
The first canon ordained that the election of no Pope should be valid, unless at least two-thirds of the cardinals should form the majority. The second condemns Octa- vian, Guido, and John, the antipopes. III. to XIX. reforms in the Church ^. |
|
Penalties. |
Excommunications — Proscriptions — Anathemas. |
|
Sufferers. |
The Albigenses, and all denominations of heretics. |
|
Emperor. |
Frederic I. |
|
Pope. |
Alexander III. |
* The Third Lateran Council was under Frederic I. and Alexander III. Europe had been divided into parties by the contentions for the pontificate between Alexander and Octavian, Guido, and John. This strife was VOL. II.
still further increased by the condem- nation of the Albigenses to the merci- less vengeance of their enemies.
' Palmer argues that the Third Lateran Council was not oecumenical, because the Latin bishops onlv were
F f
434
Third Council of Laterun.
We may observe here, that many enactments of this coun- cil continue to form a portion of the canon law of England at present. I therefore notice the subject of each act.
I. No pope duly elected, unless at least two-thirds of the cardinals agree in his appointment.
summoned. Neither were any bishops of the Oriental Church present. The Western Church esteems it to be one of the universal councils. The bull of Alexander is addressed only to the bishops of Italy ; but he sent legates throughout Christendom to invite the prelates from all Churches. Two le- gates came to England, but they took an oath to do nothing to the king's prejudice.— Collier, i. 389 ; Palmer's Treatise on the Church, i. 217-
* Venema, vi. 87; Concilia, x. 1505; Binius, iii. 560 ; Du Pin, x. 207 ; De- lahogue, Tractatus, &c., p. 435; Grier, p. 174 ; Bellarmine, ii. 9.
^ See the references, ut supra.
' Alexander summoned the council. The summons (Labb. x. 1506) did not mention any hei-etics or heresies by name'; it was confined to general ex- pressions only. It begins by remarking that thorns and thistles grow in the field of the Lord, w hich is the Church ; declares the power of the pope in the language of Jeremiah, " I have placed thee over the nations to pull down and to destroy, to build and to plant ;" and decrees the calling of the council — (" ad promulganda qute saluti fidelium visa fuerint expedire, de diversis par- tibus personas ecclesiasticas decrevi- mus evocandas.") The bull concludes ■with that kind of devotional and scrip- tural language in which the assump- tions of the Church of Rome are so generally conveyed. It calls upon the ecclesiastics, &c. to come to Rome, that God leading them, and the grace of the Holy Spirit co-operating with them, we may by our united council and effort lift up the ark of God, as well by correcting enormities, as in resolving upon those things which are pleasing to God.
* See the authorities, ut supra, note 8.
^ Binius gives a particular detail of the offences with wliich those heretics are charged, whose conduct is to be adjudged by the councils — Inter multa dogmata, quse iis attribuuntur, hsec sunt potissima : Romano pontifici non tsse obediendum ; ejus decreta nuUius
esse momenti ; a judicio sanguinis simpliciter omnibus esse abstinendum ; laicos justos consecrare et absolvere posse ; sacerdotes impios potestatem consecrandi et absolvendi amittere : semel tantum in anno, idque in Ccena Domini, absque forma verborum. Hoc est corpus meum, dicendo septies Pater Noster, et benedicendo panem et vi- num consecrabant. Indulgentias per prcelatos Ecclesise datas irridebant, purgatorium, sanctorum invocationem, et miracula in Ecclesia fieri posse negabant .... dies festos, jejunia Eeclesiae, Salutationem Angelicam, et Syrabolum Apostolorum contemnebant .... omneque juramentum prorsus illicitum esse docebant ; cum multis aliis. — Binii Concil. iii. 563, 564.
* A modern writer, of whom I am anxious to speak only with respect, on account of his learning and services to the Church, seems to deserve the dis- approbation of his readers by the manner in which he speaks of this Third Council of Lateran. The here- tics called Cathari, Paterini, or Pub- licani, were, he says, for very good reasons excommunicated. — Treatise on the Church of Christ, designed chiefly for students in theology, by the Rev. William Palmer, of Worcester College, Oxford, 2 vols. 8vo. vol. ii. p. 217-
* A translation of a few of the clauses of the twenty-seventh canon of tbis council, has been already given in the brief abstract of the several acts of the council. It is far too long to insert as a note in the present place ; and as a section will be expressly appropriated to the laws against heresy according to their progressive dates, the consideration of the enactment of this Council of Lateran, which is designed to destroy heresyof every denomination, root and branch, must be deferred. Its rigorous and inhuman injunctions may be found at length in the Concilia, x. 1522, and in Du Pm, x. 91. See also Reinerius, Sacco. c. iv. p. 54 ; and for the tenets taught by those against whom the deci'ee of this Lateran Coun- cil was more especially directed, see Du Pin, x. 89.
Acts of the Third Council of Lateran. 435
II. Deposes Octavian, Guido, and John, the pseudo- book ill.
popes ; annuls all theu* ordinations, and excommunicates all ^ '
who conspire to support the schism.
III. Decrees that none under 32 years of age shall be bishops, nor priests under 25 : both to be moral men.
IV. Rules for visitations, and for protecting the inferior clergy from the oppression of bishops and archdeacons.
V. Requires that a person for ordination, shall have a title and a certain income.
VI. Rules to be observed in making appeals in ecclesias- tical courts.
VII. Prohibits fees for induction to benefices, burials, blessing of nuptials, conferring sacraments, and any new exaction.
VIII. No preferment to be promised till vacant, and when vacant to be filled by proper persons within six months.
IX. Forbids the admission of excommunicated persons into churches, and Knights Templars and Hospitallers from receiving churches from the hands of laymen.
X. Prohibits the reception of monks into religious houses for money.
XI. Forbids clergymen living with females, and visiting nuns ; and condemns unnatural crimes.
XII. Prohibits the clergy from pleading as advocates in secular courts.
XIII. None to hold more than one ecclesiastical office under pain of deposition.
XIV. Restrictions on conferring livings on incumbents. Christian burial to be denied to such as withhold tithes.
XV. Prohibits the purchase of episcopal jurisdiction ; and provides against other acts of injustice.
XVI. Ordains that the aflfairs of chapters shall be ruled by a majority.
XVII. Settles the manner of proceeding, when more than one person has been presented to a church by lay patrons.
XVIII. Provides that every cathedral shall have a school- master to teach the youthful members.
XIX. No taxes to be levied on churches and ecclesiastics, under pain of anathema, unless by consent.
XX. Condemns tournaments.
XXI. Establishes and confirms the Truce of God.
F f 2
436 Acts of the Third Council of Lateran,
TH AP vt' XXII- Protects those engaged in husbandry from feudal ■ ' service and new taxes.
XXIII. Allows lepers to have churches and cemeteries of their own, on specified conditions.
XXIV. Forbids the plunder of shipwrecked persons. None to serve in the Saracen armies, or supply them with arms.
XXV. Denies the communion and Christian burial to manifest usurers.
XXVI. Forbids Jews and Saracens from having Christian slaves, and anathematizes those who prefer Saracens to Christians.
XXVII. Anathematizes the Cathari, Publicans, and Pate- rini, their defenders and receivers, and those who show them
' kindness, or trade with them. The same sentence is passed on the people of Brabant, Arragon, Navarre, &c. who put Christians to death. Two years' penance forgiven those who take up arms against them to subdue them. Those who dis- obey their bishops in these injunctions to be denied the body and blood of Christ. Those who march against heretics, as well as those who visit the Holy Sepulchre, to be secured in their possessions and persons. Excommunication to be en- forced on those who injure them, and not to be taken off till satisfaction is made ; with many other awful and presump- tuous anathemas and proscriptions ^.
Alexander III. died in the year 1181, the same year in which the King of France made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Becket. It was the same year, also, in which Henry, the Bishop of Albi, collected troops for Gascony, to expel the heretics. The sight of the soldiers terrified the people, and they recanted their errors. On the retirement of their military converters, they recant their recantation. The burning of heretics on the Loire and other places began. Many of the persons who were condemned to this cruel death, appear to have been eccentric or insane.
* Labb. Concil. x. 1507, seqq.
CHAPTER VTI.
The power of Rome at its greatest height. — Fourth Council of Lateran.
CLXXI. Lucius III., died 1185.
Six popes reigned, and thirty-six years elapsed between book hi. the Third and the Fourth Councils of Lateran. The Third ^^i|^-
Council of Lateran had decreed that the new popes should ' -^ '
be elected by a majority of at least two-thirds of the cardi- nals. Humbald, or Hubald, an Etruscan, cardinal, Bishop of Ostia, succeeded Alexander by this mode of elec- tion. He obtained in consequence much unpopularity at Rome. We are briefly considering, under each pontificate, the circumstances by which every succeeding Bishop of Rome added something to the greatness of his see. To this pontiff, who ruled the Church four years only, some attribute the founding of that fearful tribunal — that proper executioner of the legislature of that Church which had now become the kingdom of this world — the Inquisition.
When Christ commanded his apostles to go forth to establish his religion, " I send you forth," He said, " as sheep among wolves ; and the time cometh when he that killeth you will think he doeth God service." The successors of the apostles, in this fatal, blood-stained age, seemed to have received a mission of a very opposite nature. They went forth us wolves among sheep. They thought that by slaying others they did God service. The divine commission of Christ to the clergy is — Go teach ; make disciples ; and endure suffering. The manner in which that commission was
438 Review of the Civil Laws against Heretics.
BOOK III. now executed was — Go teach ; make disciples ; and cause
CHAP. . . .
VII. and inflict suffering. The remainder of the history of the '^ ' ecclesiastical power is principally the detail of the wars against opinions, partly good and partly evil, which had not received the sanction of its own ministers. Christianity is like the food we eat ; it is the gift of God, but it may be abused. It is like the light of heaven ; we may walk by its beams, or close our eyes to its brightness. It preaches liberty, but hberty may be perverted. It enforces submission to authority, but authority may teach and enforce error ; and they who are themselves in error, will cling more closely to an absurdity when they are reproved, hunted, imprisoned, and persecuted by brethren who are guilty of greater errors than themselves. Alexander III. is said by many to have been the founder of the Inquisition by the edict of the Coun- cil of Tours, 1163. Others date its commencement from the Council of Verona, under Lucius, 1184; and others again from the pontificate of Innocent III., and in various years, both before and after the Fourth Council of Lateran. What- ever be the different opinions respecting the origin of the Inquisition, it is certain that its commencement may be dated from about this time. This, therefore, seems to be the proper place to consider the laws against heresy which pre- ceded the establishment of this tribunal, ending with the bull of Lucius ; the circumstances which more immediately caused its institution ; and the consequences of its perma- nency to the Churches.
Some of the most severe and fearful laws against heresy in the codes of Theodosius and Justinian, have been already con- sidered. We have traced, also, the growth of the power of Rome from the period of the purity of its doctrines, and the simplicity of its early bishops, up to the period when supremacy was claimed by Nicholas. We have noticed the exercise of that assumption by Gregory VII. ; and the continued increase of its actual influence under the successors of Gregory to the accession of Lucius. It may be expedient here to review the question of the punishment of heresy as it is now brought more prominently before us; and its consideration seems necessary for a proper understanding of the whole argu- ment.
Gradual rise of the spirit of persecution in the Church. 439
By the analysis of the laws against heretics contained in book III. the Theodosian code, which I have given in its place ', it will vii. ' be found that confiscation, banishment, imprisonment, for- ' ^ feiture of testamentary privilege, torture, and death, were legalized in those early times. These enactments were included in the codex of Justinian ^ with considerable ad- ditions and rigours, placing heretics as guilty beyond the reach of human mercy. The imperial edicts of Leo and other emperors, encouraged spies and informers to bring accusations before the ecclesiastical courts ; and these, though not always designated by the term used afterwards to denote the great tribunals of the West for the condemna- tion of heretics, may be regarded as the original elements of the system of persecution. Absolute authority to take cognizance of crimes against states, as well as those against Churches, was granted to the court of every archbishop and bishop ^.
The division of the empire after the death of Charlemagne, and the want of energy in his successors, caused the influence of the ecclesiastical power to be still further extended over Church and state. By a decree of Charlemagne, designed principally to purify the rural districts from vice and impiety, every bishop had been required to visit his diocese at least once a year ; and among other things, to search after, and examine into, all defilements of the Gentiles *. By another law of this great emperor '", bishops are also required to pro- ceed round their dioceses to make inquiries concerning evils which are contrary to God ^ The unlimited jurisdiction
1 See supra, book ii. ch. viii. sententia deciderit." — De Electione * See supra, book ii. chap, ix., and Judieii Episcopalis cuivis indiilta, de- Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. iv. to xii. que sententise ejus vi. Extrav. de Episc. ' " Sanximus, sicut edicti nostri Jud. Cod. Theod. Gothof. vol. vi. ]>. forma declarat, sententias episcoporum, 303 ; also, Capit. Carol. M. lib. vi. e. quolibet genere prolatas, sine aliqua 281, and Gratian, 36, xi. q. 1. setatis discretione, inviolatas semper * " Statuimus, ut singulis annis incorruptasque servari: scilicet, ut pro unusquisque episcopus pai-ocliiam suam Sanctis semper ac venerabilibus habea- soUicite circumeat .... investigare, tur, quicquid episcoporum fuerlt sen- etc. omnes spurcitias gentilium," —
tentia, terminatur Omnes Capit. Carol, a.d. 769.
itaque causae, quae vel praetorio jure * Ibid. a.d. 813. vel civili tractantur, episcoporum sen- * " Ut episcopi circumeant parochias
tentiis terminatae perpetuo stabilitatis sibi couimissas, et ibi inquircndi stu-
jui-e firmentur : nee liceat ulterius re- dium habeant de malis quae contraria
tractari negotium, quod episcoporum sunt Deo."
440 Bull of Lucius III. the foundation of the Inquisition.
BOOK III. and discretionary power with which the episcopacy was in- vii. vested by these laws, may be compared with the canons of
' '' ' Lateran, on the authority of which the Inquisition became estabhshed ; the affinity between them will be readily dis- cerned. Quite enough was inscribed in the codes of Theodo- sius and Justinian, and in the capitularies of Charlemagne, to justify Innocent III. and his successors in reorganizing the system of persecution : and the words of the decrees which empowered the bishops to search after, apprehend, try, judge, and condemn heretics, are nearly the same as those used in the Third and Fourth Lateran Councils. About the middle of the ninth century, the ecclesiastical authority, under the influence of these decrees, attained the summit of its power. The metropolitan prerogatives had not yet been yielded up to Rome, and the episcopacy had acquired dominion over, not only communities, but over kings. King Lothaire was brought to trial in 842, and deposed ; and Charles the Bald in 858, both by the bishops of France.
Passing over the immerous canons framed upon the re- scripts, bulls, edicts, and epistles of Nicholas I. and Gregory VII., which further tend to stimulate and strengthen the inquisitorial functions of the bishops ; passing over, also, the acts of the synod of Tours, in 1163, and that of Lateran, in 1179, which both proscribed, with fearful anathemas, the Albigenses, and all who harboured them, all who dealt with them, conversed with them, or countenanced them in any manner, — we come to the celebrated circular proclamation, or charge, of Lucius III., which embodied the proceedings of the Council of Verona, a.d. 1184, for the extermination of heretics; and in which many of the most stringent lavi^s alluded to appear remodelled ^ The following clauses show the additional force which the canonists of the hierarchy gave
^ It is introduced by this heading — dieutia denegatur. Seculares princi- Hsereticus, male seutiens, vel male pes, qui jurare nolunt, de ecclesia con- docens de saciamentis ecclesiae, ex- tra hsereticos defendenda. exeommuni- communiCatus est ; et convictus, jiisi cantur, et terrse eorum supponuntur se correxei'it, et errorem abjuraverit, interdicto : civitates vero ipsorum re- si clericus est, degradetur, et curiae sisteutes, aliarum commercio et epis- seculari tradatur : per quam etiam coj)ali dignitate privantur : exempli laicus punietur. Eadem etiam est vero subsunt ordiuariis super his, qute poena suspectis de haei-esi, si so non contra haercticos instituuntur. conx'xcrunt, ct relapsis omnino au-
Bull of Lucius III. the real origin of the Inquisition. 441
to decrees, when any special object was to be sanctioned, by book hi. interweaving ancient authorities together, till the laws were yf^ ' perfected which commenced the more intolerable inquisi- ■- ' tion *.
This is sufficient to show the manner in which the capture, trial, judgment, and execution of heretics was ordained under the administration of the episcopal tribunals ; which had long possessed all the powers of the Inquisition before their prero- gatives, which they exercised individually and at discretion, were usurped exclusively by the pontifical court ; as soon as the vigorous measures subsequently introduced by Innocent III. were brought into operation. Scarcely any thing was left for Innocent to do in the establishment of what after- Avards was significantly termed the In'quisition, but to com- plete the labours of the bishops and of Lucius III., by insti- tuting the Dominican and Franciscan orders. To these he committed the whole work of hunting out, accusing, prose- cuting, judging, sentencing, and executing, and "letting slip the dogs of war" on all who presumed to think differently from the members of the papal communion. The progress and acts of the Inquisition, in its future stages, will necessarily require notice under other pontiffs ; it is, therefore, only ne- cessary here to add, that as the bishops' courts, to which proceedings against heretics were as yet confined, were not sufficiently lost to all sense of humanity to carry on the work of death fast enough for the satisfaction of the " head of the Church," they were to be cast off as unfit for the " holy office," of which the Dominicans and Franciscans were to be future conductors.
* Ad hsec, de episcopal! consilio et copus autem vel archidiaconus ad prae-
suggestione culminis imperialis et prin- sentiam suam convocet accusatos, qui,
cipum ejus, adjecimus ut quilibet ar- nisi se ad eorum arbitrium juxta pa-
chiepiscopus vel episcopus, per se, vel trise consuetudinein et objecto reatu
per archidiaconum suum .... paro- purgaverint ; vel, si post purgationem
chiam, in qua fama fuerit haereticos exhibitam in pristinam fuerint reiapsi
habitare, circumeat : et ibi tres vel perfidiam, episcoporuui judicio punian-
piures boni testimonii viros, vel etiam tur. Si qui vero ex eis, jurationem
totam viciiiiam, si expedire videbitur, superstitiime damnabili i-espuentes,
jurare compellat, quod, si quis htereti- jurare forte noluerint ; ex hoe ipso
cos ibidem scierit ; vel aliquos occulta ha,'retici judicentur, et poenis, quse
conventicula celebrantes, seu a com- prienomiuatse sunt, perceilantur. —
muni conversatione, fideliura vita et Decretal. Greg. lib. v. tit. vii. c. ix. De
nioribus dissidentes, eos episcopo vel Ilareticis, Boehmer, vol. ii. p. 745 ;
archidiacono studeat indicare. Epis- also, Labb. Concilia, x. 1737.
442 Bull of Lucius III. the real origin of the Inquisition.
BOOK III. It is, however, worthy to be observed, that in England, VII. from the year 1400, when the act De Hceretico Comburendo was
' '' ' passed, until its repeal in 1678, the jurisdiction concerning heretics was not given up to the mendicants, but retained by the bishops ^ Every diocesan, without the intervention of a synod, might convict of heretical tenets ; and unless the heretic abjured his opinions; or if, after abjuration, the convict relapsed, the sheriif was bound ex officio, if required by the bishop, to condemn the unhappy victim to the flames, without waiting for the consent of the crown.
If the human mind exercises that first and noblest privi- lege with which its Creator has endowed it — the searching after truth — there will unavoidably be, according to the degrees of evidence ; the weakness or strength of intellect ; the biasses of education, or other circumstances by which conclusions are affected ; a great variety of opinions, which, however harmless, would not be sanctioned by authority. Some laws against heresy could consequently be directed against certain specific unauthorized conclusions, or opinions, to which the inquirers had arrived. When, however, these would be found to be endless, the laws against heresy would be enacted not only against the conclusions themselves, but against the exercise of the privilege by which men arrived at those conclusions. On the review of the laws against heresy in the canon law as it existed between Justinian and Lucius, with the definitions of the crime, and the numerous sects who held opinions not sanctioned by authority; it will be found that the war which Rome and the ecclesiastical power first waged against heresy, was made against some specific conclusions ; and then, against the right, privilege, and blessing of exer- cising the reason at all, unless in the manner pleasing to the Churches, and with deference to the conclusions at which they had previously arrived.
We find a long list of real, supposed, and undoubted here- sies from the apostolic age to the middle of the sixth century in Gratian '", copied from the Pseudo-Decretals, of which I subjoin an abridged translation. I call those real and un- doubted heretics, not who differed merely from the Church
" 1 Hal. P. C. 395. '" Boehmer, Corpus Juris Ciinon. ii. 859, edit. 1 747.
List of Heretics in the early centuries. 443
of Rome, but whose conclusions were contrary to the Scrip- book hi.
t_ CHAP,
ures. yn.
I. Simonians, named after Simon Magus, whom Peter cursed, because he wished to purchase from the apostles, with money, the power of conferring the Holy Spirit.
II. Menandrians, from Menander, a magician, a disciple of Simon Magus, who asserted that the world was not made by God, but by angels.
III. BasiUdians, from Basilides, who, among other blas- phemies, denied that Jesus suffered.
IV. Nicolaitans, from Nicolas, a deacon of the Church of Jerusalem, who, with Stephen and others, was ordained by Peter. Leaving his vdie on account of her beauty, he said that any one who wished might take her. John in the Apo- calypse alludes to him, '• Thou hast this, that thou hast hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans."
V. The Gnostics. They were so named from their affec- tation of superior knowledge. The name was given to a great variety of sects.
VI. Carpocratians, called from Carpocrates, who said that Christ was only man, and produced by both sexes.
VII. Cerinthians, from Cerinthus. They, among other things, observ^ed circumcision. They taught that, after the resurrection, there would be 1000 years of voluptuousness. Hence, in the Greek, they are called Chiliastae, and in the Latin, Millenarii.
VIII. Nazarenes, so called, because, while they confessed Christ (who was called a Nazarene from the city of that name) to be the Son of God, they yet observed all parts of the old law.
IX. Ophites, from the serpent, in Greek called ophis — oi^iq. They worshipped the serpent, saying, that he introduced the knowledge of virtue into Paradise.
X. Valentinians, from Valentinus, a Platonic philosopher, who introduced aeons — alCjvag, that is, ages — into the origin of the creative Deity ; that Christ took nothing of the body from the Virgin, but passed through her as through a canal.
XI. Appellitae, from Appelles, who made the Creator of
444 List of ancient Heretics.
BOOK III, the world a glorious angel^, but not the supreme God ; vii. ■ and affirmed that the god of the Jews was this malevolent ^ ^' ' god, and that Christ was not manifest as God in reality, but as man in appearance \
XIL Archontiaci, who held that the universe which God hath made is the work of archangels.
XIII. Adamites, so called because they imitated the naked- ness of Adam. They also prayed naked, and men and women met together naked.
XIV. Cainites, so called because they adored or worshipped Cain.
XV. Sethites. They took their name from Seth, the son of Adam, saying that he was Christ.
XVI. Melchizedecians, so called, because they affirmed that Melchizedec, the priest of God, was not man, but an attribute of the Deity.
XVII. Angelics, because they worshipped angels.
XVIII. Apostolics. They took their name from this cause, that having nothing properly their own, they would by no means receive those who used what was their own in this world.
XIX. Cerdonians, named from Cerdon, who held two con- trary principles, good and bad.
XX. Marcionists, called from Marcion, a Stoic philosopher, who, following the dogma of Cerdon, asserted that there was one God good, and another evil, as the two foundations of creation and goodness.
XXI. Artotyrites, called from their oblation, because they offered bread and cheese, saying, that by the first men an obla- tion was made of the fruits of the earth, and of the fruits of the flock.
XXII. Aquarii, because they only put water in the chalice of the Sacrament.
XXIII. Severians, sprung from Severus, who drank no wine. They neither received the Old Testament, nor believed in the resurrection.
XXIV. Tatians, from Tatian ; who are also called Encra- titEe (continent), because they abominated flesh.
' The account of Gratian is obscure, de Hsei-esibus, No. 23, vol. viii. p. 7, but the student may refer to Augusthie, Benedictine edition.
List of ancient Heretics. 445
XXV. Aloglans, so called, as if without the Word, for the book hi. Word in Greek is called Aoyoc- They believed not the ^^^^■
Word to be God ; and rejected the Gospel of John and the " ^— '
Apocalypse.
XXVI. Cataphrygians took their name from a province in Phrygia (Perpuza), where they flourished. Their authors were Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla. They asserted that the Holy Spirit did not descend upon the apostles, but upon themselves.
XXVII. Cathari, so named on account of their purity; for, glorying in their own merits, they denied forgiveness of sms to the penitent. They condemned widow^s who marry again, as adulteresses. They declared themselves hoHer than others.
XXVIII. Pauhanists, from Paul of Samosata, who said that Christ was not eternal, but had a beginning from the Virgin Mary.
XXIX. Hermogenians, called after Herraogenes, who, introducing unproduced matter, compared it to the uncreated God, asserting that it was the mother of the elements, and a goddess, whom the apostle reproved as in bondage to the elements.
XXX. Manicheans took their rise from a Persian called Manes. He held two principles and substances ; L e. good and bad; and asserted that souls flowed from God as from a fountain. He rejected the Old Testament, and received only part of the New.
XXXI. Anthropomorphites, so called, because they thought that God hath human members.
XXXII. Hierachites,from Hieraches. They received only monks, despised marriage, and did not beheve that little chil- dren obtained the kingdom of heaven.
XXXIII. Novatians, from Novatus, a Presbyter of Rome, who, attempting to invade the sacerdotal chair in opposition to Cornelius, objected to receive apostates, and rebaptized the baptized.
XXXIV. Montanists, so called because in times of perse- cution they lay hid among the mountains, by which custom they separated themselves from the Catholic Church.
XXXV. Ebionites, named from Ebion, or from the He-
446 List of ancient Heretics.
BOOK TIL brew word signifying poverty. They believed that Christ ^^j^P- was but a righteous man of human origin. Hence they
' ^—^ might be duly called Ebionites from poverty of under- standing; for they were semi- Jews, and so received the Gospel that they might at the same time carnally obey the law.
XXXVI. Photinians, from Photinus, Bishop of Sirmium, in Gallo-Grfficia, who, restoring the heresy of the Ebionites, asserted that Christ was conceived from the natural connexion of Joseph and Mary.
XXXVII. Aerians, called after Aerius: they refused to offer sacrifice for the dead.
XXXVIII. Aetians, from Aetius, called also Eunomians, from Eunomius, a dialectitian, and disciple of Aetius, which name they generally take. They taught that the Son was unlike to the Father, and the Holy Ghost to the Son. They also held that no sin would be imputed to those who con- tinued in the faith.
XXXIX. Origenists, from Origen, said that the Son cannot see the Father, nor the Holy Spirit the Son. They held, also, that in the beginning of the world souls sinned ; and for their divers sins were expelled from heaven to earth into sundry bodies, as it were in chains, and by this means they were made pure.
XL. Noetians, from Noetus, who said that Christ, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit, were the same : they received the Trinity itself in the names of offices, not in persons. Whence, also, they are called Patripassians, because they said that God the Father suffered.
XLI. Sabeilians are said to have arisen from the same Noetus, whose disciple they allege Sabellius to have been ; by whose name they are chiefly distinguished, and thence called Sabeilians. They asserted one person to be Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost.
XLII. Arians, from Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, who, denying that the Son was co-eternal with the Father, asserted a difference of substance in the Trinity, contrary to that which the Lord said, / and the Father are one.
XLIII. Macedonians, from Macedonius, Bishop of Con- stantinople, denied that the Holy Spirit is God.
List of ancient Heretics. 447
XLIV. Apollinarists, from Apollinaris, said that Christ book hi. took a human body only, without a human soul. '^'vn^-
XLV. Antidicomarites, called so, because they denied the ' '
virginity of Mary, affirming that after the birth of Christ, she had connexion with her husband.
XLVI. Metangismonites, take such name from a'yyoc— a vase ; for they assert that the Son was within the Father, as a small vase is within a larger.
XLVII. Patritianists, from Patritius, who declared that the substance of human flesh was formed by the devil.
XLVIII. Colluthianists, from Colluthus, who said that God did not make evil, contrary to that which is written—/, the Lord, create evil.
XLIX. Florianists, from Florian, who asserted the con- trary, and said that God created evil, in opposition to that which is written— 7%e Lord made all things good.
L. Donatists, from Donatus, an African, who asserted that the Son was inferior to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to the Son, and rebaptized Cathohcs.
LI. Bonosians, from Bonosus, a bishop. They held that Christ was the Son of God by adoption, and not his own Son.
LII. CircumcelHones, so called because they were rustics. For the love of martyrdom they slew each other, and were slain by violence in order to be called martyrs.
LII I. Priscillians, from Priscillian, who concocted, in Spain, a heresy mixed with the errors of the Gnostics and Manichees.
LIV. Luciferians, from Lucifer, Bishop of Cagliari, in Sardinia. He condemned those bishops who, in the perse- cution of Constantius, agreed with the tenets of the Arians ; and who, repenting of their error, desired to be received, and were received, into the Catholic Church ; as Peter after his denial. On this account he withdrew from the communion of the Church.
LV. Jovianists, from Jovian, who asserted that there is no difference between married women and virgins ; and no dis- tinction between the abstinent, and those who eat with tem- perance.
LVI. Helvidians, from Helvidius, who said that Mary bore other sons to Joseph after Christ's nativity.
448 List of ancient Heretics.
BOOK ni. LVII. Paternians, from Paternus, who thought that the ^ viY" inferior parts of the body were made by the devil.
' ^—^ LVIII. Arabicians, from their having sprung up in Arabia.
They said that the soul dies with the body, and that both will rise at the last day.
LIX. Tertullianists, from Tertullian, a presbyter of Car- thage, who thought that the soul is not immortal, but cor- poreal ; and that after death, the souls of wicked men are changed into demons.
LX. Tessarescffidecaritoe, so named because they contended that Easter should be observed, with the Jews, on the four- teenth day of the moon.
LXI. Nyctages, from sleep ; because they thought the ob- servance of the night watchings appointed by the Church, to be superstitious.
LXII. Pelagians, from Pelagius, the monk. They placed free will before divine grace, saying, that the will is sufficient to fulfil the divine commands.
LXIII. Nestorians, from Nestorius, Bishop of Constanti- nople, who maintained that the Blessed Virgin was not the mother of God, but of the man Christ only ; that there was one person of the flesh, another of the deity ; neither did he beheve one Christ in the Word of God, and in the flesh ; but separately and disjunctively, he preached that Christ as divine was the Son of God; and Christ as human was the
son of man.
LXIV. Eutychians, from Eutyches, Abbot of Constantmo- ple, who denied that Christ, after the assumption of the human, existed in two natures, and asserted that his nature was wholly divine.
LXV. Acephah, that is, without a head, no founder of them being known. These opponents of the three Chal- cedon chapters, denied the unity or identity of two sub- stances in Christ, and acknowledged but one nature m his
person. mi j • a
LXVI. Theodosians and Gaianites, from Theodosms and Gaianus, who, in the reign of Justinian, were ordained bishops in Alexandria. Following the errors of Eutyches and Dioscorus, they rejected the Council of Chalcedon. They asserted that, from two, there was one nature in Christ, which
List of ancient Heretics. 449
the Theodosians contended was corrupt, and the Gaianites book hi.
^ CHAP,
incorrupt. Yli.
LXVII. Agnoites and Tritheists, sprung from the Theo- ^ •' ' dosians, of whom the Agnoites are named from their igno- rance, because to other errors they added this — that the Divinity of Christ is ignorant of the future things, which relate to the consummation of all things.
LXVIII. Tritheists are so called, because they said, that as there are three Persons in the Trinity, so also there are three Gods, contrary to that which is written. Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
Other heresies there are, says Gratian, Anthout authors, and without names. Of these, some think strangely of God; others say, the divinity of Christ suffered; others give to the nativity of Christ from the Father, a beginning in time ; others do not believe that by the descent of Christ into hell, a liberation of mankind took place ; others deny the soul to be the image of God ; others think that the souls of the wicked are changed into demons and into animals; others differ concerning the form of the world ; others think there are many worlds ; others make matter co-eternal with God ; others walk with naked feet ; others eat not with men. These heresies have sprung up against the Catholic faith, and have been condemned by the apostles, by the holy Fathers, or by councils ; who, although they are divided among them- selves by so many errors differing each from the other, yet, under the common name of heretic, are alike opposed to the Church of God.
Other remarkable heresies before the age of Lucius III., may be selected fi-om Spanheim.
LXIX. Monothehtes, so called from their principal dogma, that in Christ one will only operated, the Word willing and operating by himself; but in reahty, they asserted against the Eutychians, the two natures in Christ — divine and human, though in denying the exercise of two wills, they neutralize the operation of Christ's human nature.
LXX. Iconoduli, called also Iconolatras, names by which the worshippers of images were generally denoted.
LXXI. Felicians, from Felix, Bishop of Urgel, their author. They asserted that Christ, according to his Divine
VOL. II. G g
450 Other heresies before the age of Imcius III.
BOOK III. nature, was truly the Son of God ; but, according to his vn. ' human nature, He was only so by adoption : from which "^ ' latter opinion they were called Adoptians.
LXXII. Transubstantiators, so termed from their opinion that the sacramental bread and wine are changed by the act of consecration, from their own substance into that of the real flesh and real blood of Christ. Spanheim traces the origin of this heresy to the seventh synod of Constantinople, in 754, when the great image controversy was discussed.
LXXIII. Berengarians, from Berengarius, who denied the change of the substance of the bread and wine of the Eu- charist into the true and proper body and blood of Christ: but he admitted that the body and blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.
LXXIV. Waldenses. Various opinions prevail respecting the origin of this sect. By some it is said that Peter Waldo, a rich citizen of Lyons, was their founder, and conferred the title. Others say, they are called Vallenses from their chief seat being among the valleys of Piedmont. Others suppose their name to have been from Wald, a German word for TVood. The name Vaudois was given them from the place of their abode, says the learned historian. Dr. AUix ^, which the inhabitants called Les Vaux de Lucerne et Angrogne — the valleys of Lucerne and Angrogne — whence came the Latin name Vallenses. The same author shows, also, that they separated from the Church of Rome long before Waldo's time. They held doctrines nearly the same as those which the Protestant Churches, from the time of the Reformation, have esteemed orthodox.
LXXV. Albigenses, from Albigeois, in Languedoc, the country in which they most prevailed. They were not of so much importance as to be noticed much in history before the twelfth century ; and have frequently been confounded Avith the Waldenses, who were but their earlier brethren, and pro- bably their parents. It is, however, a common error to sup- pose that the Albigenses, as well as the Waldenses, were not each of them early converts to the Gospel, and faithful adherents to the Church of Lyons, which was always their
2 History of the Ancient Church of Piedmont, p. 175.
i
Heresies before the age of Lucius III. 451
diocesan Church. They maintamed the same inveterate ob- so?^^^^"
CHAP.
jections to the doctrines and customs of the Church of vii. Rome which the Waldenses had constantly preserved, and which are now almost universal.
LXXVI. Bogomili, called also Bogarmitae, a sect whose tenets proved offensive to the Eastern Churches, on which account their founder, Basilius, was burnt in the time of Alexius Comnenus. It has been alleged by their enemies that they did not admit the incarnation of Christ; but other authors who mention them, do not allege against them the rejection of any fundamental doctrines.
LXXVII. Abelard, though an eminent theologian, is better known as an admirer of Eloise. He had a numerous school in Paris, and his disciples were much attached to his doc- trines, which created the envy of those who had opposite interests at stake. He was guilty of believing that the mys- teries of religious faith might be submitted to the scrutiny of reason, without endangering the cause of revealed truth; hence he incurred the condemnation of Rome.
LXXVni. Arnold of Brescia, was another of the divines of this age who advocated the employment of reason in sup- port, not in denial, of the truths of revelation. He asserted that Divine Truth could not suffer by such a test, nor those had cause to fear investigation who taught what revelation really was; but only those who taught what it was not. The supposed heretic was burnt alive amidst the exultations of the friends of Pope Hadrian IV. His particular followers were called Arnoldists.
LXXIX. Gilbert de la Porree, another heresiarch of the same school as the two preceding, who on account of his pro- found learning being employed in teaching that human merit was less efficacious than divine grace, and that Christ alone was " the way," was condemned by Pope Eugene III., in a council of Rheims.
LXXX. Cathari, supposed to have sprung from a remnant of the ancient Manicheans. They are said to have come from the East into Thrace, whence they spread to Bulgaria, and thence into the western parts of Europe, where they became confounded with the Albigenses, whom their enemies called Manicheans and Cathari, by way of reproach. The name
G g 2
452 Extended meanings of the word Hei^esy.
BOOK III. corresponds with the modern term Puritans, and probably ^vn^' ^^^ given in reproach, from their professing greater purity
^~ — V ' than the Christians around them. In Germany, says Du
Pin, we call them Cathari ; in French, Tisserauds, because many of them followed the employ of weavers. They were a plain, unassuming, harmless, and industrious race of Christians, condemning by their doctrine and manners the whole apparatus of the reigning idolatry and superstition ; placing true religion in the faith and love of Christ, and retaining a supreme regard for the divine word. Many decrees were passed against them in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, and very severe punishments inflicted upon them.
LXXXI. Paulicians, said to have first appeared in Europe in 1017, when they held religious assemblies at Orleans. They were accused of Manicheism, and many were burnt, though considered innocent of any heresy except refusing to worship the Virgin Mary and the Cross ; and refusing to par- take of the sacraments of the Roman and Greek Churches, whose doctrines and ceremonies they held to be contrary to apostolic precept and practice. They called themselves Paterini, from patior, to suffer ; because like the martyrs, expositi passionibus, they were exposed to sufferings and mar- tyrdom for the Catholic Faith.
LXXXII. Tanchelini, disciples of Tanchelinus, or Tanche- mus, of Antwerp. They are said to have denied the corpo- real presence of Christ's body in the Eucharist, which, with- out the absurdities alleged against them by those who held different opinions, was sufficient to procure their condemna- tion.
Such are the names of some of the principal heretics up to the time of Lucius III. We cannot, however, form an accu- rate idea of the meaning of the word heresy in the ages prior to this time, unless we consider the descriptions of heresy in general. Thought was heresy. Doubting was heresy. The receiving of a truth which the Church of Rome approved, without accepting it on the authority of the Church, was heresy. The right definitions of heresy which were adopted by Jerome and Augustine, and spoken of in the divisions in
fl
Papal definitions of Heresy. 453
the early churches, were adopted by the Church of Rome to book iil describe the persons who hesitated to receive the successive yf j ' novelties which it sanctioned. No distinction was made be- ' ^ ' tween the doctrines of the early Church, and of the Church of Rome in its later character. The consequence was, that the application of the same terms, and the same definitions, to the denier of the Trinity, and to the doubter of the papal supremacy, made both guilty of the same crime, and deserving of the same punishment. All these definitions are to be found in the canon law. The Church of Rome, which upheld the Divinity of Christ before its bishop became the supreme pon- tiff; and the Church of Rome, which still maintained that divinity, and submitted to the papal supremacy, was called the same Church. Resistance to this Church was the same crime of heresy. The resister was always the heretic. The chain of tradition could not be broken, and nothing but fatal experience could rectify the error.
We find the following definitions of heresy and heretics in Barbosa, Conrad Bruno, and in various portions of the canon law.
I. Heresy is said to be derived from the Greek word for election, because every one chooses, as we may say, that form of discipline for himself which he thinks best. Whoever, therefore, understands Scripture otherwise than the Holy Spirit by whom it was written demands, although he have not separated from the Church, he may yet be called a heretic.
II. A heretic is he who, for any temporal advantage, but chiefly for repute, and for the advancement of his own power, either broaches or follows false or new opinions.
III. Whoever in the Church shall hold any unsound or corrupt opinion, if being reproved, so that they may under- stand rightly and truly, they contumaciously resist ; and are unwilHng to amend their foul and poisonous dogmas, but rather resolve to defend them, let them be accounted here- tics.
IV. A heretic is he, who thinks contrary to that which the Church proposes for belief.
V. It is heresy to assert that the pope is not the one pre- late, who is the highest of all patriarchs.
454 Papal definitions of Heresy.
BOOK III. ^I" Seeing the pope is the vicar of Christ our Lord, he makes
^^^P- one and the same tribunal and consistory with Christ ; there-
' „ ' fore they are guilty of heresy who appeal from the judgment
of the pope to Christ, as though they believed the pope were
not the vicar of Christ.
VII. They are heretics who are receivers or friends of those who are excommunicated.
VIII. He who attempts to take away the privilege deliv- ered to the Roman Church by the head of all churches Him- self, without doubt falls into heresy. He should without doubt be called a heretic.
IX. If there be among any of those [belonging to the Albigenses, or sects] before named, who are unwilling to swear unequivocally that they will reject, on their oath, their damnable superstition ; they are thus demonstrated to be heretics, and let them be punished.
X. Such as are found not to shun and abhor the way of the heresiarchs of Gascony, and the other provinces, and their followers; and observe not the decree by which we command that those who any where associate with them, or support, or screen them, or afford them any place wherein to harbour themselves, they are equally partakers of their heresy for having presumed so to do ; and we pronounce the ana- thema on them, and the interdict of divine worship.
As the Church of Rome thus exclusively appropriated to itself the peculiar blessings which are promised to the Catholic Church in general ; and as it referred all the ancient definitions of heresy and heretics, to the doubting and the doubters of any of its own novelties ; so also did it lay the foundation of its own intolerable laws against heresy, on the severe language in which the general crime of heresy was condemned in the true Catholic Church by the Fathers. Language of this sort, for instance, is found in the canon law.
I. The offerings of heretics is a curse. It is not meet to accept blessings of heretics, for they are rather curses than blessings ^.
^ This is a law founded on Canon 367? which dechires, " tliat the eulogies xxxii. of the Laodicean Council, a. d. of heretics ought not to be received, for
Severe language of the canon latv against Heretics. 455
II. Upon the blessings of heretics God sends curses. " I book hi will curse your blessings :" that is, whatsoever is blessed by yfi ' you shall be accursed by me *. '— — - '
III. Things offered by heretics are unpleasing to God. Thus God said, This people are all heretics in my sight ; for every thing they do, and every thing they offer to me, whether vows either for honouring me, or appeasing, or for sin-offer- ing, or trespass-offering, or burnt-offering, or for alms, or fasting, or abstinence from meats for continence sake ; they will be all unclean in my sight. For although those things which are offered by such may seem righteous in their own sight, yet because they have been touched by him who is polluted in soul, all their offerings are polluted \
IV. They offer sacrilegious bread, and they give alms, and seem to follow after humility. I understand such burnt- oSerings, when they are done faithfully; but when they forsook the knoAvledge of God, in vain did they boast them- selves when they had separated from the head, that they remained members of the body ^
v. God hates the sacrifices of heretics, and spurns them from Him ; and as often as they congregate in the name of the Lord, He so abhors the stench of them that He shuts his nostrils '.
VI. Without the Church of God, which is the body of Christ, there are neither priests duly consecrated, nor true sacrifices ; none, unless from the condition of our nature the true pope recover us, and the true blood of the spotless Lamb cleanse us ^
they are rather alogies, that is, nonsen- into the Roman code, from texts of
sical things, t\\s.n eulo<jies, that is, bless- Isaiah i. 13, 14, Haggai ii. 14, cited by
ings." By the term eulogies are Jerome in his violent invectives against
meant the holy mysteries of the Lord's Origen. CI. i. q. 1, Gratian.
Supper, which the ancient Christians " The substance of this canon against
were accustomed to send from one heretics is compounded partly from
church or diocese to another, in token Hosea ix. 4,5, and ii. 11; and from the
of brotherhood and communion. — Lao- interpretation of Jerome. 63. i. q. 1,
dicean Canons, Johnson's Vade Mecum, Gratian.
vol. ii. canon ii. p. 113, and canon xiv. ' Isaiah i. 14 ; Amos v. 21, 22 ;
p. 103, paraphrased by Gratian in Hosea viii. 13, ix. 4 ; Jeremiah x. 12.
Canon Law, cause i. quaest. i. c. GG. 14, fi'om the invectives applied by
Boehmer, edit. vol. i. p. 320. Jerome to the tenets of Origen. 62. i.
■• See Malaehi ii. 2, which has been q. 1, Gratian. De Sacramentis Ha-re-
introduced into the canon law of the ticorum.
llomish Church by Gratian, from the ^ An extract from an epistle of Leo
Writings of Jerome against Origen. the Groat to the Bishop of Constanti-
^ This is also a canon introduced nople about the year 451. — Gratian,
456 Manner of quoting the canon law explained.
BOOK III. VII. It is not meet for the clergy or laity to communicate VII. ' with heretics, because they are greater curses than bless- " ' ings ; neither is it lawful to pray either with heretics, or with schismatics ^
VIII. Hold firmly, and in nowise doubt, that every heretic or schismatic, although he may do many charitable deeds, and even shed his blood for the sake of Christ, will with the devil and his angels partake of the burning of everlasting fire ; unless before the end of his life he be incorporated and established wholly into the Catholic Church. To every man who does not hold the unity of the Catholic Church, neither baptism, nor alms, however liberally bestowed ; nor death itself suffered for the name of Christ, can profit any thing to eternal salvation ".
De Sacramentis Hsereticoruoi, 68. i. q. 1.
^ A canon of Pope Martin, supposed to have been decreed at a council held in Rome against Eutyches and others, who had caused much disorder in the Church in the seventh century, by their support of Monophysite docti-ines. — Gratiau, 67- i. q. 1. De Sacramentis Hseret.
1" From Augustine of Hippo, De Fide Catholica ; Gratian, De Haere- ticis ; Decret. Greg. Hb. v. tit. vii, C.3.
As there may be some difficulty on the subject among students, I subjoin here an account of the manner of quoting the Roman Canon Law.
The Decree consists of three parts, of which the first contains lOI distinc- tions, each distinction being subdivided into canons : thus, 1 dist. c, 3, Lex (or 1 d. Lex), is the first distinction, and third canon, beginning with the word Lex.
The second pai't of the decree con- tains 36 causes, each cause compre- hending several questions, and each question several canons : thus, 3 qu. 9. c. 2. Caveant, is cause the third, ques- tion the 9th, and canon the 2nd, be- ginning with Caveant.
The third part of the decree con- tains five distinctions, and is quoted as the first part, with the addition of the words de Consecratlone : thus, de Con- secr. dist. 2. can. Quia corpus (or can. Quia corpus, 35 dist. 2. d. Consecr.), means the second distinction, and the 35th canon of the treatise de Comecra-
tione, which chapter begins with Quia corpus.
The Decretals are in three parts, of which the first contains Gregory's Decretals in five books, each book being divided into titles, and each title into chapters ; and these are cited by the name of the title, and the number of the chapter, with the addition of the word Extra, or the capital letter X : thus, c. 3. Extra de Usuris, is the third chapter of the title in Gregory's Decre- tals, wliich is inscribed De Usuris, which title, by looking into the Index, is found to be the 19th of the 5th book. Thus also, c. cum contingat 36. X. de Offic. et Pot. Jud. Dec. is the 36th chapter, beginning with ctim contingat, of the title in Gregory's Decretals, which is inscribed de Officio et Potestate Judicis Delegati ; and which, by con- sulting the Index, we find is the 29th title of the fix-st book. The sixth de- cretal, and the Clementine Constitu- tions, each consisting of five books, are quoted in the same manner as Gre- gory's Decretals ; only, instead of Extra, or X, there is subjoined in sexto, or in 6, and in Clementinis, or in Clem, according as either part is re- ferred : thus, c. si gratiose 5. de Re- script, in 6, is the 5th chapter, begin- ning with si gratiose, of the title de Re- scriptis, in the 6th decretal ; the title so inscribed being the 3rd of the 1st book : and Clem. 1. de Sent, et He Ju- dic. (or de Sent, et R. J. ut ealumniis, in Clem. ; or c. ut ealumniis, I. de Sent, et R, J. in Clem.), is the first chapter of the Clementine Constitu-
Canon laws, ^c. against Heresy.
457
IX. Whoever has deservedly received the sentence of ana- book hi. thema, if he still desire to remain in his opinion, none shall vil. have power to relax the decree \ '' '
X. An obstinate heretic is eternally damned ; to whom bap- tism is of no profit, neither alms-giving, nor martyrdom, nor any other good deed whatsoever, so that he may attain to eternal life ^
XI. Heretics are also to be excommunicated after death '.
XII. Rather ought every one to submit to death, than to receive the sacrament of communion from the hand of a heretic *.
XIII. He who is doubtful in matters of faith is an infidel; neither is any trust to be placed in those who are unac- quainted with the true faith \
XIV. Let all decrees of the apostolic see be received, as
tions under the title de Sententia et re Judicata ; which chapter begins with ut cahnnniis, and belongs to the xith title of the 2nd book.
The Extravagants of John XXII. are contained in one book, divided into 14 titles: thus, Extratag.ad Cou- ditorem Joh . 22. de V. S. means the chap- ter beginning with Ad Couditorem, of the Extravagants of John XXII.; title, de Verborum Slgnificationibus. Lastly, the Extravagants of later popes are called Communes; being divided into 5 books, and these again into titles and chapters : thus, Extravag. Comrnun. c. Salmtor de Praebend., is the chapter beginning with Sahator, among the Extravagantes Communes ; title, de Prce- bendis.
* Leo, Epist. xiii. to the Patriarch of Constantinople, concerning the Eu- tychian heretics, has afforded the canonists this clause. — Gratian. 5.xxiv. q.2.
* This is the interpretation, by Gra- tian, of the canon at the head of which it stands, taken from the work of Au- gustine, De Fide Catholica, and being an applicationof the judgments threat- ened by the Mosaic law against apos- tates from the faith (Dent. iv. 25, 26), which upon conversion into the canon in question thus decide — Finnissimc tene, et nullatenus dubites, omnem liajreticum vel schismaticum, cum diabolo et angelis ejus, teterni ignis iu- cendio pai'ticipandum, nisi ante finem
vitse Catholicaj fuerit incorporatus et redintegratus ecclesise. — Decret. Greg, lib. V. tit. vii. c. iii.
^ By the fifth, general council held at Constantinople under the Emperor Justinian, some of the debates led to the decision that the writings of Origen, Arius, Macedonius, and others who had been long before dead, were hete- rodox. It was decreed that they might still be anathematized for their errors, and a law to that effect was conse- quently passed, from which comes the canon of the Church of Rome, of which the following is an extract — Sane pro- fertur a quibusdam, qui dicunt, opor- tere post mortem hsereticos anathema- tizari, et sequi in hoc doctrinam sanc- torum patrum, qui non solum viventes haereticos condemnaverunt, sed et post mortem, utpote in sua impietate mor- tuos: sicut eos, qui injuste condcmnati sunt, revocaverunt post mortem, et in sacris diptychis scripserunt. — See Fifth Gen. Counc. act. v. ; Gratian, 6. xxiv. q.2.
* From the dialogues of Pope Gre- gory the Great, published about a.d. 593. — Gratian, 42. xxiv. q. 1,
^ Dubius in fide infidelis est, nee eis omnino credendum est qui fidem veri- tatis ignorant — alleged to be from a letter addressed by Pope Stephen to all bishops, about a.d. 256 ; but ad- judged to be pseudo-Isidorian. — De- cret. Greg. De Hseret. lib. v. tit. vii. c. 1.
458 Canon laws, S^c. against Heresy.
BOOK III. though they came from heaven confirmed by the mouth of ^VH^- St. Peters
' '' ' XV. He who defends the errors of others is much more damnable than they who err ; because he not only errs, but is prepared to make good also, and to confirm the misunder- standings of him who erred to other persons ; so that, because he becomes a teacher of error, not only is he a heretic, but he may be called also a heresiarch \
XVI. A damnable heresy has now for some time appeared in the country about Toulouse, which having by degrees ex- tended itself as a cancer, has at length infected many in Gas- cony, and other provinces. Wherefore we command all bishops and priests to keep watch, and to anathematize all who presume to give the followers of this heresy shelter, assistance, or protection. They are to take care, also, that none buy or sell with them, that every comfort of human intercourse being taken from them, they may be compelled to repent and turn from their error. And whoever attempts to oppose these commands, let him be considered an accom- plice in their guilt, and share in their anathema. Let those, moreover, who shall be apprehended, be punished with the loss of all their estates, and be delivered to the custody of the catholic princes. And inasmuch as numbers of them fre- quently assemble from various places into one retreat, and who, excepting being unanimous in error, have no cause of meeting under one roof; let such conventicles, or places of resort, be diligently traced out and searched into, and pro- hibited with canonical severity ^
^ This is a decree which was passed * His acts of tyx'anny, and restless
in a council convoked at Rome by activity in reducing civil sovei'eigns to
Agatlio, A.D. 680, upon the affairs of submission to his supremacy, have
the Bi'itish Church, wliile under the been sufficiently exemplified in the
govei-nment of the illustrious Arch- pontificate of Alexander III., to prove
bishop Theodore. The dogma was that canons from him on every subject
afterwards circulated by a general will be characterized by severity. The
epistle of Agatho to all Churches. — faithof the Waldenses, about the middle
Gratian, Distinction xix. c. 2. of the twelfth century, began to be
' Nothing more need be said of this rapidly embraced, and one of Alexan-
canon, than that it was borrowed from der's objects in summoning the Couu-
thc rescripts of Urban II., who within cil of Tours, was to aim at the life of
a year after the death of Hildebrand every one who lived on neighbourly
inhei'ited his autocratic spirit, as well terms with the Waldenses, or their
as succeeded him in the holy see, by friends. — Concil. Turon. act iv. 11(53,
whom the Emperor Henry IV. was Concilia, x. 1419. This was the first
excommunicated, and Philip, King of attempt to annihilate the Churches of
France, deposed. — 32. xxiv. q. 3, Gra- the Waldensian Christians, tian.
Canon laivs, b^c. against Heresy. 459
XVII. Because in Gascony, Albigeois, and the parts round book hi. about Toulouse, and other places, the damnable perversity of ^u. ' those heretics whom they call Cathari, Publicani, Paterini, ' ■■ ' and by other names, gathers strength ; so that now, not in private as elsewhere, but in public they manifest their error,
and draw to their opinion the unsuspecting and the wavering ; we therefore decree that they, their defenders and receivers, be anathematized; and we forbid, under anathema, that any person presume to keep them in their house, or to support them in their country, or to transact any sort of business with them. If they die in this state, let no oblation be offered for them, neither let them have Christian burial ^
XVIII. Whoever shall be apprehended in evident heresy, if he be of the clergy, or of a feigned religious society, shall be deprived of the prerogative of the whole ecclesiastical order ; and thus being deprived of every ecclesiastical office or benefice, shall be left to the decision of the secular power to undergo deserved punishment ; unless, immediately after the discovery of his error, he shall of his own accord return to the unity of the Catholic faith, shall puhlicly abjure his error, at the desire of the bishop of the place, and give due satisfaction. But a layman, unless, as hath been decreed, his heresy having been abjured, and satisfaction given, he instantly return to the orthodox faith; shall be left to the decision of the secular prince, to receive punishment propor- tioned to his crime.
XIX. Those who are branded even by the suspicion of the Church, shall be subjected to the same sentence, unless they demonstrate their innocence by some proportionate proof, at the option of the bishop ; according to the circumstances which have caused suspicion, and according to the rank of the suspected person. We decree that those also, who after the abjuration of error, or after having purged themselves by
^ This is a canon framed for the abodes and places frequented by those same object as the preceding, and pro- dissatisfied with the principles and mulgated by the same pope. It is part ceremonies of the Churcli of Rome, it of the xxviith act of the Tliird Lateran is not likely that any plan was yet con- Council, which denies Christian bm-ial templated for the institution of a sys- to all who deal with, or hold intercourse tern of inquisition, independent of the with, any persons called heretics. The episcopal courts. In the Pontifical date of the law is 1179, and as it in- Code, Decretales Alexandri III. tit. i. eludes no expression for sending forth cap. iii. I)c llaret'wls, this Lateran commissioned spies to search out the canon remains still in force.
460 Nature and object of the Roman canon law.
BOOK III. examination before the proper authority, are found to have ^vn^ gone back into the heresy they had forsworn, shall be left
'- — V ' to the secular judgment without any further hearing.
XX. We decree, moreover, that all counts, barons, rulers, and consuls of cities, and other places, in pursuance of the warning of the archbishops, shall promise on oath personally, that they will in good truth, by faithful and effectual service ; afford all the help they are able, in all commands, and when- ever they shall be required, against all heretics and their accomplices. But if they are unwilling to swear to perform this, let them be deprived of the honour they have obtained, and let it be disposed of to others ; let them also be excom- municated, and the churches in their territories placed under interdict ".
^^ These are three clauses contahied in the Rescript, or Edict of Lucius III. before mentioned. Though they bear date only five years after the Third Lateran Council, they plainly indicate the near approach towards those awful times, when the cities, towns, and vil- lages of Provence, Languedoc, and Aquitaine, were doomed to become one flaming holocaust, sacrificed to papal superstition, of which memory should never lose the picture. — Decretal. Greg. lib. v. tit. vii. cap. ix. ; Boeh- mer's Gratian, vol. ii. pp. 744, 745 ; see also idem. cap. xiii. sec. 5, p. 751 ; Barbosa, vol. iii. p. 70, c 2 ; Simanca, de Cath. Inst. tit. xxxvi. n. 3 ; Bruno, de Hseret. lib. iv. c. 14.
These are a few of the laws against heresy, selected from the multitude contained at the present time in the authorized code of the canons of the Church of Rome. The subject of heresy is that to which they all apply; and it has been chosen, because it is on the plea of this charge that the see of St. Peter claims the right to depose sovereigns, by absolving all Roman Catholic subjects from their oaths and duties of allegiance. It will be observed, that the selection here exhibited pre- sents a series of canons extending from the infancy of the pontifical power to the death of Lucius III., when the episcopal jurisdiction is about to un- dergo a momentous amputation. All the judicial power which the bishops individually exercised, was designed shortly to be transferred to legates, who were to act the part of leaders to
numberless mendicant friars; created solely for the purpose of scouring the fa,ce of the earth from such as disowned or doubted what Romish priests al- leged to be true. The great plan pro- posed, was by this means to centralize the whole sum of human power in the hands of the pope. The canon law was to be the infallible justification of all his claims, measures, and proceedings. It had been carefully culled from all sources of authority to suit that one great end. The ancient Fathers, as well as their followers among the hierarchs of Rome, in their controver- sies had used texts of Scripture in sup- port of the numerous matters of opinion for which they contended. Thus it will be seen, that the canon law of Rome is compounded of texts of this sort from very old imperfect MS. ver- sions; often also from perverted scraps quoted to give solemnity and weight to some absurd dogma ; often again is found a passage separated from its con- text for the sake of legalizing some- thing upon the authority of the name of a worthy father of the Church : to these dexterous ways of framing laws, may be added that of forging decretals and other documents, for all which the darkness of centuries afforded every advantage. All was contrived to bear upon the completion of one object — the universal supremacy of the pope. These laws were ratified, en masse, by the Trentine decrees, and consecrated by the Trentine creed. Having thus presentedaviewof some of them against lieresy, chronologically taken, to the
Papal anti-heretical laivs as severe as the pagan laws. 461
The exactions and penalties by which these laws were book ill. enforced against heresy and heretics, under various pontiffs, yii. ' were uniformly severe. The punishment of vivi-comburation ' " ^ was adopted to prevent heresy from the time of the canons of Orleans, to the age of Lucius, The laics agaimt heresy under the ecclesiastical power, gradually became as severe as those of the civil poiver under the emperors. The first who suffered death for heresy, as we have seen in its place, were Priscilhan and his followers \ A continued succession of capital punishments may be traced, though often at great intervals, from that time to the age we are now contemplating, and till the reign of Innocent III. and Frederic the emperor, who decreed the death by fire as the fixed punishment of convicted heretics. These decrees are still preserved in the canon law. We cannot, therefore, wonder to find the fol- lowing bull of Pope Lucius III. already referred to, which has been justly called the basis of the Inquisition : —
"We, therefore, together with our dearly beloved son Frederic, the illustrious and august emperor of the Romans, (says the bull,) and supported also by the universal body of our brethren, patriarchs, archbishops, and princes, who have assembled from all quarters ; by our present decree, condemn, by our apostolic authority, by whatsoever name their various falsehoods may be known, the Cathari, Paterini, and those who falsely call themselves the humble, or the poor men of Lyons, the Paterini, the Josephini, and the Arnoldists, and decree that they be placed under perpetual anathema. And because some, under pretence of piety, defend their right to preach, regardless of the words of the apostle, ' How shall they preach except they be sent?' all, therefore, who pre- sume to preach, either publicly or privately, being prohibited from so doing, or not having received authority to preach from the Bishop of Rome, or from the bishop of the diocese ; all those also, who do not fear to think and teach respecting the sacrament of the body or blood of Christ, or baptism, or the remission of sins, or matrimony, or the other sacraments of the Church, otherwise than the holy Roman Church
present epoch, we now take leave of body of anathemas against the whole
them; though, as perpetual and univer- antipapal world, they will demand
sal declarations of war against all man- further consideration when we exa-
kind, excepting those who belong to the mine the Trentine decrees, papal communion, and as a standing ' baronius, ii. 663.
463 Bull of Pope Lucius III. the foundation of the Inquisition.
BOOK III. preaches and observes ; and generally, also, all persons soever VII. ■ whom the same Roman Church, or any bishop in his own
' ^^ ' diocese, with a council of his clergy, or the clergy themselves
in a vacancy of the see, with the sanction (if they have the opportunity of obtaining it) of the neighbouring bishops, shall decide to be heretics, we condemn equally, with per- petual anathema.
"Their receivers and defenders, and all those who afford them consolation, protection, or favour, on any pretence whatever, we bind by the same sentence. We moreover de- cree, that every archbishop or bishop, either by himself, or his archdeacon, or by some other fit and qualified person, twice, or at least once in every year, shall visit the district in which heretics shall be reported to dwell. There he shall require three or more men of good report, or if it be neces- sary, the whole neighbourhood, to swear whether they know of any heretics, or secret conventicles ; or those who differ from the manners and lives of the faithful, and point them out to the bishop or his archdeacon. And the bishop or archdeacon shall summon before him those who are accused ; who, unless they clear themselves from the imputed guilt, to the satisfaction of their judges, according to the custom of the country ; or if after acquittal they relapse into the offence first charged against them, shall be punished by the sentence of the bishops. And those who shall refuse to take this oath shall be deemed heretics from this circumstance alone, and be sentenced to the aforesaid punishments."
Thus link after link was added to the chain by which the struggling opponent of the ecclesiastical supremacy of Rome was bound through the whole of this period, till the event with which it concludes — the Fourth Council of Lateran. By this hateful tribunal was the inquisitor armed as the red right hand of Rome, to wield the flames and fury which were not derived from heaven. Fire from above was refused to the zealous disciples who desired to destroy the Samari- tans. Fire from above is ever refused to a Christian priest to burn the enemies of God. But the fire had been often kindled at their word to consume and to destroy ; and now the Tophet flame of the Inquisition, seven times more hot than it was wont to be heated, was about to be prepared for the harmless,
Consequences of the Bull of Lucius III. 463
the gentle, the blameless^ and the pure in heart ; who were book III. identified under one name of Manichean and heretic, with yf j ' real criminals who were deserving of the severest punishment ' ■' ' of the civil law, and of the indignant reprobation of man- kind.
The heart of a humane and thoughtful student of history- sickens at the events which speedily followed the enactment of the Bull of Lucius III. The deep feeling of per- sonal piety among the most severe and remorseless per- secutors— the savage joy with which ladies were hurled into wells, and mangled among the ruins of their own cas- ties ; while thousands of citizens were thrown into the flames, amidst tumultuous exultations, that God was honoured by their tortures — the momentary pause in the work of cruelty to demand whether time should be permitted to separate the orthodox from the heterodox, and the sanguinaiy response, " Kill, kill them all ; God will know his own " — the picture of zealous crusaders, for that honourable name of chivalrous madness was given to the knights of the papal mandates, leaving the Church at the elevation of the host to proceed to their own death in battle against the heretics ; ex- claiming ^, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation " — (the same expression was used by Father le Tellier, in uttering which he died, when he signed the revocation of the edict of Nantz ^) — these, these things fill the mind with horror at the incon- sistency of mankind ; who could thus blend with their baser fires the light of Christianity. The thunder which the poet gave to the Jupiter of antiquity was composed of triple mate- rials. The materials of the thunder, which the arm of the papal Jupiter, seated like the former, as a deified mortal in the temple of God, wielded against the minor deities of the lower world, whom he governed as God, were threefold also. That thunder of papal Rome, uniformly, in every age, was composed of the calumny which withers the soul, the treachery which betrays it, and the cruelty which insults, torments, and murders ! The thunder which was hurled from the Olympus of the Vatican, struck down
" Simon de Montfort, anno 1218, the rest of the psalm as he went to June 25. heaven.
* His biographer says that he sang
464 Difference between the Inquisition and the former tribunals.
BOOK III. by its calumny from the side of its victim, the friend who ^^fj^- shrunk from the affection, which was stigmatized as in-
^ v^-" famous. It destroyed by its treachery the confidence which
rehed on generosity, honour, and kindred. It consigned the wretched object of its vengeance to the united cruelty of con- tempt and the dungeon ; of protracted wasting sorrow ; and an unpitied and dishonourable grave. Few words have ex- cited so much horror as that which is henceforth to be famiUar to the readers of history— the Inquisition. This was the word which opened the doors of houses, and summoned the parent or the child to the black chariot, and the deep dun- geon. The Inquisition forbade inquiry; suppressed sym- pathy ; changed the tears of mothers or children into crimes ; checked gaiety at its height. The terror of its power per- vaded all society. It dragged the monarch and his family from their palace to hear the records of prisons, and the guilt of heresy ; and then commanded them to gaze with joy on, the pale victim whom the torture and the rack had not killed. It was a word which more than any other yet uttered by man, expressed at once the whole contents of the roll which was given to the prophet, written within and without —lamentations, and mourning, and woe— the Inquisition!
This, however, will only be regarded as declamation, un- less, as we have considered the gradual accession of the laws respecting heresy, we now also consider the manner in which those laws were executed ; and, therefore, the chief acts of power against heresy on the part of the bishops and Church of Rome, until the dreadful tribunal was established in all its horrors. The difference between the punishments of heresy before the appointment of the court of Inquisition, and those which followed the establishment of this tribunal, did not consist in the punishment itself. It consisted in this— the Churches did not condemn the heretic until he had declared himself to be opposed to their doctrines or discipline. The Inquisition, or the inquisitors, were commanded to search and explore a country to discover concealed heretics ; to in- quire into thoughts, words, opinions, actions, manners, habits, and looks \ as well as conclusions ; to annihilate the
« Qui autem inventi fuerint sola sus- by way of note-Hoc argumentura pro- picione notabiles (Decret. Greg. lib. v. lixo admodum scripto persequutus est tit vii. c. 13, sec. 2), to which is added Dandinus de suspect, de hceresi. Novum
Nature of the Courts of Inquisition, 465
existence of doctrinal error, and thus to introduce the most book hi.
CHAP.
intolerable tyranny that has cursed the Church and the yn. world. The Council of Tours, in 1163, and the numerous ' ^ ' epistles of Alexander III., which from that time were addressed to all Churches, commanded every bishop in his own diocese to search after, apprehend, and punish real or supposed heretics, and thus to suppress heresy. The bull of Lucius III., dated 1184, commanded every bishop "to send persons duly qualified, twice every year, to traverse their dioceses, who should compel the people of every parish to declare upon oath, if they knew of any heretics, or any persons who frequented private conventicles, or who departed from the usual manners of the faithful in their common con- versation or habits ^" This bull was acted upon throughout the Churches. The bishops began to search out heretics, and a court of inquisition maybe said to have been instituted, therefore, wherever there existed an episcopal or diocesan court. The Inquisition, properly so called, was a tribunal established by the popes in the dioceses of bishops, partly to co-operate with them, and partly to act indepen- dently of episcopal jurisdiction. The popes were not satisfied with the slow progress of the extermination of heresy by the bishops; they established, therefore, not only separate courts of inquisition, but appointed inquisitors to discover where heresy existed, by tracing it within the bosoms of mankind. The celebrated Dominic, in a sermon preached at Toulouse,
hoc crimen susjyecti praeter illud, quod pecuariis canibus in amicos ferri, quos
jus civile in doctrina detutela aguoscit, cum extraneo indutos habitu viderint,
jus canonicum inscenam deduxit, quod existiment iuimicos, ita htiic contigit
sola mente et cogitatione etiam hoc cri- clerico Simeoni. Etenira, licet ab omni
men peragatur, quae per varias sus- hoeresi alienus esset, de quo loquitur —
piciones editur. Ita quidem jus cano- tamen cleriei, a moribus ejus dissi-
nicum: ab hoc tamen dissentiunt theo- dentes, clamabant: nonne omnes xidetis
logi ecclesiiie Romanse, ut observat in visu, et incessu, et totius corporis gestu,
Dandinus, Cit. Tr. Praslim. xix. n. 2. hunc prarum et impostorem hceretice
And on the clause — seu a communi agere ? Tale fatum niansit ab antique
conversatione fidelium vita et moribus iis, qui pessimos in clericis mores
dissidentes, we liave the following note taxarunt, et sanctiores desidcrarunt ;
— Sub hoc involucro vel innocentissimi quia hi a conversatione communi eorum
opprimi et in suspicionem ha^reseos dissidebant. Conversationem coramu-
trahi possunt. Id agnovit Baronius nem formant turn prwcipue cleriei turn
ad ann. 1016, § 5, et inveteratum hoc laid. — Letter of Lucius III., Boehmer,
malum in clero Romano jam olim vi- vol. ii. col. "Jio.
guisse fatetur, adeo, ut vel ex suspi- ^ The notes already given may be
cione impetu ferentur in imiocentis- consulted in confirmation of this state-
simos. Sed addit, ut contingit siepe ment.
VOL. II. H h
466 The chief Courts of Inquisition under Innocent III.
BOOK III. in 1216, declared himself appointed to a new office by the CHAP pope. He declared that if a spiritual army were not sufficient to defend the doctrines of the faith, he was resolved to excite and compel the Cathohc princes to take other arms against heretics, that their very memory might be destroyed \ The chief Court of Inquisition, spe- cifically so called, under the Dominican administration, thus commenced in Toulouse, upon the authority of a bull of Innocent III. ; but how long the Saints Dommic and Francis might have previously signalized themselves as the spies of the holy court, and have employed their organized trains of subordinate emissaries for the detection of heretics, it is not easy to determine. In what manner, also, the epis- copal courts of inquisition were conducted is uncertain. Lim- borch affirms that the office of proceeding against heretics being at first committed to the bishops, to whom the govern- ment and care of the Churches were entrusted, was executed according to the received decrees of the Church of Rome ^ This is rather ambiguously expressed. The decrees alluded to are not given; nor is reference made to them. Pope Eugenius III. and Alexander III., as well as their successor Lucius III., each issued bulls, rescripts, or decrees, for the purpose of apprehending and punishing heretics, and sup- pressing heresy. By those of Alexander and Lucms, ad- dressed to the bishops of Toulouse, and other parts into which the Albigenses^ in their time, principally flocked to pursue in peace their more spiritual and humble devotions ; the first known episcopal courts of inquisition may be considered to have been opened. Here it was that the Dommican and Franciscan friars were most conspicuous in their completion ofthe inquisitorial system. Here the dark red spot upon the pao-e ofthe history of mankind is seen fixed: and we may paSse here, therefore, briefly to recapitulate the singular
« See Liraborch's History of the In- century, overspread the South of
■ V nTm Chandler's transla- France, from the Pyrenees to the Bay
quisition, '• 61 ' ™Xer De Sue- of Biscay, and from the districts of the
t.on,4to, 1731, vv here Ussneil^e sue , Mediterranean
cess Eccl. in OccKl. hb. n. Ui. u c. 1, ^^^^X, however different in their
no 13 IS cited. opinions from the Vaudois Churches,
Vttr-s^ct's-o? Dissenters from w'er" condemned by the see of St.
the ChSorRome, either in its doc- Peter, - ,°^J-f J^ X^,;:^:
trines or ceremonies, had, in the twelfth nation, under the name Albigenses.
Rise and progress of the inquisitorial poiver. 467 series of events by which the Bishops of Rome were enabled book hi.
• 1 • CHAP
thus to concentrate their power — to inflict more cruelty, in- yjj " spire more terror, and to maintain a more enduring, as well ' ■ ' as a more intolerable despotism, than has ever been known among the most arbitrary of the ancient monarchies, or the severest of the oriental sovereignties.
From the time when Christianity was promoted under the imperial sanction by the conversion of Constantine, the eccle- siastical power as well as the doctrines of Revelation, acquired influence in every corner of the empire. The codes of Theo- dosius and Justinian augmented its general strength, but in the two hundred years which elapsed from Constantine to Jus- tinian, the Church of Rome had acquired no undue predomi- nance. The decrease of the imperial power in the West, and the precarious state into which the Italian provinces had been brought by the establishment of a foreign dynasty in Rome, caused its chief legislator Justinian, to interweave the imperial with the pontifical authority, by conceding to John II. the ele- ments of temporal power as a viceroy, or accredited governor. The influence which was thus obtained by the Bishop of Rome, was soon greatly increased by the transactions be- tween Boniface III. and Phocas^ The several pontiffs care- fully upheld the temporal privileges which were granted by successive princes, until the vast accession of territorial dominion conferred by Pepin and Charlemagne completed the foundation of the ecclesiastical monarchy.
The theory of an universal spiritual absolutism, was next framed by Nicholas I. on the basis of the forged decretals. The subjugation of metropolitan jurisdiction which immedi- ately resulted, sufficiently evinced the judgment with which this foundation had been laid. This masterpiece of human policy is worthy of the closest study. The decretals contain a complete body of those principles on which was erected that superstructure of exclusive right to supreme dominion over the moral world; on which all the Hildebrandine aspirants to undivided, unconfined, and uncontradicted sway uniformly acted, in afterwards prosecuting their aggressions upon
' The increase of power of each of these popes is discussed under their respective pontificates.
11 h 2
468 Summary of the history of the progress of the Papal power.
BOOK III. thrones, kingdoms, churches, bishops, and patrician authori- VII. ' ties, and in asserting for themselves superhuman impunity '. ^ ' The allegiance demanded from metropolitans, of which the pall was made the badge — the custom of confirming the choice of bishops, and, when possible, of making the nomina- tions— the exaction of oaths of submission from suffragan bishops — the exclusive right of summoning councils, and. of giving their decrees the validity of laws — the sole power of transferring and punishing bishops — the new and pernicious form in which appeals from all episcopal courts on matters of all kinds was maintained — the power of annulling the deci- sions of councils — the almost entire monopoly of the admi- nistration of justice to the subjects of foreign princes — the gradual rejection of the old canon law to which the universal Church, with one consent, had submitted, and the substitu- tion of a new and complex code founded on the Isidorian decretals — these having all now become matters of course, were held indispensable as parts of the papal canonical system. From these important effects produced by the practical work- ing of the theory of universal power, planned and laid down in the decretals and in the rescripts of Nicholas I., may be perceived the gradual development of the most profound system of spiritual tyranny, that human ingenuity and the dreams of ambition could have devised.
Not content, however, with this almost boundless absolu- tism, the desire of the continued enlargement of his power seemed to inflame every successive pope. The exclusive rights of absolution, of dispensation, of indulgence, of cano- nization, of the disposal of benefices, of extorting from all churches an endless amount of fees and assessments, and many other impositions, still went on. Innumerable legates, commissioned with undefined and indiscriminate power, were spread in every direction ; by whom no complaints, no resist- ance, no temporal authority, were regarded. Bishops and princes were compelled to submit as vassals to their dictates. Such was the state of the western world, when preparations were made to silence every tongue which was disinclined to obey and admire the pope and his host of representatives.
1 See the remarks upon tlie pontificate of Nicliolas I.
The Council of Tours first commands inquisiioiial espionage. 469 A canon was passed in a council held at Rheims, in 1148, book hi.
. • CH A.P
by Eugene III., commanding every one, under pain of inter- vii. " diet and anathema, not to harbour or defend the heretics of ' ^ ' Gascony and the contiguous provinces. This forms the first attack made by the Church of Rome, as a separate power, against those theologians of the age, who were opposed to interpretations irreconcileable with Scripture, whom Rome called heresiarchs, and their many followers, whom it stigma- tized as heretics. It ivas the preparatory step towards the inquisitorial system. The Council of Tours, in 1163, seems to have been the first public assembly in which the project was concerted, of terrifying all mankind into submission to the will of the Romish hierarch, by a vigorous spy system.
The decree of the Council of Rheims rested the rigorous exe- cution of its provisions on the interdicts, anathemas, con- fiscations, and denounced vengeance of God ; which were to follow in the event of any of its injunctions being neglected. The decree of Tours against heretics went much farther. It commanded all bishops and priests to keep up a constant watch upon the movements of reputed heretics; also, to dili- gently search after them in their conventicles and places of resort ; and by perpetual anathemas, to destroy them, their friends, and all who traded with them ; so that being deprived of all human comforts, they might depart from their error. And whoever disobeyed these edicts, were to be treated as partakers in their guilt, their estates to be forfeited, and given to Catholic princes ; and their persons to be subjected to the sentence inflicted on heretics. This decree may be considered as the real foundation of the diocesan inqiiisitions. It seems to have been designed as a provision against any murmurs which secular authorities might make against the more bold decree of this council ; which was to deprive them of all con- trol over their subjects, and leave them little of royalty but the title. In fact, the whole transactions of this council were well adapted to put down all secular rule, authority, and power, that the popes might have all their enemies, except death, under their feet.
Alexander III. did not fail, upon the termination of this council, to follow up its great object by means of bulls, re- scripts, and precepts, commanding the clergy to fulfil its de- crees. More than three hundred of these mandatory epistles
470 Becket the supporier of the Council of Tours.
BOOK III. were written to the English Church alone, a great proportion of VII. ' which were addressed through Becket, who may be regarded as '' ' the most forward champion in this campaign against secular power ^ The union and the liberty of the Church was the war-cry from East to West, and from North to South. The Churches had long been strangers to peace, particularly since the war waged against thrones by Hildebrand; and the whole blame of heresy, schism, and distraction which they had suffered, was imputed to the infringements, by the secular authority, of the privileges of the universal priesthood. This was to be remedied by the enforcement of the decree of Tours, which was so constructed as to guarantee impunity to every one of the clergy who leagued in the proposed com- bination. The decree against heresy was subservient to this mighty usurpation. The ancient laws of Theodo-
2 Baxter on this subject says — " The epistles of Alexander are so full of usurpation and treason against princes, that Binius thought it best to omit them, and give you but the titles. Those that concern England are, however, in Matthew Paris, whom Binius referreth you to, though he oft reproach him for speaking the truth." —Church History, p. 388, § 178, 4to, London, 1680.
The Life and Epistles of Alexander III. occupy, in the tenth volume of Labbe's Concilia, 275 folio pages, of which it is impossible to give here even the titles. The papacy is considered by most writers to have attained its meridian during the period of Innocent III., A.D. 1200—1216, twenty years after Alexander and Becket had pro- pagated the new principles, upon which future usurpations were to be based and effected. To those who are unable to con- sult these voluminous documents, the only means of acquiring an idea of their effects will be from the historical de- velopment of consequences, which succeeded each other in the several pontificates from Lucius III. to the Council of Trent, of the chief events of which a brief abstract will be com- pressed in the subsequent pages.
Still, as the future pretensions of the Bishops of Rome to supremacy over Churches and thrones, over ec- clesiastical and civil judges, over the conversations and the consciences of all men, were about to be enforced by
an impetus entirely new, it is essential to understand, that the watchword by which the revolution against civil sove- reignty was to be organized, was the liberty of the Church. It is essential, also, to recollect that the struggle com- menced in England between Henry II. and Becket ; that between three hun- dred and four hundred epistles were ad- dressed by Alexander to Becket, and the Anglican bisliops, to encourage them in their treasonable object ; that the epistles, bulls, edicts, and decretals of Alexander I II. have furnished, in the classification of the canon law of Rome, one of the major divisions, entitled, Decretales Alexandri III. in Concilio Lateranensi Tertio Generali, anno MCLXXIX. celebrato, editse, et ex Co- diee MSto BibliothecjeHasso-Casselana; pervetusto et egregio fideliter descrip- ta% in quo plures novse decretales ab Harduino omissse et ordine longe di- verso traduntur, containing 576 canons — that a great portion of these canons are from treasonable letters addressed to Becket and the English Church, all which are still in force among the present laws of the Roman Church.
Mr. Froude has given translations from other collections of Becket's let- ters, and defended most unadvisedly the conduct of the archbishop. I had completed, but I purposely omit, a survey of Mr. F.'s labours. His body rests in peace. His soul, I believe, is with God, and has repented of his errors.
Papal supremacy the first object of the Inquisition. 471
sius and Justinian against heretics, as well as the additions book hi. contributed to their codes by the canons of numerous popes, yjj ' had furnished pretexts for charges of heresy upon the shghtest ■' ' ground; and the punishments and unmerciful severities which followed accusations, seemed sufficient to deter the most dauntless from incurring the fearful consequences of the charge. At the time when Alexander and Becket met at Tours, the Albigenses were under the heavy imputation of propagating doctrines adverse to those of Rome ; and by the law of that synod, and the decretal epistles of Alexander, and his successor Lucius III., they were to be consigned to the mercy of spies and informers, to be dealt with as to the bishops and their proctors might seem meet.
The bishops dispersed from Tours to their respective sees, and the law for transferring appeals from civil to ecclesiastical courts was simultaneously brought into operation, from Eng- land to Hungary, and from Hungary to Sicily^. From the proceedings of the council, it is evident that the design of the Inquisition on its first basis was, to close the lips of those who had cause to complain of the universal and absolute supremacy ; which the decrees of Tours were meant to con- firm to the hierarch of Rome, at the expense of the civil magistracy, from that time forth for ever. The mind of Alexander III. does not appear to have been equal to the for- mation and execution of this perfection of the Hildebrandine policy. No man of that age seems to have been so qualified
' Sed Deus mirabilis, says Baronius, sage, during the reign of Elizabeth.
in consiliis super filios hominum fecit, He had seen the bulls, vows, prayers,
ut dum pugnat Alexander papa pro and anathemas of Pope Sixtus V. with
ecclesise juribus adversus Anglorum respect to the conquest of England by
regem, nee proficit ; alium hoc eodeni the Spanish armada. He outlived Eliza-
anno vincat regem, qui sponte se illi beth four years, and had consequently
subjiciat, cedens penitus voleus libens- seen the forty -five years of her splendid
que, detentis hactenus injuste usurpatis reign, and the total disrepute of popery
sanctse ecclesise juribus. Nam hoc and its abandonment for ever, I hope,
eodem anno Hungarite Rex sanctam as the ruler of the mind of England.
Romanam ecclesiam in integrum re- As a wise man, the cardinal should
stituit in iis qute sibi idem Rex usurpa- liave abstained from such exultation
verat adversus ecclesiastieam liberta- on the remorse of Henry at the assas-
tem, deque his ejusmodi diploma con- sination of Becket ; and how much
scripsit, quod asservatur in Vaticana more as a Christian ought he to have
Bibliotheca. — Bai'onius, adann.1169, hesitated to abuse the sacred name,
§ xlviii. by introducing it to colour his political
Cardinal Baronius wrote the pro- prejudices ! fane taunt contained in the above pas-
472 The Episcopal Inquisition not so rigorous as the Dominican,
BOOK Tii. for the task as Becket. No ecclesiastic of the time had the VII. reputation of being more deeply skilled in the duplicities of
^~~~~' ' the earlier and later canon law. The attempt which he had made at home to degrade the sovereign power — the unprece- dented extent of the correspondence between Alexander and Becket, till the hour of his murder — the several letters of the pope to his legates in France to do nothing concerning Church or state without consulting Becket — these, with the mutual acquiescence in all his requests before mentioned, are strong indications which point out Becket as the author of the Inquisition in its less offensive, and consequently more obscure form, before it was made a distinct branch of ecclesiastical judicature. The terrific character which it ultimately as- sumed, has certainly made the episcopal administration of the Alexandrine and Lucian Inquisition much less odious; and consequently, less noticed than it became under Innocent III. But it was this deficiency of rigour in the bishops which dissa- tisfied Innocent III., and caused the institution of the Domini- can and Franciscan brotherhoods, that it might be conducted •with less remorse ; and certainly the merit of its ultra- violence may be awarded to the friars, rather than to the papal bishops. We read much of the crusade which Innocent III. excited against those congregations in the south of France, who differed from the religious views of Rome. Dissentients from the papal Church no doubt existed there in a more compact body, than in other districts of Europe. The country was, therefore, doomed to be the theatre of forty years' slaughter, proscription, and desolation; for the sake of example and intimidation to the kings and commoners of all other states. It was from Gascony and the bordering countries, that the world was to learn the terrible consequences that awaited the indefinite offence of heresy; yet it is not to be supposed, that in other countries there were not numbers who abhorred the papal corruptions as much as the Chris- tians in the South of France ; and who, though unknown to history, became the secret victims of the same unchristian and tyrannical system. Lucius III. died in the year 1185, fifteen years after the murder of Becket.
Scripture perverted in the bulls of the Popes. 473
CLXXII. Urban III., died 1187.
Urabert Crevelli, Archbishop of Milan, succeeded Lucius III. He was called Turbanus, as the common disturber of Europe. He excommunicated the Danes because they permitted the marriage of their priesthood *, and died as he was about to pronounce a sentence of excommunication against the Em- peror of Germany. The bishops of Germany complained to him, but in vain, of the heavy exactions to which they were subjected by the agents of the apostolic see. Urban is said to have died of grief on hearing of the ill success of the Cru- saders, and the surrender of Jerusalem to the Saracens.
CLXXIII. Gregor-y VIIL, died 1188.
Albert, Chancellor of the Roman Church, succeeded, and reigned only two months. At this time Europe was in con- sternation at the overthrow of Jerusalem. The consequence was, that the zealous soldiers of the Church, who were either unable or unwilling to proceed to Asia, obeyed with greater alacrity the command to make war on the Albigenses. Gre- gory published in his short pontificate, two bulls on the reco- very of the Holy Land; and urged on the Crusaders greater austerity if they hoped for success. The second of these bulls is very short. The first is clothed in scriptural lan- guage, and breathes the most devout and pious sentiments. The manner in which the words of Scripture are introduced, to express more effectually the feelings of the writer, is very beautiful. But the object of the bull was war — war to the knife. If the Church of Rome would consider the manner in which its popes in their bulls have torn passages of Scrip- ture from their context, and compelled them to serve pur- poses for which they were not intended by the inspired writers ; it would say, "Physician, heal thyself." It would cease to condemn its brethren. The most ignorant sectarian, who presumes to teach without the requisite knowledge, which would obtain for him the sanction of an ecclesiastical supe- rior; cannot be guilty of more strange, absurd, and partial
* Pejora his molituro Urbano, si per saccrdotibus conjugium permitterent
fata hcuisset, quando jDri nutu percussus excommunicavit.— Genebrardus, apud'
inUriit : Unde Turbaiins a multis est Spanhcniii Opera, i. 1590. appcllatus. Idem quoque Danos, quod
474 The Crusades, the salvation of the souls of the Crusaders.
BOOK III. perversions of Scripture, than are to be found in the bulls of VII. ■ the popes, and the decrees of Rome ^
CLXXIV. Clement IIL, died 1191.
The influence of this Bishop of Rome was often weakest in Italy, when he was most powerful abroad. The Romans for fifty years had claimed for their senate a temporal authority over the city. They granted only ecclesiastical power to the pope. Clement reigned only three years, but he increased still further the power of the see by concluding a treaty with his fellow-citizens ; by which the entire sovereignty of Rome was granted to the pope, while he stipulated that all the magistrates should take the oath of allegiance to its bishop ; and the senate revere and honour his majesty. While he thus secured peace at home, he hurled the whole power of Europe upon Asia. The three most potent sovereigns of the West — Frederic of Germany, Richard I. " of England, and Philip Augustus of France, with armies of the best blood and energy of the respective kingdoms, regarded their par- taking in the burthensome and fatiguing crusades as an honour ; and believed they won heaven and saved their souls, by the indulgence of their favourite pursuit of war. Can we be surprised that no mercy could be found for the heretics of Europe, when chivalry, mistaken honour, loyalty to kings, submission to the Church, and the principles of religion itself, so far as religion was understood, were all alike inte- rested in suppressing the freedom of thought and inquiry ? How vulgar, as well as infamous, was any declared heresy under these circumstances ! How grateful ought we to be that the providence of God has so ordered the progress of society that these principles should become obsolete ! How anxiously ought we all to endeavour to impress this convic-
* See the bull in the Bullarum Mag- dulgentiam, et vitam pollicemur reter-
nura, i. 75. Having expressed in the nam." Their possessions were to
two first sections his grief for the loss be respected ; no actions might be
of Jerusalem, and having exhorted the brought against them ; no usury for
military and ecclesiastical powers to borrowed money demanded. The bulls
recover the Holy Land, he proclaims were both dated on the fourth day
the privileges to be granted to the as- after his election. He died at Pisa,
sumcrs of the cross. He prophesies 1188.
to the contrite and humble Crusaders ^ Hem-y 11. died in this ])ontificate,
plenary indulgence of sins, and eternal and was succeeded by Richard, Sep-
life — " plcnam su(U'um eriminum in- tembor 3, 1189.
The Papal supremacy begins to be a question of money. 475
tion on the Church of Rome, that the world cannot retrograde, book hi. but that Rome must change, or be forsaken. vii.
We must observe here, that the exactions of Rome began ' '
to be regarded as a burthen to England. Richard expostulated with the Bishop of Ostia, when the bishop visited the king's ship in the Tiber, on his way to Messina, on the avarice and simony of Rome. He complained that the pope had exacted 1500 marks from the Bishop of Ely for granting him the legatine commission. He objected, also, to other transactions of the same nature. The German bishops had already re- sisted the papal demands. The supremacy began to be more and more a question of money, as well as of faith ; but the time had not come when the resistance of the most powerful sovereigns could be effectual against Rome \
But perhaps the most atrocious act of the reign of Clement was, his placing the kingdom of Scotland under an interdict, because King William hesitated to submit to the dictates of the apostolic see ^
Clement laid claim, also, to the kingdom of Sicily, because William, surnamed the Good, king of that , island, had died without an heir.
His pontificate expired 38th March, 1191. He died sud- denly, when he was about to crown Henry, the son of the Emperor Frederic.
CLXXV. Celestine III., died 1198.
Hyacinth, Cardinal of St. Mary Cosmedin, at the age of eighty-five succeeded Clement, by the name of Celestine III. '
^ Alford's Annals, which terminate tized. There were no marriages. The
with the events of this year, 1189. He churches were closed, and divine ser-
was a Jesuit, learned, clever, partial, vice suspended. The sick were not
and therefore untrustworthy, unless visited, nor the dead huried. Society
corroborated by other testimonies. was thrown into the utmost confusion."
* Inter alia, in Wilhelmum Scotorum Mr. Wright has given no reference
Regem interdicti sententiam decrevit, to the authorities whence his notes
nisi pareret judicio apostolicae sedis. — have been derived ; but such a cala-
Hoveden, ap. F. Spanhemii Opera, mity as Pope Clement inflicted on
Lugd. Batav. i. 1590. Scotland, ought to have roused any
Mr. Wright, in his abridged transla- nation of people at once to emancipate
tion of Spanheim, adds the following ob- themselves fi-om such disgraceful bond-
servation on this history. " The effects age.
of this interdict were dreadful. There ' Fleury, Ixxiv. § 19; Baron, ad
was a total abandonment of clerical aun. 1191, § 1. duties. The children were not bap-
476 Political objection to a Papal legate, heresy.
BOOK III. He sought to strengthen the temporal power of the see by VII, ■ excommunicating, according to his approbation or disappro-
' ^^ bation of their political conduct, either his friends or his
enemies. The truth was, that as opposition to God was heresy, the pope being as God, opposition to the pope was heresy. The pope, therefore, had now only to declare what opinion he chose to adopt in questions which divided states, and what party he would espouse in the political contests of the people ; and the objector to that opinion became subjected to the charge of heresy, liable to excommunication, and to all the fatal consequences, similar to those which began at this time to desolate the provinces of Languedoc and Toulouse. There w^as, indeed, but one king of Europe, one sovereign of the civilized West, one Bishop of Rome. Richard of England was now (1191) at Cyprus, which he had captured on his way to Palestine. He had left his kingdom under the care of a regent, William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, and papal legate. Political disputes arose respecting the wisdom and justice of his administration; and the pope excommunicated, or separated from everlasting happiness, all who refused obedience to his le- gate. We must not, however, suppose that even this monstrous power was an unmixed evil at this period. W^hen the law of God among men as Christians, and the law of honour among them as knights and gentlemen, were both silent ; the law of the Church supplied the place of that international law, by which the princes and sovereigns of Europe are now governed. The power of the Bishop of Rome was never more honourably exerted than when the gallant Richard was captured by the Duke of Austria. The pope commanded the duke to return the ransom he had exacted for the deliverance of Richard. It is not known on what account the pope refused to comply with the entreaties of the queen to insist on his release. The duke refused to yield up the money, and was excommunicated June 6th, 1194'. The sentence of the pope, however, soon caused obedience. The duke, not long after, being injured by a fall from his horse, returned the money. He sent back the hostages when at the point of death, and was absolved from the excommunication.
One of the principal sources of power to the popes in all ages
' Baron, ad aim. 1 194, § 3.
Superiority of the Papal over the Regal poiver in England. ^77
has proceeded from the submission of the people to the canon or book hi. papal laws respecting marriage, and the yoke of Rome can yjj ' never be broken, where the laws of any country on a subject ' - ' w^hich interests every family and individual among its people, are made by any power but its own. Matrimonial causes are affirmed to be a part of the greater causes, which were to be determined by the pope. The King of France, Philip Augustus, had divorced his wife on the plea of consanguinity. The Gallican bishops confirmed the divorce. Celestine re- scinded their decree ; and the decision was enforced by his successor. Such was the authority of Celestine over France. In Scotland, its Church was separated from the jurisdiction of York by Celestine, and the Archbishop of York was sum- moned to Rome. The interference of the pope with England, too, was still incessant. Richard exceedingly lamented the state of the monarchy, and with the utmost mortification pronounced himself but the shadow of a king ^ : and he had reason. The patronage of the crown was lost through the right of investitures. The poiver to convene synods was en- grossed by papal legates. The supremacy was yielded to Rome by concession of the right of appeals. The interests of the Church were separated from those of the state, as though the one had nothing whatever in common with the other; and as if the privileges and liberties of the Church consisted in the degradation of the monarchy to foreign homage and control.
The celibacy of the clergy was not even yet the universal law of the Churches. Legates were sent to enforce it in Poland and Bohemia. In Poland they were not resisted. In
2 The court of Rome treated him, monks have one part, the white monks he said, as if he was their pupil ; another, the several orders of canons forced his people to purchase their have all their shares; besides, the mo- bulls, encouraged strife, multiplied ap- nasteries abroad have great revenues peals, prevented the administration of in England.
law and justice, confounded truth and After the king had stated these
peace to enrich themselves ; and how, grievances to the bishoi)S, it was
saith he, shall we answer these things agreed that the most likely way to
at the great day of account ? He con- cure all these mischiffs, was to build
jured the bishops to assist him in the collegiate chui-ches near to all those
redress of these abuses. He told them establishments which consisted of re-
that England, formei-ly a rich and ligious, and to fill them with secular
flourishing kingdom, was now cantoned canons ; who will, saith the king, be
out and divided among the several dutiful both to you and me, and if oc-
orders of the j-e/h/ioua, all which pre- casion require, will I'csist tlic thieres of
tend to be exempt from the impositions Rome. — Gervas. C'hr«n. ad an. 1196
the government require — the black ap. Twysden's X. Script, col. 1595.
478 Account of Da Mesnil, Pagi, and Baronius.
BOOK III. Bohemia they were rescued with difficulty by the Bishop of VII. Prague from the hands of a mob, threatening them with per-
^ ■'' ' sonal violence. Celestine, after a pontificate of nearly seven years, died early in the year 1198^ : Richard I. of England the year following.
The student of ecclesiastical history loses at this year, 1198, three of his principal (though partial) guides over these neg- lected wastes of the past — Du Mesnil *, Pagi ', and Baronius. The last of these was one of the most learned, indefatigable, and zealous champions of the Gregorian, or Ultramontane party, who has hitherto adorned the annals of the Church of Rome, or opposed the great writers among its antagonists. He was born at Sora in 1538, in the Terra di Lavoro, and was carefully educated at Naples and at Rome. Philip of Neri, the founder of the congregation of the Oratory, en- couraged him to cultivate the study of ecclesiastical history ; to deliver lectures on the history of the heretics, and to com- mit all to writing. The first volume of his ecclesiastical annals, containing the first century, was published in the year of the sailing of the Spanish Armada, in 1588. The twelfth and last, which ends with the death of Celestine, in the year 1198, was published in 1607. The work has gone through many editions. It was certainly intended to destroy the effect produced by the compilation of the Magdeburgh Cen- turiators ^ It were almost absurd and unreasonable to be- lieve that the annals of Baronius could have been otherwise than partial, unfair, and unworthy of implicit dependence,
^ Before his death he had placed He applied himself to the study of
the kingdom of France under inter- ecclesiastical history, and collected a
diet, as it is called, that is, he had for- large mass of remarks on the annals of
bidden that the rites of prayer, bap- Baronius, rectifying many errors in his
tism, burial, and all other services be facts, and more especially chronology,
performed by the priesthood in any They were published after his death
places of worship. He also left the in four volumes, folio. The last para-
woi-ld with sentences of excommunica- graph of his book well expresses its
tion on his lips against the Emperor object — qui, licet in eoscribendi genera
Henry VI. and Leopold, Duke of excelluerit, quia tamen nihil ex omni
Austria. parte perfectum, ut vulgo dicitur, eos-
* Doctrina et Diseiplina Ecclesise dem supplevisse ac illustrasse inutile, ipsis verbis sacrorum Codicum, Con- uti spero, non erit. — Pagi, iv. 719, last ciliorum, Patrum, et veterum genuino- clause of last paragraph.
rum Monumentorum, 4 vols, folio, '' See an account both of these and
Cologne, 1730. of Baronius, in Dowling's Introduction
* Pagi was a French Franciscan, to the Study of Ecclesiastical History, one of the Friar Minorites. He was 1 vol. 8vo, 1838.
born at Rogues, in Provence, in 1624.
state of the Christian world when Baronius wrote. 479
unless confirmed by other and undoubted authority. / have book hi. relied, however, as much as possible on the writers of the Church vii. '
of Rome, that I might be more entitled to the attention of its ' ■■ '
members, when I make my eventual appeal to them on the results of our survey of the past. But I am sure, if they will remember that Baronius wrote at Rome when the contro- versy between the friends and antagonists of the Church of Rome was at its height ; under the patronage of those who were most deeply interested in the establishment of the ex- treme Gregorian principles ; that they will agree ^^'ith me, that little surprise ought to be expressed at his pages not being characterized by the calm and dispassionate spirit of philo- sophical inquiry, which is dem.anded in the present day. The Council of Trent had but lately ceased its sittings. The Anglican Church had decided against the continuousness of many opinions which its Fathers had received, and which were embodied in the creed of Pope Pius. The bulls of Pius V. and of Gregory XIII. had been launched against Elizabeth. The massacre of St. Bartholomew, the sailing of the Armada, the deadly cruelties of the bloody tribunal of Alva, and of the Spanish and Austrian chiefs in Flanders ; the invasion of Ireland, and the notorious and undeniable con- spiracy to destroy a senate by gunpowder, inflamed the minds of the encouragers of Baronius, and stimulated their cham- pion. Never were the enemies of Rome more bitter against popery. Never were the friends of Rome more inveterate against heresy. Never was the war so deadly, so fierce, so implacable. Baronius was the Ajax whose shield could at once receive the darts of the foe, and shelter the assailant. Baronius was the hero selected to defend to the utmost those principles on which alone the deeds which convulsed and in- carnadined Europe, could be defended. He believed that the pope was the possessor of the throne of Christ on earth ; that to oppose him was eternal death; to destroy that opposition was to save souls ; and, therefore, to commit actions which, though wicked in themselves, were sanctified by such motives, was just and right. Convinced that the Church of Rome was divinely founded, had never erred in doctrine, and had never sinned in practice ; the principles of Baronius were quite fatal to a fair and candid exhibition of the history of the Church. Determined to find in every age the existence of an
480 Value and conclusion of the work of Baronius,
BOOK III ecclesiastical monarchy, and the opinions and practices of VII. ' modern Rome ; he makes havoc of primitive history, and
^^ " ' grievously distorts Christian antiquities. Every fact is ex- tended on the bed of Procrustes, and cruelly stretched or curtailed at the will of the literary tyrant. Every witness must freely bear testimony to the Romish views of history ; or a reluctant confession is extorted from him by the rack. Heretics and schismatics are less the objects of pity, than of passionate abuse. Temporal princes who have rendered themselves obnoxious to the enmity of the spiritual power, are assailed with vehement, violent invective. The author is the very ideal of an Italian Romanist. He never descends from his towering principles. Hildebrand himself would have been satisfied with his historian. Yet, as an effort of literary labour, the work of Baronius largely demands our admiration. It formed a most important step in the progress of Church history. The form of annals in which it is arranged, is con- venient and natural ; and we constantly find in perusing it, that the author, who had at his command the documentary treasures of the metropolis of the Christian world, availed himself of his advantages with laudable industry, though with partial zeal. It is one of those rare books, which never can be superseded as a collection of authorities not to be found elsewhere ; and it will be ever indispensable to all who desire a knowledge of the ecclesiastical history of the past \ The twelfth volume of the annals of Baronius, dedicated to Paul v., (on the 24th of May, ninth of the calends of June,) contains an address to the reader, soliciting him, if he peruses any thing in the book useful to him, to offer up a prayer to God for the soul of the author. This also he adds — " I, in my turn, will seek for thee, that God will grant thee always to live piously, and to inherit the best blessings."
I believe that his soul cannot require my prayers. I believe that if I offered my prayers for the dead, God would not hear them. But I trust that his soul is pardoned, that it is with the souls of the righteous, in the hand of God ; that no evil shall touch it ; and prayers and sentiments like these of Baronius make me long for the removal of error, and for the union of Chris- tians. The volume ends with the description of the feelings
^ See Dowling, art. Baronius, pp. 124, 125.
Beautiful prayer concluding the work of Baronius. 481
of the author on the completion of his labour. He reminds book hi. me by its complacency, but in no other respect, of the cele- ^ vn^'
bratedexpressionof his satisfaction uttered by Gibbon; when ' ' '
he laid down his pen in the summer-house at Lausanne, and contemplated the extent of time, and portion of his life, Avhich his work had occupied ^ "The present volume," says Baronius, " was finished the month after Paul was created pontiff." He then proceeds to relate in scriptural language, or rather by the application to himself of certain passages of Scripture, the difficulties against which he had contended in the progress of his labours— his doubts, despair, petitions ^ and eventual resolutions still to persevere. — He alludes to the peace and safety of the Church under his patron, to whom he wishes life and happiness *.— He then goes on to contemplate, with serenity and satisfaction, the end of his labours. — " As the ser- vant," he says, " desires the shadows of the evening \ when, worn down with toil and heat, he faints beneath the rays of the burning sun ; so have I desired repose after I have now so long borne the burthen and heat of the day. As the hire- ling expecteth his wages, so have I waited to receive from the Master of this family, that best reward, the coin stamped with the image of Him, who said to the father of the faithful ; ' I am thy shield, and thine exceeding great reward ^.' I have laboured, unweariedly laboured, by His help to cleanse the w^ells which our fathers digged, from the stones which the Philistines had heaped upon them; and now, at the last hour of my day of life, death knocking at the door, I rush to Thee, my Father, as thy son ; but like him thy prodigal son, imploring only thy mercy. Refuse not Thou to meet me. Withdraw not thine embrace. Withhold not thine unde- served kiss of peace. Cover me with the best robe. Put the ring on my hand, and the shoes on my feet ; the pledges of
« " It was among the ruins of the Mitte manum tuum de alto, libera me
Capitol that I first conceived the idea de aquis multis.— Baron, xii. 789.
of a work which has amused and exer- « cum universa ecclesia Catho-
cised near twenty years of my life, and lica feliciter acclamamus; Paulo Papte
which, however inadequate to my own Quinto, a Deo electo, salus et vita, wishes, I finally deliver to the curiosity » Job vii. 2, sicut servus desi-
and candour of the public."— Last sen- derat umbram, cum sub festuantis solis
tence of Gibbon's Rise and Fall. radiis, &c.
^ Laboravi damans, raucse re ipsa » Ero ego merces tua magna. —
tunc factffi sunt fauces mese, exclamans Gen. xv. 1. ad Omnipotentem Davidicum illud :
VOL. II. I j
482 If the Blessed Virgin could grieve in heaven,
BOOK III. thy love ; the tokens of thy favour ; that 1 may be indeed ^ vn^' thy son, and so be worthy to be called the heir of God, and
"" — ^ ' the joint heir with Christ." —
This was the prayer of Baronius at the conclusion of his laborious work ; and I would that it had ended with these, or with some suchhke w^ords. If it be possible, as some have imagined, that the spirits of the dead in the unseen world, can be cognizant of the proceedings of those who are still alive upon earth — if the words and thoughts of those who continue to bear the burthen of the flesh, can give joy or sor- row to the souls of the departed — I am sure, that, as their joy must be increased by all that increases the honour of God ; their sorrow must be promoted by all which gives his glory to another. If the felicity of which the Blessed Virgin par- takes in the presence of God her Saviour, in whom her spirit rejoiced on earth, can be diminished by the actions of men ; then, and then chiefly, would it be lessened, when her glorified soul became conscious of such prayers as that with which Baro- nius proceeds— l^e thus concludes his prayer — " But because fear, and the consciousness of my faults, diminishes this holy hope ; I desire to follow the example of Jacob, who appre- hending the curse rather than the blessing of his offended father, obtained the wished-for blessing by the counsel and assistance of a wise and interceding mother ; so, behold, hum- bly to thee I appeal, our Mother, the Mother of God, that through thyself I be deemed worthy to obtain that blessing."— The prayer to God we may hope was granted ; but we may be permitted to regret, that the annals of every portion of the Church of Christ which remains under the influence of the Church of Rome, abound with instances of similar ad- dresses to the Blessed Virgin. Very strange are the notions which have been formed respecting her by many of the best Roman Catholic divines. One of the most indecent books, among the very many indecent works which the peculiar inqui- ries commanded by the Church of Rome to be made in the Con- fessionals by the priests, compel their clergy to study ' ; is pro- fessed by its author to be written to the honour of God, and of the Immaculate Virgin'. I am grieved to mention these
2 See Directions to Confessors, a ^ See the last sentence in Sanchez, work published under the authority of De Matrimonii Sacramento: atque Greeory XIII. lif^f* ^^ laudem et gloriam Omnipoten-
she would weep over the devotions of her votaries on earth. 483
things. I would not, and I will not believe, without exami- book hi. nation and inquiry, the allegations which have been so ^yn^"
repeatedly, and even to this hour, affirmed concerning the ' '
effects of such books on such subjects. I grieve to say, that the questions which / knovj are commanded by authority to be proposed by the priest to the penitent, and the conversa- tion which must be the result of such questions, are inde- scribably polluting and contaminating to the youthful mind ; which should be required to send away, rather than to retain its imaginations. I grieve to say, that books are written to direct the choice of such very questions ; and the whole mass of " dead men's bones, and all uncleanness," is covered over with the name and garb of religion ; and becomes the whited sepulchre of a foul and loathsome hypocrisy. That such books should be dedicated, too, to the Mother of Christ ; is indeed the dishonour and the degradation of the Blessed Virgin. I mean her degradation among men ; for I believe her holy soul to be incapable of any other degradation ; and that the happiness of her immortal spirit is neither diminished by the purer prayers of Baronius, nor by the impufer teachings of the Jesuit Sanchez.
The ideas of devotion which unites the worship of saints and angels, with the homage which is due to God alone ; re- semble the ideas of devotion entertained by the artist who designed the wood-cut with which the twelfth volume of Baronius concludes. The Virgin Mary, her head surrounded with glorj', is holding in her lap an infant Christ, whose head is surrounded, also, with a lucent flame. One of her hands is lifted over the left shoulder of the child ; the other embraces his body. The infant is extending one hand, as if in the act of blessing ; the other hand grasps a globe. Both are sur- rounded with an oval fire, from which forked or divided flames proceed on all sides. Small cherubs, or children's heads, with wings under their chins, but with no bodies, gaze on the vision. On each side are three angels— two on the right-hand bend their heads, one over a harp, the other over a vioHn on which it is playing. A smaller angel in the dis- tance is singing from a music-book. Two on the left-hand look up to the Virgin, one striking a triangle, the other tuning
tis Dei ac Intemerata? Virginis. - mcnto, &c. torn. iii. p. 396, Antwerp. Oanchez, De Saucto Matrimonii Sacra- 1652.
I i 2
484 The greatness of Rome under Innocent III.
BOOK III. a guitar. Another angel at a distance is also singing from an ^^'vnf' open music-book. It is true that harping and singing are
' ■' ' scriptural emblems, to describe the happiness of the future :
but as all such visible representations degrade the anticipations of the intellectual and spiritual felicity of the future; so does all intermixture in any form of the worship of angels, or of the Blessed Virgin, or of any human beings, with the one God, the one Mediator, and the one Holy Spirit ; degrade the cha- racter of the intellectual worship, which, both at present and in future, are required by the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier.
In parting wath Baronius, I am deserted by another friend in my long journey, and am introduced to his successor, Raynaldus. I shall not avail myself so much of his labours, as I shall consider the remainder of the interval from Inno- cent III. to the Council of Constance, to be well known ; and shall be contented with but brief memoranda respecting the laws against heresy, the vacillations of the papal poiver in Eng- land, the extortions of the pope and his priesthood, and the symptotns of declining strength, till the sceptre of its unlimited despotism began to depart from Rome.
CLXXVI. Innocent III., died 1216.
Celestine was succeeded by Lotharius, of the house of the Counts of Segni, which had already given several bishops to Rome *. Under this young and ambitious pontiff^, the suc- cessors of St. Peter attained their meridian greatness. Young, noble, learned; inferior in knowledge and talent to none of his predecessors ; the best civilian, and the best theologian of his age, having the way for his advancement prepared for him by the united influence of his reputation and family, we cannot be surprised at the elevation of Innocent III. At once ambitious and enthusiastic, he delighted in the influence which follows the exertion of mental power; more than the terror which results from the severest enforcement of autho- rity. The divisions of Germany between Philip of Suabia and Otho of Saxony — the jealousy between Philip Augustus of France; and Richard, and John of England — the aspirations
* Innocent III., Gregory IX-, Alex- * Gibbon, vi. 108, 109, edit. 1788. ander IV.
Oath to the Pope as the temporal sovereign of Rome. 485 of the states of Italy for deliverance from the imperial yoke book hi.
/> CHAP
— the death of Tancred of Sicily in 1194, followed by that of yu. ' the Empress Constance in 11 98, who to secure the papal favour - ' when pressed by contending parties, had yielded many new concessions ® — the government of that kingdom falling to the pope at her death, as guardian of her son' — the burning, passionate zeal against heresy which had become identified with the warlike and chivalrous temper which led to the cru- sades, as well as the crusaders themselves ; all these concurred to predict success to the pontiff who should resolve to carry out to their utmost extent the principles of Gregory VII. This pontiff was Innocent III. ^ In viewing his actions we seem to ascend that exceeding high mountain from which the tempter showed the kingdoms of this world to the Son of God; and to witness the certainty, that they were presented as a gift to the mortal head of the Church upon earth. Their glory and power, their crowns and thrones, were at the disposal of the Bishop of Rome ; and he exercised the right which Satan alone claimed, " All these are given to me, and to whomsoever I will I give them."
Innocent was no sooner secure in his pontifical chair, than he required the citizens of Rome to take their oath of allegi- ance to the pope as their temporal sovereign. He abolished
* Ou the accession of Innocent to verum etiam ecclesiasticae libertati ; the chair of St. Peter, he became, by mandavit imperatrici ut illis capitulis the will of the Empress Constance, renuntiaret orauino, cum ea non esset guax'dian to her son Frederic, tlien aliquatenus ccmcessurus. — Gesta In- only nine years old; and King of Sicily, noc. III. cap. xxi. xxiii. Baluz. torn. i. Duke of Apulia, and Prince of Capua, p. 5, epist. 410 — 417. hb. i. tom. i. in right of his mother, whom he soon p. 241, et seq. folio, Paris, 1682. after set on the imperial throne of The emphe had been contested at Germany, after deposing Philip his the death of Henry VI., father of micle, and Otho his cousin. Frederic, by Philip his brothei-, Otho
' Post mortem imperatoris his nephew, Conrad of Swabia ; and
infra ti'es menses obiit Celestinus, et Richard, King of England, William,
substitutus est Innocentius, rebus tali- Count of Holland, Alphonso, King of
ter et aliter variatis. Imperatrix vero Spain, with Ottocar, of Bohemia, were
Constantia, reversa Panormum, misit also competitors for the empu-e. The
ad ducissam Spoleti, quie filium suum advantages which accrued from these
in Mai'chia nutriebat, et perductum collisions, and the use made of them by
ad se coronari fecit in regem, ccEpitque the sagacious and enterprising pontiff,
cum iUo I'egnare. Ipse vero saga- are useful in accounting for the acts of
cissimus pontifex diligenter attendens Innocent, and this ascendancy, quodprivilegium concessionisindultum * A life of this pope has recently
primo ab Adriano, et renovatum post appeared in Germany, written by Hur-
modum a Clemente, super quatuor ter, one of the most important contri-
capitulis, viz. clectionibus, Icgationi- butions to the history of the middle
bus, appcllationibus, et conciliis, dero- ages, whicli has been issued of late
gabat non solum apostohcie dignitati, yeai-s.
486 All Bishops to be henceforth confirmed by the Pope.
BOOK III. the consulate, and reinvested the imperial prefect with the VII. ' mantle which betokened his authority. He did not rest till ■' he had procured the enactment, as a part of the law of Europe, that none should be regarded as a bishop without the con- firmation of the pope. The election of the emperor was de- clared to be dependent on the pope ; the election of the pope to be independent on the will of the emperor. It was at this moment, says Muratori, that the imperial authority at Rome breathed its last sigh^. Legates were successfully sent to many of the principal towns of Italy, to persuade them to place themselves under the dominion of the pope. The chief cities of Tuscany and Lombardy, also, withdrew themselves from their imperial master to acknowledge the protection of Innocent ; and agreed to receive no emperor whom the pope did not approve.
This was the beginning of his career. He compelled Sicily to resign to Rome all the peculiar privileges which had been granted to it by his predecessor Hadrian. He presumed to excommunicate the three chief princes of Europe — the Em- peror of Germany as a political offender ; the King of France for refusing to receive his wife; the King of England for withholding his sanction to the archbishop, whom the pope compelled the monks of Canterbury, then at Rome prosecuting an appeal on the subject, to elect, and submit to him for con- secration. The oriental Church may be said to have submitted to him in the person of the Latin patriarch of Constantinople, whom the crusaders had appointed to that see ; and whom the pope re-appointed on his acknowledging the Bishop of Rome to be supreme over the universal Church. He rescued the Bishop of Salerno from an imperial prison. He bestowed the crown of Wallachia on Johannicius ; that of Bohemia, after raising it from a duchy to a kingdom, on Primislaus ; and that of Arragon on Peter II. ; from whom he demanded the oath of allegiance to the pope, that they would faithfully pre- serve their kingdoms in obedience to Rome, and prosecute heretical pravity ; an oath which was afterwards made sub- servient to the purposes of the Inquisition, in making it a duty incumbent on sovereigns to execute its decisions. When the King of France told Innocent that it did not belong to
' Spiro qua rultimo fiato I'autorita degli Augusti in Roma. — Muratori, Annal. Ital. ann. 1198.
i
Claims of dominion over Princes by Innocent HI. 487
popes to interfere in the disputes of kings ; unjust war, re- book hi. plied Innocent, is a crime, and all crimes have the holy Church yjj •
for their judge : I fulfil, therefore, a pontifical office only in '
disarming both parties \ The degradation of the King of England — the crusade against the Albigenses — the proposing and decreeing the canons of the Fourth Council of Lateran by his own authority, are three actions by which the memory of Innocent has been made more familiar to all, than that of any other Bishop of Rome. John of England has been charged with cowardice and weakness in yielding to the threats of Innocent. Yet he could not be ignorant of two things — that the Norman conquest was the result of a measure very similar to that to which Innocent had recourse, in order to compel his submission. He had been excommunicated. His king- dom had been placed under an interdict, which in many parts had been vigorously enforced. He had been deposed ; and the military chiefs of Europe, as well as the King of France, were invited to take possession of his realms. Sixty thousand men are said to have been ready to sail against England under the King of France, or his son ; who was not unwilling to act the part of William the Norman. John re- signed his crown to the legate, and took the usual oath of allegiance to the pope as his sovereign ^. Neither could John
^ That is, says Fleurj', the pope is the judge of all wars among princes, and the sole sovereign of the world. — Fleury, Eccles. Hist. 1. 79, § 8, torn, xvi. p'. 581, edit. 1719.
2 The oaths of feudal fidelity to the popes increased in strength of language at different times. The deed by which the resignation of the crown to Pan- dulph, the pope's nuncio, was solem- nized, is in the following servile terms — Johannes, Dei gratia, Rex Anglise, &c. — Omnibus Christi fidelibus, &c. salu- tem. Universitati vestrse per banc chartam nostram, sigillo nostro muni- tam, volumus esse notum, quia, cum Deum et Matrem nostram, sanctam ecclesiam, offenderimus in multis, et proinde divina misericordia plurimum indigere noscamur, nee quid digne offen-e possimus pro satisfactione Deo et ecclesite debita facienda, nisi nos ipsos et regna nostra humiliemus ; Vo- lentes nos ipsos humiliai'e pro Illo, qui se pro nobis humiliavit usque ad mor- tem, gratia Sancti Spiritiis inspirante,
non vi inducti nee timore coacti, sed nostra bona spontaneaque voluntate, ac communi concilio baronum nos- tx'orum, offerimus et libere concedimus Deo, et Sanctis Apostolis Ejus Petro et Paulo, et Sanetae Romanse Ecclesise Matri nostrae, ac Domino nostro Papae Innocentio ejusque Catholicis succes- soribus, totum regnum Angliee et totum regnum Ibernise, cum omni jure et pertinentiis suis, pro remissione pecca- torum nostrorum et totius generis nos- tri, tarn pro vivis quam defunctis ; et amodo ilia a Deo et Ecclesia Romana tauquam feodatarius recipientes et tenentes, in praesentia prudentis viri Pandulphi, domini Papa; subdiaconi et familiaris, fidelitatem exinde praedicto Domino nostro Papae Innocentio ejus- que Catholicis successoribus et Eccle- siie Romanaj, secundum subscriptam formam facimus et juramus, et homa- gium ligium in prtesentia Domini Papie, si coram eo esse poterimus, eiJem faciemus ; successores et htcredes nos- tros de uxore nostra in perpetuum ob-
r<
488
Forms of oaths of allegiance to the Popes.
BOOK III, be ignorant that, just before this very time, 1214, when the VII. kingdom of England was insolently presented by Innocent
ligantes, ut simili modo summo ponti- fici, qui pro tempore fuerit, et EcclesisB Romanse sine contradietione debeant fidelitatem prsestare et homagium re- cognoscere, &c. The pledge then pro- ceeds to assure the payment of one thousand marks sterHng annually as tribute-money, with all other obliga- tions due by custom from the kingdoms of England and Ireland to the apostolic see.
Humiliating as this act of deposition was to the king himself, and trium- phant as it was to Innocent III., to have brought so completely underfoot a nation which had proved refractory for eight centuries, in resisting every attempt to subdue it to papal domina- tion, yet this was not enough. The crown and kingdom were placed at the disposal of the pope and his successors, and the tribute-money pledged as far as treaty could secure them ; but more perfectly to realize the feudal title, homage was insisted upon as a custo- mary part of the contract, and this was secured by the following additional degradation : Ego, Johannes, Dei gra- tia Rex Angliae et Dominus Iberniae, ab hac hora inantea fidelis ero Deo et beato Petro, et Ecclesite Romanse, ac Domino moo Papte Innoceiitio,ejusque successoribus Catholice intrantibus ; lion ero in facto, dicto, consensu, vel consilio ut vitam perdant, vel membra, vel mala captione capiantur. Eorum danipnum, si scivero, impediam et re- movere faciam, si potero ; alioque quam citius potero, intimabo vel tali personae dicam, quam eis credam, pro certo dicturum. Consilium quod mihi crediderint, per se vel nuntios sen per literas suas, secretum tenebo ; et ad eorum dampnum nuUi pandam, me sciente. Patrimonium beati Petri, et specialitor regnum Anglise et Iberniae, adjutor ero ad tenendum, et defendam contra omnes homines, pro posse meo. Sic Deus me adjuvat, et hsec Sancta Evangelia.
Teste meipso, apud domum militise Templi, juxta Doveriam : W. Comite Arundelli. xvo die Maii anno nostri regni xiv". — Rymer's Fcedera, vol. i. part i. pp. Ill, 112; and also, id. p. 115, for the second resignation.
But John of England was not the only royal vassal whom Innocent com-
pelled to swear fealty to the represen- tative of the prince of apostles. In 1203, Don Pedro II, of Arragon paid a visit to Rome, to obtain the favour of his coronation, when he was re- quired to pay annually a tribute of 260 double pistoles, 42 IL 5s., in ac- knowledgment of his crown being a feudal tenure, and himself a slave. The following is the oath of fidelity : — " Ego Petrus, Rex Aragonum, profiteor et polliceor quod semper ero fidelis et obediens Domino meo Papse Innocen- tio, ejus Catholicis successoribus, et Ecclesiee Romanas, regnumque meum in ipsius obedientia fideliter conser- vabo, defendens fidem Catholicam et persequens hsereticam pravitatem. Libertatem et immunitatem ecclesi- arum custodiam, et earum jura defen- dam. In omni terra mete potestati subject^ justitiam et pacem servare studebo ; sic me Deus adjuvet, et Inec Sancta Evangelia." The narrative of Baronius is in these words : — " Deuide prtefatus Rex cum multo laudis prue- conio, et favoris applausu coronatus, rediit juxta Domuium Papam ad Ba- siUcam Sancti Petri, super cujus altare sceptrum et diadema deposuit, et de manuejusdem Domini Papse militarem ensem accepit, regnumque suum beato Petro Apostolorum Principi obtulit, illudque sibi constituit censuale per privilegii paginam, quam eidem Do- mmo Papse tradidit super ipsum altare, cujus tenor est talis, &c." The oath then goes on to bind himself and his successors, to pay to Innocent and his successors, the annual tribute above- mentioned.
The fidelity of Innocent, in the at- tempt to establish one universal feudal dominion, on the principle of exacting allegiance from churches and states, which had been planned and acted upon by Hildebrand, will be perfectly evinced by comparison of the two fol- lowing oaths with the two preceding. It will probably be remembered, that from the time when Leo IX. was raised to the throne of St. Peter, the sway of Hildebrand commenced. He was made subdeacon of Rome by Leo, and archdeacon by Nicholas II. ; and all the important acts passed in the name of the six popes who imme- diately preceded Hildebrand, ought
Forms of oaths of allegiance to the Popes. 489
to the most successful adventurer who might re-invade it; the book hi. warlike hordes of other parts of Europe, five hundred thou- <^"H-^P-
sand in number, had been precipitated upon the territory of ' ^—^
the unfortunate Raymond of Toulouse ; to the utter ruin of
rather to be placed to his account than to theirs.
The first actual step of the feudal- hierarchical system was taken by the adniLnistration of Nicholas, in 1059, in the following oaths of vassalage, de- manded from Robert Guiscard, the chief of the Apuleian Normans : — " Ego Robertas, Dei gratia et Sancti Petri, Dux Apulise et Calabriae, et, utroque subveniente, futurus Sicihse, ad confirmationem traditionis et ad re- cognitionem fidelitatis de omni terra, quam ego proprie sub dominio meo teneo, et quam adhuc ulli Ultramon- tanorum umquam concessi ut teneat ; promitto me annualiter pro unoquoque jugo bourn pensionem, scilicet duode- cim denarios Papiensis monette, per- soluturum Beato Petro, et tibi domino meo Nicholao Papie, et omnibus suc- cessoribus tuis, aut tuis aut tuorum successorum nuntiis, &c." To which another and further pledge of bondage is appended : — " Ego Robertus, Dei gratia et Sancti Petri, Dux ApuHse et Calabriae et, utroque subveniente, fu- turus Sicilise, ab hac hora et deinceps ero fidelis Sanctae Romanse Ecclesia?, et tibi Domino meo Nicolao Papge. In concilio vel in facto, unde vitam aut membrum perdas, aut captus sis mala captione, non ero. Consilium quod mihi credideris, et contradices ne illud manifestem, non manil'estabo ad tuum damnum, me sciente. Sanctse Romanaa Ecclesise ubique adjutor ero ad tenen- dum et ad acquirendum regalia Sancti Petri, ej usque possessiones, pro meo posse contra homines : et adjuvabo te, ut secure et honorifice teneas Papatum Romanum terramque Sancti Petri et principatum; nee invadere, nee acqui- rere qua?ram, nee etiam deprtedari pnesumam, absque tua tuorumque suc- cessorum, qui ad honorem Sancti Petri intraveriut, certa licentia, prater illam quam tu mihi concedes, vel tui con- cessuri sunt successores. Pensionem de terra Sancti Petri, quam ego teneo, aut tcnebo, sicut statutum est, recta fide studcbo ut illam annualiter Ro- niana habeat ccclcsia. Omnes quo-
que ecclesias, quae in mea persistunt dominatione, cum earum possessionibus, dimittam in tua potestate, et defensor ero illarum ad fidelitatem Sanctte Ro- manae Ecclesise. Et si tu vel tui suc- cessores ante me ex hac vita migrave- ritis, secundum quod monitus fuero a melioribus cardinalibus, clericis Ro- manis, et laicis, adjuvabo ut papa eligatur et ordinetur sA honorem Sancti Petri. Haec omnia supx-a scripta observabo Sanctae Romanae Ecclesice, et tibi, cum recta fide ; et banc fideli- tatem observabo tuis successoribus, ad honorem Sancti Petri ordinatis, qui mihi firmaveriut investituram a te mihi concessam. Sic me Deus adju- vet, et haec sancta evangelia." — Baro- nius, ad ann. 1059, § 63, 64.
Gregory VII. required from the patriarch of Aquileia, the following solemn acknowledgment, which, in con- junction with the preceding forms, was to become the basis of that spiritual and temporal supremacy, which is yet pertinaciously claimed : — " At hac hora et in antea fidelis ero beato Petro et Papae Gregoric suisque successoribus, qui per meliores intra- veriut. Non ero in concilio, neque in facto, ut vitam aut membra, aut papa- tum perdant, aut capti sint mala cap- tione. Ad synodum, ad quam me vocabuut vel per se, vel per suos nun- tios, vel per suas litteras, veniam et canonice obediam ; aut, si non potero, legates meos mittam. Papatum Ro- manum et Regalia Sancti Petri adjutor ero ad retinendum et defendendum, salvo meo ordine. Concilium autem quod milii crediderint per se aut per nuntios suos, sive per litteras, nulli pandam, me sciente, ad eorum dam- num. Legatum Romanum eundo et redemido honorifice tractabo, et in nc- eessitatibus suis adjuvabo. His, quos nominatim excommunicaverint, scien- ter non communicabo. Romanam eeclesiam per saecularem mihtiam fide- liter adjuvabo, cum invitatus fuero. Hiec omnia observabo, nisi quantum sua certa licentia remiserit.— Baro- nius, ad ann. 1079, § ix.
490 The oath to the Pope that of the feudal vassal.
BOOK III. his states and people. John could not be ignorant of these ^vn^ things, and of the terrific power which his enemy wielded.
*^ V ' None was then able to make war ivith that power whose seat
was on the seven hills, and on whose horns were all the crowns of Europe. He may have remembered, too, the degradation to which his father had been subjected, in con- sequence of having resisted the authority of Alexander III., and his protege Becket. We may, therefore, pity the profli- gate and murderer, as he is reputed to have been, who was compelled to the alternative of submitting to the foreign priest ; or endangering the safety of his dominions at the risk of war. John resigned his crown, took the feudal oath of allegiance, resumed from the hands of the insulting legate of the pontiff, the diadem which a free people alone should con- fer or withhold ; and gave another instance to the world of the debasement to which the freedom of monarchies must descend; if they permit, on any pretence whatever, the ascendancy of ec- clesiastical supremacy over the civil power. The King of Eng- land was reduced to submission, and the oath which he took was the usual oath of the vassal to his lord, or the secondary chieftain to his feudal sovereign ^ ; and when the archbishop who had been thus imposed on him returned from the conti- nent, and attended him at Winchester, John threw himself, with tears of sincerity, hypocrisy, indignation, or repentance, at his feet, and prayed forgiveness, and professed affection where he had resolved to punish.
The chief guilt of instituting the Inquisition^ though shared with former councils, and former popes — with Alexander III.
^ The subjection of the kingdom to threatened to pull down his power, the see of Rome by King John, was an now became the warmest advocate for extraordinary event,and itwas attended those pretences, and took shelter be- by very singular effects. It produced hind the papal chair. On the other an immediate and entire change in the hand, the English barons, who had language and conduct of all parties affected to revere the dictates of the concerned. In particular, the pope, pope as the commands of God, and to who had poured out upon the King of dread his fulmination as the artillery England the heaviest curses as the of Heaven, while pointed against King worst of men, and the greatest enemy John, treated them with the most of God, now loaded him with blessings sovereign contempt when they were as the best of sovereigns, and the prime turned against themselves. Such is the favourite of Heaven. The imbecile shameless versatility of unprincipled and infatuated John, who had main- politicians. — Jones's Ecclesiastical tained a passionate opposition to the History, ii. 116. ambitious pretences of the pope, and
Princes commanded to extirpate supposed Heresy. 491
and Lucius III., with whom may be joined the Bishop of book hi. Toulouse, and Ildefonsus, King of Arragon — principally rests vii. * with Innocent III, Every opponent of Rome who refused to ^ ' welcome, as articles of faith, the decisions of that Church, was a heretic, or a Manichean, infamous, unworthy, hateful to God and man. In 1198, two legates, Guy and Rainier, were despatched to the South of France, who were directed to stimulate the clergy to greater diligence ; to watch the con- duct of the nobles, and to demand from the authorities the most summary proceedings against the supposed heretics. These legates were commanded to transmit to the pope all the information they could procure ; and submit to him on every question connected with their proceedings. They were not commanded to convert only, but to punish. They were to bum the leaders as " embodied evils," to disperse the flocks, to confiscate the property of all who refused obedience to the Church of Rome. The heretics were rebels to Rome. Princes were their executioners. The spoil was divided in two ways — the prince took their lands, the pope took their power. In pursuance of this crafty management. Innocent wrote to Philip Augustus to urge him to take up arms against all heretics ; and to divert from himself in this manner the sus- picion of the crime. When the lords of the soil refused to exterminate their vassals, w^ho paid their rents and tribute, and who only desired, whatever were their opinions, to live in peace ; the legates commanded the neighbouring princes to seize the whole ten'itory, which they declared to be infected with heresy. The legates, with their companions, traversed the country, and preached much from Psalm xciv. 16, " Who will rise up for me agamst evil doers ?" They excited the com- mon people to madness against the supposed enemies of God. They challenged the heretics to public disputations : pressed them with the minute subtleties of the schools; compelled them to absurd declarations ; or by silencing them by arguments which failed to convince even when they could not be refuted, reduced them to appear as obstinate andwicked heretics. These arts of disputation would of themselves have been of little moment. The attempts to excite the hatred of the people by the legates and preachers, failed at first to rouse the hatred and indignation which could alone extirpate the here-
492 Popery the religious government over unconvinced conscience.
BOOK III tics. The Bishop of Osma, and the zealot, Dominic de Guz- vn. " mail S afterwards the founder of the court of Inquisition, in-
'^ -^ ' quired of some of the Narbonnese, " Why do you not drive
out the heretics ? Why do you not exterminate them ?" " We cannot," was the answer ; " we love them — they are our kin- dred— we know them." At length their perseverance suc- ceeded. The perpetual exacerbating, irritating efforts of the inquisitors effected the deposition of the prelates who were indisposed to severity, the Archbishop of Narbonne, and the Bishops of Toulouse and Viviers. They alienated from them the regular clergy. They tormented the Count of Toulouse, and the feudal lords of the county, by incessant accusations of deficiency of zeal ; and they thus laid the train which re- quired but one spark to kindle the same flame in Europe, which had already burnt towards Asia, and tossed the brands of a consuming enthusiasm upon the infidel minarets of the East. Innocent saw his danger. He perceived that if the free use of Scripture, and the free permission to interpret the divine pages, were continued to the people of any part of Europe, that the temporal supremacy of Rome would be soon endangered ; and he resolved to pluck up the tares — to burn out the gangrene — to raze the walls of heresy to their very foundations. Popery is the government of reason and conscience by authority disdaining to afford conviction. He determined to rule by authority without regard to convic- tion ; and the well-known opportunity was presented to him in the murder of his legate by a friend of Raymond of Tou- louse.
The word crusade had become sacred in military and reli- gious Europe. It described zeal towards Christianity, and love to Christ, devotion to the Church, purity of faith, piety of motive, and austerity of practice. Chivalry, honour, devo- tion, and heroism, were included in the character of a cru- sader. The crafty pontiff well knew how to avail himself of the popularity of that word. He designated every expedition to which his ambition prompted him by the word crusade. Every chief, soldier, or adventurer who promoted his designs
* An opportunity will be afforded us, in speaking of the Dominicans, to men- tion their founder.
Excommunication of Raymond of Toulouse. 493
was a crusader. His gathering the forces of Europe against book hi. John of England was a crusade. When he affected to be- vii. come the arbiter of the divisions of the Hungarians, he ' '- ' preached a crusade against the party he opposed. When he desired to depose the King of Norway ', he spoke of a crusade. And now that he determined to extirpate the Albigenses, he proclaimed a crusade against heresy. Under this honourable word he concealed the cruelty, ferocity, and treachery which Avas now to be let loose against the miserable population whom he never ceased to harass ; till their very name became a by-word, and their existence seemed to have ceased in Europe. The story is too well known to be related here, except some few particulars which throw light on the subtle and novel policy of Innocent. Raymond had been excom- municated, and his kingdom placed under an interdict, be- cause he would not consent to admit into his dominions an army to destroy and exterminate his people. This was the same year, 1208, in which Philip, the Emperor of Germany, was assassinated by the Palgrave, Otho de Witelspach, for marrying his daughter to Otho, Duke of Brunswick ; but I find it impossible to notice the contests in Germany between the pope and the emperors. He was excommunicated by the papal legate. The pope's remedies for disobedience were interdict, excommunication, deposition, crusades, vivi-com- buration, disposing of kingdoms. Innocent III. confirmed the sentence of the legate against the Count of Toulouse, and began to preach a crusade against his people. Raymond was terrified, and made the required concessions. The legate professed to believe that he did not proceed to exterminate the heretics with sufficient severity ; he reproached the count to his face as a perjured favourer of the enemies of God. He then again excommunicated him. This took place on the night of January 14th, 1208. On the next day the legate again disputed with a friend of Raymond respecting heresy, and its proper punishment. Very irritating language was used by Castelnau, and the gentleman to whom he addressed it, drew his dagger and killed him on the spot. Innocent, on hearing of the assassination, without further inquiry, in-
' See History of the Popes, p. 167.
494 Crusade against the Albigenses.
BOOK III. stantly addressed a bull to all the counts, barons, and knights VII. of the four provinces of the southern part of France. He
* ^ ' denounced Raymond. He publicly anathematized him in the churches. He absolved all his subjects from their oath of allegiance, because faith is not to be kept with heretics. All Catholics, saving the right of the principal lord, were required to pursue his person, and to occupy and retain possession of his territories. This bull was speedily followed by others to the same effect. Philip Augustus was exhorted to take the cross. The same indulgences were granted to all who pro- ceeded against the Albigenses, as had been to those who went to the Holy Land. Adventurers from every part of Europe assembled. They were placed under the peculiar protection of the holy see. They were exempted from the payment of debts, and the power of civil tribunals. The ser- vice they were to render was an expiation of all crimes. The crusade became more popular than the expeditions to Palestine itself. The Cistertian monks, with Arnold Amalric, their abbot, at their head, preached the crusade through Europe. Innocent appointed a new congregation of preaching friars, of whom St. Dominic was chief, to go on foot through the villages, two by two, to preach the tenets of the Church of Rome, and so obtain information of the number and dwell- ings of the heretics, to burn them when the crusaders arrived ; and thus began the systematized Inquisition under the preaching friars ®.
The efforts of the Count of Toulouse, of his nephew Ray- mond, the Viscount of Albi, with their friends, to deprecate the rage of their coming enemies, were in vain. Innocent charged the ecclesiastics who were leading the crusade, to employ dissimulation towards Raymond, that he might be crushed the more easily, when other heretics were defeated. The storm at length burst in the spring of 1209, in the form, it is said, of 500,000 fanatics thirsting for blood, and impatient to kill for the honour of God, the glory of the Church, and the salvation of their immortal souls. Castles and cities were taken, and all their inhabitants — men, women, and children —
* For an account of Dominic, the August 4, vol. viii.; and for the Life of founder of the order of preaching Francis, the same work, October 4, friars, see Butler's Lives of the Saints, vol. x.
Treachery, cruelty, and piety of the Crusaders. 495
indiscriminately cast into the flames, amidst the Te Deums, book hi. the rejoicings, and acclamations of the pious assailants, ^vnf*
Never did the fiends who exult over human frailty, more ' ^ '
loudly exult— if they do exult over, as well as accuse and tempt mankind— than when the savage captors of Beziers were commanded to kill all, for God would know his own ! Or when the wives and children of the refugees from the countrj^, who had taken shelter in the churches, were mur- dered to the last victim round the altars, as one great holocaust to the God of Christianity, on the one vast funeral pile of the burning city; or when four hundred prisoners were burnt ahve— the survivors of the ruin of Carcassone \
So ended the first crusade against the Albigenses. Cruelty, treachery, and strange, yet not less true, to %a.j, personal piety no less characterized the second and third, till the southern provinces of France became a desert. The French, the Ger- mans, and the English, assembled with joy to prosecute the new enterprise. The Cistertian monks industriously preached extermination, nor did they preach in vain. One monstrous blaze, which covered the whole square of the Castle of Minerva, consumed one hundred and forty who voluntarily threw themselves into the conflagration. Raymond again and again submitted to every degradation but that of con- sentmg to permit the savage invaders of his estates, to burn his people at their pleasure \ He was compelled to continue
J See Raynaldi Annal. a.d. 1209, § from a letter addressed by Iniocent to 2S, with the authorities there cited. the Abbot of Citeaux. « We advise • ^J™?"^'s ambassadors were re- you, according to the precepts of the ceived by the pope with apparent indul- Apostle Paul, to use cunning in your gence, but the terms on which absolu- dealings with the count, which in the Hon was offered to the count could present case, should rather be deemed scarcely have been more severe. He prudence. It is expedient to attack was required to make common cause those separately who have broken the with the crusaders, to aid them in the unity of the Church, to spare the Count extirpation of the heretics— that is, of Toulouse for a season, treating him his own subjects— and to give up seven with wise dissimulation, in order that of his best castles as a pledge of his the other heretics may be more easilv sincerity Innocent declared, that if destroyed, and that we may crush him Kaymond performed these conditions, at our leisure when he stands alone " he would not only be absolved, but —History of the Popes, ii. 102 taken into special favour ; yet at this Books I. II V X XI XII very moment, the pope was inflexibly XIII. XIV. XV. xVl. of the Epis- resolved on the count's destruction, as ties of Innocent, \vith his Gesta De- appears from the following extract cretals, &c. have been collected by
496 Innocent III. author of the hymn Veni Creator. BOOK III. his resistance to save the wreck of his miserable subiects.
CHAP . •
VII. ■ The most ardent reader of the exciting details of military ' '' ' prowess and horrible narrative, shrinks from the perusal of the relentless resolution of Innocent to eradicate the heresy of Languedoc, and its neighbourhoods. When the breach in the walls of the town of La Vaur was declared to be practica- ble ; the bishops, the Abbot of Cordieu, and all their attend- ant priests, put on their garments of unholy holiness, and ' coming out to encourage the knights and soldiers to the in- discriminate slaughter of the heretics ; struck up the sublime hymn which Innocent himself was said to have composed — Veni Creator Spiritus ^ The Spirit of peace, and love, and truth, and comfort, was invoked by the clergy, with all the zeal of devotion, when their soldiers rushed on to the slaughter of their brethren.
" Creator ! Spirit, by whose aid The world's foundations first were laid ; Come, visit every pious mind ; Come, pour thy joys on human kind ! From sin and sorrow set us free ; And make thy temples worthy Thee ;"
were the sacred words they sung when the swords were drawn, and the wall was scaled. Resistance was useless.
Baluzius, and fonn two large folio ei tu dictaveris procedendum, sed in
volumes. The Ilird and following proponendis gerat se velut organum, et
Books to the Xth, were found in MS. in disponendis se tibi exhibeat insti-u-
in the Vatican. They are worthy of mentum,inhamosagacitatistuEepositus
more observation than I can here quasi esca, ut per eam piscem capias
bestow upon them, as a fund of the fluctuantem, cuitanquamsaluberrimam
secret instructions given from head- tuse piscationis abhorreuti doctrinam
quarters to the legates and agents of quodam prudenti mansuetudinis artifi-
the see of Rome, to guide them in cio severitas ferrum necessarium est
their policy towai-ds the different abscondi, quatiims exemplo dicentis
states over which they were dispersed, apostoli — cum essem astutus, dolo vos
Wi'iting to the Abbot Thedisius, on cepi, &c. &c. — Epistolarum Innocentii
his being appointed legate in 1212, In- III. tom. ii. lib. xii. epist. 156, p. 394,
nocent gives him these private instruc- Parisiis, 1682.
tions : non utique quod ei legationis ^ Innocent III. is said to have com-
ofticium committanms, cum etsi laudata posed the hymn, " Veni Creator Spi-
sit satis ipsius bonitas, nobis tamen per ritus." Composuisse quoque fertur
experientiam non sit nota, sed ut tan- Spiritus S. sequentiam, " Veni Creator
quam delegatus quod eidem injungimus Spiritus." — Venema, Hist. Eccles, vi.
exequatur ; ante omnia et in omnibus 202. The historian of Vausei-nay gives
observato, ut prorsus in verbo vel an account of this same occurrence. See
opere nonprocedat nisi quemadmodum Raynald. a.d. 1211, § 15.
Cardinal Langton at the Fourth Council of Lateran. 497
The castle fell. Its noble master was hanged ; his lady thrown book ill. into a pit, and heaped over with stones as an execrable vu. ' heretic. Eighty of his knights were massacred with avidity and exultation. The work of frenzy was only suspended to glean from the relics of the siege and of the sword, the vic- tims for the faggot and the flame ; to the greater glory of God, and the higher honour of his holy Church. They collected them, and they burnt them. They slew none, for they exulted in their torments. They preserved alive, and com- mitted all, with great joy, four hundred in number, to the flames *. Sixty more were burnt at Carcassone, and so the war proceeded. Legate succeeded to legate, to continue with new exhortations the work of fire, blood, and demolition. Troop followed troop. Citizens, peasants, and outcasts, mingled under frantic leaders, performed in turn their deeds of havoc upon the wretched Albigenses. The stake was erected to consume the last wandering heretic whom the vagabondizing, pope-commissioned preachers had denounced. Veni Creator was still the chorus of the murderers, when the bodies of the witnesses against Rome were literally mingling their ashes with ashes, and their dust with dust ; while their spirits returned to the God who gave them, to be judged by their more merciful Judge. The resolution of Pope Innocent was effected. The Fourth Council of Lateran, and the per- manent establishment of the Inquisition, secured to Rome, for three centuries, the triumph it had thus fearfully achieved. Three hundred years elapsed from the termination of the third crusade against the Albigenses, and the calling of the Fourth Council of Lateran, till Luther published his Theses against the practices of the Church of Rome ; and his voice was heard, as the voice of the indignation of the civilized world. k
Stephen Langton, cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, was present at the Council of Lateran, though he was under sen- tence of suspension from the pope. The most despotic monarch is compelled to act with some deference towards his chief and tried counsellors. The Archbishop of Canterbury was the bishop next in importance to the Bishop of Rome him- self. His influence was greater than that of any of the
' See Raynald. a.d. 1211, § IG. VOL. 11. K k
498 Langton, the adherent of the Pope.
BOOK III. cardinals; for the allegiance of England to the holy see may vn^ be said to have depended on the conduct of its archbishop.
' N- ' We must never forget that the world was governed by the
ecclesiastical power rather than by the pope, in the same manner as we are governed in England rather by the monar- chical principle, than by the individual monarch, who may be said to hold only the highest office in the monarchical repub- lic. The popes, in the highest plenitude of their power, never .dared to act towards their own cardinals, bishops, and coun- cils, as an oriental despot acts towards his viziers and satraps. They professed, indeed, to have unlimited authority over all ; and they ruled all Europe by this claim. But they never in fact separated themselves from that large and influential body of ecclesiastics, who believed that this claim was a trust com- mitted to the Bishops of Rome for the benefit of the universal Church ; and they were always compelled to pay some deference to the counsellors who supported their pretensions. Such was the case with respect to Cardinal Langton. He was an Englishman by birth, and was educated at Paris. The power of the pope over England immediately prior to the nomination of Langton by himself to the see of Canterbury, was so great on the death of Baldwin, that the building which the suffragan bishops of the see of Canterbury had raised at Lambeth, that they might meet there to elect an arch- bishop, was pulled down by an order from Innocent IIL^, on an appeal by the monks of Canterbury, who claimed the right of electing an archbishop, although the King of England, Richard, and Hubert, the Archbishop of Canterbury, were both most anxious for its preservation. They deemed it to be their duty to obey the papal command, and the chapel was taken down in 1119. On the death of Hubert, Langton was elected by the Canterbury monks, who were at Rome, on the nomi- nation of Innocent III. Until this time, when John, after his long resistance to the pope, submitted to his dictation, and resigned his crown to Pandulph ; Langton remained the adherent to the pope. He no doubt believed, that the elec- tion and confirmation of metropolitans belonged to the suc- cessors of St. Peter ; and therefore, that John committed a
2 Innocent's bull to this effect is Chronicle of Gex'vase, a monk of Can- printed in the Decern Scriptores, col. terbury. 1602, having been preserved in the
Subsequent independent conduct of Lang ton. 499
crime in refusing to receive him. Many, however, of the book hi. English bishops defended the conduct of the king. The Church ^yf'^^"
had not become entirely Gregorian. Langton was probably, ' ^ '
as a friend of the pope, wholly of that party. Immediately, however, that John consented to receive Langton, the arch- bishop acted in the most independent manner towards all parties. The king demanded of his barons that they should attend him on a continental expedition. They refused to do so unless they were aided from the exchequer. John attempted to coerce them, Langton resisted him ; and informed him that by adopting military measures instead of appealing to the courts of justice, he violated his oath which he had taken at his absolution. The tyrannical or arbitrary measures of this weak prince, compelled the union of the barons for their own defence. Langton met the confederate lords in London, and assured them that he had compelled the king to swear ' that he would abolish all unjust laws ; and cause the good laws, that is, those of Henry L and Edward the Confessor, to be observed. As the king had submitted to Innocent, and as Langton had thus far opposed the king after that submission, the pope intruded upon the privileges of the see of Canter- bury, the archbishop of wliich was the only canonical legate ; and sent Nicholas, the Bishop of Tusculum, as legate into England, to compose the incipient dissensions between the king and his barons *. The legate was regarded by the con- federates as being too much the favourer of the king ; who again resigned his crown to the pope. Nicholas protected John against the demands of those who called upon him for certain damages sustained in consequence of the interdict ; and then proceeded further to intrude on all the episcopacy of England by obeying a mandate of the pope, that he should fill up all vacant benefices, and enforce obedience to this mandate by ecclesiastical censure. This was a direct and heavy blow against the independence of the whole Church. The king was destroying their civil, the pope their ecclesiastical privileges. This double tyranny was to be re- sisted. The archbishop prohibited the legate from proceed- ing. The legate despised the prohibition, and complained at Rome of the opposition of Langton. In consequence of the
^ See the references in Brady and Collier. * Raynald. x.n. 121.3, § 83, seqq.
Kk2
500 Contest between John, Innocent III., and the Barons.
BOOK III. submission of the king, and by the assistance of Langton, '^vn^ who seems to have wisely distinguished, in this instance, be-
* ^- ' tween his duty in opposing the king when the civil liberties
of his kingdom demanded, and his duty in supporting the king when he deemed that he had satisfied the Church ; the interdict, after six years and a half continuance, was removed in 1214 \ The king had not yet granted the petitions of his barons, and he had the meanness, when he perceived their resolute determination to persevere", to profess the assump- tion of the cross \ that he might be regarded as under the peculiar favour of the pope ; and therefore, that any attempts which his offended peers might make, should be regarded as acts of hostility to the Church. This manoeuvre was defeated by the wisdom and firmness of the confederates. Langton still remained at their head. They submitted their demands to the king, and when he refused to grant them, they elected a leader, and prepared an army, and denominated their leader and their army — the Marshal of the Army of God and of the Holy Church. The united cry of liberty and religion baffled both the king and the legate. London joined the barons. The great charters were executed. The usurpation of the legate to present to vacant benefices was rejected by the clause, securing their ancient freedom of election to the clergy. The interests of the see of Rome were protected by allowing appeals to Rome, in the clause which permitted the clergy and others to leave the kingdom at their pleasure — the one great privilege which ought never to have been conceded, because the court of lUtimate appeal is always superior to all others, and the pope, therefore, remained superior to the sovereign ; but the liberties generally of the people and of
* See Raynaldi, ad aim. § 27. a voluntary resignation of it to the
" It is much to be regretted that pope, who permitted him to hold pos-
Gibbon did not write the history of the session of it as his vassal, or gave it
barons' wars with John, as he once back again on the condition of the king
intended. It would furnish a worthy paying annual tribute. This conduct
subject for any historiographer. For of John furnished the plea for the
the fourth time within four years, we barons to declare war against him; 'n\
find the kingdom of England disposed order to carry on which, against the
of by way of donation, in this war of united power of the pope and his royal
the barons with their pusillanimous serf, the barons called to their aid the
king. The pope, in order to reduce French Prince Louis, son of Philip,
John to obedience, transferred it to afterwards Louis VIII., and in their
Philip, King of France, who had made turn gave him the kingdom.
all needful preparations lor taking pos- ^ " timore potius quam devo-
session. John, to save himself, made tione," says Matthew Paris.
The Pteru(je of England the opponents of Innocent 111. 501
the barons were secured. The despicable sovereign now book hi. appealed to the pope against his own subjects, instead of yix. ' peaceably observing the treaty he had signed. Innocent con- ■' ' demned the charters and their abettors. An Italian priest is no Judge of the value of English libei'ty. The archbishop and his suffragans despise the interference. The king imprisons many of his nobles. The pope excommunicates the barons, and suspends the archbishop. Langton proceeds to Rome, and is present at the Council of Lateran. He was not before his age in regard to his opinion of ecclesiastical power. He made no protest at the council against those greater intru- sions on the liberties of mankind, which were much more grievous than the denial of justice by John to his barons — the canons against heretics. The ambassadors of John ap- peared at this council, and the sentence against Langton was confirmed. The king caused it to be promulgated throughout England, and prosecuted the war against his barons. His cruelties so disgusted his people, that London and the barons disregarded the censures of the pope. The barons appealed to a foreign power to aid them in their resistance. This was an erroneous decision, and Langton seems to have considered it in this light ; for he now gave security to Innocent that he would be directed, after the cause had been heard, by the see of Rome. He desired only not to return into England till peace had been restored to the king and barons. As John had become the vassal of the pope. Innocent commanded Louis, to whom the barons had appealed, to withdraw from England. He affirmed that the kingdom was his own. England was torn to pieces by the contending claims of Louis, the pope, the king, and the barons, till they were ended by the death of John and the accession of his son. This curious history has never been properly treated; neither can we pause to make any commentary upon the events which we have thus very briefly enumerated. I have said thus much on the topic, that I might dwell with pleasure on the remem- brance, that the first serious opposition to the see of Home in the height of its poiver, was made by an Archbishop of Canter- bury and by the peerage of England. Long — long may this proud and enviable privilege be continued ! May the spirit of liberty so animate our bishops and nobles, that they ever
502 Innocent III. accused of avarice.
BOOK III. be found in the van of the opponents of the usurpations of a VII. foreign priest !
"-"' ' The soul of Innocent is said to have been deeply stained with that leprosy which is seldom removed till the walls of the tabernacle be taken down — the leprosy of avarice. This vice peculiarly characterized the see of Rome. It had now attained its highest power. Ambition seeks its gratification amonff princes and potentates in avarice, as avarice in private life so frequently seeks its gratification in ambition. Certain pre- bendaries of York were present at the Council of Lateran. The see became vacant. They elected Simon Langton, the brother of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The pope disapproved their choice, and recommended to them Walter Gray *. He is chosen. The object of his being thus recommended ap- peared, in his consenting to pay for the pall the enormous sum of ten thousand pounds. Every appeal now became the source of large revenue to Rome. Every privilege ivas pur- chased at a high price. The bishops who came to the great Council of Lateran are affirmed to have paid large sums for permission to return to their respective sees. They borrowed the sums required, at high interest, from Roman merchants. The pope is declared by the earlier historians to have been not only ambitious and proud above all other men, but insa- tiably thirsty after money — flexible, and easily influenced by rewards, bribes, or presents, given or promised ^ John gave and promised, therefore, large sums of money to obtain from Innocent the condemnation of Cardinal Langton. Like Wolsey, however. Innocent was as magnificent as he was avaricious. He founded and endowed the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Rome, and expended considerable sums in promoting the holy war.
History presents us with few names so imposing as that of Innocent III. The sovereigns of Europe may learn from his pontificate the extent of the claims of the Church of Rome — the identity of the temporal with the spiritual poAver, when laws, and not mere rules or canons binding upon the former, are permitted to emanate from the latter. Nothing but uni-
* See Le Neve's Fasti, p. 307. sititor insatiabilis; et ad omnia scelera
^ Papa super omnes moi-tales am- pro prsemiis datis vel promissis cereus bitiosus erat et superbus ; pecuniseque et proclivis. — Matt. Paris.
Universal supremacy alone can satisfy Rome. 503
versal supremacy, without the toleration of either actual resist- book hi. ance or mental inquiry, can satisfy a power which boasts itself vn. ' the representative of Deity, and the possessor of its sublimest ^ ' attributes. The history of Innocent explains to all Europe the real extent and nature of the Catholic claims ; the n\eaning of the phrase, "justice to Rome ;" the explanation of the griev- ances of which the members of that Church complain, when they are offended at the very existence of those who see not with their eyes, nor hear with their'ears. The epistles and re- scripts of Innocent, which were generally the result of appeals to his court of Rome, and which have, therefore, the force of law, abound with directions to enforce the punishment of heretics. Many of them are collected by Du Pin \ The Bishop of Auch is commanded to take care of the punishment of here- tics *. The sentence of interdict is pronounced freely and frequently on all who offend him, without even the charge of heresy ^ The Bishop of Alisa is ordered to excommunicate those who summoned him before secular judges. The Arch- bishops of Aix, Narbonne, Auch, Vienne, Aries, Embrun, Tarragon, and Lyons, with their suffragans ; and all princes, earls, barons, and other governors, are commanded to assist the commissioners of the holy see in their proceedings against the Vaudois, Cathari, Paterini, and all other heretics *. He commands the King of Portugal to pay the usual tribute, otherwise he should be compelled to do so '. He acted as a sove- reign towards states, without consulting either the will of their princes, or the laws of their people. He was what the Bishop of Rome ever will be, and ever has been since the days of Nicholas I., unless he be restrained and subdued by ceaseless vigilance, protecting both Uberty and religion. If his preten- sions were just ; if the souls of thousands can be saved by the burning of thousands, the revolts, the massacres, the holo- causts of vivi-comburations which he commanded and en- forced, were just and laudable. Our indignation at the cruel deeds he sanctioned is absurd and useless, unless we extend that indignation to the unaltered and hitherto unalterable
' Eccles. History, cent. xiii. p. 13, moges, and interdict their Church.
&c. In Epistle 72, a similar command is
* Epist. 79. found.
' Epist. 34 and Epist. 55, an order * Epist. 94.
is given to the Archbishop of Bourges * Epist. 99. to excommunicate the canons of Li-
504 The principles of Innocent III. must be rescinded.
BOOK III. principles by which they are still defended. We shall see VII. ' that the Bishops of Rome, from the days of Innocent to this "^ ' day, have maintained the very worst principles upon which all the atrocities of the Bishops of Rome, in the worst ages of their dominion, have been committed. These principles must be rescinded. Innocent compared the spiritual autho- rity to the light of the sun, and the temporal authority to the light of the moon, to express the superior brilliancy, heat, and influence of the one over the other * ; and therefore, he exhorts the nobles of Tuscany to prefer the pope to the em- peror. The pope, he said, is inferior to God, but he is supe- rior to any human being. He ordained, in his epistle to the magistrates and people of Viterbo ', that the protectors of heretics should be deemed infamous, and incapable of holding offices, and that the conversers with heretics should be ana- thematized. The decree became a part of the canon law, was enacted by the Council of Lateran, and enforced by the several Churches wherever the ecclesiastical power prevailed. Christian burial was refused to the excommunicated, a decree which still forms part of the Rubric of the Church of Eng- land. It would have been better that a special service had been appointed, which might have expressed the doubt of their salva- tion, and served as a warning to the by standers at the funeral. Innocent commanded ^ the Archbishop of Canter- bury to order the monks to precede the secular clergy. He explains to the Patriarch of Constantinople, who complained of the accusation that he was a schismatic, while he held the Creed of Nice, that the primacy of Peter was the bond of union ; and that the Church of Rome was styled universal, because all Churches were under its dominion ' — that it was
* Epist. 401. cundum ordinem Melchisedeeh, ita ^ Lib. ii. epist. i. of Baluze's Collec- regnum et sacerdotium in ecclesia sta- tion, bilivit, ut sacerdotale sit regnum, et
* Lib. ii. epist. 181, idem. sacerdotium sit regale, &e. And after ^ Writing to John of England, Nov. other grave reasons to prove that sub-
12, 1213, this second Hildebrand be- mission to this royal priesthood is the
gins his letter by telling him that the duty of secular rulers, as well as all
King of kings, and Lord of lords, and classes of men, he takes care to press
priest according to the eternal order upon the king the point, that provinces
of Melchisedech, hath so settled the which had been anciently subject to
royal and sacerdotal power in the the Church of Rome in spiritual supre-
Church, that the kingdom is sacei-- macy, had, by the mercy of Him in
dotal, and the priesthood royal — Rex whose hand are the hearts of kings,
regum et Dominus dominantium, Jesus been brought to own the temporal
Christus, sacerdos in a?teruum se- dominion of the priesthood also — Quod
Literary labours of Innocent III. 505
the mistress of all Churches, not as the most ancientj but book hi. because of its pre-eminence. He defended and explained, in yjj ' other epistles, the doctrines which were defined by the ' '
Council of Lateran.
One of the most magnificent prosopopaeias of the Old Tes- tament, is that in which the prophet '", expressing the simple idea that Ashkelon shall be destroyed, exclaims in his vision — " O sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet ? Put up thyself into thy scabbard : rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon ?" Similar to this were the words of the last address of Innocent, when he heard of the descent of the French on England. " Sword ! sword !" he exclaimed, " spring from thy scabbard, and sharpen thyself to extermi- nate ' \"
Innocent composed many volumes, both before and after his elevation to the popedom. Literary efforts in those ages always led to the highest honours. A diploma conferring a doctor's degree was equal to a patent of nobility. He wrote a treatise on despising the Word ; or the Misery of Man's Estate, in three books : a w^ork resembling the Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis ^ A Treatise on the Mystery of the Mass. A Commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms. Sermons for the whole year, and for the Saints' days, and some others. These works are full of piety and spirituality. The style is close, full of divisions, antitheses, allegories, and quotations from Scripture '. Such is the ac-
tu, fili carissime, prudenter attendens, * The author of " Ancient Chris-
(Illo niisericorditer inspirante in Cujus tianity," after giving some instances of
niauu sunt corda Regum, et quo what he teiTus "the barefaced inge-
voluerit vertit ilia) te ipsum et regna nuity " and " audacity " with which
tua etiara temporahter Ei subjicere the Romanists have distorted Scrip-
decrevisti, Cui noveras spirituahter esse ture to favour their unreasonable pre-
subjecta ut illje provincitB quae ohm tensions, adds the foUowing note : —
sacrosauctam Roma nam Ecclesiam pro- "Some of these ingenious fancies are
priam in spiritualibus habuere magis- to be found in Gregory the Great, and
tram, nunc etiam in temporalibus do- many in St. Bernard ; but it is Inno-
minam habeant specialem. — Epist. cent III. who drives this trade with
Innoc. III. lib. xvi. epist. 131, vol. ii. the least shame. It is impossible to
p. 810. The Life of Innocent under give him credit for any sort of honesty
the title Gesta Innocent. III., is pre- in the expositions which he advances
fixed to Baluze's edition of his letters, with so grave a face. I have referred
'° Jer. xlvii. 6, 7- above to the Lyra Apostolica, mingling
' Fleury, Eccles. Hist. 1, Ixxvii. 262. as it does the softest strains of gentle
^ Many editions of these books have piety with the smooth rancour of the
been printed at Paris, Venice, Cologne, holy ottice. A mixtui-c of this very
and Antwerp.
506 Sermons of Innocent III. before the Council of Lateran.
BOOK HI. count by Du Pin, The only works I have read of Innocent's, VII ■ besides his summons to Europe to attend the council, given
'—"'^ ' in the Bullarium Magnum, and the acts of the council itself,
which were drawn up by him, read by his order as the resolutions of the council, and received by the universal Church as the decision of the pope and the council — are his Two Sermons, spoken before the council \ He takes the text of the former from Luke xxii. 15, " With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you," &c. The sermon abounds, and is redolent with quotations from Scripture. It begins with the words of St. Paul ^ — " ' Because to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain ;' I do not deny that, if it so pleased God, I should be willing to drink the cup of His passion, whether it be for the succour of the Holy Land, for the de- fence of the Catholic faith, or for the liberties of the Church. I am willing to remain in the flesh till my work is done ^ : but not my will, but the will of the Lord be done ; therefore have I said unto you, ' With desire,^" &c. Very much beautiful language, and various pious sentiments are expressed in the sermon ; in which he proceeds to notice three sorts of pass- overs, which he desired to celebrate with the fathers of the council — the corporeal, the spiritual, and the eternal. The corporeal was the passing from one place to another for the deliverance of Jerusalem; the spiritual, the passing from one state to another by the reformation of the Church ; the eter- nal, which was the passing from the temporal condition on earth to the glory of heaven. What he said on each of these points may be easily conjectured. A modern preacher would not, under the second head, exhort his hearers to punish heretics, as is done in this sermon. According to the one great error of the Roman Church, which confounds the lan- guage and ordinances of the Jewish dispensation with the milder sanctions of the new covenant, he changes the strong terms of
sort is the characteristic of the letters that to King Richard ! Or, read those
of this pope, alternately the lamb and directed against the heretics of Lan-
the wolf. What more soft and pater- guedoc." — Ancient Christianity, No. 4,
nal than his Consolatory Letter to the p. 495, and note.
Prior of Canterbury ? (lib. i. ep. 436.) * They are to be found in the second
In reading it, one would really think part of the third volume of Binius,
the Church of that day to have been a p. C77» &c.
poor persecuted outcast in this evil * Philippians i. 21.
world. Read only the two epistles " This was the saying of the noble
immediately preceding, addressed to puritan — " I am immortal till my work
the Bishops of Lincoln and Ely, and is done."
Effect of the Sermons of Innocent on the Cou?icil of Lateran. 507
Moses into the advice to the Christian prelate— "* Let not book iii. thine eye spare, neither let there be pity. If any man be on ^^{f- the Lord's side, let him gird his sword on his thigh. Go, ' — --— ' and return from gate to gate, through the midst of the camp ; and slay every man, brother, and friend, and neighbour. And the sons of l^exi did according to the words of Moses.' And you must do the hke. So strike, that you may heal. So kill, that you may make alive."
He then goes on to accuse the clergy of delinquency ; and affirms that this delinquency is the cause of the corruption of the laity. " The time has come when judgment must begin at the house of God, and the words of the prophet are fulfilled, ' As with the people, so with the priest ;' and therefore it is that faith perishes, religion is dishonoured, the liberty of the Church is destroyed, justice is trodden under foot, here- tics flourish, schismatics abound, the perfidious rave, the Hagarenes prevail." The meaning of all this is explained in the third canon of the council, which treats of the extermination of heretics by the dungeon, the fire, or the sword ! But he goes on—" Blessed are those servants whom his Lord, when He Cometh, shall find so w^atching. Verily, I say unto you, He will gird Himself, make them to sit down, and minister unto them." He anticipates their reward and his own with hum- ble, glowing, fervid, eloquent language, and consigns the wretched objects of his malediction, though without naming either them or their opinions, to the mercies of the newly- organized and permanent Inquisition, at the very moment when he had reason to anticipate a speedy departure from trouble to joy— from misery to glory— from death to life— from corruption to incorruption ; and concludes by praying God " to grant all for Christ's sake, to Whom be honour and glory for ever and ever."
Thus the sermon ended. The fathers of the council heard and approved. The decree was passed— that all heretics be condemned, and delivered to the secular arm. If any be suspected, they shall be required to give satisfaction. The lords of the soil are to swear to extirpate heresy, or be excommunicated, after which their estates may be given to others, and theh- subjects be absolved from their allegiance. Heretics, and all who favour them, are declared infamo°us, di- vested ofoffice, rejected when witnesses, rendered incapable of
508 Perseverance in error the curse of Rome.
BOOK III. inheriting or bequeathing. Search is to he made for them, vn. Oaths are to be administered to discover them. The accused
* ^ ' are to appear, and the guilty or relapsed are to be punished —
ay, punished, canonically punished. Such is the picture of the Roman Church under Innocent III. Piety, zeal, error, assumption of exclusive truth, murdering those v\rho are more, or equally pious, and certainly less erroneous, for the honour and glory of God. The curse left on Rome is — not that it was once so blinded, but that the same authority which made these repugnant laws is at once ashamed to acknowledge them, and ashamed to rescind them. I do not condemn Rome j)ast ; it was only the chief ecclesiastical delinquent of the age. / condemn Rome present, that it has not yet had the fortitude, or the sense of religious justice, to make that renunciation of wrong which our own Church has made ; and the omission of which so many of its own communion abhor. I blame its continuing, as it recedes from antiquity, to drag at each remove a lengthened chain. Its curse and its condemnation is — that its laws bind the priesthood and the people to Trent. Trent fetters them to Lateran. Till the last link in this chain be broken, till the claim to punish an opinion of the mind by the infliction of punishment on the body be resigned by law, by councils, by popes — till the whole mass of the papal, the conciliar, and the canon law which sanctions this great crime be removed by the authority which enacted it, as we have removed the disgrace in England ; there can be no cessation of the distrust of Rome, no thought of peace, no hope of union.
Though I have thus endeavoured to give a fair representa- tion of the plans, intentions, talents, and greatness of ideas of Innocent III. ; so much interest has been excited respect- ing this bishop and his pontificate, that I shall not hesitate to insert here some additional circumstances which illustrate both his high though cruel character, and the spirit of the age in which he lived. An enthusiastic attachment to error on the part of the mass of a people ; with personal ambition disguised even from himself, under the notion of rendering honour to God, on the part of a pope ; — may again at any time, partially at least, reproduce that state of opinion which shall either subdue all civil monarchy ; or encourage, as in South America, a democratic upholding of papal usurpation. The war which
Tfliere any danger can be apprehended from Rome. 509
Innocent III. urged against the kings of Europe, may again book iil be partially excited, unless the temporal sovereigns are still ^vii^'
vigilant to prevent it. In the age of Innocent, the civil ^ -^-^
rulers were cruel, tyrannical barbarians; and the student may rejoice to see the cruel priest humble the cruel king. The civil ruler at present, in every country, is in some measure controlled, checked, and compelled to study, by senates chosen from the masses, the good of his people ; there is, therefore, less reason apparently to fear that a pontiff of Rome should again rule the rulers of Europe. If, however, the priesthood of Rome should again be enabled to enlist the power of the press, and of the physical masses of the people, in behalf of their ascendancy; the advising senates would be changed, and monarchy would again become the slave of the priest. There is a country where this phenomenon is even now exhibited. The priest in Ireland rules the masses. The senators chosen by those masses enforce the will of the priest, by means of the inferior portion of the people. The monarchy is weakened. The Bishop of Rome is elevated. The empire is convulsed, and its very existence is endangered. The lesson which the history of the life of Innocent III. incul- cates is, perpetual watchfulness against the influence of pon- tifical ambition, supported by talent, energy, and daring ; ap- pealing to ignorance and zeal, against nobility and mo- narchy.
Innocent III. was born in the midst of the conflict between the papacy and the empire. The popes had already achieved the emancipation of their Church from the imperial control ; and were now engaged in the struggle for supremacy with the temporal power of Christendom. His family, as we have seen, belonged to the high aristocracy of Rome, whose claim to the great dignities of the Church, converted them into the most zealous partizans of the papal pretensions. His father was Trasimundo Conti, Count of Segnia ; his mother was of the family of the Scotti, likewise of senatorial dignity. His education at Paris and Bologna, among canonists and civil- ians, furnished him with all the weapons of his future warfare • and his exercises under Gregory VIII., Clement III., and Ce- lestine III., tended to settle and confirm the principles imbibed from his early studies, and strengthened by his position in society.
510 Works of Innocent TIL before his pontificate.
BOOK III. Before he became pope, he wrote a book upon the Mystery VII. * of the Mass — a second upon the Fourfold Species of Matri-
^ ■^ ' mony, De Quadripartita Specie Nuptiarum — a work upon the " Misery of the Human Condition " — Dialogue between God and a Sinner, &c. Raumer ' gives a characteristic extract from the preface to the " Penitentiary Psalms/^ Innocent there says that he had chosen that subject of spiritual exer- cise, because the many secular occupations in which he was engaged, had a tendency to withdraw him from his holy con- templations, and to involve him in errors and sins. The " Dialogues" uniformly put forward the methods of pardon prescribed by the Church; and the pope always appears as the highest of all earthly powers, the viceroy of God upon earth. His reflections upon the miseries of the human condition, are equally descriptive of the man and his dispositions. He begins with his impure conception — his disgusting nurture in his mothei*^s womb — the coarseness of the food from which he derives his sustenance — the helplessness of the infant state — the vexations of his maturer years — the infirmities of old age, and the shortness of life. He is not even comparable with the tree of the field, for that sheds delightful odours around it ; the human body distils only foul smells. The tree bears noble fruits ; the man brings forth only corruption and impurity. " If," he continues, " ye shall say, that the body, like the tree, consists of root, stem, and branches, look rather to the still more striking resemblance to the tree, in that it is wasted away by the wind, like the dried leaf. Fain would ye elevate your spirit to God and eternity. It is pressed down and imprisoned by the body, and your self-imputed wisdom hath not even carried you so far as to find out your own ignorance." He proceeds to describe the many occu- pations of men in the same depreciating tone ; he depicts them all merely as so much idle pain, so many killing tribu- lations. Riches and poverty, dominion and slavery, marriage and celibacy, all have their own peculiar torments ; and among these the sorrows of the married man occupy a very conspicuous place. The wife clamours for dress, and trinkets, and serving women, far beyond the husband's fortune. If he refuses, she does nothing, both night and day, but com-
^ Histm-y of the Suabian Emperors, vol. iii. p. ^5.
Sincerity and piety of Innocent III. 511
plain, and sigh, and chatter, and murmur ^ The beauty, he book iir, tells us, is pursued by others ; the ugly one is shunned, but yii. she Avhom many run after it is difficult to guard, yet it is ' ■' ' mortifying to possess one whom nobody else would have. " It seems," he says further on, " to be both just and natural that the wicked should suffer; but is the good man or the saint better off in this world ? Their prison is here below, not their dwelling-place or their happiness. Here all things are at enmity with all things — the flesh with the spirit, the devil with the pure, men with animals; the elements, kingdoms, and nations are at war one with another. If upon occasion there be peace and happiness, both are but transient, and disturbed by internal strife and external envy and violence. And then steps in tribulation only the more frequent, the more sudden, the more enduring; and death ever at hand en- compasseth the whole race of Adam. Dost thou think to find rest in sleep ? dark and terrible dreams affright thee ; or if they be agreeable, thou hast to endure the painful sense of deception upon waking. Or, if we were secured against per- sonal suffering, where is the breast of iron that does not feel the pain of others ? Who is so steeled that the unright- eousness of others does not grieve him ? If He alone, who among men was pure, and without sin, was not thereby freed from grief, what must be the condition of the impure man ? Throughout all his earthly relations, in all his doings ; in his passions, his desires, his errors, and his own vices, there is nothing but misery even unto death ; ay, and beyond it, in purgatory and in hell, till the very day of judgment."
This is the substance of the work upon the " Miseries of Man." There is no reason to doubt that it contains the genuine opinions of the writer. The pictures of human crime and misery will not appear much overcharged to those who are familiar with the history of the times in which Lothario Conti lived. The shadows predominated fearfully over the lights. Rome itself was the scene of pride, and vanity, and turmoil, and strife, and crimes of every hue. France and Germany were torn by intestine broils, by feudal tyranny, and violence, and turbulence. Italy was distracted by the rival factions of the papacy and the empire ; nor was the public misery arising from these sources in any degree * Plangit et suspirat, gari'it et murmurat.— i. 18.
Il
512 Presumptuous piety and pretensions of Innocent III.
BOOK III. mitigated by a much higher tone of moral feehng than per- ^vn^' vaded the rest of Europe. The opulence which the Itahan
' -^ ' cities derived from commerce had introduced new vices,
without greatly diminishing the old ones.
Innocent was sincerely anxious to stem this torrent of evil. The cardinals felt the difficulties of their position, and unani- mously fixed upon Lothario Conti, though then only in his thirty-eighth year, as the fittest ruler of the Church. A man so deeply impressed with the nothingness of all earthly pursuits and interests could not but feel the necessity of some fixed and settled position ; from whence he could pro- ceed to move and reduce into order the frightful chaos of mundane affairs. The papacy was the only instrument of strength for such a purpose. And, in fact, if we glance aside for a moment from that humble and tranquil trust in the redemption of Jesus Christ, which we, as Christians of the Church of England, are accustomed to regard as the only means for the general amelioration of the human condition ; we shall readily perceive that there was then upon earth one position and 07ie calling only which possessed the requisite firmness, organization, and power of action to move, to direct, or to check, the mass of political and moral evil in the world. In accordance with the settled opinion of the Roman Church, Innocent regarded himself as the vicegerent of God upon earth ; and in this character he raised himself out of the circle of all earthly affections, and placed himself above all earthly things ; in order, as he frequently tells us in his letters, " that he, and the immutable Church of which he was the pastor, might be a sure anchor to all who stood in need of protec- tion ; a terror to evil doers ; a purifier of secular dominion ; and a comforter to those who groaned under earthly servi- tude. It were mere ineptitude and folly to set up the meaner calling of an earthly sovereign in opposition to, or even in comparison with, this heavenly and all-comprehen- sive destination. Instead, therefore, of indulging the pre- sumptuous opinion, that their worldly occupations might stand upon a level with the holy dominion of the pope, kings and princes ought rather to return humble thanks to Heaven that it had, in its mercy, founded upon earth a power of a higher origin than their own ; to which they might look up with reverence as to something more sublime, and enduring, and
Innocent III. unwilling to assume the Papal power. 513
unblameable ; and that thus an unerring loadstar was pointed ^9,9/^ i^^* out to them which might guide them safely through all their vii. wanderings ... In the same measure as the moon and the planets are nearer to the sun, so they receive the more light and heat : the further they recede from its influence, life like- wise recedes, and death breaks in upon them. And this is the relation in which earthly power, wanting all light, or direc- tion of its own, stands towards that spiritual power which is sufficient to itself, bearing life in itself, and shedding from itself upon all around ^"
After his accession to the papacy. Innocent took the earliest opportunity to put his Church in possession of his own views and intentions. Whether his resistance to his nomination was sincere or not, may be difficult to determine. Many of the greatest pontiffs, however, had manifested a similar re- luctance. Thus Gregory the Great went and hid himself when he was told that he had been elected to fill the chair of Pelagius ^ In the same way Gregory VII.^, Innocent III., and Alexander III., appeared to succumb under the sense of responsibility which came over them at the moment of their elevation. And as to Innocent III. himself, we learn that he wept and resisted ^ ; and yielded only when reflection made it clear to him, that, in declining the chair, he would be guilty of disobedience to the Spirit of God. Thus he describes himself as having been raised to the government of the Church: — Non suffragantibus meritis, sed divina providit dis- positio eligi et assumi*. After the solemnity of his con- secration and inauguration, he preached a sermon from Luke xii. 42. " Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom the Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?" The "faithful steward" of course is the pope. " He upon whose robe and upon whose loins is written, ^ King of kings, and Lord of lords,' hath, by his own omnipotence, ordained the supremacy of the apostolic chair : that no one might dare to resist his ordi- nances, He Himself hath accordingly said, ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, that the gates of
' Reaumer on the " Gesta " Inn. c. ^ Ep. i. 9.
xi. (Muratori R. Ital. Sci'ipt. vol. iii. ^ See the Gesta, c. v.
p. 488) in chapter xii. * Ep. 230, lib. i.
* Greg. Mag. ep. v. 42.
VOL. II. L I
514 Innocent III. on the Papal supremacy.
BOOK Tii. ^cll may not prevail against it.' But this foundation is tm- ^^}-^7- moveable, as saith the Apostle : ' for other foundation can no
' -. ' man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,' This (the
Roman see) is that strong and solid house of which the Lord speaks : * the rain fell, and the floods came and beat against that house, and it fell not, for it was built upon a rock.'" Then follows a profusion of quotations from Scripture, with a view to identify the rock, Christ, with the rock, Peter ; and after that he goes on to describe the papal office, its power and dignity, more at large. "Ye now see loho this steward is whom the Lord hath made ruler over his household : that steward is no other than the viceroy of Jesus Christ, the suc- cessor of Peter. He (the viceroy) stands in the middle place between God and man; lower than God, higher than man; less than God, more than man ; he judgeth all, and is judged of none ; as saith the Apostle (Paul), ' It is God that judgeth me.'" After thus demonstrating the transcendent nature of the office itself, and of the dignity of him who was chosen to fill it, he passes to the duties and obligations contracted by the person so chosen. " Yet he (the pope) who has been thus exalted on high, is, after all, humbled to the condition of servant of all, (referring to the w^ord " steward " in the text,) that thereby humility may be exalted, and exaltation humbled ; ' for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble ;' 'whosoever exalteth Aimse//" shall be humbled ;' ' every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.' Oh, wonderful decree ! The higher thou standest above all, the lower shalt thou debase thyself beneath all; for it is written, ' They have set thee up as a prince; be not therefore lifted up, but be as one among them.' This office is the ' candle upon the candlestick,' &c. — this is the * salt of the earth,' &c. ' Therefore to whom much is given, from him much shall be required :' he hath to give an account unto God not only for himself, but for all that are entrusted to his care. For the Lord maketh no distinctions in this household. He speaketh not of servants (stewards) in the plural, but saith ' household,' in the singular number, as if it were one individual ; for, there shall be one flock, and one shepherd ;' the vesture of the Lord was without seam from the top to the bottom ; it was in 07ie ark, and by one pilot that all, how great soever the multitude, were saved from the
1
Motives and ambition of Innocent III. 515
waters, while all that were without perished together in the book hi. deluge. Therefore am I (Innocent) called upon to give to yjf "
the ^household' the meat of ^ooc? example, 'that my light' ^ '
may so shine before men, that they may see my good works, and glorify my Father which is in heaven.' ' For no one lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house.' When the anointed priest sinneth, he maketh the people to sin ; for every infirmity of mind becomes the greater reproach, the greater the person to whom it cleaveth. If I (Innocent) were to teach merely and not to do likewise, it might be deservedly said unto me, ' Physician, heal thy- self;' or, * Thou hypocrite, first take away the beam which is in thine own eye, then shalt thou see clearly to pluck out the mote which is in thy brother's eye ;' or, ' How preachest thou, Thou shalt not steal, and stealest thyself? Thou shalt not commit adultery, and committest adultery thyself?' For unto the ungodly God hath said, ' Wherefore speakest thou of my righteousness and takest my covenant into thy mouth ?' It is but just that the preaching of him whose life giveth cause of offence should be despised. Thus, beloved sons and brethren, do I propose to set before you the meat of the Divine word upon the table of the holy Scriptures. From you I expect this recompense, this requital, that ye lift up pure hands, without contention, and without strife, unto the Lord, imploring Him, in the prayer of faith, that He may give me grace worthily to fulfil this ofiice of apostolic steward which He hath laid upon my feeble shoulders ; to the honour of his holy name, to the salvation of my own soul, to the welfare of the universal Church, and to the profit of all Christendom. Blessed be our Lord Jesus Christ, which is God over all, to all eternity !"
Is all this mere hypocrisy ? I think not. Yet, however pure and spiritual the motives of Innocent III., his conduct founded upon these professions was in the highest degree secular, and , invested with almost all the external marks of temporal am- bition. He knew no bounds to his spiritual jurisdiction ; it extended over all temporal authority ; therefore he may have believed it to be a paramount duty to bring all earthly power practically within that jurisdiction. However stronglv he may have proposed to himself to exercise it for the good of
L 1 2
516 Conduct of Innocent III. after his accession to the pontificate.
BOOK III. mankind, the glory of God, and the salvation of his own soul, VII ■ the means by which he proposed to arrive at the universal re-
' ~ ' cognition of that authority, must have been, of necessity, for the most part of a merely secular and political character. The same confusion between the goodness of the end in view, and that of the means to arrive at it, which existed in the mind of the age ; is equally perceptible in the opinions and demeanour of Innocent III. himself, superior as he was, in most respects, to all around him. He is represented to us as of a hasty and choleric temper, yet extremely placable, generous, self-deny- ing, and abstemious. In his domestic administration he was diligent, just, and popular. But when his assumed authority as head of the Church was questioned, when his dictates were disobeyed, or when any opportunity offered for extending his spiritual or temporal jurisdiction, he rarely stopped at any measures which seemed requisite to subdue opposition. The very first act of his reign was an encroachment upon the imperial prerogative within the city of Rome. He deposed the seaator or delegate appointed by the emperor as temporal sove- reign of the city, and his assessors. He annulled the oath of office to the emperor, and framed a new oath of allegiance to himself; in which the senator (whom he re-appointed) swore to defend Innocent and the cardinals ; declared himself the vassal of the pope ; and acknowledged his right to depose him at his pleasure ^ His transactions with the Emperors Henry VI., Philip, Otho III., and Frederic II., display wonderful steadi- ness of purpose, and unscrupulous use of his spiritual weapons, for the purpose of founding for his Church a solid temporal dominion in Italy; and for subduing all opposition to the implicit obedience claimed from all the princes of Christendom. As to his treatment of the supposed heretics of Provence and Languedoc, no emotion of compassion with- held his hand from shedding blood in torrents. Yet Bernard of Clairvaux, a man whose piety and devotion to what he • believed to be equally the cause of God and man, no one
ever doubted ; approved of the like measures against the dis- ciples of Peter Bruis, Abelard, and Arnold of Brescia, the latter the head of the " political heresy," as they were called ; because they denied all political power to the Church or the
5 See Ep. Inn. III. torn, i. p. 329, or Ep. lib. i. Ep. 577-
Authority, thoiiyh riyhtly ojjposed, strengthened by rashness. 517
pope, and were therefore most peculiarly odious to the Roman book ill. see. Even in that age the good sense of mankind could not yjj ' be wholly bhnded as to the tendency of the high spiritual ' ■■ ' pretensions of the pope ; not even when backed by the coun- tenance of men of the purest piety, and of the highest integ- rity. It must, however, be admitted that the deniers of the papal principle, were not endowed with the necessary dis- cernment or temper, to restrain their opposition within due bounds. The temporal disorders which often resulted from breaking through established maxims of Church authority, proved to be the very best defence to its champions. The history of the Albigenses in France, the political heretics of the Cathari in Italy, or of the Lollards in England, show, that extravagance in opposition to evil, only serves to introduce new evils without remedying — nay, by the very act strength- ening— the old ones.
The Fourth Council of Lateran was summoned by Inno- cent, on the 20th of April, 1213, and was to be held two years and a half afterwards. His professed object in sum- moning the council, as at first announced, was the re- covering of the Holy Land, and the reformation of the Catholic Church \ In the proclamation for calling toge- ther the council, he declares " that the wild beasts of the field destroy the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth \" One of the chief points of the controversy between the members of the Church of Rome and its opponents, re-
^ Whereas those two things affect, should send deputies ; to admonish all
he says, the general state of tlie Church, chapters to send deputies, and all to
he had, therefore, according to the promote the expedition to the Holy
advice of his bretliren and other judi- Land. The circular letter was directed
cious persons, resolved to call a general to the patriarchs, archbishops, bishops,
council, for the salvation of souls, for and sovereign princes of all Christeu-
eradicating vice and planting virtue, dom. — Du Pin, cent. xiii. vol. xi. p. 95,
to correct irregularities, reform the Eugl. translation, London, 1695. mannei-s, condemn heresies, put a stop The invitation, or rather summons
to divisions, establish peace, prevent to the Fourth Lateran Coimcil, may
outrages, re-establish liberty, and en- be noticed as strictly making sovereign
gage the princes and people to retrieve princes inferior to the episcopal orders, the Holy Land. He should take care ' Vineam Dommi Sabaoth multi-
in the meantime, he said, to inform formes satagunt bestite demoliri, qua-
himself of the abuses which needed rumincui-susadeoinvaluitcontraipsam,
reformation, and to send persons into ut ex parte non modica, pro vitibus
the several provuices to dispose them spinaj succreverint, et (quod gementes
for the expedition to the Holy Land ; referimus) ipsie jam vites proferant
to urge the archbishops and bishops to pro uva labruscam, infecta> multipUciter
come to the council ; and that those et cori'uptje. who could not be present in person
518 Objects of Innocent in calling the Fourth Later an Council. BOOK III. lates to the manner in which the canons of this council were
CHAP
VII. " enacted. Whether they were the acts of the council, and * ~' ' really resulted from its deliberations, is of but little moment. If the pope submitted them to the council as his own decrees and decisions, and they were adopted in silence, or even not protested against by the council ; the bishops who composed it are no less responsible. The canons of the Fourth Coun- cil, after all, are little more than the repetition of the decrees of the Third Council of Lateran, and the anticipation of many which followed it ^ The punishment of heresy by the sword was the act and the guilt of the whole Western Church. Transubstantiation was its doctrine. Among all the episcopal Churches implicated in the crime, that of Rome in its self- assumed character of supreme, must be allowed to have stood foremost. Innocent III., in acting the part he performed, did but follow the example of all the popes ever since the pontificate of Gregory VII. He meant to exercise his right of demanding passive obedience, and the bishops conceded that obedience. He meant to secure to the see of Rome the permanency of the power which it had obtained ; and he drew up such additional laws as he conceived to be specially wanted to effect his object, which were sanctioned by this most celebrated council — the Fourth of Lateran, of which I now present a tabular synopsis.
* See on this much controverted by subsequent councils and sjuods,
subject, a work by the Rev. John down to the Council of Trent." London,
Evans, "The Statutes of the Fourth Seeleys, 1843. General Council of Lateran, recognized
The Fourth Lateran Council.
519
Syiiopsis of the Twelfth General Council.
Couucil XIII.
Date.
Number of Bishops.
By whom sum- moned.
President.
Why and against what opinions.
Against whom.
Chief decrees and canons.
Fourth Lateran Council *.
A. D. 1215. November 11th to November 30th ».
Bishops 412 ; Abbots and Priors 800, with many ambassadors and delegates '.
Innocent III., on his own authority, but with the con- cuiTence of the emperor ^.
Penalties.
Sufferers.
Emperor.
Pope.
Pope, in person '.
The Albigenses and others charged with heresy *. Joachim, Abbot of Flora. Amary, a scholastic of Paris. The Tui'ks inhabiting Palestine. For general Church re- form.
Albigenses and other sects — Joachim ■ Almaric *.
Amary, or
The Third decree enjoins the destruction of heretics. IX. That the Divine offices be performed in the vulgar tongue. XXI. Enjoins auricular confession. XXXII. That sufficient mauitenance be provided for the Churches. LI. Orders the publication of banns in Churches. LXVIII. That Jews and Saracens be distinguished from Christians by a different dress. Jews and Saracens not eligible to public trusts. — By other acts, trausubstautia- tion was confirmed, and power to release subjects from allegiance by the pope made absolute. Comit Ra^inond's domain confiscated ^,
Extirpation — Excommunication — Suspension— Deposi- tion— Removal — Expulsion — Anathema.
Albigenses and their friends. Almaric's body ex- humed and burnt. Joachim not dug up '.
Frederic II., who supported Innocent in the calling and object of the couucil.
Innocent III., who arrogated to himself the power to decree the acts *.
520 Chief acts of the Fourth Council of Lateran.
Brief account of the chief acts of the Council.
I. Contains a long confession of the Catholic faith. On this subject it adds to the usual articles of the Nicene Creed
8 This was called the Great Laterau Council. — Delahogue, p. 435.
Termed Lateran from the Lateran Church of our Saviour in which it was held, which is now called Constan- tiniana. — Concilia, vol. ii. part i. p. 238, Du Pin, vol. xi. p. 206.
^ Venema, vi. 184. 244 ; Delahogue, p. 435 ; Mosheim, iii. 243 ; Gesner, p. 764 ; Platina in Tabula ; Caranza, p. 795; Grier, p. 183; Binius, iii. pt. ii. 672—697; Concilia, xi. pt. i. 238; Cent. Magdeb. cent. xiii. cap. ix. p. 792; Du Pin, ii. 203.
* Mosheim, vol. iii. p. 243, says, " A prodigious number." — See all the autho- rities given in the preceding note; also Godolphin's Ecclesiastical Laws, who says 400 bishops, and 80 other fathers.
* Grier, p. 183, says, " By and with the concurrence of the reigning empe- ror, Frederic II." See also the autho- rities before given. The Fourth La- teran Council was under Frederic II. and Innocent III. — Godolphin's Ec- cles. Laws, p. 616.
^ Pope Innocent in person. Platina in Tabula. — " Papa prsesidet." Vene- ma, vi. 244. See also all the fore-men- tioned authorities.
* In the pope's letter of indiction he assigned two reasons: — ^First. The Re- formation of the Church and the sup- pression of heresy. Second. For the purpose of exciting the princes and prelates of Christendom to unite in an expedition for the recovery of the Holy Land. — Grier, p. 184.
Tribus de causis, in Uteris expressis; pro recuperatione Terrse SanctEe, ex- tirpatione hajresium et hsereticorum, ac universali ecclesise reformatione. — Venema, vi. 244.
Ut ad recuperationem videlicet Terrse Sanctse ac reformationem universalis ecclesise. — Concilia, xi. pt. i. 123. 129. 131 ; Binius, iii. pt. ii. pp.674. 676,677-
Generale concilium juxta sanctorum patrum consuetudinera convocemus, propter lucra solummodo animarum opportune tempore celebrandum ; in quo ad extirpanda vitia et plantandas virtutes, corrigendos excessus, et re- formandos mores, eliminandas hsereses, ad roborandam fidem, sopiendas dis-
cordias, et stabiliendam pacem, com- primendas oppressiones, et hbertatem fovendam, inducendos principes et po- pulos Christianos ad succursum et sub- sidium Terrse Sanctse, tam a clericis quam a laicis impendendum, cum cseteris quse longum esset per singula numerare, provide statuantur inviola- biliter observanda. — Concilia, vol. xi. pt. i. p. 124 ; Binius, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 674, 675 ; Du Pin, vol. ii. p. 203, ed. London.
* Heretics of every denomination, and especially against the sects of the Languedoc provinces; and individually, Joachim was distinctly specified as one against whom proceedings were to be taken. He was a monk of the Cister- cian order, who founded the monastery of Flora, in Calabria, of which he was the first abbot. His offence was for accusing, in his writings, Peter Lom- bard, master of the sentences, of hold- ing a quaternity of persons in the God- head. He died before the time of his trial arrived. He was condemned, but suffered to remain in his grave. Syn- odus Lateraneusis celeberrima partim contra errores Abbatis Joachim, par- tim de expugnatione Terrse Sanctse. — Platina in Tabula. Fleury, xvi. 91, ed. 1715 ; Cave, ii. 278 ; Venema, vi. 300. See synopsis.
Almaric, or Amalric, a leai*ned Parisian doctor, who held opinions contrary to transubstantiation, and the offering of incense in churches. He is also said to have denied the resurrec- tion, paradise, hell, and other tenets. He held that every Christian was bound to believe himself a member of Jesus Christ ; and entertained extravagant ideas on various metaphysical subjects. The grief which he suffered at having been condemned by the Council of Sens in 1209, brought on a severe ill- ness, of which he died.
<> Among the decrees which still continue to make this council memora- ble, is that from which so much con- troversy has resulted, as to the ele- ments of the eucharist being trans- formed into flesh and blood, upon pro- nouncing over them the words of the consecration. The four hundred mem-
Tranmbstantiation confirmed by the Fourth Lateran Council. 521
for the Holy Catholic Church : " there is One Universal book hi. Church of the Faithful, out of which none can by any means yii. '
bers assembled on this occasion de- clare Ipse sacerdos, et sacri-
ficium Jesus Christus ; cujus corpus et sanguis in sacramento altaris sub spe- ciebus panis et vini veraciter conti- nentur ; transubstantiatis pane in cor- pus, et vino in sanguinem, potestate divina, ut ad perficiendum mysterium uuitatis accipiamus ipsi de suo quod accepit ipse de nostro. Et hoc utique sacraraentum nemo potest conficere, nisi sacerdos, qui fuerit rite ordinatus secundum claves ecclesise, quas ipse concessit apostolis et eorum successori- bus Jesus Christus. — Concilia, xi. pt. i. p. 143.
From the ninth century, the doctrine of transubstantiation of the elements in the eucharist had exhibited itself, without assuming a definite form, or being held as an article of faith. The tenets of Pascharius Radbertus, Ra- banus Maurus, Bertram of Corby, Ei-i- gena, and Berengarius, have frequently been discussed by ecclesiastical histo- rians, and need not here be mentioned. The illustrations furnished by Odo,Dun- stan,and Laufranc, Archbishops of Can- terbury, are less generally known, espe- cially the latter ; they all tend to show that transubstantiation had become a favourite doctrine in England *.
In the twelfth century, the word " transubstantiation " first came into
use ; the first who employed it was Stephen, Bishop of Autun, and he probably had the merit of inventing this barbarous term +. It was also used by his contemporary, Peter of Blois, and from that time became generally adopted.
So far it was one of those doctrines not " de fide J," but ceased to be so in the year 1215, when Innocent III. and the Council of Lateran made it an es- sential article of faith §. Matthew Paris (a.d. 1215) remarks that this canon, as well as several others then promulgated, expressed rather the opuiiou of the pope individually, than of the assembly generally.
From this time it occupied the thoughts and engaged the pens of all the schoolmen, who willingly enlarged upon a doctrine which tended to exalt to such a height the priestly office. The extravagances (to use a mild term) at which they an-ived, may be gathered from the following quotation : " Virgo Maria, etsi in gratise plenitudine crea- turas supergrediatur universas, hierar- chis tamen cedit ecclesiae in commissi mysterii executione. Ilia nempe, pro- latis octo verbulis, Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mild secundum verhum tuum, semel concepit Dei Filium et mundi Redemp- torem. Isti a Domino consecrati quin- que verbis conteutam consecrationis
* There has lately been discovered in the librai'y of WolfFenbutel, an unique copy of Berengarius' answer to tile treatise which Lanfranc wrote, against his doctrine concerning the eucharist. It has been published in Germany.
t .... he prays, " ut cibus homi- iium fiat cibus Angelorum, ut oblatio panis et vmi transubstantietur in cor- pus et sanguinem Jesu Christi." — De Sacram. Altaris in Bibl. Mag. Patr. vi. 382.
X Pope Innocent himself, in his work De Offic. Missae, ii. xxvi. after men- tioning three oi)inions which might be held before the Council of Lateran, adds, Qupelibet istarum voluit istud commune salvare, quod ibi vere est corpus Christi, quia illud ncgare est
plana contra fidera.
Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, de Ve- ritate Corporis et Sanguinis Domini, p. 45, speaking of transubstantiation, says, De modo quo id fieret fortasse satius erat cui'iosum quemque suae relinquere conjecturse, sicut liberum fuit ante Concilium Lateranum. — See also Jewell, ii. 206, ed. Lat. et Hos- pician de Orig. Fest. Christ, p. 110.
Lastly, Bellarmine, lib. 3, de Euch. xxiii., remarks, Scotus docet ante Con- cilium Lateranense non fuisse dogma fidei ti'ansubstantiationem.
§ Chi'isti corpus et sanguis in saci-a- mento altaris sub speciel3us panis et vini veraciter contiuentur, transub- stantiatis pane in corpus et vino in san- guinem Christi pot«state divina.
5.22 Innocent III. submits 70 canons to the 4th Lateran Council. BOOK III. be saved : in which Jesus Christ is at once the Priest and
CHAP
VII. ' the Sacrificej whose body and blood in the sacrament of the
formam cum debita intentione profe- rentes, eundera Dei Virgin isque Filium invocant quotidie corporaliter in sacri- ficium et criminum purgatioiiem." — Gab. Biel. lect. 4, in Can. Missse.
^ The bones of Almaric or Amalric were dug up and burnt, and the ashes cast into the dunghill, in consequence of the anathema passed upon him in the Council of Paris. — See Venema, vi. 299.
Mosheim (iii. 158) says the books of Almaric were condemned as " pernici- ous and pestilential by a public decree in the Council of Sens in 1209." Mac- laine, the ti'anslator of Mosheim, has attached a note to this passage, to in- form his readers of the en-or of both place and date into which Mosheim has been led, it having been a Council of Paris held in 1210, which condemned the writings of Almaric.
The translator is of opinion that Al- maric or Amauri did not entertain any " enormous errors ;" " but that his followers adopted most odious tenets, maintaining that the power of the Father continued no longer than the Mosaic dispensation ; that the empire of the Son extended only to the thir- teenth century ; and that then the reign of the Holy Ghost commenced, when all sacraments and external worship were to be abolished, and the salvation of Christians was to be accomplished merely by internal acts of illuminating grace."
The accusation of Joachim, and the facts connected with it, furnish a sin- gular piece of history. He was born at Celico in 1112, and was educated as one destined for high station in civil life. He occupied for some years a post in the court of Naples, which he left to visit the holy places in Pales- tine. A pestilence raged in Jerusalem while he was in the East, and this caused him to vow to renounce the world. On his return he became a rigid Cistercian, and founded several monasteries, which he governed with great repute. Many regarded him as a divine prophet. His predictions were comprised in a book called " The Everlasting Gospel." He was also author of a " Harmony of the Old and
New Testaments ;" and having led a hermit's life, he died at the age of 90, in full expectation of having a fair claim, no doubt, to rank among the samts of his flourishing order. His apotheosis was sought by his disciples, but though his works were in high estimation for the time he lived, and had received the approbation of the several popes of his day. Innocent dis- covered that his infallible predecessors had sanctioned errors which cried aloud for his condemnation, rather than the immortal honour of their author; and having caused the Latex'an synod to brand them with a damnatory sentence, the books of Joachim were ordered to be committed to the flames.
For a history of this individual, see Moreri ; see also Spondanus, i. CO ; Hoveden, ap. Spanheim, ssecul. xiii. p. 1 694, iolio, Lugd. Batv.
* Innocent presented to the assembly canons to the number of seventy, which he had previously drawn up, at the same time desiring that mo debate should be held respecting them, but that the silence of the council should be regarded as a token of their appro- bation of them. — Grier, p. 185.
Porro Canones hujus Concilii, seu
capitula numero Lxx. non modo
Matt. Parisius negavit emanasse ab ipso Concilio, prsevia deliberatione, vel approbatione patrum, sed unius ponti- ficis opus fuisse ; verum in eandera sententiam scripsere Godefridus Mo- nachus, Platina, Nauclerus, et in re- centioribus pontificiis, Antonius de Dominis, Ludovicus Servinus, Guil. Barclaius, et Galli Cordatiores. — Span- heim, cent. xiii. p. 1705, folio, Lugd. Batv. 1701.
This fact of Pope Innocent III. having imposed his own seventy decrees on a general council, without allowing one objection to be raised, and as all authorities agree, commanding a dumb acquiescence to each as they were read seriatim, before the 400 fathers and all the sovereigns of Europe, may be re- garded as the highest point ever at- tained by papal domination ; and as the most perfect realization of the papal supremacy over the universal Church.
Third canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran. 523
altar, under the species of bread and wine, are truly contained, book hi. the bread being transubstantiated into his body, and the yii. wine into his blood, by divine power," &c. * '^ '
II. Condemns the errors of the Abbot Joachim.
Canon III., of which the following is a translation, is an unlimited license for the general destruction of heretics, and seizure of their properties, with a proclamation of the right to depose kings and princes, and to set up others in their stead. '' We excommunicate and anathematize every heresy setting itself against this holy, orthodox, catholic faith, which we have before explained (in canon I.) ; condemning all heretics by whatever name designated, having indeed different faces, but all bound together by the tail, because from vanity they agree in this selfsame thing. And having been condemned, they are left to the secular magistrates present, or to their bailiffs, to undergo the accustomed punish- ment, the clergy being first degraded from their orders ; so that the goods of such as are condemned of this crime, if they be laics, may be confiscated ; but if clerics, they may be applied to the churches from which they had received their emolument.
" Moreover, those who shall fall under suspicion only, unless according to the peculiarity of the suspicion, and the quality of the person, they shall demonstrate their complete innocence by proper purgation ; they shall be stricken with the sword of anathema, and shall be shunned by all, until they have made sufficient satisfaction ; and if they continue one year under excommunication, then they shall be con- demned as heretics.
" Secular rulers, whatever authority they exercise, shall be admonished, and induced, and if necessary compelled by ecclesiastical censure, that if they desire to be held and esteemed faithful, they shall, for the defence of the faith, publicly make oath that they will, with all sincerity, use their best endeavours to exterminate from the countries subject to their jurisdiction, all heretics denounced by the Church ; so that hereafter, whenever any one shall enter upon authority, spiritual or temporal, he shall be compelled to ratify this chapter by oath.
"If any temporal lord,having been required and admonished by the Church, shall neglect to purge his territory of heretical
524 Third canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran.
BOOK III. pravity, he shall be excommunicated by the metropoHtan and all his suffragan bishops ; and if he refuse to make satisfac- tion within a year, the same shall be signified to the Roman pontiff; who then may declare his vassals absolved from their fealty, and may proclaim that his territory may be occupied by Catholics, who (the heretics having been exter- minated) shall enjoy the possession of it without any contra- diction, and preserve it in the purity of the faith ; the right of the chief lord being respected as long as he presents no obstacle, and opposes no impediment to it ; the same law, however, is to be observed towards those who have no chief lords.
" Also Catholics, who, having assumed the sign of the cross, have bound themselves to the extermination of heretics, shall have the same indulgence, and possess the same holy privileges as have been granted to those who have proceeded to the defence of the Holy Land.
" But we also decree, that those who trust to, as well as the receivers, defenders, and favourers of heretics, shall be liable to excommunication ; firmly determining that after any such person shall have been excommunicated, if he shall re- fuse to make satisfaction within a year, then ipso jure he shall be disgraced, neither shall he be eligible to any public office or council, nor to assist in electing others to such duties ; neither shall he give evidence. Let him be exempt from testamentary law, so that he neither have power to devise a possession, nor succeed to one. Besides, no one is com- pelled to criminate himself {ipsi respondere) with regard to this, but others. If by chance he be a judge, let his opinion have no force ; and let no other causes be brought to his hearing. If he be an advocate, let his pleading by no means be admitted. If he be a notary, let the instruments he draws up be not of the slightest importance : but let them be con- demned, with their condemned author. If he be a cleric, let him be deposed from every office and benefice ; so that, in whomsoever is the greater fault, upon him may fall the greater punishment.
" If any shall refuse to avoid such, after they have been pointed out by the Church, let them be under the sentence of excommunication till they make fit satisfaction. The clergy shall not administer the ecclesiastical sacraments to
Third canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran. 525
such pestilent persons ; neither shall they presume to give book iir. them Christian burial; nor to accept their alms, or oblations : ^yn^'
if they do so, they shall be deprived of their office, and not ' '
again be restored without the special indulgence of the apo- stolic see. Likewise, with regard to regulars, upon whom this sentence shall have been inflicted, their privileges shall not be continued in that diocese in which they have presumed to perpetuate such cnmes.
" But because some, under the appearance of piety, denying that power of which the Apostle speaks, claim to themselves the authority to preach, seeing the same Apostle says, " How shall they preach, except they be sent ? " — all who being pro- hibited, or sent without authority received from the Roman see, or the Catholic bishop of the place, shall presume to take the office of preaching, either publicly or privately, shall be excommunicated ; and, unless they quickly repent, other punishments shall follow.
" Moreover, we decree, that every archbishop or bishop, shall himself, or by his archdeacon, or fit and proper persons, visit twice (or once at least) in each year, that, parish in which report says heretics reside ; and there shall cause to take oath three or more men of good report, or if it shall seem requisite, the whole neighbourhood, that if any know heretics there, or others holding private conventicles, or differing from the common conversation of the faithful in life and manners, he shall endeavour to point them out to the bishop ; and the bishop shall summon the accused to his presence, who, unless they shall clear them.selves of the crime laid to their charge, or if, after proof of their innocence, they relapse into their former perfidy, shall be canonically punished. But if any of these, despising with damnable obstinacy the power of an oath, are unwilling to swear, from that very act let them be reputed as heretics.
" We wish, therefore, order, and in virtue of obedience, strictly command, that for efficiently executing these decrees, the bishops keep strict watch throughout their dioceses, if they wish to escape canonical punishment. For if any bishop shall be negligent or remiss in purging the leaven of heretical pravity from his diocese, when this is proved by competent evidence, he shall be deposed from his episcopal office, and
526 Auricular confession enjoined by the 4<th Lateran Council.
BOOK III. another fit person shall be substituted in his place, who is vn^ willing and able to destroy heretical pravity.'^
' -^ ' By canon V., the four Oriental patriarchal sees, Constan- tinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, are commanded each to receive from the Roman pontiff the pall, which is the token of submission to the pontifical power, as acknowledged by an oath of fidelity and obedience exacted at the ceremony of investment; and by which also the right of judicial ap- peals is confirmed to the apostolic see. This was the first act by which the imposition of the pall was attempted to be forced upon the eastern patriarchs ^
By canon IX. the following provisions are enacted: — "Since, in many places within the same city and diocese, people of different languages are often mingled together, having various rites and customs even while professing the same faith, we distinctly command that the chief bishops of such cities or dioceses, shall provide proper persons, who, according to the diversities of rites and languages, may celebrate the Divine offices, and administer the eccLesiastical sacraments to them, by instructing them equally by word and example."
By canon XXL, the ceremony of auricular confession is made imperative on all persons of both sexes in the following terms ; — " All the faithful of both sexes, after they have come to years of discretion, shall faithfully, in private, confess all their sins, at least once a year, to their own proper priest ; and shall do their utmost endeavour to fulfil the enjoined penance reverently, receiving the sacrament of the eucharist at least at Easter ; unless by the advice of their own priest, for some reasonable cause, they are led to abstain for a time according to his discretion ; otherwise, while living, they shall be excluded from ingress to the Church; and when dead, shall not obtain Christian burial. For which purpose this salutary statute shall frequently be published in the Churches, lest any one should allege ignorance as an excuse. And if any one wish to confess his sins, for some just cause, to another priest, let him request and obtain permission from his own
' Jubentur Canone V. quatuor sedes, ne, sed ante prsestito fidelitatis et obe- Orientalis,Constaiitinopolitana,Alexan- dientife juramento, salvis adpellationi- drina, Antiocliena, et Hierosolymitaua, bus ad sedem apostolicam, ad ipsos ad- pallium a Romano Pontifice sumere, pellari posse. — Venema, vi. 245, 246. quod est plenitudinis pontificalis insig-
The canons of Later an demanded by the people of that day. 527
priest so to do ; since, otherwise, he will not be able to bind ^p^^. p^^- and loose. vii.
"The priest should be discreet and cautious, so that, after the manner of a skilful physician, he may pour in wine and oil to the wounds of the afflicted ; diligently inquiring the cir- cumstances both of the offender and of the offence ; by Avhich he may wisely determine what advice he ought to give to him, and what remedy to apply in using various experiments to heal the sick.
" Let him also be careful that by no means whatever he betray by word, or sign, or any other method, the offender : but if he should require more prudent counsel, let him ask it without any indication of the person ; because, whoever shall presume to reveal an offence confided to him in confes- sion, we decree, shall not only be deposed from the sacerdotal office, but also condemned to perpetual penance, and thrust into a strict monastery."
By canon XLIII, the clergy are prohibited from taking an oath of fidelity to laics under whom they hold no temporal possession.
By canon XLVI. no taxes or any other burthens are allowed to be imposed on ecclesiastics, and gratuitous dona- tions from them are not permitted to be given without the consent of the pope.
By canon LVIII. the privilege is granted to bishops of celebrating the Divine offices secretly, and with closed doors, when the country is under interdict ; such as are excom- municated and interdicted being excluded.
Many of the modern friends of the Church of Rome are very anxious to prove that the persecuting canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran was not then made the law of the Church of Rome. Those who thus argue have not taken into con- sideration the whole mass of the history of the twelfth century. The public mind in all nations was at this time so imbued with the hatred and detestation of any opinion, or mode of worship, every thought, word, or deed, which was opposed to the decisions of the see of Rome, that the council did but confirm, and as it were put its seal upon the universal condemnation which followed upon alleged heresy. If they had not done so they would have been themselves insulted ;
I
528 Rome must change or be deserted.
BOOK III, their decisions derided ; and the pope himself would have ^vn!' ^^6" regarded as a traitor to his own Church. The whole of
^ ^ ' the Western Churches were contaminated with the disease of
intolerance. The whole head was sick with error, and the whole heart was faint with cruelty. Toleration was blas- phemy : blasphemy was infamy. The Church of Rome was no more guilty of persecution because of its enactment of the persecuting canons than the Church of France, or the Church of England, or any other of the larger episcopal communions. All had their delegates at the council. All received the merciless decree with approbation and delight. The fault of the Church of Rome does not consist in having passed the cruel law in the year 1215, when darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people. The crime of Rome is, that it still loves to continue the fetters, in which the Churches of Christ were then bound. England has cast them off. France has relaxed them. Spain, Portugal, Italy itself, feel their weight to be most oppressive. But they are riveted on Rome as a Church, by the decrees of Trent ; and till that fetter is removed, civilized and Christian mankind may pity, but cannot and ought not to receive her creeds, join her commu- nion, nor submit to her authority. We bear no abstract hatred to Rome. We only bid our sister to awake from the dungeons of Lateran and Trent, and throw off the chains that will break at a word. Till Rome does this, the iron of our just contempt and sorrow will enter into its soul.
The decrees of the Third Council of Lateran, the nume- rous bulls of Alexander III., the law and rescript of Lucius III., all similar in their import, and differing but little in severity, are all too, as before shown under the preceding periods to which they severally belong, incorporated in the canon law. Why then is the decree of the Fourth Council of Lateran, which speaks only the same things, assailed as un- authentic or unjust ? Indeed, a great part of the third canon of this council is taken word for word from the decree of Lucius III. ', published in 1183 or 1184, of which notice has
* See under the pontificate of Lucius also cap. xiii. § 7? p. 751. Adjecimus
III. ; see also the Corporis Juris Ca- insuper, ut quilibet archiepiscopus vel
nonici Decret. Gregorii IX. lib. v. episcopus — where the decree of Inuo-
tit. vii. cap. ix. p. 745. adjecimus, nt cent is given in the same words as the
quilibet archiepiscojnif! rel episcopuii, and prior decree of Lucius, and retained in
I
Tliird canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran. 529
already been taken. It may certainly be deemed unnecessary book ill. to refer to laws which would, on account of their remoteness, yfi. ' appear to have become obsolete; if we did not remember that ' '
though six hundred years have elapsed since the bulls of Alexander III. and Lucius III. have been identified with this Council of Lateran ; yet these laws not only remain un- repealed ; but have actually become most interesting to the pre- sent generation, on account of recent circumstances of which some detail must be given, if we would understand rightly the connexion between the various periods of histor}-, and the influence of these unjustifiable, yet unrescinded laws even upon our own day. A few years only have elapsed since the laws which excluded the members of the Church of Rome from the powers and privilege of legislating for the empire, in conjunction with their fellow- subjects, were rescinded by the king and parliament. The nature and validity of the third canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran formed one of the principal questions which were then brought into discus- sion. The original object of the canon was affirmed to be the suppression of heresy. As, however, it had been urged to justify rebellions, insurrections, and the deposition of sovereigns on account of imputed heresy; the friends of that amount of toleration which would permit even heresy to exist unpunished by either civil, canon, statute, or common law, provided the peace of society was secured ; desired some satisfaction respecting its existence, and the continuance or extinction of its authority. The importance of this canon may render it expedient to consider the arguments by which that authority was either assailed or defended ^ The most eminent authorities w^hich adhered to the Church of Rome *
the canon law by a repetition of the state of Ireland, 18-24, 1825, part ii.
same -words. Other parts, also, of the pp. 183—190 ; also M'Ghee's Laws of
decree of Lucius have been copied by Papacy, pp. 58 — 112.
Innocent ; for instance, Receptores et » The Most Reverend Patrick Cur-
defensores eorum, cunctusque pai-iter tis, Rom. Cath. Archbishop of Armagh.
vel favorem, sive consolati, sive The Most Reverend Dr. Murray,
credentes, etc., as we find it in the Rom. Cath. Archbishop of Dublin.
Rescripts of Lucius, is as follows in The Right Reverend James M'Gauran,
the canon of the Lateran Council — con- Rom. Cath. Bishop of Ardagh. The
tra defensores, receptores, fautores et Right Reverend James Doyle, Rom.
credentes haereticorum. Cath. Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin.
^ See Phelan and O'SuUivan's Digest The Reverend Oliver Kelly, Rom.
of the Evidence taken before Select Cath. Archbishop of Tuam. Daniel
Committees of the two Houses of Par- O'Connell, Esq., Rom. Cath. Barrister
liament appointed to inquire into the Kerry. Anthony Blake, Esq., Rom.
VOL. II. Mm
530 Third canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran.
BOOK III. were chosen to give such satisfaction as the nature of the
VI [. ' case demanded. They were supposed to be bound to speak
~ ' the truth not only by the usual obligations, between man and
man, by their high and holy callings, but by the solemn
pledge of a religious oath.
Archbishop Murray, before a committee of the House of Commons, swore that in no part of Christendom was this canon in operation, or held as a law of the Roman Catholic Church ; that it never did possess authority either in England or Ireland ; that when the law was passed, the Albigenses were in a state of such extreme demoralization, that the vices of which they were guilty, threatened to pollute society throughout Europe with obscenity ^ ; that the law was passed simply to counteract these vices ; that it was a law called for on the part of the civil authorities rather than the ecclesiastical portion of the Lateran Council, being chiefly designed to promote feudalism K Yet with all these unsub- stantial apologies for its enactment, Dr. Murray swears that he.believes the canon to be spurious; and endeavours to make it appear that this memorable canon is different in its structure from those which he owns to be genuine ®.
Archbishop Doyle swore before a committee of the House of Lords, that the canon in question does not sanction the extermination of heretics, but very far from it : that no such
Catli. Barrister, Chief Remembrancer sirous to understand the history of his
of the Exchequerof Ireland, and a Com- own age, and its probable consequences
missioner of Education. Richard Shiel, upon other generations.
Esq., Rom. Cath. Barrister. Mr. M. B. * May it be supposed possible that
Dunphy, Superintendent of Schools on Dr. Murray had never read the com-
the Rom. Cath. System. Dr. Crotty, plete refutation of all such charges by
President of Maynooth College, now every historian, both contemporary
Rom. Cath. Bishop of Cloyne. and recent, who took the trouble to
These are among the chief witnesses investigate the truth of the allegations
examined on the nature of the canon against the Albigensian Chui'ch ? Per-
law of the Rom. Cath. Church, as at rin and Limborch both afford satisfac-
present affecting the peace and security tory authority from Roman Catholic
of Protestant states, prior to the con- writers, that there was never any
cession of the claims of emancipation, ground for the Albigenses being ad-
The evidence, as given in the " Digest" dieted to obscenity, or any immorality
of Phelan and O'Sullivan, 2 vols. 8vo, such as Dr. Murray swore endangered
will well repay the time required for Europe with pollution. — See Perrin's
its examination ; and the further con- Albigenses, chap, i.ii iii. ; Limborch 's
tinuation given in " The Laws of the History of the Inquisition.
Papacy," by M'Ghee, with documents ^ This gratuitous assertion has no
and remarks showing the power of the better foundation than mere imaginary
English crown in Ireland to be subor- inference. — See M'Ghee, pp. 71 — 84.
dinate to that of the pope, is worthy to * Id. p. 66. be consulted by every Protestant de-
Third canon of the Fourth Council of Later an. 531
doctrine is to be found in the act of that Council ; that the book hi. grossly immoral conduct of the Albigenses endangered the ^yii^
laws of civil society ; that if the canon did pass (which Dr. "^ ^' '
Doyle professed to doubt), it was as a vote of the mixed powers, secular and ecclesiastical, for putting down the vices of the Albigenses, and nothing more ; that it was not regarded as an ecclesiastical canon '.
Dr. Kelly does not appear to have been examined on the pur- port of this decree, except in conjunction with his brethren : he is, therefore, to be regarded not as swearing, but as assent- ing to, and ratifying by his sign manual, the depositions above referred to ^
Dr. Crotty, then president of Maynooth College, since ap- pointed Bishop of Cloyne, in his examination before the Commissioners of Education, cites an opinion of Collier in support of the denial of the authenticity of the canon. This violent non-juror, outlawed on account of his fierce advocacy of Jacobitism, to be thus brought forward in affirmation of so scrupulous a point, was surely calculated to give the whole testimony a suspicious aspect. Indeed, the specimen of duplicity afforded by the depositions on the present efficacy of the Lateran canons for the suppression of heresy, will never cease to be regarded as one of the most extraordinary records connected with the legislation of the British senate. It can never be forgotten that the high functionaries of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, una voce, swore that they severally believed the canons which empower the pope to depose sovereigns, and to absolve subjects from their tem- poral allegiance, are totally destitute of authority ; no papal rescript derogatory to the rights of sovereigns being allowed publication even in Catholic states on this side the Alps. In the summing up of his answers, to prevent their being misunderstood, Dr. Crotty admits,
I. That the third and fourth Lateran Councils enacted severe temporal punishments against heretics.
' M'Ghee, p. 92. Let the reader solemn question,
compare the words of this canon with * See the thirty signatures attached to
the oaths of Drs. Doyle and Murray, the oath and declaration of the Roman
as well authenticated hy M'Ghee, and Catholic bishops in 1826, with the ob-
critically analyzed in his valuable little servations of M'Ghee on Dr. Doyle's
book, and judge for himself upon this Letter to Lord Liverpool, pp. 26 — 29.
M m 2
I
532 Third canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran.
II. That they ordained the excommunication of temporal sovereigns who connived at the introduction of heresy among their dependents.
III. That if sovereigns and lords who suffered heresy to exist in their country did not give a satisfactory account of their conduct to the pope within a year, the allegiance and fidelity of their vassals should be forfeited.
IV. That these laws originated with the ecclesiastical authorities in the council, to be afterwards put in execution by the temporal powers ; but not as possessing a right to inflict bodily punishments, which was entirely committed to the secular princes, who exercised it without any direct reference to Rome, and at their own discretion '.
Dr. Slevin's depositions apply more particularly to the bull for the restoration of property in Ireland, confiscated upon the overthrow of the Jacobite party ^
These extracts from the depositions made by the advocates of the petitions presented to the British parliament for the re- storation of power to the members of the Church of Rome in this kingdom; are sufficient to show by what kind of pretences the persecuting and dethroning canons were attempted to be disowned : the chief of which were, — by swearing that the canon means nothing of what it says ; by laying the odium of its enactment on the secular rulers of states, and excusing the Church from every fault but compliance ; by renewing calumnies against the Albigenses, in the face of all history, except that which has been given by their persecutors them- selves, in justification of the deeds of blood committed by themselves ; and by affecting to disbelieve the canon having been passed by the council.
While, however, these insurrectionary and proscribing laws keep their place as fixtures in the books of jurispru- dence ^ of the Church of Rome, and are studied by canonists of that persuasion as much as any other of their sacred
9 See Appendix to Report of Com- Boehmer's Gratian, Corpus Juris
niissioners of Irish Education, October Canonici, vol. ii. pp. 74!) — 752. Ex-
20, 1820, with remarks of M'Ghee, communicati sunt omnes hreretici.
Laws of the Papacy, p. 82, et seq. quibuscunque nominibus nominentur.
' M'Ghee's Extracts, as above, p. 32, — Lib. v. tit. vii. cap. xiii. Tiinoc. 111.
et seq. in Cone. Gener. Later, c. 3.
* Decretals of Gi-egory IX. See
Third canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran. 533
edicts, the attempt to prove them spurious must, as Dr. book ill. Geddes observed, be rejected by every sober and impartial *"yi^'^'
critic *. * V '
In the acts of the council given in a preceding page, a faith- ful translation has been inserted of the decree against here- tics ; and with regard to the utter destruction of them being very far from the meaning of the canon*, the document speaks for itself. On the canon being passed to oblige the secular rulers, and rather as their act than that of the spiritual powers, a decree of the Roman Catholic code declares, that " inas- much as this crime of heresy is purely ecclesiastical, poten- tates, temporal lords, governors, and their officers are for- bidden to take cognizance or judgment concerning it in any manner whatsoever ^"
* Digest of Evidence by Phelan and O'Sullivan, part ii. p. 185.
* See supra, pp. 87 — 89 ; and when the words of that celebrated decree hare been considered, the answers of Dr. Doyle to the following questions, on his oath, in 1825, befure the Com- mittee of the House of Lords (Report, pp. 502, 503), will be seen with some astonishment.
" Quest. Was the Fourth Council of Lateran a general council \
" Ans. It is accounted among the general councils.
" Quest. By the third canon of that general council the doctrine of exter- mination of heretics^ is declared, is it not ]
" Ans. Very far from it."
It is true that an evasion is attempted by a pretence that the canon is spurious: but the learned bishops who presumed on this pretence, admit the twenty-first canon to be binding as to auricular confession, and by the number and order of the canons, it could not be so unless the third canon is suffered to remain a law. The hollowness of the evasion was clearly and ably exposed by the Protestant Archbishop of Dub- lin.— See Report of Lords' Committee, p. 743, et seq.
* In a subsequent part of Dr. Doyle's Evidence (Report of Lords' Committee, April 21, 1825, pp. 502, 503), he pro- ceeds to state that " there were as- sembled two emperors, the King of France, the King of Aragon, the King of England, tlie King of Hungary, the King of Boliemia, and others ;"' " that
heresies were broached at that time which went to upturn the foundations of society ;" " that the vote of the coun- cil was adopted by those sovereigns, and by those bishops, for the purpose of doing away a great nuisance from the bosom of the catholic world." They treated with affected disdain the opinion that such a law was an eccle- siastical enactment, and insinuated that if odium were to be imputed, it attached more to the kings and secular authorities present, than to the Church; and that it was nowhere received as binding by the Church of which he was a bishop. Yet, strange as such a fact must appear to every upright mind, a decree or canon similar in its ob- jects, stood at that time in the code of canons studied at Maynooth, whicli distinctly declares that temporal lords and princes are incompetent to judge and determine concei-ning heresy, which is a crime wholly confined to ecclesias- tical jurisdiction — Prohibemus quoquo districtius potestatibus, dominis teni- poralibus, et rectoribus, eoi'umdemque ofhcialibus supra dictis, ne ipsi de hoe crimine (cum mere sit ecclesiasticum) quoquo modo cognoscant vel judicent ; sive captos pro eodem crimine absque dictorum episcoporum, sive inquisito- rum, aut saltern altcrius eorumdem licentia, vel mandato, a carcere libcrent — and that this canon forbids pi'inces exercising any power concerning heresies, or interfering with tiie ex- clusive right of the ecclcsi.nstics to judge and decide on questions of this nature, is amply pi'ovcd by its dcsigna-
534 Third canon of the Fourth Council of Later an.
BOOK III. The attempt to interpose a doubt as to the authenticity ^vn^ of the canon, on the mere supposition which ColUer and some
' ■' ' others not named ventured to suggest, without so much as
a shadow of authority, is unworthy of further notice : but not so the shameful plea of necessity for such a law, in order to extirpate Manicheism, and unnatural crimes, and other abominations from Europe ®. In justice to the libelled memory of those faithful Christians who by hundreds were devoured alive in the flames, and martyred in other merciless ways by hundreds of thousands, in obedience to the savage decree of Lateran ; in justice to the better feel- ings of Christian England, as the head of the religious, moral, and civilized world ; in justice to every soldier in the ranks of truth, in time present, and time to come — such political calumnies — such foul aspersions against a holy and unoffending body of humble disciples of the Son of God, must not be unnoticed. Though the decree was directed against all who disapproved of the corruptions which Rome had introduced into the Church at the time it was ratified ; it was not confined to the circumstances of any one time. It was enacted against the increasing desire to worship God scripturally, and not pontifically. Its object was to preserve the exorbitant power of the popedom ; and not to abate one tittle of the dictatorial supremacy, which Rome then pos- sessed. The light of truth was beginning to emerge from the deep recesses of Piedmont, and to expand over the Alpine ridges. It was widely hailed. It was a very offensive thing to those whose deeds were evil, and who loved darkness rather than light; and it cannot be denied that the decree Vt^as first put into execution with unmerciful fury against those who first rejoiced in the returning dawn of that holy light. It still remains one of the sacred laws of the Roman Catholic
tion or head — Episcopis et inquisito- the word Bulgari, by which name some
ribus hseresis non resistant, sed oraniuo of the sects in the South of France
pareant domini temporales ; et de eo were designated. — Rise and Fall, vol. v.
crimine non cognoscant ; alias, prout p. 534, 4to edit, note) have imputed to
dicitur hie, puniuntur. — Gratian, Sexti them, according to the proverb — Clo-
Decret. lib, v. tit. ii. cap. xviii. dius accusat moechos ; See Faber's
•> For a most full and perfect vindi- Inquiry into the History and Thco-
cation of the Waldenses and Albigen- logy of the Ancient Vallenses and Albi-
ses from Manicheism, and fi'om the genses, 8vo, 1838 ; and Excursions to
unnatural crimes which their baser the Valleys of Piedmont, &c., by Dr.
accusers (I allude to Gibbon's readi- Gilly. ness to adopt a disgusting epithet from
Names given to the Albigenses and Waldenses. 535
Church, and never was for a moment obsolete since it book hi. passed. It is the law on which the Inquisition was first ^vn^
authorized ; and though it was the blood-shedding law of the ' •- '
fifty years^ crusade against the Albigenses, its application is not confined to place or time. For some ages before the sentence of death was passed upon every man, woman, and child, who thought otherwise of religion than Rome prescribed, the emissaries of Rome stigmatized the Christians of Pied- mont, and their converts, as heretics. They applied to them various reproachful designations, to mark them as objects who might be insulted and persecuted to death with impunity. Some of the chief names of reproach by which they were pointed out for abuse, molestation, pillage, or murder, were, Lyonists ; or the poor men of Lyons ; one of the cities where their converts had greatly multiplied — Albigenses ; from the citizens of Albi in Languedoc — Toulousians; from the numerous persons in Toulouse who embraced their doc- trines— Arelatenses ; from Aries being, also, one of the chief cities where they flourished — Picards ; from their successful preaching in Picardy — Lombards; from their tenets having spread into that part of Italy — Waldenses ; as some have imagined from a rich merchant of Lyons, named Peter Waldo, who advocated their principles, and assisted in the propa- gation of their doctrine — Lollards ; from Walter Lollard, one of their chief preachers and champions of truth — Apos- tolici ; a name of reproach from their professing to imitate the apostles — Cathari ; given formerly to the Novatians as a term of mockery of that greater purity which they professed ; and signifying Puritans — Perfectionists ; because they cen- sured the impure conduct of the Romish priesthood — Fratri- celli ; meaning little brothers, or persons of no account — Passagenes ; from their system of itinerant preaching, and passing about from district to district — Humiliati ; in con- tempt of the great humility of their lives and manners — Paterini ; in consequence of their refusing to worship the host, they were reproached by this term, as worshippers of the Father only ; though some say they gave themselves this name to signify the sufferings to which they were ex- posed, from j9a^i, to suffer — Manichees ; to bring their opinions into contempt, as derived from the ancient heresy of Manes, which was everywhere rejected as the remnant of Gnosticism
536 Names given to the Albigenses and Waldenses. BOOK in. and other errors — Insabbatians ; to hold them up to hatred
CHAP .
VII, and malice, as keeping no Sabbath ; or from wearing the " ' wooden shoes of the lower classes — Bohemi ; to imply that their heresy had received its origin from Bohemia — Catari, a Cato : because they kissed the hinder parts of a cat, in which form, as they say, Lucifer appeared to them ^, with many others. These and other similar epithets were constantly employed to bring down the contempt and persecution of the world upon the heads of the Vaudois Christians j but as the contempt and indignation fell rather on Rome than those for whom they were intended, revenge was at length substituted for scurrility and ridicule. Innocent III. summoned sove- reigns, as well as clergy, from all the ends of the earth ; founded the inquisitorial system ; passed his exterminating canons ; commanded kings, on pain of the forfeiture of the allegiance of their subjects, the loss of their crowns, and a sentence of eternal torment, to execute his decrees against heretics, called by the above or by any other names. He thus commenced the fifty years' havoc and confiscation which the Waldenses and Albigenses were destined to endure in obe- dience to the canons and bulls of Alexander III., Lucius III., and his own. Neither is it to be inferred that at the end of this time the malignity of the hierarchate of Rome ceased. It has been carried on in the most injurious manner that pontifical power could devise, and neighbouring govern- ments would permit, under different forms, and with more or less rigour, ever since. Where Rome dare not wage open
^ Catari dicuntur a Cato, quia oscu- religious people by an odious nick-
lantur posteriora Cati, in cujus specie, name, seems not to have raised the
ut dicunt, appareret eis Lucifer. — slightest suspicion of the fidelity of the
Alanus, contra Haereticos, lib. i. c. 63, traducer; and Mr. Hallam speaks of the
apud Faber's Waldenses and Albigen- Albigenses as if he really expected his
ses p. 68. readers to rely on his discrimination,
" This Alanus de Insulis," says the after such a gross instance of delusion, author of Europe during the Middle Alanus was quite unworthy, after so ^at'S, " whose Treatise against heretics, absui'd a definition, to be regarded as written about 1200, was published by a faithful historian. But he gives a Masson at Lyons in 1612, has left, I still further specimen of his filthy pro- think, conclusive evidence of the Mani- pensity, when he speaks of Cathari as cheism of the Albigenses." Mr. Hal- a probable derivation of their name, lam has himself cited the above con- because the word Catha, signifying a temptible reason which Alanus gives flux, is suitable to their utter abandon- for the term Catari having been re- ment to dissoluteness of manners. Mi*, proachfully affixed to the Albigenses, Faber has treated this point with great and yet he scruples not to give him judgment. — See State of Europe during ci-edit for being a most dispassionate the Middle Ages, vol. iii. chap. ix. writer. This attempt to degrade a pp. 465—470 ; also Fabcr, ut sup.
Testimonies in favour of the Christians in the South ofFrance.5S7
hostility; its invariable policy ever has been, and still is, "to book hi. wear out the saints of the Most High" by persevering in vii. the most annoying and distressing vexations and miseries, it ' " ' can venture to inflict directly or indirectly. And the con- tinuance of the persecution of the Waldenses in the present day is a proof that the will and the power to punish the body, for the supposed benefit of the soul, is not dead, but sleeping.
But these observations, in favour of the Christian prin- ciples to which the Piedmontese and their brethren of Pro- vence, Dauphiny, and some other departments of France continued to adhere, demand a few historical notices of these people, in proof of the justice of their defenders, and the injustice of their accusers.
Eusebius records an epistle written by the Christians of the South of France, the predecessors of the upholders of the antipapal doctrines, to the Churches throughout Asia and Phrygia ; concerning the cruel martyrdoms and persecutions suffered by them under the Emperor Antoninus Verus, A.D. 179. They address them after the following manner: " The servants of Christ inhabiting Yienne and Lyons, cities of France, unto the brethren throughout Asia and Phrygia, having with us the same faith and hope of redemption, peace, and grace, and glory from God the Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord, be multiplied \" &c.
In the preface to the first French Bible ever published, the Waldenses affirm., that they have had the full enjoyment of the heavenly truths contained in the holy Scriptures ever since they were enriched with the same by the apostles them- selves ; that they have preserved fair MSS. of the entire Bible, in their native tongue, from generation to generation from that early period '.
Vigilantius, a native of Lyons in Aquitaine, in his memo- rable controversy with Jerome, maintained only the primitive truth, continued among the Waldenses, and restored by God's mercy to ourselves \
* Eusebius, Eccles. Hist. lib. v. Albigenses have been hereticallv deno-
cap. 1. minated is Leonists, or poor men of
^ Moriand's History of the Evange- Lyons ; and Mr. Faber has very suc-
lical Churches in the Valleys of Pied- cessfully traced this appellation through
niont, p. 14, fdl. London, 1658. a very intricate and obscure line to
' One of the terms by which the VigiJautius. He incurred the rancorous
538
Testimonies in favour of the IValdenses.
Among all the sects, says Reinerius, which are, or ever were, there is none more pernicious to the Church of God than that of the poor people of Lyons, because it is of longer duration ; some say it hath remained from the time of Pope Silvester, some, from the time of the apostles '.
They were the relics, says Beza, of the pure, primitive Christian Churches. The seed of the most ancient Christian Church that was, hath been most miraculously preserved in the midst of the darkness and errors of these latter times ; and from this source spread itself through the rest of Europe \
Whereas all other heretics cause horror, says Mornay du Plessis, by their blasphemies against God, these Leonists
abuse of Jerome by his censure of the monkish superstitions which Jerome promoted. Vigihmtius denied also that the tombs and remains of martyrs were subjects of adoration ; he main- tained that pilgrimages to holy places were unscriptural ; that nocturnal de- votions were uncalled for ; that mira- cles at the shrines of saints were pre- tence; that burning tapers by daylight on the tombs of the dead was borrowed from the pagans ; that prayers to de- parted saints were vain ; that the fastings, mortifications, celibacy, and austerities of monks, were contemptible; that donations to Jerusalem and volun- tary poverty, without spiritual devo- tion, were unacceptable to God ; and he is ranked among the heretics of the early part of the fifth century.
Mosheim says, " This project, then, of reforming the corruptions of the Church, which a fanatical and super- stitious zeal had introduced, was choked in its birth, and good Vigilan- tius remains still in the list of heretics." — Eccles. History, vol. ii. chap. iii. p. 52, cent, v, part ii.
The life and opinions of Vigilantiua have recently been examined at con- siderable length by Dr. Gilly, in a work devoted to that subject.
Thus we have a fair right to con- clude, that one highly distinguished for learning and love of truth, among the primitive Christians of the valleys of Piedmont, at the beginning of the fifth century, stood forward to condemn the corruptions of the Church, and by the labours of Mr. Faber we are confirmed in this interesting conclusion. " This
holy man," he says, " as we fortunately learn from the very scurrility of Jerome, was actually born in the precise town of Lyons, or Convense, in Aquitaine, whence, from the place of his nativity, he would obviously be called among his hosts of the valleys, VigUantius Leo. His proper local appellation he communicated, if I mistake not, to his congenial friends, the Vallenses of Piedmont, and his memory, as we see, was affectionately cherished by them, down even to the time of Claude Seys- sel." " Thus," he says, " I apprehend the name Leonist was derived from Lyons; not indeed fi'om the more cele- brated Lyons on the Rhone, but from Lyons of Aquitaine, or the Lugdunum Convenarum of the Pyrenees." Having spoken then of the Jesuit Gretzer being disposed to quibble at the testimony of Reinerius, as to the apostolically re- mote antiquity of the Piedmontese Vallenses, we have in a note Gretzer's taunt — Frustra autem est Plessseus, cum fictitiae Valdensium antiquitati advocatum adsciscit Reinerium. Non, enim, ex sua, sed ex aliorum sententia, cap. iv. ait, sectam Valdensium a tem- poribus S. Sylvestri papae vel etiam ipsorum apostolorum durasse. — Gret- zer. Prolegom. in Scriptor. cent. sect. Valdens. Bibl. Patr. vol. xiii. p. 206, ap. Faber, Vallenses and Albigenses, book iii. chap. i. pp. 279, 280.
2 Reinerius, chief inquisitor, and a fierce pei'secutor of the Waldenses, under Innocent TIL, in his book de Forma Hceret. ap. Faber.
3 Beza, Icones Virorum doetrina et pietate illustrium, 4to. ap. Faber.
TJieory of Gibbon indefensible. 539
have a great appearance of piety, inasmuch as they live book hi. honestly before men, and put their trust in the God of all vii. things, and observe all the articles of the Creed ; only they ' "' ' blaspheme the Church of Rome, and hold it in contempt; and therein are easily believed of the people *.
One of the chief adversaries of these fraternities bears wit- ness to the superiority of the Waldenses to the priesthood of his own Church in theological disputation and moral con- duct. The Waldenses disputed of religion more subtlely than all others, for which cause they were often allowed by the priests to teach publicly, not that they approved their opinions, but because they were not equal to them in know- ledge : and in so great honour were these sects held, that a man would not hurt his enemy if he met him on the way in company with one of these heretics, so that the safety of all seemed to consist in their protection \
The concurrent testimonies of Camerarius, David Constant of Lausanne, Bullinger, Martin Luther, John Haukschein, or ^colampadius, Bucer, Virel of Berne, with very many other witnesses of learning and probity might be adduced, in testi- mony of the piety and virtue of the humble servants of God ; against whom the Fourth Lateran Council issued the decrees submitted to its assenting archbishops, bishops, and doctors, by Innocent IIL Neither must we adopt the most strange and untenable hypothesis of Gibbon ", that the Albigenses, and therefore the opponents of the papal usurpations gene- rally, are to be deduced from the Paulicians, who came by three different routes from the East ; some under the Byzan- tine standards being transported to Italy and Sicily, others following the pilgrims and crusaders from Jerusalem to the Danube ; others being received into the hospitable republic of Venice, " which opened its bosom to foreigners of every clime and religion." It is certain that many foreigners, some of whom may have been Paulicians, some Arians, or Manicheans,
* quod omnes alise, cum imma- mant et oderunt, cui multitudo facilis
nitate blasphemiarum m Deum, hor- est ad credenduni. — Mysteriura luiqui-
rorem indueant, hsec Leonistarum tatis, Philippi Moruayi Plessiaci Mar-
niagnam habens speciem pietatis, eo liani, p. 303, edit. 4to. Gorchenii, 1662.
quod coi'ara hoininibus juste vivant et ^ See Mornay's Myst. Iniquit. ut
bene omnia de Deo credant et omnes supra.
articulos qui in Symbolo continentur, ® Ch. liv. vol. x. Milman's edition, solani Romanam Ecclesiam blasphe-
540 The apostolical succtss'ion of truth.
BOOK III. and holders of many strange, undefined, undefinable opinions, VII. which were never sanctioned by the ecclesiastical authorities
' '' of the dioceses, were brought from the East to the West by commerce, the result of wars, revolutions, or changes ; but there is by no means sufficient and satisfactory evidence to prove that any of the tribes, sects, parties, or individuals, who might have thus come from the East, were of such importance and influence as to cause the people of Europe to adopt their religious notions. My most dear friend Dr. Gilly, in his Waldensian Researches^, has demonstrated the fallacy of this theory. The authority of Muratori *, a Romanist, who was prejudiced, as his brethren generally are, against the oppo- nents of the papal usurpations, with the vague remarks of Mosheim, who slightingly speaks of the Albigenses and Wal- denses, as " sects " that rose up in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, misled our historian. Neither Mr. Gibbon, nor his editor Mr. Milman, have given the only true explanation of the continued opposition which the Church of Rome expe- rienced, more or less, in every age of its usurpations; namely, that the wheat of truth and the tares of falsehood grew toge- ther in the visible Church ; and that there has not only been a visible apostolical succession of ecclesiastical rulers, who were sometimes most erroneous in the doctrines they taught ; but there has been also a constant visible apostolical succes- sion of ecclesiastical inquirers, who resolutely pursue truth for the truth's sake, whether their rulers approved or disap- proved of their efforts. The ecclesiastical succession of rulers was always visible. The succession of inquirers was not always visible. It was sometimes so obscure, that few facts are recorded which prove its existence. But that they always did exist is proved by the fact, that the same spiritual and scriptural spirit which established the Gospel at the first stage of their triumph, the Reformation as the second, and which will as certainly destroy popery at its last triumph, as it destroyed heathenism ; uniformly appeared when the papal usurpations were more presumptuous, or persecution more severe. To use the language of my friend Dr. Gilly, in another of his most valuable labours^, " Witnesses were raised up from
' Pages 1 — 132. '-' Dr. Gilly's Vigilantius and his
« Amiq. Ital. JNledii JSi\\, torn. v. Times, Introduction, dissert. Ix.
GUly—Hallam — Turner — Maitland on the IValdenses. 541
time to time bv Divine grace, to bear testimony to the truth, book hi. and to be the hnks of its continuity through ages of rebuke and y f j ' darkness. There is a succession of Christianity, -which may be ' ^^ ' compared to that of Judaism. The genealogies of Israel are lost ; the sacerdotal line can no longer be traced up to Aaron ; the tribes are scattered through the world ; the suc- cession has been interrupted, but the true seed of Abraham cannot perish, nor will the promises in regard to the restora- tion of Israel be unfulfilled. In like manner there is a sacred and indestructible line of Christianity, which has continued since our Lord's promise of the duration of his Church, un- corrupted by those who boast of their succession from the Church of the Fathers, the Church of the Schoolmen, and the Church of Rome : often being in the visible Church, and yet not of it. The wilderness Church, and the succession of witnesses in sackcloth, have been predicted from the first; and this implies a condition the very reverse of ascendancy, and supremacy, and prosperity. The succession of pure Gospel truth has been perpetuated by despised and humble witnesses like Yigilantius (and the Waldenses) ; as the suc- cession of 'another gospel,' called the development system, has been perpetuated by bold and able men like Jerome, and the Schoolmen, and the Jesuits."
After showing the fallacy of Mr. Gibbon's theory respecting the origin of the Albigenses, Dr. Gilly * proceeds to point out the eiTor of Mr. Sharon Turner, who, in his History' of the principal attacks on Papal Christianity % gives the place of honour, not to the asserters and vindicators of primitive Christianity, but to Asiatic and Mohammedan censors. Mr. Turner, however, acquits the Waldenses of either Paulician or Manichean errors \
' Waldensian Researches, p. 29 — 37- The student will read as the reply to
* History of England during the this work, Faber's Inquiry into " the Middle Ages, vol. vii. p. 3. History and Theology of the Ancient
* The Waldensian Researches of Vallenses and Albigenses. He will Dr. Gilly ought to be in the hands and read also Mr. Maitland's work. Facts hearts of every student of history. It and Documents relating to the Wal- contains an unanswerable demonstra- denses, &e. Mr. Maitland's very tion of the apostolical succession of learned work, lessens at once our pity scriptural truth among the churches of for the sufferers, and our abhorrence the valleys. Mr. Hallani, I am sorry of their murderers ; by proving from to add, has adopted the views of Gibbon the records of the Inquisition of Tou- (Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 4()1 — 465). louse, and from the testimony of their
542 Death of Innocent III.
Innocent died on the 16th July, ]216, at Perugia, on his way to Pisa, whither he was proceeding to settle a quarrel between the Pisians and Genoese. His pontificate continued eighteen years and a half. He died in the fifty-eighth year of his age.
avowed enemies, that the persecuted of the worst tares were found in their Albigenses and Waldenses were nei- wheat, ther sinless nor perfect; and that many
CHAPTER VIII.
llie political influence of the Church of Rome continued. — Its moral power begins to decline. — First General Council of Lyons.
CLXXVII. Honorius III., died 1227.
Cencius Savelli, a Roman, and cardinal priest, succeeded book ill. Innocent III. He was elected at Perugia on the 18th, and viii. crowned on the 24th, of July, 1216 \ The custom of shutting '' ' up the cardinals in conclave, that they might come to a more rapid decision^, had not begun at the election of Honorius, as many have supposed. It was commenced in the time of Gregory X., by whom the law was proposed in the Council of Lyons, in 1274. Honorius was crowned in six days after his election.
The earthly Almightiness ' of the Church of Rome was now so universally and so firmly established, that nothing but its own folly could destroy its power. Innocent III. had de- clared, in one of his epistles to John *, that as all things in heaven and earth bowed to Christ, so all things should be obe- dient to the vicar of Christ. He continued, in this one sen- tence, the whole of the arrogant assumptions of Nicholas, Hildebrand, and all the Gregorian party, which had never yet been legally rescinded. From this moment, however, the spiritual strength of the see of Rome imperceptibly began to decline. The purity of its faith, which had been spoken of
' See Raynald.ad aim. § 16, 17- nibus prsefectum, quem suum in terris
' Venema, Hist. Eccles. vi. 202. vicarium ordinavit ; ut sieut ei flecti-
* Earthly Almighty, wherefore tar- tur omne genu coelestium, terrestrium, riest thou ? — Southey, Curse of Ke- et inferiorum, ita i!li omnes obedient hama. et intendant. — See Rymer's Foedera.
* .... a Christo esse unum om-
544' Avarice and cruelty noiv distinguish Rome.
BOOK III. through the whole world, had been injured by the later addi- Yljj ■ tions to its creed ; which could not bear the test of inquiry,
' ^^ ' and which must be upheld, therefore, by the suppressing of
that first right and duty of mankind. Its patience under suffering had been changed into the inflicting of suffering upon others. Its glory had departed, though its authority re- mained. The virtue, which had been the basis of its ascend- ancy, was diminished ; and though one hundred and fifty years were to elapse before Wyclif was protected in his oppo- sition to Rome, by the noble peerage of England ; and though three hundred years were to elapse before the battering-ram of Luther shook the gates of the city ; yet the way for both was prepared by the combination of avarice and cruelty which from this time still more especially characterized the Bishops of Rome. Their avarice provoked perpetual resist- ance, sometimes with, though sometimes without, success. Their cruelty provoked the deep and deadly hatred of the poorer masses who could not resist. The history of the ecclesiastical power, from the age of Honorius to that of Leo X., is little more than the painful detail of demands for money, and laws against heresy. The Bishop of Rome was so far the sovereign of Europe, that no potentate dared to re- ject his dominion, till the king of England, Henry VIIL, pre- sumed to despise the excommunication of Clement VIL The papal sovereign of Europe maintained the state of his usurped rank, by the taxation of the submissive Churches ; and his power by the perpetual addition of new laws to define, and to punish heresy. I shall pass as rapidly as possible through this period. Four popes reigned, and thirty years elapsed between the Fourth Council of Lateran, and the general Council of Lyons.
Honorius continued the policy of Hildebrand by exhort- ing the princes of Europe to forward succours to the Holy Land. He made the expenses of these expeditions, the pre- text for exacting money from the chief states of Europe. On the coronation of Henry IH., Walo, the legate of Honorius, required the young king to do homage to the Bishop of Rome, and to pay as a tributary vassal the yearly sum of 3000 marks, for the kingdoms of England and Ireland. By the influence of the same legate, Henry assumed the cross immediately after his coronation ; probably that in so doing he
Council at Oxford ordains tJi£ present Church festivals. 545
might shelter himself under the papal protection extended to book hi. all crusaders '\ yiii.
In 1217, the Dominicans, the order of preaching friars, the ^■ great denouncers of heresy, were established in England ^ ; and three years after this, a Council at Oxford, following the example of a Council of Genoa, held in 1216, and anticipating the Council of Rouen, 1223, and one at Montpellier, 1224, confirmed and sanctioned the decrees of the Fourth Council of Lateran. It was held under Stephen Langton. It did not, however, repeat the whole of the more persecuting decrees. It enacted many useful canons, and enjoined the observance of the principal festivals still retained in the Church of England. This council condemned a wretched apostate from Christianity to Judaism to be degraded from the diaconate, as he deserved. With this sentence, justice ought to have been satisfied : but England had begun to drink of the cup of cruelty which now characterized the eccle- siastical power ; and the victim was delivered over to the secular power, and burned.
I pass by the quarrels between the Emperor Frederic and the pope. The emperor, to prove his orthodoxy, sound Christianity, and adherence to the Church in general, though he quarrelled with the pope, enacted the disgraceful laws which are still incoi'porated in the canon law. This edict of Frederic confirmed, recapitulated, and added to the law of the Fourth Council of Lateran '. It enacted that heresy should be punished by fire. The children of heretics were to be deprived of their right of inheritance, unless they gave information against their fathers. Heresy was declared to be punishable by fire ; but the tongue might be cut out as an act of mercy in some instances, and the life be spared.
* See Knyghton, ap. Decern Script. Josepini, Arnaldisti, Speronistte, om col. 2427. nesque singulari opinione in Eeclesiam
* Id. col, 2422. Catholicam pertinaces. — Edit. Boeh- ' See Corpus Juris Canonici Lib. mer, ii. 135 — 137.
Sept. Decret. tit. iii. De Hajreticis et Also,Capitula sive Constitutiones con-
Schismaticis, cap. i. Leges Friderici tra Patarenos edita per eundem Fride-
imperatoris in hsereticse pravitatis reos ricum, illustrem virum, Ronianorum.
eorumque complices et fautores latae, Imperatorem semper Augustum, Hie-
confirmantur, et servari jubentur. — rusalem et Sicilise Regem. — Id. 137,
cap. ii. Excommunicantur nonnulli 138.
hseretici, ut sunt Cathari, Patareni, Also, Aliud Rescriptum Friderici in
Pauperes de Lugduno, Passagini, Hsereticos. — Id. 138, 139.
VOL. II. X n
I
546 The Bishop of Rome has no authority in Engla7id.
BOOK III, In the year 1225, the pope's legate demanded of every con- VIII.' ventual Church in England two marks of silver for procura-
' -^ ' tions^
In the year 1226, at a council at Westminster, Otho, the legate of Honorius, requested for his master, two prebends out of every cathedral ^ Langton procured the recall of the legate, as unlikely to obtain success ; and Honorius appointed Langton to submit the proposal to the king and to the peers. The request was refused, as unprecedented, but the refusal was softened with the declaration that England would follow the example of other countries. Appeals to Honorius from Canterbury, Durham, Westminster, and the monks of various places, are mentioned in the histories of this time as sources of revenue to Rome. Honorius died March 18th, 1227, having sat ten years and eight months '.
CLXXVIII. Gregory IX., died 1241.
Cardinal Hugo, or Ugolino, Bishop of Ostia, deacon- cardinal of the family of the Counts de Segni, succeeded Honorius, and materially injured the reputation of the Bishops of Rome by the personal hatred and rancour with which he pursued the emperor Frederic, who had proved his zeal and orthodoxy by his severity against heretics, and assuming the cross. Frederic had offended Honorius by declaring that he had the right, as a sovereign prince, to banish from his terri- tories, the bishops, or any other persons, upon whose fidelity he could not depend. He offended him also by some delay in fulfilling the vow which he had made at his coronation, of going to the Holy Land. Frederic, on that occasion, received the cross from Cardinal Ugolino, now Gregory IX. Dami-
^ In reading of these exactions, we same errand. An assembly of the
must remember that the Bishop of clergy was called at Bourges. The
Rome had no more right, authority, Archbishop of Lyons resisted the de-
or power in England than the Patri- mand, and the rest of the Gallican
arch of Constantinople. clergy united with him in refusing it.
References for these facts may be The legate, after hearing the reply of
found in Brady or Collier, and others the Archbishop of Lyons, was ashamed ;
in Twysden's Vindication of the English and declared that he did not know the
Church, of which an enlarged and cor- contents of the pontifical letters till
rected edition has recently issued from after he had arrived in France,
the Cambridge University press. > See Raynaldi, ad aun. 1227, § '2,
^ Honorius sent his legate Romanus seqq. into France at the same time, upon the
A crusade commanded against the chief crusader. b4i7
etta had been lately taken by the Saracens, and the popes book til were anxious, therefore, to send out an additional army of ^^{\i'
crusaders. Frederic embarked at Brundusium with the rest, ' ■■ '
but on the plea of illness returned to that port upon the third day following. Gregory refusing to believe the alleged illness, excommunicated the emperor as a perjured deserter from the cause. The emperor retorted by the most bitter imprecations, against the avarice, rapacity, ambition, and venaUty of the papal legates, and the Bishops and court of Rome. He then sailed to Palestine. Gregory had the un- pardonable folly to excommunicate him a second time ; be- cause he sailed before the excommunication was removed. Having thus condemned a soldier of the cross, the enemy of all heretics, and the most chivalrous sovereign in Europe, he actually endeavoured to prevent the success of the cru- saders. He preached a crusade against the chief crusader, and employed the Dominican monks in the service. John de Brienne, the nominal king of Jerusalem, invaded the terri- tories of Frederic, his own son-in-law, who was endeavouring to recover his own kingdom of Jerusalem for the invader. The inconsistency of Gregory gave offence to all Europe. Frederic, after compelhng the Sultan to abandon Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Sidon, hearing of the conduct of John de Brienne, and of the pope, crowned himself at Jeru- salem. No ecclesiastic Avould. perform the ceremony. He then concluded a treaty with the Sultan, and returned to Europe. Gregory again excommunicated him for returning. When he arrived in Europe, he found Italy in arms, and his son a rebel ; under the papal influence. He conquered all, and compelled the pope to absolve him. The island of Sar- dinia was claimed by Gregory as a domain of the holy see. Frederic claimed it as a fief of the empire. A fourth excom- munication ivas issued by Gregory, without any spiritual charge against the emperor of departing from the faith of a Chris- tian. His only crime was opposition, as a prince, to the temporal usurpations of the pope. The fourth excommuni- cation, by the authority of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, anathematizes the late emperor, releases his subjects from their allegiance, and forbids them to recognize him as sovereign. Gregory actually sent copies of this bull to all the monarchs
N n 2
548 The moral inftue/ice of Rome lessened by its rashness.
BOOK III, and nobles of Christendom, commanding the publication of VIII.' the anathema through all their Churches. Gregory described '' ' the emperor as guilty of every kind of political and religious crime. The emperor retorted by calling Gregory "Anti- christ," " the great dragon," and " the prince of darkness." The pope offered the empire of Frederic to the brother of Louis IX., Robert of Artois, if the French would join in a crusade against him ^. The reply of Louis was a severe re- buke to the pope for assuming a power of deposing an empe- ror by his own authority, M^ithout a general council ; and that emperor a soldier of the cross. He declared that if Frederic had been a heretic, he would have willingly marched against him : but that the proposal of Gregory proceeded from personal hatred of Frederic. He recapitulated the services which Frederic had rendered to Europe, and used many severe expressions against this inconsistency, am- bition, and revenge \
All this rashness had a tendency to lessen the moral influence of the see of Rome. Louis IX., like Frederic himself, was distinguished by his inveterate hatred and bitter severity against heresy. His first ordinances were marked with fero- cious bigotry ; and he had witnessed their execution on some unfortunate persons who were accused of blasphemy and heresy. The conduct of Gregory emboldened Louis to resist the usurpations of another portion of the ecclesiastical power of the day — the bishops of France. They had been accus- tomed, on the most trifling temporal occasions, to pronounce an interdict — to shut the churches, and suspend the adminis- tration of the sacraments. When this had been too rashly done by the Bishop of Beauvais, and the Archbishop of Rouen, the king seized their temporalities, and obtained from the pope a bull which forbade the interdiction of the royal chapels. The Kings of France had seldom been entirely subservient to the Bishops of Rome, and the cause of royalty was strengthened in France, and we may believe in England also, by the folly of Gregory.
The war against the crime of heresy continued. Though
» Raynaldi, adann. 1239, § 39. on the surface of history, that no
^ Tlie facts, of which the outline minute references are considered ne- «nly is liere given, lie so obviously cessary.
Council of Toulouse originates the Inquisition. 549
the Bishop of Rome had now become the principal heretic in book ill. the Church of Christ, he was the great persecutor of the ^^^f'
lesser heretics who offended him \ This is the curse of the ' -^ '
age. The erroneous and the uninspired assume the privilege of freedom from all error, as if God directed them ; and punish the less erroneous because they have more power than wdsdom.
Raymond de Pennaforti, the third general of the Domini- cans, published an addition to the canon law \ This is called the Decretals of Gregory IX.; or simply. The Decretals. The code of Gratian had been now for two centuries the chief repertory of ecclesiastical jurisprudence. The decretals were published in five books. They are sometimes called Extra, or Extravagantes, as going beyond, or out of the code of Gratian. They are the results chiefly of the correspondence of Alexander III., Innocent III., and Gregory IX. They abound with maxims, subversive of the superiority of civil government.
The Council of Toulouse was held in the pontificate of Gregory. This council is sometimes called the origination of the Inquisition. It was held in 1228 % and was under Romamis, Cardinal of St. Angelo, and legate of the holy see. The object was completely to destroy heresy in that country.
* The supplies which were demanded strange doctrines which Rome had in- on pretence of carrying on these cru- troduced into its liturgies for the last sades, were collected with so much three centuries. It was found conve- rigour, that the Church plate was nient to comprehend all those who pawned or sold, the tithes of the grain, entertained opinions not agreeable to and of the fruits then growing, were pontifical decretals, under the denomi- demanded before they were ripe, and nation of Albigenses and Waldenses ; while they were, therefore, still sub- in order to stigmatize those faithful jected to the changes of the seasons ; and uncompromising Christians, with and those wlio were required to pay, iniquities and crimes against God, man, but were devoid of present resources, and nature ; of which certain aliens were compelled to borrow money at from the East, as well as from the exorbitant rates of the usurers who Church of Christ, who then uifested were prepared to supply it. their country, were said to be guilty ;
5 Raynaldi, ad ann. 1234, § 26. but from which the religious Waldenses
* Other councils were held for the and Albigenses were as perfectly free same object during the pontificate of as canonized saints. The three coun- Gregory, of w^hich one was convened cils above-mentioned were all held in at Beziers, another at Aries, and ano- 1234, when all the decrees of former ther at Narbonne, f<n- the purpose of councils against heretics were con- exterminating the supporters of opi- firmed and enforced. Further infor- nions; whether scriptural or anti-scrip- mation I'especting Gregory's dealings tural,mLanguedoc,Gascony,Burgundy, with the Albigenses, may be gathered Provence, Savoy, and other placcs,which from Raynaldi, ad ann. 1234, § 14. might be at variance with any of the
550 Disgraceful decrees of the Cotoicil of Toulouse.
BOOK III. Raynaldus says that in this council, " acerbissima inquisitio VIII. ' decreta est in hEereticos." How truly, the following abstract ' ' of its decrees will show ^
I. Archbishops and bishops are ordered to appoint, in every parish, a priest, and two or three approved laics, to make inquisition after heretics; to engage on oath to find them out, present them to the bishop, to the lords, or to their subordinate officers.
II. Abbots enjoined, where they have jurisdiction, to per- form the same duties.
III. Lords required to search after heretics, and to destroy the places whither they resort.
IV. The penalty of loss of their estates is decreed against those who know of heretics in their territories, and suffer it. The houses where heretics are found are not to be spared.
V. Orders that punishment shall be inflicted on every one, who neglects what is required in the preceding canons.
VI. Declares that heretics are to be destroyed, and their lands confiscated.
VII. These officers are condemned to lose their offices and estates, who shall be careless and negligent in searching after heretics.
VIII. None to be condemned for heresy, except such as have been declared guilty by the bishop of the place.
IX. One lord authorized to enter the territory of any other, by himself, or with his officers, to apprehend heretics.
X. Heretics who voluntarily recant, not to live in the neighbourhood where they resided before they recanted, but to be removed among strangers who are free from the suspi- cion of heresy ; to wear two crosses on their clothes, have certificates from their bishops, to be disqualified for filling public offices, and to so remain till re-instated by the pope or his legate.
XI. Heretics converted by fear of death, to be shut up in a walled place, lest they relapse and corrupt others.
XII. All men above fourteen years of age, and girls above twelve, to abjure heresy of every kind, to make a profession of faith to the Roman Church, and engage to prosecute here- tics.
^ See Rajiiald. ad aim. 1228, § 27.
Tribunal of the Inquisition made permanent. 551
XIII. All who have the use of their reason, and omit to book hi. confess their sins twice a year to their priest, and to receive viii. the eucharist at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, shall ^ ^ ' be suspected of heresy.
XIV. Laics are forbidden to have any books of the Bible, except a Psalter or Breviary, with a Rosary.
XV. Those suspected of heresy forbidden to practise physic, and to come near the sick after the viaticum.
XVI. Orders that curates alone shall receive last wills and testaments.
XVII. Forbids prelates and barons from employing here- tics or suspected persons in any office, or as domestics.
XVIII. Declares those to be suspicious against whose characters persons of credit give evidence.
Other canons were enacted for the maintenance of the pri- vileges of the priesthood ; to compel attendance at Church on Sundays and holy days, and on Saturday nights in honour of the Virgin; on keeping festivals, and the dedication of churches, by abstaining from all manner of work, and for the regulation of civil affairs.
In the year 1232, Gregory committed the tribunal of the Inquisition to the religious of St. Dominic \ As Gregory thus endeavoured to strengthen the see by laws against heresy, he weakened its moral power by unjust aggression against Frederic. So also did he weaken the moral influence of the see by exciting resistance to its demands for money. Louis IX. once caused the money to be seized which had been collected in France for this pope. He was unwilling to see it applied to his ambitious projects.
On the death of Stephen Langton, the monks and suffragan bishops, and the king, appealed to Rome, to obtain the archbishopric for the nominee whom the king preferred. On
* See Gieseler's Text-book of Eccle- Toulouse, a.d. 1229. (The council,
siastical History, ii. 388. " In order however, according to Raynaldi, sat in
that the bloody work of the papal le- 1228.) This, however, did not last
gates niight be continued without inter- long. In the year 1232 — 33, Gregory
ruption," says this deep inquirer into IX. appointed the Dominicans per-
Church history, " the Fourth Lateran petual inquisitors iu the name of the
Council had changed the inquisitorial pope, and they soon after entered on
power of the bishops into a standing their odious office in all the countries
inquisition, the establishment of which infected with heresy." was further matured at the Council of
552 Exactions of Gregory IX. in England.
this appeal the ambassadors of the king promised to the pope a tenth of all the stock and money in England and Ireland, to support him in his war against Frederic. Gregory declared in open consistory that the choice of the monks was untenable, and that he himself would nominate to the arch- bishopric. The ambassadors sent to the king for further instructions ; and promise again was made to the pope of the tenths of the kingdom. The pope appointed the king's nominee, Richard of Lincoln ^ ; and sent his nuncio to England for the promised money. A council or parliament was called at Westminster. The barons positively refused the grant: the bishops yielded. The nuncio produced in- structions to collect the money. The recusants were threatened with excommunication, that is, banishment from heaven, and the curse of God and the Church. Gregory insisted that his demand should be immediately complied with ; and the obedient clergy, in order to furnish the money forthwith, were compelled either to sell the Church plate, or borrow the amount demanded at exorbitant interest from the Lombard merchants. The tax was collected through- out England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The Count Palatine of Chester alone refused to admit the collectors into his principality, and so escaped their exactions.
Rapin has observed, that ever after the resignation of his crown by John, the popes treated England as a conquered country. Gregory certainly did so. He sent over into England Italian priests. He refused to permit the bishops to prefer natives, till these foreigners were provided ivith benefices. The nobility and chief commoners of England resented the pro- ceeding, and insulted or maltreated the foreigners '. The pope complained : the evil was partially redressed ; but the influence of the pope began to diminish.
^ The inconsistency of the Arch- houses being attacked by these Italian
bishop of Canterbury, in the year 1231, priests and foreign mercenaries, who
gave mucli strength to Rome, in the took away their corn and money, and
midst of the general indignation which distributed them among the poor,
resulted from the pontifical exactions. Inquiry was made, and many of the
He appealed to Rome against the higher orders were found to be impli-
king, and the king answered his com- cated in resisting the aggressions of
])laints by his proctors before the pope, the foreigners. Sir Robert Thweng
The pope decided in favour of the justified the pai't he had taken, on
archbishop, who died on his return to account of the injury he had suffered
England. by the invasion of one of his benefices
' Many of the nobles and gentlemen by an Italian, were indignant at their barns and
The Papal power begins to excite the disgust of its friends. 553
In 1234 the charges of the crusade against Frederic were book hi. made the pretext by the papal legates to demand still further ^^{\l'
sums from the English. The nation is said to have been ' ^ '
impoverished by these demands. The Dominicans and Franciscans were the papal agents. They enlisted persons for the crusades against the emperor, and other alleged heretics ; and released them the next day from their engage- ment, for money. The zeal of the people for the crusades diminished. They were disgusted at the remembrance, that their money had been given, that a Christian bishop might contend against a Christian emperor*. The quarrel between the two was ended, but the pope caused strict inquiry to be made, and demanded any portion of money still remaining uncollected in England. This was only the beginning of the suicidal blows by which Rome insensibly weakened its power, and prepared the way for the success of its future assailants.
This feeling of anger was deepened by the severity with which the Italian bankers, who had lent money to the prelates and others, enforced their demands both for the principal, and excessive interest upon their debts.
The influence of the canon law was much shaken by the celebrated declaration of the peers at Merton, when they re- fused to allow the constitution of Alexander III., which made post-nuptial children legitimate on the marriage of their parents, to have the force of law in England, and de- clared, " We will not suffer the common law of England to be superseded by the canon law of Rome \"
In the year 1237 the pope appears to have made an effort to remove this impression. He sent Cardinal Otho * as his lega'e to England at the king's request, the Archbishop of Canterbury remonstrating in vain. Otho refused to accept
* In the year 1236, Friars Preach- tliis end, although he was under no
ers went thmugh cities, towns, cas- vow, yet he should have the benefit of
ties, and villages in England, and of- this indulgence. — Brady, i. 565. fered plenary indulgences to all who, * Nolumus leges Anglite mutari. —
being confessed and tinily penitent, Gregory, in 1235, engaged m disputes
would undertake the cross ; and soon with the citizens of Rome. To assist
after, the pope sent into England him in his contest, he invited the Bishop
Fryar Thomas, a Templar, and one of of Winchester to Rome, on accomit
his domestics, with his bull, to absolve both of his wealth and expei-ience in
any one from his vow, upon payment military affairs. The Church was a
of a certain sum of money towards de- temporal monarchy, and bishops were
fraying the expenses of the holy war: literally its soldiers. and whoever should pay any money for '' Rayualdi,ad aun._1237, § 38, 39.
I
554 Poor Vicars entitled by law to adequate support.
BOOK III. the presents usually made to a papal legate. Otho held a Council at London, where some useful canons were passed *.
That the influence of Rome was injured by these demands for money, and by various other acts of usurpation, as if the pope were conqueror and master of the kingdom of England, ap- pears from the continued and bitter complaints of Matthew Paris. He declaims against the foreigners who plead a bull from the pope as their authority for seizing the revenues of the English benefices. When an appeal is made against them, the pope issues an excommunication against the com- plainant.
The Council of Oxford, 1232, passed some very useful canons. It commanded the residence of the clergy on their benefices, however poor. Because the custom, the fatal cus- tom, had begun to prevail, of appropriating the revenues of benefices to the monasteries, which sent out vicars, upon the smallest possible income, to take charge of the people, while the monks secured to themselves the great tithes and lands. It. was decreed, That the stipend assigned to a vicar should not be less than was requisite to his proper maintenance ®. Wales was excepted, because the livings there were poor. Whatever may have been the cause, this poverty of the bene- fices seems always to have been peculiar to that province ^
In 1238 the barons of England remonstrated with the pope upon his intrusion on their rights of patronage. John had made himself the feudatory of the see of Rome. Henry considered himself bound by the engagements of his father.
* Raynaldi, ad ann. 1237, § 41. ing the increase of the congrua portio
^ Five marks is the sum mentioned, of the vicar. It is still, in the opinion
But the bishops in their various dio- of many, the law of the land, that if
ceses were accustomed to issue their a bishop were now to issue a mandate to
mandates to the appropriators of the an appropriator of the great tithes of a
revenues of livings, commanding them parish, commanding him to increase the
to assign what they called the " congrua stipend of the vicar, that mandate must
portio " to the vicars. When the re- be obeyed, imless cause be shown to
venues of the monasteries were confis- the contrary. Be this as it may, the
cated to Henry VIII. and his succes- poverty of our poorer livings might be
sors, and by them assigned to various removed by the application of the
persons, the acts of parUament wliich principle of the Gilbert act to the aug-
alienated their lands and other posses- mentation, on the plan which I sub-
sions to the king, required that the mitted many years ago to the public.
same conditions should be observed by ^ nisi forte in illis partibus
the new possessors, as had been ob- Wallise sit in quibus, propter tenuitatem
served by the old. One of these con- ecclesiarum, minori stipendio sunt
ditions was, obedience by the appro- contenti. — Binii Concil. iii. pt. ii. 701. priators to the bishop's writ, command-
England, the treasury of Rome at this time. 555
The Bishops of Rome regarded the subjects of the kings o/book hi. England as their vassals, because their sovereign had sworn yiii.
allegiance. The peers of England are not the slaves, they * ^ '
are only the subjects of their monarchs. They refused, therefore, to be treated as the vassals of the pope. They sent a letter by Sir Robert Thweng ^, Avhose rights of patron- age had been invaded by the institution of a foreigner into one of his benefices, when his own clerk, though unobjection- able, was rejected by the Archbishop of York at the com- mand of the pope. Gregory yielded to the English barons. He directed the Archbishop of York to institute the clerk presented by Sir Robert Thweng; and assured the barons that there should be no refusal of institution to their nominees for the future, unless canonical objections ex- isted to their appointment. The pope, however, while he yielded to the temporal barons, did not scruple to intrude foreign clerks upon the patronage of the English bishops and other ecclesiastics. They were unable to resist. Rome seldom usurps where it is defied and resisted.
In the year 1240 another effort was made to extort money from the English nation. England, indeed, was becoming the treasury of Rome. Various monasteries and convents were prevailed on to grant certain sums of money on the plea that other similar establishments had done the same. When the fraud was discovered, the plundered abbots and priors were compelled to swear secresy for six months, because the exaction of the money was one of the pope's secrets, which they were bound by oath to observe. Having thus obtained supplies from the monasteries, the nuncio and legate, in conjunction, summoned the bishops to a council at North- ampton, and boldly demanded a fifth part of their revenues. This enormous demand was made by the pope to enable him to reduce the emperor ^. The bishops requested time to
* His portrait is among those of the and his ecclesiastical commands, be-
ancestors of Lord Scarborough at cause he was his tributary and feuda-
Lumley Castle, near Durham. tory.
'■' Frederic this year complained to When the legate demanded a fifth
Henryof the contributions to the pope's of the ecclesiastical revenues to assist
legate to which he had consented, and the pope against the emperor, he in-
reniiuded the king that he had mai'ried formed the archbisliop that the king
his sister. Henry upon this so far had already given his consent to tiie
forgot his own dignity, as sovereign of grant, because he neither would nor
England, as to apologize for his con- dared to oppose the pope. After some
ductj that he ought to obey the pope, deliberation, the archbisliop consented
I
556 The parochial clergy the strength of England.
BOOK III. consult with their clergy. The council met again in the ^wni.' summer. They then refused to comply with the pope's
' V ' requisition, because the object of the contribution was for no
spiritual purpose, but for the shedding of Christian blood. It was an intrusion upon the liberties of the Church of England ; for they were required to do that which was unjust, by the terror of ecclesiastical censures. They had lately given a tenth to the pope, upon the assurance that no more would be demanded from them ; whereas their former con- tribution was to be now doubled. They objected, that the emperor might be justly offended at their contributing to the supplies of his enemies, and imprison them on their way to prosecute their appeals at Rome. They urged many other reasons, and concluded by an appeal to a general council.
The legate and his assistants, on hearing these objections, appealed to the clergy. The parochial clergy of England constitute the intellectual strength of the country. They pro- tested against the exaction. They gave the reply which might have been anticipated. The emperor, they said, was no heretic. He had not been canonically convicted of heresy, nor condemned by the sentence of the Church in a general council. They urged the propriety of the Bishop of Rome managing his own revenues, and leaving other Churches to manage theirs : for they were not bound by any law to pay any tax or pecuniary acknowledgment to the see of Rome. They further urged the analogy between the civil and spiritual power : that as the king is said to be the proprietor of the country, and yet possesses no authority but that of protector and governor ; so the pope possesses superintend- ency over the universal Church, without commanding the patronage of benefices, or overruling the privileges of the clergy.
Neither is this the only remarkable language of the resist- ance of the English clergy to the pecuniary demands of the
to pay the fifth part of his rents, Lincoln and Salisbury, commanding
amounting to 800 marks. His brethren them to prefer 300 Romans to tlie fii-st
followed his example. When he saw vacant benefices in England, and not to
the exactions, however, which harassed collate any others till tliey were all
England, he retired to Pontigniac in amply provided for. Was this conduct
France, and soon after died. endurable under any plea of religion or
In this year, 1240, too, the pope sent supremacy ? — See Bi'ady, i. 575 ; Ray-
his mandate directed to the Archbishop naldi, ad ann. § 1. of Canterbury, and to the Bishops of
Protest of the English Clergy against the Papal exactions. 557
pope. They comment on the nature of the spiritual supre- book hi macy which Christ had committed to St. Peter. They de- viii. ' clare their conviction that Christ reserved the sovereignty to ' Himself, even when He gave the administration of the Church to that Apostle. It is said, it is true, " What thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ;" but it is not said, What- soever thou shalt require or exact on earth, shall be required or exacted in heaven. The revenues of the Church were never granted that they might be employed in assailing a Christian emperor allied to the royal blood of England ; and they were bound, by their allegiance to the king, not to grant this conti'ibution, therefore, without the king's permission. After urging other reasons, derived from the contrast between the conduct of former popes, who never, in their greatest distresses, demanded similar aids ; they place them- selv'es under the protection of the crusade to which they had contributed ; and urge the exemption of their benefices for three years from all taxation whatever.
Rome is not easily defeated by the most unanswerable argu- ments. The legates appealed to the king, divided the clergy, and in spite of an indignant and eloquent remonstrance from the emperor, who declaimed against any money being granted from England to assist his enemies, they obtained the sup- plies they demanded. These transactions, however, excited general indignation, and began that secret and silent hatred against Rome as an oppressor, which gradually increased till its hateful yoke was broken.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Rich, died this year on the continent. The vexations he endured by the compliance of the king with the exactions of Rome — the insults he experienced from the legate who superseded his authority as a bishop in his own diocese — the austerity and abstinence which were supposed to constitute the best proofs of piety, together with the incessant encroachments of the Bishop of Rome, are supposed to have caused his death. He had retired for some time from all active employment '.
Gregory now called the bishops to a general council. He declaims in his letters of summons against the emperor: and the spectacle was soon to be presented to the Churches of
I
' See Rajnaldi, ad ami. 1240, § 60.
558 The Papal legate commanded to extort money.
BOOK III. Christ of the meeting of an assembly of the prelates of the VIII. Churches to pronounce an excommunication against a Christian ^~ ^ ' emperor for temporal reasons. Gregory died soon after the issuing of the letters, on the 2lst of August, 1241 ^
On the death of Gregory, Frederic wrote to Henry re- questing him to seize the money which the papal collectors had gathered in England. They had, however, made their escape to the continent. On their way to Rome they were taken and imprisoned by Frederic, and their treasure was confiscated into the imperial exchequer.
A short time before his death, the pope wrote to the Abbot of Burgh, demanding from his convent one of their best benefices, of the value of one hundred marks. He applied to many of the Italians beneficed in England, to urge the request. The abbot and monks appealed to the king, who , prohibited compliance with the papal command.
King Henry kept his Christmas, 1241, at Westminster, where he knighted the legate's nephew, and gave him plentiful revenues. Four days after, the legate received orders from the pope to return to Rome. He left the king with much regret, who had supported, against the barons and clergy of the kingdom, all the pretensions and exactions of the pope. He is said to have extorted, in addi- tion to the vast amount of money he had drawn from them, three hundred benefices and prebends for his own and the pope's use. The legate at his departure left behind him two delegates with the pope's bull, by which they had power to collect procurations, to excommunicate, to interdict, and in other ways extort money from the English, Rome was further weakened by the people identifying its authority with these continued questions.
Fearful, indeed, were the manners of these times. Gregory had given directions that the council should meet at Lyons. Frederic declared that he would suffer no council to be held at which his enemy the pope should preside. He assured, also, all persons who should attend that council, that he would regard them as his personal enemies. He ordered a fleet to be equipped for the purpose of seizing all who were proceeding thither. He met the Genoese ships, in which two
2 See Raynaldi, ad ami. 1241, § 82.
Supposed causes of the two years'' vacancy in the papacy. 559
cardinals, with many French, English, Scotch, and Italian book ill. bishops were on board ; and all who had distinguished them- viii. selves by their attachment to Gregory, were thrown into the ^ * sea. The rest were sent to Naples to be imprisoned ; and many of these died in prison of grief and hunger. It is im- possible to justify such ferocious, needless cruelty ; but the pope had exasperated the emperor beyond endurance, and the bishops were punished as being the executioners of the papal decrees.
The shock which this disastrous event brought upon Gre- gory, together with the news of the approach of the emperor at the head of a victorious army, had such an effect on the veteran pontiff that he died of terror and grief on the 20th August, 1241, at the age of nearly a hundred years'.
CLXXIX. Celestine IV., died 1241.
Godfrey or Geoffry Castiglioni succeeded Gregory IX., and took the name of Celestine IV. He wrote immediately to the emperor to assure him of his desire for peace, but he died before he could receive an answer, on the eighteenth day of his pontificate. He was much regretted, as one dis- posed to become the reconciler of the imperial and papal factions *.
CLXXX. Innocent IV., died 1254.
At the time of Gregory's death, the emperor detained in prison many of the cardinals whom he deemed to be hostile to his interests. The consequence of their imprisonment w^as a vacancy in the papacy for nearly two years. The car- dinals who were at liberty would not proceed to the election, either on account of dissension among themselves, or their dread of the emperor, or their resolution not to assemble to elect, till their brethren were released from their imprison- ment ; or from the protestation of the absent cardinals, against any election till they were present in the conclave, and the consequent apprehension of their brethren of a schism in the papacy. All these reasons have been assigned. At the request of Baldwin II., Latin Emperor of Constantinople,
3 Fleury, Ixxxi. § 51 ; xvii. 364. ♦ Ibid.
560 Frederic, though not deemed a heretic, deposed by a council.
Frederic at length released the imprisoned cardinals, and permitted all the others also, who had fled to different places, to assemble at Rome. They met, and elected the best canonist, Sinibald, or Anibald, Cardinal Priest of St. Lau- rence, who assumed the name of Innocent IV.'^ Sinibald had been the friend of the emperor. Frederic, however, did not anticipate the continuance of his friendship. He requested to be released from the unjust excommunication pronounced by Gregory. Innocent consented to his request, but bur- thened his compliance with conditions which broke off the treaty. The war, which was as entirely independent of all con- nexion with religious doctrines, as the war between England and Tippoo, was immediately renewed. Frederic hanged the bearers of the pope's letters, advanced to Rome with his army, attempted once more, but in vain, to obtain by negotiation release from his excommunication ; and compelled the pope to flee from Rome to Genoa, and thence to France, and to Lyons. Lyons at this time was ruled by its archbishops, and belonged to neither France nor the empire. In that council, Europe beheld tvith astonishment the whole power of the Church directed to the overthrow of a temporal prince, whose laws against heresy had been publicly approved by the pope only two years before ^ The assembly heard, in spite of the admirable defences and apologies which were made for Frederic by his advocates, the sentence of deposition pro- nounced against him ; in virtue of the power to bind and loose which Jesus Christ is declared to have given exclusively to the Bishop of Rome in the person of St. Peter'. Inno- cent IV., after the example of his predecessor, whose endea- vours to dismay and coerce civil potentates he closely imitated, carried with him to Lyons a body of decrees ready prepared,
* 24th June, 1243, Fleury, Ixxxii. were considered for many ages as the
§ 1. statutes of the Church. — See Bullar.
8 See the BuUarium Magnum, i. 1 09 Mag. ut sup. ; also Boehmer, ut sup.
— Approbatio Legum a Friderico Im- ^ Nos itaque — licet immeriti,
peratore hactenus in obedientia S. R. cum teneamus in terris, nobisque in B.
E.persistente, contra h8ereticos,eorum- Petri Apostoli persona sit dictum,
que complices et fautores editarum. Quodcumque ligaveris super terram,
These laws of Frederic, which were &c. orani honore et dignitate a Domino
purposely severe to save his reputation ostendimus, denuntiamus, &c. His
for orthodoxy, were approved by Alex- people are absolved from their alle-
ander IV. Jan. 15, 1258 ; and by Cle- giance, and commanded to elect an-
ment IV. Oct. 22, 1265. They are other emperor, incorporated in the canon law, and
Thirteenth General Council — First of Lyons. 561
with: the intention of obtaining the consent of the council to book hi. all charges and condemnations included in them. I subjoin -^{^i. ' the following synopsis of this council. -^ '
Synopsis of the Thirteenth General Council.
|
Council XIV. |
First Coimcil of Lyons. |
|
Date. |
A.D. 1245, June 28th to July I7tli **. |
|
Number of bishops. |
One hundred and forty '. The Patriarchs of Constan- tinople, Antioch, and Aquileia, the Emperor of the East, Count of Toulouse, and others. |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
The Pope ». |
|
President. |
The Pope ». |
|
Why summoned, and against what opmions. |
Because the emperor was accused by the pope of per- jury— violation of peace — heresy — sacrilege. To effect treaties for prosecuting crusades to Jerusalem — for drivmg the Tartars ft-om Constantinople — for establishing the peace of the Church — for discussing the affairs of the emperor — and lastly, for promoting general reformation of manners '. |
|
Against whom. |
The Emperor Frederic II. |
|
Number of canons. Chief decrees. |
The number of canons passed was seventeen. The emperor was excommunicated and deposed, his subjects being absolved from their aUegiance. Assistance decreed to be sent to the Holy Land, and to Constantinople. The decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council respecting the crusades against heretics renewed *. |
|
Penalties. |
All the subjects of the empire who should disobey the pope's mandate for the deposition of tlie emperor, to be excommunicated. |
|
Sufferers. |
Not possible to particularize further than the effect on the affairs of the imperial victim. |
|
Emperor. |
Frederic II., represented at the sj-nod by Thaddeus, Bishop of Strasburg ; Hugh, General of the Teutonic Order ; and Peter de Vignes *. |
|
Pope. |
Innocent IV., by whom the business of the council was prescribed ^. |
VOL. II.
O O
5G2
Decrees of the Thirteenth General Council.
The King of P>ance met the pope after the Council of Lyons. The great historian of this period ' relates the details
* Spondanus, i. 155 ; Cave, ii. 347; Concilia, xiv. p. 39, ed. Mansi, vii. pt. ii. 850, ed. Binii ; Grier, p. 198 ; Platina, iu Vit. Innocent. IV, says 1246 ; Gesner de Conciliis, p. 772 ; Venema, vi. 211 ; Cent. Magd. cent. xiii. p. 887; Bellarmine, ii. 9; Du Pin, ii. 6.
^ Spondanus, ut sup. Three patri- archs ; 140 archbishops and bishops from Gaul, Spain, Italy, England, Sc(jtland, Ireland, and many absentees sent legates. Of the laity, Baldwin of Constantinople, and Raymond of Tou- louse.
Cave, ii. 347, adds many cardinals also; Du Pin, ii. 6, says 146; Concilia, ut sup. ; Grier, &c. ut sup.
^ Grier, Platina, Gesner, Venema, Cent. Magd., Spondanus, Du Pin, in locis ut supra.
^ Concilia, ut supra, col. 44. Domi- nus Papa, Missa celebrata, locum emi- nentiorem ascendit. — See also the au- thorities already cited.
^ Ut ipsa ecclesia per fidelium salu- bre consilium et auxilium fructifbsum, status debiti possit habere decorem, et deplorando Terrse Sanctaj disci'imini, et afflicto Romano imperio, propere valeat subveniri, ac inveniri remedium contra Tartaros, et alios contemptores fidei, ac persecutores populi Christian], necnon pro negotio, quod inter eccle- siam et principem vertitur, reges terrse, prselatos ecclesiarum, ac alios mundi principes duximus advocandos. — Con- cil. vii.pt. ii. 850, ed. Binii.
Crimina memorantur hsec quatuor. I. Frequentia perjuria, quia Ecclesise Romanse, cujus ratione Siciliae esset beneficiarius, et a qua Imperiura ac- eeperat, bona et privilegia non tantum, non tuebatur, sicut per juramentum erat obligatus, sed et evertebat. II. Pads rlolatio, et ecclesiee satisfactio neglecta, licet ssepe per juramentapro- missa, imo contumacia in sceleribus, ac continuatio, Ecclesias, e. g., expi- lando, electiones impediendo, Clericos ad judicium sseculare trahendo, pati- bulis adfingendo, &c. III. Sacrilegium, Cardinales aliosque prselatos ad syno- dum, a Gregorio indictam, tendentes, comprehendendOjSubmergendo, necan- do, aut in servitutem redigendo. IV. Hceresis, autoritatein et censuram Ec- clesise spernendo, Saracenos complec-
tendo, cum foeminis Saracenis con- suescendo, filiam dando uxorem Batta- cio, Grfecorum imperatori, licet ex- communicato et Ecclesise inimico. — Venema, vi. 211, 212 ; Spondanus, i. 156; Du Pin, ii. 6 ; Cent. Magd. cent, xiii. 867.
* In eo conventu primo disputatum est cum Graecis, de processione Spiritus Sancti. Vocatus eo fuerat Thomas Aquinas, ut judicium suum de ilia eontroversia interponeret, sed in itinere apud Casanenses obiit. — Gesner, p.772.
The excommunication of the emperor was pronoimced with lighted tapers.
Decrees were passed relating to the canon law, as concerning rescripts, commissions, elections, the provid- ing a delegate judge, processes, re- peals, and accusations. Also, concern- ing excomiuunicatiou ; debts contracted by the Church, requiring those wlio enter on ecclesiastical jurisdiction to render to their superiors an inventory of all things pertaining thereto, so as to prevent them from incurring debts which their successors would have to pay; but should necessity compel them to borrow money, they shall state the cause. Furthermore, that assistance be sent to the empire of Constantino- ple ; that all should use their endea- vours to repel the invasions of the Turks by making trenches and forts in Poland, Russia, and Hungary, till the holy see have considered of it ; for the assistance of the crusaders, so as to relieve the Holy Land from the Sara- cens. Priests and other ecclesiastics are admonished to be mstant in prayer and exhortation, so that they may have the fear and love of God always before their eyes, to be truly penitent, to avoid all contentions, and trust to God rather than themselves for victory. To induce the clergy to join in the crusades, their benefices are secured for three years. All prelates to ex- hort those who had been there, but who had laid aside the badge, to re- sume it ; and if necessary, to compel them by the sentence of excommunica- tion upon themselves, and of interdiet upon their lands. All to be exhorted to send assistance according to their ability. One twentieth part of the i-evenues of the Church to be set aside for three years. Of tlie Roman see
Exultation of Innocent on the death of Frederic. 563
of the interview between them. The King of France implored book hi. Innocent to change his decisions. He represented to him the yjn,
danger of Palestine, and the necessity of Frederic's assistance ' '
for its recovery, which he could not render if his troops were compelled to defend his own territories. Innocent per- severed. Rome conquers by perseverance. He was resolved to crush the imperial power; and the only potentate who ventured to reprove his conduct was the Sultan of Egypt, who refused to violate his treaty with the emperor at the re- quest of the pope. When Frederic died in 1250, Innocent wrote a letter to the prelates and nobles of Sicily, in which he used the exclamation — "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ;" and in which he designates him as the son of Satan.
and cardinals, one tenth part of the revenue. The crusaders to be exempt from all collections and taxes, and all other burthens. The usurers to remit the interest of the amount borrowed. The Jews to be compelled by the secu- lar power to remit their usury ; and until they do so, to be driven out by excommunication. The bishops who neglect to protect the goods of the cru- saders to be severely punished. Pi- rates, and those who give assistance to the Saracens, excommunicated and anathematized. Peace to be observed among all Christian princes for four years, under pain of excommunication and anathema. Tournaments forbidden, and plenary indulgences granted to the crusaders.
For a fuller exposition of the transac- tions of this council, see Bail's Summa Conciliorum Omnium, &c. cum Anno- tationibus, et Controversiis partim Dogmatieis, partim Historicis, &c. tom. i. p. 438-446, Patavii, I70I.
* When the emperor was accused of the offences imputed to him, his delegate Thaddeus defended him with great force. He promised that his master would return to the unity of the Roman Church, and if he had done her any injury, that he would make reparation; but the pope declared that no dependence could be placed upon this promise, as such promises had been frequently made before. Yet at the earaest request and entreaty of many there assembled, Innocent post- poned the second meeting eight days, and the third likewise, in order to
allow Frederic time to make his ap- pearance and answer for himself. But the emperor having been mformed of the proceedings, saw that the pope was resolved upon his condemnation. He therefore declined to appear.
See the several authorities before quoted, also Bail's Summa Conciliorum Omnium, and Fleury, Ixxxii. § 23.
^ Innocent, in opening the council, stated, that he was borne down with five great sori'ows — the irregularity of the prelates and laity ; the daring in- solence of the Saracens ; the schism of the Greeks; the inroads of the Tar- tars ; the persecutions by Frederic ; which he compares to the five wounds of Christ. — See Concil. p. 851.
When the Patriarch of Constantino- ple brought the state of the Church under the notice of the council, no attention was paid to him by Innocent, and his more than thirty suffragans were reduced to three.
He delayed the requested canoniza- tion of Edmund, Archbishop of Can- terbury. The pope gave no heed, either, to the English delegate, who, on the part of the kingdom, stated that the Roman tribute, exacted in time of w'ar, had not been agreed to by the nobles and clergy ; and that they did not, and would not, consent to that from which they sought liberation.
' Matthew Paris, from whom Col- lier, Brady, Harpsfield, and all our historians derive their narratives, and to whom, therefore, I have not re- ferred.
I
o o 2
564 Decrees, laivs, and bulls of Innocent and the Council of Lyons.
The conduct of Innocent to the numerous classes desig- ^ ■ nated as heretics, is to be seen in his bulls *. After the com-
* See Approbatio Legura a Friderico Iraper. ut sup. edita, a.d. 1243 ; Bul- lar. Mag. vol. i. p. 109.
Promulgatio Legum et Constitu- tiunum, contra Hsereticos eorunique complices et fautores, a magistratibus et officialibus saecularibus observan- (larum.
Poenpe autem hsereticorum videri possunt in Bullis a me indicandis, inf. in Const. XIX. Pauli IV. Cum ex Apostolatus, et sup. in Const. Honor. III. Et pro declaratione hujus BulliB, vide Alex. IV. Const. II. Cum secun- dum.
Contra Htereticos etiam agunt Bullae in die Ccense Domini legi solitse, cujus ultiraum exemplar est S. D. N. Urb. VIII. Const. LXII. Pastoralis, inf. tom. iv. — Bullarium Magnum, vol. i.
p. 117.
Under the above head is comprised a body of laws and constitutions pro- mulgated by this pope in 1252, whose zeal in hurrying into perdition those whom his mendicant informers stigma- tized as heretics, could only be compared to the violent flood of waters, which the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman; that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, after the two wings of a great eagle had been given her, that she might fly into the wilderness, to be nourished till the earth had swallowed up the flood which the dragon had cast out of his mouth (Rev. xii. 14—16). Innocent's thirty-eight laws for the utter con- suming of the last seeds of heresy, came forth ushered in with the follow- ing exordium — Ad extirpanda de me- dio populi Christian! haereticae pravi- tatis zizania, quaj abundantius soli to succreverunt, superseminante ilia li- centius, his diebus hominis inimico, tan to studiosius, juxta commissam no- bis sollicitudinem, insudare proponi- mus, quanto perniciosius negligeremus eadem in necem Catholici seminis per- vagari. Volentes autem ut adversus hujusmodi nequitise operarios consur- gant, stentque nobiscum Ecclesiae filii, ac orthodoxae fldei zelatores, consti- tutiones quasdam ad extirpationem haereticae pestis edidimus, a vobis, ut fidelibus ejusdem fidei defensoribus, exacta diligentia observandas, quae
seriatim inferius continentur.
These thirty-eight laws cannot, in an abstract, be so condensed as to do justice to those canonists who dis- covered the utmost rigour to which law could be carried ; or to those apostles of papacy who discovered the necessity of making the easy yoke of Christianity uneasy, and a grievous load, instead of a light burthen.
The three constitutions which came after them, are not unworthy of the place they occupy near them.
I. Cum in constitutionibus nuper a nobis contra haereticos promulgatis, inter alia contineri dicatur expresse, ut domus, in qua haereticus vel haere- tica inventus fuerit, ac ei contiguae, si fuerint ejusdem domini, sine spe repa- rationis funditus destruantur, nostro petistis certificari response, quid sit de turribus in casu hujusmodi observan- dum ;
II. Ad quod breviter respondemus, quod nostrse intentionis extitit et ex- istit, ut in eo casu idem in turribus et in domibus judicium observetur.
III. Lignamina vero, lapides, et tegidas domorum et turrium, quae taliter destruentur, eo modo distribui decernimus, quo res alias ibidem in- ventas dividi mandamus in constitu- tionibus antedictis. — Bullarium Mag- num, vol. i. pp. 117 — 120.
These are followed by another bull, containing two articles, under this title — De cautione praestanda a fauto- ribus haereticorum, ad fidem redeun- tibus, et de applicatione pcenarum in casu contraventionis.
To understand the control over all law which a pope is able to transfer by virtue of his bull, mark the titles of the three following articles: — I. Q,uod Inquisitoi-es haereticae pravitatis possint interpretari statuta Ecclesias- tica et saecularia, contra haereticos edita ; eOsque, filios, ac nepotes, et adhaerentes, aut ipsorum opera, bene- ficia, et ofiicia assequentes, illis pri- vare ; quodque accusatorum et tes- tium nomina publicare non debeant. II. Declares the power of the inquisi- tors to be such as to grant, or refuse to grant, favour, in defiance of all opposition. III. Declares the power of inquisitors to pardon off'enders who
Frederic appeals to France and England against the Pope. 565
pletion of his canonical measures for putting down every book III. imputed heresy for the time to come, the efficacy of his plans vni.' was to be proved by carrying them into execution with un- ' •- " scrupulous rigour. The emperor, knowing that the remon- strances of the King of France had been unsuccessful in causing Innocent to yield, in some degree, to a less vindictive course against himself; consented, in order to satisfy his pre- lates and people, to have his orthodoxy put to the test of a rigid examination before the Archbishop of Palermo and other bishops, abbots, and priests. They unanimously affirmed and attested his adherence to all the articles con- tained in the creeds of the Church. This decision, exonera- ting Frederic from the alleged heresies, was sent to the pope before he left Lyons, and was treated with insolent contempt. He declared, in his claim to overrule inquiry into the faith of the emperor, and into facts which refuted the charge of heresy brought against him, upon which his excommunication was founded ; that audacity only, proceeding from monstrous presumption, could have sanctioned such an inquiry as that which had taken place ^ All hope of bringing Innocent to any reasonable settlement with the emperor being now at an end, the latter wrote to the Kings of England and France, to urge on their immediate consideration the abject condition to which the secular sovereignties ivere likely to be all reduced, if the domineering insolence and pride of the papal power was suffered, by their submission and great forbearance, still to advance and increase \ The death of the emperor, which ensued soon after his appeal to the great contemporary powers, put an end to any coalition being formed in their own defence by the civil rulers of the age ; and the autocracy of the pontificate seemed to be left to pursue any extremes of aggression against national dynasties, which its undisputed will might deem necessary to its paramount and dictatorial authority.
The total subjugation of the states of the empire was deter- mined upon as soon as the decrees of the Council of Lyons,
take the sign of the cross, from any fuerat per magnse prsesumptionis au-
censures of other ecclesiastical aiitho- daciam, curaiidem exaininatores super
rities. — Ut supra, pp. 127, 128. hoc potestatcin non habuerint. — See
With two other bulls against here- Raynaldus, Annales, &c. vol. xiii.
tics, pp. 128, 129, the public acts of pp. 556, 557, et seq. Innocent IV. on this subject end. ' Matthew Paris, pp. 679 — 681,
juod hujusmodi examinatio
I
566 Thrones and kingdoms set up to sale by Innocent. BOOK III. and the excommunication of Frederic, had eiven their
PH AP ^ o
VIII. sanction to any internal revolt. The first attempt of the pope * "^ ' was tried on the Island of Sicily, the peace of which was soon disturbed by an insurrectionary summons, under the hand of Innocent, sent to be enforced by two cardinal legates '.
For the first time, the attempt was openly made by this pope to set up thrones and nations to sale as common merchandize, and to claim for the holy see the right to apply the proceeds of this traffic to its own peculiar use. It was some time before the pope could persuade any one to treat with him for the empire. To insure peaceable possession was not in his power. The fidelity of the German nobility to Frederic was still too sincere to be materially altered by the anathemas which had been launched against him during the thirty years he had resisted the encroachments of his papal enemies. At length Innocent effected a negotiation for the imperial crown with Henry, Landgrave of Thuringia, 17th May, 1246; but on the 17th of the following February, he lost his life in the attempt to gain possession of his bargain, being defeated by Conrad, the legitimate heir to the throne. Another candidate was found, in the October following, in Count William, bro- ther to the Count of Holland. It has been contended by the adherents of the papal Church, that these treaties were not mercenary bargains : but the offer of the crown of Sicily for money to Richard, Earl of Cornwall ; and the remarkable conditions, also, on the part of the purchaser, (in consequence of which the bargain was broken off) ' ; fully prove that they ought to be so considered. After the Earl of Cornwall had declined to purchase on the
^ Archiepiseopis et Episcopis, Abba- modo poterat Comitem Richardum
tibus, Prioribus, Diaconis, Archidia- flectere ad consensum, ut regnum
conis, et aliis ecclesiarum prtelatis, et Sicilise et Apuliae sibi oblatum vellet
nobilibus viris, comitibus, baronibus, recipere, et seipsum et omnia sua
militibus, et populis civitaturu, cas- ambiguis casibus exponere, nisi primo
trorum, et locoruni, per regnum Sieilise Papa sibi de suo genere optimos prse-
constitutis. — Raynaldus, Annal. torn, staret obsides de securitate fidelitatis.
xiii. pp. 555, 556, in the course of Et praeterea, juravit eum de aliqua
which inflammatory address, many quantitate pecuniae, in negotio Martio
specimens occur of the extremes of illo exponendo. Et insuper traderet
revolutionary language, perhaps greater ei qusedam castra, quae Papa in con-
than the most violent demagogue ever finiis habebat, ut secura sibi inveniret
employed to excite a people against receptacula. Papa autem, hoc videns
legitimate authority. sibi esse difficile, respondit, " Nolumus
* Diebus sub eisdem, cum magister tot subjacere conditionibus," Cui Ma-
Albei-tus ad curiam Romanam per- gister Albertus, " Comes mihi dixit, et
veniens, nuneiasset Papte, quod nullo si sic non feceris, ut praelibatum est.
TJie Scholastic TJieology supports the Papacy. 567
terms offered, Innocent proposed to Henry III. to make book III. a transfer to him of the same kingdom, because he knew viii.' him to be less scrupulous, and more easily imposed upon in ' -^ ' dealings of this nature*. In this negotiation the pope was successful ; and Edmund, the son of the King of England, was proclaimed King of Sicily and Apulia, March 6th, 1254 \ These transactions having been openly executed, leave no foundation for thinking otherwise than that they were done with the view to terrify sovereigns into passive submission to the ecclesiastical supremacy, on pain of forfeiting their crowns ; and with the design to establish precedents for appraising and vending thrones and nations; and to vest in the suc- cessor of St. Peter the right and title to all profits and perquisites arising from such sales and transfers. The only plea required for the audacious dethronement of any prince might eventually be, a complaint made by some Dominican or Franciscan mendicant, of heresy on the part of the accused potentate, occasioned by his demurring to execute their con- demnations of his subjects, for disobedience of the Romish canons in having in their possession a translation of the Bible ^
The second scholastic age which had been revived by Albertus Magnus, Alexander Hales, and Thomas Aquinas, about 1220, began under Innocent IV. to be of great benefit to the holy see, in its extortion of money and increase of the papal influence. The metaphysics of Aristotle, on which this scho- lastic theology was built, served to support the traditions and false principles of the Church of Rome concerning the merit of good works, the fire of purgatory, transubstantiation, the sacri- fice of the mass, and the adoration of saints. By the boldness and sophistry of the leaders of this new theology, the authority of the inspired writers and doctrines of the Fathers were little
idem est, ac si quis diceret — Vendo vel ^ Item statuimus, ne aliquis libros
do tibi Lunam, ascende, et apprehende Veteris vel Novi Testamenti in Ro-
eam." — Matthew Paris, Hist. Angl. manico habeat. Et si aliquis habeat,
Hemicus III. a.d. 1254, p. 599. infra octo dies post publicationem
* . . . . ut siinplicitatem ejus cir- hujusmodi constitutionis a tempore
cumveniret, quoniam sciebat semper sententite, tradat eos loci Episcopo
ad damna propria pronum et ere- eomburendos : quod nisi fecerit, sive
dulum. clericus fuerit, sive laicus, tanquam
' See Matthew Paris, ut supra ; suspectus de haeresi, quousque se pur-
also the act of investiture of Edmund gaverit, habeatur. — Cone. Terraco-
is to be found in Rymer's Foedera, nense, anno 1 234, c. 2, ap. Giescler
vol. i. t. i. p. 297, Clark's edition. vol. ii. p. 392, n. 29.
568 Frauds of the doctrine of Supererogation.
BOOK III. regarded, and the greatest ignorance upon these subjects VIII. ensued. Those who distinguished themselves most in depre- ^- ' dating the sacred truths of inspiration, were honoured by the hierarchy with such titles as Irrefragable Doctor, Angelic Doctor, Cherubic Doctor, Seraphic Doctor, to which were added a list of Most Solemn, Most Solid, Most Illuminated, and Most Profound Doctors, including canonists and casuists without end, with Raymond of Pennafort, a Dominican, and fierce promoter of the Inquisition, at their head '.
Numerous as have been the inventions of the friends of Romanism to draw the means of its support from those who embrace its tenets, that of supererogation surpasses, perhaps, all others ; and of this as a means of revenue, Innocent IV. made ample use. For the introduction of the doctrine. Thesaurus Supererogationis Perfectorum, the admirers of papistical remission of sins are indebted to Hales, the Irre- fragable Doctor, and to his coadjutor Albertus Magnus ^ Considerable advancement was given to this extraordinary branch of Roman Catholic faith, by the effects which followed the decree of the Council of Lyons, to transfer the sale of indulgences from the episcopacy to the Mendicant orders. The popes claimed to be qualified to estimate the super- fluity of good deeds done by any saint of the calendar, beyond the amount sufficient to blot out his own iniquities ; and they claimed to themselves the privilege of holding the key of the treasury which contained this excess of good works. Some few of the faithful objected to the unscriptural arrogancy, till the Reformation diminished the reverence de- rived from this polluted source.
Innocent III. liad granted to the cardinals the privilege of wearing red shoes and red garments. Innocent IV. conferred on them the honour of wearing the red hat. The meaning of the grants is said to have been — that the cardinals were to be always ready to shed their blood for the Church. It might have been supposed that the meaning of the red gar- ment was — that they were dyed with the blood of the here- tics.
The pious or the impious, the holy or the unholy traitors to
' See Sumnia Histoinse Ecclesiastiete, * See Gieseler, vol. ii. pp. 358, 359, F. Spanhemii Opera, torn. i. cent. xiii. notes 14 — 17- cap. xi. Lugd. Batav. fol. I7OI.
Consequence of the treason which would subject us to Rome. 569
the religion, the liberties, and the happiness of England, who book hi. would again reduce their countrymen, under any pretence what- yj^^j "
ever, beneath the spiritual supremacy of the Bishop of Rome ; ' ■' '
must be ivillingly ignorant that the history of the past is intended to be our example, or our warning for the future. The popes never professed to exercise any other than that spiritual authority. They were only luiable to separate the temporal authority from the spiritual; and wherever the tem- poral-spiritual power existed, it uniformly displayed itself in the exaction of money for the promotion or accomplishment of the objects it deemed necessary. We have seen many instances of extortion in the pontificates of Honorius, Gre- gory, and their predecessors. Those which took place in the reign of Innocent were more exorbitant than any which pre- ceded or followed them ; and they ought never to be forgotten as an illustration of the inevitable consequences which must and will eventually follow that submission to Rome, still so madly urged by those who will never learn from the past. So long as England remained in obedience to the power of the Bishop of Rome, its wealth and resources were weakened and drained by foreign exactions; as those of Spain and other countries still are, who own the foreign pontiff as their head. England was, as they are, an impoverished and degraded nation, as long as it continued under papal authority, and the people complained in vain.
We have already seen that the pope, in the time of An- selm, decreed in a general council, that the Archbishop of England should always be legate of the holy see; that he should ahvays sit at the pope's feet, as the pope of another world '. This law, however, was soon broken, and by none more than by Innocent IV.
In the year 1244, Innocent sent over into England a legate named Martin, with power to excommunicate and suspend all who should refuse obedience to his commands ; and if he was, indeed, the Vicar of Christ, and the representative of God upon earth, what punishment could be too great to those who should resist him ? Martin suspended several of the bishops till they made provision for such persons as Innocent recommended to them. He refused to accept any
I
Tanquam alterius orbis Papa.
570 Innocent bestows the English prebends on Italian children.
BOOK III. benefices which were beneath a certain vahie. He demanded, Vin, by letters to several abbots and priors, horses for the use of
"^ ■^' ' the proteges of the pope ; and whatever were their excuses,
he suspended them upon refusal. He did this with the Abbot of Malmesbury, and the Prior of Merton. He demanded the presentation of the prebends when vacant. He bestowed a prebend of Salisbury on a little boy, his nephew, against the will of the bishop and the whole chapter. All this was done by a foreigner, and in the name of a foreigtier, who had no more authority in England, I again say, than the Patriarch of Constantinople.
In 1244, the king caused inquiry to be made in every country respecting the revenues of the Italians and Romans who were beneficed in England. They were found to amount to 60,000 marks a year. The peers of England, in conse- quence of this return, sent an expostulation, in the name of their whole body, to the Council of Lyons. The remon- strance was carried there by a deputation composed of some of the most illustrious of their number, and of William Powerie, a clerk. The legate was terrified by menaces of instant death unless he left the kingdom; and he left the kingdom, having been assured by the king that he could afford him no protection.
At length the Council of Lyons having met, after much business had been despatched, William Powerie stood up, and related the grievances of the kingdom from the papal exac- tions\ He complained of the tribute so injuriously imposed on the kingdom by the pope without the consent of the nobility, and he petitioned for its removal. Innocent made no reply. The epistle was read. No answer was returned. He at length granted that patrons should present to their benefices without the interference either of himself or legates, and he then destroyed his grant by a clause which permitted him to prefer the Italian clergy at pleasure.
None in England either would or dared to question the
' The original copy is No. 173 (not quorum numerus est infinitus. It
172 as mentioned in the margin, vol. i. calls them ravening wolves scattering
p. 593), in the Appendix to Brady, the flock — nullam curam animarura
It complains of the number of Italians gerentes : they did not even know the
— *Ecce per vos et prfedecessores language spoken by the people of their
vestros, nullam considerationem ha- parishes, bentes, jam ditantur in Anglia Italici,
Useless remonstrances of the English against the Pope. 571
power of the pope to act thus. The people sighed under the ^9,9/^ p^^- yoke, but they submitted, as subjects to their supposed legitimate, viii. though oppressive, spiritual sovereign. The contempt shown to the appeal of the nobles of England in the Council of Lyons excited great anger, though that anger did not yet lead the people to question the papal authority. A general assembly, or parliament of the king, nobles, and prelates, was held in London. The grievances of which they all complained were — the contributions exacted by the pope in addition to the Peter-pence, without the king^s consent, against the ancient customs, liberties, and rights of the kingdom, and against the appeal of the proctors of the king and kingdom in the Council of Lyons ; the presentation of Italians, who did not understand the English language, to English benefices ; the exaction of pensions from churches ; the succession of Italians to Italians in benefices, and the necessity of appeals to the pope, instead of seeking justice at home. — The non obstante clause, which destroyed all the oaths, customs, grants, statutes, and privileges they had inherited, and the total want of preaching, of divine service, of cure of souls, of hospitality ; and the neglected state of the parsonages on the benefices held by the Italians, were also exclaimed against as intolerable oppressions. Such were the complaints of the parliament. Why did they not break off with disdain and con- tempt, the yoke which the foreigner thus imposed upon them ? The time had not come. They humbly supplicated for the removal of their grievances. The king wrote separately. The barons, the prelates, the abbots, all wrote separately. The letters are still extant ^. The result was, fresh exactions, new demands, and repeated threatenings of excommunica- tion, or separation from God in their immortahty, if the insulted people did not pay their money to an ambitious pontiff to enable him to subdue a Christian emperor. The yoke was still borne ; but the iron was entering into the soul.
Immediately after the presentation of these complaints, the Bishop of Rome sent his apostolical commands to the bishops to send, some fifteen, some ten, some five men, well armed and mounted. Lest the king should object to this demand, the bishops were ordered not to reveal the requisition upon
I
' They are given in Matthew Paris.
57.2 The English laity refuse obedience to the Papal exactions,
BOOK 111. pain of excommunication ^ William Powerey and Henry de ^viti^ la Mere were now sent to Rome to submit to the pope, once
■■^ — V ' more, the expostulations of the English people. The pope,
in the mean time, sent for six thousand marks which had been required of the bishops by his expelled legate, Martin. This so enraged the king, that he commanded the bishops to refuse the grant, and not to comply with any future exac- tions *.
July 7th, 1246. A council was held at Winchester to re- ceive the reports of the success of the mission to Rome of William Powerey and Henry de la Mere. They had no redress to relate. The king and the nobles were so indignant, that they caused proclamations to be made through the kingdom, that no obedience was to be yielded to any future demands made by the pope for aid. Opposition to Rome did not begin with Henry VIII.
The pope, however, still persevered. He gave the Bishop of Worcester authority to place the kingdom under an inter- dict ; that is, to prevent both rich and poor from worshipping God and Christ, and praying in public together, if his de- mands for money were not granted. He then required a supply from the bishops. The king attempted to oppose the requisition. He was overruled by the bishops, and the new exaction was obeyed.
Being thus successful, he demanded a third part of their benefices from the resident clergy, and half from the non- resident. The king forbade compliance.
These incessant extortions excited great dislike and odium against the pope both in France and England. The nobles of France decreed that no man should be required to submit to papal jurisdiction. The clergy of England decided on sending fresh deputations to assure the pope of their inability
^ These details rest upon the autho- of the work usually ascribed to M.
rity of Matthew Paris, but more so Paris. It has been well edited by the
upon the documents he gives. Baro- Rev. H. O. Coxe, M.A. nius endeavours to destroy the credit '^ See the original in Brady, Appen-
of this writer. He is, however, well dix, No. 1/4. The king speaks of the
defended by those who are best able liberties of the clergy — pro libertate
to appreciate his labours. The Eng- cleri. The liberty of the Church of
lish iiistorical Society has lately ren- Rome, implied exemption from all
dered good service to the early litera- regal interference in ecclesiastical
ture of the nation, by an edition of the matters ; with unlimited obedience to
Chronicle of Wendover, a monk of St. the pope. Alban's, whoso labours form the basis
\
Ineffectval laws to check the Papal usurpations. 573 to grant him further assistance. The result was, that Inno- book hi.
. . CHAP
cent sent two Franciscan friars to solicit, and not to demand viii. money, for which they obtained the king's licence. Imme- ' - ' diately this was done, they insisted on the prelates granting them large sums. They demanded 6000 marks of the Bishop of Lincoln, and 400 from the Abbot of St. Alban's. These demands were refused.
The same attempts were made in France. The king for- bade the exactions, and was obeyed. Not only so ; he united with his nobles ("omnes regni majores" is the expression) in a decree, that no clerk nor layman should, for the future, compel any one to appear before an ecclesiastical ordinary, judge, or delegate, unless on a charge of heresy, marriage, or usury ; and this under the most severe penalties. The French people were clamorously bitter against the extortion and rapine which were practised in the name of the pope. The conduct of the French emboldened Henry in the next year, 1247, to follow their example. He passed a law to re- strain and limit the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical poiver. It was decreed, that no case should be brought before an eccle- siastical judge unless it related to wills or marriage. The bishops were required to proceed in their courts according to the forms laid down by the king. Actions for tithes were not to be commenced in the ecclesiastical courts ; and an oath was required from the ecclesiastical judges, that they had not proceeded, in any case, contrary to the king's prohibitions. These were among the first of the numerous legal efforts to check the incessant encroachments, which were enslaving and plundering the people of both countries. It was time to act. Immediately before these efforts were made, 6000 marks had been extorted from Ireland by John Rufus, the pope's legate, and safely conveyed to the papal treasury.
Obedience to the pope, however, as the Vicar of Christ, had become a custom as well as a supposed duty, and the regal laws of the land were consequently nugatory. At the commence- ment of Lent, one of the Minorite friars had previously de- manded, in the pope's name, as before observed, 6000 marks from the Bishop of Lincoln, and 400 from the Abbot of St.
I Alban's. He again demanded the same sum from the latter, and cited the abbot to appear at London within three days.
574 The history of the past, the instruction of the future.
BOOK III. who was then at Lyons. The pope accused him of want VIII." of reverence to the holy see — a high crime and misdemeanor " in that age — and the proctors of the abbot compounded for 200 marks, and returned.
Nothing stopped the remorseless power which was thus im- poverishing the country. It may now be regarded as a tale of olden time ; but the story of the past is written for the in- struction of the future. We only see in the conduct of the Bishops of Rome in the middle ages, a specimen of the man- ner in which an irresponsible and arbitrary power can ex- haust the revenues of the submissive servants of ecclesiastical usurpations. The legate, the same John already mentioned, seeing the clergy indisposed to obey him, sent to the pope for fresh powers. They were granted \ The king summoned a fresh parliament at Oxford, again to resist and refuse the papal demands. The prelates were more especially called upon to unite with him in opposing them. They were afraid to become Protesters or Protestants, and even voted 11,000 marks to the pope. Those who withheld their contribution, were at length, but most unwillingly, compelled to submit, by the threatenings and denunciations of the papal legate.
In the year 1248, the Abbot of St. Alban's was summoned to Rome for granting one of his benefices to a friend of the king, instead of presenting to it an Italian stranger. The king, contrary to his solemn promise, refused to protect the abbot. He was compelled to appear before the pope, and was fined for his contumacy. The vacillating conduct of the king can only be explained by remembering that the pope held the balance of povjer between the sovereigns of Europe. Europe had not yet become settled into the condition in which one state was so far jealous and observant of the con- duct of another, that it required explanation of any circum- stance which appeared to imply an intended aggression, or any increase of forces unnecessary to its own safety, and therefore dangerous to the peace of its neighbours. The pope intimidated sovereigns by holding in his hand the fear- ful power of exciting their people to revolt ; taking part with rebels in arms ; or accomplishing their dethronement by sanctioning the invasion of their neighbours. In the year
' These letters are extant in Matthew Paris.
Protestantism coeval ivith Papal usurpation. 575
1249, for instance, Henry was iealous of some of his barons, book hi. He submitted to the pope that they were more ready to follow yiii. the King of France to the crusade, than himself. The pope, "^ ^ ' therefore, not the king, prohibited the barons from leaving the kingdom without Henry's permission, under pain of excommunication. They were told that they should lose their hope of salvation in their immortality, if they offended their temporal sovereign ; after the ecclesiastical power, acting in the name of God, had forbidden them. They believed the pope, and the fears of the king were ended. The result of the papal prohibition, however, appears to have been the defeat of the crusaders, and the capture of Louis by the Saracens ^
The pope appears to have been encouraged by the weak- ness of Henry, still to persevere in demands which had so evidently weakened his moral influence in England, that the most active and energetic of his opponents, Grossetete, the learned Bishop of Lincoln, had become the most popular ecclesiastic in England. The opposition of Grossetete to the institution of a youthful Italian, at the command of the pope, to a canonry in his cathedral, his refusal of obedience, and his severe expostulation on the papal exactions, are too well known to be repeated here ^
In the year 1252, another parliament was assembled at London, and a demand * from Innocent was again submitted to them. A tenth of the whole revenues of the Church was required to pay the king's expenses in his intended journey to the Holy Land. The rate was to be levied with the utmost strictness ^ Two years' value was to be paid down at once, and
• See Brady, i. 604. Protestantism has been coeval with the ' The correspondence of the Bishop usurpations of the Church of Rome of Lincoln with the pope ; his select over the ecclesiastical power of the works ; the list of grievances under other churches. No Protestant since which the English laboured ; his elo- the opposition of Luther to Rome, ever quent appeal to Innocent ; his decla- used stronger language than Grossetete ration of the impossibility of obeying did to Innocent. He who wishes to the pope, consistently with his duty to understand the unavoidable conse- God,are collected in the second volume quences of permitting the ascendancy ofthe Fasciculus Rerum expetendarum of Rome over England, should study et fugiendarum, p. 250, etc. We are the works and letters of Grossetete. accustomed to speak of Protestantism, * Papale mandatum. as if protesting against Rome began ' .... ad inquisitionem strictissi- when the word Protestant was first mam et vohmtatem, et arbitrium re- used in the sixteenth century to de- giorum satellitum. signate the Reformers in Germany.
576 OpponeMts of Rome, friends both of the crown and people.
BOOK 111. if this was clone, the value of the third year, or half the next VIII. requisition, should be remitted. The Bishop of Lincoln replied,
' ■' that the cursed contribution ' had not been consented to ; and
therefore, they could make no conditions respecting its mode of payment. When the Bishop of Winchester reminded him that both the pope and the king required the contribution, and that the French clergy had consented to grant it, Grosse- tete urged the folly of complying on this account ; because the twofold obedience creates a custom, and their consent ought not to be granted. When the king found that the supply was not voted, that argument which had been so uniformly used with success — that one great argument which has ever been influential — was pressed upon them by the king. They were told that they did not oppose the pope and the king, but Jesus Christ and his universal Church. Strange however to say, the demand was still rejected. The pope had destroyed his influence, and the power of the sovereign was diminished, as regal power will ever be by its identification with the en- croachments of the Bishop of Rome. The Bishop of Lincoln employed one of his clergy to take an exact account of the yearly revenues of the Italians and foreigners whom the pope had engrafted upon England. They were found to amount to 70,000 marks, while the king's revenue amounted to only one-third of the sum ^ When Henry, however, in the spring of the following year, made the same appeal, without any papal mandate, to the general assembly or parliament of his nobles % a tenth was voted, on condition that he should observe the Great Charter, which was solemnly confirmed in the great hall of Westminster. The opponents of Rome were the friends of the liberties of the people, and of the privileges of the crown. They will ever be so. They abhorred the degradation implied by the submission of the English crown and sceptre to the mitre of a foreign priest. The war between the imperialists and the Guelphine party was renewed on this frivolous pre- tence. The successor of St. Peter — the representative on earth of Christ, the meek and lowly Jesus, died of a broken heart, because his soldiers were defeated. Yet Innocent was
> Maledictam contributionem, ^ In quindena Paschse tota edicta
2 Reditus regis merus non ad ejus Regis convocata Anglise nobilitas con-
partem tertiara computatur. — Matt, venit Londini, &c.
Paris.
Character and death of Grossetete.
^77
as learned as he was ambitious. He was a Gregorian to the book hi.
CHAP
utmost. He wrote the Apparatus on the Five Books of the viii. ' Decretals ; and is called by many, in consequence, the ' Father of the canon law. His most celebrated work is the Reply to the secretary of Frederic the emperor, in which he maintained the jurisdiction of the apostolical see*.
The Bishop of Lincoln, the originator of the more systematic opposition to the usurpations of the Bishop of Rome over the bishops of the Church of England, died in 1253 \ Innocent expressed as much joy at the death of Qrossetete, as he had previously done at the death of his rival Frederic. Innocent himself died soon after. As before remarked, the defeat of his army at Nocera (the army of a Christian bishop ! ! !) by
* See Binius, vii. ii. 847-
' Though the Church and kingdom submitted so patiently to the exactions which the pope demanded, and to the excommunications he denounced against them, the lieads of the Church governed their respective sees inde- pendently of his control in all matters relating to internal regulation. A visita- tion was held in this year, 1253, in all the dioceses of the kingdom, when the questions proposed respecting both the laity and the clergy, were such, in many points, as might be advantage- ously considered at present. They are given by Colliei", vol. i. p. 463.
The death of Bishop Grossetete was a great calamity. This distin- guished patriot and vindicator of reli- gion, is described by one of his biogra- phers* as practically illustrating all the cardinal virtues in his life and actions. A modern Church historian -f-, speaking of Grossetete, justly says, " Assuredly that admirable prelate had gone very far in disaffection, not hesi- tating to denounce Innocent, almost with his dying breath, as Antichrist ; for he asks, ' by w hat other name are we to designate that power which labours to destroy the souls that Christ came to save J ?'" Another affix-ms, that
" the foremost English writer who ventured to demonstrate the liberti- nism and superstition of the monks, and the frauds of the court of Rome, was Robert Grossetete (Capito), Bishop of Lincoln. He was much celebrated for doctrine, sanctity, and intrepidity ; and he painted in vivid colours the avarice, audacity, and ob- stinacy of Pope Innocent IV." The conclusions of all writers who have sought to form a just estimate of the merits and public career of Grossetete, have been drawn from one chief source §. The author of the History of the Middle Ages consents among them, on the authority of Matthew Paris, to grant that " Robert Grosse- tete was the most learned Englishman of his time, and the first who had any tincture of Greek literature." He confesses, also, that " he deserved, for his learnimj and mtajrity, the high cha- racter given him by Matthew Paris || ;" though he qualifies his admiration by remarkmg, that Grossetete appears to have been imbued with the spirit of his age as to ecclesiastical power, though unwilling to yield it to the pope, Mr. Hallam objects also, very need- lessly, to reckon Grossetete among the precursors of the Reformation.
• Pitseus, de Illustr. Angl. Script. Wright, 1829.
p. 326, aj). Collier, vol. i. p. 462. § Matthew Paris, a contemporary
f Waddington's History of the of the eminent prelate, of whose life
Church, 8vo, p. 422, note, London, he has given a valuable sketch, iu
1833. which his conduct and (jualifications
J Eccles. Annals, by Fi"ed. Span- are faithfully exhibited,
heim, translated by the Rev. Geo. || Hallam, Middle Ages, ii. 30o.
VOL. II.
P p
k
578 The sincerity of error the curse of the Church. BOOK in. Manfred, the illustrious half-brother of Conrad, the son of
CHAP .
VIII. Frederic, broke his heart; not before, however, he had "' ' refused to acknowledge Conrad as emperor, because his father had died under excommunication. Innocent, also, encouraged learning and learned men. The language of his public acts (if private feelings may, indeed, be gathered from such documents), implies the most sincere conviction that he was right in upholding the temporal power of Rome over states and empires. Upon this point we have spoken suffi- ciently. The greatest curse which a nation or a Church can endure, is sincerity of error united with zeal entrusted ivith power. The greatest heretic of the age. Innocent, committed the lesser heretics to the stake, to please God and benefit man. The upholder of the worst heresies, as the true doc- trines of the Church, he wrote the laws against the minor heresies in characters of blood ; and flames of fire mingled Avith the blood may be said to have run along the ground, wherever the tempest of the Inquisition swept over the plains of the South. He demanded money from the churches to support the ivars of his ambition, as if they were in reality what he professed to believe them to be — the wars of the Lord. He excited or promoted unintentionally in France that spirit of resistance to the temporal domination of the papacy, which has ever rescued that country from total submission to the Gregorian principles. He excited or promoted in England that deep and heartfelt indignation against the usurpations and encroachments of Rome, which ended in the resolution of the English people, and their accomplishment of that reso- lution— that their Church should be free, ever free, from all submission to the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, Much, very much, are we bound ever to honour the courage, con- stancy, and scriptural knowledge of those who, in the age of Innocent, and from thence to the days of Elizabeth, began, carried on, and victoriously terminated, the resistance to that power, which, while it drained the purse, could burn the body ; and according to its own interpretation of the words of wisdom, professed it could damn the soul. All these lofty pretensions and cruel conduct of the Church of Rome which they thus opposed, was seemingly defensible from Scripture ; which was perverted to the upholding of the papal errors and ambition. The devotional, pious, hortatory texts of
CHAP VIII.
The Papal bulls abounded with misapplied texts. 579
Scripture were arbitrarily torn from their contexts, and pressed book hi. into the service of the cause or controversy, whatever it might be ; which the pope, or his friends, or opponents had espoused. The bulls of the popes generally abound with texts of Holy Scripture. The theologian had but to be persuaded of the justice of his cause, and God and the Scriptures were imme- diately seen by him with the eye of a partizan ; as the Puritans were subsequently guilty of the selfsame deception. When Becket, for instance, would persuade his suffragans to oppose their temporal sovereign, he makes use of the scriptural argu- ment— " What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ^?" The bulls of Innocent are not so redolent of Scripture as those of other popes. He was more of a canonist and civilian, than a scripturist or theologian. He preferred the language of the law to the words of the GospeF. Still his bulls abound with these perversions of Scripture; and the opposition, therefore, of such men as Grossetete, who was learned in the knowledge of Scripture, was pre-eminently useful in removing the supposition, that because the papal bull clothed its ambitious objects in the language of Holy Writ, it was therefore to be implicitly re- ceived. Innocent died at Naples on the 7th of December, 1254.
^ Rescriptum Thomse Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis ad omnes suffraganeos suos. — Q,uadri]og. lib. v. ap. Appendix to Brady, i. 65, No. 50.
' The code of laws collected by Raymond de Pennaforti, contains pre- cepts and maxims subversive of all governments, of which Innocent did
not fail to make good use, and which may be summed up in this line —
Judex, judicium, clerus, sponsalia, crimen.
His work on casuistry, commonly called Sutmna Raymundiana, became a substitute for the older Libri Poeni- tentiales.
p p 2
CHAPTER IX.
Temporal supremacy of the Bishop of Rome in Europe. — Second Council of Lyons, 1274.
BOOK IIT. Twenty-nine years elapsed, and four popes occupied the
. / \' pontifical chair, between the First and Second Councils of
Lyons.
CLXXXI. Alexander IV., died 1261.
We are now brought to the most uninteresting period of ecclesiastical history — the details of the temporal power of the apostolic see, and the manner in which it exercised its supremacy in temporal affairs. The pope had now become a monarch among monarchs, collecting tribute, directing armies, suffering defeats, or obtaining victories. The Gospel of Christ — the Holy Scriptures, were but little known to the common people. They were permitted to be read by the priests, who sometimes availed themselves of their privilege. We talk of salvation or damnation as if they were dependent upon knowledge ; but it is well for mankind that God accepts the soul for that it hath, and demands not that which it hath not. Both the Church of Rome and the heretics it persecuted, believed, with various degrees of knowledge, on the Son of God, and to His mercy we commend both. The great question for the Churches of Christ is, not whether the soul of the member of the Church of Rome may possibly be saved — not whether the soul of the heretic be saved — but ivhether God has commissioned either the Church of Rome, or any other Church, to say to their sister Churches, " Adopt our discipline and our conclusions, or, be punished corporeally in this world, and spiritually in the world to come." We
The Stigmata of St. Francis affirmed by a Papal bull. 581
know not whom God will save or damn from among the book hi. believers in the Incarnation and Atonement of the Son of ^ ' ' ; God ; but we do know that all mankind are interested in rejecting the intolerable yoke which compels belief on autho- rity, independently of conviction. No Church — no unin- spired individual, has so possessed all truth, that he should be permitted, in the name of Christ, to punish the body for the benefit of the soul.
Innocent was succeeded by Reinald, Bishop of Ostia, of the family of the Counts of Segni. A monk in temper, and without expansion of mind, he continued the excommunica- tion of Manfred ; he resisted in vain the progress of Ezzeline, the leader of the Ghibellineor imperial party, who conquered Lombardy ; and he saw his own army defeated, and his legate imprisoned. In France he commanded that the royal chapels should be interdicted by himself alone. He supported the pretensions of the Dominicans against the University of Paris, which required them, if they taught in the university, to conform to its regulations. He permitted the monks to hear confessions without the interference of the parochial clergy ; that is, he permitted the existence in every parish of a body of rival clergy, responsible to the pope alone, in conjunction with the secular clergy, who were responsible to their own bishops \ He published a bull affirming the truth of the stigmata ^, or wounds of Christ, being divinely imprinted on the hands, feet, and side of St. Francis ; and condemned to punishment all who disbelieved in them *. He added to the laws against heresy many severe bulls*. In his conduct toivards England he followed the example of his predecessors, by demanding and extorting money. He permitted the
^ The bull which condemned the — Bullarium Magnum, L 134, 135.
opposite opinions is dated October 2, The bull concerning these stigmata
1257. — Butler's Lives of the Saints, was confirmed by Nicholas III. — See
October, p. 105, et seq. Raynaldi, a.b. 1279, § 52.
^ Comprobatio veritatis stigmatum ^ " volumus et mandamus," says
S. Francisci de Assisis, cum poenarum the bull, " ut eum sante mentis (sic in
impositione advex"sus aliter affirman- orig.) restituat judiciaHs severitas dis-
tes. ciplinse ; ita quod districta proprii pr?e-
Idem primo confirmavit Greg. IX. lati castigatione correctus, Dei opera
ut sup. in ejus Const. 12. Con- blasphemare desinat."
fessor. Et delude Sixt. IV. Sed ejus Tlie Chui'ch of Rome is now justly
constitutio, uti ejusdem argumenti, ashamed of the whole story — but why
consulto fuit a me prtetermissa. Dc are the bulls not rescinded I
ordinibus autem a Francisco institutis * See the Bullarium Magnum, pp.
Eotavi sup. Const. 5 Honor. 111. Solet. 138, VS\i. 141— 14G.
582 Money demanded under sentence of excommunication.
■
BOOK III. Bishop of Hereford to forge obligations from certain bishops, > ^' ; abbots, and friars, to various Siennese, or Florentine mer- chants '. He sent Rostand, a lawyer of Gascony, one of his subdeacons, into England, with authority both to himself and the archbishop, to collect a tenth of all revenues in England, Scotland, and Ireland, for the use of the holy see, or the king, indifferently, notwithstanding any former letters or indulgences whatever. He granted them power, also, to absolve the king from his vow to go to the Holy Land, pro- vided he transferred the obligation of that vow to proceed to Apulia against Manfred, the upholder of the imperialists. To induce him to make the change, all the money collected for the crusade in Palestine was granted by him to the king. The legate applied to the parliament, or general assembly of the nobles and prelates, for assistance towards the recovery of Sicily. He demanded, too, a large debt — 135,540 marks, which he alleged to be due from the king to the pope. If the debt was not paid before Michaelmas, the king was to be banished from the sacraments and from heaven by an excom- munication, and the kingdom was to be put under an inter- dict. The king feared the sentence of the Church, He prayed for time ; and resolved, against the sense of his council and nobles '^, to pay the money. The barons, however, refused to contribute to the demand, and the bishops followed their example. The pope persisted in his demand, and threatened excommunication and interdict as the alternative. Five thousand marks, with humble deprecations, were sent ; and the sentence on the royal slave was postponed for a season. The intrigues, negotiations, wars, plans, treaties, and general conduct of the popes of this time are so wholly temporal, that we might forget we are speaking of the ecclesiastical power, if we did not remember that it is the Bishop of Rome to whom we are referring, and not to kings, consuls, nor emperors.
Gray, the Archbishop of York, was excommunicated by Alexander for refusing to admit Italians into the livings of his diocese. He expostulated with Alexander, and told him, that when Christ gave to Peter his commission to " feed his
* A copy of his permission is pre- it is quoted from Matthew Paris, served in the letter in the Appendix •> See the Letters in the Appendix to Brady, i. 289, etc., No. 181, where to Brady, i. No. 185, 186.
Henry III. absolved by the Pope from his oath to the barons. 583
sheep," He did not give him authority to flay or eat them, book hi.
Gray was a prelate of great sanctity and piety, and made his ..— ^
appeal to God when dying, against the injustice of the pope. We cannot but believe that all these things helped to prepare the ivay for the protection afforded to Wicliffe.
The excommunications pronounced by the English bishops, and by the Bishop of Rome, were often disregarded by the laity. In April, 1258, Boniface, the Archbishop of Canter- bury, summoned his suffragans and clergy to a synod at Merton. Complaint was made, that the writ for seizing the excommunicated person was frequently denied — that the king and his officers had dealings and intercourse with such per- sons— that this custom was a contempt of the power of the keys — and new regulations were passed to compel the en- forcement of the sentences pronounced by the bishops. The Church of England, whether with or without being instigated by the pope, continued to encroach upon the regal authority. The contest was not merely between the regal and the papal, but between the regal and the ecclesiastical power. The eighteenth article of the synod of Merton, actually threatens all secular judges, whether lay or clerical, with excommuni- cation and interdict — with banishment from heaven, and with non-participation of the sacraments on earth, if they interpret the law contrary to the opinion expressed in the synod respecting its right construction '.
The temporal influence of the Bishop of Rome continued to be weakened in England by his intolerable presumption in again absolving the king, Henry III., from the oath he had taken to his parliament at Oxford. The barons there had made certain provisions for securing the public liberties of the kingdom. The pope absolved the king from his oath to observe them. Alexander died before the instrument of dispensation could be sealed. Urban IV. confirmed the deed. The king re- fused to be bound by his oath. His own son, on his returning from France to defend his father, condemned his decision. The barons were exasperated at his perfidy. The Cinque Ports and London, which possessed at the time great power, declared against him. The civil war broke out, in which
^ See the Articles in Colliei", vol. i. quassandam decimam, per Papam p. 471 ; Concil. vol. ii. p. 304 ; Spel- concessam. man says, that this synod was held ad
584 Papal nsurpation the foundation of onr present liberties.
BOOK III. knights and burgesses were summoned to meet in delibera- ^ ^ • ^^: tion on the affairs of the kingdom, with the nobles and pre- lates ; and thus the blasphemous usurpation of the Bishop of Rome in absolving Henry from his oath, may be said to be the foundation of the present liberties of England. The temporal authority of the Bishop of Rome was certainly much shaken by the circumstance which occurred, when the legate of Urban arrived in France, in 1264, with a commission from the pope, to interfere in the English dissensions. The Earl of Leicester, with the popular party, sent him word that he would not be received. When the legate commanded the bishops to put in force the papal excommunication against the Earl of Leicester ; some people from the Cinque Ports, who pretended to be pirates, met the bishops on their return from Boulogne, where they had met the legate ; took away their papers and destroyed them. The legate returned to Rome, where he was elected pope on the death of Urban.
Alexander died at Viterbo, where he had appointed the meeting of a council to compose the differences between the Venetians and Genoese, on the 26th of May, 1261 ". He was virtuous, learned, and charitable — the imitator of Inno- cent, the follower of Hildebrand. His free use of interdicts, excommunications, and spiritual censures against Manfred, and his other opponents, after the defeat of his army ; must have convinced many that the will of the Lord God Almighty was not rightly represented by his earthly vicar. But the time vms not come when the appeal was to be made by the insulted people of Europe to that inspired guide, which told them that bishops, popes, and churches may decide wrongly, and act erroneously. Alexander IV., at the request of Louis IX., endeavoured to establish the Inquisition in France.
CLXXXII. Urban IV., died 1264.
John, the Patriarch of Viterbo, was elected to succeed Alexander. Excommunications against Manfred and Con- radin, the young grandson of Frederic II. ; the granting of Sicily to Charles of Anjou **, who swore feudal allegiance to
* See M. Westniinst., ad aim., and renounce his claim to Sicily, on con-
Raynald. ad ann. § 7- dition of the pope promising to exconi-
^ He engaged the English prince to municate the barons who demanded
Clergy not to pay secular fines, unless ecclesiastically enforced.^So
the pope, and whose conduct, after his acceptance of that J^^OK ill.
kingdom, provoked the Sicilian Vespers ; and the institution < .J — -
of the festival of Corpus Christi, in consequence of an alleged miracle of blood flowing into the chalice, and appearing upon the linen corporale, upon which the chalice w^as placed, to convince a priest who doubted the truth of transubstantia- tion ', are the principal incidents by which he maybe remem- bered. He was pious and liberal, but of a turbulent spirit. He cited Richard, King of the Romans, and brother to Henry the Third, King of England, to appear before him ; and a similar summons was sent by him to Alphonso, King of Spain. Shortly before his death, which took place at Peru- gia, October 2, 1264^, he threatened the German electors with excommunication, if they did not elect Conradin to the throne of the empire. A synod was held at Lambeth, under Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, which abridged many privileges of the civil law ^ ; and on the king appealing to Pope Urban, he warned him and his ministers against en- croaching on the privileges of the Church.
CLXXXIII. Clement IV., died 1268.
Guido, Cardinal of Sabina, succeeded, and took the name of Clement IV. He invested Charles of Anjou with the kingdom of Sicily, on terms which secured to the Church every privilege which Gregory VII. himself could have de- manded. Charles was also successful against Manfred, whom he defeated and killed ; and he afterwards defeated, and subse- quently executed on the scaffold, the young Prince Conradin, the grandson of the Emperor Frederic. This temporary success of the popes, in their long continued warfare against the House of Suabia, considerably weakened their ecclesias- tical power. They had anticipated, on the overthrow of their
the Great Charter. — History of the personal! amerciati fueriut a judice
Popes, p. 123. sseculari, prajlati ad hujusmodi amer-
1 Rayuald. a.d. 1264, § 26, 27. ciamenta solvenda prajdietos clericos
^ Id. § 69. non eompellant, cum non a suis judici-
^ Among other enactments of this bus fuerint condemnati. Et, si propter
synod, it was decreed — that the clergy hoe prtelatos distringi vel attachiari
who were fined in the secular courts, contingeret; contra hujusmodi attachi-
should not be compelled to pay unless ationes vol districtiones utantur reme-
they wei-e found guilty also in the ec- diis antedietis. — Spelman, Concil. ii.
clcsiastical courts: — Et si clcrici ccclo- 310.
bitB redditi, pro transgressione aliqua
I
586 All benefices declared to be at the Papal disposal.
BOOK III. imperial opponents, the attainment of the empire ; but the C AP. IX. gpy,j^ (jf opposition to government which the popes had encouraged, became a more formidable enemy to the con- tinuance of their ascendancy than the sovereigns of Ger- many.
Clement obtained great favour among the people by his disinterestedness in avoiding nepotism, as well as by his learning, sanctity, and liberality. He excited, on the other hand, much opposition by his zeal in asserting the principles of Hildebrand, by upholding the papal claims of irresistible supremacy ; and by venturing to publish a bull, declaring all benefices to be at the disposal of the Bishop of Rome, and that it was for him to confer them, whether vacant or not vacant, giving them, in the latter case, in reversion or ex- pectancy. It has ever been the policy of Rome not to recede from a claim, but to persevere in adding to rather than diminishing it by the smallest concession. Innocent III. had claimed this power of appointing Italians to vacant bene- fices in England ; and Clement endeavoured to make this claim universal. Louis IX., though he was so warmly attached to the ecclesiastical power, that he approved of all the severity which his brother Charles of Anjou had exercised against the imperial opponents of the papacy ; was both surprised and indignant at this usurpation on the part of Clement. He published, therefore, against the papal decree, the celebrated edict called the Pragmatic Sanction. In this edict it was enacted, that the patrons to benefices shall enjoy their privi- leges— that the cathedral and other churches of the kingdom shall make their elections freely — that the intolerable exac- tions by which the court of Rome has impoverished France shall cease, save in case of urgent necessity ; of which the king and the Galilean Church shall be the judges — and that the privileges and liberties which the kings of France had granted to the churches should be continued to them ; whatever be the papal interference. This act may be said to be one of the principal foundations of the liberties of the Galli- can Church till the first French revolution.
The state of the public mind in Europe at this time, may be understood from the number of crusades which were preached, by order of Clement, into various European king- doms. He published a crusade into Spain against the Moors,
Excommunication issued for political offences. 587
whom the Spaniards wished to exterminate — a crusade into book hi. Hungary, Bohemia, and elsewhere, against the Tartars, whose ^hap. ix. incursions were much dreaded — a crusade in favour of the Teutonic knights against the pagans of Lithuania, of Prussia, and of Courland, over whom they mshed to reign — a crusade into England against the barons, whom Henry III. could not bring into subjection — a crusade into France, and into Italy, to deprive the House of Suabia of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily ; besides a general crusade for the conquest of the Holy Land. The crusaders were often opposed. They were loosed from the obligation of one crusade when pressed to the execution of another. Indulgences were distributed at the wull of the pope ; the expenses of the war exhausted king- doms; and the pope's bulls kindled the flames of war throughout Europe *.
It was usual at this age of the world, as we have seen, for the Bishops of Rome and their legates, the Bishops of Eng- land and France, and other places, or the ecclesiastical power generally, to issue their excommunications on any poli- tical question, provided the ecclesiastics were offended ; or had become partizans of either, or of any, of the contending oppo- nents. A singular instance of this took place in England during the pontificate of Clement. The long and well-known contest respecting the liberties of the people had been going on between the king and Simon de Montfort; in which no spiritual question whatever was agitated. The legate of Clement, however, called a council at Northampton, and ex- communicated all the bishops and clergy who favoured De Montfort. He extended the excommunication, also, to all the political enemies of the sovereign. Having done this, he sent messengers to the Isle of Ely, where they had assembled, admonishing them to return to the faith and unity of the Church. Their answer was— they did firmly hold that same faith which they had learned from the holy bishops, Robert (Grossetete) of Lincoln, St. Edmund of Canterbury, and other cathoHc men; and they believed in the creeds, the sacraments, and the Gospels. This declaration did not, however, satisfy the legate. He admonished them, as they were excommunicated, to return to their obedience to the
* Millot's Elements of General Modern History, ii. 184, 185.
588 Rome holds the balance between the popular and regal powers.
BOOK III. Church of Rome. They had, they said, obeyed the Church of
V ^ — -■ Rome as the head of Christianity, but they would not obey
the demands for money of those who ruled it ; that is, they acknowledged the spiritual, but rejected the temporal power. The legate, after advising them to submit to the king, ad- monished them to receive absolution from the sentence of excommunication pronounced against them for adhering to what was called the Oxford provisions ; or the demands of the barons for the ancient liberties of the kingdom. Their unanswerable reply was — that a sentence of excommunication had been denounced by all the prelates of the kingdom against all who opposed these very provisions ; and they threatened to appeal to the apostolic see, or to a general council. The churchmen, in fact, were accustomed, accord- ingly as their opinions or interests varied, to support both, by issuing their excommunications. The consequence was, that the lightning of their decrees, which was originally feared as the shaft of the vengeance of the Almighty, gra- dually became regarded as the harmless vapour of a summer day; and Rome was most disregarded when its thunders were loudest. The barons continued their resistance in spite of the remonstrances of the legate, until they were subdued by the king in the summer of the next year but one.
A bull of Clement, dated at Viterbo on the 9th of June,
1267, granted to the king a tenth of all ecclesiastical revenues. This was an instance of the manner in which the Church of Rome, amidst all opposition, maintained its power. It held the balance between the popular and the regal parties. It was, therefore, feared by both ; and according to its oppor- tunities, it plundered both. The legate was commanded,
1268, to collect the tenths ; and disobedience to the legate was consequently treason to the king, and resistance to the Church. This tax was collected in the same year in which Clement died at Viterbo, on the 29th November, 1268 ^
CLXXXIV. Gregory X., died 1276.
A curious instance of the general union which now pre- vailed among the members of the universal Church, is seen in the titles, offices, and circumstances of the successor of Cle-
-" See Ra} nald. ad aun. § 54.
Tlie Pope elect, the friend of the Prince of Wales. 589
Tticnt. Theobald, Archdeacon of Liege, after a vacancy book hi.
of nearly three years (1st September, 1271)", was elected, / '/
(via compromissi) by the committee of cardinals, to whom their brethren, unable to come to a conclusion, had delegated their power of choosing. Theobald, Theald, or Thibaud, upon whom their choice fell, of noble birth — Viscount of Pla- centia, Archdeacon of Liege, Canon of Lyons, was at Ptole- mais, in the Holy Land, engaged in the crusade, where he was the intimate friend and companion of Edward, Prince of Wales. Who does not desire the return of the period Avhen Christians may be again united — not to urge an unholy war with spear and shield against the enemies of the Gospel — not bound together by the bond of fierce hatred against real or supposed heretics — not associated by the authority which teaches error, and enforces error by excommunications and penalties ; but a union, so based on love, truth, and authority, that the infidel, the heretic, and the schismatic, should be convinced of the reality of religion, and earnestly desire all to become the members of one holy society — the true Catholic Church of Christ? On hearing of his election, Theobald preached a farewell sermon at Ptolemais, on the words — " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her cunning !" He encouraged the crusaders to perse- vere, and immediately on his arrival at Viterbo, published bulls and letters of encouragement to the crusade, addressed to all Europe. He assumed the name of Gregory, being the tenth of the popes so called. The long interregnum between the death of Clement and the election of Gregory X. had enabled Charles of Anjou to acquire great authority in Italv, and even to aspire to its government. Under the titles of Senator of Rome and Imperial Vicar, he had usurped almost supreme power. At this time, 1276, Michael Paleologus, who had recovered Constantinople from Baldwin, the Latin Em- peror, held the imperial sceptre of the East. Charles of Anjou meditated the restoration of the Latin power, and the overthrow of Paleologus '. Gregory feared that the influence he might thus obtain would be injurious to the papal power.
* Raynald. ad ann. § 9. of Antioch to the kingdom of Jerusalem.
^ Charles had given his daughter in By uniting both claims, he ti-usted to
marriage to Baldwin, and had jiur- make himself Emperor of the East. —
chased the imaginary rights of Mary History of Popery, p. 128,
I
590 Expedients of Gregory X. to increase the Papal poiver.
BOOK III. The thoughtful or subtle pontiff had recourse to four expe- ' — ^.J — .' dients, by which he at once consolidated the strength of Rome, and checked the power of Charles. He exerted him- self to reconcile the Guelphs and Ghibellines. He procured the election of Rodolph of Hapsburg to the title of King of the Romans *, by which Charles lost at once all the power he derived from the title of " Vicar." His third expedient to frus- trate the designs of Charles, was his encouragement of a new crusade. His fourth, the publication of his mandate to all Europe for the assembling of another General Council at Lyons.
The pope opened the council by preaching from the same text which Innocent had chosen on a similar occasion : Luke xxii. 15, " With desire I have desired to eat this pass- over with you ^"
^ Rodolph of Hapsburg swore to would not invade Rome, but defend it
maintain the privileges of the Church, against all invaders. He restored Ravenna and Romagna to ^ Binii Concil. ut supra, p. 875, the pope, and took an oath that he
The Second Council of Lyons. Synopsis of the Fourteenth General Council.
591
|
Council XV. |
Second Council of Lyons, and the Fourteenth General Council. |
|
Date. |
1274. May 7th to July 17th ». |
|
Number of Bishops. |
500 bishops— 70 abbots— 1000 inferior clergy. The Latin Patriarch of Constantinople and Autioch ; James, Prince of Arragon ; legates of the Greek emperor and of the King of Tartary ^. |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
Gregory X. |
|
President. |
Pope, with fifteen cardinals. |
|
Why summoned. |
To compel the union of the Latin and Greek Churches. For crusades to the Holy Land. Reformation of disci- pline and manners *. |
|
Against whom. |
Such as endeavour to compel judges to revoke sen- tences of excommunication and interdict. |
|
Chief decrees and canons. |
Thirty-one canons were passed, among which the con- firmation of a decree of Innocent III., for the cardinals to be shut up during the election of a pope, and two-thirds of the votes to decide. An abstract of the remaining decrees is given infra *. |
|
Penalties. |
Excommunication on transgressing the 11th, 12th, and 31st canons. |
|
Sufferers. |
The Bishop of Liege, and the Abbot of St. Paul's, Rome, deposed. |
|
Emperor. |
Rodolph of Hapsburg. |
|
Pope. |
Gi-egory X.* |
' See Grier, p. 202 ; Mosheim, iii. p. 918, where it is dated in 1273. 258 ; Cave, ii. 351 ; Venenia, vi. 220. ^ See the authorities, ut sup., under
247; Delahogue, Tractatus, &c., p. 436; which head the Magd. Cent, say 60
Du Pin, ii. 123; Binii Concil. vii. pt. ii. abbots.
p. 872, seqq.; Spondanus, i. 249; Bel- ^ Pontifex post preces ac solemnia
larmine, ii. 9 ; Cent. Magd. cent. xiii. in conciliis, ante omnia fieri consueta,
59.2 Constitutions of the Second Council of Lyons.
BOOK III. The constitutions which Gregory ordered to be read, pub- __L_JJ hshed, observed, and inserted in the decretals under heads, are briefly to the following effect : —
I. That the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, as from one single principle, and by one single respira- tion, condemning such as deny this doctrine.
II. Rules according to which the popes are to be elected.
III. Prescribes in what manner opposition to the elections shall be declared.
IV. Elections to benefices not to be entered upon till con- firmed by the pope.
V. Persons so elected to consent to the election within one month, and be confirmed within three.
VI. Concerning giving votes to unworthy persons, and criminally obtaining their election to benefices.
VII. On discovery of vice in a person after a vote has been given him.
yill. A minority of only one-third voters not to object to the election of any person by two-thirds.
IX. Concerning appeals in objections to the election of bishops.
X. Objections to persons elected on the ground of igno- rance, or personal defect, to be decided by examination.
tres causas convocatioiiis synodi ex- the Creed then pronounced. The letter
posuit ; nerape, subsidii Christianis in of the emperor to the pope recites the
Syriam mittendi ; Greecorum ad fidem symbol, neai'ly the same as the Nicene,
et communionem Ecclesiae Catholicse et professing his belief in purgatory, and
Romanse traducendorum, et reforma- the assistance received by the dead
tionis morum ac discipline ; simulque from the suffrages of the living. He
modi alicnjus prrescribendi ad celerem also consents to the seven sacraments
Romani Pontificis electionem facien- of the Roman Church, and promises
dam, quod multa ex longa Sedis vaca- never to swerve from this faith. Both
tione mala accidere consuevissent. — he and the patriarchs acknowledge the
Spondanus, ut sup. See also Concilia, procession of the Holy Ghost from the
vii. pt. ii. p. 872 ; Du Pin, ii. 123 ; Father and the Son, and promised the
Delahogue, p. 437. re-union of the Churches.
* Among the acts of the council ^ Gregory took upon himself the
should be mentioned the fact, that whole management of the council, ap-
the ambassadors from Constantinople pointing the days upon which each
agreed, in the name of the Emperor session should take place ; preparing
Michael, to every thing decided upon the canons, also, which he brought
by the pope ; the emperor being at forward at various times. He would
that time in a precarious state, was not allow any difference of opinion to
desirous to obtain the favour of the be expressed respecting them, nor any
pope. The pati-iarchs also, not Greek discussion to take place, as to their
but Latin, subjected the Eastern utility or adaptation to the several
Church to the Roman, and agreed to ends to be effected.
Canons of the Second Council of Lyons. 593
XI. Wrone done to voters for the way in which thev give book hi.
• ^ . ,. "^ ' CHAP. IX.
their votes, incurs excommunication. ^ , '
XII. Assuming the regalia contrary to the ordinances, assuming the care of churches, monasteries, &c., to incur ex- communication.
XIII. No presentations to cures to be made by persons under twenty-five ; compels residence, and the assumption of priest's orders.
XIV. Prohibits giving cures in commendam to persons under age, and to none for above six months.
XV. Prescribes the seasons of ordination, and the qualifi- cation of candidates for orders.
XVI. To have been twice married incurs the forfeit of the clerical habit and tonsure, and of all clerical privileges.
XVII. Chapters desiring to be relieved from duties, to give sufficient reason; and throwing down images declared un- lawful.
XVIII. On dealing with those who hold pluralities ; and ordinaries are directed not to bestow them.
XIX. Relates to the oath to be taken by advocates and proctors.
XX. Absolutions extorted by force or fear of excommuni- cations to be null and void.
XXI. Grants ordinaries leave to appoint to vacancies be- longing to the presentation of the Roman court, if they have remained vacant a month.
XXII. Prohibits bishops from alienating the goods of the Church, without the consent of the chapter.
XXIII. Cancels all orders of mendicant friars established since Innocent III. if not approved by the holy see.
XXIV. Exacting or receiving any thing for the right of procuration, without personal visitation, is abolished.
XXV. The sanctity of churches is forbidden to be pro- faned by holding assemblies, markets, &c. therein.
XXVI. XXVII. Against usurers. XXVIII. Abolishes the use of reprisals.
The three last canons concern excommunications, where the name of the offender has been omitted in canonical admonitions ; where towns or countries are under interdict,
VOL. II. Q q
594 The Laws of Gregory X. in the Qth Book of the Decretals.
BOOK III. absolution of no force ; compelling ecclesiastical judges, by \ \ ' : the seizure of their temporalities, to revoke sentences.
These constitutions bear date November 1, in the third year of Gregory's pontificate.
The law respecting the mode of electing popes, though in some points altered by the successors of Gregory, continues to be the general law of the conclave to this day. The eligibility of any member of the Catholic Church to be elected to the chair of St. Peter, has been some time confined to the cardinals. With the pope's death, all offices he had filled were to cease. Certain canons, also, give the right of granting ab- solutions for particular offences exclusively to the pope.
On returning from France into Italy, after holding the Council of Lyons, he had resolved not to pass through Florence, in consequence of an interdict he had passed on that city two years before, and which yet remained. The Arno being much overflowed, compelled him to pass through the interdicted city, on coming to the gate of which he sus- pended the interdict, and blessed the people. As he left the city, however, he renewed the curse upon it, repeating a passage of Ps. xxxii. " Their mouth must be held in with bit and bridle." Having reached Arezzo a few days after, he was taken ill, and died suddenly, January 10th, 1276, being buried in the church of that city, where he is yet honoured as a saint.
Few pontiffs have strengthened the power of the Church so greatly within so short a space of time, as Gregory X. held the pontificate. His laws still form a part of the canon law of Rome, and are to be found in the Sixth Book of the Decretals.
CHAPTER X.
Resistance by the sovereigns of Europe to the more presumptuous aggressions of the Church of Rome. — Increased severity of the laws against heresy. — Council of Vienne in Dauphiny, 1311.
CLXXXV. Innocent V., died 1276.
Ten popes governed the Church, and thirty-seven years book hi. elapsed between the Second Council of Lyons, and the council ^^hap^ held in the neighbouring city of Vienne in Dauphiny. The office of pope was so important, his power so extensive, and the danger to the general interests of the Church of Rome, and to the Gregorian policy, so great if that power were not skilfully exerted ; that the conclave, whatever might be their predilections in favour of an incompetent candidate, seldom dared, at this period, to elect an ecclesiastic of inferior attain- ments. On the death of Gregory, the cardinals unanimously chose Peter de Tarantasia, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, one of the most learned divines of the age, who took the name of Innocent V. ' He died at the end of five months from his election, having in the mean time wisely restored tranquillity to Tuscany, and effected peace between Lucca and Pisa. He sent, also, ambassadors to Constantinople to cement the union between the two Churches, but died before their return*.
The parliament held at Westminster the Easter before the death of Innocent, passed some wise and good laws, which, while they preserve the privileges of the holy Church, reserve to the crown its rights \ Edward had visited Gregory X., the last pope, when on his way from the Holy Land to take
1 Raynald. ad ann. 1276, § 1?. ' Statutes at Large, 3 Edw. I.
2 Id. § 24.
Q q 2
596 National Churches sometimes still acted independently. BOOK III. possession of his crown. He had also been intimate with
CHAP X •
V — ^ ' /' him at Ptolemais, and must have learnt from him the princi- ples of the Gregorian party in the Church. Edward, how- ever, "the English Justinian," had reproved his own father for violating the conditions of the treaty he had made with his barons ; and he seems to have been anxious to respect, even at this early period of his reign, the liberties of the people as well as the rights of his crown. He caused the declaration to be made in the fiftieth chapter of the statute of Westmin- ster, that the privileges he granted were decreed to the honour of God and holy Church, and for the common good of the people.
CLXXXVI. Hadrian V., died 1276.
The celebrated Cardinal Othobon, or Ottobon, or Otto- bone, who had been sent into England to reconcile Henry III.* to his barons under Simon de Montfort, succeeded Innocent as Hadrian V. He died forty days after his elec- tion, at Viterbo, whither he had gone to meet Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, and Rudolph, King of the Romans, both of whom were professedly the supporters of the Church.
CLXXXVII. John XXL, died 1277.
Peter, the Bishop of Tusculum, succeeded on the 13th September, 1276, and died in the May following. The Churches, during these short pontificates, held their councils, and acted independently of the popes ; though they did not yet dare to refuse to their own people or ecclesiastics the privilege of appealing to the holy see. Councils were held August 31st, 1276, at Saumur; September 13th, 1276, at Bourges ; and in April and July at Constantinople, which confirmed the union of the two Churches, decreed by the second Council of Lyons, and excommunicated its opponents.
CLXXXVIII. Nicholas III., died 1280.
The cardinal-deacon of St. Nicholas, John Cajetan, a Roman of the noble family of Ursini, succeeded as Nicholas III. Though Nicholas obtained from Charles of Anjou the
* See Raynald. ad ann. 1265, § 61.
Archbishops of Canterbury appointed by the Pope. 597
resignation of the titles " Imperial Vicar,"" which offended book iir. Rudolph, and that of " Roman Senator,'^ Avhich offended the ^ '^^' " : pontiff; and though Rudolph confirmed the grants of Charle- magne and his successors to the holy see, and entirely sepa- rated from the empire the provinces which are now called the Patrimony of St. Peter ; the power of Rome suffered great diminution of influence in his pontificate by his unblushing nepotism, by his forming the papacy into a kingdom, and thus enabling the sovereigns of Europe to consider the pope as a temporal monarch ^ ; and by the statute of Mortmain in England, which prevented the further appropriation of lands to the revenues of the Church.
TJie usurpation loas, however, now permitted which the Bishops of Rome had so long, and so variously, desired in the reigns of former kings. They obtained the appointment of the Arch- bishops of Canterbury ; who from this period to the time of Cranmer, took the oath which Gregory VII. had originally im- posed upon them; and who thereby yielded the Church of Eng- land to the Church of Rome. Upon the death of Robert Kil- wardby, the monks of Canterbury unanimously chose Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who was with the king in Gascony. Nicholas, in the plenitude of his power, set aside the election, and nominated a learned Franciscan, John Peckham, who was consecrated at Rome. The period, how- ever, had already commenced when the indefinite authority of the Bishops of Rome was no longer feared as it had been. A council was held at Reading ^ in which, while many of the canons of the Council of Lyons and other synods were con- firmed, certain provisions were made which appeared to en- croach upon the prerogative of the king. The bishops still retained that power which w^as committed to them by their Divine Master, of calling synods and making canons in matters
5 So long as the power of the pope the year 1279, renewed there the con- was indefinite, the sovereigns of Europe stitutions of Ottobon, and made several I'egarded him as the universal bishop others about collation to benefices, only ; but when he commanded ar- the sentences of excommunication, and mies, and assumed the monarchical the clergy who kept concubines. There privileges of a small, defined territory, wasoneoninfantbaptism.Itwasordered he began to destroy the more indefinite that all those who should be born eight power which constituted his principal days before Easter and Whitsuntide, gi'eatness. should be baptized solemnly on those
' John Peckham, Archbishop of two festivals. — See on the Acts of this
Canterbury, having convened the Council, Collier, Brady, Spclman, Hart,
bishops, his suffragans, at Reading, in and the general historians.
I
598 Interdict on Viterbo for political offences only.
BOOK III. purely spiritual ; but they could not become the law of the CHAP^. i^jjj^ Q^^ ^Qj ought not, unless the secular legislature ap- proved of them. One of the canons made at this synod decreed that the king's ministers who would not execute the writ, De excommunicato capiendo, should be themselves excommunicated. This canon was an enforcement of those which had been passed at the Councils of Tours, and in the Third and Fourth Lateran. The English people were not prepared to proceed to the extremities of cruelty which were implied in, and must have followed, these enactments. The archbishop was com- pelled to rescind it ^ By another canon it was decreed, that punishment by the secular power alone was not sufficient for those who invaded the lands of the clergy. This also was rescinded. The common law was enforced against the canon law. On the Continent, the canon law was supreme over the municipal ; or rather they were identified. The privi- leges of clerkship had been lessened in 1275. [3 Edw. I.] The privileges of the synods were restrained by the revoca- tion of the proceedings of the synod of Reading, by command of the civil power. Nicholas died on the 23nd of August, 1280, at Suriano, near Viterbo ^
CLXXXIX. Martin IV., died 1285.
After six months' vacancy, John de Brie, treasurer of the church of St. Martin at Tours, was elected pontiff, and took the name of Martin from the patron saint of his own Church ^. He was chosen by the influence of Charles of Anjou, and acted as a partizan of Charles by again conferring on him the dignity of Roman Senator. By so doing he revived the contests between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. He pro- nounced the sentence of excommunication against the Em- peror of the East, Michael Paleologus, for having dissolved the union decreed by the Second Council of Lyons ; and laid an interdict on the city of Viterbo for political offences only. He proclaimed a crusade against Peter of Arragon, who defeated the crusaders. He formed a league with Venice in connexion with Charles, which was attended with but little success; and " Sicilian Vespers," or the massacre in Sicily of the French partizans of Charles of Anjou, who was supported by
' Collier, vol. i. p. 471, discusses the * Raynald. ad ann. 1280, § 23. arguments of Prynne on this point. ' Id. ad ann. 1281, § 3.
Chi'isVs command superseded by the Bishops of England. 599
the pope, all united to weaken the influence of the apostolic book hi.
see. Still the pope was obeyed. In England the tenths which > !,_ ;'
the clergy had voted to him as their contribution towards the rescue of the Holy Land, according to the decree of the Second Council of Lyons, Avere deposited in the monasteries and other places, in 1284. The king forbade this money to be taken out of the kingdom. The pope commanded the archbishop to expostulate with the king, and he promised to restore the money which he had taken into his own posses- sion. He promised, also, not to seize these grants for the future ; nor to injure the collectors appointed by the pope. Still, the great power which the Gregorian high Church party in Rome demanded, was neither so palmy nor so flourish- ing as it had been. Tlie celebrated statute of Westminster was passed to separate the jurisdictions, and ascertain the respective limits, of the spiritual and temporal courts. When the nature, and extent, and objects of any power are thus ques- tioned, it is a proof that such power is not entirely dreaded^.
But though the power of the Bishop of Rome was thus gradually declining, and treated with less reverence in tempo- ral matters than it had formerly been, his ecclesiastical autho- rity continued to be exercised over the people, in the most in- jurious and unjustifiable manner. The theologians who attri- bute the errors of these ages to the influence of the Bishop or Church of Rome only, have much misunderstood the nature of the ecclesiastical power. The Church of England at this time committed an error, which was subsequently changed into an article of faith, or an act of discipline, by a general council ; and which, therefore, became the law of the whole Western Church. The whole apostolical succession of the episcopal Church of England, represented by its bishops, and a synod of its clergy, superseded the positive command of Christ. John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1281, sum- moned at Lambeth a general synod of his province. The second canon, which was passed in this synod, sanctions the taking away the cup from the laity in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The \\me was not yet actually refused to them. They were only to be taught by their parish priest that the wine was unconsecrated, and given to them that they
• See this statute and the discussion respecting it in Collier.
600 The murderer, at Padua, of a Priest, is fined only one penny.
BOOK III. might swallow the bread more easily. The doctrine of transub- ^_. ^ • " ; stantiation had been decreed as an article of faith ; after having been regarded as an open question by the Fourth Council of Lateran. Many superstitions began to result from the ab- surdity. Among others, the doctrine that as the body and blood of Christ are contained in the single species of bread, the cup was not necessary ; and not being necessary, might be with- held without injury. This novel opinion was first taught to the more ignorant^ kind of people. The cup was still given, but with reserve, to the more enlightened ; but the wine now ceased to be consecrated ; and it was soon withdrawn altogether. This atrocious usurpation may be called one of the chief heresies by which the Church deviated from the purer practice and doctrine of its apostolic founders. It was begun, continued, and finally passed into a law by those who were studious to imprison, and otherwise punish their brethren whom they deemed to be heretics for opposing these novelties ; and for expostulating with the ecclesiastics, who called them- selves, the Church of Christ, at the moment they were re- scinding the principal institution of His holy covenant.
The authority of the ecclesiastical power was diminished still further by the statute, if it be indeed a statute, entitled " Cir- cumspecte agatis." Its object was to define more accurately the boundaries between the ecclesiastical and temporal courts. Spiritual causes only, of which the list was very extensive, were to be tried in the episcopal courts. The secular judges were commanded to take care that all other causes were brought under their own cognizance '. The same jealousy of clerical oppression which was taking place in England, displayed it- self even more decidedly on the continent. A law was passed at Padua imposing a fine of one penny only on the murderer of a priest. The law was unjustifiable; for the community ought to have ventured to correct the presumption of the priesthood which had outraged the better feelings of the com- munity. The city was interdicted, and the law was repealed. The fact proves only the wretched state of the laity, who ivere compelled to submit to the usurpations of the priesthood,
^ See the whole discussion in Collier, opinion. The people, not the king,
vol. i. p. 480. were desii'ous to prevent the indefinite
^ See the subject fully treated in encroachments both of the ecclesiastical
Collier. I mention these matters thus and papal powers, briefly, to trace the progress of public
The subsidies for the crusades intercepted by the Pope. COl
or to avenge themselves by such unjust methods *. The last book hi. act of the life of Martin IV. was the protecting the superior ^^h^RX^. sovereignty of the Bishop of Rome over the kingdom of Naples. Charles of Anjou bequeathed the guardianship of Naples to his nephew, Robert of Artois. Martin united a cardinal to the administration, and established the right of appeal from the regents to the tribunals at Rome. He died at Perugia on the 29th of March, 1285 K
CXC. Honorius IV., died 1287.
James Sevelli, a Roman noble, was unanimously elected. Martin IV. had diverted from their original destination the subsidies imposed by the Council of Lyons, on the nations of Christendom, which were intended for the crusades. Hono- rius IV. lessened the moral influe?ice of the pontificate by following his example, and thereby compelled the expostula- tions of Rudolph, Avho, notwithstanding his descent from the house of Hapsburg, assumed the more important designation — Rudolph of Austria. Rudolph had been one of the firmest friends of the holy see. The kingdom of Arragon had been presumptuously granted to the son of the King of France, as a punishment to Peter of Arragon ; for his attack on Sicily after the Sicilian Vespers. To uphold this war the crusading fund was plundered. Rudolph protested against the usurpa- tion as well as the robbery. The French were defeated in spite of the blessing of the pope upon their expedition. Three times the pope solemnly but vainly excommunicated the whole family of Peter of Arragon, Sicily, however, was secured to the son of Peter by treaty with Charles II. of Anjou; and Honorius, on his dying bed, bitterly inveighed against Charles for sacrificing the inheritance under the guardianship of the holy see. The times were past when kings resigned their thrones, or were flogged at the tombs of their rebellious subjects, at the bidding of the Bishops of Rome. Neither kings nor pontiffs, however, were conscious of this silent and imperceptible change.
In England, in this pontificate, the Archbishop of Canter- bury condemned certain propositions unsanctioned by the
* See History of Fopci-y, note, p. 134. -^ RayiiaKl. ad anu. § 12.
603 Appealers to Scripture against Popes, 6fC. excommunicated.
BOOK III. Church. Among these was one which is received by the ^HAP. X. Qjjm.(.jj of England at present, as the very corner-stone of its faith and teaching. It is, that in maintaining doctrines under discussion, especially that of transubstantiation, a man is not bound to rest his faith upon the authority of the pope ; or be governed by the opinions and tenets of Gregory, Augus- tine, or any other doctor of the Church ; but that the Scrip- tures, together with the evident deductions from reason, contain the only principles to command our assent. This proposition was condemned as heretical by the archbishop, at a meeting held in Bow Church, in London ; and all men were forbidden to defend it, under the penalty of excommunication. The same proposition would be condemned in this very day, not only by the papal, but by the ecclesiastical power, in many Churches ; if authority were vested in the hands of those per- sons who still believe, as Archbishop Peckham believed, when he pronounced this sentence. The opinions of Gregory and Augustine are valuable if they are true, and then only : and of that truth every reader of Scripture, who is able to use his reason, is entitled to judge. Some most useful provisions, however, for the performance of Divine service with solemnity and reverence, were enacted. A synod was also held at Exeter, which commanded the priests to instruct the people rightly in the doctrine of transubstantiation. One canon of the synod proves, that the innovation decreed by the council at Lambeth was not yet general. The cup was still frequently given to the laity. They were instructed to believe, that in the cup they received the blood which was shed from the body of our Saviour. The progress of the error was slow, notwithstanding all the authority of the Church, and the infamy attached to the crime of heresy. The same synod commanded all the people to confess three times a year to their own priests, unless he permit them to confess to another. The parishioners are exhorted to attend the Church on holy days, and especially on Sundays, that they might both hear the service and be instructed in their duty. Strange was the mixture of truth and error ; and no Protestant is justified in speaking of his ancestors as certainly damned ; because their ecclesiastical superiors, amidst much good, established many undoubted errors. Let us only be careful to secure the good we our- selves possess, and to prevent the return both of the errors
Veneration of the ivafer, when carried to the sick, decreed. 603
into which they fell, and the punishments by which those book hi. errors were enforced. chap^.
The power of making the body and blood of Christ by transubstantiating the bread and wine, as the people were taught to believe, rendered the priests so superior to their lay brethren ; that the doctrine of transubstantiation has ever been a favourite in the Church, the touchstone of heresy, the criterion of faith, the test by which the papal Christian is ever distinguished from the Protestant. It has ever been defended with the utmost jealousy, for those who receive this doctrine will assent to any tenet which can be submitted by ecclesiastical authority to human credulity. The legate of Honorius, at the Council of Wurtzburg, enforced the venera- tion of the consecrated wafer ; by enacting that, when the host was taken out of the church to the sick, the priest in his robes should precede it, a taper should be borne, and a bell should be rung. Those who met the procession were enjoined to kneel as it passed, and repeat three times the Lord's Prayer, with a certain number of Ave Marias. No means were left untried to increase the homage of the people to the clergy, and their deference to the decisions of the Church. Honorius died on the 3rd of April, 1287.
CXCI. Nicholas IV., died 1292.
Jerome of Ascoli, the first pope of the Franciscan order, of low birth, but eminent for his learning and piety, succeeded Honorius, after a vacancy of ten months, on the 15th of February, 1288. He pursued the Gregorian policy of endea- vouring to subject all temporal power to the see of Rome. He supported the claims of the house of Anjou to the throne of Sicily, and absolved Charles from his oath to the house of Arragon. He quarrelled with Rudolph for investing his son Albert with the throne of Hungary ; and died, it is said, of a broken heart for the loss of Tripoli and Ptolemais, in 1291, the last cities remaining to the Christians in the Holy Land. He banished peace from Europe, and lessened the poiver of the see by ill-timed assertions of the right of interference in the affairs of states which he was not able to enforce ; and which did not, therefore, compel obedience. Power, when exerted in vain, is necessarily weakened. Nicholas died April 4th, 1292.
60i Much ascetic devotion may be united to little wisdom.
CXCII. Celestine V., abdicated December 13, 1294.
After a vacancy of two years and three months, when the cardinals could not agree in their votes, the Bishop of Ostia, in the conclave, mentioned the name of Peter Moroni, a her- mit of great austerity and sanctity. He was an Apulian, who, at twenty years of age, had retired to a solitary mountain, where he made for himself a little cell under ground ; so small that he could scarcely stand or lie down in it®. Though compelled to take holy orders, he soon returned to his soli- tude, wore a horsehair shirt full of knots, with a chain of iron round his waist; and practised many other severities which recommended him to the favour of his contemporaries. His strange mode of endeavouring to please God was adopted by so many, that he lived to see thirty-six monasteries, and six hundred monks and nuns, who imitated his example. When his name was mentioned, one of the cardinals proposed to the Bishop of Ostia, that Peter should be elected pope. The proposition pleased. The hermit was chosen. Riding on an ass, whose bridle was held by the two Kings of Hungary and Naples, and attended by cardinals and princes, the re- luctant hermit was consecrated at Aquila, by the name of Celestine V. It was soon found that solitude is not the best school for sovereigns ; that some knowledge of law is essential to a lawgiver ; and that there may be much ascetic devotion, united to exceedingly Uttle wisdom. He built for himself a cell of boards in the middle of his palace ; and lived in soli- tude among the counsellors who assembled to advise with him, and the suitors who sought for justice. Perceiving that the cell of the hermit was more suited to him than the palace of the Bishops of Rome, and that he was totally unfit for his high office ; he consulted Benedict Caietan, afterwards his successor, whose ambition was equal to his learning, on the legality and expediency of resigning the pontificate. As the case was novel, Benedict persuaded him to enact a decree, declaring that the pope might resign. After which he sum- moned a consistory of cardinals, read before them the solemn act of abdication, laid aside the insignia of the pope, put on the habit of the hermit, descended from the throne, and cast-
" Butler's Lives of the Saints, May 19.
Boniface VIII. proverbial for pontifical insolence. 605
ing himself at the feet of the cardinals, begged their pardon BOOK III.
for his faults ; and recommended them to choose a more ^ .^ !
worthy successor. He endeavoured to retvirn to his hermit- age, but the concourse of people who assembled from all sides to see him, prevented the possibility of solitude. The same concourse alarmed the fears of his ambitious and politic successor. Celestine was secured, and died in the citadel of Fumone, nine miles from Anagni, two years after his abdica- tion, on the 19th of May, 1296. His last words were : " Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord."
CXCin. Boniface VIII., died ISOS.
Celestine resigned the pontificate in December, 1294, and was succeeded by the ecclesiastic who persuaded his abdica- tion. Benedict Caietan was a native of Anagni, of noble birth, and related to Alexander IV. He had been already employed as legate to Martin IV. and Nicholas IV. ; and is said to have been a man of great address and penetration, well acquainted with the political affairs of Europe and its princes. He was no less eminent for his talents, zeal, knowledge of the canon law, and proud contempt of the generality of mankind. He was supposed to be unscrupulous and crafty ; avaricious and arrogant ; and of boundless ambi- tion. He was still more distinguished for his zealous adherence to the Gregoj'ian pi'inciples and policy. He added so much to the canon law, and behaved throughout his pontificate with so much insolence to the sovereigns, his contemporaries, that he weakened the influence of the see by rousing their indigna- tion. His very name has become a proverb am.ong all who would describe, in one word, the worst and most intolerable domination of the pontifical supremacy.
His reign began by mistaking the right mode of governing the minds of men at the period of his election. The great mass of the people, in all countries of Europe, confounded at this time austerity with piety. They venerated most that religionist who fasted most perseveringly, lashed himself most severely, and tormented himself in every way most acutely. Celestine, his predecessor, had been dragged forth from his cell by the multitude in their admiration of these virtues. He rode on an ass into Rome ; and the hairs of the tail of
006 The splendour of Boniface VIII. offended, while it dazzled.
BOOK 111. the poor beast were plucked out, and preserved as relics by • ; the admirers of its ultra-rigid rider. Benedict, who had assumed the name of Boniface VIII,, proceeded to the oppo- site extreme. Aiming at excelling kings in pomp and magnificence, (as he soon declared to them in his memorable bulls, that he was superior to them all in power,) he rode in solemn procession \ on a white horse splendidly caparisoned, to the Lateran, where he was to be enthroned. The King of Sicily, Charles, held the right-hand bridle rein, Martel, titular King of Hungary, the left ; each walking on foot as pages. Two kings had held the bridle of the ass on which Celestine rode. They had eagerly sought for the honour in their veneration for the holy hermit. Two kings attended on Boniface ; but they appear to have been required to attend rather as vassals than as the voluntary homagers of the pontiff. He wore a crown on his head. The nobles and clergy attended in procession ; and the people craved his blessing on their knees in such numbers that he proceeded with difficulty to his enthroniza- tion. The same two kings, when on his return he dined in public, attended on his chair. Pope Boniface sat at the banquet as if he possessed the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them. But the pomp offended, while it dazzled. Guy, Earl of Flanders, appealed to Boniface against the King of France. The pope sent his legate, the Bishop of Meaux, to require Philip to give satisfaction to the earl. If he refused to do so, the legate was commanded to summon the King of France to appear before the pope, that the differ- ence might be decided at the pontifical tribunal. This was the origin of the quarrel. The King of France told the legate that the pope had no authority over the temporal affairs of sovereigns and princes, and that God alone was the superior
' Progreditui" sic summus apex, cui tanta relucet Gloria, sublimi Phrygio vestitus et auro, Coi-nipedemque sedens niveura sub tegmine nacti, Mandentemque genis ibat, quo Isetior, aurum, Adventabat equo candens, diademate, palla, Aurataque superpalla, nam cuspide plumse Cypressus consuta nitet. Tunc lora tenebant Illustres Gallique duces, Carolusque Secundus, Rex Siculus, Carolusque puer prolesque juventa, Floridus Ungarise materno a stipite nomen Regis habens. Dextram pater accipit, atque sinistram Filius, ardentes habitu.
Annales Raynaldi, p. 472, in ann. 1295.
Excommunication of the Colonnas without charge of heresy. 607
of kings. The legate returned, and Boniface dared to book hi, publish the bull, requiring the clergy to pay no taxes. . ^^ ,'
Boniface proceeded to act as if the maxims of Nicholas and Gregory were the true principles on which the Church of Christ was to be governed ; and by which all the temporal as well as the spiritual affairs of the world were to be con- ducted. After presenting James of Arragon with the Pisan and Genoese Islands of Corsica and Sardinia, he summoned to his tribunal the two cardinals of the Colonna family, who had objected to the abdication of Celestine ; and excommuni- cated them on their refusing to appear. He declared them and their families to be infamous for ever, extending the sentence of excommunication to all their friends and pro- tectors. No heresy was alleged against them. The pretext for the revenge against them was, that they had allied themselves to the Kings of Sicily and Arragon. The true cause, however, was the personal animosity of the pope alone, whom they had offended by their opposition to him in their capacity of counsellors to the holy see ; and the sentence was so mani- festly unjust, that the best feelings were enlisted in their favour. Not contented with this tyrannical malignity, he published a crusade against them; and granted the same indulgences to those who embarked in the fight against the Christian cardinals and their families, as to those who joined the crusade to the Holy Land against the Saracens. One of the Colonnas fled to England, and was hospitably received by Edward ; though Boniface had charged the king not to give him welcome. The other was protected by the King of France. The hatred of Boniface to the family was so intense and persevering, that he excepted them from the indulgence granted on the jubilee which he now first instituted in 1300* : and he ordered their patrimonial city Praeneste to be so utterly destroyed, that the ground on which it stood was to be ploughed up and sown with salt.
On the first day of the jubilee, Boniface appeared in full
« The bull of Boniface, by which Institutio Sanctissimi Jubilfei, pie- plenary indulgence was promised to all nariseque peccatorum remissionis, pro who should attend the most holy jubi- quolibet centessimo anno, Basilicas SS. lee which he instituted, but from the Petri et Pauli Apostolorum de Urbe benefits of which all the Colonna visitantibus. — Bullarium Magnum, die families were excluded, is headed as 11 Aug. 1300, i. 204. follows : —
G08 The clergy punished for obeying their Bishops and the Pope,
BOOK II [. pontifical robes, and on the second day in the imperial
. ' ^ : mantle. Two swords were carried before him as the double
emblems of the spiritual and temporal power.
The bull of Boniface exempting the clergy from the pay- ment of tribute and taxes to their temporal sovereigns without permission of the pope, was issued in 1296 *. The English clergy acted on its authority, and refused, in a parliament holden at Bury, November 4, of the same year, to vote their portion of the supplies for the public service. The king commanded another parliament to meet in London on the 14th of the January following. In the mean time he com- menced severe proceedings against the clergy, commanding their barns to be closed. The Archbishop Winchelsey sent the bull to be published in all cathedrals. The time came for the assembling of the parliament in London, as the king had appointed, and the clergy again refused the subsidy. The archbishop, who had strenuously supported the authority of the pope, as he was bound by his solemn oath to do, addressed the bishops on the superior duty of obeying their spiritual rather than their temporal sovereign. " You know, my lords," he said to them, " that under God, we have two lords — a spiritual and a temporal lord \ The spiritual is the pope : the temporal, the king. We owe obedience to both : but we owe a greater obedience to the spiritual than the temporal ^" This
' Brady has given a translation of that shall command them to be ar- the bull, from which the following is rested, seized, or taken ; likewise all an extract : — " We, therefore," &c. who knowingly shall give any advice, " by apostolic authority, do ordain, assistance, or favour in these matters, that those prelates, ecclesiastics, reli- for that very thing, and in that mo- gious or secular, of what state, order', or ment, shall incur the sentence of ex- condition soever they be, who shall communication. The communities or pay, or grant to pay, any taxes, or im- universities, or bodies politic, that positions, a half, a tenth, twentieth, shall be guilty of these things, we put an hundredth, or any other part or under ecclesiastical interdict, strictly portion whatever, of the revenues of commanding the prelates and church- their churches or goods to laymen, men, by vu'tue of their obedience, and mider the name of an aid, assistance, under pain of being deposed, that they lending, or gift, or under any other acquiesce not in these things, without pretence or colour whatever, without expresslicenseof thesaidsee." — Brady, the authority of the apostolic see; also, vol. ii. p. 41; see also Appendix, vol. ii. those emperors, kings, princes, dukes. No. 17, for copy of original ; see also earls, barons, great men, captains, Boehmer, Juris Canonici, vol.ii. p. 989; officers, and governors, by what names Sexti Decret. lib. iii. tit. xxii. cap. iii. soever they are known, or any other, Clericis laicos.
of what state or condition soever, that ^ That is, as expressed in a cele-
shall impose, exact, or receive such brated modern phrase — " They had a
things, or shall arrest, seize, or pre- divided allegiance."
sunie to take the goods of ecclesiastics ^ Satis vobis constat, Domini mei,
deposited or secured in churches, or nee latere potest, quod sub Omnipotente
Papal temporal, and Papal spiritual powei' inseparable. 609
was the creed of that day ; and it must be, and will ever be, book ill.
the creed of the sincere members of every Church which up- ^ ' ";
holds the Divinely appointed supremacy of the Bishop of Rome. For he who values the salvation of the soul, ought, and will ever desire, to please God rather than man ; and to render to God the things he believes to be God's, even though they be Caesar's; if he imagine that the demands of Caesar clash with those of God. FTheii we can separate light from the sun, loe can distinguish betiveen the papal spiritual and the papal temporal poiver. Winchelsey proceeded, it is true, to say that he would send special messengers to the pope requesting him to allow the clergy to vote supphes to the king ; or at least to direct them what to do '. The king, however, properly and justly refused to wait for the papal permission authorising his own subjects to contribute to the services of the state ; and he proceeded, since they refused to uphold the charges of their common protector, the public law, to place them beyond the pale of the law. Writs and Avarrants were issued* to the sheriffs to seize all the goods and chattels of the clergy till further directions. The king was then obeyed. The la^^-yers were commanded not to plead for them before any temporal judge. They were thus outlawed ; and all the clergy were commanded to pay a fifth of their revenue, or quit their estates. The clergy of the dioceses of York and Carlisle, with some others, anticipated this command ; and received, on payment of the supply required, the king's writs of protec- tion \ Some refused to comply. The pope had forbidden the payment of taxes, -without his permission, upon pain of excommunication. Proclamations were issued against all persons v»'ho published the sentence of excommunication against the king, his ministers, or adherents ; and many of the clergy were imprisoned ^ The archbishop now sum- moned a Provincial Council in London. The king com- manded the synod to pass no enactments which should tend to the disadvantage or injury of himself, his ministers, or
Deo, duos etiam Dominos liabemus, cem Scriptores.
Spiritualem et Temporalem ; Spiritua- ' Ut lieentiara aliquid concedendi
lem vero Dominum Papani, et Tem- habere possuimis.
poralem Dominum nostrum Regem, et * February 12, 1297.
quaravisutriqueobedientiamdebeamus, ^ Dated February 6, 1297.
majorem tamen Spirituali quam Tem- * A second commissioti was issued
porali. — Knyghton, col. 2491, ap. De- to discharge them. — See Brady, ii. 50.
VOL. II. R r
I
610 The Clergy outlawed for obedience to the Pope.
BOOK III. his subjects ; and Hugh le Despenser was commissioned to v^i^^5' take with him certain of the council, and publish the king's prohibition on the day of their meeting. Neither Henry VIII. nor Elizabeth could have acted with more vigour against the papal and ecclesiastical usurpations : but Edward and his subjects did not yet understand, that any appeal which the pope and the clergy could make to the consciences of the people could only be rightly met by another influence, equally binding upon conscience with the authority of the Church — the authority of the higher power of the Scriptures, which the Church professed to make the foundation of its power. The result, however, of the king's severity was the present submission of the clergy. Two friars, and two lawyers, pleaded before the archbishop, whose estates had been seized for his contumacy, and before his suffragans ; on the reason- ableness and justice of the clergy, in time of war, contributing to the necessities of the state, notwithstanding the papal prohibition. The archbishop charged every man to act with regard to the salvation of his soul. The synod broke up. The continuance of the outlawry, and the consequent insults to which they were subjected, effected the gradual submission of the clergy ; who then, to obtain the king's favour, voted even larger supplies than he had required. The king, with- out requiring the recantation of his allegiance to the pope, restored his estates to the archbishop. He apologized for demanding so much money from his people : and the arch- bishop, at the meeting in Westminster, where the king had made his declarations, promised with tears to be the faithful subject of his temporal sovereign.
War was raging at this time between England and Scot- land, and between France and England. The interference of the pope was requested. Boniface commanded a truce to be observed for two years. This was in the year 1297, and respected only England and France. His command was rejected by Philip, with the denial of his authority in temporal affairs. As both parties, however, desired peace, they mutually consented to accept his interference as Benedict Caietan, a private individual, and a skilful canonist ; but not as Pope Boniface VIII., in his character of ecclesiastical sovereign. The award of Boniface was accepted and confirmed by the English parliament.
The Pope commands the French Clergy not to pay taxes. 61 1
The people of Scotland afterwards requested the papal book hi.
interference against Edward. Boniface claimed the crown v ^^J ;
of Scotland as his own, in right of the holy see. The demand, strange to say, was considered and debated in parliament, at Lincoln, February 12th, 1301 ; and though rejected, it was done in courteous language \
In the same year, the Archbishop of Canterbury again refused to vote supplies for the crown, without the special licence of the pope*.
Boniface made the recovery of the Holy Land his pretence for interfering in the affairs of princes. He wTote to Philip the Fair, to Edward L of England, and to Adolphus of Ger- many, commanding them, under pain of excommunication, to conclude their differences. We have seen how^ astutely he aimed, by interference in their temporalities, to achieve ascendancy over secular princes ; but the triple crown, the white magnificently attired steed, the imperial mantle, the two swords, and the many other insignia of temporal as well as of sacerdotal dominion, which this arrogant pontiff assumed, would not have been regarded otherwise than as the toys of his folly ; if the Churches of Europe had not considered them to be, in reality, W' hat Boniface himself professed — pledges of princely as well as sacerdotal supremacy. He attempted to dictate the terms of peace between the Kings of England and France, to the great indignation of the latter. He had published against Philip the Fair, in 1296, the celebrated bull ^, in which, because the king had commanded his sub- jects to export no gold, nor silver, nor gems without his permission, the pope actually commanded all the regular and secular clergy in his bull, as we have seen, not to pay any tax imposed by their temporal sovereign \ If the kings of
' The parliament reverently and ' One of the most conspicuous of
humbly beseech his holiness favourably the advocates of Roman Catholic Eman-
to permit the king peaceably to possess cipation (Dr. Doyle), having, in his
his rights. examination before a committee of the
* Pro clero nihil voluit concedere House of Lords, (see Report, p. 190,) — sine licentia summi Pontificis spe- March 18, 1826, professed to consider ciali. Boniface Vlll. an exception to all
* Ut supra. The bull " Clcricis other popes, in having issued a Laieos," as it now stands embodied " Brief," (the bull " Unam Sanctam,") in the canon law of the Roman a.sserting his power over temporal Catholic Church, is to be seen in the sovereigns and states, by an authority Liber Sextus Decretal, lib. iii. tit. xxii. derived immediately from heaven, and c. 3, issued Feb, 24, 129G. not mei-ely fi-om his predecessors, as a
Rr2
612 Copy of the celebrated Bull " Unam Sanctam."
BOOK III. Europe had submitted to this decree, their sceptres would vj ^ ; have been at once transferred to the hands of the Bishop of
custom ; I shall give this " Brief " as
I find it in Raynaldus, anno 1302, § 13.
Ad Perpetuam Rei Memoriam.
Unam sanetam Ecclesiam Catholi- cam, et ipsam Apostolicani, urgente fide, credere cogimur et tenere, nos- que hanc fii'miter eredimus et simpli- citer confiteniur ; extra quam nee salus est nee remissio peccatorura, Sponso in Cantieis proclamante ; Una est columba mea, perfecta mea, una est matris suce electa genetricis suce ; quae unum corpus mysticum reprsesentat, cujus corporis caput Christus, Christi vero Deus : in qua unus Dominus, una fides, unum baptisma. Una nempe fuit diluvii tempore area Noe, unam Ecclesiam prasfigurans, quEe in uno cubito consummata, uimm Noe videlicet gubernatorem habuit et reetorem, ex- tra quam omnia subsistentia super terram legimus fuisse deleta. Hanc autem veneramur, et unicam, dicente Domino in Propheta : Erue a framea, Deiis, animam meam, et de nianu cams unicam meam. Pro anima enim, id est pro seipso capite, simul oravit et cor- pore ; quod corpus, unicam scilicet Ecclesiam nominavit, propter sponsi fidei sacramentoi'um, et charitatis Ec- clesite unitatem. Hajc est tunica ilia Domini inconsutilis, quEe scissa non fuit, sed sorte provenit. Igitur Ecclesise unius, et unicfe unum corpus, unum caput, non duo capita quasi monstrum, Christus scilicet et Christi vicarius, Petrus Petrique successor, dicente Domino ipsi Petro : Pasce ones m-eas. Meas, inquit, generaliter, non singula- riter has vel illas, per quod commisisse sibi intelligitur universas. Sive igitur Graeci sive alii se dicant Petro ej usque successoi'ibus non esse commissos, fateantur necesse est, se de ovibus Christi non esse, dicente Domino in Joanne, Unum ovile, unum et unicum esse pastorem.
In hac ej usque potestate duos esse gladios, spiritualem videlicet et tem- poralem, evangelicis dictis instruimur. Nam dicentibus Apostolis : Ecce gladii duo hie ; in Ecclesia scilicet, cum Apos- toli loquerentur, non respondit Dominus nimis esse, sed satis. Certe qui in potestate Petri temporalem gladium esse negat, male verbura attendit Domini proferentis : Conv&rte i/ladium tuum in vaginam. Uterque ergo in
potestate Ecclesise, spiritualis scilicet gkidius et niaterialis : sed is quidem pro Ecclesia, ille vero ab Ecclesia exercendus : ille sacerdotis, in manu regum et militum ; sed ad nutum et patientiam sacerdotis. Oportet autem gladium esse sub gladio, et temporalem auctoritatem spirituali subjici potes- tati : nam cum dicat Apostolus : Non est potestas nisi a Deo, qucB autem a Deo sunt, ordinata sunt ; non ordiuata es- sent, nisi gladius esset sub gladio, et tanquam inferior reduceretur per alium in suprema : nam secundum beatnm Dionysium lex diviiiitatis est intima per media in suprema reduci. Non ergo secundum ordinem universi om- nia seque ac immediate, sed infima per media, inferiora per superiora ad or- dinem reducuntur : spiritualem autem et dignitate et nobilitate terrenam quanilibet prsecellere potestateni, opor- tet tanto clai'ius nos fateri, qiumto spiritualia temporalia antecellunt: quod etiam ex decimarum datione, et bene- dictione, et sanctificatione, ex ipsius potestatis acceptione, ex ipsarum rerum guberiiatione clai'is oculis intuemur : nam veritate testante, spiritualis po- testas terrenam potestateni instituere habet et judicare, si bona non fuerit : sic de Ecclesia et Ecclesiastica Potes- tate verificatur vaticiniura Jeremite : Ecce constitui te hodie super gentes et regna, &c. quae sequuntur.
Ergo sideviat terrena potestas, judi- cabitur a potestate spirituali ; sed si deviat spiritualis minor a suo superiori ; si vero suprema a solo Deo non ab homine poterit judicari, testante Apos- tolo : spiritualis homo judicat omnia ; ipse autem a nemine judicatur. Est autem hsec auctoritas, etsi data sit homini, et exerceatur per hominem, non humana sed potins divina potestas, ore divino Petro data, sibique suisque successoribus in ipso Christo, quem confessus fuit petra firmata : dicente Domino ipsi Petro : Qiiodcunque Uga- mris, &c. Quicunque igitur huic potestati a Deo sic ordinataj resistit, Dei ordinationi resistit, nisi duo, sicut Manichseus, fingat esse principia, quod falsum et hsereticum esse judicamus : quia, testante Moyse, non in principiis, sed in principio coelum Deus creavit et terram. Porro subesse Romano Pon- tifici omni humani creaturte declara-
Rephj of the King of France to the Pope. 613
Rome. Philijj of France not only refused to admit all at- book hi.
tempts at interference by the pope, in his temporal jurisdiction, ./— l"*
but upon this blow being insolently aimed at his royal crown, he did not hesitate to return it. The quarrel between the two courts led to considerable altercation, Boniface labouring to prove that the Church, as the bride of Christ, and the parent of all His children, had claims on the liberality of her sons above all others which could be urged ^ ; and Philip answering his arguments with the force and skill, which truth alone can impart.
Before the clergy existed, he said, the King of France had the care of his own kingdom, and could make his own laws — that holy mother Church, the bride of Christ, con- sists not only of clergy but of laity also, whorti Christ, by his death, mercifully redeemed — that he desired all, whether laity or clergy, to partake in the joy of that redemption — that the clergy ought not, therefore, nor are they empowered to appropriate to themselves, to the exclusion of the laity, the privileges of the Church ^
mus, dicimus, et diffinimus omnino esse de necessitate salutis. Dat. La- terani xiv. Kal. Deeembri, anno viii.
* Ineffabilis amoris dulcedine sponso suo, qui Christus est, sancta mater Ecclesia eopulata, dotes et gratias ab Ipso suscepit amplissimas, uljertate fcBCuudas, et speeialiter inter eas bene- ficium libertatis. Voluit enim perama- bilem sponsam ejus libere fidelibus populis prseesse dominie, ut velut in filios haberet more matris in singulos potestatem, ac earn cuncti cum fiiiali reverentia tanquam univei'salem ma- trem et dominam honorarent. — Ray- naldi Annal. xiii. 496, § 25.
* Antequam essent clerici, Rex Francise habebat custodiam regni sui, et piiterat statuta facere. Sancta Mater Ecclesia, sponsa Christi, non solum est ex clericis, sed etiara ex laicis : quam Ipse per mortem suain misericorditer liberavit, qua libertate gaudere voluit onines illos, tam laicos, quam clericos. Clerici — non debeut, non possunt, nisi forsitan per abusuni, sibi appropriare, quasi alios excludcn- do, ecclesiasticam libertatem, loquendo de libertate, qua Christus nos sua gratia liberavit. Multie vero sunt libertates singulares nou universalis
ecclesiae, sed solum ejus ministronim : quae pridem libertates per statuta Rom. Pontiticum, de benignitate vel saltern permissione priucipuni saeculariuni, sunt concessse ; quse quideui libertates sic concessse vel permissse ipsis Regi- bus regnorum suorum gubernationem ac defensionsm auferre non possunt, nee ea, quaj dictie guberuationi et de- fensioni necessaria seu expedientia judicantur,dicente Domino Pontificibus Templi — Redditc ergo qiice sunt Cusaris Ccesarl, &c. Et quia tui-pis est pars qute suo non congi-uit univei"so, et menibrum inutile et quasi paralyticum quod corpori suo subsidium ferre re- cusat, quicunque sive Clerici sive Laici, — qui capiti suo vel corpori, hoc est domino Regi et regno, — auxilium ferre recusant, semetipsos partes in- congruas et membra inutilia et quasi paralytica esse demoustrant. Quis sapiens et intelligeus ha^c non incidit in vehementem stuporem, audiens Vicarium Jesu Christi proliibentem tributum dari Ca?sari, et sub anathe- mate fulrainantem, etc. — See Du Puy Breves, p. 21, and Leibnitii Mantissa Codicis Juris gentium diplom. pt. ii. p. 288, ap. Gieselei', vol. ii. pp. 238, 239, note 6.
614 Boniface VIII . threatens to excommunicate Philip.
^OOK in. Philip insisted that the clergy were subject to himself, as ' ^ ' much as the laity, in all the temporal concerns of his king- dom ; and that they were bound to contribute to the common protection of the state, for their own benefit; that it was grievous, while Christ Himself had commanded His own dis- ciples to pay tribute, to see His vicar forbid the clergy to pay the tribute due to their secular prince, while they were permitted to waste their money upon the most inferior and unworthy objects. The clergy of France, themselves, re- monstrated with the pope. The bull was explained to them to denote, the protection of the clergy from the exorbitant exactions of sovereigns ; but that free gifts, and necessary sums upon urgent occasions, (that is, all taxes imposed by the state,) might be freely paid. All this weakened the in- fluence of Rome by diminishing the deference paid to its moral power ; and by rendering the obedience to an ecclesiastical superior not a reasonable service, but homage submitted to be paid through fear.
The answer of the pontiff satisfied the king. The quarrel, however, between them was renewed by the refusal of the latter, in consequence of his European wars, to contribute to the crusade against the Saracens. Boniface commissioned a legate to require the king to terminate his wars in Europe ; and ordered the clergy not to contribute to the expenses which they involved. The legate, in communicating this order to Philip, threatened him with deposition unless he obeyed the pontiff, in whom was vested all power, both temporal and spiritual. He is said to have declared, also, that though he was the subject of Philip, he acknowledged no power superior to the pope. Philip ordered the legate to be arrested, Boniface sent another legate to demand his libera- tion; or the subjects of France, he said, should be de- clared to be absolved from their allegiance. The letters were taken from the new legate, and burned, and he himself, with the former legate, whom the king had released from prison with the intention of sending him into exile, were com- manded to quit the kingdom. Philip summoned the nobles and clergy, and acquainted them with the papal pretensions to an unlimited power in temporal as well as in spiritual matters, over all kings and princes. The nobles without any, the bishops with some, hesitation resolved to support the
Boniface refuses to yield any of the Papal claims. 615
king in his resistance to the pontiff. Philip accordingly pro- book III. hibited the removal of any money from the kingdom, and > ' \' ^ l forbade any ecclesiastics of France to proceed to Rome, where Boniface had summoned them to a council, appointed to be held in order, as it was stated, to devise means to remedy the disorders existing in France *. The resistance of Philip to the temporal sovereignty over himself and his subjects, which the pope persevered in assuming, had been successfully exerted during the seven years of his pontifical usui'pations and aggressions ; and he now sent his ambassador to Rome, to inform Boniface of the decisions of his nobles and himself, Avith a great portion of his clergy. The ambassador was un- ceremoniously dismissed by the pope, who, on the following day, December oth, 1301, issued letters, addressed to Philip, to the clergy, and to the magistrates of France. Among these threats and commands, the king is warned of the fate which awaits him ; by an admonitory paternal letter, unless he sub- mits to the \acar of Christ in every thing ; and is informed of the determination of the apostolic see to concede no one of its claims to sovereignty over kings and kingdoms '.
* The " Two Short Letters," as they ejus, non quasi hospes et advena, sed are called, which are said to have jam domesticus fidei et civis sanctorum passed on this occasion, in one of which effeetus, ovile Domiuicum intravisti, Boniface tells Philip, tliat he is subject colluctaturus non solum contra camem to him in both spirituals and temporals, et sanguinem, sed etiam contra aereas and that all benefices belong to the pope ; potestates, mundique rectores, pra^scn- and the other, in which the king replies tium teuebrarum. Sic veri Noe es — " Your foolishness may know (sciat arcam ingressus, extra quam nemo tua maxima fatuitas) that we are salvatur, Catholicam sciUcet Ecclesiam, subject to none," &c. are supposed by unam columbam immaculatam unici Spondanus to be forgeries. They are (unicam) Christi sponsam, in qua certainly unworthy of sovereigns even Christi Vicarius Petrique successor iu a barbarous age. primatum noscitur obtinere : qui sibi
* Bonifacius, &c. charissimo in collatis clavibus regni ccelorum, judex Christo filio, Philippo Regi FranciEe a Deo vivorum et mortuorum consti- illustri : — Ausculta, fill charissime, tutus agnoscitur ; ad quem, sedentem prtecepta patris, et in doctrinam ma- injudicii solio, dissipare pertinet suo gistri, qui gent lUius vices in terns, intuitu omne malum. Hujus profecto qui solus est Magister et Dominus, sponsae, quae de coelo descendit, a Deo aurem tui cordis inclina ; viscerose parata sicut sponsa ornata ^■iro suo, sanctse matris Ecclesise admonitionem Romanus Pontifex caput existit . nee libenter excipe, et cura efficaciter habet plura capita monstruose, cum sit adimplere (vei-suque uno et fere di- sine macula, sine ruga, nee habens midio eraso Clementi V. jussu). Ad aliquod inhonestum ( ac duabus paginis to igitur sermo noster dirigitur, tibi cum fere dimidia erasis subjicitur) patei'nus amor exprimitur, et dulcia Ad hwc, ne Terrse sanctte negotiuni, matris ubera exponuntur. Campum quod nosti'is et tuis et aliorum fidelium siquidem militiaj humanse mortalitatis debet charius insidere priecordiis, nos ingressus, rcnatus sacri foute baptis- putes oblivioni dedisse, mcmoi"are, tili, matis, renuntians diabolo et pompis et discito, (juod progenitores tui Chris-
616 The Bishop of Worcester fined for obedience to the Pope.
BOOK III. In the following year, 1302, Boniface attempted a further
. ^^" •^; encroachment on the rights of sovereigns. He invested the
Bishop of Worcester, whom he had by his own choice and authority appointed to the see, with its temporalities, as well as with its spiritual jurisdiction. The king, however, com- pelled him to acknowledge that he held the temporalities of himself; and fined the bishop 1000/. for receiving a bull so prejudicial to the royal authority ®.
tianissimi Principes, quorum debes laudanda vestigia solerti studio et Claris operibus imitari, exposuerunt dim personas et bona in subsidium dicta; terrse. Sed Saracenorura inva- lescente perfidia Christianorum ac . . . (coUigitur ex literarum erasarum ves- tigiis vocem, quse desideratur, hauc fuisse, prtesertim ; qua nimirum Philippus perstringebatur. Non ca- ruisse sane ipsum gravis inertise culpa in ferendo Ptolemaidis et reliquarum urbium Syrite excidio, vidimus, cum a I^ieolao IV. rogatus ut periclitantis Syriie misereretur, Ptolemaidisque tutelam susciperet, detrectavit frivola de causa, tautoque Regi inhonesta, ne sibi, ut aiebat, illius jactura adscribe- retur, si barbarus ])rtevaleret : sicque res Christiana perdita fuit. Nee minus religioni obfuisse insinuatum est, cum ievi de causa bellum cum Ed- wardo Rege, sarcire injurias a suis illatas parato, suscepit ; ob quse juste lionifacius hsec illi objecit :) Tua et aliorum Regum et Principum devo- tione solita tepeseente, terra eadem tuis utique temporibus, heu! deperdita noscitur et prostrata. Quis itaque canticum Domini cantat in ea ? Quis assurgit in ejus subsidium et reeupera- tionis oppoi'tune juvamen advei"sus impios Sai'acenos, malignantes, et operantes iniquitatem ac debacchantes in ilia ! Ad ejus quippe succursum arma bellica periisse videntur, et ab- jecti sunt clypei fortium, qui contra hostes fidei diniicare solebaut : enses et gladii evaginati in domesticos fidei, et Sffiviunt in effusionem sanguinis Christiani: et nisi a populo Dei domes- ticte insolentiiB succidantur, et pax ei proveniat salutaris, terra ilia, foedata actibus malignorum, a perieulo desola- tionis et miserite per ejusdem populi ministerium non resurget.
Si base et similia iis benevola niente revolvas, invenies quod obscuratum
est aurum, et est color optimus immu- tatus. An non ignominia et coufusio magna tibi et aliis regibus et principibus Cliristianis adesse dignoscitur, quod versa est ad alienos lisereditas Jesu Christi, et sepulehrum Ejus ad extra- neos devolutum 1 Qualem ergo retri- butionis gratiam merebuntur apud Dominum Reges et Principes, et cteteri Christiani, in quibus ten-a quserit re- spirare pi-sedicta ; sed non est qui sustentet eam ex omnibus filiis, quos genuit Ipse Deus, nee est qui supponat manum ex omnibus, quos nutrivit ? Clamat enim ad Dei filios civitas, Jerusalem, et suas exponit angustias, et in remedium doloris ejus filiorum Dei implorat affectus. Si ei'go filius Dei es, dolores ejus excipias, tristare et dole cum ipso, si diligis bouum ejus. Tartar! quidem, pagani, et alii infideles eidem terrre succurrunt, et ei non subveniunt in ea Christi sanguine pre- tioso redempti ; nee est qui consoletur eam ex omnibus charis ejus. Hoc a dissidiis privatis obvenit, dum utilitas publica cupiditatis ardore consumitur, nonnullis qu£E sunt sua quserentibus, non quae Christi, quorum jieccata Deus ultionum Dominus non solum in ipsis vindicat, sed etiam in progenies eorun- dem.
Tremenda sunt itaque Dei judicia et timenda, ante quje non parantes jus- titiam damnabuntui', Justus autem de angustia liberabitur, et cadet impius in laqueam, quam tetendit. Tu vero, fili, communiens in tribus temporibus vi- tani tuam, ordiuando praesentia, et commemorando prjeterita, et provi- dendo futura, sic te prsepares in pra3- missis (erasoque fere uno versu) ut in prsesenti divinam gratiam, et in futuro salvationis et retributiouis asteriiie gloriam merearis. Dat. Laterani Non. Dccembris anno vii. — Raynaldi, ad an. 1301. § 31. 32.
•■' See " Records,'' in Collier, i. 497.
Charges by Philip, against Boniface VIII. 617
Before Boniface proceeded to excommunicate Philip, he book hi.
sent his legate with an offer of pardon, upon the conditions, v ^ ,'
principally that the Gallican bishops should obey the sum- mons of the pope whenever he pleased to call them to Rome ; and that certain Gallican benefices should be granted to the apostolic see. The terms were rejected, and the king was declared, Avith all who administered to him the sacraments, to be excommunicated. Still the controversy proceeded. The anathema was published April 13, 1303. Philip imme- diately concluded a peace Avith the King of England, which was ratified May 13th, and called together the states general a second time. They assembled June 13th, 1303. It was then determined to lay before a general synod, to be speedily convened, certain heavy charges against the pope ^ ; and the French nation, whose religious scruples were removed by the arrogant conduct of the pontiff, was prepared to take part with their temporal sovereign.
Boniface, at the time of this controversy, had taken up his residence at Anagni, The result was, that Philip secretly sent into Italy William de Nogareto, some of whose ancestors had been condemned by the inquisition, and burned for heresy. He was instructed to join with the Colonna party in Campania, and to seize, if possible, the person of the pope. Sciarra, an Italian noble, uncle of the Cardinals Colonna whom Boniface had grievously oppressed, had privately raised 300 horse, with whom Nogareto united. They pro- ceeded without delay to Anagni. The pope, believing he was about to be killed, declared that he would die as the Bishop of Rome ought to meet death. He put on the papal robes, with the mantle of St. Peter. He placed on his head the crown of gold which was said to have been given by Con- stantine to Sylvester. In one hand he held the cross, in the other the emblem of civil sovereignty. He then ascended
' I. That he was guilty of simony, lessicm of a Spanish bishop, whom he
II. Tliat he pleaded a right to practise deposed, and restored again for money,
it, by alleging that popes could not Vlll. That he committed incest with
commit simony. III. That he was an two nieces, by each of whom he had
homicide. IV. That he was an usurer, children. IX. That he had given the
V. That he did not believe the niys- tenths of all his ecclesiastical estates iu
teries of the eucliarist. VI. That he aid of war against France. X. That
affirmed the soul to be mortal, and he kept Saracens in pay to prosecute
denied that there was any happiness invasions into Sicily. — History of tlie
beyond this life. VII. That he forced Popes, vol. ii. p. 71, 2 vols. 4to. a cardinal to reveal to him the con-
I
618 Neither rank, birth, nor greatness, can sanction crime.
BOOK III. the papal throne, and awaited the approach of his enemies.
V ' ^ • ; They entered the room. Sciarra insulted him by a blow on the cheek. Nogareto showed the order for a general council to which appeal was to be made, and required him to depart with them to Lyons to be deposed by the council. I shall think it an honour, said Boniface, to be condemned and deposed by the Paterini. This was said, as it would seem, with scorn, in allusion to the ancestor of the French chan- cellor, Nogareto, certain of whom had been committed to the flames as heretics. Sciarra Colonna then set him on an unbridled horse, with his face to the tail, and so carried him in triumph to Rome. This grievous and unworthy insult so affected him, that in thirty-five days he died in their custody raving mad ^ When this pope expected to die on his throne, he is said to have folded his robe round him to fall grace- fully. But neither firmness, nor consciousness of birth, rank, dignity, and station, could give greatness to a life of usurpation and crime. Nero Caesar was murdered as vfeW. as Julius Caesar, yet none admired Nero.
Among the acts of this pope, one is recorded which fully betrayed the revengeful spirit by which he was actuated. The people of Ferrara had voluntarily canonized a priest of their Church, named Hermannus, as a saint, twenty years after his death, in consequence of the sanctity of his life, and the excellence of his doctrine. Boniface, under pretence of being informed that he had formerly preached against the court of Rome, commanded his remains, after lying buried the above time, to be taken up, and judicially burnt as one convicted of heresy ^ A number of the mendicants even, were beginning to declaim against the corruptions of the papal court, while the laity, sovereigns, and subjects, alike looked upon the head and members of the hierarchy with jealousy and disaffection. The reign of Boniface was fatal to the moral influence of the papal power. He exaggerated its pretensions at the moment when the world and the universal Church had begun to question the justice of its claims to secular supremacy. He endeavoured to extend its influence further than his predecessors had done, without perceiving that a gradual change of opinion had begun with regard
** See Histoi'y of the Popes, ii. 72, 2 vols. 4to. " Ibid. ii. 71.
Blasphemous assumptions of Boniface VIII. 619
to the ecclesiastical authority. His efforts failed : and Rome, book hi.
though still powerful, ceased to be omnipotent, through the > ,^ ;
inordinate arrogance and ambition of the pontiffs. Gregory VII. would seem to be the most despotic and ruthless of men, till we read of the reckless and sanguinary crusades and murders of Innocent III.; while Innocent is thrown into the shade upon our considering the blasphemy and audacity of Boniface VIII., in asserting his authority over nations and kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to plant, and to build, to be immediately from God!
Boniface died on the 11th of October, 1303. The authors of the History of Popery, quoting Platina, con- clude their account of his nine years' reign with the following observ'ations : " That Boniface endeavoured to strike terror into emperors, kings, princes, nations, and people, rather than teach them religion and piety ;" to bestow kingdoms and take them away ; to banish and recall at his pleasure ; " and thirsted more than can be expressed after gold, by what means soever he could get it — a fit example to warn all princes, especially Churchmen, to behave themselves with humility and modesty, like Christ their Master ; lest other- wise, like this proud tyrant, they be brought to confusion and misery ^"
Nogareto cites a prophecy current during the lifetime of Boniface, says Gieseler % which after his death was put in the mouth of his predecessor Ccelestinus : —
" Ut vulpes intravit, tanquam leo pontificavit, Exiit utque canis, de divite factus inaiiis *."
CXCIV. Benedict XL, died 1304.
Nicholas Boccasini, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, after the lapse of twelve days, succeeded Boniface, taking the name of Benedict XI. Philip wrote to him desiring peace. The new pontiff compHed with his request ; and absolved the king from all the sentences of excommunication. He then ivisely annulled all the proceedings of Boniface against France, and
' See History of Popery, ii. 72. » Matth. Westmonas. p. 447
' Gieseler, ii. 249, note 33.
620 Compromise between France and the Gregorian party.
BOOK ui. restored the Colonna family to their possessions. He refused,
^ / ^ 'i however, to absolve Nogareto. Benedict died at Perugia,
after holding the see nine months, on the 6th of July, 1304. He endeavoured by a more mild conduct to restore the influ- ence which the see had lost, by the violent measures and arrogant pretensions of Boniface.
CXCV. Clement V.,died\^\^.
The King of France, during the vacancy of the see for eleven months, after the death of Benedict XL, desired a general council. Nogareto presented to the official of Paris a declaration of the errors, crimes, and misdeeds of Boniface, and appealed to the next general council, to the Church, and to the next pope, against the election of any cardinal of the party of Boniface. A century, however, elapsed before the Catholic Church could decree, that a general council was superior to the Bishop of Rome. The conclave was now divided between the partizans of Philip, and the friends of Boniface, who adhered to the old Gregorian principles and policy. After their mutual dissensions had continued to keep the see vacant eleven months, a compromise was effected between them by the proposal, that three cardinals hostile to France should be nominated by the Guelphs, or papal party ; and that the King of France, as the head of the Ghibellines, should select one. Three cardinals, therefore, known to be enemies to France, were accordingly named by Cardinal Caietan, the nephew of Boniface. One of these was men- tioned by Philip as most likely to comply with any conditions which the king might propose. This was Bertrand de Gotte, a native of Bordeaux, a subject of the King of England, and son of the Lord of Vallandran. He had been promoted by Boniface to the bishopric of Limoges, and to the arch- bishopric of Bordeaux. He promised, at a private interview with Philip, that if he were nominated to the vacant see, he would agree to the king's six terms, viz. : to absolve the king from all excommunications ; to absolve his followers ; to re- store the Colonnas to all their rights and privileges ; to grant the tenth of all the ecclesiastical revenues in France for five years ; to condemn the memory and conduct of Boniface ; and to comply with a sixth request, to be disclosed at a future
The Bulls of Boniface VIII. repealed by Clement V. 621
moment- Bertrand was nominated, and became Clement V. book hi.
. . CHAP X He commenced his pontificate by fulfilling his engagements ^ ,^ ' j
to Philip ; but to that extent only which was compatible with his Gregorian principles. Having received the authentic account of his election at Bordeaux, with a letter from the car- dinals at Perugia, requesting him to come there to be crowned, he returned an answer, commanding them to proceed to Lyons. Having been crowned in that city, and had the bridle of his horse first held by the King of France, and then by Chai'les of Valois, and the Duke of Britany, on foot, he established himself at Avignon, to the dismay and grief of his own former friends. He then absolved Philip, as he had promised, from all the censures of Boniface. He restored the Colonnas ; he granted the tenths requested ; and he re- voked the bulls * which prohibited the clergy from con- tributing to the supplies demanded by the state. All this he could do by the asserted plenitude of his pontifical power. He hesitated, however, to condemn Boniface, and referred the matter to a general council. The secret request which the king was to propose, is said to have been the condemnation of the Knights Templars, who had been the active partizans of Boniface. Their wealth also excited his cupidity, and their influence, his envy '\
The pontificate of Clement V. is remarkable for the enforce- ment of his bull of excommunication against Venice by an armed force; the suppression of the Knights Templars"; his canonization of Celestine V. ^, the predecessor and victim of Boniface VIII. ; the Council of Vienne ; and his additions to the canon law called " The Clementines." The influence of
* ClericisLaicosandUnamSanctara. rum.
5 Others think the secret request of Haiic promulgavit sententiam iste
Philip was, that the German empire Pontifex in Coucilio Viennensi, quod
might be transferred to his brother, hac et aliis de causis fuerat indictuni.
Charles of Valois. If this liad been — See Bullarium Magnum, i. 212
granted, the power of France over ' Canonizatio S. Petri de Alorrono,
Italy would have been so great that Sermoni Pontificis Roniani, Coelestini
no effectual resistance could liave pre- Quinti nuncupati, ejusque relatio m
vailed in future against the anti- Gre- Catalogum SS. Confessorura, cum suaj
gorian party, and their policy. Cle- festivitatis institutione, pro die 19.
ment, therefore, on the assassination of Mensis Mali.
the Emperor Albert, procured the Hie antequam ad apiccm ascenderet
election of Henry VII. of Luxemburg. Apostolatus, Congregationem Mona-
^ Damnatio Militum Tcmplariorum, chorum instituit, in sua Const. 1. Etsi
cum bonorum totius Ordinis appHca- cunctas. — BuUar. Magn. ut sup. p. 214. tione Ordini Mihtum Hierosolymitano-
I
622 The Templars destroyed, but not declared certainly guilty.
BOOK III. Rome was so far diminished, that the sentence of excommunica- ; Hon against the republic of Venice was disregarded. The usual policy of Rome, however, triumphed in this instance. The pope appealed to that power which happened at the time to be hostile to the subject of its own hatred. It excited the Florentines, the commercial rivals of the Venetians, to unite with the papal forces : and the troops of Venice were defeated.
The suppression of the Templars is too well known, and is attended with so many difficulties, that it cannot be discussed at length in this place. The arguments for their guilt or their innocence, which have engaged so much attention, are well summed up by Du Pin *. The charges against them are incredible as they are monstrous. The witnesses were infa- mous. Their enemies were their accusers, their judges, and their executioners. The evidence against them would now be rejected as absurd. They are said to have been 1600 in number. Out of this numerous body some were probably guilty of crimes. The crimes of the few were alleged against the many ; and honour, nobility, and chivalry sunk before the coalition which declared their rack-extorted confessions of guilt to be true, and the denials of their guilt to be obstinacy. The very pontiff who pronounced sentence upon them de- clined to declare them certainly guilty ; while he abrogated their order, and condemned them to infamy, imprisonment, or the flames ®.
The question, whether Boniface VIII. was guilty or inno- cent, was decided according to the most approved precedents in the annals of Rome. His accusers were declared to be justified in bringing their charges against his memory; but he himself was neither condemned of the imputed infamy, nor of the crime of heresy. The King of France was implored to suffer the question to be forgotten ; and the records on which the charges were professed to be founded were commanded to be destroyed.
Upon Henry VII. receiving his crown at Rome from the hand of the cardinals to whom the pope had delegated the
^ In his History of the Fourteenth secundum inquisitiones et processus,
Century, p. 20. super his habitos, non possemus ferre
'*..., non per raodum definitivse de jure, &c. &c. &c. — Bullar. Magn.
sententise, cum per earn super hoc i. 312. col. 2.
Oath of Communion ivith Rome not an oath of fidelity. 623
performance of the ceremony, this emperor was styled the book ill. King of the Romans ; and an oath of faithful communion — ^ — ^' with Rome was required from him. Clement, in a letter to the cardinals, called this oath an oath of fidelity. Henry with much indignation denied this to be a right description of the oath ; but Clement published a constitution in the seventh book of the Decretals, affirming that the oath which Henry had taken was truly and properly an oath of fidelity and obedience ', decreeing that the Emperors of Germany held their title and empire from the Roman pontiff; and that during an interregnum the power returned to himself.
One general council only, though that name has been denied to it, was held throughout this century. It met in the city of Vienne in France.
» RajTiald. ann. 1312, No. 40.
624
General Council of Vienne.
BOOK III.
CHAP. X. Synopsis of the Fifteenth General Council.
|
Council XVI. |
Vienne in Dauphiny. |
|
Date. |
October 16, 13II. April 3, 1312. May 6 ». |
|
Number of Bishops. |
300, with the Latin Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch *, |
|
By whom sum- moned. |
Clement V. * |
|
President. |
The Pope. |
|
Why and against what opinions '. |
To consider the accusations brought against the Knights Templars. To send reinforcements to the Holy Land. To adjudge the errors of the Fratricelli ", Beguards, Beguins, and Peter John Oliva. To reform discipline. |
|
Against whom. |
The Templars. The Fratricelli, and others denomi- nated heretics. Oliva ^ |
|
Chief decrees and canons. |
Ail that division of the canon law termed " The Clemen- tines." That the Kniglits Templars be dissolved ^, and their goods confiscated to the pope, who gave them to the Hospitallers. The condemnation of P. J. Oliva to be burnt, and the condemnation of the Beguards, Beguins, and Fratricelli as heretics"-'. The teutlis of Church re- venues in France granted for six years. Feast of Corpus Christi confirmed. The Inquisition approved. |
|
Penalties. |
Dissolution of the Templars. The exhumation of Peter John, and burning his i-emains *. |
|
Sufferers. |
The Templars, by a total suppression and confiscation. Peter John Oliva and the Fratricelli, Beguins, Beguards, as denounced in the decrees. The Minorites under Pope John XXII.* |
|
Emperor. |
Henry VII. |
|
Pope. |
Clement V. |
* See Bellarmine, ii. 9; Binii Conci- lia, vii. part ii. p. 909 ; Cave, ii. Ap- pendix, p. 90 ; Venema, vi. 34?. 371 ;
Delahogue, p. 437.
^ There were present, according to Villani and Binius, at least 300, be-
Transactions of the Council of Vienne.
625
I
The council was occupied seven months, during which book til
period there seem to have been only three sessions held at , J_^'
intervals, as stated in the table and notes ; and the following brief compendium will present a conspectus of the chief decrees.
I. The destruction of the Templars, and the confiscation of the property belonging to that order, the disposal of which was left to the discretion of the pope.
II. The tenths of all ecclesiastical revenues were granted to Philip, King of France, for six years, to enable him to proceed upon a crusade to the Holy Land, which he had promised to undertake on condition of the grant being made ; but he failed.
III. Three erroneous tenets of John Peter Oliva were con-
sides the two Latin Patriarchs of Alex- andria and Antioch ; but according to the continuator of the Chronicon Nan- giacum, only 114 bishops and abbots, which last authority is doubtless erro- neous.
* The members were summoned by a bull dated 1307, to meet two years afterwards ; but the council was pro- rogued by another bull till 1311.
* Three causes which led to the calling of this councU were specifically stated by the pope; but other accessory causes also existed. The three causes specified were — The Templars — The Holy Land — Reform of discipline and morals.
* Spondanus wTites, that Dulcinus was the founder of the Fratricelli, and that he, Margaret his wife, (or as Spondanus seems to insinuate, his con- cubine,) and others of their ojnnion, were first mutilated, and then burnt. — See also Binius, vii. ii. 928.
' The opinions of Peter John de Oliva have been ali-eady mentioned.
* Prima itaque sessione 16 die Oc- tob. de recuperatione Terrse Sanctse actum est : eumque in finem, ut crux per universum orbem prsedicaretur, decretura :
Secimda Sessione, 3 die Aprilis 1312, prsesente Philippo Gallorum rege (cui negotium illud valde arrisit) cum fratre, et tribus filiis, sententia dementis Papas adversus Templarios, quam 22 die Martii proximo lapsi in consistorio clam consideraverat, publice lecta est, et patruni suffragiis compmbata.
Sessione Tertia, 6 die Maii, Consti-
VOL. 11.
tutiones variae circa fidem et mores (a successore suo Joanne XXII. cum reliquis Clementis Coustitutionibus, sub Clemeutinarum nomine, quarto abhinc anno publicandse) decernuntur.
8 Ibi Petri Joannis, Beguardoi-um, ac Beguinarum heereses condemnavit, Templariorumordineraextinxit,eorura- que bona Hospitalariis mihtibus attri- buit. De Terrse Sanctse vero recupe- ratione eadera fere decrevit, quse priores pontifices in generalibus con- ciliis antea constituerant. Multas edidit constitutiones ecclesiasticce dis- ciplinaj perutiles ; quas una cum aliis, tum ante, tum post Concilium editis, in unum volumen contulit, quod volu- men cum morte prteventus promulgare non potuisset, Joannes XXII., qui illi in pontificatu successit, postea in lucem edidit, eamque collectionem Clemen- tinas appellavit.
1 The Fratricelli degraded and burnt by the Bishop of Marseilles. J. P, Oliva dug up and burnt, and many who defended him shared the same fate.
' The Beguards and Beguins sub- jected to the punishment of condemned heretics.
The Bull of Clement which abroga- ted the order of the Templars, declared, that though he had no authority to condemn the order by the common methods of justice, and the canons of the Church, yet this defect was sup- plied by the plenitude of his apostolic character — Quanquam de jure non possumus, tanien ad plenitudinem po- testatis dictum ordincm reprobamus.
S S
626 Papal England, the treasury of Rome.
^•]iAp"\'' ^^"^n^^j which are described to have been, in effect, as
• /-^ — ' follow : — That while Christ was yet alive, His side was
opened by the lance — that the rational soul is not essentially the form of the body — that neither faith nor grace is con- veyed to children in baptism.
IV. The errors of the Beguards and Beguins condemned.
V. Various constitutions, called Clementines, forming altogether a considerable addition to the canon law, and still acknowledged, were published; not indeed in the council, though the pope says he published them with the approbation of the sacred council ; but by Clement himself, to whom the synod entrusted that office.
VI. The memory of Boniface was vindicated, and his name inserted in the order of Catholic pontiffs, although his acts against King Philip were, with some others, rescinded.
England, unfortunate England, was always destined, so long as it continued in subjection to Rome, to be the mine whence its principal ivealth was extracted. Clement V. is said to have been avaricious beyond the generality of his money-loving predecessors. The English bitterly, though vainly, com- plained of the large sums of money which were sent yearly to Rome. In 1304, the barons requested the king to confirm the Great Charter. An act of parliament had passed, by which the prelates had bound themselves to excommunicate those who violated this charter. The king confirmed the statutes with great reluctance. He considered the charter an unjust limitation of his prerogatives. He complained to the pope. Clement absolved the king from his engagement ; and pronounced all the episcopal excommunications to be void. The excuse of the pope for thus releasing the king from his promise was, the inconsistency of his coronation oath, when he swore to maintain the rights of the crown, with the oath to preserve the charters to the people. The archbishop had united himself to the baronial party, and was accused by the king of conspiring to depose him, to imprison him, and to de- clare his son to be king. Winchelsey, whether innocent (as Bishop Godwin supposes), or, as was most probable, partially guilty, entreated the king's pardon, and offered to resign his pall. The king referred his cause to the pope. Winchelsey was cited to appear at Rome ; and was suspended from his high office. Clement then deputed certain persons to seize
Manner in which the ivealth of England was exhausted. Q'27
the temporalities of Canterbury. The king prevented it, and book hi.
seized them to the ser\dce of the crown. The pope remon- ^ ^_ — ."
strated ; and the king actually yielded to his remonstrance. The revenues loere paid to the papal agents, provided they kept an accurate. account of the sums received.
These, however, were but trivial exactions in comparison to the levies annually made on the country. A parliament, held at Carlisle in the following year, protested against the oppressions of the foreign superiors of monasteries, and other demands made by the nuncios, or agents of the pope. These were seven in number. They complained that Italians held English preferments — of the payment of the rents of the monasteries to foreign cardinals — of the papal claims to the first fruits of benefices — of the trebling of the Peter-pence — of the seizure of pious legacies by apostolic authority to pur- poses unintended by their owners — of the sale of private debts to the papal nuncios, who summoned the debtors to the legatine courts — and of the claims of legacies left for general religious uses to England by the papal agents. These seven particulars may be regarded as specimens only of the manner in which England was drained by the Romish commissioners. The nuncio was required to appear before the parliament. He pleaded his commission from the pope as his authority, and the plea ivas allowed. He was permitted to depart unmolested ; but the house voted that such extortions should be allowed no longer. The vote was useless. The king betrayed his country. Anxious to please Clement, whose interest was useful to him in effecting a marriage now intended between the Prince of Wales and the daughter of Philip, the king commanded the chancellor not to seal the writs of the sheriffs, by which they would be enabled to act upon the resolutions of the parliament. He riveted the yoke still more closely. He gave a protection and commission to the papal agents to travel through the kingdom on the pope's order. He proceeded still further, and commanded the payment of first fruits of vacant benefices for three years to the pope.
Edward I. died in the same year, 1307, in which he thus acknowledged the papal authority. His successor, two years after, prohibited citations to Rome. He had presented a clerk to the archdeaconry of Richmond. Clement cited the clerk to Rome to prove his title to the dignity. The king com-
s s2
628 Oppression of the Papal Supremacy.
BOOK III. plained, and commanded the clerk not to proceed to Rome. ^ • ; The intestine divisions which shortly followed in England, prevented any effective measures being taken at this time against Rome ; yet the dying words of Henry, Earl of Lin- coln, in 1311, seem to have expressed the general opinion which the parliament had already sanctioned by their oppo- sition to the papal exactions. He wept over the state of the Church of England, which was wont to be free ; but was now brought into servitude by the oppressions of the Roman pontiffs, and the unjust exactions of kings. The time had not yet come to throw off the yoke. The king and the pope, though they sometimes disagreed, were identified in one common interest — they mutually supported their mutual exac- tions. The king consented to uphold the papal treasury — the pope sanctioned the demands of the temporal sovereign. The aid of the foreigner was sometimes useful to the people in their resistance to tyranny, sometimes to the king in his opposition to his subjects. The pope held the balance of power ; and his supremacy was not yet brought to the bar of the king by the voice of the people. This did not happen till the minds of both our kings and people became more unanimous on the subject of national grievances arising from alien intole- rance. The king and people became at length united in opinion on the usurpations practised; and the supremacy of the pope in England was rejected. Clement V. died on the 20th of April, 1314.
CHAPTER XI.
The first great effort of the Universal Church to limit the usurped supremacy and authority of the Bishop of Rome — Death of Wycliffe — the great Schism — Council of Constance.
CXCVI. John XX., alias XXI. XXII., died 1334.
Thirteen pontiffs reigned, and one hundred and three years book iil elapsed between the condemnation of the Templars at the ?^ '^ " J Council of Vienne, and the Council of Constance ; when the Bishop of Rome was pronounced to be inferior in authority to a general council of the Church.
The student of ancient history possesses one great advan- tage over the student of modern history, in consequence of the fulfilment of prophecy in the rise, progress, and decay of the four great monarchies. By comparing and contemplating the history which was foretold and accomplished M'ith the prophecies which predicted them, he can explain the causes of the permission of many evils; and trace those plans of God, in the government of the world, which so ended in the sub- jection of all nations to the power of Rome, that the gospel of Christ should be preached most effectually and most exten- sively. The time has not yet arrived when the believer in the same government of the world can certainly and confi- dently explain the causes of the various fortunes of the Christian Church. We can but conjecture the reasons of the changes we contemplate in our surveys of the past or the pre- sent. " One part, one little part we dimly scan " of the mighty maze we are endeavouring to traverse ; yet, in that small portion, we can trace the footsteps of that power which creates good, and which creates evil ; and " moves in a mys- terious way, His wonders to perform."
I
630 Permanency of the Papal system, an Utopian Theory.
BOOK III. We now arrive at that century in which the Church of
^' : Rome received the first most decisive blow to its exclusive
domination. The establishment of its supremacy, in spite of its numerous additions to the primitive truths of Christianity, had been often useful to the general interests of Europe, by combining its several nations into one family. A fairer theory of Utopian policy cannot be imagined than the papal scheme, if it could be regarded apart from the abuses, the frauds, and the crimes to which it gave birth. An empire was erected, not of force but of intellect, which bound together all nations in the unity of one faith. Its members directed the councils of princes, and the consciences of all men. They were chosen from the rest of mankind in early youth, and trained to teach and govern ; or, they volunteered their counsels in maturer life, when they were weaned from the world, and weary of its vanities. They were relieved by a liberal provision from any care for their own support. The obligation of celibacy precluded those prudential anxieties which might otherwise have employed too large a portion of their time and their thoughts ; or have interfered in any way with that service to which they were devoted. They were exempt from the secular power, that they might discharge their religious duties freely and without fear. Human ambition never proposed to itself a grander aim. All other schemes of empire for which mankind have bled appear mean and contemptible when compared with this magnificent conception : and much was accomplished for which all succeeding ages have reason to be thankful. The union of the European nations with Rome prevented the distant Churches from sinking into a state of utter ignorance and degradation like that of the Abyssinians, Armenians, and many other early Christian foundations. Christendom, because of this union, was more than a name. The Church of Rome, however, did not effect all this without gradually employing means, which a more enlightened and philosophical age is compelled to condemn.
The great fault of Rome has been, that it renders those opinions, laws, and maxims permanent, which it might safely have changed or denounced, when the object of their insti- tution was accomplished. We may allow, for instance, that gorgeous rites and ceremonies were as necessary for the rude nations which overthrew the pagan Roman empire, as they
Churches and Governments never suspect their own failings. 631
were for the Israelites, until the better dispensation should be book hi. welcomed : but as the Mosaic law was superseded, and as the -^j^ ^\ types were removed Avhen the antitype was manifested, so the progress of knowledge, after the dark age of ignorance, ren- dered those ceremonies obsolete and useless ; which had been useful, in the absence of a more spiritual or intellectual bond of union. The nations of Europe were now beginning to be independent of the intellectual influence of the Church of Rome upon their councils. They possessed their own senates to legislate for their political and religious necessities. The influence of Rome was now exerted to govern courts and cabinets, that the see might still be enriched by tribute and taxes. The common people were despised and neglected as unworthy of the notice of their ecclesiastical and civil supe- riors ; and the time had come when that tyranny was to be broken down, and that best and happiest privilege of a Chris- tian, whether he be king or peasant, was to be atForded to the humblest layman — the privilege of possessing, studying, and interpreting the Scriptures of Truth. The question was gravely discussed immediately prior to the time of Wycliffe — whether a peasant, or a villain, could be admitted into heaven '. A dreary gulf was fixed between the lordly baron, the spiritual peer, and the "poor vassal:" and even the generality of the priesthood were utterly unfit to instruct and teach the people ^ The time had arrived, therefore, when a certain degree of good having been effected, the evil of the popular ignorance, which attended that degree of good, was to be begun to be removed. But the Church of Rome, like every other Church, state, sect, or government, was un- ^^'illing to suspect its own claims to the approbation and love of the people ; or the permanency of its influence and power. The consequence was, that the Universal Church, in the century to which we have now aiTived, begun to question the necessity of submission to the Bishop of Rome.
The removal by Clement V. of the seat of pontifical great- ness from Rome to Avignon ; the subserviency implied by this removal of the papal authority to the influence of the King of France ; the continued collisions between the French
* Le Bas' Life of Wjclyffe, Intro- ^ See the Instructions of Archbishop duction, p. 85. Peckham, to the Bishop of St. Asaph,
1284.— Wilk. Cone. ii. 104.
632 All Europe " Protestant," before that word was in use.
BOOK III. and Italian cardinal electors to the papacy; the contempt CHAP. XI. Q^ ^j^g Venetians and Italians for the excommunications from the court of Avignon ; the discussion in France, between the kings and popes, on the respective limits of the ecclesiastical and secular powers ; all contributed to prepare the w^ay for WyclifFe, the Baptist of the better change ; the voice crying in the wilderness of the general ignorance, Prepare ye the way for the return of the early Christianity, when the Scrip- tures should be in every hand, and the clergy should be the guides, not the masters ; the directors, not the despots over their brethren. One century only had elapsed since Innocent III. had accomplished the three great enterprises of papal ambition — the uncontrolled power over Rome and the central parts of Italy; the Latin conquest of Constantinople; and the submission of Bulgaria and Armenia. He had, indeed, achieved the supremacy over the whole Christian Church ; and realized, after the lapse of more than a hundred years, the bold pretensions of Gregory VII. to general control over princes, asserting to the papacy the same superiority over their power, which the great luminary of the day maintains over the lesser luminaries of the night. But this ecclesiastical aggrandize- ment contained within itself principles of dissolution even more than political empires, as its consistency and strength were entirely dependent on opinion ^ : and the dissolution of its power may be said to have begun when the jealousy of France effected the removal of the pontifical see to Avignon, prior to the great schism of 1378. The Church of Rome has repeatedly obtained great power since that period : but it has never recovered that palmy influence over mankind, when the whole civilized world was its obedient and passive subject ; ivhen its law was Scripture, and its Bishop, God !
The word Protestant was first used to denote the protesters against the authority of Rome on a particular occasion in the course of the controversies which originated in the resistance of Luther : but the whole Universal Church, as it was repre- sented by the bishops and secular nobles at the Council of Constance, protested against the papal supremacy. All Europe was Protestant long before the term was generally used ; and we may trust that we shall never retrograde so far as to bow down again before the worst form of the degradation of
* Miller's Philosophy of Modern History, vol. iv. p. 541.
Cruel punishments of this period. 633
Christianity, as it has been set up for our worship or homage book hi. subsequently even to the Council of Constance. « ;
The effect of the removal of the seat of the pontifical power to Avignon was seen, in different ways, in Italy, France, and England, immediately on the death of Clement. Two years and four months were passed in disputes between the French and Italian Cardinals, on the election of a pontiff*. In this time the celebrated Walter Lollard began to teach ^ In England the famous statute was passed which declared the ecclesiastical as well as civil power to be vested in the king, though the former had been usurped by the see of Rome ^.
After many disgraceful dissensions, the cardinals, under the influence of France, at length elected James Arnaldi de Ossa, or Eusa, who assumed the title of John XXII. He had been Bishop of Avignon ; and afterwards, at the time of his elec- tion, he was Bishop of Porto. He had been employed in many public affairs by Charles II., King of Sicily ; and is said to have been devoted to study and reading '. If so, he was an exception to the general belief, that dedication to such pursuits softens the manners, and renders the disposition humane and gentle ; for he commanded Hugh, Bishop of Cahors, to be flayed living, and burnt alive ; and sat an eye- witness of his sufferings ^ The hearts of men seem to have been demonized by the barbarism of the age ; and the eccle- siastics were the promoters of the cruelties. The bishop, in- deed, was accused of great crimes — of magic, and of a design to poison the pope, and many of the cardinals ; and when the punishment of offences in an age of ignorance was so inflicted as to appear an act of vengeance on the individual
* From May 17} 1314, to August 16, A patron had presented a clerk to the 1316. bishop. The bishop, on the ground of
* He was burnt in 1322. The terra insufficiency, refused institution. The Lollard, whether derived from this patron sued the bishop in the King's teacher, or from the lulling mode of Bench. He pleaded the insufficiency ; singing, as some think, practised by the and the judges referred to the arch- sect, or from any other origin, was bishop (Winchelsey). The verdict on unknown till this time. — See Raynald. his opinion being given m favour of ad ann. 1318, §44. LoUardism was the bishop, was also in favour of the an early form of Protestantism, which defendant : but the judges were com- is considered to have branched from manded not to issue such prohibitions the Waldcnsian Churches of Pied- again ! Both the ecclesiastical and mont. civil courts are called the kuig's
® See the whole account of the con- courts,
troversy which gave rise to this statute, ' Petrarch ap. Bower,
called Artkidi Ckri, in Collier, i. 608. '^ Raynald. ad ann. 1317? § 54.
I
634 Heresy — to prefer coarse hoods to fine hoods.
BOOK 111. criminal, instead of an exemplary execution of the law for the
> •" ; prevention of crime, we can scarcely be surprised at such
sentences. Similar apologies cannot, however, be made for the atrocious condemnation of some friars to the flames, for refusing to acquiesce in the decisions of certain superiors of their order, to whom the pope had referred the question respecting the habits they should wear, and the extent of the vow of poverty which they had sworn to observe. Some of the brotherhood believed it to be their duty to wear a hood and short gown, strait, and of coarse stuff. Those who did so were called the '' Spiritual Brethren." Others, no less conscientiously, wore a looser dress, and of finer quality. These were called the " Brethren of the Community." Nicholas IV., and subsequently Clement V., had commanded the monks to consult, and to submit their decisions to the superiors of their order. John XXII., in the first year of his pontificate, summoned the deputies of the friars to Avignon ; gravely listened to their solemn and absurd debates ; and gave judgment against the Spiritual Brethren. He commanded the superiors to determine the length and breadth, the fineness or coarseness, the form and figure of the hoods and gowns of the friars — concerning their granaries and cellars, of which the spiritual fiaternity declined the use : and ordered their short dresses to be laid aside, and the will of their superiors to be obeyed. They became indignant at this order, and declared that the coarse, short, strait habit was the dress most con- sistent with the rule of the Gospel. The pope and their superiors were, therefore, in their opinion, opposing the Gos- pel, which they had no power to do ; and disobedience, con- sequently, became their duty. The Bishop of Rome was thus opposed ; and the lovers of the coarse and unsightly hoods and gowns committed thereby the guilt of heresy. A commis- sion was issued to try them ^ Four Gray friars were arrested. They declared that the pope had no authority to make decrees, respecting their dresses, which were contrary to the rule of St. Francis, and derogating from the poverty of Christ. The commissioner, or inquisitor, called to his assist- ance the Bishop of Marseilles, and many other learned divines. The doctrine of the friars was declared to be certainly
9 Dated November, 1317. See Du Pin.
Friars burnt for the heresy of preferring coarse hoods. 635
heretical. They were denounced as heretics, and degraded book iii. from their order ; dehvered over with all mercy and solemnity ■"
to the secular arm, and condemned to be burned. Tlie Gray Friars, who preferred the coarse cloth to the fine cloth, were actually burned, according to their sentence, at Marseilles. Another was consigned to perpetual imprisonment in chains. Many more, honouring their brethren as martyrs, inveighed against the pope as antichrist, and were committed to the flames. Others were confined, and provided only with bread and water ; till the Spiritual Brethren were extirpated, and the Brethren of the Communion triumphed. The philosopher knows not whether to weep for the madness, or laugh at the folly, or sigh over the misery, of these proceedings, done in the name of Christ. No more perfect illustration is afforded us through the whole detail of this lamentable history, of the absurdity and ivickedness of investing the ecclesiastical power with the right of punishing for opinions.
Another dispute arose about five years after on the extent of the poverty professed by the monks, and of the poverty of Christ and His Apostles ^ The Archbishop of Narbonne arrested a Franciscan as a heretic for maintaining that neither Christ nor His Apostles possessed any property in common. The authority of Nicholas III. was quoted in defence of the doctrine. John XXII. decreed that the opinion was heretical. He decided, also, that the sentiments of Peter Oliva de Serig- nana% who published a commentary on the Revelation, in which Rome was called Babylon, was heretical. The effect of these controversies in weakening the influence of the Bishop of Rome, and in thus preparing the minds of the people for the more favourable reception of the preacher who was so soon to lead the great attack on the papacy ; was first shown by the successful resistance which was now made to the pope by Louis of Bavaria.
Frederic of Austria and Louis of Bavaria disputed the suc- cession to the empire of Germany, after the death of Henry VII. of Luxembourg, who had opposed the French influence in Italy, while it was identified with the papal influence in consequence of the establishment of Clement V. at Avignon. The wars between the papacy and the empire were about to
' The subject is discussed at consi- 132.S, from § 38 to § Gl. derable length by Rayiiaid. ad ami, =* Raynald. ad ann. 1325, § 22.
636 The Pope commands the Emjjeror to abdicate.
BOOK III. be renewed, when Henry VII. died suddenly, under circum-
^ J—J stances which induced the suspicion that poison had been
administered to him, by his confessor at Buon-Convento in 1313. On the death of Henry a double election to the throne of Germany took place. Some of the electors chose Louis of Bavaria ; others, Frederic of Austria. John commanded the two rivals to settle their dispute without the shedding of blood ; and summoned them to appear before him at Avignon, as he alone was the lawful judge of their controversy. When both candidates refused obedience to his mandate, he declared the empire vacant, and himself vicar of the empire till a new election should take place. The rivals proceeded to open war, and Louis finally defeated Frederic, at the battle of Muchldorf. He wrote to John to relate his success. The pope renewed his summons to both to appear at Avignon. Louis proceeded to act as emperor. The pope, in a long edict ^, commanded him, on pain of excommunication, to resign the imperial authority ; and ordered all ecclesiastics to refuse obedience to his decrees. Copies of this edict were sent to the heads of all the Churches of Germany, England, France, Italy, and elsewhere.
The troops of Louis were generally successful in their campaigns in Italy. Louis, in the midst of his brilliant course, resolved to persevere. He sent, however, a deputa- tion to Avignon to learn more explicitly the causes of this decided hostility ; and requested some delay in the sentence of excommunication. The delay was granted. The embassy arrived at Avignon on the 4th of January, 1324, the year in which WyclifFe was born, and the sentence was postponed two months. Frederic, however, assembled, before the return of the ambassadors, the princes and electors of the empire. He placed before them the detail of the papal proceedings, and appealed, as Philip of France had before appealed against Boniface VIII., from the commands of the pope to a general council. He refuted before the diet the arguments which had been alleged to disprove the validity of his election. He reminded the assembly that the charge of heresy is often brought against those who are guilty of no error in faith, but
* It is given by Raynaldus, the history of this period, in anno 1323, general or principal authority for the § 30.
The Emperor, ^c. appeals to a General Council. 637
who have been the faithful subjects of the empire only ; and book hi. who have, therefore, been compelled to oppose the temporal ^^^ • ' j ambition of the head of the Church : and he urged the necessity of assembling a general council without delay to oppose the injustice and usurpation of the pope. The usual result followed the resistance. John excommunicated the emperor in the most bitter and unsparing language *. Frederic, too, appealed to a general council^, and his cause was defended by various ecclesiastics, whose attachment to Christianity and the influence of the Universal Church could not be doubted. These disputes were of themselves sufficient, in the dawn of literature, and love of learning, which was now beginning to hold divided sway with love of military distinction, to weaken the moral influence of the papacy : but the pope would have overcome the emperor, or the em- peror would have overcome the pope, had they not been able mutually to wield that only weapon which was most formidable at this period ; and by having recourse to which they could alone hope to preserve their respective power. The one great infamy from which all persons at this time shrank back with dismay, was the accusation of heresy. The solemn sanctions of Christ's religion had become so interwoven with the thoughts of all classes, that the fear of offending God by departing from His Truth, was, as it ought ever to be, the prevailing motive to action throughout Europe. The popes had availed themselves, and the ecclesiastics of all countries had availed themselves, of this right and only truly noble feeling , to subdue all the enemies of their own power and greatness, by denominating them heretics ; by declaring their opinions to be heresy, and by denouncing the anger of God, as the avenger of His own cause, as that cause was identified with their own mixture of truth and error, and with their own worldly pros- perity and honour. The accusation of heresy, therefore, became the only effectual counteraction to the extension of the papal authority. The King of France accused Boniface VIII. of heresy when he appealed against him to a general council : and Frederic of Germany now alleged the same
* Dated at Avignon, July 11, 1324. * Id. § 28, quoting Villani, 1. ix. It is printed by Raynald. ad anu. 1324, c. 275. §21.
G38 The quarrels in the Church prepare the iiayfor Wycliffe.
BOOK 111. charge aarainst John XXII. The edicts of the pope ag-ainst
^ -.-^^ the friars, the very bulls which were published against them
in the year 1324, the year of the birth of Wycliffe, were made the foundation of the accusation " of heresy against the pope. The indignant friars who had been persecuted by their superiors on account of their adherence to the short coarse gown, had everywhere preached that the pope was antichrist. They were extirpated it is true, but the effect of their preach- ing not only remained among the people, but it became the foundation of the only effectual mode of preserving the em- pire from the further encroachments of the papacy. John vindicated himself with great energy from the charge of heresy. He neglected all the other accusations with contempt. This alone he regarded as worthy of notice ; and in confir- mation of his former decisions he published another bull '', in which he endeavoured to reconcile his present and pre- vious decrees with one of Nicholas III. ; and declared all to be heretics who objected to his edict. Mutual excommunications, mutual depositions, mutual accusations of heresy, and mutual denunciations of heresies charged against each other, by the ecclesiastics who adhered to the papal or imperial parties, dishonoured the Church of Christ, and weakened the convic- tion of the identity of the ecclesiastical power with the autho- rity of God.
The history of the antipope set up by the emperor ; the imperial decree that the pope should reside at Rome ; the coronation of Frederic by Nicholas, the antipope at Rome ; the submission of Nicholas to John ; the accumulation of enormous wealth by the plans of the latter in ordaining the surrender to himself of the first year's revenue of every ecclesiastical benefice — would be all matters foreign to the subject before us, if they did not unitedly serve to prove to us that the preparation for the effectual opposition of Wycliffe began in the suicidal conduct of the contending ecclesiastics
" See for these decrees or bulls, and nificatione, lib. v. tit. xii. cap. iii. Exiit
the canons still established upon them qui Semhiat. — Boehmer's Codex Juris
as the law of the Church, Extrava- Canonici, ii. 1028. 1118—1132.
gantes Joann. XXII. tit. xiv. cap. i. ii. ' See ut supra, cap. v. — Quia quo-
iii. iv. V. De Verborum Significatione. rundani mentes : together with the
Also the bull of Nicholas III. Sexti bull of Nicholas III. as quoted above. Decreto Idem Tit. De Verborum Sig-
Gospel light, beamed not first from Bullen's eyes. 639
of the universal Church. These things caused the appeal to book hi. the Scriptures which that reformer began, to be responded to, ^ — ^,^^ by the more thoughtful portion of the laity. One of our most perfect poets has declared, that " Gospel light first beamed from Bullen's eyes." It is a falsehood, a poetical falsehood. T/ie Gospel sun had neve?' been entirely ex- tinguished. It had been obscured and eclipsed. It had been covered with the clouds and thick darkness of gradually in- creasing corruption : but when popes and antipopes, emperors and kings, employed their dependent clergy to fulminate charges of heresy against each other, their mutual attacks seemed to be only the clashing and the breaking of the dark clouds, which prevented the light they had so long obscured from shining upon the earth. If the contentions of John XXII., of his rival Nicholas, and of the Emperor Frederic, had not offended the fathers; Wycliffe, Huss, and Jerome might have appealed in vain to their sons. The popes themselves — the Innocents, the Bonifaces, the Johns, and, in an after-age, the Alexanders and Leos, laid the foundation of that second temple which Luther and his brethren erected upon the re- turn of the Church from its captivity ; after the ruin of the apostoUcal, the first temple, by the secular hands of worldly- minded emperors, popes, and bishops.
In the years 1331, 1332, John XXII. gave another cause of offence to the universal Church, and totally destroyed the doctrine of the personal infallibility of the Roman pontiff, as the inheritor of the authority of Christ. He asserted in ser- mons, very extensively circulated, that the souls of the faith- ful, in their intermediate state between death and the resurrection, were permitted to behold Christ as man ; but not the face of God^ or the Divine nature, before their re- union with the body at the last 'day \ This was doctrine
* quod animse discedentium in London, 1652.
gratia non videant Deuni per essen- The pope is said to have broached
tiam, nee sint perfecte beatae, nisi post these opinions onthe authority of visions
resumptionem corporis. — D'Acherii beheld by one Tundal, an Irishman,
Spicil. Scriptor. Veter. i. 760 ; see (see History of Popery, ii. 98, 4to,
also Raynald. Annal. ad ann, 1334, Lond. 1734,) but no authority is cited
§ 35, et seq. by the authors of the history ; and
See also, the attack upon the doc- similar opinions having been held by
trines of the pope, by Thomas Wallis, some of the ancient fathers, (see Ter-
an Englishman, as given by Thorn. — tuU. de Resurr. Carnis. Nemo enim
Chron. de gestis Abbatum S. Augustin. pcregrinatus a corpore statim inmiora-
Cantuar. in Script. X. Hist. Anglicansc, tur penes Dominum; ap. Gieseler, vol. i.
640 TJie King of France threatens to burn the Pope as a Heretic. BOOK III. respecting: which the friends of the pope, as well as the whole
CHAP VI X o ^ 11
V ; Catholic Church, publicly expressed severe animadversions.
It was unanimously condemned. Wallis, an Englishman, of the order of the Friars Preachers, was imprisoned, and con- demned to live upon bread and water for boldly denouncing the doctrine at Avignon itself. The Bishop of Meaux wrote a treatise to prove the repugnancy of the doctrine to the teaching of the Fathers. The efforts of the pope to obtain proselytes to his opinion were useless. The university of Paris rejected it with abhorrence. The King of France, the pope's chief protector, having summoned a council at Paris, and heard the discussions, ordered an act of condemnation to be drawn up ; and commanded the pope to retract the con- clusions he had so publicly preached and disseminated, or he would cause him to be burned as a heretic ^ The pope endeavoured to defend his proposition ^ ; but finding himself deserted by all, he at length declared in a public consistory, that he never intended to propose any thing contrary to the Catholic faith ; and if he had done so by inadvertency in his sermons on the beatific vision, he retracted it all, which was considered but an equivocal acknowledgment of his error. In his last illness, it is stated by some, that he sent for the cardinals and bishops who were then at Avignon, and professed his belief before them, that the souls of the blessed departed were admitted to the beatific vision, and saw God face to face, as soon as they were purged from their sins ; that he then retracted all that he had said contrary to this doctrine ; and that he submitted to the judgment of the Church whatever he had preached or said^ The recantation
p. 108, note 33,) as John was reputed whom he quotes largely, and refers to at least a reader of books, if not a p. 484, et seq. — See Fleury, and the no- scholar, he perhaps was ambitious to tice of Tertullian and Clemens Alexand., revive in his own name the obsolete referred to by Gieseler, vol. i. p. 108, metaphysical sentiments of the ancient note 33, and vol. iii. p. 26, note 37. writers, which had probably become ^ Petrus de Alliaco in Concil. Eeeles. mixed up with the scholastic specula- Gall, an n. 1406 — qu'il se revoquast, on tions of the age, though the university qu'il le feroit ardre. — Ap. Gieseler, iii. of Paris now unanimously rejected the 26, note 37.
heresy, as proposed to that seminary • Raynaldus, ad ann. 1333, § 46.
by the missionaries of John XXII. — ^ fjis retractation was given with
See Gieseler, vol. i. p. 26, note 37. much equivocation and reserve ; and
But the best account of John's here- Gieseler affirms that "the obstinate
tical discourses, and the consequences old man resisted to the last." — See
which followed, is given by Wadding- ut sup. ton from Fleury and Villani, both of
The Pope consents to submit to the Universal Church. 641
was made on the 3rd of December, 1334, and he died early book hi.
the following morning : but his recantation remained unpub- - >
lished until March 17, 1335, when it was issued by his suc- cessor, yet even then not sufficiently attested to satisfy his contemporaries % and Benedict XII. had to publish on the 29th of January, 1336, a full decision on the subject*.
The first decisive breach in the ivalls of the great fabric of the personal supremacy and infallibility of the Church of Rome was thus made by the hands of the pope himself, aided by his prin- cipal friend, the King of France, and by the Emperor of Ger- many, his rival. Nothing more was wanting to the effectual commencement of the overthrow of the papal supremacy than the acknowledgment, that there was a power on earth superior to the Bishop of Rome. This was done when three chief potentates of Europe — the pope, the King of France, and the Emperor of Germany, all united in affirming, that the universal Church was superior to the pontiff. The pope submitted his decisions to the Church. The King of France declared that the pope was guilty of heresy if he submitted not to that higher tribunal. The Emperor of Germany appealed from repeated papal excommunications to a General Council. One century, however, elapsed after this, before the Catholic Church decreed its own supremacy over the Bishop of Rome, at the Council of Constance. But the first step was taken, and another was soon made. The Gregorian policy had received the first severe shock from the Bishop of Rome himself; for neither Gregory VII., Innocent III., nor any of the Gregorian party, a century before the birth of Wycliffe, would have sanctioned the confession of John XXII., when he recanted a doctrine, which he had declared in a public sermon, and thus destroyed that illusion which was the principal founda- tion of the papal dominion.
The effect of these continental discussions upon England may be related in the words of the last biographer of Wycliffe. He is speaking of the time when Wycliffe began to oppose the supremacy of Rome a few years after the death of John XXII. ''The people of England were almost wholly un- tainted with any doctrinal heresy, and were little in the habit of opposing the spiritual supremacy of Rome. Throughout
3 Raynald. aim. \\\M, § 35. * Id, 1336, § 3.
VOL. II. T t
642 Bishops required to renounce the Fapal temporal power.
TH AP XT* ^^^ ^'^iil^'S, however, it had been more or less deeply fdt, that — ^.-^^ — ' her power had frequently been exercised in a spirit of in- tolerable arrogance and rapacity ; and it was likewise known that the sword of the temporal dominion had been often wielded with atrocious severity by the successor of St. Peter against those w^ho questioned or resisted his authority. The exactions and usurpations of the pontifical court could be readily estimated by those who were profoundly indifferent to her aberrations from the primitive purity of faith ; and the exterminating fury with which she had smitten her adver- saries, must have begun to raise up misgivings as to the legitimacy of that power, which could be maintained only by fire and sword. Hence it was that England, although a citadel of orthodoxy in matters of mere belief, was, in those times, by no means the seat of contented allegiance to the apostolic see. She might, perhaps, under the sedative in- fluence of the Romish superstition, have been satisfied to slumber for centuries longer, if the burden of the Romish dominion had been less galling and oppressive. As it was, she had an ear to hear the lessons of any teacher endowed with address and energy enough to expose the corruptions which had so long insulted her patience, and exhausted her resources \"
This statement is fully confirmed by the ecclesiastical his- tory of England during the pontificate of John XXII. Though the exactions of the Bishop of Rome were still sub- mitted to ; though Lewis Beaumont was appointed to the bishopric of Durham by the pope, a.d. 1317, against the nominee of the monks, Henry Stamford, the Prior of Fin- chale ; and though, when the Archbishop of Canterbury re- fused to consecrate Reginald de Asser, Bishop of Win- chester, on his appointment by the pope, whose legate he was, the Bishop of London performed the office, yet the Church of England was seldom so free and so independent of foreign control as at this time. The very bishops whom the pope nomi- nated to vacant sees ivere compelled to renounce the clause in their appointments, which gave to the Bishop of Rome power over the temporalities of their sees. The civil power, it is true, was defied by Adam de Orleton, Bishop of Hereford, in
5 Le Bas' Life of Wjcliffe, Introd. p. 87-
I
One nation oiight to constitute one Church. 643
1324, when he refused to be tried by his peers for high book in. treason ; and when the king commanded him to be tried in ^'^ ■' the King's Bench, he was rescued from that tribunal by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and Bishop of Durham, with their crosses borne before them conducting him out of court : but this was done by the bishops as members of the ecclesiastical, and not of the papal power. The king seized his estate when the jury found him guilty ; and he was, therefore, punished by the law, though he professed to be not amenable to its power : nor did the pope interfere to save him, as in former centuries would have been sometimes done with impunity. The Church of England, as an independent member of the universal episcopate, under its proper officer, Mepham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, decreed the ob- servance of the vigils, fasts, and festivals in the manner and to the extent which it was deemed advisable and useful : and though the archbishop was repelled from visiting the diocese of Exeter by Bishop Grandison, who objected to him the prohibition of the pope, yet the king's writ, and not the papal mandate, prevented him from proceeding. The nation and the Church, that is, the laity and the ecclesiastics (for as they formed one nation so they formed one Church), were divided among themselves respecting the extent of the papal, the ecclesiastical, and the regal powers : but the continental divisions were beginning to produce their effect ; and the movement was commencing which two centuries were required to mature in the eventual liberation of the episcopal Church of England from the dominion, and even from the communion of Rome.
John XXII. died on the 4th of December, 1334^, in the ninety-first year of his age, the nineteenth of his pontificate', and the tenth of the life of Wycliffe.
CXCVII. Benedict XII., died 1342.
James Novellus, styled also Fournier, Cardinal of St. Prisca, the most humble of the electors to the pontificate,
" See Raynald. ad ann. § 38. Numerous other constitutions of this
^ The twenty constitutions of John pope are contained in the Extravaf.
XXII. are included in the Extrava- Communes a Diversis llomanis Pontifi-
gantes under fourteen titles. — See cibus. See Boehmer, ut sup. pp. 1131
Boehmer Codex Juris Canonici, ii. — 1200.
1105—1132.
T t 2
644 Dependance on France lesseyis the Papal influence.
BOOK III. succeeded John XXII. by the name of Benedict XII. His V ^ ^ • ; virtues would have strengthened the see if his predecessor had not so entirely alienated Germany from its ancient alliance with Rome, that the law entitled, " The Pragmatic Sanction/' was passed, which declared Germany to be inde- pendent of the Bishop of Rome, in all matters relating to the election of the emperors ; and if another law, also, had not ])assed to forbid any deference whatever being paid to the papal censures from Avignon. The popes were now con- sidered to be dependent on France ; and from this cause also their power and influence were neutralized. England and Germany both refused obedience to Benedict, as the vassal of France. This pope refuted the doctrine of his predecessor on the Beatific Vision in a public sermon ; and enacted a consti- tution or law, declaring that the souls of baptized infants enjoy the sight of the Divine essence. The good pope does not seem to have understood the laws of the human mind, or he might have enacted the possibility of the development of the understanding of baptized children in the other world ; to enable them to see and to understand the presence of God. The souls of children are with their Maker : but more than this, " the great Teacher " can alone explain to us.
Benedict would willingly have been reconciled to Louis of Bavaria, 'but was dissuaded by Philip of France. He refused, however, to permit the King of France to claim the tenths which were to have been devoted to a crusade in the East, in order that they might be employed against the King of England. He preferred merit. He reformed the reli- gious orders. He avoided nepotism, by providing mode- rately only for his family. The diminution of the ecclesi- astical power was, however, conspicuous in many direc- tions. It was shown in England by the lessened respect which was paid to one of the most virtuous of the popes. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the king were involved in a dispute respecting the amount of grants expected from the Church, in aid of the war with France. In the course of the discussions which resulted, the archbishop was refused admission into the House of Parliament. He insisted on his ancient rights, and pronounced a curse from Christ and the Virgin on his opponents. At the intercession of certain of the peers, the king permitted him to take his seat in the
The Emperor Louis excommunicated by Clement VI. 645
House. He subsequently demanded a trial by his peers, and book III.
was acquitted. The days of Anselm and Becket were past. , " ' ;
The archbishop was treated with respect by many of the witnesses of the proceedings : but the deep feeUngs of attach- ment and enthusiasm were changed to mere courtesy. None seemed to tremble at his frown or his curse ; and another proof was afforded of the incipient decline not only of the Gregorian awe, but of the fear of incurring the denunciation of the ecclesiastical power.
The archbishop and his suffragans, in 1342, without the concuiTcnce of the inferior clergy, made a body of constitu- tions for the better ordering of his province : and previously to his trial, the archbishop apologized in a sermon for having engaged so deeply in the political transactions of the day. The remaining six years of his life were principally devoted to the superintendence of his province.
Benedict XII. died in 1342, on the 25th of April, respected for his virtues, his zealous piety, and disinterestedness, in the eighteenth year of the life of Wy cliff e.
CXCVIII. Clement VI., died 1352.
Peter Roger, Archbishop of Rouen, succeeded Benedict XII. under the name of Clement VI. This pontiff weakened still further the influence of the Roman see by renewing the excommunications of his predecessor, John XXII., against the Emperor Louis, with the most fearful additional impreca- tions. When the emperor demanded on what terms of absolution he might hope for peace, Clement required from him these humiliating concessions : to plead guilty of the heresies alleged against him ; to resign his titles and power ; to deliver up all his hereditary dominions to the pope ; and to acknowledge the empire to be in the gift of the apostolic see. Louis sent copies of these terms to the chief cities of the empire, and thus enlisted their best feelings in his favour. Clement excommunicated him anew, and procured the elec- tion of his partizan and pupil, Charles of Moravia, who was designated King of the Priests. A new war would possibly have been kindled between the cities which adhered to the respective claimants, had not Louis died in the fblIo\vint>; year. Charles retained the empire, but the conditions on which he held his power, and the severe terms on which
646 Papal " p7-ovisions^' lessen the Papal influence in England.
BOOK III. alone absolution was offered to the friends of Louis, made
V •' ; the emperor and his people so wholly dependent on the pope,
that the Germans were exasperated beyond measure; and they resolved to elect an opponent to Charles and Clement. They chose Gunther of Thuringia, who was esteemed the best general of his age ; and the people welcomed with great applause his edict declaring that the election of the Emperors of Germany was independent of the pope, and that he is sub- ject in temporal matters to no earthly power. Gunther died six months after his election, in 1350. The Germans, after his death, preferred submission to Charles to the turmoils attend- ant on another election : but the veneration for the spiritual character of the pontiflf, as the vicar of Christ, was irretrievably damaged.
The sale of Avignon to Clement, by Joan of Naples, when suspected of the murder of her husband, did not add to the reputation of the holy see : neither was its influence increased by the gallantry, pomp, avarice, and nepotism of the pontiff*. Gibbon and Lytton Bulwer have made the name of Rienzi, and his short-lived revolution at Rome, familiar to the English reader. His imprisonment at Avignon by Clement, neither increased nor lessened the favour of the people towards the pontiff. The tribune had offended many of his adherents, though he was not deserted till his excommunication by the successor of Clement, in 1354, when the populace had become weary of the caprices of their idol.
The influence of the see of Rome was much lessened in England during the pontificate of Clement, by his presum- ing to inflict upon the Church of England the old grievance of which Grossetete had formerly complained — making provi- sion for Italian ecclesiastics by the gift of English benefices. The agents of two cardinals who were provided for in this manner, were commanded to leave the kingdom under the penalty of imprisonment; and the king on their departure transmitted an expostulatory letter to the pontiff, in defence of the liberties of the Church of England ^ The king, how- ever, was scarcely consistent with himself; for on the death
* See the picture of his manners &e. On the national antipathies
drawn by Matteo Villani, his contem- against the papal power in the reign
porary. — History of the Popes, i. 217- of Edward III., see Stephens on the
" The letter, with comments upon Constitution of England, vol. i. p. 115. it, may be seen in ColHer, vol. i. p. 547,
The Statute of Frovlsors enacted 1350. 647
of Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, he apphed to the book ill.
pope to withhold the sanction of the papal see from the \ " ;
ecclesiastic whom the monks had elected — Thomas Bradwai'- dine; and requested the pope to bestow it upon UfFord. The king ought, instead of having recourse to Rome, to have conferred the primacy upon his friend, either on his own responsibility, or on the recommendation of his prelates, after consulting with them. Ufford died before his consecra- tion, and Bradwardine having been nominated both by the monks and the pope, was consecrated at Avignon in 1349, in the August of which same year he died. He was a good, humble, learned m^n *.
Though the temporal power of the pope was now more strictly defined, and consequently more easily repressed, his spiritual influence remained undefined, and was therefore in- truded with success in many of the ecclesiastical appoint- ments. The time had not arrived when the only safety was sought in the total abrogation of his whole authority, both spi7'i- tual atid temporal. By virtue of his spiritual power, he ap- pointed Simon Islip Archbishop of Canterbury, on the death of Bradwardine. The monks had already elected him. The pope took no notice of their election, but sent a bull of nomi- nation for him as a papal provision. He thus perpetuated the claim to present and maintain the spiritual, or pseudo- temporal power.
The archbishop and his suffragans, in the year 1350, obtained some extension of their privileges and powers over the clergy who were condemned for crimes against the state. The bishops had complained that the secular judges violated the privileges of the Church, by condemning and executing priests who were exempt from their jurisdiction. The secu- lar judges answered, that the clergy were encouraged by these privileges to commit crimes. The bishops, therefore, enacted a law, that all clergymen convicted of any capital offence, should be punished with perpetual and rigorous imprisonment in the bishops' prisons : for each bishop had a court in which offenders were tried, and prisons in which they were punished.
In the year 1350, the wise andjust law, called the " Statute of Provisors," was enacted. To resist more effectually the
' Sec Lc Neve's Fasti, p. 6.
648 Appeals to Rome against the law of Provisors, forbidden.
BOOK III. encroachments of the papal power, the law was made, that if
^ ..J^— ' the pope collated any person to any ecclesiastical benefice in
England, the collation escheated to the crown; if reserva- tions or provisions were secured, the provisors should be brought to trial ; and if found guilty, imprisoned and com- pelled to make satisfaction ; and above all, no appeal was permitted to Rome.
The spiritual power of the pontiff, however, continued to be acknowledged, and produced many inconveniences, which remained to be remedied by future laws.
Clement VI. immediately before his death, made a similar declaration to those of John XXII. and Benedict XII., in which, too, he was imitated by his successors. Innocent VI., Urban V., and Gregory XI. He rescinded all that he might have said, done, or written against the truth, faith, and cus- toms of the Catholic Church. No reservation was made on the possibility that the Catholic Church itself, as represented by its general councils, might in some instances err.
Clement died on the 6th of December, 1352^, in the thirtieth year of the life of Wycliffe.
CXCIX. Innocent VI., died 1362.
On the death of Clement, the cardinals enacted several regulations to limit the power of the popes, and to preserve also their own privileges. These were all, however, rescinded by his successor, Stephen Albert, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, (elected 18th Dec. 1352,) eminent for his knowdedge both of the canon and civil law, who took the title of Innocent VI. •* Though this pontiff was a great encourager of learned and pious men, and was himself learned, just, and generous, and of blameless conduct, the Gregorian principles and policy suffered still further abasement during his pontificate. War was now waged betw^een England and France. The pope endeavoured to reconcile the two kings, Edward III. and John. He was unable to do so, though two cardinals, imme- diately before the battle of Poictiers, interposed to prevent the fight. The papal influence was undoubtedly lessened by the real or supposed subserviency of the pontiffs to France, as well as by other causes ; and their offers of mediation
^ Raynald. ad aim. § 21. ^ ja. § 27-
Indefinite Papal power, an unlimited poiver. 649
were rejected. The King of France was taken prisoner; and book hi. after a confinement of four years, the interest of the pontiff . \'^ ', procured his liberation ; but not without the surrender to England of some of the chief provinces of France, with the giving up as hostages his brother, and many of his principal nobility. The King of England for a time, that is, from May 8, 1360, to June 11, 1369, resigned his pretensions to the other parts of France, as well as his title of king of that country. One very unforeseen consequence of this treaty of Bretagne, between France and England, demonstrated the weakness of the pontificate. The numerous bands of mer- cenaries which had been thrown out of employment by the peace, formed themselves into independent bands called Free Companies ; and leaving the districts of France which had been desolated by the conflicting troops of the two armies, they approached to Avignon, and compelled the pope, in spite of all his anathemas, and of his publishing a crusade against them, to grant them absolution of their sins, and also a large sum of money.
Neither did the accession of Charles IV. to the imperial crown in 1355, increase the real power of the pontiff, though this Emperor of the Priests, as he was called, acknowledged the temporal power of the popes, and took an oath never to put his foot in Rome, nor on any spot belonging to the Roman see, without the permission of the pontiff. The pope till this time had been nominally a vassal of the empire. His influence had been indefinite, and therefore, unlimited. He was now like a fallen patriot in a free country, who diminishes his influence by taking office, contrary to his avowed and long held principles. The eloquent and indignant Petrarch expostulated with Charles on his submission to the pope, whom he calls the vassal of the emperor, and denounces the vices and luxury of the court of Avignon. Before the coro- nation of Charles IV. at Rome, the pope had sent Rienzi from his prison with the title of senator. The fickle multi- tude murdered their former favourite, and insulted Charles for his weakness in complying with the request or command of the pope, that he would leave Rome immediately after his coronation. The common hatred which raged against heresy enabled the pope to burn with impunity at Avignon, two miserable friars, who maintained that John XXII. was a
650 Appeals to Rome in civil cases prohibited.
BOOK III. heretic, for declaring that Christ and His disciples had no
CHAP. XI. . ° . "^ .
> , '" property in common ; but the Gregorian pretensions to
temporal power were still evidently on the decline, and the
light of better days was about to dawn upon the Church of
Christ.
The expostulations of the Germans, when Innocent sent Philip de Carbasole, with agents, into Germany, to raise the tenth penny on all ecclesiastical revenues, did not contribute to the popularity of the papacy. They were disregarded, but not punished ; but the increasing weakness of the power of the Bishop of Rome in this pontificate, was chiefly shown by the celebrated statute of Pramunire, passed in the first year of Innocent VI. The Gregorian policy of enforcing appeals from the regal or civil courts to the ecclesiastical courts at home, or to the papal courts abroad, had long been regarded in England as a grievance requiring redress. The law was enacted to prevent the rehearing, in the papal courts, of any causes respecting property. Though the terrors of papal excommunication were considerably lessened, neither the Church nor the state was prepared to resist appeals to Rome in matters strictly ecclesiastical. Obedience to the pontiff in these points was still an act of religion ; for in the very next year. Innocent directed a bull to Islip, the Archbishop of Can- terbury,to observe more strictly the anniversary of the Festival of Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Bishop of Norwich, this year, was able to compel a nobleman to walk barefooted and uncovered though the city to the cathedral, in spite of the king's prohibition ; and there to beg his pardon before a numerous audience, for shooting some deer in the episcopal park, and offending his servants.
The opposition to the mendicant friars, whom WyclifFe, Innocent, and the learned Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh, united, and that most justly, to condemn, for their intrusion upon the duties of the parochial clergy, and other practices resisted by Wycliffe ; was of some service to the Church, in preventing the bishops, in their several dioceses, from usurp- ing almost papal power. These friars rendered, also, a greats though unintentional, service to the Catholic Church, by their appealing to the Holy Scriptures in defence of their advocacy of the opinions respecting the poverty of Christ. Wycliffe appealed, and ivith success, to the same inspired volume. The
The ancient custom of appealing to Scripture revived. 651
friars appealed to the popes as their protectors. The Arch- P[J^^ "J-
bishop of Armagh opposed their practices only ; and preached ^ '
before the pope at Avignon on this point. WyclifFe opposed their institution generally. The controversy is well known. The general practice of appealing to Scripture which it revived in the Church, may be said to have originated the translation of the Bible into English by Wycliffe. It introduced, also, that one useful principle into discussion which the Catholic Church never has forgotten, and we may trust never will forget — that the Scriptures are of more authority than popes^ churches, friars, fathers, bishops, and reformers, to determine the controversies of Christians *.
Innocent died September 12th, 1362, in the thirty-second year of Wycliffe, and the year after Wycliffe was elected to the wardenship of Baliol, for his defence of the Catholic Church and its institutions against the friars.
CC. Urban V., died 1370.
William Grimoald, Abbot of St. Victor, son of the Lord of Grisac, in the province of Gevandan, an eminent canonist and civilian of Avignon, Toulouse, and Paris, succeeded Innocent by the name of Urban V. He is highly praised for his benevolence, learning, and many virtues, and for his encouragement of learned men. He attempted to re-establish the holy see at Rome ; but returned to Avignon in conse- quence of the commotions which distracted that city. The Greek Church, in the person of Constantine Paleologus, was reconciled for a short time in his pontificate, to the see of Rome ; but Urban endeavoured in vain to interest the powers of Europe to engage in one final crusade for its relief in the hour of its distress, in consequence of the success of the Turks. He strengthened the see by compelling the submis- sion of the cruel Barnabo Visconti, Lord of Milan, who had taken advantage of the absence of the popes at Avignon, to possess and tyrannize over many cities of Italy : and the Emperor Charles gave the last instance of imperial degrada-
* A modern Roman Catholic writer reply, and account of the friai-s and calls this controversy ridiculous. — Lin- Wycliffe, p. 104, Ai.c. gard, iv. 213. See Lc Bas' admirable
652 Wycliffe appeals to the Pope against his Archbishop.
TH AP YT* ''^°"' ^y leading his horse when he made his entry into Rome
; '* in 1368. These things might induce us to suppose that the
popes were about to recover their power ; but the appearances were deceitful. The Free Companies again extorted a large bribe from the pope for sparing Avignon ; and the people of Italy treated the emperor with so much contempt for his sub- serviency to Urban, that he left Italy.
In the year 1368, the pope, during his stay at Rome, made seven cardinals * ; one of whom was Simon Langham, Arch- bishop of Canterbury. We may believe that the cardinalate would not have been conferred upon any ecclesiastic who was lukewarm in the papal cause. In 1365, Wycliffe had been appointed to the headship of a hall at Oxford founded by Islip. In the following year Langham succeeded Islip, and he pro- nounced Wyclilfe's appointment to be void, on the plea that, when he nominated Wycliffe, he was disqualified from trans- acting business. Wycliffe had recourse, without scruple or objection, to the only remedy then known against ecclesiasti- cal injustice. He appealed to Urban, who decided in favour of his friend Langham. The decree is dated 1370, from Viterbo ". The cause of this injustice on the part of Langham does not appear. Wyclijfe, however, fourteen years before, in his Essay on the last age of the Church, 1356, had ex- pressed his deep sense of ecclesiastical abuses and corrup- tions. By so doing, and by his freedom of expression, he must have offended both the ecclesiastical and papal powers. There is also great reason to believe, that he had even then openly committed himself to decided hostility with the men- dicant orders, the great supporters of papal authority. It appears, therefore, probable, that the real cause of Langham venturing to rescind the deed of Islip, which was, however, worded in the strongest terms of eulogy on Wycliffe '', was, the known opinions of Wycliffe ; and that the assertion that
® Rayiiald. ad aun. § 9. plurimum confidentes ; in custodcm
" The documents are given by Aulse Nostric Cantuar. pei" nos noviter
Vaughan, i. 401. 412. Oxonise fundatte, te prajficimus, tibique
' Simon, &c. dilecto filio, magistro curam et administrationem custodise
Johanni de Wyelyve, salutem. Ad hujusmodi incumbentes, juxt;i ordiua-
vitiB tuse et conversationis laudem tionem nostram in bae parte com-
honestam, literarumque scientiam, mittimus per prajsentes, reservata
quibus personam tuam in artibus ma- nobis receptioue juraincnti corporalis
gistratuuni Altissiumsinsignivit, mentis per te nobis priestandi, et debiti in liac
nostriB oeulos dirigcntos ac do tuis jiarte. Dat. apud Maghefcld, 8° idus
fidelitate, circumspectione, et industria Decemb. a.d. mccclxv.
Wyclijfe rejected the temporal, not the spiritual power. 653
Islip was incapable of transacting business, arose from the ^^^ ^\\-
supposition, that if he had retained his faculties unimpaired, « ..1—J
he would not have appointed a doubtful friend of the pope to the office in question.
While the suit was pending before the pope, Urban was guilty of an act of rashness, w^hich proved the unconsciousness of any iveakening of the papal power on his part; while the manner in which it was resisted, demonstrated, beyond reply, the certainty of the decline of the pontifical authority in England. He revived, in 1365, his claim to the thirty- three years' arrear of the tribute, which John had promised to the pope. During this long period it had never been paid. Urban demanded, at the same time, the due performance of feudal homage. He apprised Edward III. that if he failed to comply with these demands, he would be cited by pro- cess to appear at the papal court, to answer for his de- fault before him, who was at once both his civil and spiritual sovereign. The king submitted the claim to the parliament, 1366. The answer of the lords and commons may be read with advantage to this hour, by those who wdll not be convinced of the prevalence of Protestantism among our ancestors, before the word Protestant, as since applied, was known. " Neither John, nor any other king," it says, " could bring this realm into subjection, but by the common consent of parliament : that which he did, therefore, was against his oath at his coronation. If the pope then attempt any thing against the king, he, with all his subjects, with all their force and power, should resist the same." On the appearance of this Avise and reasonable reply, Wycliffe was challenged by name to defend the resolutions of the par- liament. He accepts the challenge. When he did so, he did not withdraw his own appeal to the pope in a matter of spiritual appointment. He considered that the Gregorian policy of the papal supremacy in temporals was unjust. He did not deem the supremacy in spirituals to be so. His opposition to the claim of the pope, could not then, as so many affirm, have proceeded from anger at the decision of the pope against him in 1370; three years after his reply to the challenge of his antagonist to defend the resolution of the lords and commons.
The great offices of state were, at this time, principally
G54 Urban V. when dying submits to the Catholic Church.
BOOK ITT. lield by ecclesiastics ; and more than one-half of the land of CHAP. XI. ^i^g whole kingdom was in their possession ^ In consequence of Langham accepting the cardinalate at this time, 1368, the king probably considered him as the partizan of the pope against his own sovereign ; he therefore deprived him of the temporalities of his see. Langham, who might have been a Gregorian in conscience, retired to Avignon, where he died, and was succeeded by Whittlesley.
Urban died December 19, 1370, in the forty-sixth year of Wycliffe, at Avignon, where he arrived September 24th. When dying, he is said to have expressed these words — " I firmly believe all that the Holy Catholic Church holds and teaches; and if ever I advanced doctrines contrary to the Church, I retract them, and subject them to its censure."
CCI. Gregory XL, died 1378.
Peter Roger was son of the Lord of Beaufort, and nephew of Clement VL, by whom he was made a cardinal at the early age of seventeen. He had so devoted himself to the study of the civil and canon law, that he became one of the ablest juris- prudents of his time. He was consecrated pope at the age of forty, by the name of Gregory XL The spiritual, though not the temporal power of the see, was weakened by the triumph of this pontiff over Florence, The Florentines had embraced the cause of the Visconti of Milan, who had become the vir- tual sovereigns of the north of Italy. The pope, who had been by the emperor declared his Vicar, took several of the Free Companies into his pay, and among them a band of Englishmen under Sir John Hawkwood ^ These attempted to subdue Florence by famine. The Florentines, who had been always attached to the popes, committed on their adver- saries many unjustifiable excesses, which were retaliated by the other parties with equal violence ; indeed the manners of the age were barbarous and cruel beyond the belief of the
* Of 53,000 manoi-s, the Church seems to mean, that Sir John Hawk- possessed 28,000, with the titles, obla- wood invented the then new art of tions, and many other revenues. — See making such use of a victory, as to Turner's History of England, vol. ii. secure prisoners for ransom, rather p. 413, note 64. than to kill victims for glory. — Quar-
'■' Sir John Hawkwood is called by a terly Review, No. 127, P- 49, an article
modern critic, " the real inventor of written by my late accomplislied
the modern art of war." The ex- friend Major Proctor, Military Secre-
pression is obscure, for the art of war tary to Sir George Arthur, is very extensive. The Reviewer
The Florentines every ivhcre excommunicated. 655
present more civilized and gentle, as well as more Christian book III. period of the world. The universal custom which the eccle- ^H^P. xi. siastical and papal power had now everywhere established, of searching out, imprisoning, torturing, and burning heretics, was one of the causes that provoked the indignation of the Florentines *. For we find, among the complaints urged against the Florentines, in the bull of Gregory XL, that they had released from prison the heretics who had been incarce- rated by the inquisitors of heretical pravity, and compelled the inquisitors to leave the city ^ The pope anathematized and excommunicated the Florentines in a bull of more than usual severity, a.d. 1375. He interdicted the whole people collectively and individually. He forbade all traffic and commerce with them, and upon this Florence depended. He outlawed them, and gave away their property to the first person who could take it. He exhorted all persons to seize and sell both their estates and persons ; and forbade any state or magistrate to suffer them to live under his jurisdic- tion in any other condition than that of a slave. We are assured by Walsingham, that in England many Florentine merchants were reduced to slavery, and their merchandise confiscated ^. 'We find in Rymer, a proclamation of Edward
' I say erert/ichere, for though the statute de Hseretico Comburendo had not yet passed in England, the bishops were able to imprisim offenders on charges of heresy; and Knyghton, with many others, either affirm, or are of opinion, that they possessed the power of committing them to the flumes. The act de Hiieret. Combur. only gave the force of the statute law to that which was believed to be the common law.
Thus we find Natalis Alexander saying of John Ball, who was in the ensuing reign executed for treason, that he made his escape from the Bishop's prison. — Joannes Balseus, presbyter, ex episcopi sui carcere pro- fugus, Wychliffo se adjunxit. — Hist. Eccl. ssec. xiii. et xiv. tom. xv. p. 223.
^ Sed ad memoriam cunctomm re- ducimus, quod iidem Florentini adver- sus Dei et Apostolicse Sedis reveren- tiam, inquisitorum luBretica; pi'avitatis officium in ipsius libera executlone im- pedicntes, statueiiint quod non possit
in eorum civitate, territorio, et districtu contra hsereticos nisi certo modo pro- cedi ; nee dicti inquisitoris familiares, nisi ad certum numerum et habita licentia eorundem offieialium, tempora- lium arma deferre valeant, ordinarunt: quodque priores artium et vexillifer dicta? civitatis in principio eorum officii de observandis iniquis eorum legibus, contra dictum inquisitorem et ejus officium editis, teneantur prsestare cor- porale juramentum. Ipsius quoque inquisitoris carcerem, in quo hseretici ponebantur, concitato tumultu populi totaliter destruxerunt, et inquisitorem qui tunc erat expulerunt : et quam- plurima alia statuta et ordinationes, in prtejudicium inquisitionis hujusmodi haereticfe pravitatis et heereticorum favorem, ac in Ecclesiae libcrtatis pra;- judicium ediderunt, et ea de facto ser- vare non verentur. — Raynald. Annal. adann. 1376, § 1.
^ Mercatores Florentinos in Anglia redactos fuisse in servitutem, eorum- que bona fisco addicta.
656 Catharine of Sienna, the director of the Pope.
BOOK 111. III., dated in 1377, to protect the Florentines. The king
"^ ,,-! — 'S commands the mayor and aldermen, &c. of London and of
Calais, and of other places, to secure the persons of the Florentines as the king's own servants, and to commit them to safe custody ; to take, also, possession of their goods and chattels to the king's use. We may justly infer from this proclamation, that various individuals had acted upon the pope's bull, and had arrested the Florentines, and seized upon their property ; and that much inconvenience resulted from these enforcements of the papal decree against these foreign merchants. The language of the proclamation con- firms this view of the case *.
The cause of Wycliffe, and the other opponents of the papacy in England, must have been strengthened by tJie utter injustice of punishing, as spiritual offenders, the peaceful trader's who were residing among them for commercial pur- poses only. The credit and confidence essential to com- merce, must have been shaken ; and the merchants and citizens of London, who were in general favourably disposed to the doctrines of Wycliffe, must have perceived that their own agents and factors would be in danger, if the Bishop of Rome quarrelled with the King of England.
Gregory XL was the Bishop of Rome who published four bulls against Wycliffe, for the suppression and punishment of his opinions. Before we consider their nature and con- tents, we may inquire what cisterns, what broken cisterns, were hewn out by this rejector of the fountains of living waters, which Wycliffe was pouring forth in this pontificate, from that rock of ages which he now opened in the wilder- ness of barbarism and ignorance ? What were the guides of this most infallible director of the universal Church of Christ ? Catharine, the daughter of James Beninsaca, a dyer, was born at Sienna, 1347. She became, from a very early age, it is said, distinguished by those exemplary austerities, graces, and privileges, which characterize so many of the saints of the calendar. She received spiritual com-
■* Ac nos, pro periculis et scandalis servos nostros veros, et non fictitioa,
quse ex processibus hujusiuodi et etiam ad eorum instantiam assiduam
eorum executoribus multiplicatu eve- capi, et prisonse nostrse Londonise
nire posscnt evitandis, omnes hiijus- mancipari, et in eadem detineri. —
modi Florentines, infra civitatem nos- Rymer's Foedera, vii, 1377- tram Londoniie inventos, tanquam
Miracles and wonders of Catharine of Sienna. 657
munications from the personal visits of Christ Himself. BOOK ill. Christ, in the presence of His holy mother, and a host of > — ~.,^^—^ saints, espoused her, and placed on her finger a gold ring set with pearls and diamonds. She sucked the blood from the wound in His side ; and He gave her His heart in ex- change for her own ^ The old serpent, it is further alleged, tempted her with filthy abominations, and brought her a hundred times to the brink of the precipice ; and on Christ appearing to her afterwards as her spouse, she upbraided Him for His absence in her temptations ^ Christ offered her the choice of a crown of gold, and a crown of thorns : she chose the latter, and forced it violently on her head '. Her chief subsistence was the eucharist ; and from Ash Wednesday to Ascension Day, she totally abstained from any other nourishment ^ Thousands were brought to sincere repentance of their sins by only looking at her '. Assassins, and the most hardened culprits, were instantly reclaimed by her when all other means of improving their lives had wholly failed '. Such were the reports respecting her, together with numerous other alleged miracles which she performed. These rumours caused Gregory XI. to send three confessors to Sienna, to receive from the mouths of those on whom miracles had been performed, evidence of the facts. All were proved to their entire satisfaction. One of these holy functionaries, Raymond of Capua, was consequently led to make known to her, that a dangerous conspiracy against the pope was concerted by the union of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, many important cities having been seduced into the league ; the object of which conspiracy was to strip the holy see of its possessions. On this information she de- spatched her letters of expostulation to the refractory cities,
^ Spondani Annal. 137G, sect. iv. ap. homage of his Church. His narrative
Waddiiigton's History of the Church, is collected from Rajinond of Capua,
chap. xxii. p. 491, 8vo, London, 1833. her confessor, and afterwards General
6 Butler's Lives of the Saints, of the Dominicans ; also from Stephen,
April 30, vol. iv. p. 332, 3rd edit. 8vo, Prior of the Carthusians, near Pavia,
Edinburgh, 1798. who had intimately known the saint ;
' Id. pp. 338, 339. and from other contemporary authors.
* Id. p. 338. Likewise Divje Catharinse Senensis
8 Id. p. 334. Vita per Joan. Pinum, Tolosanum.
1 Id. p. 334. Bononia?, 4ti), 1505, and other autho-
These are only a few of the exam- rities. His compilation of her miracu-
ples ofi'ered by Alban Butler to convince lous visions and prodigies comprises
the world of the merits by which this pp. 330 — 340 of the volume just now
woman obtained canonization, and the mentioned.
VOL. II. U U
658 Gregory influenced by Catharine of Sienna.
BOOK III. by which Perugia, Bologna, Viterbo, Ancona, Arezzo, Lucca,
V ^^' ^l" Sienna, and others were immediately placed under divine
restraint. All but the commercial Florence were panic- stricken by her interposition ; and Florence was consequently placed under an interdict. Terrible anarchy, great suffer- ing, and many murders, were the consequence. The deli- berations of the magistrates ended in resolving to place their cause in the hands of Catharine ; and to send her to Avignon to appease the anger of the pope. Gregory gave her a dig- nified reception, loaded her with praises, and left to her the settlement of his dispute with the Florentines *.
The affair being thus far concluded, she desired to know of Gregory, why he did not fulfil " what he had promised to God?" This question greatly surprised him, convincing him as it did, that his vow of restoring the court of the holy see to Rome, which he had never divulged to any living person, must have been made known to the saint by revelation. His mind was accordingly made up. He had heard from his confessors the fame of her miracles — her marriage with Christ ; her long contest and victory over the serpent ; her twelve weeks' fast, save the eucharist ; her cure of leprosies, and of cancers by sucking them * ; her mortifi- cation of her body by a very rough hair cloth, armed with sharp points * ; her spirit of prophecy, and knowledge of the consciences of others ; with " the ecstasies and other wonder- ful favours this virgin received from heaven V which are passed over by Butler. Gregory had become convinced by all these, of her supernatural power ; and he was still further satisfied of her mission by her reminding him of his private vows. St. Catharine's negotiations with the vicar of Christ, having been thus far successful, she returned from Avignon to Italy. She wrote, it seems, at every stage, to urge his holi- ness not to delay his return to Rome, in fulfilment of his vow. Her letters of importunity appear to have influenced Gregory to be speedily on the wing ; for he overtook his virgin friend at Genoa, whence they journeyed on to Italy ^ He made his
^ Raynald. ad ann. 1376, § 6. which were sanctioned by Archbishop
•■' See Butler's Lives, p. 333. Langham in 1368. One of such hjmns
* Id. p. 332. approved by Langham, is in the Lam-
5 Id. pj). 339, 340. beth hbrary in MS., and is printed by
•' Hymns were composed in England Spelman, Concil. ii. 615. in honour of St. Catharine of Sienna,
Neither Churches, sects, nor individuals infallible. 659
entry into Rome with incredible pomp ^ ; for not only Catha- book hi. rine, but Bridget * united in affirming that they were directed f'HAP.xi. by revelations from heaven to assure him, that the Lord willed that the papal court should be established again in Rome ^ On his arrival at the holy city, he found that the long absence of the popes had so materially lessened their autho- rity, that he resolved, in spite of the miraculous encourage- ment he had received, to return to Avignon. Such were the guides which influenced the head of the Church. He was pre- vented by death, however, from accomplishing his design. Whether the relation of Gerson, the Chancellor of the Univer- sity of Paris, be true, or whether the denial of that relation by Natalis Alexander be correct, we have, at this moment, no means of deciding. He is affirmed, and he is denied to have repented, when dying, of the attention he had paid to lying prophetesses '. Whether Gregory did so or not, we may safely conclude, that the decisions of the pontiff, who was guided by the visions of Catharine of Sienna, are not so worthy of our reception as those of the inquirer who was guided by the sacred Scriptures. The pontiff ivas wrong in upholding the errors which had now been received by the Church of Rome. Wycliffe was wrong in many of his conclu- sions. His most eulogistic biographers condemn them. The great conclusion to which we must arrive, from the study of ecclesiastical history, is, that none, neither churches, sects, nor individuals, are infallible, or universally right. Gregory introduced the oriental festival of the presentation of the Virgin Mary. He appointed it to be kept holy on the 21st of November.
The pontificate of this pope is rendered interesting to the English nation, by his opposition to the increasing influence
' quam incredibili fastu intravit heaven.
1377- Venema, Eccl. Hist. vol. vii. ^ Dominum velle ut curia Papalis
p. 362. Romam reduceretur.
* Alban Butler has given a memoir ^ Venema inclines to the decision of
of St, Bridget, widow, compiled from NataUs Alexander — Cujus rei (his
sundry authorities enumerated, Octo- regard to Catharine and Bridget)
ber the 8th, vol. x. pp. 158 — 167, pcenitentiam ductum sub finem vitse
where the reader is referred for the omnes admonuisse, ut ab ejusmodi
detail of her extraordinary revelations, femiuis sibi caverent, tradit Gerson,
by immediate discoui'se with God ; and &c. — nescio quam vere : contradicit
many strange proofs of her divine au- utique, non sane ratione, Natalis Alex-
thority in predicting and declaring andcr. — Venema, Hist. Eccles. vol. vii. things appertaining to the will of p. 362.
u u *2
GOO Hie offtcea in the State necessarily held })y Ecclesiastics.
BOOK 111. of the principles of Wycliffe. This reformer was now in the
^ ' " / forty-sixth year of his age The incidents of his Hfe are so
famihar to every reader of ecclesiastical history, that I shall only notice the few points which may be necessary to illus- trate the nature and extent of the ecclesiastical power at this time.
The parliament of England, by its statutes of proviso7's and jircemunire, 1350, had already shown its jealousy of the encroachments of the see of Rome. This jealousy was not exhibited against the legates or Italians only, who came from Rome, or from the pope to England ; it appeared in the second year of the pontificate of Gregory XI. against the influence of the papal ecclesiastical power in general. The bishops and clergy of England were considered as identified loith the foreign priest, who was regarded as the enemy of England because of his submission to France. The parlia- ment, therefore, petitioned that no ecclesiastic should hold any office in the state. The king, Edward III., attended so far to the popular feeling, that many of the principal ecclesi- astics resigned their appointments. The Bishop of Exeter gave up the office of treasurer. William of Wykeham resigned the great seal. The time, however, had not yet arrived when the political business of the nation could be carried on independently of the knowledge and experience of churchmen. It was, therefore, unprepared to compre- hend and receive at present, the truths revived and forced upon its consideration by Wycliffe. The effort, therefore, to throw oft' at this time the yoke of the papal ecclesiastical power, produced only restlessness, and incipient dissatisfac- tion, impatient of an evil, but unprovided with an ade- quate remedy. The proposal to carry on the management of the state at this time, without the advice and influence of ecclesiastics, because the papal exactors of intolerable tribute and taxes were unabashed in making their presumptuous demands, notwithstanding the writings of Wycliffe, was about as wise as the attempt would now be to rule the king- dom without the assistance of lawyers ; because the honour- able profession of the law has been sometimes unpopular among the vulgar. The custom of nominating ecclesiastics to the higher offices of the state, continued with few ex- ceptions till the time of Charles I., Avhen Juxon was the
Wydiffe (1373) appointed one of the Commissioners, ^c. 661
last treasurer, and Williams the last clerical chancellor : and book hi. very providentially was this custom overruled for the general ^^'HAP. xi. good. The clergy acted with their archbishops and bishops ; and the several changes in the public law which gradually gave the weight of authority to the best and not to the w orst opinions of Wycliffe, and which eventually gave the Holy Scriptures and prayers in their own language to the people ; received the sanction of the best lawyers, who were identified with the best divines ^ The laity were too deficient in general knowledge at this time, to enable them to dispense with the services of the highly educated, though religiously erroneous ecclesiastics.
Early in the pontificate of Gregory XL, WyclifTe was made doctor of divinity at Oxford. This degree was equiva- lent, at that time, to a patent of nobility, from the rank it conferred, and the influence it bestowed on the acceptor. The exactions of money by the pontifical officers were now so increased, and the laws which had been passed at various periods to prevent the payment of the papal demands were so entirely useless, that the commons, after sending an abor- tive mission to Avignon in 1373, commanded an inquiry to be instituted into the number of English benefices then occupied by Frenchmen, Italians, and aliens in general. The result exhibited such an extent of abuse, that another embassy was resolved upon. Wycliffe was one of the com- missioners. His name appears second on the list, and his powers seem to have been very extensive *. The conferences between the papal and English ambassadors took place at
* The language of Wycliffe in the cireumspectione Venerabilis Patris, Treatise on the Regimen of the Church, Joannis Episeopi Bangorensis ac imputed to him, echoes the language delectorum et fidelium nostrorum, of the parliament. He contends that Magistri Joannis deWiclif,sacrre Thco- neither prelates, doctors, nor deacons logise Professoris, &c. &c. Ut ea, should hold secular offices. — See Le quae honorem Sanctse Ecclcsiie, et Bas' Life of Wycliffe, p. 138, and the conservationem juriura corome itostne, note. et nostri regni Anglise, concernere
* Pro Joanne de Wiclif Sacrrc Thco- poterint, in ea parte intuitu Dei, logise Professore, et aliis potestatibus et SanctiB Sedis Apostolicte, felicitcr ad tractandum cum nunciis Papic. — expediantur, et debitum capiant com- A.D. i:57-li anno 48 Edw. III. plenientura
(Pal. 48 Edw. III. p. i. in 7, i" Tun-. In cujus &c. — Dat. apud London.
Lond.) xxvi. die Jiilii. Rex universis, ad quorum notitiam Vaughan's Life and Oj)inions of
pra?sentes litenu pervenerint, John de Wycliffe, i. Aj>pend. No. x.
salutcm. p. 416. Sciatis, quod no.s, dc fidelitate et
662 The total rejection of the Papal supremacy , essential.
BOOK in. Bruges, 1374. Gregory expressed his anxiety to satisfy the
._ ^ ,■ King of England, but added the usual reservation to his
terms, which enabled him to evade any demand, or violate any conclusions *. Bruges, at this time, was at the head of the Hanseatic League, which included more than sixty cities. It united the growing traffic of the Baltic with the ancient commerce of the Mediterranean and the East. It was the place fixed upon, also, during WyclifFe's sojourn there, for the political negotiation between the ambassadors of France, the Duke of Anjou and Burgundy ; and those of England, the Earl of Salisbury, the Duke of Lancaster, and Sudbury then Bishop of London, under the representatives of the pope, the Archbishop of Ravenna, and the Bishop of Car- pentras. Wycliffe, therefore, had ample opportunities of con- versing with the adherents of the papacy ; and of at the same time strengthening his own energies by imbibing much of that free spirit which uniformly attends the wealth and leisure resulting from successful commerce. The negotiations between the English and the papal commissioners, were protracted through two years ; and as the English nation and the English king had not yet learned that the total rejection of its supremacy was the only mode of emancipating themselves from the extortions of Rome, a partial remedy only was granted to the grievances of which complaint was made. The pope consented to desist from the reservation of bene- fices. The king consented to confer no benefices by his writ — quare impedit. The power of the pope consisted, how- ever, in great measure, in the right of patronage to bishoprics ; and the chief negotiator, the Bishop of Bangor, is suspected of some treachery to the cause of his sovereign, and of the national Church ; in permitting a total silence in the treaty on this subject. Nothing was said either on the election of bishops by the chapters, or on the confirmation of their elections by the king. The Bishop of Bangor was translated by the bull of Gregoiy XI. to Hereford in 1375.
The power of the commons, that is, of the people, con-
* Nos dicto regi, tanquam prtcama- (flivinomediantesuffragio)reformanda,
bili et peculiari filio nostro, cupientes, voluntatem nostrani, videlicet, xii.
quantum poteramus {salea conscientia) Kal. Januarii Pontificatus nostri anno
complacere, et sperantes de bona con- tertio, in forma qu£e seqnitur duximus
cordia superdictis articulis inter Ro- declarandum. — Raj'uald. ad aim. 1374,
nianam Ecclesiam et cmidcm regera § 21.
Complaints of the Commons against the Papal exactions. 663
tinued to increase ^ Edward III. had consulted the com- book ill. mons m the questions of war and peace with France"; so . \' ' ; that no complaint could be justly made on the expense of his expeditions. The Prince of Wales and the Earl of March had employed the power of the commons to over- throw an unpopular ministry by petitioning the king to in- crease his council by ten or tw^elve bishops, lords, and others, so that no great matter be done without the consent of all ; and in minor matters, without the consent of four or six. Noblemen and merchants, also, were impeached by the commons for public abuses ^ In the year after the treaty of Bruges, the commons complained in parliament, both of the papal reservations, and also of the exactions and extortions to which they were still subject. So intolerable had these become, that nothing but the conviction on the part of the people, that opposition to the spiritual power of the Bishop of Rome was opposition to the ordinance of God ; and the conviction on the part of kings, that their sovereignty was identified with the papal supremacy, could have so long- riveted the yoke upon the nation. The commons remon- strated, that the misery, exhaustion, and depopulation of the realm proceeded from the tyranny of the Romish hierarchy. They affirmed, among other complaints % that the tax paid to the pope for ecclesiastical dignities, amounted to five-fold as much as the tax of all such yearly profits as appertain to the king arising from the whole realm — that the pope had four or five taxes on the vacancy of one bishopric, or other dignity, by way of translation — that aliens, who never resided, possessed the English benefices — that the enemies of the kingdom, and the betrayers of its secrets, were the officers of the popes — that the principal English dignities were con- ferred on the cardinals who resided at Rome — that a subsidy was actually levied by the pope on the English to ransom the enemies of the king — and that the pope's collector, a Frenchman residing in London, was gathering at that moment the first-fruits of the English benefices. Such were
^ I cannot trace the gradual strength- ^ Stephens on the English Consti-
ening of the popular power, which, in tutlon, vol. i. p. 121. fact, was the cause of the overthrow of "^ See references in Stephens, the papal despotism ; but relate results * See the note to Le Bas, p. loG ;
only. I refer the reader to the ad- also Lewis's Life of Wycliffe, p. 31. mirable work of Mr. Stephens.
664 The victory of Scripture over Rome, certain.
BOOK 111. the complaints of the parliament of England. Coincident
' ^^-^ with them, was the publication of the Scriptures, and of
numerous religious tracts, as well as a more animated and more spiritual style of preaching. Antichrist was the name which had already been repeatedly applied to the papacy ; and Wycliffe, on his return from Bruges, both in public and in private, in his lectures and in his conversation ^, gave this name to the pope. He called him the proud worldly priest of Rome.
The result is well known. Though the Bishops of Rome had not attained to their power without the perpetual oppo- sition which has been developed in these pages, the oppo- sition of the evangelical or Gospel doctor, as Wycliffe was styled, accelerated, more than any other whom the providence of God raised up to be the benefactors of mankind, that great movement which has partially emancipated the uni- versal Church from the tyranny under which it so long laboured. The first breach was now made in the bulwarks of the spiritual Babylon ; the first march of the true Israel- ites was begun around the walls of that well-fortified Jericho, which shall one day fall down flat when the seventh circuit is completed. The war has not yet ceased, though the final victory of the Scripture and of its holy priesthood is certain. The morning star of that brighter day had dawned when the sun of righteousness shall again shine with healing on its wings. Wycliffe was the first of that long train of protes- tant prophets who have never ceased, with ever-increasing success, to denounce priestcraft, while they love the priest- hood ; to appeal to conscience by arguments which convince, and not by authority which compels. Huss and Jerome, Luther and Cranmer, with all their long variety of followers, entitled each to more or less approbation, who succeeded them till the establishment of truth with authority in the episcopal Churches of England, Scotland, and America, have secured the blessing of the apostolical institutions to the world. Whatever were the excesses of the followers and partizans of those men, — and they will be found in many cases to be most unjustifiable, — they were less intolerable than the devastation of provinces ; and the extirpation of their people
' Lewis, p. 34.
Antiquity to be venerated, hut not idolized. 665
by fire, as in Lansiuedoc and Piedmont. Whatever were the book hi.
• . . . • . CHAP XI
deficiencies of the institutions of Calvin, Knox, and Beza, , ^ .'
they could not in violence, duration, or mental torture, be contrasted with the papacy. The day-star had appeared, though the storms of unrelenting persecution were still often to obscure its brightness. The sun had arisen. The anti- papal Churches rejoice in its light. Clouds yet hover over the larger portion of the still darkened earth ; but the work which Wycliflfe had now so earnestly begun was not to be interrupted by slight difficulties and human machinations. He had diffused a new leaven, which was beginning to work with powerful effect on the stagnant intellect. The Scriptures which he restored to the common people shall purify and spiritualize the mind of man ; till Christianity, in its best form, shall have leavened all the inhabitants of the terrestrial world. God shall be worshipped. Churches shall eventually be every where established. Priests and teachers shall appeal, as Christ and His Apostles did, and as patriarchs and pro- phets of the olden time before them did, to the reason of the people ; by undeniable and well-studied evidences. They shall court inquirj^ into their doctrines, and venerate^ but not idolize, antiquity. They shall value tradition, and select from its ample stores the lessons, the rites, and the ceremonies which are undepraved b}' superstition and vanity ; while they are convenient, instructive, and useful for edification.
The battle between the usurpations of Rome, and the purity of the Catholic Church, had been fought on the European continent, by tyranny on the one side, and by patience on the other. Victory had rested with the usurper. It was now to rage in England ; and after the struggle had continued for a century, victory rested with the restorers of the Scriptures to the people. The ivar still rages. The final triumph will not be decisively won till the whole unreclaimed Churches, which still linger in the train of Rome, shall follow the example of England ; and make the Scriptures their sole guide to immortality, while the priesthood shall be only the most valued and honoured assistants to their right interpreta- tion, and the preservation of their holy influences.
Though we cannot suppose that Gregory XI. was unac- quainted with the opposition which Wycliffe had so long made to the papal supremacy, to established doctrines, and to
6G6 Nineteen erroi^s of Wycliffe submitted to Gregory XL
BOOK III. the pontifical exactions, as well as his upholding the regal ^. ^'^ ] supremacy, and the authority of the Holy Scriptures above the decrees and canons of the Churches ; we do not find that any bulls were published against him till the commencement of the year 1377. His adversaries, at the end of 1376, sent to the pope a list of his real or supposed errors. They were nineteen in number. The first five assailed the temporal dominion of the popes ^ and affirmed the possibility of re- suming the imperial grants. He denies that St. Peter and his successors have any civil or political dominion. The two next uphold the royal power in opposition to the papal pre- tensions of a pretended ecclesiastical liberty, or an exemption of the persons of the clergy, and of the goods of the Church from the civil powers. The nine next relate to the power of the keys, which Wycliffe affirmed to be conditional, while the popes, on the contrary, maintained that the absolute and unconditional power of forgiving sins appertained to the gift of the keys. The twelfth and thirteenth articles condemned the abuse of ecclesiastical censures, by applying them to temporal power. In the sixteenth he opposed papal in- dulgences, and papal reservations of absolution. The two next asserted the power of kings and benefactors to take away the revenues they had granted to the clergy, when the conditions on which they had been bestowed were neglected. The last affirmed the power of the people to redress the grievances they might suffer from either the popes or from kings.
" It was after the year 1372 ^, and before 1377, that Wycliffe made his great attack on the papal system in his Trialogus. This work is a Latin dialogue between three persons, on the Deity, the spiritual world, the virtues, and the ecclesiastical doctrines and institutions. Its attractive merit was, that it combined the new opinions with the scholastic style of thinking, and deductions. It was not the mere illiterate reformer teaching novelties, whom the man of education disdained and derided ; it was the respected academician reasoning with the ideas of the reformer. In this work he declares the Roman pontiff to be the antichrist. ' The Roman pontiff,' says he, ' is the chief antichrist, for he
* See Lewis, p. 42. work as reccnter, or not haviii!; long
^ The year 1 372 is mentioned in the past.
TVansuhstantiation, the great provocative to Infidelity. 667
falsely pretends that he is the most immediate and resembling book hi.
vicar of Christ in the world. He claims, from the imperial . J.U
endowment, to have the chief domination, and to be the richest man in the world. But Christ had not where to lay His head. How then can such an antichrist say that he is the vicar of our Lord, or like Him ? It is ob\dous that he is not, as he calls himself, the most humble man, but the elated vicar of pride ^.' Wycliffe ridicules the adoration of saints, and asserts the mediatorial office of our Saviour. He con- demns the superseding of the Gospel by pretended traditions, and the granting of indulgences. On the eucharist, he is opposed to the established creed of transubstantiation, assert- ing that though a sacramental effect took place on the con- secration, yet that the bread and wine remained bread and wine, as our senses perceived them; that they were only sacramentally, that is, mentally and spiritually otherwise. By this distinction he removed from the venerated part of religious worship the great provocative to infidelity ; and pre- served the English mind from that absolute rejection of Christianity which the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation has, since the thirteenth century, been so fatally producing in every country where it predominates, even among many of its teachers *."
The disadvantages with which individuals, in these times, had to contend in maintaining and propagating doctrines op- posed to long-received opinions established under the autho- rity of a power which claimed a Divine right to temporal and spiritual control, cannot be ivell understood by those tvho enjoy the means noiv possessed of deriving every kind of knowledge without restraint ; and with every possible facility for study. AVycliffe could not avail himself of the invention of printing to enable him to refute the false reasonings, and equivocal answers ; which well-practised scribes and advocates of the old delusions, would pour forth in opposition to all he ad- vanced. Copies of his writings could not be multiplied for the use of the public, without ruinous expense. Few, besides himself, would be qualified to assist in supporting his revived tenets of Christianity by lectures and discourses, in conse- quence of the prohibition of scriptural study. The force of
3 Trialogus, p. 130.
* Sharon Turner's Ili&toi'y of England, vol. v. pji. 177 — 179-
668 Bulls of Gregory XI. against Wycliffe.
BOOK 111. prejudice in favour of the deeply-rooted superstitions, and of
^ .^ — '' the inviolabiUty of that asserted sacredness of every word
and deed sanctioned by pontifical authority, which could not be doubted without heresy, made the task of individual oppo- sition to error in the established system of religion severe beyond imagination. The vigilance of adversaries, in the character of mendicant friars, to impeach heretics, and im- pute violations of the canons of the Church to every person who gave ear to sentiments not in accordance with the pre- scribed forms of the hierarchy, would all tend to render the circulation of WyclifFe's writings difficult; and to confine them for a time to a very limited number of readers. We have seen that nineteen charges against him were sent to the pope in 1376. It is probable that these accusations would be founded upon the doctrines and arguments disseminated in his Trialogus. The nature of this early effort to furnish the friends of religious truth with matter for contempla- tion and discussion is very little known ; and it is desirable that the reader should understand the extent to which Wycliffe had proceeded before he published his complete translation of the Scriptures. Mr. Turner has given us a full account of this production \
Most of the conclusions of Wycliffe may be said to have long ago become axioms, both with the statesmen and in- fluential ecclesiastics of England. They were then esteemed as blasphemies. Gregory XI. published against them four bulls, dated May 22nd, 1377. The first complains of the growth of heresy in orthodox England ; and commands the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to ap- prehend the chief heretic Wycliffe, till further commands. The second commands Wycliffe to appear at Rome within three months. The third directs the king and the chief men of Eng- land to assist in the extirpation of heresy. The fourth, after various complimentary expressions addressed to the king, solicits the royal protection and favour for the prosecution of Wycliffe by the ecclesiastical authorities, pursuant to the papal
5 Mr. Turner has assigned the Tria- which took place together in 1382, that
logus to the period between 1372 and it must have been written after Wy-
1377- Mr. Vaughan, however, proves, clifFe's exclusion from Oxford, and not
from the internal evidence of an allu- long, therefore, before his death, sion to the council and carth(][uake
I
Papal Bull addressed to Oxford received coldly. GG9
commission ^ A fifth bull was addressed, at the same book ill.
time, to the university of Oxford, requiring its head, on ^ -^^^
the penalty of losing all its privileges and indulgences, to sufter none to teach these conclusions of Wycliffe, and to deli- ver him and his followers to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The effect of the complaints of the commons against the exactions of the popes ; of the preaching of Wycliffe ; of the dissensions on the continent ; of the incipient love of literature ; and of the general desire to read the Scriptures, appeared in the conduct of the university of Oxford. The heads of houses deliberated whether they should receive or reject the papal decree, and at length received the bull, but with regret and coldness.
The controversy between the Gregorian policy and the active mind of England ivas now fairly begun. From this hour the incessant controversy never slumbered. The Catholic ques- tion, to use a well-known phrase, has been, is still, and till the union of Christians and Churches is completed, will ever be the one chief controversy. The mere opinions of Wy- cliffe were not, however, the leaven that leavened the mass. The holy volume was now to be thrown open, and to be so generally known, that the cause of freedom was strengthened, and the people became imbued with that love of truth, and hatred of ecclesiastical tyranny ; which all the laws of the ensuing century and a half, till the accession of Elizabeth, were unable to subdue. The imme- diate results of the efforts of Gregory to repress the spirit of resistance to the papal-ecclesiastical power in England, are familiar to all. A series of circumstances occurred which prevented the infliction of that more severe punishment, which, at this early age of the effectual opposition to Gre- gorianism, might have intimidated the reformer and his friends. Wycliffe's character was not so bold and uncom- promising as that of Luther. He would not have dared to burn a pope's bull, nor to defy the Vatican. He had lived in kings' houses, and worn soft raiment. He had been, and he still was, a worldly politician in resisting the oppression of the papal exactions ; and he had served his country as an am- bassador and statesman. But ambassadors and statesmen
^ These bulls must be familial' to by Vaughan, Lewis, Spelman, ajiil the student. They are given at length Collier.
670 WydJffe only began the work of the Reformation.
BOOK III. are seldom martyrs. Neither WyclifFe, nor the age in which ' — he lived, were prepared, as in the days of Luther, to endure
all evils rather than remain under the papal dominion. The pope was still believed to be superhuman. Even John of Gaunt himself, the great friend and patron of WyclifFe, though he, some years afterwards, in 1390, resisted the attempt to deprive the people of the Scriptures ' ; and though he strenuously opposed the secular supremacy of Rome, he, even he, did not dare to engage in any contest rela- tive to her spiritual supremacy in matters of belief. Though Wycliffe wrote his most celebrated work, the Trialogus, with a strong impression of his personal danger, and affirmed that those whom he opposed were plotting his death : and though he strenuously urged the duty of suffering mar- tyrdom for the sake of truth ; and earnestly contended that it was as necessary in his time as in ancient days ; and though he emphatically added, " Instead of visiting pagans to convert them by martyrdom, let us preach constantly the law of. Christ even to princely prelates ; martyrdom will then occur to us rapidly enough, if we persevere in faith and patience';" — yet he did not, like Luther, venture to proceed to ex- tremities. He would not risk his safety by adopting the same bold and fearless defiance which that reformer bid to pontifical vengeance. Wycliffe was an inquiring student ; a Christian about to give the Scriptures to his country : but he was only fitted to begin the work, and point out the yet un- beaten path which more intrepid and unhesitating combat- ants must persist in laying open, which Luther, Ridley, Cran- mer, Hooper, and others were to complete, till the way of truth should become plain and perfect ; till the highway in the desert should be made straight, that all England might see the glory of the Lord. Partial truth may follow the exertions of one individual in any age, and he may be an efficient antagonist against many errors, and a most unex- ceptionable defender of many truths ; but the whole truth, or the development of so much of a completed system of
' It was argued, that if the amount might be said, had their origin in the
of erx'or were to determine the expe- translation of the Sci'iptures into the
diency of suppressing translations, the Latin language. — Le Bas, p. 400. Latin Vulgate would most deserve « Sharon Turner's History of Eng-
prohibition ; for the decretals reckoned land, v. 181,182. sixty-six Latin heretics. These, it
Events vMch contributed to the security of Wycliffism. G71
truth as may be necessary to refute and to destroy the in- book in. fluence of a large mass of long extended and gradually p"^^- ^\ legalized error, can only be made generally known, and eventually be established, by long, anxious, and repeated dis- cussion. Christ Himself did not pray that His disciples might be led into the truth, but into all, all truth. As Christianity at its beginning was quietly and slowly strengthened by the gra- dual diffusion of its incessantly controverted truths, until it became prepared to endure persecution by its antagonists, in consequence of the great numbers who had silently and continually embraced the now perfected religion ; so it was with the labours of Wycliffe.
The events which contributed to the temporary security of his adherents from the year 1377, before the statute De hceretico comburendo was passed in 1401, being twenty-four years, were — the enHsting of the popular literature on the Wycliffian principles, by the writings of Chaucer ;— the death of Edward III,, when the bulls of Gregory were received by the clergy ;— the death of Gregory himself, when the commis- sion he had issued expired, 1378 ;— the interference of the queen-dowager, with the proceedings at St. Paul's ;— the sub- sequent schism at Avignon on the election of a successor of Gregory ;— the submission of Wychffe to the commissioners to such extent that by giving an explanation rather than a defence of his opinions \ he promoted inquiry without in- creasing the bitterness of controversy ;— the expulsion of the foreign ecclesiastics in 1380, who were always the firmest friends of the worst demands of the papacy ;— the insurrection of Wat Tyler, which compelled the government to attend to the protection of property and life rather than to the punish-
9 See the refutation of the charges est, ut nihil ab ecclesi^ doctrina alie-
and insinuations of Dr. Lingard, and of num sensisse, sed obscure, nove et im-
Mihier, on this subject, in Le Bas, prudenter dumtaxat loquutus vide-
pp. 176— 19G. The account of Natahs retur. Pra; se ferebat prteterea hu-
Alexander,aGalHcan. and therefore, a milem animum, et Eeclesia; obedien-
niore impartial Roman Catholic his- tem ; contra cujus fidem, si quid sibi
tonan than many, may be considered excidisset, id se revocare profite-
tlie best:— AcceptisGregorii XI. Uteris, batur. Quaniobrem, et ob fautorum
w''Ti°^ ^^™'^*^*'^^'" convenientes etiam suorum auctoritatem ac poten-
Wicklefrummjusvocaverunt,utprav;p tiam, impune dimissus est, indicto in
doctrmse rationem redderet. Sed ipsis posterum silentio.— Natalis Alexand.
lucum fecit versipellis hteresiarcha, et Hist. Eccles. s£ecul. xiii. et xiv. p. 223 objectos sibi articulos ita intcrpretatus
672 The usurper Henry IV. gives the Priesthood power.
BOOK \n. ment of heresy ; — the marriage of Richard II. with Anne of
V ^ ' " ; Luxembourg, or Bohemia ' ; — the peculiar fitness of Bohemia
to be the place of refuge for the old anti-papal Christianity, as it was maintained by the Waldenses, and was now reviving by the extension of the principles of WyclifFe ; — the renewal of the disputes with Rome in 1392, on the subject of papal provisions in the English churches ; — the increasing power of the House of Commons, which encouraged the exertions of WyclifFe, in opposing the secular authority and prodigious wealth of the clergy, together with the superior holiness and exemplariness of life which characterized the adherents of Wycliffism ; — all these things contributed so to extend and to protect the gradual revival and extension of a purer Chris- tianity, that when the blow was at length struck by the fearful law which condemned the heretic to the stake ; the spiritual religion was enabled, for one hundred and fifty mournful years, to resist, and finally to conquer, the temporal as well as the spiritual supremacy of Rome. An ambitious, cruel, and ignorant, or if not ignorant, a wilfully blinded priesthood, tendered their homage and support to an usurp- ing sovereign, Henry IV. ; who gave them in return the power to chastise with scorpions, the people who resisted their dic- tations. In this, as in other instances of usurpation, crime was punished by crime, and folly by folly. Richard II. was an avaricious, yet extravagant, voluptuous, oppressive, king. The people changed the dynasty with the hope of deliverance from the temporal tyrant; and placed Henry IV. on the throne of England. The same people endeavoured, but in vain, to throw off the temporal yoke of the foreign pontiff, because they had not yet presumed to doubt his spiritual supremacy. A large
* The Bohemians had derived from effectually to become separated from the Greek Church the two orthodox Rome by the preaching of Huss, to peculiarities of performing the Liturgy be marked out as the scene of the in the vernacular tongue, and the ad- early struggle. " Accordingly, a cen- ministration of the Eucharist in both tury before Luther, John Huss and kinds; which prepared them to readily Jerome of Prague, having had their embrace the sentiments of opposition zeal excited by the writings of Wy- to Rome introduced among them by cliffe, the English patriarch of religious the fugitive Waldenses, who escaped reform ; preached openly in Bohemia tliither from the myrmidons of Inno- the necessity of a formal separation cent IIL, and his merciless emula- from the see of Rome." — Miller's Phi- tors. Thus it was natural for a coun- losophy of Modern History, vol. iv. try predisposed by these customs, to pp. 533, 534. unite with the Waldenses, and more
The statute De Hai'etico, ^c. repealed by James, D. of York. 673
number of the same people revolted against their new sove- book IIT. reign, and the clergy embraced the opportunity of persuading chap, xl the king that heresy and treason were identified; that the throne could only be preserved by reposing both on the mitre of the bishop and on the tiara of the pope. The sovereign believed the priest, and the writ De haeretico com- burendo was enacted.
The result is known. The opinions which, in the south of France, were condemned by Rome, had been successfully eradicated by the fire and the sword of the crusaders, and by the fire and tribunal of the inquisitors. In England, the result, under the providence of God, for the happiness and advancement of mankind, was far different. The people of England had become imbued with the love of truth, and with the resolution to obtain the better Christianity of which they had been so long deprived : and the efforts of Rome to eradicate that love of truth by attempting to exchange the old statute law of England for the canon law, which provided for the extirpation of heresy by fire, terminated first in the overthrow of the papal power of persecution, and then in the overthrow of the ecclesiastical power of persecution, till the final rescinding of the law was effected by a prince of the Church of Rome itself. James II., when Duke of York, aimed at popularity by moving and carrying the repeal of a statute, which had so entirely failed to accomplish the object for which it was intended.
The details of the appearance of Wycliffe, when cited at St. Paul's, in consequence of the bulls of Gregory ; the dis- turbances that ensued ; the contest between the Duke of . Lancaster, the Bishop of London, and the Londoners ; the message from the queen ; the explanation of his opinions by Wycliffe ; and the subsequent injunction upon him to be silent, are all so well and so minutely detailed by his bio- graphers, that I do but allude to them.
Gregory XI. died on March 27, 1378, in the fifty-fourth year of Wycliffe. Afl:er his death the schism of Avignon began. The interregnum of more than one year before any successor of Gregory was declared to be the true and lawful pope, gave some rest to the more spiritual portion— /or such the Wycliffites might now be called — of the universal Church ; and the opportunity was presehted to Wycliffe of publishing,
VOL. II. X X
674 The sufficiency of Scripture the strength of the Church. BOOK III. with impunity, the tract on the schism, and on the truth of
CHAP. XI. 1 c^ • Ti'i 11 • />
* ^ ' the IScnpture. In this latter work the propriety of trans- lating the whole Scriptures into English was discussed and affirmed. The great and holy principle is there declared — that whatever be the value of a priesthood, a Christian may ob- tain from the Bible sufficient knowledge of God, and of the destiny of his soul during his pilgrimage on earth ; and as all truth, necessary to the salvation of the soul, is contained in the Scriptures, whatever conclusion is not deducible from them may be safely rejected. The Church of England has made its foundations and battlements impregnable by incorpo- rating this truth in its articles. Rome never recovered the blow which Wycliffe inflicted upon it by proceeding in the next pontificate to act on this principle. The affirmation of this one principle is the strength of the episcopal Churches which are not, at present, in communion with Rome. Its denial is the weakness of Rome. It will ever be found to be the one solid foundation on which all discipline of Churches, all plans of usefulness, and all hope of union, must be pro- posed, and finally established.
ecu. Urban VI., died 1389.
On the death of Gregory XI., at Rome, the cardinals, to the number of sixteen, assembled as usual. The Roman citizens observing that the French cardinals outnumbered the Italian, and being anxious to secure to themselves the profits derived from the residence of the pope, which had been so long enjoyed by the people of Avignon, required them to elect a Roman. They demanded this before they entered the conclave. When the cardinals answered evasively, that they could not discuss the election of a pope out of the con- clave, the citizens placed a guard at the gates and avenues of the city; expelled the nobility from whom opposition might have been expected ; and armed a number of the country people. This was not done tumultuously, but under the sanction of the local magistrates, the Bannerets or Ban- deresians, who presided over the different wards or quarters of the city. When the cardinals entered the conclave, the Bannerets, the armed peasantry, and the populace, clamoured and menaced them. The cardinals protested against the violence. They declared that if the election were not free,
Political opinions punished by spiritual censures. 675
the bishop whom they elected, could not be legally regarded book hi.
as pope. The tumult continued throughout the night of the ^ ^
seventh of April. The people threatened death, with loud voices, if a Roman, or at least an Italian, were not elected. On the representation that those clamours were disgraceful, two officers were deputed to declare to the conclave that if a Roman were not chosen, the lives of the cardinals would be in danger. The clamour continued. The cardinals informed them, from the window, that they should be satisfied on the morrow. On the eighth of April, after some fruitless attempts at delay, and amidst the continuance of the clamour, Bartho- lomaeus Pregnano, Archbishop of Bari, was declared to be pope. The cardinals, immediately after his election, made their escape. The magistrates were obliged to compel them the next day, by force, to reassemble, to proclaim him in the usual form. This was done, and on the seventeenth of the same month, Easter-day, he was crowned at Rome as Urban VI.
Some writers of these transactions affirm that the cardinals never intended to acknowledge this forced choice. Others affirm, that the subsequent severity of Urban VI. against the pomp, pride, and luxury of the cardinals, was the cause of their endeavouring to rescind his election. The decision of the question is a matter of little moment. Thirty two volumes of MSS. in the Vatican contain the arguments and the reasoning of the partizans of Urban VI., and of his rival for the pontificate, who was elected at Fondi on the twenty- first of the following September. Neither are we now in- terested in the details of the contests between the rivals. The war between them was carried on with mutual excommunica- tions. The exclusion of souls from the blessings of redemption was made the iveapon to punish a political opinion, or a wrong decision, in matters ivhich confounded the best canonists in Europe. They fought with the passions, the arms, the armour, and the soldiers of secular princes. They cursed each other as devils, while they professed to be the posses- sors of the right to rule as angels. The war began by the cardinals excommunicating Urban as an apostate usurper. The attempt of the Duke of Brunswick, husband of Joan, Queen of Naples, to mediate between them was baffled by the resentment of the cardinals, and the haughtiness of Urban. The proposals to assemble a general council were
X X 2
676 The great schism destroyed the Gregorian power.
BOOK in. defeated by the dispute between the pope, the cardinals, and
■ ^ ' " ; the emperor, respecting the place for its convocation. War
alone could decide the controversy which of two bishops should be the superior of the Church. The civilized world was divided. Italy, Germany, England, Portugal, and the north of Europe, generally took part with Urban : France, Spain, and Scotland, the ally for political defence of France, took part with Clement. The Gregorian power died a natural death in the struggle. The sceptre passed from the Bishop of Rome to the bishops of the Churches generally. The love of persecution remained with them all till a brighter day ; but the time had gone when a Bishop of Rome could summon all Europe to the overthrow of an European state, as Pope Alexander, at the time of the Norman conquest ; or to a crusade, as other predecessors of Urban. The progress of the barbarians of the East towards the West, and the final capture of Constantinople itself, may be said to have been among the results of the schism of Avignon.
The details of the contest on the continent — the fate of Joan of Naples — the cruelty of Urban to the cardinals who conspired against him — the firmness of Urban in excommu- nicating his opponents when his life was threatened — the plunder of the monasteries of their plate, ornaments, and jewels to support his wars — the establishment of the jubilee on the thirty-third year after its last commemoration, be- cause this was the number of the years of Christ — the degradation of the bishops who supported the cause of Joan of Naples — the delight of Urban in the torture —the con- vulsed state of Europe — these, with the assassinations and retaliating cruelties on all sides, render this pontificate one of the most appalling portions of general history.
To understand this part of the history of the ecclesiastical power more perfectly, it will be necessary to take a brief view of the great schism.
Gregory XI. died in 1378. The cardinals, after having elected Urban VI. under the alleged influence of terror, chose another pope, Clement VII., who established his resi- dence at Avignon, while Urban remained in Italy.
The schism continued either forty-one years or fifty-one years, according to the meaning we affix to the term " con- cluded."
U't/cliffe appeals to the Sovereiff)is of Europe. G77
It was concluded at the end of forty-one years, if we con- book ill. sider the election of Martin V. by the Council of Constance, — 1^/^ J together with the deposition of the Pope of Avignon, Bene- dict XIII., and the resignation of the Pope of Rome, Gre- gory XII. to be the conclusion.
It was terminated at the end of fifty-one years, if we consider the conclusion to have taken place at the death of Clement VIII., who was elected by the Avignon party in the year 1424, after the Council of Constance, on the death of Benedict XIII. Clement VIII. died in the year 1429, fifty-one years after the death of Gregory XL, and no successor was elected at Avignon.
But here I shall conclude this third book of our survey of ecclesiastical and civil history. In the fifth year of Urban VI., and of the great schism, 1384, Wyclijfe died. His labours, together with the suicidal contests of pope against pope, terminated the absolute temporal autocracy of the Bishops of Rome. At the very outset of the conflict, Wycliflfe wrote his treatise on the schism, in which he invited the sovereigns of Christendom to embrace the opportunity thus afforded them of shaking to pieces the whole fabric of the Romish dominion ^ " Trust we in the help of Christ," he ex- claims, " for He hath already begun to help us graciously, in that He hath cloven the head of Anti-Christ, and made the two parts to fight against each other'." This language of Wycliffe may be called the common expression of the senti- ments of Europe on the claims of the Church of Rome ; and I conclude my view of the unlimited and uncontrolled despotism of that Church, at this place, because yrom this period a new power ivas called forth, which must sloivly and gradually influ- ence all Christian nations; which still ferments and works among the bishops, priests, sovereigns, and people of Christendom ; and which will eventually so entirely leaven the whole mass of mankind, that it will drive out the old leaven of the ecclesiastical absolutism of the priesthood. I shall reserve for the next book the details of the struggles between the Church principles of Rome, and the Scriptural principles which assailed them ; and conclude the present book with
* Le Bas' Life of Wycliffe, p. 200. See Vauglian, vol. ii. p. 4 ; Le Bas, ^ A copy of this tract is in Trin. p. 201. Coll. Dublin, Class C, tab. 3, No. 12.
678 The great Schism and the Revolution 0/I688 compared.
BOOK III. briefly noticing the influence of Wycliffe, and some effects CHAP. XI. ^j} ^^g great schism, on the churches and states of Europe.
Though the pretensions of the popes from the period of Nicholas to the present Bishop of Rome have never ceased, those pretensions have never been so fully regarded by the princes and kings of Europe since the great schism, as they were before it took place. The great schism had the same effect on the influence of the papacy, as the war between James the Second and William the Third produced on the monarchy of England. Though war maintained the monarchy, it destroyed despotism, and strengthened the influence of the people. The popular power, which had uniformly, in all ages of the English government, been opposed to the undefined pretensions of arbitrary princes, or of unreasonable laws ; had hitherto wasted its strength in temporary oppositions, or in civil war. The revolution of 1688 gave the more solemn sanction of the public law to the power of the people. It defined their privileges more clearly. It limited the authority of the sovereign more effectually; and while it utterly overthrew and destroyed, we may hope for ever, the legality of the intolerable maxim which characterizes alike the presumption both of the legitimate or the usurping despot, and which was alike common to the Stuarts, to Louis XIV., and to Napoleon, the maxim that the individual sove- reign is the state * ; it so nearly defined the ever undefinable boundaries between the liberties of the people and the pre- rogatives of the prince, that we have seldom or never been in danger of the revival of the old doctrine of
" The right divine of kings to govern wrong."
So it has been also with the great schism. The wars between the rival candidates for the papal chair compelled the more general conviction, that of whatever nature was the supre- macy which our blessed Saviour might possibly have con- ferred on the pope and his successors, that supremacy could not be limited to the individual Bishop. The great schism strengthened ecclesiastical power, by destroying the despot- ism of the papacy. The opposition to Rome, which, before the age of Wycliffe, had manifested itself in irregular censures
* L'Etat — c'est moi.
Popeinj includes ecclesiastical as well as papal despotism. 679
only ; assumed the more definite form of a demand for book hi. ecclesiastical councils, to act with the Bishop of Rome, in . _.. ^" ; framing laws, and regulating the affairs of the Church. That demand could not be resisted. The consequence was, that as the popular power became blended with the monar- chical power at the Revolution ; so the ecclesiastical power became blended with the papal power. As the individual king ceased despotically to govern England, the individual pope ceased despotically to govern the universal Church. As the united popular and monarchical power at the Revolution passed many questionable laws, and provoked much resistance on the part of the people from the reign of William the Third till the present day ; so the ecclesiastical power of the universal Church, though it crushed the Gregorian policy and power by decreeing that the councils of the Church had an authority, which was so inherent in the universal Church, that it was in- destructible by the pope ; came to many conclusions which Scripture did not sanction. The Reformation itself was not so much the emancipation of the universal Church from the despotism of Rome ; as it was the emancipation of the universal Church from the ecclesiastical despotism of which the papacy was the head. The Church universal, by resolving to be ruled by the decisions of councils, as well as by the laws of the popes, overthrew the Gregorian power ; but Luther and the high- minded reformers of England and Germany overthrew the despotism of the conciliar power itself, by restoring to every individual Christian the privilege which God had granted to him, of arriving at religious conclusions from the study of their evidence ; as soon as education, and the power to reason, had conferred upon the individual the ability to exercise that first, . noblest, most invaluable of all privileges in this life, which an immortal soul can possess. The ultimate effect of the great schism, was to destroy Gregorianism, or papal despotism. The ultimate effect of the Reformation was to destroy ecclesi- astical despotism. Wycliffe accomplished the first; Luther the second. The w^ord " popery," as a general term, describes both systems which were thus overthrown. The great evil which w^as committed by the princes who demanded the calling of a general council, was their omitting to take the same precaution which was taken by the English when they effected their " glorious" revolution. The English made the
680 Christian Councils must be summoned by Princes, not Popes.
BOOK III. permanency of their House of Commons indispensable to the CHAP. XI. monarchical authority. The princes of Europe should have made the permanency of general councils, essential to the ex- ercise of the papal or of the ecclesiastical authority in general. The members of the councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basle, saw and resolved upon this. They endeavoured, but in vain, by express enactments, to make their sittings periodical, so as to erect the general council into constituent, permanent, ecclesiastical senates ; as a perpetual and integral portion of the universal Church. But they left the convoking of that council with the pope. They should either have committed this power to the kings of Christian states, or have resolutely, when they ceased their sittings for a time, fixed the seasons both for their next, and frequent subsequent meeting. The first of these measures would have been considered as too great an innovation upon the spiritual supremacy ; the second would have been no less regarded as its too distrustful limita- tion. If the time should ever arrive, as we hope it may, when the evils resulting from the controversies of Christians, may in- duce the Christian people and rulers who constitute the universal Church, to demand the meeting of other general councils, those councils must be summoned by the Christian princes, whose united authority shall do that, which was done by the sole authority of Constantine, before he summoned the council of Nice. When this occurs, in spite of the bull of Pope Pius II., we may hope also that every national Church will be governed also by its permanent convocation, as well as by its ecclesiastical magistrates. It ought to be in every Church as in every state. The perpetual revision of laws founded upon unalterable principles, should maintain the union of the people while it permits, sanctions, and even encourages inquiry and discussion.
These reflections on the great schism will enable us to reconcile the extreme opinions of reformed and unreformed writers. Never, says one of the principal Romish historians, was the unity of the see of Rome better preserved than during this schism. "The grand schism," says Dean Wad- dington, on the other hand, " frittered away the power of the papacy." The unity of the see of Rome was for a time pre- served, but its authority, though not its pretensions, ceased to be Gregorian. The power of the papacy was continued,
All controversies relate either to faith or discipline. G81
but its uncontrolled despotism was destroyed. Many ages book hi. had contributed to its growth : many ages must contribute to ^' hap. XL its fall. The Christian wishes only to destroy both papal and ecclesiastical tyranny. He neither wishes to destroy the Bishops of Rome, nor the Bishops of Christendom, nor the useful discipline ordained by Scripture, sanctioned by antiquity, and essential to the peace and order of every Christian Church.
All the questions discussed among Christians refer only to two points, — faith and discipline. All their controversies may consequently be summed up in these alone. The con- troversies on faith may be summed up in the question whether the written revelation in the Old and New Testa- ments, or the written revelation and an unwritten revelation of truths handed down by tradition, are the sole or joint rule, guide, criterion, or deposit of the belief of a Christian. And the controversies on discipline may be summed up in the question whether one bishop whose principal see is Rome, is divinely appointed to rule the universal societies or masses of Christians ; or whether each society is divinely permitted to be ruled by its own pastors. All questions respecting faith, resolve themselves into the sufficiency or non-sufficiency of the written Scriptures ; all questions respecting discipline resolve themselves into the supremacy or non-supremacy of the Bishop of Rome. The terms Protestant and Papist are but the last words which have been adopted to describe the two classes of adherents to the affirmative or negative of these propositions. The sufficiency of Scripture, and the non-supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, were maintained in all ages by many persons, in every country, who may be justly, therefore, denominated Protestants. Wycliflfe was only one of thousands in affirming these principles. In the south of France the power of Rome had succeeded in eradicating the advocates of these two truths. In England the war was beginning to rage more fiercely, and the power of Rome was exerted with the utmost severity from the age of WyclifFe to the accession of Elizabeth ; when the victory, by God's great mercy, rested with the upholders of the exclusive authority of Scripture, and the authority of the national Church. But the great schism was the one event which gave his strength to Wycliffe, and laid the foundation of his success ; the mutual
682 God's blessing on the knowledge of Scripture.
BOOK III. exasperation caused by this schism ; the opposite curses ;
^- ^ ' ■' the dissolution of morals ; and the distraction of heart which many pious and sorrowing multitudes suffered, who believed that union with the visible head of the Church, the repre- sentative of Christ, was essential to salvation ; combined to compel the most holy devotees of Rome to doubt the cer- tainty of the papal instructions. The chief remedy for the evils of the heart, the Church, and the world, is the blessing of the Head of the universal Church on the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. This was perceived by Wycliffe, as it is now confessed by the Church of England, and was acknow- ledged by the uncorrupted Fathers. He published, there- fore, his treatise " On the truth and meaning of Scripture." He contends in this work for that principle which, when universally admitted, will make all things right, the supreme authority and entire sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures, and for the necessity of translating them into English. Faithfully and intrepidly he insists on that great truth on which Christ established His Church at the first, — the privilege, right, and duty of every individual Christian, to think, examine, and decide for himself, in all the questions which relate to the soul committed to his charge. He calls the Scriptures by one of their best and holiest epithets, " the truth and the faith of the Church." The accounts, too, which his last biographers give of his preaching and sermons, prove that in these as well as in his writings, Wycliffe may be considered as the anticipator of the Articles of the Church of England ; the forerunner of the conclusions which the Fathers having previously taught, have been embodied in our existing Liturgy. He uniformly with the Fathers and the Reformers represents the Holy Scriptures as the supreme authority from which we are to seek the know- ledge of our duty ; and the grounds of our social and moral obligations. He sets forth the great truths of the Gospel ; he insists on the frailty and depravity of man ; he represents the atonement of Christ as the only foundation for the acceptance of the sinner ; and urges the influence of the Holy Spirit, as the only fire which can baptize the hearts of men unto holiness and purity. To give effect to all he taught, he translated the whole Scriptures into English. He scattered the manna from heaven around the tents of
Scripture among the Prayers the strength of the Church. 683 his fellow-Israelites in the wilderness ; and as the bread of book III.
CH AP XI
life, the people received it. It was not, as many have sup- v ^^ — ,"
posed, the first time that some portions of the Bible were translated into English. The Anglo-Saxon translations, however, had been partially neglected or forgotten ; and the version of WyclifFe did its work. The same objections were urged against its publication, which are still urged against the free circulation of the sacred volume. High prices were paid for the whole work, and even for small portions of its holy contents ; and the consequences of his zeal and labours, and of the diffusion of his publications, are said to have been such an universal dissemination of anti-papal opinions, that of every two men who were seen on the road, one was a member of the Catholic Church, who believed in the conclu- sions of Wycliffe. He gave the Bible to the country, and it accomplished the end whereunto God had sent it. The Scrip- ture alone is certain truth ; the Scripture alone is the faith of the Church, is the great and solid maxim upon which, as the unmoved rock, Wycliffe built up the spiritual Church, the citadel of Zion : and the learned restorers of true Christianity in England, have set their seal to his labours, by interweaving the Scriptures in the services of the Church. The Bible was the ark of Israel ; the palladium which the defenders of the city had betrayed to its enemies ; the holy of holies to the desecrated temple of the invisible Church ; the soul of the infirm body of the Church, whose whole head was sick with the disease of legends, traditions, saints, mediators, and unscriptural devices ; and whose whole heart was faint with the terror of a foreign bishop, and of a corrupt and cruel priesthood. The Bible was given to the country. The souls of the people did not then, as they do now, loathe the light food. It was to them the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, the whole armour of God ; and the sword, the shield, and the armour, were all kept bright in that constant warfare, which the army of the papacy compelled them to main- tain ; till the day when God's providence alone brought forth judgment unto victory, and interwove the Bible with the prayers, in our own language as we have it, the strength and bulwark of the Church, till this very day.
The Life of Wycliffe has been written by Lewis, Vaughan, and Le Bas. The account, therefore, of his works, labours,
684- WycUffe condemned at Oxford.
BOOK III. controversies, partial retractations, but more general boldness
CH\P XT • • • 1 • •
^ \" >' in adhering to his conclusions, is too well known to be here repeated. He did not attack the doctrine of transubstan- tiation till the year 1381. Up to this time Wycliffe had enjoyed the friendship of the young king's uncle, John of Gaunt. A daughter of John of Gaunt was married to the possessor of Raby, the lordly Neville. Wycliffe, the birth- place of Wycliffe, is near to Raby. It is probable that the Reformer may there have met with the protector. However this may be, the friendship of John of Gaunt ceased, when the palladium of the Church of Rome was attacked by the Reformer. Wycliffe proposed his objections from the theo- logical chair at Oxford. The chancellor, William de Burton, immediately summoned a convocation of doctors to condemn the positions of the Reformer : a solemn decree was pro- nounced against Wycliffe, which concluded with denouncing imprisonment, suspension, and excommunication on the hearers of his doctrines. The decree was immediately en- forced : it was forwarded to the very school in which Wy- cliffe was at the moment addressing his pupils, and promul- gated before them. The suddenness of the proceeding pro- duced some confusion, but Wycliffe recovered his self-pos- session, defied his opponents to refute his opinions, and declared his resolution to appeal, not to the bishops, not to the pope, not to the university, but to the Church as it was represented by the Christian civil power. He appealed to the king. We cannot affirm that he was able to anticipate the theory which is rightly and wisely received in our own age, — that the Church is not composed of the clergy only, but of the people who believe ; and that the clergy are their ministers, and must be protected therefore by the civil power. It is probable that he intended only to throw himself upon the protection of John of Gaunt, who had so often befriended him. The king was a minor. The administration of the government was committed principally to his uncle : and Wycliffe probably thought that he should be safe by appeal- ing to a powerful friend. The experiment failed. The double boldness of denying the doctrine of transubstan- tiation, and appealing to the civil power for shelter from the consequences of an ecclesiastical offence, alienated his best earthly friend and patron. John of Gaunt no sooner
Twenty-four conclusions of Wycliffe condemned. 685
heard of his appeal, than he posted to Oxford for the express book iti.
purpose of commanding WycHfFe to be silent, and to teach v 1
such doctrines on the sacrament no more from the professoi-'s chair. The double authority of the protector and chancellor was obeyed partially. WyclitTe lectured no more on the subject, but he published that unanswerable treatise, the Ostiolum, or Wicket, in which he exposed the blasphemous presumption, the absurdities, and contradictions of the dogma, that the created can create the Creator. One hundred and sixty years elapsed, — so slowly does truth conquer once firmly established error, — before the teaching of Wycliffe so leavened the minds of the people, that the law which made tran sub- stantiation the faith of the Church of England was re- scinded.
In the month of May, 1382, two years and a half before the death of Wycliffe, Urban having sent the pall from Rome to Courteney, who succeeded the murdered Sud- bury, a convention was holden by the archbishop at the priory of the preaching friars in London. The self-possessed prelate, after assuring his terrified assessors that an earth- quake which alarmed them, was a proof of the vengeance of God against heresy; urged the condemnation of twenty- four conclusions selected from the writings of Wycliffe. Ten were condemned as heretical, fourteen as erroneous. The articles declared to be heretical related chiefly to the sacra- ment and the mass ; to the forfeiture of the priestly function and power by mortal sin ; to confession ; to the holding of possessions by the clergy ; and to the derivation of the papal from the imperial power. Among the articles deemed to be erroneous, was the opinion that a prelate might not excom- municate those whom the law of God did not excommunicate, and that it was treasonable to excommunicate one who has appealed to the king. The primate issued his instructions to the Bishops of London and Lincoln to take the most active measures for the suppression of the condemned doctrines. The university of Oxford was required to be vigilant. Re- ligious processions were commanded in London. The citizens were addressed from the cathedral pulpit in a most impassioned sermon on the dangers of the Church and the virulence of its enemies. The spiritual peers petitioned against the Lollards, and against the opinion that Urban w as not a true pope, with many others, which are received in
CHAP. XI
686 The Abp. of Canterbury Inquisitor of Heretical Pravity.
BOOK III. the present day as undoubted truths and axioms. A royal * ordinance was published empowering the sheriffs to arrest and imprison itinerant preachers, till they should justify themselves according to law. The Archbishop of Canterbury assumed the ominous title of Inquisitor of Heretical Pravity \- and though Wycliffe (possibly because John of Gaunt was still considered his friend) was not summoned, many of his admirers and partizans were required to appear before the Chancellor of Oxford, to answer for their proceedings. In conformity, however, wdth his declaration, when he was in- terrupted among his pupils at Oxford, Wycliffe proceeded to appeal to the king and the parliament. The mass of the laity seem to have been so generally imbued with the conviction that some great changes in religion, and in the hierarchy, were required, that the House of Commons followed up the appeal of Wycliffe by protesting, though in vain, against the royal ordinance ; by which the civil autho- rities were converted into the instruments of the hierarchy. Wycliffe, however, was now summoned to Oxford, to answer for his opinions on the eucharist. He was openly forsaken by the Duke of Lancaster. He resolutely, however^ maintained his conclusions. He delivered two confessions of faith, one in Latin and one in English. He affirms in both, that the doctrine of transubstantiation is not true. These confessions were assailed by six antagonists, whose weapons did him no harm. The judges, however, pronounced no severer sentence against him than obtaining the royal
^ lu the beginning of the first man- iii. p. 171) ; neither is he so called in date of Archbishop Courteney,hemerely the bull of Pope Urban (Wilkins, iii. styleshimself "Primate of all England, p. 17«i) ; neither is the title assumed and Legate of the Apostolic See." In the in the mandates of the archbishop, coui'se of the same instrument, he adds commanding prayers to be offered for to these titles that of " Inquisitor of the success of the Bishop of Norwich Heretical Pravity," (Inquisitor Haere- (Wilkins, iii. p. ]7fi, &c.). ticse Pravitatis: Wilkins, iii. p. 163,) an In this year, 1382, power was given ominous title. The expression occurs by royal proclamation, to the arch- twice in the second column, and for bishop and bishops, to arrest and com- the third time in p. 165, but the title mit to their own prisons, all teachers is omitted in the two ensuing following of heresy, "clam vel palam, ubicunque proclamations against Hereford and inveniri possent, arrestandos, et pri- Repyngdon. sonis suis propriis, sen aliorum," &c.
There is some mystery about this &c. — Wilkins' Concil. edit. 1 737, vol. iii.
assumption of the title " Inquisitor of p. 156.
Heretical Pravity " by the archbishop. The king called himself " Defender of
I observe that the address to the arch- the Faith " in this proclamation, " hos
bishop by the twelve divines of Oxford, zelo fidei Catholicse cujus sumus, et
does not give it to him, though they esse volumus defensores." — Id. p. 156. repeat his other two titles (Wilkins,
Death of Wycliffe, Dec. 31, 1384. 687
mandate that he should be banished from the University BOOK ITT. of Oxford. He retired to Lutterworth, or possibly to Bohe- > — 1^—1— mia, for a short time. He employed the short remainder of his life in continuing his efforts by writing. He replied to the citation of Urban to appear before him in Rome, in which, while he acknowledges the pope to be the highest vicar of Christ upon earth, he commends to his holiness the abdication of worldly pursuits, and assures him that he would have obeyed his summons if his health had permitted. His energy continued unabated in spite of his palsy till his death in 1384. iV long series of publications continued to issue from his pen during the last two years of his life : four- teen or fifteen treatises are assigned to this period. Never was the voice of Wycliffe raised more loudly in the cause of scriptural truth, than at the approach of that hour when he was required to render up his account to God. He con- sidered his life to be now in the utmost danger. He pre- pared for martyrdom. The confusion of the times, however, the mutual anathematization of the two pontiffs, the possi- bility that the power of the Duke of Lancaster would be exerted to protect his person, even though he disapproved of the extent of his opposition to the Church of Rome — the great attachment many persons had conceived to his vene- rable, useful, holy name — all united to protect the reformer from the vengeance of his enemies. He died in peace at Lutten\'orth in the public execution of his sacred office. He died as a soldier at his post. He was seized with para- lysis, during the time of the celebration of the mass in his church, on the 29th of December, 1384, and lingering only two days, died in the sixty-first year of his age, on the last day of the year.
I have related the usual history in which all his English biographers write, that Wycliffe ^ remained at Lutterworth, under the sentence of banishment from Oxford by the king, between the interval of the issuing of the king's letter and his death. It is possible, however, as I have said, that he left the kingdom during this interval, either for a longer
® A curious discussion has arisen, pp. 146 — 148. October, 1841, pp. 378,
whether the i-eformcr, John Wycliffe, 379. December, 1841, pp.591, 592.
was the same John Wycliffe who was March, 1842, p. 122. April, 1842,
Warden of Canterbury Hall. Sec the pp. 387, 388. Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1841,
688 Whether Wycliffe was ever in Bohemia.
BOOK in. or a shorter period, and retired to Bohemia. It is said that
CH \P XI
■ — \'^ ' he there conversed with John Huss, then a boy either of eleven or eight years of age, and became acquainted also with many of the Bohemian or Prague reformers ^ The tradition is curious. I will submit the evidence to my readers.
The author of " the History of the Church of Great Britain % from the birth of our Saviour until the year 1667," states upon the authority of John Amos Cominius ^, that " the popish bishops and monks obtained of King Richard, that Wycliffe should be banished out of England. He there- fore, repairing to Bohemia, brought a great light to the doc- trine of the Waldenses, where John Husse, being but yet a young man, had divers conferences with him about divers divine matters. But at length he was recalled home again from exile ; and the year before he died, he wrote a letter to John Husse, encouraging him to be strong in the grace that was given to him, to fight as a good soldier of Jesus Christ both by word and work, doctrine and conversation, &c. John Husse hereby took heart very daringly, in the university church at Prague, &c. That the same year Jerome of Prague, returning out of England and carrying Wycliffe's books with him, rooted up the [then] prevailing error with the like boldness in the schools, as John Husse did in the Church."
Mornay du Plessis ' gives the same account from other authorities '. " At non deerant ex altera parte potentes adver- sarii, episcopi, prelati, monachi, mendicantes pras ceteris, qui post Edwardi obitum apud Richardum II. obtinent, ut Anglia Wiclefus expellatur, unde in Bohemiam sese reci- piens, magnam Waldensium doctrina lucem attulit, cum Johannes Hussus adhuc juvenis, de rebus sacris cum eo sermones miscuisset, &c."
Bale informs us, '"^Vivente Anglorum rege Edwardo tertio [Wiclefus] securus mansit inter ferocissimos Sodomae tyran- nos. Sed ipso mox defuncto (ut Annales tradunt) sub Richardo Secundo exilium ad aliquot annos est passus in
' See the Dissertatio Historica De * Mysterium Iniquitatis, 4to. Editio
Johannis Hussi Martyrio,Ortu, Educa- tertia et ultima recognita. Goiwhemi,
tione, Studiis, Doctrina, Vita, Morte, 1662.
et Scriptis, p. 9, 4to, Jena, 1698. * Thom. Waldensis in Epist. ad
* A book " Compiled from the most Martin. IV. Thorn. Walsingham in
celebrated authorities of antiquity," Rich. II. Gulielm. Caxtonus in Chron.
p. 115, 4to, London, 1674. aun. 1371, 1372.
' Hist. Sclavon. Eccles.
Whether Wycliffe ever visited Bohemia. G89
Boheraiam. Impavidus tamen Christum semper docuit, book hi.
.. . . CHAP XI
Evangelii decorem renovare conatus\" This date assigned^ J- — ■'
to the tradition is different from that given by Du Plessis.
Spanheim, after allusion to the acknowledgment by Wycliffe of the doctrine of transubstantiation, as recited by Knygh- ton *, goes on to say, " Sed et a Richardo 11. mox regise literae impetratae, quibus carceres, vincula, supplicia, in Wiclefitas toto regno decerneret, ut dictum modo est. A quo tempore latitaturus in exilio Wiclefus annos aliquot, et juxta nonnullos, in Bohemiam concessurus, uti Matthaus Janovius, alias Parisiensis, post Militzium, qui praeibat Hussiticae reformationi \" Spanheim then gives from Poly- dore Vergil the following extract: "Ad extremum homo nimium confidens, cum rationibus cogeretur ad bonam redire frugem, tantum abfuit ut pareret, ut etiam maluerit volun- tarium petere exilium, quam mutare sententiam ; qui ad Boemos nonnulla haeresi ante inquinatos profectus, a rudi gente magno in honore habetur, quam pro accepto beneficio confirmavit V &c. &c.
Wharton speaks of the retirement (not banishment) of Wyc- liffe. " Sunt etiam, qui Wiclefum in Bohemiam secessisse, inventaque ibi ampla simul ac foecunda discipulorum messe, doctrinam suam longe lateque propagasse volunt '."
It is somewhat remarkable that Lewis, and the more modern writers who have written memoirs of this illustrious reformer, should have omitted all notice of Wycliflfe's pro- bable visit to Bohemia. " The mind of Wycliffe," says Turner, " was one with which the devout Bohemians could readily have sympathized ; and it is certain that on the death of the queen, her attendants conveyed many of the writings of the English reformer home *, where they contributed to prepare the oppressed for the struggle which ensued under Jerome and Huss, the illustrious successors of Militz, Sti'ickna, and Janow.
Baker in his Chronicle, Life and Reign of Edward the
' Illustrium Majoris Britanniae p. 36.
Scriptorum, &c. 4to, 1548. ^ Historiae Anglic, lib. xix.
•* De Eveutibus Angiiae, 1. v. col. ' Append, ad Histor. Literar. Guliei.
2649,2650. Cave, Henr. Wharton, &c. Oxon.
* Davide saltern Chytraeo teste, Orat. 1743.
Rostoc. habita, ann. 1569, de statu " Turner's History, v. 198, ap.
Eccies. in Grrecia, Asia, Bohemia, Vaiighan, ii. 163.
VOL. II. Y V
690 The one great mistake both of Wyclijfe and Calvin.
CHAP \[ ^^^^'^^j speaks of WyclifFe's retirement as voluntary, though
"^ -. ' he calls it in the margin a banishment. " WyclifFe himself,"
he says, "when censured by the bishops to abjure his opinions, chose rather to leave his country than his doc- trine ; and going over to Bohemia, was there much honoured while he lived, and hath been more since he died ; at least a great part of his doctrine continues in veneration amongst that people to this day."
To this I shall only add, that an embassy, consisting of Thomas, Earl of Kent, Mareschal of England, brother of the queen-mother; Hugo Segrave, Lord High Steward; and Simon de Burley, Lord Chamberlain ^, was sent to negotiate a matrimonial alliance between the king and Anne of Luxem- burg, sister to the Emperor Winceslaus. These courtiers were all the especial friends of WyclifFe, and converts to his doctrine. The embassy left England in Jan. 1381. Their letters of safe conduct bear date Jan. 13, 1381, and the ratifi- cation of the treaty, Sept. 1st of the same year \ Now the ambassadors on this important errand having been selected, as may be conjectured, by the voices of the queen-mother, John of Gaunt, Thomas of Gloucester, &c., and the circum- stance of these being persons who had publicly stood forward as the avowed friends of our learned reformer, is it not highly probable that he would either accompany, precede, or follow them to Prague? These considerations add much weight to the probability that WyclifTe passed some months among the Bohemian reformers of Prague, either between the arrival and departure of the embassy in 1381, or after his condemnation at Oxford.
The result of the labours of Wycliffe will never pass away from the churches of Christ. Though John WyclifFe, like John Calvin, made the great and fatal mistake of so identify- ing the errors of the Church with the existence of the Church, as to imagine the Gospel of Christ could be permanently taught, maintained, and upheld, without the institutions of the Church ; though John WyclifFe (like John Calvin in an after-age) seems to have believed, that episcopal discipline and government might be advantageously discarded; yet the common epithet with which he has been honoured
3 Rymer's Fcsdera, vol. vii. ^ Id. vol. vii. pp. 281. 3.31.
I
Why the medieval period was justly called the dark ages. 691
must be considered as justly given him — " the morning star book hi. of the reformation." He was the morning star which shone ^HAp. xi. at the termination of that mournful period which has been called " the dark ages." They were justly so called, not be- cause there was no light, no learning, no reading of the Scriptures, but because the light was not general, the learn- ing was confined to the few, the reading of the Scriptures was not universal. We call the night dark, not because there is no light. The moon may shine, the stars may glitter, comets may shed their brilliance through the heaven, and the transient meteor may help to prevent the total darkness ; but we call the night dark, as the contrast with the day which is light; and because though all these lesser lights may illumine the earth, the sun does not pour forth the bright- ness of his light upon the people. So it was in the dark ages. The moon of the Church shone upon the nations. The stars of learning and genius illumined them. The comet of some more brilliant and dazzling scholar or student, excited their wonder and surprise. The meteor of the hour bewildered or dazzled them — but the sun was not in the heavens, the light of the Scriptures of truth did not shine upon the people, and it was night and not day to the nations. Wycliffe was the morning star which predicted the ending of the night, and the dawn of a bright and glorious day. Wycliffe struck the rock in the desert, and the living waters sprung forth, which still flow, and ever shall flow on ; till the river of life shall make glad the city of our God, and every living thing shall be healed ^, where those waters flow. Wycliffe rolled away the stone, and the sheep of Israel drank of the well. Wycliffe was the voice in the wilderness, pre- paring the way of the Lord, and renewing the fulfilment of the promise, that ever}'^ mountain and hill on which the idolatry of the corruption of true religion is practised, shall be finally brought Ioav. Wycliffe planted the acorn of the oak, which is still, still deepening its roots and extending its branches, and growing up, men know not how, till the fowls of the air lodge in the branches of it. Wycliffe brought the solid gold of the Scriptures from the cell of the monas- tery ; and the Church did but coin that gold for use, when
2 Ezck. xlvii. 9. vy2
692 The Reformers do not deserve unmixed approbation.
BOOK III. it distributed its precious portions through our daily, and
. • yearly services. Wycliffe rose up among the people, as the
cloud, like the man's hand, in the famine and drought in Israel, rose from the sea ; and presently there was the sound of the abundance of rain. So God poured forth upon His chosen land and people, the British Israel, the showers of the holy rain which refreshed and restored the Churches. Wycliffe commenced that era which may be called the scrip- tural period of the Church, which I hope to consider in the next book of this work. I purpose there to describe the origin and progress, the success and the errors, and the con- sequent downfall of the influence of that power, among the Christians, who professed to appeal to the holy Scriptures alone as the foundation of their faith, while they proceeded to the extreme of rejecting or disregarding the institutions and sacred unity of the Catholic Church, because of the errors, the intolerable errors of the papacy. Great, wise, good, holy, eminent, and useful as may have been the reformers, the followers and admirers of Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, and others, they were guilty of indefensible opinions, actions, and conduct ; which have rendered the unqualified recommenda- tion of their teaching and example an impossibility. As the members of the Church of Rome, however, deem any accusa- tion of error in that most heretical Church to be a great and unpardonable crime ; so also do the followers and admirers of the great scriptural reformers, deem every accusation of delinquency or error to be no less a great and unpardonable offence. Both are wrong. The wounds of Christ are in all ages inflicted upon Him by His friends, as well as by His enemies. History can only be impartially read or written, and its true and useful lessons can only be taught or learned, by contemplating the crimes and the follies, as well as the virtues and excellences of the learned, the wise, and the good, among individuals ; or, the errors, the spirit of perse- cution, and the useless, unwise, and offensive enactments of the Churches and societies, which constitute the Catholic Church of Christ. As St. Paul concluded both Jew and Gentile to be equally under sin ^, and therefore generally, by God's mercy, invited to become members of one united
' Romans iii. 5.
The enemies of Rome have their peculiar faults. 693
holy Church : so also would I presume to show both to the BOOK ill.
Romanist and to the opinionist ; to the friends of Wycliffe, >^ .^J — ."
and to the enemies of Wycliffe ; to the friends of Rome, and to the enemies of Rome ; that the experience of past history, as well as the various indefensible errors they still both mutually maintain and defend, render them alike sinners before God ; and they are both and all invited to acknow- ledge their various errors ; and with the consciousness of many common alienations from the spirit of their holy faith, to desire once more the union of Christians in one holy Catholic Church.
We have contemplated the rise, progress, and virtuous influence of the Church of Rome; with the abuse of that influence in the Gregorian and Hildebrandian policy. We shall go on to contemplate the rise, progress, and vir- tuous influence of the antagonistical power, with the abuse of that influence. Both still co-exist as enemies whose rivalry is fully developed, with principles irreconcileable, with hostility that threatens universal war. The final object of the present work will be to submit both to the friends and enemies of Rome, not only the experience of the past, but the lessons to be derived from that experience ; and the mode by which the common confession of the truth of those lessons may lead to their greater union. If Christ, as many, from various universal and possibly unanswerable arguments believe, should be again manifested to His Churches before He come in His glory to judge the living and the dead ; all sects, all Churches, all parties, all indivi- viduals at the appearance of the visible Head of the Catholic Church would hasten to confess their various errors, and seek and long for union. I believe that the results of such confession, and the plan, therefore, of such union, may be discovered, developed, and submitted to the universal Church. I hope to effect this great object : but before I do so, / purpose to speak as freely of the errors of the enemies of Rome, as I have spoken of the errors of the friends of Rome. I trust that the view I shall submit to the reader, if I live, of the great schism, the Councils of Constance, of Basle, of Lateran, and Trent; of the divisions in England, and on the continent ; of the fearfully convulsive struggles to recover its Gregorian power, by the Church of Rome ; and the
694 The martyrs died for Christ, not for their Churches only.
BOOK III. mournful iniury which our common Christianity has re- CHAP XI . .
'. ceived from the errors of those who justly, manfully, and
most righteously opposed that power — will be considered as justifying my hope and trust and prayer, that the members of the Catholic Church may at length learn, from the experience of the past ; to desire, and seek, and resolve to establish among themselves that union, for which their common Saviour prayed, when He went forth to become the great and tremen- dous sacrifice for them all. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. The early Bishops of Rome were martyrs ; the primitive Christians of Lyons, Smyrna, and other Churches were martyrs; the persecuted Waldenses were martyrs ; Huss and Jerome were martyrs ; Cranmer, Ridley, Hooper, Newman, and the Rector of Babraham, who pressed our Prayer-book to his heart in the flames, and rightly thanked God for giving that book to the nation, were martyrs. Modern Rome has produced its martyrs. The Presbyterian Scotland, and the Puritan and Dissenting England, have added their partizans to the list of martyrs. These all died in faith, and all sealed their testimony to the common truths of Scripture with their blood. Shall it be said that their hateful hating of each other, or the hateful hating in their imperfect appreciation of the whole truth of God which they may have all severally had, for some true doctrine, or opinion, still continues in the invisible world ? Or are we to imagine for one moment that in their present praises, as glorified spirits before the throne of God, they deem themselves respectively to have been, not the martyrs, as Stephen was, for the common religion of our common Saviour ; but martyrs only for the Churches of Rome, of Lyons, or of Smyrna, or the Valleys ; for the Church of Bohemia, or for the Church of England; for the cause of Presbyterianism, or for the cause of Puritanism and Dissent ? Is it not certain that they would all claim the honour of dying for Christ and His Church ? If Christ were to return to earth, surrounded with His martyred saints, and they could behold once more the divisions of Christians, would the disem- bodied spirits of the martyred saints teach the spirits of their still divided brethren to persevere in their mutual hatreds, and to inflict still their mutual martyrdoms on each other ? Would this be the communion of saints? Would they not
Certain expectations of the universal Church. 695
all prove their remembrance of the forgiveness of their own book hi. sins, by joining in the prayer of Christ, — that they and their ^'HAP. xl brethren might be one ? Would they not unite to say to all Churches and to all Christians, You have all many errors, as well as many sins to repent of, and to resign ? Would they not bid them all to seek for Christian union on the basis of this common confession ; and would not the Churches and the members of the Catholic Church try to discover the means of greater union? I believe that the time will come when this mutual confession of error, this common desire of union, and the consequent resolution to obtain such union, will eventually prevail. I believe that the time will come when God's pro- vidence shall so overrule the experience of the past history, and the events of the present and future history, of the uni- versal Church ; that the prayer of Christ for the union of His people will be answered. I believe, though we cannot at present perceive any certain tokens of such accomplishment of Christ's dying prayer, — that the day will come when God's providence will so order the course of events, and God''s Holy Spirit will so be poured forth upon the believers in Christ's religion, that the Church of Rome shall surrender its greater heresies and errors ; the Church of England shall surrender its still remaining imperfections ; and all sects and parties shall sur- render their various clashing, contending, untrue conclusions, at the altar of God, at the footstool of Christ. The world knows not how this can be, nor when this can be. It derides, there- fore, the expectation of such union as folly, and the holder of such expectation as a fool. But I am sure that Christ's dying prayer cannot have been offered in vain ; and that the prophe- cies which declare that the heathen shall be His inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth His possession, must be interpreted as revealing a state of things which has not yet existed, and which therefore must exist in future. Having such conviction, I walk by faith and not by sight. I endure, and persevere, as seeing Him who is invisible.
END OF BOOK HI.
INDEX.
A.
Abelard asserts the privilege of reason- ing; he is condemned by the council
of Sens and the pope, ii. 369.
• • tenets of, ii. 451.
Acephali, tiieir origin from the Mono-
physites, i. 436.
, tenets of the, ii. 448.
Acts of the council of Ephesus, i. 373
-377. of the council of Chalcedou, i.
427. Adamites, tenets of the, ii. 444. Adeodatus, pope, ii. 25. .lElfric, extract from, on the bread and
wine in the Sacrament, ii. 190. Aerians, tenets of the, ii. 446. Aetians, tenets of the, ii. 446. Agapetus, pope, i. 509. Agapetus II., pope, ii. 160. Agatho, pope, ii. 25. • , interferes in behalf of Wilfrid,
bishop of Northumberland, ii. 26. ', holds papal elections without
the imperial consent, ii. 27. , procures the summoning of
the third council of Constantinople,
ii. 27. Agnoites, tenets of the, ii. 449. Alarie establishes the body of laws
called Breviarium Aniani, i. 380. Albigenses, tenets of the, ii. 450.
, crusade against the, ii. 494.
, treachery, cruelty, and
piety of the crusaders against the,
ii. 495.
— , different names by which
they were known, ii. 535. , ridicule first, and tlien re-
venge, the treatment they received from the papal power, ii. 536.
Albigenses, various testimonies to their
purity of doctrine and manners, ii.
537. , Gibbon's theory of their
origin indefensible, ii. 539. Alcuin, the author of the Caroline
books, ii. 68, n. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, some
remarks of his gave rise to the
heresy of Arius, i. 257. Alexander, pope, i. 458. Alexander II., pope, ii. 203. , summons the emperor
to Rome, ii. 204. , his reasons for blessing
William the Conqueror, ii. 206.
-, cites Henry, of Ger-
many, to appear before him, ii. 209. ■, the first who conferred
the mitre on abbots, ii. 210. Alexander III., pope, ii. 405. , holds the council
Tours, ii. 418.
— , summons
the
of third
Lateran council, ii. 432. Alexander IV,, pope, ii. 580. , perseveres in the policy
of his predecessors, ii. 581. , absolves Henry III.
from his oath to the barons, ii. 583. , his death and charac- ter, ii. 584. Alexandria, first and second councils
of, against Arius, i. 258. Alford, the Jesuit, his learned work
on the early faith of England, ii,
288. Allegiance, divided, the curse of the
papist, ii. 321. Almaric, or Amalric, condemned by
the fourth Lateran council, ii, 520,
n. 522, n.
G98
Index.
Alogians, tenets of the, ii. 445. Amachius, governor of Phrygia, his
severity against the Christians, i.
415. Ambition, the ante-Nicene church cor- rupted by, i. 314. Ambrose compels Theodosius the Great
to perform public penance, i. 355. America, United States of, toleration,
without establishment, in, i. 1 13. Anacletus, pope, i. 458. Anacletus II., elected pope by certain
cardinals, but declared schismatical,
ii. 375. Anastasius, his account of the addition
made by Charlemagne to the papal
territories controverted, ii. 61, n. Anastasius, pope, i. 471. Anastasius II., pope, i. 492. Anastasius III., pope, ii. 155. Anastasius IV., pope, fi'equency of
appeals to Rome in his time, ii. 396. Anastasius, bishop of Aquileia, unsuc- cessfully contests the pontificate with
Benedict III., ii. 86. Anastasius, bishop of Naples, his
cruelty to his brother sanctioned by
the pope, ii. 141. — ^ , excommunicated by John
VIII., ii. 143. " Ancient Christianity," extract from
that work on Romish perversions of
Scripture, ii. 505, n. Angelics, tenets of the, ii. 444. Angels, nature of man higher than
that of, i. 262. Anicetus, pope, his discussion with
Polycarp respecting the time of
celebrating Easter, i. 459. Animals require only instinct for their
happiness, i. 18. Anselm, abbot of Bee, his piety and
sincerity, ii. 320. , accepts the archbishopric of
Canterbury, ii. 322.
-, his contest with the king re-
garding his going to Rome to receive the pall, ii. 323.
-, a decided Gregorian, or papist.
ii. 324.
-, his conduct condemned by a
national council, ii. 326.
-, mode of his reception of the
pall through the hands of the king, ii. 327.
-, again insists on going to Rome,
and does so, in defiance of the king, ii. 328, 329.
-, restored to his see by King
Henry I., ii. 334.
-, his conduct the precedent for
Becket, ii. 336.
Anselm, continuance of the contro- versy between him and the king, ii.
339.
, his death, ii. 340.
Ante-Nicene councils, their origin and
influence, i. 310. Anterus, pope, i. 460. Anthropomorphites, tenets of the, ii.
445. Antidicomarites, tenets of the, ii. 447. Antiquity to be venerated, but not
idolized, ii. 665. Antoninus Pius, persecution under, i.
129. Why he persecuted, 136. ApoUinaris, heresy of, i. 350. Apollinarists, tenets of the, ii. 447. Apostles, the only source of authority
to preach, during their lives, i. 70. Apostles' creed, formation of the, i.
159. Apostolical canons, their probable date
and origin, i. 323. Translation of
them, 325.
constitutions, on their value.
i. 172. succession, impossibility of
certainly tracing it in the church of
Rome, ii. 153. more certain in
England than in Rome, ii. 355.
of truth, ii. 540.
Apostolics, tenets of the, ii. 444. Appealing to Rome, constitutes it the
principal tribunal for all Chi'isten-
dom, ii. 222. Appellitse, tenets of the, ii. 443. Aquarii, tenets of the, ii. 444. Aquileia, syuod of, i. 173.
■, patriarch of, his solemn ac-
knowledgment to Gregory VII. of
the pope's supremacy, ii. 489, n. Aquinas, plan of his Summa Theologia,
ii. 365, n. Arabicians, tenets of the, ii. 448. Archbishops of Canterbury, tabular
view of, from Augustine to Becket,
ii. 289—292. Archdeaconries, England divided into,
by William the Norman and Lan-
franc, ii. 315, n. Archontiaci, tenets of the, ii. 444. Arian princes, their divisions strengthen
the power of Rome, i. 441. controvei'sy, its origin, i. 257,
and n. Its progress, 258. Arians, procure the banishment of
Athanasius, i. 348.
and Christians, mutual hatreds
of, i. 436.
-, tenets of the, ii. 446.
Aristotie-mania of Scholasticism, ii. 366.
Index.
699
Arius, his history before the council of Nice, i. 256.
, present at the council of Nice, i.
266. Different accounts of his per- sonal appearance, 266, n.
-, controversy between him and
Athanasius, i. 302.
, reflections on his death, i. 304.
Aries, council of, i. 244.
Armenians, sect of, sprung from the
Monophysites, i. 438. Arnold of Brescia opposes Rome, ii.
376. is burnt by pope
Hadrian IV., ii. 377.
his attempts at
reformation premature, ii. 387.
-, tenets of, ii. 451.
Arnulf, made archbishop of Rheims,
but deposed for high treason, ii. 168. Amulph, bishop of Liseaux, speech of,
at the council of Tours, ii. 419. *' Articuli Cleri," origin of that statute,
ii 633, n. ArtotjTites, tenets of the, ii. 444. Ascetic devotion, much, may be united
to little wisdom, ii. 604. Athanasius, controversy between him
and Arius, i. 302.
-, banished by Constantine,
i. 303.
-, his death, i. 305.
Augustine opposes Pelagius, i. 367.
Augustine the monk, his mission a mis- fortune to England, ii. 8.
, Christianity in England be- fore him, ii. 281.
-, the pall granted to him by
pope Gregory, ii. 287.
-, state of Christianity in Eng-
land on his arrival, ii. 288,
Austerities, religious, practised in the eleventh century, ii. 179.
Authority and power, difference be- tween, i. 85.
, church, nature of, i. 86.
necessary to the existence of
peace amongst Christians, i. 182.
-, collision between it and the
use of reason, ii. 368,
, though rightly opposed,
strengthened by rashness, ii. 517.
Avignon, important effects of the re- moval of the papal see to that place by Clement V., ii. 631.
B.
Balguy, Dr., his opinions on the uidif- ferency of church government con- troverted, i. 77, n.
Balma, bishop of Geneva, case of, i. 103.
Banishment of a bishop, whether it implies deposition, ii. 302.
Baptism, faith of the early church con- cerning, i. ICO.
Baptismal regeneration considered, i, 161.
Baronius, his error as to the name of the ecclesiastic Mark, i. 243.
-, his strong language on the
state of the church in the tenth cen- tury, ii. 155.
-, absti'act from, of the chief
acts of pope Gregory VII., ii. 229 — 256.
on the coiTuptions in the
church in the tenth century, ii. 357. -, extract from, on the remorse
of Henry II. at the assassination of Becket, ii. 471, n.
-, notice of his ecclesiastical
annals, ii. 478.
-, state of the Christian world
when he wrote, ii. 479.
-, estimate of the value of his
work, ii. 480.
-, beautiful prayer with which
he concludes his annals, ii. 481. Basilidians, tenets of the, ii. 443. Becket, origin of the influence of, ii,
403.
-, predisposed by his previous
studies to advance the pretensions of the papacy, ii. 404.
-, the era of his archbishopric
the most important in the English annals, ii. 408.
-, probable causes of his promo-
tion, ii. 409. , history of his quarrel with the
king, ii. 411. , his conduct and sincerity, ii.
422. , the supporter of the council of
Tours, ii. 470. Beguards and Beguins, condemned by
the council of Vienne, ii. 624. Belief, happiness of imphcit, i. 36.
•, superiority of that which is
founded on evidence, i. 36. Bellarmine, his fifteen notes of the
church, i. 110. Bells, origin of cliristening, ii. 165. Benedict Bonosus, pope, ii. 4. Benedict II., pope, procures a decree
declaring the ordination of popes
independent of the emperor, ii. 40. Benedict III., pope, triumphs over
the emperor's candidate Anastasius,
ii. 85. Benedict IV., pope, ii. 152.
I
700
Index.
Benedict the Protoscrinaiius elected pope by a faction, but deposed and banished by the emperor Otho, ii. 164.
Benedict VI., pope, ii. 166.
Benedict VII., pope, ii. 166.
Benedict VIII., pope, ii. 172.
— , heads an army against
the Saracens, ii. 173.
Benedict IX., pope, ii. 176.
, his dissolute character,
on account of which he is repeatedly driven from his see, which he resigns at length to Gratian, ii. 177-
Benedict X., pope, deposed at the end of ten months, ii. 198.
Benedict XL, pope, annuls the pro- ceedings of his predecessor, Boniface VIII., ii. 619.
Benedict XII., pope, ii. 643.
, refutes the doctrine of
his predecessor John XXII., ii. 644. -, the papal power dimi-
nishes under him, ii. 644
Benedict Levita, the probable author of the false decretals, ii. 103.
Benedictine monasteries, when origi- nally founded, ii. 35.
Benefices, all, declared to be at the pope's disposal, ii. 586.
Berengarius, proceedings against him under pope Nicholas II., ii. 199.
Berengarians, tenets of the, ii. 450.
Berenger opposes the doctrine of tran- substantiation, ii. 267-
Bernard, St., anecdote of, ii. 375.
, his influence and auste- rity, ii. 389.
, exalts and increases the
influence of Rome, ii. 390. , his character and
duct, ii. 391.
-, his zeal against heretics,
u. 392.
improperly called the last of the fathers, ii. 393.
reflections suggested by
his character, on the oneness of all
saints in Christ Jesus, ii. 394. Beveridge, his opinion of the apostolical
canons, i. 336. Bible, the record of revelation, i. 24. , superiority of the, to tradition,
i. 24.
, complete, yet exhaustless, i. 25.
, authority of the, superior to
that of the uninspired teacher, i. 28. , the only infallible guide both to
priests and people, i. 34.
, commentary on, referred to,i. 13.
, treatment of the, by Romish
partisans, i. 155, n.
Bishop, James the first, at Jerusalem, i. 73.
and Bishopric, meaning of those
words, ascertained from history, i. 189.
Bishops, law of Constantine concerning, i. 252, n.
, early, many of them charac- terized by ambition, i. 316.
of Italy strengthen the see of
Rome, i. 467-
— , order by Leo I. for their at-
tendance yearly at Rome, i. 485.
, their great power in the time
of pope Nicholas I., with instances of its exercise, ii. 88.
— , further instances of the great
power exercised by them before that period, ii. 90.
-, origin and progress of their
temporal power, ii. 95.
-, their power counterbalanced
the papal influence, ii. 96, n.
— , their decrees influential in the
church previous to the existence of canon law, ii. 96.
-, their power in the tenth cen-
tury as great as that of kings, ii. 160. whether they could accept
their office from laymen, ii. 187. , in the time of Bernard, had
the power of imprisoning heretics,
ii. 392. , not to be regarded as such
without previous confirmation by the
pope, ii. 486. Blondel, his elaborate work on the
false decretals, ii. 100. Bogomili, or Bogarmitse, tenets of the,
ii. 451. Bohemia, condition of, when Hilde-
brand became pope, ii. 221. Bohemians, early opponents of the
papal power, and why, ii. 672, n. Boniface I., pope, maintains the power
of the papal see, i. 479. Boniface II., pope, excommunicates the
dead, i. 495. Boniface III., pope, assumes the title
of universal bishop, ii. 13. Boniface IV., pope, furthers the pro- gress of idolatry in the Christian
church, ii. 14. Boniface V., pope, ii. 16.
establishes the right of
asylum in churclies, ii. I7.
Boniface VI., pope, ii. 149.
Boniface VII., pope, ii. 167.
Boniface VI 1 1., pope, his zealous adhe- rence to the Gregorian policy, ii. 605. , his pompous procession
to the Lateran to be enthroned, ii.606.
Index.
701
Boniface VIII., his contest with the
king of France, ii. 606. , excommunicates the
Colonnas without any charge of
heresy, ii. 607-
-, his bull exempting the
clergy from paying taxes without his permission, ii. 608, n. , mediates between
France and England as a private in- dividual, ii. 610. , claims the crown of
Scotland, ii. 611.
-, commands the French
clergy not to pay taxes, ii. 611. , threatens to excom- municate the king of France, ii. 614. — , his letter, refusing to
yield any of the papal claims, ii, 615, n.
invests the bishop of
Worcester with the temporaUties of his see, ii. 616.
-, charges against him by
Philip, king of France, ii. 617, i-
-, his disgrace and death,
ii.618.
, his blasphemous as- sumptions, ii. 619. Bonosians, tenets of the, ii. 447. Breaking bread, on the meaning of that
phrase, i. 70, n. Breviarium Aniani, that body of laws
established by Alaric, i. 380. Britain, state of Christianity in, when
Augustine arrived there, ii. 9, and n. British bishops present at the council
of Aries, i. 244. , ancient, did not receive
the pall, ii. 282.
Christians, their aversion to any
intercourse with Rome in the time
of Augustine, ii. 9, n. Browne, J. H., his proofs of man's
immortality, i. 18, n. Bruys, Peter de. See Peter de Bruys. Bulgaria, the dispute on, completes the
Greek schism, ii. 143. Bull of Pope Lucius 111. the founda- tion of the inquisition, ii. 462.
, consequences of that bull, ii. 463.
Bulls, papal, abound with misapplied
texts, ii. 579. Burning of heretics by the church, first
recorded instance of, at Orleans, ii.
175, n.
C'secilianus, accused of cruelty by the Donatists, i, 234.
CfEcilianus, the validity of hisordination as bishop of Carthage disputed, i. 236. Decisions in his favour, 243 — 245.
Cainites, tenets of the, ii. 444.
Caius, pope, i. 463.
Calixtus II., pope, ii. 349.
, renews the excommuni-
cation against the emperor Henry v., ii. 350. ■ , conquers and
Bourdin, the antipope, ii. 351.
-, settles the question of in-
vestitures, ii. 352. , holds the first Lateran
council, ii, 352. CaUistus I., pope, i. 460. Calvin, did not object to episcopacy, i.
104.
his opinion of the English
liturgy, i. 104, n.
, the great mistake made by him,
ii. 690.
, did not deserve immixed appro- bation, ii. 692.
Canon, sixth, of the Nicene council, re- marks on, i. 275, n.
Canon law, attempt to give it the force of the statute law in England, ii. 360. Roman, the fetter of the
church, ii. 374.
, its severe language against
heretics, ii. 454 — 460.
— , manner of quoting it ex-
plained, ii. 456, n.
— , Roman, its nature and ob-
ject, ii. 460, n. Canonization of saints, first instance of,
ii. 168. Canons, influence of, when made laws
of the empire, i. 256.
•, Nicene, i. 271—285. Their in-
fluence upon all churches, 286. , apostolical, a collection of the
customs of the early church, i. 312. , probable origin
and date of, i. 323. Translation of
the
325.
-, opinions of various learned men on their origin and authority, i. 336.
-,abstract of Krabbe's
dissertation on the, i. 335—346. , quotations from,
by the early fathers, i. 339—341.
•,whyso called,!. 341.
, classified abstract
of tliem, with their probable dates, i. 342.
of Sardica, probably spurious, i.
355.
of the first council of Constan-
tinople, i. 357.
702
Index.
Canons enacted by the council of Chal- cedon, i. 430.
of St. Paul's church appeal to
pope Innocent 1 1, respecting the elec- tion of the bishop of London, ii. 380.
Canterbury, archbishops of, the only acknowledged legates, ii. 335. 346.
. and Yoi'k, revival of the
dispute between those sees, ii. 350. -, papal usurpation over the
see of, ii. 388.
-, archbishops of, appointed
by the pope, ii. 597'
Canute visits Rome, and obtauis privi- leges from the pope, ii. 174.
Capet, Hugh, his accession to the French throne, ii. 168.
Capua given by the pope to Sicily, ii. 382.
Cardinals, college of, the election of popes transferred to, by a decree of pope Nicholas II., ii. 200.
Carpoci-atians, tenets of the, ii. 443.
Carthage, council of, i. 233.
Cataphrygians, tenets of the, ii. 445.
Catari, on the name, given to the Albi- genses by their enemies, ii. 536.
Cathari, tenets of the, ii. 445. 451,
Catharine of Sienna, miracles and wonders of, ii. 656.
, influences Gre- gory XI. to return to Rome, ii. 658.
Catholic, first use of the word, i. 184.
church, theory of its foi-ma-
tion, i. 190.
faith, meaning of the, i. 386.
Celestine, pope, 480. Celestine II., pope, ii. 384. Celestine III., pope, ii. 475. , exerts his spiritual
power in favour of Richard I. against
the duke of Austria, ii. 476. Celestine IV., pope, ii. 559. Celestine V., pope, enacts a decree that
a pope may resign, of which he avails
himself, ii. 604. his imprisonment and
death, ii. 605. Celibacy of the clergy, commanded by
Siricius, bishop of Rome, i. 469. , established by
pope Gregory VII., ii. 260.
-, enforced in Eng-
land by a national council, ii. 338. , its enforcement
a monstrous crime, ii. 341. Cerdonians, tenets of the, ii. 444. Cerinthians, tenets of the, ii. 443. Chalcedon, council of, against Euty-
ches, i. 425. , synopsis of that council, i.
426.
Chalcedon, acts of the council of, i.
427. , canons enacted by the
council, i. 430. Charactei'S of great or successful men,
how formed, ii. 215, n. Charlemagne, singular occurrence on
his march to Italy, ii. 61.
•, adds to the papal teri'ito-
ries, ii. 71.
, crowned at Rome by
pope Leo III., ii. 75-
Charles of Moravia elected emperor in opposition to Louis, ii. 645.
Charles IV,, emperor, remonstrated with by Petrarch for his submis- sion to the pope, ii. 649,
Chevallier, Mr., on tradition as used in the Church of England, i. 29, n.
Childeric the Third, king of France, the first king deposed by means of the papal power, ii. 36.
Christ, his foreknowledge of the errors of the church, i. 92.
, his religion essentially aggres- sive, i. 123.
•, divinity of, the principal article
in the early creeds, i. 156. Christ's divinity affirmed by revelation,
i. 261. The glory of Christianity,
289. Christopher, pope, ii. 153. Christian Priesthood, i. 32.
J high dignity of,
i. 32.
, error taught by
a majority of the, i. 33.
Societies, the earliest, their
object, nature, and constitution, i. 49. world, state of the, in the
year 300, i. 212. Christianity, its gradual influence on mankind, i. 7-
•, its aggressive nature, first
excited popular odium, i. 122.
-, universality of the hatx'ed
against its original teachers, i. 125. -, its conquests prove its
truth, i. 142.
, final results of, i. 209.
-, doctrine of Christ's divi-
nity its glory, i. 289.
-, too deeply rooted to be
extirpated by the emperor Julian, i. 416.
-, its truth confirmed by the
actions of Julian, i. 419.
— , continues to extend during
the convulsions in the western em- pire, i. 423,
-, spread of, in the fiftli
century, i. 443.
Index.
703
Christianity, state of, in Britain, when Augustine arrived there, ii. 9.
identified with the papacy,
ii. 122.
, as the leaven of society,
little regarded in the monastic sys- tem, ii. 159.
in England before Augus-
tine, ii. 281. Christians, early, spirit of the, i. 124. , three classes of persons may
be so called, i. 153.
-, causes of their persecution
of each other, i. 211.
-, contrast of their state be-
fore and after the council of Nice,
i. 265. , early modes of worship
among the, i. 207. , study of the Scriptures
among the, i. 208.
-, primitive theology of the.
ii. 363.
Chrysostom, his labours under the emperor Arcadius, i. 366. Dies in exile, 367.
Church, its authority to teach, i. 56. Threefold origin of this authority, 58.
, power of the, to inflict cen- sure, i. 79-
-, erroneous use made of that
word by the Church of Rome, i. 79, n.
-, the spiritual society of all be-
lievers, i. 194.
-, governed by the emperors
after they became Christian, i. 354. -, state of the, from the pontifi-
cate of Nicholas I. to the council of Trent, ii. 124.
, in the eleventh century, had
become one great secular empire, ii. 212.
and empire, state of the, from
the death of Marcian to the acces- sion of Justinian, i. 437-
authority, nature of, i. 86.
, universal, certainty of its ex- pectations, ii. 695.
history, early, division of, i. 55.
Church, Ante-Nicene, corrupted by ambition, i. 314.
Church, Christian, plans proposed for its union, i. 12, 13.
Church, congregational, their view of excommunication, i. 82, n.
Church, primitive, the formation of the, i. 66.
— . , state of, at the acces- sion of Constantine, i. 151.
'■ , faith of the, i. 152.
Church, primitive, its faith with regard
to baptism, i. 160. , its celebration of the
eucharist, i. 162.
, use of liturgies in, i.
166.
, government of, i. 168.
Church of England, its view of excom- munication, i. 81, n.
, its constitution, i.
107.
-, its repeated solemn recognitions of episcopacy, i. 108.
-, worthy of the sup-
port of Christians, i. 109.
services of the, i.
165.
— — •, its evident inde- pendence of Rome in the reign of Henry 1, ii. 344.
Church of Rome, its view of excom- munication, i. 81, n.
-, purity of, in the time
of Cyprian, i. 187.
-, gradual increase of
the power of the, i. 442.
-, its origin, i. 456.
— , its founders and first
rulers, i. 457.
, list of its bishops,
from Peter and Paul, down to the time of Justinian, i. 458.
Church of Scotland, its view of excom- munication, i. 81, n.
Churches, early, theory of their forma- tion, i. 50. Their development, 51. Gradual completion of tlieir laws, 52.
, episcopal, the true, i. 111.
, their prospects, i.
112.
, their independence
of each other, i. 1 78.
, morality of the, i.
205.
-, Eastern and Western, at- tempt to re-unite them under pope Leo IX., ii. 192; its utter failure, 193.
-, Christian, frequently built
over heathen temples, i. 407, n.
-, national, sometimes acted
independently of the popes in the thirteenth century, ii. 496.
and governments never sus-
pect their own failings, ii. 631. Cicero, his testimony with i-egard to
the introduction of new gods, i,
133, n. Cu-cumcelliones, fanaticism of the, i.
241.
•, tenets of the, ii. 447.
" Circumspecte agatis," statute of, ob- ject of, ii. 600.
704
Index.
Civil power, persecutions by, before Constantine, i. 117-
, first instance in which it
changed its decrees to meet the de- cisions of the ecclesiastical, i. 480.
Clarendon, constitutions of, nature and character of the, ii. 415 — 417.
, reasons why it was well
that those constitutions were event- ually rescinded, ii. 421.
Claude, bishop of Turin, opposes image woi'ship, ii. 80.
Clement I., pope, i. 458.
Clement II., pope, poisoned by an emis- sary of Benedict IX., ii. 186.
Clement III., pope, engages the chief sovereigns of the West in the cru- sades, ii. 474.
, places Scotland under
an interdict, ii. 475.
Clement IV., pope, pursues the Gre- gorian policy, ii. 585.
, declares all benefices at
the disposal of the bishop of Rome, ii. 586.
— , issues excommunications
for political offences, ii. 587.
Clement V., pope, enters into a secret compact with the king of France to obtain the popedom, ii. 620.
— , repeals the bulls of Boni- face VIII., ii. 621.
— , suppresses the order of
the Templars, ii. 622.
, summons the council of
Vienne, ii. 623. , absolves Edward I. from
his oath to observe the Great Char- ter, ii. 626. , manner in which he
drained England of its wealth, ii. 627-
Clement VI., pope, excommunicates the emperor Louis, and procures the election of Charles of Moravia, ii. 645.
, the papal influence less- ened in England during his pontifi- cate, ii. 646.
Clement VII., antipope, his election commences the great schism, ii. 676.
Clergy alone commanded to nominate and ordain the pope, ii. 42.
, origin and progress of the laws
against their marriage, ii. 263.
, English, not to pay secular fines,
unless ecclesiastically enforced, ii. 585, n.
, punished for obeying
their bishops and the pope, ii. 603.
— outlawed, and their pro- perty seized for taxes by Edward I., ii. 609.
Clergy, parochial, the intellectual
strength of England, ii. 556. , protest of the English, against
the papal exactions, ii. 557. , French, commanded by pope
Boniface VIII. not to pay taxes, ii,
611. Clugny, account of the abbey of, ii.
178.
solemn trifling of the obser-
vances there, mistaken for religion,
ii. 214, n. Code, Theodosian, establishment of the,
i. 379. Codex Justinianeus Primse Prselec-
tionis, i. 445. Cognitor, nature of his office, i. 407, n. Coining, power of, when first claimed
by a pope, ii. 62. Collier, remarks on an expression used
by him concerning Anselm, ii. 321. Colluthianists, tenets of the, ii. 447. Colonnas, two cardinals of that family
excommunicated by pope Boniface
VIII., ii. 6O7. Commentary on the Bible, referred to,
i. 13. Common law inferior in authority to
the canon law, ii. 414. Comraonitory of the empire, i. 409. Commons of England, complaints of
the, against the papal exactions, ii.
663. Communion between the Eastern and
Western churches, destruction of
the, i. 440. Conon, pope, ii. 41. Conscience, definitions of, ii. 423. Constantine, life of, before his conver- sion, i. 221. — — , probable natural cause of
his conversion, i. 223. Possible
supernatural cause of that event,
224.
his vision of the cross, not
miraculous, i. 225.
-, results of his victory over
Maxentius, i. 226.
, assumes the pontificate, i.
227.
issues his first edict in
favour of religious toleration, i. 228. publishes the edict of
Milan, i. 229.
— , probable opinion of, on
the subject of toleration, i. 238.
defended from the charge
of intolerance, i. 239.
, appeal to him by the
Donatists, i. 244.
-, his desire to avoid perse-
cution, i. 247.
Index.
rOJ
Constantino, his severe enactments
against the Jews, i. 249. , various laws of, in favour
of Christianitj', i. 251.
-, his efforts to Christianize
the Pagans, i. 252.
-, good effects of his laws, i.
253.
, his opinion of the autho- rity he held over the church, i. 255. endeavours to reconcile all
parties in the Arian controversy, i. 259.
summons the council of
Nice, i. 260. meets the assembled coun-
cil at Nice, i. 2G7.
makes the Nicene canons
part of the civil law, i. 290.
— , his severity against Ari-
anism, i. 292.
-, extracts from his decrees
against Arianism, i. 293, n.
his laws the basis of
future persecutions, i. 295.
— , causes why his power was
greater than that of his predeces- sors, i. 296. changes his conduct to-
wards the Arians, i. 301. banishes Athanasius, i.
303. , his policy continued by
Theodosius the Great, i. 347. Constantine, pope, the first who re- ceived homage from the emperor, ii.
48. , the first who ventured to
excommunicate an emperor, ii. 48. Constantinople, first council of, called
by Theodosius, i. 353. , synopsis of that council,
i. 356. Canons of, 357. Date of its
sitting, 357, n.
-, second council of, sum-
moned by Justinian, i. 513.
-, synopsis of that council.
i. 515,
, bishop of Rome did not
preside at that council, i. 516.
Justinian, the head of
the fifth general council, i. 517.
-, proceedings of this coun-
cil, i. 518.
-, third council of, sum- moned by Constantine V., ii. 27.
-, causes of the assembling
of that council, ii. 28.
-, synopsis of that coun-
cil, ii. 29.
memoranda on that
council, ii. 30, 31, n. VOL.. II.
Constantinople, fourtli council of. called by the emperor Basilius, ii. 126,
■ — , paucity of bishops at
that council, ii. 127.
— — — • , synoj)sisof that council,
ii. 128.
, memoranda on that
council, ii. 128— 130, n.
• , acts and canons of that
council, ii. 129—132.
Constantinople, bishop of, declared equal to the bishop of Rome, i. 484.
Constitutions, apostolical, value of the, i. 172.
Controversies, early, respected doc- trines only, i. 53.
, papal, modern and an- cient the same, ii. 325.
among Christians, all
relate either to faith or discipline, ii, 681.
Convulsions in the western empire, i. 421.
Cornelius, pope, i. 460.
Coi-pus Jm-is Canonici, definitions from the, i. 360—363.
Council of Aries, i. 244.
■ of Carthage, i. 233.
of Chalcedon. See Clialcedon.
of Constantinople, See Con- stantinople.
of Ephesus. See Ephesus.
of Hierapolis, i. 172.
of Jerusalem, tabular view of.
i. 17J.
of Nice. See Nice.
, the sixth general, history and
proceedings of, ii. 27 — 32. , the seventh general, history
and proceedings of, ii. 63 — 70. , the eighth general, history
and proceeduigs of, ii. 126 — 132. -, the ninth general, synopsis of,
ii, 353.
- — ^, the tenth general, synopsis of,
ii. 378. — — , the eleventh general, history
and proceedings of, ii. 432 — 436. , the twelfth general, history
and proceedings of, ii. 517 — 527. , the thirteenth general, history
and proceedings of, ii. 560 — 562. -, the fourteenth general, history
and proceedings of, ii. 590.
, the fifteenth general, sjTiopsis
and proceedings of, ii. 624 — 626.
Councils, origin of, i. 54. 170.
• , contending, on the Arian con- troversy, i. 306.
, numerous, in the third cen- tury, i. 313.
Z Z
706
Index.
Councils, the parliaments of the church, i. 322.
, not to be summoned without
the consent of Rome, i. 483.
, great number of, held during
the life of pope Gregory VII., ii. 269.
. , synoptical tables of nine coun- cils held at Rome under Gregory VII., ii. 271—275.
— , various, held against the Al-
bigenses, ii. 549, n.
Christian, must be summoned
by princes, not popes, ii. 680,
, general, objects of, i. 263.
-, summary of the first
five, i. 519.
-, the decisions of the first four declared equal with the gospels, ii. 7-
— , national, supplied the place
of parliaments in the reign of Henx-y
I., ii. 345. Courteney, archbishop, assumes the
title of " Inquisitor of heretical
pravity," ii. 686. Creed, Apostles', formation of the, i.
159. Creeds the result of reasoning on sub- jects of revelation, i. 42. universally used in the primi- tive churches, i. 156. Crema, John de, his insolent conduct
as legate in England, ii. 360. Crime, punishment of, not intolerance,
i. 232. , the Christian religion first made
an apology for its commission, i.
246. cannot be sanctioned by rank,
birth, or greatness, ii. 618. Cross seen by Constantino in the sky,
i. 224. Not miraculous, 225. Crotty, Dr., evidence of, regarding the
third canon of the fourth Lateran
council, ii. 531. Crusades for recovering possession of
the Holy Land, first recommended
by pope Sylvester II., 171.
originated by pope Urban
II., ii. 319.
considered as salvation to
the souls of the crusaders, ii. 474. Cyprian, becomes bishop of Carthage,
i. 183. , his eff'orts to preserve church
discipline, i. 185. , discipline of the churches in
the time of, i. 183. Effects of his
discipline, 186. , his treatise on the unity of
the church, i. 189. His idea of that
unity, 192. Estimate of the value of his treatise, 196. Romish inter- polations of it, 197- Cyprian, his dispute with Stephen, bishop of Rome, on heretical bap- tism, i. 199. 461.
, his martyrdom, i. 198.
Cyprianic episcopacy, theory of the, 191.
D.
Damasus, pope, increases the power of the Roman see, i. 465.
first institutes papal vicars,
i. 468.
Damasus II., pope, ii. 186. Damiani, Peter, his letter to pope
Alexander II., ii. 225. Dark ages, why the medieval period
justly so called, ii. 691. Deaconesses, their duties, i. 391, n. Decius, persecution under, i. 130. Decretals, false, their origin, nature,
and objects, ii. 97-
, must be officially re-
jected by the church of Rome, ii. 98.
origin of them and of
the true decretals, ii. 99. , celebrated work of
Blondel on the, ii. 100.
, further proofs of their
spuriousness, ii. 102.
-, their probable author,
Benedict Levita, ii. 103.
-, object of their author.
ii. 104.
-, ecclesiastical maxims laid down in them, ii. 105.
-, their chief object the
exaltation of the papacy, ii. 106.
-, original form of the
Pseudo-Isidorian collection, ii. 107. -, their eff'ect on the uni-
versal chui'ch, ii. 108.
-, why first quoted by
pope Nicholas I., ii. 109. 114. Decretals of Gregory IX., what meant
by, ii. 549. Definitions in the ecclesiastical law, i.
360. " De Haeretico Comburendo," passing
of that statute under Henry IV., ii.
673.
-, repealed
by the efforts of James IT., when
Duke of York, ii. 673. De Marca, his description of the pall,
ii. 284. Denmark, influence of the English mis-
Index.
707
sionaries on, in the eleventh century, ii. 219.
Deposing power of the popes, inquiry into its real origin, ii. 37.
Deus dedit, pope, assumes the power of worlciug miracles, ii. 16.
Dictatus Papae, ascribed to pope Gre- gory VII., really to be found in the rescripts of Nicholas I., ii. 120.
, justly to be regarded
as the fundamental maxims of the policy of the church of Rome, ii. 120, n.
Diocletian, persecution under, i. 130. Its extreme severity, 139.
Dionysius, pope, i. 462.
Discipline and manners of the early Christians, i. 181.
common, the bond of com- mon union in the early churches, i. 185.
of Cyprian, effects of, i. 186.
Dispensations, the five, i. 69, n.
Disputes in the church, absurdity of those in the seventh century, ii. 34.
Divine wrath, fear of, influences poli- tical movements, ii. 61.
Divinity of Christ, the principal article of the early creeds, i. 156.
, early heresies on, i.
157.
affirmed by revela- tion, i. 261. The glory of Chris- tianity, 289.
Divisions in the church after the coun- cil of Nice, i. 348.
, ecclesiastical, of the Roman
empire, i. 352.
Dodwell, his controversy with Ruinart on the early persecutions, i. 149.
Dominion, temporal, cannot be en- trusted to the priesthood, ii. 333.
Domitian, persecution under, i. 128. Why he persecuted, 136.
Domnus, or Donus, pope, ii. 25.
Domnus, or Donus IL, pope, ii. 166.
Donatists, their factious conduct one cause of the first persecution by Christians, i. 219.
-, origin of the schism of the.
i. 235.
i. 241.
-, their arrogant pretensions,
-, their first appeal to Con- stantino, i. 242.
-, the bishops of Gaul decide
against them, i. 243.
-, insolent conduct of the, i.
245.
, the first who made the re- ligion of Christ an apology for crime, i. 246.
Donatists, tenets of the, ii. 447.
Donatus, the real author of persecution by Christians, i. 233.
Doyle, Dr., evidence of, regarding the third canon of the fourth Lateran council, ii. 530. 533, n.
Dryden, his lines on the truth of Chris- tianity, i. 141.
Du Mesnil. a writer on ecclesiastical history, ii. 478.
Du Pin, his testimony on the extent of the bishop of Rome's authority be- fore the time of Constantino, i. 180, n.
E.
Eardulf, king of Northumbria, said to have been restored by pope Leo III., ii. 75.
Eastern churches submitted to the pope by Justinian, i. 503.
church subjected to the Roman
at the second council of Lyons, ii. 592, n.
Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, his poli- tical influence in France, ii. 110.
Ebionites, tenets of the, ii. 445.
Ecclesiastical divisions of the Roman empire, i. 352.
- power, nature and limits
of its influence, i. 47 — 96.
-, progress of the.
from the age of Justinian, ii. 1.
not to be confound-
ed with papal, ii. 36.
unity and liberty, papal
meaning of, ii. 419. Ecclesiastics, assumptions of the, in the days of Becket, ii. 410.
■, their character and power
at that time, ii. 41 1.
-, the offices of the state
necessarily held by them formerly
in England, ii. 660. Edict of Milan published by Constan- tino, i. 229. Edicts, rescripts, and decrees, difiference
between, i. 298. Edward the Confessor, causes of his
canonization, ii. 425. Edward I. respects the liberties of the
people as well as the rights of the
crown, ii. 596.
seizes the goods of the clergy
on their refusal to pay taxes, ii. 609. -, his subserviency to pope
Clement V., ii. 627. Edward III. with his parliament, re- fuses the demands of pope Urban V., ii. 653.
z z
708
Index.
Edward III. protects the Florentines when under excommunication, ii. 656.
, compromise between him
and Gregory XI. about English benefices, ii. 662.
Eleutherus, pope, i. 459.
Eliberis, or Elvira, council of, i. 178.
Elphege, archbishop of Canterbury, goes to Rome to procure the pall, ii. 172.
Emperors of Rome the originators of persecution, i. 381.
Encratitfe, or Tatians, tenets of the, ii. 444.
England, its free government proposed as a model, i. 3.
, church of, its view of excom- munication, i. 81 , n.
, its constitution, i.
107.
116.
its influence on the world, i.
the papal decrees concerning Wilfrid rejected in, ii. 46.
-, always one chief object of
attention to Rome, ii. 205.
— divided into archdeaconries by
William the Norman and Lanfranc, ii. 315, n.
-; power over, always one great
object of the papacy, ii. 334.
— , the treasui'y of Rome in the
thirteenth century, ii. 555.
-, immense revenues derived
fi'om it by Rome, ii. 570.
-, remonstrances of the parlia-
ment of, against the papal exactions under Innocent IV., ii. 571.
— , laity of, refuse obedience to
the papal exactions, ii. 572,
ineffectual laws of, to check
the papal usurpations, ii. 673
— , gradual decline of the papal
power there in the time of Edward I., ii. 599.
bishops of, supersede the
command of Christ, ii. 599.
struggles in, to maintain the
right of an appeal to Scripture against the authority of the popes, ii. 602.
— , papal, the treasury of Rome,
ii. 626.
, manner in which the papal
agents exhausted its wealth, ii. 627. — , effect of the continental dis
cussions on, with regard to the papal power, in the pontificate of John XXII., ii. 641.
— , its bishops required to re-
nounce the papal tempox'al power, ii. 642.
England, diminution of the papal influ- ence in, in the pontificate of Benedict XII., ii. 644.
, the papal influence in, still
further lessened under Clement VI., ii. 646.
-, the statute of " Provisors "
enacted in, ii. 647.
-, appeals to Rome from, pro-
hibited by the statute of " Prsemu- nire," ii. 650.
-, the offices of state in, neces-
sarily held by ecclesiastics in former times, ii. 660.
English people, their refusal to pro- ceed to the extremities of popish cruelty, ii. 598.
Ephesus, council of, why called, i. 370.
-, synopsis of that council, i.
371.
-, proceedings of the council of, i. 372. Disputes subsequent to it, 373.
-, acts of that coimcil, i. 373 —
377.
council held at, called the council of robbers, i. 424. Epiplianius, letter of Justinian to, i.
503. Episcopacy the discipline of the apos- tolic age, i. 63.
■, exceptions to, in the early
ages, i. 67, n.
-, principles of, the universal
law of all governments, i. 74.
--, nature of our obligations to
adhere to it, i. 77-
, primitive, picture of the,
i. 198. Unity of the churches under it, 202.
the only successful oppo-
nent of the papacy, i. 204.
— , causes of its great influence
and power in the ninth century, ii. 88.
-, mstances of the exercise of
its power in early periods, indepen-
dentlv of the bishop of Rome, ii.
88—92. , origin and progress of the
temporal power of the, ii. 95. Episcopal usurpation, earliest attempts
at, i. 179. power, Rome has always
aimed to destroy it, i. 479.
ambition, a cause of papal
supremacy, i. 486.
churches all equal, ii. 223.
Equality originally subsisted amongst all Christians, whether lay or cleri- cal, ii. 94.
Index.
709
Error, perseverance in, the curse of Rome, ii. 309.
, the sincerity of, the curse of the
chui'ch, ii. 578.
EstabHshment of religion need not im- ply persecution, i. 319. j
Eucharist, true nature of the, i. 163. |
Eugenius, pope, grants to bishops the I power of imprisoning, ii. 20.
Eugeuius II., pope, neutralizes the oath of allegiance to the emperor by re- servations, ii. 78.
, the first pope who resisted
the wish of the universal church, ii. 79.
Eugenius III., pope, flies to France, ii. 386.
, after several times quit- ting Rome, finally dies there, ii. 387.
Eunomiaus, or Aetians, tenets of the, ii. 446.
Europe, condition of, at the accession of Hildebrand to the popedom, ii. 217 — 222.
Eusebius, pope, i. 463.
Eutyches, the heretic, some accoimt of, i. 422.
, deprived by the sj-nod of
Constantinople, i. 423.
-, absolved by the council at
Experience, knowledge derived from,
i. 17.
alone instructs both
churches and states, i. 318.
Extravagantes, what meant by, ii. 549.
Ephesus called the coimcil of rob- bers, i. 424.
council of Chalcedou called
against him, i. 425.
-, en-s, when opposing Nesto-
rius, i. 439. Eutychianism, sects originating m, i.
436. 440. Eutychians, tenets of the, ii. 448. Eutychianus, pope, i. 463. Evaristus, pope, i. 458. EvU, revelation alone explains why it
is permitted, i. 2. and good, attempt to reconcile
them, the cause of the first persecu- tions, i. 119. Excommunicated persons, duty of the
civil magistrate towards, i. 84. Excommunication, nature of, i. 80. , definitions of, by
various churches, L 81, n.
Uttle regarded at
present, i. 82.
i. 83.
weapon, ii. 342.
-, former terrors of, made a political
ment only, ii. 412. offences, ii. 587.
a spiritual punish- 2.
issued for political
F.
Fabian, pope, i. 460.
Faith, the Scriptures the chief rule of,
i. 44, and n.
of the primitive church, i. 152.
, the Scriptures and the creeds
the two rules of, i. 156. Felicians, tenets of the, ii. 449. Felix I., pope, i. 463. Felix II., pope, enlarges the dominion
of the papal see, i. 490. Felix III., pope, exempts the clergy
from the ciril tribunals, i. 495. Firniilian accuses the church of Rome
of schism, i. 312, n. Flavian, patriarch of Constantinople,
condemns the heresy of Eutyches,
i. 423. His barbarous treatment by
the council at Ephesus, and death,
424. Fleury on Nestorianism, i. 378. Florianists, tenets of the, ii. 447. Formosus, pope, the first instance of a
pope being called from another see,
ii. 148. , his decrees disregarded by
the eastern bishops, ii. 149.
-, his body said to have been
dismterred and thrown into the Ty- ber, ii. 1 49.
on the bull which he is said
to have sent to the king of England,
regarding filling up the vacant sees,
ii. 334, n. France, infidel, rejects truth as well
as eiTor, i. 1 1. , under Pepin, increases the
power of Rome, ii. 59.
-, the pope appoints a vicar over
the chm'ches of, ii. 83.
-, never so much the vassal of
Rome as Spain and Italy, ii. 138.
successfully resists pope Ha-
drian II., ii. 139.
-, church of, resists the usurpa-
tions of pope John VIII., ii. 144. -, state of, when Hildebrand be-
came pope, ii. 218.
placed under an interdict by
pope Innocent II., ii. 382.
-, king of, threatens to burn the
pope for heresy, ii. 640. Fx'anco, or Boniface VII., pseudo-pope, ii. 167.
710
Index.
Fratricelli, condemned by the council of Vienne, ii. 624.
Frederic, the emperor, his law against heretics made use of to accomplish his own destruction, i. 450, n.
, his severe laws against here- tics, ii. 545.
-, fearful measures adopted by
him to prevent a council being held at Lyons, ii. 558.
— , though not deemed a heretic,
deposed by a council, ii. 560.
-, appeal of, to France and
England against the pope, ii. 565,
Frederic of Austria appeals from the
pope to a general council, ii. 637.
charges the pope
with heresy, ii. 637. French bishops, their continued resist- ance to Rome, ii. 172. 175.
G.
Gaianites, or Theodosians, tenets of the, ii. 448.
Galerius, the severity of his persecu- tion of the Christians, i. 139. Pub- lishes an edict of toleration on his death-bed, 139.
, cruelties and death of, i. 212.
, stops the persecution against
the Christians on his death-bed, i. 214.
Galilean liberties, commencement of the question on the, i. 482.
bishops, their contest with
pope John XV., ii. 169.
Gallienus, whether he made Christi- anity a religio licita, i. 138, n.
Gangra, good laws passed by the coun- cil of, i. 306, n.
Gaul, the bishops of, decide against the Donatists, i. 243.
Gelasius I., pope, affirms his supre- macy by divine right, i. 490.
■ commands communion in
both kinds, i. 491.
-, remarkable bull of, by
which he claims power over councils,
i. 492, n. Gelasius II., pope, driven from Rome
by the emperor Henry V., ii. 348. ' returns, is again expelled,
and dies in France, ii. 349. Gerbert, his able support of the canons
of the church against the usurpa- tions of Rome, ii. 169. Germany, condition of, when Hilde-
brand became pope, ii. 221. Gibbon, his remarks on the persecution
of the early Christians, i. 141.
Gibbon on the character of Constan- tino, i. 230.
■, his false view of the institutes
of Justinian, i. 382.
his partiality to the emperor
Julian, i. 413, n.
-, his sneering remark on the
origin of the word Christian, i. 414, n. -, his remarks on the succession
of pontiffs after Gregory VII., ii.
314, n. Giesler, on the appointment of the
inferior clergy, i. 63, n. Gilbert de la Porree, tenets of, ii. 451. Gilly, Dr., value of his "Waldensian
Researches," ii. 541. Gnostics, their heresies respecting the
person of Christ, i. 157.
•, tenets of the, ii. 443.
Goderic, the hermit of Finchale, pre- tended miracles of, ii. 426, and 427, n.
Good and evil, the attempt to reconcile, caused the first persecutions, i. 119.
Gospel, causes of its original success, i. 118, n.
light never wholly extinguished
in the church, ii. 639.
Gothofred acknowledges the authenti- city of Justinian's epistles, i. 505.
Gotteschalc, doctrines held by, ii. 110, n.
Governments, their duties towards Christianity, i. 231.
and churches never sus-
pect their own failings, ii. 631. Grace of God not limited to his own
means of grace, i. 193. Gravina acknowledges the authenticity
of Justinian's epistles, i. 505. Greek chm-ch condemns the use of
images, ii. 53, n.
emperors, their weakness one
cause of the increase of the papal power, ii. 56.
schism completed by the dis-
pute on Bulgaria, ii. 143.
Gregorians and Imperialists, the em- pire divided between, ii. 203.
, contests
between them at Rome, ii. 349. Gregory I., the great, pope, ii. 6.
, sends Augustine the monk
to England, ii. 8.
-, desires to govern, not to
convert the English, ii. 10.
-, begins the system of ex-
empting monks from episcopal juris- diction, ii. 1 1.
permits pagan ceremonies
to be interwoven with the Christian service, ii. 11.
Index.
711
Gregory I. sanctions the use of images,
ii. 12. , compiles the canon of the
mass, ii. 12. Gregory II., pope, first exacted an
oath of obedience from Cliristian
bishops, ii. 48. . pronomices damnation on
those who disobey, ii. 49.
, his controversy with the
emperor Leo III., on the use of images, ii. 50.
-, declares himself the tem-
poral ruler over Italy, ii. 50. Gregory III., pope, zealous for image
worship, ii. 54. Gregory IV., pope, claims superiority
over the French bishops, ii. 82. Gregory V., pope, ii. 169. ■ ■, compels Robert I., king
of France, to repudiate his queen
Bertha, ii. 170. Gregory VI., pope, ii. 183. ■ , his vigorous proceedings
against the robbers, ii. 184.
-, resigns the pontificate, ii.
185.
Gregory VII., pope, twenty-seven maxims of, ii. 121, n.
, elected pope, ii. 210.
, extolled or condemned
by an immense number of biogra- phers, ii. 211.
-, formation of his cha-
racter in Clugny, ii. 213.
-, anecdote of him when
a child, ii. 213, n.
combined in himself
the character of monk and emperor ii. 215.
-, elected pope, even at
the funeral of his predecessor, ii. 216. -, makes Rome the tribu-
nal to judge bishops, ii. 224.
-, the autocrat of Europe,
and Western emperor, ii. 226.
-, prefers the Saracen to
any anti-papal power, ii. 227.
-, feudal oath of allegiance
to him by the prmce of Capua, ii. 228.
abstract of his chief
Gregory VII. decrees the belief in transubstantiation, ii. 265.
, synoptical tables of nine
acts, from Baronius, ii. 229—256.
real controversy be-
tween him and the Western world, ii. 258.
-, meek language of his
haughty assumptions, ii. 259, n.
-, establishes the cehbacy
of the clergy, ii. 260,
triumphs over both
reason and Scripture, ii. 261,
councils held by him in Rome, ii.
271—275.
, forbids Divine service
to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue,
ii. 276.
-, the fearful power exer-
cised by him over Europe and Eng- land, u. 277.
-, instances of his smce-
rity and cruelty, ii. 311.
-, general view of his
system and character, ii. 307—312 Gregorj- VIII., pope, his improper use of Scripture language to excite war, ii. 473. Gregory IX., pope, injm-es the papal cause by his personal hatred of the emperor Frederic, ii. 546. , his repeated excommuni- cations of the emperor, ii. 547.
— , holds the council of
Toulouse, ii. 549.
— , weakens the moral power
of the papacy, ii. 551
his exactions in Eng
land, ii. 552.
-, his death, ii. 559.
Gregory X., pope, ii. 588
•, the friend of the prince
of Wales (afterwards Edward I.), ii. 589.
— , summons the second coun-
cil of Lyons, ii. 590. — , assumes
the whole
management of that council, ii. 592, -, his suspension and re-
newal of the interdict upon Florence, ii. 594.
-, his laws still a part of the
canon law of Rome, ii. 594.
Gregory XL, pope, weakens the spiritual power of the papacy by his triumph over Florence, ii. 654.
excommunicates the
Florentines, ii. 655.
extract from his bull
against the Florentines, ii. 655, n.
— publishes four bulls
against Wycliffe, ii. 656. 668,
-,influenced by Cathei'ine
of Sienna to return to Rome, ii. 658. compromise between
him and Edward III. about English benefices, ii. 662.
-, nineteen errors of Wy-
cliffe submitted to him, ii. 666. -, his death, ii. 673.
Grossetetc, bishop of Lincoln, resists
712
Index.
the exactions of pope Innocent IV.,
ii. 575. Grossetete, his death and character, ii.
577. Guelphs and Gibbelines, their origm,
ii. 164. Guiseard, Robert, his oath of fideUty
to pope Nicholas, ii. 489, n. Guizot, his progress of the church
through four stages, ii. 194. ■ J extract from, on the school- men, ii. 3C7, n. , strikmg remark of, ii. 386.
H.
Hadrian, persecution under, i. 129.
Why he persecuted, 136. Hadrian, pope, enlarges the temporal
power of the papacy, ii. 60. • , the first pope who coined
money, ii. 62.
-, receives accessions of territory
from Charlemagne, ii. 71.
, defends the worship of images,
ii. 72.
Hadrian II., pope, ii. 124.
-, the first who attempted to
set "a prince on a throne by his own absolute authority, ii. 125.
■ 1 , requires the emperor
Basilius to summon the fourth coun- cil of Constantinople, ii. 126.
refuses the oriental
bishops a seat in the council till
they have sworn obedience to Rome,
ii. 126. , his real object at that
council, ii. 133. , first attempted to regulate
the succession of princes, ii. 137.
unable to establish his
supremacy over the French bishops,
ii. 139. Hadrian III., pope, ii, 146. Hadrian IV., pope, gives Ireland to
King Henry II., ii. 398. , extracts from the cor- respondence between him and Henry
on that subject, ii. 399. • , his lofty pretensions, ii.
400. — — , absolves Henry from his
oath respecting his father's will, ii.
402. Hadrian V., pope, ii. 596. Hallani, Mr., his opinion on the origin
of the pajtal power considered, ii. 37. Harpsfield, his description of the pall,
ii. 281 '
Hatred against Christianity universal, on its first publication, i. 125,
Heart sins not punishable by societv. i. 91. •"
Helvidians, tenets of the, ii. 447.
Henoticon of the emperor Zeno, written to produce peace iu the church, i. 438.
Henry I. king of England, his contro- versy with Archbishop Anselm, ii. 339.
Henry II. receives from the pope the gift of Ireland, ii. 398.
desirous to honour the
church, ii. 407.
, compelled by his duty to his
people to oppose Rome, ii. 408.
, resisted not only the papal,
but the ecclesiastical power gene- rally, ii. 418.
, on the penance suffered by
him at the tomb of Becket, ii. 427.
, his degradation the triumph
of Rome, ii. 428.
Henry III., liis degrading compliance with the pope's demands, ii. 555, n.
, his weakness encourages
the papal usurpations, ii. 575.
, absolved by the pope from
his oath to the barons, ii. 583.
Henry IV. gives power to the priest- hood, ii. C72.
Henry V 1 1 1 ., his confiscations of church property, i. 107, n.
Henry III., emperor, solicits the pojic to excommunicate a king, ii. 196.
Henry IV., emperor, his character well suited to further the designs of Gre- gory VII., ii. 259.
Henry V., emperor, marches to Rome, and expels pope Paschal II., ii. 347.
Heresies and sects, origin of the names of, ii. 430.
Heresy, definition of, i. 90, n.
ought not to be punished as a
political crime, i. 299.
severe enactments of the Theo-
dosian code agamst, i. 394. 396. arguments the only remedy for,
i. 395. , the tares of, why permitted to
grow with the wheat, ii. 429.
-, the heads of the church re-
solve to extirpate it, ii. 432. , extended meanings of the
word, ii. 452.
, papal definitions of, ii. 453.
—J political objection to a papal
legate, so considered, ii. 476. , supposed, princes commanded
to extirpate, ii. 491.
Index.
713
Heretics, definition of, in the time of
Justinian, i. 447, "• 448. not to be called Christians, by
the law of Justinian, i. 450. differed from each other as
much as from the church, ii. 431.
, review of the civil laws against.
ii. 438.
— , the jurisdiction concerning
them in England retained by the bishops, ii. 442.
— , list of, in the early centuries.
ii. 443—452.
, severe language of the canon
law against, ii. 454 — 460.
Hermogeniaus, tenets of the, ii. 445.
Hertford, council of, held by archbishop Theodore, ii. 22.
, the ten canons enjoined to be
observed by that council, ii. 23, n.
Hierachites, tenets of the, ii. 445.
Hilary, pope, strengthens the papal supremacy, i. 486.
, sets aside the canons of the
universal church, i. 487.
llildebrand, commencement of his in- fluence on the Roman see, ii. 1 76.
, a monk of Clugny, ii. 180.
, assists Gratian in pro- curing the papal chair, ii. 181.
probable motives of his
conduct, ii. 182.
why he negotiated the
resignation of Benedict IX., ii. 183. -,his influence indispensable
to the pope, ii. 184,
-, destroys the power of the
Italian princes, ii. 195.
-, procures the elevation of
Victor II. to the pontificate, ii. 196. lays the foundation of his
theocracy in blood, ii. 204.
-, his authority over Eng-
land, ii. 209.
iSee Gregory VII.] Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, actively opposes and condemns Got- teschalc, ii. 110.
, resists the usurpation of the
pope, ii. 111.
-, defends the French eccle-
siastical councils, ii. 112.
submits to the papal autho-
rity, ii. 115.
-, his defence of Charles the
Bald against the pope, ii. 138.
his bold letter to pope
Hadrian II. in the case of Hincmar of Laou, ii. 140.
-, his further efforts against
the pretensions of Rome, ii. 144, 145.
History, right mode of considering, ii. 125.
, advantages in the study of
ancient, over the study of modern, ii. 629.
Holiness and morality the two guides to man, i. 26.
alone, not a sufficient bond of
Christian union, i. 203.
Honorius, pope, embraces the Mono- thelite heresy, ii. I7.
, tlie first pope who was con- demned by a general council, ii. 18. -, his authority in England, ii.
18. Honorius II., pope, extends the papal
power in England, ii. 359. Honorius III., pope, ii. 543.
, continues the policy of
Hildebrand, ii. 544.
-, his attempts to derive an
additional revenue from England, ii. 546. Honorius IV., pope, intercepts the sub- sidies granted for the crusades, ii. 601.
— , his legate enforces the
veneration of the consecrated wafer, ii. 603. Hoods, to prefer coarse to fine, de- clared to be heresy, ii. 634.
coarse, friars burnt for persist-
ing in wearmg them, ii. 635. Hooker, his account of the Nestorian
heresy, i. 372, n. Hopkins, bishop, on the false decretals,
ii. 98, n. Hormisdas, pope, three measures by
which he strengthened the papal
supremacy, i. 493. Hosius, bishop of Cordova, presides in
two councils at Alexandria, i. 259, n. Hungary, state of, when Hildebrand
became pope, ii. 219. Hyginus, pope, i. 458.
Iconoduli, or Iconolatrjse, tenets of the,
ii. 449. Iconomachs, condemned by the eighth
general council, ii. 131. Image-worship adopted in the East, ii.
63.
expressly forbidden in
Scripture, ii. 79.
supported by pope Eu-
gcnins II. against the will of the universal church, ii. 79.
I mages, the use of, sanctioned by Gre- gory the Great, ii. 12.
714.
Index.
Images, contest respecting the worship of, between tlie pope and the em- peror, ii. 50.
, Italy revolts in favour of their
worship, ii. 51.
-, the church of Rome strength-
ened by adopting them, ii. 53.
said to have saluted the dead
body of pope Formosus, ii. 150, n.
Improvement, progressive, of the human race, authors who have writ- ten upon this subject, i. 21, n.
Indecency sanctioned in the Romish confessionals, ii. 483.
Independence of the early churches of each other, i. 178.
Independents, their view of excommu- nication, i. 82, n.
, their rise, i. 1 05.
, founded on supposed phi- losophy, i. 106.
, reasons for supposing
their influence to be decHning, i. 106, n.
Infallibility, papal,an argument against, ii. 160.
cannot justly be claimed
either by churches, sects, or indivi- duals, ii. 659.
Infidelity, is not unimpassioned en- quiry, i. 143.
Innocent I., pope, influence of, i. 472.
, makes the first great effort
of the usurpation of Rome, i. 473.
— , represses heresy by the
civil power, i. 474.
-, history of his bold, yet
subtle manner of asserting the papal supi'emacy, i. 475 — 477-
Innocent II., pope, ii. 375.
■ , lays France under an in- terdict, ii. 376. 382.
. summons the second coun-
cil of Lateran, ii. 377-
-, appeals made to him by
certain English canons, ii. 380.
-, extends the power of Rome
to Ireland, ii. 381
-, gives Capua to the king
of Sicily, ii. 382. Innocent III., pope, greatness of Rome
under his pontificate, ii. 484. , requires the citizens of
Rome to swear allegiance to him as
their temporal sovereign, ii. 485. , excommunicates the
three chief princes of Europe, ii. 486.
oaths of feudal fidelity
to him taken by the kings of Eng- land and An-agon, ii. 487, n- , chargeable with the
chief guilt of establishing the inqui- sition, ii. 490. Innocent III., author of the hymn Veni Creator, ii. 496.
, contest between him.
king John, and the English barons, ii. 500.
-, opposed by the peerage
of England, ii. 501. , accused of avarice, ii.
502.
— , necessity of rescinding his principles, ii 504.
— , his literary labours, ii.
505.
, his sermons before the
council of Lateran, ii. 506.
-, effect of his sermons on
the council in procuring the decree against heretics, ii. 507.
-, works of, before his
pontificate, ii. 500.
-, extract from his work
on the miseries of man, ii. 511. , his presumptuous piety
and pretensions, ii. 512. , his unwillingness to
assume the papal power, ii, 513.
-, extract from his sermon
on the papal supremacy, ii. 514.
-, his motives and ambi-
tion, ii. 515.
, his conduct after his
accession to the pontificate, ii. 516. summons the fourth
council of Lateran, ii. 517.
-, his objects in calling
that council, ii. 518.
-, imposes his own de-
crees on that council, ii. 522, n. -, his death, ii. 542.
Innocent IV., pope, elected after a vacancy of nearly two years, ii. 559. -, forced by the emperor
Frederic to fly to Lyons, ii. 560.
-, holds the first council
of Lyons, ii. 560. ■ , his exultation on the
death of Frederic, ii. 563.
-, his laws and constitu-
tions against heresy, ii. 564, n.
-, sets up thrones and
kingdoms to sale, ii. 566.
-, uses the doctrine of
supererogation as a means of reve- nue, ii. 568.
-, sends his legate into
England with extraordinary powers, ii. 569.
-, his death and character,
ii. 577—579. Innocent V., pope, ii. 595,
Index.
715
Innocent VI., pope, his excellent per- sonal chai-acter, ii. 648.
, compelled by the " Free
Companies," to grant them absolu- tion, ii. 649.
-, increasing \s-eakness of
the papal power during his pontifi- cate, ii. 650.
Inquisition, bull of pope Lucius III. the foundation of the, ii. 440. 462.
, difference between it and
the former tribunals, ii. 464.
-, nature of its courts, ii. 465.
, its chief court imder pope
Innocent III., ii. 466.
-, rise and progress of the
inquisitorial power, ii. 467.
-, its system of espionage first
commanded by the council of Tours, ii. 469.
— , papal supremacy its first
object, ii. 471.
-, episcopal, not so rigorous
as the Dominican, ii. 472.
made permanent, and com-
mitted to the Dominicans, ii. 551. Inquisitors, that word first used in
the Theodosian code, i. 398. Institutes of Justinian, what, i. 445. Intolerance of both parties in the Arian
controversy, i. 307. Investiture, origin of the right of, ii.
257. Ireland, power of Rome extended to,
by pope Innocent II., ii. 381. granted to Henry II. by pope
Hadrian IV., ii. 398.
-, the pall not anciently sent
fi'om Rome to, ii. 401, n.
-, causes of the interference of
the popes with, ii. 402, n
Irene, the empress, her zeal for image- worship, ii. 63.
, increases the papal power, ii.
70.
Irish church ruled by Canterbury be- fore the time of Henry II., ii. 389.
Irving, Mr., his opinions, and the treatment they received, i. 299.
Isidore, bishop of Seville, his collection of canons and decretals, ii. 100.
, not the author of the false
decretals, ii. 1 00.
James, the apostle, nature of the pri- macy he held at Jerusalem, i. 73.
, the brother of John, Spanish
traditions concerning him, i. 126, n.
, Ml'., just remarks by him on
the mixture of Paganism and Chris- tianity, i. 404, n. Jerusalem, council of, the model for all
others, i. 171. 311. Jews, severe law of Constantino
against them, i. 249, and n. Joachim, the monk, condemned by the
fourth Lateran council, ii. 520, n.
522, n. Joan, pope, story of, and reasons for
its rejection, ii. 85, n.
, that story an argiunent
against tradition, ii. 86, n. John I., pope, i. 494. John II., pope, i. 496.
, temporal power granted to
him by Justinian, i. 502.
— , Justinian submits the Eastern
churches to, i. 503.
-, letter of Justinian to, from the
Volumen Authenticum, i. 505. John III., pope, ii. 3. John IV., pope, ii. 19. John v., pope, ii. 41. John VI., pope, ii. 44.
, nature and extent of the
papal power during his pontificate,
ii. 45. John VII., pope, ii. 47. John VIII., pope, ii. 140.
■, claims the right to elect
the emperor, ii. 141.
-, sanctions the cruelty of
Anastasius, bishop of Naples, ii. 141.
, his pusillanimity possibly
gave rise to the story of pope Joan, ii. 142.
-, his efforts to bring Bul-
garia under his jurisdiction com- plete the Greek schism, ii. 143.
-, ready to cancel the acts
of his predecessors to serve his own views, ii. 144, n.
-, his usurpations over the
French church, ii. 144.
is imprisoned by two
Italian nobles, ii. 145.
-, the first pope who pre-
sided personally at a council, ii. 146. John IX., pope, ii. 151.
makes various changes in
the German sees, ii. 152. John X.. pope, ii. 155.
, the first pope who headed an
army, ii. 156. John XI., pope, ii. 157. John XII., pope, in distress, submits
to the German imperial power, ii.
161. is deposed for his vices, by
an imperial council at Rome, ii. 162.
716
Index.
John XII., remarks on the authority
of the council which deposed him,
ii. 162, n. John XI IT., pope, ii. 164. , , deposed by the Roman
nobiUty, but restored by the emperor
Otho, ii. 165.
-, said to have confirmed
the pi'ivileges of Glastonbury abbey, ii. 165.
John XIV., pope, put to death by Franco, ii. 167.
John, the son of Robert, pseudo-pope, ii. 167.
John XV. (or XVI.), pope, ii. 167.
, his controversy with the
Galilean bishops, ii. 169.
John XVII., pope, ii. 171.
John XVIII., pope, reckoned also amongst the patriarchs of Constan- tinople, ii. 171.
John XIX., pope, though a layman, obtains the pontificate by money, ii. 174.
, concedes to the decrees
of the Galilean bishops, ii. 175.
John XXI., pope, ii. 596.
John XX., alias XXI. XXII., pope, ii. 629.
: , elected under French influ- ence, ii. 633.
-, his cruelty to the bishop of
Cahors, ii. 633.
-, burns the Gray friars who
persisted in wearing coarse hoods, ii. 634.
-, is opposed by Louis of Ba-
varia, ii. 635.
-, commands the emperor
Louis to abdicate, ii. 636.
-, is accused of heresy, ii.
638.
639.
-, his heretical sermons, ii.
-, threatened by the king of France to be burnt as a heretic, ii. 640.
-, his recantation and death,
ii. 640.
-, his submission to the uni- versal church the first fatal blow to the papal supremacy, ii. 641.
John, king of England, reasons of his Yielding to the threats of the pope, li. 487.
, oaths of feudal fidelity taken by
him to pope Innocent III., ii. 487, n.
, singular effects produced by his
submission to the pope, ii. 490, n.
, contest between him, the pope,
and the barons, ii. 500.
Jortin, his opinion of traditions, i. 29, n.
Jovian, the emperor, favours Chris- tianity, i. 351.
Jovianists, tenets of the, ii. 447.
Judgment, private, unlimited right of, i. 43.
, on its exercise, i.
79, n.
, mode of its exer- cise illustrated, i. 154. Julian, early history of, i. 412.
, his eff'orts against Christianity,
i. 413.
-, degrades the Christians, i.
414. , off'ers human sacrifices at
Carrse, i. 415, n. , instances of his rancour against
Christianity,!. 416.
, his death in battle against the
Persians, i. 417-
his actions confirm the truth
of Christianity, i. 419. Julius I., pope, protects Athanasius, i.
464. Justinian, the emperor, orthodoxy and
political errors of, i. 444. , collection of his laws, i.
445.
446.
- code respecting religion, i.
-, severe laws of, against here- tics, i. 447—453.
— , the better laws of, are part
of our own laws, i. 451.
-, civil laws of, against here-
tics, part of the laws of the church of Rome, i. 453.
-, his laws received at the
present day in nearly all the states of Europe, i. 456.
-, the papal friendship indis-
pensable to, i. 501.
-, grants temporal power to
the pope, i. 502.
submits the eastern churches
to the pope, i. 503.
-, letter of, to Epiphauius, i.
503.
-, dies suspected of heresy, ii. -, edict of, the true origin of
papal power, ii, 38.
K.
Kelly, Dr., evidence of, regarding the third canon of the fourth Lateran council, ii. 531.
Kenulf, king of Mcrcia, his application
Index.
717
to pope Leo ITI. concerning the see of CanterLury, ii. 7-1- Krabbe, abstract of his dissertation on the apostolical canons, i. 335.
L.
Labarum, description of the, i. 226, n.
Labbe on the false decretals, ii. 98, n.
Lando, pope, ii. 155.
Lands granted by sovereigns on cer- tain conditions, ii. 258.
Lanfranc supersedes Stigand as arch- bishop of Canterbury, ii. 208.
strengthens the cause of the
papacy in England, ii. 306.
-, his character and laws, ii.
307.
-, refuses to execute the exor-
bitant requisitions of the pope, ii 312.
-, shows himself the servant.
Law, state of the, considered witli regard to the persecution of the early Christians, i. 132.
Laj-men may exhort, but not in the name of the church, i. ^\, n.
Le Bas, extract from his " Life of Wycliffe," ii. 641.
Legate, papal, commanded to extort money from the English, ii. 558.
Leo I., pope, boldness of the scale on which he asserted the papal supre- macy, i. 481.
Leo II., pope, destroys the indepen- dence of the bishops of Ravenna, ii. 39.
Leo III., pope, the first bishop of Rome who openly disclaimed sub- jection to the emperor, ii. 73.
, restores the ancient juris- diction of the see of Canterbury, ii.
74. , crowns Charlemagne at
but not the slave, of Gregory, ii
313, n. Langton, cardinal, present at the fourth
Lateran council, ii. 497- , originally an adherent to the
pope, ii. 498.
-, his subsequent independent
conduct, ii. 499. Lateran council, first, held by pope
Calixtus II., ii. 352. Synopsis of
the, 353. Lateran council, second, held by pope
Innocent II., synopsis of the, ii. 378. — , canons of the,
ii. 379. Lateran council, third, synopsis of the,
ii. 433. -, acts of the, ii.
434—436. Lateran council, fourth, sj-nopsis of the,
ii. 519. , acts and pro- ceedings of the, ii. 520 — 527-
■, translation of
the third canon of the, ii. 523 — 526. -, auricular con-
fession enjoined by the, ii. 526,
-, its canons de-
manded by the people of that day, ii.
527.
, opinions given
by modem Roman Catholics on its third canon, ii. 529 — 533.
, the extei'mi-
nation of the Albigenses the real object of that canon, ii. 534. Law of the land, proposal for declaring the Scripturus to be part of tile, i 115.
Rome, ii. 75. , orders the restoration of
Eardulf, king of Northumbria, ii. 75. Leo IV., pope, the great influence of his personal character, ii. 84.
the first who dated his decrees
from the yeai- of his pontificate, ii.
84. Leo v., pope, ii. 152. Leo VI., pope, ii. 157- Leo VII., pope, ii. 157-
-, weakness of the temporal
power of the pope in his time did not hinder the exercise of his spiri- tual influence, ii. 158.
Leo VIII., pope, disgraceful conten- tions at Rome during his pontificate, ii. 163.
Leo IX., pope, ii. 187.
his election confirmed by the
people at Rome, ii. 188.
his efforts against simony, ii.
189.
-, establishes the doctrine of transubstantiation, ii. 190.
-, affirms the power of summon-
ing all councils, and deposing all bishops, ii. 190.
-, specimen of the style adopted
by the bishops of Rome, from one of
his letters, ii. 191, n. Leo III., emperor, his conti'oversy
with pope Gregory II. concerning
images, ii. 50. Leonists, derivation of that name given
to the Albigenses, ii. 538, n. Liberius, pope, favoui-s Arianism, i.
465. Liberty, perverted to schism, leads to
rebellion, i. 220.
718
Index.
Liberty flourishes when controversies ai'e free, ii. 154.
Licinius, gives toleration to the Chris- tians, i. 216.
, relapses into paganism, and
openly defies Christ, i. 217.
-, defeat of, by Constantine, i. 218.
Linus, pope, i. 458.
Liturgies used in the three fii-st centu- ries, i. 16G.
Locke, his definition of reason, i. 38.
Lollards, on their oi-igin, ii. 633, n.
Lombai'd. See Peter Lombard.
Louis of Bavaria opposes pope John XXII., ii. 635.
, commanded by the
pope to resign the impex-ial autho- rity, ii. 636.
excommunicated
by Clement VI., ii. 645.
Luciferians, tenets of the, ii. 447.
Lucilla, superstitious conduct of, i. 234.
Lucius I., pope, i. 460.
Lucius II., pope, dies of the wounds he received in a contest witli the peo- ple of Rome, ii. 385.
Lucius III., pope, ii. 437.
, his bull the foundation of
the inquisition, ii. 440. 462.
-, consequences of that bull,
ii. 463.
Luther, accomplished the destruction of ecclesiastical despotism, ii. 679.
, did not deserve unmixed ap- probation, ii. 692.
Lyons, first council of, synopsis of the, ii. 561.
, decrees of the.
ii. 562, n.
, unavaumg re- monstrances made to it by England on the papal exactions, ii. 570.
Lyons, second council of, synopsis of the, ii. 591.
— , constitutions
of the, ii. 592, 593.
— — , its laws for the
election of popes in force at the pre- sent day, ii. 594.
M.
Macarius deposed by the sixth general council, ii. 32.
Macedonians, tenets of the, ii. 446.
Macedohius, his heresy condemned by the first council of Constantinople, i. 356. Further notice of him, 357, n.
Mackintosh, Sir James, extract from, on the controversy between the nominalists and realists, ii. 373, n.
Magistrate, civil, duty of, to excom- municated persons, i. 84.
, his duty in matters
of religion, i. 96.
-, in what sense the
ecclesiastical ruler, i. 97-
-, Christian, his duty, i. 1 15.
Mahometanism, its rise and progress, ii. 14.
Malmesbury, William of, his statement regarding pope Formosus contro- verted, ii. 334, n.
Man, his requirements as a mortal, an immortal, and a progressing be- ing, i. 18—20.
, his nature higher than that of
angels, i. 262.
Manicheans, tenets of the, ii. 445.
Marcellinus, pope, i. 463.
Marcellus, pope, i. 463.
Marcian the emperor, continues the policy of his predecessors, i. 420.
Marcionists, tenets of the, ii. 444.
Marcus, pope, i. 463.
Marcus Antoninus, persecution under, i. 129. Why he persecuted 137.
Marinus, or Martinus II., pope, re- verses the decrees of pope Hadrian and John respecting Formosus, ii. 146.
Marinus II., or Martinus, pope, a great patron of monasteries, ii. 159.
MaiTiage, its sacredness and happi- ness, ii. 262.
of the clergy, origin of the
laws against the, ii. 263. Martin 1., pope, appoints papal vicars
over bishops, ii. 20. Martin IV., pope, lays an interdict on
Viterbo for political offences only,
ii. 598.
, his last acts and death, ii.
601.
Martyr, true meaning of the word, i.
195, n. Martyrdoms early, a proof of truth,
i. 144. Mai'tyrs for our own church to be
venerated, i. 145.
died for Christ, and not for
their own churches only, ii. 694. Mass, the canon of the, compiled by
Gregory the Great, ii. 12. Matilda, countess, ancestry of the, ii.
275, n. Matrimonial causes, interference of
Rome in, has ever contributed to
her influence, ii. 207. Maxentius, the emperor, death of, i.
214.
, consequences of Constan-
tine's victory over him, i. 226.
Index.
719
Maximin, persecution under, i. 130.
, cruelties and death of, i.
215.
Mede, Dr., on the eucharist, i. 163.
Melchiades, or Miltiades, pope, i. 463.
Melchizedecians, tenets of the, ii. 444.
Meletius deposed by a council at Alex- andria, i. 178.
Mehill, striking passage from his ser- mons, i. 1 43.
Meuandrians, tenets of the, ii. 443.
Merton, synod of, encroaches on the regal authority, ii. 583.
Metangismonites, tenets of the, ii. 447.
Metaphysical studies cannot convert the soul, i. 40.
Metropolitans compelled to take an oath of obedience to the popes, ii. 348.
, English, interference
of Rome with their capitular elec- tion, ii. 388, n.
Michael, patriarch of Constantinople, anathematized by the legates of pope Leo IX., ii. 193.
Milan, edict of, published by Constan- tine, i. 229. Extracts from, 230, n.
Milton, his remark on tlie fathers, i. 29, n.
Ministers, a succession of, implied by the divine institution of the church, i. 76.
Miraculous gifts, nature of, i. 64. Their duration in the church, 64.
powers in the church one
great cause of the original success of the Gospel, i. 118, n.
Missa fidehum and missa catechume- norum, difference between, i. 310, n.
Monasteries, their uses and abuses in the tenth century, ii. 159.
, their uses and abuses, ii.
214, n.
Money demanded of England by the pope under threat of excommunica- tion, ii. 582.
Monitor, what meant by praying with- out a, in the early church, i. 167, n-
Monks, first exempted from episcopal jurisdiction by Gregory the Great, ii. 11.
Monophysite, meaning of that term, i. 422.
Monothelite heresy a modified Euty- chianism, ii. 32.
Monothelites, tenets of the, ii. 449.
Montanism, the first schismatical heresy, i. 174.
Montanists, councils against the, i. 173.
, tenets of the, ii. 445.
Montanus, the first enthusiast, i. 1 72.
Montanus, sanctioned by Victor, bishop
of Rome, i. 176. Montesquieu, an erroneous remark of
his, corrected, i. 99, n. Moral persuasion the only weapon of
churches, i. 87. Morality and holiness, the two guides
to mm, i. 26.
■, three modes of establishing
it on the basis of religion, i. 1 00.
■ of the early churches, i. 205,
-, its only true foundation, i.
206. Moravia, condition of, when Hildebrand
became pope, ii. 221. Mosaical priesthood, i. 31.
-, resembled that of
a tutor, i. 32. Murray, archbishop, evidence of, re- garding the third canon of the fourth Laterau coimcil, ii. 530.
N.
Nation, one, ought to constitute one
church, ii. 043. Nazarenes, tenets of the, ii. 443. Neander, his view of the miraculous
gifts of the apostles, i. 64, n.
, his opinion respecting the
toleration of Christianity by Galli- enus, controverted, i. 138.
Nero, the first persecutor of the Chris- tians, i. 134. Causes of the persecu- tion by him, 135.
Nestorianism, rise of that heresv, i. 369.
Nestorians, tenets of the, ii. 488.
Nestorius, some account of, i. 369.
•, proceedings against him at
the council of Ephesus, i. 374. Newman, on tlie use of private judg- ment, i. 43, n.
-, his opinion on the justice
of punishing heretics controverted, i. 268, n. Nice, council of, political cause of its meeting, i. 264.
— , eminent men at the.
i. 266.
the, i. 267, n.
upon, i. 268.
270.
-285
canon of the, i. 275, n.
-, number of bishops at
-, creed there decided
-, synopsis of the, i. 269. -, conclusion of the, L
-, canons of the, i. 271
-, remarks on the sixih
720
Index.
the, ii. 65 — G8, n.
Nice, council of, erroneous decision in
discipline by the, i. 279. Nice, second council of, summoned on
the question of image-worship, ii.
63. synopsis of
the, ii. C5.
-, memoranda on
-, eight sessions
, twenty-two
canons of the, ii. 67. Nicholas I., pope, the real author of
the Dictatus Pappe, ii. 87. • , state of the world and of
the episcopal power at the time of
his pontificate, ii. 88. •, the first pope who
of the, ii. 66.
was crowned at his installation, ii. 92.
-, claims authority over the
Greek emperor, ii. 93.
, why he first quoted the
false decretals, ii. 109. 114.
-, claims authority for the
canons over the imperial laws, ii. 112.
-, restores Rothade, bishop
of Soissons, after his deposition by Hincmar, ii, 113.
-, declares the decretals to
be equal with Scripture, ii. 116.
■, exercises authority over
emperors and kings, ii. 117.
', his conduct to patriarchs
and councils, ii. 118.
subjects Ravenna to the
see of Rome, ii. 1 19.
-, the founder of the power
of Gregory VII., ii. 120. Nicholas II., pope, elected through the
influence of Hildebrand, ii. 198. — — , still furtlicr increases the
power of Rome, ii. 201.
-, prefers the best and most
learned men, ii. 202.
Nicholiis III., pope, ii. 496.
• ' , obtains the appointment
of the archbishops of Canterbury, ii. 497.
Nicholas IV,, pope, pursues the Gre- gorian policy, ii. 603.
Nicolaitaus, tenets of the, ii. 443.
Nobles, not to sit in presence of a bishop, ii. 145.
Noetians, tenets of the, ii. 446.
Noetus, his heresy respecting the Logos, i. 177.
Nogareto, employed by the king of France hi the capture of pope Boni- face VIII., ii, 617,
Norway, state of, when Hildebrand be- came pope, ii, 219.
Novatians, the Puritans of their day, i. 188.
, tenets of the, ii. 445.
Novellae of Justinian, what, i. 445,
Nyctages, tenets of the, ii, 448,
0.
Oath of obedience to the popes changed into an oath of allegiance, ii. 299,
of communion with Rome not an
oath of fidelity, ii, 623,
Oaths, four forms of, taken by the bishops to the popes, ii, 293, Speci- mens of them, ibid, n,
of allegiance to the popes, various
specimens of, ii, 487, n,
required by the popes the same
as that of the feudal vassal, ii, 490.
Object of the present work, i, 13,
Obligation, religious, what meant by, i. 75.
Ecumenical, that name first used at the council of Constantinople, i. 355, n.
Offences, spiritual, not political crimes, i, 290.
Oliva, John Peter, his tenets con- demned by the council of Vienne, ii. 625,
Onokditis, a picture in ridicule of the Christians, i. 129.
Ophites, tenets of the, ii. 443.
Opinions, limits to their publication, i. 95,
of rulers sometimes made the
criterion of orthodoxy, ii, 3.
Ordination of a bishop, what necessary to its validity, i, 235, n,
Origen, his account of the first, per- secutions, i. 146.
Origeuists, tenets of the, ii, 446.
Origin of the present work, i, 1 — 6,
Orthodoxy, the opinions of rulers some- times made its criterion, ii, 3,
Ostiarii, or doorkeepers, i, 391, n,
Otho, king of Germany, crowned em- peror by pope John XII., ii. 161.
, he deposes that pope, ii. 162,
, restores pope Leo VIII., and re- gains authority for the emperors to nominate the future popes, ii. 164.
, restores pope John XIII., ii. 165.
Owen, Dr, John, on excommunication, i. 82, n.
Oxford, council at, ordains the present church festivals, ii. 545.
, useful canons pa.ssed at a coun- cil there in 1232, ii, 554.
k
Index.
721
Oxford, univei-sity of, gives a cold reception to the papal bull against Wycliffe, ii. 669.
Paganism, last efforts and utter aboli- tion of, i. 410.
Pagi, a writer on ecclesiastical history, ii. 478.
Pall, origin of its being sent from Rome to bishops, ii. 17.
, origin of the gift of the, uncer- tain, ii. 278.
, granting it, implied an assumed
superiority, ii. 279.
, not received by the ancient
British bishops, ii. 282.
, difficulty of tracing its origin, ii.
283.
, description of the, by Harpsfield
and De Marca, ii. 284.
, earliest authentic account of
sending it, ii. 285.
, not given originally without con- sent of the emperor, ii. 286.
, granted by pope Gregory to
Augustine for his services in Eng- land, ii. 287.
, tables showing the English arch- bishops who received the pall from Augustine to Becket, ii. 289—292.
, language of the popes on giving
it, ii. 295.
, eventually bestowed as a proof
of authority, ii. 297.
, the chief emblem of the papal
usurpations, ii. 298.
, contention about it in the case of
Anselm, ii. 327.
Pandects of Justinian, what, i. 445.
Papacy, episcopacy its only successful opponent, i. 204.
, Christianity too often identi- fied with the, ii. 122.
-, the three great pillars on
which it rested in the time of pope Nicholas 1., ii. 123.
-, power over England always
one of its great objects, ii. 334,
Papal definitions of heresy, ii. 453.
anti-heretical laws as severe as
the pagan laws, ii. 461.
friendship indispensable to Jus- tinian, i. 501.
meaning of ecclesiastical unity
and liberty, ii. 419.
populace, cruelty of the, in the
middle ages, ii. 361.
Papal power, causes of the enlarge- ment of the, i. 497.
VOL. II.
Papal power, its extent under Justinian, i. 498.
-, time of the origin of the
papal temporal power, i. 499.
-, all exerted against pri-
vate judgment, i. 500.
-, difficult to assign the
exact origin of the, i. 511.
— and ecclesiastical, not to
be confounded, ii. 36.
— increased by the empress
Irene, ii. 70.
rests on the right of ap- peal to the pope, ii. 94.
— in early times partook of
the general increase of episcopal authority, ii. 96.
opposed in all ages of the
church, ii. 135.
— , spiritual, the foundation
of papal temporal power, ii. 158.
-, summary of the history
of its progress, ii. 468.
superior to the regal in
England, ii. 477-
begins to excite the dis-
gust of its friends, ii. 553.
-, temporal and spiritual,
inseparable, ii. 609.
indefinite, and therefore
unlimited, ii. 649.
pretensions increase with the
papal power, ii. 296.
remedies worse than political
diseases, ii. 331,
supremacy at one time useful to
Europe, i. 488. 508.
over kings, theory of
the, ii. 136.
-, its abolition the duty of princes, ii. 137.
the first object of the
inquisition, ii. 471. begins to be a ques- tion of money, ii. 475.
, its oppressive cha-
racter in England, ii. 628.
-, receives its first fatal
blow by the submission of John XXII, to the universal church, ii. 641.
-, its total rejection
essential, ii. 662.
system, its permanency an Uto- pian theory, ii. 630.
usurpations, slow progress of
the, i. 470.
Papist, the, most dangerous when most sincere, ii. 210, n.
Parishes, first division of England into, by Theodore, ii. 23.
Parochial clergy the intellectual strength of England, ii. 556.
3 A
k
723
Index.
Paschal, pope, ii. 77-
Paschal II., pope, ii. 331.
, circumstances which tended
to strengthen his (the Gregorian)
party, ii. 332.
— , disputes between him and
the king of England, ii. 337.
— , reproves the king of Eng-
land and the bishops for presuming to hold national synods without con- sulting him, ii. 344.
— , condemns his own act with
an eternal anathema, ii. 345.
-, confirms the legatine autho-
rity to the archbishops of Canter- bury, ii. 346.
— , expelled from Rome by the
emperor Henry V., ii. 347.
— , regains possession of Rome,
where he dies suddenly, ii. 348,
Past, the history of the, the instruction for the future, ii. 574.
Paternians, tenets of the, ii. 448.
Patriarchal priesthood, i. 30.
authority, resembled the
paternal, i. 31.
Patripassians, or Noetians, tenets of the, ii. 446.
Patritianists, tenets of the, ii. 447.
Paul, St., view of his progress after his conversion, i. 65.
of Samosata, councils of Antioch
against him, i. 177-
, pope, enlarges the papal territo- ries, ii. 58.
Paulianists, the council of Nice orders them to be rebaptized, i. 284.
, tenets of the, ii. 445.
Paulicians, tenets of the, ii. 452.
Peckham, archbishop, renews the constitutions of Ottobon, ii. 597, n.
, holds a synod which sanc- tions taking away the cup from the laity in the Lord's Supper, ii. 600.
Pedro II. of Arragon, his oath of fidelity to the pope, ii. 488, n.
Peerage of England oppose pope In- nocent III., ii. 501.
Pelagian heresy, account of the, i. 368.
Pelagians, tenets of the, ii. 448.
Pelagius, author of the Pelagian heresy, i. 367.
Pelagius I., pope, declares separation from the apostolic see to be schism, ii. 2.
Pelagius II., the first pope elected without imperial consent, ii. 4.
■ , infallibility and supre- macy first claimed by, ii. 4.
Penance and repentance not the same, ii. 24.
People, their duty in judging of the doctrines taught them, i. 57.
Pepin, king of France, increases the temporal possessions of the pope- dom, ii. 57.
Periods, four, into which history may be divided since the ascension, i. 5.
Permission of evil explained only by revelation, i. 2.
Persecution, history of, by the civil power, i. 6.
— — , by the ecclesiastical
power, i. 8.
, under the Puritans, i. 9.
-, by the advocates of the
influence of human reason, i. 10.
-, religious, definition of.
i. 94.
of Christians by Christians,
causes of the, i. 211.
— , four
chief causes of, i. 218.
,prmci-
ples by which it was sanctioned, i. 287. intro-
duced by the laws of Constantine, i. 294.
not necessarily connected
with the establishment of religion, i. 319.
-, history of, by the ecclesi-
astical power from the time of Jus- tinian, ii. 1.
-, gradual rise of the spirit
of, in the church, ii. 439. Persecutions, causes of the first, i. 119.
scriptural accounts of
the first, i. 126.
— , eai'ly, their popular na-
ture, i. 127.
-, under Domitian and Tra-
jan,!. 128.
— , under Hadrian, Antoni-
nus Pius, and Marcus Antoninus, i. 129.
-, under Severus, Maximin,
Decius, and Valerian, i. 130.
-, their nature and causes
considered, i. 131.
-, summary of their causes,
i. 140.
141.
-, Gibbon's remarks on, i.
146.
-, Origen's account of, i.
sant, i. 147.
— , the original, were inces-
i. 148.
-, on the theory of ten only, -, Dodwell and Ruinart
controversy concerning, i. 149.
Index.
'23
Persecutors, their sincerity to be
di-eaded, ii. 308. , the worst, struck the first
blow against heathenism, i. 212. Perseverance in error the curse of
Rome, ii. 309. Persuasion, moral, the only right weapon
of churches, i. 87. Peter de Bruys, opinions held by,
which were condemned by the
second Lateran council, ii. 378, n. Peter Lombard unites authority with
reasoning, ii. 371. , character of his " Book
of Sentences," ii. 372. Philagathus, antipope, ii. 170. Philip the Fair, king of France, resists
pope Boniface VIII., ii. 610, 611. , his reply to the claims
of Boniface, ii. 613.
-, arrests the papal
legates, and burns the pope's letters, ii. 614.
-, charges brought by
him against Boniface, ii. 617, n.
-, takes Boniface pri-
soner, ii. 618
-, enters into a com- promise with the Gregorian party, ii. 620.
Philosophy, scholastic, its effect in strengthening the power of Rome, ii. 373.
Photinians, tenets of the, ii. 446.
Photius, patriarch of Constantinople, deposed and banished by pope Nicho- las 1., ii. 118.
, anathematized by the eighth
general council, ii. 131.
Pillar, our Lady of the, origin of that title, i. 126, li.
Pius I., pope, i. 458.
Plan of the present work, i. 6 — 13.
Plato, his fine sentiment on religion, i. 26, n.
, his definition of truth, i. 64, n.
Pneumatomachians, notice of that sect, i. 357, n.
Poland, condition of, when Hildebrand became pope, ii. 221.
Political opinions punished by spiri- tual censures, ii. 675.
Pontian, pope, i. 460.
Pontificate assumed by Constantino, i. 227.
Popery, the dominion of mere autho- rity over conscience, i. 44.
, the worst heresy, i. 92.
, prohibition of Scripture essen- tial to, ii. 310.
-, the heaviest of all God's judg-
ments, ii. 421.
k
Popery, the religious government over unconvinced conscience, ii. 492.
■, includes ecclesiastical as well
as papal despotism, ii. 679. Popes claim the right to elect the
emperors, ii. 141. , the election of, taken from the
clergy and people, ii. 200. , declared not to be subject to
councils nor churches, ii. 406. Porretanus, Gilbert, heresies of, ii. 370. Portugal, state of, when Hildebrand
became pope, ii. 218. Post-Nicene councils adopted the faults
of Nice, i. 320. Power, civil, its prevalence to a.d. 533,
i. 5. , its undue predtmiinance the
cause of persecution, i. 5.
ecclesiastical, its prevalence
from A. D. 533 to 1563, i. 5. , results in the establishment of
popery, i. 5. , civil, nature and limits of its
influence, i. 96 — 116. — ■ , ecclesiastical, nature and limits
of its iuflueuce, i. 47 — 96.
and authority, difference be-
tween, i. 85.
balance of, in the primitive
churches, i. 316, n.
-, ecclesiastical, its progress from
the time of Justinian, ii. 1.
Praemunire, statute of, enacted in England, ii. 650.
Pragmatic Sanction, published by Louis IX. of France against the decree of pope Clement IV., ii. 586.
Prayers, extempore, not customary in the primitive church, i. 166.
Preaching, who alone can give autho- rity for, i. 67-
the apostles the only source
of this authority during their lives,
i. 70.
unlawful, except to those
who have been ordained by compe- tent authority, i. 73.
Presbyterians, opposed toleration in the time of the Commonwealth, i. 60, n.
Presbyterianism, its origin, i. 103.
— , doctrines taught by,
104.
-, progress of, i. 105.
Priesthood, authority of the, i. 27.
-, comparative views of the
authority of the, at different periods, i. 28—35.
-, the, to be drea'led for its
error and ambition, even when most sincere, ii. 183.
3 A 2
724
Index.
Priesthood, temporal dominion cannot
be entrusted to the, ii 333. Priests and people, common duty of,
i. 34. Principles, four, essential to national
happiness, i. 3. ■ , good and evil effects of their
miion or separation, i. 4. 12.
-, nature and limit of their in-
fluence on the human mind, i. 15. Priscillian, the first martyr to dissent,
i. 309. Account of his persecution
and death, 349. Priscillianists, rise of the sect of, i.
349. Priscil'inns, tenets of the, ii. 447. Private judgment, unlimited right of,
i. 43. , on its exercise, i.
79, n.
mode of its exer- cise illustrated, i. 154.
-, all the papal power
exerted against, i. 500.
Protestant, all Europe i-eally so, be- fore that word was in use, ii. 632.
Protestantism coeval with papal usur- pations, ii. 575, n.
Providence, plan of, unfolded only by revelation, i. 2.
discovered in the laws
against clerical marriages, ii. 265.
— seen also in permitting the
great evil of the doctrine of transub stantiation, ii. 268.
Provisors, statute of, enacted in Eng- land, ii. 647.
Prussia, condition of, when Hiidebrand became pope, ii. 221.
Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II., her beneficial influence over that em- pei'or, i. 420. Marries Marcian, 420.
Q.
Questions, political, in the eleventh century merged in ecclesiastical, ii. 270.
Quinisextine council opposes the see of Rome, ii. 33.
, its decisions re- jected by pope Sergius, ii, 43.
R.
Radbert propounds the doctrine of
transubstantiation, ii. 267. Ravenna subjected to the see of Rome
by pope Nicholas I., ii. 119.
Raymond of Toulouse, excommunica- tion of, ii. 493.
Reason, when perverted, mischievous effects of its exclusive influence in government, i. 5.
-, the nature and limits of its
mfluence, i. 35.
-, its use in matters of religion.
i. 38.
, its submission to revelation a
part of human duty, i. 41,
to be chiefly guided by tlie
written revelation, i. 43.
-, the use of, collision between it
and authority, ii. 368. Reformatio Legum, extract from, on
excommunication, i. 81, n. Reformation, the, only the termination
of the resistance which had been
given to the usurped power of Rome
fi'om its beginning, ii. 134. Regalia Petri, meaning of, ii. 395, n. Regeneration, baptismal, considered, i.
161. Religion, establishment of, without
tolei'ation, i. 100.
•, establishment of, with tolera-
tion, i. 102.
— , state of, in the United States
of America, i. 114.
— , popular, its austere character
in the eleventh centui-y, ii. 179. Remigius abjures his profession to
archbishop Stigand, by command
from the pope, ii. 294, n. Repentance and penance not the same,
ii. 24. Respect, tokens of, interpreted by the
see of Rome to be acts of homage,
ii. 73. Results, final, of Christianity, i. 209. Retrospect of the period between the
years 96 J and 1123, ii. 354. Revelation alone explains why evil is
permitted, i. 2.
-, its proper influence on the
mind considered, i. 17 25.
required by man for his
happiness, i. 19, 20.
given to him for this end, i.
20.
of it, 22.
— gradually developed, i. 21. defined, i, 22 ; general view
- referred either to prophecy or duty, i. 23.
— , evidences of, i. 23.
, the Bible its record, i. 24.
divided into three chief dis-
pensations, i. 26. , its first teachers alone
inspired, i. 28.
Index.
725
Revelation, equally binding on priests and people, i. 34.
, influence of its advocates
from the period of the council of Trent to the reign of Charles II., ended in much error and perse- cution, i. 5.
— , the anticipation of the re-
sults of reasoning, i. 39.
• affirms the divinity of Christ,
i. 261.
Revolution of 1688, compared with the
great schism, ii. 678. Richard I., his complaints of the papal
power in England, ii. 477> n. Roman civil power, history of the
causes and e.xtent of persecution by
the, i. 117. republic re-erected under
the pontificate of Gregory II., ii.
53.
see, state of, when Hildebrand
I
first began to exercise his influence upon it, ii. I76.
Roman-catholic, origin and meaning of the term, i. 385, n.
Romanus, pope, ii. 131.
Rome, causes of the alienation of Chris- tians from, i. 33.
declared by Justinian to be the
source of all law, i. 506.
the temporal sceptre passes to
the bishops of, i. 507.
must restore to the chui'ches
their spiritual privileges, i. 509.
refuses to acknowledge the epis- copacy, i. 510.
, the ecclesiastical power becomes
vested in the see of, i. 520.
, conformity with, called the unity
of the church, ii. 15.
, its encroachments resisted by
the catholic church, ii. 25.
-, its influence established in Eng-
land at the end of the seventh cen- tury, ii. 44.
, power of, increased by France,
ii. 59.
, submission to, identified with
the fear of God, ii. 115.
, corrupted, while it preserved
the truth, ii. 121.
, its deepest temporal degrada- tion does not weaken the strength of its spiritual usurpation, ii. 174.
, appeal to, constitutes it the
principal tribunal for all Christen- dom, ii. 222.
Rome, bishop of, declared to be re- sponsible to God alone, i, 493.
, takes precedence even
at Constantinople, i. 494.
Rome, bishop of, his authority un- known in the early church, i. 175.
■, extent of his autho-
rity in the primitive church, i. 180. -, not supreme at the
council of Nice, i. 275, n. Rome, church of, its erroneous use of the word church, i. 79, n.
-, its view of excom-
munication, i. 81, n.
-, its denial of tolera-
tion, i. 100.
-, evil consequences of its unimproving character, i. 101.
-, its purity in the time
of Cyprian, i. 187.
-, did not originate per-
secution, i. 321. 381.
-, begins to share the
imperial power, i. 380.
-, never recedes from
a demand of power once made, i. 475.
strengthened by
adopting images, ii. 53.
-, must officially reject
the false decretals, ii. 98.
-, impossibility of tra-
cing the apostolical succession in the, ii. 153.
-, becomes a kingdom
of this world, ii. 191.
-, why preserved, not-
withstanding its corruptions, ii. 357. -, increased power nf
the, over the catholic church, ii.
363. Rome, city of, the emperors abandon
its government, ii. 54. Rome, papal, its histoi-y made up of
its perpetual encroachments, and
the resistance they called forth, ii.
314.
•, communion with, identi-
fied with subjection to, ii. 343.
-, appeals to, the chief
source of its continued power, ii. 347.
— , its political influence
useful in the middle ages, ii. 356.
-, unchangeabieness from
its follies, its curse, ii. 362.
-, its power strengthened
by the scholastic philosophy, ii. 373. -, its opponents not always
right in their own opinions, ii. 377.
, the usurping claims of,
urged under plea of grievance, ii. 413.
-, canon law of, its nature
and object, ii. 460, n.
h
726
Index.
Rome, papal, only to be satisfied by universal supremacy, ii. 503.
, perseverance in error its
curse, ii. 508.
-, where danger can be ap-
prehended from, ii. 509.
— , must change, or be de-
serted, ii. 528. , distinguished for three
hundred years before the Reforma- tion by its avarice and cruelty, ii. 544.
, its moral influence in-
jured by its rashness, ii. 548.
, consequences which must
result from the subjection of Eng- land to it, ii. 569.
-, its opponents the friends
both of the crown and the people, ii. 576. , holds the balance be-
tween the popular and regal powers, ii. 588.
appeals to, from Eng'
land, in civil cases, prohibited, ii. 650. , the enemies of, have
their peculiar faults, ii. 693.
Rothade, bishop of Soissons, deposed by Hincmar, ii. 111.
appeals to the pope, who re- stores him, ii. 113.
Ruinart, his controversy with Dodwell, on the early persecutions, i. 149. His conclusions to be received, 150.
Russia, condition of, when Hildebrand became pope, ii. 220.
Sabellians, tenets of the, ii. 446. Sabinian, pope, ii. 13. Sacrifice and sin, definition of, i. 162. , Christian, meaning of the, i.
164. Sacrifices, of divine institution, i. 162,
n. Saints of God, of different communions,
reflections on their oneness in Christ
Jesus, ii. 394. Sapor, king of Persia, persecutes the
Christians, i. 348, n. Sardican canons, probably spurious, i.
355. 465. Schism, definition of, i. 90, n. — between the eastern and west- ern churches, its origin, ii. 132.
the great, destroyed the Gre-
gorian power, ii. 676.
-, compared with the
Schismatics excluded from the im- perial bounty by Constantine, i. 240.
Scholasticism, its Aristotle-mania, ii. 366.
Scholastic theology, origin of, ii. 364.
, supports the
papacy, ii. 567
Schoolmaster, Christian, anecdote of one at Antioch, i. 415, n.
Schoolmen, reasoning, their submission to the church, ii. 367.
Sclavi, on the shores of the Baltic, the last idolaters of Europe, ii. 220.
Scotland, church of, its view of ex- communication, i. 81, n.
Scripture, prohibition of, essential to popery, ii. 310.
perverted in the bulls of the
popes, ii. 473.
-, appealers to, against the
popes, excommunicated, ii. 602.
appeals to it revived in the
time of Wycliff'e, ii. 651.
-, its final triumph over Rome
certain, ii. 664.
the sufficiency of, the
strength of the church, ii. 674.
God's blessing on the know-
ledge of, ii. 682.
-, alone, the faith of the church.
ii. 683. Scriptures, the only rule of faith, i. 44,
and n. , proposal for declai'ing them
part of the law of the land, i. 115.
-, received by the primitive
Revolution of 1688, ii. 678.
church, as we now receive them, i. 152.
-, study of the, among the
primitive Christians, i. 208.
, among its prayers, the
strength of the English church, ii. 68.3.
Secundus summons a council to con- sider the case of Csecilian, i. 237-
Sedes Stercoraria, explanation given by Mabillon of the, ii. 86, n.
Self-denial different from self-torment- ing, ii. 214.
Semi- Pelagians, account of the, i. 369.
Sergius, pope, ii. 42.
•, rejects the decision of the
Quini-sextine council, ii. 43. Sergius II., pope, ordained without the sanction of the emperor, ii. 82.
•, appoints a vicar over the
churches of France and Germany, ii. 83. Sergius III., pope, ii. 153.
-, his vicious character, ii.
154.
Index.
727
Sergius IV., pope, his contests with the
French bishops, ii. 172. Sethites, tenets of the, ii. 444. Severians, tenets of the, ii. 444. Severlnus, pope, ii. 19. Severus, persecution under, i. 130.
Why he persecuted, 137- Simonians, tenets of the, ii. 443. Simony, efforts of pope Leo IX. against,
ii. 188. , various kinds of real or sup- posed, ii. 189, n. SimpUcius, pope, i. 488. , estabHshes vicars in the
western churches, i. 489. Sin and sacrifice, definition of, i. 162. Sincerity must be united with truth, ii.
312. no proof of right opinions, ii.
424.
of error the curse of the
church, ii. 578.
Sins of the heart, not punishable by
society, i. 91. Siricius, pope, increases the power of
that see, i. 468. , acknowledges the superiority
of a council, i. 471. Sisinnius, pope, ii. 47. Sixtus I., pope, i. 458. bixtus II., pope, i. 462. Sixtus III., pope, i. 481. Sixtus v., pope, singular instance of
excommunication by, i. 82, n. Smith, Dr. Pye, on the coiTuptions of
the early churches, i. 201. Soames, extracts from, on the gift of
the pall to the English archbishops,
ii. 279, n. Societies, the earliest Christian, their
object, nature, and constitution, i. 49. Soter, pope, i. 459. Soul of the slave and of the prince
equal before God, ii. 276. Spain, traditions in, concerning St.
James, i. 126, n. , burning alive there as recently
as the year 1826, i. 249, n., 309.
always pre-eminent in persecu- tion, i. 308.
, condition of, when Hildebrand
became pope, ii. 218.
Spirit in which the present work is written, i. 14.
Spittler, his remarks on the apostolical canons, i. 337-
States cannot be governed on one prin- ciple only, ii. 183.
Stephen, pope, his controversy with Cyprian, i. 199. He is declared to be schismatical, 200.
, begins the usurpation which
has been continued by his succes- sors, i. 460.
Stephen, his disputes with Cyprian and the eastern bishops, i. 461.
Stephen II. chosen pope but not con- secrated, ii. 56.
, pope, first acknowledged
as a temporal sovereign, ii. 56.
Stephen III., pope, still further en- larges the papal power, ii. 58.
, claims the power to dis- solve marriages, ii. 60.
Stephen IV., pope, crowns Lewis le Debonnaire, ii. 76.
Stephen V., pope, declares the decrees of the church of Rome irrevocable, ii. )47.
, asserts supremacy over
every church in the world, and de- clares the Roman church infallible, ii. 148.
Stephen VI., pope, insults said to have been offered by him to the dead body of Formosus, ii, 150 ; — reflec- tions on the miracles said to have been witnessed on that occasion, ii. 150, n.
, is thrown into a dungeon
and strangled, ii. 151.
Stephen VII., pope, ii. 157.
Stephen VIII., pope, ii. 159.
Stephen X., pope, requests Hildebrand to appoint his successor, ii. 197.
Stephen, bishop of Tournay, opposes appeals to Rome, ii. 397.
Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, de- posed for resisting the Gregorian party, ii. 208.
, one chief cause of the Norman
conquest, ii. 280.
-, would not ask his pall from
the Gregorians, ii. 294.
-, prevented universal submis-
sion to the Gregorians, ii. 300.
history of his refusal of uncon-
ditional submission to the pope, and its singular consequences on the in- dependence of England, ii. 301.
-, the archiepiscopal opponent of
Rome, ii. 303.
-, hatred to him the cause of the
papal blessing on William, ii. 304.
his deposition, ii. 305.
Stigmata of St. Francis affirmed by a
papal bull, ii. 581. Stillingfleet, his remarks on traditio
apostolica, and traditio apostolorum,
i. 337, n. Supereroi^ation, frauds of the doctrine
of, ii. 568. Supremacy of Rome, summai'y of the
causes of the, i. 496.
728
Index.
Supremacy, universal, Rome satisfied witli nothing less, ii. 503.
Sweden, state of, when Hildebraud be- came pope, ii. 219.
Sylverius, pope, i. 512.
Sylvester, pope, no evidence of his having presided at the council of Nice, i. 463.
Sylvester XL, pope, gives to the king of Hungary the crown used at the pre- sent time, and declaz'es him per- petual legate, ii. 171.
Symmachus, pope, i. 493.
T.
Tanchelini, tenets of tlie, ii. 452.
Tarasius presides at the second coun- cil of Nice, ii. 69.
Tares of heresy not permitted to grow with the wheat, ii. 429.
Tatians, tenets of the, ii. 444.
Taylor, Jei'emy, on the early triumphs of Christianity, i. 142.
Telesphorus, pope, i. 458.
Templars, suppression of the order of, ii. 622.
Temporal power of the papacy, time of its origin, i. 499.
Tertullian, what meant by his expres- sion of praying without a monitor, i. 167, n.
Tertullianists, tenets of the, ii. 448.
TessaresciBdecaritae, tenets of the, ii. 448.
Texts, misapplied, abound in the papal bulls, ii. 579.
Theodore I., pope, requires the bishop of Constantinople to be tried at Rome, ii. 19.
Theodore II., pope, ii. 151.
Theodore the monk, sent into Eng- land by Vitalian as archbishop of Canterbury, where he establishes the Roman ceremonial, ii. 22.
originates the division of
England into parishes, ii. 23.
the founder of Anglo-Saxon
literatui'e, ii. 24.
Theodosian code, establishment of the, i. 379.
, the principal founda- tion of the persecuting canon law, i. 379.
, its effects, i. 383. 409.
-, summary of its con-
tents, i. 383—408.
-, its extensive and
lasting influence, i. 409. Theodosians, tenets of the, ii. 448.
Theodosius the Great, continues the policy of Constantine, i. 347.
• commences his
reign, i. 353.
-, his edict, autho- rizing Trinitarians to assume the name of catholic, i. 353.
-, his policy con-
tinued by Theodosius the younger, i. 365.
Theodosius, junior, calls the council of Ephesus, i. 370.
Theology, scholastic, supports the papacy, ii. 567.
Theopaschites, sect of, sprung from the Monophysites, i. 437.
GtoroKoe, origin of the controversy respecting that word, i. 369.
Three chapters, edict of Justinian, so called, i. 514.
Thurstan, archbishop of York, attends the council of Rheims, and is ban- ished by king Henry 1., ii. 350.
■, allowed to retui'n to his see.
ii. 351.
QvcFiaffTTipiov, on the proper meaning
of that word, i. 164, n. Toleration, doctrine of, does not justify
religious caprice, i. 88. , its exercise provided for by
Christ, i. 89.
— , without establishment, in
the United States of America, i. 1 13. - not allowed under the Pa-
gan system, i. 134.
-, first edict in favour of, by
Constantine, i. 228. Toulouse, council of, why held, and
the disgraceful decrees passed by it,
ii. 549, 550. Tours, council of, its persecuting
canons, ii. 420. — — ■ , first commands
inquisitorial espionage, ii. 469.
Traditio apostolica and traditio aposto- lorum, difference between, i. 337, n.
Traditores, who so called, i. 233.
Trajan, persecution under, i. 128.
Transubstantiation, doctrine of, un- known to the Church of England in the tenth century, ii. 166. 190.
against reason.
Scripture, and the senses, ii. 199.
the doctrine of.
decreed by pope Gregory VII., ii. 265.
-, origin of that doc-
truie, progress of its enforcement, ii. 266. made an article of
faith by the fourth council of Late- I'an, ii. 520, n.
Index.
729
Transubstaiitiation the great provoca- tive to infidelity, ii. 667.
, slow progress of
that doctrine in England, ii. 602.
Transubstantiators, tenets of the, ii. 450.
Trent, council of, acclamations and anathemas with which it was con- cluded, i. 270, n.
"Trialogus" of Wycliffe, an account of that work, ii. 666.
Trinitarian Christians the true Roman Catholics, i. 353.
Tritheists, tenets of the, ii. 449.
Truce of God, establishment of the, ii. 318.
Truth, definition of, by Plato, i. 54, n.
, conduct of the enquirer after,
i. 59.
, travels of the enquirer after, from
the early ages, downward, i. 60.
, and not libei-ality, to be fol- lowed, i. 188.
, sufficient to conquer error,
without persecution, i. 454.
, the will of the emperors in the
Justinian period, made the test of, i. 455.
, apostolical succession of, ii. 540.
Truths must be reconciled, not made to clash, i. 48.
Tu es Petrus, first adopted by pope Leo I., i. 481.
; , on the true meaning of
this text, ii. 326, n.
Tusculum, counts of, claim the papacy as a right,^ii. 177-
U.
" Unam Sanctam," copy of that cele- brated bull, ii. 612, n. Union, future, the only ground on
which it may be hoped for, i. 12.
, plans of, proposed, i. 13.
United States of America, tolei-ation
without establishment in, i. 113. Unity of the church, Cyprian's treatise
on the, i. 189. of churches under the primitive
episcopacy, i. 202. and union, difference between, i.
407. and liberty ecclesiastical, papal
meaning of, ii. 419. Unordained Christians may exhort,
but not in the name of the church,
i. 71,n. Urban I., pope, i. 460. Urban II., pope, ii. 316. becomes the umpire between
national parties, ii. 317.
Urban II. anathematizes the antipope Clement III., ii. 316,317.
commands William Rufus to
restore the lands of the see of Can- terbury, ii. 329.
Urban III., pope, ii. 473.
Urban IV., pope, summary of his pon- tificate, ii. 584.
Urban V., pope, ii. 651.
revives the claim of tribute
from England, ii. 653.
, his dying declaration, ii.
654.
Urban VI., pope, tumultuous proceed- ings at his election, ii. 674.
, appalling character of the
history of his pontificate, ii. 676.
Usages of the churches, in the ante- Nicene period, become the laws of the church universal, i. 313.
Usurpation, episcopal, earliest attempts at, i. 179.
Usurpations, papal, ineffectual laws o France and England to check the, ii. 573.
-, resistance to, the
foundation of our present liberties, ii. 584.
Valens, the emperor, persecutes the Christians, i. 351.
, law of, that no plebeian should
be ordained, ii. 6. Valentine, pope, the first who was
inthroned at his installation, ii. 81. Valentinians, tenets of the, ii. 443. Valerian, persecution under, i. 130. Vaudois, some of them the first who
suffered death for religious opinions
in England, ii. 420, n. Venema doubts the authenticity of
Justuiian's epistles, i. 504. Vicars, papal, first instituted by Da-
masus, i. 468. , poor, entitled by law to ade- quate support, ii. 554, n. Vices of the popes did not affect their
spiritual power, ii. 157. Victor, pope, the fii'st who attempted
to impose the Roman custom on
other churches, i. 175. favours the heresy of Montanus,
i. 176.
■ commences intolerance in non- essential matters, i. 459.
Victor II., pope, ii. 194.
, appealed to by the emperor
to excommunicate a king, ii. 196.
Victor III., pope, ii. 312.
, continues the war against
730
Index.
the imperial party successfully, ii.
314. Vienne, synopsis of the council of, ii.
624. , transactions of that council, ii.
625. Vigilius, pope, banished from Constan- tinople during the meeting of the
council there, i. 512. Virgin Mary, on the worship offered
to her ixv the church of Rome, ii.
482. ■ , description of a curious
wood-cut of her, in the " Annals " of
Baronius, ii. 483. Vitalian, pope, his great influence in
England, ii. 21. Viterbo, interdict on, for political
offences only, ii. 598. Vivi-comburation, history of, i. 249, n. Volumen Authenticum of Justinian, i.
445. letter from, to
pope John II., i. 505.
W.
Waddington on Nestorianism, i. 378.
, exti'act from, on the set- tlement of the question of investi- tui'es, ii. 254, n.
Wafer, consecrated, veneration of the, decreed, ii. 603.
Waldenses, in the ninth century, re- sisted the corruptions of the church of Rome, ii. 81.
, tenets of the, ii. 450.
, severity of the canon law
against them, ii. 458.
-, different names by which
they were known, ii. 535. Warburton on the power of the
church, i. 85, n. Weakness of the states of Europe has
ever been the strength of Rome, ii.
216. Western empire, convulsions in the, i.
421. • , overthrow of the, i.
434. Westminster, statute of, when passed,
and why, ii. 599. Whitby, his work on tradition, i. 29,
n. Wilfrid strengthens the power of Rome
in England, ii. 26. • , the papal decrees concerning
him rejected in England, ii. 46. Will, unity of, in the person of Christ,
the Monothelite heresy, ii. 32.
William the Conqueror, reasons of the pope for aiding him with his blessing, ii. 206.
requests the
pope to send legates to England, ii. 207.
William Rufus, his contest with An- selm and pope Urban II., ii. 321 — 330.
Winchelsey, archbishop, his speech on the superiority of the spiritual au- thority over the temporal, ii. 608.
, holds a synod against the
taxation of the clei'gy, but finally submits to the king, ii. 609.
Witnesses, decrees of pope Leo IV., on the number of, necessary to con- vict a bishop of crime, ii. 84, n.
Worcester, bishop of, fined for obedi- ence to the pope, ii. 616.
World, political state of the, in the days of pope Nicholas I., ii. 89.
Worship, modes of, in the primitive church, i. 207.
■, public, celebrated in the na-
tive language of every country till the time of Gregory the Great, ii.
7. .
Wycliffe, his attempts at reformation premature, ii. 387.
, opposes the mendicant friars,
ii. 650.
, appeals to the pope against
his archbishop, ii. 652.
, rejects the temporal, but not
the spiritual power of the pope, ii. 653.
, four bulls against him issued
by pope Gregory XI., ii. 656.
, appointed one of the commis- sioners on the grievance of granting English benefices to aliens, ii. 661. ■, his eminent position as a pro-
testant prophet, ii. 664.
nineteen alleged errors of.
submitted to the pope, ii. 666.
, publishes his Trialogus, ii.
666.
, difficulties under which he
laboured, ii. 667.
, the four papal bulls against
him, ii. 668.
, had not the personal bold- ness possessed by Luther, ii. 669.
— , only began the work of the
Refoi'mation, ii. 670.
, events which tended to the
security of his early adherents, ii. 671.
— , publishes his tract on the
sufticiency of the Scriptures, ii. 673. 682.
Index.
731
Wycliffe, his appeal to the sovereigns of
Europe, ii. 677- , accomplishes the destruction
of papal despotism, ii. 679'
-, condemned at Oxford for his
attack on transubstantiation, ii. 684.
, discussion of the question,
whether he visited Bohemia, ii. 688. -, the one great mistake made by
him and Calvin, ii. 690.
, an estimate of the character
and importance of his labours, ii. 691.
, did not deserve unmixed ap- probation, ii. 692.
, twentv-four of his conclusions
condemned by archbishop Courteney,
ii. 685. , defends his opinions on the
eucharist at Oxford, ii. 686. , his death, ii. 687.
Zachary, the first pope consecrated without the confirmation of the civil power, ii. 55.
■, concludes a treaty of peace
without reference to the imperial government, ii. 55.
-, his great personal influence.
ii. 56. Zeno, the emperor, issues the edict
called the Henoticon, i. 438. Zenobia, queen of Palm^^Ta, patronizes
Paul of Samosata, i. 177- Zephyrinus, pope, first received the
title of bishop of bishops, i. 459. Zozimus, pope, maintains and enlarges
the power of the papal see, i. 457.
END OF VOL. II.
LONDON : OILBERT & lilVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. John's square.
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